This was originally a total drag to visit because I was having severe heart issues... but it turned into absolute fun. You will see in some videos I am sitting instead of standing... that is how you tell if I am having difficulty with breathing or chest issues. It is a great park with lots of other little things to see along the trail.
None of the videos go too deep down the rabbit holes (as opposed to the research done before hitting the sites...so deep... so dark...so much information). I try to rebuild what I am seeing in my minds eye. When I go to the sites, my minds eye starts to relive the site in the way it was for those whom were here at that time.
@@ODDySEEy there's one near the small town of Coburn in Centre county that is worth checking out . Also one in Poe Paddy state park that's the interior is fixed up for people to walk in. The one at Coburn isn't fixed up so watch your head!!
The family friend who taught me how to roller skate 60 years ago (and he was retired then!) looked for this tunnel for years, when there was no internet and information like this didn't travel far; I don't believe he ever found it.
The internet has proved to be a blessing and curse when it comes to finding sites. The blessing is in all the information... the curse is opening the location of some of these sites to unwanted people. That is why I typically do not do a formal disclosure of the exact site. If you want it bad enough, you can find it. Otherwise you find people taking the shortcut to find the site and then they vandalize... especially for the past 10 months or so.
@@rogergarman Lots of hard work... BUT... I really like going to these sites, so the word "hard" is relative. :D (yes, sometimes I get frustrated before, during, and afterward... but still LOVE to go to these sites).
My father worked for Bethlehem Steel until they went under. They owned the land around the tunnel, although I think the tunnel itself was owned by PRR. One summer day in the mid-1980s we went looking for it, since he could take his car on company property. The land around the tunnel was used for dumping slag from the blast furnaces and was off-limits to the general public, although there was a lot of graffiti on the exterior and signs of a bonfire when we went looking for it. There was so much vegetation on what is now the entrance from Mineral Point that we couldn't see the roadbed. I think we crossed the river since I remember wet shoes. Bethlehem Steel had a pipeline that ran through and the entrances were blocked with steel plate. The entrance seemed really odd since it was covered with vegetation and basically out in the middle of nowhere. Also, I was told by my grandmother that after the end of the portage railroad many of the rail ties and sleepers were used to build the Franklin Street United Methodist Church. For sure the stone used for the church looks very similar to the sleepers.
Canal operations in the United States have always interested me. They don't seem to get much attention. Maybe that's down to the fact a boat slowly moving is less captivating as a fast moving train, but I believe it might do with the fact that by the time a lot of the canals were at last perfected, one of their experimental components took over as the supreme mode of transportation. That being the railroads.
It was just a passway from the other side to allow a running stream or watercourse to continue running without washing out the actual rails. I assume they closed it up to stop people from staying inside of it and needing to take on the accountability for anything that could happen to a person who goes into a hole.
Your math seems to be off a tad in relation to how fast the tunnel should have taken to complete. The tunnel is 901 feet long. At three feet per day it would have taken about 300 days to dig the entire tunnel, not the month and a half that you calculated. Of course, it doesn't really matter. I enjoyed the video. I do think it would have been nice if you would have shown on a topo map the location of Mineral Point. This would have saved me some time from looking it up.
Yeah, I caught my math too... after the fact (must have been a blood sugar low). It happens. There were also issues with their time not just due to the weather but to an explosion boo boo. But I will catch up on those things during the part two that will come out when I swing back around. Most of these videos will interconnect in the not distant future.
There were three blasts a day, one at noon when the workers broke for lunch, another about 4:00 pm, when the workers broke for dinner, then another at nightfall, about 8:00 pm, as the workers broke for the evening. After the evening blast the workers would wait till the next morning to remove the rubble and drill the new holes for the next blast. As to the other two blasts, the workers would eat and wait for the dust to settle down, then remove the rubble and drill new holes. That way you could dig 54 inches a day from both sides, or 108 inches from both sides, or nine feet a day. 901/9= Just over 100 days or just over three months.
I am not following you. The closest river loop on the Conemaugh river is 1.56 miles by crow (2.18 miles by Train Rail where the modern NS still goes over the original train trestle location). I am actually leaning more toward the fact that the functional entrances, just past the Doric Pillaster facade, is actually in the shape of what a Paper Fastener (Staple) would have looked like from 1866 until 1909. After researching the shape of train tunnels and canal tunnels, this is one of very few that have that odd looking, almost horse shoe, shaped entrance (which continues on through the inside of the tunnel, but a LOT of the lower 1/3 of wall has collapsed away due to the type of stone it consists of). So give me a little more with your comment please, I am curious if there was something else there with that name sake.
@robert taylor I just received some more information from a friend who received information from the PRR group who stated, "The name of the tunnel comes from the name of the loop in the Little Conemaugh River (which was filled in in the early 1900s) that the building of the tunnel bypassed. It was known as the Staple Bend of the Little Conemaugh River." So it would appear you may be very correct on this one. Still no known reason for the name of the bend (i.e. person name or shape of staple... which is unlikely due to the time period and the existence of staples or lack thereof)
I often wonder if the water itself is "clean" and all the sediment is what is dirty. After all, there are still insects living in that water even though it is polluted.
I will have to look that up. That one would be cool. Just the idea of doing a curve in a bridge is kinda scary being that a curve was not a way to get around something, but a way to add grade to a rail when the natural grade was just too steep.
That is a SPECTACULAR location for such a run. Grade is just right, terrain is just right, excellent descend/ascend ending loop on the other side, and a perfect 5.5 mile or 9 click run. You need to be in shape to do that run, especially after the descend halfway and ascend it back up immediately.
The coal is part of it. The reason for the color is due to a bacteria that is eating the iron fillings that are in a highly acidic water caused by the coal. Really crazy to think that orange is microscopic bugs eating iron while in acid water and pooping fluorescent orange slime.
I concur (UA-cam blocks links from posting, but I still see them ;) ) I will repost your info after we give a everyone else a chance to comment... but I fully concur on your link. :)
Loved this!
This was originally a total drag to visit because I was having severe heart issues... but it turned into absolute fun. You will see in some videos I am sitting instead of standing... that is how you tell if I am having difficulty with breathing or chest issues. It is a great park with lots of other little things to see along the trail.
Your videos could be the beginning of a great cornerstone for local history classes
None of the videos go too deep down the rabbit holes (as opposed to the research done before hitting the sites...so deep... so dark...so much information). I try to rebuild what I am seeing in my minds eye. When I go to the sites, my minds eye starts to relive the site in the way it was for those whom were here at that time.
Love checking out any tunnels I can find. It’s pretty impressive how many there are just around here. Nice video again!
I love the tunnels, but be careful, loving tunnels leads to small entrances leads to holes. ;)
@@ODDySEEy there's one near the small town of Coburn in Centre county that is worth checking out . Also one in Poe Paddy state park that's the interior is fixed up for people to walk in. The one at Coburn isn't fixed up so watch your head!!
I enjoy your videos, very informative
I appreciate that!
Love watching your videos
I appreciate that!
Another great history lesson..
Glad you enjoyed it
The family friend who taught me how to roller skate 60 years ago (and he was retired then!) looked for this tunnel for years, when there was no internet and information like this didn't travel far; I don't believe he ever found it.
The internet has proved to be a blessing and curse when it comes to finding sites. The blessing is in all the information... the curse is opening the location of some of these sites to unwanted people. That is why I typically do not do a formal disclosure of the exact site. If you want it bad enough, you can find it. Otherwise you find people taking the shortcut to find the site and then they vandalize... especially for the past 10 months or so.
Great as usual Scott!!!
You rock!
@@ODDySEEy I enjoy seeing your videos every week. I hope all understand the hard work you are doing. Thanks.
@@rogergarman Lots of hard work... BUT... I really like going to these sites, so the word "hard" is relative. :D (yes, sometimes I get frustrated before, during, and afterward... but still LOVE to go to these sites).
@@ODDySEEy well with, I appreciate all that you are doing. Yes, I'm sure it makes it easier that you enjoy it, for sure!!!
My father worked for Bethlehem Steel until they went under. They owned the land around the tunnel, although I think the tunnel itself was owned by PRR. One summer day in the mid-1980s we went looking for it, since he could take his car on company property. The land around the tunnel was used for dumping slag from the blast furnaces and was off-limits to the general public, although there was a lot of graffiti on the exterior and signs of a bonfire when we went looking for it. There was so much vegetation on what is now the entrance from Mineral Point that we couldn't see the roadbed. I think we crossed the river since I remember wet shoes. Bethlehem Steel had a pipeline that ran through and the entrances were blocked with steel plate. The entrance seemed really odd since it was covered with vegetation and basically out in the middle of nowhere.
Also, I was told by my grandmother that after the end of the portage railroad many of the rail ties and sleepers were used to build the Franklin Street United Methodist Church. For sure the stone used for the church looks very similar to the sleepers.
Canal operations in the United States have always interested me. They don't seem to get much attention. Maybe that's down to the fact a boat slowly moving is less captivating as a fast moving train, but I believe it might do with the fact that by the time a lot of the canals were at last perfected, one of their experimental components took over as the supreme mode of transportation. That being the railroads.
I will be hitting them soon :) I love the Canals
It’s still called Mineral Point.
Good to know.
Do you know what the bricked up hole was for?
It was just a passway from the other side to allow a running stream or watercourse to continue running without washing out the actual rails. I assume they closed it up to stop people from staying inside of it and needing to take on the accountability for anything that could happen to a person who goes into a hole.
Your math seems to be off a tad in relation to how fast the tunnel should have taken to complete. The tunnel is 901 feet long. At three feet per day it would have taken about 300 days to dig the entire tunnel, not the month and a half that you calculated. Of course, it doesn't really matter. I enjoyed the video. I do think it would have been nice if you would have shown on a topo map the location of Mineral Point. This would have saved me some time from looking it up.
Yeah, I caught my math too... after the fact (must have been a blood sugar low). It happens. There were also issues with their time not just due to the weather but to an explosion boo boo. But I will catch up on those things during the part two that will come out when I swing back around. Most of these videos will interconnect in the not distant future.
You tell him, my great great great grandfather was one of the foreman on that job. I understood they finished earlier than expected.
There were three blasts a day, one at noon when the workers broke for lunch, another about 4:00 pm, when the workers broke for dinner, then another at nightfall, about 8:00 pm, as the workers broke for the evening. After the evening blast the workers would wait till the next morning to remove the rubble and drill the new holes for the next blast. As to the other two blasts, the workers would eat and wait for the dust to settle down, then remove the rubble and drill new holes. That way you could dig 54 inches a day from both sides, or 108 inches from both sides, or nine feet a day. 901/9= Just over 100 days or just over three months.
cool,,, nice video,,, thanks for sharing,,,
Thanks DD
Staple Bend was what was called the loop in the river it bypassed.
I am not following you. The closest river loop on the Conemaugh river is 1.56 miles by crow (2.18 miles by Train Rail where the modern NS still goes over the original train trestle location). I am actually leaning more toward the fact that the functional entrances, just past the Doric Pillaster facade, is actually in the shape of what a Paper Fastener (Staple) would have looked like from 1866 until 1909. After researching the shape of train tunnels and canal tunnels, this is one of very few that have that odd looking, almost horse shoe, shaped entrance (which continues on through the inside of the tunnel, but a LOT of the lower 1/3 of wall has collapsed away due to the type of stone it consists of). So give me a little more with your comment please, I am curious if there was something else there with that name sake.
@robert taylor I just received some more information from a friend who received information from the PRR group who stated, "The name of the tunnel comes from the name of the loop in the Little Conemaugh River (which was filled in in the early 1900s) that the building of the tunnel bypassed. It was known as the Staple Bend of the Little Conemaugh River." So it would appear you may be very correct on this one. Still no known reason for the name of the bend (i.e. person name or shape of staple... which is unlikely due to the time period and the existence of staples or lack thereof)
ick mine drainage pollution. its everywhere. glad you find a pristine waterfall.
I often wonder if the water itself is "clean" and all the sediment is what is dirty. After all, there are still insects living in that water even though it is polluted.
The first curved bridge in America I think is in Bedford. The narrows bridge.
I will have to look that up. That one would be cool. Just the idea of doing a curve in a bridge is kinda scary being that a curve was not a way to get around something, but a way to add grade to a rail when the natural grade was just too steep.
Rusty rocks, iron resides nearby.
The iron in the coal and pyrite being decayed by a bacteria that loves sulfur and iron. ;)
my army unit uses this trail every year to physical fitness test
That is a SPECTACULAR location for such a run. Grade is just right, terrain is just right, excellent descend/ascend ending loop on the other side, and a perfect 5.5 mile or 9 click run. You need to be in shape to do that run, especially after the descend halfway and ascend it back up immediately.
@@ODDySEEy yea we run 1 mile out and turn around and 1 mile back it is defferntly my favorite place to run
The color of the water is because of the coal that was mined out ground. I think.
The coal is part of it. The reason for the color is due to a bacteria that is eating the iron fillings that are in a highly acidic water caused by the coal. Really crazy to think that orange is microscopic bugs eating iron while in acid water and pooping fluorescent orange slime.
That’s my guess on your walled up hole
I concur (UA-cam blocks links from posting, but I still see them ;) ) I will repost your info after we give a everyone else a chance to comment... but I fully concur on your link. :)
Sulfur in the water.
But what else? (there is more than sulfur going on there and it has a lot to do with other materials along with some microbes)