The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-01-05

Cutting through a mountain OF
this description Is nothing more than
boring hole through solid rock, ana
Ter tAts purpose the very latest Feek-7
drilling machines were requisit4oned.
Mounted upon a trolley ard operated
BY motor, they were driven forward.
right up to the face OF the rock, or
heading, and then set to work. Each
drill demanded the services OF two
men, one to regulate the motor and
the other to direct the tool The
drills used were certainly very pow
erful. capable Of making IA hole in
solid rock thirty-nine inches deep in
about twenty seconds. From ten to
twelve holes were bored in this way,
distributed over the lace OF the drift,
work which occupied about two
hours.
The holes were then caresnk1y clear
ed out. and the dynamite NTtridges,
fuses and detonatore inserted, Rand the
bottom OF the heading coverEd with
a movable steel flooring to facilitate
the clearing away OF the debris. I'm
med!ately after the explosion, five
Jets OF water were played upon the
rock to lay the dust and Gear the
air, and the roof and side walls ex-
amined with picks to discover any
loose and dangerous fragments The
rate of advance In drift with
section OF hfty-nine square feet ay-
eraged about eighteen feet a day
work had not advanced far before
special apparatus had TO be Install
ed to insure proper ventilation. Dur.
ing the boring of the St G0thard
tunnel, no fewer than SEQ OF the
workmeT died. mainly through the
lack OF proper ventilation and means
OF keeping down tho dust raised By
the drills. In the Sinplon tunnel,
the arrangements for ventilation were
excellent, twenty-five cubic feet OF
fresh air being supplied to the work
men for every foot blown into the
ST G Jth0rd. The current was strong
enough to take mans hat off and as
Tor the dust 1t was kept down In
the manner already described Dur
re the eight years OF work on the
Sumption, only sixty men Lost their
lives from all causes
In the heart Of the mountains the
temperature Is much higher than that
Of the outside tmogpherc. the heat
increasing with the depths OF the rock
overhead. The maximum rock tenn.
peFature, 1913 degrees Fahrenheit,
was encountered In the Simplon tun-
mel at point about 1000 feet below
the summit of the mountain. This
would have made things intoierahle
for the workmen. had II not been
tempered by huge quantities of cool
air driven by. fans through large
pipes up TO the face, and by water
sprays from pipes tacketed with char
coai to prevent the water becoming
heated during it's passage up the Gun
mel
Boring, OF course, was commenced
multaneously from both ends. the
Swiss and Italian sides of the NOUN
tain. Work had not proceeded far
from the Italian end before a soft
stratum was encountered, which gave
the engineers considerable anxiety
The heavy timbering which was frst
erected, and which was thought would
be sufficient TO maintain an open pas
sageway, was crushed like so much
matchwood. This was then removed
and steel girders and iron plates erect
ed. but even these yielded under the
heavy pressure OF the surrounding
rock. In the end the difficulty was
got over By filing the iron plates with
quick setting cement, further
strengthened by thick masonry lin
ing.
AS a result OF this delay the swiss
got well ahead of their Italian rivals.
and reached the center point while
the latter were still working their way
uphill In order TO save time, they
decided to drive the galleries down
Hill towards Italy TO meet the other
party. Then they unfortunately tap
ped some extremely hot springs. which
compelled them TO retire. after hav-
ing strong iron doors In the headings
10 b 7ld back the water.
The weak was now definitely
stopped on the Swiss side, and some
people prophesied that the completion
Of the tunnel was impossible. But
he italians pushed on, and at last
listeners in the Swiss heading heard
their drilling machines al work though
haIf mile Of rock remained to be
penetrated. Hopes revived. Then the
italians met the hot springs that had
given the Swiss SO much trouble. and
IN spite Of all efforts TO keep down
the tempe "ature by mixing cold wa
ter with the hot. work on the main
tunnel had TO he suspended. Things
e ertainly looked series but the en-
gineer refused to give in. They now
turned their attention TO the second
tunnel which runs parallel with the
arst, hoping that they would be able
to get round the flank Of the snrlng "a.
In this way they were successful,
After boring the second tunnel for
Some distance they drove a cross
heading towards the route or the hrst
tunnel. and in this way got behind
she springs. and ultimately were able
20 loosen the pent-up water. The
meetings OF the headlines at ence
proved the accuracy with which the
work had TO be executed; but II
lacked thu fervor of delight usual on
su~h occasions. as In this case II was
meeting OF miners on one side and
no, water on the other. This last
goo odd yards of the gallery had oc-
cupied nearly six months in execu-
ton. owing to the unprecedented dit
acuities encountered.
BY a noteworthy coincidence. the
sinApfon tunnel was opened almost
exactly a hundred years after the
completion by Napoleon Of the mill
tary road over the Simplon pass-the
9rst 10 promote the interests OF peace
and civilization. and the second was
% make easier the passage of invad-
g'fs fucneF tssaR etKiIs years To atsu~.
struct and cost s1s.000.0 900, or s74o
per yard run. Some $4,000 holes
vera drilled by hand and machine. H.
asa tons OF dynamite exploded. and
.eea, 500 cubic yards of rock exca-