What vestiges of history have you encountred while fishing?

[salmonoid]

One of the truths of life is that as time marches on, the earth has a tendency to reclaim the marks that mankind leaves on it. This is a fascinating process to me; regions that were at time sprawling areas of industry and population go dead as the industry supporting the growth dies out. One of the industries in Pennsylvania that has always interested me has been the logging industry. I suppose I got my first taste of this as a teenager, as I'd hike trails like the Loyalsock Trail or the Black Forest Trail, and read the guidebooks about how in such and such a place, the trail follows the old Susquehanna and Eagles Mere railroad bed, or make mention of splash dams.

One of the cooler historical set of books that I found last year is called "The Logging railroad era of lumbering in Pennsylvania", a 13 volume set by Thomas Taber, Walter Casler, and Benjamin Kline. Each volume focuses on a geographic region or a particular aspect of the industry and have numerous photos and maps. I love seeing the photos of the old logging camps and engines and railroads that were built, although I loathe the denudation of the landscape. The whole process had the upside that the majority of our state forest land was able to be purchased by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for miniscule dollars, after the timber barons had cut everything of value, because no one else wanted the land.

On one particular stream in NC PA, I encountered numerous dozens of metal artifacts and relics from a bygone era. There are numerous photos in the one volume from a camp on that same stream and when I read that portion, I had to stop and wonder if the photos weren't of the same location I discovered up there one summer. Even more satisfying was finding at least two intact railroad rails a way upstream, straddling a tiny hollow. Water was a primary way of moving logs from the mountainsides to mill ponds, and splash dams were used to concentrate the water and send the logs downstream using a surge. The most surprising remnant of this transportation tool I found in the Allegheny National Forest one spring, while out fishing a brookie stream. There's even legacy sediment in the old impoundment area that is left above the old dam. It was pretty cool climbing up the twenty or so feet, over the old logs that are now rotting and falling down, and in the few pools formed under the logs, brookies of course were living.

Another industry that has left its impact is iron mining and forges. Remnants of old forges are still visible in various places today, although time is their enemy. Slowly the earth reclaims that which was used to extract from it.

Old stone walls, road foundations, and bridge abutments are interesting to me too. I especially like encountering them in the middle of nowhere, which reminds me that what now may seem remote and isolated was once well traveled and populated. Old buildings are some times rather blase, but I have a special affinity for stuff built during the CCC era. Not specific to fishing, I really like the rustic cabins at many of our state parks, which were built by the CCC employees.

And finally, some items are clearly man-made, but I have absolutely no idea what they were. I wonder what future generations will find from our time, and I wonder what they think the stuff they find was actually used for.

Post up the interesting historical finds you've encountered while fishing.

 

[RCFetter]

Very interesting post and great slide show. I've only bumped into the same old covered bridges that most have seen. Once, on a small stream in Bucks County I saw the remains of a very small spring house. I have to assume there once was a farmhouse and barn nearby but I saw no remains or evidence of it. I took a photo of the spring house but can't find it.

 

[streamerguy]

Cool post. I've come across an old RR trestle, a limekiln, remnants of canal locks, a rock sculpture dating back to the 1880s(back in the woods but still well known), and parts of an old hatchery. Here's the pic of the hatchery raceways...

 

[troutbert]

Nice photos and descriptions. I am into this stuff too, and keep an eye out for logging railroad grades, splash dams, etc.

The logging rr grades are extremely common. I've never counted but I think that way over 50% of the streams I fish out in the forested areas have logging rr grades following them.

If someone wants to see a really good, intact splash dam, check out the one on Eddylick Run, off DeHass Road, in the southern block of Sproul State Forest. It is shown on the state forest map. It takes a bit of a hike to get to it, but not too bad.

This is the most intact splash dam I've seen. There are many, many of them out there. But many of them are partially washed away, so not real obvious. Often you will just see a few remaining timbers and large rocks, part of an earthen berm, and the legacy sediment deposits.

Another thing that is common are the rock walls along the streams. Sometimes running right along the bank. And sometimes angling across the floodplain, with the downstream end near the bank. I think in both cases these were meant to contain the "splash."

I'm curious to know the location of the splash dam in photos 5-7.

 

[troutbert]

streamerguy wrote:
Cool post. I've come across an old RR trestle, a limekiln, remnants of canal locks, a rock sculpture dating back to the 1880s(back in the woods but still well known), and parts of an old hatchery. Here's the pic of the hatchery raceways...

Near Hickory Run?

 

[streamerguy]

Nope......well depends which Hickory Run(not a real well known one). It's not on a hickory run, but near one.

 

[wildtrout2]

Neat thread. Kevin, I took a pic of that exact set of logs on that NC stream!

I came across this cool looking concrete vault along one of the streams I fish. It may be familiar to a few. I think someone on here said it was for storing explosives from the logging, railroad, and lumber days.

 

[salmonoid]

I forgot to add that if you do fish streams in PA state forests, your access is likely eased by the roads you drive on, of which a number were at one time old logging railroads or tram roads. After the railroads were abandoned and they pulled up the rails, the flat surfaces invited other forms of travel.

As an aside, when I was out West, a lot of the history that I encountered related to remnants of mining. Of course, this was because I was there doing geologic field work, which in a lot of cases, puts you in contact with mines. In Utah, I found a desert full of abandoned uranium mines, fueled by a price spike for the yellow stuff in the 50's and 60's. In other parts of Utah, I encountered old mine adits and tunnels and buildings. And in Idaho, I found a big old stream dredge, left to rust in the middle of a stream. It had been used to dredge the stream bottom for gold.

 

[Fishidiot]

Salmonoid,
What a great thread - and neat slideshow.
Looking at that old splash dam....all I can think of is, "wow." My guess would be that the woodwork is probably American Chestnut thus explaining it having lasted so long(?). I doubt there are any splash dams in PA that are less than a hundred years old.

I'll add a pic from recent Cumberland County history....
Those of you who fished the Letort a generation ago will recognize the spot: these were Charlie Fox's benches behind his house. The giant sycamore tree is still there and a small monument is on the boulder to the left. The old benches are now moss covered, rotting away and gradually being consumed by nature. I'll never forget how Charlie spent an entire afternoon sitting on those benches in the mid 1980s patiently listening to an inquisitive teenager. It seemed like he was always there when I walked by and always had the time to listen to a kid. Everyone loved Charlie....and looking today at those broken down boards and cinder bricks, it's hard to believe that that was once a great gathering place under that giant tree.

The march of time.

 

[beerbyrnes]

I need to research the area more, but while in the UP this summer I fished a tiny stream with at least a dozen old foot bridges.

 

[dryflyguy]

Several streams that I fish have lots of canal remnants along them - and I've always been fascinated by the stonework involved in the locks.
One of the best preserved locks I've seen is along the shenango river in sharpsville. That thing looks like - with a new set of gates - it could still be used.

Also enjoy the limekilns. Many of you have probably seen the nicely preserved one that lies right along route 26 just before it goes up over the mountain to pine grove mills.
Another one lies along the little juniata just above greene hills campground.

And I've always been fascinated with the old railroad tunnels along penns creek.

Closer to home - dunbar creek has quite a few ruins of dams and other odd looking structures alongside it. I've always wondered what their purpose was

 

[osprey]

Sal.........This is a great post and since you list Lancaster as your home you may be able to answer a question i've had for probably 20 years. When i lived in Newville , my favorite trout stream nearby was Mountain creek , i chase minnows and that watershed has a few , anyhow , the stretch between the two lakes runs towards the south as you fish your way upstream , about halfway up there are numerous old foundations , very industrial looking , modern looking not really that old looking , i worked my whole life in the steel industry and these just don't look like they've been abandoned "that" long. Could you or any of you other folks be able to tell me what that was? I believe it's all public property now.THANKS

 

[dc410]

Salmonoid,
This is a really neat thread. Over the years I have also enjoyed bumping into these historical features. Old foundations from homesteads, articulately constructed stone walls, old split rail snake fences (some with only the staggered stone piles that used to support the corners of the fence), remnants of old ice dams where the homesteaders would would carve out blocks of ice for food preservation, many old charcoal flats with a maze of old washed out trails leading into them. These types of things always leave me standing there formulating a picture in my mind of what it must have looked liked "back in the day". I have failed miserably at documenting these types of features with pictures over the years. I will try to get better at that in the future. Thanks for jogging my memory and hopefully some folks will continue to post up some really cool stuff.

 

[sandfly]

the valley i live in once held over 700 residents along with the rail lines. Ansonia was a bussling little area with several saw mills in the area. My house is one of the old houses from back in that era. I have the old wag line running behind my property. Church next door is oldest building around here. I find stuff all the time buried along with native american artifacts. This valley was a indian emcampment for 1,000's of years..

 

[Swattie87]

Definitely a cool thread salmonoid. I recognize a few of the shots from your slideshow. Cool stuff.

I know of many old Union Canal relics/side channels/dam locks on Swatara Creek. Many are still very obvious. I know of one spot where I think there was a side channel used for "on the canal" repairs.

I know of several old iron furnaces, and it seems to me that nearly every small Brookie stream I fish has the remnants of a small dam on it. Usually the stream has forced its way under, through, or around it by now, but they're still there and they usually make for a pretty good plunge pool below.

Two more interesting finds worthy of mention:

1. Abandoned ski lodge ruins on a Poconos stream. This one's pretty well known and I'm sure there are other board members who have seen it. I won't mention the stream name, but pictures of this stream show up several times a year on the site.

2. Old stone railroad bridge relics over a high gradient SC stream. From a side branch of a railroad line to haul coal down the mountain to the mainline.

 

[wildtrout2]

Here's a pic of some piping that I came across while fishing a wild NW stream. It crosses the stream several times, and runs all throught the woods. I'm sure a few of you guys know the stream. I've been wondering what these pipes were used for? Also came across this stonework from an old bridge on the same stream. I'll prolly come up with a couple of other neat things as I go through my pics.

 

[tomitrout]

Most interesting thing I've found to date, other than the typical old infrastructure out in the woods, is this old beer bottle. Plucked it off the bottom of the Letort this fall while doing some streamwork, from the John S Low brewery, Carlisle, PA. Have seen similar bottles on auction, but they've all been clear glass and not the brown. Guessing it's from the 1890's, still need to take it into the Historical Society to see what they think.

 

[Skip16510]

How an old Dynamite Factory?

NC Pa

 

[tulenkot]

Many of you may recognize these ruins on a popular NE brookie/brown creek. There are many rumors as to their origins but a good source has told me that it is whats left of the Seven Pines Inn. It was destroyed in the great pocono flood of 1955 when every brookie trickle in the area became a raging torrent. I have also been told that during prohibition, it operated as a speak easy.

 

[sapper6]

This is a very interesting post to me since it is the intersection of my two hobbies, fly fishing and model railroading. I am attempting to model an old PA sawmill operation. I grew up in the Laurel Highlands fishing a brookie stream along an old railroad bed where my grandfather worked as a teamster hauling logs.

In the Lehigh Valley one of the unique things I've seen streamside is slate fence posts, slate 2x12's with three holes bored for rails.