Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1903-11-25
BERlNG TUNNEL FALLAcX.

Railroad Scheme Across Strait De-
Clared to BE Chimerical.
Once more the chimeIical scheme
for building a railroad from the Paci-
fic coast terminus of the transconti-
mental railroad systems to Alaska and
carrying the road beneath the Boring
strait by a tunnel to connect with an
extension of the Siberian railroad is
being agitated. The improbability of
such railroad being built, or if built,
being made financially successful, can
only be understood by taking map
of North America and tracing the pro-
posed course of the line, says the Sci
entific American. 1t will then be seen
at a glance how vast are the distances
which this proposed road must cover.
From Vancouver on the Canadian
Pacific line TO Boring strait is at least
$500 miles, The Boring strait would
involve tunnel nearly sixty miles in
length that would have TO descend
several hundred feet below sea level
to find n stratum suitable for tunnel
operations; then on reaching the Asia
tic shore there would be another
stretch of about 200 miles t.
be surveyed and constructed before
connection was made with the present
trans Siberian system The difficulties
in locating and building such a line
can only be understood by engineers
who are familiar with the physical
and climatic obstacles to be overcome
No mere hasty reconnaissance would
be sufficient to give even an approx
mate estimate of the cost of the trans
Alaskan portion of the route.
AS to the construction of the tun-
mel, the mere preliminary borings to
ascertain the character of the material
to be encountered would be an enor-
mously formidable task in itself. and
when this was successfully completed
there would still be a grave element
of doubt us to the practicability of
keeping the tunnel free from an in
rush of water which, if it should oc-
cur under the pressure due to the great
depth. could not fail to be disastrous.
We are aware that the enthusiastic
promoters set down the cost of the
siNtymile tunnel at $20.000,000; but
when we consider that the twenty
miles of subway tunnel in this city
are to cost $35, 000, 600, it is pretty safe
TO say that the $20,O00,000 would not
he sufficient to cover the cest of the
tunnel and the surveys, to say nothing
of the 5000 miles of connecting rail
road that would be necessary. Even
If the engineering difficulties could be
overcome (as undoubtedly they could
with sufficient time and capitaD. where
is to be found body of fnanciers to
put through an undertaking which
could not possibly render any return
on the investment for many a decade
to come. if ever it did?
Moreover. even if the road were
built, it is pretty safe to say that it
would have TO depend almost entirely
upon the passenger and local traffic
for its development; for it could not
possibly hope to compete in the car
riage of freight with the large mer-
chant steamships that are being built
for the transpacifc trade. The idea
of an all-rail route from Paris to New
York is picturesque sentimental and
quite impractical 1t is certain that
in the Present stage of development
of northwestern America and north
eastern Asia the scheme will never
get beyond the paper stage