Haugnting of the Blue Ridge Tunnel
Haugnting of the Blue Ridge Tunnel East portal entrance Built in the 1850s under the direction of a French immigrant, Claudius Crozet (1789 – 1864), using majority Irish folk (300) and African American people (40ish). Crozet was both the designer and the chief engineer on the project. He never expected the tunnel to take as long as it did to complete. Claudius had originally expected the tunnel to be complete by 1853, but nature had other plans. Claudius Crozet Due to massive hard rock and greenstone on the east side of the tunnel, it was a tough endeavor.. The rock was so unforgiving that drills had to be sharpened 18-20 times for every 18-inch deep hole that was drilled. To some, this may not seem like a huge deal, but to put that into perspective: while the Baltimore and Ohio Railway was advancing at a pace of 300 feet per month, the Blue Ridge Tunnel managed an average of only 53 feet per month. Some accounts put it as low as 19 feet per month. Just inside a bit o...