Incorporated in 1826, the Dauphin &
Susquehanna Railroad ran through Saint Anthony’s Wilderness in
Stony Valley along the Stony Creek and continued more than 50 miles
northeast to Auburn, PA on the Schuylkill River creating a railway
connection with Rockville on the Susquehanna River just north of
Harrisburg, PA. The
tracks passed through mining towns, past iron furnaces, farms and
resort hotels. There were 26 station stops in towns like Dauphin,
Rattling Run, Ellendale Forge, Yellow Spring, Cold Spring, Rausch
Gap, Gold Mine, Pine Grove just to name a few. Mostly these
stations have vanished over time although many of these names may
be familiar to hikers and geocachers who have traversed this
largely road-less section of wilderness. In 1852 the D&S RR
went bankrupt and later became known as the
Schuylkill
&
Susquehanna
R.R.
Today a portion of the old railroad bed to the
south of Stony Creek is a favorite fishing spot of ours. Unless you
like fishing in crowds don’t try to fish here on opening day of
Trout season as the creek is lined shoulder to shoulder with
anglers looking for a trophy catch. We like fishing on the south
side of the creek because of the interesting fisherman’s trail you
need to follow to reach that special fishing spot.
Period maps label
the south side of the creek as
Schuylkill
& Susquehanna R.R. showing a station located just west of
today's trail head. The hike to the cache from parking
is approximately 3/10's of a mile. If you observe closely as you
stroll, you’ll notice remnants of the old railway line. Near the
parking coordinates you'll see an old switching house. An old
railroad switch stands to your right as you enter the trail and
you'll pass by 3 old telegraph polls on your way.
To claim this
find:
- Find the cache
- Sign the log
- Post a photo of yourself at N 40° 21.948 W 076° 55.668 with the
beautiful Stony Creek falls behind you - this is not an additional
logging requirement, it's just for fun!.
This is part of our
Perryzip Crew Geocache Trail (PZC-GT). In an attempt to share neat
places and things, we’ve come up with this trail around the PA
capital region. Please be sure to make note of the single digit
number written on the log. When you've completed the trail and
combine the numbers in cache numerical order, you'll have the
coordinates to the Unknown Cache 'City of Harrisburg - PZC-GT #16
(THE FINAL)'. Have fun!