The boys love to fish and swim in this wonderful part of he east branch of Conneaut Creek. I have heard stories about kids swimming in the deep hole that go back over a hundred years. The gentleman that I purchased my pull behind trailer from, reminisced swimming in the 40's in the old Keepville Swimmin' Hole. They say it is about 15'+ deep. It is formed by a waterfall that comes out from under a railroad bridge. The railroad bridge was put in somewhere around the late 1800's when the Railroad used the canal for a railroad bed. 
Trying to Kayak with a tube and a branch.
They reported the water was "DEEP and COLD!!!"
When the Erie Canal, crossing New York state from Albany to Lake Erie, had been in operation some ten or twelve years, the Pennsylvania Main Line Canal was shipping from Philadelphia to Pittburgh on a southern Pennsylvania route. Suffering from severe "canal fever," the citizens, entrepreneurs and visionary businessmen in northwestern Pennsylvania began to agitate for their own canal. They wanted a canal that would connect the Erie Canal with the Pennsylvania Main Line, Lake Erie, and the Ohio River, thus extending the infrastructure to support the surge of people moving westward and bringing new prosperity to northwestern Pennsylvania by providing a safe and reliable means of moving commercial goods between major eastern and western cities. Around 1838, the building of the Erie Extension Canal was commenced at the old town of Beaver on the Ohio River; it was completed for shipping to the Port of Erie in 1844. Winding through five northwestern Pennsylvania counties, it connected the Ohio River with Lake Erie.
In Mercer County, on the "Big Bend" of the river south of Greenville, lived the pioneering German families who farmed along the waterway, served the needs of the canal and its travelers, and defined the culture and traditions of the region. Irish laborers, assigned 15-mile stretches of canal work, had dug the 130-mile length of the canal. They lived in shantytowns, receiving meager wages and their daily "tot of whiskey." In 1873, the destruction of an aqueduct across Elk Creek Gorge near Girard Pennsylvania which had allowed canal boats to cross the deep river gorge spelled the end of the Erie Extension Canal. Some believed that railroad designers had deliberately caused its destruction. Railroads were becoming the preferred transportation of the period; the canal beds provided the perfect basis for the railroad bed.
This canal and its culture is memorialized in the Erie Canal Extension Museum in Greenville, which evolved from plans made in 1988 to mark the sesquicentennial of the incorporation of the town. The museum documents the complete history of the Erie Extension Canal. A full-sized 40-foot canal boat replica, a model grist mill, and other period artifacts are featured. A miniature working model of a lock educates visitors about the workings of the canal and its civil engineering. The complete masonry remains of Erie Extension Lock number 10 are preserved in a public park with picnic grounds and fishing facilities. It would make a neat field trip to visit this museum.
In Mercer County, on the "Big Bend" of the river south of Greenville, lived the pioneering German families who farmed along the waterway, served the needs of the canal and its travelers, and defined the culture and traditions of the region. Irish laborers, assigned 15-mile stretches of canal work, had dug the 130-mile length of the canal. They lived in shantytowns, receiving meager wages and their daily "tot of whiskey." In 1873, the destruction of an aqueduct across Elk Creek Gorge near Girard Pennsylvania which had allowed canal boats to cross the deep river gorge spelled the end of the Erie Extension Canal. Some believed that railroad designers had deliberately caused its destruction. Railroads were becoming the preferred transportation of the period; the canal beds provided the perfect basis for the railroad bed.
This canal and its culture is memorialized in the Erie Canal Extension Museum in Greenville, which evolved from plans made in 1988 to mark the sesquicentennial of the incorporation of the town. The museum documents the complete history of the Erie Extension Canal. A full-sized 40-foot canal boat replica, a model grist mill, and other period artifacts are featured. A miniature working model of a lock educates visitors about the workings of the canal and its civil engineering. The complete masonry remains of Erie Extension Lock number 10 are preserved in a public park with picnic grounds and fishing facilities. It would make a neat field trip to visit this museum.
2 comments:
Nice write up on the Erie Canal Extention, thank you. Howard
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Erie_Canal/
I am also doing research on the Erie Extension Canal.
Where abouts is this swimming hole, if you don't mind my asking?
Is it south of Albion or northeast?
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