|
Identification:
|
Preferred Structure Name:
| Ptarmigan Tunnel
|
Structure Number:
| B1700
|
Other Structure Name(s):
|
|
Other Structure Name(s)
|
| No records. |
|
Park:
| Glacier National Park
|
Historic District:
|
|
Historic District
|
| No records. |
|
Structure State:
| Montana
|
Structure County:
| Flathead
|
Region:
| Intermountain
|
Cluster:
| Rocky Mountain
|
Administrative Unit:
| Glacier National Park
|
LCS ID:
| 003978
|
Historical Significance:
|
National Register Status:
| Entered - Documented
|
National Register Date:
| 02/14/1986
|
National Historic Landmark?:
| No
|
Significance Level:
| State
|
Short Significance Description:
| This tunnel is the only trail tunnel (250-foot passageway) in the park constructed through mountain wall and is wide enough for rider and horse. It illustrates the NPS commitment to developing transportation facilities to remote regions. Crit A and C.
|
Long Significance Description:
| This tunnel is the only trail tunnel (250-foot passageway) in the park constructed through mountain wall and is wide enough for rider and horse. It illustrates the NPS commitment to developing transportation facilities to remote regions. Criteria A and C. Period of significance 1925 - 1949.
|
Construction Period:
|
Construction Period:
| Historic
|
Chronology:
|
|
Physical Event
| Begin Year
| Begin Year AD/BC
| End Year
| End Year AD/BC
| Designer
| Designer Occupation
|
1.
|
Built
|
1930
|
AD
|
|
|
Westman, Ole and crew
|
Other
|
2.
|
Altered
|
1975
|
AD
|
|
|
NPS
|
Other
|
|
Function and Use:
|
Primary Historic Function:
| Trail Tunnel
|
Primary Current Use:
| Trail Tunnel
|
Structure Contains Museum Collections?:
| No
|
Other Functions or Uses:
|
|
Other Function(s) or Use(s)
| Historic or Current
|
| No records. |
|
Physical Description:
|
Structure Type:
| Trail/Walk
|
Volume:
| 2,000 - 20,000 cubic feet
|
Material(s):
|
|
Structural Component(s)
| Material(s)
|
1.
|
Superstructure
|
Metal
|
2.
|
Superstructure
|
Stone
|
3.
|
Substructure
|
Stone
|
4.
|
Superstructure
|
Concrete
|
5.
|
Substructure
|
Concrete
|
|
Short Physical Description:
| The 240' long Ptarmigan Tunnel is the only trail tunnel in Glacier. The tunnel has two wide areas, originally for guide and tourist horses, which extend from each portal each with a masonry retaining walls. The interior is natural rock and there are heavy iron doors across the tunnel adits.
|
Long Physical Description:
| The Ptarmigan Tunnel is the only trail tunnel in Glacier. Two opposing steel jackhammers drilling from either side of the tunnel and a series of ten-hole rounds of dynamite gradually broke through the mountain in less than three months. A wide area, originally for guide and tourist horses, extends from each portal with a masonry retaining wall. Natural rock lines the interior walls. Heavy iron doors were hung across the tunnel adits during the summer of 1975. They remain open from mid-July until October 1, weather permitting. The 240’ long tunnel is a unique man-made feature in Glacier. This trail tunnel embodies exceptional qualities of landscape architecture and engineering in a pedestrian-scaled tunnel, cut through a sheer mountain wall. The portals frame spectacular views.
|