INDUSTRIAL PROGRESS DURING THE YEAR 1875. cclvii 



The work upon the Severn Tunnel, to which we referred 

 in our last year's Record, has been fully undertaken by the 

 Great Western Railroad Company. The tunnel will be 

 about four and a half miles in length, one half of which will 

 be under the River Severn. When completed it will connect, 

 in the most direct manner, the mineral and populous dis- 

 tricts of South Wales with Bristol and the South of En- 

 gland, and will doubtless form the express route from Lon- 

 don to South Wales. The work of excavation was started 

 in December, 1874, and at last accounts was progressing at 

 the rate of fourteen to eighteen yards per week. During 

 the past year, likewise, several schemes for tunneling the 

 Mersey between Liverpool and Seacombe were proposed. 



Upon the St. Gothard Tunnel considerable progress has 

 been made during the interval between our last annual re- 

 port and the time of this writing. The following is the of- 

 ficial report of the condition of the works on the 24th 

 of September, 1875. The tunnel has been bored on the 

 side of Switzerland 2500 meters, and on the side of Italy 

 2000 meters. As the work, when completed, will be about 

 15,000 meters, or, more accurately, 14,920 meters, in length, 

 there remains about 10,500 meters yet to be bored. The al- 

 titude of the northern entrance at Goeschenen will be 3608 

 feet above sea-level, and that of the southern entrance at 

 Airolo 3756 feet. The highest point in the interior of the 

 tunnel will be 3780 feet above the sea, and will be reached 

 from the Goeschenen end by a rising gradient of seven to 

 1000; from the summit there will be a falling gradient of 

 one to 1000 to Airolo. The approaches of the tunnel have 

 not yet been begun. The tunneling is performed by com- 

 pressed air-machines actuated by water-power, and the ex- 

 plosive employed is dynamite. The daily rate of progress, 

 according to latest advices, averages a trifle over seven 

 meters. It is anticipated that the year 1880 will witness 

 the completion of the tunnel. 



We may record likewise the formation of an international 

 company to effect the tunneling of the Simplon Pass ; also of 

 a company under the title of the "Intercontinental Railway 

 Company," the main object of which is said to be to effect 

 the union of Europe and Africa by a tunnel under the 

 Strait of Gibraltar. As projected, it will extend in a right 



