The Biggest Job On Record

Two ganga of workmen have jus begun digging in Coloralo the longes tunnel which man ever attempti construct an.l campare! with whicl the Sutro tunnel on the Comstock ant tlio Hoosac railway tunnel in Massacliusctts sink into sheer insignificance The main bore wil! be 20 miles lonjr and Konnecting witli this are sulisi.V jtry tunnels uitli :i total lengtli ol c'O miles. So, in reality, the task thai has heen put under vray is thai ol dijiging 50 miles oí tunnels, and ever foot nf this vast system will be undeï Pike's Peak and the mouutains tlmt tower on eaeh side. The starting point oí the main tunnel is at the fuut of the moumain leading up to Pike's Peak, near the ola town of Colorado City. Thia point is bnt a short distance trom the railroada which span the country between Colorado Springs and Manitou. From Iiere t runs filmost due southwest. Tlie further end of the tunnel is at the edge of the mountains at Four-mile erei ie. over in Freinont couuty, Colorado, six miles soutli of Cripple Creek, and near the little town of Sunol. Two gangs of men, as stated, are working on the tunnel, oue at each end. Just at present they are are making progress at the rate of 30 feet a day. It is believed that the mamoth task they have undertaken will be completediu several yearsfrom tlie flrst of the present nionth. ïhe main tunnel will pass directly onder the cone of Pike's Peak at a depth of nearly 7,000 feet and 2,700 feet beneath the town of Victor. lts average depth from the surface will be 2,800 feet, and it is designed to test the mineral deposite of the territory at these great depths. Thirty miles of laterals are contemplated, and these will pass underneath all the Cripple Creek district at an average deptli of 2,800 feet. Cripple Creek, Victor, Gillette, the various smal] towns and a thousand mines are to be made tributarv to this vast, svstpm nf subterranean passages. Under present circumstauees the distance- the sliortest wiiy- from Colorado Springa to Cripple Creek is 54 miles. By way of the tunnel the two eities will beonly 1(5 miles apart. It is estiinated by the coutraetors tha tlie average cost për foot of excavation will be $80. Thia inakea tlie total probable expense of diggiuj? the tunnel and its subsidiary branches $20,520,000. All of this sum tlie tunnel people expect to crush out of the ore their workmeu will lreak while excavating, or glean from the nuggets which fall out of secret poekets so far below the earth's surfaee. Another object of the tunnel, which s of the greatest importance, is the fact that tlie whole 50 mües will act as a great drainage system for the entire niining section of Cripple Creek and vicinity. Beneath the flooring or the tunnel is a concrete waterway 4 by 4 feet, and into this will rlow the water froin the countless springs that honeycomb at great section of the country. Experts niaking cakulations on the basis of moisture as afforded by Cripple Creek experiences say that the gaiu of water will be raillions of inches. The dimensions of the tunnel will be 14 feet by 18 feet in the clear, large enough for the heaviest and largest freight cars to pass through it. Electric locomotives will be used for hauling trains through it, and t will be lisrhted bv elfirt.i-icitv alao. -