Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-11-04
EVENING Chat

- E.zvhEHN NhHH
Commenting upon the reference in
this column the other night to the arch
carrying Front street over the long
buried run which used to flow into the
Susquehanna near the Olmsted resi-
dence one ofthe older Harrisburgers,
who probably knows more about the
topography and geology of the city than
any one else now living, said that he
doubted whether the average person
realized that there used to be half a
dozen creeks or runs that periodically
made trouble for the people of Harris
burg. ou must remember that this
city was laid out on bottom land, and
100 years ago there was a pond in
Market Square, which an old-timer
named Agnew used to make John
Harris, the younger, about as mad ais
he ever got" said he. This pond was
due to the flow from a spring about
where the Shelter printinghouse
sands, and you will find in old books
and newspapers references to the
swampy condition of the Square in
Harris city. One day Agnew got mad
and, taking his fishing line, went ang-
ling in the Square and told people
who thought he had been smitten by
the moon that he was fishing for bass
IN the center of Harris State Capital.
Where State street grass lots now or
nament the city was a plain swamp
then, and some thriving, pretty parts
OF harrisburg owed their boggy condi-
tion TO creeks which traversed the
land now covered by homes"
The Paxton creek in those days
was the father of mischief, much as it
used to be in the days before a score
or so of public-spirited men of Harris
burg put the improvement loans
N.al
with William Jennings as pilot. The
creek used to roam all over the
valley, winding from the line of the
old canal to the base of the bluff just
east OF Cameron street. City Engineer
Cowden says many men now living
recall when its course was straight
ened. Spring creek was not in Har-
risburg then The worst creek, next
to the troublesome Paxton, was known
at Tannery run. 1t is the creek which
went into the river near Walnut
street, according to City Clerk Charles
A. Miller The run started up about
where the Verbeke street market
houses stand and meandered down the
line. of what is now Third street to
near Forster, and then cut across to
Grace Church site, thence across Sec
ond just below the synagogue and un-
der the present Elks' Club, turning
into the river between the Olmsted and
Mccormick residences. 1t was called
Tannery run because there were sew
eral tanneries along 1T, among them
Zinn's, where the Academy of Medi-
cine now stands; Greenawalts, where
the Olmsted residence stands, and an
other. This creek also received the
flow from the spring which kept Mar
ket Square so wet for a long time
About 1920 the branch was walled up
and covered over. once in while
q fs.
OF both 1T and it's branch have been
found in digging cellars or sewers.
Foundry run, another nuisance
started up around Seventh and Reilly
streets and came down east of the
Sixth street ridge. 1t made a turn
near State and Cowden streets and
LawrenceS Church stands, says DIR
Hugh Hamilton. 1t probably went
just above the Market street subway
and was such an annoyance that, they
| built a culVert to carry the canal over
1t. 1t was called Foundry run be.
cause several foundry plants were To-
Gated near it, especially in the district
now being cleared for extension OF
Capitol Park. Up town there was a
run which is recalled by many as pass
ing into the river near the Schudde-
mage property. 1t drained some
springs over in what was known for
years as the Reilly farm.
The creek valley and down town had
numerous small runs. Indian run rose
! from big spring just south of Paxton
street and flowed into the river when
| 1t did not overflow and go into the
| Paxton. 1t was just below Harris
! ferry and tradition says that it had
very fine water and was a favorite
with the Indians, hence it's name
Brookwood run started out in the East
End, on the old Rudy farm, and went
down Mish's Hallow, passing through
what use to be known as Hanna's
woods, one of the beauty spots OF
Harrisburg before the Civil War and
the great picnic place. 1t had branch
that rose in what is now Beverly
Place. There was another run that
went down the line of Crescent street
to the creek, arising somewhere about
Thirteenth and Derry, probably from
the spring which was succeeded by
the Thompson pump. Haehnlen's run
went down the bluff about on line OF
| Walnut street and got it's name because
it rose on the Haehnlen farm along the
old Jamestown road. 1t is recalled by
some old residents that there was an
near the State Arsenal and went
through the Forster property about
| Herr street being called in later years
! Sibletown run. Farther up was Asy.
lum run, which still exists although
now severed.
Traces of these old waterways are
found from time to time and generally
some masonry or brickwork in good
condition is discovered showing that
they presented in old days the prob
lens which we are solving by paving
and walling Paxton creek. In days
comedy many a bullfrog was spear
ed along their banks, and possibly
the kids of those times damned them
up and got their feet wet walking on
the ice. Paxton and Spring creeks
will go the same way some time and
! maybe it will not be long.
MFII KNOlhIM De ODi