(the end of the tunnel with the mountains in the background)

over spring break we went to tahoe with dear friends. since there wasn’t much snow (and even after 14 years in colorado i don’t ski anyway, but i am quite good at apres ski!) we did other excursions in the mountains. one of them was visiting the donner summit railroad tunnels built between 1865 and 1868 by over 12,000 chinese laborers. these tunnels are an astounding engineering feat created with only sledgehammers, picks and explosives. 15 tunnels were carved through SOLID GRANITE… progress was slow, they typically only managed 14 inches a day, but they completed them 15 months ahead of schedule. the chinese workers were not acknowledged when leland stanford opened them in 1869, nor were they mentioned at the one hundred year anniversary. it wasn’t until the 150 year anniversary that their contribution was celebrated by then US transportation secretary elaine chao, herself a chinese american immigrant. the tunnels were eventually abandoned and closed in 1993. they were finally designated a national historic landmark in december of 2024.