Year: 1877

4 WONDERFUL WORk.


The Tunnel Bct,cee,, England a,,d Francc.


It is now three-quarters of a century
since the project was broachedo of driving
tunnel through the chalk formation
underlying the British channel between
some point on the English coast and the
opposite point on the coast of France.
Although the distance between Dover
and Calais is only twenty-five miles, and
Is traversed by steamers in an hour and
half IN fair weather, vet the roughuess
of the channel is at all times such As to
be verv distressing to all but experienced
travellers, and deters many persons from
making the trip at all Since the intro
duction of railways forty years ago the
tunnel project which Mr. Mathieu,
French engineer, laid bebre Bonaparte
in 1902 has acquired year by year addi-
tional Importance. About ten years
AGO the subject was revived with much
earnestness, and after the experimental
tests were found to be satisfactory the
governments of England and France
granted tse riaat or vas 10 channel
company which was incorporated in 1872
This company has since decided to place
the route of the tunnel "On line drawn
from the south foreland on the English
side to point between Sangatte and
Calais, in France"


The tunnel, ifit should be constructed,
win commence and end at some distance
inland, to allow for a gradual descent on
one side and ascent on the other. The
inland parts of the tunnel viii be nine
miles in length, counting the distance
underground at both ends. The length
Of the tunnel under the channel will be
twenty-five miles, making the total
length thirty two miles The cost Of
simply driving the tunnel from end to
end through the underlying chalk for
nation Is estimated at four millions of
dollars, and the time it would require to
construct the driftway two years. The
/ engineers calculated it would take four
more years to finish the work, including
the arching of the tunnel, building the
Offices and making the necessary connec-
tons with the railway on both sides.
I The tots5Eo9t is put at twenty millions
of dollars. A short time ago a meeting
of the Tunnel company was held in
Paris, at which were read the reports of
the engineers engaged during the past
year in making the preliminary subma-
rine surveys. These surveys were pro-
nounced quite satisfactory, continuous
bed Of chalk having been traced unlying
the channel from shore to shore. As
further experimental test of the practi-
! cability Of the scheme the sum of one
hundred and sixty thousand pounds
sterling has been provided principally
by the railway companies interested in
prosecution Of the work. to sink pits on
both sides into the chalk beds and drive
a section of the tunnel half mile under
the waters of the channel.


Thus far everything works favorably
ta..6S ultimate completion of this gIcat
engineering project. Whether the neces'
sary amount of capital can be obtained is
the chief problem now to be solved. An
attempt has been made to show that suf-
fcient revenue could be derived from
passengers to pay fair interest on the
capitaI invested, in addition to the cur
rent expenses OF lighting, ventillating
aud operating this long line of re ad under
the bed of the sea. The number of per
sons crossing the channel annually be-
tween Dover and Calais is believed to be
about 100000. The theory is that this
number would be doubled if the tunnel
were built, and the sickness incidental to
the sea voyage thus avoided. But it is
not shown that tunnel thirtv-one miles
in length would itself be free from equally
serious objections. The project. never
theless. is grand one, and if capitalists
could bsinduced to believe that tie tun
mel can be made to pay, there is abun-
dance ofmoney wherewith to build it now
seeking investment.-Ba Baltimore San.
1HE grahd jury Oh baltimore county,
Nd, has presented two Judges of
the county circuit court for malfea-
sance in office. The presentmept was
agreed upon while four of the grand iu-
rors were absent, and it is understood
that three of those present obtained the
action. The whole thing is campaign
dodge to help on the election of certain
members of the grand jury, who are can
didates for county Offices. In reply to a
reporter, Judge Yellott said that if he
does not have these grand jurors indicted
for perjury he will be liable to indict-
ment for felony, and that he means to do
his duty. The penalty for perjury is not
less than FIVE nor mere than ten years in
] the penitentiary,