HISTORIC OCONEE COUNTY, SOUTH CAROLINA Subject: Stumphouse Mountain Tunnel Version 1.0, 5-Jan-2003, FCH-07.txt **************************************************************** REPRODUCING NOTICE: ------------------- These electronic pages may not be reproduced in any format for profit, or presentation by any other organization, or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Paul M Kankula - nn8nn Seneca, SC, USA Oconee County SC GenWeb Coordinator Oconee County SC GenWeb Homestead http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/oconee.html Oconee County SC GenWeb Tombstone Project http://www.rootsweb.com/~scoconee/cemeteries.html http://www.usgwtombstones.org/southcarolina/oconee.html Contributor: Frederick C. Holder, Box 444, Pickens, SC 29671 **************************************************************** DATAFILE INPUT . : Paul M. Kankula at kankula1@innova.net in Jan-2003 DATAFILE LAYOUT : Paul M. Kankula at kankula1@innova.net in Jan-2003 HISTORY WRITE-UP : Frederick C. Holder in 1989 STUMPHOUSE MOUNTAIN TUNNEL - Work in progress from 1856-1859 Stumphouse Mountain Tunnel, near Walhalla, is the remnant of the Blue Ridge Railroad, a nineteenth century project which would have linked Charleston and other southern ports with some of the ma- jor manufacturing and trade areas in the South. First proposed in the 1830s, the railroad was intended to improve transportation, com- merce, and industry in the region William Holland Thomas, who became chief of the Oconaluftee Cherokee in North Carolina, traveled with John C. Calhoun in 1836 in search of a route through the moun- tains. After years of planning and debates over routes, Thomas went to New York in 1853 to discuss the proposed construction with Anson and Bangs, who were subsequently hired by the President of the Blue Ridge Railroad as contractors for the project. The firm depleted much of the capital for the proposed road without undertaking the major construction work, and their contract was canceled in early 1856. Actual work on the tunnel began in 1856 when the George Collyer Company of London brought numbers of Irish workers into the area above Walhalla to do the digging and blasting through the blue granite mountain. These workers built a town of poorly constructed buildings called Tunnel Hill atop the tunnel on Stumphouse Mountain. Estimates of the size of the town range from two hundred to over twelve hundred persons. Perhaps future archaeological work will pro- vide additional information about both the town and the workers. Several shafts were started into the side of the mountain and air shafts were dug from atop the mountain to provide ventilation for the workers. At the time construction work ceased the tunnel was over four thousand feet long, although not in one continuous section. By 1859, the State of South Carolina had spent over $1,000,000 on the tun- nel, which was only two-thirds completed after three years. The high cost of the project resulted in the refusal of the legislature to spend any more funds on the project, and the tunnel work was discontinued. Most of the Irish workers left this area, although a number of families in Oconee County are descended from those workers who remained. The Slaters are one such family. Most of the workers were Catholic, and Catholic priests continued to visit at the isolated Slater home, near the base of Stumphouse Mountain, for many years after Tunnel Hill was abandoned. After the Civil War, there were attempts to raise money to finish the work. Although plans to complete the railroad were discussed in the Keowee Courier for years, the project was finally abandoned after the 1940s. During the 1950s, Clemson University used the tunnel to age Bleu Cheese. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1971, and the tunnel is now a tourist attraction. Location: Take Highland Highway (Hwy. 28) northwest of Walhalla or coming southeast from Mountain Rest. As you go up (or come down) the mountain, watch for the sign for Stumphouse Tunnel. Trying to find the Tunnel Hill site can be dangerous. Always stay on the marked paths. Other sections of the tunnel are now flooded and closed. READING LIST: George Benet Shealy, Walhalla: A German Settlement in Upstate South Carolina (Seneca, S.C.: Blue Ridge Art Association, 1990), 1:89-101, 187-190. Ethyl B. Mitchell, The Romance of the Blue Ridge Railroad (Pendleton, S.C.: Southern Printing Company, 1972).