 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 with the Clearfield Coalfield . 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 . The west rim , which became Colton Point State Park , had a logging railroad by 1903 , which was able to harvest lumber on Fourmile Run that had been previously inaccessible . The old @-@ growth forests were clearcut by the early 20th century and the gorge was stripped bare . Nothing was left except the dried @-@ out tree tops , which became a fire hazard , so much of the land burned and was left barren . On May 6 , 1903 the Wellsboro newspaper had the headline " Wild Lands <unk> " and reported landslides through the gorge . The soil was depleted of nutrients , fires baked the ground hard , and jungles of blueberries , blackberries , and mountain laurel covered the clearcut land , which became known as the " Pennsylvania Desert " . Disastrous floods swept the area periodically and much of the wildlife was wiped out . 
