Edward Miller's contributions to the geology of the Allegheny Portage Railroad (Pennsylvania, U.S.A.)

Abstract

The Allegheny Portage Railroad was the first railroad over the Allegheny Mountains. For thirty years it connected canals in central and western Pennsylvania, hauling canal boats operating between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh over the mountains, allowing uninterrupted travel from eastern population centers to the continental interior. Edward Miller, a young Philadelphia engineer, became Principal Assistant Engineer at twenty-one. He was later Chief Engineer and/or President of numerous canals and railroads, and even served as Principal Assistant Engineer of the great Pennsylvania Railroad. Miller performed the first geological exploration of the Allegheny Mountains and, in his 1835 report, included a cross section and a box of specimens illustrating his stratigraphic units. Some of the more famous scientists of the day reported on specimens of rocks, economic minerals, and fossils found at various places along the railroad. Timothy Abbott Conrad's report of marine fossils is historically important because it was the first published report of Pennsylvanian invertebrate fossils from North America.