Sheltowee Trace- Day 21- Stearns Coal and Lumber Company

 OK, I thought today's best feature was going to be the many creeks we followed. And of course, more rocks. But this is amazing! Those of you who know me know that I LOVE sniffing out historic railroads.

So, about halfway through our hiking day, just after we turned to go upstream along Railroad Fork (a creek), we entered this. "Railroad cut," I said. "Narrow Gage."

David wasn't really sure, but after we passed through the cut, this was the path we were walking.

We stopped to eat lunch where a substantial berm had been built to carry the tracks. This is almost always definitive. They didn't go to this much work for regular roads. And the grade stayed pretty even. It probably hit 3% in some places (2% is normal), but sometimes small railroads did this.

Where the trail now crosses Railroad Fork, it dips down to water level. But you could easily see where the track ran out onto an abutment and bridge, now long gone.

And on the other side of the creek you can see where the bridge came to. The trail climbed back up to the rail grade.

Once the trail and rail grade were on the west side of the creek it was benched into the hillside.

Altogether the trail follows that grade for almost 2 miles. A lot of it has been protected with environmental cloth and pea gravel laid over that. It was our best walking surface of the day.

Of course, I wanted to see if I could find out more about it on line. Sometimes this isn't really possible with small logging operations. The local museum might have info. But...

But! This is almost certainly part of the Stearns Coal and Lumber Company rail lines. And... can you believe it, this is the Justus Stearns of Mason and Lake County, Michigan fame (where I live)?! He was one of the early lumber barons. He has many ties to Ludington, building the first hospital. Stearns Park- the main Ludington Lake Michigan beach is named for him. The Stearns Hotel is named for him. But in 1902, he decided to branch out into coal, and bought 30,000 acres in Kentucky. In McCreary County, where this railbed is located. The city of Stearns, Kentucky is just a few miles away.

At home, the lumber town of Stearns Siding (which burned in the late 1800s) was bigger than the nearby city of Baldwin is now. The North Country Trail uses several pieces of rail bed that are associated with Stearns.

So, I can not tell you where this line began and ended, but I can be pretty sure that it was built and operated by a man i've read a lot about.

Railroad sniffing heaven! But, of course, now I want to know more.

Miles walked in 2026: 545.2
Miles walked Sheltowee Trace: 217.3

Sheltowee Trace, Kentucky, Rt 700 at Cat Run Rd to Wiborg TH, 10.0 miles

See Sheltowee Trace- Cumberland River