By Tricia Flickinger
Sunday, July 19, was a day set aside for the Salute to the Wally Railroad, held on Silver Maple Island, nestled between the Old Wally Railroad bed and the Mohican River, at the Mohican Wilderness campground. Local historians and a band came out to celebrate and reminisce about the time when the Walhonding Valley Railroad was in action.
Ann and Phil Case, of Germantown, greeted the audience with traditional folk and old-time music of the period 1892-1942. They played music from the Carter family and their contemporaries on numerous vintage instruments.
“We listened to contemporary folk singers and bluegrass musicians and we seemed to notice that of all the material that they did, what we liked best was the older songs,” said Phil Case. “We would try to play the songs like they were played back then and that seemed to sound the most like us.”
Master of ceremonies and a historical reenactor, Ken Hammontree, opened the salute dressed as a railroad conductor and began talking about change. He stated, “Life is full of changes. It’s the same way with transportation.” He summarized the role rivers and canals had on commerce and transportation in the Mohican, Walhonding and Muskingum river valleys, shortly after Ohio became a state, until the age of the “iron horse”-- railroads.
“The canal system that the state of Ohio poured hundreds of thousands of dollars into became obsolete,” Hammontree said. “Now there is only a remnant of the canal system.”
He introduced the experts who were guest speakers, including Loudonville historian Jim Sharp, and local historian and former teacher, David Greer. Sharp spoke of the history of the Wally Railroad, adding that its main purpose was hauling coal between Coshocton and Loudonville. Construction began in 1891 and was completed in the fall of 1892. Due to legal problems, the first train didn’t leave until March 20, 1893. What brought an end to the railroad was the construction of Mohawk Dam, cutting off nearly 20 miles of tracks. By the start of World War II, the bridges and rails from the railroad were donated and used as scrap for the war effort.
“It was an important railroad and lasted about 50 years,” Sharp said. “Now we have the track bed in use from Loudonville to here and you can also run on the track bed down around the valley if you know where to look.”
Greer spoke briefly of his connection with the railroad, mentioning that his great-great-grandfather’s brother, Robert, founded the village of Greer. He stated that his grandfather’s brother, Charles, had the job as station agent. That was very important because his duty was to run the telegraph, and its primary purpose was to alert them of trains coming in the opposite direction. Greer believed the railroad was not only important to commerce in the area, but also to the culture around it.
During the dinner break, Ed Bray and Elaine Koehler-Bray entertained the audience with their railroad and hobo music. Throughout the playing, Bray shared stories with the audience of his days being a real hobo.
A question-and-answer session with Hammontree, Greer and Sharp followed the performance. Before the salute ended, two surprise packages were given out to the oldest and youngest audience members who were eyewitnesses of the railroad and had the best description of their encounters. The oldest, Bob Stitzlein, reminisced about the days when he used to fish off the bridges and had to move when the train came through. The youngest with memories, Hazel Steiner, recalled being excited to see the train from inside a grocery store in Greer.
Ken Wobbecke, owner of the campground and event organizer, was unable to attend due to an illness. His wife Ann, co-owner, was pleased with the turnout and knew he would’ve loved to have been there.
“I was surprised and very happy about the turnout,” she said. “He would have been thrilled to death.”
