Brooklyn Tunnel

            Among other great things within its confines, West Kootenay will have a 3000 foot tunnel, one of the longest on the continent and the longest tunnel in the Dominion for one driven through solid rock.  The tunnel is located on the Columbia & Western railway now a part of the Canadian Pacific system, about three miles from Brooklyn, B.C., and at an altitude of about 2000 feet above the Columbia River.  Its dimensions are 3000 feet long, 21 feet high, and 16 feet in width, and it will require the excavation of about 28,000 cubic yards or 85,000 tons of syenite which is the prevailing rock of the mountain.  It will take about ten months to drive this tunnel although the other portion of the line will be completed before that time.  During the driving of the tunnel, trains will be transported over the divide by means of a series of ten switch backs which will be abandoned when the tunnel is completed.  McLean Bros. have the contract and have purchased a large plant, consisting of two large compressors, 14 air drills, boilers, pipe line, etc., the cost of which when installed will be about $22,000.  The tunnel will be driven from both ends and the driving should progress at the rate of ten to twelve feet per day.