PA Staple Bend Tunnel Trail

 2022 52-Hike Challenge #20 @ 4 miles/ hike & bike on Staple Bend Tunnel Trail, Mineral Point, PA 

The National Park Service manages the multi-site Allegheny Portage Railroad through Western PA, and is one of five National Park units in the region that include the Johnstown Flood Memorial at the South Fork Dam, Fort Necessity National Battlefield, Flight 93 National Memorial, and Friendship Hill NHS. I managed only this one site on my visit to the Laurel Highlands but I do hope to return to explore the other sites within the Allegheny Portage Railroad NHS.  After my visit to the Johnstown Flood site, it was just a short drive for an afternoon hike and bike to and through the Staple Bend Tunnel. 

Beautiful rail grade with some hills!

Completed in 1833 the Staple Bend Tunnel was the first railroad tunnel built in the United States. Being a rail fan, of course I had to see this. I biked most of the four mile trail only because it was getting late and rain was again threatening but had I more time I would have walked it for no other reason than to linger at all the historical interpretive signs and interesting landscape details. Welsh stone masons, miners, and quarry men (and their families) were the real heroes in the construction of this 900' tunnel and their fine work is still something to behold. 

East entrance

I'll leave to you, if you are interested, to read all of the historical information linked in the Notes below, but for this post I just wanted to reflect on the incredible scope and scale of manual labor this tunnel required. I admit I rode back and forth through the tunnel to ponder and appreciate the labor and skills devoted to this project. The Allegheny Portage section of the Main Line Canal system was designed to carry canal boats across the Allegheny Mountains via rail and for a time before steam engines and the powerful Pennsylvania Railroad system out-competed the Main Line, it was the route that connected East to West, Philadelphia to Pittsburg and the Ohio, during the golden age of canal transportation.

West entrance

While experienced, skilled Welsh stone workers created the tunnel, its facades, and the beautiful culverts constructed below the railroad to keep it dry, they were supported by hundreds of Irish laborers who toiled in the quarries, mucked blast debris, and hauled tons of earth to construct the railbed. So much labor! I scrambled down a steep bank to admire a large culvert (now blocked with stone) built dry stack, no mortar, no fastening rods. It also occurred to me how  much time, effort, funding the National Park Service has invested in keeping these structures in sound condition. I know a few stone masons who learned their trades as seasonal and early career stone workers with the NPS. 

A modern pipe now carries the stream but acid seepage adds a goopy trickle.

Dry stack sandstone with a fern garden attached.

Ten inclined planes were built across the mountains to facilitate moving freight barges as well as passenger rail cars. Riders on this section were often making the journey between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh as tourists.  A rather famous passenger on a five-month visit to the U.S., Mr. Charles Dickens of London, traveled on the Main Line in 1842. His accounts of the trip across the country are famously critical of American transportation systems but he did somewhat love the portage section of the passage.

"On Sunday morning we arrived at the foot of the mountain, which is crossed by railroad. There are ten inclined planes; five ascending, and five descending; the carriages are dragged up the former, and let slowly down the latter, by means of stationary engines; the comparatively level spaces between, being traversed, sometimes by horse, and sometimes by engine power, as the case demands. Occasionally the rails are laid upon the extreme verge of a giddy precipice; and looking from the carriage window, the traveller gazes sheer down, without a stone or scrap of fence between into the mountain depths below. The journey is very carefully made, however; only two carriages travelling together; and while proper precautions are taken, is not to be dreaded for its dangers."    

Charles Dickens, Letters of Charles Dickens, 1842

NPS interpretive panel, Staple Bend Tunnel at Incline Plane No. 1, Staple Bend Tunnel

After I had ridden the tunnel enough times to satisfy my pondering and awe, I carefully rode down the embankment of Incline Plane No. 1 as it lowered towards the level leading to Mineral Point. I saw where a biker before me had crashed on the hill, leaving a broken pair of sunglasses and some bandage wrappers. Uh oh. I decided to dismount and walk the rest of the way into the little town park. After a little rest and a snack I headed back up the hill pushing my bike the whole way. The cool breeze rushing out of the tunnel was wonderful. 

Sleeper stones that held up the rails.

A fine mist of rain was interrupted by peeks of sunlight and this made the ride back to my truck delightful. The Conemaugh River glinted below. Train engines idled in the yards outside of town hidden from view by thick summer foliage.  The sounds of rain dripping from leaves softened the sounds of the engines. Back at the truck I made a note in my journal to visit the rest of the Allegheny Portage Railroad sites and to read some more of Dickens' reflections of his trip across the U.S. 

Notes:

The Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site is actually a collection of separate sites along the path of the portage section of the Pennsylvania Main Line. I am really looking forward to visiting the other sites within this NHS!

American through Charles Dickens' Eyes (History Collection Online) gives an overview of the fanous author's visit to the U.S. See also "Charles Dickens' Travels in America"