Wanders on the Great Allegheny Passage | Multiflora Rose | Salisbury Viaduct | Native American Sites

 Moon Day 6

Starts May 31, 2025 10:20 AM

Ends Jun 1, 2025 11:29 AM

Past the Meyersdale Train Station the GAP passes 1.6 miles through a pleasant wooded area often resounding with the warbling of a wide variety of song birds. The GAP through this area is inundated with Multiflora Rose:

Multiflora rose (Rosa multiflora) was originally introduced into the United States from east Asia in 1866 as rootstock for ornamental roses. It was also planted as a living fence, for erosion control, and to provide food and cover for wildlife. It is listed as a "Class B" noxious weed by the State of Pennsylvania, a designation that restricts sale and acknowledges a widespread infestation. Like other shrubs with attractive flowers, multiflora rose persists in our landscape partly due to citizen unwillingness to remove plants perceived to have aesthetic value or value to pollinators and other wildlife. However, the dense, monocultural thickets created by multiflora rose degrade natural enivronments and reduce native plant and wildlife diversity.

Multiflora rose along the GAP between Meyersdale and the Salisbury Viaduct (click on photos for enlargements)

Multiflora rose

Multiflora rose

Multiflora rose

Sprinkled among the multiflora roses are dog roses. Although the flowers appear similar they grow in much less profusion, often just an isolated bush or two. Introduced as an ornamental, the specimens here have probably escaped from the gardens of neary homes. 

At Mile 33.4 the GAP crosses the 1,908 foot-long Salisbury Viaduct, which soars over 100 feet above the Casselman River below. While the old B&O Railroad (now the CSX) choose to parallel the Casselman River from Meyersdale to Garret the Western Maryland Road, now the GAP, took a different route. It kept to the high ground north of Meyersdale, crossing the valley of the Casselman River at a right angle via the Viaduct before continuing on to Garrett. The Viaduct was part of the Western Maryland Railroad’s 87-mile-long Connellsville Extension from Cumberland to Connellsville, the same project that resulted in the Sand Patch Tunnel. Construction began in 1911 and was completed the following year. Six workmen were killed in accidents while building the Viaduct high above the valley of the Casselman. After the Western Maryland Railroad folded in 1975 the Viaduct sat idle for over two decades while lengthy negotiations over its future told place. Finally is was decided to repurpose the Viaduct as part of the GAP. The railroad track and ties were removed and a new bike-friendly deck installed. The new Salisbury Viaduct was completed in the autumn of 1998 at a cost of $1,324,500. The Viaduct now offers majestic views of the wide Casselman River Valley both north and south.

Viaduct from near Johnny Popper Road

Approaching the Viaduct

Crossing the Viaduct

About a quarter of a mile to the north of the Viaduct  Blue Lick Creek flows into the Casselman River from the east. About a mile to the south Elklick enters the Casselman from the west, near the Somerset County Fairgrounds. The broad, level valley bottom of the Casselman River between Blue Lick Greek and Elk Lick Creek was once the home of several Native American settlements. Native Americans have been in this area since the Paleoindian Period, 16,500 to 10,000 years ago. Until about 13,000 years ago an immense icecap covered what is now the  northern United States and all of Canada. Ocean levels were about 300 feet lower and what is now Alaska was connected to Asia via the Bering Sea Land Bridge. The southern edge of the icecap extended into Pennsylvania, covering the northern third of the state. The oldest Paleoindian site in Pennsylvania, the Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Washington County west of here, dates to at least 16,000 years ago. Six Paleoindian relics have been found along the Casselman River, including three here in the area of the Viaduct that were discovered during archeological investigations made prior to the construction of the new four-lane Route 219 (a.k.a. the Flight 93 Memorial Highway). 

Archeological sites near the Viaduct. From Means, Bernard K. The Later Prehistory of Meyersdale, Pennsylvania, and Its Surroundings: An Overview. North American Archaeologist. Vol. 23(4) 281-307, 2002.

The Paleoindian Period was followed by the Archaic Period, which is usually divided into Early Archaic ( 10,000 to 8,000 years ago); Middle Archaic (8,000 to 6,000 years ago); and Late Archaic (6,000 to 4,300 years ago). A Middle Archaic site was discovered on high ground overlooking Elklick Creek, south of the Viaduct:

The site revealed evidence of a Middle Archaic house with a central fire pit. This represents one of the earliest structures ever found in the Commonwealth. Two deep features, identified as earth ovens, were also found at the site. The site was interpreted as a base camp. By the end of the Middle Archaic, people were living in small extended family groups and moving on a regular basis to the location of seasonally available food resources.

The Elklick site continued to be occupied during the the Late Archaic period and the  Transitional Period (4,300 to 2,700 years ago): 

The site revealed fire pits with radiocarbon dates indicating at least three separate base camp occupations within a period of 1000 years. This period is characterized by larger base camps created by groups of families converging on the location of seasonally plentiful resources such as fish runs and the harvesting of nuts such as acorns, butternuts, and hickory nuts.

The valley of Blue Lick Creek can be seen in front of the ridge to the right. Casselman River to the left.

The valley of Elklick Creek is behind the ridge to the right

The Monongahela Native Burial Ground may have been located in the area of this field.