Spirit of Jefferson. [volume] (Charles Town, Va. [W. Va.]) 1844-1948, 1893-08-29
improvements ny the 3. g O.
at HarPer's Ferry.

contains very interesting account
of the improvements being made by
the B. & o. R. R. at Harper's Ferry.
After noting the causes necessitatipg
these Improvements, the san says:
The improvements hogan Mt Sandy
Hook, mile cast Of Harper's Ferry,
by eIevating the track from that
point to the tunnel, at which the
track is eight feet above its old lev
Ell. The drilling of the tunnel was
begun at both ends at the same time.
The engineers met with a great deal
of difficulty in getting their lines for
this work. The mountain was mac
cessible for that purpose on the west
side and they had to trianguIate half
a mile up the river. In drilling the
tunnel a small hole about seven feet
in diameter was first made. This
was called heading. These headings
are made small as a matter of econo-
my, it being necessary to drive the
drill into the rock horizontally and
blast out. This is slow work.
AS soon as the headings were far
enough advanced, work on the
benches or the lower part of the rock
which had to be taken out was begun,
the headings having given room to
drive the drill horizontally, so that
much larger masses of rock conld be
blasted out. The headings were he
gun December 1, and blasting on the
| benches began a month later. The
headings met on the goth of July last,
being just one-half an inch out of
line. This is considered something
remarkable in the way of engineer
ling. The benches were all out on
the 10th of this month, and the blast
ing now going on is only TO trim up
the rough places in the tunnel and to
make ready for the east and west
portals, which will be of masonry.
4 topped out with brick arches. The
tunnel will he $50 feet long, % feet
wide and 243 feet high. Over 90.
600 cubic yards of rock were taser
out of The tunel and 5000 cubic
yards were blasted out in making th'
approaches.
Work on the bridge piers was begun
early in August, and these are now
practically completed. There are
eight of these piers and two abut
ments, They are 30 feet high above
water and stand on four-foo
foundations laid on bed rock. II
all there are about ca, 000cubic yards
of masonry in the piers and abut
ments, all of which are of Gettysburg
granite, laid in cement. The bridge
when completed will be 43 feet above
the bed of the river, and the railroad
tracks will be feet higher than thu
highest water ever known in the Pc
tomac.
The old bridge formed Y, thu
Valley Road going straight across
and the main road branching off,
The new bridge will also form Y
but the order will be reversed. anC
the main tracks will be straight, the
tracks of the Valley road branching
off from them. The bridge will b.
nearly 500 feet long between abut
ments. There will he three through
spans of 140 feet each, four girde
or deck spans of 500 each, one o
100 feet and one of 80 feet. The iroI
work of the through spans extend:
upward from the piers and the decI
spans are below the level of thu
track.
To make room for the new work
the railroad station had to be moved
down about 100 feet, and the old Pc
tomac House, which was almost a
much of landmark as John Browns
Fort, had to be torn down. Whel
the work is completed, the old sta
ton will be torn away and a nev
stone station of handsome architec
tural design will replace it.
After crossing the river from til,
east, the road makes a curve to tn
J right until it strikes the foot of thu
J bluffs on the West Virginia side
thus avoiding the old trestle worI
running for nearly mile up tn
river, aud which has proved very ex
pensive TO maintain. The new lint
will he or an emhankment made o
stone and will pass within 80 feet o
the site of the Old John Brown Fort
and through the armory yard for l +,
500 feet. 1t will then follow the foo
of the bluff until it strikes the main
line of the road at Island Park. Tn
bluff en- the West Virginia side hat
to he cut away in places to q heigh
of so feet to make room for the road
In doing this over 50,000 cubic yard
OF stone were eXcavatcd.
In order to make connection from
the bridge to the Valley road it wa
necessary to build new trestIeworI
twenty feet high for 1000 fee
Iand maintain tue traffic of the roar
at the same time. This was done b,
raising the trestIe six inches at
time. The new trestIework is eigh
I feet higher than the old.
Several changes in the streets ant
= roads were required by the improve
, mcnts. Tie county road which RAJ
r along the Maryland side from a poin
near Sandy Hook, paraIIeIled will
, and at the same height as the rail
road tracks, has Iieen changed so a.
to cross above grade ut the east ent
of the tunnel and below grade at tn,
west end. In doing this the ront
was raised thirty-fiye feet at til
east end and was cut down five fee
at the west end of tile tunnel Poto
mac street at Harper's Ferry, whicl
runs parallel with the river, has bee
raised four fncf for "a 6irfapno n