Hike #1292; Thompsontown to Mifflintown

Hike #1292; Thompsontown to Mifflintown

1/26/20 Thompsontown to Mifflintown with John DiFiore, Kirk Rohn, James De Lotto, Jason Itell, Lowell Perkins, and Diane Reider

This next hike would be a point to point, the next in the 911 Memorial Trail series, as well as the next in the Juniata Division Pennsylvania Canal series.

The 911 Trail completed so far

After this one, there are six more hikes, as planned, to get us to where we connected to out in Huntingdon. We are doing this entire stretch to coincide with the Pennsylvania Canal.

Ridin in da vannnnn

Last time, we had hiked from Newport to Thompsontown, where the Pennsylvania Canal used to go right through the parking area for the public boat ramp. This time, we would meet in Mifflintown to the west, and the shuttle back to start right from where we left off.
As the weekend approached, there was a very foreboding forecast for Saturday. It was saying rain in the morning, and then our friend Annika was messaging me saying it was going to rain all day. As the time neared, it looked like there might be a lot more rain than anticipated. Some of the folks who were considering going backed out right up to last minute.

Delaware Creek Aqueduct site

I’ve been doing the regular weekend hikes since 2004 where someone has always shown up. I figured one of these days I’ll post something that everyone will bail on.

Delaware Creek aqueduct site

However, such was not the case, and we ended up not only having a pretty big group for that region, it ended up being a really spectacular day! The weather was far better than anticipated as well.
When we got to the meeting point, the Sheetz in Mifflintown, the rain had stopped entirely. This was rather unbelievable since they were predicting such a high percent chance of it until afternoon.
We got stuff in the store, and then headed down hill along the Juniata River where we found parking along North Front Street. We then piled into my van and headed to the start.

Delaware Creek aqueduct site

Our hike started by going the opposite direction for a short side trip. The Pennsylvania Canal is a short trail in the section just downstream along the Juniata from the boat launch.

Pennsylvania Canal towpath

The Pennsylvania Canal had many different branches, the the part known as the “Main Line of Public Works”, the state owned canal and rail facility, was between Philadelphia and Pittsburg and consisted of the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, then the Pennsylvania Eastern Canal, then the Juniata Division canal, then Allegheny Portage Railroad, then the Western Divsion canal.
The Juniata Division canal was completed through in 1832 and was 127 miles in length. In this distance, it employed some 86 locks to overcome 584 feet of elevation.

Pennsylvania Canal towpath

I have a hard time finding historic documentation of the canal in terms of where the locks were and such, but when it comes to the little villages, I’ve found quite a lot. Still, I didn’t know on this one what structures to look for, and in many cases we would have to be parallel with the canal rather than on it due to private land issues.
We followed the towpath from the lot, which was clear and grassy out to the confluence of the Juniata River and the Delaware Creek. Here, we found the ruins of an old aqueduct.

The Juniata River

The far abutment was in recognizable shape. The upstream side of it had a curve to it, while the downstream side had eroded away along the Juniata, probably from high waters.

Pennsylvania Canal

I checked it out from the towpath, and then went down to the right to have a better look. There was a path out to the confluence of the rivers, which created a small eddy. The Delaware Creek was running extremely heavy from the rains earlier, and the Juniata was running quite brown. We could see the difference in mud color at this site from what was flowing in from the creek.
Indeed, we had had quite the torrential downpour on the drive in. It was a good thing this was out of the way by the time we started walking, because even an umbrella probably would not have kept us very dry.

Tap pack!

Lowell got out some cups and such, and asked if we would like some Franzia.
That was a name I hadn’t heard in a while...I used to drink Franzia back around 2005 and 6. I kept a box of it in my refrigerator and filled my water bottles with it to drink on the hikes.
At some point, I got away from drinking that stuff and went to other things, and eventually settled on Weyerbacher which is my current favorite. I never used to really like beer until having that kind.
Lowell was happy to share some Weyerbacher, because it was not as readily available when he was living up in Massachusetts.
When we went to get some of his Franzia, I had a huge laugh because he’d made a hole in the bottom of his backpack for the tap to come out of. It was literally a party pack where we could just tap the thing at any time and refill the cups. And so, we started off this hike with some cups of wine from a box!

Pennsylvania Canal remnants

From here, we turned around and headed back to the lot. Lowell was using his phone recording an audio journal of the entire trip, and asked for my commentary on where we were going periodically.
An 1877 map of Juniata County shows that there was a warehouse along the canal where the parking lot is today, and there was in fact a bridge over the river prior to the modern one there today. As we crossed over Rt 333, I noted a spot where there was evidence of a bridge over the canal to the left. This must have been the site of the original bridge over the Juniata at Thompsontown.

Likely former bridge site

We walked down River Road or River Trail, one or the other, I forget the name, which was right along the canal route. There was a beautiful old stone house to the right that was quite nice. The canal was obvious to the right, and eventually opened up from woods to a field section where towpath and prism were very obvious.
The google maps showed this road going right on through, but when we got to the second stone house on the road, at the end, it looked like the road sort of ended.

Pennsylvania Canal remnant

There was a mail box, and a ninety degree right turn away form the canal. We just turned on it, and the road became dirt and unmaintained. Fortunately, we were able to follow it north to Burns Road with no problems.

Unmaintained River Trail

We turned left on Burns Road, which was also a very lightly used road. It was paved, but I don’t know that we had a single car go by us on the route.
We had to get our umbrellas out for this next bit because the rain started drizzling enough that if we didn’t we’d end up pretty wet in a short while. It wasn’t really a drag though.
The road took us through open fields, and then down through a gully, back up to more fields, and past several historic old farm houses. The ambiance was quite nice.

Wandering...

We reached the intersection at Jonestown Road, all giggly and happy, and turned left where there was a mirror on a post. I tried getting a group shot in it, but it was too wet. A guy working on a truck in an adjacent barn looked over at us like we were all insane.
Truthfully, this was probably the first time anyone has bothered walking this road in years, and it looked like we picked a horrible day to do so. I’m sure people were scratching their heads. I recall someone saying that the same mini van passed us multiple times at one point.

The canal down there in the gully...

We headed up Jonestown to a hill where there were many cows in a pasture, and then turned right to continue on Jonestown road, where straight continued Dressler Hill Road, a dead end.
As per 1877 maps, there was a lock and lock house beyond the farm on that corner, but it was inaccessible for us. We continued on Jonestown to the west, and passed several more cows.

Moo Moos

There was a dead end road to the right called Saner Lane with a 10 mph speed limit, so I got a video of Lowell trying to run by it super fast.
We continued on Jonestown Road through a little settlement, which might have been Jonestown, but most of the houses appeared to be a bit newer through here I recall.
We turned ninety degrees again at an open field section to continue on Jonestown Road to the north. We soon passed a huge business for making pallets. There was a buggy in a garage to the left and no electric to the house or garage, but I think electric to the giant barn buildings where the things were made.

Pallet co.

I figure they must be Mennonites. This was called the Locust Run Pallet Company.
We continued down the road a bit more, and reached the Walker Township municipal building I think it was, and turned left on William Penn Highway.
This was the busier of the roads we were walking. We only had to be on this part for a short bit though. We passed an abandoned house on the right, a brick church built in 1854, and what looked like a sister building to it directly across the highway.
Soon, we reached Wagner Road where we turned left. There was a sign advertising stuff for sale that was kind of funny, including “Kick Horse Minerals”. I don’t know what they are, and I’m sure people in equestrian business would know, but for me I’m clueless, and it was just funny. I started talking in a hick southern accent about feeding rocks to the houses to help them digest like the chickens, and Kirk corrected me in that I should have been using the Pennsylvania Dutch accent.
The road brought us down along a creek with some heavy flow to it, and then I spotted an outhouse to the right, right next to the creek side.

The Amish Phone Booth

I commented that they must use it and just let it wash away.
I was convinced it was an outhouse, but as we walked by, there was an Amish man sitting in it on a cell phone! When he saw us, he pulled the door shut abruptly.

Yass

The thing might not have been an outhouse at all. I think it was Diane explained to us that they used to have a phone they could use for doing business, but that it would be kept outside of the home. They would go out and use the phone in the little booth for business and come back in. Apparently, something similar takes place among the Amish or Mennonite people with cell phones as well.

Yellow means...what the hell?

We paused at the corner of Muskrat Springs Road, which we could have taken left to get to a boat launch along the Juniata, but I opted not to this time, because we’d only see a tiny piece of the canal and would have to double back to where we were anyway.
Delotto was having some trouble with his feet, having not hiked in quite a long time. They were wet, and he’d needed some spare socks. Fortunately, I had spares in my bag to give him and he changed them on the corner. The man in the booth probably wondered what was going on with all of us just sitting there.

Misty Moisty Morning

Once we were good to go, we continued walking along Wagner Road. After a bit of time, the road split in two, and there was a tractor trailer blocking the left of the two routes.

The historic church

This was into another wood industry place that also made pallets as well as other wooden block material. There was a huge amount of it stored along that route. Some of the group continued ahead on the regular through traffic road, while some of us took the industrial side road, which was a bit different.
On the far side of the road was a yellow stop sign, apparently faded. I suppose that means the stop is optional.
We continued along the road after they came together, and it started raining a bit again.

Fog rising

There were cows off in a field to the left, and one of them was laying in the mud, not looking too well. I’m not sure if it was already dead, or if it was dying.

Bobble head owl

The others were looking at it. Delotto walked down to the farm house next to it to let them know, but no one was home to answer. He figured he might also be able to get a ride back to Mifflintown by going there, and I joked that knowing Delotto, they would send their daughter to take him back and marry him.
We waited at the next tree line along the road, and soon he came walking back up with us.
We continued to the north away from the river a bit again on the turning road, and approached the William Penn Highway again. Before reaching it, we cut to the left through a field to a pavilion behind the little local church.
We paused here for a good long break, which was really nice. It wasn’t really raining hardly at all, it was just a nice little place to be.
The entire road walk to this point, as well as the view from in the pavilion toward the mountains on the other side of the Juniata was absolutely stunning.

Florida trip?

The clouds floated high above the river, but not as high as the peaks of the mountains making or some really beautiful scenery.
We eventually let the pavilion through the church yard, and turned left again on the William Penn Highway, which was of course much busier than what we were on.
We headed down hill slightly and passed an old barn that looked as though it had been burnt. It had hay inside, so I figure it was combustion. Chickens were running around everywhere.
Soon, the road came close to the canal again, which was obvious. Some of the floor was still holding water, and I explained to Lowell how they lined the canals with clay so that the water would always hold.
We walked a little further ahead where the highway started to bend to the right. It looked like the canal might be some sort of public land because there were bird feeders on poles down in the prism.

Honey Locust

The edge of the road was lined with spiked Honey Locusts.
The spike covered trees are often alien to members of the group. They are actually pretty common in the Juniata Valley, though they grow more prevalent further south. We encountered a very menacing one on the last hke down this way.
The rain was pretty much done by this point, so the rest of the day was even more pleasant.
A little path went off to the left over toward the canal. I knew this was an area where there used to be a lock, just before the aqueduct over Doe Run, as per the 1877 maps.

Mirror shot

This little settlement where the canal crossed Doe Run was known as Mexico.

Lock remnant

This area was originally known as Patterson’s Fort, because Captain James Patterson erected a stockade there in 1755 to protect against native American attacks. The first white settlers came about 1740 or 41, down from the Mohawk River valley of NY. Fredering Staring (Starns) led some of his countrymen to the location. The native Americans discovered the German settlers in the site and complained to Governor Thomas of Pennsylvania that this was a breach of the Treaty of 1682 initiated by William Penn.

Remains of a lock

The German family was evicted from the site at the time, and settled in Virginia’s New River valley.
Of course, the treaty stuff didn’t last long and more German settlers came around. One of the Starns/Staring family remained in the area as it grew.

Giant tree bit by the lock

I’m not sure where the name Mexico came from. It could be associated with the Pennsylvania Canal coming through. Actually, the town of Uhlerstown on the Pennsylvania Canal Delaware Division was originally called Mexico as well. I’m just not sure why.
We looked around the canal site, and I soon found the remnants of the lock. Some of the cut stone was in place, but extremely badly deteriorated. Some of the cut stone might have been removed and recycled over the years.

Doe Run Aqueduct site

The remnants of the Doe Run Aqueduct were pretty good. They were easily recognizable for sure. The creek was running pretty high.

Foundation of the canal store

The north edge of the lock had a foundation built into it that I assumed might be the lock house, but my research into the site revealed that this was in fact the canal store. A private home on the far side of the aqueduct site, as per the historic map, confirms that the house there is probably the old lock house. It had a masonry foundation to prove its antiquity.
If it wasn’t the lock house, the house might have been the toll house for the ferry that once operated across the Juniata at this point.

Abandoned on Doe Run

Present day Landis Street heads toward the river where the ferry was. Aerial images reveal abutments that might have once been a bridge, but were likely footings for ferry cables at one time.
There was an abandoned building along the creek near the aqueduct as well. We made our way back up to the highway and turned left, as there was no way we were going to ford the heavy running Doe Run this time.

Mexico historic marker

We headed part way into the settlement of Mexico, and crossed Doe Run on the road bridge. Downstream from this bridge, there was the remnants of a dam across the creek, purged at the west side. It seems that the creek might have found a new course just downstream from here as a result of where it was purged.

Appreciating history

Just as we reached the start of the town, there was a large mill wheel on top of a concrete memorial stone that also had two plaques. At the top, it read “Mexico 1751-2001”. The plaques were corner stones from the New Mexico Mill, built by William Thomson. The other stone said something about something being a success to farmers and mechanics I think. Hard to read.
We turned to the left here, on Landis Street, and then passed a memorial to William Patterson, who built the second fort in Mexico around that spot. This Patterson was also a soldier in the French and Indian War and an active Patriot in the Revolutionary War.

Canal turned camp ground

There was also a double sided history sign telling more of the history of Mexico, but again it left out exactly how the town came to be named as such.

Former Pennsylvania Canal

We reached the former canal route and what I assume is the lock house, and turned right to follow the canal through Buttonwood Campground. The prism is now loaded with pull in parking spots with electric and sewer hookups. The towpath blocks off some of that and has stuff planted on it.
We continued on through the canal across the campgrounds. The towpath was plowed away before we reached the check in area for the camp. Off to the right, there was a sign on a barn building across the road with high water marks from both 1936 and 1972 (Hurricane Agnes).

Barn with flood markers

We followed the camp road with the 7.5 mph speed limit out to where it reached an open field, and the canal was completely plowed away.

7.5 mph only

We cut off to the left, as there is a public boat launch on the Juniata there. As we arrived, there was a train coming on the other side of the river. I hurried over to the launch area to catch a photo of it.
As this is still a Norfolk Southern main line on the former Pennsylvania Railroad, trains come at what seems like every fifteen minutes or so.
We made our way from here back out to East River Road to continue walking. The canal prism and towpath were always on our left rather closely on this stretch, which was pretty nice. Throughout the length, there were plenty of private camps on or next to the canal. Some bits of it were still holding some water.

Giant Sycamore

Some lovely giant Sycamore trees line the near side of the canal as we walked, and we found one spot where we could get over on a clear path to the towpath. I wasn’t sure if it was public, but there were no signs, so we decided to chance it.

On the towpath

We ended up walking a very nice section of towpath as the road climbed to a higher elevation. When the road came back down, we ended up out behind a trailer that was unoccupied, probably for a while because the back porch area had collapsed. We were able to skirt the clearing and make our way back up to the road, which was again very close to the canal.
The canal was totally clear for a while ahead, right next to the road.
We eventually got over on the towpath again when it started to look really nice and clear, through the camp ground lands next to the road.

The canal

The bridge carrying Rt 75 across the Juniata into Port Royal was coming into view, in a slant up to the other side.

The canal

The area today known as Port Royal was originally known as Perrysville, for Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry. At some point, it took on the name Port Royal. I had always assumed that this was associated with the Pennsylvania Canal, however the canal was on the opposite side of the river and had no connection to its waters. The Pennsylvania Railroad was more closely associated with the growth of the settlement on that side.

Port Royal Bridge

The history of the Juniata crossing here is quite interesting.
It was an obvious place for a crossing, because it was a shallow spot for a ford early on.
The first bridge across the river was a covered bridge built in 1831. A heavy snow came along in 1839 and brought the roof down, and then the bridge bent and collapsed into the river.
The bridge was replaced in 1842, and it lasted until 1847 when it was taken out by a flood.

1906 view of Port Royal Bridge

The third bridge was completed in 1851, but this time at about five feet higher than its predecessors to protect against flooding.

View of the fourth Port Royal Bridge

Still, that bridge too was taken away by a flood in 1889, as well as the toll collector’s house. The toll collector and family escaped with only their lives.

Port Royal Bridge

The fourth bridge was completed in 1892, also a covered structure, at higher quality than the previous ones. It was just upstream from the previous bridge, and had masonry piers filled with concrete. The bridge lasted for many years until it too was finally swept away, save for one span, in March of 1936.
The current bridge is really something unique as well. It is a four span Parker through truss, which ascends from the north side of the river to the south at a 3.12% grade.

The fourth Port Royal Bridge

On the Port Royal side, it connects with two different lanes, one of which has an earlier arch bridge dating to 1910 over the Pennsylvania Railroad, as well as a lane off to the west which would have connected over to the preceding bridge.

The same scene as above today

Few examples of bridges like this one remain, and PennDOT chose to rehabilitate this one in 2010 rather than replace it.

Just before the flood destroyed the bridge

At this point, we were doing pretty well with time, and I wanted to have a closer look at this bridge. Some waited behind, and some crossed, and we went to have a look.

In Port Royal

We walked up across the bridge to the other side, and we could see the ramp to the older covered bridge directly below us to the right. There were also some very old houses there, which amazingly must have survived the last couple of floods to strike the area.
As we reached the far side of the bridge, we could hear another train coming in the distance. We made our way over to the older arched section of the bridge to try to photograph it as it went by. I managed to get one about spot on as it crossed.
We headed back across the bridge, and then turned left on West River Road, again pretty close to the canal. I spotted where the fourth covered bridge used to cross the river, and the approach from our side was quite obscured, probably due to years of flooding. The former Pennsylvania Canal was even more obscure at this point. I suppose it may have been abandoned already in this area by the time that covered bridge was built. I would imagine it was probably heavily damaged by the same flood, and by that time it was no longer economical to fix it, though I have read that some of it remained in service on the Juniata Division as late as 1901.

Train passing by

We continued along the road, and we moved on away from the canal a bit more. At some point off in these weeds was the site of the next lock, and a lock house was on the road.

Along the old canal

I don’t recall seeing anything that might have looked old enough to be a lock house, nor did I see any particular lock remnants while walking by.
We continued on the road past a house where I thought we could maybe get back to the old canal, but then it wasn’t looking so good. We decided to just stay on the road up hill, and maybe cut over to the left to get to it just past this.
The Empire Kosher factory place was on the left near the crest of the hill, and we walked into the driveway briefly to see if there was a way down to get to the canal. If we had wanted to bully through it, we might have gotten down there, but it was looking really terrible.

The former canal below Mifflintown

Further, there was a security person that drove to the front gate of the place and was just parked there pointing at us. I decided we wouldn’t try to push on through there, and we went back out to the road. As we walked off, the car turned around, still within the chain link fences of the facility. When we got further down behind the fence, I could see the guy following us from inside the fences and turning around when he got to a point where he couldn’t go any further. It was probably a good thing we didn’t bother trying to go down through that woods.

The old road

River Road came to a sharp ninety degree bend, and St. Jude Lane continued ahead. It used to be a through route, but it’s now blocked off at the end by some big vehicle barriers. Still, we could walk this. It leads to where only one house is using it as a driveway, and then to where we walk between the barriers to reach a traffic circle on the Mifflintown side of the Juniata River.
Mifflintown is on the east side, and simply Mifflin is on the west. Mifflin was originally known as Patterson, probably for the same Patterson who started the fort just downstream from here. It was renamed for Thomas Mifflin who was the first Governor of Pennsylvania.

Historic map of the town

We turned left on Rt 35 to descend and cross where the Pennsylvania Canal went, and then cross the Juniata River. There wasn’t much left to see of the canal save for possibly two wet areas that look like more modern retention ponds.

The new bridge

Once we got across the bridge, we scaled some scree slope to the right, and then headed down to the edge of the Juniata. We then continued north upstream.
This was a nice little swath in the grass, in a park atmosphere parallel with River Drive to the foot bridge back over the Juniata. I chose this route because the foot bridge looked so cool.
A set of steps led up along the edge of it from River Drive, and then to the deck of the bridge where a few teenage girls looked at us like we were lunatics.

The pedestrian bridge

We headed out onto the bridge with fantastic views of the Juniata River. On the other side, we could see clearly where the canal used to go, and it will be very easy to walk this section next time.
Lowell pulled out his recorder to get final statements on the hike from everyone.
We headed up bridge street from here into Mifflintown. This used to be the site of an older bridge built in 1937, a nine panel rivet parker through truss. Many are sad that the original bridge was not left and simply open to pedestrian use only.

The foot bridge

This bridge apparently replaced an older truss bridge on the site that dated back to at least 1910, but I can’t find much information on it other than one photo.
Just ahead was the Juniata County Courthouse, sitting on a bit of a hill, and high above the other buildings with a monument in front. This court house was completed in 1875, and replaced an earlier one built in 1833. That one was in use until 1873 when it was demolished in favor of the one that still stands today.

Historic postcard of Mifflin and Mifflintown. Foot bridge is where the one ot the right is

We turned left at the court house thinking we were going to stop in a little bar and grill called the Gridiron Pub, but it looked kind of like a dive that didn’t serve food.

Original court house

On the way up from the bridge, we had passed a Spanish restaurant called Guante that looked rather good, so we opted to turn back there.

Historic court house postcard

Jason decided to leave early to get back to his wife Megan, who he told us was pregnant and he didn’t want to leave hanging around for two hours in Harrisburg. The rest of us headed to the restaurant and were treated to a quite delicious meal.
From there, we simply headed back up hill and around the corner to where we had parked the cars. Lowell took Kirk, John, and I back to my car in Thompsontown to close out the day.
This was another one that kept with the same feel of the previous hikes; it was an absolute blast when I didn’t really have particularly high hopes for anything but a relaxing day on back roads. Of course it was that, but it was so much more as well. We not only found the remnants of the canal I was hoping to find, we also found so much historic bridge material, plenty of other buildings, and of course a window into a different way of life in the Amish and Mennonite culture that is everywhere here.

The court house now

At this point, there are only really four more main hikes remaining to get us to where I had left off a year ago in Huntingdon, and we can start the route from Johnstown south to the Shanksville crash site. These last four are a bit further away, but I feel that we can still pull them off as day hikes if need be. Four more trips is really not that much.
The next one is one that, like this one, I am dreading to some degree.
There is a good section of canal heading out of Mifflintown we will be able to walk, and over a mile and a half of clear dedicated trail on the towpath, but moving on past there, there is nearly a four mile stretch with only large Rt 22 highway edge. We’ve done some of this before, and there are bits where we can walk along the back side of the guide rail, so I know we can pull it off. It’s not like we didn’t do it before on two other previous hikes in this section, and even that can be entertaining.
Either way, I’m really looking forward to it. We’re really closing in on the entire first third of the 911 National Memorial Trail. The next sections below Johnstown will be extremely far away, and will require overnight stays, but I’m still excited to do them somehow.

At the end

Hopefully, the interest will remain as strong as it has been as we move out to those sections.

HAM