Rensselaer Republican, Volume 16, Number 2, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 September 1883 — The Great British Channel Tunnel. [ARTICLE]

The Great British Channel Tunnel.

This enterprise, which would be of incalculable benefit to the business interests of all Western Europe, and most of all to Great Britain herself, has been opposed by all classes of public men in England, because they feai’ that the tunnel, if constructed, would put the British islands at the mercy of the various armies of the continental nations. Mr. Eright ridicules these fears as being chimerical, and points out’the immense commercial benefits tween the British railway system and that of the Continent. Sir John Hawkshaw, a famous engineer, states that there are no engineering difficulties in the construction of the tunnel which could not be easily surmounted. It could be finished in. eight years, and the cost would not exceed $40,000,000. He estimated there will be 2,000,000 of passengers passing through it annually, find that the freight business would not be less than 1,200,000 tons. The income, he estimates, would be nearly $5,000,000 annually, and allowing 40 per cent, for working expenses, there will be-a profit of nearly 7 per cent. T?he tunnel will be nearly 180 feet below the bed of the channel, and in ease a war should break out it would be an easy matter to make it useless to an invading force. It does not require ant great amount of imagination to show how important would be the practical annexation of England to the Continent of Europe. True, a vast amount of shipping would be rendered useless, but then the transportation of passengers and merchandise would be cheapened, and much valuable time saved. The powerful material interests involved will necessitate in time the construction of this tunnel, and when com-. pleted, it will be one of the wonders of the world. — Demorest’s Monthly.