Maryland independent. [volume] (Port Tobacco, Md.) 1874-current, 1896-05-15

The Mont de Cents. ST. Gothard and
others.

From the London Standard.
One of the most famous tunnels outside
the United Kingdom is that Of the Mont
de Gents or Col de Freius, which has a.
length of seven and one-half miles (actu-
ally $3.50 fee) through Mont Gents. and
which connects the provinces of Savoy
and Piedmont. This wonderful Under
taking was proposed by Nj, Medal, and
plans for It's construction We're drawn up
in ISIS; but 1t was not until far into the
iifties that the plans were approved and
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 81. 1857.
AL first the ordinary method Of piercing
by manual labor was adopted. steam be-
ing employed in lS6U, and compressed air
afterwards to the nnisn, The boring being
completed in December, 1871. Inc en-
Gineers engaged on this gigantic opera
tion were MN. GrattonI Grandis and
Sonnveiller, ana the total cost OF The work
was 4. 50g,yJJ. The hrst experimental
trip was made on september 10 ana occu-
pied forty minutes, and the tunnel was
formally inaugurated by the passage
through OF a train of twenty-five carri-
ages IN twenty minutes. on september II,
lsn, the regular service commencing on
October II. is7l. In the Arlbtyg Iunnel
the work was commenced In lS50 and corn-
pleted in little over three years,
The distance being six and one-nlth miles.
and the cost A0s per yard. Another Ia
nous tunnel is that which passes through
the Mont St Gothard. which IS the long
est In the world, being $3.50 feet In lengtn.
1t traveTses the center oil switzerland at
height of 5000 to 1000 feet above the
sea IL was commenced in lai2 and was
opened In 1882, ten years having thus been
occupied in its construction. II has had
very important effect upon the COM
meuce bitWeen Italy, Switzerland and
Germany. This tunnel was bered out
BY means of mechanical drills the prog
ress made being thirteen feet per aay.
One OF the most famous instances of
sunaqueous lunnellihg in the United
Kingdom was that Of the Severn Tunnel.
which runs for u length OF four and one
thru miles, was commenced in 1873. and
completed In 1856. Messrs HawkshaW,
SON. tayJer and Richardson being the
engineers. The bed OF the Severn is
formed principally Of marls, sandstones
and conslomerates, everything highly-in-
eiined coal measures. states and sand
stones, which are also exposed to the bed
OF the river. The tunnel Is made almost
wholly in the las and coal measure Tor
nations, except at It's eastern end, where
IL passes through gravel. Much water
was met with throughout, and in 1873 the
workings were nuo4eG Tor some months
through large land spring on the Welsh
Eide, and which water had TO be diverted.
AT another time the workings were
flooded by water, which burst through a
hole In the riYef-be1, and this hole, Six
teen by ten feet, had TO be filled up with
t. Tie greatest amount eNeayated IN
any one week was 500 cubic yards. An
other tunnel, though it be only one mile
iE length, is that known as the Merseys
the whole Of the excavation in which,
amounting TO $4,000 cubic yards was got
out by hand labor, as TO have used heavy
blasting would have shaken the rock.
The work took six years 10 carry out,
being opened IN 1876, and Messrs. Brunlees
and FOX were the engineers. and the total
cost, including approaches, was Il ~ wy.
A word may be here given to the now
neglected ana ahanuoned projected Cham
mel Tunnel. to connect England with
France-a proposal which had its rise at
tie beginning Of this century. but IN
which nothing WAS done TIL 1851. though
borlngs have since been carried on for
distance OF 1000 yards beneath the sea
from the Folkestone Side, the usual rate
OF progress being fifteen llneal yards
a day Beneath the Hudson river at
New York a partially-eonstruct suba-
queOus tunnel now lies drowned. an at
tempt having been made to drive q
douDie tunnel through the mud aud snt
forming the riyer-bed; but in 1850. when
about a hundred yards had been COM
pleted, the water burst IN. and twenty
men were drowned. and though the
works were afterwards resumed, the con-
riderations Of a financial character COM
PEELED their Abandonment, Had Il been
finished, the tunnel would have been q
mile IN length. Another abandoned
tunnel is that commenced in l72S by Cheese
brough when he began tunneiling be-
meath the Detroit river between Canada
and Michigan. but which had to be aban-
doned owing 10 continued Interruptions
Of water after some coo yards Of heading
had been driven, Other famous tunnels
are the new Croton Aqueduct tunnel,
which ia thirteen feet seven inches IN
width and height. from The Croton dam
to the reservoir in New York. which Il
thirty-three and one-Quarter miles IN
length, and WAS carried out az the rate OF
one and oue-quarter miles per month, all
through rock; the Hoosnc, rs o60 feet IN
length, the Nochiztonga, p $50 feet in
lenEth the Sulro, "a 100 feet long the
ltiQulyel, is ca feet IN length; the Nfrthe,
1918 feet III extent; the Alnixyi 1a,a65 feet
long; and the Thames and Midway which
runs for q length OF llssQ feet The
carrying out Of the above tunnels has
been among the ErunQeet engineering tri-
umphs OF rho world. 81 which thpae Of
the nineteenth century have more than
passing reason 70 be proud.