Hoosac << HOO suhk >> Tunnel is a 25,081-foot (7,645-meter) tunnel through the Berkshire Hills in western Massachusetts. It is on the main line of the former Boston and Maine Railroad (now part of Pan Am Railways). The tunnel was begun in 1851 and completed in 1876, at a cost of 136 lives and about $14 million. The difficulty of the task forced private companies to give up the project. The state of Massachusetts completed the Hoosac tunnel. It marked the first American use of the power drill and of nitroglycerin for blasting. The state sold the tunnel to the railroad in 1884. The tunnel was enlarged in 1927.
