Deal, PA- Summit of WM's Connellsville Sub
Map
This map covers a lot of territory, including B&Os Sandpatch Grade from about Hoblitzel to Sandpatch. Use the bottom scroll bar to see the full width. When scrolling to the right, note the railroad near Kennell's Mill. This must be the High Dry and Windy that Roberts mentions in 'Sandpatch'. The summit of WM's Connellsville Sub is at the very bottom of the 1:62,500 topo at Deal East End. The elevation at the Eastern Continental Divide is approximately 2,400 feet, somewhat higher than Sandpatch's 2,256.9 foot summit. This particular map is a 1923 version later updated for the PA Turnpike and a slightly different alignment on Rt. 160 in places. Note that Rt. 160 is called Plank Road, a generic name for private enterprise turnpikes that were in vogue about a hundred years ago when large scale logging made it possible to pave roads with boards. These private enterprise transportation capitalists were usually wiped out in about ten years when the boards rotted out.
Satellite Photo
This satellite photo from http://terraserver.homeadvisor.msn.com
shows the WM climbing Big Savage,crossing the Mason-Dixon line and tunneling under the ridge line. Exiting the tunnel, the line reaches Deal where the road fill makes a wide swath across the abandoned rail line (some curious contour fields are to the left) then the =WM= continuing across the high plateau towards Sandpatch
Eastern Continental Divide-Facing East
The divide is on the Deal Road that replaced the WM bridge at this exact spot, as the cut in the foreground moved the natural divide several hundred feet to the west (the Sandpatch Tunnel likewise moved the divide to the west on the B&O, the natural divide was just about on Route 160 above the tunnel). As can be seen, the cut is almost flat with perennial puddles. These puddles however are in the Laurel Run watershed of Wills Creek(to the Potomac, Chesapeake and Atlantic Ocean).
Eastern Continental Divide-Facing West
Turning around in the road, we now see the WM as it starts a gentle downgrade along Flaugherty Creek (to Casselman, Youghiogheny, Monongahela, Ohio, Mississippi Rivers and the Gulf of Mexico). Of course, the Eastern Continental Divide is not a point but a line that runs all along the mountains form north to south in the East. Several miles north of here near aptly-named Dividing Ridge, an almost perfect 4 way divide exists. Within a short distance apart one can be in the Buffalo Run watershed of the Casselman River, the Brush Run watershed of Wills Creek, the Stonycreek River watershed of the Conemaugh River or the Juniata Branch watershed of the Susquehanna River. At that point, the Maryland Allegheny Front mountain (Dans / Piney) and Big Savage Mountain have terminated and the ridge called Meadow Mountain in Maryland is the Pennsylvania Allegheny Front
The WM from Deal to Sandpatch is in some respects the equivalent of the "Glades" portion of the B&O West End in that it runs along a relatively flat plateau from the Eastern Continental Divide (Deal on the WM, Altamont on the B&O) to the point where the first major grade starts to the west (Keystone on the WM and Terra Alta on the B&O). Of course the WM plateau section is much shorter and less well known. Shown in the photo is the location of Warren's Mill. According to Dave Forman who lives here, Warren's Mill was a water powered saw mill of pre railroad days. Flaugherty Creek is passing under a small bridge on the WM here. Somewhere in this vicinity ran the Heisler powered Blue Jay Lumber logging line that predated the WM around 1898. The major cities this line connected were the logging area around Finzel in Garrett County MD with the mill in Pocanhantas PA and the interchange with B&O at Sandpatch. About all that is left is a road named Blue Jay and the legend that a locomotive derailed and sank in a swampy area along Piney Run. Some would say a fitting end for a Heisler. Benj. Kline reports however that the Heisler No.3 was sold to a lumber company in Oregon when Blue Jay Lumber moved on to Raleigh Co. WV. Kline must have heard the legend also as he mentions unconfirmed reports of another locomotive at Pocahantas.
Note in this satellite photo of Warren's Mill area the line to the right of the road to Pocahantas( the one going from center to lower left). Could this be the Blue Jay Lumber right of way? On this road, a fellow has caboose in his backyard, definitely not a Blue Jay Lumber leftover, but I bet he know the whereabouts of the roadbed. Before one makes too much sport of the diminutive railroad consider what has changed over the years. In 1898 my late grandfather was 8 years old. Autos (and trucks) were dawning technologies and roads were primitive. Railroads in these mountains had been in existence for about a half a century, but the great eastern forests were relatively untouched in areas that were not suitable for farm land. Several loggers developed geared locomotives and some manufacturers started producing these machines that increased tractive effort for a given weight. The relatively lighter weight allowed lighter weight construction of rail roadbed and the gear driven locomotives could negotiate steeper grades and sharp curves. What ensued is termed by one author as "Tumult on the Mountain". Blue Jay Lumber, at least in this area, was not in the big league of the eastern loggers, but even their small railroad was quite an enterprise. The Blue Jay operators came from Corry PA( many Garrett County MD logging operators came from the northern forests of PA, what is curious is that Corry PA is the home of the Climax, but Blue Jay used a Heisler ) and bought a relatively small tract on Piney Run and built a mill. To get the logs to the mill and the lumber to the B&O, Blue Jay needed to construct their own railroad of about 12 miles. Although rail could be leased, quite an effort was needed for the transporting and laying it. The lumber company needed to obtain a charter to encroach on private land for their right of way. And, a good deal of timber and some ballast had to be sunk in a roadbed. All this for an operation that only often could last a few years until the timber supply was exhausted. The operators and many of their employees then picked up and started over again somewhere else. Today, taxpayers supply money for highways that are more or less taken for granted.
Chessie caboose owned by Deron Hattan at Pocahantas, by the way Deron did not know the right of way of the Blue Jay.
Only a mile or less from Sandpatch, the WM passed a through this well kept farm. Top is January, bottom is May 2001. On the hillside to the left a picturesque cantilevered barn stood until just recently. I have never seen a photo of a train at this location, but it certainly would have been a choice spot.
Sandpatch. Bottom photo shows the location of the connection with the B&O and the reversed connection in the Chessie era. See Tom Biery's Chessie book for more details
Paul Lohr explains that the small resevoir in the background on Flaugherty Creek served the WM tank at Deal via a 5 inch cast iron line.
Western Maryland Scenic Railroad
Cass Scenic Railroad, home of Western Maryland Shay No.6
More railroad photos
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