A Buried Story

Today, the flood plain before you appears to be untouched and sparsely settled, but Local industries became even more dynamic and productive when the Harrisburg, from 1845 to 1900, the riverbank between Marietta and Columbia was a beehive Portsmouth, Mountjoy, and Lancaster Railroad completed a branch from Middletown of industrial activity. to Columbia in 1850. An elaborate transportation network of roads, canals, and railroads allowed pig iron to be shipped to local rolling mills and to markets throughout the At the center of this industrial complex were eight anthracite iron furnaces, which Chesapeake Bay region. manufactured tons of “pig iron” each year. Barges on the Canal carried anthracite coal to this area from the northeastern part of the state. Enterprising By the twentieth century, however, the local iron industry was in decline, a victim of ironmasters then transformed local iron ore into pig iron with the help of immigrant competition with the far richer iron deposits of the Great Lakes region and the coal workers — especially German, Irish, and Welsh. of western Pennsylvania. Today, the vegetation of a peaceful county park conceals most of the remains of the formerly vibrant industrial complex. This view from Chickies Rock shows the Pennsylvania Canal's Chickies Lock complex and the industrial nature of the river floodplain in the late 1800s. Courtesy June Evans The Henry Clay furnace, built in 1845, is typical of the eight anthracite-fired furnaces in the 19th century industrial district along the river between Columbia and Marietta. Courtesy June Evans

Harrisburg

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Safe Harbor Dam

Holtwood Dam

PA MASON-DIXON LINE www.baygateways.net This project was completed with generous financial contributions from the following East Donegal Township MD Lancaster -York Heritage Region project partners: Marietta Borough PPL Holtwood LLC Interpretive Exhibits Water Trail National Park Service: Chesapeake Bay Gateways & Water Trails Network Exelon Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Recreation Safe Harbor Water Power Corporation Major Towns and Conservation; Growing Greener & Heritage Parks Programs York Haven Power Company Havre de Grace Lancaster County Planning Commission The John Wright Company Chesapeake Bay