Railroad Routes in the Alleghenies, Part IV

What If the West End Had Never Been Built?

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The B&O was barred from entering Pennsylvania when the railroad finally decided to move west from Cumberland in the late 1840's. Although earlier chapters of this history points the blame on Pennsylvania, Virginia and especially the Pennsylvania Railroad, probably B&O's obstinacy was equally responsible for being excluded from the best Allegheny crossing. By the time the B&O corrected the error in the 1860's by backing the building of a Sand Patch grade (Pittsburg & Connelsville Railroad), the financial burden of two mainline crossings of the Alleghenies relegated the B&O to a survival mode rather than a thriving engine of economic growth. Of course when the West End (Seventeen Mile Grade) route was built, the immediate area of the route benefitted. This leads to the question of how Garrett County Maryland would have been different today if the B&O had followed Wills Creek (or several other possible routes) up to Sand Patch in 1849.

A Sand Patch grade would have meant that no mainline railroad would have significantly entered Garrett County. One wonders whether Garrett County would have formed at all from Allegany County. Since Allegany County that included the later Garrett County was a huge section of real estate, it is conceded that a county would have broken away from Allegany on the west, although it would not have been named after a B&O president. Certainly the economic focus of the county would have remained on the northern end, along the National Road and where coal and logging railroads entered from the B&O Sand Patch route. Even with the B&O stimulus, the county seat more than likely would have been Granstville along the National Road had not McHenry also got in the race and split the northern-end vote. Without the railroad, the southern end of the county most likely would have remained predominantly agricultural. The tourist hotel benefit of the B&O, for example would not have existed.

What about Oakland? A settlement existed at this location from around 1819 and would have certainly continued without the railroad. This site along the Little Yough used water power for some very early mills and was at the intersection of an early interstate road and an old Indian trail. Water powered mills soon were outdated, so a lasting economic benefit was not present. The town remained a remote crossroad until the coming of the B&O. A late 1800's econonic stimulus to Oakland was the large logging operation at Crellin. The Kendall mill simply would not have existed without the B&O. Would another southern Garrett location been the larger town? One can speculate that Red House would have had the advantage over Oakland, considering its location on the Northwestern Turnpike (US Rt. 50). Merchants and services could have gravitated to this location to serve the strong agricultural community and mining and logging that certainly would have developed along the North Branch of the Potomac. Of course, Mountain Lake Park and Deer Park would not have developed in hotel, summer retreat mode that the B&O provided.

It is a sure bet that a railroad would have been built from Cumberland all the way up the North Branch of the Potomac to the Thomas, West Virginia area. This road would have followed coal deposits and huge timber tracts that were evident in the area. What is not certain is how this area would have been different without the leadership of Henry Gassaway Davis. Davis, the founder of the West Virginia Central & Pittsburg Railroad and Deer Park Maryland, was a B&O agent in Piedmont when he began to entertain independent business development. One could assume that Davis' career would have progressed in the same manner, only he would not have been in the same location when he broke away from the B&O if a Sand Patch route had been first. Without Davis, a branch railroad would have probably ended at Thomas WV, with logging and coal spur serving this mountaintop area. Probably no one besides Davis would have attempted to go south down the Black Fork Grade towards Parsons and Elkins (both by the way essentially founded by Davis). Henry Gassaway Davis was truly an economic developer using a railroad to bring local products of his mines and mills to market. The same can be said in a larger sense about the Western Maryland Railway. The B&O, on the other hand, was intent on reaching the Midwest and often could not be bothered with local traffic. Unfortunately, Chessie (and now CSXT) are much like the B&O.

How about Deep Creek Lake? If a mainline railroad had used Deep Creek, developement of a hydroelectric lake would have been precluded in the 1920's. Since it is unlikely that a Deep Creek route would have been chosen over a Sand Patch route, it can be presumed that Deep Creek Lake was not threatened by a mainline railroad (or canals).

Going west from Oakland, it has already been commented that the lumber mill at Crellin would have never existed without the B&O. In fact, the mill at Crellin logged farther into West Virginia than really made sense, dragging logs up and down steep Chreat River drainage ridges to be hauled up Wolf Creek to Silver Lake and then down the Yough to Crellin. This fact points out that a capital investment in place and good management often can make an unattractive geographical situation work (the same can be said for the entire Western Maryland Railway). If the lumber mill did not develop, it is doubtful that the later large coal mines would have been opened to mine the somewhat scant Upper Yough field. If Oakland-area logging and coal was served by a branch railline, the line could have used Bear Creek and Deep Creek(maybe Deep Creek Lake would have been a casualty).

Moving into West Virginia, both Terra Alta and Rowlesburg were creations of the B&O on opposite ends of the Cranberry Grade. Neither would have existed in any material sense without the railroad. The Preston County Coal Field surely would have been mined as extensively as it ultimately was, however the coal would have flowed downgrade into Morgantown, Fairmont and Grafton(which would have had another name) on rail subdivisions off of a Monongahala River-based railline. Of course, the mammoth Kingwood tunnel through Laurel Mountain at Tunnelton would have been a material avoided capital and ongoing expense to the B&O if the West End had not been built.© Dave Cathell

Continue to Part V- the Pennsylvania Routes