would often complain of the intense heat and smoke due to the poor air circulation. Piecemeal solutions failed to work, and by 1912 the railroad was forced to install a huge fan, powered by a diesel motor and staffed by operators day and night, to ventilate the tunnel. The fanhouse, constructed by 1916, was abandoned by the CGW with the acquisition of diesel locomotives by 1947. When the Chicago Great Western was federalized during World War I, a contingent of Illinois National Guardsmen were assigned to protect the tunnel. The operating nightmares of the tunnel, not to mention the millions of dollars the CGW spent to keep it open, forced the railroad's management to consider many schemes to rid themselves of the burden. In 1909, 1951 and again in 1964 (the same year the North Western and Great Western announced their intentions to merge) the CGW sought engineering proposals to reroute their trackage around the bore, to daylight the tunnel, or to completely rebuild and improve it. To the often cash-strapped Great Western, however, all these plans proved far too expensive. In the end, the 1968 merger with the Chicago and North Western (C&NW) sealed the Winston Tunnel's fate. The Great Western's main line through northern Illinois closely paralleled the North Western's own line, but through less densely populated and less commercially active areas. The steep grades of the line and the obvious financial burden of the Winston Tunnel also played a role in the decision to completely abandon the Great Western's trackage in the area. The C&NW operated its last train through the tunnel in 1971. Scrappers pulled up the tracks the following year. Upon abandonment, the C&NW placed chain-link fences over each bore of the tunnel to keep squatters and other trespassers out. A 1973 attempt to turn the right-of-way through Jo Daviess County, including the Winston Tunnel, into a rail trail, failed when ownership of the land reverted to nearby property owners. Present day The Winston Tunnel still exists in a very deteriorated condition. Nature has reclaimed the right-of-way; the fan house, unused since the 1940s and damaged by the elements, was demolished in early 2007, and the eastern bore, located on private property, has been almost completely sealed with earth. The western half was purchased by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources as a "satellite area" of Apple River Canyon State Park. The DNR installed a