Canal and rail tunnels under U.S. Steel Bldg.

[Bob Rathke]

In 1967-68,  I took some  photos of thecconstruction of the U.S. Steel
Bldg.
(officially, 600 Grant St.).  Derrick has uploaded one of these photos
to his website.   See
<http://www.dementia.org/~shadow/PCC/brathke/CanalTunnel68.jpeg>.

This photo was taken  from Grant St.on 2/11/68, and the view is to the
south toward the old Bigelow Apartments.  The rubble in the foreground
is the beginning of the excavation for the foundation of the
U.S. Steel Bldg.

What's unusual about this scene is the daylighting of TWO tunnels,
visible along the back wall.  The tunnel to the right is the old PRR
railroad tunnel that is now used by the PAT subway.  The tunnel to the
left, above the yellow power shovel, is an older canal tunnel that was
UNDER the railroad  tunnel. For a very short time in 1968, the canal
tunnel was visible.

The canal and its tunnel are shown on a copy of an 1830 map of downtown
Pittsburgh that I have.  In 1830, more than two decades before the PRR
railroad was completed between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, a water
canal connected the two cities.  The canal boats from Philadelphia were
hauled over the Allegheny Mountains on incline railways, and then
traveled by water to Pittsburgh.  However, the boats didn't enter the
city by river - they were floated on an elevated canal that paralleled
the north shore of the Allegheny River (near the present Canal St.).
The elevated canal crossed the Allegheny River on a BRIDGE near the
present 11th Street, and near the site of the current Federal Bldg. it
went into a tunnel under Grants Hill.  The tunnel was not straight, but
had an "S" shape, and emerged near Ross Street and the Monongahela
River.  However...at that point the canal was still some height above
river level (remember that the canal crossed the Allegheny River on a
bridge), so there were a series of locks near Ross St. (and the present
Liberty Bridge)
that allowed the boats to descend to the level of the Monongahela River.

It's hard to believe that this canal and tunnel were constructed by hand

and operated for several decades in the early 19th Century!  It was easy
to identify locations of the canal and tunnel, because even in 1830,
many Pittsburgh streets had the same names that they have today.

By the way, part of the canal's incline railway over the Allegheny
Mountains has been reconstructed, and the site is managed by the
National Parks
Service along Rt. 22 near Altoona.  It's worth a visit.

Although the downtown canal tunnel has been publicized previously,
especially around the time of the PAT subway construction, I find the
1968 photo to be very interesting.  The tunnel was uncovered - and then
covered - in an era when the concept of "preservation" didn't get much
attention.  Wouldn't it be great if today you could walk in the basement
of the USS Bldg. and see a museum-quality display that was a
cross-section cut of the actual canal tunnel?

Bob 12/16