As a proud SIU graduate I have posted this web page for entertainment and historical purposes. Although there is a lot of information here about the SIU steam tunnel system, the author does not encourage exploration by unauthorized persons. If individuals use the information for such purposes they do so at their own risk and assume all responsibility.

WARNING: I was contacted in December 2005 about an alarm installed in the tunnels. Anyone who intends to explore the system should read the Updates section near the end of this page.

In the past, persons caught exploring campus steam tunnels were only briefly detained for questioning and were not severely punished. The September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks have increased paranoia in our society. Therefore, any persons now caught exploring might be detained for longer periods of time and face harsher penalties.

After posting the previous information, I was contacted by a few people who wanted to know more about how I was caught and what the penalty was. I wrote a story about that adventure, a slightly edited version of which was published in

Some friends and I got busted in the tunnels and I'm sure you want to know how and what happened to us. We thought we had passed the Physical Plant but were right under it. We happened to make a lot of noise while trying to get around a gate and were heard by a worker who called the cops. We tried to find a good hiding place but there wasn't one and we were picked up soon after that. My friends were put on probation and I got Disciplinary Censure since I appeared to be the leader of the group. All that meant was that they could possibly throw me out of school if I got in trouble for anything else. I didn't get in any more trouble, so there was no problem.

Other stuff: There are gates across the tunnels in various locations. Some are left unlocked and most others you can crawl under or around by the pipes. Some gates are impassable and you will have to use another entrance to explore tunnels beyond them. Purdue has motion sensors in their tunnels and a friend of mine was busted up there. When I graduated in 89 there were no sensors at SIU but that may have changed by now so watch out! Some tunnel intersections have chairs at them and these are rumored to be guard posts used around finals week for catching test thieves. Rumor or not, stay out during finals week! Lights are on in most tunnels and if they aren't you can usually find the switch. Just the same, a flashlight should be carried by at least one person.

Life Science II has a large grate near it's SW corner. You can look down the grate into a major tunnel intersection. Most grates on the campus are tunnel air shafts and are barred at the bottom. This one is different because it is used for access and even has a ladder that goes down to the bottom. There are two hooks that latch the grate from below. If the grate is latched you can sometimes unlock it by snagging the latch handles with a belt lowered through the grate.

At the south end of the Student Center, by a curve in the driveway to the loading dock is a manhole similar to the one behind Ag Research. This is a heavy traffic area at all hours so be sneaky!

Another good manhole is on the south lawn of the Ag building, halfway between the building and the sidewalk. It is almost flush with the grass so you have to walk across the lawn to find it. Sometimes it is flipped over so the ring is up.

Behind the Ag Research labs (now the Center For Public Policy. If this building has changed names again, it is the one between Neckers and Ag) there is a "back yard" between the buildings and the woods. Near the woods is a manhole on a raised concrete base. The manhole cover has a ring attached to it's underside so it can be locked with a hook from below. Tunnelers usually unlock it and flip the cover over so the ring is on the top, making it easy to pull open. You can see the manhole from a path in the woods and if the ring is on the top you can get in that way later that night.

There is another pump house in one of the turnarounds at Thompson Point. It is usually locked since it is close to the dorms. Some friends of mine that lived at Thompson Point once removed the window frame on the door so they could reach in and unlock it. They replaced the window before going on their adventure. Although this took some time to remove and replace the window, the door is at the base of a flight of stairs and is well hidden.

At the west end of the pedestrian overpass from Brush Towers is a small brick building. This is a pump house for a condensate pump and it is sometimes left unlocked. The doors were hidden by bushes when I graduated in 89, so it made for a good entrance and exit even at dusk.

Here is a list of good entrances to the steam tunnels at Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. As a proud graduate of SIU-C, I post this information for entertainment purposes only! Anyone who tries to use this information to gain access to the steam tunnels is doing so at their own risk!

Like many college campuses, SIU has a network of utility tunnels beneath it. A few years ago I posted some information on the news group alt.college.tunnels. Here is a copy of my posting:

Caught In the Tunnels

In 1987, my junior year, I was caught with two friends in the steam tunnels under Southern Illinois University at Carbondale. This is not old college lore, but a true story. My purpose in writing this down is not to discourage or promote exploration of campus steam tunnels, but to inform others. I hope they may learn from our mistakes and be more cautious should they decide to go on similar adventures. The names of my friends have been changed, but places and events are factual.

I was first introduced to the SIU steam tunnels my freshman year. There was a large group of us that ate supper together at Grinnell Hall, the cafeteria for Brush Towers residence halls. We usually got there early and stayed until they kicked us out. It was an eclectic group. Young men and women of different majors, races, nationalities and sexual preferences. The topics of conversation could be anything from intellectual to idiotic, and it was always a good time. One night the subject of steam tunnels came up.

Norman, an upper classmen, claimed to be an expert. He shared several tales of his adventures and even offered to take a few of us down. I had heard about the legendary tunnel system under the campus but didnít have a clue as to how to get in. Needless to say, I was took him up on his offer.

That same night, about four of us walked across the pedestrian bridge to the main campus with Norman in the lead. At the west end of this bridge is a small brick building partially hidden by shrubs. I had seen it many times but never suspected it was a steam tunnel entrance. There are large metal doors on one side, and they were unlocked that night as Norman said they usually were. The heavy shrubs and small trees around the building allowed us to enter unseen although there was a sidewalk very close by.

The building has no floor inside. There is simply a small landing inside the doorway and stairway going down. This is one of two pump houses. The building covers a shaft with a large condensate pump at the base.

Although the pump house was dark, a lighted steam tunnel ran off from the small room at the bottom. The tunnel was perhaps four feet wide and six feet high. Two large pipes were mounted to a rack along one wall. I had previously envisioned a brick tunnel with a curved ceiling, but this was just plain concrete walls and a flat ceiling. The tunnel sloped gently with the contours of the ground above.

We didnít get far on my first trip. This tunnel only goes a short distance to the south where it is blocked by a rusted steel gate. Norman said there were a lot of these gates in the tunnels, most likely to stop explorers. He showed us that the gate merely blocked the passage, and there was an opening between the top pipe and the ceiling. We weaseled through one at a time. The steam pipe was well insulated so it was only warm to the touch.

Iíll also mention that there were similar gaps between the bottom pipe and the floor, and also between the two pipes. These openings had steel bars welded across them. At one time there had probably been bars at the top but someone removed them.

On the other side of the gate was an intersection, located roughly below the west end of the pedestrian bridge. A gate closed off a lighted tunnel to the south, and the openings around the pipes looked well sealed. A second tunnel ran towards the west, but the lights were out. Since the trip had been spontaneous, no one had brought a flashlight. One at a time we squirmed past the gate and went back to the dorms. It was been a short journey, but enough to get me hooked.

Over the next few days I was able to get a lot of useful information from Norman. Where other entrances were, interesting places to visit and so on. Evidently he had done a lot of tunneling his freshman year and was a little burned out on it so he wouldnít offer to guide any more tours.

Al was another member of our "meal club" who had been on that first trip with me. He also had a case of tunnel fever and so one night we set out to do some exploring.

There is a large grate near the southwest corner of Life Science II. It doubles as an air vent and entrance. A convenient ladder takes you down to a large chamber where a tangle of pipes and valves intersect. We used this entrance because the pump house was locked.

That night we were able to cover most of the campus. We basically crossed it, underground, to the pump house by the pedestrian bridge, exploring every branch tunnel along the way.

Some of the newer tunnels are made from round concrete pipe, about seven feet in diameter. Most of the lights were on, although we did bring a flashlight. There were a lot of places where water leaked in and some areas were flooded ankle deep. You can see a lot of air vents for the tunnels when you walk across the campus, but you canít get in through them since the shaft is barred at the bottom. They provide excellent ventilation, although the temperature gets high in some areas. We saw a few dead cockroaches and no rats. Some graffiti was on the walls, most done with chalk or marker and the earliest dated back to the sixties. I remember that the "Wildman and Crew" left their mark in many places.

Most of the tunnels run beneath sidewalks, so it would be tough to get lost down there, but it is easy to get disoriented. Since you are walking in a narrow passageway it seems like you have walked further than you actually have. Although there were some directional signs painted on the walls, they werenít very helpful.

There were a lot of gates, but you could squeeze under some, go over the pipes on others, and some were even unlocked and left open. A few gates were impassible and they kept us from exploring the whole campus.

That became the challenge over the rest of the year. We would try to find other entrances so we could get into sections that lay beyond the impassible gates. On occasion I played the role of tour guide and took some first time explorers through sections I had already visited.

At the end of my freshman year I had been through most sections of the tunnel system, and even had a nice map drawn up. My sophomore year, I lived off campus and only returned to the tunnels a few times. One of those times was with a co-worker from my student job. An impassible gate had been left open that night and we were able to explore previously uncharted territory from Woody Hall to Pulliam. About the only place I hadnít been was under the east campus residence halls.

My junior year I was talking with a new friend, Bob, when the subject of the tunnels happened to come up. He claimed to be an old hand at tunneling, but I was skeptical because he was somewhat of a kidder. As it turned out, he was able to rattle off enough facts to convince me that he had been down there at least a few times. He wanted us to get an expedition together and I told him I was interested as long as we tried to get to the east campus.

When I met him a few nights later, he introduced me to one of his friends who would be joining us. I donít remember the guyís name, and he said only a few words the whole time we were together. As usual, I had brought my oversized Maglight. It uses five D cells and I dubbed it "the electric torch." That night I also brought a pen and paper for mapping purposes. As I explained earlier, I had a map at home but it was drawn from memory. I had meant to sketch a map while in the tunnels before but always forgot the pen and paper.

We wanted to enter through a manhole behind the forestry labs but it was locked. Instead, we got in through another manhole on the south lawn of the Ag building. This meant that we would have to get around a gate that was thought to be impassible. I didnít think it was possible, but somehow we squeezed by on top of the pipes. I think some bars had been removed by recent explorers. It was probably during that tight squeeze that I lost my pen and paper, and that may have been a good thing as youíll understand later.

When we passed under the manhole behind the forestry labs, we unlocked it and flipped the cover upside down so a future explorer could open it easily. Most tunnel manhole covers are lightweight and have a steel ring welded to the underside. A hook passes through this ring while a lever and cable on the wall secure the cover down.

For the benefit of Bobís friend, a rookie, we took him down a long side tunnel to the arena. We then doubled back and continued towards the east campus.

Up until that night, friends and I had always stayed away from the east campus because you had to pass by the physical plant to get there. Boiler operators worked around the clock so the risk of getting caught was increased. No one was certain if the tunnels opened into the plant or just passed by it. Since the east campus is mostly residence halls, all air vents and other potential entrances were always locked. Getting there from underground was the only way to go.

We followed the tunnel east for what seemed like a very long time. The lights were out and there were many gates in that long passage, but we were able to get under them all. At one point it got very hot in that tunnel and we were certain that we were close to the physical plant. Eventually the tunnel cooled and we thought we had made it to the east campus.

We came to a large, lighted intersection. A gate and section of heavy bars crossed the middle of the open area. There were three tunnels beyond the bars and only one other tunnel on our side, so we checked it out first.

It was short tunnel with a manhole roughly in the middle. It ended where the pipes went through a concrete wall. The hole in the wall was oversized by perhaps a foot all the way around the pipes. We shined the flashlight inside and saw what looked like a crawl space under a small building. It was clearly a dead end so we returned to the intersection with the gate.

This gate and wall of bars was more secure than others and it sort of reminded one of a prison cell. The padlock and chain were in place, locking the gate. We rattled the lock and tested for loose bars, and evidently made too much noise in the process. A manís voice shouted out from down one of the tunnels on the other side of the gate. I donít remember what he said because the voice was muffled and echoed in the tunnel.

We wasted no time and ran for the nearest manhole, which was down the short dead end tunnel. I donít remember this manhole cover having a locking mechanism on it, but it didnít need one. It was one of the heavy duty models and probably weighed a couple hundred pounds. When one guy couldnít open it up, all three of us tried to get on the ladder and push it open at the same time. No luck. We never determined the location of this manhole but it could have been in a parking lot and had a car parked on it. The voice was heard again and this time it sounded like it was by the gate.

If we returned to the intersection and went back the way we came, it would be too easy for him to catch us. We would have to crawl under all those gates to reach the next closest manhole while that guy probably had a key. Even if we made it that far he may have sounded an alarm and the campus police would have time to wait by manhole covers, or get down in the tunnels to head us off. With escape looking impossible the only solution, besides turning ourselves in, was to hide and hope it looked like we got away.

We quietly walked to the end of the short tunnel and somehow managed to squeeze through the opening around the pipes and into the crawl space.

The crawl space may have been about fifteen feet square and had a dirt floor. You could stand up where the pipes came through the wall, but then they were buried as the dirt floor rose in a hill, almost to the ceiling. We scrambled up the hill, trying not to leave any tracks in the dirt. Luckily there was a shallow hole in the dirt pile near the back wall. We were able to crouch down back there and be out of sight in case anyone peeked in. I turned off the flashlight but surprisingly it wasnít completely dark in there.

A weak light shown through a small, grated vent on one wall. I got up and peeked through the vent, hoping for some clue as to where we were, or another escape option. Beyond the vent was a storage room. I could only see some shelves and boxes.

We decided to wait about half an hour for things quiet down and let them think we escaped. Before long, we heard several voices echoing through the tunnels. Less than ten minutes later we heard footsteps approaching and could see the glint of a flashlight bobbing around out in the tunnel. Crouching back down behind the dirt pile, the crawlspace was then brightly lit by a flashlight. A man identified himself as being with the SIU police department and said,

"You might as well do this the easy way and come on out." There was nothing left for us to do, so we crawled over the dirt pile and down towards the opening. Before we came out he asked if we were all students. When we told him that we were, he instructed us to hand out our student IDís all at once, then crawl out of the opening one at a time. Once he had the IDís he told us that it wouldnít do us any good if we tried to make a run for it. He took my flashlight, since it could easily double as a club, and ordered us back down the tunnel. He brought up the rear.

The gate at the intersection was standing open and we passed through it. I got brief glances down the other tunnels. One seemed to lead to that intersection by the pump house. The second one had a sign on the wall saying it led to the east campus. We were ushered around the corner and into the third passage, which led into the large boiler plant. I remember feeling a sense of defeat. It wasnít because we got caught, but that we hadnít made it as far as we thought, not even to the east campus.

The boiler plant was large and the ceiling was at least two stories up. There was a low rumble from the huge boilers and other equipment in the room. A few operators were standing around and I expected them to laugh or make a few wise cracks as the policeman led us through. Instead, they stood very quietly. I remember a tall, thin man, with a light beard and moustache. His flannel shirt sleeves were rolled up and he was leaning on a shovel, standing in front of one of those boilers. As we walked right passed him I thought I saw a look of sympathy on his face.

The floor of the boiler plant is below ground level and we went up an open flight of stairs to a mezzanine above. We were led a short distance and out through an overhead door. I recognized it as the loading dock that faces the street across from McAndrew stadium. Two police cars were parked there with their lights off. After being in the roar of the boiler plant, the night was strangely quiet. I vaguely remember the police officer radioing in that he had us in custody.

He made us stand facing the brick wall, by that loading dock door, while he patted us down and searched our pockets. Bob was cuffed with his hands behind his back. His friend was placed on my left side and his left wrist was cuffed to my right one, behind our backs. I guess the cop only carried two sets of cuffs.

Bob was put in the back seat of the patrol car, behind the driverís seat. His friend and I were put in on the other side, and it was tough getting in since we were cuffed together. The other police car took off in another direction, while ours headed to campus police headquarters. We were silent the whole time.

I wasnít sure what our fate would be, and I tried not to think about it. It seemed better to just take it as it came. The officer pushed the accelerator to the floor as we pulled out onto route 51. The engine was powerful but quiet, and I could see the speedometer as he got up to fifty miles an hour in that thirty five mile an hour zone. I thought it was kind of funny that the cop was speeding. No flashing lights and sirens though, it was almost disappointing.

We pulled up to the side entrance of the campus police station. Bob was taken out of the car first, and the policeman had to help his friend and I out on the other side. I want to mention that he hadnít roughed us up or been rude like I expected. It just seemed like business as usual to him.

We went in the side door, down half a flight of stairs, and turned into a hallway on the right. Passing a small alcove with a camera set up in it and height marks on the wall, I hoped we wouldnít have mug shots taken later.

He left us in what looked like a small classroom. We were told to sit down in a few chairs, and he left the door wide open when he left. There were basement style windows high up on the wall. Although one was open and had no screen, there was heavy wire mesh on the outside.

It wasnít long before the police officer returned with a man in a shirt and tie. He looked kind of weary like a detective from a TV show. He sat down across from us and asked,

"You guys ever go down in the tunnels before?" There was a long pause. "Since you didnít say anything Iíll guess that you have. Do you have any maps?" We shook our heads and it made me feel lucky that I had lost the paper and pen down in the tunnel.

He went on to say that he couldnít really do anything to us. Since we were all students, we couldnít be charged with trespassing. We were just caught some place where we shouldnít have been. He continued and said we would be released, but our names would be referred to the Office of Student Life and it would be up to them to decide what disciplinary action should be taken.

The officer removed our handcuffs and gave us our student IDís.

"Nice flashlight," he said as he handed me my electric torch. On our way out, I asked the detective what he though Student Life might do about this.

"I donít know. Maybe kick you out of school. Go home and get a good night sleep."

They didnít walk us to the door or anything, we just went out on our own. Halfway across the parking lot of the police station, we relaxed and started talking about our situation.

I mentioned that I was glad I lost the paper for the map. Bobís friend said that he had brought a pocketknife and had hidden it in the crawlspace so the cops wouldnít try to get him with some concealed weapons charge. He seemed bummed out about the loss. I guess it was a nice knife.

As we walked home, we pretty much agreed that there was little we could do until we heard from the Office of Student Life. We doubted that they would kick us out of school.

It was about a week later that I got a letter from the Office of Student Life. The letter informed me that I had been charged with Unauthorized Entry, and instructed me to call and schedule a disciplinary hearing.

About a day later, I got a call from Bob. Both he and his friend had also gotten letters, and he told me when their appointments were scheduled. They were having theirs on the same day. Bobís was in the morning and the other guy had his in the afternoon. Mine was on the day after theirs, so I asked him to call me and let me know how things went. I thought I might be able to prepare for mine if I knew what to expect.

I donít know if the other guys got stressed out about the situation, that would be expected. Surprisingly, I didnít. There was too much going on with work and school for me to think about it.

Bob called again after he and his friend had their hearings. He wasnít very specific, and just said that he had a short interview with a lady who put him on probation for a month. Bobís friend was interviewed by the same lady and also put on probation for a month. He explained that if you get in trouble while on probation, you could possibly be kicked out of school but afterwards it didnít go on your record. I thought, no problem.

The Office of Student Life was housed in some old barrack style buildings, formerly used as married student housing, between the Morris Library and Faner Hall. They had that tarpaper siding on them that is supposed to look like bricks, and low peaked roofs. They were temporary buildings when they were put up, but were converted to offices years ago. Paint peeled from the trim around doors and windows. Ratty skirting was missing in places and a few crooked wheelchair ramps led up to some doors. Window air conditioners whined and dripped. It was an eyesore on a beautiful campus.

Inside the place was just the opposite. Although there was the prefab look of a trailer, the paint was new and furnishings were comfortable. I was on time and only had a short wait in the small receptionistís area, then I was told to go in through an open door.

A large man sat behind a massive desk, which was buried under a stack of paperwork. His hair was graying, and his brow was furrowed. I could tell that I wasnít going to have it as easy as the other guys did.

Shortly after I sat down, he started leafing through several large file folders, looked me in the eye and said,

"You made good grades in high school, didnít get into any trouble there. You are doing even better in college, even made the Deanís list a few times. Why do you want to go in those damn tunnels anyway?"

I was a little shocked that he had accessed my high school records and done a bit of research. I tried to explain that I enjoyed the sense of adventure that I got from tunneling, but he didnít think that was a good enough reason. He told me that it was dangerous because you could get trapped down there.

Iím not sure if this actually happened, but he told me that years ago a student had been exploring down there on his own, got trapped and died. Apparently a maintenance man had left a gate open and the student wandered past it, into another section of tunnels. When the student returned to the gate he found it had been closed and there was no way around it and no other exit from that tunnel. His body was found weeks later after he starved to death.

Then he asked me if I had ever read the inscription on the wall, behind the statue of Delyte Morris, in the entrance of the Morris Library. I told him that I knew the one he was talking about, had probably read it, but didnít remember what it said.

He told me that he was placing me on disciplinary censure for ninety days. Censure meant that if I was caught doing anything else, I could possibly be thrown out of school. Unlike probation, it went on my record and could even be held against me years later.

"I donít want you to have to come to my office again," he told me. "When you leave here, go over to the library and read that inscription. If you stay on the right path you might even end up running the physical plant, then you could go down in those tunnels anytime you want."

After leaving his office I did what he told me, and walked over to the library. Inside the main entrance is a large statue of former university president, Delyte Morris. He is credited for building up SIU from a tiny school into a large institution. On the wall behind the statue is a quote from Morris about the importance of education and always working towards the future. It struck me as being profound at the time.

That was the end of my tunneling career. The next year, several friends of mine transferred to SIU. They were interested in the tunnels and I shared my map and knowledge with them. The two of them explored every tunnel and took a lot of photos down there. They even made it to the east campus by coming to that large intersection from a tunnel on the other side of the gate.

My nickname at the time was Creo, and my friends made a special trip to the dead end tunnel with the crawlspace where they wrote, "Creoís Last Stand" on the wall. After they had explored every tunnel and had seen it all, they stopped going. They were never caught and didnít even have a close call.

When I look back at that whole episode, I think that we were caught due to our own carelessness. Bob and I were both experienced tunnel explorers, and were perhaps a little cocky. We both knew distances were hard to estimate in the tunnels and we didnít know exactly where we were. That meant that there was no excuse for making unnecessary noise, especially that close to the steam plant.

With manholes being few and far between, we should have tested the one in the dead end tunnel as a possible escape route before hand. Then we would have tried to escape by running back the way we came. Still that may not have worked. If we had gotten into any kind of chase down there, we probably still would have gotten caught. The cops had a pretty good response time and could have head us off, or we would have been caught from behind by the other man, since the gates would have slowed us down.

Just as there was no where to run, there was no where to hide. Noises echo around in the tunnels. That man may have heard us down the dead end tunnel and tipped off the police officer.

Perhaps the officer didnít even known we were on the other side of the dirt pile and just played a hunch by calling us out. If we had stayed back there he may have searched elsewhere.

None of us got into any more trouble while we were at SIU, so even my disciplinary censure turned out to be just a slap on the wrist.

Since then, the statue of Delyte Morris has been moved to the Old Main Quad, but his words remain on the wall inside the library entrance. I now work for a mechanical engineering firm that does a lot of boiler installations. Sometimes I even have to do field work in steam tunnels under college campuses and factories. It always brings back memories of my college days. Perhaps with enough experience I could have the Physical Plant Directorís job at Southern Illinois University, and go down in those tunnels anytime I wanted.

Updates:

SIU continues to grow and change. Like the Forestry Labs now being used by another department, some of the other building names and campus features may have changed. The building I have referred to as Life Science II is immediately west of Lindegren Hall and south of Lawson Hall. It was a new building when I was in school and did not have a formal name at that time.

A Life Science III building was put up just to the south of Life Science II. I don't know if this building has a formal name yet, and I don't know what changes, if any, were made to the tunnel system. A tunnel does run east and west, just south of Life Science II, from Communications and all the way to Faner. I suspect that only a short branch tunnel was needed to connect the new building.

I was contacted in December 2001 by a freshman who has done some tunnel exploration. He reported that the pump house by Anthony Hall has been left unlocked many times, although on one occasion it was flooded so he had to go back another time. He also mentioned that many of the gates were left unlocked, and there was no sign of any alarm system or motion sensors.

In late December of 2005 I received what appears to be some valid updated information on the SIU tunnel system. The author of this email wished to remain anonymous. I've added some of my own comments at the end of this message.

. . . .

Hello. You don't know me, and I don't even know if the email is still active. I got this as a link off a site you made on the tunnel system. I came across it doing research on the SIUC tunnel system. This effort was a result of a boring long project on various bomb shelters of Universities across the state. I have interviewed physical plant staff as well as others including some folks at the Police station and the Engineering Dept. I can tell you several things you might want to add to your paper. However I will start by saying that I never WAS in the tunnels. All info I get is from 'official sources'



First. Part of the tunnel leading to the arena is no longer in existence. This was due to construction of a newer addition as a result of the foundation work part of the tunnel was destroyed, the piping rerouted.

Also the alcoves near the dorms you speak of were bomb shelters. I am told that the EAST CAMPUS also had some. This, I say owing to similar structures designed for the purpose at Northwestern and the University of Illinois. (Whom owing to its position to now defunct Chanute AFB as well as its suburb ENG and CHEM depts., was a good target of attack)

In answer to the question of patrols or repair walks of personnel through the system I got the scary reply: "Some parts of the tunnel have not been checked out since the Berlin wall fell. If anyone was trapped down there, we wouldn't even know today." This was the word given by a Phys plant supervisor and I swear my investigation might have even encouraged a few employees to make that walk through.

They did show three separate reports of serious steam ruptures over the last 10 or 15. I shudder to think what might have happened to human flesh if a guy was inside the system in the event of a burst.

Police: They wouldn't let me look at the arrest records or anything like that. They did say they average about a dozen reports a year of break-ins to the tunnels.

Sadly, the pump shack near the bridge has a fairly new steel type security door. While it WAS locked at the time I checked it. I was later told that a security motion detector does now exist inside. It is controlled from the Phys Plant.

Finally parts of the tunnel have been permanently closed between "sections". I've no other term for them, since the need for bomb shelters has gone, it is highly unlikely that any of the "campus walks" are even possible now. I was told this by a Phys plant employee who was GRIPING about it. Seems it makes it a tad harder to maintain the parts of the tunnel that are still inspected.

As kind of a PS: I was a former SIU student and had a room in 1730 Mae Smith. Now I don't know if you know, but the roof of the towers actually held a patio complete with deck chairs and its rumored that at one time that Mae Smith also had a SWIMMING POOL on the roof. If its true I'm guessing it was closed by '75. I explored Mae Smith top to bottom and found two interesting things, one in my room itself.

First, the stairs going up to the roof and elevator machinery have a side door to the roof. The common everyday glass fire door. However, this doorway had a thin layer of outdoor carpet leading to it and was not locked in the standard way, but had the glass spray painted over and massive chains anchored into the brick walls stretching across the hall preventing one from getting close to the door.

The item in my room was a huge trapdoor in the ceiling just outside the closets. It had a small key lock, which I defeated. I weaseled up and found a small, AND I MEAN SMALL, crawlspace under what appeared to be a massive tank, like the bottom of the pool. The crawlspace led down one side and I think was meant to gain access to the filters and piping which was visible but I didn't mess with it. I assume my opposite number also had a "hatch."Anyway sorry for the novel but I thought you might like to know. Feel free to list this info but please do not mention my name or email address.

(signature deleted)

. . . .

Following are my comments, some of which were sent in an email to the above individual:

The tunnel information makes sense, and until proven otherwise I will assume most of it is accurate. My only skepticism is that "official sources" have been known to give out misinformation when interviewed, in an effort to discourage exploration. I base my opinion on several Daily Egyptian articles I have read, which clearly had some false information.

The motion detector in the pump house near the bridge was the most shocking item to me. It seems that it could easily be spotted before descending the stairs into the tunnels. My guess is that it would either be a magnetic contact on the door, or one of those wall mounted infrared models off to one side, possibly even visible thru a pump house window. Such a device would pose no real threat if you exited thru the pump house, setting off the alarm as you made your escape.



The real disturbing thing is that if one motion detector was installed, it seems likely that there would be others, which were purposely not mentioned in the interview. Likely locations, if I were installing them, would be the Thompson Point pump house, somewhere near Lindegren, and near the branch tunnel to Neckers. I base my guesses on ease of installation for running wire and also covering the tunnel system with as few devices as possible.



Although I have been contacted numerous times over the years by people requesting more information on the tunnels (really all of it is posted here) no successful explorers have bothered to contact me with any new hands on information. What a shame.

More information on Mae Smith: There was a sun deck on the top of "C" Wing, which is the long wing. All towers had these decks and they were open in 1984-85 when I lived there, although the hours they were unlocked seemed to be sporadic, even during warm weather. Nice view as you would expect. All sun decks were closed a few years later due to the high cost of insurance and liability that they presented. The glass door that was painted over and chained shut goes out to the old sun deck.

There never were any roof top pools. I've seen plans of those buildings since I was an architecture student, so I know they hadn't been covered over by the time I moved in.

I know about the attic crawl space. Many people have accessed it and told me about it. I've heard tales of all sorts of contraband being hidden up there, from a bag of weed to several disassembled stolen bicycles.

Regarding the tank you saw, I have a theory about it, having done facilities work in a few high rise buildings. Many high rise buildings have domestic water tanks at top to serve as sort of a water tower for the building. Since a stand-alone water tower provides the pressure, you could only get water up as high as that tower was. Notice no 17 story water towers in the area of SIU, so the towers need their own system.

The common way this is done is that the city water main comes into the basement at whatever pressure, and runs through some booster pumps that have enough power to push it all the way to the tank on the top of the building. Level sensors will shut down the pumps if they fill it up, but usually water use in the building prevents that from happening. The tank is sized for peak demand and domestic water piping feeds down to all fixtures.

Another variation that might be done is to have the water main split in the basement, with one branch feeding perhaps up to the seventh floor or however high city water pressure can get it, and then the second branch goes to the building tank, which serves the higher floors only. I'd say this is most likely since smaller tanks and pumps are then used.

Photos:

Most of these photos were taken with a Polaroid camera, which did not do well in the low lighting conditions. The used flash bars and film packs may still be somewhere in the tunnels. I would be glad to post any better quality photos if someone sends them to me.