•• • • • • Restoration of Historic Features • Cumberland Gap National Historical Park • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Pl.EtSE RETU~ TO: • TECtNCAL INFORMATIONOEHJ!R OEtMR SERVICE CSfT'ER • :noNAL PARK SEfMCE • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Restoration of Historic Features • Cumberland Gap National Historical Park • • • Research methodology for the • "Rediscovery" of historically significant • resouces: Procedures developed to • derermine ther original topography of the • historic saddle of Cumberland Gap and • identify the vertical and horizontal • alignment of the historic road. • • Prepared by Harland D. Unrau, Cultural Resource Specialist, • Denver Service Center, Planning and Site Design; Planning • Based on personal interviews with, and information provided by, • Michael F. Hart, former Visual Information Specialist (retired), • National Park Service, Denver Service Center • • • • • • September 2002 • National Park Service • U.S. Department of the Interior • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ••· • • • • • • • • • • Contents • Introduction ...... iii List of Illustrations • Historic Context...... 3 SADDLE AREA ....._ ..... 61 Hart's Procedure Simplified ...... 6 • Rediscovered Locations ...... 9 View northwest Toward the Saddle ...... 63 ,.• Purpose I Significance of the Study...... 4 Saddle Area Viewing South ...... 65 WILDERNESS ROAD INDEX...... 11 View West to the Saddle ...... 66 (. The Cumberland Gap-Coming Full Circle ...... 5 View North from Cumberland Gap...... 12 Saddle Area Viewing South ...... 67 View Southeast from Middlesboro, Kentucky...... 13 Saddle Area Viewing South ...... 68 ,.• Saddle Rehabilitation ...... 14 View South to the Saddle ...... 69 WILDERNESS ROAD INDEX...... 11 Wilderness Road Alignments Through the Saddle View South to the Saddle ...... 70 of the Gap ...... 15 Final Grading Plan of Historic Tography...... 73 • Methodology...... 19 • Wilderness Road Existing Conditions ...... 16 View Northwest Toward the Saddle ...... 74 View South to the Saddle ...... 75 • Cumberland Gap ...... 20 Historic Remnant Locations ...... 17 CADD DIGITAL TERRAIN MODELS - ,.• Wilderness Road - Virginia I Tennessee Side ...... 27 PRIMARY HISTORIC REFERENCES ...... 37 1833 Survey 1. •••••••• .J9 FINAL GRADING PLAN...... 77 View Northwest at the Saddle ...... 78 • Warrior's Path I Lower Virginia Road ...... 28 1862 map of Area 2 ...... 40 1903 map of Saddle 3 ...... 41 View Southeast at the Saddle ...... 79 • Kentucky Utilities Corp. 4 ...... 42 View Northeast at the Saddle ...... 80 Cudjo Cavern ...... 29 • View Northwest Toward the Saddle 5...... 43 View Northwest at the Saddle ...... 81 • Wilderness Road - Kentucky Side ...... 30 Saddle Area Viewing South 6 ...... 44 • View Northwest Toward the Saddle 7...... 45 RIDGE AREA ...... 83 1111 Final Grading Plan ...... 85 Cumberland Gap ...... 34 Saddle Area Viewing South 8...... 46 • View South to the Saddle 9 ...... 47 Ridge I Wilderness Road ...... 86 10...... I • Source Materials ...... 35 Saddle Area Viewing West 48 Ridge Wilderness Road ...... 88 • Indian Rock 11 ...... 48 Wilderness Road's Descent into Kentucky...... 88 89 i. & 1939 Aerial Photograph of the Area 12 ...... 49 Wilderness Road's Descent into Kentucky...... Letter from Vaugh Melton Consulting Engineers ...... 36 • CAVERN AREA ...... 51 • PRIMARY HISTORIC REFERENCES ...... 37 Cavern Area I Geologic Feature Over Gap • Creek...... 53 • CAVERN AREA ...... 51 Cavern Area/ Geologic Feature Over Gap Geological Explanation of Cudjo Cavern ...... 59 Creek...... 54 • Original Entrance to Cudjo Cavern ...... 55 • SADDLE AREA ...... 61 Comparison of Rock Formations ...... 56 • Cavern Area and Geological Features ...... 57 • CADD DIGITAL TERRAIN MODELS ...... 77 • RIDGE AREA...... 83 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Introduction .,• Cumberland Gap National Historical Park (CUGA) In 1994, an amendment to the National Register nomi was established on June 11, 1940, to set apart as a pub nation form for the historic district clarified the inclu lic park for the benefit and inspiration of the public, sion of the Wilderness Road as a contributing • certain lands, structures, and other property, includ resource, and provided a more detailed description of • ing Cumberland Gap - a natural gap, or low point, road segments in the park that have a high degree of ·• on Cumberland Mountain - and a segment of the integrity. The amendment also designated the corri historic Wilderness Road which crosses Cumberland dor of US 25E from its junction with Route 58 (in • Mountain through the Gap. The Gap, along with the Virginia) to Indian Rock beyond the saddle of the Gap • Wilderness Road that passes through it, is nationally (in Kentucky) as a contributing resource, since it fol • significant, because it was the first feasible and sus lows the general route of the historic road. • tained two-way passage through the Appalachian • Mountain barrier used during the early years of Historical documentation regarding the significance American westward expansion. Today, CUGA com and location of the Gap and the Wilderness Road may • prises more than 20,000 acres of land in the states of be found in U.S. Department of the Interior, National ,.• Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee that are adminis Park Service, Location of the Wilderness Road at tered by the National Park Service (NPS). Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, by Jere L. Krakow, National Park Service, August 1987, and • Robert L. Kincaid, The Wilderness Road (6th ed., Cumberland Gap National Historical Park was listed • in the National Register of Historic Places on October Harrogate, Tennessee, Lincoln Memorial University, • 15, 1966. On May 28, 1980, the Cumberland Gap 1996). • Historic District was listed in the National Register . • • • ! • • :e• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Historic Context .,• The Wilderness Road served as the principal route from the ments became a constant in order to facilitate settlers and Heavy impacts to the topography of the Gap area have been eastern settlements on the Atlantic seaboard to the interior commercial traffic. The route became the most direct and identified - the alignment of US 25E, utility lines, a com lands drained by the Ohio River beyond the Appalachian most easily traveled from the lower Ohio Valley to mercial store, a water reservoir, the modern community of ,.• mountain barrier. Prior to heavy commercial and settler Philadelphia until the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 and Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, and the Seaboard System traffic on the road between 1780 and 1810, the route was pri roads across the mid-Atlantic states during that same Railroad. Road construction, mainly during the 20th centu marily used by migrating herds of bison and by several decade. ry, led to major modifications in the topography of the Gap, • tribes of American Indians traveling between their villages most noticeably in the saddle of the Gap where large ,.• and hunting grounds. Commercial use, especially by live After the heyday of settler usage (about 1810), east-west traf amounts of quarrying and leveling occurred to make the stock drovers, began around the turn of the 19th century. fic over the Wilderness Road tended to be more commercial grade of modern roadways less steep and to widen the traf in orientation, involving primarily livestock droving from fic lanes for the convenience and safety of vehicular traffic. • The network of traces laid down by bison formed the basis Kentucky into the southeastern states. During the Civil It is estimated that about 215,000 cubic yards of earth have ,.• of trails used by American Indians, and in time, frontiers War, the Gap became a strategic location for both Union been removed from the Gap as a result of various road con men and settlers. Foremost among Indian routes in the and Confederate troops, and numerous defensive positions struction projects. Elsewhere road cuts and fills (present eastern United States was the "Warriors' Path;' which and an attendant military road network modified the land and former), culverts, rock faces, and embankments have • looped southward through the Gap connecting the Ohio scape. impacted the historic landscape. • River Valley and that of the Shenandoah and Potomac . Branches of the road also continued southeast to the During the 20th century, modern road building techniques Two management objectives for the national historical park • Cherokee and Creek settlements. The path laid down by left a substantial imprint on the theCumberland Gap area. are to rest.ore and preserve as closely as possible the appear • animals and early peoples was eventually adapted by set A macadamized surface road, designated the Object Lesson ance of Cumberland Gap that existed at the turn of the 18th • tlers, land speculators, and opportunists from the colonies Road, replaced the old road in 1908. Built by the Bureau of century, and to foster public understanding and apprecia on the eastern seaboard. Public Roads, the 2-1/z mile roadway demonstrated the effi tion of the park's historical and natural significance through • cacy of modern technology and all-weather surface for various interpretive programs and facilities. The intent is to I • Early Anglo-American travelers through Cumberland Gap roads in the area. On the Kentucky side, the alignment provide the opportunity for visitors to walk to the Gap • included Gabriel Arthur and Dr. Thomas Walker. The lat replaced the route of the Wilderness Road (Kentucky State along the Wilderness Road, to feel what it must have been II I ter's 1750 written account provided the earliest recorded Road) when the county abandoned the old road. like to cross the Gap during the pioneer days of 1780-1810; • Anglo eyewitness description of the Gap. In 1763, a group to see the landscape as it might have existed then; and to • of hunters led by Elisha Walden (Wallen) crossed The Object Lesson Road thus held its own place of impor experience some of the thoughts and emotions of the pio • intoKentucky through Cumberland Gap. Success of the tance in the historical development of the Gap area. What neers crossing from Anglo settlements to unfamiliar lands hunt brought others to Kentucky, including DanielBoone, had begun as a bison trace and Indian trail in due course that lay to the west. • the individual most often identified with the Gap. Boone became a pathway for explorers and land speculators, then first traversed the Gap in 1769. Working for Judge Richard a major route for settlers, travelers, and drovers, and finally • Further information on the National Park Service's restoration/reha Henderson, Boone explored Kentucky for productive lands an instrument for learning how to construct modern roads . • that promised to return profits to investors and marked the Subsequently, present US 25E used much of the same align bilitation efforts at CUGA may be found in U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, Restoration ofthe Gap, Cumberland • well-defined trail in 1775 with his band of ax-men. ment of the Wilderness Road, as 20th-century boosters Gap National Historical Park, Preliminary Design, Preliminary • proclaimed it to be the Dixie Highway from Detroit, Drawings and Design Analysis, Package 139, Drawing Number Four years later, the first of a still-continuing series of road Michigan, to Miami, Florida. 380/41,024, December 1997. • improvements began as Virginia passed a law authorizing • construction of "a good waggon [sic] road through the great Cumberland Mountain and the Gap through which the • mountains." In 1780, the builders of the road requested Wilderness Road passed retain many of the topographical payment for the road over Cumberland Gap in a petition features known to its earliest users. With some exceptions, • that stated that wagons had passed over it to the emerging the Gap and vegetative cover convey much of the historic • western settlements. Thereafter, Virginia, and then scene for which the national historical park was set aside. • Kentucky, passed laws to improve the road over Nearly all structures associated with 20th-century develop Cumberland Mountain. Commensurate with the road ment have been removed in the course of developing the • improvements was the expanding population of the settle park, and the present-day landscape closely reflects that of • ments in Kentucky, which increased from 73,000 in 1790 to the focal period 1780-1810. Of principal importance, sec • 220,000 in 1800. Thereafter, demand for road improve- tions of the historic road still exist in the area. • • • • Purpose I Significance of the Study • ation of the historic landscape at the Gap, and partial reha A portion of the Warriors' Path was also rediscovered. For • This study documents the methodology employed by Michael F. Hart, former Visual Information Specialist (now bilitation of the adjacent corridor. Considerable ingenuity the most part that alignment is the same as the Lower • retired), NPS, Denver Service Center (DSC), to rediscover in identifying topographic features was required. The appli Virginia Road (the portion on Cumberland Mountain). • the alignment of the original Wilderness Road as well as cation of diverse skill led to the discovery of the configura tion of the historic road corridor. Recreating historic pho The research also verified the original and unknown rock • other early trails and Civil War-era roads and restore the approximate "historic period" contours of the topography tographs by locating the original camera positions, com shape and configuration of the front entrance to Gap Cave. • of Cumberland Gap at the Kentucky-Tennessee-Virginia bined with surveying from existing known points, generat This is the former entrance to the cave but the end (or exit) • state line intersection. The detailed methodology was a ed much baseline data for guiding the design effort. of the cave system today. Research showed how the cave Extensive field study, foot by foot on the mountainsides, entrance looked in 1775 and earlier, before road construc • meticulous, step-by-step "continual refinement" of proce dures to prove the historical accuracy of his conclusions as along with detailed study of historic photographs, maps, tion removed it. • expressed by graphic representations for the rehabilitation and remnant pieces of topography, added to the knowledge • of the Gap and the Wilderness Road. All actions and meth of road alignment locations. Verification and cross check Another end product was the missing portion of Wilderness •• ods detailed below refer to Mr. Hart, unless otherwise ing with surveying equipment and computer-generated Road, known as the land bridge, now a collapsed feature. noted. data have confirmed the fieldwork findings and validated The collapse of such a feature is now understood to be a • the methodology. The work of NPS historians has been normal geological occurrence caused by ground erosion • During the mid-199os, artistic talents were employed in supplemented and enhanced, revising the previously identi and the ongoing karst process. graphics-related activities at CUGA. During the course of fied Wilderness Road location through careful and thought • this work, a familiarity with the physical setting and the ful study of historic documents as well as present-day Other rediscovered items and refinement understandings • complicated issue of rehabilitation of the Gap and the topography. include three existing trees from the Civil War era (two • Wilderness Road to the 1780-1810 period was acquired. An were validated; one was not); one lost state monument; in-depth study allowed identification of subtle landforms The methodology employed was unorthodox in approach, Harlan Road, a famous Civil War supply route; a real under • and topographic features integral to the location of the but was critical to the NPS understanding of the physical standing of many existing road remnants that survive with • road, as well as partial rehabilitation of the surrounding cul setting of the Gap and the Wilderness Road in CUGA. This improvements or destroyed because of modern construc • II tural landscape. unique approach is considered by some knowledgeable tion or agriculture; the configuration of the original Iron researchers to be a creative piece of work that has resulted Furnace; and finally, enough information to rebuild most • This project began with graphic representations prepared as in the accurate visual re-creation of the historic (cultural) Civil War gun emplacements on their original locations. • part of the relocation of US 25E and the Cumberland Gap landscape configuration of the Gap, the Wilderness Road, • tunnel project. Using photographic skills, structural designs and their associated cultural landscapes. Further, the for those projects were superimposed over landscape pho results of this work will enable NPS administrators to for • tographs of the project area, resulting in an acute under mulate appropriate management policies to preserve, pro • standing of the landforms and topographical features of tect, and interpret those resources. • that locale. The results of the work have made a significant contribu • As construction of the tunnel moved toward completion tion to the historical resource database of CUGA. • (1996), the development concept plan for the partial reha Compilation of information developed through new tech • bilitation of the Gap and Wilderness Road corridor became niques and from numerous disciplines and sources has a major goal of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. resulted in refinement of road locations and revision of pre • The partially rehabilitated Gap and Wilderness Road would vious road study results. • become the centerpiece tor public use and enjoyment. To • accomplish the design work, knowledge of the routes and The Wilderness Road alignment was rediscovered, from just remnants of the roads in the CUGA area needed identifica below the O'Dell House in Virginia, to the Little Yellow • tion above and beyond the findings of the history study pre Creek ford, in Middlesboro, Kentucky, and includes the • pared by Krakow in 1987. upper and lower roads. The end product of the saddle research provided an accurate historical vertical and hori • The use of artistic skills, combined with knowledge of pho zontal regrading plan for the rehabilitation of that part of • tography, surveying, and map reading/interpretation, the Cumberland Gap. • NPS was provided with an innovative approach to recre- • • • • Cumberland Gap, Coming Full Circle • • William L. Witmer Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), is now photographed. At each stage of refinement, the re-establish the historic grades, and construct a moving into the final mitigation phases as vertical, horizontal, and birds-eye perspective trail from the Wilderness Road Parking Area in • required by the 1979 Final Environmental information, coupled with painstaking scaled Virginia, through the Gap, to the Thomas Walker • Impact Statement. graphic delineation of puzzle-piece remnants of Parking Area in Kentucky. Several spur trails will The Cumberland Gap The immediate mitigation goals include the undisturbed topography, were needed to pin be connected where appropriate, including one to • deconstruction and removal of the old road sur down the cross-referenced data. Missing pieces of Cudjo Cave to facilitate pre-arranged under • Coming Full Circle face and base from Route 25E, re-opening the topography were mechanically reconstructed on ground tours. NPS will have an archeologist pre fresh water drainage issuing from Cudjo Cave paper. The historic mapping, photography, and sent during rhe demolition/removal phase, look • (which flows under the old roadbed), regrading delineations eventually were merged with presenr ing for additional evidence of original topo • he thundering herds of migrat of the Gap to historic contours of the 1780-1810 day mapping. The composite survey data was graphic features and artifacts related not only to ing buffalo which once traversed initial Kentucky settlement era, and construction entered into a computer using AuroCad, Release the Boone era, bur also to subsequent events such • a low point in the Appalachian of a pedestrian trail which will follow, as much as 14 and Softdesk, Release 8 programs. What as the Civil War and the 1908 construction of • T barrier along what is today the practical, the Wilderness Road cut by Daniel resulted were three-dimensional wireframe views Object Lesson Road, an early experiment in the intersecting state lines of Kentucky, Tennessee Boone and his 30 axmen in March 1775. of what the entire Gap area ropography looked use of asphalt. NPS will also provide a landscape • and Virginia, disappeared centuries ago. Tractor Historic Topography of the Gap like in 1790. By comparison to today's landforms, architect to give technical guidance to FHWA • trailer trucks following the same general route One NPS staffer undertook the extremely the resultant grading plan provided hy NPS to during the regrading operation. NRCS continues ceased to do so on October 18, 1996. On that complicated task of arriving at an accurate FHWA has allowed engineers to calculate the to grow native plant materials for what will be a • date, the opening of a dual-bore tunnel began yet regrading plan at the Gap proper, from the criti amount of fill needed ro be hauled into the Gap substantial revegeration effort. This will put another chapter in the eons of animal/human cal historical timeframe. This effort was success from nearby tunnel construction stockpiles. In all, things back to Boone's era as closely as we could • traffic flow through the imposing Cumberland ful, such that information has now been incorpo the Saddle is 32 feet lower today than 200 years hope to achieve. The final phase of mitigation, • Gap. rated into FHWA contract bid documents. ago, thanks to the continuum of road improve scheduled for 2003, includes a modest exhibit • This long-awaited tunnel between The short version of the rediscovery process ments. About 215,000 cubic yards (an estimated pavilion, ranger station, and restrooms in Middlesboro, Kentucky, and Cumberland Gap, began with gathering of available data, including 165,000 cubic meters) of fill will be provided to Virginia, numerous interpretive devices along the • Tennessee, was an event that allowed the closure an 1833 survey, 1862 Civil War photographs, return the Gap to historic grades when Daniel trails, plus new museum exhibits and a movie for of the two-mile-long intervening section of U.S. 1903 and 1921 Association Lands maps, 1938 Boone and his fellow trailblazers first crossed over the visitor center in Middlesboro, Kentucky, jusr • Route 25E. The surrounding Cumberland Gap FHWA aerial photographs, plus current mapping into "Kainrucky." downhill from the north portal of the • National Historical Park was established on June from FHWA tunnel-related contracts. In the stu Finding the Wilderness Road Cumberland Gap Tunnel. - 11, 1940, to promote public understanding and dio, this assemblage was used to locate and vali As work on the topography progressed, a Conclusion 11 • appreciation of the Gap's role during the early date the original ridge lines and drainage fea" tandem effort was pursued to locate the original Coordinated federal interagency efforrs like View from the years of American westward expansion. Public tures, using a combination of survey, mathemati alignment of the Wilderness Road. On the this come along once in a career. Many meetings, • main park view Law 93-87 (August 13, 1973) authorized the cal, and graphic art skills. When the studio work telephone calls, and emails have occurred ro point (The Virginia/Tennessee side, the 1833 survey map was • relocation of 25E to permit restoration of the had progressed to a certain point, several field compared with known locations of Cudjo Cave ensure that everyone involved has the same Pinnacle) to the • Gap. Kentucky is Gap while improving traffic safety via a tunnel. A trips were made for onsite discovery and verifica and the Gap. Again delineating topographic rem understanding of the goals, and the prerequisites on the right; multi-decade interagency planning, design, and tion. Work at the park involved extensive investi nants, an alignment of the 1790 track emerged to achieve them. Moreover, FHWA has added Tennessee and • construction effort involving the National Park gation on foot, bushwhacking up and down the and was plotted on paper. At the park, the center many more "special" requirements to the contract Virginia are on • the left. Photo by Service (NPS), the Federal Highway mountainsides, additional photography from line was cur by hand, surveyed, and staked. specifications to guide the contractor. An interest • the author. Administration (FHWA), and the Natural specific vantage points-including from a heli During fieldwork, several remnants of rhe ing twist is that gasoline tax funds from the copter-to emulate the historical photos for Wilderness Road were found to be intact. Other Federal Lands Highway Program, normally used • comparative purposes. Supplementary-survey portions were no longer visible due to roadbuild to build roads and bridges, will be used to remove work came from an interested Middlesboro ing and 200 years of erosion. One thing became a road and rehabilitate a sire in this one instance. • engineering fi~m. obvious-although the Wilderness Road crossed The beneficiaries of this effort, the visiting public, • Specific coordinate points (northings/east Route 25E several times, the historic line did not will hopefully experience some of the excitement ings and elevations) were determined for old road lie under the present roadbed. As in the 1833 felt by the early settlers, as they moved their fami • traces, Indian Rock, and the Daughters of the map, the rrue line was somewhat downhill from lies, belongings, and livesrock beyond the last wall • American Revolution monument on the today's pavement. Portions of the original align of eastern mountains to begin a new life in Kentucky side of the Gap, plus Cudjo Cave, Gap ment are being incorporated into the pedestrian Kentucky. • Creek, and the Iron Furnace on the Virginia/ trail. • Tennessee side. This was instrumental in bring Next Steps William L. \Vitmer is project manager/landscape architect ing the various older overlapping surveys into the FHWA will contract with a construction at the NPS Denver Service Center in Colorado, worki11g primarily with FHWA 011 road and bridge projects in the • S'.1ffie scale, and locking them into the correct firm in 200 l to remove the Route 25£ pavement, Southeast . • alignment with present day mapping. Thousands of feet of colored flagging were placed to outline • shapes and breaks in ground lines before being • CRM No 2-2001 23 24 CRM No 2-200 I • • • • • • • • • • • • _.._" .• • fv\AP/ FL66/ STAKE. • • • • .. • • ... • • .- • • HART'S PROCEDURE SIMPLIFIED • UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT Of= THE INTERIOR I NATIONAL PARK SERVICE • DENVER SERVICE CENTER I SEPTEMBER 2001 I 380-20070 1 of 2 • • • • + 1 SEE BLOW-UP OF • SADDLE MAP PAGE • • • Descent Suivey • Valldatlon Point # 30 • WILDERNESS ROAD • RECOVERED REMNANTS ARE THEN RECORDED BY _ ) ~ • MODERN SURVEY AND COMPUTER ~ •: L.---:==~==---=-=----=~==~==~==~===~~===----· ~~::r#-----:~~~----~---~~~~ • fi • • • • • : ' ~ . • ' • • - ~ • HISTORICAL MAPPING • .. - • - ) + • 2 of 2 .,• ,.• • • • • • • • • • • • • ·•• • • • • • • • --- ~ugar Hun Hoaa • ,-----Sky/and Road Wilderness Road • ----- Highway U.S. 25E ---1 I • (fo be obliterated) • • • Town of • Middlesboro,KY • • l ~ I • :· ~:;~~ ~~~~ •. ,~~~~ • ....• 1111111 • • • • ~ Wilderness Road 1------' / Town of • Cumberland • 1.------:~~I " Gap, TN • • Warrior Path I • Lower Virginia Road • • UNr .::o STATES OEPARTMEllIT OF THE NTERIOR I NATIONAL PARK SERVICE • DENVER SERVICE CENTER I SEPTEMBER 2001 / 300-20071 North • • • ·•• • • • • .,• • • • • • • • • • • • f • • .,• • • • VALIDATION POINT DESCRIPTION VALIDATION POINT LOCATIONS WBdamess Road Remnant Because of l:s disbnctJve shape • and relauonshtp modem and topographlca m lt.s to Intone: • mappmg lhis remnant"'• establlShad as a benchmark for uie begnrung of ltl• secuoo of lhis Wiiderness Roed, and tne r.ar.ing pant • of tnis ptqect. A A3 A4 A r1J!9 WBdemess Road Remnant Because of l:s distinct ~ape • and continuous ellgnment on the ground th s remnant contains la the original and second m:erchange wnh the hlstonc: Lower Virginia • Roed A1 A3 M A5 B C • Wldemess Roed Remnant This remnam sllOWs slight roed ma lgnmem improvements that match histonc survey rr.pprig • A4 A5 B1 82 C F
• Wldemass Road Remnant This remnant is 1 mapr landmark • m because of Its d1sunct shape and curve 111 the allgnmenl It 8lSO provides vald1ty that the geometry of :hJS a ignmant • oorrect • A1 A'> A5 B c I= "7l'lll Partial Wlldamess Road Remn11nt Remaining bank stabilizallon • 11.M materials on lnalda road edge. Nso location or a small road • Improvement (a alight curve angnment was taxan out) made some time • after the Civil War. ,. ,.., " nS B • OE LIN EATION The process by wtlich minute Ink dots were hand-app•ed (supple) to photos and maps, for the purpose of anhanc:ang landfonns and topography Thia V1sual representation allowed the same landforms or piecaa of topography (shapes) to be compared from different viewpoints and at dllfarent scales Rock Outcrop This large 8XJStlng outcrop fonnatlon Is a major Htstortc Photographs l. Historic Photos 3 Aanal Photos 4 Oblique Photos 5 Mapping I Surveys • m landmar1c because Its distinct shape Is a Pf8CIS• match to hlstonc pliotos and surveys A A? A!:. w ....! C D E F GROUND TRUTH VISUAL LOCATION The dellnaallon process appfad to the photos and maps was used to ldanuty and locate the corresponding landtonns • shapes) and features on tt>a ground By locating the landforms end faawras shown in the pho:os on the e>CISUlg gmund, the locauon of the Wlldemess Roed lhoWn Fr.mLocatioo of O!lg!n!I Cave Opening (clrcl 1700.1880) This 111 lt'e photos, could a1so be located on the eXIStJng ground The landforms, features, and Wlldames.s Road aJignmert 'Mire than tl8gged and surveyed Th8l4I • f•!Urea and allgnmeot were then graphlCSlly applied to today's topographical mapping N a result of using this process, several l"IN'nr\8nts of the Wilderness Roed LU ca .. a openng Is on• of the first of three ini:al landmalXs used to • er.ab! lSh the c:onect poe1uonmg and vaJidny of Uta 1833 Survey and have bean found Graphic - Modem Survey ttie histoncal honzontal algnmam of the Wiiderness Road HISTORIC SURVEY APPLIED TO MODERN MAPPING Histoncal survey maps wtth varying scales, showing sections of the Wilderness Road, were adjusted A1 A2 A3 A4 A5 61 B2 C 0 E F • 10 the same scale using known landma~ and features By algmng th•• known landmarl(s and features. a composite of thBM mepe waa then developed This composite then represented the act11al histoncal honzontal algnment of tr• Wiiderness Road IJ?.WW11damess Roed Remnant A tua width road remnant • GRAPHIC RECREATION Speaflc: topograptucal f•tllrea, that still ramel\ on the ground today, were lderr.:'ied in his:onca.J pholographs The existing features LU t&p.mg on and o1f from the down edge of the colaf)MCI fea:ure (rT11SSing land bridge) to the 8XISWlQ ron Furnace Tral .,.era then measured to dea1nrane thel' actual size The scale of the featu,.. in the histoncal pho:ographs "'ere then compered to the actual size of the 8X1Slrlg Wlldern- Road • A1 A5 81 B2 C D ~ features to determna the vie't\ shed and location from which the histoncal photograph was taken A modem photograph was then taXen from the same locauon, with approximately the same view shad, and compared with Iha hlstoncal photograph. From the companson of the two photographs the approximate locauon and • Possltion of Validation Point amount of topographlcal dlSturbanca that occurred since the time the hlstoncat photograph was taken could be determined. By using graphic delineation, historical ~ Existing Drainage and Topographlc81 Formation These topography and features ware added to the modem photograph to show what was required to restore the present day site back to It's approx11Tl8ta histoncal condition • L..:. features match those Identified in hlstonc:al documents Survey of Wilderness Road .. E COMPUTER RECREATION OF A HISTORICAL SITE The Information obtained from the graphic rec:raauon was than used to ISOiate the disturt>ed \ ~ >.4 A:J tj1 B2 "" - - Remnants • topography The grading plan was then drawn by hand from Intense croas-dlecking and melding of al the different sources of lnfomiauon, to Insure the l1llSSIOQ Computer Survey of topography was recreated property This information was then entered Into a computer. By using the same VJeW pomt of the hlstorlcal photographs, three dimensional • '7111 Existing Rad Oak T~ (approx. 12 5 fl. circumference) This tree 11 i: 11 Wlldemus ROid Remnants wn frame computer Images, pnntad on clear film wera made This ftnal cross-check was used to ovartay the historic photographs to ensure a final grading plan or LMI Is evident In an old Civil War photograph and sun exists today. It hlstonc accuracy Is a major landmar1< used In the rediscovery of the Warrior Path • F VALIDATION POINTS CROSS-CHECKED BY MODERN SUB.VEY VALIDATION POINT LOCATION METHODS relocation of the Wilderness Roed and In the racr8atloo of the Gap Saddle Grading Plan ; ~ ... tu "" • f"ll!!IC1vil War Roed Remnant This remnant was a maJOf v11ldatlon f7l:T:t Wldemass Road Remnant ~ Wldamess Road Remnant Th• is a vague, tapemg remnant l.M:il point It JS shown or referenced throughout almost al of ltla ~ C D E F ~ that has been at one tma, d•wrt>ed by farming and Is now • redisco"ary process B 1 B2 C D E F grown over v.\:h forest A A3 A4 A5 51 C r'll:t CtvR War Road RanYlant A very dlstincirva shaped roed nemnant Obtect Lesson Road Remrant LSi1 that Is a Wlldamas Road mprovement made dunng the CM War. .a A4 • f'IS1 Dan al Boone Monument This monument Is an 8X1Stlng ~ Wilderness Road Remnant This Is a vague, tapermg remnant that This small remnant proved extremely useful, not only 1r1 the vanflcation of Wldamass Road Remnant and Topograptuc Feature LMI landmar1<. but not in Its ong1nal locauon B1 82 C D E F ~ has been at one trne, disturt>ed by fanning, and Is now grown OV8f the Wldemus Roed location, but also In providing COIT1ld historical A1 A2 A3 " R2 C D E F • with forest Th.s poroon o! the Wiiderness Road has not yet been surveyed, Information that helped develop a relati'tely p
I ment to cut a line (minimal clearing of vegeta forested slopes. c. After walking to the plotted point, a problem was tion). Then, physically backing out of the per • n. The next challenge was to recreate the historic ,. encountered - the site was covered with trees spective view of the photograph while on the which were not present at the time of the late actual site should logically intersect with the pho bridge photograph by developing a technical • 18oos-era photograph. Although the horizons, tographer's original position. This ended up very perspective drawing. This was started by placing , viewpoint, and stake position were believed to be close to the pre-plotted position point of the pho gauges (PVC pipe) on the ground, which consist .•• accurate, the "expected view" was not visible tographer, cross-checking and verifying horizon ed of 2-inch-diameter, 10-foot lengths of PVC (•. because of the trees. Thus, the initial conclusion tangent points. pipe, painted in alternating segments - one foot could not be proven. Although the camera view of red, one foot of white . •• point was found on the ground, there was no h. The view shed plotted on the modern topograph immediate way to relate this evidence to others, ic map was accurate . By backing out of the photograph, the pipe tar • because of the heavy vegetation. gets were continually realigned to refine the view •• shed for accurate recreation of the historic ·•• bridge photograph . • • 2 Definition of delineation - Hart hand-applied with a 4.00 technical pen (a device that produces an ultra-fine inkline or dot) a fine-line inkline in three • different styles to different kinds of images to enhance the topographic features so they could be specifically applied to many problems . • 3 Definition of "break"-A "break is any change or deviation in the elevation or lay of the land either attrubutable to natural causes or man-made activities • • • • o. As before, trees posed a problem, necessitating a photograph and marked on the Association Lands traced. The helicopter photographs and overlays closer perspective within the view shed from the Map at locations where those points were believed were converted to the same scale as the historic • original photographer's vantage point. to be located. bridge photograph. By measuring the known com • mon points in both photographs, the percentage of • p. Concluding the closer viewpoint was accurate v. Needing to establish gauges quickly to take reduction difference (approximately 50 percent) enough, the photograph was again "backed out" of. aerial and perspective photographs, required was calculated and then printed out on color xerox • the assistance of Frank Lyons (DSC), who paper. Everything was then converted to the same • q. Concerns about elevation changes, the distance placed 2-foot by 3-foot ceiling tiles next to the scale. In a composite view, everything fit - the • from the original photographer's viewpoint, and the PVC pipes to accentuate these perspective targets. graphic re-creation proved to be a match. This pro heavily-forested slopes, any of which might distort He also parked an NPS vehicle in the view shed. Al vided conclusive evidence that visual re-creation • the mockup evidence, led to other ways to refine Hollister (DSC) painted 100-foot marks along the graphically applied to the historic bridge photo • the position of the photograph for the mockup, centerline of the existing (old) US 25E highway graph did result in the production of an accurate •• with corrected elevation and distance. through the Cumberland Gap. Significant points re-creation of the Kentucky side of the saddle look from the historic bridge photograph mockup were ing toward Virginia/Tennessee. • r. When use of a truck from the Middlesboro Fire also marked on the ground. • Department (MFD) could not be placed in the cor • rect location, MFD recommended contact with Jeff w. The helicopter was positioned above the point that Campbell of Campbell Electric Company in research indicated was the location from which the • Middlesboro. Campbell's truck allowed sufficient historic bridge photograph had been taken. • elevation to recreate the vantage point of the his Maneuvering was done so that the horizon tangent • toric bridge photograph. Their assistance was points visible in the historic photograph were locat 1. Having established the location from which the his greatly appreciated. ed. In order to obtain flat aerials, the helicopter toric bridge photograph was taken and seeing what • was then maneuvered on its side, circling in a 360- the Gap looked like from the Kentucky side, it was • s. When the findings, such as locating the pho degree pattern, enabling photography of the then necessary to look at the Gap from the • tographer's viewpoint and road remnants ground targets for future aerial mapping use. Virginia/Tennessee side to verify that side of the were presented to NPS management and staff, a Confident that these re-creation shots were good, saddle. • determination was made to proceed with the field the adjoining study area was then photographed. • work. The project then became a design problem, These photographs proved to be of future value. 2. To define the appropriate study area, research was • leading toward restoration of the original topog The products of the fieldwork and helicopter pho conducted using available historical and present-day raphy of the Gap. tography were taken back to the office where a resource materials, attempting to relate any addition • method was developed to apply this information to al information to the Virginia/Tennessee side of the • t. Because of the time of year (spring foliage was the historic bridge photograph. saddle. A study area having a radius of four to six appearing), and the impact of the project on the • miles centered on the saddle and focused on the road National Park Service design activities, a determi x. A technical perspective drawing technique was corridor through Cumberland Gap was established. • nation was made that the best method to further applied to a selected 8-x 10-inch color print of one • verify the conclusions and recreate the perspective helicopter oblique shot, thought to be very close to 3. The research/verification activities were based on a of the historic photograph was to use a Department the historic bridge photograph view. Clear film historic ca. 1862 photograph (courtesy of the • of the Interior-certified helicopter to conduct aerial overlays were applied directly over the photograph. Kentucky Historical Society) of Cumberland Gap • and perspective photography in lieu of professional Using technical drawing techniques to construct a looking toward Kentucky. This photograph shows • flight mapping. two-point perspective, and employing the on-the the Gap area as seen from the Virginia/Tennessee ground PVC pipe targets, vertical alignment, van side of the Gap. [Hereinafter, this photograph will • u. Before employing the helicopter, a rudimentary ishing points, and horizons were established. Then, be referred to as the "1862 photograph".] The next • survey was conducted\ staking and mapping a using a 4.00 pen on the film overlay, the flagging challenge was to verify this second photograph in • combination of points visible in the historic bridge ribbon that represented the historic road bench was relation to the historic bridge photograph, using the • • 4 Definition of a rudimentary survey- Hart visually staked evidence to the ground without instruments (other than a hand-held compass • and a 100-foot tape) and then marked the position of the hand-plotted stakes on present-day mapping. • • • • • • same technical perspective approach to compare offset photographer in the Denver Service Center pected road alignment to the ground and to the the topographic features in relation to those shown graphics department, enlarged the photograph to other side of the saddle, required re-creating the • in the first photograph? To do so would require various sizes and exposures, coming up with the photograph by pinning weather balloons to road • verifiable points on the Virginia/Tennessee side of best sizes for detail. remnants. The balloons had to be sufficiently high • the saddle looking toward Kentucky, like were so they were visible above the trees (at 4-6 points), found on the other side. A determination was 7. Taking this photograph, the only other evidence thus creating the positions of historic points in the • needed of what topographic remnants on the relating to the Kentucky side of the saddle were old historic ca. 1862 photograph to present-day topog ,.• Kentucky side of the saddle exist today, and points 5-and 10-foot contour FHWA maps. Again using a raphy. This allowed a basic re-creation of the his had to be found on that side and tied to points on mechanical drawing approach, points needed to be toric view shed in the 1862 photograph. The Bureau the Virginia side to prove that they were the same . found that would to tie to the photograph taken of Standards in Boulder, Colorado, loaned a helium • from the Kentucky side of the Gap. The basic regulator and donated weather balloons for the ,.• This task was likened to one of constructing a huge delineation system (see Footnote No. 2), was project. mechanical drawing from specifications, without applied to the photograph. At this stage, the delin any specifications being available. There was a eation system consisted of using a 4.00 pen on a 9. At this point in time, NPS design activities became •., need to create a set of "specifications" by visually clear film overlay on the enlarged photograph. directly involved in the Gap restoration process and proving, on the ground, specific topographic rem Intricate hand lining enabled a better view of the the designers determined that they needed a two • nants found in the 1862 photograph. The systematic breaks in the topography. foot contour topographic map of the saddle of the ,. comparison of these topographic remnants on both Gap. This design requirement caused a major sides of the saddle, moved toward refinement of With sufficient information on both sides of the change in Hart's procedures. • this reconstruction. The solution to this problem Gap, it became evident that the reconstruction of I. consisted of delineation and ground truthing to the saddle could now be accomplished in a histori develop the "specifications". cally accurate manner whereas before this would • have been based purely on conjecture. •, 4. A handwritten notation on the 1862 photograph •. indicated that another photograph existed. A sec The Spring "leaf-out" was severely hampering the ond photograph presumably would provide an transfer of information from the delineated photo • image that would give intersecting points that one graph to the ground. Study of the photograph con ·• could locate on the ground today. In pursuit of the tinued, in order to find at least three points . matter, however, it was found that the "second" Studying the photograph and its delineation in • photograph was instead a side-by-side addition to comparison to modern-day aerials, provided confi ,.• the first photograph, which did demonstrate a rela dence that the historic road benches in the photo (. tionship between the two sides of the saddle. graph could be found on site. Applying this evi dence in the field with extensive ground-truthing, 5. The historic Morrison House in present-day resulted in evidence of numerous road alignments. Cumberland Gap, Tennessee, no longer standing, '• •. was visible in the 1862 photograph. Knowing the About 5,000 feet of scattered road alignment seg approximate location of this structure provided the ments were flagged, while canvassing both sides of • first point for verification purposes. the mountain. Some locations were revisited four • or five times to understand their relationship to the 6. Realizing that the photograph must have been taken photograph. Confident that enough historic points • by a large format camera because of the year of its for further refinement of the technical perspective •• origination, the quality of an enlargement would be drawing were available, the fieldwork data was ·• very good. The 1862 photograph showed that the applied to 50-scale present-day mapping . mountain had been clear-cut for defensive purpos • es during the Civil War. Clear resolution of an 8. With a heavily forested area and limited mapping, • enlarged photograph would permit better isolation the view shed was re-created and the field results • of the visible topographic features. Van Brower, an applied to the FHWA mapping. Tying a now-sus- • • • • 7. Again relying on the capability of the large format • 3. West was asked to produce a computerized wire frame model of the same view shed as in the photo to camera that had undoubtedly been used to take the • enable a determination of where the photographer photograph, it was decided to focus on the saddle • was standing when he took the 1862 photograph. To area to see if it would hold up under even more • 1. The two-foot contour topographic surveys devel aid West's work, the view shed of the historic photo enlargement. The image held up well. This was an oped for the saddle of the Cumberland Gap area, was "cropped" on present-day topographic mapping actual photograph of what the saddle topography • and the FHWA two-foot contour aerial topographic and points marked that were visible in the photo looked like before being disturbed. • maps of the Virginia-Tennessee side of the Gap that graph and had been located on the ground during 8. Several graphic steps of dot (stippling) delineation • were made available provided better tools for verifi the fieldwork. cation and refinement than the 50-scale FHWA followed. Pieces of topography in the enlargement • maps. These present day surveys led to the idea that 4. A survey triangulation system was devised, tying into were enhanced and matched with similar line-type • both view sheds of the study area could be technical the historic points that had been found previously on delineation on the FHWA two-foot contour aerial the ground. This triangulation system covered both survey, enabling the isolation of historic remnants on • ly applied to the ground, thus proving the historic •• position of topographic features to present-day map oblique and flat mapping perspectives. Triangulation present-day terrain. This, in turn, proved which ping. These surveys changed the procedural direc of the points was applied to flat topographic map remnants could still be located on the ground and • tion. ping with the view shed of the historic photograph isolated remnants that have disappeared. marked on the map. • Use of these surveys pointed to the possibility that 9. With these findings, DSC personnel assisted in an • the historic view sheds of both historic photographs 5. DSC personnel submitted the coordinates of the his attempt to recreate the view shed of the historic pho • could be re-created via computer. This led to a reex toric points to West, who provided a wire frame tograph on a computer, using on-the-ground surveys, overlay that matched the view shed in the Civil War coordinate positions, and historic points on the pho • amination of known fieldwork and historic research materials, resulting in extremely tight delineation of era historic photograph. This visual verification was tograph .. Color-coded computerized vertical lines in ·• both view sheds in both historic photos. By using a another stage of refinement on the one-foot-gauge increments were used - a refine • technical perspective approach, the newly-acquired Virginia/Tennessee side of the saddle, proving this ment of the same methodology of applying technical was close to the view shed of the 1862 photograph. perspective drawing methods to a computerized • data would enable the development of an entirely new level of technical accuracy. The field was revisit By overlaying the historic photo delineation on a three dimensional model. Available information was • ed with this new site-specific information. This was computerized image, the corresponding features combined to move the photo viewpoint closer to the • an application of the specific topographical forma matched with very little adjustment. saddle. This allowed the re-creation of a closer view of the saddle area, which led to the conclusion that • tions found within the view shed of both photo graphs, including various roads and road segments. The procedural accuracy was verified by the example the Red Maple in the photograph was the same tree • Hundreds of feet of lines were flagged and cut to of the Red Maple tree. Coordinate points were pro that exists on the ground today. Although the recon • prepare for surveyors who would survey coordinate vided from the saddle survey, which included tree structed view was slightly off, the accuracy was positions and traverse lines. While the teams con sizes. Study of these points showed the location of a judged to be sufficiently high. • ducted two-foot contour surveys, they were directed 16-112-foot (circumference) tree. One of the survey • to also survey the newly developed information, rep ors, Billy Parker, had measured a tree within the sad 10. Summarization - At this point, recreating the view • resenting the historic photograph and its features. dle area. The measured tree appeared to be in the shed in the historic photograph was very close, but it The road benches and site specific points were scat same location as a tree visible in the historic photo was not cost-effective to continue this endeavor until • tered over a broad area involving a 700-foot elevation graph. Because of the size of the tree, a decision was delineation of the Virginia-Tennessee side of the sad • change, covering the town of Cumberland Gap, both made to use it as a point in the triangulation system dle was completed. Therefore, the next task was to • sides of the saddle, and both sides of the mountain to to pinpoint the location from which the photograph determine how to reconstruct the missing historic a point below Cudjo Cavern (Gap Cave). had been taken. topographic pieces by further tying both sides of the • saddle together. • 2. A very complex exercise was undertaken with DSC 6. The next step was to determine the point from which • staff and Survey Chief Ted West, Eastern Federal the historic ca. 1862 photograph had been taken. The Lands Highway Division, FHWA, Sterling, Virginia, photograph had been taken so far from the saddle • to merge four kinds of digital survey data into one that there was a need to "get closer" to the view shed • composite survey database. of the saddle to refine site specific information. • • • er database to the FHWA office in Denver, Colorado. toric bridge photograph would lead to the amount of When the gigantic size of the database proved too material needed to be imported to the site to reestab cumbersome, it was cut to eliminate all data not per lish the original features and contours as envisioned tinent to the historic image. in NPS planning documents.
After the two-foot contour topographic surveys of the sad 6. Using the same technical perspective drawing dle had been completed, the points from the historic approach applied to the computer, significant points bridge photograph had been translated into coordinate and topographical features were triangulated to positions, and most of the coordinate points for the rem recreate a wire frame that would hopefully fit the his nants and the traverse lines of the old road benches had toric view shed. The exact coordinates from flat been determined, it was necessary to apply this informa mapping were determined. Use of triangulations, tion to the view from the Kentucky side of the saddle look photographic view re-creations, fieldwork and sur ing toward Virginia/Tennessee. This refinement would vey points allowed the determination of the coordi I. Since computer program capabilities did not allow provide further opportunity for cross-checking. nates of "viewing from" and "viewing to" vantage one to assign elevation to a perspective view, the points relative to the historic photographs and the large amount of missing topographical pieces would I. This refinement involved the technical application of wire frame. have to be identified and assigned "intelligence" for modern-day surveys to the graphic recreation of the the computer to recognize it. historic photographs. DSC staff entered the historic 7. Several adjustments further refined the application of viewpoints of the re-creation into a computer wire the wire frame model of the existing topographic 2. The combined re-creation methods proved the his frame. If the conclusions were correct, all the re-cre survey overlaying the ca. 1862 historic bridge photo toric topography to be the same as shown in the his ated historic viewpoints on the wire frame would graph. Using a technical perspective drawing· toric bridge photograph. In order to re-create the match, when overlayed, with the graphic re-creation approach, vertical targets were drawn on known historic view, it was necessary to isolate individual of the historic photographs. ground features visible in the historic photographs. topographic pieces that were missing, then compare Adjusting the same system to survey the same fea them to specific topographic pieces presently on the Ill 2. Confidence was high that the computerized recon tures in the computer image brought assurance that ground. struction would be a close match to the recreation of they were triangulating the correct view shed as the historic photograph. The map coordinates of the closely as possible. Fine adjustments continued until 3. Examination of the different sizes and exposures of "viewing from" and "viewing to" vantagepoints in the triangulations matched, proving the topographic the historic bridge photograph, showed that the the historic photographs were determined. The features in the photograph corresponded with the quality was good enough to apply a more refined coordinates, as well as a graphic image of what the computer model, with cross-checked coordinate (upgraded) delineation process. Dots applied with a wire frame was expected to look like, were sent to positions "hitting" the same topographical features. 4.00 pen embellished the topographic points in the West at FHWA. This provided further proof of the view shed and historic bridge photograph, resulting in high detail gave the current coordinates at the camera position delineation. 3. West provided a three-dimensional contour wire that would be required later to complete the final frame, demonstrating that the computerized recon grading plan. 4. If delineation could be applied to the modern-day struction was very accurate when compared with the drawing, it might be a way to prepare an accurate his historic photograph. 8. Refinements going far beyond what was originally toric topographic model. expected led to the conclusion that it might be possi 4. West also provided merged computer files, including ble to prepare construction drawings for the physical 5. Research was conducted to locate available historical the two-foot contour ground survey, FHWA aerial restoration of the Gap topography to the 1780-1810 documentation relative to the Kentucky side of the survey developed from the two-foot surveys, and era. This required the formulation of a way to isolate saddle looking toward Tennessee. other surveys subcontracted to Vaughan & Melton, the remaining original topographic remnants and re Middlesboro, Kentucky. create the topographic features that had been 6. With a focus on the Kentucky side of the Gap, work removed. In theory, the re-creation and proof of a progressed toward the re-creation of the Kentucky 5. Complications relating to transfer of computer data, view in perspective, and subsequent application to a side of the Gap in a plan view, a step that would lead and the incompatibility of the NPS and FHWA com plan view, should result in a grading plan. The differ toward preparation of a grading plan. puter systems, resulted in the transfer of the comput- ence between the re-created wire frame and the his- • • • 7. This required developing a system of delineation g. Larger pieces of the puzzle were refined further in which applied to the grading plan topography and its the same manner. The end product was expected • relationship to present-day mapping. This involved a to be a grading plan having a degree of accuracy • meticulous "step-by-step" methodology: of approximately 1 to 2-foot contours. There was • still no way of obtaining accurate elevations on a. This delineation enabled Hart to apply the actual the plan view. A method to figure elevation would • configuration of the historic topography into a have to be developed later. • plan view on present-day mapping. • h. Summarization - Hart determined that he had b. The delineation of historic topography remnants all necessary information, but not the process, for • compared to present-day mapping was difficult, preparation of final construction drawings for the • with reference material in different scales, views, Kentucky side of the saddle. •• and perspectives. The end product was to provide a detailed plan view, with an understanding of • how the land had been altered. • c. This process had to isolate refined pieces of topography to determine whether the same topo • graphic shapes were intact or had been changed. • d. Use of the line-type delineation system to accen tuate topographic features and thus "read" them • better, led to merging previously delineated mod • ern and historic topographic features and apply • ing them accurately to present-day mapping. • e. Having all reference materials at the same level of • delineation enabled the isolation and location of & • the same topographic features on the Vaughn Melton two-foot contour map. This led to discov • eries of large pieces of topography, which were •· then located on present-day two-foot topographic map. This procedure produced a puzzle-like out • line of land features on topographic map. • f. Matching the puzzle pieces between present-day and historic topographic shapes proved the posi • tion of historic topographic pieces on present-day • topographic maps. If a piece in the puzzle was • missing, it would be obvious, because there would be no match. • • • • • ..,•, • Wilderness Road - Virginia I Tennessee Side • After establishing the historic topography for the Kentucky (approximately 100 square feet or smaller) began to match, the forested slopes at Gap Creek that blocked the historic side of the Gap, attention turned to the Virginia/ Tennessee thus providing a more detailed refinement matching previ alignment of the Wilderness Road, the information sources • side of the Gap. The goal was to prove the topography on were again rechecked for accuracy. ous topographical shapes. The 1833 Survey Map was found • that side of the Gap to the ground, and bring that work to to be very accurate; it appeared to be based on the use of a ,.• the same level of refinement as that of the Kentucky side. 100-foot chain, providing regular topographic breaks. This By delineating specific features from an historic photo led to a focused effort to prove the accuracy of the map . graph that showed the Wilderness Road crossing Gap Restudying the reference materials brought several matters Creek, a missing ll:!.Ildform identified5. Convinced the field • to mind, including (1) the configuration of road alignments Starting with two known points - Cudjo Cavern and the work and research provided an answer to questions sur ,.• (i.e., switchbacks), as shown in the obscura print and the saddle -13 pieces of delineated topography on the 1833 rounding the missing landform, the staking of the downhill 1833 Survey Map; and (2) that something was incorrect with Survey Map were isolated. They matched 13 pieces of portion of the Wilderness Road to the O'Dell House was the road alignments. delineation on a present-day map when overlaid, leading to completed. I.• the conclusion that the 1833 Survey Map was accurate. Points from all available sources were delineated in an Approaching U.S. 25E, delineation showed a landslide near effort to try and find consistency in the topography in the The 1833 Survey Map showed an upper road that was not the spot where the 1833 alignment swung back to the pres • early road alignments (including the FHWA wire frame). U.S. 25E. The map indicated this was the "Virginia Road;' ent U.S. 25E. An "X" was therefore painted on the pave • The list of sources from which points were delineated another name for the "Wilderness Road." Thus, it was ment to see how close chaining and staking would coincide • included: concluded that present-day U.S. 25E did not follow the his with the historic alignment of the Wilderness Road. toric Wilderness Road alignment, or vice-versa. NPS man • I. Obscura print agement was informed that this discovery posed potential With confidence that this was the right alignment on the l~• 2. Civil War-era photographs ly serious design concerns, because the agency was plan ground, a way was designed to prove the conclusions by 3. Two 18oos-era photographs ning to restore the Wilderness Road, believing it to be on overlaying the 1833 mapping on present-day mapping, fig 4. 1833 Survey Map the same alignment as U.S. 25E. uring the coordinates and then independently entering the • 5. FHWA 2-foot topographical maps coordinates into surveying equipment. The coordinates • Needing to prove the board work out on the site, the delin would have to coincide with this alignment to prove it was Pieces of topography (approximately 300-600 square feet eations were taken to the park First, the entire site was accurate. Two weeks later, NPS received the survey results, • in size) were delineated from these sources, each of which reviewed. One of the first applications focused on three consisting of a map showing where coordinates hit the • were of a different scale and taken from different angles. topographical points - a rectangular-shaped water system ground. That map was applied to the FHWA two-foot top • The same topographical piece was taken from each source, structure, the saddle, and a section in between the two. ographical map with the 1833 Survey Map independently isolated by way of delineation so the form could be Evidence was sought by chaining, staking, and cutting a overlaying both. All of the coordinates hit the historic • observed. Then each piece was applied to modern map line, following the alignment on the 1833 Survey Map as alignment the entire distance up the mountain with one • ping with its own delineation. This process allowed for applied to present-day mapping. Topographical remnants minor exception, which was later corrected on the ground. I. checking/cross-checking to ensure that the pieces delineat matching previously delineated topographical pieces were Furthermore, when the Association Lands Map was over ed were the same topographical piece . located in the field. Hart was able to identify the same laid on these surveys, it also matched. The survey work • shapes on the ground that were previously delineated by was accurate. ,.• While delineating the topographical features from the vari hand. The results of this work led to a conclusion that this ous resource materials, the 1833 Survey Map resurfaced . was the correct alignment of the historic Wilderness Road. Up to this time, it had been dismissed as an illustration, not • as a technically drawn map. Now, when delineated and Next, this alignment was to be staked and surveyed. (.• compared with other sources, smaller pieces of topography However, when a steep embankment was encountered on ,.
• 5 Later in March 1998, Hart provided graphics representations of the "missing land bridge" at an open house in Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. This material was presented to explain the "land bridge" issue to lay persons • and to address questions relating to its "mystery:' To prepare the graphics, Hart took the following steps: (1) He took an 188os-era photograph and enlarged that specific area of the photo that showed the road bench continuing across the creek along the approximate alignment shown in the 1833 survey; (2) To confirm the 1833 survey alignment, he employed his previously-used delineation system in very high meticulous detail to enhance the topography of the "missing ·• land bridge" in the photograph, and taking the 2-foot on-the-ground FHWA survey and previously-used delineation system, he used a fine line pen to delineate the breaks; (3) As a result, he was able to compare the missing pieces of topography in the photograph as they relate to the present-day topographical pieces; and (4) Hart relayed the information to Rona! Kerbo, National Cave Management Coordinator of the National Park Service. Mr. Kerbo relayed that •., on-going karst processes, cave stream resurgence, and surface erosion caused the feature known as the "land bridge", to collapse. Hart took an early 18oos-era obscura print that showed the missing "land bridge" from another angle, • and, using minimal delineation, verified the same topographical piece, leading him to believe that his evidence was conclusive . • • • Warrior's Path I Lower Virginia Road • i. As a result of the research and fieldwork, Hart had 9. The accuracy and credibility of the obscura print led understanding of the Warriors' Path's alignment as become very familiar with the topography of the to a new historical finding. Researchers heretofore progress was made up the mountain. • Virginia-Tennessee side of the Wilderness Road had assumed the switchbacks in the 186os-era photo • alignment, concluding that the switchbacks shown graph were on the southwest facing slope of the i5. The first major switchback on the alignment (the ear • on Civil War-era photographs and maps did not mountain looking toward Kentucky. This new find liest one and shown in the obscura print). of the appear to coincide with the road configuration in the represented the earliest known Indian path through Warriors' Path posed a dilemma. Confident the line • early 18oo's-era obscura print. the Gap, determined because the early writings of cut and flagged was the correct alignment of the • Dr. Walker and early trail maps showing a route up Warriors' Path, Vaughan & Melton was hired to sur • 2. Little credence had been given to the obscura print, Cumberland Mountain from what is now the town of vey the line. Positive that the delineated puzzle sys as it appeared to be hand-painted, and of question Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. The obscura print tem as applied to present-day mapping was accurate, • able use as a technical reference document. showing the use of wagons matching the recovered the surveyors were directed to plug in the coordi • remnants, led to the conclusion that the Lower nates to see if they "hit" as Hart guided them up the •• 3. A xerox copy of the obscura print was stipple delin Virginia Road was also for the most part the mountain. eated in the field, showing that a number of features Warriors' Path. What is not known at this time is if • matched with other research materials. The delin this is also the first road built by Congressional order, 16.During the trek up the mountain, everything • eation exposed a high degree of accuracy/credibility. as the first two-way wagon road on the matched up to the second switchback, the survey • The obscura print merited further study as a source Virginia/Tennessee side of the mountain in 1775. began to diverge, indicating a possible error. document, so the earliest generation, highest quality Reevaluating the flagging and mapping, the second • image was obtained, and enlarged to a 30" x 40" 10. Convinced this find was significant, NPS directed switchback was re-flagged at a lower elevation • print. Hart to finish applying the procedures to the ground believed to be a more correct alignment. With this • to ensure accuracy. adjustment, the coordinates came back on line, and 4. Using a large number of dots on the image and an the procedure corrected itself. • overlay, the trail from the Gap's saddle down to the u. With photographs and the obscura print, topograph • present-day town of Cumberland Gap was delineat ic remnants were identified, isolated, delineated, and 17. Topographical features and the path's alignment cross-checked all the way up the mountain except for • ed. This resulted in an almost exact match, proving compared to remnants in the 186os-era photograph the obscura print was accurate and could be used as and obscura print, and applied to present-day FHWA the last 150 feet - a location not shown in the photo • a technical reference. 2-foot topographical mapping. graph or the obscura print. There was only one way • to the Gap, through the area where the present-day 5. A continued embellishment of the obscura print's i2. As a result of matching remnants, the entire concrete steps are located at the end of the existing • delineation brought out topographical forms that Warriors' Path alignment (approximately 3,000 feet Iron Furnace Trail to the saddle. • were visible in the 186os-era photograph. from the NPS exit road at the Iron Furnace to the • top of the mountain at the saddle of the Gap) was 18. There is still the unanswered question as to which of 6. Similar topographic remnants were isolated and identified and applied to FHWA 2-foot topographical the road traces were made "wagonable", to include • applied to the present-day FHWA 2-foot topographi maps. the Upper and Lower Virginia Roads. Since the • cal maps. object of this study was intensely focused on the Gap • i3. By applying these findings to the ground, the hope rehabilitation/grading and locating the Wilderness 7. This led to a new discovery of possible significance. was that Warriors' Path remnants could be found on Road alignment, time and funding for such ancillary • NPS Historian Jere Krakow, who worked on research site. Coordinates were calculated as to where the research was not possible. We may never be positive • at CUGA earlier, was consulted when the Warriors' path should be located on today's mapping. In heav which track was the one constructed for the United • Path appeared during delineation. This path was dis ily wooded terrain, a line was cut to clear the way, States Congress. Hart feels that Boone's original cussed and described in Dr. Walker's mid-18th centu and the path's alignment was flagged up the side of Wilderness Road trace was abandoned, because it • ry description of the area. the mountain. was too narrow, with side slopes too steep to permit • safe two-way wagon passage. Hart believes that the • 8. The obscura print shows switchbacks on the north i4. The surprise was finding clearly visible remnants of Warrior's Path was then improved to become the east facing slope {instead of the southwest) of the historic topography, as well as path remnants, on the main and first wagon passage from the • mountain looking toward Kentucky. ground that were so precise they could be located Virginia/Tennessee side. That track went directly • nowhere else. These findings helped to confirm an through downtown Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. • • • • ,.••• • Cudjo Cavern • 1. While the early r8oos-era obscura print had proven establishing the angle of the obscura print, Hart to be accurate, it was generally known that the his moved in as close as possible with a modern-day •· torical front of Cudjo Cavern had been removed, camera to re-create the obscura print's view. Using ,.,• presumably during some phase of the construction the vent hole as a focal point, along with applied flag evolution of US 25E . ging and pl~cement of several 8-foot pickets to serve as markers or measuring gauges, an angle and size • 2. Hart noticed that the original cavern front was in the relationship to recreate the perspective in the obscu • obscura print. The cavern image was delineated in ra print was refined. • precise, enlarged detail. 7. Then, a highly detailed delineation of both the • 3. Familiar with the existing cavern entrance, there was obscura print and the modern photograph was done, • also a portion of the existing vent hole that appeared using clear film and overlays for each. in the obscura print. • 8. Later, the scales of the obscura print and the modern • 4. NPS determined this find was sufficiently significant photograph were adjusted so that they were the • to take the historical front of the cavern to a stage of same. "re-creation" that would provide a view of what top • ographical features were still intact in relation to the 9. Overlaying the delineation of the modern-day pho • image in the obscura print. tograph on that of the obscura print allowed a deter • mination of which topographic remnants from the 5. When the same general method used with the heli obscura print were still extant and which had been ·• copter at the saddle of the Gap to determine histori removed. The delineations were very close . • cal topographical features was not allowed, another Discolored areas on the photograph show the topo • new procedure to obtain the necessary information graphical shapes that have broken away. had to be developed. !•• 10. Although this provided sufficient evidence to take ,. 6. To recreate the point of view from which the obscura the cavern front further as a re-creation, the work print was taken, the alignment of today's mapping in stopped here since NPS determined not to recon ••· relationship to the cavern was determined. After struct the cavern front. • • • • • ·•• • • • • Wilderness Road - Kentucky Side • 1. Hart was asked to look at how the Wilderness 7. A comprehensive "ground-truthing" exercise of 14. As a result of the graphic application of all of the Road segment inside the park boundary in the approximate 6,ooo-foot alignment on the material obtained from the studies and surveys, one • Kentucky tied into the saddle of the Gap and Kentucky side of the saddle resulted in finding scenario kept hitting higher up on the mountain • Indian Rock (one of the principal benchmarks for several intersecting and crossover road remnants slope on the descending portion of the Wilderness • this study), as well as the continuation of the road connecting the two parallel road alignments. Road on the Kentucky side of the Gap. northward into Kentucky outside of the park. • 8. Several days were spent cutting lines and flagging 15. More evidence was needed to verify this scenario. • 2. At the time he had not seen any part of the all remnants that connected with the two parallel Just above the railroad crossing of US 25E, three • Wilderness Road alignment on the ground on the road alignments. roadbed benches about 80-100 feet apart were Kentucky side of the Gap, and had limited map found. All three alignments disappeared into the • ping (1862 and 1927) of that section. 9. Working with several different scales, the 1862 cut of the US 25E tunnel. • map was graphically applied to the 1927 map. This •• 3. Acquiring a working knowledge and preliminary application of mapping to the ground-trothing 16. The FHWA office at CUGA provided survey maps overview of that section of the road, required and flagging led to developing several scenarios of the tunnel approach that predated construction • walking the entire Kentucky alignment within the that might explain the findings. of the railroad bridge and tunnel. The scenario was • park boundary. This produced evidence the restudied with the newly obtained mapping, and • Wilderness Road alignment passed along the 10. Certain that the previously presumed alignment in the findings applied to the 1927 map. south side of Indian Rock. the disturbed curve area was not the historic • Wilderness Road, there was confidence that the 17. Hart cut the first 100-200 feet of the alignment for • 4. The alignment was walked and the area examined answers were in the disturbed area. There was no all three road benches, then walked each alignment. • in relation to available mapping. The main prob current survey to determine precisely the ground Knowing that the area had been cultivated or used lem relating to the alignment was at the top of the relationship to the 1927 map. as pasture during the 1930s, each line was walked to • ridge above Indian Rock where the road curved to see where it would come out in relationship to the • the left. It was impossible for the Wilderness 11. "Eyeballing" the disturbed curve area led to an upper and lower road alignments. • Road alignment, as previously mapped at that educated guess as to where the correct Wilderness curve, to fit the 1862 mapped configuration. Road alignment would probably have been locat 18. Using the FHWA maps, the 1862 map was graphical • ed. Since topography had been removed by sub ly applied to the scenario, attempting to determine • 5. This area was changed - approximately one-half sequent road building, points in midair were which of the three road benches best fit. The exist • of the ridge above Indian Rock and about 600 feet assigned which designated where the most logical ing power line served as a guide to relate to the 1862 of road alignment in the curve's vicinity had been alignment of the road would have been located in map. • disturbed by four gravel pits. Evidence of the the disturbed area. • road at the curve was missing/destroyed. 19. Finding that not only had the ground around the 12. Since there were surveys for the upper road align • tunnel and bridge been disturbed as a result of their 6. Krakow was consulted to obtain historical back ment, a survey was undertaken to tie the lower construction, there was also disturbance by the • ground information about the Kentucky side. road alignment to the available historic mapping. installation of a power line (shown on the new • There were two parallel road alignments on the The belief was that this endeavor would enable a map). The mapping application was thrown off Kentucky side - the upper alignment had been determination of which road alignment best fit the course by the fact that the power line had subse • designated the Wilderness Road by Krakow. The 1862 map. Application of this lower road survey quently been moved. This was resolved by studying • lower alignment (which generally parallels the to the 1927 map should answer this question. the relationship of the original railroad bridge to • upper alignment some 80-200 feet in distance and the disturbed ground, clarified by a rough survey. 50-125 feet vertically) was also a well-defined road. 13. A graphics transfer application was used relative Of the old power line alignment only the poles • The missing road segment at the curve led to con to the 1862 and 1927 maps to figure the coordi remained. To determined where the power line had • fusion as to the direction of the road and which nates. The coordinates kept hitting approximately been moved and which pole was still relevant to the • alignment was correct. There was no detailed 50-80 feet above, but parallel to, the lower road ground and the FHWA survey, Hart tied his posi present-day map of the project area, only the 1927 alignment. The finished survey tied in road rem tion to the 1927 map and tied angles to the existing • map with 200-scale, five-foot contours. Lack of nants and crossover pieces and other on-the railroad bridge. This determined the middle bench • precision in relation to the 1862 map meant that ground evidence. Several road alignment cross of the three best fit the 1862 map. • more "on-the-ground" evidence was required. sections were also prepared. • • • ••• • • 20. With visible evidence of a remnant of the mid 23. The principal question now was whether the upper 30. There is further evidence relating to the questions dle alignment, there was confidence that the or the lower road alignment was the correct one of why and/or why not there are visual remnants on • determination was correct. To more fully answer after passing through the disturbed gravel pit area - the ground today. This evidence, which provides • the road alignment question, other remnant evi did it come out on the upper or the lower road further evidence of the accuracy of Hart's work, is • dence was ground-truthed outside the immedi alignment? shown ip two photographs taken during the 1920s ate study area. Among things checked were 20- and in 1938. The photos show that two areas where • 25 other topographical remnants that hit the 1862 24. Hart graphically applied the modern-day composite the road remnants end were used as agricultural • map on today's mapping as far as five miles away. in a clear film form to one base using the 1927 five fields at the time they were taken. It was obvious •· These findings further verified the accuracy of foot topographical map as the overall base. that the fields obliterated the road alignment. the 1862 map. • 25. The correct positioning of the 1862 map was initially 31. Oblique and aerial photographs and a rendered top ·• 21. At this point, all the necessary evidence was in derived by application of a rudimentary survey of ographical map, demonstrated from three different •• hand. Understanding the accumulated informa features to the overall composite, involving verifica viewpoints that the lower alignment did not exist tion and the ramifications of the findings posed tion of how accurately the 1862 map fit to the until after 1927. Further study of the 1927 topogra ·• concerns of how to explain this in a way others ground and to the 1927 map. phy as it relates to modern-day elevations proved • would understand. that an area (approximately 500 feet west of the 26. Next came a graphic application to the composite of gravel pits off US 25E) on the Kentucky side was • about 20 on-the-ground road remnants that had disturbed after 1927. This disturbance was shown 22. The next task was to combine all pieces of evi • dence -historic/present-day surveys, maps, pho been examined and coincided with historic map on the 1938 photograph. Hand drawn cross sec • tographs, etc., relate the pieces to each other and ping. tions showed that the amount of earth removed :·· to the ground, then tie them to present-day map from the disturbed area was approximately n feet ping. The graphic application of this evidence 27. The middle road bench alignment required verifica deep at the center of the lower road access cut, and • resulted in production of a composite overlay that tion by present-day surveying. Vaughan & Melton obvious that the disturbance was man-made. Hart • presented proof of the entire Wilderness Road added one point to the recent survey. Once this also concluded that the disturbed area was the main II alignment. The composite overlay was significant point in the road remnant was located, it pinned passage to the lower road alignment, convinced • because it visually showed where the Wilderness down the Wilderness Road alignment on the that the combined evidence of the historic photo •• Road alignment was in relationship to the existing Kentucky side, locking the 1862 alignment into the graphs and mapping indicated that the lower road 1• ground. The composite possessed a high degree correct position . alignment did not exist until after 1927. Therefore, of technical accuracy, thus enabling the alignment it could not have been the Wilderness Road. • to be staked on the ground and tied all extant 28. Graphic application of the rough survey that had ,.•· road remnants together. now been verified by present-day surveying meth 32. At the other end of the lower road alignment, there ods established that the upper road alignment was was no "natural" way for a roadway to climb out of The following information was applied to the composite: the correct one. After passing through the dis the hollow bordered by a steep ridge. A man-made ·• turbed gravel pit area, the Wilderness Road align road alignment had been constructed to get the • a. 1862 map of Wilderness Road graphically applied to ment came back on the upper line. This graphically alignment out of the hollow. Prepared cross sec 1927 five-foot contour mapping. applied evidence was conclusive, since so many on tions showing the parallel road alignments as well • the-ground remnants matched the remnants on the as the steep ridge concluded that a man-made road • b. Composite of five on-the-ground surveys conduct composite graphic. to compensate for the ridge would not have been • ed by Vaughan & Melton for this project on the constructed during the 18th century. The upper Kentucky side. 29. Corroboration of the conclusions involved showing road alignment, on the other hand, was located on • the graphics to David Atwell, a certified engineer at ground that was sufficiently flat for both an 18th I. c. DSC staff applied 100-foot grid system to the com Vaughan & Melton Company. Atwell concluded century road and a later agricultural field. • posite. that the field findings and graphics were true, and that the coincidence of so many remnants was 33. Observing that this combined evidence shows that d. After DSC staff made a composite of all modern • proof of accuracy. Atwell observed that "geometry the Wilderness Road alignment passed from the day surveys, two scales were printed out - one to does not lie;' and that the identified Wilderness saddle of the Gap toward Kentucky, behind Indian • be applied to the graphics representations and one Road alignment was, in his opinion, correct. Rock, and then to the ridge top where it hits • of larger scale to be used for field checking . • • • • • another disturbed area just before the gravel pits, 36. Because of the need for a set of field maps, DSC 41. Ground-truthing followed the staking to see if the • Hart noted: staff applied a ten-foot grid onto the wo-foot grid alignment would come out of the woods on the so that location in the heavily forested terrain was middle of the three stakes. If it did, this would con • a. The 1920s photograph of Indian Rock (with the firm that this was the correct alignment. The align Harley sign visible) shows the road rising dramati more accurate. • ment was cut through the thick woods. This align cally west of the rock. • 37. A Polaroid camera was used to take a photograph ment emerged right on the middle stake, in the area of the view shown in the historic 1920s-era photo that had been disturbed by the construction of the • b. The 1862 mapping and modern-day surveys of US 25E tunnel and the railroad bridge. extant road remnants coincide, which proves that with the Harley sign, thus re-creating this view • the upper road alignment is the correct one. shed. Further study showed a large rock in the his • toric photo that matches a rock still on the ground 42. Heavily wooded terrain posed problems in finding · today. By comparing the historic 192o's-era photo the way and staying on line. Using a protractor and • c. The 192os-era oblique photograph shows the road graph with the Polaroid photograph, it was revealed compass to turn angles off the IO-foot and wo-foot •• above Indian Rock. that certain topography was missing along the road grids, the angles were applied to modern-day map • ping. Following a procedure of cutting and flagging d. The historic Association Map tied to the original bench behind Indian Rock. Visible road remnants were staked to the area disturbed by a gravel pit. the line 50 to 100 feet at a time, then rechecking • work on the saddle also ties to the upper road alignment behind Indian Rock. Rocks in that location were ground-truthed using bearings, about 800 feet of the alignment was • visual evidence compiled from historic photo staked. This effort utilized a combination of apply • graphs. ing historic mapping to remnants of the road trace 34. Ground-truthing the disturbed area (described on the ground and analyzing how they matched • above) made it difficult to understand where the 38. The combined mapping effort then started. From a modern-day mapping and related to the power line. • Wilderness Road alignment ran after leaving the known measuring point where the overhead power They related closely throughout the entire distance, • ridge top. Revisiting the 192os-era oblique photo line and the haul road intersected, the haul road from the saddle of the Gap to the Little Yellow graph led to re-cropping that specific area of the was measured from the gravel pit to a known rem Creek ford near the Kentucky Visitor Center. • II photo and then applying delineation. This provid nant of the Wilderness Road, to check how it relat • ed a graphic showing what the area looked like ed to the 1862 mapping and the grid on the present 43. Hart then presented his findings to the CUGA • before it was disturbed. The photograph showed day mapping. The area from the power line/haul superintendent and staff. the road bench disappearing into the gravel pit. road intersection back to the disturbed area had • Reviewing the totality of the evidence, resulted in a been used as an agricultural field during the 1930s. 44. Effort was then spent at the ridge on the Kentucky • likely scenario to explain what might have hap By using the haul road and power line as reference side of old US 25£ (approximately 350 feet west of pened. The more natural lay of the land of the points, about 300 feet of Wilderness Road align • Indian Rock). This disturbed area constituted a upper road alignment that extended into the hol ment was staked across the field. major turn in direction (to the southwest) of the • low was cut off by construction of the railroad in Wilderness Road's alignment on the Kentucky side, • 1890. The railroad cut off use of the hollow for 39. Returning to the first staked Wilderness Road rem and was a complicated piece of topography to travelers who wished to ascend. Thus, it forced nant, the next 600 feet of centerline was staked into study, because of several different road alignments • other paralleling man-made alternatives because the hollow. During staking, although historic and development of a gravel pit. • the historic Wilderness Road alignment was cut off Wilderness Road remnants were visibly intertwined • from further use. with the more modern roadway, the 1862 alignment 45. This ridge area was studied in more detail because it was still apparent. was located in the old 25E corridor, and in the nat • 35. Preparation of field maps from what appeared to be ural view shed of the saddle looking into Kentucky. • overwhelming evidence still needed to be applied 40. After passing through the hollow, the Wilderness All available resources were reviewed to determine • to the ground. Three-foot-long oak stakes, painted Road came back into line on a historic road trace. what the ridge looked like and where the missing florescent orange, were used for staking the find It continued about another Boo feet before passing portion of the ridge coincided with historic map • ings to the ground. Old mapping was not suffi through a 193o's-era agricultural field, where the ping in relation to on-the-ground features. • ciently precise. By combining all evidence in graph trace had been obliterated. As the alignment • ic and technical form, Hart was able to determine approached the disturbance of the new 25E high 46. A 193os-era oblique photograph of the area was very precisely where he was on the road alignment. way cut, stakes were placed on three different visi enlarged and delineated. Then a 19oos-era photo • ble historic road remnants. graph of the same area was enlarged and delineat- • • • • .•, • • ed. These two photographs were taken from differ 51. Because of the refined delineation of the 193o's-era ent vantage points, but provided images of the same oblique photograph, more refined evidence was ·•· general view shed. By delineating the same pieces provided which corroborated the data for the • of topography in the two photographs and compar Kentucky side. This refinement found nine more • ing them precisely, they were found to contain cor pieces of topography that corresponded and • responding pieces of topography that matched . matched earlier work on the Kentucky side. • 47. To provide FHWA with a grading plan, the investi 52. Throughout this effort, there were suspicions that •· gation was taken a step further to understand how the irregular topographic shapes in the 1862 map the information from the photographs and delin ping were in fact surveyed images of the Wilderness • eations of the disturbed area at the Kentucky ridge Road. The oblique photographs that related to • corresponded with present-day mapping. To reconstruction of the Kentucky ridge area were • understand how to properly reconstruct the examined. With no present-day mapping with Wilderness Road alignment, there was a need to which to tie this work, four of the nine topographic • understand how it had been disturbed. remnants were isolated. These isolated pieces cor • roborated all previous evidence gathered during the 48. One photograph with a buggy in it provided an study. All evidence cross-checked and proved that • some of the topographic shapes are still visible on image of the disturbed Kentucky ridge area before • development of the gravel pit. Examination of the the ground today. • image led to a need to understand the relationship of the Wilderness Road alignment to 19th century 53. This portion of the Wilderness Road was staked on • mapping as well as the relationship of the cut to the the ground, with certainty that two of the topo • power lines in the background of the photograph. graphic shapes in the 1862 map were tied to the • It was extremely difficult to relate these features to 1920s-era map. NPS decided not to restore this the present contours of the ridge area. The most Wilderness Road portion as part of the interpretive • controversial topographic remnants required the site because of disturbance by modern-day trans • highest degree of delineation. portation arterial development, and by 192o'sh93o's agricultural operations. This also reaffirmed the • descent of the Wilderness Road into the valley near 49. A 193o's-era aerial photograph was composited with 1•., present-day FHWA highway mapping and Vaughn the present-day CUGA visitor center, showing & Melton's survey of the area. An independent where the original road crossed the modern-day delineation of the topographic mapping, aerials, transportation corridor disturbed in the late 18oo's • and surveys was done, to form a composite. by the railroad and more recently by the U.S. 25E • tunnel approach. • 50. The two delineated products of the same area, one an oblique view and the other a plan view, provided • an index, because the various topographic pieces • matched like a puzzle. Using the applied combined • information, Hart provided FHWA with a two-foot interval grading plan. As a cross-check, the grading • plan was hand drawn and digitized in a CADD pro • gram that approximated one of the aerial views that • ensure that it related properly with the historic • maps, photographs, and surveys . • • .•, • • Cumberland Gap • 1. Having determined the Wilderness Road alignment 7. The Association Map provided the accurate posi 17. The preliminary grading plan was refined to ensure • on the Virginia/Tennessee side of the Gap and the tion of missing historic topography, providing base that the ridge lines at this point were exactly cor Kentucky side of the Gap, Hart returned to finish information to relate the vertical scale to the overall rect. Both sides of the mountain and both views • work on the saddle of the Gap. All of the previous missing coordinate positions. (from the Kentucky side and from the • ly collected information was graphically close, but Virginia/Tennessee side) tied to the ridge lines had • did not provide for a grading plan. Saddle topogra 8. A mechanical drawing type approach was used and to match for correctness. · phy could not be reconstructed from just the the Association Map ridge lines were the basis to • graphic evidence - a grading plan was required. construct and triangulate missing topography. 18. Using all available evidence, the data was painstak • ingly applied to a one-foot contour grading plan of • 2. This last stage of refinement for the saddle would 9. This methodology was applied to the entire plan the entire saddle area using the triangulation sys be the combined transfer of all graphic evidence view of the saddle area (present-day surveys). tem. • into a grading plan for FHWA contracting purpos •• es. 10. The grading plan needed the application of com 19. Then the time had come for the big test. Would the • puter intelligence to create the plan view. new technical application, when replotted, match 3. The saddle area was revisited. All previously col the historic graphic view? • lected information was reviewed, which included 11. When the computer re-created the grading plan, it • the Association Lands Map, the 1833 survey, the would have to match the historic photographic 20. The two were found to be amazingly close, need & • 1862 survey, and Vaughn Melton's 1990s two-foot view to be correct. The two photographic views in ing only minor elevation adjustments to refine both saddle topographic survey (constituting an existing Photographs No. 1 and 1A needed to match. views. Hart had produced the final grading plan! • conditions survey). Information from the maps, • surveys, and photographs was delineated and stud 12. Using the list of resources (See No. 3 above), his 21. As of late 2001/early 2002, the Federal Highway ied intensively in terms of the relationship of the toric and existing points were developed and posi Administration had removed the old US 25E pave • topographic shapes to one another and to the tioned on the plan. ment, hauled material back into the saddle of the • ground. The level of accuracy was found to be very Gap, and was regrading the area with Hart's plan to • high. Topographic shapes in these items all cross 13. A target system was then developed to apply to guide the work. checked as applied to the ground today. The graph these points. When the historic view was re-creat • ic recreations fit the historic photographs almost ed, a vertical pole was placed at each point. Each • exactly. pole had five-foot vertical increments marked on • them. This system enabled the gauging of five-foot 4. The question of how to convert this information increments wherever they appeared in perspective • into a grading plan for FHWA bidding purposes so that later the entire study area surface in the • created a need to give the graphics dimension in vicinity of the Saddle could be triangulated. • technically accurate construction drawings. How did one give vertical intelligence to the graphics? 14. Using the Association Map first, the missing ridge • FHWA needed a vertical and horizontal grading lines were reconstructed. • plan tied to present-day mapping. • 15. A preliminary ten-foot contour grading plan was 5. The resolution was to develop a procedure to scale prepared (with assigned intelligence), that re-creat • all of the missing topography, creating criteria to ed the original historic view looking into Kentucky. • assign vertical intelligence to the information. • 16. The preliminary grading plan proved to be close 6. All delineated materials were cross-checked to iso enough so a triangulation system would be work • late and compare the existing topography to the able. • missing historic topography. • • • • •· ••· • Source Materials • • • Two Civil War photographs (both photos, which • Buckboard photograph. • overlap, were taken from one tripod location) • • Two wagon photographs . • Late l8oos bridge photograph . • • Indian Rock Harley-Davidson photograph . • • Two oblique aerial photographs from Kentucky •• looking toward Tennessee. • Obscura print. • Two aerial photographs (helicopter shots) - 1933 • Monument/Wilderness Road photograph looking • and 1969 . from Virginia toward Kentucky. • • Numerous oblique and aerial photographs of area • Gap cut close-up photograph looking from • taken by Hart during the 1990s, the most signifi Virginia toward Kentucky. cant being a recreation of historic bridge photo • graph. • 20 photographs taken from a helicopter. • • FHWA aerial photographs - 1980s. • Historical maps . I• • Buggy photograph - 1920s. • Surveys. 1•• • • • • "• .• • • • • • • • ,_ugba&Nelfon • Consulting Engineers • P.O. Box 1425 109 South 24th Street • Middlesboro, Kentucky 40965 Tel. (606) 248-6600 field work and data gathering and seeing the result, I came to expect the • FAX (606) 248-0372 precision of the fit and agreement of features that remain today with the March 14, 2001 RECEIVED locations shown in the photographs and early surveys. By the time I was • MAR 1 9 2001 reviewing the graphics which Mike furnished to me, I expected that the • historical features that had been found would fit the modern day mapping. Dsc-PM Perhaps I should have been skeptical but by then I had seen enough of his • Bill Witmer procedure and results that I expected the terrain to fit his projections. His •• NPS-DSC-PM past perfonnance had caused me to expect success. Many of the surveys 12795 West Alameda Parkway from the 1SOO's were done carefully and were amazingly accurate. We • P.O. Box 25287 recognize that some were not. In this situation we are indeed fortunate that • Denver. Colorado 80225-0287 the 1833 survey upon which Mike had to rely was one of the good ones. In our practice of surveying in this region, we frequently use or retrace surveys • Re: Cumberland Gap I Wilderness Road from that period and have found many of them to fit terrain features very well. • Dear Mr. Witmer: I was impressed that in one or two instances Mike was able to recognize that • existing features did not fit his forecast location and search for the source of I have gone through the material that Mike Hart sent me several times. It isn't error. Even though none of us likes to make an error, the recognition of it • a process that is easily grasped in a one-time reading. I have heard the lends credence to the method. His willingness to search for the error and • procedure described as unorthodox and I agree with that assessment. Even correct it brings credence to him. We were very pleased to be involved in the so, there is a basis in long recognized and used procedures. It could be said surveys which he used to tie old and new elements together, and to be a part • that it touches on normality. It is infrequent that photographs are enlarged or of the Cumberland Gap Project. I was at first skeptical and then later shrunk to a particular scale such as Mike has done to match scale of the surprised at the precision of the geometry Mike projected when we laid out • mapping, but it is done. The verification of the scale is usually done very the lines on the ground. We surveyed through disturbed areas and began • similarly to the method he used, that is to measure between points that can once more to find evidence of the Wilderness Road beyond the disturbed be seen in the photograph and scale the photograph until the resulting area and at the location he predicted. Most of the features were found to be • enlargement will scale the same distance. In the engineering and mapping within a few feet of the predicted location. We owe a debt to the Surveyor • community, the procedure is usually used on an unusual project and the who did the original work. Geometry has served us well once more. I once approach is described as unorthodox. I hear some of those terms being commented to Mike that the proof is in the geometry applied to the ground. • applied to the procedures developed by Mike Hart and used on the Geometry never lies and it never fails. Fortunately it is a tool we can use and Wilderness Road project. Whenever we have scaled photographs up or • depend upon. down, we usually find that the resulting accuracy is within about two feet or • less. His delineation process is truly new to me. He may have developed a I complement Mike upon the development of this unique procedure and the new method this time. dedication he have shown to the project. I look forward to seeing what will • become of the historic Cumberland Gap in the future. • The match of the topographic features with the historic photographs is truly amazing and worthy of comment. Mike has described to me the procedure Very truly yours, • he used to fit and check infonnation to the maps from historical documents • and photographs. Even after hearing the method described, few of us, and VAUGHN AND MELTON CONSUL TING ENGINEERS (KENTUCKY), INC. perhaps none of us, will ever be able to replicate the method Mike has • developed but it is obvious that it works. His unique combination of training • and experience has combined to provide him the ability to develop and use his own method of researching, matching, fitting, and adjusting evidence of ~(;,~&- • the old to the existing features. While providing surveys for Mike to use in his David A. Atwell, PLS, PE • • Middlesboro. KY • Greeneville. TN • Asheville. NC • Huntington. WV • • • • • • • • HISTORIC • REFERENCES • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1833 survey 1 • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
• \ • ' , , ~ , . • /lr{ ~ ~~6". : ~jJI ..c~j · /./, • • • 1:• • • • 1862 map of area _ 2 • • • • ,,,.,, • CllMIU'RtAND t:AI' AND l'IC IN I TI' • • • • . . • ·"·· • ,. • ,, ,....,.., , . • • Existing road remnants shown above in red were physically •._ located in the field. and incorporated into the Wilderness Road discovery procedure. • • • • • • • I• • • 1903 map of saddle • ------• ' -·------• r------• ~9' • \ E.XJ.~:>TI~~ • PJ::M~T J • . ~~....;;,;:~~~ • \\ • \ } 1 • t:- I • . \~ • \ Validation • Point #21 • \I • \. • \ • \ • \ ' • \ • \ • • • • kentucky utilities corp. • Power Poles/Object Lesson Road I 4 . : Old US Highway 25 E (1936) • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • view northwest toward the saddle 5 • • Validation • Point #17 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • This photograph was taken during the Civil War about 1862. The view • is looking Northwest. from what is now the town of Cumberland Gap . • Tennessee . • • • saddle area viewing south 6 • • • • Validation • Point #20 • • • • • • • • • • r Validation Point #19 • • This photograph was taken by Inman Photographers. of Middlesboro, • Kentucky. Courtesy of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park. • • • • • • • • • view northwest toward the saddle • 7 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • This photograph is believed to be taken from an obscura print. • (estimated to be from 1775 to 1860) Courtesy Of Cumberland Gap • National Historical Park. • • saddle area viewing south K! • • • , Late 1920s Photograph • Courtesy of Cumberland • Gap National Historical Park • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • Validation • Point #19 .• , ------:1 • • • 1930' s Photograph • view south to the saddle 9 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Aerial photograph of Cumberland Mountain and surrounding area . • Courtesy of Cumberland Gap National Historical Park . • • • • • saddle area viewing west 10 • indian rock '. • viewing west 11 • • • • Validation • Point #21 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1939 aerial photograph of the area 12 • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Photograph taken for the USDA Agriculture Stabilization and • Conservation Service. April 8. 1939. Courtesy of the National Archives . • • • • • • • • • • • ••• • • • • • • • • • I• • • • • • • • l--A_R_E_A~~~~~~l • • Late 1800's • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Photograph of original Cudjo Cavern entrance and the geological feature over Gap Creek. The original • cavern entrance was removed by road construction. This geological feature became known as a • collapsed feature, lost to surface erosion and the karst process . • - ....- • • • .,• • • • • • •., • • ••• • ••• • • • • • • •·• ·•• • • • • 1833 Survey cavern area I geologic feature • over gap creek . • • • • • • • -- • Enhanced 1833 Surve • Earth Removed By Modem Construction ~ii]i This Geological Feature Collapsed From • ~ Surface Erosion And The Karst Process • • • Enhanced 1833 Survey - This sheet shows a hand • enhanced version of the 1833 survey, overlaid on • modern topography. The shape and position of the original cavern entrance, and the geological feature • over Gap Creek, meshes perfectly with modem • survey work . • The 1833 survey is believed to be the base map used • for the later construction of the initial alignment of U.S. Route 25E. The first road on the higher alignment • was built sometime after 1833, but before 1862. The • original cave entrance was not removed by road building until the late 1800's, the same approximate • time frame as when the geological feature over Gap • Creek failed . • • • Late 1800's • • • • • On the 1937 aerial photograph to the left, • red lines enhance the delineation of • topographic features around the original entrance to Cudjo Cavern. Even though • road building on U.S. Route 25E removed • rock formations, their " imprint" remains evident afterwards. These delineated • imprints match the same features from the • 1833 survey, providing yet another cross check of the accuracy of the missing • topography and cavern entrance. • •
- I • Original Stream Resurgence • • + • 6.Xl~i1N6 W,A\E.~ WNE.. • • • • • • • • • • • original entrance to cudjo cavern • • • • • • • These views of the face of Cudjo Cavern show not only the delineated precision of the missing • topography, but also the original location of the cave entrance. The highlighted rock fonnations • are interchangeable from image to image, from a current photograph on the right, to the early 1800's • obscura view on the left. • -...... / ~- \" J :·, I ) , '1.f~, . • •"'-. . ..., ... -,l," .... . • .....I • .,r,, • .. • • • •• • • • • • • • compari1son of rock formations Early 1800' s I • \ 4 - THE EARLY 1800' COMPARED TO EXISTING / .. ,:, s • • 1.t ' - ----~------) ·. , ...... • ' • -. • ~, • I .J I .... • • • • • • I • • ~~~~~~~....___--- • • • • • • •• • • •• • • • • cavern area and geological feature
Early 1soo · s •
• • • • • ,.• • • • • • • • •• • •• • • • • • • • • • • .•: • Geological Explanation of Cudjo Cavern •, . Cudjo Cavern is situated in the lower member of the as limestone creates a landform typified by sinkholes, Newman limestone formation, which outcrops along the underground streams, caves, and spring.The major por • southeast face of Cumberland Mountain's Pinnacle Peak. tions of the cave extend alsmost a mile beyond the end of • Mississippian Newman limestone, more than 275 million the commercial route. The stream extends northeast along • years old, overlays abedding of Grainer Shale and is topped the strike through a large, steeply slanting breakdown (70 by more recent sandstone. Fractured strata near the Gap feet by 50 feet by 50 feet) passage along the dip of the rock. • have contributed to erosion of the sandstone overburden Another area outside the commercial route begins on the • and exposed the underlying limestone, which may be up to upper level of Soldiers Cave near the Big Room where a 500 feet thick in some areas. These fractures allowed pas short stoopway opens into a large breakdown room. From •., sage of ground water charged with carbon dioxide into the here, there are several routes into a very large romm (circa beds and joints of the underlying limestone. The water, 12ofeet long by 70 feet wide by 30 feet high.) several high • now a weak form of carbonic acid, formed Cudjo Cavern leads extend outward from this room. One of these inter • by dissolving away the limestone. sects an old stream side passage with well-scalloped walls . What is now known as Cudjo Cavern is only a small part of • The active stream within the caverns contributes to contin a much larger cave system, estending some five miles in • uation of the solution processes and enlargement of cave surveyed length and connecting with Cumberland Gap passages. The stream originally exited through the natural Saltpeter Cave . • entrance to King Solomon's Cave and crossed the .i• Wilderness Trace before flowing downhill towards the In closing, please refer to the collapsed feature in this, community of Cumberland Gap. Presently the cave stream the graphic section of the Cavern Area. It is the karst has been redirected under the highway through a concrete processes, cave stream resurgence, and surface erosion ••• conduit before descending the mountainside as Gap Creek. that caused this Collapsed Feature. • Evidence seems to sugges that cave passage may hve Ronal Kerbo extended beyond the current location of the entrance. In National Cave Management Coordinator • fact, such an occurrence in to karst areas. Karst is a Geologic Resources Division • process by which water dissolving away soluble rock such National Park Service • • • • • .•, • • I • • • ·•• • ·•• • • • • • • •• ••• • • • • • • • • • • • • This photograph was taken during the Civil War (about 1862). The view is looking northwest, • from what is now the town of Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. • AREA • • • • • • • • • • Validation • Point #13 • • • • • • Existing Maple tree, • that is about 16.5 • feet in circumference • - • • .•, • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • view northwest toward the saddle • Early 1800' s • • This page illustrates how delineation was • used to identify the shape of the missing • topography, to the approach of the saddle. • The delineation was cross checked with • historic survey, historic photographs, aerials, and modern field photographs . • These shapes are applied to a mechanical • drawing technique, then added to the • grading plan. • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • Validation • Point #12 '\ • L ______J • • • • • • • saddle area viewing south • Validation Validation • Point #20 Point #18 • • • \ • • --~ - • Delineated features at the Saddle • r-~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~----,--...-~--r~~~~~----= • ------• Validation • Point #20 • • • • • • ·-··-·.....• ... • ...... ,.. Remnants of the late 1soo·s <1s they overlay their • same location today • • . view west to the saddle
Pep..D E.L I(p3(:) i Validation I Point #15
Validation Point #13 • • saddle area viewing south • • Todays Boone Monument • • • • • • • • • • Validation • Point #20 • -~ • • • • Saddle • recreation Validation • I applied to Point #19 • modern survey • • • sa die area-viewing south • Computer Wireframe Of Saddle • • • • • • • • • Compare Remnants • • • • • • • ElliI • Validation • Point #19 • • • • • view south to the saddle • Late 1soo·s • !Refinement For Final Grading Plan • • • • • • -- - • This delineation allows the historic topography to be identified. .- • ( • t • _/ ·~. • • • • • • • • \ • v-?f • I • • outh to the • • •• • • • • • - • • • • • • • • •• • • • • • • . I ' •: II ,. j I elevations . I •i :p i I •i i Ii ,/ i -~ I _:_ •'. T' _.._I ~ ; I : : i I ! ...... i - I .i I T ,_, I I : : .I -+- I , I 1· _._! j ' LL T : I ,_1 ·- ' T ; , I ·' i i : ~ .. _,,_ • --i 1 -L-" I ~ _j_ !'__ • • i J_ Tl -i- --=t'----·-l- --· • ! 1 ·-. ..:.: • iI 1-.- • LJ_ • 11 • '_lf- • 1 ~ - • • • • .••:
••• i .: e: •1 \ I • • • • • • • • • • • tit• GI GI •161 ;19 C:WI • All three plan view images on this sheet are oriented with Virginia/Tennessee to the right side • Kentucky to the left. and north at the top The shapes in the left hand images evolved into the • contour map on the nght hand side Determmmg what topography was m1ssmg resulted from intense cross checking and melding of all the different sources of information - historic and recent • surveys, photographs, and maps, field discovery; graphic enhancement and dehneat1on in the • studio This sheet shows three stages of refinement overtaymg modem surveys. which were eventually put into a format that could be computenzed. Once the 1nformatton was 1n the • computer ti e three-dimensional Wtreframe output was then cross checked against the h1stonc • photographs for accuracy The final result was a gracltng plan in 1790 contours which were added into Federal Highway Administration contract drawings • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • I • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
1•I • • • • • • • • view northwest toward the saddle • COMPUTER CHECKS FINAL GRADING PLAN • I • 1 I 1· T I • + T l I - t • + + + I • I I • T + I + I - • ± • i.. • i .. • • • • • • • This final step of refinement shows how accurate the (graphic) rehabilitation of the Gap is. The • grading plan from the previous sheet has been transformed into a computenzed wireframe unage The image is shown from the same viewpoint as the 1862 Civil War photograph, from Tennessee • looking northwest to the Gap and toward Kentucky This v1f!m nearly matches the red horizon line • taken from the 1862 photograph. Considering the age and quality of the source materials, tempered by 200 years of erosion and man-caused landscape modifications this slight deviation • caused by the computer's skewed viewpoint, 1s as accurate as anyone will ever achieve • • • • • • • • • view south to the saddle • COMPUTER CHECKS FINAL GRADING PLAN • • I • ~ • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • .,• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ~I • I • _) • • • • • Wilderness Road • • • • • • • • • - ·•• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ••· • • • • • le• I • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • view northwest at the saddle • Final Grading • Final Grading Plan • • • • • • • • • • Wilderness Road • Centerline • Final Grading • • • • • • • • • • • • view southeast at the saddle • Final Grading Plan • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • . I • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • ------• • • • • • • • • • • • • ••• • • • • • • • • • • final grading plan • ldaddie l COMPUTER IMAGE • ! AREA - • • • • • Wilderness Road • • • • • • • • • • • • • • I • • • • • • Portions of the original • Wilderness Road • • Before lower road was • consructed • • Before portions of the • Wilderness Road were improved • • Before West gravel pit road • Compare Corresponding Areas • Of Topography (A and B) • Lower road access was not possible for wagons without the removal of a large • amount of earth, which permitted entry to • the lower drainage. Even more restrictive was the steepness of the descent from • the lower road. Railroad construction • probably cut off the slow natural descent around 1880. By this time, more modern • road building methods had been • developed, and the lower road was built. Another basic reason is that no historic • mapping matching any ground evidence • has been found. The alignment, without more modem construction to compensate • for the steepness, would have resulted in • many curves in the configuration. • • • • • • • • • ridge I wilderness road • • • • • • • • • • Association Map Wilderness Ro