. A gazetteer of the state of Massachusetts; . should be your felicity, you will say7, and reverently too, It is goodto be here : let us make tabernacles, and abide ; for surely there shall never rest uponour souls a purer benediction. The entrance to the Hoosac Tunnel is on the right bank of the Deer-field River, in the eastern centre of this town. In 1854 the State gave its credit to the amount of $2,000,000; andthe work of excavating the tunnel was commenced by E. W. Serrell andCompany in 1855. In the ensuing year, __ ^ ^^^ jK^ _ a contract was made ^1j^,J^^M :~ with H. Haupt a
. A gazetteer of the state of Massachusetts; . should be your felicity, you will say7, and reverently too, It is goodto be here : let us make tabernacles, and abide ; for surely there shall never rest uponour souls a purer benediction. The entrance to the Hoosac Tunnel is on the right bank of the Deer-field River, in the eastern centre of this town. In 1854 the State gave its credit to the amount of $2,000,000; andthe work of excavating the tunnel was commenced by E. W. Serrell andCompany in 1855. In the ensuing year, __ ^ ^^^ jK^ _ a contract was made ^1j^,J^^M :~ with H. Haupt and •• :-? _™g Company, by which %-- -v. they agreed to complete £--rj|j -. Hsiiftl ?-- i-: the road and tunnel for$3,880,000; and thework was carried on atthe east and west endof the tunnel until1861, when the con-tractors abandoned theenterprise. In the yearfollowing, the State it-self undertook to pros-ecute this giganticscheme under an appropriation of $4,750,000. Messrs. Walter and Francis Shanley of Canada entered into a con-. DEERFIELD RIVER AND HOOSAC TUNNEL. 212 GAZETTEER OF MASSACHUSETTS. tract with the State commissioners to complete the work by March 1,1874. These gentlemen have prosecuted the undertaking with indomi-table energy, cutting their way by the aid of a boring-machine, drivenby compressed air and nitro-glycerine, through solid mica-slate, until, atthis present date (Oct. 1, 1873), 552 feet only remain to be excavated ofthe whole distance, which is 25,031 feet, or a little less than five top of the tunnel is a semicircle, with a radius of 13 feet; andthe sides are arcs of a circle, with a radius of 26 feet. Two shaftshave been sunk from the summit of the mountain to the horizontalchannel. The opening of this tunnel will shorten the distance from Boston tothe Hudson River by about 9 miles; will reduce the enormous pricesfor transportation over the Boston and Albany Road; will aid in devel-oping the resources of the northern section of the St
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1870, bookpublisherbosto, bookyear1874
