First Hand Accounts

The Journal of

One of the few personal accounts we have seen describing the area where the Irish lived and worked in 1851 is a journal by Mary Jane Boggs. The original journal and other family papers are located in Special Collections at the University of Virginia.

Mary Jane Boggs was 18 years old when she began a journey from Spotsylvania County, Virginia through Louisa, Albemarle, Nelson, Rockbridge, Botetourt, and Bedford counties. The date was June 10, 1851, and Mary Jane expressed her excitement about seeing the mountains. Her traveling companions were her father, Lewis A. Boggs and four other young people. Their transportation consisted of a buggy, a carriage, and one horseback rider. This trip was made after the construction began on the 17 miles of track and 4 tunnels of the Blue Ridge Railroad.

Of particular interest to the research of Clann Mhor is her description of the section of the trip from Charlottesville to Waynesboro.

On June 12th, the group stopped for dinner at the Brooksville Inn owned by George A. Farrow. Quoting from the journal: “When we commenced the ascent of the Blue Ridge, the road wound along the side of the mountains, so as not to give the idea of steep ascent. Father got out & gave me the reins, and cousin Betty drove the buggy. We came slowly, ‘and often paused, so strange the road; so wondrous were the scenes it showed.’ I don’t know how it happened, but I never heard much about Rockfish Gap, and when we reached it, we were all struck with admiration. We were, both literally & figuratively, up in the clouds...

Cousin J. told me I must tell cousin Anna that I was indebted to an Irishman for one of the prettiest views of the Valley. One of the poor men who work on the railroad had made a clearing among the trees in order to plant his potatoes. There are a great many Irish cabins on each side of the mountains, which reminded me of descriptions I have read of the manner of living of the lowest class in Ireland. They are mere hovels, & most of them have one or two barrels on the top of the chimney, but in some of them, we saw muslin curtains, a strange mixture of dirt & finery. The people are real Irish - wretched, miserable & dirty in appearance, but they hold on to Irish fun & Irish potatoes, as well as Irish tempers." Father called to a man who was at the door of one of the cabins & told him he had often seen double barreled guns but had never before heard of double barreled chimnies, and he seemed very much pleased...

We had not time to go down to the mouth of the tunnel. It is a stupendous undertaking, & will require a great amount of labor to complete it. Some of the embankments & deep cuts of the railroad too must have required a great deal. We passed under an arch composed of mason work over which the railroad is carried. It was built under the supervision of a man named Farrow & his name & that of Colonel Crozet, a celebrated engineer on that road are inscribed on the inside.”

All images of the journal were photographed at Special Collections, University of Virginia Library.

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Photograph of the journal page where Mary Jane Boggs discussed the Irish near the East Portal of the Blue Ridge Railroad. There are two versions of the journal; the original and a copy that Mary Jane Boggs makes later.

Manuscript located at Special Collections, University of Virginia.

First Hand Accounts

Staunton Spectator, March 17, 1850

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One of our research projects has involved searching for first hand accounts which describe the area near the Blue Ridge Tunnel at Afton. The following articles, letters, and websites are what we have discovered.

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Alexandria Gazette, March 12, 1851

Transcription of article from

March 12, 1852, Alexandria Gazette

The Blue Ridge Tunnel

In the last Staunton Spectator, the editor gives an interesting account of a recent visit to the Blue Ridge Tunnel. He says “ the contractors have been employed upon it about a year, and though very little progress has been made in the perforation of the mountain, the preliminary work of cutting, filling, & etc., which has been accomplished, shows a vast amount of labor.”

On the Eastern side, he says the miners have penetrated but a short distance. They have not got through the rock, but it has become softer and they are now able to progress with more ease and expedition. The laborers work day and night-two sets of hands relieving each other at regular intervals. On the western side, they have penetrated about two hundred and twenty feet into the bowels of the mountain, the greater part of the distance through solid rock. “Wishing to see all that was to be seen,” says the Spectator, “we procured one of the small lamps used by the miners, and proceeded along the narrow ‘heading’ to witness their operations. After groping our way a short distance, we lost sight of the orifice and were enveloped in darkness. The atmosphere is lurid and sulphurous, from the use of gunpowder in blasting, and a lamp illuminates but a few feet around. Presently we came in sight of the lamps of the miners, and soon found by the clanking of implements and the sound of voices that we were within two or three yards of them, but their forms could not be discerned. We stood for some time wondering how they could work in such total darkness, but before we left, our vision improved and we were able to see the outlines of their figures. They were delving into the rock with drill and crow-bar and pick, every now and then passing their burning lamps around the sides and over head, to see where to strike and how to proceed. Seven men are here employed, making with those working at the entrance, on the “shoulder,” thirty in all on this side of the mountain. They have heretofore worked only during the day, but we were informed that as soon as the “shoulder” was advanced nearer the miners, they would be employed night and day.”

The Spectator alludes in the general impression that the work at the Tunnel has not been prosecuted as energetically as it might have been, and expresses itself unable to determine whether the fault is with the engineers, the contractors, or the board of public works, or whether, indeed, there is any fault on the part of any one. It is a matter of surprise, however, that on the western side, only seven miners, working twelve hours a day, are employed, when the length of the tunnel to be made is more than four thousand feet. We presume that a larger number of workmen can easily be obtained, and if it is practicable to employ a larger force to advantage, we thing it should be done with further delay.

The Spectator remarks:

“The larger amount of money which has been expended and the heavy work already done on the road, on the faith that the tunnel would be completed at an early period, seem to require that no _____ should be spared in urging it forward. The idea has been suggested in some quarters of suspending or entirely abandoning the enterprize, and such a result might be highly gratifying in those who originally opposed the scheme, but it too preposterous to be seriously entertained. The State of Virginia is fully committed to the undertaking, and she cannot with credit give it up. It only remains that she should see to it that those engaged upon the work, shall prosecute it with due diligence.

“The contractors on the sections of the road between the Mountain and Waynesborough, Messrs. Walker & Co., have a large force now employed. Their work is very heavy, but they expect to finish it, including the bridge over the South River, by July, 1852.”

Miner’s lantern or headlamp found on top of the east end of the Blue Ridge Tunnel in 1997. This would clip to a worker’s helmet.

Courtesy of Waynesboro Heritage Museum

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August 25, 1852, travel account by Curran Swaim

UVA Special Collections, with thanks to Phil James

We passed through the town of Greenfield (Greenville)---very much a place as Fairfield. We came to where the road forked---the one going straight ahead leads to Staunton, we took the right---leading to Waynesboro. We were now in a more hilly country. From the top of a hill near an old meeting house we had a most beautiful view of the Blue Ridge. We stopped for dinner at Mr. Wilson’s tavern. Mr. Wilson is a very clever old fellow….Soon after we left there it began to rain and rained tell we got to Waynesboro. Waynesboro is a small town, in a very pretty situation.---We passed through it and went on to the foot of the Blue Ridge and stopped at the “ Tunnel House” close by the mouth of the tunnel they are making for the (Virginia) Central railroad. We were wet, tired and sleepy, and went to bed. In the night we were startled by the blasting of rocks in the belly of the mountain. Peal after peal---“louder that the bolts of Heaven” it seemed to shake the whole Blue Ridge, and jarred the house till the windows rattled in their frames.

"We went over the mountain intending to go in the tunnel on the eastern side---having been told that it was much more interesting than the other. As we went round to the mouth of it, we passed a group of Irish shanties, that sent out a perfume equaled no where except in the suburbs of Cincinnati—or perhaps “Sweet Erin” itself. We could not help stopping a moment before one to contemplate its awful and inconceivable filthiness. A lot of little creatures that had probably once been children were running about—but they were now so obscured—it was difficult to tell what they were. A woman—we supposed it to be—was in the house standing over a tub washing something. A hog that was rooting about the door was really the cleanest animal there was about there.

"Before we go to the tunnel, three or four 'blasts' went off. We thought now would be the right time to go in --- as it would be some time before they would blow again. Traversing a "cut" for a short distance we came to the mouth of the tunnel --- it was not so large as I had supposed they would make it. It was no more than large enough to give good room for the cars. We went in --- it was cut through solid rock --- and the roof and sides were dripping with water. The first thing we encountered was the smell of gun powder --- not like powder that has just been burnt but an old-strong-sour-wet smell peculiarly sickening. We went on two or three hundred feet and it was perfectly dark and the thick smoke hurt our eyes. The striking of their hammers as they were boring the rocks, and throwing the pieces of rock into a cart made a prodigious roar that sounded like it was right before us --- but as we went on, it was still just so far ahead. We saw a dim speck of light approaching us. As it came nearer we saw a huge indefinite form that was carrying it. ...We involuntarily shrunk towards the sides of the cave to let him pass. But it was nothing but a big Irishman with a lot of augurs on his shoulder taking them out to get them sharpened. We went on a little farther and the smoke and stench became so intolerable that we turned and made for the spot of light we could see, where we came in.

"As we came out we met a gentleman and two ladies just entering --- thinks I, they won't go far. They disappeared however, and we soon heard a squeal and they came running out --- frightened not at the sulphur but at the water dripping on their bonnets. The cart came out that halls [sic] the rocks out. It had worked in there so long that it was covered with a sort of green slime. The poor old horse that drew it...that he should be condemned to such work as that. There is a shop close by the mouth of the cave where two smiths are kept busy sharpening their instruments. They have been boring and blasting in there night and day for more than two years and are not half way through yet. The tunnel when completed will be seven eighths of a mile long --- and seven hundred feet perpendicular below the top of the mountain.

"We passed by the cabins and got once more into the fresh air. 'Lord what a piece of work is man ! ---especially an Irishman --- he can work in this tunnel and live in these cabins week after week and month after month and for aught I know year after year and not die of the stink.

"We were now in 'Old Virginia.' This day was extremely hot. Four or five miles from the mountain we found seven negroes at work on the side of a hill --- three men and four women. They were all ragged and extremely dirty. The men were digging round a rock and the women were shoveling dirt into a cart. One white man was 'overseeing' them. We thought there was something grand and monarchical in his appearance, as he sat there on a rock and overlooking and directing --- but I suppose he wasn't conscious of it. Two Irishmen without an overseer would have done more work than the whole eight of them, but they will do things with 'pomp and circumstance' in 'Ole Virginny.' "

©Rhonda Roebuck

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Report to Board of Public Works

by Claudius Crozet, Sept. 1, 1854, Library of Virginia

Cholera at the Tunnel – “The disease is confined to the six or eight shanties situated on the ravine running from near the top of the mountain at RockfishGap to the eastern mouth of the tunnel, a distance of sixty to a hundred yards, and is hence attributed to some local cause. Two persons from the infected district brought the disease to the west side of the mountain.”

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These are excerpts from letters from the US. National Library of Medicine website:

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/hmd/digicolls/henkel/index.html

Physicians’ Lives in the Shenandoah Valley, Henkel Family Letters, 1786-1907

The Koiner family of Augusta County, Virginia is connected by marriage to the Henkel family in New Market, Virginia.

Spelling and grammar occur as in the original transcription.

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Gideon Koiner (in Augusta County) to Caspar Coiner Henkel, March 19, 1854

“The cars are stil runing from Waynesboro to Staunton and it is supposed will cross the mountain in a few days”.

Note: The Richmond Whig carried an article stating that the Staunton Spectator of March 24, 1854 speaks of the sensation caused by the arrival of the cars in Staunton on last Monday (March 20

Rebecca Henkel Koiner (in Augusta County) to Caspar Coinier Henkel, August 2, 1854

“It is very sickly in this county now, there have been ten or twelve deaths up at the tunnel within the last two weeks all had the colera, there has been one case in Waynesboro, some person are very much frightened I believe, but I have not feared it yet”.

Gideon Koiner to Caspar Coiner Henkel, December 13, 1856, written from the Koiner homestead known as “Brogue Run”.

“I have not herd any thing from the Tunnel lately but they have been near enough to here one another from opposite sides”.

The Richmond Dispatch of January 3, 1857 reported that the “hole through” occurred on December 29, 1856.

Letters from the Coiner/Koiner Family about the Tunnel

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Professor Francis H. Smith, University of Virginia professor of Natural Philosophy visits the Tunnel, May 23, 1857, Republican Vindicator

Republican Vindicator, May 23, 1857, transcription

Blue Ridge Tunnel

A correspondent of the Petersburg Express, giving an interesting account of a geological exploration, undertaken by Prof. Smith of the University, and his class in geology, says of the Tunnel: “Without waiting for dinner, we immediately proceeded to the west end of the Tunnel, and having there procured some geological specimens, commended to explore the Tunnel, Professor Smith, ducente:

“Arranged in Indian file, we took up our line of march. Col. Crozet, to whose distinguished ability the projection and successful execution of this stupendous undertaking are due, acted as our guide, through the Tunnel. We ascertained that this work commenced in March, 1850, under the administration of Gov. Floyd; that the tunnel is seven-eighths of a mile in length; that the west end is about seventy feet higher than the east end; and the top of the mountain is seven hundred feet above the tunnel. And here I will say that a gross mistake was made when is was said that daylight now shines through the Blue Ridge; “for even with the assistance of a dozen lamps, we found it extremely difficult to recognize each other in the tunnel. By aid of a giant syphon, and several chain pumps, the water in the western part, which at first threatened to be a serious impediment to the progress of the work, has been successfully removed from the tunnel. We noticed that gutta percha cords had been substituted for chains in these pumps, and we are informed that one gutta percha cord is worth three chains for this purpose—it is the first place at which the gutta percha cords have been introduced, and they have succeeded admirably. While in the tunnel, we were startled by the blasting of rock at the east end, the sound of which was deep and prolonged, as it seemed to roll along like the waves of a mighty ocean—We found that the greater part of the tunnel had been cut through rock of the hardest kind. The contractors expect to complete the tunnel by the 4th of next July, but we shall be somewhat surprised to hear of its completion before October next. There are at present about two hundred Irishmen employed on this work, and the whole Irish population numbers seven hundred individuals, including men, women, children, and dogs.”

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Diary of Aquila Johnson Peyton, 1859-1861

1859

Special Collections, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia.

Aquila Peyton visited the‘Great Tunnel’ in October of 1859 and provided a description of the ongoing work. “We approached the eastern mouth on a high embankment composed entirely of fragments of flinty stone blasted out of the tunnel. …No one I think could fail to admire the tunnel as he enters it, the flinty wall streaming with cool clear water. It is full of grandeur and elegance, and strikes the beholder as the result of Herculean efforts and indefatigable toil. …We walked along in admiration and delight. …Far before us we could see the lights of the blasters, and hear the roar of the hand cars. When we got up to the stage our ears were saluted by the sharp din and clank of the drills. On each side were several workmen at cliff heights with small lamps, perforating the walls with drill. A hand car plying between them and a forge further on carried the drills to the smiths. This forge had a very dismal appearance. Part of the tunnel has been arched with brick and this arching is not yet finished. We

crawled out at the western mouth under a huge curtain.”

Special Collections, University of Virginia