Western Railroad Discussion > Old line tunnels under Lake Shasta in view

The old tunnels on the old SP line in the Sacramento River Canyon are now in view due to Lake Shasta being so low on water. Back when the Shasta dam was completed the original line was hundreds of feet under water, but the tunnels have come into view twice during the past 30 years I have lived in the area. Shoreline Drive off of I-5 will get you there to see for yourself. One you can walk through if it isn't too muddy. The other has a thru-truss bridge still intact with most still under water.
Bruce Petty

---

---

Good stuff there. Not familiar with the area but still would like to see that myself.

is that due to drought or maintenance? I'm surprised they left that bridge there.

Any idea how long the tunnels are?

Drought.

I wouldn't say all drought. SoCal steals NoCal's H2O. Shasta and Oroville are the main providers to SoCal, and the water travels via the California aqueduct.

Covered last week, including Evan Werkema's great up close and personal pictures.

http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1776334

NorCal, the great Whine country.

PaulMerriman Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Covered last week, including Evan Werkema's great
> up close and personal pictures.
>
> http://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1
> 776334


Related local news story:
http://www.redding.com/news/2008/oct/05/relics-exposed-in-lake-shasta/

Hey Bruce.
I've been trying to get Photobob to post his underwater photos of the tunnel and bridge. A few years back after Bob Ballard discovered the Titanic, Photobob had his team take him down with the robotic photographic equipment.
The results were stunning...

Great Pictures! Does anyone have any old SP maps on the original right away through Shasta?

bloodshot Wrote:

> Any idea how long the tunnels are?

Tunnel 6 (first photo) is at most 200 feet long, probably shorter, and partly caved-in. Tunnel 5 next to the truss bridge is longer - probably 1000 feet or so.

ChadmATcablesiding Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Great Pictures! Does anyone have any old SP
> maps on the original right away through Shasta?

Yes. Look for Department of the Interior, U. S. Geological Survey, Kennett Reservoir Site. Shasta County California. Printed 1936. Have 20' contour intervals. Show what the lake level will be, railroad, tunnel numbbers, and U.S. 99. Do not show the new railroad location or what was to be 99.

Can't remember if I found them at the Shasta Co. Historical Society, a map store in Redding, or at the Visitors Center at the Dam. I'm going back this week to try and find them again. At the time I was more interested in the Pacific Highway, U.S 99, and the sections I have follow that route.

Talked to the Visitors Center at the Dam today and they say they don't expect the lake to drop any more than four or five feet from the present level.

These maps show tunnel #5 to be "about" 650' long.

jb

Actuary Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> NorCal, the great Whine country.


The State of Jefferson
http://www.jeffersonstate.com/

From the SF Chronicle...
A move to secede on California-Oregon border
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/10/05/MNNP138DLP.DTL

That always seemed to be some sort of gang-bang euphemism.
> -----
> > NorCal, the great Whine country.
>
>
> The State of Jefferson
> http://www.jeffersonstate.com/
>
> From the SF Chronicle...
> A move to secede on California-Oregon border
> http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2
> 008/10/05/MNNP138DLP.DTL


Wiki-pedia comes through with this comment:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Northern_California

"Many residents of the northern third of California, roughly the region north of Chico, regard California as having three divisions. The boundaries of these divisions vary by observer, but residents of this sparsely-populated area generally regard Northern California as the region between Oregon and Chico or Sacramento, with the area somewhere between Fresno and Bakersfield marking the boundary of Central and Southern California. Extreme northern residents have often felt under-represented in state government, and have in the past attempted to form a new state with southwestern Oregon to be called Jefferson, or more recently to introduce legislation to split California into two or three states. Owing to this region's conservative political leanings, many residents do not consider the San Francisco Bay Area to be considered a part of Northern California.[citation needed]"

AlwaysLate Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> SoCal steals NoCal's H2O.

Rather than letting it flush all of NorCal's waste into the bay ...


TCS - salmon for dinner anyone?

Stealing water ? My bill shows I am paying for that wonderful Nor Cal water which by the way flushes the toilet just fine ! Tell you what - why doesn't NorCal find a way to keep your smog up there? Maybe we are stealing that too . Seems I paid for that aqueduct through my taxes , oh and wait , how about the temporary sales tax increase to pay for Nor Cals earthquake over a decade ago that won't go away. Should we get started on the Bay bridge we all get to pay for? Geez , every time I visit my daughter in the city I am glad to come home to Central Cal and get away from all the phonies up there .

What about your little fishies, seems to me it was the NorCalwhiners that decided to use all the water for the fish and not people.

n6nvr Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What about your little fishies, seems to me it was
> the NorCalwhiners that decided to use all the
> water for the fish and not people.


Right, like that worked.
http://www.caltrout.org/pages/about/Mission_History.asp

Sheesh. We are all dependent on each other in CA and we have done a pretty good job of working with each other for 160 years....if anything, we should think about leaving the rest of the US which seems to heap an inordinate amount of hate on the state that has the 6th largest economy in the world. California Republic anyone?