History article written for the GFHS website,Blasting, Landslides, and Tunnels on the E&MC Ry. By October 1892, the E&MC Ry reached Granite Falls (giving rise to our now—famous Railroad Days celebration in October of each year). As you might suspect, the really difficult work was yet to come. Chief Engineer R. B. Fisher wrote about it an article appearing in the Oct 5, 1893 Engineering News: “The most interesting part of the construction was in the canyon. The lower two miles gave very little trouble, as the material stood fairly well, excepting for a few hundred feet through clay, which was as usual annoying and expensive. The middle section of the canyon is comprise of a peculiar rock. When blasted it breaks up in very small fragments, nine—tenths of it too small for riprap. The seams are of clay and a soft white material like quartz in color. The outward parts of the rocks are usually decomposed for a few feet. When the lower portions of the slopes were removed great landslides developed. These slides came down sometimes with little warning, sometimes with none, but generally gave notice by the crumbling and rolling down of small fragments from the slopes. There were over 50 of the in the canyon varying from 4 cu. Yds. To over 15,000 cu yds. In volume. The material in these was much pulverized in coming down." (23/21?! ’ army I a; : a; 5%: *- sc. 1 -‘ '1 . .mm’ 34 _ 1'??? . I: V g .. t . V I I I 1 2/21?” In mmm'm/ :22' I» r , . l... Flg.3 Nerd Material. 3.5.4.509 Marenai. Fri; 5. Elevalion and Longitudinal Secnon of Portal. 9”" FIGS. 3. 4 AND 5. DETAILS OF TIMBER LINING FOR TUNNELS 1 TO 6. INCLUSIVE. For those readers who have hiked Old Robe Trail, you can appreciate much of his description, for you’ve seen the area around Tunnel #5 and Tunnel #6. For those of you lucky enough to have visited Tunnel #1, you can truly appreciate the magnitude of their task. If you’ve never hiked in Robe Canyon, you owe it to yourself to take a short drive and get it done! The trail head is near the top of Sand Hill, just six miles from Granite Falls on the Mountain Loop Highway. It’s a short hike, not terribly strenuous, but very scenic and very historic. You’ll encounter artifacts from the huge Johnson—Dean mill that once stood at the east end of the original townsite of Robe, WA. With care, you can hike through Tunnel 6 then Tunnel 5, if slides have not blocked the trail. Picture at left shows the east portal of Tunnel #1, the longest on the line. You can still access that portal today (2014), although the far end is caved in. "There are six tunnels in the canyon, all through projecting spurs [rock outcroppings]. No especial difficulties were met in driving these with the exception oftunnel No. 2. The principal dimensions of each and progress of work are shown in the following table: i , Accession/Object ID: No accession number, Object Name: , Title: "Back in the Day" article, Author: Fred Cruger, Description: History article written for the GFHS website, Date: , OCR Text: Blasting, Landslides, and Tunnels on the E&MC Ry. By October 1892, the E&MC Ry reached Granite Falls (giving rise to our now—famous Railroad Days celebration in October of each year). As you might suspect, the really difficult work was yet to come. Chief Engineer R. B. Fisher wrote about it an article appearing in the Oct 5, 1893 Engineering News: “The most interesting part of the construction was in the canyon. The lower two miles gave very little trouble, as the material stood fairly well, excepting for a few hundred feet through clay, which was as usual annoying and expensive. The middle section of the canyon is comprise of a peculiar rock. When blasted it breaks up in very small fragments, nine—tenths of it too small for riprap. The seams are of clay and a soft white material like quartz in color. The outward parts of the rocks are usually decomposed for a few feet. When the lower portions of the slopes were removed great landslides developed. These slides came down sometimes with little warning, sometimes with none, but generally gave notice by the crumbling and rolling down of small fragments from the slopes. There were over 50 of the in the canyon varying from 4 cu. Yds. To over 15,000 cu yds. In volume. The material in these was much pulverized in coming down." (23/21?! ’ army I a; : a; 5%: *- sc. 1 -‘ '1 . .mm’ 34 _ 1'??? . I: V g .. t . V I I I 1 2/21?” In mmm'm/ :22' I» r , . l... Flg.3 Nerd Material. 3.5.4.509 Marenai. Fri; 5. Elevalion and Longitudinal Secnon of Portal. 9”" FIGS. 3. 4 AND 5. DETAILS OF TIMBER LINING FOR TUNNELS 1 TO 6. INCLUSIVE. For those readers who have hiked Old Robe Trail, you can appreciate much of his description, for you’ve seen the area around Tunnel #5 and Tunnel #6. For those of you lucky enough to have visited Tunnel #1, you can truly appreciate the magnitude of their task. If you’ve never hiked in Robe Canyon, you owe it to yourself to take a short drive and get it done! The trail head is near the top of Sand Hill, just six miles from Granite Falls on the Mountain Loop Highway. It’s a short hike, not terribly strenuous, but very scenic and very historic. You’ll encounter artifacts from the huge Johnson—Dean mill that once stood at the east end of the original townsite of Robe, WA. With care, you can hike through Tunnel 6 then Tunnel 5, if slides have not blocked the trail. Picture at left shows the east portal of Tunnel #1, the longest on the line. You can still access that portal today (2014), although the far end is caved in. "There are six tunnels in the canyon, all through projecting spurs [rock outcroppings]. No especial difficulties were met in driving these with the exception oftunnel No. 2. The principal dimensions of each and progress of work are shown in the following table: i , Granite Falls Historical Society,Documents (articles, clippings, letters, papers),Local History Articles,Back in the Day (local),E&MC Part 2.pdf,E&MC Part 2.pdf Page 1, E&MC Part 2.pdf Page 1