Ruins along a trail in the Scotia Barrens, now State Game Land 176
In 1881 Andrew Carnegie purchased 400 acres in present day Centre County Pa, and he took a 99 year lease on an additional 300 acres. The area is named Scotia, after Carnegie's homeland, Scotland. Small scale mining had been taking place in that area since the late 18th century, but in 1880, Carnegie recognized the location as ideal, with it's abundance of iron ore & with it's close proximity to the Pennsylvania Railroad. Thousands of tons of iron ore were loaded into carts and pulled by mules to the rail station in nearby Julian.
Four miles north of State College on Rt. 322 is a road intersection marked by a Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission sign, "Scotia."
The sign relates "Two miles southwest of here an iron center called Scotia was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1881. Here houses were erected, a railroad built, and machinery set up. A few remnants of the center can be seen."
Rabbit Hill School, Scotia
Over a dozen houses were constructed, along with a boarding house, a school, a church, & a company store at Scotia.
The settlement became a functioning town and even had its own baseball team and a band.
The road that now leads to the Scotia Barrens Shooting Range is the old railway grade.
The iron ore from the Scotia mine was being depleted quickly, and it was no longer economical to work and ship the ore to Pittsburgh, according to many articles.
Henry Shoemaker [an entertaining story teller, but very rarely an accurate historian] blames fires, and quotes Carnegie as having said "This will never do, man dear' he said with his thick, scotch, brogue. 'we'll all be burned out of such a place.' and he lost heart right away.
Scotia Barrens Railroad Station
"Brief interest in reviving the mining activities in the latter days of World War II, but it came to naught. " I'm told that the ruins still visible today are from this second operation.
In 1954, the washer built in 1945 was still visible.
In 1961, Paul Dubbs wrote, in Where To Go and Place-Names of Centre County:
"It should be noted that the remnants are fast disappearing. The water tower which had been holding up well, threatens to collapse. A large building erected during World War II when an attempt was made to reopen the iron industry there, has collapsed within the last few months and much of its wooden framework seems to be missing. A few remaining other evidences are rapidly deteriorating.
These ruins are most likely from when trains were run to Scotia Mining Company's WWII venture , which came after the Carnegie venture.
http://pabook2.libraries.psu.edu/palitmap/Scotia.html
The ruins can be found a short walk from the parking area at 40.800420, -77.946291
Go past the gate, and turn left. Continue to take a left any time the trail has an option to go in multiple directions. As you walk, if you look around the trail, you will see smaller cement remnants along the way. The trail meanders around, and you will leave the woods and cross a grassy area under the power lines, then go back into a wooded area. Shortly after re-entering the woods, the first large ruin will be on your left.
40°47'56.2"N 77°56'52.0"W
The next, larger, ruin can be spotted from the trail just a bit further ahead.
40°47'58.0"N 77°56'54.0"W
This is a short, mostly flat, walk on a trail. I think it was less then 1/4 of a mile from the parking area to the ruins.
Find a photo album of old Scotia photos here:
And for more about the later
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"My people told me" said the gold-badge veteran of 50 years service with the great railroad, "that the Barrens were burning something terrible the night the boys came home from the war in May 1865; they were to have a big celebration in their honor in the old Gatesburg church, torn down in 1869, but the boys said they preferred to save their hunting grounds to the ice cream, tea and cake. They were wearing their heavy blue service overcoats and joined the fire fighting crews just as they were, but when it became too hot they threw off their coats and most of them never recovered them, as the fire cut them off from their belongings. It was in that fire that all of the Watkins family, who made tar in the center of the Barrens, were burned to death in their shack. The hound ran out, his hair singed off, the only survivor of the disaster."
"Old people tell me that the fire and the fire that followed in 1873 wiped out the last of the heathcocks. These fine game birds were larger than a ruffled grouse, more of a generally paler shade and had a dark meant unlike the white flesh of the grouse. " - A Shoemaker Story
"Old people tell me that the fire and the fire that followed in 1873 wiped out the last of the heathcocks. These fine game birds were larger than a ruffled grouse, more of a generally paler shade and had a dark meant unlike the white flesh of the grouse. " - A Shoemaker Story
More About The Scotia Barrens:
The Daily News (Huntingdon, Pennsylvania)23 Dec 1950, Page 6
Altoona Tribune (Altoona, Pennsylvania)10 Jun 1938, Fri
Altoona Tribune (Altoona, Pennsylvania)29 Apr 1939,
The collection documents Scotia Mines, the first large scale effort iron ore operation begun in 1881, when Andrew Carnegie bought 400 acres from Moses Thompson, four miles northwest of State College (Pa.), in the area known as the Pine Barrens. Carnegie named the town Scotia, after his native Scotland, and built a railroad to haul the ore. Early success dwindled and Carnegie sold the Scotia mining operation in 1899 to the Bellefonte Furnace Company
which operated it until 1909. By 1911,
From the Scotia Ore Mines and Iron Works collection, 01772. Eberly Family Special Collections Library.
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The ruins in the photos are not from the Carnegie's mining enterprise in the 1800's, but of the remains of Scotia Mining Company's WWII venture described in "Rails to Penn State; The Story of the Bellefonte Central" by Bezilla and Rudnicki.
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