Final Report Historical Structures Assessment Report for the Muddy ...

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Historic Structures Assessment Report for the Muddy Run Pumped Storage Facility Project Relicensing Application Lancaster and York Counties, Pennsylvania Figure 3-1. 1895 view of Susquehanna and Tidewater Canal with overhead bridge at the Pennsylvania and Maryland State Line, looking south. (Source: Maryland Historical Society 2011) Railroad transportation made an early appearance in the Lower Susquehanna Valley because of its location on a natural travel corridor between the South and the Middle Atlantic states. Railroad investors were also eager to tap the natural resources of the area, especially anthracite coal. Initially, canals had the advantage of capacity and cost. Before long, however, improvements in locomotives allowed trains to pull greater loads. Canals could not operate in the winter months and they were vulnerable to ice and flood damage. As canal revenues slipped after the Civil War, high maintenance costs became an increasing drain on profits. Inevitably, canals came under the control of railroad companies. Some canals became more valuable as rights-of-way for new rail lines or highways (Stranahan 1993:69). Planned in 1828 and finished in 1834, the "Iron Rail Road" was built from Philadelphia to Columbia on the Susquehanna River and included a stop in Lancaster. It was the first publicly-built railroad in the world. In 1837, the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore line reached the Susquehanna. Ferry services were eventually provided for rail cars crossing over the river. In later years, the second rail line to cross the Lower Susquehanna was the Baltimore and Ohio (B&O) in 1885 (Lower Susquehanna Heritage Greenway 2006). Both lines were heavily used for passenger and freight transport and a network of railroad lines developed along the Susquehanna River and its tributaries including the Maryland & Pennsylvania Railroad (along Muddy Creek) and the Octoraro Railroad (along Octoraro Creek and the Susquehanna River). In 1857, local interests incorporated the Columbia & Port Deposit Railroad in Pennsylvania as the Washington and Maryland Line Railroad Company. The name was changed to the Columbia and Port Deposit Railroad in 1864. Its nickname was “The Port Road.” Construction was begun in 1866. Part of the line was in operation by 1874, but the work on constructing the remainder progressed slowly. The entire 40-mile line was put into operation in July 1877 (Hilton 1999). The Pennsylvania Railroad Company had invested over $1,800,000 in bonds to construct the Columbia & Port Deposit Railroad. They wanted to have a link between the Pennsylvania Railroad Main Line at Columbia and the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad at Perryville. A branch line connected Port Deposit to 12
Historic Structures Assessment Report for the Muddy Run Pumped Storage Facility Project Relicensing Application Lancaster and York Counties, Pennsylvania Perryville after 1866. Upon completion, the Columbia & Port Deposit Railroad was operated as a branch line of the Pennsylvania Railroad. With the advent of the railroad, the counties within the project area began to change rapidly. Abundant natural resources allowed the area to continue to grow and prosper. Fisheries, agricultural products, large forested areas, and Cecil and York Counties’ rich wealth of mineral resources, such as chrome, granite, magnesium, and iron ore placed the Lower Susquehanna Region at the heart of America's early manufacturing and extractive industries. Statistics indicate the importance of milling throughout the region, primarily in the mid-nineteenth century, when in Martic Township there were 12 mills in 1840. By 1860, the number had dropped to three mills and five saw mills. In Drumore Township, milling was most important in the 1840s and 1860s, when there were six mills and nine sawmills in 1848, and five mills and eight sawmills in 1860 (Bridgens 1864 and Everts & Stewart 1875). Lastly, in Lower Chanceford Township, the mid-nineteenth century had seven mills and seven sawmills in 1848, and only eight mills in 1860 (Nichols 1876 and Roddy 1916). The commercial Susquehanna fishing industry got its start during the eighteenth century. Shad fisheries remained an important part of the local economy until the late nineteenth century. There was a shad fishery noted on the western shore of Mount Johnson Island in 1886. Fishermen also caught eels, herring, perch, salmon, and carp (Gibson 1886:764; Miller 1949:125; Sarudy 2001:71). As transportation facilities improved during the nineteenth century—in the form of canals and railroads— numerous industries were able to flourish in the Lower Susquehanna Valley, including tanbark mills, paper mills, fulling mills, sawmills, flint mills, lime kilns, canneries, creameries, and ice harvesting (Sarudy 2001:104–105). Mining and quarrying became the economic mainstays of Peach Bottom Township. Although abandoned by 1895, chrome mining at Rock Spring and Epsom salt mining had been notable industries in the township. Slate Point, a short distance below Peach Bottom Ferry, is the eastern terminus in York County of a valuable vein of slate that extends through Peach Bottom Township into Harford County, Maryland . The slate ridge continues across the Susquehanna River to Fairmount, in Little Britain Township, Lancaster County. A valuable slate quarry was operated near Slate Point circa 1861 (Gibson 1886:764). Peach Bottom slate, used as a roofing material since 1734, was known for its strength, color, toughness, and durability. Commercial quarrying of Peach Bottom slate began in 1785. It was used for roofs, foundations, tombstones, and for industrial building material. After Peach Bottom slate was exhibited at the London Crystal Palace Exposition of 1850 and received first prize, it was in demand all over the world. More uses were adopted for slate when it was granulated or pulverized. It was used as fertilizer and in synthetic roofing; it became an additive in paint, linoleum, and rubber (Morrow [1953]:26, 28). Welsh immigrants were attracted to the area because the slate was so similar to that which they had quarried in Wales; they built homes in a style similar to those in the slate regions they came from (Sheets 1991:124). At the time, both the Maryland & Pennsylvania and the Baltimore & Delta Railroads served the Peach Bottom area. Due to the railroad depots at Peach Bottom, it became a shipping center and consequently, warehouses, coal yards, hotels, and mills were built there (Smeltzer 1963:54). 13
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