Episode 010 Notes — FishingLocalWaters.com

Episode 010 Field Notes Brushy Fork, Trains & Tunnels

The following are notes captured during the research and refinement process. The released episode is the refined product durived from these notes. Therefore, they ARE NOT refined. These notes do include additional reference material and information not included in the final version of the episode. Some elements were not included in the final release because additional validation is required. Some portions were omitted due to time restraints. Multiple drafts of the narrative is sometime included. This information has been provided for fellow historians and researchers interested in advancing the story, and to illustrate the process used to create these episodes. As always, validate and confirm before use.

See Notes Below:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/to-revive-a-river-restore-its-hidden-gut1/

Restoring a stream

https://www.cincyrails.com/lnlouisville.htm

The former L&N line from Cincinnati to Louisville, Kentucky was constructed in the 1850's by the Louisville, Cincinnati & Lexington Railroad. This became part of the L&N, and was referred to as the "Short Line", a nickname it retains today, even though it is officially called the LCL sub-division of the Louisville Division of CSX. The line sees substantial general merchandise traffic and has been recently renovated with improved clearances and trackwork. In addition, the former GRS signal system that was standard on the L&N has recently been replaced with new Safetrans signals by CSX.

http://www.kentonconservancy.org/brushy-fork-nature-preserve.html

Brushy Fork Nature Preserve was purchased by Banklick Watershed Council and transferred to Kenton Conservancy in August 2014. This forested, 43 acre property is in the watershed for Brushy Fork Creek. Access to the property is off of Canberra Drive in Independence, Kentucky.

https://www.cincyrails.com/files/LN-LC+LDivisionTimetableNo78-June26-1898.pdf

L&N Timetable

https://www.nkyviews.com/kenton/pdf/kenton_ind_tunnel_sees_daylite.pdf

https://www.nkyviews.com/kenton/kenton_independence.htm

https://www.nkyviews.com/kenton/pdf/kenton_we_change_our_line.pdf

Daylight Tunnel 6 removal of 220,000 cubic yards of earth and rocks

010 Narrative

When we overlay a 1950 topographical map with one from 1990 we see Banklick creek vanish before our very eyes.

The location of the disappearing creek is in the Brushy Fork Nature Preserve in Independence Kentucky. This forested, 98-acre property is managed by the Banklick Watershed Council and Kenton Conservancy. It is open to the public for hiking.

To understand why this creek disappeared, we need to look closer to the adjacent railroad that forms the western border of the Nature Preserve. By standing on an overlook, in the preserve, we see Banklick Creek at the base of a sheered cliff and staying west of the railroad tracks. This is not the natural flow of this creek or the original design of the railroad.

This 82-mile-long railroad line runs from LaGrange to Newport, Kentucky. The original construction started in January 1867. It was completed in the latter part of 1869 The line was originally owned and operated by the Louisville, Cincinnati & Lexington Railroad, which later became part of the L&N. During that time, it was referred to as the "Short Line", a nickname it retains today, even though it is now part of the CSX system and officially called the LCL sub-division.

This 1950 topo map shows the railroad as it was first constructed in 1867.

When the line was first built, this section included two tunnels and three bridges. The three bridges allowed the Banklick Creek to maintain its natural route through two horseshoe bends. The first horseshoe flowed to the east where I was standing in the opening shot. The second flowed to the west.

The two tunnels cleared the two hilltops above and the Banklick creek flowed in the valleys below. The creek stayed in its natural bed and the railroad operated on the tracks above until the 1960s.

In the 1950s, piggybacking loaded semi trailers onto flatbed railcars was becoming a new way to efficiently transport and handle freight. However, this required additional height in the tunnels and underpasses. There were also reports that the brick lining inside of Tunnel No 5 was beginning to show signs of structural decay.

Therefore in 1962 construction took place to daylight the two tunnels. Removing 320,000 cubic yards of rock-based spoils would have been a delicate procedure if bridges 38 and 39 remained in place. Therefore a decision was made to daylight the tunnels and remove the bridges and build a continual railroad bed through this section of the line.

A massive, galvanized copper barring pure iron pipe was designed, and made by ARMCO Drainage and Metal Products to support the trains above and to allow water to flow under the tracks. Two such pipes would be required if the natural flow of the creek was to be maintained. Cost, availability, and time was taken into consideration and the railroad decided to only install one pipe to allow Brushy Fork Creek to flow out of the basin, they would be creating, and to reroute Banklick Creek down the west side of the tracks. This would eliminate the horseshoe section that flowed into what is now the Brushy Fork Preserve.

This was purely an economic decision with no regard to the harm this would cause to the ecosystems associated with the two creeks.

This decision making process is not surprising, The American conversation about protecting the environment began in the same year as the railroad daylighting construction project. In 1962, Rachel Carson released her book titled “Silent Spring”, which attacked indiscriminate use of pesticides. This book began to raise the awareness of human impact on our environment, which lead to the creation of the EPA on December 4, 1970.

Since 1962 we have learned that a stream is a system. It includes more than just the water flowing between the banks. There is also a zone of wet sediment and small stones, full of tiny creatures just below the streambed called the hyporheic zone. This zone keeps the waterway healthy by regulating critical physical, biological, and chemical processes, including riverbed aeration, water oxygen levels, temperature moderation, pollution cleanup and food creation.

Bulldozing and channelizing of streams such as the Banklick Creek adjacent to the railroad, scours away the Hypor-he-ic zone which is critical to a health and wellbeing of the waterway.

Brushy Fork Creek now runs in a one-mile section of creek bed that once held the combined water of itself and Banklick Creek. At the old confluence of the two creeks Brushy Fork Creek gives the appearance of being in pretty good shape, additional testing would be required to verify its true status. However down stream the creek bed appears to be much larger than the water now flowing through the creek bed. Knowing the history of radically shutting off the major water source, this makes sense.

As we round the bend and approach the railroad pipe, that was installed to allow Brushy Fork Creek to enter Banklick Creek we see signs of a wetland, or marsh, being to develop. This is not how the railroad engineers envisioned the water flow.

But then again, nature has a mind of it’s own. I do not separate God from Nature, no more than I separate Mankind from God. It is my belief that a Sacred Conscience and order cycles through the heavens and earth, and all living things.

Nature does not need our help, she will heal herself from mankind’s abuse, often by destroying manmade structures and inflicting pain at subtle and disastrous levels upon mankind. We need to learn to coexist, respect, and love nature, not for the sake of protecting Nature, but for the sake of protecting Mankind.

In closing I know, there are those of you who love trains. I have included a uninterupted bonus section of a CSK North bound Freight train, running through this section of track at 5:30 PM. I was lucky enough to capture the video while research this episode,

I hope you enjoyed this episode of fishing local waters .com

In Brushy Fork Nature Preserve of Independence Kentucky, a creek just disappears. This forested, 98-acre property is managed by the Banklick Watershed Council and Kenton Conservancy. It is open to the public for hiking. To understand why this creek disappeared, we need to look closer to the adjacent railroad that forms the western border of the Nature Preserve. By standing on an overlook, in the preserve, we see Banklick Creek at the base of a sheered cliff and staying west of the railroad tracks. This is not the natural flow of this creek or the original design of the railroad. We explain what happens. Make sure you watch this episode if you like trains, tunnels, bridges and history. We also explore the important hyporheic zone of a creek. More information regarding the hyporheic zone can be found at “Thorton Creek Restoration_Urban Watershed” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jVQbIf_XqtQ parts of this video is shown within.