The Birmingham age-herald., 1906-04-27

possible proposal to build the railroad
 tunnel beneath Boring Strait. Like
 the English Channel tunnel, the Boring
 sea suggestion is one that seems to
 have taken firm hold on the mind of
 what might be called the engineering
 romanticlsts, and 1t takes only a very
 slight occasion to open the fiood-gates
 to whole mass of rhapsodical out
 pourings about these engineering trf-
 umphs" and masterpieces of modern
 construction, which are to bring "un-
 limited benefits to commerce.
 As a matter of fact, not even the
 English Channel tunnel which would
 certainly command from the very day
 of it's opening heavy traffic,
 If not profitable financial re-
 turns, is likely to be built for
 several decades to come, if ever As
 to the Behring Sea tunnel it would be
 located at a distance of 5000 miles
 from the Siberian railroad and about
 2000 miles from the nearest point on
 the most northerly of the transconti-
 mental railroads in America.
 Undoubtedly the activity in rail-
 road construction which is evident to- day in Alaska will be permanent, and | if the country fulfllls it's great promise | of unexplored mineral wealth no doubt l the Alaskan railroads will be carried
 well up to Boring Strait. It is also cer- | tain that Alaska will ultimately be connected by an all-rail route with the railroad system of the rest of the l United States. The prospects of a
 connecting railroad In Russian terri. l tory are apparently dependent upon | the success of an American company I which has been seeking concessions
 from the Russian government.
 Their efforts, according to recent cable dispatches, have been success
 full, the Czar being favorably disposed | toward the enterprise. This company,
 which believes that Siberia is as rich | in gold as Alaska, offers to construct
 tunnel and build road 5000 miles | long from East Cape to Kansk, in the government of Yeniseisk, where it will | join the Siberian railroad, and in con. | sideration of this the company is to | receive alternate sections of eight | miles on either side of the line, to. gether with valuable mining commis. sions. Should this road be built, It's
 source of revenue would be entirely | local, and any returns must neces. sarily wait upon it's development of the supposed mineral wealth.
 That there will ever be a consider. able amount of through travel by way
 of Boring Sea is very unlikely, or that a Siberian-Alaskan route would ever become, even in the event of a construction of a tunnel, popular route between the United States and I Europe. The construction of the tun. nel would be an enormously costly undertaking. With it's approaches 1t ! would be not far from forty miles in | length, and because of the extremely high cost of labor in that inhospit- ! able region the total cost would prob ably exceed $100000,000.
 But the most serious question of all as showing the impracticability of a tunnel. is that of the great depth to
 which it would have to be carried The depth of water Is variously stated at from 16O to TO feet, which means that the subgrade of the tunnel would have to be at minus 200 feet in order to secure firm overlying material and a rock which was impervious to water Should any Assures be encountered at this depth the tunnel would have to be abandoned. for the use of the pneuma 1 tic process would be out of the ques | tion, the corresponding air pressure oi about 90 pounds to the square inch I being of course, fatal to life.