Seward weekly gateway., 1906-04-14
RAPID PROGRESS
 IN TUNNEL WORK
At Present Rate of Boring all Seven Will Be Ready for
 Track September 1.

If boring continues at the prr,en, rate all the seven railroad tunnels or miles 49. E and 5 will be finished by September l. and trains will be run hing through them 10 Turnagaiu Arm within a few weeks after chat date. This is the calculation oG J. B. Gamer on, engineer oi construction. and h. ha, ihc figures Co justify ir.
 In this tunnel work it now rpr.,r- probable that the first will bo 'asr a.- though the last sill no, be Hrst n completion The tunuc! ou m,l. G. although not rhc longest. presents dinicultic, which are offered by non. of the others. The rock is mor. oln- cult to work and for long time boring can proceed only on one end because oi frequent snow slides at the othr which make it dangerous for men Co work at the portal. This tunnel i- 7lO feet long and if the boring is al done from the farther end, wher. work k in progress now, it cannot b. finished until about September 1. ga. the present rate of perforation.
 Figures furnished to Mr. Cameron last Saturday night by the engineer in charge show the following result, on that date: Tunnel No. l 2l4 feet: work proceeding at the rate of 8 fecr per day. No ? 223 feet; boring fee. per day: rock very hard. No. g. 2Gn feet at one end. gl feet at the other boring last week proceeded 6 feet per day at one end and feet per day a the other end; engineers eXprc. ta maintain To feet per day 50 long a- tho rock formation continues as at prcscn. workings. This is the longest tunnel 900 feet in length. Tunnel No. 3 l42 feet at one end and so feet at tho other end. Tunnel No. -2l feet. On tunnels and 6 the r@rk is very Tara and progress is only l5 feet on each face per day.
 Boring has not yet begun on tunnels f and :. Heavy rock work was nece,- sary to reach the portals, which are extremely inaccessible, but this vii soon be finished and the boring or these tunnels will be completed a, early as No. and probably sooner. The tunnels are all located in the side of a precipitous canyon wall midway between the top and the bed of Placer river. This made the preliminary work very difficult.
 A slightly larger force can be worked on the tunnels than are now employed and the steamer Santa Clara is bringing about sixty rock men who will be placed in the tunnels or upon the outside work near them. As the work proceeds large number of men can be worked to advantage and addi- tions have been made steadily to the crews as the working area has eX- banded.
 Beyond Tunnel No l, on mile +9, & long, high trestle is to be constructed. besides several lesser ones. This part of the road embraces the 'lOop" which was made necessary in order to obtain ? per cent grade along Placer river The upheavalS of nature failed to take railroad construction into accurate account and while suitable valle! was left the descent of the stream was made much sleeper than the traction power of an engine with big load behind it can overcome in travelling the other way. Watson x Snow have the contract for the trestle and bridge work and it is expected that their task will be finished as soon as the tunnels.
 Between the last tunnel and Turna- gain Arm large percentage of the grading work was done last fall and the remainder can be easily finished by the time the tunnels are ready for the trapk