Nearly a decade before the Brooklyn Bridge opened for business, tunnelers successfully bored 25,081 ft, or roughly five miles, through the Hoosac Mountain in western Massachusetts. For more than 40 years after opening in 1875, it was the longest tunnel in North America.

根据建筑学者Cliff Schexnayder的说法，新书的新工具和材料的设计导致了其他人仍在使用中，以完成大规模的隧道。"Builders of the Hoosac Tunnel"（Peter E. Randall Publisher，2015年）。

尽管该项目以隧道钻孔机的早期原型为特色，但正是硝酸甘油和气动岩钻最终帮助工程师完成了工作，这花费了20多年的时间。在该项目的早期期间，工人通过对抗钢钻的锤子猛击顽固的岩石面，称为摇动者的特殊劳动者会在打击之间稍微扭曲。

"The introduction of the Burleigh Rock Drill into the Hoosac Tunnel marked the beginning of modern tunneling," Schexnayder writes. "Mechanically powered rock drilling was no longer a dream or an inventor's tinkering—it was finally a practical reality."
The epic project did not come without its setbacks. For example, the book details a chilling scene in October 1867, when 13 men died inside a 581-ft-deep central shaft after naphtha lamps started a deadly blaze.

本书的其他部分详细介绍了早期的美国工程师的迷人故事，这些故事的胆量，创新和持久性为未来的基础设施铺平了道路。