The record-union., 1896-05-11
SOME FAMOUS TUNNELS.

SOME FAMOUS TUNNELS.
That of Mont St. Gothard the Longest
in the World.
One of the most famous tunnels out
side the United Kingdom is that of the
Mont de Cents or Col de Frejus, which
has length of seven and one-half miles
(actually 39,S40 feeD through Mont
Gents, and which connects the provinces
of Savoy and Piedmont This wonder
full undertaking was proposed by NJ
Medal, and plans for its construction
were drawn UP in 1S4S, but it was not
until far into the fifties that the plans
were approved and the undertaking de-
cided on, the late King Victor Emman-
uel of Italy initiating the work or eN-
cavatiOn by setting the boring machln-
cry in motion on August 81, IooI AT
first the ordinary method or piercing
by manual labor was adopted, steam
being employed in 1860 and compressed
air afterwards to the finish, the boring
being completed in December, IoO. Inc
engineers engaged on this gigantic op-
Grafton were NM. Grattoni, Grandls
and Sonnveiller, and the total cost or
the work was f2,60O,OOO. The first ex-
perimental trial trip was made on sep
tember 18th, and occupied forty MN
utes, and the tunnel was formally in
augurated by the passage through OF
train of twenty-five carriages In
twenty minutes on September IL, 1871,
the regular service commencing on DC
tober IL, 1871. In the Arlbeg tunnel the
work was commenced in 1881 and COM
pleted in a little over three years, the
distance being six and one-fifth miles
and the cost f10S per yard. Another
famous tunnel is that which passes
through the Mont ST. Gothard, which
is the longest in the world, being ~
$40 feet in length. 1t traverses the Cen
ter Of Switzerland at a hight of from
5000 to $4,000 feet above the sea. 1t
was commenced in 1872 and was opened
in 1882, ten years having thus been oc-
cupied in it's construction. It has had
a very important effect upon the COM
merce between Italy, Switzerland and
Germany. This tunnel was bored out
by means of mechanical drills, the pro-
gress made being thirteen feet per day
One of the most famous instances OF
subaqueous tunneling in the United
Kingdom was that Of the Severn Tun-
mel, which runs for a length of four
and one-third miles, was commenced
in 1873, and completed in 1886, Messrs.
Hawkshaw, Son, Hayter and Richard
son being the engineers. The bed Of the
Severn is formed principally of marls,
sandstones and conglomerates, overly
ing highly inclined coal measures,
states and sandstones, which are also
exposed to the bed of the river. The
tunnel is made almost wholly in the
las and coal measure formations, ex
cept at It's eastern end, where it passes
through gravel. Much water was met
with throughout, and in 1879 the work
ings were flooded for some months
through large land spring on the
Welsh side, and which water had to be
diverted. At another time the workings
were flooded by water, which burst
through hole in the riverbed, and
this hole. sixteen feet by ten feet had
to be filled up with clay, and the works
completed beneath it. The greatest
amount excavated in any one week was
5000 cubic yards. Another tunnel,
though it be only one mile in length, is
that knowE as the Mersey, the whole of
the excavation in which, amounting to
32O, 600 cubic yards, was got out by
hand labor, as to have used heavy
blasting would have shaken the rock.
The work took six years to carry out,
being opened in 1886, and Messrs.
Brumlees and Fox were the engineers,
and the total cost, including ap-
proaches, was FL, 100000.
A word may be here given to the now
neglected and abandoned projected
Channel tunnel to connect England
with France-a proposal which had it's
rise at the beginning of this century,
but in which nothing was done till 1881,
though borings have since been carried
on for a distance of 1000 yards be-
meath the sea from the Folkestone side,
the usual rate Of progress being fifteen
lineal yards day. Beneath the Hud-
son River at New York a partially
constructed subaQueous tunnel now lies
drowned, an attempt having been made
to drive double tunnel through the
mud and silt forming the river-bed;
but in 1880, when about a hundred
yards had been completed, the water
burst in, and twenty men were drowned
and though the works were afterwards
resumed, considerations of a financial
character compelled their abandon
ment. Had it been finished the tunnel
would have been mile in length. An
other abandoned tunnel is that COM
menced in 1872 by Chesebrough, when
he began tunneling beneath the De-
troit River between Canada and Michi-
gan, but which had to be abandoned ow-
ing to continued irruptions of water
after some 600 yards of headings had
been driven. Other famoue tunnels are
the Croton Aqueduct tunnel, which is
13 feet inches in width and hight, from
the Croton dam to the reservoir in New
York, which is thirty-three and one
quarter miles in length, and was car
ried out at the rate of one and one
quarter miles per month, all
through rock; the Hoosac, 25,0S0 feet
in length; the Nochistongo, 1859 feet
in length; the Sutro, q, 12O feet long;
the Riquivel, 1863 feet in length; the