Home Comfort Stove, Wilderness Trail
Home Comfort Stove, Wilderness Trail - Seen above in 2009 is an old Home Comfort Stove made by the Wrought Iron Range Company in St. Louis, Missouri. This protected artifact remains along the East Branch & Lincoln Railroad (1893-1948) at the sight of logging Camp 18 in New Hampshire's Pemigewasset ...
Redrock Brook, Franconia Brook Trail
Redrock Brook, Franconia Brook Trail - At the Redrock Brook crossing (above), along today’s Franconia Brook Trail in the Pemigewasset Wilderness, remnants of a bridge from the East Branch & Lincoln Railroad (1893-1948) remained for many years. Active during the early 1900s, this branch of the railroad began at trestle ...
Cedar Brook Spur Line, Bondcliff Trail
Cedar Brook Spur Line, Bondcliff Trail - Located along the Bondcliff Trail (formerly the Wilderness Trail) in the Pemigewasset Wilderness are the remnants of an old spur line of the East Branch & Lincoln Railroad (1893-1948). Most of the spur lines along the mainlines of the East Branch & Lincoln ...
Dry Trestle, Wilderness Trail
Dry Trestle, Wilderness Trail - Located along the Wilderness Trail in the Pemigewasset Wilderness is an interesting artifact of the East Branch & Lincoln Railroad (1893-1948). Like most of the trails in this federally designated wilderness, the Wilderness Trail utilizes the old railroad bed right-of-way of the railroad. This dry ...
North Fork Junction, Thoreau Falls Trail
North Fork Junction, Thoreau Falls Trail - Seen here in 2017 is the trail junction of the Thoreau Falls Trail (left) and Wilderness Trail (right) in New Hampshire's Pemigewasset Wilderness during the winter months. While the White Mountains trail system has become overrun, during the dead of winter, solitude can ...
North Fork Spur Line, Thoreau Falls Trail
North Fork Spur Line, Thoreau Falls Trail - Located along the Thoreau Falls Trail, deep in New Hampshire’s 45,000-acre Pemigewasset Wilderness, is an interesting piece of East Branch & Lincoln Railroad history. In operation from 1893-1948 and originally owned by James E. Henry, this was a logging railroad in the ...
Camp 9 Spur Line, Franconia Brook Trail
Camp 9 Spur Line, Franconia Brook Trail - When the Franconia Brook Branch of the East Branch & Lincoln Railroad (1893-1948) was in operation, a spur line traveled through this wetlands area along today's Franconia Brook Trail in the Pemigewasset Wilderness; it was not always wetlands. Beavers have been active ...
Cable Car, Wilderness Trail
Cable Car, Wilderness Trail - During the mid-1900s, the Wilderness Trail in New Hampshire's Pemigewasset Wilderness began on the southern side of trestle No. 17, along the East Branch & Lincoln Railroad, near logging Camp 17. The Cedar Brook Branch of the railroad also began at this location. With the ...
Ice Pond, Black Pond Trail
Ice Pond, Black Pond Trail - Located at the abandoned site of logging Camp 7 of the East Branch & Lincoln Railroad (1893-1948), near the junction of today's Lincoln Brook Trail and Black Pond Trail in Lincoln, New Hampshire, is a pond known as “Ice Pond”. Many hikers pass by ...
East Branch & Lincoln Railroad, Utility Poles
East Branch & Lincoln Railroad, Utility Poles - Telephone wires were strung from utility poles along the East Branch & Lincoln Railroad to the numerous logging camps. In some areas along the railroad, side mounted wooden telephone peg holder pins nailed directly to trees were used in place of utility ...
East Branch & Lincoln Railroad, Trestle 17
East Branch & Lincoln Railroad, Trestle 17 - Built in the early 1900s, probably 1906-1908 (one reference states 1908) trestle 17 was located along the Upper East Branch of the East Branch & Lincoln Railroad. It spanned the East Branch of the Pemigewasset River near the site of logging Camp ...
EB&L Railroad, Narrow Gauge Line
East Branch & Lincoln Railroad, Narrow Gauge Line - The EB&L Railroad was a standard gauge railroad, but in 1901 J.E. Henry and Sons attempted to use a narrow gauge railroad to harvest timber. With the exception of a May 1902 article by Albert W. Cooper and T.S. Woolsey, Jr ...
1907 Owl’s Head Mountain Fire
1907 Owl's Head Mountain Fire, White Mountains – During the late 1800s and early 1900s, logging activities from railroad logging contributed to a number of forest fires in the New Hampshire White Mountains. Sparks from locomotives were responsible for starting fires along the railroads. And the logging slash (unwanted part ...
East Branch & Lincoln Railroad, Trestle 7
East Branch & Lincoln Railroad, Trestle 7 - During the days of the East Branch & Lincoln (EB&L) Railroad, there were two trestles built at this crossing of Franconia Brook (above). And each trestle serviced different areas of today’s Pemigewasset Wilderness. The first trestle built serviced the Franconia Brook and ...
Preserve History, Don’t Remove Artifacts
Don't Remove Historic Artifacts - Here in the New Hampshire White Mountains, outdoor recreation is growing at an alarming rate. And there has been a huge surge of people exploring the many historical sites that are in the region. For historic preservation to be successful, it is imperative that we ...
Trails of the Pemigewasset Wilderness
Trails of the Pemigewasset Wilderness - At 45,000-acres, the Pemigewasset Wilderness is one of six designated wilderness areas in the White Mountain National Forest. Wilderness areas are governed under the National Wilderness Preservation System and the Wilderness Act of 1964. They are managed much differently than other parts of the ...
East Branch & Lincoln, Forgotten Trestles
East Branch & Lincoln, Forgotten Trestles - In October of 2015, I wrote about the forgotten spur lines along the East Branch & Lincoln (EB&L) Railroad in New Hampshire, and today I am going to continue with this theme and focus on the timber trestles of the railroad. The EB&L ...
East Branch & Lincoln, Abandoned Spur Lines
East Branch & Lincoln, Abandoned Spur Lines - The East Branch & Lincoln Logging Railroad (1893-1948) in the New Hampshire White Mountains has been fairly well documented. And with the current documentation we can get a good idea of the layout of the railroad, first hand accounts from loggers who ...
February 1959 Plane Crash, Pemi Wilderness
February 1959 Plane Crash, Pemigewasset Wilderness - On Saturday, February 21, 1959 a Piper Comanche airplane took off from the Berlin, New Hampshire Airport, around 3:30 p.m., destined for Lebanon, New Hampshire Airport. The pilot was Dr. Ralph E. Miller and his passenger was Dr. Robert E. Quinn. Both were ...
East Branch & Lincoln Railroad, Lincoln
East Branch & Lincoln Railroad - The East Branch & Lincoln Railroad, built by timber baron James E. Henry, was a logging railroad that operated from 1893-1948 in the New Hampshire towns of Lincoln and Franconia. Much of the railroad was in the area we know today as the Pemigewasset ...
East Branch & Lincoln Railroad, Trestle 16
East Branch & Lincoln Railroad, Trestle 16 - Trestle 16 is located along the abandoned East Branch & Lincoln Railroad in the Pemigewasset Wilderness of New Hampshire. It is also referred to as Black Brook Trestle and the J.E. Henry Trestle. Trestle 16 is one of the few remaining trestle ...
James E. Henry, White Mountains History
James Everell Henry, East Branch & Lincoln Railroad - J.E. Henry died at his home in Lincoln, New Hampshire on April 18, 1912. He was a 19th and 20th century timber baron best known for his logging practices and building of the Zealand Valley and East Branch & Lincoln Railroads ...
East Branch & Lincoln, Corduroyed Roads
East Branch & Lincoln Railroad, Corduroyed Roads - Have you ever come across something in the forests of New England you know was man made, but have no idea what it is? Here is something for you to look for the next time you are exploring one of the abandoned ...
Maps
East Branch & Lincoln Railroad Map
Built by timber baron James E. Henry, the East Branch & Lincoln Railroad was a logging railroad that operated from 1893-1948 in the New Hampshire White Mountains. Much of the railroad was in the area we know today as the Pemigewasset Wilderness. Including sidings and spur lines, the railroad was estimated to be between 50-60 miles long and had at least forty-one logging camps. This map shows the general layout of the railroad ...
East Branch & Lincoln Railroad – Narrow Gauge Map
The East Branch & Lincoln Railroad was a standard gauge railroad, but in 1901 J.E. Henry and Sons attempted to use a narrow gauge line at Camp 8 to harvest timber from the slopes of Whaleback Mountain. This roughly 1.25 mile +/- long line, consisting of a series of switchbacks, traveled into the Osseo Brook drainage. It lasted only for a few years and was discontinued after a brakeman was killed when a loaded log car ran out control down the track. This map shows the general layout of the Narrow Gauge line ...
Books
East Branch & Lincoln Railroad Book
by Erin Paul Donovan With the use of black and white and color photographs, this book explores the history of the East Branch & Lincoln Railroad, while showing the abandoned ...
Franconia Notch Book
by Erin Paul Donovan In 1805, a member of a survey crew working on building a road through New Hampshire's Franconia Notch walked down to Ferrin's Pond (today's Profile Lake), ...
ScenicNH Photography LLC
Specializing in environmental conservation and historic preservation photography mainly in the White Mountains region of New Hampshire, Erin Paul’s photography and writing focuses on the history of the White Mountains, and telling the story of abandoned places and forgotten historical sites.