About 30 minutes to the northeast is Allegheny Portage Railroad National Monument. This monument is on top of a high ridge, and the weather up there was fantastic too – noticeably cooler with a lot of wind. There are giant wind turbines everywhere up here.This monument is $4/adult and also features a nice visitors center and theater – I don’t remember so many theaters in these parks when I went to them as a kid. Maybe they were there and I just don’t remember, but I don’t think so. These all seem new. Anyway, the building is beautiful, but the exhibits inside were not as good or interesting as I would hope. The video was good, though. The best part about the park is that you take a short walk to one of the original buildings, and it there that you really get a sense of what this park is all about.
During the early 1800, there was no good East-West route across Pennsylvania. Roads had been built in New York and one was planned in Maryland, and people here didn’t want to miss out on the economic benefits of the booming westward expansion. The problem with such a road in PA though, was the Allegheny Mountains – a particularly beautiful, but steep mountain range within the Appalachians running basically north-northeast to south-southwest. Until now, goods and people from Philadelphia or Pittsburg traveled by canal to the foot of the Alleghenies, was unloaded onto horse-drawn carriages, hauled over the treacherous mountains, loaded back onto canal barges, and pulled toward the opposite city. This usually took about 25 days.
Some pretty smart guys thought up a better way. At the tops of 10 ridges, people built buildings to house huge steam engine pulleys. They would float those canal barges onto train cars, which would be connected by rope to those steam engines. The engines would pull those huge, heavy train cars loaded with canal barges loaded with goods, up those extremely steep mountain sides on rail cars – all with hemp ropes miles long. As you can imagine, there were a few breaks, and you can only imagine what would have happened when that huge load flew downhill on those tracks to the bottom of the mountains. More than a few people were killed. But, it was still a far better mode of transportation than anything available before. It turned that 25-day trip into a 3 day trip. In the 1860’s they replaced those ropes with the newly invented steel cable, which obviously was much safer. The whole thing is and was an engineering marvel. To think that they were able to do all that, including digging huge train tunnels, some 90 feet long, is just amazing. The Allegheny Portage Rail Road (APRR)opened in 1834.
Some pretty smart guys thought up a better way. At the tops of 10 ridges, people built buildings to house huge steam engine pulleys. They would float those canal barges onto train cars, which would be connected by rope to those steam engines. The engines would pull those huge, heavy train cars loaded with canal barges loaded with goods, up those extremely steep mountain sides on rail cars – all with hemp ropes miles long. As you can imagine, there were a few breaks, and you can only imagine what would have happened when that huge load flew downhill on those tracks to the bottom of the mountains. More than a few people were killed. But, it was still a far better mode of transportation than anything available before. It turned that 25-day trip into a 3 day trip. In the 1860’s they replaced those ropes with the newly invented steel cable, which obviously was much safer. The whole thing is and was an engineering marvel. To think that they were able to do all that, including digging huge train tunnels, some 90 feet long, is just amazing. The Allegheny Portage Rail Road (APRR)opened in 1834.
Engine house #6.
At this Memorial, you get a close-up view of engine house #6 and a tavern built beside is. The tavern has an interesting story as well. A man (I forgot his name) kind was in the right place at the right time. He owned a house here and occasionally boarded travelers. When he heard that the rail road was going to build an engine house right there on his land, he built a big hotel and tavern to travelers. The house has been fully restored to its original condition, and is just beautiful. Archaeologists were even able to determine the exact color of paint used in the house, and painted it that color. He made quite a fortune with this tavern, but then struck gold again – or rather coal. On his property, just a few feet from the engine house, he found a seem of coal, and obviously, you need a lot of coal to run a steam engine. He became one of the richest men in the Alleghenies.
Sarah ordering a beer at the tavern.
With improvements in strength and efficiency in steam locomotives, the APRR became obsolete, and by 1889, it closed. I think it would be amazing to hike the path of the old railroad. There are still a lot of reminders of the old rail road along the way.
Sarah on one of the old railroad trails.
We had another short picnic in the parking lot, mostly just to enjoy the beautiful weather. There are several other places nearby that I wanted to see, but unfortunately, we had to get going. It was already 3pm and we still had a long drive to get to Cleveland.
We took some small roads and then the interstates to Cleveland, with a couple of long stops in the middle to feed Jackson, who had been amazingly patient in the car considering he’d been in the car seat for the better part of 2 days now. He would have been justified to be a screaming holy terror, but wasn’t at all. Anyway, we got to Cleveland and our hotel around 8:30. We’re in the Cleveland Renaissance Hotel, which is pretty swanky, but I learned a long time ago that it is worth the extra expense to stay in the same hotel that is hosting the meeting. We found out once we got there that they give free parking to hybrid cars, which will save us $30/night! That, and the huge savings on gas totally made the cramped drive worth it. We were pretty tired once we got here, so after we unpacked in our room we only went down to the lobby for a few minutes to hang out with friends.
The meeting (SVP, or Society of Vertebrate Paleontology) is a lot of fun. It’s a relatively small group of about 3,000 people each year, so everyone knows just about everyone, or at least recognizes faces. Its really more of a social event that a professional meeting. I go to some talks and the poster sessions, but it’s really much more useful as a socializing/interacting/networking function. For most of us, this is the 1 time each year that we get to see old fiends and colleagues.
We took some small roads and then the interstates to Cleveland, with a couple of long stops in the middle to feed Jackson, who had been amazingly patient in the car considering he’d been in the car seat for the better part of 2 days now. He would have been justified to be a screaming holy terror, but wasn’t at all. Anyway, we got to Cleveland and our hotel around 8:30. We’re in the Cleveland Renaissance Hotel, which is pretty swanky, but I learned a long time ago that it is worth the extra expense to stay in the same hotel that is hosting the meeting. We found out once we got there that they give free parking to hybrid cars, which will save us $30/night! That, and the huge savings on gas totally made the cramped drive worth it. We were pretty tired once we got here, so after we unpacked in our room we only went down to the lobby for a few minutes to hang out with friends.
The meeting (SVP, or Society of Vertebrate Paleontology) is a lot of fun. It’s a relatively small group of about 3,000 people each year, so everyone knows just about everyone, or at least recognizes faces. Its really more of a social event that a professional meeting. I go to some talks and the poster sessions, but it’s really much more useful as a socializing/interacting/networking function. For most of us, this is the 1 time each year that we get to see old fiends and colleagues.
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