The Rutland daily globe. [volume] (Rutland, Vt.) 1873-1877, 1876-09-16
Two Leagues Under the Ground

Eater Rutlda6 Gl0be Il have beaten
Jules Verne, with all his braggadocio, and
really been six miles under the ground,
while every Que l;ncvs TINT famous gentle
man never went n rod under the sea or
land either, let alone twenty thousand
leagues. | was fortunate enough 10 secure
tickets to a grand complimentary eXcur-
sion rendered to Austins 10Th regiment
band, and on Tuesday morning at half-past
eight we steamed across the Hudson, seven
Car loads strong, amid the cheers and hand
kerchief llutterings Of a large crowd Of
friends left behind, and strains of bugle
music from our accompanying band. Our
entire journey was similar ovation, every
ragged urchin and inill girl catching as if
by infection the knowledge that we were q
crowd Of jollty seekers, and waving us a
merry good wish with tattered hat or calico
apron. The country through which we
passed is an excellent one to view, from
Eagle bridge to North Adams, Mass, par
tcularly so. "On either side the railroad
lie, long fields of barley, maize and rye"
and harvesters are busy in gathering these
crops. Potatoes are being shipped from
stations along the route, seventy-tive cents
per bushel being the price paid. We ar
rived at the great bore" at high noon, and
shot into darkness withouta word of warn
ing. And it was darkness, concentrated,
condensed and boiled down. ! think as p
rapid dilator of the pupil of the eye l can
commend Hoosac tunnel far above
any preparation of belalonra. Twenty
minutes of very fast riding brought
US again into daylight, and
ten more to our destination.
Then we pcniced. lee creams, sand
witches and lemonade being disposed of,
dancing was begun on an open air plat
form put up specially fer the purpose, TO
the ravishing music of Opperman's crches-
ira Those who liked inspected the tun-
mel. ! went in as far as | cared to, ink
mess and falling water rendering a sojourn
within anything but pleasant. Perhaps a
brief description of this tunnel, the next to
the largest in the world may not be amiss.
The first record of any movement towards
| tunneling Hoosac mountain was made in
| 1919 ii was weak and feeble and soon
| died. In 1925 the project was revived ard
went so far as to appoint commission &c
report on the feasibility Of 4 canal from
| Boston to the Hudson river. The commits
soners reported in favor Of the route
through Uoosac mountain. But just then
| railroads began to attract attention and SC
| the projectors waited to see if they were
| butter than canals and did not revive the
project until 1Si9. Then the Troy and
Greenfield railroad company was chartered
They agreed to build road from Green
field, through the mountain, TO Troy, the
Estimated cost of the whole being eighty
thousand dollars. The accuracy Of the es
innate is seen when tell you that the tun.
mel alone has cost over fourteen millions Of
dollars. This company soon fizzled ou
and the project lay dormant till 1854 wher
the state Of Massachusetts authorized thu
| Issue or state bonds to the amount of two
millions. The contract was awarded to L
w. Serrell of Philadelphia, who did som,
work on it but finally concluded that tn,
job was too much for him and 80 he an
nullcd the contract.
In 1856 contract was made with II
Haupt 6 Co., to complete the bore 70
four millions of dollars. They WORKED
away until they were bankrupt in 1861 an,
then they succumbed, having used all tn
money and only one-twelfth the work done
In 1869 the state itself took up the enter
prise and appropriated nearly five million
more, and entered into contract wit
Messrs. f. & w. Shanly, of Canada, I
complete the work by March l, 1874
] These men have prosecuted the work will