The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1897-06-04

construct. The main bore viii be TWEEN
ty miles long, and connecting with this
are subsidiary tunnels With a total
length Of thirty miles, So, in reality,
the task that has been put under way
Is that of digging of fiftymile of tunnels,
and every foot of this vast system will
be under Pixies Peak and the noun
tains that tower on each side,
The starting point of the main tun-
mel is at the foot of the mountain
leading up to Pixies Peak near the old
town of Colorado City This point is
but a short distance from the railroad
which spans the country between Colo
RADIO Springs and Manitou. From here
1t runs almost due southwest, The fur
ther end of the tunnel is at the edge Of
the mountains at Four-mile Greek, over
In Fremont County, Col, six miles
south of Cripple Creek, and near the
little town of Sunol, Two gangs of
men, as stated, are working on the tun-
mel, one at each end. Just at present
they are making progress at the rate
of thirty feet a day 1t is believed that
the mammoth task they have under
taken will be completed in seven years
from the first Of the present month.
The main tunnel will pass directly
under the cone of Pixies Peak at a
depth Of nearly 1000 feet and 300 feet
beneath the town of Victor. In aver
age depth from the surface will be
$500 feet, and it is designed to test the
mineral deposits of the territory at
\ ,f,,t,y 90
laterals are contemplated, and these
will pass underneath all the Cripple
Creek district at an average depth of
$500 feet Cripple Creek, Victor, Gill
lette, the various small towns and
thousand mines are to be made tribu-
tary to this vast system of subterran-
can passages. Under present circums-
tances the distance the shortest way
from Colorado Springs to Cripple
Greek is f1fty-four miles. BY way of the
tunnel the two cities will be only six
teen miles apart.
1t Is estimated by the contractors
that the average cost per foot of ex-
cavation will be $780, This makes the
total probable expense of digging the
tunnel and its subsidiary branches
$20,520,000. AN of this sum the tunnel
people expect to crush out of the ore
their workmen will break while eXca-
waiting, or CLEAN from the nuggets
which may fall out of secret pockets so
far below the earth's surface.
Another object of the tunnel which
is of the greatest Importance is the
fact that the whole fifty miles will act
as great drainage system for the
entire mining section of Cripple Creek
and vicinity. Beneath the flooring of
the tunnel IS a concrete waterway four
by four feet, and into this will flow the
water from the countless springs that
honeycombs a great section of the
country. Experts making calculations
on the basis of moisture as afforded by
Cripple Creek experiences, say that the
gain of water will be millions Of inches
for in Colorado water that flows in
bitches, or laterals. as they are called
in irrigation vernacular, is reckoned by
inches, just as if 1t were an addition to
mans nose.
As to the detailed construction of the
tunnel itself, there is nothing that
makes it very dissmilar in appear
ance to the ordinary affair of the sort
that the railroad has made familiar.
It's dimensions will be 14xlS feet in the
clear, making it of sufficient size for
the heaviest and largest freight cars
to pass through it.
The vast system which goes to make
up the tunnel as whole strikes, at
one place or another, not only every
existing mining point in the great
section which it underlies, but it is so
arranged and laid out as to tap almost
any spot that might become mining
centre, although now a comparative
wilderness. The saving Of distance in
the haul Of ore thirty eight inches is
something tremendous. A feature of
the transportation system of the tunnel,
as it is planned, is that electric locomo-
tives will be the power before the
freight trains. The tunnel will, of
course, be lighted by electricity
Louis Globe Democrat