To Bechtol or Not to Bechtol?

We took advantage of a few holiday hours by visiting the Treaster Kettle area. Since yesterday’s hunt seemed to indicate railroad headed through Bechtol Gap, we decided to explore below there.With permission from a cooperative landowner, we searched the area south of Treaster Kettle Rd in the general direction of Bechtol Gap.

Unfortunately we found no signs that the railroad passed through the gap and extended NE along the north side of First Mountain. Perhaps it passed through the gap and curved around to follow the north side of Little Mountain in a SW direction…? But as Vince has pointed out, they would soon encounter Heckendorn Gap, which seems an impassable barrier.

Frustrated, we decided to explore along Boal Gap Rd. Just downstream from the upper crossing of Boal Gap Run, we found a couple of disjointed fragments which could be RoW. If so, a lot of the RoW has been ravaged by flooding. We will have to explore at additional points along Boal Gap Run to see if we can verify whether this was railroad grade.

Project Status

  • daily contributions: 0 miles
  • running total: 24.14 miles