Hike #1243; Lehigh Gorge/Drake’s Creek to Weissport
8/8/19 Drakes Creek/Lehigh Gorge to Weissport with Ken Zaruni
During the Summer, I still get these weird four days off in a row when I’m working weekends, and so I was left with another free Thursday and nothing to do.
Falls on Drakes Creek
I decided that this was another good opportunity to hike some more of the Lehigh Gorge and try to find some of the historic remnants like I’d done on the previous Thursday one.
It’s kind of disappointing that last year I could pull out so many people to do a Thursday hike, but this year there numbers have been way down for it.
Of course, there are not that many people with any great interest in looking for old canal locks that have not been used since 1862, but it makes me crazy.
I arrived at Weissport along the Lehigh Canal to find that only Ken had showed up for the hike. I didn’t mind that, as long as someone was still willing to go.
Lehigh Gorge
From there, we shuttled north to Drake’s Creek, where we had started on the previous Lehigh Gorge hike. This time, where we went north from there, we would turn south.
By doing this section, I had walked the entire former Lehigh Valley Railroad route from Perth Amboy all the way to Lehigh Tannery.
My other goal in doing this was to try to find the remnants of the Lehigh Canal Upper Division locks. This section of the canal was built amazingly through the narrowest sections of the Lehigh Gorge, with lifts higher than those of other canals.
A 1902 flood mess, showing wrecked Dam #19 and Lock #28.
The entire Upper Division, often called the Upper Grand Division, was abandoned after flooding destroyed much of it in 1862. By that time, railroads had already begun to take hold and were far more practical. Flooding over the years has slowly been erasing the canal.
Floods have been a persistent problem throughout the gorge, and so a great deal of infrastructure has been erased.
We started walking from the same spot we had started on the previous hike, at the pull off parking next to a pile of road gravel on Drake’s Creek Road where it begins to descend to Lehigh Gorge. The narrow road descends slowly to creek side from the spot I parked.
An example of an Upper Divison Dam, Dam #18
Talking to Ken about it, I realized it was much narrower than I’d realized before. If someone were driving this, one of them would have to back up to the nearest turn off before moving down.
We walked all the way back down to the bottom as I had done on the previous trip. The falls might have been running a little heavier than they were the previous time.
When we got close to the bottom, after the couple of creek crossings, we turned right down the ramping trail to the old mill side. I had a closer look at the masonry and how impressive it was this time.
Old mill ruins on Drake's Creek
We walked down stream from here to where the contraption is to let boats down to the underpass below former Lehigh Valley Railroad, and then by way of the creek into the Lehigh. We had another look at the stone arched culvert, then took the steps back up hill to the tracks.
Where we turned to the right the previous time, Ken and I turned to the left to follow the tracks to the south.
I was worried when we started this that it would be a little too hot to handle the openness of the grade in the heat, but fortunately the sun remained behind the hill for this first part of it, and what would have been bad provided plenty of shade.
After a little signal tower and brief bit of a cut, we peered off to the river with a bit of a view to the right. The Lehigh Canal was on the opposite side in this area. Dam #10 was in this area, which would have been 235 feet across the river and 32 feet high. We didn’t notice any remnants of it at all in this area. Lock #17 on the far side would have had a lift of 22 ft.
The views in the gorge were amazing even from this side. There were always little cascades or springs coming out of the rocks to our left. The Stony Creek flowed in from the left.
Dam #9 was 220 feet long and 27 feet high. Lock #16 had a lift of 21 feet. I noted a separate trench from the river in this area that could have been the canal route. Also at this point, a towpath bridge crossed over the river to change the navigation side. Until we reached Penn Haven, we were on the side of the canal from this point.
We approached the bend on the Lehigh, and there was a great promontory on the other side I would love to get out to. In this area, I noted some old railroad wheel trucks were part buried in the railroad fill below some ballast. I figured that this must have been some old accident tht occurred so far in the middle of nowhere that they decided to just let it go. I later found out from someone’s commentary on line that some junk was thrown into the grades as well as into the river in order to help stop erosion.
Stuff washes up in the gorge
After a little bit, we had to start looking or the site of Dam #8 and Locks 14 and 15. The dam was a whopping 58 feet high and 190 feet long, and Locks 14 and 15 were 18 and 20 foot lifts. These consecutive locks must have been quite a site back when they were used.
Ken and I descended to the river’s edge and started looking around for remnants. There were railroad ties that had been washed down, and on the other side were plate girders from an old bridge. I figured they had washed down from possibly a major bridge washout that once occurred on the Lehigh Valley Railroad just below White Haven, but then I was told that these too were put in place to help deter erosion.
There were definite masonry remnants of some sort on the bank, but whether or not it was the canal is too difficult to say any more. There was also some protruding stone going into the river I thought might be a remnant of a dam. It’s again too hard to say.
We walked along the river for a bit, and there were some more stones that looked like they had been sort of placed, but again no positive ID. We pushed along as what appeared might be a canal remnant continued on the shore. There was a little more masonry wall on the near side I think obscured by weeds, so that could be part of it.
I spotted a bare area with smaller stones on the farther shore which might have also been the end of a dam. It’s just too hard to say in this area.
We walked up stream along the river a bit and through some weeds. The level area on the flood plain might have been where the bit of canal and locks were. Since there were two, any of this area could have been it.
Where we climbed back up to the tracks, there was one bit of stone that looked sort of stacked, but that could have been really nothing. For all I know, the locks could also be under the railroad grade from widening.
We continued down stream a bit more, and there was a spot jutting out into the river ahead that could have been Dam #7. This dam was 180 feet long and had a crest of 29 feet above the river bed. Lock #13 was apparently just below this point, but I didn’t see any masonry remnants. This lock had a lift of 22 feet.
What I did find next was one of the more astonishing things I noted on this hike: The Lehigh was full of a wooden cribbing that stretched out into the river near the dam site.
Strange cribbing in the Lehigh
All of the wood remained submerged in a very calm section of the river, probably some of the slack water from whatever remnants of the dam are still there.
The wood went straight out into the river, not in a sort of crib fashion the way it would for a dam. This was something entirely different. I wondered if this could have been a base for the lock, which has since washed away.
Lock remnants?
At glance, none of these remnants were visible. We just sort of caught them when the light was right on the river. Getting a photo that even showed any of it was not easy.
We continued on the tracks until the flood plain got wider again, and then descended to look for canal remnants. Between Locks 13 and 12 was a longer canal section, not slack water navigation.
When we got into the weeds, there were definite masonry remnants that could either have been part of a lock, or part of the canal wall. It’s hard to say.
Stone canal remnants?
The roots of trees have managed to hold together some of this rock. There were other piles of smaller rock in the area higher than what would be washed like that by the river. I think some of this was more canal remnant, but it’s really hard to say.
Through some of this section, the canal was very obvious. The towpath was eroded town, but the trench was definitely there.
Ahead, there was another tree holding together some more stone with it’s roots, and the prism appeared to wash out into the landscape. We made our way back up toward the tracks again, and in doing so found something that might have been either a berm wall or towpath wall. It was only maybe a foot or so high from the level of the ground around it, but it was definitely man made protruding rock that appears to have predated the railroad through here.
The stones continued a little ways from the railroad grade along the shelf area. We continued to do our best to follow it. We found another section of almost undeniable canal.
David Barber’s survey states that there are were basically no remnants of Lock #12, which had a lift of 22 feet, but I believe what we found next was quite possible that.
Curve stone consistent with lock contruction
It’s a rather confusing spot, because there is a high stone wall supporting the former Lehigh Valley Railroad to the right, but a curved stone wall is at a lower elevation from this. The curved stone walls were typically the ends of the locks, and there was no other reason for such construction here. I feel confident that what we found was an undocumented remnant of Lock 12. It had more masonry up stream from the point as well, which was deteriorated but still very obviously not natural. Beyond this, there was a slope rip rap rock section that is consistent with other towpath wall construction I have seen elsewhere on the same canal.
Towpath wall?
I was very happy with what we’d found. I was surprised that Mr. Barber missed this remnant, but happy to have found it. I suppose it is easy to miss when the railroad wall is right next to it.
We continued back up to the tracks from here, as we had reached the Penn Haven Bridge. The earlier Lehigh Valley Railroad right of way continues to the left from here, to an earlier bridge site before the current alignment. It probably dates back to about the time the tunnel was made to the north.
We crossed the current bridge, and just down stream from it we could see the stone pier remnants of the bridge, now just rubble in the water, that carried the towpath across. This was known as Bridge #2.
The Jersey Central Railroad bed on the other side was held back by a high stone wall.
The area of Penn Haven is quite interesting in that it was one of the most secluded railroad stations in the country. It was not until much later years even accessible by car, and then probably only people in official capacity.
The station is long gone today, and it is still a junction between lines, but nothing compared to what it once was.
My then and now comp
Penn Haven was an interchange from the beginning of the canal, and the Beaver Meadow Railroad had a transfer at this point starting in 1836. The Hazleton Railroad built a line ten miles further from the Beaver Meadow terminus in Weatherly to more coal. However, a flood in 1841 destroyed the Beaver Meadow Railroad trackage up stream along the Quakake Creek.
Another then and now comp
The Hazleton Railroad then built a flood proof route along the top of the mountain, and then created the first Penn Haven planes to get coal down to the canal.
Soon after Beaver Meadow Railroad built it’s own parallel line and planes, just to the south and west of the Hazleton Railroad’s route.
The route was eventually eliminated in favor of a newer railroad branch across from the original route of the Beaver Meadow line along Quakake Creek.
Historic image at Penn Haven
At a platform at the old station site there was an arrow pointing along the track heading to Weatherly, and a quote “A Road Less Traveled - R. Frost”.
We turned to the left and followed the D&L Trail along the former Jersey Central right of way to the south, which closely follows the still active former Lehigh Valley line, now part of the Reading, Blue Mountain, and Northern, and operated as the Lehigh Gorge excursion line.
The Chairman/CEO and I guess owner of it is a guy named Andy Muller Jr. who people tell me is really a cool guy. A rail fan and practical person involved in local politics is what is needed for practical use of rail lines. This company took many sections Conrail had that didn’t fit it’s core plan and made them into economical benefits to the region.
I kept my eyes peeled below the railroad grade as we headed south for signs of Lock #11 and Dam #6. This was another I’d never seen before, but knew there were remnants.
Lock 11
Ken and I headed down and soon found what was described in Barber’s book. It appears that the lock is completely covered over by the railroad bed, but that the river side outer lock wall is what is still visible. The wall wasn’t as high, and the lift of this lock was only 13 feet, which is low compared to upper division locks.
Dam #6 was 209 feet long and 24 feet above the river bed.
We climbed back up from the former canal route to the railroad bed and continued south.
The section below this lock was a canal section. We were soon able to see where the canal was with obvious prism and towpath, which was kind of surprising. We decided to dip down from the railroad bed and start following the grade for a bit.
It wasn’t too bad in terms of weeds this time. We were able to follow it pretty closely, and at some point it looked like it went partially under the railroad bed again.
Lock 10
Before too long, we came to the remnants of Lock #10.
This one was quite impressive because the land side wall in place, with not only recognizable gate pockets, but also metal hardware that held the wood to the sides. I was particularly surprised that the washers, despite worn and pitted metal, were still in place on these.
Lock #10 had a lift of 16 feet.
We climbed back up to the railroad bed from here. The canal below this point was a slack water section from the next dam.
We soon passed an old wooden post that was probably once a mile post. I had been watching for the site of the former Lehigh Valley Railroad bridge over the Lehigh, but somehow I missed it.
In this section, a passenger train went by us loaded with people, which was really surprising considering it was a Thursday afternoon, not a weekend. Everyone waved happily. I thought to myself that this is a perfect example of “rail with trail” working together. There was even a platform out there for people taking their bikes to a certain point and then biking back.
The Lehigh Valley Railroad bed is used by the excursion, and it climbed steadily until it was on a high embankment above the former CNJ and trail route.
In the section ahead, I started looking down for the remnants of Lock #9 and Dam #5. This was a bigger one, with the dam 240 feet long and 32 feet above the river bed. The lock had a lift of 20 feet.
Lock #9 site
David Barber reported no remains of the lock, but that there was a canal trace below. Ken and I went down into it, and I did found some masonry wall edges against the CNJ grade above that probably date back to canal days. There was a mess of river rock or lock masonry on the floor of this wash that takes on a lot of water and makes the land to our left an island during heavy rains. We were most certainly at the site of Lock #9, but there wasn’t a whole lot to see. Still, we continued on this route down stream a bit. It soon opened up to where there was definitely obvious canal and towpath remnants.
Lehigh Canal remmant between locks 8 and 9.
Another canal section existed between Locks 9 and 8, so we managed to follow it pretty well for a while. We came out to where there was a path down to the river, which was a good spot to take another dip and enjoy a Belgian style imperial stout. I had told Ken how they went very well with brown sugar cinnamon pop tarts, and so he brought me a box of them to prove the combination was as amazing as I had said.
When we headed back up, we didn’t go all the way to the railroad grade. I was worried that we might have missed this next lock site somehow. We bushwhacked into the woods to the left to continue looking, and it was getting disorienting with the levels of land changing.
Lock #8
In trying to find this lock, Ken and I ran into a yellow jacket’s nest and got stung a couple of times.
I dashed off as quickly as I could to the left, and in doing so, out of the way of where I was planning to go, I found the land side lock wall, again with some metal hardware in place, complete with square washers.
Some of the river side wall was in place on this one, but it was far washed away down to only a few blocks, and barely visible through weeds.
This lock had a lift of 21 feet. It’s amazing that these locks could fill or drain in less than three minutes.
Ken went out and around another way as to avoid the yellow jackets, and got stung on his hand.
We headed up to the railroad bed again from here, and were surprised to see a nice interpretive sign about the Upper Grand Division and how locks worked.
Pioneer Pipeline bridge
We followed the rail bed again for a while and kept our eyes on the right side for the next sign of any canal related stuff.
We soon came to the Pioneer Pipeline bridge crossing, a couple of pipes and a suspension structure built to carry the Tidewater Pipeline across the Lehigh Gorge. This was built to carry crude oil from western Pennsylvania to the oil refineries in New Jersey.
The line was built 1886 to try to screw over the other oil baron John D. Rockefeller.
Rockafeller had a stranglehold on the railroad industry, and the independent oil companies created the line so that they wouldn’t have to haul the oil via rail.
While the line was a success at first, Rockefeller simply lowered his prices and drowned out all of the competition until they forced to close. He then bought the oil pipeline himself.
The line is no longer in use for oil, but does continue to carry fiber optics.
Lock #7
We watched the edge of the grade ahead, and really didn’t have any trouble finding the remnants of Lock #7, which had a lift of 20 feet. There was surprisingly a little metal hardware left in the walls of this one as well.
Dam #4 was here and was 194 feet long and 27 feet above the level of the river.
Excursion
There was another canal section that extended below Lock #7, but it was pretty overgrown there at first, so we climbed back to the CNJ grade to head south for a bit.
As we walked, the excursion train came back again. We had already seen it on it’s return trip, I did not mention earlier, and it was already out with another group. It’s really cool to see these passing by while we walk.
We descended from the rail bed to the former canal when it looked more amenable to walking, and it wasn’t too bad. There was another section of recognizable canal and towpath so we continued to follow it.
Lock 6
The canal section led us to Lock #6, which was in pretty good condition. Both walls were recognizable, but the land wall much more so than the river one. The lock had a lift of 21 feet, but it’s much silted in from those days down at the base. More metal hardware was visible.
Site of Bridge 1
We continued back up to the railroad bed, and the river came closer in to the left. There was a stone wall that might have been a towpath remnant, but not sure. Beyond, there was certainly a wall that was built to support the railroad.
In this area, at a bend in the river, was the site of Bridge #1. The towpath switched to the far side of the river here. I had already explored that section on a previous hike, so we weren’t going to cross that this time. I took a dip in the river, and we headed back up to the railroad grade to continue to the south a bit.
Lock #5 in 2012
Soon, a train went by again full of passengers, all happy and waving at us.
We passed by the former site of Dam #4, which was 262 feet long with a crest of 16 feet above the river. I didn’t see any remnants, but there are remnants of Lock #5 on the far side of the river, which I explored in 2012. It had a lift of 10 feet.
There was a canal section below Lock 5 to lock 4 which is pretty washed out, but recognizable, and Lock #4 is in a little bit better shape than 5.
Lock #4 in 2012
We couldn’t really see any of the remnants of Lock 4 from where we were walking on the trail, because it was at the time obscured by trees, but in the Winter it would be visible because a good amount remains in place.
Lock #4 had a lift of 14 feet on the far side of the river.
We continued along the trail until the active former Lehigh Valley Railroad tracks broke off to the right through a cut, and the CNJ remained the trail into the parking area near Glen Onoko. We followed this, and then ramped down to the left along the river to get a better view of the former bridge site that carried it across, and the Turn Hole Tunnel, also known as Glen Onoko Tunnel.
Turn Hole Tunnel
We walked along the river beneath where the bridge used to be, and then passed beneath the former Lehigh Valley Railroad bridge and the later CNJ bridge which carries the road access to the point. We walked the path around to the base of Glen Onoko, which was recently closed, and saw the entrance cascade. I had a then and now compilation to set up from this point.
The area here confuses me quite a bit. David Barber’s book shows Dam #2 and Lock #3 to be just below this point, but the written description said it was above this point. I’m not sure which is correct, and so I do not have any presentation of Lock #3. I would love to know what the case is on this part. There was also a dam at that site.
We headed back the way we came and up to the railroad grade, then crossed the bridge over “Turn Hole” as it was called, and we headed through the parking lot because I wanted to show Ken the Jersey Central’s old Turn Hole Tunnel.
Turn Hole Tunnel
This is always a popular spot. The double track wide tunnel is a pretty cool spit, and the fact that it crossed and went right onto a trestle was something else.
We continued down from here along the access road, through the lots, and along the trail to the Nesquehoning Bridge where the Lehigh Gorge Trail crosses over to the west side. I was surprised to see that there was a new bridge being constructed by Reading, Blue Mountain, and Northern to cross the river and eliminate the need for trains to turn around elsewhere.
New Bridge
We continued form here to the left after looking at the new bridge site, onto the Lehigh Canal towpath, which is much clearer and easier to follow down stream. The towpath was obvious and a nice walk. This led us out to the very well preserved Lock #2. It had a lift of 17 feet.
Lock 2
We continued to the left across the lock, and downstream along more of the old canal route. This led us to the unnumbered Coalport Lock.
Coalport Lock was likely a later addition to the canal. The Lower Division remained in service after the flood of June 1862 destroyed the rest, but the first lock of the Upper Division remained in use up to Coalport, where this lock was apparently added at that time to serve the site. Coalport Lock also remains in pretty good shape. It was a guard lock apparently with negligible lift. We continued from here through woods toward the former Lehigh Valley Railroad tracks that are still in use to the south.
Coalport Lock
While following the tracks, we came to the remnants of Lock #1 to the right, almost under the new bridge over the Lehigh. The lock had a lift of 15.33 feet, and remains at full height at the lower walls, but it’s been pretty well battered by the river. It probably won’t survive many more floods. Dam #1 extended from this point over the river, and appeared to have been tied in to the lock. The dam was 20 feet high and 220 feet long.
Upper Division Lock 1
We continued back to the tracks and followed them past where the previous bridges used to be over the Lehigh. I’d walked the more recent incarnation many times before it was torn down. We continued from here on along the tracks and eventually came to the Jim Thorpe Market, where we stoppped for a break.I think I got a sandwich.
Lock 1 Upper Divison
There is anew foot bridge across the Lehigh that had been built south of this point for the D&L Trail, but it had remained closed for a long time. It was mostly in place back when I hiked it a couple of years ago, and was supposed to be open in late 2017. I had planned my 911 Trail series to be there for the grand opening of the bridge, but it was still not open when we got there, and it seemed ridiculous that it still was not open yet.
Interestingly, the bridge was scheduled to open the following Monday from when Ken and I were there! He ended up taking his wife up there to see that and some highlights of this hike.
We followed the tracks to this point, then descended to the new trail on the east side of the new bridge. This was also the site of Lock #1 of the Lehigh Canal’s Lower Division. I was concerned they were beating it up during the construction, but it looked like the upper ends of the lock walls were stabilized with some new stone and mortar.
Lower Division Lock 1
Lock 1 was a guard lock with a maximum lift of only 1.4 feet depending on the level of the river. The site confuses me somewhat because there are what appears to be two locks here. There’s the first one, and then a second one all leading up to the waste water treatment plant beyond. I can’t make any sense of it. Lock #2, maybe a half mile down, is supposed to have been the site of the “Weigh Lock” where boats were weighed loaded with coal, but nothing explains the existence of what appear to be two locks here.
Another interesting point about the first our locks of the Lower Division Lehigh Canal is that they are built substantially larger than the rest of them on the canal (though not higher like in the Upper Division). Most locks are 100 feet long by 22 feet wide, but these first four are 130 feet long by 30 feet wide.
There is an interesting story behind this; the Lehigh Canal’s first constructed locks were these first four, between 1825 and 1826. These were built with the thought that they might carry steamboats, more the size of the Schuykill Navigation down near Philadelphia. When the Pennsylvania Canal began construction of their Delaware Division sixty miles between Bristol and Easton in 1827 to the smaller specifications, it eliminated the advantages of having larger locks.
Weird secondary lock at Lock 1
We continued down stream from here, first around the waste water plant, then back to the canal towpath. This section was always somewhat rustic, but it had now been upgraded with a crushed stone surface.
I was admittedly a little disappointed. The difficulty of reaching this location always made it more secluded than the rest of the trail, even way up in Lehigh Gorge above Jim Thorpe, but now it would soon be much more open and heavily used.
We continued through a swath of woods and past some water works ruins to the right before coming to Lock #2 and Weigh Lock. The weight lock was reportedly located in this area (now next to the railroad tracks) because there was more room available along the river here than there was at Lock 1. Lock #2 had a lift of 8.3 feet.
Lock 2
We continued to walk from here, in a very open area to a much more wooded area where the canal narrowed to normal width.
We continued a little bit further and soon came to Lock #3. This one was much more overgrown, but visible and in good shape, especially compared to the Upper Division Locks. This one also had a lift of 8.3 feet.
We soon passed beneath the former Lehigh Valley Railroad, which turned to the right and crossed over the Lehigh on a deck girder bridge. The canal was then on a high masonry wall that was outfitted in more recent years with concrete.
Lock 4
The canal gets to be pretty amazing in this area, hugging the gorge ledges so closely. Many sections are vergical cliffs along the edge of it through here.
We soon reached Lock #4, which had a lift of 9 feet, and was last of the larger locks constructed in the mid 1820s. There is a foot bridge across this lock with a wooden observation deck and a great view out over the Lehigh. Much of this site is cleared, and some of it had been re mediated in more recent years with caged rock where some towpath had apparently washed down into the Lehigh. The stone ruins of the lock tender’s house are also on the far side of the lock and clearly visible from the path to the deck. Lift of the lock was 9 feet.
Lock 5
We made our way back to the towpath and continued to walk to the south.
A little ways into the tree cover there was a very good old spillway in the towpath, with some of the old stone still exposed. I was glad to see with the improvements done that they hadn’t covered any of this over.
We continued a short distance beyond this, and then came to Lock #5, which had a lift of 7.2 feet. It was in pretty good condition with a few trees growing out of it, but not bad. This one also had a foot bridge over it which led to some sort of church property.
Lock 6
The foot bride has a sign on it saying to talk to god, that he wants to talk to you, and the bridge has two signs reading “Bridge to Nowhere” and “Beware of Snakes”. The ruins of the lock house foundation are also found on the far side.
We continued along the canal with nice cliffs to the left. The canal became more watered as more streams flowed in to it from the hillside to the left. By the time we got to Lock #6, it was starting to look pretty historically accurate, save for the missing gates in the locks of course. Lock #6 had a lift of 7.7 feet.
Lock 7
There was a very nice long stretch on the canal between Locks 6 and the end of the hike. The cliffs became much more visible along the water. The spillways were still functional and had foot bridges now over them for the trail.
Lock 7 was in nice shape, which had a lift of 9.1 feet.
I watched as we walked along for the side paths made by mountain bikers I first noticed while hiking through this in 2010, but they don’t appear to be as well used as they were back then. They had some amazing bridges built by the volunteers on them I’d like to do an entire hike around.
Lock 8
We came to a spot where there was a great view out onto the Lehigh to the right, and a stony flood plain. A flood retention berm as we approached Weissport goes off of the towpath to the right here, and comes out next to the bridge to Lehighton. We continued ahead on the towpath and soon reached Lock #8, which was well cleared and in good shape, with a building that appears to be quite new, but is probably on the site of original lock house on the opposite shore. The lift of Lock 8 was 7.9 feet.
We continued along the canal here and before too long came to Weissport, the town named for Jacob Weiss who first tried to sell anthracite coal when hunter Philip Ginder led him to the site where he found it in 1792.
Weissport
We had reached the parking area and our hike came to an end. I had taken a last dip in the Lehigh just before Lock 8, which gave me just enough time to dry off a little and not mess up Ken’s car.
This, for me especially, was an absolutely fantastic day of discovering forgotten history probably uninspected since David Barber did his survey. I felt a great sense of accomplishment, more than usual even, after having documented these amazing ruins that have sat out there untouched since as far back as 1862.
It’s incredibly important to me that someone carries on the work done by the late David Barber, whom I had the pleasure of hiking with thanks to mutual friend Bob Barth a couple of years ago. History passes us by every single moment, and if we fail to recognize it, we can’t get it back.
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