The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1896-05-15
ABOUT NOTED TUNNELS.
The Mont dc Cents, St. Gothara ana
Others.
From the London Standard

From the London Standard.
One of the most famous tunnels OUTSIDE
the United Kingdom is that Of the Mont
de Gents or Col de Frejus, which has =
length of seven and one-half miles (acfu-
ally 80. $40 feet) through Mont Gents, ana
which connects the provinces OF savoy
and Piedmont. This wonderful under
taking was proposed by NJ. Medath ana
plans for its construction were drawn W
in lS4S; but 1t was not until far into tne
fifties that the plans were approved ana
the undertaking decided on. the late King
Victor Emmanuel Of Italy initiating the
work Of excavation by setting the boring
machinery In motion. on August y, IN.
At first the ordinary method OF piercing
by manual labor was adopted. steam -
ing employed In 1s6u. and compressed ~
afterwards 10 the finish, the boring oetnS
gineers engaged on this gigantic opera
ZION were MN. Grafton. Grandis eae
Sonnveiller, and the total cost OF the wos3
trip was MADE on September i. and occa-
pied forty minutes. and the tunnel ~
formally inaugurated by the 0aSssSy
through of q train Of twenty-five caSEa-
ages IN twenty minutes, on September u.
1871, the regular service commencing og
October II. 1871. In the Ariberg Iuanes
the work was commenced in 1850. and com
H PIE distance being six AND one-tifth miiss
aud the cost tlos per yard. AnoSaes -
NOUS tunnel Is that which passes throuen
the Mont st. Gothard. which 10 the loner
It traverses the center Of Switzerland Ct
height Of 5000 to u, 200 feet above ne
sea. 1t was commenced IN 1SIz. ana 49,
opened in 1882, ten years havlns tnua ~ ~
a very important effect upon the com,
merce between Italy. Switzerland ana
Germany. This TUNE; was o4red 0S.
ress made being thirteen feet per Gay. !.
one of the most famous instances @
subaqueous tunnelling. in the Snite3
Kingdom was that OF me severn a = ~ =
third miles, was commenced m 1SlS, ane
complsted in 1856. Messrs. HawksneH,
Son, Hayter and Richardson peinG "a
sneineers. The bed of the Severn =.
formed principally OF msrls. saadstones
and conglomerates, everything hisniy,,aa IA
clined coal measures, states and sAnu s
stones, which are also expose a a. al, Almost
wholly in the las and coal measure lol.
nations, except at its eastern END, Wness
il passes through gravel Much WASes
was met with througno9a, ana ~ n no
through large land spring on ths s,, MsssI
eide, and which water had 70 pc oiVerssa.
At another time the workings wsrs
hole in the river-bed, and this mole, IL liz
teen by ten feet. had to be filled up WIZ
clay. ind the works completed peneat1
il. The greatest amount excayateu ~
any one week was 100 cubic yards. Az.
other tunnel. though 1t pc only 9Me anr.e
ir length, is that known as the MerseL'
the whole Of the exca ,, nda IA was cot
out by hand labor, as to have used neayy
blasting would have shaken the locs'
The work took six years 10 carry vuss
being opened in 1856, and MeSSrs BrunleeS
and Fox were the engineers. and tns es io ~
cost. including approaches. was =, xoV. 10y.
4 word may be here given TO the nov
neglected and abandoned pES 15saed With
France-a proposal which had It's rise =.
the beginning of this century. puI e
which nothing was done till 1881. tnousa
borings have since been carried on TOT 20 =
distance OF 2,O00 yards beneath the sea
from the Folkestone side, the usual Iese
of progress being hfteen nneal ysos
a day. Beneath the Hudson RIVER erh !.
oueous tunnel now lies drowned. an at.
tempt having been made 10 oriye s,i :
double tarGush b 5nt mus iss when
about a hundred yards had been com.
pieted, the water burst in. ana tWeatsy
men were drowned. and, though the
siderations Of a financial character COM
PEELED their abandonment; Hao 4 oeeo
finished, the tunnel would have osen
mile in Length; n l72s By chess
brough, when he began tunneliinG Pc
meath the Detroit river between CanaoA
I'D Michigan. but which had to be aban.
doned owing to continued interruptions
of water after some 600 yards OF heading
had been driven. Other famous tunnels
are the new Croton Aqueduct tunnel.
which is thirteen feet seven inches IN
width and height. from the Croton dam
to the reservoir in New York. which u
thirty-three and one-ouarter miles IN
length. and was carried out at the rate Of
one and one-Quarter miles per month. all
through rock; the Hoosac. $3.50 feet IN
length; the Nochistonga, q $50 feet IN
Riauiyel, Is. 1928 feet in length; the Nerthe,
Is. 1b3 feet in extent; the Blaizy, I3, 45S feet
long; and the Thames and MedWay, which
runs for a length of 1850 feet. The
CARRYING out of the above tunnels has
been among the grandest engineering tri:
umphs Of the world. Of which those OF
the nineteenth century a yra naye H'eFs tasn