58 ANNUAL OF SCIENTIFIC DISCOVERY. 



regions of the far West. An act of Congress has given to the 

 Sutro Tunnel Company the ownersliip of all freshly di>jeovered 

 and unworked dt'posits of ores whieh may be cut by the tunnel. 

 If Mr. Suti(/s theory is correct, of which he at least entertains no 

 doul)t, the tunnel would open a mass of silver suflicient to make 

 independent the whole o,o(}0 miners, from whom he asks 30 cents 

 a day. — Evening Post, Oct. 29. 



THE PROPOSED TUNNEL UNDER TUE BRITISH CHANNEL. 



The conditions on which the success of this enterprise depend 

 are comparatively few and simple. The first condition relates to 

 the geological formation in whielithe work would have to be done. 



It has frequently been pointed out, and there appears to be no 

 dilTerence of opinion on tlie subject, that there are to be found, on 

 opposite sides of the Channel, tracts of coast presenting geologi- 

 cal features almost identical. The English coast between Dral 

 and Folkestone, for instance, corresponds in every particular with 

 3 miles of the French coast, a little to the westward of Calais. 

 That the same formations continue under the I)ed of the sea is a 

 j)rol)ability that has been noticed in a report to the Geological 

 Society on " The Chalk Ridges whieli extend parallel to the Cliffs 

 on each side of the Channel tending towards the North Sea," by 

 Captain J, B. Martin, in 1839. Careful geological investigation 

 has been made with a view to discovery whetiier tiu; chalk foi'ma- 

 tions obtaininjr on each coast continue unbroken for the whole 

 distance dividing them; and there appears no reasonable cause 

 of doubt that this is the case. 



Impressed by these facts, ]\Ir. AVilliam Low, an engineer who 

 for many years had been confident of the feasil)ility of connecting 

 the English and French railway systems b}' means of a sub- 

 channel tunnel, set himself earnestly to examine for himself the 

 geological formations of the two shores. Alter most careful ex- 

 amination, Mr. Low became satistied that the deductions of the 

 geologists were correct. His examination of the borings for sev- 

 eral artesian wells on both sides of the Channel strengthened his- 

 opinion as to the regularity of the strata. It became his Hrm con- 

 viction that along a certain line, aI)out half a mile west oi the 

 Soutli Foreland, and 4 miles west of Calais, the tunnel could be 

 made entireh' through the lower, or gra}', chalk, which, owing to 

 its comparative freedom from water, and other qualities, would 

 be a most desirable stratum in which to work. With the result 

 of these investigations, and with i)lans of tiie tunnels he pro- 

 jected, jNIr. Low, in 18G7, betook himself to the Emperor of the 

 French, who, giving the English projector a cordial reception, 

 desired him further to organize his plans, and to come again 

 when he might be prepared to submit delinite })roposals. 



In 185G, ^I. Thome de Gamond, a French engineer of repute, 

 who had for many 3'ears been advocating the construction of a 

 tunnel between England and France, obtained, by order of the 

 emperor, an investigation of his plans at tise hands of a scientilic 

 commission. This body, satislied with the substantial accuracy 



