Tunnel No. 3 and the Weber River are the paired subjects of this albumen stereoview, published by Charles Roscoe Savage of the Pioneer Art Gallery, Salt Lake City, Utah, as part of his celebrated series documenting the Union Pacific Railroad through the western territories. The view was made from an elevated vantage point looking across the river toward the tunnel portal, placing the scene within Weber Canyon, Utah, likely dating to the late 1860s during or shortly after the transcontinental railroad's construction.

A timber trestle bridge carries the rail line across the calm, reflective surface of the Weber River in the middle ground, while low construction sheds and outbuildings cluster near the tunnel entrance cut into the sheer rock face. Jagged canyon walls rise dramatically behind the portal, their broken ridgelines filling the upper register of the frame, and sparse riparian vegetation crowds the near bank in the foreground.

Charles R. Savage was one of the foremost photographers of the American West in this period, operating from East Temple Street in Salt Lake City and documenting the Union Pacific, Central Pacific, and Utah Central Railroads. His stereoviews from this series are among the most historically significant visual records of transcontinental railroad construction. The reverse imprint reads "Photographic Scenes in Utah, Arizona, Montana, Idaho and Wyoming Territories," with the full series title and studio credit for C. R. Savage, Pioneer Art Gallery, East Temple St., Salt Lake City, Utah. The card front carries the vertical title "Union Pacific R.R. Illustrated by C. R. Savage" and the bottom caption reads "Tunnel No. 3 and Weber River."