•Scenic – The scenic beauty of the Mohican and Walhonding Valleys was here well before the Wally Railroad was built.  It was restricted to a few river travelers and remote villages.  This all changed when in 1893 the Wally Railroad opened a 45 mile connecting route from Coshocton to Loudonville.  The surroundings of the Wally Road abound with forested hill tops, deep ravines, wetlands, and rich soil bottom lands cuddled by the Mohican River.

• Historic- This new rail route opened up this secluded area to reveal the scenic wonders that was created by the last great glacier.  This route was considered one of the most scenic train rides in Ohio. The Walhonding Valley Railroad is now long gone.  The pristine beauty that it unraveled is still in place today.   It is now almost fifty-five years later and we need to save what is left and build on that; a touch of the past to share with future generations.  The historical integrity of the Wally Road Scenic and Historical Road will be entrusted to Knox County and the Loudonville Historical Society, under the direction of Jim Sharp, the inspiring author of the Wally Walhonding Valley Railroad.   The future of this land is threatened today by encroachment of new ownership.  The new owners are responsible people and have a strong stewardship of their land.  What is missing is a theme like “A Touch of the Past Preserved for the Future”, to provide a common stewardship of the property owners.  The common stewardship can now develop team efforts to save our history and protect our environment.

•Recreational- The recreational development in the last 30 years has brought vast numbers of people into this area.  The flow of tourists needs to be brought into a sharing partnership with the history and environment of this area.  A number of recreational facilities have already developed historical themes, such as Kenhurst, depicting the late 1800’s to early 1900’s, and Mohican Reservation producing two annual Indian Pow Wows.  The Byway could draw the various segments, recreational, business, tourist, and property owners into a common cause to save and expand what we now have.   The recreational businesses participating in historical themes, guided tours, reenactments and promotion of Wally Road Scenic and Historical Byway will be handled by an advisory panel of business owners.

•Natural- Today one can still choose any or all of the four competing seasons that garment the Mohican Valley, as to which hold court over the other; the somberness of winter, the awakening of spring, the calm tranquility of summer, or the artistry of fall.   In June 1945, the Loudonville Times reported that about four miles of the Wally roadbed had been sold to Ashland County.  The Times added, “There is hope that in the glamorous postwar epoch construction will blossom like a rose, and a scenic highway will be built on this old track bed”.  It didn’t happen.  The bridges and track bed in Knox County were sold for scrap and the land reverted back to the original owners. • •

The glacial history of the Mohican Valley watershed is complex.  Prior to the glacial advances, streams flowed in different directions.  Ice blockage caused many of these pre-glacial streams to pond, cut through divides, jump into adjacent valleys, and reverse flow.  The present Mohican Valley reversed the melting and movement of the ancient ice sheet. The pleistoceneepagh, commonly known as the Ice Age, is a small segment of geologic time spanning most of the last 2 million years of the quaternary period.  The Pleistocene ended about 10,000 years ago, which was the beginning of the Holocene of recent epoch.  The sediments deposited by the glaciers of the Pleistocene represent the first well documented deposits in Ohio since about 280 million years ago.  Erosion and non deposition during the latter part of the Permian, all of the Mesozoic era, and most of the tertiary period resulted in no preserved rock record in Ohio for this immense span of time.  Despite the comparatively short length of the Pleistocene, it has been one of the most influential geologic episodes in the cultural and economic development of Ohio sediments deposited. 

Following a relatively warm interglaciation, warmer than our present climate, ice of the Illinoisan glaciations advanced far into Ohio.  The glaciations advances are named for the states where their deposits were first studied.  The Illinoisan ice caused great drainage modification and left distinctive moraines deposits extending from southwestern Ohio to central Ohio.  Outwash deposits of the Illinoisan age are preserved as high terraces along the valley walls of the Mohican River.

The most recent ice sheet, the Wisconsinan began to form in Canada about 70,000 years ago.  However, radiocarbon dates suggest that the Wisconsinan ice did not reach Ohio until about 24,000 years ago.  This Wisconsinan deposits are well preserved because of the relatively short interval of erosion.   The changes of the Ohio landscape that were wrought by the ice sheets greatly influenced our modern culture and economy.  As the huge ice sheets melted, great volumes of melt water flowed in the Mohican River valley, carrying with it large amounts of sediment that had been scraped up by the glacier on its long journey from Canada.  This sediment consists mostly of sand and gravel and filled the Mohican valley.  Those sand and gravel deposits are an important economic resource for the construction industry.  Outwash deposits are a major source of ground water.  The Loudonville area has the largest deposit of ground water in Ohio.