The State of Virginia is divided into five physiographic
regions. They are the Appalachian Plateau Province, Valley and
Ridge Province, Blue Ridge Province, Piedmont Province, and Coastal
Plain Province. Scott County lies in the Valley and Ridge Province
and is characterized by long linear ridges with an elevation of
1,000 to 4,500 feet separated by valleys. It has a trellis drainage
pattern.
A trellis drainage pattern looks like a common garden trellis.
It develops in folded topography. The down-turned folds called
synclines form the valleys where the stream runs. Tributaries run
down the sides of parallel ridges called anticlines. The
tributaries enter the main stream at nearly right angles. This can
be seen straight in front of you where Copper Creek enters the
Clinch River. Copper Ridge has separated Copper Creek from the
Clinch River to this point. Copper Creek has a drainage area of 345
km2 and is 97 km long. Clinch Mountain is the parallel ridge
running with the Clinch River. It is 150 miles in length and runs
mostly in a southwest-northeast direction. For its entire length,
Clinch Mountain has only two true gaps. At these two gaps Clinch
Mountain is cut in half by a creek and continues as Clinch Mountain
on each side. The Wilderness Road used the Moccasin Gap at what is
now Weber City, Virginia. If you traveled here from the south you
passed through Moccasin Gap.
The rocks of this area are generally classified as sedimentary.
You are in a fold and trust belt. In an area like this softer rock
is eroded and the more resistant rock stands out as ridges or
mountains. These ridges and streams formed a great barrier to
earlier settlers.
At this spot the Clinch River, Copper Creek, and Troublesome
Creek come together to create a challenge to travel and commerce.
Daniel Boone and thirty axmen cut part of the Wilderness Road
through this area. This became one of the most dangerous spots to
cross in high water.
After settlers traveled north and opened the coalfields the
problem became getting the coal out to market. A spectacular feat
of engineering can be seen here at the Speers Ferry Trestles.
Towering 167 feet above Copper Creek where it enters the Clinch
River it is an impressive site.
From the sign The Wilderness Road Crossing of the Clinch
River at the above coordinates:
“In 1775 Daniel Boone and a group of axmen,
following a Native American trade route, blazed a trail from the
Anderson Blockhouse to a site on the Kentucky River. This trail,
later to become the Wilderness Road, traversed 200 miles of
wilderness and encountered a number of natural barriers. One of
these was the Clinch River. The gorge has been widened by
considerable blasting and rock removal to make room for the modern
highway and railroad, but in the Eighteenth Century it afforded
passage only for Troublesome Creek. This creek got its name from
the trouble it gave travelers trying to follow it though the gap to
the river.
The ford was a shelf of rock that was usually safe, but
dangerous in high water. In 1779 a party of militia almost drowned
while crossing the river here.”
From the Copper Creek Railroad Trestles sign:
“At 167 feet over the Copper Creek – the
Clinchfield Junction, the Copper Creek viaduct was one of the
tallest railroad bridges in the Eastern United States. Construction
of this trestle and fifty-five tunnels opened up coal deposits in
Virginia and Kentucky via a superbly engineered direct rail route
to the Carolinas, Georgia, and Florida. Prior to its completion,
alternate rail routes to these markets were over one hundred miles
long and featured some of the steepest grades in the United
States.”
To recieve
credit for a find you must post a picture (optional) of yourself in
front of the trestles and email the answers to the following four
questions:
From the sign The Wilderness Road Crossing of the Clinch
River:
1. How many yards east of the bridge does Troublesome Creek
enter the Clinch River?
2. From Hamilton’s Diary what date did British Governor
Henry Hamilton cross the Clinch River?
From the Copper Creek Railroad Trestles sign:
3. What company built the taller trestle?
4. In what year was it built?
Thanks go to VDOT for an excellent overlook and permission to
place this earthcache.
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