from end to end. In order correctly to
ascertain, and honestly to make known to the contractors the nature of
the ground through which this great work was to pass, the
engineer-in-chief sank the usual number of what are called "trial
shafts;" and, from the result, the usual advertisements for tenders were
issued, and the shafts, &c. having been minutely examined by the
competing contractors, the work was let to one of them for the sum of
L99,000. In order to drive the tunnel, it was deemed necessary to
construct eighteen working shafts, by which, like the heavings of a
mole, the contents of the subterranean gallery were to be brought to the
surface. This interesting work was in busy progress, when, all of a
sudden, it was ascertained, that, at about 200 yards from the south end
of the tunnel, there existed, overlaid by a bed of clay, forty feet
thick, a hidden quicksand, which extended 400 yards into the proposed
tunnel, and which the trial shafts on each side of it had almost
miraculously just passed without touching. Overwhelmed at the discovery,
the contractor instantly took to his bed; and though he was justly
relieved by the company from his engagement, the reprieve came too late,
for he actually died.

The general opinion of the several eminent engineers who were consulted
was against proceeding; but Mr. R. Stephenson offered to undertake the
responsibility of the work. His first operation was to lower the water
with which he had to contend, and it was soon ascertained that the
quicksand in question covered several square miles. The tunnel, thirty
feet high by thirty feet broad, was formed of bricks, laid in cement,
and the bricklayers were progressing in lengths averaging twelve feet,
when those who were nearest the quicksand, on driving into the roof,
were suddenly almost overwhelmed by a deluge of water, which burst in
upon them. As it was evident that no time was to be lost, a gang of
workmen, protected by the extreme power of the engines, were, with their
materials, placed on a raft; and while, with the utmost celerity, they
were completing the walls of that short length, the water, in spite of
every effort to keep it down, rose with such rapidity, that, at the
conclusion of the work, the men were so near being jammed against the
roof, that the assistant-engineer jumped overboard, and then swimming,
with a rope in his mouth, he towed the raft to the nearest working
shaft, through which he and his men were saf