Tunneling through the Sierra inch by inch by Gordon Richards, Sierra Sun

"Tunneling through the Sierra inch by inch: Echoes from the Past," by Gordon Richards, President and Research Historian for the Truckee Donner Historical Society, © Sierra Sun, Truckee, CA, October 6, 2005. (News Article)

" ... More credit for the Donner Pass route should really be given to Dr. Daniel Strong of Dutch Flat. It was Strong who invited and guided Theodore Judah to the area in 1860, when Judah was searching for a rail-feasible pass over the mountains. The shallow canyon above the south side of Donner Lake was originally named Strong's Canyon, but today is known as Lakeview Canyon. Strong went on to be a Central Pacific Board of Directors member. By 1862, Judah laid out the exact route of the summit tunnels and the traverse along Schallenberger Ridge, then known as Donner's Backbone, but other engineers, such as Samuel Montague and Lewis Clement, completed the final survey locations and construction staking for the Chinese labor crews. In the stretch from Cisco to Schallenberger Ridge, crews had to dig more than 5,150 linear feet in nine tunnels to maintain the grades engineered by Judah. Almost all of these tunnels were in granite that was stronger than steel. The 1,659-foot-long Summit Tunnel, No. 6, required the longest time, more sweat and more explosives than all of the other tunnels combined. ... the near precision engineering of tunnel engineer Lewis Clement, all four headings of Tunnel 6 came to within 2 inches of the planned alignment. ... " [More]

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