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Show THE SIMPLON TUNNEL THAT WILL SOON CONNECT TWO COUNTRIES. Will Be More Than Twelve Miles In Length When Completed Will Be One of the Wonders of the World Care of the Men. (Special Letter.) The Simplon tunnel, which was begun be-gun In 1898, is to connect the Swiss railway station at Brique, in the Rhone valley, with the Italian station at Domo d'Ossola, and will be some I214 .miles In length passing through the mountains practically in on straight line. The total cost of the work, which includes the construction of two single-line tunnels, was estimated esti-mated at 113,900,000, the contract time being fixed at 5 years. At present only one tunnel is being pierced, the distance now achieved being a little over six miles. The contractors are' Messrs. Brandt, Brandau & Co. of Antwerp Ant-werp and Winterthur, with whom is associated Colonel Lochar, who built the Pilatus and other railways. The starting place at Brique is on the left bank of the Rhone, and the tunnel itself it-self runs' at a height of 2,254 feet above sea level, as it was necessary to' clear the flood level of the river. The rock piercing machinery used In the work is exceedingly ingenious, for, the rock through which the tunnel is being be-ing driven is exceedingly hard, consisting con-sisting of granite and gneiss, with veins of white quartz, but in consequence conse-quence of the adoption of the Brandt ' drill, the galleries on the north side are being advanced daily by a distance of no less than 21 feet 3 inches, an unprecedented result, and certainly four to five times what has usually been attained in tunnels through similar simi-lar material. The drill is three inches In diameter, slowly rotating, but kept up to its work by a hydraulic pressure pres-sure of 1,500 pounds to the inch, or of 10 tons to the cutting points of the drill, and as all the waste water is discharged along the axis of the tool, right up to the cutting edge, the temperature tem-perature of the steel is kept cool, and the debris washed out of the hole. The ventilation is excellent; the air is supplied to the men right at the end of the galleries in great volumes, over 58.000 cubic feet of air per minute min-ute being supplied. Owing to the height of the mountain and the great fcerincunibent mass over the tunnel, I ! w&'MnBerature of the ruck is as hign I 'wgBSJ I'll' ) ENTRANCE TO TUNNEL, as 89 degrees Fahrenheit, and special arrangements are made by the employment em-ployment of spray and ice for cooling the air. The total quantity of water flowing from the tunnel, inclusive of both north and south entrances, is rather under 5,000 gallons per minute, j and is carried in efficient side drains cut in the rock. The greatest care is taken for the welfare of the men; they change shifts every eight hours, and are brought out in train loads. They are not allowed to encounter the cold Alpine Al-pine air when emerging from the tunnel tun-nel in their wet clothes, but are landed land-ed in a covered building or station, fitted with hot and cold douche baths. . ' They take off their mining clothes, which are at once hung up in heated x . rooms to dry, ready for their next day's work. Adjacent is a restaurant at which they can get their meals, t excellent quality and at a very low price. Breakfast, dinner and supper ( are provided at a charge of twenty-five ' cents per day, and beds are provided in rooms furnished with electric light for a further charge of four centa per night. Everything is kept in an excellent state of order and cleanliness, cleanli-ness, and the organization throughout Is quite without precedent. The tun- ) nel, it Is expected, will be open for traffic in 1904. |