Stumphouse Tunnel is the largest of three unfinished railroad tunnels begun before the Civil War by the Blue Ridge Rail Road for a line from Anderson, S.C., to Knoxville, Tenn. Cut into the southeast face of Stumphouse Mountain, it was started in late 1853 by about 1,500 Irish miners who lived in the Tunnel Hill village atop the mountain and worked through blue granite with hand drills, hammers and chisels, and black powder. Four shafts allowed miners to cut through ten rock faces at one time. Stumphouse Tunnel was the westernmost of the three, with Middle Tunnel one-half mile southeast and Saddle Tunnel one and three-quarters miles northeast. The longest section of this tunnel is 1,600 feet long, 25 feet high, and 17 feet wide. Work stopped in 1859 when the S.C. legislature refused to fund more construction. Clemson University acquired the tunnel in 1951 and cured blue cheese there for several years, and it has long been managed by the City of Walhalla as a tourist attraction.