The Red Cloud chief., 1882-01-19
The ~. Go.hari Tunnel.


heat of an oven and the clanmy chill
of n wet morning in late October. be-
side being thickly impregn1;ei with
The smell OF exploded dynamite and the
greasy. ~sickening smoke from innumer-
able oil lamps OF the most primitive
construction; in addition, No slight per
centage Of danger from being crushed
BY passing trains or single trucks loaded
with building material or debris. knock
ed in the head by the pick Of ZONE Wig
orouS workman. unseen and unsceiny.
in the gloom, or Drained BY \ stone
from the archad roof. looSenei by an
! explosion of dynamite IN the floor be-
low-such are the necessary expert
ences TO be gone through BY n ind
viduai DESTROYS of obtaining a thorough
knowledge of the present condition OF
this most gigantic enterprise.
On arriving in the Alpine VILLAGE II
Goschenen the traveller who has visited
the Western frontier districts of America
will be struck with the resemblance of
this place to the settlements in the
Western wilds which are just beginning
To assume the garb of civilization.
Regularly-built stone houses and hotels
are surrounded by wooden shaniies of
simple, unplaned board construction.
with the interiors fitted with
rough tables, benches and sleep
ing hunks for the accommo-
dation of the workmen in the
Swiss end of the tunnel. The cngi-
necr's Office of the tunnel division i a
small. barren-looking room, in which |
found Monsieur ZollInger, in charge of
this portion of the line, who not only
readily acceded TO M request 10 visit
the tunnel, but volunteered To take me
with him on his Tour OF inspection,
which he repeats four times per week.
AT two p. m. | was shown into n grimy
room conta ming Il bench. rough wash
stand and 4 grating. behind which \
stock of dingy clothing was banging.
THIS was the .drcssing-room." where
necessary preparations are made before
entering the yawning mouth o! the
tunnel. had put on my long war
boots, and with a waterproof coat con-
sidered myself c~api;a!ly equipped
for any subterranean exploration. To
my surprise NJ. ZOllinger directed me
to dof nv waterproof ~ well as my
coat, felt hat and tie. NJ. Zollingcr
himself donned a rough garb. and then
needed his spectacleS TO even family
distinguish him from any ordinary
NAVY. With Il greasy cap and well
oiled and tarrcd blue linen blouse. |
mounted the little locomotive, which
was to transpOrt our train To- the point
where the compressed air locomotive
would relieve il. As wcScrambled into
the corners of the dirty machine. l
could mo- help contrasting NJ. collin
gers equipment and means of making
his rounds of inspection with
would have sportcd in like
circumstances. The latter would have
invented n natty dress, suitable for the
work, yet readily di~stinguishable from
tho workmen's garb; then he would
have hal a light steel hani-car. with
cushioned seats for three persons and
cranks for two men To work the ma
chine behind him. This car could be
easily lifted Off and on the track when
trains were encountered, and the cngI-
neer would have made his rounds in
one-quarter the time and with one tenth
the physical wear and tear of the St.
Gothard member of the fraternity.
The tunnel is perfectly straight from
end TO end, and the engineers met each
other SO accurately that their center
lines were within a hands breadth Of
an exact coincidence. As the hca lings
approached each other. the explosions
of dynamite were distinctly audible
through nearly 400 meters U,325 feet
of intervening rock. The total length
is fifteen kilometerS (ninc and one third
miles). The grade ascendS uniformly
from G~Oschencn to the summit of the
tunnel. which is l,lji meters above the
| sea level, and forty-five meters IiS4
feet above G~Oschenen; while it is only
nine meters above the mouth at Airolo.
The ascent from GOschenen to the sum-
nit is j.S2 per cent, while the descent
to AirOlO is l.25 per cent. The summit
of the tunnel is 900 meters $3.50 feet
below the surface at Andermatt. and
1000 meters (6,600 feet bcncathth h
peak of kastelhorn. of the st. Gotharl
group. This tunnel summit is
l,1ji meters. the Mont Gents
Tunnel summit is 1883 meters. and
the Pacific Railway summit is 2.jl3
meters above the sea level. There are
no air shafts in the st. Gothard Tunnel.
the two entrances being the only open
ings- When the mechanical operations
cease inside, and the many existing OBJ
structiOns to a free passage of air, such
as scaffoldinyS. heaps of debris aud I'M
finished parts neal the center, are done
away with. there will be nothing I'M
pleasant in the passage through this
tremendous tunnel, which is 400
meters Zone and five-eighths of n mile)
longer than that through Mont Gems.
The engineers assert that the tunnel
will be ready for traffic by the lst OF
January next, although the whole line
from Lucerne to Biasca will not be
! opened until next July. Although this
! great enterprise is successfully APP
preaching completion, and that is the
best evidence of good management,
there is 0 for some improvement in
what may be called the niceties of con.
struction. The means of access to the
tunnel could be advantageously i'm
proved. There is too much delay in
getting the shifts of men TO their work.
much valuable time being lost at the
points where they have to change trains.
Another thing struck me as being desir.
able. There was certain absence o.
clearing up the completed portions Of
the tunnel, and this. OF course. neccs-
states needless expense in sending
gangs of men to places where there
should be nothing to do. There il
nothing to prevent ballasting being
finished wherever the tunnel ia com
| pleted. and the temporary track. trans
ferred to this improved surface, would
be much safer, and fewer accidents.
with consequent loss OF life. and money,
would occur. There is also an absence
ofscientitic methods of fighting the great
passage. Money would have been saved
BY a more general system of illumina-
ton. In fact. the general impression
made upon a foreign professional mind
is that of main strength and awkward
ness TO n greater extent than one
would expect to find in this highly in
ventive and suggestive age. There IL
no doubt in my mind that 4 large ma
jority of the cases OF injury to the en-
ployees has been due II the absence of
a general system of lighting the tunnel.
and OF those scientific details en-