That Tunnel.
I was impatient for answers about that tunnel, and so had an exchange with A.I. about it. (And, as A.I. is quick to acknowledge, A.I. isn't necessarily correct about things, so . . .) The fruit of that is as follows (where not stated, my questions are, I think, implicit in the answers below):
The Historical Purpose: Long before the concrete channelization of the river, the area near the current 110 Freeway bridge (historically known as the Figueroa Street Bridge area) was a primary extraction point for city water. The tunnel was part of early municipal efforts to siphon, store, or divert river water through the Elysian hills to the growing pueblo down below.
The original small tunnel was completely obliterated and filled in due to a combination of infrastructure projects and natural disasters: Freeway and Bridge Construction: Between 1931 and 1943, the city constructed the iconic, Art Deco-style Figueroa Street Tunnels and the adjacent viaduct. This massive earth-moving and blasting project cut directly through the unstable sandstone banks where the older tunnel was located. The 1937 Moving Mountain: Just two years after the men were trapped, a massive geological shift occurred right at this spot. In late 1937, a slow-motion landslide collapsed 1.5 million tons of the Elysian Park hillside directly down into Riverside Drive and the Los Angeles River bed. This cataclysmic slide permanently buried any remaining remnants of the old tunnel network.
The "far" end of that specific subterranean tunnel system terminated at the historic Buena Vista Pumping Station and Reservoir, which sat just inside the southeastern edge of Elysian Park. Because the tunnel was designed as a gravity-fed water conduit, it didn't just wander aimlessly through the mountain; it connected a precise water extraction point to a major municipal storage facility.
The "Near" End (Inlet): Located right on the unstable sandstone bank of the Los Angeles River, directly under the cliffside where the 110 Freeway bridge spans the river today. This acted as the intake gallery where river water seeped in or was diverted.
The "Far" End (Outlet): The tunnel carved roughly south/southwest through the bedrock of the Elysian hills, emptying out at a deep 14-foot vertical shaft located at the Buena Vista Pumping Station.
Where is the Far End Today? The site of the old pumping station and its terminal reservoir is located near what is now the intersection of Stadium Way and Academy Road, roughly on the grounds of the modern Elysian Reservoir (just north of Dodger Stadium).
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