The Dangerous Depths of the Cascade Tunnel
Early construction on the Cascade tunnel turns deadly as workers face unstable ground and lethal collapses.
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The heading of the Cascade tunnel is now in about 300 feet, and is proving a dangerous place for workmen. The rock resembles soapstone, and when water strikes it, it dissolves and breaks off in great pieces. Tuesday, the 4th inst., a laborer was crushed to death by a cave of rock, and the following day another man had his arm mangled so badly by falling rock that amputation was necessary.
“The rock resembles soapstone, and when water strikes it, it dissolves and breaks off in great pieces.”
Tunneling through the Cascades has been a hazardous engineering challenge for over a century. While modern safety standards and heavy machinery have replaced the pickaxes and primitive timbering of the 1880s, the geological instability of the mountain pass remains a constant, volatile variable in regional infrastructure projects.
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