Chicago Freight Tunnels I  "The Morlocks"

We entered through the manhole and climbed down two sets of ladders, taking us 40 feet below the surface...into the land of the Morlocks. Ok, we didn't see any Morlocks, but we were definitely deep underground.

We entered into a loading room, filled with pipes and pumps. We explored for a bit and discovered another set of ladders going down another 50 ft., this being a guess because it was filled with water (the plunge test gave no answers...next time, we're bringing a rope). Two explorers went as far as they could go, but didn't feel like getting wet (little did we know what was in store for us).

We traveled along the new section of the tunnel until we got to Pokey St. (the utility co. bought part of the tunnel system and rebuilt it for their own use, separate from the rest). There were offshoots of old tunnel and we went into a couple of them, but most ended within a few yards. We turned heading toward the river. After a couple hundred yards, we had to descend another 20 ft. along a ladder in the ground. We finally came to a bulkhead door that was locked. We checked the pressure on the other side and it was dry, but we decided not to open the door in fear of setting off an alarm. Backtracking along Polk St., we went the other way in search of adventure...little did we know what was in store for us.

We were crossing various streets and each junction had a little standing water. We choose not to go down these and see how far we could go on this branch. Each cross street had the name of the street, making it easy to navigate and not get lost. Around Estate St., the tunnel goes down about 50 ft. for the subway. Small, slippery steps took you down and back up (Ottorepo almost slipped a few times, possibly ending his and anyone else that was in front of him adventure). At the bottom, the water was higher (up to our ankles) but only for a short time. Again, no Morlocks...

 

The tunnel then turned a couple times and we went through a open bulkhead door, taking us to Bashing Ave. At this point, the water was constantly up to our ankles, but we figured out how to navigate through all of this muck. We were in the old section of the tunnel system! The old tracks were still in the ground and parts of the old power system still hung from the ceiling, minus the wiring (it was taken down and sold for scrap). We walked along the side, trying to avoid the deep middle.

We came to a ladder that led to the surface but we could hear heavy traffic from above and decided it was best to leave alone. On the old section, lighting was sparse and, when you turned off your light and kept quiet, would be engulfed in total darkness and silence (a very eerie feeling). Along the way, we came up to various cross streets with the track switching still in place but submerged in water. The ceiling of the tunnel was lined with telecommunication wiring , making everyone slump when we walked (but this would not affect the Morlocks, who were still eluding us...).

 

As we traveled along, the water was getting deeper and deeper. At some of the cross streets, we would find old junk or garbage left by telecommunication workers installing fiberoptic lines. At one small offshoot, we found a plaque from another explorers club in 1989.

Many entrances to buildings and offshoots had been closed and cemented shut (thanks to the flood in 1992 and unreported Morlock burglaries), closing any possible exits for us. We went down the Danrolph St. tunnel, hoping to find the old loading station, but it was sealed off. As we crossed Ganichim Ave., this part of the tunnel was filled with water, roughly about 3-4 feet. On Danrolph, the water was up to our waist in certain sections. We found signs directing us to city hall, but opted not to go anywhere near government or bank buildings. As we traveled further north, the water was getting deeper and colder.

We reached Hacker Dr. and went along it for a bit. The water was getting pretty high and we were finding sinkholes more often. By this point, we were interested in finding another exit, saving us the hike of going all the way back. Unfortunately, we didn't find any. We went along Water St. (the tunnel lived up to its name), but again, nothing. We did notice a lot of calcium deposits, some a couple feet thick. At this point, we had been exploring for nearly three hours and had another hour in front of us to get back. We turned around and started to head back, without finding any evidence of the Morlocks...