The Third Iteration

After a week of rain that fell in volumes that broke records, the river along the Lower (pronounced like “flower”) Rail Trail is not the picturesque, clear flowing stream that periodically pools and then falls over bedrock. Yesterday the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River was instead mud brown with sediment and about three foot above normal level. The following are some comparison photos.

Lower Rail Trail runs 16.5 miles from Alfarata, PA southwest through Williamsburg to within a mile of Canoe Creek State Park parallel to but not adjacent to US 22. It runs adjacent to the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River. (Note: The trail is currently being extended to the Park via a new segment that will open in 2019.)

Before it was a rail-trail for biking, hiking and horseback riding, the trail bed was part of the Pennsylvania Rail Road’s Petersburg Branch. The branch connected the PRR mainline at Petersburg that runs into Altoona, to an original section of the PRR that ascended the Allegheny Front from Hollidaysburg westward. The PRR branch operated between 1879 and 1902. Prior to that, the adjacent Frankstown Branch of the Juniata River was part of the “Pennsylvania Road,” a combined path of canals and railroads from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh built to complete with the Erie Canal. The “Road.” It operated between the 1830s and 1850s. Remnants of locks, dams and canals segments along the edge of the river, as well as PRR structures and markers along the trail bed, are still evident today.

The last photo (from the Internet) shows Alexandria in 1879 when the canal was no longer active and the railroad branch opened. Today, remnants of the canal are not visible in Alexandria, except for Canal Street that appears to follow its path.