The mysteries of the University of Texas have fascinated me for as long as I have been a student. As a freshman, living in Jester West, I would go on late walks around campus and just explore all the nooks and crannies. After a few trips out I started to notice large vents in the ground with light coming out of them. When I looked through the vent I saw the tunnels for the first time. I told some of my older friends about this and they explained to me that there is a system of underground tunnels that connect all of the buildings on campus together through their basements. There are access points all over campus including the door under bridge connecting the UTC to the Business School, a gated stairway in the ground beside the East Mall Fountain, a door in the basement computer lab of Taylor Hall and the door on the North side of the Littlefield Fountain in the Main Mall. This doesn’t sound like too big of a secret but UT does not want anyone inside the tunnels so they inconspicuously hide the entrances. I went to the fountain to investigate. On the North side is the door and aboveis a small bronze plaque of the University of Texas seal and a ribbon with the years 1917-1918 inscribed, the years of World War I. The fountain sculpture is made of bronze so I can safely assume the door is also made of bronze. It’s starting to oxidize and turn green in some places. It almost looks as if it’s just dirty and nobody has taken the time to clean it up. I’ve really never seen anybody even looking at the thing. I’ve brought it up to people before but they usually don’t know what I’m talking about. I get the sense that UT doesn’t want to draw attention to it. It only stands about five feet tall and I would most definitely have to duck down to go through it. The first thing I notice is the handle and the lock. The handle appears to be made a piece of wood on a lathe. The lock is a like-new, deadbolt key lock. Both of these appear to have been later additions to the door. The original plans of Pompeo Coppini called for a plaque but never said anything about a door (Littlefield Fountain, (sculpture)). It’s possible that the plaque was converted to a door later. The door itself seem to be made of pieces. A large central piece in the shape of a tombstone reads “THESE SONS AND DAUGHTERS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS GAVE THEIR LIVES TO THEIR COUNTRY IN THE WORLD WAR.” Below this is a sword pointed down with the point toward the ground and the handle toward the sky. It also has two feathers arching upward with the stem of the feather at the tip of the sword and the feather tails at the sword handle. On either side of the sword is a list of names of those who fought and died in World War I. This main section is surrounded by smaller sections of bronze blocks that give the doors its rectangular shape. It again gives me the impression that this was originally only a mounted plaque and was later converted to a door. The most interesting thing I found was the very large manhole right outside the door. I was intrigued so I looked up the Main Mall at the tower and I saw manholes evenly distributed in a straight line running from where I was standing up to the tower. Now I’m pretty convinced the fountain door grants tunnel access. I called up an old roommate of mine who worked for the university for years as the head of animal control and asked him about it. “Yeah that’s the tunnels, alright” he said. “The fountain plumbing is in there, too, but you can get in the tunnels from there. Some kids got expelled from school a few years back for going in there.” It’s hard to deny the fact that the tunnels exist. In fact, UT doesn’t deny it. They just don’t want anyone going in there that’s not authorized so they try to hide the fact that they exist. There is a documentary called Subterranean City: The UT Steam Tunnels that explores the myth behind the tunnels and stories of how they have been utilizied and exploited but UT has fought against it and it has seen a very limited release. Therefore I believe that some of the film’s claims must be at least partly true, thus proving that UT is hiding something.
Works Cited:
“Littlefield Fountain, (sculpture).” Smithsonian Institute Research Information
Systems. 2004. Smithsonian Inst. 23 Apr. 2009
<http://siris-artinventories.si.edu/ipac20/ipac.jsp?uri=full=3100001~!21827!0>.
