Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 303, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 December 1912 — TO TUNNEL UNDER CHANNEL [ARTICLE]

TO TUNNEL UNDER CHANNEL

Long-Delayed France-English Project Is Once More Being Put Forward. A tunnel between England and France beneath the English channel was first proposed at the beginning of the nineteenth century by Mathleu, a French mining engineer, says the Argonaut Fifty years later the scheme was financed, but It was not until 1867 that it seemed that the projcet would be actually attempted. At that time there were a dozen or more plans for rail communication between the two countries. The accepted scheme was that of a tunnel bored beneath the bed of the channel. The estimated cost of the undertaking was about $50,000,000. Preliminary boring had been made, when the work was interrupted by the FrancoPrusslan war. In 1874 the French and English governments resumed negotiations concerning the tunnel, leaving the matter In the hands of a joint commission. Failure on the part of the English company holding the contract for the work to receive sufficient funds resulted in the failure of the enterprise In 1880. Now the project Is receiving some attention, a better feeling having been established between the people of the two countries.