The Cumberland Mountain Tunnel was added to the National Register of Historic Places on August 22, 1977 (reference number 77001270).  The following information has been extracted from the original National Register nomination form, prepared by Robert E. Dalton, Director of Field Services, Tennessee Historical Commission, October 25, 1976.

Location:  Vicinity of Cowan, Tennessee; Franklin County
Owner (private):  L&N Railroad (now CSX Corporation)

Description

Eighty-seven miles south of Nashville, between the Franklin County communities of Cowan and Sherwood, the Nashville and Chattanooga Railroad bored a tunnel through Cumberland Mountain.  Work on the Cumberland Mountain Tunnel started early in 1849, before a single mile of track was laid along the 150-mile route connecting Chattanooga and the capital.  Civil engineer John Edgar Thompson (later president of the Pennsylvania Railroad) surveyed the entire route and selected the tunnel site.  N&C President V. K. Stevenson appointed James H. Grant chief engineer, and Grant was assisted by E. D. Sanford and Minor Merriweather.  Thomas C. Bates contracted for the project.

The construction crews, comprised of English and Irish immigrant laborers, slaves, and local residents, cut three vertical shafts through limestone and shale from the summit to track level; these measured 7 by 11 feet, reach to an average depth of 170 feet, and were left open for ventilation of the tunnel.  This configuration provided eight working faces--two at the base of each shaft plus at both of the main portals.  Employing only rudimentary hand tools and black powder, the crews worked around the clock and broke through in February 1852.  On February 22 the citizens of Cowan and Winchester celebrated the completion of the project with a grand ball and a candlelight procession through the tunnel.

That the northern approach to the tunnel rose 179 feet in two miles and had five sharp turns and because the southern approach had a descent of 477 feet in 4.5 miles with eleven hazardous curves, innovative methods were required to move passengers and freight safely and efficiently over the mountain and through the tunnel.  To alleviate the danger of slippery tracks and faulty brakes, a runaway track was constructed on the south grade.  Since service locomotives lacked sufficient power to haul heavy payloads up the steep approaches to the tunnel, and "doubling" and "reducing," that is, breaking the train into sections, proved impractical, a pusher service between Cowan and Tantallon (later Sherwood) was instituted in 1853.  The first pusher engine employed was the 23-ton, 0-8-0 "Cumberland," manufactured by the Baldwin Locomotive Works; gradually larger, more powerful engines assumed the pusher duties.  The present system consisting of three heavy diesel locomotives--two GP-9s and one GP-7 hooked in tandem--provides 5,000 horsepower to move the heavier loads of today.

The tunnel served the railroad's needs unchanged until the late 1950s.  To accommodate the taller piggy-back and automobile rack shipments, the ceiling height was raised to twenty-one feet and the width increased by three feet.  H. P. Womack, a Tullahoma contractor, completed these modifications in February 1960.  Seven years later the roof was lined with steel to prevent rocks from falling on to the tracks.

Significance

Period: 1800-1899
Specific date:  1849-52
Areas of Significance:  Engineering, Industry, Military, Transportation
Builder/architect:  V. K. Stevenson, chief engineer

Statement of Significance

Cumberland Mountain Tunnel was the focal point of several Civil War skirmishes.  Early in the war Confederate troops controlled the railroad and transported soldiers and supplies over it until the Federal forces seized control of the strategic point after the fall of Fort Donelson in 1862.  On October 9, 1863 Confederate General Joe Wheeler attacked the Union garrison protecting the tunnel and routed the troops.  Later in the month a Federal supply train was blown up in the north entrance but the tunnel escaped damage.

Coal was discovered in Cumberland Mountain in the 1840s.  The Sewanee Mining Company constructed a spur line up the mountain to connect the coal fields near Tracy City with the N&C at Cowan.  A few yards from the north portal of the tunnel the spur crosses over the main line on a cut-stone, round-arch bridge.  This branch was extended to Coalmont in 1904 and to Palmer thirteen years later.  The Sewanee Mining Company later became the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company (now a subsidiary of U.S. Steel).  The N&C gained control of the spur in 1887.  This line also provided access to the University of the South at Sewanee and to the popular resort at Monteagle.

Controlling interest in the N&C was acquired by the Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railroad in 1880, and the two roads merged in 1957.  The N.C.&St.L. is now part of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad system.  (Note:  L&N is now part of the CSX Corporation.)

The approaches to the tunnel have been the scene of two major wrecks and numerous derailments.  On December 23, 1915 a freight and railroad crew train collided killing eleven passengers.  One crewman died and several sustained injuries when an engine's boiler exploded on March 15, 1918.

The Cumberland Mountain Tunnel, one of the earliest and longest in the state and the first built in Middle Tennessee, has served continuously as a vital communications link between Nashville and Chattanooga for more than 120 years.  It is significant that the tunnel was completed in only three years considering that no heavy machinery was employed in its construction.  An engineering feat of considerable importance, it is also noteworthy that Chief Engineer V. K. Stevenson used highly innovative techniques to provide a safe environment for his workers, while at the same time, expediting the project.  The topography of the area created technical problems which required and were solved by equally innovative methods.  Few tunnels were constructed before 1861 and even fewer antebellum tunnels have survived into the twentieth century.

Major Bibliographic References

Thomas E. Bailey.  "Storm on Cumberland Mountain: The Story of the Cowan Pusher District."  Tennessee Historical Quarterly, XXXIV (Fall 1975), 227-248.

Sarah Jones.  "Half a Mile of History--L&N Tunnel."  Franklin County Historical Review, V (June 1974), 3-9.

Geographical Data

Acreage of nominated property:  42 app.

UTM References:

A    16    593710    3890070
B    16    593590    3889920
C    16    592940    3890420
D    16    593060    3890590

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Last update:  April 28, 2000