Portage Railroad Research Articles

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

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.

Climbing the Mountain: The Allegheny Portage Railroad

In this article the author describes the historical Allegheny Portage Railroad, built in Pennsylvania between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh in the earlier 19th century as an economic competitor for the Erie Canal trade route. Despite many technical complications with building a canal over the Allegheny mountains, the state of Pennsylvania proceeded by connecting two stretches of canal on the east and west with a railway through the mountainous regions where a canal would not be feasible. Also required of the line was the first railway tunnel constructed in the U.S. The railway was divided into two sections: levels and planes. The former of these were flat regions in the mountains where the railcars could be pulled along by horses and locomotives. Much of these loads were intermodal carriages designed to carry cargo by boat along the canal as well as on the rail. Plane regions were slopes where railcars were hauled using stationary steam engines and ropes. While the system was never a success economically for the state, the inventiveness and originality of the design are noted as an important landmark in the history of transportation in the U.S.

OregonScape

OREGONSCAPE RECORDED HISTORYMEETS geologic history in theColumbia RiverGorge. Millions of years ago, flowsof volcanic basalt covered the landscape, then IceAge floods carved a channel through the rock,allowing theriverto reach thesea.The cliffsalong theedge of theGorge provide evidence of those geologic forcesatwork. Explorers and pioneers named twobasalt landmarks in theGorge Cape Horn. Lower Cape Horn ison the Washington side of the river,opposite Bridal Veil, and Upper Cape Horn? shown inthis1867photograph byCarleton E.Watkins? was on theOregon side of the riverbetween Tenmile Rapids and Celilo Falls. Those fallsand narrows comprised a twelve-mile obstruction tonavigating theColumbia. As steamboats could not get through the rapids except during extremehighwater, theOregon SteamNavigation Company (OSN) built a portage railroad in theearly 1860s to transportfreight and passengers past therapids.The Oregon company transported Watkins, his camera and equip ment, and his travelingparty along the river when he visited in 1867. By the twentiethcentury,hydropower had became a priority forboosters and developers, and many of the landmarks familiar to pioneers disappeared as dams changed the character of the river fromwild and rocky towide and navigable.When thegates atThe Dalles Dam were closed in 1957,thewater began a rise of eighty-fivefeet,creating Lake Celilo and submerging Upper Cape Horn and Celilo Falls. Today, theonly Cape Horn leftalong theColumbia River Gorge is in Washington. ?Mikki Tint, Special Collections Librarian, OHS Research Library ...

BUTTERFLY COMMUNITIES IN TWO PENNSYLVANIA NATIONAL PARKS

Butterfly communities were inventoried at two national parks, Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site (ALPO) and Johnstown Flood National Memorial (JOFL), Pennsylvania, in 1998. Information on presence, abundance, and distribution of butterflies is important to National Park Service personnel, who are mandated to manage the biodiversity of natural resources. As large tracts of public lands, such as national parks, become more insular with increased habitat fragmentation, they will become increasingly valuable for the long-term maintenance of faunal diversity and the functional integrity of ecosystems in the eastern United States. Surveys were conducted monthly from late spring to early fall along two transects in ALPO and one in JOFL. Twenty-eight butterfly species were noted in the study. At ALPO, most species and individuals were found along open (non-wooded) sectors of the transects, including Phyciodes tharos (Drury) (Pearl Crescent), Boloria bellona (F.) (Meadow Fritillary), and Thymelicus lineola (Ochs.) (European Skipper). At JOFL, the most abundant butterfly was T. lineola. We observed 27 of 110 flowering plant species being used as nectar sources by butterflies on 200 occasions in both parks combined. At both parks, an effort should be made to develop mowed lawns into unmowed grasslands to increase their use by butterfly species by providing habitat for wildflowers (nectar sources).

The Allegheny Portage Railroad.

The Allegheny Portage Railroad.

The Old Portage Railroad in Pennsylvania

The Old Portage Railroad in Pennsylvania

Explosion of the locomotive engine “Bush Hill,” on the portage railroad

Explosion of the locomotive engine “Bush Hill,” on the portage railroad

Wire ropes on the inclined planes of the allegheny portage railroad

Wire ropes on the inclined planes of the allegheny portage railroad