THE STORY OF A GREAT WORK. 



469 



winter and five hundred in summer. This is in addition to pas- 

 senger trains. 



The estimated cost of this great work was between two and a 

 half and three million dollars, but its actual cost was consid- 

 erably less, a rather remarkable fact in connection with such 

 works. Owing to the great risk any contractor would have to 

 assume, and the large sum required to cover that risk, the work 



FIG. 5. SHIELD USED IN THE TUNNEL EXCAVATION. 



was performed by the company, only the material being con- 

 tracted for. 



The opening ceremonies were attended with much eclat, as 

 became the completion of such a work, uniting not simply two 

 towns but two nations, and rendering possible a greatly increased 

 international trade when the tariff barriers which now stand in 

 the way are removed. It was proposed to spread the banquet in 

 the tunnel, beneath the waters of the St. Clair, with the Governor- 

 General of Canada seated on one side of the international bound- 

 ary line and the President of the United States on the other, but 

 this part of the programme had to be abandoned. The banquet, 

 to which three hundred guests sat down, after they had passed 

 through and formally opened the tunnel, brought together a 

 greater number of notable men in the world of science, literature, 

 and politics than had ever before gathered in a similar manner in 

 Canada. 



