[PRCo] Re: 'maybe' not East McKeesport, another theory

[Fred Schneider]

I wish I had some software that would enable me to prove a point by drawing the trolley line onto the PennPilot map but I do not have such a creature.
1.   There are multiple roads.  Today we have a four-lane US 322 through the narrows.   That wasn't the case when the trolley was running.   And today's road is not necessarily where the old one was.   I'm not 100% sure of anything.   Pennsylvania really began to pave roads in the 1920s and paved 9 out of every 10 miles of state and federal highways by 1930.   So it is safe to assume that by 1930, there was a two lane concrete road through the narrows.   By the end of 1930s, it was probably a three lane road to enable you to have a head on collision in the center passing lane.  The concrete highway from Lewistown to Yeagertown is pretty easy to see.   you can also see where it crosses the Kishcoquillas Creek (or River) in the middle of the picture.   Got that.   Now the trolley was pretty much on the shoulder of the highway and it ended in Reedsville at the railroad crossing.  But that road is not necessarily the same road that the trolley followed before it was abandoned about 1932.   More on that later.   

2    Next, you should be able to distinguish a consistently middle gray line that is always on the south bank of the creek through the narrows.   It crosses over the creek at the far north end of Yeagertown.   That, gentlemen, is the Pennsylvania Railroad.

3.   Observe where the concrete highway crosses the creek that there is a dirt road that continues south along the northeast side of the creek to a fork in the road and that the fork appears to cross over the creek.  That is the old bridge over the creek before the concrete highway.   

4.   The trolley bridge was adjacent to the old highway bridge ... within say 20 feet but 15 feet higher.   I think (no guarantees here) that the trolley bridge was between the old highway bridge and the new highway bridge.   

5.   A picture I have of a car on the old bridge shows evergreens on the mountain.   That should make Herb pleased.   Even if I am about to punch a hole in his argument.     

6.   If it is anywhere in this region, it has to be along the old dirt road south of the Mann's Narrows Bridge and north of Yeagertown.   It cannot be north of Mann's Narrows Bridge because the river separated the railroad and the car line / highway. 

7.  However, I am not buying into it because that is tangent and the picture we are trying to identify has a very pronounced curve.   

8.   Last time I was there someone abandoned a dead body on the dirt road where the trolley bridge was located.    Oh the joys of archeology.   


(I have reattached all the maps and the picture below)

The Photo:

http://bradystewartphoto.photoshelter.com/gallery-image/20th-Century-Automobiles-Trucks-and-Boats/G0000flbWWbccdiw/I0000RZxXcxRETYA

Penn Pilot aerial survey:

http://data.cei.psu.edu/pennpilot/era1940/mifflin_1939/mifflin_1939_photos_jpg_200/mifflin_082338_aqj_54_71.jpg

The USGS 15 minute map

http://lists.dementix.org/files/pittsburgh-railways/lwst24se.jpg

>> 
>> I agree with that maybe. On t'other hand, it's the only thing I've come up
>> with that has a ghost of a chance.
>> 
>> Bob Netzlof a/k/a Sweet Old Bob
>> 
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> Herb Brannon
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There is no proof that this is Mann's Narrows between Yeagertown and Reedsville and now the Juniata River narrows east of Lewistown before the William Penn Highway (US 22 after 1926) was paved.  The crick looks too wide to be the Kishocoquillas at Mann's Narrows so I'm laying my money on this being the same place as the other two cards.   

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The word Narrows is often used in many contexts.   This has absolutely nothing to do with what we are talking about.   Note the card reads William Penn Highway (US 22) and Juniata River.   That would be the four-track Pennsy mainline on the other side of the river.   Is that the Denholm coaling station over there?   This has been replaced by a four-lane expressway.

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This also is on the William Penn Highway which is not what we were talking about.   The William Penn Highway is US 22.   It ran from Newark  to Easton, Bethlehem, Allentown, Reading, Lebanon, Harrisburg, Lewistown, Huntingdon, Water Street, Altoona, Cresson, Blairsville, Pittsburgh, Wierton, Zanesville and ended in Cincinnati.   Eventually the kink to Reading and Lebanon was replaced by 222 and 422.   We are talking about US 322.   So the fence doesn't count.   Doesn't matter if it looks right.   There was no trolley line here.   

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