The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1910-11-07
LOCAL firm ON
Big TUNNEL JOB
WICK o'CONNELL & CO. BUILDING
RAILROAD TUNNEL UNDER DU-
LUTH HILL FOR CANADIAN
NORTH ERIN.

An engineering and contracting job
I'm which there is more or less interest
taken locally, is the construction OF
the tunnel that is being excavated for
the railroad entering Duluth from the
North. The particular reason for in
terest felt In the matter here is the
fact that Wick O'Connell q Company
OF Houghton, the firm which has just
finished building the million gallon re-
servoir for the Houghton water sys-
TEN, and which has done much sewer
and other construction work in Han
cock. has the contract for this big UNI
dertaking, and the further fact that
the tunnel boring was begun under
the supervision of Captain Jack King,
formerly of Hancock. and who is noted
for having built the big Loeb Lomond
tunnel couple of years ago which
supplies water to the city of Fort Will
liam in Canada.
Description of Work.
The Canadian Northern railroad,
which is now building into Duluth
from Virginia, has to encounter many
natural obstacles, one of which is a
rocky formation which rises precipi-
tously six hundred feet on the shore Of
Lake Superior, and along the St. Louis
river for distance of fifteen miles
The most difficult piece of rock work
on the line, indeed the only serious
one, is the tunnel under the mountain
at Shortline Park, IL miles from the
Duluth union station. Here the rail-
road is compelled to burrow through
The tunnel proper will be 53S feet I'm
length, and at each end of the bore
will be an open rock cut of about two
hundred feet. At the central point of
the tunnel IL will be about $50 feet
below the crest of the hill This is
difficult engineering feat as the tun-
mel will describe a seven degree curve
within the mountain. The bore will be
about eighteen feet i'm diameter This
is the job on which O'Connell & Com
pany are engaged and they expect to
finish it about May 1. The crew
started work in August, and blasting
has been going on about i've weeks.
The men are working from both sides
of the cliff and will meet i'm the GEN.
ter. Burrowing through the mountain
is going forward at the rate of about
ten feet "A day. the gang at either end
making five feet.
Cutting through the great rock from
either end is necessarily a delicate
piece of work, as a small miscalcula-
ton might throw the bore several feet
off when the two crews come together.
A mistake of this kind occurred when
the 500 line tunnel was driven to pass
the barrier on the line to the Duluth
station and the man responsible for
the error committed suicide shortly
afterwards because of his disappoint-
ment. However errors of this kind are
not common, although there are many
instances of considerable deviation,
there being several cases where the
tunnels have been out a foot or more
at the point of junction.
Some Successful Jobs.
one of the most successful jobs of
boring through rock according to spe-
cifications, was the Lock Lomond tun-
mel at Fort william, referred to above.
This tunnel is seven miles long and
passes through a ridge of rock a mile
across. The tunnel is seven feet in
diameter and like the Duluth tunnel IL
was driven from both ends simultane-
ously, and when the crews met in the
center the sides were only five-eighths
of an inch out of line. Captain Jack
King, now OF Duluth, who accomplish
ed the Fort William tunnel with a crew
of miners from Hancock, started the
work on the Duluth Shortline Park
tunnel but has since left the job.
The big rock cut will be opened up
at a cost of $4,000 to $4,000. and will
be put in condition for trains to trav-
erse at a total cost of somewhere
around 100000. The rock which Is
being taken out is being used 90 fill
up chasms in the immediate neighbor-
hood of the ends of the big hole.
I..Ia