The daily democrat. [volume] (Anadarko, Oklahoma) 190?-1908, 1907-02-12

There IS q revival OF the project of
building "a tunnel under tho straits of
Dover To- connect France with Eng.
land. and there is now more than a
likelihood that the great engineering
sask first seriously proposed by the
eminent Frcnchman. VI. Thomc de-
Gamond over 20 years ago. Will some
day me consummated.
GcologiCally speaking there was
quito recently dry land where now the
turbulent waters OF the straits dis
port themselves and make the hours
of the voyagcr unhappy and the
palaculithlc Briton, ON pleasure bent
took advantage of the entene cordiale
of those far off days and ran over TO
the continent for the week end dry
shod. and spent n pleasant holiday
swapping flint instruments for carved
mammoth ivory with the cave
jewellers in the valley of the Somme-
the great art emporium of the period.
This happy state of things however.
ceased about the time when Neollthic
man appeared, and since then com
munication has had to be maintained
by boat-whether by coraclc or Calais
lDouyros Yet there were ever some
bold spirits who drcamt of restoring
by art what had been torn from us
Ny nature and over 40 years ago these
visions crystallized In the mind of an
eminent Frcnchman, NJ. Thome de
Gamond who has been well named
THE Father of the Channel Tunnel"
Others before him had toyed with the
idea; with de Gamond IL was the de-
VOurng passion of a lifetime. For 20
years his fertile brain devised scheme
after scheme-tube bridge and tun-
nel-and he won the sympathy and
support OF both Queen Victoria and
the prince consort He even dared
20 beard Lord PalmerstOn. whose re.
ply was characteristic: What! you
pretend TO ask us TO contribute 10
work whose object Is To shorten
distance which We already find too
short" and when the prince Consort
cNpatiatcd on the advantages oe the
scheme. Pam cut him short with the
dlscourteous remark: You would
think quite differently if you had been
ubill III lllln l0lNNNt q 0Ntu "a IlitN
of enthusiasm was de Gamond carried
that he repeatedly dived to the bottom
of the straits to obtain specimens of
the geological formation. and ON one
occasion he was attacked by conger
cells, and narrowly escaped death
His daughter TO this day receives
modest pension from the French
Channel company.
That company was founded in 1875,
one of the directors being NJ Raoul
Duval and In the same year the Eng
lish Channel Tunnel company, formed
I'm 1872, began experimental opera.
tlons at St. Margaret's bay, east Of
Dover These experiments, however
were not successful, and in 1881 the
South Eastern railway obtained par
lilmcutary powers TO make burings at
Shakespeare Gin A shaft was sunk
60 depth of 100 feet and tunnel
seven feet In diameter was driven for
Il mile and quarter under the sea.
bed, subsidiary shafts being also sunk
at Abbot's Cliff and on the Dover side
of Shakespeare Gin for the purpose
of ventilation and drainage In the
following year the works were taken
over by the Submarine Continental
Railway company, formed with cap.
ital of $3.50. .000-suhsoquently I'm.
creased. in 1886, to Sl315,O0O, to buy
out the original company, the name of
the new venture being changed 20
THE Channel Tunnel Company, Linn
ited." In the meantime, the "Societe
Franchise du Tunnel Sousmarin,"
working from their startingpoint at
Saugatte, a few miles west of Calais,
had sunk two shafts to a depth OF $50
feet and constructed a gallery for a
distance of 1900 yards, using, like the
English engineers, the Beaumont drill.
which excavated at the rate of quar-
ter of a mile per month The French,
moreover, in 1876 and 1877. had made
a careful study of the whole line OF
the tunnel, making 1900 soundings
and collecting over 5000 geological
specimens from the bottom OF the sea.
Matters were progressing thus sat
isfactorily on both sides of the chan
mel when suddenly, like bolt from
the blue, a panic seized upon the Eng
lish nation. In July 1882, an applica.
ton was made TO the vice chancellor
20 restrain the directors of the Chan.
mel Tunnel from committing the
crime" of establishing an under-sea
communication between England and
France. Peers bishops, members OF
parliament, and other notabilities
signed petition against the scheme
amongst the signatories were Huxley,
Herbert Spencer and Robert Brown
ing-and such an outcry was raised by
the military party, headed by Lord
Woseley. that the board of trade
stepped in and stopped the work. In
1883 the whole question was referred
70 a iolnt select committee OF the lords