Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1882-06-29
ST. sOTHARO's TUNNEL.



1t was after a series of diplomatic
disputes which very nearly FASTENED
ny tweivemonth the out break Of the
Eranco-Serman war, that this porten-
tous work Of the st. Gothard railway
was undert lken, and after a little less
than ten years exertions brought to a
happy termination; and it is quite GER
TAIL that 1t Is 70 the influence of the
genius Of Cavour and OF the strong
Will and good fortune of Bismarck
that we are indebted-to the first, for
It's Initiative; to the latter, for its ac-
complement; for the work would not
have been undertaken unless Italy had
engaged to bear more than half the ex-
pense. and it would not have been per.
severed in had not Bismarck got the
best OF Swiss discussions and of Aus
trian and French opposition. BY such
marvellous chains Of events are mans
designs ultimately matured. There is,
however, also no doubt that in point of
magnitude, usefulness, and importance,
the st. GJthard surpasses all the rival
lines. The Semmering and the Bren-
ner strike across the chain at attitudes
hardly higher than those of the
ApeDnines at Genoa, or OF the Mari
time Alps at Savona, and their tunnels
are considerably shorter, the longest in
the Bremen being only 885 meters.
The St GOthard tunnel is II, ga meters
in length; the Mont Cents only IL, 233
meters. Besides the great tunnel, the
St. Gothard has ffty-three other tun-
nels, making up with it covered way
Of 40,7l6 meters. The Semmerinp has
only fifteen tunnels, with an aggregate
Of 4, 469 meters, the Bremen twenty.
seven tunnels.
The geographical advantages of the
st. Gothard line more than make up
for the heavy cost $4,000, 900 francs
or R9,50O,0OO) that its construction en-
tailed. The huge mass of the St.
GothaId constitutes the center of the
long circular chain that encompasses
the north of Italy. From its four
sides flow four of the greatest Alpine
streams, two of which, the Rhine and
3he RhOne, take from their sources a
winding course, the Rhine eastward
and the RhOne westward; while the
two others, the Reuss and the Ticino,
run in straight line away from one
another, the one north, the other south
"a straight line which is prolonged on
the north to the Rhine at Bale, from
Bale to Cologne and to the sands of
the North sea; on the south to the
Lakes Maggiore and Como, to Milan,
to Pavia, to the Mediterranean at
Genoa The st. GOthard railway makes
thus virtually the "proud city" of Italy
German port in the Mediterranean,
just as the Bremen and Semmering
have made Venice and Trieste German
ports In the Adriatic.
But the fact that the st. GOthard is
the straightest, consequently the short
est, route across the Alpine chain, must
insure it for all the purposes of trade
and intercourse the preference, not on.
ly Of the Rhenish regions Immediately
TO the north Of 1t, but also Of large
territory of western Germany and
eastern France, as we'll as all Belgium
and Holland, and the north.
Indeed, for travellers bound to Genoa
from Paris or London, from Dresden
or Munich, it may be proved that the
St Gothard route is shorter than either
the Mont Cents or the Bremen. For
from Paris to Bale and Lucerne the
distance is only 379 miles, which could
comfortably be travelled over in -
hours at the rate of 81 miles an hour
while the Mont Cents route is journey
Of 349 miles to Culoz, $50 to Montmeil-
Ian, All to MOdane, and sol to Turin.
The BIenner route, which is also
straight from north to south, along the
Tyrol from Innsbruck to Verona, is on
ly 165 miles in length; but Innsbruck
is 100 milee from Munich, and the lines
from Munich to Stuttgart, Frankfort,
Salzburg. Prague. and other cities are
so crooked that even for travellers
bound from any part of Germany to
the Adriatic, the st. GOthard line will
be by at least three or four hours short
or than the Bremen route. The Bren-
ner will be found longer still for trav-
elers having to thread their way to the
Mediterranean from Verona to Genoa.
But, independently Of shortness or
cheapness, the st. Gothard route will
always be recommendable on the score
Of beauty, for it has at all times been
considered the most picturesque of all
/. Alpine passes. The st. Gothard rail-
way takes its start from the finest Of
J all swiss lakes, that Of the Four Can
tons at Lucerne; it travels along the
Bay of Uri to Fluelen, in sight Of the
most sublime mountain scenery In the
world; and it ends at the Lakes Mag
giore, Lugano, Varese, and Como, that
group OF italian lakes which surpass Ia
loneliness all other lakes, and to the
q -
parable In Italy-in what has been en-
phatically called the 'land Of beauty
1t Is true that the DEVILS bridge,
the Urner Loeb, the romantic Urseren
Thai, and the other awful wonders Of
the upper range of the pass, will re-
main invisible to the traveller, lying
1000 or 5000 feet right above his
head as he travels through the tunnel.
But he stills ascends long track OF
the valley of the Reuss, the narrowest,