Our May, 2012 Heirloom (and then continuing for a few months) started a series of articles about Tunnel 6 starting with Tunnel 6 today. The gallery here will highlght to photographs better than printing out the newsletter.
Inside the tunnels it's pitch black unless you have a good flashlight or lantern. The granite walls have color though as you can see in the gallery below. There is a constant drain of water through cracks in the granite and in winter they freeze into icicles and ice formations. Midway through the tunnel is the central shaft. Tunneling simultaneously from the east and west in 1866 was not fast enough. A central shaft was bored allowing work from the inside out as well as the outside in. At the top the shaft is covered in steel. Nearby are bolts that used to bolt the Sacramento which had been the first locomotive in California. It was hauled up to Tunnel 6 on a huge wagon to become a donkey engine named the Blue Goose. I hauled up rock and no doubt tired workers, and let down workers, tools, and black powder. You will have to go to our 2012 newsletters to read about the Sacramento/Blue Goose, Chinese, black powder, nitroglycerine, avalanche, rock slide, snow, and more. You may want to consul our indices of articles and photographs.
