Auburn Tunnel
Overview
LocationAuburn, Pennsylvania
Coordinates40°36′48″N 76°06′56″W / 40.61333°N 76.11556°W / 40.61333; -76.11556
Statusopen cut, abandoned
SystemSchuylkill Canal
Operation
Work begun1818[1]
Opened1821[1]
Closed1857, converted to cut[2]
OwnerSchuylkill Navigation Company
Technical
Length450 feet (140 m)[2]
Highest elevation471 feet (144 m)
above Delaware River, mid tide[3]
Tunnel clearance22 feet (6.7 m)[1]
Width15 feet (4.6 m)[1]

Auburn Tunnel was a 19th-century canal tunnel built for the Schuylkill Canal near Auburn, Pennsylvania. It was the first transportation tunnel in the United States.[4]

The tunnel was deliberately added to the canal as a novelty, as the hill it was bored though could have easily been bypassed. It became a major attraction, with people traveling over 97 miles (156 km)[3] upriver from Philadelphia to see it. It was periodically shortened, and in 1857 was daylighted to become an open-cut.[4]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c d Creighton, James E. (1920). "TUNNELS AND TUNNELING". The Encyclopedia Americana: A Library of Universal Knowledge. Albany, New York: Encyclopedia Americana Corp. p. 157.
  2. ^ a b "American Canal Society Canal Structure Inventory - Auburn Tunnel" (PDF). Retrieved 2012-10-30.
  3. ^ a b "Profile of the Schuylkill Navigation". Archived from the original on 2010-12-06. Retrieved 2008-11-29.
  4. ^ a b Historical Society of Schuylkill County (1910). Publications of the Historical Society of Schuylkill County. Vol. 2 (1907-10). Historical Society of Schuylkill County. pp. 483–4.
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