A representation of Hannibal's early railroad history

This is the western end of the Wabash Railroad tunnel at Hannibal, which was completed in August 1871. Hannibal Bridges the Mississippi, by Hagoods and Montgomery, published after the completion of the new Mark Twain Memorial Bridge in 2000, explains the process used to construct this tunnel. An ongoing problem in the tunnel’s early years was falling rock at the western entrance. On Nov. 22, 1874, an avalanche of rock fell, estimated at 100 tons, requiring the better part of a day to remove the rock and reopen the tracks to rail traffic. PHOTO CONTRIBUTED HULL HISTORY MUSEUM