Railroad Stone

Railroad Stone (HM10CU)

Location: Lilly, PA 15938 Blair County
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Country: United States of America
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N 40° 27.411', W 78° 32.961'

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Inscription
On this hillside archeologists have found evidence of stonecutting that was almost certainly related to the building of the Allegheny Portage Railroad. There is no formal quarry pit, but broken stone is abundant, and many sandstone outcrops reveal drill marks where blocks were removed.

Stone was a workable and durable building material for the railroad's culverts, bridges, viaducts, and engine house foundations, and for the stone sleepers on which track was laid. When quarries were nearby like this one, stone was relatively inexpensive.

The stone cutters and masons - most of them Irish immigrants - worked as much as 10-12 hours a day for about 50 cents. The precision and permanence of their work may be seen in the Skew Arch Bridge, the Lemon House, and other railroad-related structures in this area.

[Photo captions read]
Drill marks are visible on the stone outcrop at your feet, and at many other places on this hillside. The stonecuter drilled a series of holes with a hand-held star drill to insure the break would be straight.

On level sections of the railroad, rails were fastened to stone blocks called sleepers. Sleepers are still visible today along level sections of the railroad trace.
Details
HM NumberHM10CU
Tags
Placed ByNational Park Service
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Saturday, October 18th, 2014 at 10:35am PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)17T E 707796 N 4481349
Decimal Degrees40.45685000, -78.54935000
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 40° 27.411', W 78° 32.961'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds40° 27' 24.66" N, 78° 32' 57.66" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)814
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 871-79 Tunnelhill St, Lilly PA 15938, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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