THE GREEN MOUNTAIN RAILROAD COMPANY
If there is one thing I have a deep love for, that is for discovering and uncovering the past. Acadia National Park has a rich history, but a large piece of that history the park service would just as soon vanish into the pages of time. Take the Green Mountain Railroad Company as an example. They are all for the public learning some of the facts surrounding this company, learning that a cog railroad train once ran from Eagle Lake to the summit of Green Mountain (now Cadillac Mountain), but they don't want you to know where those train tracks once ran.
(railway spikes mark the way)
The facts are that long after the Green Mountain Railroad company went out of business, locals and tourists alike ventured to where the tracks once ran, and hiked the route daily. It quickly became a very popular hiking trail. But at some point, the National Park service decided to abandon the trail and no longer maintain it. What the park service usually does when they abandon a trail, is to disquise it to make it appear no trail was ever there, which usually means hauling dead tree's and branches to the area and covering up the section of the trail that is visible to the eye. And as enough years past, new tree's grow up, branches spread, and soon an abandoned trail becomes a trail lost to the pages of time.
(Looking back toward Eagle Lake)
At the bottom of this piece, I have a link to a video I shot where I retrace the route the train once took up to the summit of the mountain. Some of the scenes, at least to me, are not pretty. I am talking about the piles of rotting and rusting railroad spikes that in some cases have already turned into little piles of rust. I am also talking about the only known section of rail that still exisits, all the other sections of rail were melted down. I feel the Park service should be preserving what little remains. Some of the spikes along with the only surviving piece of rail should be on display so that my kids, and th their children can view them and better understand the past. I suppose the view the Park Service would take would be that the Green Mountain Railway Company exisited before the National Park did, and thus, why should they preswerve any of its remains. To me, the two go hand in hand and are joinded by a common factor, the land.
In November of 1882, Frank Clergus stepped forward with his plans and The Green Mountain Railway Company was incorporated. Part of Mr. Clergus plans were to have a steamboat carry people from one end of Eagle Lage to the other, where they would get off the steamboat and board the Cog train. Mr. Clergus also had a large hotel built on top of the summit. The hotel had a total of 26 rooms for guests, two large parlors and a large dining room.
During its first year in business the cog train carried 2,697 people up the mountain, and many stayed overnight in the motel. On August 2, 1884, fire broke out at the hotel and it burned to the ground. A second hotel was then quickly built on the summit, and the second year of business saw the cog train cvarry 5,000 people to the summit. A third hotel, much larger then the first two was then built, called THE SUMMIT HOUSE. In the year 1886 the train carried close to 8,000 people to the summit. But in 1887 the train only carried 2,500 people to the summit, and in 1888 990 people rode the train. In 1889 1,305 people roade the train to the summit, so what killed off the Green Mountain Railway company?
(last remaining piece of rail)
In 1887 THE GREEN MOUNTAIN CARRIAGE ROAD COMPANY was formed and on July 26, 1888 a 2.5 mile toll road was built from the Eagle Lake road to the summit of Green Mountain and was conducting business. The railroad company, angry at the new venture, blocked off the new toll road with a gate, claiming they had rights to the summit. The next morning the Carriage road workers tore down the gate.
On the night of July 23, 1889, six Railroad workers dug a hole and planted dynamite and blew up a section of the new carriage road. The carriage raod company then threatened to blow up a section of the railroad tracks, but that never happened. But with carriages now carrying people to the summit, the Train company was in seriuous trouble, and by 1890 slashed its fares from $2.50 to $1.00, they attracted a lot more people, but also lost a lot more money, and by 1891 they went out of business.
So where are those two cog trains that once carried people to the summit of Green Mountain? To this day they carry people to the summit of Mount washington.
To locate where the Green Mountain Railway once passed, drive north along the Park loopp road from the visitors center in Hull's cove. Once you come to the large signs pointing out the entrance to the Caddilac Mountain summit road, drive past the entrance and continue heading north toward Bubble Pond and Jordan Pond. You will quickly come upon a pull over on the right hand side of the roadway, continue on until you come to the second pull over. The train once passed right through this pull over.
Across the roadway is a section of granite ledge, the train tacks ran up over that ledge. You can walk through the woods there and near the top of the ledge, if you search, you will see either rock piles or iron spikes still sticking up out of the granite. Because of fallen tree's and brush, the first section is very hard to follow, but once you get so far in, it becomes easier. On my video on the link below, I begin retracing the route from this second pullover, not from Eagle Lake itself, though I was able to locate several iron spikes sticking up out of the granite in the woods on the eagle lake side of the roadway as well. It is also worth noting that several feet from the pullover, a very fast moving stream passes beneath the roadway. That's how you know you are at the right pull over.
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