Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1908-03-29

for electric cars and concrete walks on each
side for when the road is blocked. The
distance between the shafts in Hoboken and
New York is more than mile.
In England, a tunnel more than four miles
in length was built under the Severn between
1873 and 1886. There is also one under the
Mersey about mile long. Numerous other
subaqueous tunnels there are worthy OF men
ton. those under the Detroit River and under
the St Clair, the two tunnels for foot passen-
gers and vehicles under the Chicago River,
the one for water supply at Cleveland under
the lake. and the tunnel under Boston Harbor.
Great Railroad Bores
TIL E first great railroad tunnel was the one,
four and three-quarters miles In length.
which penetrates the Hoosac Mountains in
Massachusetts; but it has long since been
eclpsed. Although projected in 1854, it was
not finished until 1873.
\ much more stupendous task was the tun-
neling of the Cascade range in Washington for
the Northern Pacific railroad. At the time
when the plans were drawn up the site of the
tunnel was in virgin wilderness, eightytwo
miles from the nearest railway terminus. Two
roads had to be built through the mountains
to reach the peak, towering four thousand feet
above the level of the sea. through which the
tunnel was to run, rivers had to be turned
aside from their beds, and large bridges had
to be thrown across others. All the vast en-
gineering mechanism for the prosecution of the
work had to be transported across the con-
[.
tract for the undertaking had been signed in
the city of New York on January Al, 1886, the
great tunnel, eighty-nlne hundred and fifty feet
long. sixteen feet wide, twenty-five feet high,
and at point eleven hundred and thirty
five feet below the summit of the mountain.
completed at a cost OF one hundred and
eighteen dollars a running foot.
About forty miles north of this tunnel. as
the bird flies, the Great Northern railroad COM
pleted another bore through the same noun
rhnr 81,
mile longer than the earlier tunnel, and is
lined throughout with concrete, which IS no.
where less than two feet in thickness. Two
mountain peaks tower above the tunnel. the
highest of which is more than two thousand
feet above the tracks.
Through the Alps
A FTER the completion of the St. Gotthard
and the Alberg the gatewavs in the Alps
between Germany and Italy, agitation began
in France for the construction of tunnel
near the Simplon Pass; for the Mount Gents
bore at best only roundabout way. AT
length, in November, 1896, the convention be-
tween Italy and Switzerland for the building
OF the tunnel was signed. Work, however, did
not begin until the autumn Of 1898. when the
first stroke was made on the northern section
at Brleg, Switzerland. and a few months later
the southern section was opened at Domo
d'Ossola in Northern Italy. The Juncture be-
tween the two galleries was effected on Feb
ruary "a, 1905. The total length of the tunnel
is more than twelve and quarter miles The
highest point is twenty three hundred and
twelve feet above sea level vet at one spot
Mount Leone towers seven thousand feet above
the floor of the tunnel.
One of the most interesting features of this
wonderful achievement was the method of
ventilation. There are two passages running
parallel, fifty-two feet from center to center.
connected by transverse galleries every SIX
hundred feet Whenever one of these galleries
was reached the previous ones were hermeti-
cally sealed. At the mouth of one of the pas
sages an enormous fan was set up. which drove
the fresh air into the tunnel with such force
that a could not stand up against it.
When the air reached the last cross section it
passed into the portions in which the
men were working, and forced the foul air out
of the tunnel through the main passage.
The Simplon tunnel was somewhat odd in
the extraordinary care that was taken of the
workmen. Three thousand men were en-
ployed in three shifts, and the work went on
night and day Every possible comfort was
provided for them, to furnish protection from
the effects of sudden changes in the tempera-
ture and from the ravages of tunnel sickness"
A large hospital was built at the Swiss end to
provide for those who were in jured. If the in
jury was serious a pension was issued and
when death occurred the family of the I'm
fortunate victim was Unidentified.