The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1926-07-15
GREAT TUNNEL
BUILDING HERE
Worlds Largest Railroad Bore Co
ing Through Musconetcong Noun
tain in Upper Hunterdon County.
VANADIUM MAY BE FOUND

The largest railroad tunnel in the
world is being dug through the Mus
conetcong Mountain, between Pat
tenburg and West Portal, right here
in Hunterdon county.
If it was being built in the Rocky
| Mountains or on the Pacific Coast
1t would be made nationally famous
as means of drawing tourists from
other parts of the United States.
1t is being constructed by the Lee
high Valley Railroad Company, at
an estimated cost of two million of
dollars, and will be completed and
! open to traffic in 1928.
1t is the fourth railroad tunnel to
pierce the Musconetcong range in
North Jersey, which is more diff
cult for railroads to cross than any
other of the Middle Atlantic states.
The Lehigh Valley has its original
tunnel, 800 fet away, opened more
than fifty years ago; the Lacka-
wanna Railroad has one at Oxford,
and another west of Lake Hopat-
cong, on it's Water Gap Cutoff.
Only two other railroads cross New
Jersey, north of Lambertville, with
out using tunnels, and they are the
Jersey Central and Susquehanna-
the former crossing at the lowest
point on the whole range, through
deep cut at Hampton, and the
latter at Beaver Lake, more than
one thousand feet above sea level.
People accustomed to the levelness
of South Jersey cannot realize the
formidable barriers presented by
the mountain ranges in the northern
part of the state.
The new tunnel will give the I.e-
high Valley the lowest elevation of
any Anthracite coal carrying road, a
fact which will probably make the
carrying charges of this two million
dollar tunnel mere bagatelle.
An interesting thought in connee-
ton with this work is the memory
of the existence of titanium ard
vanadium ore in this same section of
Musconeteong Mountain. Old time
geological reports refer to the exist
ence of this ore, but its location
seems never to have been redscoy-
cred. Should the Lehigh tunnel re-
| h. hA of
is problematical. Some believe that
the other specimens possibly came
from the original tunnel, being cast
outside and picked up with other
rock. Some mining engineers have
thought it possible that the shaft
has never been relocated, because it
might have been removed with the
original tunnel opening in 1872.
The discovery of titanium or va
nadium would probably make the
Musconetcong Mountain section of
Hunterdon county put to shame the
wealthiest gold mining camp in the
world. Vanadium is now found in
iiHiJeu vudHtiIieS III ohe VI tWo w
eign countries, and imported into
the United States for the purpose of
toughening and hardening steel. 1t
is precious metal. Titanium pro-
duces various dyes, the best in the
world according to some scientific
authorities, and any considerable
output of it would make Hunterdon
County world-famous.
While some 200 men and all the
modern implements of tunnel war
fare are pounding their way through
Musconetcong-ofte called jug
town. Mountain, all the thrills Of
romantic adventure of the West and
of foreign lands surround its out
come.
Any Hunterdon Countian who
doesn't get a glimpse of this tunnel
while it's being driven is missing "A
thrill that may never come to him
again. Tunnel engineers anticipate
that IT'S the last railroad boring
that may ever be made through the
hills of North Jersey, because con-
ditions on other roads do not war
rant such construction.