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\7 HIV vnuiv VLIU LVi XXpreserves that story today.Canal competition and creativityPennsylvania’s Mam Line Canal system was actually a mix of rail and waterways.It also was a reaction to New York’s Erie Canal, a game-changing 3 60-mile-long man-made system that allowed Pennsylvania’s northern neighbor to quickly move goods across the state and to parts beyond.Pennsylvania would spend a then-mammoth $10 million to build its own mix of rail lines and canals over 20 years to create its own freight path. Engineers also had to find a creative way to link the Hollidaysburg and Johnstown portions, Bosley said.State planners would end up borrowing from a method used m England to serve coal mines, combining cable-pulled inclines with railroad innovation that was still very new in the early 1820s, he said.They settled on a system that would place five inclines on each side of the mountain path, 10 in all, and run flat stretches in between.At the top of each melme,coal-fired stationary engineslifted or lowered canal boats and engines - often a few rail cars at a time - from one level to the next, Bosley said.By today’s standards, it was a slow process that often caused bottlenecks in Cresson and IIol-lidavsburg. But in those days, it was nothing compared to the alternative of slow-movmg wagons.Bacon and LemonsThe Allegheny Portage Railroad opened in 1834.At its peak, nearly 100,000 people - mainly wealthy travelers and businessmen - would travel the stretch in a year’s time.But it was freight that typically kept engine houses like the old No. 6, running, Bosley said.Approximately 20 millions pounds of bacon alone was shipped east from Pittsburgh during the railroad system’sheight.Trams carried it by the barrelful.Flour was also a common shipment, he said.The historic site’s visitor center displays a life-sized model of the type of Lafayette locomotive that might have hauled such goods.Visitors can watch a film of a fictional character’s story of his time on the canal and then his railroad work that m-cludes blasting a hole for thenation’s first railroad tunnel: the 901-foot-long Staple Bend Tunnel in Mineral Point, which is also a segment of the National Historic Site and is today part of a 2-nnle bike trail.Outside the center, visitors can explore the restored remains of Engine House No. 6 or walk a bit further to the Skew Arch Bridge.Or, like thousands of passengers once did while waiting for their locomotive’s trip up the incline, visitors can stop by TheLemon House.Built around 1832, it’s not known how many travelers - or which historical figures - might have stepped into Samuel Lemon’s stone-built family home and tavern for a rest on their way through the Alleghenies, Bosley said.Plans, contracts and documents are so elusive that period artwork and accounts from guests had to be relied upon instead during the home’s restoration m 1997, he said.What is clear is that Lemon’s family became quite wealthy m their perfectly situated stone house on top of the Cresson Summit, Bosley added.Large trucks should slow down t passing a cyclist as their air turbulence could cause the cyclii lose balance. 'Bosley said the Lemon family “found pretty much every way they could to take advantage of the railroad crossing on their property.”ENDORSED BY:They sold stone and wood early on, and even firewood for locomotives once the Allegheny Portage was in operation, he said.Healthy Adams County andt Healthy Adams Bicycle! Pedestrian, Inc.SL0MOTORIST SAFETY UThey had wells that poweredsteam locomotives.And when they stumbled across a coal seam on their property, they were more than happy to sell it to the state to fuel their engine houses, he said.Colors, consequenceThe now-restored Lemon House offers a glimpse into the family’s lives, Bosley said, noting that the family occupied much of the house’s second floor, while operating their tavern below.One thing visitors are usual-ly struck by is the color scheme.trying to recover frc economic downturn accounts show.By 1857, the ent was sold to the Pe Railroad for $7.5 nn than it cost to build earlier.The railroad only a gain the special cha sarv to haul freight v nsburg, Bosley said.“They immediate! whole tiling down. T up the rails ... and n he said.VOTEFDRTHRIFT STOREMake us your Pick of the County!We work hard to be your favorite Thrift Store!3560 Fairfield Road, GettysburgTuesday-Thursday 10-6; Friday-Saturday 10-3/V g-yREGULAR
Newspaper Details
Gettysburg Times
Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, US
Sat, Aug 20, 2016
Page 24
Full Page
Clipped by
Altoona A.
PA, USA 05 Sep 2018
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