The Bolivar bulletin. [volume] (Bolivar, Hardeman County, Tenn.) 1865-1888, 1878-07-25
TIE SUTRO TUNNEL.
Boring IA Hole RO.I7O Feet Long. 1900
Feet ReIOw the Surface Of the Earth

Boring IA Hole RO.IzO Feet Long. 1900
Feet ReIOw the Surface Of the Earth
The news came from San Francisco
that a connection was made between the
SutFo tunnel and the / 800 foot level of
the Savage mine, when "s strong draft
of air at once poured into the mine"
and "Gen. Sutro entering the Savage
works from the tunnel, a general jolli~
iCaJiOn ensued."
The object of this remarkable engi-
neeFing work is to facilitate mining op-
erations on the COmstock lode, when the
miners have reached q depth of from
LOCO to $500 feet.
THE EXPENSE OF PUMPING
Up the water from such depth is ener-
mous-from 50 000,0O to S3,000,000 a
year is the estimate; besides, work is
difficult in an atmosphere of from nine
ty-fiVe to one hundred and twenty de-
grees, where the wafer is often st a tenn
perature of one hundred and sixty de-
grees. In some places miners can only
handle the pick for FIVE minutes at q
time, having then to retre9t to the "coOi-
ing places" into which compressed air is
introduced, 30 that it often takes three
or four men 70 keep One pick going. A
recent item set down the daily
consumption of ice per man
in some parts Of these mines at
ninety-six pounds. The aim of the
Sutro tunnel was TO create, as it were, q
new surface and new point of depart
urs, nearly 1900 feet below the surface
of the ground. To this depth the natu-
Ial fow of the water will drain the mine
It is in contemplation TO make the mo-
tive force of the water falling from above
pump up that gathered below, the whole
being discharged st the tunnel level.
Further, the tunnel will veutilate the
mines up through the shafts, thus enabling
the men to do more work at less expense
Again, wire rope transportation with
double track will convey the ore, etc, to
the surface with infinitely greater ease
and less cost than It could be hoisted to
the top of the shaft Lastly, the Carson
river flows near the mouth of the tunnel,
and, having a considerable fall, its power
will be used to compress air to be sent
into all the mines to cool the atmosphere
and propel machinery.
The cost of hosting aud transporting
to the mills at Virginia City of the 800
tons of ore daily produced by the Com
stock lode Is placed at 81 500; the tun-
mel company claims that it can deliver
the same ore at the mouth of the tunnel,
THE TOWN OF sUTRO,
Lyon Co., New, at an expense Of $3.50,
thus making the new town a rival or
rather the successor to Virginia. With
there advantages, it will be possible to
take out low grade ore, that now it does
not pay TO extract, long alter the
bOnaDkas have been exhausted.
The Sutro tunnel company has, under
act of congress, a right to charge - a
ton for all ore extracted from sll the mines
after its completion, which, with the
other sources eff revenue indicated
above, should secure s handsome profit
for its shareholders, who further own a
5000 acre tract at the mouth of the
tunnel, where town Is to be built and
works will be erected. The came act OF
congress also gives them ali the mines
previously owned for distance of > 600
feet on each aide of the tunnel for seven
miles In length. A dozen or more quartz
lOdes, some showing assays of from - to
$40 a ton, are cut by the tunnel, but
will not be worked till its main object
has been accomplished.
1t Is now about
RIGHT YEARS SINCE
work was begun at the mouth OF the
tunnel in the valley of the Carssn,
which stream washes the eastern base Of
the Washee range. II is
DOUBLE-TRACKED, STRAIGHT As AN
ARROW
| N its cOurse-indeed from its extremity
| the faint star of light st its entrance can
| be seen. The rise Il Just sufficient for
drainage; thTee air shafts insure ven
| tilation. To be precise, ground was
broken October 19, 1869, with the
] limited means-indeed it WAS some time
| ere machinery WIS introduced to do the
| boring. The total length of the tunnel
| according TO the chart is 20, ,170 feet. OF
| 90 miles and 123 yards. The cost 70
| August 1877, including all auxilisries,
was g $50, ,697 % (PTobsbly $4,000 has
, since been expended on the work, and il
will cost $500, 900 to complete the track
| and means of transportation, 20 that
altogether an outlay OF from 50, $50, ,00O
! to $4,000, 900 will have been incurred
when the work is finished.
Though this tunnel has been claimed
| to be the longest in the world, 1t shrinks
| into insignifcauce when compared with
the ROthschOnberger Adit, to conduct
! the water from the Freiberg mines 70
| Rothschonberg, on the Elbe, near Beis
| sen. Work was begun on this Adit in
| the last months of 1874 its length, with
! its branches is rather more than thirty
one and a halt English miles, but it is
necessarily of a smaller size, having a
uniform height of 9 81 feet by width
| soOoevhat less