174 Historical Sketches of the Foreign Missions of the Seventh-day Adventists
twenty-five hundred workmen on an average were employed daily,
and sometimes the number reached three thousand four hundred. The
boring was commenced on both sides of the mountain at the same time;
[230]
and such was the engineering skill displayed that when the workmen
came together, there was not the variation of an inch in their work.
The contractor, Mr. Louis Favre, did not live to see the completion of
his task, having died of apoplexy in the tunnel three years before it
was finished.
It took our train twenty-five minutes to pass through this tunnel;
but the arrangement for ventilation is so complete, a current of fresh
air being constantly forced through the tunnel, that we found it un-
necessary even to close the windows. There was something solemn
in the thought that while we were nearly four thousand feet above the
level of the sea, there were yet from six to seven thousand feet of solid
rock piled above our heads, and three thousand three hundred and fifty
feet above us lay the clear waters of Lake Sella. It was with a sense
of relief that we emerged from this dark cavern, only, however, to be
again lost in wonder, this time not so much at the workmanship of man
as at the mighty works of God.
Soon after leaving the St. Gotthard, we come to Airolo, the first
Italian-Swiss village. From this point the road descends the valley of
the Ticino by means of numerous windings, and by straight and circular
tunnels. Soon an immense mountain projects into the valley, apparently
with the desire to check the course of the impatient, swift-flowing
Ticino: but by some means the river has succeeded in forcing a passage
through it, and descends in a series of falls through a wild, rocky gorge
to a lower region of the valley, while the railway accomplishes the
descent by means of two circular tunnels, the Piano Tondo and the
Travi, one below the other in cork-screw fashion. In each of these
tunnels a descent of one hundred and eighteen feet is made, thus
enabling the train to descend an otherwise impassable gorge. From
this point the valley begins to widen. Beautiful cascades are seen
pouring over the cliffs on each side, and interspersed among the rocks
are noble chestnut, walnut, mulberry, and fig trees.
At Bellinzona about four o’clock in the afternoon our train was
divided, and a portion of the cars and passengers wound their way
around the mountain side toward Milan, while we continued our course
to Turin, along the border of the beautiful Lake Maggiore. Here we