Progress On The Montour Trail II Traditional Cache

The coordinates for this cache will bring you to a new bridge on The Montour Trail near Mile Marker 27. This bridge was one of two bridges - the other being above Georgetown Road and located 0.36 miles east of this one - opened to Montour Trail traffic on July 28, 2012. This new bridge spans 118 feet over Morganza Road in the part of Cecil Township known as Hendersonville.

The two bridges were constructed as a single project with a total cost of about $1.9 million. Funding came from the National Transportation Enhancement Program, the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, the Allegheny Trail Alliance, the Washington County Local Share Account, the Washington County Tourist Promotion Agency, the Trail Volunteer Fund of the Pittsburgh Foundation, the Montour Trail Council, and the Cecil Friends of the Montour Trail. Design work was done from late-2006 through late-2009 and private donations and Montour’s Volunteer Construction crews completed the project. Years ago, a trestle over Morganza Road carried the railroad, but deterioration made the trestle a hazard. In addition, the trestle severely limited sightlines for drivers entering the intersection of Morganza, Cecil-Henderson, and Georgetown Roads and Oriole Drive. As a result, the trestle was removed in the late-1990's.

Morganza Road Crossing Before Bridge Installation

This stretch of the Montour RR served the long-abandoned Henderson Mine #1, located just west of this cache. Hendersonville began as a true mining town - a town that sprouted up as a result of the Henderson Mine #1. The mine was opened in 1914 and coincided with the completion of the Mifflin Extension of the Montour Railroad. The mining camp, built by the Henderson Coal Company to provide housing for the miners, was named Hendersonville in honor of Mr. William Henderson, an official of the company. The mine was eventually purchased by the Pittsburgh Coal Company and operated into the 1950's. Sadly, the mine is most famous for a tragedy that occurred on March 20, 1917. As the miners were changing shifts, a ventilation door was left open, resulting in a build-up of methane gas. At 6:20 a.m., a spark from an electric machine triggered an explosion that cost 14 miners their lives.
Henderson Mine #1 Aerial Photo (circa 1941)

After the mine was closed in the 1950's, mostly all signs of its existence were dismantled. The site of the old mine shaft has been cleaned and converted into small community park with youth baseball/softball fields and a pavilion dedicated to Robert "Bucky" McPherson, a former resident of Hendersonville who was killed in action in the Vietnam conflict in 1968. However, a couple of landmarks still stand today. The mine's original red brick lamphouse has been converted to a private residence. The old company store, operated by the mine to serve its workers and their families, has undergone many conversions over the last sixty years, but it's still the location of operating businesses to this day. It sits on the northeast corner of Morganza and Georgetown Roads with an "Honor Roll" memorial in front of it.



Company Store in Recent Times

Take some time to explore the area and compare the pictures what you see when visiting this cache to the historical photos on this page. As time goes on, history sometimes gets lost in the name of progress. This is a site where, though significant progress has been made, much of the history related to this area has been preserved, just utilized in a different way.

The following websites were used for reference and photographs. Feel free to learn more about Henderson Mine #1 and the bridge project by visiting:

- The Montour Railroad Website
- Bob Ciminel's 2012 Report on the Henderson Mine #1
- Coal Camp USA's Henderson Mine #1 Photo Gallery
- The Montour Trail Website