A long abandoned Boat club behind a Springdale Power Plant- Now Lost to History

It was the summer of 1974  as a Boy scout I was participating in a Allegheny Trails Council  Boot & Paddle program which involved taking a weeks long 150 mile trek by canoe from Tionesta Pa to edge of Pittsburgh along the Allegheny River a trip no longer available any more since they closed Camp Tionesta in 1977  in favor of new camp heritage built in Farmington Pa.

We would spend several different nights stopped at uninhabited islands or small parks sometimes  beside a dam or marinas.
But one of those stops was like a ghost town a long abandoned boat club behind the West Penn Power station in Springdale . A small slice of ground a 100 feet wide by maybe 200 yards it was filled with little decaying picnic pavilions bath and changing  houses and picnic tables . It looks to have been abandoned in late 50's I do not even know the name of it and access to it now is strictly by boat as the whole area has changed in the 40+ years I was last there. From the satellite pictures it looks like all the structures have been bulldozed and maybe just couple foundations left .

It might have been called the Springdale -Cheswick Boat Club  but locals I asked know nothing about it even existing. The little picnic groves and beach houses you could see where painted with different nautical symbols and  flags and they where probably made to move after the plant converted from coal to oil as several large oil tanks took up much of the area at that point since removed   Then again after building it the river conditions around the plant may have well changed making it uninhabitable.
I wish I would have been able to afford a film camera to record the trip because so much of what I saw along the trip no longer exists  factory's , Oil wells and  railroad buildings and structures  torn down and industry removed as well as marinas and vacation homes and shacks.  Plus the bad flooding after hurricane Agnes and Ivan wiped out large numbers of homes and parts of towns as well as ice flows from winter freezing.
Unfortunately many of those I took the 2 trips down the river with are no longer with us many of the scout leaders  who would now be in their 80's 90's  having passed on including many of the scouts as well having died young from cancer .You know I have to wonder if it was not from what we encountered camping overnite on this  and the other spots ,including my getting bite by a tick with lyme disease which at time Dr.s did not know what they where dealing with .Plusall the other pollution from the river we swam and bathed in  . Once we got below Oil City the river went from clean to oil slicked and polluted.
It may well have helped contribute to my own bout with cancer. I still every once in a while run into one of the guys I went down river with and every time more and more have passed on.Who have taken these trips.


Im 3rd from left

River map travel guide
Map where we stayed the night behind power plant

Neckercheif Slide your awarded for completing trip

3 comments:

  1. I took the trip in 1972,....apparently the youngest ever at age 13,..not really sure thats true,but I still have the paddle,neckerchief,slide,and decals......troop 216 pittsburgh pa..................keith brucha

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  2. I too took the trip twice. Early 70's. The stops, the rapids, the locks, and all the fun is etched in my mind. I stuck the map and other decals to my Paddle and varnished over them . Preserved for life. Scott McConnell troop 151. Mt. Lebanon. Pa.

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  3. Made the trip twice also in the early 70's. The stops,the locks and the rapids were all fun. I have the stickers varnished over on my Paddle for a constant reminder .Scott McConnell troop 151.Mt. Lebanon. Pa

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