Hoosac Tunnel Lining Towers

Greetings:
Out in western Massachusetts lies the Hoosac tunnel. During it's twenty some odd years of construction many interesting events occured.
One of which was the Thomas Doane survey that established a near perfect centerline through the mountain of almost five miles! Considering that the tunnel was built with a rise of sixty feet from the portals to the central shaft (for drainage) and had six faces of excavation, the error of closure was only 9/16ths of an inch off.
This accomplishment was possible because of the accurate survey conducted by Doane.
He started by erecting small stone lining towers over the mountain and surveyed back and fourth untill the survey was accurate.
Some of these lining towers can still be found today some 140+ years later. Finding any of these tower sites can be a rewarding challenge.
Great hikes, some with outstanding vistas await the experienced hiker.
For more info on these sites, please use the link below.
Welcome to the Hoosac Challenge!
Jerry Kelley

Back in the fall of 1981, with the help of a USGS topo map, I located the central shaft. Is there any physical evidence of the east shaft?

TB Diamond wrote:Back in the fall of 1981, with the help of a USGS topo map, I located the central shaft. Is there any physical evidence of the east shaft?

Hello TB:
The Central Shaft is quite easy to find as it is on Central Shaft Road. It is the building with the large, black exhaust ports, (like jet engines) on the left side heading in from Rt. 2.
There is no East Shaft but I think that you are thinking of the West Shaft that is still there and open.
Please see the West Shaft page for more information.
Thanks for your interest.
Jerry