Busk-Ivanhoe Tunnel

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For other uses, see Ivanhoe (disambiguation).

Info
Busk-Ivanhoe Tunnel
Line	Colorado Midland Railroad
Location	Hagerman Pass
Status	closed to traffic, used as a water tunnel
Operation
Opened	1893
Closed	1943
Owner
Technical
Track length	9,394 feet (2,863 m)
Highest elevation	10,953 feet (3,338 m)

Busk-Ivanhoe Tunnel was a 9,394 ft (2,863 m) long railroad tunnel at an elevation of 10,953 ft (3,338 m) in Colorado. It was built by the Busk Tunnel Railway Company for the Colorado Midland Railroad in 1891 as a replacement for the Hagerman Tunnel at a lower, more direct route.

The tunnel was briefly abandoned following Colorado Midland's 1897 bankruptcy, but returned to use a few years later.^[1]

It was converted to auto traffic in 1922 as the Carlton Tunnel, a toll tunnel carrying then-State Highway 104, closing in 1943 after a tunnel collapse.

Since 1962, the tunnel has been used as part of the Fryingpan-Arkansas Project to carry water across the Continental Divide. It presently moves water between Ivanhoe Lake and Busk Creek.

[edit] References

^ "NEWS OF THE RAILROADS.; The Federal Receivership for the Colorado Midland Ended -- Busk-Ivanhoe Tunnel Abandoned" (1897-11-02). The New York Times: 11.