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TOPIC: Millstone Creek Area, PA
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/browse_thread/thread/a1cc481667139773?hl=en
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== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Wed, Sep 24 2008 9:23 pm
From: "Edward Forrest Frank"


Background - Clarion River Corridor Project

The compilation of various measurement data and the publication of a Clarion River Rucker Index to the ENTS List on September 12, 2008 by Dale Luthringer formalized the Clarion River Project and set the boundaries of the river corridor as a discrete study area. The corridor is defined to include the flats and flood plains along the river, the river islands, as well as trees up to a couple hundred yards up various low lying drainages that flow into river. The Clarion River begins in north central Pennsylvania flowing first south then west-southwest for a distance of around 110 miles before flowing into the Allegheny River five miles below Emlenton. The river crosses the Allegheny Plateau region and in places forms a steep-sided valley incised into the landscape. Two sections of the river totaling 17 miles are classified as scenic and an additional 34.7 miles of the river are classified as recreational as part of the National Wild and Scenic River System. http://www.fish.state.pa.us/anglerboater/2005/04julaug/spec2clarion.pdf

In the initial compilation the trees listed were primarily from Cook Forest and Clear Creek State Parks. Other trees that made it onto the list came from Halton (upstream section) and from the state game lands downstream from Gravel Lick Bridge. The goal of the corridor project at this time is to better document the trees along the river corridor as a whole. The species making up the top ten for the Rucker Index are close to the maximum heights documented for the species in the region, so replacing any trees on RI10 list will be difficult, but not impossible. There also is considerable potential to find greater heights for other species lower on the list and to collect information for additional species not already listed. Another goal is to locate and document other sites along the river that have large and old trees.

Millstone Creek Area - Background

Millstone Creek flows into the Clarion River approximately 13 miles upstream of the Cook Forest State Park office. Millstone is also the location of a long gone lumber town dating from the late 1800's. A note from: Page(s) 712-716, History of Counties of McKean, Elk and Forest, Pennsylvania. Chicago, J.H. Beers & Co., 1890, reads "Here, after the forest strippers began regular lumbering, the woodman's ax was heard on every side, and within a few years the pine and hemlock clothing of the flat hills was carried down the Clarion to the great mills, leaving the traveler of 1878 to behold as rugged a country as might be seen in Scotland." http://www.pa-roots.com/~elk/history/chapter16.html, Recent archaeology efforts at the old town site also uncovered evidence of native American tools, and pottery from the late Woodland period, A.D. 1250, or roughly 1,000 years ago. These artifacts and a few archaic grinding holes are among the limited materials and information we have on early native inhabitants along the Clarion River. http://www.ridgwayrecord.com/content/view/137545/1/

Millstone Creek Area Trees

September 18, 2008: I (Edward Frank) first scouted this site on a late afternoon trip. I started at Cook forest and drove along the river upstream to a pull-off area at a set of dispersed campsites in the southernmost tip of the Allegheny National Forest in the Millstone Creek area. What attracted me was the very large hawthorn tree at the pull-off. Dale Luthringer, Anthony Kelly, ad I had found an measured the national champion Dotted Hawthorn last fall in the Allegheny River Islands Wilderness on King Island last fall. That tree measured 39.3 feet tall. This tree was close to that in height. The tallest hawthorn we documented was 45.4 feet tall at the Buckaloons Campground also along the Allegheny River/ I walked around the site and found there were several dozen large hawthorns in the area, with a number of specimens close to forty feet tall. In addition were a number of tall and fat oaks, and some good sized black locust. I started measuring with a red oak 16' 4" girth a height of 77.4 feet.

·         Red Oak  16' 4" girth, 77.4 feet tall

·         Hawthorn  girth 2' 5", height 43.4'

·         Black Cherry, triple trunk cbh13' 3", trunk a: 6' 10", trunk b 7' 5", trunk c 6' 10" measured at 7 feet.  Height 106.9'

·         Apple - girth 5' 2" (at 2' 8" below fork) 39.5 feet tall

·         Hawthorn in parking area  39.4 feet high, 4’ 10” girth

·         Hawthorn back end. downstream of campsite 9:  42.6 feet high, 2’ 9” girth

·         Red Oak:  109.2 high, girth 12ft 4 inches.

·         White Oak 14' 8" girth, 98.4 high

·         Black Locust - large trunk with girth 9 feet , height 90.3’ height.  This is the remaining half of a large double, half of which has fallen.  There are a number of other black locust in the area I the 90 to 100 foot height range.

·         One of three large red oaks - center one measured at 9' 3" girth, and 104.6 feet tall (need to get a better height)

·         American Hornbeam:  2' 11" girth, and 38 feet tall.

Red Oak 16' 4" girth, 77.4 feet tall

In the area were also white pine, yellow birch, red maple and a few other species. There are several hawthorns in the 30 to 40 foot range, several red oaks in the 12 x 100 range, a few more hornbeams in the same size range as recorded above, and I am sure there were more specimens and species I didn't notice in the short visit there. After the trip I went back to Cook Forest to meet with Dale Luthringer to tell him of the trees found and to organize a trip for both of us to revisit the site. Dale said he may have measured the first fat red oak previously, but had not measured other trees in the area.



Dotted Hawthorn tangle including a girth 2' 5", height 43.4' specimen

September 24, 2008: I picked up Dale Luthringer at Cook Forest at 4:00 pm. The goal to day was to explore more of the Millstone Creek Area and to document more of the tree found there. In addition I wanted to clean up some of my measurements from the previous trip. Dale had been past the site before but had never walked it to measure trees. The first tree measured was the 43.5 foot hawthorn noted above between dispersed campsite 8 and 9. I had measured a slightly higher value initially, but the problem was this was a dense cluster of hawthorns and by myself it was difficult to determine exactly which trunk was connected to the tallest sprig of leaves. With a reflector pole, and between the two of us we located the correct base for the tree and I remeasured the tree to 43.4 feet in height. (Waypoint 805) 41' 21.105" N, 79' 4.135 W.


White Oak 16.2 feet girth, 72.1 feet tall

We continued up the road (upstream) from this area and looked at the large 16.4 girth red oak noted above. Continuing on we soon found another fat white oak across from campsite 10. This tree measured 16.2 feet in girth and 72.1 feet tall. Dale suggested this may have been a location of a small geocache at one time. Immediately behind the oak was a beech. It was not that big, but represented the largest of the species I found in the area. It was 54' tall, and had a girth of 5' 8." Continuing up the road to campsite 11, we found a respectable hemlock and a white ash across the road for the campsite. The eastern hemlock was the fattest I had seen at a girth of 8.8 feet, and a modest height of 86.7.' Dale measured a white ash here at 104.7 feet tall, by 7 foot in girth.


White Oak 14' 8" girth, 98.4 high

Returning back toward the car, we remeasured the red oak above, located between campsite 8 and the pull-off on the river side of the road at 12'4" girth, and 109.2 feet tall. This is dale's waypoint 806. We next remeasured the large white oak along the road I measured previously. I had hit 103 from underneath but was unable to reproduce that height from an angle. The best I was able to do from the side was 95.9. I was hoping Dale would do better. From a different vantage point he found 98.4 feet tall, with a girth of 12.4 feet. Just short of his 12 x 100 listing. We then remeasured the large black locust from the first trip. It is the remaining half of what had been a double. The second half had fallen previously splitting the trunk to the ground. The girth of the remaining half (with a flat back) was 9 feet and a height of 90.3 feet.

A short distance down the road (downstream toward Millstone Creek) was one of the largest white pines on the site at 11.8 feet in girth and 116.9 feet tall. In the bottom below the road and toward Millstone Creek a large broad crowned red oak could be seen. Dale bushwhacked to the base of the tree and measured a girth of 14.2 feet. Shooting from the road, and with Dale holding using a 10 foot pole with reflectors, I was able to get a good height. But no matter how hard I tried the best height I could obtain was 98.72 feet tall. Again this was just short of Dale's magic 12 x 100 list.

From here we went back to the pull-off and followed a path to the river edge. In this area Dale measured a 12.4' girth red oak,that topped out at 98.3 feet in height. Here I measured a yellow birch 5' 2" girth and 49.5 feet tall. A second fatter yellow birch at 7' 9" girth was broken off about 20 feet up. It would have been a nice tree as its base was clinging to the lip of a rock edge. In general it seems that tree immediately along the river tend to be shorter, often showing top damage. This is to be expected being as they are on the edge of the forest and winds can whip up and down the river course.

Dale and I explored the area for awhile at the end looking for other trees to measure. Dale found a bitternut hickory 85.6 feet tall and 4.7 feet in girth. One thing he also looked for was an old Indian trail, which had portions of it later converted to a carriage road. Eventually he located the path, and documented another red oak, the fattest for the area at 16.6 feet in girth, but just 81.1 feet tall.



Hawthorn in parking area 39.4 feet high, 4' 10" girth

I measured three Bigtooth Aspens: 50.3 feet tall x 1'8" girth; 61.5 feet tall x 1' 11.5" girth, and 73.6 feet tall x 2' 5" girth. In the pull-off area we measured a red maple 83.23 foot tall x 9.9 foot girth. Species present but not measured included black birch, choke cherry, chestnut oak, and staghorn sumac. I measured two more hawthorns in the pull-off area: The first was 41 feet tall, x 2 foot girth, and 32.6 feet tall x 2' 3" girth. There were many hawthorns in the mid to low thirties in height, a couple in the upper thirties. We measured three hawthorns over 40 feet tall, very impressive for the species.

Rucker Index:  95.55

 
There were a surprising number of large trees in the area. Many of the red oaks nearly 100 feet tall and 12 feet in girth almost assuredly grew in the period since the virtual abandonment of the town of Millstone are are likely less than 125 years old. It was particularly interesting to see the large number of large hawthorns intermixed with apple trees in the area above the road, and just hawthorn trees in the area below the road. If these also date from the period after Millstone, and this is likely, it is a good indication of how long it takes for a near champion sized tree to grow. The Rucker Index is relatively low. I am not sure what species could potentially take the place of Bigtooth aspen at the bottom of the list. It is possible that yellow birch or black birch might bump off the aspen. For species on the list with more potential with more searching at the site, I am sure that a taller yellow birch will be found, there are also likely taller black locust, white pine, and hemlock present in the area. The hawthorns are believed to be Dotted Hawthorns (Crategus punctata).



Edward Frank and Dale Luthringer

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TOPIC: Millstone Creek Area, PA
http://groups.google.com/group/entstrees/t/a1cc481667139773?hl=en
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== 1 of 1 ==
Date: Thurs, Nov 13 2008 7:42 pm
From: "Dale Luthringer"


ENTS,

As Ed says in his post, I did spent a decent bit of time searching for
an ancient Indian trail that was reported to cross the river in this
area. After some searching, I was able to find the trail. It comes
down off the hill from the northern side of river and probably
originally crossed the river at its shallowest point near the confluence
of Millstone Creek. It was converted into a buggy road back in the
early 1800's, and remnants of it can still be observed today. The old
buggy road is actually part of a very long Indian trail known as the
Olean or Catawba Trail.

http://www.waymarking.com/waymarks/WM1RWM

http://www.mcn.org/2/noel/Westmoreland/MigrationTrails.htm

The trail was mainly used by Iroquois for trade between tribes and to
raid their southern mortal enemies, the Catawbas or Cherokee. Later, it
was heavily used for trade between with the settlers, then for their
raiding parties during the French & Indian War through Pontiac's
Rebellion. The trail is steeped in history. The Allegheny National
Forest and Clarion University have been pursuing digs in this area along
the river flats before latrine installation to augment primitive camping
in this area.

Dale