West Penn Trail

The West Penn Trail follows the Conemaugh River between Saltsburg and Newport Road near Blairsville, on old Pennsylvania Railroad grades that trace the Main Line Canal. From the Kiski end past Saltsburg it is flat crushed limestone hugging the river bank under heavy woods. In the middle, the Dick Mayer and Bow Ridge sections leave the rail grade, climb over the ridge on switchbacks and stairs, and drop past the Conemaugh Dam and the Tunnelview stone arch bridge. The Conemaugh River Lake section beyond is wide tar and chip that crosses the river four times on 1907 stone arch bridges and passes the drowned town of Livermore. Conemaugh Valley Conservancy volunteers maintain the whole route.

• John Livermore laid out the town of Livermore on the Conemaugh in 1827 and named it after himself.
• Livermore counted 211 residents in the 1870 census and by 1906 had several stores, three churches, and a one-room school with thirty-two pupils.
• The St. Patrick's Day flood of 1936 put Livermore under 18 feet of water and swept away the river bridge and fourteen buildings.
• Conemaugh Dam, finished in 1952, has prevented an estimated 2.2 billion dollars in flood damage on the Conemaugh, Kiskiminetas, and Allegheny rivers.
• The stone piers at Tunnelview were built in 1828 to carry a canal aqueduct across the Conemaugh, and the railroad later ran across the same piers.
• Four railroad grades were built through this valley, in 1864, 1883, 1907, and 1948.
• The 1907 alignment was built to shorten the railroad and lift it above the flood plain, and its four stone arch bridges now carry the trail across the river loops.
• The trail became a National Recreation Trail on May 25, 2009 and is part of the Pittsburgh to Harrisburg Main Line Canal Greenway.
• The Kiski end of the trail reaches toward Blacklegstown, once a Shawnee and Delaware village.

Canal boats crossed the Conemaugh at Tunnelview on an aqueduct whose stone piers went up in 1828. The Western Division of the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal ran 103 miles from Johnstown to Pittsburgh along this river, and traces of a lock from 1839 still show near Livermore. John Livermore had laid out his town on the bank in 1827. It grew into a canal stop with stores, churches, and a hotel. The West Penn Railroad reached Livermore beside the canal in 1854 and built a station there in 1864. Over the next century railroads laid four grades through the valley, in 1864, 1883, 1907, and 1948, each one cutting curves or climbing out of the flood plain. The 1907 line shortened the route and crossed the river loops on four stone arch bridges. The corridor ended up as the Pennsylvania Railroad's Conemaugh Line. Then the river took its turn. The St. Patrick's Day flood of 1936 put Livermore under 18 feet of water. Congress authorized Conemaugh Dam that same year, and when the dam was finished in 1952 the lake drowned most of the town. The abandoned grades above the pool became the West Penn Trail. Volunteers of the Conemaugh Valley Conservancy maintain it today, and the trail was named a National Recreation Trail in 2009. A Kiski Extension has since carried it two miles down the Kiskiminetas from Saltsburg to Blacklegs Creek.

• SaltsburgMILE 1.7Directions
• Westmoreland Heritage TrailMILE 2.1Directions
• Tunnelton RoadMILE 7Directions
• Auen RoadMILE 7.9Directions
• Conemaugh River Lake Recreation AreaMILE 8.6Directions
• Tunnelview Historic SiteMILE 9.2Directions
• LivermoreMILE 11.8Directions
• Newport RoadMILE 14.3Directions

• FreeWheeling Easy in Western Pennsylvania · West-Penn
• Bike It or Hike It · West Penn Trail
• Trans Allegheny Trails · West Penn Trail
• Conemaugh Valley Conservancy · West Penn Trail
• National Recreation Trails · West Penn Trail
• Pennsylvania DCNR · West Penn Trail
• Wikipedia · Livermore, Pennsylvania
• Wikipedia · West Penn Trail