Amazing video. Takes me back...I worked on this project during the hard rock tunnel boring phase (1979-1981). It was my first job after graduating as a civil engineeer in 1979. We worked directly on the tunnel boring machine less than 3 feet away from the cutterhead. We made a geologic map of the rock strata of the entire tunnel, including the fault zone near the Park River. Great work.
Hi James, Your comment has stuck in my mind the past couple months. I would love to sit down and interview you or have an on camera conversation about your time working on the Tunnels! I am a lover of Geology and Subterranean Infrastructure and I am certain many of the viewers that have watched this video would love to hear your stories and experiences as well. If you are allowed to share them, Please reach out to me. I can provide my email or phone number here if you respond, or I believe my email is correct on my channels about page. Thanks for your work in making something super cool that greatly benefits the lives of those in Hartford!
I am in the UK and I follow many of you guy's who go exploring as it's something I have become very interested in over the last few years, It's something that would be impossible for me now because of my age so the next best thing is to follow guy's like you who go to so many really interesting places. From what I have seen the US has so many places to explore and many of them are quite modern, so looking forward to seeing many more videos from you guy's. Take care, stay safe and thanks for sharing the video guy's.
Hi Peter, Thanks for watching. I am happy I could take you along on an adventure digitally. The UK has some fantastic and historical places to explore. The USA always feels so limited in its history with a hard cap in the 1500's. There are many great places to explore around the world, perhaps you can research and discover something local to you! A great place to look at for exploring videos in the US will have to be Florida. There is a bounty of wild things down there
Have passed that massive opening a million times driving I-84 eastbound, always wondered where it emptied out. All the way to the Connecticut River, day-um! Thanks for posting this.
Thanks! I am glad the video gave insight to the Underground of Hartford. The part where there is a sloped pit is an additional, underwater tunnel that also lets out into the CT River.
There is always more to explore :) keep in mind this video only covers %60 (maximum) of this system and we are aware of 3 other ones nearby. Be safe and have fun while exploring!
I appreciate you commenting this. This video only cover a portion of it as well! Plus we are aware of at least 2 - 3 other segments of underground that are close-by and similar to this system!
Thank you for this comment. I moved to the other side of the country, So for me it may be a long time until I get to re-explore CT's underground. We know of at least 2 other unattached segments of Hartfords Underground near this one. I also shared leads to another cities beautiful tunnel system with my friend in this video, so perhaps he will explore more of it soon!
There are a few big storm drains in Minnesota, but this storm drain outfall at the river is massive. Amazing storm drain urbex. Definitely not a boring video. 👍👍
@@UndergroundLookingUp dude if you do that you should also make a stop in Milwaukee (Wisconsin) there are numerous storm drain tunnels that are like mazes. They are insane. I can put you on to some locations if you want
@@UrbanWandererz Columbus oh has a few good spots, but you’re right Milwaukee and Minneapolis/Saint Paul are some of the best in the country aside from the Los Angeles county area. New York City is very difficult to do anything in. New Jersey has some amazing drains as well .
Plenty of crawfish in the Pope Park pond as well. And found one corpse there as well..... It's a neat spot. I did part of that from the exit to the river. It can be 85 deg fahrenheit but I stopped when it went down about 30 degrees.
We became nervous about gases a few times, but overall we were safe. There is sewage several times throughout he video. Whenever you see some brownish / blue / black liquid its raw sewage
I've walked the Park River conduit almost all the way to the Connecticut river as well. The water got up to my chest before i had to turn around. The limit of my waders. The flowing water sound near the river would be the outflow of the Hartford Steam company. Their pumping station suction is just up the river from the Park River outflow.
@@UndergroundLookingUp I went with someone who's been there before and they mentioned a car, but we didn't see it when we went. Not sure if it was obscured or removed. This was many years ago also. Even before this video was recorded. Maybe 15 years ago?
I noticed in the time stamps you had a White sucker marked as a wild cod. That's hilarious. And for anyone wondering about the snake, it's a DeKays snake also known as a brown snake. Still an awesome video guys.
I been goin in there since i was like 16 years old. U guys got as far as me. I just never went into the drain area. Was always scared that gate would close but never seen them closed
There is certainly a lot to see! That massive gate was pretty sketchy, but I had gone up and saw that the steel cable was rusted into place. Good news is that if it ever did close on someone, they will be able to climb up into the pump house above.
Indeed, the addition of the eerie, echoing background music was a wise choice as it most definitely made the video that much more engaging. I suppose the only suggestion I would have for making it even better would be to add text descriptions at the bottom of all that you encountered, such as what type of fish, snake, spider etc. Additionally, occasional indicators of current distance traveled. (...but that's just nitpicking, isn't it).
It's a bit challenging to do so, I am happy to help identify anything people have questions on, but I am no professional on taxa and could misrepresent the species found underground.
The water is actually a re-routed river (The Park River!) which flows directly into the Connecticut River. So its very clean! It was buried to prevent flooding, more than anything else. As seen: if the sewers back-up and flood, it will spill into the system (this is the purpose of CSO). They have all sorts of sensors and its probably easy to research when that happened last and what the actual water quality is currently.
This is terrifying. The claustrophobia is kicking in. I can't believe they kept going. So many times I wanted to turn around and run or just go up and get out. How am I still watching this.
I live in fort Wayne Indiana and they have just finished a 5 mile long deep bore tunnel under the city that I would love to explore but unfortunately a way in is not available to the public.
My own hometown has been putting in a new system as well (separate town from where the drain in the video is located) I've reached out a few times, but no word back from them yet.
Thank You. The Triple By-Pass room is a sanitary sewer construct. It makes it so that if the waste water coming into the system overfloods what a single tunnel can handle, it has three seperate intake chutes that will bring it to a deeper system. Should it overflow all three of them it will start flooding into the Gully Brooke Conduit and later the Park River. In the water later on, the blueish, yellow spots in the smaller conduits are pockets of wastewater that have overflooded.
So that is a view looking up towards the street from a manhole room. It has holes in it and car drives over which is what makes the illusion that its a light turning on and off.
Very interesting! Just wondering....when you go far inside an enclosed underground structure like this, do you ever encounter lack of oxygen or poisonous gases? Seems like it could be dengerous?
Good Question! The answer is yes. With how large this space is, the running river which carries oxygen and the surplus of manholes with holes in them we had plenty of air. In the smaller box shaped segments which were CSO with evidence of overflow we did mental checks with one another and looked for other signs in case there was methane gas. The segment after we took some stairs to get to we actually turned around for caution of lack of oxygen, even though while editing this I saw an open manhole a mere 100ft away. I have meaning to get an oxygen sensor as I now live where abandoned mines are located. Decaying timber in them can fill the spaces with carbon monoxide, so its always something to have on ones mind when exploring underground.
I was wondering if anyone who went on this excursion would be willing to do a quick call? I have some questions relating to the tunnels and Trinity College.
Hi, There is only the two of us. My friend did return another time, but did not explore any more extensively than we already had. To my current awareness, this specific tunnel system does not go to Trinity College; unless, it is from an offshoot. such as the CSO from the 1st pumping station. I am aware of at least three other similar tunnel systems within the city. I don't think others have explored those either. If you want any history or to discuss any other info I am happy to take a call, but would prefer if that number goes through my email Michael@Madvstudios.
We did not map it out as the Army Corps of Engineering has already made maps (as seen in the very beginning) alas these maps do in fact, omit, some of the CSO junctions and tunnel systems (like the segment with rushing water and later with stairs)
There seems to be a patch of wilderness to the west of St. Francis hospital which sports the north branch of the park river. It does not make a very good enterance to the system.
Not sure I can watch because it makes me claustrophobic. I have always been fascinated with the Park River. A crime of monumental proportions. What city would do that to a waterway. That's why Hartford is the shyte hole it is.
It's interesting to see the archival photos of the city flooding which prompted the army corps of engineers doing this project. The river is still rather lively underground (as seen). It's better than what I've seen in rivers around RI.
I am in one of the surrounding states. This reminds me, I need to schedule a meetup with some explorers in CT. Thank you for commenting and reminding me!
You can check out a place like this and be perfectly fine. Some buildings like old military forts also lay on public land, and you can always ask an owner to take photos or explore a property
The kayaking an canoeing through is very impressive and a bit more dangerous believe it or not! Alas walking you get to sneak into all the side passages :)
This was shot with a Sony PXW-X70 and partially on a Sony A7s. The X70 has served me well, but died twice on these adventures over a 6 year time-period. Also tripods will help make any camera look better.
I feel like the timestamp is incorrect, It links to a tree root coming into the system. Is this instead supposed to be referencing the syringe stuck in the ceiling? In which case... Maybe!
Amazing video. Takes me back...I worked on this project during the hard rock tunnel boring phase (1979-1981). It was my first job after graduating as a civil engineeer in 1979. We worked directly on the tunnel boring machine less than 3 feet away from the cutterhead. We made a geologic map of the rock strata of the entire tunnel, including the fault zone near the Park River. Great work.
Hi James, Your comment has stuck in my mind the past couple months. I would love to sit down and interview you or have an on camera conversation about your time working on the Tunnels! I am a lover of Geology and Subterranean Infrastructure and I am certain many of the viewers that have watched this video would love to hear your stories and experiences as well. If you are allowed to share them, Please reach out to me. I can provide my email or phone number here if you respond, or I believe my email is correct on my channels about page.
Thanks for your work in making something super cool that greatly benefits the lives of those in Hartford!
@@UndergroundLookingUp I’m not an expert on spiders but were those tarantulas? Or wolf spiders?
@xaustedbrain2369
I'm no expert either...but some of them looked like black widows...and black widows are found in Connecticut.
That's cool! We used to play in these tunnels as kids but never went deep. We was told the fumes)vapors would kill you. I see that was a lie
Please do the interview
I am in the UK and I follow many of you guy's who go exploring as it's something I have become very interested in over the last few years, It's something that would be impossible for me now because of my age so the next best thing is to follow guy's like you who go to so many really interesting places. From what I have seen the US has so many places to explore and many of them are quite modern, so looking forward to seeing many more videos from you guy's. Take care, stay safe and thanks for sharing the video guy's.
Hi Peter,
Thanks for watching. I am happy I could take you along on an adventure digitally. The UK has some fantastic and historical places to explore. The USA always feels so limited in its history with a hard cap in the 1500's. There are many great places to explore around the world, perhaps you can research and discover something local to you!
A great place to look at for exploring videos in the US will have to be Florida. There is a bounty of wild things down there
Too bad we had that revolution !! XD
Have passed that massive opening a million times driving I-84 eastbound, always wondered where it emptied out. All the way to the Connecticut River, day-um! Thanks for posting this.
Thanks! I am glad the video gave insight to the Underground of Hartford. The part where there is a sloped pit is an additional, underwater tunnel that also lets out into the CT River.
@@UndergroundLookingUp nice
@@UndergroundLookingUp that sloped pit with completely still water? Nah in my opinion that’s a passage way to hell
Just as I thought I was running out of spots to explore in the northeast lol. Great footage!
There is always more to explore :) keep in mind this video only covers %60 (maximum) of this system and we are aware of 3 other ones nearby. Be safe and have fun while exploring!
why don't you explore the want ads
Great vid. I’ve read the blog, and watched some canoeing vids, but this was the best bit of media covering this system.
I appreciate you commenting this. This video only cover a portion of it as well! Plus we are aware of at least 2 - 3 other segments of underground that are close-by and similar to this system!
Thanks for the explore! much appreciated!
I think if you cut this down to 15-20 mins and had accompanying story/music/historical info, it would be really popular
I think a lot of people like longer videos. Because I'm one of them
Bigger is better
Amazing video, guys. If you end up exploring any more of it or other tunnels in Harford, please post them!
Thank you for this comment. I moved to the other side of the country, So for me it may be a long time until I get to re-explore CT's underground. We know of at least 2 other unattached segments of Hartfords Underground near this one. I also shared leads to another cities beautiful tunnel system with my friend in this video, so perhaps he will explore more of it soon!
@@UndergroundLookingUp And if you’re in California I have a feeling we are in for a treat
@@EliAlexanderClark Hahaha I appreciate your comment, I am in the PNW by Seattle now.
I have some videos from CA, but I am not there often.
There are a few big storm drains in Minnesota, but this storm drain outfall at the river is massive. Amazing storm drain urbex. Definitely not a boring video. 👍👍
I have been over in MT for a while now, and this comment is tempting me to make the drive over to Minnesota for that storm drain.
@@UndergroundLookingUp dude if you do that you should also make a stop in Milwaukee (Wisconsin) there are numerous storm drain tunnels that are like mazes. They are insane. I can put you on to some locations if you want
@@UrbanWandererz I am always up for some cool underground explorations. I stopped briefly in northern WI to check out the Elroy Sparta Train Tunnels.
@@UrbanWandererz Columbus oh has a few good spots, but you’re right Milwaukee and Minneapolis/Saint Paul are some of the best in the country aside from the Los Angeles county area. New York City is very difficult to do anything in.
New Jersey has some amazing drains as well .
@@EliAlexanderClark I agree. Minneapolis has some of the coolest storm drains I’ve ever seen
freaken insane, thank you for making this
You're welcome! I am glad you enjoyed!
@@UndergroundLookingUp Was that snake from rattlesnake mountain ?? XD
AWESOME walk guys, very interesting
That was such an interesting place, thanks guys
It is certainly a strange place, and there is still even more to see. We are glad we could take you along digitally for the explore!
Plenty of crawfish in the Pope Park pond as well. And found one corpse there as well..... It's a neat spot. I did part of that from the exit to the river. It can be 85 deg fahrenheit but I stopped when it went down about 30 degrees.
You guys a great nice adventure
It was very fun! There is still a lot to explore.
I don't even know how I came across this vid but it's hella cool. I'd be too nervous about gasses and potential sewage. Thanks for making the vid
We became nervous about gases a few times, but overall we were safe. There is sewage several times throughout he video. Whenever you see some brownish / blue / black liquid its raw sewage
thank you for amazing lighting!!!!! seams hard to find videos wolith good lights !!! im inpresses at quality of exploration!!!
I've walked the Park River conduit almost all the way to the Connecticut river as well. The water got up to my chest before i had to turn around. The limit of my waders. The flowing water sound near the river would be the outflow of the Hartford Steam company. Their pumping station suction is just up the river from the Park River outflow.
Did you manage to see the car? It's the one thing not really shown in this video because the water gets so deep where the ceiling drops down.
@@UndergroundLookingUp I went with someone who's been there before and they mentioned a car, but we didn't see it when we went. Not sure if it was obscured or removed. This was many years ago also. Even before this video was recorded. Maybe 15 years ago?
Beauty...I love the tunnels
I noticed in the time stamps you had a White sucker marked as a wild cod. That's hilarious. And for anyone wondering about the snake, it's a DeKays snake also known as a brown snake.
Still an awesome video guys.
I love it, I will have to fix my timestamps. Great to know what the various species actually are!
Great video!!
I figured under the armory it would give a Resident Evil 2 kinda vibe
I been goin in there since i was like 16 years old. U guys got as far as me. I just never went into the drain area. Was always scared that gate would close but never seen them closed
There is certainly a lot to see! That massive gate was pretty sketchy, but I had gone up and saw that the steel cable was rusted into place. Good news is that if it ever did close on someone, they will be able to climb up into the pump house above.
I literally live 2 minutes away from there and I never new that it was down there,, I am mind blown
This is only one of the Tunnel Systems in the city as well. Hartford tends to have an immense underground network of channels throughout the city.
Indeed, the addition of the eerie, echoing background music was a wise choice as it most definitely made the video that much more engaging. I suppose the only suggestion I would have for making it even better would be to add text descriptions at the bottom of all that you encountered, such as what type of fish, snake, spider etc. Additionally, occasional indicators of current distance traveled. (...but that's just nitpicking, isn't it).
It's a bit challenging to do so, I am happy to help identify anything people have questions on, but I am no professional on taxa and could misrepresent the species found underground.
I'm from Connecticut & would love to be a helping ✋🏾if ever needed, Stay blessed on your journeys
I appreciate that. Stay blessed on your journeys too.
Being from CT it's cool to see How Everything looks Underground
CT has a great and varied underground across the state, I am glad I was able to share what some of it looked like with you.
That far out there’s a lot of fish there so I’m guessing the water isn’t that nasty like I thought it would be
The water is actually a re-routed river (The Park River!) which flows directly into the Connecticut River. So its very clean! It was buried to prevent flooding, more than anything else. As seen: if the sewers back-up and flood, it will spill into the system (this is the purpose of CSO). They have all sorts of sensors and its probably easy to research when that happened last and what the actual water quality is currently.
This is terrifying. The claustrophobia is kicking in. I can't believe they kept going. So many times I wanted to turn around and run or just go up and get out. How am I still watching this.
I live in fort Wayne Indiana and they have just finished a 5 mile long deep bore tunnel under the city that I would love to explore but unfortunately a way in is not available to the public.
My own hometown has been putting in a new system as well (separate town from where the drain in the video is located) I've reached out a few times, but no word back from them yet.
Awesome video!!! That was one big snake what kind was it?
It was actually very tiny! Notice how big the wader boot looks when it crawls on it. Maybe a baby garder snake.
It was a DeKays snake
Awesome videography! What exactly was that place you were very cautiously standing around 17:30?
Thank You. The Triple By-Pass room is a sanitary sewer construct. It makes it so that if the waste water coming into the system overfloods what a single tunnel can handle, it has three seperate intake chutes that will bring it to a deeper system. Should it overflow all three of them it will start flooding into the Gully Brooke Conduit and later the Park River. In the water later on, the blueish, yellow spots in the smaller conduits are pockets of wastewater that have overflooded.
What were the lights that switched on/off at around 28:00 in? I could not find anything on it.
So that is a view looking up towards the street from a manhole room. It has holes in it and car drives over which is what makes the illusion that its a light turning on and off.
Very interesting! Just wondering....when you go far inside an enclosed underground structure like this, do you ever encounter lack of oxygen or poisonous gases? Seems like it could be dengerous?
Good Question! The answer is yes.
With how large this space is, the running river which carries oxygen and the surplus of manholes with holes in them we had plenty of air. In the smaller box shaped segments which were CSO with evidence of overflow we did mental checks with one another and looked for other signs in case there was methane gas. The segment after we took some stairs to get to we actually turned around for caution of lack of oxygen, even though while editing this I saw an open manhole a mere 100ft away. I have meaning to get an oxygen sensor as I now live where abandoned mines are located. Decaying timber in them can fill the spaces with carbon monoxide, so its always something to have on ones mind when exploring underground.
37:17 I'd love to see the making of those stairs!
Super interesting, right? Weirdly that passage is not on the ACOE Map, so I wonder if a different company poured them.
@UndergroundLookingUp Where can I find this ACOE map? What does ACOE stand for?
@@labbeaj Army Corps of Engineers.
A quick google search should pop it up
sick video
Thank You!
I was wondering if anyone who went on this excursion would be willing to do a quick call? I have some questions relating to the tunnels and Trinity College.
Hi, There is only the two of us. My friend did return another time, but did not explore any more extensively than we already had. To my current awareness, this specific tunnel system does not go to Trinity College; unless, it is from an offshoot. such as the CSO from the 1st pumping station. I am aware of at least three other similar tunnel systems within the city. I don't think others have explored those either. If you want any history or to discuss any other info I am happy to take a call, but would prefer if that number goes through my email Michael@Madvstudios.
@@UndergroundLookingUp email says it’s an invalid recipient, any chance you typed it wrong?
2024🎉🎉🎉 rewatching this
Thanks for the Upload 👍!! XD
Thanks for the Watch :)
@@UndergroundLookingUp Anytime !! I will have to see it one day !!
these have to be the coolest drains I have ever seen
They certainly are for me!
Scary place! :D
I didn't find it scary, more of one for a fun adventure!
Did you guys map out the area
We did not map it out as the Army Corps of Engineering has already made maps (as seen in the very beginning) alas these maps do in fact, omit, some of the CSO junctions and tunnel systems (like the segment with rushing water and later with stairs)
At headwall where is the water coming from
There seems to be a patch of wilderness to the west of St. Francis hospital which sports the north branch of the park river.
It does not make a very good enterance to the system.
Nice big sewer system. Good video. We also have huge sewers (but without animals, except rats) on our channel on video, check it out if you like
Amazing
The space is quite remarkable
Not sure I can watch because it makes me claustrophobic. I have always been fascinated with the Park River. A crime of monumental proportions. What city would do that to a waterway. That's why Hartford is the shyte hole it is.
It's interesting to see the archival photos of the city flooding which prompted the army corps of engineers doing this project. The river is still rather lively underground (as seen). It's better than what I've seen in rivers around RI.
Are you from CT?
I am in one of the surrounding states. This reminds me, I need to schedule a meetup with some explorers in CT. Thank you for commenting and reminding me!
@@UndergroundLookingUp if only my job wasnt "safe". If i get a trespassing charge, fired. Lol.
You can check out a place like this and be perfectly fine. Some buildings like old military forts also lay on public land, and you can always ask an owner to take photos or explore a property
@@UndergroundLookingUp you are amazing!! Maybe next time you come around i will be available to join lol!!
I will probably be checking out some other tunnels in the same area tomorrow around noon. Yoy are welcome to join if we manage to coordinate in time
I'm Laughing to myself, because I JUST literally watched a 10 min video of people canoeing right through there...
What a great new perspective lol.
The kayaking an canoeing through is very impressive and a bit more dangerous believe it or not! Alas walking you get to sneak into all the side passages :)
What camera do u use
This was shot with a Sony PXW-X70 and partially on a Sony A7s.
The X70 has served me well, but died twice on these adventures over a 6 year time-period.
Also tripods will help make any camera look better.
@@UndergroundLookingUp thanks, since i just moved to new england recently i will be going there in Hartford soon
26:52 Type O Negative?
I feel like the timestamp is incorrect, It links to a tree root coming into the system.
Is this instead supposed to be referencing the syringe stuck in the ceiling? In which case... Maybe!
@UndergroundLookingUp sounds like whoever did the music sampled one of their songs at that mark
@@mpc1mil Oh, I'll have to go give it a listen. It's likely. I think most of the songs on this one are creative commons.