794 Transactions of the Amebic an Institute. 



and arch are of brick wliicli are manufactured close by from clay a few 

 rods distant. 



About 1,000 feet from the main entrance within the tunnel drilling 

 and blasting with powder is now going on day and night; and here, 

 when the hammering ceases for a moment, the thumping of the drills, 

 275 feet, through rock, of the workmen engaged in the section further 

 in the mountain, entered by shafts, may be distinctly heard. Return- 

 ing to the entrance and up the mountain well No. 4 is reached ; this 

 is a shaft 211 feet deep. The drillers whose hammers are heard 

 through the rock are 200 feet from the bottom of this shaft toward 

 the main entrance. The drilling is here performed in the ordinary 

 manner by man power, and the blasting is by powder. Ascending 

 further up the mountain we next come to "supplementary shaft" 

 which is 280 feet deep, and the bottom of which is 900 feet from 

 well Ko. 4, measuring on the grade of the bottom of the tunnel. 

 Walking further up the mountain we arrive at what is called " west 

 shaft." This is 318 feet deep, and the bottom is 300 feet from 

 supplementary shaft. Here are the elevators by which the men and 

 all things employed below descend and ascend. Here too are the 

 machine works, steam engines, air pumps, store houses, etc. 



To descend the shaft you put on rubber boots with high tops, an 

 oil cloth wrapper, and water proof hat, to keep out the water dripping 

 down the side of the shaft and to be able to wade the water on the 

 bottom of the tunnel below. From the bottom of this shaft you 

 walk 1,500 feet east and come to the drillers who are managing two 

 engines, mounted on heavj^ frames, and worked by compressed air. 

 These have three drills each. 



The compressed air is forced through large pipes coupled together, 

 leading from the air pumps down the shaft, and thence along to the 

 engines, section after section being added as the work progresses. 

 The rock here is very hard and composed chiefly of quartz, considera- 

 ble portions of which are translucent. Considerable water trickles 

 through the crevices in the sides of the tunnel, and at one place a 

 fountain of cold water jets with much force. This is said to be excel- 

 lent drinking water. The water is now lifted l)y steam power at well 

 No, 4. The quantity is 1,000 gallons each minute. When the 275 

 feet of rock, now forming a partition between the two sections, are 

 removed, this pumping will not be required, fur the water will then 

 flow ofi" at the main entrance. 



For compressing air to work the drilling engines, there are four 



