Blogging the Railroad Tunnels

Well, there we were, hiking along a little-used line that runs from Appalachia to the strip mines above St. Charles.  We’d parked at the location where a small town called Delvale once stood and started walking west to check out the four trestles we’d spotted along a two-mile or so stretch.  These trestles are often dated with plates from the manufacturer, American Bridge Company.  We were probably a mile or so from Delvale when Lee spotted this: two medium-size grist stones embedded into a concrete pedestal. There are no markings we could see on the pedestal.  Lee’s foot is resting on the remains of a foundation, perhaps of the mill, but this location is, say, 50′ above the Powell river and there are no streams around…and no roads, either.  And why were they mounted up like this?  Enquiring minds want to know. In case you’re interested (yeah, right), this location is 36 48′ 40.2″ N  82 57′ 32.3″ W, more or less. (later: Lee, who has the topo for this area, happened to mention that “Mill Creek” runs right down by this location.  Well, that makes sense.)