Bald Eagle Valley
Rail
### Rail

Construction began in 1858 on Centre County's first railroad, the [Bellefonte and Snow Shoe Railroad](/wiki/Bellefonte_and_Snow_Shoe_Railroad "Bellefonte and Snow Shoe Railroad"), which entered the valley through the [Spring Creek](/wiki/Spring_Creek_%28Bald_Eagle_Creek_tributary%29 "Spring Creek (Bald Eagle Creek tributary)") [water gap](/wiki/Water_gap "Water gap") at Milesburg. By 1862 the line up the Wallace Run side valley, from Wingate to the timber and coal resources of [Snow Shoe](/wiki/Snow_Shoe%2C_Pennsylvania "Snow Shoe, Pennsylvania"), was completed. It ran along the stream bed to the foot of the [Allegheny Front](/wiki/Allegheny_Front "Allegheny Front"), then climbed half of the line's  vertical rise via a unique series of [switchbacks](/wiki/Zig_Zag_%28railway%29 "Zig Zag (railway)") in a steep box canyon near .

The [Pennsylvania Railroad](/wiki/Pennsylvania_Railroad "Pennsylvania Railroad") financed the construction of the [Bald Eagle Valley Railroad](/wiki/Bald_Eagle_Valley_Railroad "Bald Eagle Valley Railroad") line through the valley, along the floodplain from Tyrone to Lock Haven. When completed in 1865, it used the Bellefonte \& Snow Shoe Railroad track between Wingate and Milesburg. The Pennsylvania Railroad bought the Bellefonte \& Snow Shoe Railroad in 1881, making its former line the Snow Shoe and Bellefonte branches. The Snow Shoe branch has been abandoned, but the [Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroad](/wiki/Nittany_and_Bald_Eagle_Railroad "Nittany and Bald Eagle Railroad") [shortline](/wiki/Shortline_railroad "Shortline railroad") still runs the lines from Tyrone to Lock Haven and Bellefonte.


How did the construction of railroads affect the local ecosystem?