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

Historic Structures Assessment Report for the Muddy Run Pumped Storage Facility Project Relicensing Application
Lancaster and York Counties, Pennsylvania
The Civil War (1861-1865)
During the Civil War, Confederate troops under Generals Gordon and Early entered York for a brief
period in June 1863 just prior to the battle of Gettysburg. Also in June, General Ewell’s corps of
Confederate raiders, coming from Carlisle, entered Dillsburg under the command of Colonel Jenkins.
They camped about 1/4 mile south of town before moving on. Other than this, very few events directly
related to battles and troop movements occurred in the Project area. During the Civil War, little military
activity occurred in Lancaster County with the exception of troop movements and support facilities
before, during and after the battle of Gettysburg. One minor incident involved an altercation in Christiana
over the Fugitive Slave Law and was known as the “Christiana Riot” (Atlick 1991; Logan 1990; Lestz
1998).
Post-Civil War and Industrial Expansion (1865-1900)
After the Civil War, farming resumed its importance as the primary commercial enterprise in both
counties although some smaller industries developed as well. Industrial expansion accelerated along with
the growth of transportation networks designed to more efficiently export products of the local economy.
Railroad construction increased in the late 19th century to the early 20th century.
The Peach Bottom Railway was chartered in 1868 to build a narrow-gauge rail line from Philadelphia to
haul coal from the Broad Top coalfields in southern Pennsylvania. The Eastern Division was supposed to
connect Philadelphia with the Susquehanna River at Peach Bottom. Instead, only a line from Peach
Bottom to Oxford was completed in 1878. The Middle Division was built between Delta (in the slate belt)
and York in 1876. No money was available to build the bridge over the Susquehanna that would unite the
divisions. The Eastern Division was reorganized into the Peach Bottom Railroad in 1881 (later the
Lancaster Oxford & Southern Railroad) and the Middle Division into the York & Peach Bottom Railway.
The York & Peach Bottom Railway reached Peach Bottom in 1883. The Maryland Central Railroad built
a line between Baltimore and Delta. After acquiring the York & Peach Bottom Railway, they both
became part of the Maryland & Pennsylvania Railroad Company (the Ma & Pa). The line was abandoned
south of York in 1985 (Maryland and Pennsylvania Railroad Historical Society 2007).
The rains associated with the 1889 Johnstown Flood had a large impact on the Susquehanna and
Tidewater Canal in the Project area, and was a result of a storm that began on May 30, 1889. The storm
lasted for 36 hours in some areas, with over eight inches of rain covering a 12,000 square mile area in
central Pennsylvania. Fourteen miles above Johnstown, the storm first swept away the South Fork Dam
on the Conemaugh River, causing flooding in Johnstown. The city was destroyed in ten minutes and over
2,200 people were killed.
By May 31, the west branch of the Susquehanna was filled with logs and began to rise. Fifty people
along this branch were killed as well (Stranahan 1993: 120). Then, the log dam at Lockhaven broke on
June 1 st , as logs poured through the river. An estimated 73,000,000 feet of lumber traveled through the
river as the flood waters then reached Williamsport. Here, a log boom held the logs in place for a while,
but eventually 150,000,000 feet of logs broke through and moved toward the Susquehanna’s main branch.
When the flood reached the junction city of Sunbury, it first rushed up into the north branch before
flowing down the main channel of the Susquehanna. Horses, homes, mills, lumber, and crops were
carried down the river in the flood. The flood dealt a huge blow to the canal, destroying miles of the
canal, marking the beginning of the end of its commercial operation (Smeltzer 63:54). The canal was
bought by the Reading Railroad in the 1890s and closed by 1900.
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