Photographs from a Sunday Afternoon - Location 2

LOCATION 2: Miller Bridge (also known as Slate Hill Road Bridge) and Grist Mill

And now a word from our PENNDOT Historical Inventory:

The single lane bridge carries a 2 lane road over a stream in a rural setting.  At the southwest quadrant is the non-operative D. Miller grist mill (ca. 1870), now owned by the United Water Co., which operates a modern water treatment facility adjacent to the mill.  The mill dam and race systems have been expanded and rebuilt to service the water company.  To the northwest is a recently constructed residential subdivision.  The setting does not have the cohesiveness or integrity of a historic district.
 The 4-span, 123'-long stone arch bridge has red sandstone voussoirs at the 2 center spans, and brick arch rings at the 2 shorter end spans.  The spandrels and parapets are contrasting white limestone fieldstone.  At the north end, a section of parapet has been replaced with concrete.  Several generations of repointing have partially obscured the stone in some sections of parapet, spandrels, and intrados.  Available state and county records do not document the date of construction and the plaque has been lost, but a date of ca. 1900 is estimated based on style and comparison with 12 extant stone arch highway bridges in York County.  All of the documented examples in the county have early 20th century dates of construction.  Stone arch bridges are a traditional technology that was brought to Pennsylvania in the colonial period and used with great frequency through the early 20th century.  Over 350 examples have been identified statewide.  This example is historically and technologically distinguished in the local and regional population.  It is the longest and only example of greater than 2 spans in York County.  Although of unequal span lengths, the bridge has relatively handsome proportions and stonework exhibiting craftsmanship.

Grist Mill

From left to right: Miller Bridge, Grist Mill, Raceway, Dam

Looking North East
The dam is behind me and the grist mill is to the right (not seen in shot).

Photographs from a Sunday Afternoon - Location 3

LOCATION 3: On Lisburn Road near Shelter lane--just a hop, skip and jump from the Camp Hill Correctional Facility.

Photographs from a Sunday Afternoon - Location 1

I completed my chores for the weekend but only had a few hours of daylight to spend so I couldn't venture out very far from home. I decided to visit four places within 10-15 minutes of my home. Here is one of four spots I visited.


LOCATION 1: Green Lane Bridge (also known as Etters Bridge).

This bridge crosses the Yellow Breeches and allows entry to Green Lane Farm which you can tell was a farm converted to a housing development. This bridge is VERY busy for a one lane bridge.

Overview - Through truss bridge over Yellow Breeches Creek on Green Lane Drive in Lower Allen Township

Location - Cumberland and York Counties, Pennsylvania

Status - Open to traffic

History - Built 1889

Builder - Dean & Westbrook

Design - Pratt through truss

Dimensions - 

Span length: 132.9 ft.
Total length: 132.9 ft.
Deck width: 16.2 ft.

Adventures in Bridge Hunting

Some people are afraid to ask so I am going to spell it out...

What is 'bridge hunting'?
Bridge Hunting is a fun way to see the country side, but more importantly than seeing bridges connect towns to other towns, is to see how bridges were made when CAD didn't exist and concrete UCEB (ugly concrete bridges) weren't commonplace. It is going after what you think might be there based on Google or Bing Maps. It is finding a renown bridge that no one has documented in your circle. It is going back in time to experience what your ancestors did 75 years ago...100 years ago...125 years ago.

Do I need a license?
No. But do wear protection. I wear an orange safety vest when in higher traffic areas (and don't tell my mother, but I have a conceal carry permit and sometimes I carry a gun).

Do I get to eat what I kill? 
Ahhh you must be from Pennsytuckey...and the answer is no. Please do not take anything from the locations you visit...and leave only footprints and slight ruts in the mud like CatHerder does cuz she's easily 5,000# after visiting McDonalds.


Is there a season for that?
I will tell you this:

• April and May are great because flowers are just starting to blossom, yet foliage is still minimal meaning you can see MORE of the bridge.
• October and November are great because the leaves are changing which adds vibrant colors. And in November you might see less colors and leaves and the bonus here is that it is still pretty warm (mid-50s in PA).
• July and August are hot and humid...picture haze in your shots, let alone LOTS of foliage blocking the bridges or your path to get a better shot.
• If you hit warm, sunny times in Dec., Jan., Feb. or March take it...get out and shoot. 
• Be aware during high rainy seasons...bridges might be closed, damaged or not as photogenic.
• Be aware during summer months as the foliage which is so beautiful can hide your subject.
• Be aware that rain and overcast make for blah shots just as...
• High contrast, sunny shots that you get when the sun is at a lower position to the equator (in winter months) also leads to blah shots.

What gear do I need?
You can get buy with a basic digital point'n'shoot camera and basic editing software like what comes default with Windows and Mac. If you want to step it up here are some suggestions:

• If you have the passion get a Digital SLR - I love my Nikon D3100. You will not only get great shots QUICKLY, but you can get other accessories to make your life a dream. This is a great entry level DSLR.
• Get another lens or two (beyond the kit lens): A super range lens like NIKKOR 18-200mm f/3.5-5.6G ED VR II Zoom Lens will handle 96% of your business. For the 4% that are too long/wide and there are times you won't have much room to back up, the 10mm is great as it will distort a little BUT not to the extreme as a fisheye. I like Tokina's 10-24mm.
• Get a polarizer...you're shooting bridges...that means 90% of the time water is your subject and a polarizer on your lens will cut the glare allowing more emphasis on your subject, the bridge or the surrounding...and it also makes the sky's blue color more vibrant.
• Get a sturdy tripod. I know it's tempting to go light BUT you need one that will hold your heavy lenses. AND, your tripod can become your walking stick when you traverse a large hill to get to that perfect shot of a railroad deck high above the road and valley. I like Manfrotto 055XPROB Aluminum Tripod Legs with Manfrotto's 222 Joystick Head. This might be on the heavy side but it is SOLID. This also comes with a quick release head--this alone is worth its weight in gold. If you've ever had the "pleasure" of unscrewing your camera from a tripod, you will appreciate this!!! As a bonus you can use the heavy-duty tripod as a weapon if needed. I keep this tool in my trunk at all times. If anything I enjoy the "walking stick" feature as I do go up and down steep hills frequently.
• Just like I said get a polarizer (unless you are shooting bridges in the desert), get a flash if you plan to shoot covered bridges....or even to get light under a bridges deck. I love my Nissin Di622 Mark II Digital TTL Shoe Mount Flash for Nikon.
• Have a spare camera battery, spare flash batteries and multiple spare memory cards. I have heard people say don't use 16GB+ cards because if you shoot that many photos and the card goes bad that,  you lose 16 GB of photos. Well, if you shoot RAW inaddition to JPEG as I do (for its flexibility later) then you can easily kill a 4GB card in a day's shoot. I recommend you treat your cards well, and buy quality cards and enough to support your shooting needs and then some. And remember it's not all about capacity, check out the Class of the card and the speed it writes. Usually the higher the class, the faster it writes.
• Let's talk about safety...get yourself a safety vest (orange or lime) to wear when you are on busy roads. Yea, you might feel like a dork (or a PENNDOT laborer...not sure which is worse), BUT people will see you and that might save your life. Now, another thing I want to mention is protecting yourself from the trolls who live under the bridges. They do exist. Most are harmless. Carry pepper spray, a taser or a handgun...check your legal rights. My point is that you are heading into the wilderness--whether a state forest or an urban neighborhood, you should be prepared for "the  adventure." Most homeless folks I have stumbled upon are decent and keep to themselves, but you never know. Be prepared for the worst...within the laws of where you are travelling.
• Bring water and snacks...and a full tank of gas. You never know if you will get lost, get OCD about something you sense nearby, car breaks down, or get hit one of those hunger pangs...be prepared.

What tools do I need?

• Use Google Maps or Bing Maps to locate places. But be aware, these are not up-to-date. In Pennsylvania, historic bridges are getting replaced as quickly as Walmart's have replaced farm fields. If there has been flooding in that area consider that the bridges in the area's waterways might have been affected. I use Google Maps for documenting my bridges in the "My Places" tool. I usually will group a list by bridges close to each other, or if I know I am taking a trip for other purposes, I will locate all the bridges on my way and in that area and label it something like "NJ Shore trip." 
• GPS is great, but I also carry paper as a backup (although with my Android phone that seems unnecessary since Google Maps works great...if I get a signal). Remember, you might be travelling to remote areas that do not have coverage (okay, I'll admit I'm an AT&T customer). 
• This is the mac daddy site for sharing historic bridges: http://bridgehunter.com/ If you find you enjoy it feel free to donate to the webmaster as he funds it out-of-pocket (read that as no ads on the site).

Tapeworm Railroad

When the Erie Canal  in New York opened in 1825 a panic stirred in Pennsylvania. This infrastructure posed a major threat to Philadelphia and other Pennsylvania cities in the central and eastern areas. State legislature was pushed to create the Canal Commission which broke ground a year later. The state of Pennsylvania used a railroad to connect Philadelphia with Harrisburg and then a canal along the Susquehanna from Harrisburg to Columbia, PA.


Meanwhile in 1826 a famous man by the name of Thaddeus Stevens, who was then practicing law in Gettysburg, got involved in the iron industry where he and some business partners formed Maria Furnace in Adams County.  


Stevens planned for the railroad to transport from "Columbia to York and Gettysburg and then through his ironworks at Maria Furnace to connect with the proposed Baltimore and Ohio line near Hagerstown. His approach to promoting such a line was that it would divert traffic from the B&O and funnel it toward Philadelphia, thus providing Philadelphia with a railroad to the west at no cost." [Watts, 1991]


There was much debate among politicians about granting rights for the B&O to build in Pennsylvania. Around this time there was much competition from other transportation rivalries. Private capitalists obtained from the legislature a charter for the York and Wrightsville Railroad, while Stevens obtained one from the same legislature for Wrightsville and Gettysburg Railroad. This was odd because Steven's new railway paralleled the already planned line for a portion of the distance and therefore was criticized in newspapers as the "Extra Railroad." Luckily, the charters of the two routes joined forces and merged to form the Wrightsville, York and Gettysburg Railroad Company.


So what is this Tapeworm Railroad and why am I mentioning Thaddeus Stevens? Well, it is this particular railway line that Stevens personally planned, and as you can imagine by the nickname it was not the most direct line as it had to navigate around the Green Ridge of South Mountain. Stevens had much opposition and they nicknamed it the Tapeworm Railroad. If you are patient you can see the lengthy serpentine of a line here. Note, this map was created on 1939. However, excavation for the railway began in 1936. 


Ok back to Thaddeus...many people have noted that Stevens was a shrewd politician who felt at ease using his position for personal advantage. When he was appointed President of the Canal Commission he used this influence to extend the rail line.


After the Wrightsville rail line merger, Stevens began to focus on a segment of the railway west of Gettysburg. This segment would allow construction from Gettysburg down to Williamsport, MD and the Potomac River. The C&O Canal was in full force at this time. But just as the Tapeworm Railroad began, it ended. The B&O moved its path further to the south that Stevens had planned, and by 1837 the Cumberland Valley Railroad reached Chambersburg. CVRR as a completed railroad won as the lead in this competition. Also during this time, the infamous Panic of 1837 occurred that brought much infrastructure development to a halt.


The nail in the coffin was during the 1838 elections as the Tapeworm Railroad was a main debate, but even more, Stevens lost his position on the Commission. Growing criticism of the railroad was based on expense and value. The State had spent over $766,000 on the project yet the majority felt it was better to cut the losses. The map I linked to earlier was part of a survey ordered in 1939. Thaddeus Stevens' pet railroad was put up for sale in 1842.


Some interesting features of the Tapeworm Railroad:

• Serpentine section around Green Ridge of South Mountain
• Switchbacks
• on the west slope at Hughs Forge along the East Branch Antiemtam Creek (known as Cold Spring Creek in 1839) 
• on east slope at the 1822 Maria Furnace along Toms Creek
• Three east slope tunnels through spurs of Jacks Mountain
• Single arch roadway bridge over Toms Creek (see photos below)
• McPherson Ridge railway cut used in 1863 for Battle of Gettysburg, First Day
• Seminary Ridge railway cut 

Relics of the Past

You can still find relics of the past. I will show some of what I have found.

The stone viaduct can be found in Adams County on Iron Springs Road.

Details from PA Historical Bridge Data: "The one span, 25'-long, stone arch bridge has voussoirs and spandrel walls with heavy vegetation growing in the earth fill. The bridge was built between 1836 and 1842 as part of the Tapeworm RR, a state sponsored project that was intended to connect Gettysburg with Thaddeus Stevens' iron furnaces in Franklin County. Cuts, embankments, and this stone bridge were completed before the state stopped appropriations and the project was abandoned in 1842. The line was derisively called the Tapeworm RR by its political opponents who saw the meandering line as one of the worst abuses of state-owned internal improvements. As a result of the Tapeworm RR and other canal and railroad projects, the state went heavily into debt. After 1842, state participation in internal improvements declined. The bridge is historically significant for its association with the Tapeworm RR."

Nearby is a tunnel. It now carries the CSXT RR and formerly the Western Maryland, and before that the Baltimore and Harrisburg Railway Western Extension which incorporated in 1888 and "provided a connection between the original Western Maryland mainline at Highfield and its alternate route, through Gettysburg and Hanover, to Baltimore." [Watts, 1991] You can see on the Tapeworm plan how the railway was to come up from Highfield (close to PA/MD border) to Gettysburg.

Eastern portal

Western portal

Heading north east towards Western portal

Driving through tunnel heading south west

Notice the wires go under the tunnel

Western portal

SOURCES:

"Railroads of Eastern Franklin County" Randy Watts. Copyright 1991

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tapeworm_Railroad

Pennsylvania Historical Bridge Data, PENNDOT

Cumberland Valley Railroad - Harrisburg Connection

When driving your car from Harrisburg to Chambersburg you can expect an hour drive. By train in the late 19th century it would take four hours. It was a whole different story if you traveled by buggy or horseback, which were the only other viable means to travel as I-81 and the PA Turnpike weren't built and the canals didn't connect those points of travel.

I have been amazed by the impact the Cumberland Valley Railroad had on Central and Eastern Pennsylvania. Not only did it reduce time for travelers, but it connect the goods grown and developed in Central PA within itself and beyond. This rail had significant accomplishments.

"If a railroad is made from Harrisburg to this place [Carlisle], we can leave Carlisle at nine o'clock in the morning and reach Philadelphia at six o'clock in the evening…. A farmer can put his produce into a railroad car in the morning and the same evening have it on Broad Street, Philadelphia, and that, too, at one half of the expense it would cost him to have it taken by wagon."

CVRR Interpretive Sign

By November 1837, the Cumberland Valley Railroad opened for travel from White Hill (near Harrisburg) to Chambersburg. A bridge of the span of approximately 1,200 feet requires major capital. The newly started, CVRR would have to wait until January 16, 1939 to cross the river.

This railroad bridge was built from Lemoyne (or Bridgeport at the time) to Harrisburg and connected the coal trains from the north. The design was a Town truss double-deck wooden bridge. You can see it in the "Interpretive Sign" image--lower photograph. Inside the lower level of the covered bridge was a two-lane roadway, and the roof was for the railroad. Unfortunately sparks from a locomotive set the wooden covered bridge on fire in 1844. One man lost his life. Four of the easternmost spans survived so the bridge was rebuilt in 1846 and renovated and upgraded in 1856, 1872 and 1885.

By 1887, a fourth bridge replaced the structure. A single track iron deck truss bridge was erected which had the strength to carry dozens of trains daily as was the norm of the late 19th century. You can see the design in the "Interpretive Sign" photo above.



The fifth bridge at this location if you are counting, and the last bridge the CVRR built over the Susquehanna River, is the concrete arch bridge we currently see near Harrisburg. It was completed in December 1916. It has 43 massive segmental main arch spans, plus two more concrete deck arch spans at the western end of the bridge.

Within seventy years the Cumberland Valley Railroad had to replace the bridge that crossed the Susquehanna from Lemoyne to Harribsurg four times due to fires, floods, and the growing weight of trains.

CVRR in foreground. Pennsylvania Reading in background. In far distance is I-83.

Another interesting thing to note is that the CVRR competed with B&O, Western Maryland and P&R. In the photo above you can see the P&R run parallel with the CVRR here in Harrisburg.

In later blogs I will touch on topics that will surely make you appreciate the rich history this bridge provides. You can see more photos of this bridge here.

SOURCES: "History of the Cumberland Valley Railroad" Paul J. Westenhaeffer, copyright 1979

History of Dauphin, Cumberland, Perry, Bedford, Adams and Franklin Counties, PA" I.D. Rupp, copyright 1846.

http://cvrr.org/
http://explorepahistory.com/hmarker.php?markerId=1-A-1B5

Travels Around Big Spring Creek near Newville, PA

Today I ventured solo to Newville, PA. I wanted to see the tunnel under the old railroad and bridges that crossed the creek. It was a clear day, minimal clouds and temps were in the low-mid 50s.


What I found...

The tunnel made by Cumberland Valley Railroad that crosses Big Spring Creek on the north side has been replaced by a steel pipe.  Remnants of stone work can be seen, but this looks nothing like the photo I saw on Panoramio *bummer*

On the south side a large concrete tunnel, very common for railroads to use crossing streets is seen here crossing the creek.

Also around this area, is the western abutment to the CVRR which crossed Big Spring Road and the start of the CVRR RailTrail.

To the north of the old railroad is what I believe might be a mill or something...seems odd to have another mill so close to MacFarland's Mill.

Which brings me to MacFarland's Mill, well actually Green Ridge Road Bridge. 

There's an old abutment at a skew on the Big Spring Road side which makes me wonder if they decided a 90 degree angle was better for making right hand turns to travel to Newville.


This stringer crosses into a retirement community. The current bridge is where MacFarland's Mill formerly existed. It was constructed around 1756 and was a flour mill, paper mill, and finally as a knitting mill. The mill and dam were dismantled in 1950. After you pass the Green Ridge Road bridge you will see a structure on the left that I am guessing is a spring house. It is at this point that I realized I need to learn more about older structures. 

On a previous trip I photographed the historic Big Spring 

Creek bridge which is made of stone. So this trip, I did not photograph it (but I included a shot for your viewing pleasure).

My next stop was a private road which I decided to cross because no signs said not to trespass.












The bridge had steel stringers and a timber deck. The wood wobbled as I crossed it...




... and at a closer look I could see why!

Upstream from this bridge is an idyllic view. In this shot you can see the man-made rip rap. 

Further upstream, continuing to travel south west, I came across the intersection with Nealy Road. I found a modern concrete culvert that was built in 2006. To the northwest side of the bridge is where Irvin's Mill (also known as Keck's Mill) use to stand. 

My last destination was an area I noticed on Google Maps so I had to see what it was. I hit the jackpot. It was the site of McCracken Mill which is noted as the "most important mill along the course of Big Spring." (Kressler, 1965) 

USGS has one of their gauges here (notice the metal in the middle of the shot).

Across from the Mill and Log Cabin Road is the Barrel Factory. This building is mysterious...unknown date of creation and an second floor added later.





 
The last attraction on my trip was the Big Spring Road Bridge. This 64' long, two-span bridge is a steel stringer built in 1932 and rehabbed in 1950. This is downstream about 300 yards from the old mill.

CREDITS:
http://webspace.ship.edu/tmhurd/BSWARCPFinal.pdf
http://www.aquaticinstitute.com/The-Mills-of-Big-Spring-Creek-Newville-PA.html
http://pennsylvaniaflyfishing.blogspot.com/2006/11/rebirth-of-big-spring-creek.html
http://www.cumberlink.com/news/local/article_b1d4f914-c15e-11e0-b32d-001cc4c03286.html
http://bigspringwatershedbarrel.blogspot.com/