Auburn Tunnel was a 19th-century
canal tunnel {{Refimprove, date=September 2009
A canal tunnel is a tunnel for a canal. The building of a canal tunnel is crucial to help a waterway that is normally used for shipping cross a difficult section of terrain. They are also constructed to reduce th ...
built for the
Schuylkill Canal near
Auburn, Pennsylvania
Auburn is a borough in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 663 at the 2020 census.
History
The area was historically known as the "Scotchman's Lock". The first house in what is today Auburn was built in the late 18 ...
. It was the first transportation tunnel in the
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
.
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
[{{cite web, title=Profile of the Schuylkill Navigation , url=http://www.racc.edu/Yocum/canal/Reaches/Maps/Profiles_A/A-5.gif , access-date=2008-11-29 , url-status=dead , archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101206081820/https://www.racc.edu/Yocum/canal/Reaches/Maps/Profiles_A/A-5.gif , archive-date=2010-12-06 ] upriver from
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
to see it. It was periodically shortened, and in 1857 was
daylighted to become an
open-cut
In civil engineering, a cut or cutting is where soil or rock from a relative rise along a route is removed. The term is also used in river management to speed a waterway's flow by short-cutting a meander.
Cuts are typically used in road, rail, ...
.
See also
*
Montgomery Bell Tunnel
The Montgomery Bell Tunnel, also known as the Patterson Forge Tunnel, is a historic water diversion tunnel in Harpeth River State Park in Cheatham County, Tennessee. Built in 1819, the long tunnel is believed to be the first full-size tunnel bu ...
– a slightly earlier
aqueduct tunnel in the United States
*
Staple Bend Tunnel
The Staple Bend Tunnel, about east of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, in a town called Mineral Point, was constructed between 1831 and 1834 for the Allegheny Portage Railroad. Construction began on April 12, 1831. This tunnel, at in length, was the ...
– the first
railroad
Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...
tunnel in the United States
References
Canals in Pennsylvania
Transportation buildings and structures in Schuylkill County, Pennsylvania
Tunnels in Pennsylvania
Schuylkill River
Tunnels completed in 1821
Canal tunnels in the United States
Water transportation in Pennsylvania
1821 establishments in Pennsylvania