The Powder River County examiner and the Broadus independent. [volume] (Broadus, Mont.) 1919-1935, 1919-10-17


principal cities of the continent once the tunnel
Is completed And the traveller will be able, IL sug-
seSted plans are carried out. to leave London ut
regular intervals through trains for the far
Fast. the near East, well as Petrograd, Rome
Vienna. and the Balkans
When the first channel tunnel was discussed in
formally by Napoleon with the British am,:,ss:-
nor I" France during the peace of Amiens in
Ieo-, the matter was talked in Il spirit of
friendly cooperation. In those days Il carriage
way was proposed. Two years later in 1904, when
a different spirit prevailed between France and
England. the British champion Of the tunnel idea
had visions of French soldery marching to the in
vasion of their little island through Il submarine
paSSageway
Th"inr de Gamond generation later, revived
the proposal. He was specialist in cross clun-
mel traffic ideas, and also had Il scheme for con.
sr1cing d stone and iron bridge across the straits
"I Dover. lie also drew up plans for st"nr-bmt
ts,hmls across the channel, with openings through
which navigation might pass He also suggested
the building of Il gigantic pOntOon bridge. These
numerous schemes and their possible notifications
were discussed in England and France for years.
u! 1871 IT commenced to look as If something
would indeed be done to realize the dream of MI
p"e"n and t'amonde. In that year Il company was
formed in France which obtained a concession to
start work. One year later. in 1875. another COM
Nny was formed in England. known as the 't'h:n-
mel Tunnel. Limited which obtained permission
OF the British parliament to begin work
The French company which was called the
French Submarine railway. took many samples of
the silt from the channel bottom: made more than
1910 Soun'lingS: sank shaft and actually started
tunnel al Sangattr. driving it mile and IL half
beneath the according to preSel,t-,lay accounts
Of the operation.
Experimental work carried on by the Eng
fish company for year or so. And then its
charter cxpire, in 1880.
by 1SS3 there were two English concerns trying
I" secure sole rights in the construction, of n tube
The second concern went by the nnme Of the
Submarine Continental railway. in which Sir Ed.
ward Wnlk!n and the Southeastern railway of Eng
land were interested. When Sir Edwards company
tried to begin work beneath one of the cliffs of
Dover opposition WAS started by the Channel Tun.
mel. Limited group
Stopped by Parliament
That same year decision in the British
Parliament which dashed the hopes of both COM
panie>. 1t was decided by JOINT select committee
Of the lords and commons that lit was inexpe,lient
that parliamentary sanction be given to n S,b,I,-
rine communication between England and France"
5" the :.Hh-yard long tunnel that been completed
after reconciliation of the two companies inter.
eSted was closed by government order. and the two
rival companies combined as the Channel Tunnel
Limited, determined to keep the idea alive for
everln"re. even if they permitted to do moth
ing else.
Today the French and English engineers do NOT
known definitely that continuous stratum of firm
chalk exists beneath the entire channel from the
English tn the French side.
They d" know, however. that to all appearances
the stratum is continuous because drill holes have
shown that the formation of the French side is
very much the English side The chalk cliffs
ut Cap GrisneS in France, are of the i,lenti,n,
geological formation the cliffs Of Dover in Eng.
land and rest as do the English cliffs ON II sub
stratum q: gray chalk POO feet in thickness
1t Is assumed the same gray chalk is to be
found in Il solid. water-reSistng layer for th. -.
miles that separate the two countries
The Southeastern railway of England is now in.
tereSted in starting the tunnel once An official
Of the railway has stated:
"lf the British and French governments give TN,
word the channel tunnel can be started tomorrow
All the plans are ready. and have been since 1907
When this new agitation Of the tunnel idea start
ed in EnEland short time ago it was ut first AS
sumed that thousands Of denOblized soldiers
could find jobs with the enterprise But n WAS
almost Immediately officially stated that a COM
parativey small number of men would be needed
several hundred ut the most
In the meantime the reaction in France to the
plan was favorable. The Paris newspapers r4
called that suggestion came originally from France
in 1902 that realization Of the plan would bring
Immense. benefit to humanity generally and that
as the Echo de Paris stated it. "Henceforth Grent
Britain will he quicker to realize her European
mission, and her days of splendid isolation will
be gone forever"
With trains running ut Ave AMI ten minute IN.
tervais-which Is the frequency Sir Francis Fox.