Cambria County Veterans Memorial Greenway

The Laurel Highlands Exploration Center will be part of the Greenway Memorial Trail and will be a come to destination for all ages to enjoy.

 A biking trial providing family members with an enjoyable view, many rest stops, overlooks, Historical Landmarks, picnic pavilion, wildfire and a huge waterfall.  The Honan Ave Hiking and Biking Trail Starts where the River Walk Trails ends on Iron Street, Picking up Honan Ave. (Please Park in the lot on Iron and Honan Ave. You will be walking a few blocks on Honan when you enter the entrance.  The 1^st overlook is about ½ mile up Trail, where you can view the remains of Rosedale Coke Plant. One mile from entrance is a large active Beaver dam.  At the 3.5mile mark is the huge water fall, a great place to rest and cool off. Do not go into creek / falls no entry allowed. The Trail continues just a short jog to the breast of Hinckston Dam, here you can rest and view the Cambria County Veterans Memorial. You then cross the bridge and make a left turn on the Hinckston Run Road. While in this area you can explore other trails well mark. Joseph P. Whipey Trail, Eagle Trail and LHHV’s newest trail Alan Partsch Memorial Trail, you travel 1 mile to the end of dam where there is a Pavilion. Here you can rest and have lunch or a just a quick rest stop. 

 The trail will then continue on reaching route 271. Be careful as you cross route 271, onto Chapel Lane, (2 blocks)  then it runs into Mineral Point Road. You follow Mineral Point Road down hill till you get to Mineral Point, (follow signs) you then cross the bridge, go thru tunnel, onto park lot on right side. Here you pick up the Staple bend Tunnel Trail, which connects with the River Walk Trail.  The loop trail is 15 miles long.

For more information call LHHV 814-241-6123

Highlights Along the Trail

As you start walking the Trail at the trail head. Look off to your right. This hollow was once used by native American Indians as a major hunting and trapping grounds.  The sad truth is the last known American Indian to be killed here was Joseph P Whipey here Is his story.

THE WIPEY AFFAIR 509 BY THE HONOURABLE JO H N P E N N ESQUIRE,

Governor and Commander in Chief of the Province of Pentylvania, and Counties of New-Cafile, Kent and Salex, on Delaware, A PROCLAMATION. SH E R E A S I have received Information that, fome Time in May laft, a certain friendly Indian W Man, called JOSEPH WIPEY , was barbaroufly murdered in the County of Cambria: v A N D W H E R E A S there is-great Reafon to believe, that J O HN HINKSO N and JAMES COOPER, of the fame County, were concerned in the. Perpetration of tte faid Murder : A N D W H E R E A S it is at all Times, but more especially in the present Situation of out ‘Affairs with the Weftern Indian Nations, of the utmost Consequence to the Peace of the Province, that the Perpetrators of such atrocious Offences, not only against the Authority of Government, but in dire& Violation of the Treaties with thofe Indians, Ihould be brought to condign and exemplary Punishment, I H A V E THEREFORE thought fit, with the Advice of the Council, to iffuie this Proclamation, AND D*O hereby firidly charge and command all Judges, Justices, Sheriffs, Conflables, and other Officers, as well as all other His Majefty’s liege Subjefts within this Province, to make diligent Search and gaquiq’ after the faid 7ohn Hinkfon and James Cooper, and to ufe all lawful Means for apprehending azqd fecuring them, that they may be proceeded againft according to Law. A N D I D 0 hereby promife and engage, thatthepublicRewardof ONE HUN D R E D P O U N D S fhall be paid to any Perfon or Perfons, who lall apprehend the faid John Hinkfion and James Cooper, and deliver them into the Cuftody of the Keeper of the Goal of either of the Counties of Lanscayfer, Tork or Cumberland, or the Sum of F I F T Y POUNDS for either of them. G IF E N under my Hand, and the Great Seal of the faid Province, at Philadelphia, tbe 7wenty-eighth Day of July, in the Fourteenth rear of His Majefly ‘s Reigx., and in the 2ear of our Lord One 7houfand Seven Hundred and Seventy-four. By His Honour’s Command, J JOSEFH SHIPPEN, jun. Secretary. G O D Save the K I N G. PHILADELPHIA :. PRINTED Dy H A L L AND S E L L E R S. Courtesy Darlinsgton Memorial Library Univertity of Pittsburgh PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY Governor Penn, acting on this suggestion, sent a personal message to the Delaware chiefs, August 6th: Brethren. I was grieved at my Heart when I heard that some of our foolish young Men had killed our brother, Joseph Wipey, and that the Virginians had killed some of your People below Fort Pitt. I was fearful that you would suffer your Young Men to take revenge upon our innocent People. But when I heard that you had a good Heart and viewed these things in their proper Light, and that you remembered the Chain of Friendship made by our forefathers, and would not take revenge upon us for what the Virginians or some of our foolish young Men had done, it gave me the greatest Satisfaction and made my mind Easy. Brethren, you may depend that so long as you are inclined to peace and friendship you shall find me in the same mind; for why should we fall out and go to murdering one another for what our foolish young people do, and what neither of us approve of? In such cases let us endeavor to find out such foolish young people and punish them for their wickedness. I have offered a reward of fifty Pounds a piece for those two wicked People who, it is said, murdered Joseph Wipey, and if they can be taken, I shall do everything in my power to have them punished . 14 As to Hinckston and Cooper, neither of them was ever brought to justice. The Wipey affair was soon forgotten and probably even condoned when the Revolution began and most of the Indians took up the hatchet against the Colonists. The name of Hinckston appears again in various records, including the Court Order establishing Wheatfield Township in April, 1775. The order makes reference to “the house that John Hinkston formerly occupied to the west of Squirrel Hill . . . , “‘5 thus indicating that he was no longer living in the area. Hinckston had previously sold his tract to Thomas Galbraith, innkeeper at Ligonier, August 29, 1774 (a “l M. St. Clair Clarke and Peter Force, American Archives, Fourth Series (Washington, D. C. 1837), I, 676. “George Dallas Albert, History of the County of Westmoreland, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1882), p. 54. 510 THE WIPEY AFFAIR little more than three months after the murder), for four hundred pounds.”6 After the outbreak of Revolutionary hostilities with the Indians in 1777, he served in various companies of frontier rangers. Vouchers of that year credit “Capt. John Hinkson” with receiving funds “for paying his company raised for the defence of the frontiers.” He is cited as having served under Colonel James Smith, and Smith himself related the following incident: In the year 1778 . . . the Indians made an attack upon our frontiers. I then raised men and pursued them, and the second day we overtook and defeated them. * * At the time of this attack, Capt. John Hinkston pursued an Indian, both their guns being empty, and after the fray was over, he was missing. While we were inquiring about him, he came walking up, seemingly unconcerned, with a bloody scalp in his hand-he had pursued the Indian about a quarter of a mile, and tomahawked him [italics mine] .1 A “Capt. Hinkson” is referred to in the Journal kept at Fort Preservation (Ligonier) during the Revolution.1 8 It is difficult to believe that Wipey’s neighbors could have forgotten or condoned this crime, yet such seems to have been the case. After the Revolution Hinckston apparently moved to Kentucky. Information in the Draper Collection of the Wisconsin Historical Society indicates that in 1775 he led a company of settlers into Kentucky but that, because of Indian dangers, the settlement had to be abandoned; whereupon he returned east and served with the Rangers in Westmoreland County. After the conflict he returned and became a prominent citizen of Bourbon County, serving as Sheriff in 1788. He died at New Madrid, 1789.1′ What was the motive for the murder of Wipey? One possibility is covetousness, inasmuch as Hinckston’s tract at present New Florence was directly across the river from Wipey’s cabin on the north bank. Perhaps Hinckston and the Indian had a disagreement. Even more likely, Hinckston and Cooper may have committed the crime on the theory that “the only good Indian is a (lead one.” “Montgomery, opt. cit., p. 280. “Pean sylvaotia Archives, Third Series, VII, 118-19. ” Montgomery, op. cit., pp. 280-81. ” Thwaites and Kellogg, op. cit., pp. 387-88. 511 512 PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY Bigots from time immemorial have hated other people whose ways of life they did not understand. Hinckston’s side of the matter has come down to us through the instrumentality of his son, who told Dr. Draper that the killing was in self-defence, that Wipey had a grudge against his father and threatened to kill him; whereupon Hinckston took the initiative and waylaid the Indian upon the highway.’ This version must be taken with reservations. For one thing, the unfortunate victim’s side of the story will never be known. For another, if Mr. Rose’s account is to be credited, Wipey was killed while fishing in a canoe and not on the highway. And, regardless of which way it was, even the Hinckston version admits that the Indian was “waylaid,” shot or otherwise killed by surprise and probably from ambush. The memory of Joseph Wipey, and the events connected with his tragedy, are worthy of notice on an historical marker.

Rosedale Overlook ½ Mile from Entrance (Rosedale History)

 The most infamous event in the history of Johnstown race relations occurred just two years after the Tulsa Race Massacre. On Aug. 30, 1923, a shootout in the Rosedale neighborhood resulted in the death of Robert Young, a Black man, who, by accounts from the time, was drunk, as well as police officers Otto Nukem, Otto Fink, Joseph Louis Abrahams and John James.

In response, Johnstown Mayor Joseph Cauffiel issued an edict: “I want every Negro who has lived here less than seven years to pack up his belongings and get out.” He also called for banning any Black or Mexican laborers from coming to the city and prohibiting gatherings of Black citizens for any reason except church services.

Ku Klux Klansmen burned crosses around the city.

Pennsylvania Gov. Gifford Pinchot admonished Caulfield, whose proposal never took legal effect. But an estimated 500 Black citizens nevertheless left the city within weeks after the edict.

“In true Rustbelt fashion, remnants of coal and steel mill operations that existed within the Hinckston Run stream valley are all around (and below you) while you enjoy this Hiking Trail.  First, along the entire trail to the dam, the Bethlehem Mines Corporation Mine No. 72 deep mine was and still is below your feet.  As you first get on the trail and make the first sweeping right turn at the base of the hill, to the right (south) is a large flat previously disturbed site which was the former location of the Bethlehem Steel, Johnstown Plant, Rosedale Coke Plant. Although this plant was demolished and the soils remediated several decades ago, it operated for much of the 20th century and was a critical component to the entire Bethlehem Steel, Johnstown Plant steel mill operation.  It used the coal from the mines in the Hinckston Run stream valley and other nearby locations to make steel.  The coal was ignited in coke ovens and heated to very high temperatures. The solid carbon remaining in the oven was the coke. The coke was then transported by the hopper rail cars to an adjacent processing plant where it was further crushed, screened, and sized. It was then ready for use to make iron or steel in a blast furnace.  As you walk up the trail (north) toward the falls and the Hinckston Run Dam, to the right (east) you will see remnants of huge refuge coal and slag piles.  This area is/was known as the Rosedale or Riders Disposal Area.  Coal and coke plant operational wastes were trucked up the Hinckston Run stream valley and dumped at this site for much of the 20th century.  Many of the locals vividly remember the “orange glow” of the sky in the evenings as hot molten waste was dumped onto the land surface at this location.  Although this area too has been identified as a hazardous waste disposal site, has undergone some reclamation, and is currently under strict supervision of federal and state environmental regulatory agencies, it is highly visible along the Trail and along the Hinckston Run stream corridor

. The Great Banishment of 1923

95 years ago, Johnstown committed one of the nation’s most blatant post-war racial injustices

LEFT: James Weldon Johnson, the first African-American executive secretary of the NAACP. Johnson was one of the key figures who forced an investigation into Mayor Cauffiel’s actions. Courtesy of the Library of Congress. MIDDLE: A political cartoon in the Dallas News shows what much of the country thought of what happened after the order. Southern newspapers used the incident as propaganda to try to attract African-American workers back to the region. Courtesy of the Johnstown Area Heritage Association. RIGHT: A school photo in Rosedale during the early years of the Great Migration. Courtesy of the Johnstown Area Heritage Association.

Robert Young was one of the bad characters in Rosedale, a black neighborhood of Johnstown, after he arrived in 1923. Rumors swirled that he had committed murder in his native state of Alabama. And he had been having troubles with his significant other, Rose Young, since they arrived for him to work in the mills in the city. Robert had seen her run around with other men. arrived for him to work in the mills in the city. Robert had seen her run around with other men.

One night in late August of that year after the couple argued, he went to nearby Franklin Borough for drugs and moonshine. When he rode back to Rosedale in his buddy’s car, the driver and he got into an argument and they hit a telephone pole. A policeman approached. Young pulled a revolver and shot the officer, who stumbled back, and began firing back. Johnstown Police were dispatched to the scene.

Young went looking for Rose and broke into a neighbor’s house trying to find her. Eventually he got into another shootout with police, wounding and eventually killing four of them. The town was on edge, and much of the hostility was directed toward the killer’s race.

The event triggered one of the greatest racial injustices in American history, and it happened 70 miles from Pittsburgh.

For the previous seven years, tens of thousands of African-Americans from the South came to western Pennsylvania as part of the Great Migration, a demographic shift of black Southerners to Northern industrial centers. Steel mills and other industries sent recruiters to lure Southern black workers north. In Johnstown, the chief recruiter was Bethlehem Steel.

The migrating black and Mexican workers often encountered racism and persecution from whites who feared the new arrivals threatened their jobs and would bring crime. Johnstown newspapers often highlighted the race of black and Mexican criminals when reporting on murders, thefts and other felonies. Suspicion and fear of the newcomers grew.

“They were surprised by the way they were treated,” said Ralph Proctor, who teaches African-American history at the Community College of Allegheny County. “They had been told that if you got north that racism wouldn’t exist. But they found out it existed strongly. It was a little more subtle than the South, but it was just as bad. The South had Jim Crow laws, and the North had Jim Crow customs that operated the same way.”

In Johnstown, they primarily settled in Rosedale, essentially a work camp set up three miles north of the business district. Living conditions shocked visitors.

“I have visited all types and kinds of communities in which Negroes live in all parts of the United States,” said Howard University professor Dean Kelly Miller in 1923. “I have seen them in alleys and shade places; I have witnessed their poverty and distress in city and country. But I can truthfully say that it has never been my good fortune or misfortune to look upon such pitiable conditions as prevailed in Johnstown.”

Crime was rampant in Rosedale, along with alcohol and drugs. Newspaper reports described gangs of men threatening to assault women. The larger, productive and law-abiding portion of the population that went to church regularly got lumped in with the criminal element by white Johnstown.

After Robert Young was killed, and after news reached Johnstown that he killed a few officers, much of the public believed a race riot was at hand. Whites congregated around city hall threatening to burn Rosedale to avenge the officers.

At that time, Joseph Cauffiel was both Johnstown mayor and primary magistrate, and he had a reputation for being hard on blacks and Mexicans, once ordering a courtroom officer to shoot blanks at a black defendant. Aggravating the situation was that Cauffiel faced a fall primary election, and he trailed his opponents. He needed to galvanize voters. One of the more powerful constituencies in Johnstown was the Ku Klux Klan, which had grown faster in that part of the state than in any other during its national revival. The Klan controlled thousands of Johnstown votes, and Cauffiel saw opportunity following the shooting of the four officers.

Cauffiel had a testy relationship with local newspapers. The Johnstown Tribune, a Republican newspaper, had issues with the mayor following his physical altercation with its editor, who was upset that one of his reporters was detained by police for his coverage of Cauffiel’s courtroom. The rival paper, the Johnstown Democrat, had opposed most of Cauffiel’s policies. The Democrat still published news of him, while the Tribune was reluctant to give him press for fear of increasing his reelection chances.

On Sept. 6, 1923, Cauffiel called the Johnstown Democrat’s offices and asked that they send a reporter to his office. Ray Krimm got the assignment. Cauffiel told Krimm that black people living in Johnstown were prohibited from holding public gatherings and would not be allowed to assemble except for church. He also said he was ordering all blacks and Mexicans who had lived there less than seven years to leave town immediately.

“We cannot tell how many of these Negroes who have been shipped in here have criminal records until we get them in some escapade or act of lawlessness and then write back to their hometown to secure their records,” Cauffiel said. “Such procedure has cost the city of Johnstown the lives of two of her most faithful police officers and has placed four others in local hospitals, two of the wounded yet being in serious conditions, with their prospects of living yet undetermined.”

In large, bold and italicized lettering, the Sept. 7, 1924 Johnstown Democrat headline blared: “MAYOR CAUFFIEL SAYS UNDESIRABLE NEGROES MUST QUIT JOHNSTOWN.”

The sub-headline read, “Says only those who have been here seven years will be permitted to remain and that future importations will be barred—admits, however, that some new arrivals make good citizens and speaks highly of older residents of that race.”

The next day the Ku Klux Klan burned 14 crosses around the hills of Johnstown. From every hill and mountainside, on all sides of the city, the crosses blazed forth. As the demonstration was at its height, the Johnstown Democrat received a telephone call from a man claiming to be a Klansman.

“We want you to understand that our demonstration tonight is not directed toward the law-abiding Negroes of Johnstown,” he said. “We are after that dirty crew that has been sent into Johnstown—those questionable characters gathered from questionable neighborhoods in other cities and dumped upon Johnstown to stage their drunken revels, their shooting sprees and their murderous designs. It is to that class of the Negro race that we are directing our forces. They may take our demonstration tonight as a warning. They are not wanted in Johnstown. Tell them to clear out.”

According to later reports, more than 2,000 black people walked out of the city, penniless and scared. Some were forced out at gunpoint, as an NAACP investigator later found out.

Within Johnstown’s media, each newspaper received the news differently. At the Tribune, it was largely ignored. At the Johnstown Democrat, owner Warren Worth Bailey was appalled and alerted the American Civil Liberties Union.

But it wasn’t until black newspapers like the Pittsburgh Courier caught wind of it that the outrage escalated. The Courier was owned by Robert L. Vann, a thin, well-dressed 44-year-old who worked long hours, often without stopping for dinner. Vann would make the Courier a newspaper of national repute and consequence, and today the Robert L. Vann Awards for journalistic excellence are given in his honor.

When the Johnstown news reached his ears, Vann and the Courier staff swung into action. Reporters spread out. Editorials condemned Cauffiel. And national attention began to focus on Johnstown.

Other black newspapers—the Chicago Defender and Baltimore Afro-American—followed suit. White newspapers picked up the story. The scandal reached the desk of James Weldon Johnson, executive secretary of the NAACP, little more than a decade old but becoming the nation’s preeminent champion of civil rights for its ability to galvanize and organize black voters and communities.

Johnson telegrammed Pennsylvania Gov. Gifford Pinchot, who, along with his wife Cornelia, was known as a supporter of the African-American community. But Pinchot had also been a staunch Prohibitionist, and thus supported Cauffiel’s frequent crusades against bootleggers and criminals. He counted Cauffiel as a friend.

Pinchot launched an investigation and the state attorney general sent a deputy to Johnstown. Across the nation, journalists decried the Johnstown decree and Cauffiel was portrayed as a despot and tyrant.

Southern newspapers took the incident as an opportunity to try to lure blacks back to the Cotton Belt. The South had lost huge numbers of laborers to the North and its economy had suffered. Southern papers capitalized on incidents of Northern racism, saying life was better for blacks in the South. Northern black papers countered, claiming hypocrisy and pointing out the South’s far worse Jim Crow culture.

The attention wearied Johnstown voters. They had taken pride in being known as the friendly city. And on Sept. 19, they voted Cauffiel out of office. Cauffiel later served another term as mayor before being imprisoned for extortion, perjury and other misdemeanors. When he died, Johnstown City Hall was draped in mourning for 30 days as a tribute to his memory.

Racism and bigotry peaked in the early 1920s in western Pennsylvania. But in the decade following the Rosedale exodus, Klan membership in Cambria County, where Johnstown is located, and elsewhere declined. It peaked shortly after 1923 but the secret order had held ostentatious cross burnings and mass gatherings, including on “Klan Day,” which attracted 14,000 people from all around western Pennsylvania. At some initiations, 4,000 people from Cambria and neighboring Somerset and Westmoreland counties came.

Eventually the Klan lost its mass appeal. Imprisoned Klansmen were not seen as martyrs anymore, and the group’s violent reputation hurt its ability to recruit. By 1929, the Johnstown Klavern, the self-given name of the local Klan chapter, was all but gone.

This story is part of the Rosedale Oral History Project, which tells the stories of 2,000 African-Americans who were forced out of Johnstown in 1923. A forthcoming book will be released about the topic.

LHHV has installed a sign at the ¾ mile marker overlooking where the Rosedale village was once located. 

A school photo in Rosedale during the early years of the Great Migration. Courtesy of the Johnstown Area Heritage Association.

Beaver Dam

At the 1 mile mark on your left hand side you will see a body of water.  This area used to be a rifle range., and before that a farm.  Today it’s home to a family of Beavers. On your right is the Hinckston Creek, here you can also view numerous beaver dams.

Waterfall

At the 3.5 mile marker is the local famous Hinckston waterfall. There is a bench there for resting, and also getting a cool refreshing mist from the falls. 

Cambria County Veterans Memorial

Just a short ride up the hill you will see the Hinckston Reservoir, at the front of breast is the Cambria County Veterans Memorial.  Here you can view some of the men and women who served in all wars and conflicts in American History.

Hinckston Reservoir

According to maps from the 1700s, the dam site used to be in Quemahoning Township, Bedford County, before that region was divided into smaller counties.

When the dam was built in 1800’s, hundreds of horses and mules were used to haul slag, clay and stone. At one time, Hinckston Run supported seven grist mills and three sawmills.

The water power attracted settlers, to the area.  Cambria Iron Co. took property by force through eminent domain and seizure.

The one main road was covered by the dam, and now there are two roads on each side.”

The lake formed by the dam is a mile long, 90 feet deep and contains 1 billion gallons of water.

Recreational opportunities include fishing, boating including kayaking, hiking trails, and picnicking. This entire hollow was used as a trap line for the Native American Indians, who would camp below.

LHHV Hiking Trails Around Hinckston Reservoir

The LHHV Forest

The LHHV Forest, located 3.5  miles north of Johnstown, in East Taylor & Middle Taylor townships, offers quiet refuge to all who seek the natural enchantment of a forest experience. Tucked away in the heart of the Hinckston Run Reservoir, the Forest is bordered on its Western ridge boundaries by the Hinckston Reservoir and the Hinckston Reservoir Wildlife Management Area. The LHHV Forest Is located on property that surrounds Hinckston Reservoir. Also, on site the Laurel highlands Veterans Memorial and    reflection park. We have the Joseph P Whipey Trail, which is 1.5 miles long and runs parallel to Hinckston dam on eastern side.  Behind the dam is the Eagle trail which connects you to the opposite side of dam (Waterfall Road).            

LHHV  Conservation Park

Welcome to the Laurel Highlands Veterans Memorial Bird Sanctuary, a unique wildlife center located at Hinckston Run Reservoir, at the end of the Honan Ave Hiking and Biking Trail, offering conservation-focused public programs, interpretive tours, and accessible trails that allow close views of captive and wild birds. The sanctuary is the newest addition to the Honan Ave Hiking Trail Complex, which incorporates the Hinckston Run Reservoir Natural Areas. 

Today, the Sanctuary serves an important role as a primary visitation site not only for the general public but our veterans suffering from PTSD. Our grounds are open to visitors in every season, 365 days a year. Keep in mind stay away from areas newly planted with flowers and grasses. Future plans will include the Serenity gardens, with a labyrinth built into the surrounding area.

Sanctuary Highlights

• Journey a paved road to the waters of Hinckston Run Reservoir to see hundreds of waterfowls in their natural habitat, including Trumpeter Swans, Canada Geese, Eagles, Blue Heroin, and a variety of duck species
• Birds of Prey and common raptors, including Bald Eagles, Red-tailed Hawks, Eastern Screech Owls and others can be seen in and around the sanctuary.
• A Pollinator Garden that uses native plants to attract hummingbirds and butterflies, is being built.
• Visitors can hike The Sanctuary Trail which makes a loop, The trail is flat and level. Along the trail you can see nesting  Woodcock, and other wild birds native to our region. Please do not disturb the nests if found.
• A large picnic area is available for group lunches, at the pavilion 1 mile up the Hinckston Run Road, after you cross the gated bridge make a left.

Mineral Point

Mineral Point was destroyed in the Great Flood of 1889 on May 31, 1889 when the South Fork Dam failed, located on the south fork of the Little Conemaugh River. Mineral Point, located about one mile (1.6 km) below the Conemaugh Viaduct, was the first populated place to be hit by the rapid waters from the former Lake Conemaugh. About 30 families lived within the village of Mineral Point. After the flood, there were no structures, no topsoil, no sub-soil – only the bedrock was left. Approximately 16 citizens of Mineral Point perished in the flood. Today many call Mineral Point home.

Stapel Bend Tunnel

Since, 2001, the Staple Bend Tunnel has been open as a separate area of Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site. It is not in the immediate area of the Summit Level Visitor Center. Rather, it is near the town of Mineral Point, 5 miles from Johnstown. Once you park your vehicle at the trail head, it is a two mile walk to the Staple Bend Tunnel (and, of course, a two mile return trip to your vehicle). You are welcome to bring bicycles, but no motorized transport for the limestone dust surfaced trail.

History of the Tunnel

Finished in June 1833, the Staple Bend tunnel was advertised as the first railroad tunnel in the United States. It was the third tunnel of any kind built in the US, the first tunnels were for other canals in Pennsylvania.

Work began on November 21, 1831 and often occurred during inclement conditions. The men were paid $13 per month plus room and board for 12 hour days 6 days per week. Workers chipped and blasted 901 feet of solid rock to make the tunnel.

Approximately 14,900 cubic yards of bedrock was removed using black powder blasting. This was done by drilling three feet long holes and packing them with powder. Drilling one typical hole took up to three hours of hard effort using a three man crew. Nine to ten holes, each one-inch in diameter and thirty-six inches in length, were made before blasting. One pound of explosive powder wrapped in paper was pushed into each hole, tamped down, punctured with a sharp needle, and a fuse added. Fuses were lit with explosions to occur at mealtime. Workers would eat while the dust settled then get to work cleaning (mucking) the tunnel. Of the 36-inch hole drilled only 18 inches, or half of the hole, was blasted.

The tunnel grew about 18 inches each day, with both sides moving toward the center. On December 21, 1832 the workmen broke through the final barrier and connected the two ends of the tunnel. The workers and foremen actually celebrated their Christmas 1832 there. There was much celebration with speeches and toasts. The full tunnel excavation was completed in April 1833.

The ends of the Staple Bend Tunnel were lined with cut stone for safety. Rock and dirt might fall due to rain or other weather, or from the effects of the portage railroad going through the tunnel. The fancy entranceways to the tunnel were to impress the travelers and the general public. The style was described as a ” Roman Revival style with low relief lintel supported by Doric pilasters on each side.” Of the money spent (the total cost was $37,498.85) nearly half was to build the fancy entrance ways.

After the Portage

In 1907 Henry Storey wrote that the east entrance facade of the tunnel had been removed for building purposes. He gave no indication of a date or the building on which the stones were used. The west entrance facade remains and has been restored to its former grandeur.

After the demise of the old Portage Railroad the tunnel had other uses. Neither the “new Portage” nor the Pennsylvania Railroad used the tunnel. It was instead a popular carriage route until the Flood of 1889. Afterward, Flood damage and other concerns made the tunnel a less desirable driving spot although local residents continued to visit, and even go courting at the tunnel up until the 1940s.

In the 1940s a concrete liner was added to the east portal of the tunnel and large water lines as well as a water vault structure were built. The Manufacturer’s Water Company closed the tunnel to the public, the water lines were used by Bethlehem Steel. In 2001 the tunnel became part of Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site. Rock bolts, shoring posts, and other reenforcements were added as well as a thin mortar between the historic blocks.

Path Of the Flood Trail

The Path of the Flood offers a 13.86-mile bicycle ride that’s both intellectually and physically satisfying. Beginning 300 yards from the breast of the dam, visitors will first encounter a more challenging section of trail as they travel through the recently reclaimed Stineman “bony” piles, then “share the road” for a short distance to the remaining off-road trail experience. A four-mile section from the trailhead in Ehrenfeld to Mineral Point offers scenic views, educational trail side markers and moderately challenging slopes when riding eastward. Below Mineral Point and the two-mile Staple Bend Tunnel Trail, which is managed by the National Park Service, bicyclists will be challenged with steep grades for one mile. Please refer to the Allegheny Portage Railroad website for more information about this section of trail. Following another mile on more-level dedicated trail to a hillside park above Franklin, the rider will travel along public streets into East Conemaugh before enjoying another challenging short section of trail in Woodvale Heights, providing an extraordinary view of the city of Johnstown. Visitors will then finish the short remaining distance on public streets before reaching the Path’s terminus at the Johnstown Flood Museum.

Franklin Ball Field Gustkey Park

Here the Gustkey family bought and built a small park for family gatherings and a Veterans Memorial, for all veterans. You can rent the park out for your events. 

Franklin Boro

Franklin is a borough in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. At the 2010 census the borough population was 323,^[1] down from 442 at the 2000 census.

The borough’s namesake is Benjamin Franklin.^[2]

Sgt. Michael Strank, a Rusyn American and one of the US Marines pictured in the photograph Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima, was raised in Franklin.

Franklin is located in southwestern Cambria County at 40°20′35″N 78°52′55″W (40.343073, -78.881873),^[3] in the valley of the Little Conemaugh River. The river forms the northwest boundary of the borough, with East Conemaugh and a small portion of Johnstown on the opposite side.

At the 2000 census there were 442 people in 204 households, including 130 families, in the borough.

East Conemaugh Borough

East Conemaugh is a borough in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, United States. It is part of the Johnstown, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. The population was 1,220 at the 2010 census

East Conemaugh is located in southwestern Cambria County at 40°20′51″N 78°53′9″W (40.347523, −78.885799),^[4] in the valley of the Little Conemaugh River. It is bordered to the southeast, across the river, by the borough of Franklin. The center of Johnstown is 3 miles (5 km) to the southwest (downstream).

Woodvale Heights

River Walk Trail  

The Jim Mayer Riverswalk Trail is part of a growing urban trail system in Johnstown that currently follows the Stonycreek River from Central Avenue behind an industrial complex to the residential community of Riverside. One of its best features is the 50-foot Buttermilk Falls, located about mid-trail. The Riverswalk is nearly level, and its surface is groomed and easily ridden or walked.