West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1907-01-24

VI OplulOn uDOut tunue NO. >.
lT757fSi Barclay. the contractor, who
~ had a little shanty OF an OF
fee at the top OF the shaft, with blue
print plans on the walls and n stove
pipe crooking out Of one corner OF the
roof, said IL was n beautiful tunnel.
He said IL with cheerful confidence 70
the committee OF Ave who had como 20
investigate. The five had just dlned
expansively with Barclay. and It was
with good humored bravado that they
now trusted themselves to the dinky
elevator and descended the shaft. Six
~ feet below Daylight they stepped out
on n Shiny platform. and Gregson. the
underground boss, showed them a
moist red tube reaching outward under
the river. A row OF misty incandes-
cent lights ribbed the tunnel at regular
intervals with circlets OF brightness,
and at the far end they could see n
black wall with n closed steel door.
For the benefit OF the chairman OF the
five. who thought that this wall was
the end OF the tunnel. Gregson explain
ed that the steel door led into tho air
lock and that for coo feet beyond
stretched the pressure workings. Greg
son confined himself strictly to infor-
nation; he ventured no opinion at all,
as became n wise boss In the presence
of the contractor. The FIVE walked
down the plank roadway on the floor of
the red tube. their heads almost touch
Ing the roof. the water dripping on
their oil coats, their ears filled with
the strange echoes OF this underground
place.
You T now under the river" Bar
clay said; "the water is not twenty-five
feet ove you heads"
The Ave looked at one another.
"Is there any dangerT' asked the
chairman.
mot the slightest" answered Bar
clay.
A small, cold rivulet dripped down
inside the chnirman's collar.
Let us go up" he said.
Having now nearly reached the steel
door OF the air lock. Barclay invited
them to enter the pressure workings,
where twenty men and n mule wer
toiling, but the chairman remembered
suddenly that he had n weak heart and
couldn't take air pressure, and the 9th
ers were certain that, having just
dined heartily, IL would be very dan
gerous for them to venture. Barclay
looked relieved at this decision; Greg
sons face was grim, and he said moth
ing.
So the FIVE went up with the hazy
impression that tunnels were generally
moist and uncomfortable, If not dan
gerous. and that Mr.. Barclay was n re-
markably efficient contractor and an
accomplished engineer. TO say nothing
OF being n genial good fellow. They re-
ported that the tunnel was n good and
perfect tunnel and referred I'm compll-
mentary terms to the contractor, there
by relieving the fears OF n solicitous
public.
1t is n curious fact hat the deeper
into a tunnel n penetrates the poorer
its reputation. The FIVE had not beer
permitted to catch so much as a
glimpse of Jernigan, the sub-boss, lord
OF the pressure workings. If Jernigan's
opinion OF the tunnel had beer asked,
he would have answered frankly, being
an outspoken man:
"She's a laundering geeser."
In the cold ooz at the end Of the
tunnel, where the truth was, gaunt,
half clad men, with picks and clay
plugging balls, said things about the
tunnel that wound not look we'll in
print, and, being men Of experience In
these things, they spoke with authority.
So bad was the reputation of the tun-
mel among those who knew that 80
boss but Jernigan could have kept a
crew at work where every pick thrust
was a special invitation TO death by
drowning.
When tunnel No. 8 began to grumble
1t was beautiful to see Jernigan hold
his men In hand. At the first sound OF
danger there were those who would
have gone rushing for the air lock and
safety. but J~ernigan, standing there
behind them n the roadway, was more
terrible than the danger in front. OF
all h sounds known to these under
ground places there is none quite like
the %grumbling at a tunnels end.
And yet, sudden and startling as
these sounds at a tunnels end may be,
they are nothing Of themselves. Their
terror Hes In their significance. They
are the outcries of danger. The tunnel
Brumbles when It reaches Il spot where
the earth between It and the water OF
She river bottom is thin, where there
nre pockets OF quicksand or deeps OF
thick mud. It's excuse for grumbllng
Is the best. The heavily compressed air
within the tunnel, thus compressed for
the main purpose Of keeping out water
and mud from the tunnels end, breaks
out through the thin earth where the
men are working with a ripping wal
and goes boiling upward TO the surface
Of the river. And when II escapes the
water and thin mud bursts in. and II
enough afr goes out and enough wntel
comes In, II Is ninety-nine chances &c
one that the workers, racing for tho
air lock. VIII DO overtaken and drown,
cd with their noses to the roof OF the
tunnel like rats IN a rain barrel.
For 800 feet from the air lock I'm Jer
nigan's working there never was a bet
ter behaved tunnel. All the way It rar
as straight and shiny as a gun barrel
the men az the end driving their way
comfortably through hard sand and
clay, with here and there n bowidcr
and not n thought OF the vessels plyIn.
back and forth sixty feet over their
heads. Behind came the brickers build
Ing the tunnel wall for the brick tube
was always kept complete within n
few feet Of the tunnels end. the pipe
men with their wrenches and the cleo.
tricians adding light after light to the
long row at the tunnel roof. Barclay
rubbed his hands with giee. thinking
Of his profits. and GregsOn lay by and
let Jernigan do the work. It was tun-
mel building according 10 the books.
But one day the Swcdc. Swanson.