Author Description

Tunnel Stiffs tells the story of tunnel and dam construction from the 1940s through the 1980s and the hard rock miners who traveled across the land, building dams, drilling portals through mountains, and changing the face of America forever.In a newer version of the wagon trains that settled the West, these men and their families left the security of stable homes to follow jobs, making "impossible" construction possible. Many towed trailer homes behind them along two-lane roads, crossing the country from coast to coast, building dams and tunnels along the way.The Sweeneys, who lived the construction life, have a story to tell of traveling from the coal mines of southeast Pennsylvania to Leadville, Colorado; Glendo, Wyoming; Sonora, California; Winnemuca, Nevada; and their last job in Washington, D.C.This book shares the stories of the workers with handles like the Big Swede, Loading Pole, Haywire, and Rainbow Ranger, dedicated miners who did the job and did it well, working for such construction companies as Gates & Fox, Guy F. Atkinson, Walsh, and Bechtel Corporation.As they moved from job to job, the miners and their families forged lifetime friendships, creating an extended family as close as any blood relations.Tunnel Stiffs is the story of a lifestyle few people live, and fewer still know exists. But it's the story a generation of builders lived as they constructed tunnels, dams, aqueducts, and transit tunnels across the United states.