The Great Bore
A Souvenir Of The Hoosac Tunnel

£5 one-twelfth of the entire length of the tunnel was excavated. In 1851 a difficulty between Haupt & Co. and State Engineer Whitwell concerning the pay- ment of the installments of the state loan, caused the contractors to abandon the undertaking. Up to this time much work had been done at both approaches to the mountain, the east-end heading of the tunnel driven 2,400 feet, the west shaft sunk 325 feet to grade and 56 feet tunneled from its base, and 610 feet excavated from the west end, though this part was afterward deserted. THE STATE ASSUMES CONTROL. After the abandonment by the Haupt company nothing further was done until 1862, when the state took possession of the road, the tunnel and all the property of the Troy and Greenfield company, and appointed a commission to examine the work and report to the next legislature. The commission le- ported in February, 1863, recommending the prose- cution of the work by the state. In October of the same year the commissioners, with Thomas Doane as chief engineer, took up the work where Haupt & Co. left it, and continued it until the winter of 1868. These five years were notable in many respects.