Confluence

On June 26, 1871, the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad from Cumberland to Pittsburgh was completed; the line from Cumberland met the line from Pittsburgh at Fort Hill. The celebration was held in Confluence. One hundred and thirty years later, on August 24, 2001, the section connecting the first 100 miles of the Great Allegheny Passage was opened between Confluence and Fort Hill. A two-day celebration was held in Confluence.

The word "confluence" is defined as a coming together. The town is well named. The Yough and Casselman Rivers and Laurel Hill Creek join here.

Christopher Gist, the explorer and friend of George Washington, is said to have named it Turkeyfoot because the three streams flowing into one resembled a turkey's foot when looked at from surrounding hillsides. Gist likely was only the first to call it the Turkeyfoot in English, having learned the name from the Indians. Several Indian settlements were located in the area. It was also called Crow Foot.

Whatever the bird in question, a look at the map shows that this fowl had crooked toes. An Indian trail called the Turkeyfoot Path ran from here over the mountains to Cumberland, Maryland. It was laid out as a shortcut to following the rivers, the rivers being more of an impediment to travel in that time than a convenience.

Washington stopped here on May 20, 1754. He wrote in his diary:

"...we gained Turkey Foot by the Beginning of the Night... Tarried there some time to examine the Place, which we found very convenient to build a Fort, not only because it was gravelly, but also for its being at the Mouth of three Branches of small Rivers..."

He canoed down the Yough as far as Ohiopyle, looking for an easy water route west for his troops, and turned back when he found the falls. Washington estimated that it was about 10 miles from Confluence to Ohiopyle. Not a bad guess on his part; it's precisely that.

After failing to find a suitable water route west, Washington came back upstream and took the Nemacolin Path. A week later, he ambushed and killed the French Lieutenant Jumonville and started the French and Indian War. It was just luck that Washington found the French first and ambushed them. The French were trying to do the same thing to him. Washington's proposed fort at Turkeyfoot was never built.

William Tissue laid out a town here in 1800 and called it New Boston, but nothing much came of it. For a time, Turkeyfoot was a stopping place on the way west, and cattle drovers continued to use the Turkeyfoot Road even after the National Road was paved - it was easier on the animals' hooves. The main route that carried Turkeyfoot Road ran from Shippensburg, PA, through Turkeyfoot, south of Sugar Loaf Mountain, to Dunbar and Uniontown.

At the beginning of the 20th century, Confluence was a bustling burg, with lots of lumbering and coal mining and railroad branch lines going off in all directions. Several factories used the plentiful local wood.

At the time, the biggest industry in town was the Beggs Tannery, a large operation directly across the railroad tracks from the square. Tanneries were common in Pennsylvania due to the abundance of hemlock bark. Hemlock is high in tannin, the principal ingredient in tanning leather. As the supply of hemlock dried up, the tanneries moved elsewhere. Beggs' tannery closed in 1920.      

The B&O main line splits here. Originally, the railroad departed from the river and went up over the hill, saving three miles. In 1902, there was a need for a second line, and the "Low Grade" was built. Both rejoin at a place called Brook, which is one of those places that has never been anything more than a name on the railroad.

After the big trees were cut, the coal mined, the trains quit stopping, and the dam was built, Confluence was well on its way to drying up. River and trail recreation changed that. Today, there are a couple of quite good restaurants and B&Bs in town, and the place is returning to life. Confluence is unusual for a trailside town because it's flat and has a large town square, complete with a gazebo. The benches in the square are a great place to take a break and watch the world go by very slowly.