What vestiges of history have you encountred while fishing?

[salmonoid]

Fishidiot wrote:

osprey wrote:
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 ,

It's super secret military and I could tell you but, as the old saying goes....I'd have to kill you. :-D

Anyway, kidding aside, I think what you're describing is the ruins of old Camp Sharpe. This was established during WWII on the old Pine Grove Furnace CCC camp. It really was super secret at the time. There were Axis prisoners kept there for interrogation.
There was a rather large German POW camp here in Gettysburg just a few yards from where I'm typing this. The prisoners here in G-burg were mainly Wehrmacht guys from the Africa Korps. According to old time local folks, the camp up in Michaux was for hard core SS types and it's even rumored that there were Japanese prisoners there too. Local legend around here also claims that the D-Day maps for France were drafted at this site.

David,

Is this different/in addition to Camp Michaux (northwest of Pine Grove Furnace SP)? The foundations that I think osprey is talking about are right beside the creek, between the two lakes. I just turned up with some quick Googling that Camp Sharpe was the one in Gettysburg, and was commanded by the same guy who commanded Michaux.

 

[Fishidiot]

salmonoid wrote:
t
David,

Is this different/in addition to Camp Michaux (northwest of Pine Grove Furnace SP)? The foundations that I think osprey is talking about are right beside the creek, between the two lakes. I just turned up with some quick Googling that Camp Sharpe was the one in Gettysburg, and was commanded by the same guy who commanded Michaux.

Oopps, I was confused about Osprey's spot.
Camp Sharpe, or the Pine Grove camp, actually has some remnant buildings and is fairly close by.
Yes, "Camp Sharpe" was what they called the one here in Gettysburg and I believe they were commanded by the same guy. The portion in Gettysburg is completely gone but had two stockades, one of which is the Boy Scout camp field on the battlefield today. Old time locals call the one up on Pine Grove by the same name or just "the other part up at Pine Grove" or similar stuff. The camp here in G-burg was just a POW camp whereas the section up at PG supposedly had all sorts of intelligence functions.

 

[tomitrout]

Yerah, Camp Michaux was a POW camp after it was a CCC camp and was then a summer camp that got used by a couple different church groups up thru the 60's I believe. Never found it, but there are some carvings in the stone at a culvert that passes under Michaux Road that date back to the POW time period. There's been work to restore the old barn wall, they've rerouted the AT and there's apush to create a self guided walking tour of the camp. http://historicalsociety.com/Camp_Michaux.html

The ruins Osprey is speaking of are remnants of the 'town' that flourished while PineGrove was a bustling iron furnace I believe. These were not part of the POW/CCC camp. Along Mtn Creek off the hiker/biker path there're some concrete pads and what I've been told is the 'frame' of an old filled in swimming pool, but probably just a concrete building foundation. Why would they build a pool in between the two lakes? Cumberland County Historical Society recently had a full installment about Pine Grove that was very interesting, not sure if it's still there or if it's been replaced by a new feature installment. The John S Low bottle I posted earlier is connected to Pine Grove thru the old ice house that used to be on Laurel Lake, which was run by the same John S. Low. CCHS has a great little book about the area with some really cool old photo's. Amazing how 'developed' that area once was, and the pictures of Fuller Lake before they flooded it are kinda crazy too. There's supposedly still some digging equipment in the bottom of the lake that got left behind...

Another spot I've lightly explored is up in Stoney Creek Valley, there are ruins of the old town way up along the rail trail there. A fella we ran into while mtn biking up there about 20 yrs ago pointed out some of the old stone foundations and cornerstones.

 

[csoult]

You may be able to find some answers Here. Been to a few of these, it's pretty interesting.

 

[kbobb]

I was cutting thru the woods between loops of the creek and I cam across about a dozen headstones in the woods maybe 50 yds from the stream. The inscriptions were not readable but they were pretty old. They are currently on SGL.
About 3 yrs later I was on the same stream BSing with an old guy who said his family lived in the valley before it was SGL - I asked him about the headstones and he said they are his family markers from many years ago.
Kinda cool

 

[L_soult]

csoult wrote:
You may be able to find some answers Here. Been to a few of these, it's pretty interesting.

Good one. I stumbled across this a few years back when I was looking up my old backpacking destination of Wister. Foundations, pit mines, incline plane, old railsbackpacking and a blast furnace.I often thought about revisiting it as a ffisherman. Wisterer run is pool-drop for 4 miles.

 

[sandfly]

been collecting these old slyvania light bulbs along Pine creek where a train wreck was in the forties. They get washed out of the ground where they buried the boxes after the wreck.

 

[just_jon]

About 35 years ago, I came across 20' tall pieces of 6"x6" angle iron standing on opposite sides ofbLaurel Riun in western Perry Co. After talking to some old timers who grew up during the timber boom in that valley, I learned they were used as supports for dams constructed of boards. Purpose was to back up the water so that logs could be floated to a mill about 9 miles downstream. Upon filling up with logs, they would dynamite the dam. Process was repeated as many times as necessary to get the wood to the mill. I've found 3 sets since about a mile apart.

Another man made object I find interesting are stone fences. There is one fense along Connodoguinet Creek above Letterkenny Reservoir that must be 4' tall by 8' wide and over 300 yards long. I've seen hundreds of these fences, but never one so wide. I could literally drive my F-150 on it.

 

[PennypackFlyer]

I sometimes come across some old farts that are full of history. It's good to hear there stories of how it was back in their days.

 

[bikerfish]

csoult wrote:
You may be able to find some answers Here. Been to a few of these, it's pretty interesting.

Coty, thanks for the link, those make good motorcycle destinations, my girlfriend loves checking out old abandoned stuff.

 

[dryflyguy]

csoult wrote:
You may be able to find some answers Here. Been to a few of these, it's pretty interesting.

I've been to several of these ghost towns also.

curtin village is pretty neat - and some great fishing nearby.

pithole was just a few old foundations, and not very interesting IMO

Went to somerfield during one of the last bad drought years we had.
It normally lies about 50 feet under the surface of yough river lake where route 40 crosses it. But was very much exposed that year. There is a beautiful stone arch bridge that is still quite intact, and we were able to walk over it

 

[blueheron]

I sometimes find old dump sites next to streams, ususally I'll dig for a while to find glass or iron items and stash some to hang on the wall or put on the tying table, only, of course , if the fishing is slow.

 

[springer1]

Lots of arrowheads. All quartz, most broken and all in several concentrated areas .... a local College Professor told me they were discarded because they had chipped when being made- and thus the areas would have been encampments.

Also numerous stone knives from the same locations - if I didn't know what to look for, I would not have recognized them for what they were.

 

[rrt]

Interesting to hear that Penny... likes to run into old farts. I guess I qualify as one.
Lots of stuff along many streams, as many of you have noted. I wouldn't dig thru old dumps, though!
Best-preserved lime kilns I know of are located at Canoe Creek State Park along Mary Ann's Creek, which the local chapter (John Kennedy -- Blair County) did stream work along several years ago. I have seen a couple old iron forges that are falling into disrepair, many old building foundations, dynamite houses, etc. in my travels. Unlike a lot of you, I don't actively seek them, but when I see such things, I do wonder what life was like for those who relied on them, esp the colliers who tended the old charcoal hearths scattered around the mountains. A tough life!

 

[troutbert]

Philadelphia, like many urban areas, has numerous buried streams. This is described and shown very well with maps here:

http://www.phillyh2o.org/creek.htm

 

[SBecker]

sandfly wrote:
been collecting these old slyvania light bulbs along Pine creek where a train wreck was in the forties. They get washed out of the ground where they buried the boxes after the wreck.

Nevermind

 

[PennKev]

just_jon wrote:
Purpose was to back up the water so that logs could be floated to a mill about 9 miles downstream. Upon filling up with logs, they would dynamite the dam. Process was repeated as many times as necessary to get the wood to the mill.

The same thing was done on Oil Creek during low-water periods to transport oil.

just_jon wrote:
Another man made object I find interesting are stone fences. There is one fense along Connodoguinet Creek above Letterkenny Reservoir that must be 4' tall by 8' wide and over 300 yards long. I've seen hundreds of these fences, but never one so wide. I could literally drive my F-150 on it.

I've seen the same sort of structures along creeks where there were once mills. I think they were built to support mill races.

 

[afishinado]

troutbert wrote:
Philadelphia, like many urban areas, has numerous buried streams. This is described and shown very well with maps here:

http://www.phillyh2o.org/creek.htm

Very interesting. Thanks for the link, Dwight.

 

[Haywood]

I have a cabin in on the Francis branch of Slate Run and find this history fascinating as well. I've been going up there my whole life and I am still struck at looking at the old rail beds and mule trails. Its amazing to see the beds and trails coming and going up and down the mountains in every direction and while hunting walking back in remote hollows and seeing the old foundations of the logging camps. Everytime I see an apple tree back in the middle of no where I wonder what it must of been like to live back deep in the woods with no accomadations. I have several good books on the subject and still read them at times. I find the town of Leetonia fascinating, to know that 4,000 people lived there at one time, you wouldn't believe it, if it wasn't written in a book. Ill often get out and look at the headstones on the old graves in the middle of no where. A lot of young children didn't make it through those conditions. Those forests had some larger trees with very little sunlight reaching through but that was the lumber boom of the late 1800's and Williamsport was the lumber capitol of the country. I often think about what the Pine Creek must of been like before the forest was clear cut. I would think it was a lot more narrow and deeper and darker with giant brook trout. Thanks for starting this thread, it got me thinking of a different time.

 

[Volksnurse]

troutbert wrote:
Philadelphia, like many urban areas, has numerous buried streams. This is described and shown very well with maps here:

http://www.phillyh2o.org/creek.htm

Neat. I grew up in Frankford and remember Franckford Creek as being more concrete lined storm drainage than creek...and very dirty water.