Lower Trail History Explored

Like other rail-trails, the Lower Trail offers the opportunity to experience both nature and history along its route. The 16.5 mile trail passes through the Cove in and around Williamsburg, following the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River on what was once a rail line operated by the Pennsylvania Railroad. But what makes this trail unique compared to many others is its history of a canal turned railroad turned trail.

Before the railroad, this route included parts of the Juniata Division of the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal. The Juniata Division stretched 127 miles from the Susquehanna River to the start of the Allegheny Portage Railroad in Hollidaysburg. In order to accommodate the nearly 600-foot change in elevation from the Susquehanna to Hollidaysburg, the Juniata Division included 88 lift locks and 25 aqueducts primarily made of wood on top of stone piers. The canal also relied on several river dams to provide water to the canal or create slack water areas for boats to navigate the river. With all this infrastructure built to operate the canal, it may come as a surprise how little remains.

This is partly due to the short-lived canal operation period and eventual reuse as a railroad. The Juniata Division opened in 1832, but the Main Line did not operate in its entirety until the Allegheny Portage Railroad’s completion in 1834. Just 23 years later, the Pennsylvania Railroad purchased the Main Line and began abandoning parts of the canal system. By 1875, the canal no longer operated between Petersburg and Hollidaysburg. As the Pennsylvania Railroad repurposed the canal to rail, it abandoned some of the unnecessary canal infrastructure and reused other components. For example, aqueducts were removed down their stone piers and reused as rail bridges. Additionally, many locations saw the canal itself filled in so tracks could be built along the route.

Although much of the canal era infrastructure no longer exists, there are opportunities on the Lower Trail to see some of what remains. Various locations along the trail have preserved the remnants of lift locks and other buildings associated with the canal. But most representative of the route’s transformation from canal to railroad to trail is the bridge less than two miles northeast of Williamsburg. Heading from Williamsburg toward Alfalfa, the first bridge trail users cross was once a canal aqueduct repurposed as a railroad bridge. The stone piers that hold the bridge over the river may be all that is left of the aqueduct, but present an opportunity to experience the canal history of this route.