MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 57 



water on the iron tube. The tube is to be fitted with a tramway 

 of 2 feet 6 inches gauge, on which is to run a h'ght iron omni- 

 bus of lOi feet long, 5 feet 3 inches wide, and 5"feet 11 inches 

 high. This will accommodate 14 people with ease. Ordinary 

 lilts will take them down and up the shafts at either end, and at 

 the end of the shaft the omnibus will be waiting. For the first 

 hundred feet or so the omnibus will be pulled by a rope fixed to a 

 stationary engine ; after that it will descend by its own velocity 

 down the incline and up the incline on the other side to the foot 

 of the shaft. The whole transit, including time for descent and 

 ascent, is calculated not to exceed 3 minutes. — The Artisan. 



THE MONT CENIS TUNNEL. 



During the past year an advancement of 1,320.15 metres has 

 been made at the MontCenis Tunnel, of which 638.60 was driven 

 on the Italian side, at Bardonn^che, and 681.55 metres on the 

 French at Modane. This gives an average advancement of 110 

 metres per month, or 53.20 on the Italian side, and 56.80 on the 

 French ; and at this rate of progress the time necessary for the 

 completion of the tunnel would be 28 months, or about April, 

 1871, and for opening the railway about 6 months more, or in less 

 than 3 years from the present time. 



THE SUTRO TUNNEL. 



There is a mountain in Nevada which miners and some geolo- 

 gists believe to contain more than 500,000,000 dollars' worth of 

 silver. Unluckily the veins run through the centre rather than 

 along the slopes of the mountain ; and the mines which have 

 been sunk on the great Comstock lode, as it is called, have al- 

 ready reached such a depth that to pump them out and ventilate 

 them is too costly, while no means exist to drain them. 



Mr. Adolph Sutro has proposed that a tunnel shall be run into 

 the mountain, which would cut the veins of ore, and serve to 

 drain the mines and open the whole deposit. Here is his present 

 scheme : — 



** Let 3,000 laboring men pay in an average of 10 dollars per 

 month, which gives you 30,000 "dollars per month, or 360,000 per 

 annum, and insures the construction of the tunnel, carrying with 

 it the ownership of the mines. That amounts to 33 cents per day ! 

 Who is there among you so poor as to miss it? How many of 

 you exj^end that much every day in stimulants, cigars, and other 

 luxuries? Put that money into the tunnel ; it is laying up some- 

 thing for a rainy day. The money will be expended directly 

 again in labor among yourselves, under your own direction, and 

 from dependents you will Ijecome masters." 



It is reported, that the miners are responding to this appeal, and 

 that Mr. Sutro is not unlikely to get the money. Thisvv'ould be a 

 gigantic co-operative enterprise; one worthy of the ago, and of 

 the energetic and determined men who have developed the mining 



