The same evening Barbicane and his companions returned to Tampa Town; and Murchison, the engineer, re-embarked on board the Tampico for New Orleans. His object was to enlist1 an army of workmen, and to collect together the greater part of the materials. The members of the Gun Club remained at Tampa Town, for the purpose of setting on foot the preliminary works by the aid of the people of the country.
Eight days after its departure, the Tampico returned into the bay of Espiritu Santo, with a whole flotilla of steamboats. Murchison had succeeded in assembling together fifteen hundred artisans. Attracted by the high pay and considerable bounties2 offered by the Gun Club, he had enlisted3 a choice legion of stokers, iron-founders, lime-burners, miners, brickmakers, and artisans of every trade, without distinction of color. As many of these people brought their families with them, their departure resembled a perfect emigration.
On the 31st of October, at ten o’clock in the morning, the troop disembarked on the quays4 of Tampa Town; and one may imagine the activity which pervaded5 that little town, whose population was thus doubled in a single day.
During the first few days they were busy discharging the cargo6 brought by the flotilla, the machines, and the rations7, as well as a large number of huts constructed of iron plates, separately pieced and numbered. At the same period Barbicane laid the first sleepers8 of a railway fifteen miles in length, intended to unite Stones Hill with Tampa Town. On the first of November Barbicane quitted Tampa Town with a detachment of workmen; and on the following day the whole town of huts was erected9 round Stones Hill. This they enclosed with palisades; and in respect of energy and activity, it might have been mistaken for one of the great cities of the Union. Everything was placed under a complete system of discipline, and the works were commenced in most perfect order.
The nature of the soil having been carefully examined, by means of repeated borings, the work of excavation10 was fixed11 for the 4th of November.
On that day Barbicane called together his foremen and addressed them as follows: “You are well aware, my friends, of the object with which I have assembled you together in this wild part of Florida. Our business is to construct a cannon12 measuring nine feet in its interior diameter, six feet thick, and with a stone revetment of nineteen and a half feet in thickness. We have, therefore, a well of sixty feet in diameter to dig down to a depth of nine hundred feet. This great work must be completed within eight months, so that you have 2,543,400 cubic feet of earth to excavate13 in 255 days; that is to say, in round numbers, 2,000 cubic feet per day. That which would present no difficulty to a thousand navvies working in open country will be of course more troublesome in a comparatively confined space. However, the thing must be done, and I reckon for its accomplishment14 upon your courage as much as upon your skill.”
At eight o’clock the next morning the first stroke of the pickaxe was struck upon the soil of Florida; and from that moment that prince of tools was never inactive for one moment in the hands of the excavators. The gangs relieved each other every three hours.
On the 4th of November fifty workmen commenced digging, in the very center of the enclosed space on the summit of Stones Hill, a circular hole sixty feet in diameter. The pickaxe first struck upon a kind of black earth, six inches in thickness, which was speedily disposed of. To this earth succeeded two feet of fine sand, which was carefully laid aside as being valuable for serving the casting of the inner mould. After the sand appeared some compact white clay, resembling the chalk of Great Britain, which extended down to a depth of four feet. Then the iron of the picks struck upon the hard bed of the soil; a kind of rock formed of petrified15 shells, very dry, very solid, and which the picks could with difficulty penetrate16. At this point the excavation exhibited a depth of six and a half feet and the work of the masonry17 was begun.
At the bottom of the excavation they constructed a wheel of oak, a kind of circle strongly bolted together, and of immense strength. The center of this wooden disc was hollowed out to a diameter equal to the exterior18 diameter of the Columbiad. Upon this wheel rested the first layers of the masonry, the stones of which were bound together by hydraulic19 cement, with irresistible20 tenacity21. The workmen, after laying the stones from the circumference22 to the center, were thus enclosed within a kind of well twenty-one feet in diameter. When this work was accomplished23, the miners resumed their picks and cut away the rock from underneath24 the wheel itself, taking care to support it as they advanced upon blocks of great thickness. At every two feet which the hole gained in depth they successively withdrew the blocks. The wheel then sank little by little, and with it the massive ring of masonry, on the upper bed of which the masons labored25 incessantly26, always reserving some vent27 holes to permit the escape of gas during the operation of the casting.
This kind of work required on the part of the workmen extreme nicety and minute attention. More than one, in digging underneath the wheel, was dangerously injured by the splinters of stone. But their ardor28 never relaxed, night or day. By day they worked under the rays of the scorching29 sun; by night, under the gleam of the electric light. The sounds of the picks against the rock, the bursting of mines, the grinding of the machines, the wreaths of smoke scattered30 through the air, traced around Stones Hill a circle of terror which the herds31 of buffaloes32 and the war parties of the Seminoles never ventured to pass. Nevertheless, the works advanced regularly, as the steam-cranes actively33 removed the rubbish. Of unexpected obstacles there was little account; and with regard to foreseen difficulties, they were speedily disposed of.
At the expiration34 of the first month the well had attained35 the depth assigned for that lapse36 of time, namely, 112 feet. This depth was doubled in December, and trebled in January.
During the month of February the workmen had to contend with a sheet of water which made its way right across the outer soil. It became necessary to employ very powerful pumps and compressed-air engines to drain it off, so as to close up the orifice from whence it issued; just as one stops a leak on board ship. They at last succeeded in getting the upper hand of these untoward37 streams; only, in consequence of the loosening of the soil, the wheel partly gave way, and a slight partial settlement ensued. This accident cost the life of several workmen.
No fresh occurrence thenceforward arrested the progress of the operation; and on the tenth of June, twenty days before the expiration of the period fixed by Barbicane, the well, lined throughout with its facing of stone, had attained the depth of 900 feet. At the bottom the masonry rested upon a massive block measuring thirty feet in thickness, while on the upper portion it was level with the surrounding soil.
President Barbicane and the members of the Gun Club warmly congratulated their engineer Murchison; the cyclopean work had been accomplished with extraordinary rapidity.
During these eight months Barbicane never quitted Stones Hill for a single instant. Keeping ever close by the work of excavation, he busied himself incessantly with the welfare and health of his workpeople, and was singularly fortunate in warding38 off the epidemics39 common to large communities of men, and so disastrous40 in those regions of the globe which are exposed to the influences of tropical climates.
Many workmen, it is true, paid with their lives for the rashness inherent in these dangerous labors41; but these mishaps42 are impossible to be avoided, and they are classed among the details with which the Americans trouble themselves but little. They have in fact more regard for human nature in general than for the individual in particular.
Nevertheless, Barbicane professed43 opposite principles to these, and put them in force at every opportunity. So, thanks to his care, his intelligence, his useful intervention44 in all difficulties, his prodigious45 and humane46 sagacity, the average of accidents did not exceed that of transatlantic countries, noted47 for their excessive precautions — France, for instance, among others, where they reckon about one accident for every two hundred thousand francs of work.
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1
enlist
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| vt.谋取(支持等)，赢得；征募；vi.入伍 | |
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bounties
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| （由政府提供的）奖金( bounty的名词复数 )； 赏金； 慷慨； 大方 | |
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3
enlisted
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| adj.应募入伍的v.（使）入伍， （使）参军( enlist的过去式和过去分词 )；获得（帮助或支持） | |
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quays
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| 码头( quay的名词复数 ) | |
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pervaded
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| v.遍及，弥漫( pervade的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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cargo
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| n.(一只船或一架飞机运载的)货物 | |
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rations
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| 定量( ration的名词复数 )； 配给量； 正常量； 合理的量 | |
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sleepers
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| n.卧铺（通常以复数形式出现）；卧车( sleeper的名词复数 )；轨枕；睡觉（呈某种状态）的人；小耳环 | |
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ERECTED
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| adj. 直立的，竖立的，笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立，建立 | |
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excavation
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| n.挖掘，发掘；被挖掘之地 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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cannon
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| n.大炮，火炮；飞机上的机关炮 | |
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excavate
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| vt.挖掘，挖出 | |
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14
accomplishment
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| n.完成，成就，（pl.）造诣，技能 | |
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petrified
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| adj.惊呆的；目瞪口呆的v.使吓呆，使惊呆；变僵硬；使石化(petrify的过去式和过去分词) | |
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penetrate
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| v.透(渗)入；刺入，刺穿；洞察，了解 | |
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masonry
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| n.砖土建筑；砖石 | |
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exterior
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| adj.外部的，外在的；表面的 | |
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hydraulic
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| adj.水力的；水压的，液压的；水力学的 | |
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irresistible
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| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
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tenacity
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| n.坚韧 | |
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circumference
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| n.圆周，周长，圆周线 | |
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accomplished
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| adj.有才艺的；有造诣的；达到了的 | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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labored
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| adj.吃力的，谨慎的v.努力争取(for)( labor的过去式和过去分词 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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incessantly
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| ad.不停地 | |
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vent
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| n.通风口，排放口；开衩；vt.表达，发泄 | |
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ardor
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| n.热情，狂热 | |
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scorching
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| adj. 灼热的 | |
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30
scattered
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| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
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31
herds
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| 兽群( herd的名词复数 )； 牧群； 人群； 群众 | |
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buffaloes
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| n.水牛（分非洲水牛和亚洲水牛两种）( buffalo的名词复数 )；（南非或北美的）野牛；威胁；恐吓 | |
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actively
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| adv.积极地，勤奋地 | |
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expiration
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| n.终结，期满，呼气，呼出物 | |
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attained
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| （通常经过努力）实现( attain的过去式和过去分词 )； 达到； 获得； 达到（某年龄、水平、状况） | |
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lapse
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| n.过失，流逝，失效，抛弃信仰，间隔；vi.堕落，停止，失效，流逝；vt.使失效 | |
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untoward
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| adj.不利的，不幸的，困难重重的 | |
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38
warding
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| 监护，守护（ward的现在分词形式） | |
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epidemics
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| n．流行病 | |
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40
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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41
labors
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| v.努力争取(for)( labor的第三人称单数 )；苦干；详细分析；（指引擎）缓慢而困难地运转 | |
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42
mishaps
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| n.轻微的事故，小的意外( mishap的名词复数 ) | |
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43
professed
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| 公开声称的，伪称的，已立誓信教的 | |
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44
intervention
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| n.介入，干涉，干预 | |
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45
prodigious
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| adj.惊人的，奇妙的；异常的；巨大的；庞大的 | |
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46
humane
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| adj.人道的，富有同情心的 | |
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47
noted
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| adj.著名的，知名的 | |
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