Pine Creek Path

{{Use American English|date=May 2025}} [[Image:Pine Creek Rail Trail 2.JPG|250px|right|thumb|The modern [[Pine Creek Rail Trail]] follows the course of the Pine Creek Path, here north of Waterville in [[Cummings Township, Pennsylvania|Cummings Township]].]] The '''Pine Creek Path''' was a major [[Native Americans in the United States|Native American]] [[trail]] in the [[U.S. State]] of [[Pennsylvania]] that ran north along [[Pine Creek (Pennsylvania)|Pine Creek]] from the [[West Branch Susquehanna River]] near Long Island (modern-day [[Jersey Shore, Pennsylvania|Jersey Shore]]) to the headwaters of the [[Genesee River]] (in modern-day [[Genesee Township, Pennsylvania]]).<ref name="path">{{cite book | last = Wallace | first = Paul A.W. | title = Indian Paths of Pennsylvania | edition = Fourth Printing | date = 1987 | publisher = Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission | location = [[Harrisburg, Pennsylvania]] | language = | isbn = 0-89271-090-X | quote = (Note: ISBN refers to 1998 impression.) | pages = 130–132 }}</ref>

==Course== At the southern end of the trail there was a Native American village at the site of Jersey Shore and the [[Great Shamokin Path]] ran east–west here along the West Branch Susquehanna River. The Great Shamokin Path connected the [[Shamokin (village)|Saponi village of Shamokin]] (modern [[Sunbury, Pennsylvania|Sunbury]]) on the [[Susquehanna River]] in the east, with the Great Island (modern [[Lock Haven, Pennsylvania|Lock Haven]]) and villages further west (what are now the boroughs of [[Clearfield, Pennsylvania|Clearfield]] and [[Kittanning, Pennsylvania|Kittanning]]) and the [[Allegheny River]]. In the north another path continued north along the Genesee River and led to the [[Iroquois]] Nation in [[New York (state)|New York]].<ref name="path"/>

The main Pine Creek Path followed Pine Creek north, switching banks until it reached the First Fork (modern [[Little Pine Creek]] at the village of Waterville). From there it stayed on the [[river|left bank]] the rest of its course along Pine Creek, passing through the [[Pine Creek Gorge]] to the Second Fork ([[Babb Creek]] at Blackwell) and on to the Third Fork (modern [[Marsh Creek (Pine Creek)|Marsh Creek]]) and the village of Ansonia. There it left the gorge and turned west, going past modern [[Galeton, Pennsylvania|Galeton]] to West Pike, where it left the creek and headed north to the Genesee River. The exact course of the path between West Pike and the headwaters of the Genesee River are uncertain. In the south, an alternate branch (west of the main path) led north from the West Branch Susquehanna River along Chatham Run, past modern [[Woolrich, Pennsylvania|Woolrich]] to the main path near Waterville.<ref name="path"/>

==Use== The path was used by Iroquois warriors on their war raids to points south. One of the earliest accounts of the path is from Moses Van Campen, who was captured on [[Bald Eagle Creek (West Branch Susquehanna River)|Bald Eagle Creek]] in 1782, and taken north as a prisoner along the path.<ref name = "path"/> Some isolated bands of Native Americans remained in the Pine Creek Gorge until the [[War of 1812]].<ref name="sexton">{{cite book | url = http://www.joycetice.com/1883/shippent.htm | title = History of Tioga County, Pennsylvania with Illustrations, Portraits and Sketches |chapter = Shippen Township | accessdate = 2008-07-23 | last = Sexton Jr. |first = John L. | publisher = W. W. Munsell & Co. | location = New York, New York | date = 1883 | pages = 313–326}}</ref> When lumbering become a major industry along Pine Creek in the 19th century, the path was used by lumbermen. They would take rafts of lumber in the spring down Pine Creek from Ansonia to Jersey Shore, and then walk back north along the path. Attempts to convert the path into a wagon road early in the same century were unsuccessful – when John Peet tried it he said it took 18 days, crossed Pine Creek "eighty times going to and eighty times coming from", lost a wheel, broke two axles, and upset the wagon twice.<ref name = "path"/>

In 1883, the [[Jersey Shore, Pine Creek and Buffalo Railway]] opened, following the course of the path from Jersey Shore to Ansonia. The railroad soon became the Pine Creek Railway, a part of the Fall Brook Coal Company. It was leased by the [[New York Central Railroad]] in 1899, and was consolidated into the New York Central Railroad in a 1914 corporate reorganization.<ref name="taber">{{cite book | author=Taber, Thomas T., III | year=1987 | title=Railroads of Pennsylvania Encyclopedia and Atlas | publisher=Thomas T. Taber III | isbn=0-9603398-5-X}}</ref> The Pine Creek line was one of those taken over by [[Conrail]] in 1976, but the last train ran on the route on October 7, 1988. After the removal of the tracks, the right-of-way was converted to the [[Pine Creek Rail Trail]],<ref name="lhsp">{{cite web | url = http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/Parks/leonardharrison.aspx | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20040124133301/http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/parks/leonardharrison.aspx | url-status = dead | archive-date = January 24, 2004 | title = Leonard Harrison State Park | accessdate = 2008-07-23 | publisher = [[Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources]] }}</ref> which was named one of "10 great places to take a bike tour" in the world in a 2001 ''[[USA Today]]'' article.<ref name="usatoday">{{cite news|title= 10 great places to take a bike tour |first= Laura |last= Bly |date= July 27, 2001 |page = 3D |publisher = [[USA Today]]  }}</ref>

==See also== *[[Great Trail]]

==References== <references/>

[[Category:Native American trails in the United States]] [[Category:Transportation in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania]] [[Category:Transportation in Tioga County, Pennsylvania]] [[Category:Transportation in Potter County, Pennsylvania]] [[Category:Historic trails and roads in Pennsylvania]] [[Category:Native American history of Pennsylvania]]