Paw Paw Tunnel - East Entrance
The Paw Paw Tunnel is a 3,118-foot (950 m) long canal tunnel on the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal in Allegany County, Maryland.[1] Located near Paw Paw, West Virginia, it was built to bypass the Paw-Paw Bends, a six-mile stretch of the Potomac River containing five horseshoe bends. The town, the Bends, and the tunnel ultimately take their name from the pawpaw trees that grow prolifically along nearby ridges.[citation needed]
Construction on the tunnel began in 1836 but was not completed until 1850. Although it was originally planned to be completed in two years, there were many difficulties in the process of construction. The construction company seriously underestimated the difficulty of the job. Violence frequently broke out between various gangs of immigrant laborers of different ethnicities, and wages were often unpaid due to the company's financial problems.[2] The tunnel was finally completed with a cost overrun of 500%. Though surpassed by many tunnels today, it remains one of the world's longest canal tunnels and one of the greatest engineering feats of its day.[citation needed]
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