Great video! Your suspicion was correct that the upper road you were walking on was a narrow gauge railroad that ran from Mt Eagle to uphill of the Gold Mine coalbreaker. Coal carts were pulled by mules on this railroad. The road you started on/walked back on was an old stagecoach road. This is all from what I’ve been told by the Stony Valley Historian. Also, the blazing isn’t maintained anymore, but there was very rough trail blazed from the end of the narrow gauge railroad to an overlook on top of the mountain. Buzzard peak (or point?) is the overlook name.
The men that built those walls had no idea they would still be there over a hundred years later. Wouldn't it be cool to go back in time and see what was going on there. Very enjoyable hike. Be safe.❤❤❤❤
Great video cliff. I really like to go into the woods and explore and find old ruins of old towns, roads, railroads and mines. I offen wonder what can be in the woods near me
Fantastic video thanks Cliff. That road does look very much like a rail road. It is built so high. The area was just beautiful. Thanks for taking me along. Please take care
Great videos, yes, it looks like a typical narrow gauge railway line, for moving either coal, perhaps they were planning a new shaft somewhere nearby. Has the rock there ever been quarried, could the rock itself have been a resource worth having a railway line for? I live near Sheffield in the UK, many tracks like this here, where the ever expanding coal mines built their rail lines (it was worth the effort for the Steel industries back then).
I used to bike, hike, fish that area. In the 1980s I was told that those trails were for narrow guage coal cars pulled by mules. I'm not sure if they were actually used.
In the years of 1850 there was a lot of Railroad/Canal market speculation. This was a time before the automobile. People thought that the railroads would be the main transportation in the future. Many rail road beds where built hoping if you build it they will come. Later many railroad companies went bankrupt.
I have abandoned bedding of electric and steam operations in my county. And concrete ruins of engine service sites and my metal detection hobby found '............... a donkey engine, oil lamps, tools, and more in the Pacific NW.
I'm FASCINATED by old roads. When I am bored, I scour Google Earth for old roads and I found something amazing. I'm not sure if it is an old dried up river or a Native American or pioneer path. Definitely not a telephone pole cut out. I wonder who could identify it.
I love this kind of video. Very interesting history. I would have to agree with you. It's very level. It's like it would be a railroad bed for that reason.
I remember when I was at Gold mine the cold breaker went way up the hill You think they were building that railroad to get to the top of it if that's what it was?
Seems more like a stage coach road than a railroad bed to me, not sure if the stonework would support the weight of a rail car or locomotive without dislodging the stone. Would solid earth base be more stable?
a lot of the old railroads were built by Irish immigrants, and sometimes one was killed in an accident and they were usually buried along side of the railroad , so Cliff you might have walked past a grave or two on your hike.
The last occasions my state forestry service abandoned mining and logging roads the total extent surrendered was hundreds of miles. Entry from paved state roads was gated. Yet. cross-country on street legal dirt motorcycle access all afterward. I have seen the knobby ruts while walking. Some go over 4 feet high fallen trees.
Since most of the work in those days was manpower with pick & shovel, They wouldn't have built two wagon roads. (Think $$$) I think one path was for wagons and the other for mine carts/rails. Narrower than standard rail and horse/mule/person powered. If the end of the one path was higher than the breaker, gravity with chutes to move coal into the breaker would work.
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Great video! Your suspicion was correct that the upper road you were walking on was a narrow gauge railroad that ran from Mt Eagle to uphill of the Gold Mine coalbreaker. Coal carts were pulled by mules on this railroad. The road you started on/walked back on was an old stagecoach road. This is all from what I’ve been told by the Stony Valley Historian.
Also, the blazing isn’t maintained anymore, but there was very rough trail blazed from the end of the narrow gauge railroad to an overlook on top of the mountain. Buzzard peak (or point?) is the overlook name.
The men that built those walls had no idea they would still be there over a hundred years later. Wouldn't it be cool to go back in time and see what was going on there. Very enjoyable hike. Be safe.❤❤❤❤
Great adventure. Love the lesser traveled paths. Definitely wanted a level path for some reason. Cool. 👍
Love this stuff... that stagecoach road video is how I originally found you.
I've driven past that old road multiple times and wondered what it was for. Great video!
Thank you Cliff.
Awesome video Cliff! Thank you
Great video cliff. I really like to go into the woods and explore and find old ruins of old towns, roads, railroads and mines. I offen wonder what can be in the woods near me
Fantastic video thanks Cliff. That road does look very much like a rail road. It is built so high. The area was just beautiful. Thanks for taking me along. Please take care
Thanks for including some dates😀
Another great video Cliff!
Great videos, yes, it looks like a typical narrow gauge railway line, for moving either coal, perhaps they were planning a new shaft somewhere nearby. Has the rock there ever been quarried, could the rock itself have been a resource worth having a railway line for? I live near Sheffield in the UK, many tracks like this here, where the ever expanding coal mines built their rail lines (it was worth the effort for the Steel industries back then).
Yep I’m convinced that was gonna be a railroad bed . Interesting video
I used to bike, hike, fish that area. In the 1980s I was told that those trails were for narrow guage coal cars pulled by mules. I'm not sure if they were actually used.
That’s what I’ve heard from the Stony Valley Historian
🎉😊wow. Beautiful stonework!!!❤
great video, thanks!
In the years of 1850 there was a lot of Railroad/Canal market speculation. This was a time before the automobile. People thought that the railroads would be the main transportation in the future. Many rail road beds where built hoping if you build it they will come. Later many railroad companies went bankrupt.
I have abandoned bedding of electric and steam operations in my county.
And concrete ruins of engine service sites and my metal detection hobby
found '............... a donkey engine, oil lamps, tools, and more in the Pacific NW.
Gorgeous stonework along that trail. It was a great hike Cliff. Thank you and God Bless! 🙏🌺🙏
I'm FASCINATED by old roads. When I am bored, I scour Google Earth for old roads and I found something amazing. I'm not sure if it is an old dried up river or a Native American or pioneer path. Definitely not a telephone pole cut out. I wonder who could identify it.
I like finding roads like that.
Interesting hike. Mystery indeed!
I love this kind of video. Very interesting history. I would have to agree with you. It's very level. It's like it would be a railroad bed for that reason.
If you hadn’t already, you might check with Ken Salsbury on that suspected rail bed. I would say it was definitely made for rail use.
Great video. I just hiked both these roads a few weeks ago. I agree that the upper trail seems to have been built as a railroad bed.
Great video Cliff, 😀 I loved it
Good video man,
You should see if they continue on the other side of Goldmine Rd.
Looks like a good location for a metal detector.
Maybe they were switchbacks on the south side of Sharp Mountain to connect Mt. Eagle to Goldmine?
I remember when I was at Gold mine the cold breaker went way up the hill You think they were building that railroad to get to the top of it if that's what it was?
I would go with a railroad bed, perhaps to the coal mines or to the breaker at Gold Mine
Eerie day.
It rained? How many years ago was this?
Seems more like a stage coach road than a railroad bed to me, not sure if the stonework would support the weight of a rail car or locomotive without dislodging the stone. Would solid earth base be more stable?
The workers gave up on the road after running into a Big Foot, and his pet mountain lions.
As a hiker and hunter in pa.there is mass evidence of the work of the ccc workers.Every step in the wilderness the keystone rock is under your feet.
a lot of the old railroads were built by Irish immigrants, and sometimes one was killed in an accident and they were usually buried along side of the railroad , so Cliff you might have walked past a grave or two on your hike.
The last occasions my state forestry service abandoned mining and logging roads
the total extent surrendered was hundreds of miles. Entry from paved state roads
was gated. Yet. cross-country on street legal dirt motorcycle access all afterward.
I have seen the knobby ruts while walking. Some go over 4 feet high fallen trees.
Since most of the work in those days was manpower with pick & shovel, They wouldn't have built two wagon roads. (Think $$$) I think one path was for wagons and the other for mine carts/rails. Narrower than standard rail and horse/mule/person powered. If the end of the one path was higher than the breaker, gravity with chutes to move coal into the breaker would work.
that's like Bradfords Road to fort Duquan
Hey cliff. Is that road above the fro tower city riding area the ma and the coalcracker explored? I bet it is, or real close
In some places it looks really narrow to be a railroad bed...or is it an illusion of the camera?
I was just out on these trails myself and it is as narrow as it appears in the video at places.
just think they did that with mules and horses and black powder of course manpower
💙💙
Sorry about the spelling but like Fort Pitt