With the arrival of the train to Friendsville in 1889, the Yough Manor Lumber Co. extended the tracks upriver two miles to service a sawmill. A. Knabb and Company had already set up a stave mill for barrels in 1891 and the town’s name became Krug, after Henry Krug one of the company officials. The Kendall Lumber Co. bought the land to begin logging operations further upstream and was shipping out 3.5 million board feet a day. The rail line was to extend to Oakland but it never did. Narrow gauge temporary rail lines extended from Kendall on to National Falls where sheer cliffs required a bridge to cross the river. The narrow gauge railway pushed further up various hollows and Youghiogheny tributaries as far as Sang Run and Swallow Falls.
In the early 1900’s on Sundays after church, Friendsville residents would take an enjoyable train ride up to Kendall to picnic. B&O Officials would also come to hunt, enjoy nature and stay in the big log building known as the “Clubhouse”. The supposedly inexhaustible timber resources collapsed around 1912 but the train continued to carry coal from the valley. Kendall residents left in the years that followed. The railroad tracks were removed to Confluence, PA in 1942, prior to the filling of the Yough Lake.
Visitors can now hike two miles from town to Kendall (and beyond) on the old railroad bed into the Youghiogheny River Wild and Scenic Corridor. Youghiogheny is a Shawnee name (YO-WAH-HO-NAY) for “river that flows in a contrary direction” (locals call it the “YAWK”).
The town of Kendall was on the west side of the river at Laurel Run. You must wade the river to get to it. So be wary of dam releases! Little remains, except for a few overgrown foundations and perhaps the spirit of a town and residents long gone.
Description: This short (out and back – 3 miles round trip) trail runs along the Youghiogheny River upstream from Friendsville, MD. It follows an 1890s era railbed to an old logging community called Kendall (originally Krug). Little remains of the town of Kendall but in its heyday this busy mining and lumber town was the southern terminus of the Confluence & Oakland Railroad and the beginning of the Krug Lumber Railroad that had narrow guage rail lines extending throughout the river valley.
NOTE: Trail is muddy during the spring and icy in the winter. Please stay on the trail at its terminus in Kendall as portions of area are privately owned.
Use: Day Hiking, Leashed Pets
Difficulty: Easy
Directions: From McHenry, take 219 North to Route 42 toward Friendsville, MD. Follow Route 42 for approx. 7 miles. Take a right on First Avenue and a left on Oak Street.
Special Thank You To Garrett Trails
Suggested Reading
The Little Town in Woods, by Chris Preperato