The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1905-02-26
Special cabi, Dt,patch 10 TnE Sun.

Nature OF the Rock Added o the Danger
Special Cable Despatch 10 THB Sun.
LONDON. Feb. 25.--The world never wit
messed a greater triumph OF mind over
matter than was sigualized by the SUCCESS
ful meeting of tho galleries which now
pierce the Simplon Mountain for distance
Of 1929 miles and shorten the journey
from Calais to Milan to SIS miles. compared
with the ESQ miles by the Mont Cents tunnel
and COS miles by the st. Gothard. Extraor-
binary talent, unquenchable perseverance,
and superb courage have contributed TO
overcome obstacles which il ia admitted
we're unprecedented in any previous en-
cheering work. It was not the extreme
lem 9Th of the tunnel which constituted the
difficulty OF the enterprise but the soft
treacherous rock, combined with hot and
cold springs of great volume
The inception OF the scheme and tho
inits ticn of the work are matters Of history,
"a also are the repeated subsequent pre-
diotions that the end could not be achieved
The tunnel which is really two parallel
tunnels. each with "A single track, was begun
in the autumn of 1898 at Brigue, Swift
erland. and month or two later at Iselle,
Italy. All the machinery installations had
to be specially prepared. hence the progress
al the outset was slow, but from January,
1900, until December 1903, it progressed
at an avera ge of 3, i97 metres year. Some
OF the grea test troubles were met in 1904
when only 1853 metres were pierced, but
for months together the splendid drills
regularly turned out is feet of gallery every
~ hours, which far exceeded tho rate
ever before attained in the world on any
work OF this kind.
The gradient ascends at each entrance
toward the middle for the purpose OF drain
age and this alone made possible the com
pletion OF the work. At distance OF T. 400
metres from Iselle spring or rather a
river, of cold water was struck which gushed
II 500 gallons a minute and delayed opera
tons on the Italian side for months More
over, the ground was treacherous and this
necesstated elaborate propping The
largest tirnbers were crushed and steel
girders were twisted. The latter were
eventually made serviceabe with the aid
OF concrete cement.
Meanwhile from Brigue the workers
reached the summit OF the gradient in the
middle Of tho tunnel although the tempera-
ture had risen to 1872 degrees Fahrenheit.
which was rs degrees higher than expected
The Swiss workers then began to drive
down to meet the Italians, and the hot
springs troubles which had been fully
foreseen, began again Water of a tenn
perature OF III degrees Fahrenheit was
soon tapped. but this was overcome for
while by sending jets OF cold water into the
assures.
When, however. the Swiss had gone
500 metres from the summit, the works
became filed with scalding water and
finally stopped the working from the Brigue
end. This was in May, 1904. 1t was the
last named accumulation which gushed
through the final breach yesterday. From
the Swiss side the works into Italy now
remain complete. Arching OF masonry
covers in the water channel beneath the
floor Of the tunnel II is expected that n
train will go through the tunnel not later
than May Of this year.
Throughout the opera tons no dust was
produced it being Immediately turned
into mud by the exhaust water from the
drills The remarkable standard OF health
OF the 5000 men employed is partly attribut-
able to this and TO the admirable arrange
ments which had been made for protecting
them. They were protected gainst sudden
changes Of temperature and arrangements
were made for changing and drying their
clothes constantly and providing douche
baths and substantial food. Great attention
was paid to ventilation and such thing
as foul air was actually unknown.
Three shifts of eight hours each CON
etituted a days work, No man left his
work or dropped his tools until his successor
had actually stepped into his place.
NoyARA, Italy, Feb. 25.-After piercing
the Smplon yesterday Grassi and Bianco,
the engineers of the Jara, Simplon and !
Mediterranean railway companies and seve-
raj others entered the tunnel on a special
train. They were seized with sudden i'll
ness and compelled TO return. The men
were taken to a hospital where ASST died.
Bianoo Ia seriously i'll, but the others are !
better. The sudden indsposition Of the |
men 10 attributed TO the escape of gas and |
the high temperature, Notwithstanding |
the fact that the yentlators were working