Working rail roads and their tracks.

[MossRoad]

There's also a continental divide here, just south of South Bend. There's an area near the AM General plant on the south side of town, where the water drains off of two hillsides. One side, all the water flows south down to the Mississippi and out to the Gulf of Mexico. The other side, all the water flows north to the St. Joseph River, into Lake Michigan, 3 other great lakes, and the St. Lawrence river out to the north Atlantic.

So this area was a great portage between those two watersheds. The French explorer Bad title - Wikipedia called locally just LaSalle, was one of the first Europeans to come through the great lakes and up the St. Joe to the area that is now South Bend. At a bend in the river, in the backyard of my parents' house, there is a ravine that he walked up. Then they walked about a mile and a half over to the headwaters of the Kankakee, and down south they went.

There used to be a tree about 400 yards from my parents' house called the Council Oak Tree. It was located in a cemetery. Supposedly, that's where LaSalle met with the local Native Americans, the Potawatomi, and did a treaty with them...
The Potawatomi at Council Oak – Citizen Potawatomi Nation

Anyhow, I could go on and on. The tree fell down in the early 90's. My father ran over and cut off a short piece before the city blocked it off from other souvenir hunters. I still have it today. There are hundreds of descendants of that tree in the cemetery and around town. My parents are buried in that cemetery, where if I stand, I can see the tree stump, my childhood house, and the spot where LaSalle came up from the river. Neat history.

 

[bcp]

I'm always surprised how many railroads were in eastern states. Seems like one every 5 miles or so.

In the intermountain west there are several places where you could go several hundred miles without crossing one.

http://www.personal.psu.edu/staff/r/p/rpt117/sra211/national_rail_map.jpg

Bruce

 

[MossRoad]

I'm always surprised how many railroads were in eastern states. Seems like one every 5 miles or so.

In the intermountain west there are several places where you could go several hundred miles without crossing one.

http://www.personal.psu.edu/staff/r/p/rpt117/sra211/national_rail_map.jpg

Bruce

Yep. And the roads are narrower out east, and more numerous, too.

I think it's a combination of the age of the country, the progression of Europeans from East to West, the abundance of water in the East VS the West, the coal and timber in the East VS the prairie from about mid Ohio to the West, industry in the East Vs the West, etc....

 

[buckeyefarmer]

There's also a continental divide here, just south of South Bend. There's an area near the AM General plant on the south side of town, where the water drains off of two hillsides. One side, all the water flows south down to the Mississippi and out to the Gulf of Mexico. The other side, all the water flows north to the St. Joseph River, into Lake Michigan, 3 other great lakes, and the St. Lawrence river out to the north Atlantic.

So this area was a great portage between those two watersheds. The French explorer Bad title - Wikipedia called locally just LaSalle, was one of the first Europeans to come through the great lakes and up the St. Joe to the area that is now South Bend. At a bend in the river, in the backyard of my parents' house, there is a ravine that he walked up. Then they walked about a mile and a half over to the headwaters of the Kankakee, and down south they went.

There used to be a tree about 400 yards from my parents' house called the Council Oak Tree. It was located in a cemetery. Supposedly, that's where LaSalle met with the local Native Americans, the Potawatomi, and did a treaty with them...
The Potawatomi at Council Oak – Citizen Potawatomi Nation

Anyhow, I could go on and on. The tree fell down in the early 90's. My father ran over and cut off a short piece before the city blocked it off from other souvenir hunters. I still have it today. There are hundreds of descendants of that tree in the cemetery and around town. My parents are buried in that cemetery, where if I stand, I can see the tree stump, my childhood house, and the spot where LaSalle came up from the river. Neat history.

Neat history Moss.

 

[MossRoad]

Thanks. Lifelong resident, as was my father. Still live in the same ZIP code. Of course, ZIP codes weren't implemented until I was two years old, but you get the idea. :laughing:

 

[ultrarunner]

Very interesting. Sounds like you could kayak to Mexico.

 

[the old grind]

I'm always surprised how many railroads were in eastern states. Seems like one every 5 miles or so. .. In the inter-mountain west there are several places where you could go several hundred miles without crossing one. .. Bruce

When some one asks. "Why do we always wait for trains?" ...

Same response, esp E of the Mississippi: Which was here first? What were roads like anywhere in NA in the late 19th century? What commerce or travel was available, and then once railroads connected the East to the West?

btw, how long before cars and trucks happened? Radio was as good as fiber internet and 5G "for a minute". (~2 decades) There are plenty of TV "crow's feet" remaining on rooftops and towers to this day, working or not. (mine isn't )

Anyway, props to Bruce, Moss, and of course ArlyA & others for all the great pics and links!

 

[ArlyA]

You can kayak to Mexico from NW Montana, northern MN and of course ND. The water shed does go up to Hudson bay at various locations up there like the red river valley. In northern Mn where my spouse came from, all that water flows NE to the bay and folks have kayaked to it.

 

[Cub 7274]

If only those rails could talk... :thumbsup:

Lots of rail lines are just a distant memory unless you worked them.....

 

[Hay Dude]

I'm always surprised how many railroads were in eastern states. Seems like one every 5 miles or so.

In the intermountain west there are several places where you could go several hundred miles without crossing one.

http://www.personal.psu.edu/staff/r/p/rpt117/sra211/national_rail_map.jpg

Bruce

Youd be amazed how many railroads are out here. More abandoned than running it seems like....
The first to go are the short lines.
We got tons of em.
Im actually surprised at the ones we have that still run. Very few customers left.