The daily Gate City. [volume] (Keokuk, Iowa) 1855-1916, 1913-07-29
GREAT Tunnel
UNDER CHANNEL
Proposition Argued for Years May
Finally Become Reality
In the Near
Future.
THIRTY MILES LONG
Would CLIP Three Hours From the
Time Between London and Paris
BY Express and
Boat.
by William Philip simms, Paris cor

respondent of the United Press.1
PARIS. July pa tunnel deep I'M
der the English channel connecting
England and France by railway, by
far the most important engineering
feat of the kind the world has ever
seen, is to be one of the indirect re-
suits of President Raymond Poin-
cares visit to London, according to
reports in circulation here today.
Engineers declare the project to be
second in Importance only to the
Suez or the Panama canals. 1t will
be thirty miles long, or nearly three
times the length of the Simplon tun-
mel under the Alps, now the longest
In the world. The cost would be
enormous and it would require years
to complete 1T, but it would bring
London within three hours by ex-
press from Paris. The quickest pos
sible time now Is six and three
quarters hours, with change from
train to boat at Palais and boat to
train at Dover, or vice versa.
For more than 100 years this sub
marine tunnel has been the dream of
French engineers, If not Of the en-
tire French nation, but on FIVE diff
ferent occasions Great Britain, seeing
In her minds eye vast regiments Of
invaders pouring from the big open
ing upon her soil, shuddered and sat
down on the scheme. In 1902, a min
Ing engineer named Matthew, origin
ated the idea and at once England
manifested her displeasure. Great
Britain felt we'll protected on her lit
tie island with twenty-six miles Of
sea between her and the mainland,
and she did not propose to give up
the advantage. In 1888 Thome de
Gamond took up the fight and again
England passed diplomatic mo-
across to France, but de Gamond
stubbornly stuck to the idea until
1859 when England gave 1t third
veto.
| The tunnel was favorably consider
ed by England in 1870 but the Franco
German war broke out and Great
Britain was given fright from which
she Is just now showing signs of re
covery. Germany beat France, they
argued, and with a tunnel under the
channel, what was there to hinder
the Teutons from marching from
France to England overnight?
Michel Chevalier succeeded de
Gamond as chief promoter Of the tun-
mel and in 1888 seemingly had almost
succeeded in calming England 8
nerves, when, for some unexplained
reason, she baked again. In 1906,
the fifth defeat of the scheme was
administered by the British parlia-
ment.
Since then, however, several things
have happened to help along the un-
der-sea tunnel. Edward VII and Paul
Cambon, French ambassador at the
court Of st. James, framed up the
Entente Cordiale between France and
England. Danger of future war be-
tween these two countries was thus
considerably lessened. Next, Wilbur
and Orville Wright taught the world
how to fly. England, In dlsmay, saw
her isolation, and consequent safety,
/ fall from her; aeroplanes crossed and
recrossed, one after another, in few
minutes, the twenty-six miles of
channel being as nothing to them.
Germany's dirigible created the i'm
preston in the English mind that
henceforward Great Britain, for all
the protection the channel affords
her, might as well be part Of the
continent.
And lastly came the visit of Presi-
dent Poincare to King George, warm
Ing UP the Entente Cordiale in such
a way that it is now said to amount
for practical purposes, to an alliance.
So all in all, with war with Germany,
not an improbability, with France or
England, or both, against that coun-
try, British law makers are now said
to favor the subchannel tunnel, the
last Of the old objections having been
done away with by the new conditions
The ITO year old dream, therefore
will very probably be realized soon.
The big hole. in reality is already
partly dug About mile and a
quarter has been pierced from the
English side and a mile from the
French side This was done about
the time of the war between France
and Germany. On the French side
the tunnel commences at Sangatte, by
the irony of circumstance the point
chosen by Louis Bleriot for his ia.
nous flight in monoplane over the
lchannel to England. The British ter
minus Of the tunnel is just to the
west of Dover, starting from the bot
tom OF deep pit dug on Shakespeare
cliff. It was near this point that
lBleriot landed.
| Several other projects for crossing