Allegheny Portage site recalls 1834 railroad innovation ALL ABOARD!

By DAVID HURST

The (Johnstown) Tribune –Democrat

CRESSON, Pa.

It was dubbed an engineering marvel.

And as history would have it, a short –lived one.

But when it was new, the Allegheny Portage Railroad meant much more to the state of Pennsylvania.

“Pennsylvania was building the Main Line Canal to connect one side of the state to the other, and it had a mountain in the way,” national park Ranger Doug Bosley said.

The Allegheny Portage Railroad was the state’s $2 million answer.

Constructed as a more than 36 –mile –long system of rails and inclines, it served as the first true transportation system through the Allegheny Mountains’ rugged terrain, serving as a vital link in a direct east –to –west passage for passengers, merchants and millions of pounds of goods annually.

It did so in what then seemed like a rapid pace, up to 18 miles per hour, that allowed goods to travel from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh in four days, rather than four weeks by wagon, Bosley said.

A nearly 1,300 –acre Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site park near the Cresson –Blair County border preserves that story today.

Canal competition and creativity

Pennsylvania’s Main 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 360 –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 in 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 incline, coal –fired stationary engines lifted 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 Hollidaysburg. But in those days, it was nothing compared to the alternative of slow –moving wagons.

Bacon and Lemons

The 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’s height.

Trains 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 includes blasting a hole for the nation’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 –mile 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 The Lemon 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 in 1997, he said.

What is clear is that Lemon’s family became quite wealthy in their perfectly situated stone house on top of the Cresson Summit, Bosley added.

Bosley said the Lemon family “found pretty much every way they could to take advantage of the railroad crossing on their property.”

They sold stone and wood early on, and even firewood for locomotives once the Allegheny Portage was in operation, he said.

They had wells that powered steam 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, consequence

The 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 usually struck by is the color scheme. Some walls are blue. The barroom is bright yellow ... and there’s a colorful mix of furniture,” he said. “That was the style during that era. The more color the better.”

Historians often note that just about everyone made money on Pennsylvania’s canal except Pennsylvania.

And in the fast –moving industrial age, what was 1830s –era innovation was quickly old news.

The canal and its Allegheny Portage Railroad lasted for 19 years, but in reality, it was already outdated 10 years after it opened, Bosley said.

New developments led the rail industry’s captains to build locomotives suddenly powerful enough to climb grades steep enough that the Pennsylvania Railroad could bypass the canal system – and, of course, in less time.

“The state tried to keep pace,” Bosley said.

“They put in another $2 million to bypass the tunnel, and by 1855, all of the Allegheny Portage incline was bypassed. But it didn’t matter.”

The state couldn’t compete while still relying on sections of slow –moving canal. And after accruing a heavy debt to build and support the system, it couldn’t afford to keep investing, given that the state – and the entire eastern U.S. – was trying to recover from a major economic downturn, historical accounts show.

By 1857, the entire system was sold to the Pennsylvania Railroad for $7.5 million – less than it cost to build it decades earlier.

The railroad only wanted it to gain the special charter necessary to haul freight west of Harrisburg, Bosley said.