W P HURD N. ADAMS MA STEREOVIEW HOOSAC TUNNEL WEST ENTRANCE OF ARCH LOOKING OUT

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Photographs throughout Ad:Offered for auction is an early stereoview from W. P. Hurd's Excelsior Gallery, Maine Street, North Adams, Mass. The stereoview is from the set HOOSAC TUNNEL ROUTE SERIES and titled as follows -- --NO. 218 WEST ENTRANCE OF ARCH LOOKING OUT - HOOSAC TUNNEL - NORTH ADAMS, MASS --Below additional information on the Hoosac Tunnel:The Hoosac Tunnel (also called Hoosic or Hoosick Tunnel) is a 4.75-mile (7.64 km) active railroad tunnel in western Massachusetts that passes through the Hoosac Range, an extension of Vermont's Green Mountains. Work began in 1851 with an estimated cost of $2 million and ended in 1875 with a total cost of $21 million. At its completion, the tunnel was the world's second-longest, after the 8.5-mile (13.7 km) Mont Cenis Tunnel through the French Alps. It was the longest tunnel in North America until the 1916 completion of the Connaught Tunnel under Rogers Pass in British Columbia, and remains the longest active transportation tunnel east of the Rocky Mountains.The tunnel runs in a straight line from its east portal, along the Deerfield River in the town of Florida, to its west portal in the town of North Adams. It remains an active freight rail line, owned by Pan Am Railways and operating without a schedule. "No Trespassing" signs are posted throughout the area and it is illegal to enter the tunnel or walk on the railroad tracks without permission.The tunnel project was originally proposed in 1819 as a canal to connect Boston to Upstate New York via the Deerfield River on the east of the Hoosac Range and the Hoosic River on the west. That project was shelved, and later reborn as part of the new Troy and Greenfield Railroad. The project was nicknamed "The Great Bore" by its critics, including future Supreme Court JusticeOliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., who said he'd like to "wall up a dozen lawyers at one end of the tunnel and put a good fee at the other."The most important proponent of the northern route and the Hoosac Tunnel was Alvah Crocker, a self-made paper mill owner from Fitchburg, Massachusetts. The Science Channel documentary Driven to Invent: Killer Tunnel called Crocker "The Father of Modern Tunneling" for his influence in advancing the use of geologists, explosives, pneumatic tools and boring technology, and said, "He laid down the rules for tunnel construction even to the present day." In 1841, Crocker formed the Fitchburg Railroad(chartered 1842, opened 1845) between Boston and Fitchburg. In 1844 Crocker incorporated the existing Vermont and Massachusetts Railroad, which ran from Fitchburg west to Greenfield, as well as northward (from Millers Falls) to Brattleboro, Vermont. In 1848 Crocker secured from the legislature a charter for the Troy & Greenfield Railroad (T & G), with provisions for a tunnel through Hoosac Mountain."Hoosac" is an Algonquian word meaning "place of stones".In 1862, the Troy and Greenfield Railroad defaulted on its loan from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, which foreclosed on the mortgage and took control of the railroad, including the tunnel project. The state sent engineer Charles Storrow to Europe to study modern tunneling techniques, including the use of nitroglycerine and compressed air. In 1863 the state, with Alvah Crocker now superintendent of railroads, restarted the project and made Thomas Doane the chief engineer.In 1868, the Massachusetts state legislature appropriated $5 million to complete the project. Canadian engineer Walter Shanly (sometimes spelled Shanley) and his brother Francis took over the project from the state, and remained through the completion of tunnel boring. Among the consulting engineers at the time was Benjamin Henry Latrobe, II, a noted civil engineer who was serving as the chief engineer of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad.The final chief engineer was Bernard N. Farren, who took over on November 19, 1874, and completed the work, including enlarging sections of the tunnel, reinforcing weak areas with arching, completing drainage systems and comple... read more

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