• Arch Rock Tunnel - Feather River Canyon CA
    Arch Rock Tunnel is one of three tunnels built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) along the Feather River Highway in northeast California.  The tunnels were the final pieces in the construction of the Feather River highway (highway 70) by the State of California (1928-37). Arch Rock tunnel is the southern-most tunnel of the three and the shortest. The tunnels were blasted through solid granite in and around Grizzly Dome. Rock from the tunnels was used for rock safety walls along the highway.
  • Elephant Butte Tunnel - Feather River Canyon CA
    Elephant Butte Tunnel is one of three tunnels blasted through granite by Works Progress Administration (WPA) workers along the Feather River Highway (present highway 70) in northeast California.  The tunnels were the final pieces in the construction of the Feather River highway by the State of California (1928-37). There is a curious discrepancy in the signs on the two entrances to the tunnel: one dates it to 1936 and the other to 1937. Both are likely true, in that the tunnel was probably begun in 1936 and finished a year later. Elephant Butte tunnel is the northern-most tunnel of the three. The...
  • Grizzly Dome Tunnel - Feather River Canyon CA
    Grizzly Dome Tunnel is one of three tunnels built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) along the Feather River Highway in northeast California.  The tunnels were the final pieces in the construction of the Feather River highway (highway 70)  by the State of California (1928-37). Grizzly Dome tunnel is the middle tunnel and the longest of the three, at 1178 feet.  It has "windows" cut into the north wall. The tunnels were blasted through solid granite in and around Grizzly Dome. Rock from the tunnels was used for rock safety walls along the highway.
  • Rock Safety Walls - Feather River Canyon CA
    Three tunnels were built by the Works Progress Administration (WPA) along the Feather River Highway in northeast California.  The tunnels were the final pieces in the construction of the Feather River highway (highway 70)  by the State of California (1928-37). The tunnels were blasted through solid granite in and around Grizzly Dome and some of the removed stone was used for rock safety walls along the highway north and south of the tunnels.  It is impossible to determine which walls were constructed by WPA workers and which might have been built earlier by California state highway workers.