, 1900-06-22
FAMOUS TUNNELS.
EORINOS WHICH TOOK YEARS
TO COMPLETE.
Millions of Money and Years of Labor
Required to Build Them A Tunnel
Twelve Miles Long-In the AlFs OF
Switzerland =.

4 task upon which years Of labor
and millions of money are expended
but which when completed saves a
vast expenditure of time and wealth
is that of tunneling. The spirit of the
age is progress and NJ ther spares ex-
penses nor stops at difficulties in saw
ing time in transportation, and tun-
nels, as much as anything else, work
to this end.
The United States doesn't amount
to much as a country of tunnels.
The only American tunnel more than
a mile and a quarter long is the
HoosaC, which has a length of four and
three-quarters miles. and in fact the
builders. broke no records except those
for slowness and expense. 1t cost S15,-
900. 600 and took q 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 Arlberg tunnel, six and
a half miles in length: the Mount
Gents tunnel. seven and a quarter
miles; the st. Gothard, nine and a
quarter miles long. and the Simklon,
which will be twelve and a quarter
miles long when its builders are
through the mountain.
It was in the middle of the sos
when the people of France and Italy
became tired of crossing the Alps on
mules and resolved to have a tunnel.
They set to work in 1857, and pro-
Ceeded to white their way into the
hearts of the everlasting hills with
pickaXes and crowbars. Working both
in France and Italy they could only
bore out eight feet a day. Progress
was almost as slow as 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 Sommeiller
that time could be saved by the use
of machinery. and so he invented a
drill that could bore a hole in 20 min
utes that two workmen could not do
in two hours. After that the hole in
the mountain progressed more rapidly,
and toward the end the progress was
IA feet a day. The tunnel begun in
1857 was finished in 1871.
Communications between France
and Italy had scarcely opened when
work began on the st. Gothard rail-
way. which now connects Italy and
Switzerland through the most stu
pendous system of tunnels in the
world. This road, although quite
short, cost more than $50, 900, 900. 1t
passes through one of the most mount
ainoUs countries in the world, crossing
IA viaducts, lis bridges and 70 tun-
nels, having a total length Of nearly
80 miles.
The third great trans-montane tun-
mel is the Arlberg. 1t is six and a half
miles ~long-.almost as long as the
Mont Cenis-and yet it took less than
one-fourth as long to build. Be-
gun in 1880, it was finished in 1884,
having progressed at the rate of 27&
feet q day. 1t connects the province
of Won Arlberg with the rest of the
Austrian Tyrol through the Ari
mountains, and facilitates trade be-
tween Austria-Hungary and France.
The French took up tunnel build
ing in 1866 in order to connect their
river and canal systems, and built
several such tunnels within the sue
ceeding 200 years. Tunneling for canal
purposes was taken up in England in
the middle Of the last century. One
of these tunnels, only 10 feet high,
was more than a mile and a half long,
and narrow boats were propelled
through It by men who lay on their
backs and pushed with their feet
upon the tunnels roof. The first tun-
mel in the United States was built be-
tween 1918 and 1921, on the Union
canal. 1t was 45O feet long, 20 feet
high and IS feet wide. and a long
since been made into IN open cut.
The boldest tunnel eve projected
was that under the Straits of Dover,
which would have been 81 miles long.
Lord Wolseley declared that it would
facilitate the invasion of England, and
it was, therefore, abandoned. Two of
the most recent tunnels are that I'M
der the Thames, at Blackwell, for car
riag2s, and that under the river Spree,
in Germany, for street cars. The Gro
ton aqueduct, 33 miles long, is one of
the most remarkable engineering feats
in the world.
The longest underwater tunnel in
the world is that under the Severn
river in England. 1t is four and a
half miles long and was opened in
1885, after IL years Of building. Sew
eral times there were breaks. followed
by an inflow of water, and once a
high tide flowed into the shafts and
swamped the whole tunnel. Divers
were employed to close the bulkhead
doors. which were 1000 feet from the
shaft, but were unable to drag the
rubber pipes SO far. AT last the chief
diver tied a reservoir of compressed
air upon his back, walked to the door
and closed it with a crowbar.
Another noted %subaqueous tunnel is
that under the St. Clair river, which
was bored by the Grand Trunk rail-
way in 20 months, at a cost of SO, 000,-
900. 1t is 6.O5O feet long.
TIA.