Existing comment:
Breaking Through a Mountain:
The Paw Paw Tunnel stands as a monument to the ability and daring of the 19th century canal builders. By building the mile-long cut through the mountain, including the 3,118-foot tunnel, the canal avoided six miles of river bends and steep, rocky cliffs. Methodist minister and contractor Lee Montgomery began construction in 1836, with estimates of completion in two years. Labor shortages, financial difficulties, underestimating the cost of the work, and a maze of lawsuits eventually forced Montgomery into bankruptcy. Work on the tunnel stopped. In 1850, the tunnel was finally completed, opening the canal from Georgetown to Cumberland.
Hand Labor:
Using what we would consider primitive tools, laborers dug through 3,118 feet of unstable shale. Picks and shovels, wheelbarrows, black powder, mule power, and backbreaking labor built the tunnel.
Irish laborers, British and German stonemasons, and a few other nationalities came together to build the canal and tunnel. Occasionally, there were clashes between these diverse groups.
Notes:
(1) Surveyors used simple instruments to keep the digging on a true course.
(2) Blasting the unstable shale with unpredictable black powder was dangerous business; injuries and deaths were commonplace.
(3) Two shafts were sunk in an effort to speed the work. This enabled workers to dig from four directions.
(4) Excavated material was dumped in the hills surrounding the tunnel. |