LITTLE RIVER RAILROAD AT CUuSSING UF FORKS OF MAIN RIVER 



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A Remarkahle Logging Railroad 



What is probably the most remarkable standard gauge loggiug 

 railroad in the world is the Little River railroad, and its connection, 

 the East Prong railroad, of the Little River Lumber Company of 

 Townsend, Tenn. This road is located in the Great Smoky moun- 

 tains in Blount and Sevier counties, Tennessee, and is employed to 

 transport logs from the mountains to the sawmill operations of the 

 company at Townsend, and for the delivery of its lumber from Town- 

 send to the Southern railway at its connection with that line at Wal- 

 land, Tenn., and also for a general and miscellaneous passenger and 

 freight business between Walland and Elkmont. 



The Little River Railroad is an incorporated company and a com- 

 mon carrier between Walland, Tenn., and the three forks of the Little 

 river, four miles southeast of Townsend, where it connects with the 

 East Prong railroad, owned by the Little River Lumber Company, 

 and extends from this connection up the east prong of the Little 

 river to the three forks of this branch, a distance of twenty-four 

 miles, making in its entirety a main line proposition of thirty-five 

 miles with numerous spurs and sidings, involving altogether fifty 

 miles of track now in service. 



Some idea of what would be regarded as a tremendous expense for 

 a logging railroad may be had when it is stated that the cost of the 

 eighteen miles of road through the gorge of the Little river alone 

 involved an expenditure of approximately twenty thousand dollars a 

 mile, or a total of $360,000. A cost like this would seem appalling 

 to the average sawmill operator, but W. B. Townsend, the president 

 and presiding genius of the Little River Lumber Company, reaUized 

 the long-time service his company wouU require of the road, and 



knew the quantity and high value of the timber lying above the gorge. 

 Hence he built a railroad that would carry his logs long distances 

 at a minimum of operating cost. It may be noted that this accom- 

 plishment is manifest from the fact that trains of as high as twelve 

 logging ears, carrying from 7,000 to 9,000 feet to the car, are daily 

 hauled from Elkmont, Tenn., to Townsend to stock the big double 

 band mill at that point. Besides this, large quantities of bark and 

 other forest products are handled. 



It has been demonstrated that the sanity of this type of railroad 

 construction has been fully verified, from the fact that the big double 

 band mill of the company, which cuts upwards of 80,000 feet of lum- 

 ber every ten hours, is always stocked with logs, which is a rare con- 

 dition with mills where logs are obtained on steep mountain slopes. 



The grade on the first twenty-six miles, i. e., from Walland to 

 Elkmont, is not excessive, its maximum being two-and-a-half per 

 cent. However, the road is built through a narrow mountain gorge 

 along the Little river, which makes it a most picturesque piece of 

 railroad. Its building necessitated excessive curvatures of the most 

 difficult construction, so much so that strictly professional engineers, 

 after careful surveys, would not lay out the road unless permission 

 was given to tunnel the mountains at several points. 



Mr. Townsend, in speaking of the enterprise, says: "As a matter 

 of fact, the gorge of the Little river, along which the railroad runs, 

 was too narrow to afford reasonable room for the river itself," and 

 with a wink further observed that "no one but a dunce would have 

 ever undertaken its construction, inasmuch as room had to be pro- 

 vided for both the river and the railroad." Mr. Townsend wished to 



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