Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1900-04-21
BOPlNGS IN THE ALPS.
YEARS OF LABOR AND MILLIONS or
MONEY REQUIRED.
Spirit of the Age Neither Spares EN-
pense Nor Bnlks at Dimcuifirs IN
saving Time in Trnnsportntion.


,rba-o exceDt in London and Paris, are
there any which appeal to the imagination
I'm the same vivid way. There Is something
uncauny about the enterprise. 1t Is dlp
into the unknown-into that mysterious
repion beneath the streets which has until
now been the domain of the sewer rat ana
of those Unrestricted mortals who go CROP
ing by candle light amid tangtes Oh suo'ef-
ranean pipes and wires
ON the whole the United States. although
1t beats the woroId in many respects. doesn
amount to much as country oil tnhhe's-
The only American tunnel more than d
mile and a quarter long IS the HooSac'
which has a length of four and three-duar-
ter miles. and in which e,builders broke
no records except those for slowness and
expense 1t cost $15.gnO:OGO and took TWEEN
ty-nnr years to build.
The regions in which tunnels grow to the
greatest size are those of the Alps. where
the people point with pride to the Arloers
tunnel SIX and a half miles in length: the
Mont Cents tunnel. seven and quarter
miles: the St Gfpthard. nine and quarter
miles long. and the Simplon, which will be
twelve and a quarter miles long when us
builders get through the mountain
Il was in the middle sos when the people
of France and Italy became tired of cross
ing the Alps mules and resolved TO nave
a tunnel. They set to work in 1891, ana
proceeded to whittle their way into the
heal Is of the everlasting hills with pickaxes
and crowbars. Working both in France
and Italy they could only bore out eiSnl
feet a day. and in some places they could
only bore two feet day Progress was al
most as slow that in the Hoosac tunnel
OF the United States. After humping away
at the living rock for about five years it
occurred to Frenchman named SoInmeiiler
that time could be saved by the use OF ma
chinery. and so he invented drill that
could bore a hole in twenty minutes that
two wOrkmen could not do in two hours.
After that the hole in the mountain pro-
gressed more rapidly. and toward the end
the progress was fourteen feet day The
tunnel begun in 1857 was finished in 1871
Communications between France and Italy
had scarcely been opened when work began
on the ST. GOthard railway. which now con-
meets Italy and Switzerland through the
most Stupenious system of tunnels in the
world. This road although quite short,
cost more than S'2.o".No; II passes
through one Of The most mountainous coun-
tries in the world, crossing fourteen via
ducts. 11J bridges and seventy-nine tunnels.
having total length of nearly thirty miles.
Running southwark from Lucerre the
railroad follows the valley of the Reuss
river. rising gradually as it passes The
Jagged Spannorter and the strangely con-
tnrted glacier of SchloSsberg. Every mile
of progress means ascent The route
lies past The Bristeustnck, the Oberalph
stock and the Crosse Nindgall-mOuntain
over ten thousand feet Highland at last,
when the grade becomes 50 steep that no
train could climb it, the locomotive dives
into the interior of the mountain and be-
gins SPIRAL ascent like the reach of
sprung loop tunnel the train mounts llJ
feet. coming out terrace whore The
ascent is less difficult. and then plgnging
into the WattiugSr loop tunnel, in which ii
ascends seyenty-six feet The route then
turns upon itself and the trains counter
march In long loop to the LiggeStine loop
tunnel. in which they ascend eiShty-two
feet
Presently then the great tunnel OF st.
GOthard is reached and the train clangs
through its nine and a quarter II lies and
int tal
Its way down through the insides OF four
mountains and at last reaching the plains,
more than three Thousand feet below.
A solid mile of earth presses down on the
tunnel of St Gothard and the Kastelhorn
towers six thousand feet above 1t. The tun-
mel passes under the Lake of Sella, and be-
tween the lakes bottom and. the tunnels
roof IS two-thirds of mile of earth and
rocks A thousand feet above the tunnel
there is a village called Audermatt, stand
ing by itself on little lonely plain, and the
pressure OF the earth there was great
that ii smashed the tunnel in twice. and is
only resisted now by arches of masonry
fifteen feet thick at the sides and ten at
thu top 1t took nine and quarter years
to build this tunnel-a year for each mile
and 1t cost 81 $50, 900. With the improved
drills. operated by compressed air and by
draulc pressure. the workmen averaged
fourteen and one-kalf feet a day of prog
TESS
The third great trans-montane tunnel is
the Arlberg. 1t is six and half miles
lGng-almOst as long as The Mont Cents
and Yet II took less than Onc-fOurth as long
10 build. Begun in 1SSO. it was finished in
1ss4. having progressed at the rate of TWEEN
ty-Seven and three-quarter feet day II
connects the province OF Won Ariberg with
the rest of the Austrian Tyrol through the
Ar mountains and facilitates trade between
AUStria-Hungary and France.
But there are other tunnels-about six
hundred in all. One which was built by
Prince TOrlonia. between 1854 and 1876. at
cost of a.st0OOo was on the same route
as one built In the old Roman days by
the Emperor Claudius. He Is said to have
employed 10000 laborcrs upon 1t for eleven
years. the purpose being to drain Lake
Fucino. which, at the time. covered As. 900
acres OF arabic land without giving any re-
turn for the space occupied. Soon after
ward it fell into ruin. and remained useless
until restored and enlarged by Prince Tor
lonia- 1t is three and a half miles long
and in places four hundred feet below the
surface The Babylonians were great tun-
mel builders in their day. one Of their works
being a tunnel under the Euphrates, twelve
feet high and fifteen feet wide.
The French took up tunnel building in
16tb In order to connect their river and
canal system. and built several such tun-
nels within the succeeding two hundred
years. Tunneling for canal purposes was
taken up in England In the middle of the
last century. One of these tunnels. only
twelve feet high. was more than mile and
half long. and narrow boats. were pro-
PEELED through 1t by men who lay on their
backs and pushed with their feet upon the
tunnels roof. The first tunnel in the
United States was built between 1918 and
1s2l, on the Union canal. 1t was 450 feet
long twenty feet high and eighteen feet
wide. and has long since been made into an
open cut
The bOldest tunnel ever projected was
that under the Straits of Dover which
would have been twenty-one miles long
Lord WDlseley declared that it would facii-
itate the invasion of England. and it was.
therefore, abandoned Two Of the most re-
cent tunnels are that under the Thames. at
Blackwell for carriages. and that under
the River Spree. in Germany, for street
cars The Croton aqueduct. thirty-three
miles long. Is one of the most remarkable
engineering feats in the world.
The longest under water tunnel in the
world Is that under the Severn river In
England 1t Is four and half miles long
and was opened In 1855. after twelve years
Of building. Several times there were
breaks. followed by an inflow of water. and
once high tide flowed into the shafts and
swamped the whole tunnel Divers were
employed to close the buIkhead doors
which were 900 feet from the shaft, but
were unable TO drag the rubber pipes so
far. Al last the chief diver volunteered TO
initiate the men who sailed in the submar-
Inc boat OF Jules Eerne'S famous novel.