Hydrohistorian
Log in

← The archive

Official opening of the Gunnison Tunnel by President Taft at the west portal, Montrose, Colo., Sept. 23, 1909

Library of Congress, via Wikimedia Commons · 1909 · Unknown photographer

A long sepia panorama: a crowd lines the top of an earthen canal bank for hundreds of yards, a flag flies over a small grandstand, and the tunnel's arched portal opens at the right where the empty canal begins.
From the archive · Library of Congress, via Wikimedia Commons · 1909 Official opening of the Gunnison Tunnel by President Taft at the west portal, Montrose, Colo., Sept. 23, 1909 Unknown photographer

Library of Congress, Prints & Photographs Division, Panoramic Photographs, LCCN 2007661952; via Wikimedia Commons No known restrictions on publication. Archive record ↗ · Rights

Source Archival record · verify at Library of Congress, via Wikimedia Commons ↗

The day the Gunnison Tunnel opened, 23 September 1909. President Taft pressed the bell that turned the water in; the crowd stands along the bank of the still-dry South Canal at the west portal.

Shows: The west portal and the South Canal as finished, and the size of the occasion.

What this does not let you conclude: Anything about the tunnel's operation since; it is a picture of one afternoon.

Placed on

  • Division 4 · gallery
  • Topic transbasin · gallery

Report a problem →