 The newly constructed Minnesota and Northwestern Railroad across northern Illinois utilized trackage rights on the Illinois Central Railroad between <unk> , Iowa and Stockton , Illinois in 1886 before construction on its own line through the isolated wilderness could commence . Engineers quickly realized that a tunnel would need to be constructed in order to traverse the rugged landscape . The <unk> , Winston and Company ( for which the tunnel would be named ) and more than 350 laborers worked by hand , digging through the <unk> and unstable shale for nine months starting in the spring of 1887 . The work was <unk> and dangerous , and at least one worker , a thirty @-@ two @-@ year @-@ old Finnish immigrant named John Hill , was killed . When complete , the total cost of the tunnel , $ 600 @,@ 000 , had exceeded expectations . 
