THE GREAT SNOW-STORM.
61
Progress of the work—1881. up, and enabled us to go on as before with the works.
All building operations on the top were, of course, stopped during this period.
The road and temporary bridge over the Great Western Railway were completed in February, and the making of vitrified bricks from the shale excavated in the tunnel was commenced in April.
The new shaft at Sudbrook, afterwards called the ‘New Winding Shaft,’ was pushed forward now that the water was out of the headings; and at the bottom of this shaft the 9-ft. heading was enlarged to an 18-ft. tunnel, to give room for extra lines of way for the skips, and to allow of the turning and handling of heavy timbers, which had to be lowered down the shaft for bars or sills.
The 9-ft. barrel-drain was completed to the head-wall under the river in April. Two feet above the bottom of the drain it was planked over, and on the planking a double road for skips was laid, the gauge of each road being 1 foot 9 inches. As soon as this was completed, and the road laid up to the first head-wall, that wall was cut away, and the sluice in the second head-wall opened gradually till all the water was drawn out of the heading under the river, when the door was opened, and the heading was explored. On the 9th May I went up this heading with Joseph Talbot. Generally, it was in a pretty good state, because the ground was very good, but there was not timber sufficient to