The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1878-01-24
The H00sac Tunnel.

This tunnel, near North Adams,
Mass, which was completed some time
ago as far as to admit the passage ,ef
trains, was found to need an extension
at the east end in order to prevent the
downfall of the rocks upon the track
from the cliff at that end of the tunnel.
This facade and buttress have just been
completed, and the tunnel and track
are pronounced in prime order, and
ready for all the business which may
seek to pass through the great bore,
The artificial facade is constructed of
granite, some of the blocks weighing
from four to five tons EACH The arch
extension is about twenty-five feet, and
the facade about sixty feet long by forty
feet high. ID
The Springfield Republican says;
"Only one track is laid at present in
the tunnel. The trains are run by tele2
graph, passenger trains being allowed
ten and freight twenty minutes to pass
Three lights, equidistant, are affixed tn
the sides of the tunnel, dividing the
distance into four sections. The lights
are for the purpose of enabling the
engineers to regulate their speed, and
they are required to maintain uni
form gait the whole distance. At the
central shaft two lights are displayedi
to indicate when the summit is reached
and the grade declines, which it does
each way to afford drainage, being
sixty feet lower at each portal than at
the central shaft. As the trains plunge
into the impenetrable darkness the
time is recorded, and again when they
emerge, by operators situated at either
end of the tunnel, and forwarded to the
general dispatcher at North Adams.
The passage seldom varies a minute.
The tunnel is never occupied by two
trains at the same time, and no train is
allowed to enter until the preceding
train has made the exit. No equal
distance of the road outside is traversed
with so uniform speed, nor with so,
much safety, the track, which cannot,
be excclled, being perfectly straight.
The roof of the tunnel is considered
perfectly safe, not piece the size of a
walnut having been detached for a
year, and about mile and one-third of
brick arching having been built to sus-
tain all doubtful localities, in sections
from ten feet upward. Still, the roof
is under constant examination by men
on top of an elevated carriage, which
is propelled along the road. Admit
tance to visitors is strictly denied. Oc-
casionally the tunnel is so free from
fog and smoke that, standing at the
central shaft, daylight can be discerned
at both portals. showing about ten feet
in diameter, but usually light can be
discovered in only one direction, that
from which the wind comes, the cur
rent driving the smoke before it up the
shaft, and leaving the other half of the
tunnel motionless and usually dense
with smoke and fog A floor COM
posed of oak, fourteen inches thick, let
into grooves cut into the rock on a
steep incline, prevents any pieces de-
tached from the sides of the shaft from
falling on to the track. At the summit
of the mountain the opening OF the
shaft is inclosed by stone wall twenty
feet high.
Subsidiary to the great Hoosac Tun-
mel is that of North Adams, nearly two
miles west of the former. This work,
too, has just been completed. This is
described as a skew arch, and the work
is spiral; the abutments are parallel,
but not at right angles, crossing the
road diagonally. The stones are
dressed spirally, and three or four pat
terms to each individual block had to
be furnished the cutters, and no two
stones are alike. The continuation of
the tunnel is sixty-fve feet in diameter,
twenty-six feet inside of the completed
work, with plain facade of forty feet
high and fifty feet long, and immense
wing walls; the coping is surmounted
with an iron sidewalk and fence seventy
five feet long. This structure is sub
stitute for the dangerous old Furnace
Hill hridne Scientific Ill1e1,iCnn