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 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. 14
Historic Structures Assessment Report for the Muddy Run Pumped Storage Facility Project Relicensing Application Lancaster and York Counties, Pennsylvania The Modern Era (1900 to Present) In the early twentieth century, creameries were a significant element of Lancaster’s agricultural economy. In 1916 there were 40 creameries in the county. One of the biggest, Farmer’s Creamery, was located in Drumore Township (Roddy 1916). Agricultural land use continued into the twentieth century; in 1960, Lancaster County was the largest farming county in Pennsylvania with 4,650 farms (Stevens 1964:345). In comparison, York County had 2,700 farms, a little more than half of those in Lancaster County (Stevens 1964:345). The Columbia & Port Deposit Railroad was the principal route for moving freight between points on the Pennsylvania Main Line and points on the Philadelphia, Baltimore, and Washington line. Freight trains were more efficiently and economically operated through the low grade of the Lower Susquehanna Valley rather than the heavier grades used for through passenger service (Burgess and Kennedy 1949:375). The Columbia & Port Deposit Railroad was relocated to higher ground from Conestoga Creek Bridge to Safe Harbor in 1905–1906 because of construction of the Holtwood Dam and the resulting lake. In 1916, the Columbia & Port Deposit Railroad and other lines consolidated into the Philadelphia, Baltimore, & Washington Railroad Company, a subsidiary of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company (Burgess and Kennedy 1949:375–376; 554). The railroad was relocated between Port Deposit and Fite’s Eddy in 1926–1928, when the Conowingo Dam was built. The railroad was electrified in 1938 and then de-electrified in the early 1980s. It is still in active service today and owned by the Norfolk/Southern Corporation (Smith 1997; Trower 2002). Hydroelectric power production facilities were developed beginning in the early 1900s to take advantage of the Susquehanna River’s force. In 1904, the York Haven Hydroelectric Station, located at Conewago Falls, was opened (Sheets 1991:210). The Holtwood Power Plant, which began operation in 1910, was the largest producer of electricity at the time and is still a major producer of electricity for south central Pennsylvania (Synder and Boyle 1984). By 1916, there were nine hydroelectric plants in Lancaster County (Roddy 1916). The massive Conowingo Dam was built near Darlington, Maryland a short distance downstream of the Project between 1926 and 1928 to provide hydroelectric power to supply Philadelphia and southeastern Pennsylvania with electricity. (Lower Susquehanna Heritage Greenway 2006; MHT Determination of Eligibility (DOE) Form, US 1 over Susquehanna River/Conowingo Dam, HA-1971). Electricity from the Conowingo plant also powered railroad lines between New York and Washington, D.C., and was used for industrial and residential applications. When constructed, Conowingo Dam was the second largest hydroelectric development in the United Sates after Niagara Falls (Camden County Vocationalite, June 1930). It was and still is the single largest generation station to be built in one step, and used the most up-to-date technology, as well as the largest turbines and generators ever produced (Maryland Humanities Council 2001:259; Jefferson et al 2007). It is “apparently the first dam, of major size, built entirely by chuting concrete” and reportedly the longest slab dam in the United States (Maryland State Highway Administration 1997:463). Since the end of World War II, the Lancaster and York County areas have developed several residential communities. Farmland has declined, population has grown (and continues to grow), and the landscape has became more suburban in nature. A recently renewed interest in the region's past has led to physical and historical revitalization of the area. In the 1960s, an agreement was passed among Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York to begin work on clearing the Susquehanna River of sewage, coal-mining seepage, soil runoff, and chemical fertilizers. At the same time, a movement was also taking shape to clean up the Chesapeake Bay. 15
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