February 2021
I decided to check out the SC side of the Chattooga River
to see if any evidence of the BRRR could still be found there.
Hiking in to where the railroad was to cross Whetsone Creek, I found the RR
cut through the ridge. I followed it down to its intersection with a drainage:
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I found a partially dislodged, silted-up culvert on the upstream side.
Unfortunately, I could find no sign of a corresponding culvert or outlet at the opposite side.
Interestingly, the stonework here was inferior to the culverts on the Georgia side of the river.
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Past the creek, this raised fill indicates the RR route as it continued west.
I hoped to continue on to the next crossing of Whetsone Crk, but hit a large area
that had been clear-cut a few years ago and was now an impenetrable mess of
briars and vines. I decided to approach from the other side on another day.
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There were several nice cascades and small waterfalls along Whetstone Creek in the vicinity.
I had made plans to look for an old chimney at another location, so I
postponed any further search for BRRR remains until another day.
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February 2022
Well, it was almost a year before "another day" came. I explored the route of the BRRR on the SC
side of the Sandy Ford area. There are a number of deep drainages that the RR had to cross and I
hoped to find more of the large stone culverts. Unfortunately, it appears that the stone work on the
SC side lagged that in Rabun Co., as none of the larger creek gullies had any culverts started.
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View from the end of a fill berm, about 30 feet high.
Looking down at the creek in the rear, where a culvert would have been
constructed, and the berm would have been extended to cross over.
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One of the many cuts begun for the never completed RR.
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I did find one culvert that had been built through one of the filled (berm) sections.
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Opposite end of the culvert.
This culvert was for a small drainage, now dry. Work never
started on culverts for the larger drainages in this section.
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Another section of railroad cut.
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I passed by this old log cabin on my way in.
I didn't get a clearer shot because it was surrounded
by fencing and lots of no trespassing signs.
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