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• January 21, 1850 | Contract

  Claudius Crozet's Comparative Estimate of the Five Lowest Bids Offered for Blue Ridge Tunnel No. 1, January 21, 1850

  Claudius Crozet offers the Board of Public Works his assessment of the bids for one section of the Tunnel project.

• May 6, 1850 | Letter

  Letter from Claudius Crozet to the President and Directors of the Blue Ridge Railroad Co., May 6, 1850

  Claudius Crozet keeps the Board informed of the project's progress on the Blue Ridge and measures that progress in numbers of "hands" employed and the amount of rock and earth moved.

• 1850 | Annual report

  Annual Report to the President and Directors of the Board of Public Works, 1850

  When proposed and the first efforts made in 1850, the Blue Ridge Tunnel was to be the longest tunnel in North America. Claudius Crozet, as chief engineer, warns his Board of Public Works against comparing its progress with other tunnels. The condition of the rock and the scale of the project were different and unprecedented, respectively. Crozet tries to educate the Board on the nature of the project.

• November 15, 1850 | Letter

  Letter from Claudius Crozet to Governor John B. Floyd, November 15, 1850

  The Kelly contract dispute occupied the first year of Claudius Crozet's project to build the Blue Ridge Tunnel. This letter from Kelly to the Governor of Virginia explains the contractor's view of his contract and his disagreement with Claudius Crozet, the chief engineer. Kelly claims his contract was to include the building of some parts of the project, while Crozet let these to another contractor at a much lower price.

• November 15, 1850 | Letter

  Letter from Claudius Crozet to the President and Directors of Public Works, November 15, 1850

  Claudius Crozet reports on his disagreement with the Tunnel's general contractor.

• January 15, 1851 | Letter

  Quarterly Report

  In one of the first reports to the Board, Claudius Crozet explains the dangerous conditions in the construction and advises against using sink shafts on the project. Crozet refers to Col. Randolph, probably Thomas Jefferson Randolph, grandson of Thomas Jefferson and contractor of slaves to the project.

• August 2, 1853 | Letter

  Letter from Claudius Crozet Reporting Generally upon the Conditions of the Work, August 2, 1853

  Claudius Crozet reports on the changing costs of labor in 1853.

• August 2, 1853 | Letter

  Letter from Claudius Crozet to the Board of Public Works Reporting the Condition of Work, August 2, 1853

  Claudius Crozet explains what he thinks prompted the strike among the Tunnel workers in April 1853 for $1.50 a day wages.

• December 6, 1853 | Letter

  Letter from Claudius Crozet to the Board of Public Works, Reporting the Progress of Work for November, 1853

  Claudius Crozet reports on labor costs and the national labor market as it affects the Blue Ridge tunnel project. He encourages the Board to consider a mixed labor force of white and enslaved black workers as a means to keep both in check.

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  December 23, 1853 | Contract

  Contract for Negro Slaves, December 23, 1853

  In December 1853, George A. Farrow and David Hansbrough signed a contract with the Blue Ridge Railroad to provide fifty slaves to assist in the construction of the Blue Ridge railroad tunnel.

• January 4, 1854 | Letter

  Claudius Crozet's Monthly Report for December, 1853

  In his report Claudius Crozet explains the high costs of white labor and the difficulties of securing enslaved labor.

• January 17, 1854 | Letter

  Letter from Claudius Crozet to the Board of Public Works, January 17, 1854

  Under pressure from the legislature to complete the Blue Ridge Tunnel project as soon as possible and at reasonable cost, Claudius Crozet outlined the progress on the construction for the Board of Public Works.

• April 20, 1854 | Letter

  Letter from John Wood Jr. to Colonel Claudius Crozet, April 20, 1854

  When two slaves were killed on the Blue Ridge Tunnel project, the slaveholders retained legal counsel to negotiate a settlement with the Board of Public Works.

• September 1, 1854 | Letter

  Letter from Claudius Crozet Reporting the Cholera Epidemic at the Blue Ridge Tunnel, September 1, 1854

  When cholera broke out among Irish workers at the Blue Ridge Tunnel, Claudius Crozet reported on the epidemic and the various problems on the project with contractors.

• November 1, 1854 | Letter

  Attorney General W.P. Bocark's Opinion Regarding the Bureau of Public Works' Liability for Slaves Killed on Blue Ridge Railroad, November 1, 1854

  When two slaves were killed on the Blue Ridge Tunnel project, slaveholders held the Virginia Board of Public Works, which had hired slaves through contractors, liable for the losses. Affidavits were taken on the value of the slaves, their character and history. The Attorney General of Virginia, W. P. Bocock, ruled that whether the slaves were killed on the Virginia Central Rail Road Co. or the Blue Ridge project was immaterial, and that the Board of Public Works was liable for reasonable compensation to the slaveholders.

• November 1, 1854 | Letter

  William M. Sclater's Proposal to the Board of Public Works, November 1, 1854

  When labor shortages slowed the Blue Ridge Tunnel project, Claudius Crozet solicited proposals from local contracting agents to supply slave labor.

• November 5, 1854 | Letter

  Letter from Claudius Crozet to the Virginia Board of Public Works, November 5, 1854

  Claudius Crozet comments on the problems with white labor on the Tunnel project, and the possibilities for increasing the use of black slaves.

• December 1, 1854 | Letter

  Letter from Claudius Crozet Reporting the Condition of Work Under his Charge, December 1, 1854

  Commenting on the unreliablity of Irish labor, Claudius Crozet recommends to the Board of Public Works that they hire black enslaved labor instead.

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  December 28, 1854 | Letter

  Letter from Claudius Crozet to the Virginia Board of Public Works, December 28, 1854

  In one of his regular reports to the Board of Public Works, Claudius Crozet comments on the use of enslaved labor and the use of "time" that its employment enables. Because slaves were worked longer hours, often in gangs, and not paid by the hour, unlike whites, they could be transferred from one task to the next until their annual hire was renegotiated with the slaveholder.

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  2010 | Photograph

  Ruins of the Blue Ridge Railroad Tunnel near Crozet, Virginia

  The ruins of the Blue Ridge Tunnel, as it appears today. The Blue Ridge Railroad and Blue Ridge Tunnel were built by the state?s Board of Public Works. When the railroad company?s chief engineer, Claudius Crozet, requested slave labor, the board had to decide whether the state should purchase slaves for the project. The tunnel has long since been abandoned, but the brick and stonework is the original, much of it slave-built.