A “campus myth” at Dartmouth, and a well-kept secret here, the system of underground steam tunnels has evaded the knowledge of most students. Until now.

     Officially, the underground system is a “large network of tunnels of varying sizes primarily dedicated to steam and hot water and chilled water,” said Robert Smart, director of facilities engineering.

     Unofficially, it is the illegal playground of students.

     Equipped with a flashlight and protective gloves, outfitted in clothes destined for the laundry, students -- who call themselves steam tunnelers -- tear through the underground labyrinth.

Tunnel dwellers

     For typically no less than 45 minutes, the steam tunnelers, guided by a veteran, trace old routes or explore new ones, sometimes spending as long as three hours below ground.

Tunnelers used to frequent Dillon Pool for late night swims, but the University has since installed alarms on all doors to the pool.

     Most tunnels are large enough to walk through. But getting in isn’t so easy. Hot steam pipes block some of the entry hatches, so accessing the tunnels demands flexibility.

      The tunnels, however, are “not meant for public use,” Smart said. “But I’d be kidding myself to think that no student has ever run through them,” he added.

     And even Smart admits: “Been there. Done that.”

     “But that was forty years ago,” he added.

     Now, however, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has established strict regulations regarding “confined space entry.”

     So “we do everything we can to keep students out of (the tunnels),” Smart said. But it is a “constant challenge” to succeed in that endeavor.

     “Even if you’re in great health and have no fear of roaches or rats or heights or enclosed spaces, the opportunities for doing damage to yourself are numerous,” said Jon Snitow ’97, who is knowledgeable about the tunnel system.

     If students are caught roaming around the tunnels, they could receive a dean’s warning.

     Last year, ten students were caught in the steam tunnels and were placed on disciplinary probation for three months, according to statistics from the Dean of Student Life’s office.

D tunnels

     Dartmouth experienced similar student break-ins during the construction of their tunnel system, said Bo Peterson, the mechanical engineer responsible for overseeing the tunnel system at Dartmouth. So many, he added, that “we installed an alarm system.”

     The University’s steam tunnels are “very dangerous,” warned Facilities Engineering director Thomas Nyquist. “High voltage electricity runs through the tunnels in conduits.” He also noted that the voltage reaches 4,000 volts and the steam, 450 degrees.

     But the accesses to the tunnels are “not locked,” according to Nyquist.

     The upkeep of the tunnels is very minimal. To carry out routine fall maintenance, “there was a scheduled shutdown over break,” Nyquist added.

     Ten years ago the underground tunnel system underwent a major upgrade, Smart said. The “chilled water expansion” entailed the instillation of 30-inch pipes to transport the water, Nyquist explained.

     “Some of the piping dates back to 1910,” Nyquist said. He estimated the oldest tunnel to be about 80 years old.

     According to Smart, the tunnels start at the cogeneration plant near Macmillan and run up Elm Drive before they branch off to separate buildings.

     There are trenches that transport heat, chilled water and electricity to places such as the E-Quad and the Graduate College.

      However, these trenches are only two by three feet -- whereas the tunnels are large enough to walk through.