HOOSAC TUNNEL. 



355 



to that of GeDeral Arias, was cruising along 

 the coast, waiting, it was surmised, to take off 

 Palacios in case he was too closely pursued. 



In October the rebels were defeated at Gra- 

 cias 4 Dios; Baraono, the "great assassin," 

 chief of the reactionary party and partisan of 

 Palacios, was likewise routed by the San Salva- 

 dor troops in the city of La Paz. General Es- 

 pinosa was in Comayagna with a division of 

 San Salvador troops; and Trujillo and Omao 

 were garrisoned with Honduras forces. 



By the month of December, the invaders 

 had been completely overthrown, and their 

 hopes of reinstating Medina in the presidency 

 of course frustrated. But troubles were not 

 yet at an end. Information was received from 

 the frontiers of a disagreement between the 

 Honduras troops and the San Salvador auxiliary 

 forces under General Espinosa, owing to the 

 avowed determination of the Salvadorians to 

 substitute Ponciano Leiva in the place of Sefior 

 Arias as provisional President. In conse- 

 quence, the forces that had been operating on 

 the south coast were concentrated in the 

 capital, thus leaving the departments of Cho- 

 luteca and Victoria exposed to robbery and 

 vandalism. A conflict was feared between 

 the forces and employes of Amapala and La 

 Union. The Government of Nicaragua dis- 

 patched SeOor Ay on as envoy extraordinary 

 and minister plenipotentiary and mediator to 

 the republics of San Salvador and Guatemala, 

 and did not despair (unlttt its minister arrived 

 too late) of being successful iu appealing to the 

 patriotism of the governments interested in 

 the question to bring about a favorable ar- 

 rangement. 



In a private communication, under date De- 

 cember 16th, it was stated that " Settor Poncia- 

 no Leiva had been proclaimed President of Hon- 

 duras, and would be supported in his position 

 by the united forces of San Salvador and 

 Guatemala." Some engagements had taken 

 place, in which many lives were lost. 



The President having offered to resign his 

 post, the resignation was refused by the Con- 

 stituent Assembly installed at Comayagtia on 

 December 13th. Arias read the usual mes- 

 sage before the Assembly, describing the situa- 

 tion of the republic. 



The Governments of Guatemala and San Sal- 

 vador were notified that their troops were no 

 longer necessary, and requested to withdraw 

 them, or, in case of refusal, armed force would 

 be resorted to. 



By a decree of the 15th of the same month, 

 Leiva was declared a usurper, and all persons 

 upholding him subject to condign punishment. 

 Medina, who had been made prisoner, was de- 

 tained in confinement until he could find bail 

 to answer the pecuniary charges against him. 



A new election was ordered for February 1, 

 1874. for President of the republic. 



HOOSAC TUNNEL. Scratching across the 

 western part of Massachusetts, and forming a 

 natural barrier between that State and New 



York, is the Hoosac Mountain, a part of the 

 Green Mountain range, which itself belongs to 

 the great Appalachian chain extending nearly 

 parallel to the coast from New Hampshire to 

 Virginia. By causing the tide of Western trade 

 to seek an outlet by the valley of the Hudson, 

 this mountain-wall has been of great commer- 

 cial advantage to New York City. To secure 

 this advantage for Massachusetts by establish- 

 ing a direct line of communication through the 

 mountain between Boston and the West has 

 been a problem for nearly a half-century. The 

 only practicable point for a tunnel in this 

 ridge is in the northwestern part of the State, 

 near the town of North Adams. Here has 

 been constructed the Hoosiic Tunnel, through 

 which the light passed for the first time in 

 November, 1873. It is one of the grandest 

 achievements of modern engineering, and in 

 magnitude is only exceeded by the Mont-Cenis 

 Tunnel through the Swiss Alps. 



At the point selected for tunneling, the top 

 of the ridge is some 2,500 feet above tide- 

 water, and is approached on the east by the 

 deep and well-marked valley of the Deerfield 

 River, a mountain-torrent, tributary to the 

 Connecticut, and on the west by the Hoosac 

 River, tributary to the Hudson. These valleys 

 are both about the same level 680 feet above 

 tide-water. They approach each other within 

 five miles, thus allowing a railway to reach 

 the tunnel by gradients not exceeding one in 

 133 feet. 



The Hoosac Mountain has two summits, with 

 a wide valley between them. The eastern sum- 

 mit is 6,100 feet from the east portal of the 

 tunnel, and 1,415 feet above the grade of the 

 road; and the western summit 6,700 feet from 

 the western portal, and 1,704 feet above the 

 grade. The summits are 2^& miles distant 

 from each other, and the valley between, at its 

 greatest depression, is 801 feet above grade. 

 A part of the line over the tunnel is covered 

 with forests, and in some places the depth of 

 earth over the rocks is quite considerable. In 

 a portion of the valley between the summits, 

 the land is swampy, and is drained by two 

 small streams which unite where they cross 

 the line of the tunnel. The rock of the Hoosao 

 Mountain is mica-slate, with occasional veins 

 of quartz, except at the west and where a sec- 

 ondary formation overlaps the primary. The 

 rock in some places is hardly distinguishable 

 from granite, and often exceeds it in hardness. 

 Except where the quartz-seams occur, the 

 rock of the mountain is easy to drill, but quite 

 difficult to displace by blasting. 



As early as 1825 commissioners, appointed 

 by the Massachusetts Legislature, reported in 

 favor of tunneling the Hoosac Mountain for a 

 canal from Boston to the Hudson River by way 

 of the Deerfield and Hoosac Rivers. Subse- 

 quently the Boston & Albany Railroad, which 

 was finished in 1841, was constructed over the 

 mountain, and the tunnel project was aban- 

 doned. In 1845 the Fitchburg Railroad, from 



