A great source of pride in the community of Brockville to this day is the tunnel built for the Brockville and Ottawa Railway to join the timber trade of the Ottawa valley with the St. Lawrence River Ship route. It was  blasted underneath the city in 1860. It is called the Brockville Railway Tunnel, or the Brockville Tunnel.

It was the first railway tunnel built in Canada. Since 2017 it has been opened to the public as a free seasonal tourist attraction.  It was in actual use until the mid-70s.

I was a bit apprehensive to walk through the tunnel because water was dripping from the ceiling, but I learned on our short walk that the tunnel was designed to leak. Those engineers must know what they are doing. Right?

To me it seemed weird to have a tunnel is exists right under the city with water constantly leaking into it. How can that possibly be safe?

Samuel Keefer; who at the young age of 30 had been appointed to the highest engineering position in Canada and became the chief engineer of the Board of Public Works of the United Provinces, and he was opposed to the tunnel project. Instead, he recommended the rail line run around the high grade of the town from the west side of the city avoid the main hill and avoid going under the city.  That would have sounded a lot simpler to me.

However, in those days, Canadian railway builders were adventurous and decided to build a tunnel. Sometimes it seems those builders loved tunnels. They managed to convince the town of Brockville and other municipalities who would benefit from the tunnel to contribute to its construction. And it worked though financing was always in trouble right up to the time it was completed.

The bottom third and top third of the tunnel are lined with stones that are held together in part by water lime.  held together by water lime. The middle third is unlined and because water drips constantly it has created colourful formations along the walls.

The tunnel was built between 1854 and 1860 to allow the fledging Brockville and Ottawa Railway to connect the Brockville industrial waterfront area to the outlying areas lying between the St Lawrence and Ottawa rivers.

In 1853 a company was hired to construct it and signed a binding contract with them to do that. However, the next year they ran out of money and there was no federal government to guarantee completion as so often happens in modern contracts. A public celebration was held in 1854 with full masonic honours, but that was not good enough to guarantee completion. In 1855, notwithstanding the contract they ran out of money. Surprise, surprise, the projections were wrong. The municipalities had to pour in money to complete it.

Yet despite the problems it was completed and became the first of many railway tunnels in Canada.