Old State Road (Milesburg to Waterford)
DuBois, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
The first road to the northwest frontier of Pennsylvania. Opened to the Allegheny River in 1804. In this section, it followed, generally, the course of the Chinklacamoose Path. During the War of 1812, troops under Major McClellan were transported over it to Erie. Highway crosses the route of old road at this point.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
Opened to the Allegheny River in 1804, the Old State Road was the first route to Pennsylvania's northwestern frontier, and in this section it traced the course of the older Chinklacamoose Path used by Native travelers. During the War of 1812 it carried troops under Major McClellan toward the fighting at Erie. Where the modern highway crosses here, it meets the line of that pioneering road.
Why it matters
Roads like this one turned Native footpaths into arteries of settlement and wartime supply, opening Pennsylvania's northwest to the young republic.
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Related people
- · Major McClellan
Related events
- · War of 1812
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Clearfield County
Clearfield, PA · est. 1982
Clearfield County, formed in 1804 from Huntingdon and Lycoming, drew its name from the open 'clear fields' that early travelers found in the wilderness. Through the second half of the 19th century it was a great timber county, its loggers felling the forests and running rafts of logs down the West Branch of the Susquehanna between 1850 and 1901. The county seat, Clearfield, was incorporated in 1840.
Allegheny Portage
Shippen Township, PA · est. 1949
Long before roads crossed the mountains, travelers moving between the Susquehanna's West Branch and the Allegheny River faced a 23-mile overland carry that began at a "canoe place" near this point. Native peoples and later pioneers hauled their canoes north to Portage Creek, then took to the water again near present-day Port Alleghany. The route stitched two great watersheds together across the Pennsylvania wilderness.
Cambria County
Ebensburg, PA · est. 1982
Formed in 1804 from Huntingdon and Somerset counties, Cambria took a name meaning 'Wales' — a nod to the Welsh settlers who came to these highlands, dating back to Roman Britain's word for the land. The county became a crossroads of early transportation when the Allegheny Portage Railroad hauled canal boats over the mountains toward Johnstown. It was also the birthplace of Arctic explorer Rear Admiral Robert E. Peary.
Brady's Bend Works
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