Learn more about what we do
Why is the Summit Tunnel Worth Saving?
The National Trust for Historic Preservation determined that the Summit Tunnel site is one of America’s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places in 2021. Considering its vital role in building and providing for the defense of the American nation for over 150 years, it is remarkable that the site is not already a national monument. And, given the amazing stories of its construction and heroism of its builders, it is disgraceful that defacement of the site continues. Rampant graffiti is even defended. There is little done to educate America about the site’s significance.
One of three national acts President Abraham Lincoln considered essential to his vision of a united American nation and world power, the Pacific Railway Act has not had the same public appreciation of its transformative results as has the Homestead Act and the Land Grant Act. Designating the Summit Tunnel site a national landmark would correct that imbalance. It is a far more dramatic and assessable setting to tell of the multiple and continuing impacts of networking the nation together than is Promontory where people see two locomotives come together in a prairie setting. The majestic nature of the national effort and the individual stories of the Summit Tunnel should be as compelling to all Americans as are those of the Trail of Tears, the Underground Railroad, the Oregon Trail, and Route 66.
A National Landmark designation elevates those stories especially of Chinese Americans who made up 85 to 90% of the Central Pacific workforce and lost up to 2,000 souls constructing the most arduous and dangerous half of the Transcendental Railroad from Auburn to Promontory. A National Monument elevates their stories. It puts to rest finally the Champagne Photo that has dominated the American image of a national construction effort completed without the central role and heroics of the Chinese railroad worker. It addresses issues of invisibility that considers Chinese Americans to be perpetual foreigners and scapegoats and targets for periodic flares of anti-Asian hate, even as they have contributed to America continuously since the 1800s in countless critical ways from commerce to arts and technology to defense.
It is not enough, however, to designate the location and erect a few trail signs. There needs to be an active educational or Interpretive Center at the summit site. The physical damages to the site by decades of ignoring it or by wishful thinking by property owners that “no trespassing signs” relieves them of responsibility to help protect America’s history are starkly accumulating by uncontrolled and massive visitations. As importantly, if not more so, without an Interpretive Center on site, we continue to lose opportunities to the tell the good story to the thousands of visitors each year. This is a site that can instill pride in all Americans.
Our public monuments serve that purpose. They can illustrate the challenges we faced, the prejudices and harm we encountered historically and that may linger today, but the best monuments can inspire us. They serve to remind us of what can be accomplished and of the values underlying them that we need to pass down to next generations and as we meet future challenges.
And, that “future” can be as immediate as today as we face the massive challenges of repairing and strengthening our national infrastructure. There is a need for bold imagination and firm optimism more today than ever. And, where else is a better place and era to draw from than from the Summit Tunnel constructed during and in the aftermath of the destructive Civil War.
The Summit Tunnel was derided as “impossible.” But, there are few locations that embody in one majestic location –appropriately at a summit—the values and stories of imagination, optimism, endurance, and national fulfillment. It should be a national monument. There should be a storytelling and research center there funded from the same sources as providing support for education at the Black Historic Colleges and the history and lessons of Japanese American Internment.
As the nomination for National Historic Landmark status moves steadily forward in the Department of Interior and as resources for an Interpretive Center gains support, a public-private collaborative can provide the stewardship needed now.