Expedition Team: Dave Miller, Rosie Miller
Expedition Date: January 2016
I was joined by intrepid, circumspect explorer Rosie Miller. Temperature was 38 degrees made cooler by a wind chill. We parked and literally walked across history as we trekked across the former site of the Miami-Erie Canal which ran north-south where Dryden Road exists today. At the excavation site, we continued to unearth the original brick highway which is one to three inches underground. We cleared grass, dirt and light weeds. Rosie found the edge of the brick road on the south side. I unearthed within six inches of the edge of the north side of the brick road. We measured a width of over 11 feet. We also discovered underground the green metal sign with a “R” on it which Rosie holds in one of the photos. Must be an old sign to signify “railroad”. I tried to remove a brick but the 130+ year old road is still mortared in solid after all these years. I will have to research how to remove a brick from the edge of the highway. One of the photo’s is a circa 1910 map showing the Cincinnati-Dayton Pike which was at ground level (no railroad overpass). In the map you can see the Cincinnati, Dayton & Lake Erie Interurban Transit Line trolley tracks ran parallel to the road and did have an overpass in West Carrollton where it passed over the Miami & Erie Canal. Between the interurban trolley line and South Dixie Drive there is no Waffle House, no pawn shop, no hotel, no WDTN Channel 2 building and no Frisch’s Restaurant.
