The following contemporary account appeared in the June 22nd, 1872 edition of the Lancaster Guardian. It recounts a visit by the writer to Black Moss / Rise Hill Tunnel.
Being curious to see what was going on in the tunnel, I descended with two of the men number one shaft. The gloom in the rocky excavation, the hammering of drills, the voices of the men and the dim lights of candles gave to the murky scene a novelty that will long be remembered. The tunnel needs no lining with bricks on account of the tenacity of the rock, pieces of which weighted more like iron than stone. Some idea may be formed of the hardness of the rock when it is stated that thirty-five drills have been blunted with 18 inch boring. The atmosphere is so close in the tunnel that the men have to strip to their flannels. In blasting the rock it requires more than ordinary care, as sometimes pieces of 15cwt. fly to the distance of 20 yards.