In reference to Stumphouse Mt. Tunnel my ggggrandfather Martin Stanley McCay
surveyed for this effort.  This is from the  Martin Stanley McCay Family Book I
have:

"The dream began in the l830's, when southern businessmen, among them John C.
Calhoun, proposed and lobbyed for legislation to unite Georgia, North Carolina,
Tennessee and South Carolina in a single goal - to build a railroad to the
West.  The plan called for 143 miles of rails and roads, with 13 tunnels to be
cut through the Blue Ridge Mountains.  Fifty-two miles and three tunnels were to
be located in South Carolina.  Once the SC Legislature chartered the Blue Ridge
Railroad, plans were coordinated and the dream put into action.

Martin Stanley McCay would share in this dream.  An engineer on the project, he
was also a minor stockholder, holding five shares of Capital Stock in the
Pendleton Railroad Company, which was later invested into the project.

Because the original contractor failed in his commitments, it was 1856 before
any real labor began.  Finally, in January 1857 all work was concentrated on the
Stumphouse tunnel, and by April 1859 workers were cutting over 200 feet a month
through the rock.  The work went slowly, though, for available resources
included only blasting powder (made on site with potash and charcoal obtained
From burning poplar, chestnut and willow trees) and assorted hand tools.  Once
an area was blasted, Irish laborers removed the rubble with a pick and shovel
wheelbarrow and mule cart, basic equipment of the era.

Around August of 1859 the SC legislature refused to grant any additional funds
to the railroad company.  The costs had sky-rocketed, and there were rumors of
war.  With the loss of funds, work was halted, never to resume.  Had the lines
been completed, today the rail line would have crossed Cane Creek below
Walhalla, gone around Turnip Top Mountain and through two short tunnels before
swinging to the right of Issaquessna Falls and penetrating Stumphouse Mountain.

Two hundred sixteen feet of the 616 feet planned had been cut through Saddle
Tunnel, which has been filled with water since 1882.  Middle Tunnel was cut
through the entire 385 feet planned, and an incredible 4,363 feet was cut
through Stumphouse Tunnel, leaving only 1,500 feet unfinished.  Since Stumphouse
Tunnel was to have been the longest tunnel of the three, four shafts were sunk
vertically from the top of the mountain allowing workers to cut ten faces of the
tunnel simultaneously."  written by Barbara Crozier Couch

Just wanted to share this with you.
Janice

Steven J. Coker wrote:

 A Brief History of the Andrew Pickens Ranger District
> Source: http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/fms/gen_info/aphist.htm
>
> The Andrew Pickens Ranger District, Sumter National Forest, is situated in
> the mountains of northwest South Carolina. The district was the home of the
> Cherokee Indians. Several local place names and streams are named after
> Cherokee villages. These include the Chattooga, Chauga, Cheohee, Tugaloo,
> Toxaway, Keowee, Oconee, Tomassee, and Jocassee rivers or creeks.
>
> By the mid-eighteenth century, white settlers in the piedmont began to
> encroach on the territory of the Cherokees. These settlers were
> predominantly of Scotch-Irish, German, and French Huguenot background. The
> British constructed forts on the western frontier to regulate trade with the
> Indians and protect white settlements.
>
> White settlements were attacked by the Indians in the Cherokee War of
> 1759-1761. This resulted in the destruction of most of the Cherokee Villages
> on the Andrew Pickens Ranger District in 1760 by a British expedition and
> the construction of Oconee Station near the district on the main path to
> Cherokee villages in North Carolina and Tennesee. Some villages were
> rebuilt, but many Indians decided to move further west to avoid conflict
> with the whites. The villages were destroyed again in 1776 by Americans
> during the Revolutionary War when the Cherokees aligned themselves with the
> British. General Andrew Pickens was among those who destroyed these villages
> including Tommasse which he later appropriated for the site of his own
> plantation. A few Indians remained on the district into the 1800s, but most
> fled to settlements further west.
>
> Bitter fighting in the backcountry during the Revolution retarded settlement
> of the Indian lands. By the 1790s whites were moving into the area and
> starting small farms. In 1798 this became part of the Pendleton District
> with a judicial seat in nearby Pendleton. Early settlements concentrated
> along the major rivers and creeks and often made use of the already cleared
> Indian fields. Farms were largely self sufficient and few market crops were
> raised. Livestock were grazed on the surrounding forested mountains.
> Population growth was gradual until by the mid nineteenth century most good
> agricultural land wasin use and less suitable slopes and areas along small
> creek bottoms were being cleared for cultivation.
>
> The town of Walhalla was founded in the 1850s by the German Settlement
> Society. The Blue Ridge Railroad Company was chartered in 1852 to build a
> railroad to West Union near Walhalla and extend it over the mountains to
> Georgia and Tennesee. Work was begun on the route which passes through the
> Andrew Pickens District in 1853. Several large cuts, built up grades, and
> tunnels were constructed by different work crews. The largest tunnel was
> over one mile long on Stumphouse Mountain. A town of 1,500 people was
> constructed at Tunnel Hill in 1856 to accomodate the predominantly Irish
> railroad workers building the tunnel. The proposed railroad failed in 1859
> for financial reasons and was never completed. It was built to West Union in
> 1860 and terminated at Walhalla in 1870.
>
> The 1850s were also a time of extensive minerals exploration and mining on
> the Andrew Pickens Ranger District. Most mining was in search of gold. Old
> shafts, tunnels, and pits are found on the district. The most intensive
> mining was along Cheohee, Tomassee, and Cherokee Creeks.
>
> Most of the district was logged of old growth timber in the late nineteenth
> and early twentieth century. These privately owned lands were degraded by
> logging and frequent burning which prevented the return of productive timber
> stands. The General Pickens District began with land acquired in 1914 in
> what was called the Savannah Purchase Unit administered by the Nantahala
> National Forest. The land was purchased under the authority of the 1911
> Weeks Act which allowed the Forest Service to acquire forest land at the
> headwaters of navigable streams like the Savannah River to protect water
> quality and reduce flooding.
>
> The district became part of the Sumter National Forest when it was
> established by presidential proclamation in 1936. The extensive cutover
> lands of the Whitewater River Lumber Company were acquired in the
> 1940s.Conservation work began immediately to restore the productivity and
> health of the forests. Many projects were accomplished by the Civilian
> Conservation Corps in the 1930s including the construction of campgrounds,
> trails, picnic areas, and a fish hatchery. The district was reforested
> through the planting of trees and exclusion of uncontrolled fire.
>
> See: http://www.fs.fed.us/r8/fms/gen_info/history.htm
>

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