Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1897-05-28
Pixies Peaks Great Tunnel.

Two gangs of workmen have just begun
digging in Colorado the longest tunnel
which man ever attempted to construct.
The main bore will be twenty 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 fifty miles OF
tunnels, and every foot of this vast system
will be under the Pixies Peak and the
mountains that tower on each side.
The starting point of the main tunnel is
at the foot of the mountain leading up 10
Pixies Peak, near the old town of Colorado
City. This point is but a short distance
from the railroads which span the country
between Colorado Springs and Manitou.
From here it runs almost due southwest.
The further end of the tunnel is at the edge
of the mountains at Fourmile Creek, over
in Fremont County, Col, six miles south
of Cripple Greek, and near the little town
Of Sunol Two gangs of men, as stated,
are working on the tunnel, one at each end.
Just at present they are making progress
at the rate of thirty feet day. 1t is be-
lieved that the mammoth task they have
undertaken will be completed in seven
years.
The main tunnel will pass directly under
| ly 1000 feet, and 200 feet beneath the town
Of Victor. Its average depth from the sur
face will be $500 feet, and it is designed to
test the mineral deposits Of the territory at
these great depths. Thirty miles of lat
erals are contemplated, and these will pass
underneath all the Cripple Creek district
at an average depth of $500 feet Cripple
| Creek, Victor, Gillette, the various small
towns and a thousand mines are to be made
tributary to this vast system of subter-
ranean passages. Under present circum-
stances the distance-the shortest way
from Colorado Springs to Cripple Greek is
fifty-four miles. BY way of the tunnel the
two cities will be only sixteen miles apart.
II is estimated by the contractors that
the average cost per foot of excavation will
be $50. This makes the total probable ex-
pense of digging the tunnel and its subs-
diary branches S20,520,000. All of this
sum the tunnel people expect to crush out
of the ore their workmen will break while
excavating, 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 a great drain
age system for the entire mining section Of
OTpple OTcek duu vicinity DcuCaSh OiS
flooring of the tunnel is concrete water
way four by four feet, and into this will
flow the water from the countless springs
that honeycomb great section of the coun-
try. The tunnel will be l4XlS 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 a whole strikes, al one place
or another, not only every existing mining
point in the great section which it under
lies, but it is so arranged and laid out as &c
tap almost any spot that might become a
mining centre, although now comparative
wilderness. The saving of distance in the
haul of ore thirty-eight miles is something
tremendous. A feature of the transporta
ton system of the tunnel, as it is planned
is that electric locomotives will be tn,
power before the freight trains. The tun'
mel will, of course, be lighted by electricity
ST Louis Globe Democrat.