Blue Ridge Railroad Route

Blue Ridge Route

The below description of the intended route of the Blue Ridge RR is quoted from Romance of the Blue Ridge Railroad, by Ethel B. Mitchell.

Beginning at the Junction of the Greenville & Columbia railroad in Benton {South Carolina}, the Blue Ridge route passed through Anderson by way of a deep cut underneath main street; from thence it proceeded across a hilly country thirteen miles to Pendleton, crossing the Twenty-six Mille Creek and also the valley and stream of Twenty-three Mile creek. Proceeding from Pendleton the route passed through fairly level country and over Eighteen Mile Creek to the Seneca River. The bridge over the Seneca River and its broad valley was six hundred feet long and sixty feet high. It required three piers thirty feet high to protect the foundation from high floods. Suitable rocks for the piers were conveyed from a quarry near Honea Path In the construction of this bridge no doubt the skill of the engineers met a real challenge due the lack of modern equipment, yet it has remained staunch and strong through the years! From this point the route continued along a ridge to Walhalla.

The citizens of Walhalla, which was a new and thriving community, purchased and generously gave to the Railroad Company twenty acres of land near the town for the purpose of erecting a depot. This is the terminus of the road as it stands today {1972}.

From Walhalla the route commenced a gradual ascent until it reached the base of Turnip Top Mountain and for four or five miles it gradually ascended the eastern slope until it encountered Saddle Mountain, which it passed through a tunnel 478 feet long, and continued along the eastern slope, passing through a spur of the mountain by means of the "Middle Tunnel", 425 feet long, until it reached the portal of the Stump House Tunnel, 236 feet below the highest point of the mountain, and as high as the grade which was restricted not to exceed 60 feet per mile.

The Western slope of Stump House Mountain was reached by a tunnel 5,863 feet long, which emerged on the valley of the Chatuga about ten miles from Walhalla. From there the route proceeded to the Chatuga river, the boundary between Georgia and South Carolina and it crossed by a bridge 450 long and 110 feet high. It then pursued the valley of Dick's creek to dividing ridge through which it passes by means of a tunnel 2.300 feet long into the valley of the Warwoman and continued up the valley to the dividing ridge and passed through it by a tunnel 1700 feet long into the valley of Stacoa.

The road then followed the valley of the Stacoa to the Rabun Gap, where the waters flowing into the Tennessee river divide from the waters flowing into the Savannah river. Here the Blue Ridge was passed and the remainder of the line in Georgia proceeded down the valley of the Tennessee until it reached the Locust Stake. Besides crossing rhe Chatuga, two bridges of 60 and 100 feet were required over the Warwoman cfreek.

From the Locust Stake the route descended through the state of North Carolina along the valley of the Tennessee river, and entered the state of Tennessee where it continued along the valley as far as the confluence of the river with Citico creek, about thirty-two miles from Knoxville, at which point the route left the Tennessee river valley, deflecting westwardly to that city. There were to have been seven tunnels in North Carolina and one in Tennessee, varying in length from 100 to 700 feet.

Of the many points of interest along the Blue Ridge Road, the tunnels deserve special mention. There were to have been thirteen in all, three in South Carolina, two in Rabun County, Georgia, seven in North Carolina dn one in Tennessee. In South Carolina they were known as Saddle Tunnel, Middle Tunnel and the famous Stump House Mountain Tunnel. In Georgia they were Dick's Creek Tunnel and Stocoa Tunnel. In North Carolina the names of the tunnels were: Dean, Forrester, Cunningham, Nantihala, Sawyer Bend, Love Bend and Eagle, and in Tennessee the one tunnel was called Parsons.

The combined length of the thirteen tunnels was to have been 12,820 feet, almost three miles. Leading up to the tunnels deep cuts were made into the sides of the mountains, and wide and breath-taking gorges were crossed with high fills, and in some cases a maximum grade of 60 feet per mile had to be maintained in order to make the ascent.