Allegheny Portage Railroad / McConnells Mill
Pennsylvania to Ohio | Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site | McConnells Mill State Park | October 2023
We awoke in our van in Buchanan State Forest, feeling much better and well rested — it’s amazing what a full night of sleep and not waking up to a 4:30 alarm will do for you! We enjoyed breakfast and fresh air while Charlotte sniffed around our campsite, then after planning some fun stops for our day we packed up and got on the road.
We began our drive heading slightly North towards new counties, as well as a means of getting around Pittsburgh. We followed I-99 North towards Altoona before getting off on US-22, which we followed West a short distance where we stopped at the Allegheny Portage Railroad NHS.
Where we stopped was at the top of one of the many ridges that make central Pennsylvania so interesting and beautiful. But those North-South ridges also make East-West travel very difficult. Fortunately, modern highways allow us to cross the mountains with ease by either making tunnels or simply cutting gaps through them. But in the early 19th century, that level of work was just not financially or engineeringly feasible. At that time, the primary mover of large freight was by barge and canal. Canal projects across the eastern sea-board flourished during this time: The Santee Canal in SC (1780’s), the Erie Canal (1825), C&O Canal (1831), I&M Canal (1848), and even the Susquehanna River was made navigable by canal by the 1840’s.
But each of these projects either made an existing river navigable by bypassing rapids, or spanned relatively shallow portages between navigable water. To get from the Chesapeake Bay to the Ohio River Basin through the heart of Pennsylvania, barges would have to cross the mountains, and cutting a canal just wasn’t an option (It wouldn’t be until the 20th century that man-kind would successfully cut a canal through a mountain with the opening of the Panama Canal).
Instead, engineers and entrepreneurs, aided by the Pennsylvania legislature, opted to haul the canal boats and freight up over a gap in the mountains using steam hoists. Large steam engines would haul the cargo up an incline, and then mules would haul the freight along the straightaways to the next incline where the cycle would repeat. From Hollidaysburg in the East to the summit, there were 5 inclines, with another 5 on the way to Johnstown. During its operation, people were able to travel from Philadelphia to Pittsburgh in about 4 days. And the Allegheny Portage Railroad was an amazing feat of Engineering, and contributed many significant inventions in the realm of mechanical engineering. But these advances also lead to its obsoleteness. Soon, the steam locomotive were able to replace the engine houses entirely, and by 1852, the company was liquidated.
Today we enjoyed a walk through the woods near the visitor center and down to an old Wayside house and the remains of the Engine House, where there were some great exhibits on the engineering principles at work and refined here. We walked down one of the inclines for a while, ultimately trying to see one of the original bridges used on the incline, but found it to be across a busy highway. Fortunately, it was a beautiful and warm day, and the leaves were still in peak color, so we didn’t mind just walking for the sake of walking.
From here we continued further West where we stopped for an early afternoon walk at McConnells Mill State Park. We followed the road signs to the actual mill, but soon found ourselves on very tight one-way roads with no parking. Once we navigated our way out, we parked at a trailhead and followed a short trail (part of the North Country Trail) along the creek back to the mill. The mill was built in 1868 using a more advanced ‘water turbine’ instead of the less efficient water wheels that most people think of.
We walked around and through the barn and enjoyed the autumn air, the beautiful colors, and the historic covered bridge and mill. Since the trail down was a bit rocky and rooty, for Charlotte’s sake we opted to walk the road back passing between and around the sandy cliffs. Back at the car, we continued our drive West into Ohio, claiming some new counties and avoiding the major cities. We ultimately settled down for the night in Mohican State Park & Forest near Loudonville, OH.
