Witching Hour - Strange History: The tunnel they sank into the river

Witching Hour - Strange History Not a ghost story tonight. Work began in 1906 on a rail tunnel made by dredging a trench in the Detroit River bottom and sinking steel tubes into it. Trains have run through since Oct. 16, 1910.

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Witching Hour is our nightly local history and folklore feature. Ghost stories and legends are retold as stories people tell, not reported as fact. Sources are listed below the story.

Not a ghost story tonight. Tonight's Witching Hour is strange history from under the Detroit River.

A tunnel that was sunk, not dug

In October 1906, the Detroit River Tunnel Company began work on a railway tunnel under the river between Windsor and Detroit. Until then, railcars crossed the river on ferries.

The builders did not bore through the clay under the river. Crews dredged a trench in the river bottom and sank huge steel tubes into it, a method now called an immersed tube. The Detroit Historical Society says it was the first tunnel of that kind to carry traffic.

Trains under the river

The finished tunnel had two tubes. Regular freight and passenger service through it began on Oct. 16, 1910, and the railcar ferries were retired.

More than a century later, the tunnel is still working. About 400,000 railcars a year still pass beneath the river.

Next time you hear a train rumble near the Windsor riverfront late at night, it may be heading under the river.