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 Cheatham County ( ) is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of the 2020 census, the population was 41,072. Its county seat is Ashland City. Cheatham County is part of the Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Franklin, ...

. Built in 1819, the long tunnel is believed to be the first full-size tunnel built 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 territori ...

, and is the first used to divert water for industrial purposes. It was designated a Historic Civil Engineering Landmark in 1981, and a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 1994.

Description and history

The Montgomery Bell Tunnel is located in a unit of Harpeth River State Park, north of the town of

Kingston Springs, Tennessee Kingston Springs is a town in Cheatham County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 2,824 at the 2020 census and 2,756 at the 2010 census. Geography According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of . Climate D ...

. In this area, the Harpeth River undergoes a series of

meander A meander is one of a series of regular sinuous curves in the channel of a river or other watercourse. It is produced as a watercourse erodes the sediments of an outer, concave bank ( cut bank) and deposits sediments on an inner, convex ba ...

s. In one of these, two parts of the river are quite close after a lengthy oxbow, known as the Narrows of the Harpeth. The tunnel runs roughly north-south across this

isthmus An isthmus (; ; ) is a narrow piece of land connecting two larger areas across an expanse of water by which they are otherwise separated. A tombolo is an isthmus that consists of a spit or bar, and a strait is the sea counterpart of an isthmus ...

. It is in length, and is dug entirely through

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

rock. Neither the tunnel nor its portals are lined in any way. The tunnel's profile shape that of a rectangle topped by a segmented arch, and is generally high and wide. The entrance portal is high and wide and the exit portal is high and wide. The tunnel has suffered some damage over the years due to erosive forces.

Montgomery Bell Montgomery Bell (January 3, 1769, Chester County, Pennsylvania – April 1, 1855, Dickson County, Tennessee) was a manufacturing entrepreneur who was crucial to the economic development of early Middle Tennessee. He was known as the "Iron Ma ...

, an entrepreneur from

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

who was involved in iron foundries in central

Tennessee Tennessee ( , ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. Tennessee is the 36th-largest by area and the 15th-most populous of the 50 states. It is bordered by Kentucky to th ...

, purchased the land in this area in 1818. Recognizing the potential to apply water power to the process of producing

wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.08%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4%). It is a semi-fused mass of iron with fibrous slag inclusions (up to 2% by weight), which give it a wood-like "grain" ...

, he directed the construction of this tunnel, which facilitates use of a drop in river height for power generation. The tunnel is the first known example in the United States of a "full-scale" water diversion

tunnel A tunnel is an underground passageway, dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, and enclosed except for the entrance and exit, commonly at each end. A pipeline is not a tunnel, though some recent tunnels have used immersed tube cons ...

. It is also apparently the first "full-scale" tunnel of any type in the United States, its completion predating that of the

Auburn Tunnel 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. The tunnel was deliberately added to the canal as a novelty, as the hill it wa ...

(1821) in

, whose construction was begun first. The tunnel is the only feature of Bell's iron works to survive; not surviving are a dam, head race, and the iron foundry itself, as well as Bell's house, which was built nearby. During the 1930s, the land in this area was leased to the

Boy Scouts of America The Boy Scouts of America (BSA, colloquially the Boy Scouts) is one of the largest scouting organizations and one of the largest youth organizations in the United States, with about 1.2 million youth participants. The BSA was founded ...

for use as a summer camp. It was deeded to the state in 1978. In the late evening, on September 2, 2011, a fire was lit in the tunnel. The amount of driftwood from 2010's flood in the tunnel enlarged the fire. The fire was eventually extinguished in the early hours of the morning. The tunnel, and the road passing over it, were damaged. It and the road were stabilized, however, and Montgomery Bell Tunnel is again safe.

References

External links

About Harpeth River State Park - Tennessee State Parks web site
{{National Register of Historic Places National Historic Landmarks in Tennessee Buildings and structures in Cheatham County, Tennessee Water tunnels in the United States Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks Tunnels in Tennessee Water tunnels on the National Register of Historic Places Tunnels completed in 1819 Transportation buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee National Register of Historic Places in Cheatham County, Tennessee

Description and history

See also

References

External links