The
Cross-Cut Tunnel
The
Cross-Cut Tunnel
I took
a part of the contour map shown in the previous post and added some of the
significant tunnels. We will be most interested in the main upper cross-cut
tunnel seen here in dark red. It extends from the Erie main adit on the far west
end of the claims to the eastern limit of the Mother Lode claims where it
actually surfaces at the 1600 foot level--that's 1600 feet below t he main adit
of Bonanza mine.
The green line represents the Jumbo incline. The blue represents the Bonanza
incline, a crosscut over to the top of the Mother Lode incline, and the top part
of the Mother Lode incline which bottoms out at the 2,800 level.
The orange line is the crosscut between Jumbo and Bonanza at the 600 level. When
this tunnel was completed, the power lines that terminated at Bonanza were run
underground through that cross-cut. Prior to that, those lines had to run over
the top of the ridge and then down to Jumbo, exposing the line to high winds and
avalanches. This crosscut also ended at a surface adit on the right side as you
see it here.
The purple line was the 800 level cross-cut that extended from a point in the
Bonanza incline over to the main adit at the Mother Lode on the other side of
the ridge. This was known as the Rhodes tunnel.
Click for a larger image.