Auburn Tunnel was a 19th-century canal tunnel built for the Schuylkill Canal near Auburn, Pennsylvania. It was the first transportation tunnel in the United States.[4]
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Location | Auburn, Pennsylvania |
| Coordinates | 40°36′48″N 76°06′56″W |
| Status | open cut, abandoned |
| System | Schuylkill Canal |
| Operation | |
| Work begun | 1818[1] |
| Opened | 1821[1] |
| Closed | 1857, converted to cut[2] |
| Owner | Schuylkill Navigation Company |
| Technical | |
| Length | 450 feet (140 m)[2] |
| Highest elevation | 471 feet (144 m) above Delaware River, mid tide[3] |
| Tunnel clearance | 22 feet (6.7 m)[1] |
| Width | 15 feet (4.6 m)[1] |
The tunnel was deliberately added to the canal as a novelty, as the hill it was bored though could have easily been bypassed. It became a major attraction, with people traveling over 97 miles (156 km)[3] upriver from Philadelphia to see it. It was periodically shortened, and in 1857 was daylighted to become an open-cut.[4]
