Brady township

How the Thousand Steps Were Saved

A history of the steps posted by the Standing Stone Trail Club in 2017 says Harbison-Walker's quarry in Jacks Narrows closed in 1952, and that when it did, the tracks, ties and equipment came out, leaving the Thousand Steps and an old dinky shed.

Hikers found them next. The Link Trail, finished by 1985, needed a way down Jacks Mountain and across the Juniata River, and Harbison-Walker gave the trail's planners permission to use the steps. Whole sections were missing, pushed down the mountain or buried under quarry waste, and Keystone Trails Association crews went up to repair them.

In June 1997, the history says, the volunteers learned that Harbison-Walker was selling its Huntingdon County lands, including the 670 acres with the steps on them. Trail advocates and members of the Central Pennsylvania Conservancy held an emergency meeting in Camp Hill and agreed that buying the land was the way to save the trail.

The history dates the Save Our Steps Committee's organizational meeting to August 5, 1997. To help raise $150,000, the committee decided to sell steps. A step cost $100, and certain step numbers went for $500 or $1,000. Businesses, individuals and organizations bought them, some in memory of family members who had worked in Mount Union's brickyards. Hiking clubs around the state gave money, and a grant from the state Department of Conservation and Natural Resources came in 1998. Trail crews, Juniata College and a state prison work program gave their labor to replace missing steps.

The money was raised, and on October 30, 1998, the property went to the Central Pennsylvania Conservancy, whose policy was to pass land on to a managing agency rather than own it long term. The Pennsylvania Game Commission was chosen to manage the tract, which is now part of State Game Lands 112. The Link Trail has since been renamed the Standing Stone Trail, and the club's volunteers keep up the steps.

The sign at the trailhead tells it more briefly. It says the committee formed in 1996, when the loss of public access was imminent, and it counts 669 acres. The sign also pays tribute to the memory of the workers who climbed to Ledge Quarry and to their fellow workers in Mount Union's refractories.

Checked against the record. This story rests on the Standing Stone Trail Club's 2017 history and on a copy of its trailhead sign, which we read as posted online. StateCollege.com in 2021 and the Lewistown Sentinel in 2025 agree on the outline. The sources differ on details. The sign and the Sentinel put the committee's formation in 1996, while the history dates its organizational meeting to August 1997. The sign counts 669 acres and the history 670. The history gives October 30, 1998 for the transfer but later says the tract was bought in 1999. The sign and the history date the end of quarrying to 1952, while the Sentinel puts it in the late 1940s. The Sentinel says the land was donated to the Game Commission, which the other sources do not say, so the story says just that the commission manages the tract. We have not seen the deed, the committee's records or news reports from 1997 and 1998. We read a copy of the sign, not the sign at the trailhead.

Sources

Checked 2026-11-01 · Primary sources and the Pennsylvania Newspaper Archive

← All stories from Brady township

Have something to add to this story, or a photograph of it? Send it here →

Photographs from Brady township