Historic Beechworth Mines


Rocky Mountain Tunnel

The Rocky Mountain tunnel had its origins in a 400ft-long tailrace blasted through rock by the Rocky Mountain Co. (a party of twelve men) in 1859. In 1867, the Rocky Mountain Gold Sluicing Co. was formed and the tailrace deepened and extended, to enable the working of deep ground higher up the valley. When the tailrace was completed in 1871, it was an average 14 ft deep and 6 ft wide, cut through granite for almost half a mile. The mining surveyor at Beechworth called it “without doubt, the greatest undertaking of the kind in the colony”.

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