The life of George Stephenson, railway engineer - Lighthouse ...

*
300 LIFE OF GEORGE STEPHENSON. [chap. xxv.
tractor to judge of the nature of the ground through which the
excavation was to be carried. On this being, as it was sup-
posed, sufficiently ascertained, advertisements for tenders were
issued, and the work was let to a contractor for 90,000Z. The
result cannot be better described than in the words of Sir F-
Head, in his interesting account of the .London and Northwestern
Railway :—
" The work was in busy progress when, all of a sudden, it was
ascertained that, at about 200 yards from the south end of the
tunnel, there existed, overlaid by a bed of clay forty feet thick,
a hidden quicksand, which extended 400 yards into the proposed
tunnel, and which the trial shafts on each side of it had, almost
miraculously, just passed without touching.
" The traveller in India could scarcely be more alarmed at the
sudden sight of a crouching tiger before him than the contractor
was at the unexpected appearance of this invincible enemy.
Overwhelmed at the discovery, he instantly took to his bed, and
though he was liberally, pr, to speak more correctly, justly re-
lieved by the Company from his engagement, the reprieve came
too late, for he actually died
!
" The question then arose, whether, in the face of this tremen-
dous difficulty, the execution of the Kilsby Tunnel should be
continued or abandoned. The general opinion of the several
eminent engineers who were consulted was against proceeding,
and certainly the amount of the difficulties which were subse-
quently incurred justified the verdict. But in science, as well as
in war, the word ' impossible ' can occasionally, by cool and extra-
ordinary exertions, be divested of its first syllable ; and, accord-
ingly, Mr. Robert Stephenson oflFering, after mature reflection, to
undertake the responsibility of proceeding, he was duly author-
ized to do so.
" His first operation was of course to endeavour by the power
of steam-engines—the comrades of his life—to lower the water
with which he had to contend ; and although, to a certain degree,
this attempt succeeded, yet by the draining of remote springs,
and by the sinking of the water in wells at considerable dis-
tances, it was soon ascertained that the quicksand in question
covered several square miles.
* " Stokers and Pokers." London: Murray, pp. 18—21.