Mountain Goat Trail History

In 1850, railroads were in their infancy. The first one had been in operation for less than 25 years and almost no clear thinking engineers had ever suggested that the steam locomotive equipment of the1850’s would be capable of climbing such a grade as the Cumberland Mountains. One such engineer did and that was A.E. Barney. Investors headed by Samuel Tracy gave Barney the go-ahead, and he proceeded to do what was considered impossible- build a railroad from Cowan to what is now Sewanee.

In 1849, construction began on the Cowan tunnel before any of the Nashville and Chattanooga railroad had laid any track connecting these two cities. Around 1850, Mr. Leslie Kennedy, who had worked in coal mining in Pennsylvania, searched the Cumberland Plateau near what is now Sewanee and found traces of coal. Kennedy knew of coal’s potential and visited with several possible investors in Nashville about mining this coal for industrial use, however, his initial efforts were met with frustration as only one man was interested enough to travel to the mountain. Up to this point, wood was the chief fuel and in abundant supply. Mr Kennedy took Mr. Tracy and Mr. Barney to the mountain and decided to incorporate The Sewanee Mining Company and build a railroad and mine the coal on the plateau. At the time, this was the steepest grade of any railroad in the country.

The first coal was delivered in 1856. The line was then extended to what is now Tracy City in 1858 and continued for 127 years until 1985. The railroad investors realized that a seat of higher learning could only be a big asset, so they made a gift of 15,000 acres in 1858 for a university, which is now the University of the South at Sewanee. Major extensions and spurs of the railroad continued over the years into the towns of Coalmont and Palmer.

Ravaged by the Civil War, the railroad had to be entirely rebuilt as all of the track and rolling stock was destroyed. But coal mining resumed. By this time the name of the company had changed to the Tennessee Coal, Iron, and Railroad Company and the new company took over operations.

Coal gained a higher level of importance in the industrial advancement in Tennessee and this short line became one of the most profitable rail lines in Tennessee. For these years of operation, the railroad helped spur economic and social development on the mountain. People began to travel to the mountain on the train.

Malaria, which was rampant in the lower areas of Tennessee, was almost non-existent on the mountain. The development of the University of the South as well as the Monteagle Sunday School Assembly created even more growth. In 1971, the NC & St.L railroad announced, however, that the train would no longer carry passengers.

For years, until better roads were built, the railroad was the only dependable method of moving freight up or down the mountain.
The communities on the mountain were centered around the train tracks. Even with the introduction of the interstate highway system, the train continued to move coal from the mountain.

Conductors, driving the trains slowly through the towns on the plateau, used to throw candy to the waving children who were waiting to pick up the pennies that they had placed to be “smushed’ on the tracks. Not to be excluded, adults were just as interested in the fine art of train watching.

Over the course of the many years, good roads up the mountain were developed, and the use of coal became secondary to other fuels. The railroad had created communities and interest in the mountain which later would become part of its demise. Even the cost to move coal by truck on the new roads became less expensive. No railway system could continue to operate a short railroad branch line that was too expensive to maintain and had no potential of regaining profitability. The line that so faithfully served the mountaintop from its inception as the Sewanee Mining Company to finally being part of the CSX system ceased to be nothing more than 40 miles of vacant right of way on April 30, 1985.

The property was then acquired over the course of time by various and adjacent property owners, but most of the rail bed still lies intact and undeveloped. The historic significance of this rail line can be reclaimed through development of a new trail, still with the original objective of transportation and preserving an important piece of Tennessee history.