Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1888-01-18
NO. Is
TUNNELING THE ALPS.
The Latest Move in the Commercial War
fare of france and Germany.

The Latest Move in the Commercial War
fare of France and Germany.
Northern and Western Europe were
formerly shut off so completely from
Italy by the great mountain barrier of
the Alps that the passage of this barrier
by great number of men, as in the
campaigns of Hannibal and Napoleon
Bonaparte, become most memorable
events. The Romans, having finally
opened road over the Alps, dedicated
it with rejoicing to Jupiter Penninus,
and built a temple at the summit.
Where the temple was built the famous
monastery of St. Bernard has since been
erected, but the Romans road is now
practicable only for mules. The Sep
timer was another pass frequented by
the Romans, but only footpath leads
across it now.
The magnificent carriage roads built
early in this century over the Alps
crossed at more practicable passes than
were known to the Romans, notably at
st. Gotthard. Napoleon built two great
roads over the Mount Cenis and Simp-
Ion passes, the first of which lies be-
tween France and Italy, and the second
between Switzerland and Italy. But
these international carriage roads, in
an age when Europe was covered with
railroads, were unequal to the demands
of commerce. Switzerland to the north
of the Alps, became criss-crossed with
railways, but the country was like
blind alley, which no one could get out
of.
France, the country which built the
Suez Canal, saw the necessity of rail-
roads to reach the peninsula of Italy,
where the traffic of the East might be
deposited by steamers coming through
the canal But the railway could only
be built by the aid of great tunnel
beneath the Alps. The work was most
formidable, but it was at last con-
structed by an enterprising Frenchman,
with public assistance, and in the year
1871 the tunnel under Mont Gents, forty
thousand and ninety-two feet long, and
ascending at its summit to a height four
thousand three hundred and eighty feet
above the sea level was opened. This
was at the nearest of the great passes
to the Mediterranean Sea, and the tun-
mel threw the traffic of the East and Of
ltaiF into the lap of France, except such
as passed through Austria.
This set Germany at work to dig a
great tunnel through which her road to
Italy should lie. The Germans Joined
with Italy and Switzerland in the work
of constructing a still greater tunnel
under the pass of St. Gotthard. and
within eleven years of the opening of
the Mont Gents route, the ST. Gotthard
tunnel, the wonder of the world, was
opened. 1t is great hole, nearly ten
miles long, through the rock of the
main chain of the Alps
The opening OF the St Gotthard had
the effect which the Germans had hoped
for. The greater portion of the traffic
through the Suez Canal, which the
Mediterranean steamers left at the
nearest port in Italy, followed the rail-
way to Central Europe by the shortest
road, which is now through the St
Gotthard. The French now find them
selves under the necessity of opening
still shorter route for Europe, if they
hope to gain this rich trade, and they
have set about the work.
Between the St. Gotthard and the,
Mont Gents there is another pass, the
Simplon, which offers shorter road
than either. It was the French who
first sent locomotive through the
pierced side of the Alps, and they do
not care to give up the contest now.
Though great tunnel can now be cut
more cheaply than ever before, on ae-
count of the experience gained, the
Simplon tunnel will cost at least
eighteen million dollars to build. One.
third of this sum has been subscribed
by the Italian and Swiss governments.
and the provinces and cantons inter-
ested, and the rest borrowed from cap
italists of Paris. The arrangements
have been completed, and the first
stroke of the pick-axe will be soon
struck.
When the Simplon tunnel shall have.
been completed this peaceful warfare,
between two great nations, France and
Germany. will have penetrated the
Alps with three great railways, through
which all the commerce of the world
could be carried where. at the begin
ming of the century, there was not even
an international carriage road.
How happy would be the world if the
rivalries of nations resulted in no other
warfare than that of commercial and
engineering enterprise Youths Gone
pafslon.