By: Lydia Crawley
The Parsons Advocate
A landslide has damaged a famous landmark along the Blackwater Canyon Trail between Douglas Falls and Hendricks, according to Judy Rodd of Friends of the Blackwater. “There’s a famous location on the rail trail between Douglas and Hendricks and this is called the Big Run Culvert, but it is really a huge archway made of cut stone. Probably Italian stonemasons built it. Then it was to hold up the railroad in a difficult location along the Blackwater Canyon Rail Trail,” Rodd said.
The Big Run Culvert was damaged by a landslide when several trees loosened along the hillside and broke loose, Rodd said. “In the area down slope, a lot of the trees came loose and slid down the hill, pulling with them, lots of dirt and parts of this cut stone archway that Big Run goes through,” Rodd said.
The keystone of the archway appears to have been damaged in the landslide, according to Rodd. Rodd said there is a fear that should the keystone fail, the archway itself could fail. “I think that the biggest problem at the moment is that the keystone – stone at the top of the archway – looks like it is coming loose,” Rodd said. “And if that should happen, then it could be that the entire culvert would collapse on itself.”
Rodd said the Friends of the Blackwater are petitioning the Forest Service to act quickly to resolve the issue and devise a long term plan for the area. “We are demanding that the Forest Service get involved and get in there and prop up what they can from underneath and then think of a long term plan to put it back in place,” Rodd said.
Rodd said that the Friends of the Blackwater feel it is the responsibility of the Forest Service to act, even though there are other land owners in the area. Rodd said she felt the Forest Service had a legal right, but did not cite a specific legal precedent that would allow the Forest Service domain on the area. “We think it is the responsibility of the Forest Service, even though there is some other ownership in that area, the Forest Service has a duty, an absolute right, to go onto this adjacent property to protect this public resource. Under the law they have an absolute right to go there and try to keep something worse from happening and to repair what has happened,” Rodd said.
Rodd said the local bicycling community has been concerned about the landslide due to their frequent use of the trail. However, Rodd said the biking community aren’t the only ones who frequent that area of the trail. “The biking community is very concerned because they use that trail all the time,” Rodd said.“Its also a popular spot for people to picnic because there’s a little trail down on the upper side down where you can sit on a rock and see Big Run and all that. So its not just the bikers, although I’d say they are one of the biggest users. ”
Rodd said the trail provides a valuable link between the top and bottom of the mountain. “Its just incredibly important to link the top of the mountain with the bottom of the mountain,” Rodd said. “That is the route. There’s no other trail that does that.”
The trail is maintained by volunteers, according to Rodd. “Its all run by volunteers,” Rodd said. “Volunteers make it passable. They don’t have the resources to fix that huge structure.”
According to Rodd, the trail is part of the Blackwater Industrial Complex. “Its part of what’s called that Blackwater Industrial Complex, which is 11 miles of the railroad grade from Hendricks to Thomas and it was recognized by the keeper of the National Register as eligible to be on the National Register and that person is within the National Parks Service. So they looked at all the features and said it was very significant for the basic four reasons,” Rodd said. “It makes it Nationally significant, that railroad grade, and especially this piece of it, which is perhaps the most dramatic structure along there besides old railroad bridges and the coke ovens are also very famous, too.”
The Friends of the Blackwater has begun a letter writing campaign in an effort to illicit action from the Forest Service. “We are going to put out a call for people to contact the Forest Service and ask that they get involved. I do believe they’ve been there, but nothing has happened.”
