jet of compressed air is thrown into this advanced gallery to scatter the smoke and supply air for respiration. Wagons are next pushed forward and filled with the fragments of broken rock, which are conveyed to the mouth of the tunnel and dumped down the side of the mountain. After each blast a fresh relay of workmen come in, and the same operation is repeated night and day.

One of the objections urged against the use of compressed air as a motive of force was, that if it were conveyed a long distance it would lose so much of its elasticity or expansive power, that it would be unavailable for any practical purpose. But this conjecture was confuted by facts. It was found that the loss of pressure at the ends of the conduit pipes where the air is applied, as compared with the pressure in the reservoir is only one sixteenth of the whole. M. Sommeiller calculates that in the center of the tunnel, a distance of three miles and three quarters from the reservoir, he will be able to apply the necessary pressure of six atmospheres. That M. Sommeiller is correct in this opinion appears to be conclusively proved by the latest accounts from Mt. Cenis, which state that the work is steadily progressing, that one half of the entire length would be excavated by the first of January 1866, and that at a distance of nearly two miles from the reservoir, the drills were operating with as much force as ever, and that there was no appreciable loss of motive power.

In the middle of the tunnel line beneath the rails, there is made at the same time with the excavation, a covered way or drain, in which are laid the pipes for gas, water, and compressed air. By this drain the waste water runs off, and it is also intended to serve as a means of escape for the workmen, in case of a fall of rock, or other accident which might block up the tunnel. Of course the tunnel must be continually supplied with fresh air along its whole length, as well as at the heading. This is easily done from the compressed air tube in the covered drain.

The whole length of the Mt. Cenis tunnel is through rock varying in hardness, and veined throughout with quartz. In many parts it is liable to flake off, and in some places considerable masses have broken away during the construction. The full section of the tunnel is twenty-six feet and three inches wide, and twenty feet and eight inches high. The heading is carried forward about eleven and a half feet wide and nearly ten feet high. At the time of Mr. Storrow's visit the drilling machines were used only in the heading. The whole of the enlargement was done by hand labor in the ordinary way. The drills when brought up to the work drill eighty holes before any blasting is done. About ninety workmen are employed at each end. It required from five to seven hours to drill the eighty holes. Mr. Storrow visited a workshop where some machines were ready, and a large block of stone was placed in front of them for trial. The air was let on and a drill put in motion. In 6 1-2 minutes it drilled 5 1-2 inches. The engineer stated that they would make better progress than that at the rock in the tunnel. The average progress made by hand was about sixty-six feet a month. That rate was about doubled by means of the machines; but since Mr. Storrow's visit these machines have been greatly improved, and the rate of progress latterly has been about two hundred feet a month.

The opening of the Mt. Cenis Tunnel was commenced in October, 1857. Up to July, 1861, about 2142 feet had been excavated, the average progress being about sixty-six feet a month. The machines were then introduced, and at the present time, upwards of three miles have been excavated, and at the rate of progress now being made the tunnel will be completed in four years. Mr. Storrow's estimate of its cost is $640 per running yard.

We have now placed before our readers such facts in relation to European tunnels, and more particularly in relation to that under the Alps, as will enable them to judge for themselves of the feasibility of completing the Hoosac Tunnel, and of the weight of the objections which are urged against it by the opponents of the enterprise, as well as the nature of the obstacles which have been encountered, and the means of surmounting them. We shall next present a brief history of the work, the progress made, the delays which have occurred, and the causes; and the sources, nature, and motives of the opposition which has been made to it. In the course of this history we shall have occasion to expose the gross misrepresentations and deliberate falsehoods which have, from time to time, been put in print and scattered broadcast throughout the State, for the purpose of sustaining and extending a great railroad monopoly, already too powerful, against the vital interests and actual necessities of the Commonwealth.

The first section of the Tunnel Line obtained its charter in 1842, under an act incorporating the Fitchburg Railroad Company, in spite of the strenuous opposition from Boston, Springfield, Pittsfield, and the whole power of the Western Road, which a few years before, had only obtained its charter by the aid of some twenty-five members of the House, from Northern Massachusetts, who held the balance of power. Of these twenty-five gentlemen, to whom the State was thus early indebted, one was Hon. Alvah Crocker, of Fitchburg, whose name in connection with the Fitchburg, the Vermont and Massachusetts, the Troy and Greenfield roads, and with the Hoosac Tunnel, has since become "familiar as household words." The appeal of the late Judge Kinnicut, one of the pioneers of the Western line, contains this passage: "Assume if you please, that your route is better than the Southern or Western one; if you are willing to identify the Commonwealth with such an enterprise, you establish a precedent, and the Commonwealth, to be just, to be consistent with herself, must aid you in like manner. Nay, every other section. She will never be partial, as you suppose, but fair to all. She will certainly go as far as she safely can, to develop and increase her growth." Such appeals could not but prevail with fair minded men, and these twenty-five members, with a spirit of liberality and almost of self sacrifice, which should put to shame the narrow minded and selfish policy of the Western Railroad Company in regard to the Tunnel line, gave their voices and votes in favor of an enterprise, the commencement of which would otherwise have been deferred for years. The result was that by the first of January, 1843, the receipts of money by the Western Eailroad Company, from the stock and scrip of the state amounted to $5,565,610.86.

As stated above, the Fitchburg Railroad Company was authorized to build a road from Boston to Fitchburg, a distance of fifty miles, in spite of the strenuous opposition of the managers and attorneys of the Western Line. The intelligent legislator of 1866, who has passed over the Fitchburg Railroad, and observed the numerous trains of passenger and freight cars which daily follow each other over its double line of track, can but smile at the language of Mr Mills, a senator from Hampden, a little more than twenty years ago "Sir," said this zealous legislator, who, in his style and logic forcibly remind us of Mr. Bird, of Walpole, "a six horse stage coach and a few baggage wagons will draw all the freight from Fitchburg to Boston."

It is hardly necessary to give details of the history of the Vermont and Massachusetts Road, and the struggles of its projectors against hostile legislation, and the intensified opposition of the Western line. Suffice it to say that this second section of the Tunnel Line, extending from Fitchburg to Greenfield, was commenced and finished, in spite of all opposition, without a dollar of that aid which Mr. Kinnicut said the State would have to furnish in order to be