Word: gotthard
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Dates: during 1950-1959
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Since Caesar's legions and Hannibal's elephants crossed the Alps on footpaths, man has been waging a slow battle to conquer Europe's rock curtain. In 1800 Napoleon widened the Alpine trails and made them military roads. By 1820 the St. Gotthard pass had been widened to 18 feet, enough for two-way carriage traffic, but only in summer. Then in 1870 the eight-mile Mount Cenis railway tunnel, an engineering marvel in its day, was holed through...
...tunnel, contractors will use a mammoth U.S. cutter which fits the tube, rides along on rails, permits 24 electric drills to work at once. Most of Mont Blanc is solid granite, and (with electric drills) this is to the good: in 1880 workers digging the St. Gotthard tunnel in a less solid mountain were killed by rock lapses...
...down as fast as five inches an hour. Instead of improving the trails and slalom courses, it caused one of the worst series of avalanches in Alpine history. Tons of thick wet snow crashed down on the valleys of eastern and central Switzerland. Roads were blocked, including the St. Gotthard rail line between Italy and central Europe. Swiss army detachments futilely tried to break up the giant snowslides with mortar barrages...