Workers Complete Hoosac Tunnel
On this day in 1874, workers in the small western Massachusetts town of Florida finished the Hoosac Tunnel, bringing to completion one of the world's most ambitious engineering projects. The Hoosac Mountain Range had long been a formidable natural barrier to the development of towns in the northern tier of Massachusetts. As industry grew in this part of the state, so did pressure for a rail connection across the mountains. Construction of the tunnel took more than 20 years, $17,000,000, and the lives of 196 men. On Thanksgiving Day in 1874, the last 16 feet of rock were blasted out of the way under North Adams. Two months later, the first train passed through what was then the second longest tunnel in the world.
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