A week ago, my friends and I went backpacking to Dolly Sods, West Virginia. Its natural beauty is unsurpassed, and it is one of the most spectacular natural landmarks on the East Coast. But even though it is officially considered a "wilderness", it has become so only relatively recently.
Before the late 1880s, the mountains were covered by the virgin forest of red spruce and hemlock with some trees as large as California sequoias. But then the logging railroads finally reached the area, and by 1913 virtually all trees in this highland valley were cut. This environmental disaster left behind a "lunar " landscape of bare rocks, since all the soil has dried up and was blown off by the winds, and the fires took what the loggers left behind. This is, in essence, was the flip side of industrialization: subjugating the nature to squeeze every penny out of it. Looking back, we should appreciate how far did we go in caring for the environment today. Still, these events should be an important lesson for the future.
Remarkably, many old railroad grades have survived and carried with them a bit of history. The Big Stonecoal Run Trail, for example, follows for the most part an old railroad grade, and in many places the ballast is still visible, as you can see in a picture below.
Also, there are a lot of metal objects in a few places around the trail, which perhaps were parts of various logging implements.
However, this is only my conjecture that these metal objects are indeed remnants of early 20th century logging industry. I am not sure how long can steel survive before it is totally rusts and falls apart, especially in such a damp and boggy area as Dolly Sods. However, after logging ended, the only other major human activities were replanting efforts by the CCC in the 1930s and artillery firing practice in 1943-1944. I am not sure whether CCC used the existing railroads , but these rusty things could have been deposited then. However, the use of railroads at that is probably unlikely, since one of their projects was to build an access road to the highlands. Furthermore, the rails could have been removed and recycled as soon as they were not needed. Also, the only reminders of the military era are unexploded shells which are still being found, however, since I could not find any reference of heavy equipment use I think it would be safe to assume that these parts were not deposited then, either. Also, the possibility of this being trash from later time can also be dismissed , as I wonder why would somebody haul these heavy things to an altitude of 3,500 feet.
My theory is that they were unearthed a decade ago during the efforts to clear the area from the unexploded shells, since they would definitely set off magnetometers. Indeed, US Army Corps of Engineers website confirms it, saying that along with the unexploded shells, "railroad debris and spikes, artifacts such as axes, hammers, picks, and stove parts" were found.
That said, I would appreciate any information on dating these objects or identifying their original purposes.
References
An excellent overview of logging in West Virginia is available from the Potomac Appalachian Trail Club. Among other things, it features very impressive pictures form the old days. The website of the US Army Corps of Engineers Defense Environment Restoration Program for Formerly Used Defense Sites for West Virginia Maneuver Area also has some information on the area and its military use (See, for example, section 8, Dolly Sods Region Project).
