Southern Railroad's "Fishtrap" Tunnel

[grande man]

The following photos are from the SRR Jefferson Tunnel northwest of Birmingham deep in the Warrior Coal Fields. Local legend has it that a gun battle between striking miners and national guard and/or company guards (depending on the source) erupted here over scab miners being brought in during the strike. I've not been able to determine the year this happened, but have been told the same story by several sources. If anyone has any details they'd like to share...

In the book Sloss Furnaces and the Rise of the Birmingham District, author David Lewis describes the tunnel as "Fishtrap" tunnel on the Georgia Pacific line near the Sloss mines of Blossburg and Brookside (Cardiff was also close by). The tunnels official name is Jefferson Tunnel. In viewing the images, the fishtrap moniker makes perfect sense...

EL Voyles describes the tunnel in his journals: Southern had a hand carved tunnel west of Birmingham near Brookside they called Jefferson Tunnel. Hand carved meaning it had no concrete on the walls. It was natural rock. But instead of highlighting the tunnel, Southern built around the tunnel. The original tunnel is still embedded in the mountain. http://www.rofilms.com/page62.htm

Here's another piece of Birmingham's industrial past. Ya'll please join us in a "virtual trip" to Fishtrap tunnel...

Little Grande poses for size reference outside the tunnel. Keep in mind "little grande" ain't so little anymore. He's about 5'8"!

Interior shots, note the concrete reinforced ceiling, but rock walls. I'd say the Southern had a moisture issue.

Jefferson tunnel is obviously no longer in use. The NS mainline now passes thru a daylighted cut very nearby. The property seen here is on our hunting lease. What a playground!

 

[UP2CSX]

Wow, that's an amazing amount of water for a railroad tunnel. Do you know when it was abandoned? Did you see any signs of the remnants of a drainage system? It's hard to imagine what looks like a creek developed just since the tunnel was abandoned so it seems like they must have had some kind of drainage system to keep the tunnel usable. My search of the web revealed no further information on this tunnel except for the quote by Voyles

 

[grande man]

Wow, that's an amazing amount of water for a railroad tunnel. Do you know when it was abandoned? Did you see any signs of the remnants of a drainage system? It's hard to imagine what looks like a creek developed just since the tunnel was abandoned so it seems like they must have had some kind of drainage system to keep the tunnel usable. My search of the web revealed no further information on this tunnel except for the quote by Voyles

I always thought the correct way to build a tunnel was to have it peak in the center for drainage... It appears as though the engineer responsible for this one was a bit wet behind the ears...

If you run across anything else on Jefferson tunnel, please post it here.

 

[MSB GP-fan]

Hello.
I've been following your historical picture posts for months now. I'm surprised we haven't crossed paths at some point, as I wonder around looking for old and current industrial/mining sites in the Birmingham District. No longer having a 4x4 pickup makes this a bit of a challenge at times.
In the magazine "Alabama Heritage" number 58 Summer 2007, there is a pretty good article on Brookside, with an older photograph of the Jefferson Tunnel when it was in operation. The article goes in to a description of the area history and the labor strikes that eventually lead to the demise of operations in that area (following the 1920 strike). The article states that the so-called "Battle of Jefferson" at a railway tunnel near Brookside occurred on July 17, 1908, during a strike.
Thank you for the great posts and for the photos that you, and others, have contributed.

 

[grande man]

Hello.
I've been following your historical picture posts for months now. I'm surprised we haven't crossed paths at some point, as I wonder around looking for old and current industrial/mining sites in the Birmingham District. No longer having a 4x4 pickup makes this a bit of a challenge at times.
In the magazine "Alabama Heritage" number 58 Summer 2007, there is a pretty good article on Brookside, with an older photograph of the Jefferson Tunnel when it was in operation. The article goes in to a description of the area history and the labor strikes that eventually lead to the demise of operations in that area (following the 1920 strike). The article states that the so-called "Battle of Jefferson" at a railway tunnel near Brookside occurred on July 17, 1908, during a strike.
Thank you for the great posts and for the photos that you, and others, have contributed.

Fantastic! Every now and then someone gives me a copy of the magazine, I need to subscribe...

It's great to know during which strike the gunfight happened! Who wrote the article?

Thanks for following the posts and your contribution to this one. If you ever want to visit Jefferson Tunnel, let me know and we'll ride out there and have a look.

 

[Rogue]

Brilliant photographs, I love pictures of abandoned ralroads, although there is sadness that they are abandoned, and here in the UK we have more than our fair share. In Glasgow there are quite a few and I really should get round to photographing some myself. My favourite is the low level station at the Botanic Gardens which is very atmospheric. Here is a link to a site which has some great pics of it. I hope you like them.

http://urbanadventure.org/main/2002trip/scotland/glasgow2.htm

 

[OldGettysk]

Eric more great photos , That amount of water it's not hard to imagine why they abandoned that tunnel and moved the line .

 

[Steve B]

Nice work Eric,,, keep em coming.

 

[MSB GP-fan]

The Alabama Heritage article was written by Pam Jones.
I went back over the article. Brookside was one heck of a wild town back at the turn of the last century (1900). One more thing in the article that might be important....
In late 1924, the (silent) movie industry came to Brookside to make a movie. The movie was titled "Coming Through", and was probably released in around 1925. Wallace Berry (Sr.) and Thomas Meighan (the principal male stars) staged a struggle on top of the Brookside mine tipple. Berry, who had a tough, liquor-loving reputation, was nursing a hangover during the scene and nearly fell from the tipple. Brookside had no shortage of saloons (apparently) during those days. As the article states, portions of the mining scenes (inside?) were filmed in New York, while the primary filming was all done in Brookside.
I'd sure love to get a copy (DVD or VHS) of that movie, if any exists. The scenes from the once thriving town of Brookside would be a real prize.

 

[grande man]

The Alabama Heritage article was written by Pam Jones.
I went back over the article. Brookside was one heck of a wild town back at the turn of the last century (1900). One more thing in the article that might be important....
In late 1924, the (silent) movie industry came to Brookside to make a movie. The movie was titled "Coming Through", and was probably released in around 1925. Wallace Berry (Sr.) and Thomas Meighan (the principal male stars) staged a struggle on top of the Brookside mine tipple. Berry, who had a tough, liquor-loving reputation, was nursing a hangover during the scene and nearly fell from the tipple. Brookside had no shortage of saloons (apparently) during those days. As the article states, portions of the mining scenes (inside?) were filmed in New York, while the primary filming was all done in Brookside.
I'd sure love to get a copy (DVD or VHS) of that movie, if any exists. The scenes from the once thriving town of Brookside would be a real prize.

Thanks for the additional background. I've been reading some more about the 1907 strikes. I think your accessment is correct, Brookside, Cardiff, Blossburg, etc were like the wild west!