Flint from Flint Ridge Ohio a town with a unique connection to the Native American Tribes of Western Pa.

While the internet connects our world today many years ago a simple piece of flint used for making fires,knives,scrapers and arrow points etc.  was what was the highly valued and well traveled mineral which bound native American Tribes together. major trading trails came right thru Western Pa.
where tribes would trade for this valuable resource.
Located  near the center of Ohio

http://www.ohiohistory.org/museums-and-historic-sites/museum--historic-sites-by-name/flint-ridge

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_Ridge_State_Memorial

http://consumer.discoverohio.com/searchdetails.aspx?detail=70746
Flint from the ridge is a highly prized by mineral collectors  who cut and  polish it into jewelry.
I got to visit and extract flint from the site many years ago as there are a couple of pay sites where you can dig for it .

Piece from my collection

Colors of red,blue,white and yellow can be found thru the flint which makes it very colorful and the interest in it as jewelry but Native Americans where more interested in it for its ability to hold a vary sharp edge essential for spear points when using a bow and arrow for taking game or killing a rival tribesman .
The flint from flint ridge is often found in excavations of native American camp sites here in Western Pa.
Thou flint can be found here in Pa it is now where near as good a quality as that found in Flint Ridge Ohio.

One of the most unique double deck bridges in the world The Foxburg Bridge in Armstrong County

Double Decker bridges in Pa are nothing new in Pittsburgh you have the Fort Pitt and Fort Duquesne  have been around since the fifitys .
But one very unique double decker bridge was along the Allegheny River in Foxburg  Armstrong County.

http://bridgehunter.com/pa/armstrong/foxburg/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxburg_Bridge_%281921%29

http://www.historicbridges.org/bridges/browser/?bridgebrowser=truss/foxburg/

http://www.bridgemapper.com/bridge_detail.php?ID=2860

 

I encountered it in the summer of 1974 while on a Boot & Paddle canoe trip from Boyscout camp in Tionesta to Pittsburgh.  a total of 150 miles of paddling I have done it twice as a teen.

It was  foggy morning when we came across this bridge when I noticed a cars headlights going one way when all of a sudden a train was coming over the top the opposite direction 

So what was going on  not much it seems as a way to save money engineers had combined  2 functions into one bridge . Autos ran inside the cage part of the bridge and trains ran on top. a most unusual arrangement as usually trains and or trolleys in the case of the Smithfield Street Bridge  ran side by side.

Unfortunately the bridge which was built in 1921 was torn down several years ago

Silver and Gold Mines Yes they existed in Pa. at one time I actually got to mine in one

I would bet most of you never knew there was an actual working Silver Mine in Pa. near lancaster Pa.
Called the Pequa Silver  Mine.

http://lancasteronline.com/opinion/three-centuries-of-digging-into-pequea-silver-mine/article_5e3ced2e-1b4c-5562-842f-70702f286570.html

http://pequeasilvermine.blogspot.com/

As a young man in 1970's I got the chance to check it out one time after a next door neighbor Lenny Miscovitz   told me about investing in it and gave me a small printed folder  on it. By the time I got there it was no longer a working mine more of a tourist attraction near Lancaster Pa.  it is now a park and off limits the shafts have been sealed after the shafts flooded and caved in. It was another of Lenny's many bad investments which ultimately saw his losing all of his inherited money in one of those Nigerian money scams. 

 

http://www.pequeatwp.org/park-info/

While this was one of the actual documented mines there where many other smaller strikes and pits where mineral washed down with the glaciers and occasional small pockets are still to be found 

https://oroblanco.wordpress.com/2012/01/19/legends-of-lost-silver-mines-in-pennsylvania/

One such pit was said to be in Fayette County some where around where Laurel caverns is located .

While I did not find fame and fortune exploring the Pequa mine that day I did find all kind of neat quartz minerals to bring home and even a very small piece of silver worth about 25 cents   Which I had a camera with me that day but I did not . The matrix rock which holds the silver is extremely hard and requires dynamite etc if you want to do any real mining

 Unfortunately most of my mineral collection was lost or stolen over the years by people who thought they had some valuable mineral sample boy where they ever wrong.

However it was neat to go down in that old mine a see it all. But the older gentleman with me was not happy with what he was finding and decided not to spend much time and left the shaft  after about 15 minutes of exploring and I followed him out shortly. Good thing I later heard there had been a collapse a few days after we where there.