# Escambia river history buffs



## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

So I'm at work doing some scouting, which always works out reeeaall well, and I'm wondering about these perfectly straight lines all over the place. I see them every time i look at a map. Attached is a screen shot of the little lake south of the quintette ramp, look at all the straight lines coming from that lake. The one south of this one has the same thing, what is that? Straight lines ain't natural so where'd they come from. You can zoom all the way in on them, they're there and not just a fluke.


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## Hound_dog (Dec 18, 2010)

Crop circles? But really, maybe it was old logging lanes. Just guessing though.


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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

Logging lanes would make sense. They had to be some bad mo-fos logging in the swamp way back when!


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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

Well, did some digging on Florida's historical site, and, they were bad mo-fo's!! Several pictures from other parts of the state that show those dudes in the swamp chopping down hundreds of years old cypress and longleaf pine, all of them to be exact. That's an axe in the guys hand.


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## Hound_dog (Dec 18, 2010)

Hell to the naw.


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## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

That ain't nothin...if you're from Louisiana.


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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

I'm with hound-dog, ain't no WAY I'd get in that black, stagnant water up to my chest. They had some balls. Sure would love to see the swamp back then.


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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

Come to think of it, knocking a tree down would be a great way to make a hole in the thick stuff, and take out a spider web.


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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

I'd say logging lanes also. Very hard to notice from ground level. I'm on my phone but can you go back in time and look at an older version of the map? I bet the farther you go back the more prominent the become


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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

Try'n Hard said:


> I'd say logging lanes also. Very hard to notice from ground level. I'm on my phone but can you go back in time and look at an older version of the map? I bet the farther you go back the more prominent the become


On my phone too, but I bet you're right. I searched for historical aerial photos but couldn't find any. I think the history is awesome and wish there were more records.


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## stewart_fish (May 13, 2009)

That's pretty dang cool. Yeah screw that junk. Imagine the chafage from being in and out of that water and sweating. Wonder if they had gold Baum back then?


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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

Ever seen the river bridge at mineral springs in chumuckla? My grandpa, before he died told me how it was just two 4"x12" runners laying on the framework. He had a 3 wheel tractor and would have to rearrange the boards to drive over it, putting one in the middle and picking it up and moving it with the tractor as it went across. Lots of cool history around mineral springs


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## Hound_dog (Dec 18, 2010)

Thats awesome tryn ive always wondered about that bridge.


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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

Wonder if that's related to the old wooden posts still in the woods up that way? Look at Chumuckla springs landing and follow that little inlet straight north, that's where I saw the posts, big, 10 feet tall probably.

Nm, I think what I saw was part of the railroad that was there at some point, I'd like to see the bridge you're talking aboit.


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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

Never a railroad there as far as I know, that's part of the old bridge I think. It's metal in the river but it was wood in the swamp and back up at the old road. That place used to be full of fish camps - campers, sheds, trailers crammed all over the place. It was quite a sight before Mrs. Ann cleared it all out


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## etrade92 (Jul 30, 2015)

This is cool! Can confirm, I walk in swamps daily at work. Snakes, gators, and spiders are everywhere. If you don't look for them you won't find them!


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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

Dang I could have sworn I read about a railroad being there at some point. Either way, it's pretty dang interesting.


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## Downtime2 (Sep 27, 2007)

Shot from Mobile River delta. Seen some like these done. Barges with winches. Use a big steel nose cone to put logs behind. Pull back to water with winches and load.


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## Downtime2 (Sep 27, 2007)

These are some old skidders. Couldn't find a pic of one barge mounted. Google "steam donkey". That is the rig used on barges.
There are plenty of old RR beds around. Just gotta know where to look. Most were temporary. The beds are still around. They are all over Blackwater, for example....


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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

Yeah!! They cut em and drug them to the water. That don't seem like a fun job in August!


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## Downtime2 (Sep 27, 2007)

Seen em' on the river near Tensaw where our pipeline crosses. They still do it.


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## Spoolin Up (May 3, 2011)

My Granpa used to tell me how the floated logs from Wilkerson Bluff and points in between and they ended up at the mill at pond creek, near the shell pile. Then they would walk to the imogene theater and spend a nickel on the movie they just watched, the week before. They were men

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## simpleman (Oct 20, 2007)

Try'n Hard said:


> Never a railroad there as far as I know, that's part of the old bridge I think. It's metal in the river but it was wood in the swamp and back up at the old road. That place used to be full of fish camps - campers, sheds, trailers crammed all over the place. It was quite a sight before Mrs. Ann cleared it all out
> View attachment 622170


That thing ain't going to last much longer. My ass tight up every time I go under it now.


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## yukondog (Feb 12, 2013)

I remember hearing stories about needing to move one board in front of the other on that bridge long ago.


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## bchadcherry (Mar 11, 2009)

I have seen them too and were curious. Logging would be logical and amazing!

But it's still better than My AREA "41" crash that the government is still covering up!


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## Jason (Oct 2, 2007)

There is a big history about the north end of Santa Rosa.....spoke to ole timers about how Munson was a booming town w/a hotel and all. I actually saw a Coke bottle w/ Munson on the bottom and heard a few stories they bottled coke back in the ole days up there but can't confirm it. Also about a drive in that was up in Jay, Wade maybe able to confirm this....Heard all kinds of stories about Escambia River....I know when I was a kid and fished Escambia with a buddy and his dad, there were several buses on stilts along the river that are long gone now.....

Heck, I've been told there is an ole railway bed running through my property.....I'd love to get a detector and find some ole rail!!!!


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## Broadheadstiffshaft (Jan 24, 2015)

Yea my family is the Harris clan from molino and my grandad and his brothers used to do logging in those swamps back in the day. He said there was an old bridge went from molino over to chumuckla at some point, then some of the family settled over there. There's a neat little museum in the old molino elementary school that has old pics and tools from back then when they logged that river


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## Yakavelli (Mar 17, 2010)

I fully understand that logging went a long ways towards building our country, but wouldn't it be cool if they had left a lot of those trees alone? I can't imagine how cool it would be to hunt an old-growth swamp on Escambia river. Maybe a mature and ancient blackwater forest? Damn I wish I could look at these lands before they were destroyed by civilization.


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## Downtime2 (Sep 27, 2007)

Selective harvest and conservation were not exactly practiced back then.


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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

My thoughts exactly. I would love to see some hundreds of years old cypress, imagine how crazy that must have been. And long leaf pine just the same. I read something last night that said there were trees that could have been several hundred years old logged out of the swamp. That's nuts


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## Yakavelli (Mar 17, 2010)

Downtime2 said:


> Selective harvest and conservation were not exactly practiced back then.


Anyone ever stop to think about just how different this world would be for us outdoorsmen had people of the past stopped to think about the future...about just how badly they were raping the recources? Imagine how fishing would be now if today's regs had been in place since the 40s. It's sad how humanity was of the "take it till its gone" mentality all the way up until just a handful of decades ago. 

Sorry to derail the thread. It just got me thinkin lol


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## jspooney (Oct 2, 2007)

I have a buddy who just sold several hundred acres in Hawkinsville, Ga. I walked it with him and was in awe at how amazing it was. It had never been logged. He had a whole piece of property full of 100+ year old trees. Prettiest swamp bottom I've ever seen.


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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

jspooney said:


> I have a buddy who just sold several hundred acres in Hawkinsville, Ga. I walked it with him and was in awe at how amazing it was. It had never been logged. He had a whole piece of property full of 100+ year old trees. Prettiest swamp bottom I've ever seen.


Who'd he sell it to? A timber company? Haha, that would be something to see.


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## cwfinley19 (Jun 28, 2014)

That little lake has a lot of those lanes and if you're ground level you can see 100yrds plus down those things but they fill up with water pretty easily. You'll sink your muck boots trying to cross em lol... If you go into that lake you'll see that the bank is built up high where the brought what I'm assuming the log "boat or barge" in there because all of those lanes point directly at the lake. (cool post and pictures)


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## DLo (Oct 2, 2007)

Jason said:


> There is a big history about the north end of Santa Rosa.....spoke to ole timers about how Munson was a booming town w/a hotel and all. I actually saw a Coke bottle w/ Munson on the bottom and heard a few stories they bottled coke back in the ole days up there but can't confirm it. Also about a drive in that was up in Jay, Wade maybe able to confirm this....Heard all kinds of stories about Escambia River....I know when I was a kid and fished Escambia with a buddy and his dad, there were several buses on stilts along the river that are long gone now.....
> 
> Heck, I've been told there is an ole railway bed running through my property.....I'd love to get a detector and find some ole rail!!!!


They were still there the last time I got out of the boat to look for them, they are just a little farther in the woods from where I remember them when I was a teenager. They're on the Simpson side of the point where Escambia and Simpson Split just south of Williams, but they're in pretty bad shape. Come to think of it, I haven't been there since the flood, they may be gone after all.


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## Mossberg850 (Jan 4, 2019)

Broadheadstiffshaft said:


> Yea my family is the Harris clan from molino and my grandad and his brothers used to do logging in those swamps back in the day. He said there was an old bridge went from molino over to chumuckla at some point, then some of the family settled over there. There's a neat little museum in the old molino elementary school that has old pics and tools from back then when they logged that river





Broadheadstiffshaft said:


> Yea my family is the Harris clan from molino and my grandad and his brothers used to do logging in those swamps back in the day. He said there was an old bridge went from molino over to chumuckla at some point, then some of the family settled over there. There's a neat little museum in the old molino elementary school that has old pics and tools from back then when they logged that river


I'm a Harris. My grandfather was Walter Harris. Neil F. Harris was my great Grandfather. Although Neil had a lot of brothers and sisters, Clyde Harris and Earnest Phillip Harris were notable ones. Philip was the one that settled his side of the family in Chumuckla. Neil had kids as Cora, J.B. WT, Walter, Cecil, Albert, Jim.


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## Broadheadstiffshaft (Jan 24, 2015)

Mossberg850 said:


> I'm a Harris. My grandfather was Walter Harris. Neil F. Harris was my great Grandfather. Although Neil had a lot of brothers and sisters, Clyde Harris and Earnest Phillip Harris were notable ones. Philip was the one that settled his side of the family in Chumuckla. Neil had kids as Cora, J.B. WT, Walter, Cecil, Albert, Jim.


WT was my grandfather 


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## DLo (Oct 2, 2007)

Got me with the old post, I was reading my own post before I realized


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## OwenM (Sep 11, 2017)

There’s a fella on Facebook that talks about the history of escambia on occasion. Can’t remember his name but he’s mentioned a few cool details. There’s a turn on the north end of the river that was known for people crashing into the bank on logs, I think he said a few people perished on that bend trying to ride logs down the river.


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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

Since this got bumped back up...check this out! Found a few weeks ago. I've never seen it but I'm sure hundreds have, I thought it was pretty neat!









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## DLo (Oct 2, 2007)

sureicanfish said:


> Since this got bumped back up...check this out! Found a few weeks ago. I've never seen it but I'm sure hundreds have, I thought it was pretty neat!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


An old homestead?


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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

DLo said:


> An old homestead?


No idea. Seemed like it might have been a bridge landing as the ground behind it was noticably higher and I could still see some gravel on the ground. This is on the molino side well over 100 yards into the woods, near chumuckla.

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## Sc1006 (Apr 11, 2010)

If that is a straight ridge, could have been a base for a dummy line rail road.


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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

Sc1006 said:


> If that is a straight ridge, could have been a base for a dummy line rail road.


It's only about 12 feet in length, maybe 3 feet high. I'd love to run a metal detector around the area, if I had one

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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

I remember my grandparents talking about the river bridge in Chumuckla. Seems i remember hearing them speak about a store, houses, and the dist site for the mineral water. These would all be in the woods and rotted down by now on both sides of the river


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

Try'n Hard said:


> I remember my grandparents talking about the river bridge in Chumuckla. Seems i remember hearing them speak about a store, houses, and the dist site for the mineral water. These would all be in the woods and rotted down by now on both sides of the river


There was the remains of a bridge just north of the Molino boat launch. Parts of it were still there in the late 80s and the island right across from the mainland side still had the raised roadbed when I used to hunt that area.


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## jack2 (Mar 19, 2010)

y'all might want to check out historical maps at the univ. of ala. they have a large library online.
jack


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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

So who's got a metal detector I can use? Gonna find me some real old beer cans and nails

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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

This is awesome. Found on University of Florida website, aerial imagery from 1941! This is the chumuckla springs area. I've seen some of the supports still standing for the railway in the picture and the green x is about where I found that wall. Crazy how much it's changed!!









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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

sureicanfish said:


> This is awesome. Found on University of Florida website, aerial imagery from 1941! This is the chumuckla springs area. I've seen some of the supports still standing for the railway in the picture and the green x is about where I found that wall. Crazy how much it's changed!!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Have you ever hunted the management area around Quintet Landing? Before I went in the military in 1972, the east bank of the Escambia River had an old logging road that ran way down the river...and all that swamp east of the river was dry woods except for little sloughs and branches. Damn beaver dams flooded all that. 

There were stumps from cypress trees in there that were over 8 feet across. They were cut with 2 man buck saws.


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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

They have imagery of that area too, same year, or maybe 1940. All the star burst looking lines (which can still be seen on google maps) extending out from the obviously man made sloughs are plain as day and everywhere! They logged every inch of that swamp.

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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

Same chumuckla springs area and quintette, 1965
















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## Try'n Hard (Oct 23, 2008)

Railway? I was always under the impression the bridge was for motor vehicles


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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

Try'n Hard said:


> Railway? I was always under the impression the bridge was for motor vehicles


Maybe so, Ive always heard railway but I imagine it was just a small one for moving stuff around if at all. 

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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

sureicanfish said:


> Maybe so, Ive always heard railway but I imagine it was just a small one for moving stuff around if at all.
> 
> Sent from my Pixel 3 XL using Tapatalk


The bridge that crossed at Molino was for vehicle traffic.


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## sureicanfish (Sep 30, 2007)

That settles it then. Somebody called it a train trestle once and it stuck in my head. Still want to run a metal detector around the area...and a deer detector 

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## welldoya (Oct 5, 2007)

My wife’s grandfather showed me the remains of the old bridge at Mineral Springs probably in the late 80s or early 90s.
He lived in the area and used the bridge back then.
As I remember there were still poles and a few cross boards standing. 
We had to run the boat out into the swamp a little ways to find it. I believe it was at the north end of that inlet that Mineral Springs is on.


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

The old Molino bridge was a swing bridge that only operated from 1917 until 1929. It was a steel frame on the bridge, but the roadway on the bridge was wooden planking. The cement caissons are still in the river.


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## kingfish501 (Oct 7, 2007)

If you go to google maps, you'll see how Fairground Road in Molino in Escambia county and Molino Bridge Road in Santa Rosa line up. The caissons are still there on Escambia, but where Escambia splits up around the island, the river section on the east side of the island goes back to being called Conecuh River. I've never run that section, so I don't know if any traces of the bridge are left or not on that side.

The road to the bridge and on the island would have been either dirt or clay in 1917, so the road on the island would probably get flooded or washed away when the river was out of the banks ...not sure when the bridge at Quintette went in, but it made more sense to only have to span one river instead of two to cross from Escambia county to Santa Rosa county...


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