Madison history: The railroad cut that climbs 413 feet

With the leaves turning on Madison's hills, it's a good week to look at one of the town's most remarkable pieces of engineering, hiding in plain sight off West Main Street: the Madison Hill incline, known around here as "the cut." The incline was built from 1836 to 1841 as part of Indiana's 1836 Internal Improvement Act. The state historical marker at West Main and McIntire streets says it runs 7,012 feet and climbs 413 feet, a 5.89 percent grade, and that 500,000 tons of rock and earth were moved to build it. The marker calls it the steepest standard gauge main track in the U.S. still climbed by locomotives using only the grip of their wheels. The work was done mostly by Irish immigrant laborers, who cut through solid limestone by hand and with black powder, hauling the stone out with mules and horses. Some of that rock went into St. Michael's Catholic Church. The deepest stretch, dug by Joseph Hendricks' crew, reached more than 125 feet. Even after the cut opened, no engine of the day could pull the hill, so horses hauled the cars up. About 1848 a cog-rail system took over, and the climb took 25 to 30 minutes. Then in July 1868 the Reuben Wells, a heavy engine designed by the railroad's master mechanic of the same name, made the climb with no cogs at all. The Madison Courier reported it pulled the passenger, mail, baggage and express cars up the hill in nine minutes. The railroad also tried to go around the hill. In 1852, railroad president John Brough had about 700 workers building a gentler route through the Clifty Creek valley, but the money ran out and the unfinished line became known as "Brough's Folly." Its stone trestles and railroad tunnels can still be found at Clifty Falls State Park. Heading out for fall color at Clifty? The Trees in Autumn Walk is Saturday, Oct. 31, at 10 a.m.: https://aroundmadison.com/events/trees-in-autumn-walk-clifty-falls-state-park Sources: Indiana Historical Bureau, "Madison Hill Incline and Cut" marker https://www.in.gov/history/state-historical-markers/find-a-marker/madison-hill-incline-and-cut/ ; Jefferson County Local History, "River to Rail: Building the Railroad" https://www.jeffersoncountylocalhistory.org/riverbuildingtherailroad ; Historical Marker Database, "Indiana's First Railroad" https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=181335 Photo: The Madison incline from the Main Street overpass, Historic American Engineering Record (HAER IN-19-2), Library of Congress, public domain, via Wikimedia Commons.