Hokitika Guardian and Evening Star TUESDAY, 28th AUGUST, 1917. CANADIAN ACHIEVEMENTS.

Hokitika Guardian, 28 August 1917, Page 2

Hokitika Guardian and Evening Star TUESDAY, 28th AUGUST, 1917. CANADIAN ACHIEVEMENTS.

That “peace hath her victories no less renowned than war,” ie well exemplified by Canada, whose soldiers have achieved such renown at Ypres, Courcelette, Vimy Ridge, and now at zLens, while her industrial captains keeping time with her warriors in Belgium and France have accomplished an enquiring triumph by the piercing of the Connaught railway tunnel, part of the great Canadian Pacific railway scheme. The task performed in Canada is comparable with the Otira tunnel in magnitude in New Zealand, and for this special reason, it is interesting to note what has been done in the Northern hemisphere while here in tne southern. Hemisphere wo arc still dillydallying with our magnum opus. Connaught tunnel is so named in honor of the Duke of Connaught wjbo was for a period Governor-General of Canada The site of the tunnel is in the Selkirk i Range, and it burrows under Mount Macdonald 5,690 feet at ita greatest j depth. The , Connaught tunnel is the . magnum opus of the Canadian Pacifio | railway scheme. It is fhe longest tun- j nel which has yet been built in Nortn America. With a length of five miles it is the record railway tunnel of the Now World. The tunnel is for a double track, measuring 24 feet high by 29 feet wide. Despite its length the tunnel is worked by steam. To keep the air fresh, a high power - ventilating plant has been installed at the up grade or west portal to force the air against the ascending trains and so blow back their smoke. The striking part about this

work is the-celerity with which the tun., nel has been put through, showing how puny, after all, our efforts in respect to Otira Tunnel liavo been. Worn was begun on the Connaught main bore on January, 1914, and in December 1915, less than t n ’° years, communication was established from portal- to portal. The widening of the tunnel to its full dimensions was completed'in the summer of last year 1916. Thus, in spite of the war, this groat undertaking has been carried to a successful conclusion in less than three years! The piercing of the Otira tunnel began in May, 1908, and the heading might be finished in 1918, a period of ton years whije the Canadians took less than two years to do similar work. Instead of finishing the work under three years as sufficed for the Canadians, New Zealand will probably require thirteen years. Just wlmt tlie extra ten years will eat up in interest loss of trade and • general devil-

ment measures the victorv which che Canadians achieve by the great industrial activity. In writing of the success at Connaught Tunnel •’+ is explained that the accomplishment of a work of such magnitude in such a comparatively short time has been rendered possible only by the employment of a new method of construction. This consisted in driving a pioneer bore with a heading of 7 feet by 8 feet. It was driven from either end parallel with about 45 feet from the centre line of the main tunnel, until in the heart of the mountain, when the headways were about a mile apart, they were carried across to the centre line and continued Os part of. tho main tunnel. Crosscuts from the pioneer bore to the centre line were also made at intervals of about 1,500 feet, thus providing a number of headings from which the driving of the main tunnel could be carried on, as well as facilities for the removal of the excavated material. These irons--port facilities were the special advantage afforded by the pioneer bore and crosscuts.: It is estimated that the construction of the tunnel involved the removal of a million tons of solid rock and of clay mixed with boulders. The new methods -\yere completely justified. Progress was at a rate which had never before been attained in the American continents, and which was little, if at all, infefribr to the best Eurpoean performances in the Alps. Steam shovels were used in enlarging the main bore to its present dimensions of the 'ininel. and in 240 days’ work the solid rock, through which the tunnel runs for nearly the whole of its course they advanced 24,749 feet which is at the average rate of about 46 feet per day or more more *han three miles per year. In the closing months of the work rate of progress was equal to four Biflffi oer year. This is some going, and in the light of the creeping progress at Otira it might be profitable even at this stage to fee one of the Canadian engineers to vi#it the New Zealand work and report in regard to expediting matters. The sooner the tunnel is avail-. 1 able the greater the saving to the comma nity, and some hints are sure to be forthcoming which would repay many times over the cost of the advice, Canada having done so well would readily spare a capable officer to advise, and the. step would be practiced to thd country, and for that reason the action is strongly recommended.