Evening capital news. (Boise, Idaho) 1901-1927, 1916-11-17
LONGEST TUNNEL
IN. WORLD UNDER
CASCADE RANCE
Great Saving in Time and
Energy in Transportation
from Puget Sound Ports
to Interior.

In the current issue of Engineering
News, General Henry NJ. Chittenden.
of Seattle, describes the project which
he has worked out with much pains
taking detail for building a railway
tunnel 30 miles in length under the
main range of the Cascade mountains.
The building of this tunnel would en-
able the railway traffic between Puget
sound ports and the interior, which now
has to be lifted vertically to an ele-
walton of $500 to $500 feet in crossing
the Cascade range by the present rail-
way lines to pass under the main
range at an elevation of only 1900 feet
Ii is not merely sthe waste of the
energy required to elevate this traf-
fic. amounting to over $4,000 tons daily
to height of 1900 to 1900 feet, which
the tunnel would save. A much more
important advantage as General Chit
tenden points out in graphic manner
is the elimination of the expense and
risk involved in the maintenance Of
the large mileage of steep grades on
the present railway lines across the
mountains. The extent to which this
huge mountain barrier hinders COM
merce and intercourse between the
eastern side of the mountains and the
commercial centers on the coast is
hardly realized in the east.
Perhaps the most striking illustra-
ton OF the advantages of the proposed
tunnel route over the present mountain
lines is the statement that the time
of passenger trains would be reduced
between the east side and the west
40 . -,
ent schedule time of three hours to 40
minutes, and the time of freight trains
from 10 hours to one and a half hours.
ESTIMATED COST.
The estimated cost of the proposed
tunnel and approaches is $4,000. 900.
and this in itself a few years ago
would have been sufficient to compel
the dismissal of the project as Chin
erical. At the present day, however.
railways are investing sums in the
improvement of their facilities which
would have staggered the Imagination
or financiers quarter of century
ago. Announcement has just been
made that the Great Northern Railway
company proposes to expend in this
very region probably a third of this
amount to convert its lines from steam
TO electric traction, encouraged there
to doubtless by the success of the
very large investment for the same
purpose made by the Chicago, Mil
waukee & 81. Paul on it's lines in Mon
tana and laho.
Among other notable instances in re-
cent Years of heavy outlay for recon
struction Of existing railways, arc the
bupulng OF the Central Pacific railway
across Great Salt Lake to avoid the
heaVy grades over Promontory point.
the work done by the Union Pacific
IN the Improvement of it's main line in
wyoming, and on the eastern side of
the continent the two great pieces of
reconstruction work undertaken by the
lackaWanna railroad to improve its
main line in western New Jersey and
eastern Pennsylvania.
When any of these largo works of
railway reconstruction are compared
with the Cascade tunnel project, it is
at once evident that what eacb of !
them accomplished in the Improvement
of grades and alignment is insignifi
cant compared with the advantages
which would result from this great tun-
ne! enterprise. BY way of illustration, |
~ completed on the Canadian Pacific I
railway. This work has involved the !
building of Is miles of new RAILWAY
line and five-mile tunnel. The sum /
NIT elevation is reduced $40 feet and
the length of snow sheds from about /
five miles to less than one mile but |
me maximum grade on the line is still |
20 per cent. and OF course the maxi
in XI,,t
is unchanged. To effect this improve
meht the Canadian Pacific has deemed |
it worth while to carry out work in
NolVlng a total expense of probably not !
less than sS,0O0,0o0, while the traffic
ailected IS only that of a single rail- |
way line.
In comparison with this the 3o-mile |
Cascade tunnel projected by General
Chittenden would lower the summit
elevation on the Great Northern rail-
way 2l66 feet; would save 4S miles of |
distance on its line to Tacoma would /
reduce the maximum grade from 90
per cent to 0.6 per cent, and would !
eliminate curvature amounting to
$685. degrees. Most important of all.
the tunnel would be available not for
the traffic of single railway, but for
the traffic OF all the railways ter
minating on Puget sound.
TRAFFIC CAPACITY.
The question may be raised whether
the tunnel would have traffic capacity
sufficient to accommodate all the rail-
ways which 1t could serve. The answer
TO this question Is that, assuming am
pie switching and storage tracks at
each terminal of the tunnel line, the
tunnel would have such an enormous
traffic capacity that It. is difficult to
foresee the time when it would become
inadequate.
TO understand this. 1t must be borne
In mind that the tunnel would be used
almost wholly for through traffic. and
TINS means Of course that the traffic
through 1t would be concentrated in
very long trains. The Chicago, Mil
~ IA. ri