Today in SCV history March 29, 1875, construction was underway in late March 1875 on what would become one of the most ambitious and transformative projects in the Santa Clarita Valley, the San Fernando Railroad Tunnel.

At the time, California was in the middle of a railroad boom following the completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad completion. Railroad leaders, including Charles Crocker and Leland Stanford, were working to connect Northern and Southern California through the growing Southern Pacific Railroad network.

But there was a major obstacle: the San Gabriel Mountains.

To overcome it, engineers devised a bold plan, to dig a tunnel straight through the mountains beneath the Newhall Pass. Construction began in March 1875, with crews attacking the mountain from both ends. According to historical accounts, roughly 1,000 Chinese laborers and 500 others worked around the clock in grueling conditions to carve out the passage.

The work was anything but easy. Workers faced unstable sandstone, underground water and oil, frequent cave-ins, and intense heat inside the mountain. Despite those dangers, progress moved quickly, aided by a vertical shaft dug from the top of the mountain to speed up excavation and debris removal.

The tunnel, stretching nearly 7,000 feet, was completed just over a year later in 1876. At the time, it ranked as one of the longest tunnels in the United States, and it played a critical role in linking Los Angeles to the rest of the state and nation.

That connection helped shape the future of communities throughout the Santa Clarita Valley, including those tied to early developer Henry Mayo Newhall, whose land holdings and influence helped establish the region.

Today, remnants of that historic tunnel still exist near the Interstate 5 and Highway 14 interchange.

To read yesterday’s Today in SCV History, click HERE.

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