Day 4 of Our Timber and Rail Trip

We leave Elkins and travel down toward Pocahontas County and Cass Scenic Railroad.  At Cass we do a water quality test of the Greenbrier River.  (see the water quality testing tab at the top of the page for the process).  We will check the river at 3 places and do a comparison at the end of the trip.  We will test at Durbin, Cass and Caldwell https://maps.google.com/ or use desk maps. 

Vintage Picture of Log Train at Cass

Tools used by Cass Lumberjacks at Cass
taken at museum 

Map Sign at Cass of Pocahontas County , site of water quality testing

The town of Cass was the center of the logging operations of the West Virginia Pulp and Paper Company.  The town was named Cass in 1901 after the timber operations were bought by the company.  It was named for Joseph Kerr Cass and company vice president.  Cass was the site of a sawmill and company town.  The mill processed timber cut from nearby Cheat Mountain and the Greenbrier  Valley.  In order to access the vast virgin forest of the area, the company utilized mountain railroads.  Mountain railroads used track laid in switchback (zig-zag) fashion in order to climb the steep slopes and geared steam locomotives.  The locomotives used at Cass were the Shay Locomotives built at Lima Ohio.http://www.shaylocomotives.com/

Above are pictures of Shay Engine # 11 at Cass Scenic Railroad  http://www.cassrailroad.com/  The company had over 100 miles of track in the Greenbrier Valley.  What remains is the last section of track added to reach second growth timber at the top of Cheat Mountain at Bald Knob (3rd highest point in West Virginia)

Above is picture taken from Bald Knob of the Greenbrier Valley below.  Hardwoods harvested were turned into lumber and flooring at the mill at Cass.  The virgin Red Spruce from the higher elevations.  Trees that would have been hundreds of years old, were ground into pulp and used to make paper.

Which one is a picture of hardwood trees from Cass today and which is a picture of Red Spruce at Cass today?  The last company to own the timber business at Cass went out of business in 1960.  The State of West Virginia bought the railroad and in 1963 turned it into a state park.