Tunnels Lost to Time

In 1921, the Alaska railroad was built along the Healy Canyon wall above the Nenana River, where three tunnels at the south end of the canyon cut through rock points to ease construction. The soft rock caused continual erosion, collapses, and slides, and one tunnel at milepost 354.7 caved in and was abandoned in the 1940s. Garner tunnel at milepost 356.2 was removed in 2005 after years of maintenance problems, including the removal of 100 feet of the tunnel in the 1960s or 70s, and daylighting of the Moody Tunnel began in 2007 and was expected to be completed in 2010. Moody Tunnel was the last of the 1921 Alaska railroad tunnels and was recorded as Alaska Heritage Resource number HEA-076 and found eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, with documentation preserving its history and engineering features before removal. Other tunnels from 1905–1906 remain about 50 miles north of Seward in the Kenai Peninsula section of the Alaska railroad, and two more stand on the 1942 tract between Whittier and Portage, all reinforced and lined. Moody Tunnel was 262 feet long, Garner was 508 feet long, and the unnamed tunnel between them had an unknown original length. The tunnels were drilled and blasted through schist bedrock, the material was carted out on temporary tracks, and portals and interior supports were built from 12 by 12 inch creosote timbers with cribbing and timber arches added in efforts to stabilize slopes and reinforce roofs.

Denali Park, Alaska · United States