This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: CAVINS, CONLEY, MASON, MONON, NOEL, MILLER, WARREN Classification: Biography Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/Ci.2ADE/4441 Message Board Post: THE BLOOMFIELD DEMOCRAT, Bloomfield, Greene County, Indiana, Thursday, January 11, 1900, Volume XXXI, Number 45, Page 1, Columns 6, 7 & 8, “LITTLE MONON—HAS TROUBLES, AND THE TUNNEL IS NOT THE LEAST.—Dips, Curves and Narrow gauge Grade All Conspire to Boodoo its Owners. .” [Transcribed 26 Mar 2002 from Bloomfield-Eastern Greene County Public Library’s IHS Microfilm Records.] A special from Owensburg to the Indianapolis Press says: Traffic on the Bedford, Bloomfield & Switz City division of the MONON is at a standstill on account of the tunnel at this point caving in. From time to time in the past the upper walls have let down and blocked the way. The tunnel was the great hindrance in converting the narrow-gauge to a broadguage, and for many years this was the only narrow-gauge road in the state. The tunnel is 1,100 feet in length. The stone is of a peculiar soap formation, which is very hard when first exposed, but becomes soft when subjected to the air for some time. When first opened the tunnel was all right. In the course of a year, however the stone began to give away and the track was often blocked. The owners of the road began bracing the interior. The timbers held it for some time, but the crash came at last, and timbers and everything else were carried down by the great accumulation. New timbers were put in and they were finally c! aved in. This has been done several times, with the same results, until now the walls of the cave in some places extend over twenty feet above the cut. For some time it has been evident that the tunnel would in course of time have to be abandoned, and it is thought the Monon will now take steps to circle the hill. It will mean an additional two miles, but inasmuch as the schedule only calls for ten miles and hour—possibly the lowest in the state—the matter of an additional two miles will not seriously affect the traveling public. — This road is one of the most interesting in the state. It construction was begun in 1877 by J. M. CONLEY, William MASON and A. G. CAVINS. CONLEY was heavily interested in Greene County lands. MASON was also a land owner and CAVINS an attorney. All of them, and others who were interested, dropped about all they had in the project, and the road became the property of Indianapolis Rolling Mill Company and was operated by that company until the Monon purchased it. It was originally a narrow-gauge and constructed on street railway specifications, and did not provide for extensive grading. Though it was later changed to a broad-gauge the grades were not cut out, and a passenger standing on the rear end of the single passenger train, which doubles the road once and a half a day, can sometimes count as many as four grades in a mile. There are places where a twenty-car freight train would cover the tops of two grades, and while the engine was going down the first, the middle o! f the train would be down in the depression of the second and the caboose would be coming up the last and third grade. The curves of the road, to the right and to the left, are almost as numerous as the dips in the grade. The policy was to go around every hillock rather that waste money cutting them down. — When all the other narrow-gauge roads in the state were changing to the standard-gauge track, this one line held to its toy engine and made-believe coaches and the ten-mile gaited locomotives rushed around the hills, belching out smoke and carrying on a stiff bluff at railroading. The tunnel blocked the way to making the change. The disintegrating quality of the stone caused all civil engineers to give up the proposing for several years. Finally, the work was attempted and finally carried through to successful completion. Nine feet were taken from the bottom. The tunnel was timbered and braced to best advantage, and held up very well until this week when everything gave away. The entrance to the tunnel is a half-mile west of this point. From the track to the apex of the hill directly over it is about 500. — The most remarkable railroad grade in Indiana is on this line between Reeds and Dark Hollow. It is three miles in length, with a grad of about ninety feet to the mile. The road ties and unties itself, dodging in and out of the rocky passageways, and often one side of the coach is hanging over the little stream, which the road follows most all the way to Owensburg. The scenery is very picturesque and the gyrations of the track as it forms the letter “S” several times, compares favorably with engineering feats in the west. Several times trains have got loose on this grade with terrible results. The last accident was caused by two or three “empties” getting loose and demolishing an engine on the track near Reeds. — The people who have to depend on the famous Midland and the “jerk-water” road between Corydon and Corydon junction station have no grounds for complaint when they parade their slow transit schedules against those furnished the people along this line. The distance from Switz City to Bedford is forty-one miles. By leaving Switz City at 7:50 o’clock in the morning there is a hope of getting into Bedford in time for dinner. One of the standing witticisms down in this section is that at times the brakeman has to tell the passengers the train is going. But after all is said, the road has a great mission to perform and it does it well, and the blocking of traffic is a serious affair to all towns along the line. — Page 1, Column 4, “Owensburg.” Owensburg is lively. Something over a hundred men are working at the tunnel. We hope it can be repaired without the loss of any lives. We feel sorry for the brave men and trust God will be merciful unto them. THE BLOOMFIELD DEMOCRAT, Bloomfield, Greene County, Indiana, Thursday, January 18, 1900, Volume XXXI, Number 46, Page 3, Columns 4, “MORE VICTIMS—Of the Treacherous Monon Tunnel at Owensburg.” [Transcribed 26 Mar 2002 from Bloomfield-Eastern Greene County Public Library’s IHS Microfilm Records.] The treacherous hole through the big hill near Owensburg where many a man has been crippled, and several killed has claimed more victims. Monday morning about ten o’clock while a large number of men were engaged in clearing away the great mass of rotten stone and earth which fell in the recent cave-in, a large quantity—several tons—of the over-hanging mass fell upon them without warning. Otis NOEL, a married man whose home is near Koleen, received the worst injuries. His skull was fractured and his head badly lacerated. His shoulder blade was broken, his ankle fractured and his body otherwise bruised. NOEL was rendered unconscious and his injuries were thought to be of a very serious nature. He was brought to Bloomfield and taken to the residence of J. E. WARREN where he received surgical attention. At this time he seems to be getting along nicely, although he is badly hurt. Alfred MILLER received a cut in the head by a piece of rock and another man from Koleen, whose name the DEMOCRAT could not learn, in attempting to dodge the falling mass, struck his head against the side of a car inflicting an ugly wound. That others were not hurt seems miraculous. Some parts of the tunnel are regarded as a veritable death trap and this accident is no surprise to those who are familiar with the condition of the place where the men work. It is to be hoped that other accidents will not occur, but the man who gets underneath the treacherous hill, does run the risk of his life, if all reports about the place are true. — Link to an album of photos and newspaper articles on this railroad and its predecessors, the Bedford, Springville, Owensburg and Bloomfield Railroad and the Bedford and Bloomfield Railroad: http://www.imagestation.com/album/?id=4292055053