 In 1883 the Jersey Shore , Pine Creek and Buffalo Railway opened , following the creek through the gorge . The new railroad used the relatively level route along Pine Creek to link the New York Central Railroad ( NYC ) to the north with the Clearfield Coalfield to the southwest , and with NYC @-@ allied lines in Williamsport to the southeast . By 1896 the rail line 's daily traffic included three passenger trains and 7 @,@ 000 @,@ 000 short tons ( 6 @,@ 400 @,@ 000 t ) of freight . In the surrounding forests , log drives gave way to logging railroads , which transported lumber to local sawmills . There were 13 companies operating logging railroads along Pine Creek and its tributaries between 1886 and 1921 , while the last log drive in the Pine Creek watershed started on Little Pine Creek in 1905 . By 1900 the Leetonia logging railroad was extended to the headwaters of Fourmile Run , which has several high waterfalls that prevented logs from being floated down it . In 1903 the line reached Colton Point and Bear Run , which is the northern border of the park today . Lumber on Fourmile Run that had been previously inaccessible was harvested and transported by train , initially to Leonard Harrison 's mill at Tiadaghton . When that mill burned in 1905 , the lumber went to the Leetonia mill on Cedar Run in Elk Township . 
