Although Graham County has been without a railroad for a number of years now, thanks to the logging industry, there were once a number of them to be found here.
Porterfield and Grandlin built the Porterfield Gap Railroad on Little Snowbird in 1897 and operated a sawmill at Long Bottoms.
Kanawha Hardwood Lumber Company began logging operations in Graham County in 1899. They logged thousands of board feet of timber on West Buffalo.
In 1905, the Southern Railway built a rail line from Bushnell to Fontana and Eagle Creek. Also in 1905, the Snowbird Valley Railroad Company was formed and extended railroads up Big and Little Snowbird Creek. In 1909, the railroad was extended up Little Snowbird for six miles.
The Snowbird line was discontinued in 1917 and the steel rails were sold to France.
In 1912, Whiting Lumber Company aided by a $50,000 bond passed by Graham County, graded a railroad bed to connect Robbinsville to the Murphy Branch Railroad (later Southern Railway) at Topton. The rail bed was not completed until 1922, when Bemis Lumber Company purchased the holdings from Whiting Lumber Company. Bemis completed the railroad and the first rail cars entered Robbinsville on July 4, 1925, to a big celebration.
In 1916, Kitchen Lumber Company – and then later, Babcock Lumber Company, in the 1920’s – operated a logging railroad in Slickrock Creek, Barker’s Creek, Bear Creek and Deep Creek. The railroad was abandoned in 1929 due to the construction of Calderwood Dam.
In 1926, Bemis Lumber Company continued their railroad from Milltown up Atoah Creek, through I.U. Gap and on to Big Snowbird Creek, for the purpose of logging operations. A spur line was later built up Buffalo Creek.
Other railroads that existed for a period of time include:
* A railroad operated by the Knoxville Power Company, which ran from Calderwood, Tenn. to Tapoco and Santeetlah Dam. It was discontinued from Maryville, Tenn. in 1932.
* A railroad with wooden rails – operated by the C.M. English Lumber Company – was located on Yellow Creek.
* The Plankroad Gap Railroad ran from Little Snowbird in Graham County to Hyatt’s Creek near Marble in Cherokee County and also had wooden rails. It was operated by two men named Smith and Egger.
Marshall McClung is the historical columnist for The Graham Star. He is retired from the Graham County Rescue Squad. Email him at mcclungs@email.com.