Satan's Kingdom

As the CNE came up the east side of the Farmington River from Cherry Brook They had a choice - follow the river through the gorge or go up and over a mountain. They chose the river and gorge for obvious reasons but there was a complication - The Canal Line Railroad had beaten them through the gorge and had taken the easiest route up the west side. This forced the CNE to blast a shelf out of the rock on the east side. Once they reached the upper end of the gorge they had room to cross to the west bank and run side by side with the Canal Line.

This is taken from the west bank looking at the remaining abutment of the CNE bridge over the river.

This is the remains of the bridge after the flood of 1955. This picture was taken from the top of the abutment in the picture above. The abutment in the center of the picture has been torn down as shown below.

I was standing on the remains of the west abutment and aimed across the river at the east abutment. What is left of the Canal Line in this area has been made into a hiking trail (it is rough with many slippery boulders to climb over - be careful!) the hike is a very beautiful one for those that are adventurous.