The Hauto Tunnel, dug in 1871–72, was a single-track

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

tunnel crossing under the

barrier ridge The terms barrier ridge, a term of art in the earth sciences, especially geology and sometimes barrier range (more common as a geography term) describing the existence of gross landforms describing long ridgelines which are particularly difficult ...

Nesquehoning Mountain Nesquehoning MountainUSGS Geographic Names Information System
s ...

between

Lansford, Pennsylvania Lansford is a border, county-border borough (Pennsylvania), borough (town) in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. It is located northwest of Allentown, Pennsylvania, Allentown and 19 miles south ...

, in the

Panther Creek Valley Panther Creek Valley was historically the site of mining towns in eastern Pennsylvania. Since 1992, the Panther Creek Valley Foundation has managed the Number Nine Coal Mine and Museum in Lansford, Pennsylvania. Geologically, Panther Creek Valle ...

and the

Central Railroad of New Jersey Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

trackage near the dam of the Hauto Reservoir impoundment about above

Nesquehoning, Pennsylvania Nesquehoning is a borough in Carbon County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of Northeastern Pennsylvania. The population was 3,336 at the 2020 census. Nesquehoning was established as a result of the anthracite, anthracite coal mining i ...

. The tunnel was significant for cutting nearly off the trip to the

Lehigh Canal The Lehigh Canal is a navigable canal that begins at the mouth of Nesquehoning Creek on the Lehigh River in the Lehigh Valley and Northeastern regions of Pennsylvania. It was built in two sections over a span of 20 years beginning in 1818. Th ...

terminal or, by rail, to other eastern coal companies, in the era when

anthracite Anthracite, also known as hard coal and black coal, is a hard, compact variety of coal that has a lustre (mineralogy)#Submetallic lustre, submetallic lustre. It has the highest carbon content, the fewest impurities, and the highest energy densit ...

was the king of energy fuels. Built as a joint venture by the

and landlords

Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company was a mining and transportation company headquartered in Mauch Chunk, now known as Jim Thorpe, Pennsylvania. The company operated from 1818 until its dissolution in 1964 and played an early and influential role in ...

(LC&N Co.) shortly after the LC&N

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

had decided to opt out of the rail transportation business and leased all the railroads it owned or controlled under subsidiary Lehigh & Susquehanna Railroad to the CNJ. The tunnel began as a notion when LC&N Co. miners needed to drain water from a higher mine gallery under the Panther Creek Valley and so dug a drainage shaft from the other (north) side of Nesquehoning Ridge into the coal beds under Lansford. Once the tracks were in operation and proven, the tunnel allowed the CNJ to seek permission from LC&N Co. to cease coal shipments to the canal head on the iconic

Summit Hill & Mauch Chunk Railroad The Mauch Chunk Switchback Railway, also known as the Mauch Chunk and Summit Railroad and occasionally shortened to Mauch Chunk Railway, was a coal-hauling railroad in the mountains of Pennsylvania that was built in 1827 and operated until 1932 ...

, and to sell off the asset as a common carrier and tourist railway.Drury, John H. & Gilbert, Joan, Jim Thorpe (Mauch Chunk), Arcadia Publishing, 2001, p. 44

Notes

References

{{coord, 40.8394, -75.8893, type:landmark_region:US-PA_dim:3000, format=dms, display=title History of Carbon County, Pennsylvania Railroad tunnels in Pennsylvania Central Railroad of New Jersey Transportation buildings and structures in Carbon County, Pennsylvania

See also

Notes

References