This photograph shows the stark view that greeted Northern Pacific trains as they entered the west end of the Nelson Bennett Tunnel just south of Point Defiance Park shortly after it opened in 1913. Salmon Beach can be seen below the tunnel on the left. In 1912 the Northern Pacific Railroad began building a new watergrade railroad line to run from Tacoma to Tenino. The new line eliminated the need for pusher engines on the approach to Tacoma and cleared Pacific Avenue of railroad traffic. The 43-mile, $8,000,000 project followed the Tacoma waterfront to the Asarco smelter. To get from Ruston to the west side of Point Defiance Park two tunnels had to be dug, a short 312 foot tunnel running to Hanover Street in Ruston and a 4,000 foot tunnel that emerged on the Narrows. Nelson Bennett, a 69-year-old pioneer railroad builder was hired as the contractor for both tunnels. He died in July of 1913 on the eve of the completion of the Point Defiance tunnel.
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