The Great Bore
A Souvenir Of The Hoosac Tunnel

 26 mountains. The Deerfield rushing down from the hills of Vermont, makes a big bend and then pro- ceeds more quietly on its way to the Connecticut. High on the right bank of the river and just below the long dam which sets its waters back for more than a mile, is the gray stone ruin of the machine shop and compressor building, which contained the enormous air pumps used to drive the Burleigh drills into the rock at the heading of the tunnel. About the portal of the tunnel are several things sugges- tive of the past, the place where work was first be- gun, the smooth, handsome cutting of the old boring machine, but one’s interest at the “east end” does not center in these relics of former days—the fas- cinating influence of the scenery is too potent. HOW THE TUNNEL-HEADINGS WERE MADE TO MEET. During the working clays of the tunnel there could usually be found in a little shanty at the cen- tral shaft, dignified by the name of engineer’s of- fice, a man clad in the uncouth miner’s dress of the region, but possessing a face so frank, so fresh, so full of vigor and earnestness that it at once attracted and held attention. This man was Carl O. Weder- kinch, the very life and spirit of the work at the central shaft. Graduating from the University of