North Challender Line: Spring Valley Area; Chasing Logging Unicorns

 North Challender Line: Spring Valley Area; Chasing logging Unicorns

    One of the pleasures of field research is visiting old sites and grades; doing a bit of puttering and hiking, and hopefully gaining some useful knowledge. Once in a while, I return to a place that reveals new evidence, yet does not allow for me to come to some definitive conclusions; it's like finding the prints of the fabled logging unicorn, yet destined never to capture a photograph of the mythical creature.   

    The hunt began in the area of Spring Valley, not far from Section Hill. FR141, Spring Valley Road, jogs around several parcels of private land, then heads further north to intersect with FR144. FR194, the area of interest, heads north from FR141, just before making a left-hand jog across the park. The Saginaw and Manistee North Challender line (RED) crosses this area. The line crosses private property, angles through another ranch, and then crosses FR141. An embankment can be seen just to the East of the road (further information on this area is contained in several previous posts.)

     It would be remiss of me not to mention that the Beale Survey and Wagon Road Expedition traveled through this area. Camels once trod this way. Further information is available on that post. 

    FR194 will take you through an area that is now being used as an unofficial off-road vehicle recreation area. The dirt embankment that carried the line up a hill has now been all-but obliterated. The difference from four years ago is striking- another location where signs of the roadbed will be no longer. Up on the hill or ledge, the road continues, and the railbed is on or parallels the road. A forest road, marked as FR726 or FR2463, is on the left. Both markings were along the route; Map indicates the road to follow as FR2463 (marked BLUE on above map.) This appears to be the original spur, not the main forest road FR194.

The road has all the appearance of a logging spur. Keep following the road to the right. There is another forest road on the left that takes you to a tank in a meadow. Road is probably closed and is very rough. That area is fenced, and the road map shows it as private property.  

You can see remnants of the early logging efforts, 

with numerous stumpages and fallen trees left to decay.   

At the far end of FR2463 (or one sign showed FR2462) where it reconnects with FR194, 

there appears to be remnants of this grade, or maybe another one, in the forest.  

    It is my opinion this spur continued on, heading north on FR194, then FR171, towards Pumpkin Center (RED dotted line.) Just to be clear; Pumpkin Center is largely private property. Don't trespass; people are very protective of their privacy. 

    There is also the possibility that a spur followed FR171, heading west from the Bellemont Line. Pumpkin Tank (designated in YELLOW), has the appearance of a grade nearby.  There are a number of tantalizing, additional clues along FR171, but nothing that I can say is for sure; tracks of my mythical unicorn. 

    I can also speculate that a spur, from the North Chalender Line, crossed the area from the West, and circled Moritz Ridge. Since most of this is on private property, I can only guess using old forest maps. There was just too much of the good timber in the area back then, to disqualify this theory.  

    The ORANGE arrows highlight a location where it appears my unicorn may have trod. As can be discerned from the following photographs, there appears to be a distinct grade paralleling the road.  

The grade appears to turn towards the ridgeline.

In this particular area, it is difficult to find the old stumpage associated with early logging. However, I did locate near the road several stumps that have all the earmarks of this time period. Further along the road, there is a gully, where more evidence such as this exists.   

Is this a logging grade, once lost, but once again found?