Joe Kresge and Jim McNulty have permission from the Game Commission to do a little clean up around the spring. Joe has nicknamed the clean-up as the OMEGA PROJECT because of the shape of the spring.

Poorman's Spring alias Poor Man's Spring alias Horseshoe Spring. 




We met the Hovercraft Blue Juniata on the  Blue Juniata River.
Joe Kresge is the owner.
He told us that the name of "The Ledge" is Iroquois Falls.
He also told us about a real nice spring called poormans spring.

Poorman's Spring is a wonderful spot and should not be allowed to deteriorate.
We need to get help restoring this historic site.

We spent some time talking to Joe Kresge. 
That was the best part of this trip.
He knows a lot about the Juniata. 
Thank you Joe.

Blue Juniata .
Blue Juniata


Blue Juniata .
Blue Juniata


When the Harrisburgers, who are sole owners of the place, sought for some secluded spot where they might erect a lodge and woo the Sylvan Gods, they wisely secured the old homestead at Poorman's Spring, the tract comprising about sixty acres of timber and cleared land.
Poorman's Spring

Iroquois Club House
"When the Harrisburgers, who are sole owners of the place, sought for some secluded spot where they might erect a lodge and woo the Sylvan Gods, they wisely secured the old homestead at Poorman's Spring, the tract comprising about sixty acres of timber and cleared land."
"The platform on which you stand , in expectation of what may next follow, is elevated about ten feet, and just as you are about descending the steps leading to the foot bridge crossing the canal, you are met by a committee from the popular Fishing Club whose guest for the day you must, and very willingly, concider yourself."
Poorman's Spring along the Juniata River near Iroquois Station of the PRR . . .long a public watering place . . . probably walled up when the canal was built in 1829.
This must be an error. It was walled up much later.

Poorman's Spring .
Poorman's Spring


The canal was built 1828-1829 but the spring did not get its horseshoe form until after the 1889 flood according to Zenas J. Gray. The stones were most likely quarried over by Hummelstown and transported by canal to the spring. Many brownstone buildings were built from stone quarried and shaped at Hummelstown.

Poorman's Spring .
Click here for Perry County history.


Poorman's Spring .
Poorman's Spring


Poorman's Spring .
Poorman's Spring


Poorman's Spring .
That is cold water!! Brrr!


Poorman's Spring .
Poorman's Spring


Poorman's Spring .
Poorman's Spring


Iroquois Falls.
Iroquois Falls.

Juniata River Sojourn.
Juniata River Sojourn.

Aqueduct piers.
Aqueduct piers.

Blue Juniata River.
Blue Juniata River.


More kayak trips 





Poorman's spring is on the south side of the Juniata River.
 It is just above Iroquois falls. 
That is the nice ledge with the chute in the middle about 6 miles downstream from Newport.
The 2001 Juniata Sojourn people enjoyed Iroquois falls but missed Poorman's spring.
It is approximately across the river from the midway exit on 322. 
The Game Commission objects to cleaning it up and getting rid of the poison ivy. 
They say there is a $100.00 fine per plant for killing poison ivy on Game Commission land. 
I don't know how long ago this became Game Commission land, but it is just a small area
between the railroad tracks and the river.
It is only accessible by river unless you cross the railroad tracks and I have heard that is illegal. 
There are volunteers to clean it up.
Joe would love to be allowed to work on that and there are some members
of the canoe club that would help also.
You can see canoe club members in the pictures on the web page.
That would cost nothing. It would be nice to restore it to the original state.
I don't know how much would be involved there.
It is almost intact.
There are a few of the big stones that have collapsed on the upper end where you see the
people sitting in the 1893 picture.
The left side as you face it is in good shape.
The right side looks good but I can't tell for sure since in is covered with dirt and weeds.
The front where the water flows looks just like in the 1893 picture except without the watermelon!
The stones were supposedly carved and beveled to make that teardrop shape in Hummelstown
and transported up there by canal boat.
One guy familiar with that kind of thing said he thinks they were actually original
canal stones that were then beveled to put around the spring.
It really is a wonderful place and should be preserved.
Thank you
Jim Crownover



The Blue Juniata

Sometime during the later part of the 1830's Mrs. Marion Dix Sullivan took a trip up the Juniata branch of the Pennsylvania Canal. What she saw on that trip inspired her to write the song " The Blue Juniata" to which the sheet music was published on 1841. That song made her the first commercially successful woman songwriter. Mrs. Marion Dix Sullivan died in 1860 just as her song was coming to the height of its popularity. *The song was a favorite of soldiers on both sides in the Civil War. General George E. Pickett mentioned it in a letter to his wife in 1864, when he listed it along with" Sweet and Low", " Nellie Gray" and Massa's in the Cold, Cold Ground" as songs a Confederate band had played outside his field headquarters. A history of the 102nd Illinois Regiment says that the men sang the " Blue Juniata" when their train started up Juniata on the way home. They recalled having sung it while "marching through Georgia". **Sherman's Love of music. A correspondent with Sherman's army recorded this incident. Memorable the music " that mocked the moon of November of the soil of Georgia; sometimes a triumphant march, sometimes a glorious waltz, again an old air stirring the heart alike to recollection and to hope. Floating out from throats of brass to the ears of soldiers in their blankets and general within their tents, these tunes hallowed the eves to all who listened. " Sitting before his tent in the glow of a camp fire one evening, General Sherman let his cigar go out to listen to an air that a distant band was playing, the musicians ceased at last. The General turned to one of his officers:" Send an orderly to ask that band to play that tune again." "A little while, and the band received the word. The tune was " The Blue Juniata", with exquisite variations, the band played it again, even more beautifully than before. Again it ceased and then, off to the right, nearly a quarter mile away, the voices of some soldiers took it up with words. The band, and still another band, played a low accompaniment. Camp after camp began singing the music of " The Blue Juniata" became, for a few minutes, the oratorio of half an army In September 1935 'the Sons of the Pioneers' transcribed "the Blue Juniata". Including Len Slye (RoyRogers). Curiously, the title was " Waters of the Blue Juanita (Juniata) on the record it is pronounced jun-ee-ah-ta. · From the booklet The Main Line of the Pennsylvania Canal through Mifflin County, by Owen R. Wager, published in 1962 ** From the book: The Civil War in Song and Story, by Frank Moore, published in 1889, by P F Collier, Publisher. 

That little old webmaker
    in the sprucecave
     Jim Crownover