The Chicago Tunnel Company was the builder and operator of a narrow-gauge railway freight tunnel network under downtown Chicago, Illinois. This was regulated by the Interstate Commerce Commission as an interurban even though it operated entirely under central Chicago, did not carry passengers, and was entirely underground.William Clark, Vanishing in America – Interurban Trolley, Chicago Tribune, Jul. 6, 1958; p. A9. It inspired the construction of the London Post Office Railway.
History
Initial tunnels
The city of Chicago granted the newly formed Illinois Telephone and Telegraph company the rights to construct utility tunnels under the streets of Chicago in 1899 to carry its planned network of telephone cables. Initial plans for the tunnels called for filling them with phone cables, leaving a by passage for maintenance. When the city refused to permit manholes through which cable could be unreeled into the tunnels, the plans were changed to include rails for hauling cable spools through the tunnels.George W. Jackson, Scope, Extent and Construction of the Underground Conduits of the Illinois Telephone and Telegraph Co. in Chicago, Presented Sept. 17, 1902, Journal of the Western Society of Engineers, Vol. VII, No. 5 (Oct. 1902); p. 479. Note: Illustrated.George W. Jackson, Tunnel Construction: In Chicago – Method of Driving and Constructing So As Not To Disturb the Surface, Mines and Minerals, Vol. XXIII, No. 6 (Jan. 1903); p. 248. Note: Illustrated.George W. Jackson, Underground Conduits in Chicago, Page's Engineering Weekly, Vol II, No. 3 (March 1903); p. 317. Note: Illustrated. The city was largely unaware of the nature of the tunneling, and the first of tunnel were excavated somewhat covertly, working from the basement of a saloon and carting away the spoil after midnight.Obituary, George W. Jackson, Engineering and Contracting, Vol. 57, No. 6 (Feb. 8, 1922); p. 144.
Initially, the intended purpose of the narrow gauge railroad below the telephone cables was limited to hauling out excavation debris and hauling cable spools during the installation of telephone lines,Appendix VIII. Tours of Inspection organized by the American Railway Association, Chicago, (May 20, 21 and 22, 1905), Tunnel System of the Illinois Tunnel Company, Bulletin of the International Railway Congress, Vol. XIX, No. 7; p. 2098. but in 1903, the company renegotiated its franchise to allow the use of this railroad for freight and mail service. In early 1905, the system was taken over by the Illinois Tunnel Company. By this time, of a projected of tunnel had been completed.George W. Jackson, Freight Tunnels in Chicago, The Methodist Magazine and Review, vol. LXII, No. 3 (Sept. 1905); p. 280.George W. Jackson, Freight Tunnels in Chicago, The Independent, Vol LVII, No. 2918 (Nov. 3, 1904); p. 1018. Note: Illustrated. The actual construction work was subcontracted to the Illinois Telephone Construction Company, under the management of George W. Jackson (1861–1922).Frank C. Perkins, An Electric Underground Freight Railway, Modern Machinery, Vol XVIII, No. 6 (Dec. 1905); p. 321. Note: Illustrated; this article is almost identical to Jackson's 1905 article.George W. Jackson, The Chicago Freight Subway, The Americana – A Universal Reference Library, Volume 4, Scientific American, 1905; p. 345. Note: This article is almost word for word identical to Perkins' 1905 article.George W. Jackson Dies, New York Times, Feb. 6, 1922; p. 10. Note: The date of death was Feb. 2, 1922.Jackson, George Washington, The National Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol. XIV, Supplement 1, James T. White, 1910; p. 401.
Refinancing By 1904, the first round of financing for tunnel system construction had largely been spent. A second round of financing was arranged by James Stillman of the National City Bank of New York City, with public support from E. H. Harriman, Jacob H. Schiff, and Patrick A. Valentine, all directors of that bank.Chicago's Traction Project, The Technical World, Vol. 2, No. 5; p. 625. With this financing, the Chicago Subway Company, incorporated in New Jersey, became a new holding company for the tunnel system.$50,000,000 Company Gets Chicago Subways, New York Times, Tues. Nov., 22, 1904; p. 12.Certificate of Incorporation of Chicago Subway Company, quoted in Thomas Covington, A Manual of Corporate Organization The Ronald Press, 1908; p. 303.
The Chicago Warehouse and Terminal Company was an affiliate, formed in 1904 to construct and operate terminal facilities for interchanging freight with railroads and other carriers.The Chicago Tunnel, The Traffic World Vol. XVI, No. 10, (Sept. 4, 1915); p. 587. Note: Illustrated.
The Illinois Tunnel Company continued to expand the tunnel system and serve a growing customer base until 1908, when the employees moved to join the Amalgamated Association of Street and Electric Railway Employees. The tunnel company refused to recognize the union and began firing union members. Despite the intervention of Congressman William Lorimer, all 260 employees went on strike on May 9. The company hired strikebreakers and refused to rehire any of the strikers.Tunnel Worker's Strike – Chicago, Eleventh Annual Report of the State Board of Arbitration of Illinois, Springfield, July 1, 1908; p. 95.
The Tunnel Company ran into a problem with a part of its planned expansion. In November 1906, the Chicago Board of Local Improvements announced it was considering widening Halsted Street between Chicago Avenue and 22nd Street. 300 property owners on Halsted Street, represented by the Law Firm of Adler & Lederer (now known as Arnstein & Lehr, LLP), opposed the widening of the street because it would interfere with their business and the cost would result in burdensome assessments.Chicago Tribune, November 20, 1906. Attorney Charles Lederer charged that there was graft connected with the proposition to widen the street and that if this was done the scheme was then to utilize the street to connect the tunnel with the Chicago Stockyards so that it would have access to the railroads.Chicago Tribune, December 21, 1906.
Bankruptcy and reorganization
By 1909, the cost of construction had bankrupted the Illinois Tunnel Company. By this time, it was estimated that $30,000,000 had been spent on building and operating the tunnel. The receiver's sale was completed in 1912, with the Chicago Tunnel Company, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Chicago Utilities Company, acquiring all assets of the former company and its affiliates, the Chicago Warehouse and Terminal Company and the Illinois Telephone and Telegraph Company. In 1913, the Chicago Tunnel Company agreed to sell its telephone operations to American Telephone and Telegraph Company, although regulatory approval delayed the actual sale until 1916. By 1920, all telephone cables had been removed from the tunnels.In the Matter of the Petition of the Chicago Tunnel Company ... State Public Utilities Commission of Illinois – Opinions and Orders for the Year Ending Sept. 30, 1916, Vol III, 1916; p. 83.Chicago Utilities Co., Burnham's Manual of Mid-Western Securities, John Burnham and Company, 1921; p. 189
By 1914, about of tunnel had been constructed, typically high and wide, with gauge track. 19 elevators connected the tunnel with customers, and five elevators served universal public stations where freight could be dropped off or picked up by the public. The railroad operated 132 electric locomotives, typically each, and had 2,042 merchandise cars, 350 excavating cars and 235 coal and ash cars. In 1914, the tunnel company handled of freight, of which were merchandise. The remainder was presumably coal, ash and excavation debris.Edward G Ward, ed., Chapger VII, The Switching Service, Part 15. ... as Affected by Tunnel Service (at Chicago), The Traffic Library – Special Freight Services – Allowances and Privileges, Part II, The American Commerce Association, 1916; p. 216.
From 1912 into the 1930s, the tunnel company was managed by Sherman Weld Tracy. It was never very profitable, but it avoided receivership, with most of the stock held by J. Ogden Armour, E. H. Harriman and their heirs.Business: Bowels of Chicago, Time, Aug. 14, 1933.
Conflict with the subway Plans for passenger subway service in Chicago date back to the turn of the 20th century, and the original permits to dig the freight tunnels allowed for future cut-and-cover subway development above the tunnels. In the 1930s, when the Chicago Rapid Transit Company and the city finalized the design of the State Street and Dearborn Street subways, plans called for the tunnels to be dug through the blue clay along the line originally followed by the freight tunnels. Excavation debris from the new subway tunnels was hauled away by the Chicago Tunnel Company as the subway replaced the freight tunnels along their route.Roderick M. Grant, Mining MUD with a BISCUIT CUTTER, Popular Mechanics, Vol. 74, No. 3 (September 1940); p. 386.
Company failure The Chicago Tunnel Company went bankrupt and applied for voluntary reorganization in 1956.3 Tunnel Firms ask for Voluntary Reorganizing, Chicago Tribune, May 4, 1956; p. E7. The tunnel company attempted to sever itself from the bankrupt holding company, claiming it could operate at a profit,Tunnel Rail Independent Status Asked, Chicago Tribune, Aug. 23, 1957; p. C7. but by 1959, the tunnel asked for abandonment permission.Rail Tunnel Under Loop Asks Permit to Close Shop, Chicago Tribune, Mar. 7, 1959; p. 2. The Interstate Commerce Commission consented to abandonment that July,Loop Tunnel Firms get O.K. of ICC to Quit, Chicago Tribune, July 22, 1959; p. A7. and the tunnel assets were sold at auction for $64,000 in October.Federal Judge Julius J. Hoffman in District Court Thursday, Chicago Tribune, Oct. 30, 1959; p. 3.
Tunnel flooding
In late 1991 near the Kinzie Street Bridge, a new set of pilings (collectively known as a "dolphin") were driven into the riverbed to prevent barges from bumping into the bridge. As the pillars were installed, a miscalculation was made that caused severe damage to the tunnel directly below the river.
The risk of flooding was well understood by George W. Jackson, the chief engineer who built the tunnel system. In 1909, Jackson received a patent on a portable bulkhead that could be used to seal off flooded tunnel sections.George W. Jackson, Bulkhead for Tunnels and the Like, U.S. Patent 940,323, Nov. 16, 1909. The tunnel developers were also concerned by the flooding risk posed by firefighting efforts in buildings connected to the tunnels. Should a building catch fire, immense quantities of water could pour into the tunnels through elevator shafts and basement connections. To deal with this risk, watertight fire doors were fitted into all building connections. Small leaks in the tunnels under the Chicago River had become commonplace by 1913; to deal with them, the tunnel company drilled holes in the tunnel wall and pumped grout at high pressure into the soil outside the tunnel in the vicinity of the leak.Patching the Outside of Tunnel from Inside, Popular Mechanics, Vol. 19. No. 2 (Feb. 1913).
The 1992 flood was not the first time that a contractor's action threatened to flood Chicago by puncturing the tunnel. In 1959, an excavation punctured the tunnel, leading to a dramatic and successful fight to prevent disaster.
In 1992, a cable television employee in the tunnel underneath the Chicago River videotaped mud and water oozing in where the bottom of the wooden pilings had cracked the tunnel wall. The pilings making up the dolphin had been driven only a few feet from the side of the tunnel, and the wooden pilings were visible through the collapsed tunnel wall where wet clay had slumped away from the wood into the tunnel.