| This mountaintop was once covered in giant white pine & hemlock trees. At the turn of the century, the Central Pennsylvania Lumber Company & the Goodyear Lumber Company built railroads & roads to harvest the timber.
This logging devastated the area, entirely wiping out the magnificent stands of pine & hemlock. The logging companies swiftly departed, allowing the forests to regrow. The devastated land was eventually sold to the Commonwealth, usually at tax sales. This accumulation of land eventually became Moshannan State Forest.
Now about a century later, many of the logging roads & railroad grades can be seen in the maturing stands of oak & maple.
The Honorable Simon B. Elliott was a member of the Pennsylvania Legislature & a member of the old State Forestry Reservation Commission, a precursor to the Department of Forestry. This early conservationist promoted the idea of creating a nursery to raise trees for planting in the surrounding area. |
Campground: S. B. Elliott State Park in Penfield Pennsylvania *