Jackson's Falls - Apollo - PA - Pennsylvania (Jackson Falls

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My Home Page
First visit to falls: Spring, 1965 - Web page online since May, 1996 - Updated: Nov. 2009
I'll be glad to mail you a CD with all my high resolution pictures.

Jeff Shaeffer*
East Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Ritz Camera's 'Capture Your World' Big Print Photo Contest:
Special Judges' Category - Best Panoramic Photo

Upper Falls in flood and the Middle Falls in Winter taken by My Aunt Ruth Fresch.
Lower Falls by Ruth Fresch

Lower Falls taken by my Aunt Ruth

Roaring Run at Rock Furnace

Small falls entering Rattling Run just upstream from its confluence with Roaring Run.

Family Outing

Fresch Family Photo - I think the second from the left, with the hat, is my father.
Notice that the area appears to be TOTALLY over cut.
These two pictures may have been taken on the same day judging from the shadows.

Lower Falls Middle Falls
Pictures I had published in the Valley News in 1965 - Very dry summer.

Third Falls (lower) That are seldom Seen
Picture was taken by a "Geocacher"
Geocaching is a new hobby using your GPS receiver to find hidden treasures.
See more below.

	The first of the three falls is the smallest.
On hot July days, my father, his brothers and friends hiked the few miles from town to skinny dip in the cool, deep pool they made by damming the stream at the First (upper) falls.
The stream flows down a series of rapids...	...until it reaches the second and highest falls.
The Second Falls (middle) are best viewed from below. It is a steep and slippery climb on the other side of the stream to reach the pool below.
Above the falls was a lovely place to spread a blanket and spend some time with a good friend or to try to remember the words and melody to "The Ash Grove" ... A wind storm in the spring of 2003 blew down a number of these trees above the second falls and the loggers destroyed the rest in March of 2004.	... or to view the spring wildflowers.
The Third Falls is found by hiking about a half mile down a wooded trail and listening for the sounds below. These falls are vary difficult to reach due to the steep valley walls but worth the climb.
The Iron Industry A mile or so down the trail along Jackson's Run ("Rattling Run") meets "Roaring Run" at a picnic site. There used to be a small town here with a boarding house for the iron workers. Following the trail down the stream and just before the river you will find the historic Old Rock Furnace also known as Biddle Frunace. GPS Coordinates 40� 33.541'N - 79� 31.731'W Other Aremstrong County Furnaces Roaring Run below the bridge at the confluence with Jackson's Run. "Camel Rock" located on the trail directly above Rock Furnace - note size of person on trail. Rock Furnace viewed from Roaring Run Camel Rock can be seen above the remains This model of the Rock Furnace on display at the Apollo Area Historical Society Museum was made by Gerald Burkett. He has made a study of this furnace & others in PA. The model is on loan from the Alle-Kiski Historical Society. Note Camel Rock in the model. Apollo Area Historical Society	See if you can find the old town well behind a tree on the east side of the road about halfway between the intersection of the Rattling Run and Roaring Run trails and the bridge over Roaring Run. Stream at Rock Furnace Date Built: ca. 1825 Date Out-of-Blast: ca.1855 Other names the furnace was known as: Biddle Furnace McNickles's Furnace Rock Furnace (ca.1847- ? ) Rough Furnace Woodward's Furnace. Latitude 40.55916 Longitude -79.52903

Directions from Apollo - Or take the trail along the river.
Jackson's Falls is located at FALLS on map

MapQuest or Yahoo! Maps
(Find the driving directions from your town to Apollo, PA )

40� 33' 55"N, - 79� 31' 39"W
VANDERGRIFT quad topo map.
-79.52694, 40.56580
Use your GPS to find the falls
(These are a fantastic resource for anyone who likes maps!)

Be sure to take a trash bag with you and pick up whatever trash you find along the way.
Geocaching

Correspondence

   Hey Lee!, how ya doing this fine day?...I was just visiting your page at Jackson falls !...I grew up in Apollo and Vandergrift. We had many, many, keg parties at Jackson falls and roaring run! One night the cops raided us and I had to run, and ended up walking the whole way down the creek to the Kiskiminatis river, and on to Vandergrift, barefoot because the cops threw my shoes and shirt in the campfire, when everyone ran! I was only about 17 years old then.
     I noticed my friend Todd Davidson contacted you too! He did grow up in browns town, just up over the hill. He has 7 brothers and 6 sisters. They were kinda poor and lived everywhere! But all his family are my best friends to this day and his brothers informally adopted me!
     We are all musicians and we used to pick guitar around many campfires. At the end of the creek, down river about a 1/2 mile the are three caves where they used to grow mushrooms there. Many years ago, them acoustic guitars sounded great in there!
     Just above Camel Rock way up the hill is another rock, even larger, its over hang forms a sorta cave...great place to camp.

Well you have a good one!, And blow the froth of a few for me!

MIKE CRATE

Gday Lee,
     In may of this year I traveled from my home in Katoomba, Australia to visit my fiancee, who lived in Apollo PA. As a keen hiker, I was interested in seeing some places while I was there, and I found your website before I went. I had never been to the USA before, and had no idea where to go.
    My fiancee and I followed your directions and we had a wonderful afternoon exploring the creek and falls. It is truly a beautiful place, and we have some spectacular photographs to remind us of that perfect day.
    She was very suprised that such a gorgeous place existed not 20 mins
from her front door and she never knew about it.
     Thank you very much for sharing this spot with us, and if your ever hiking in Australia, be sure to look us up and we can put you onto some great walks.
   Regards,     Wayne Byrnes Aug. 2003

Hello-
Found your site on Jackson Falls. I grew up in Brownstown, and alot of us kids would walk to the falls on hot summers days to cool off! Most of the homes in Brownstown didn't have indoor plumbing way back when,so that is where most of us got our showers under the cool water. I haven't been there in 30 years it was nice to see your great photos. I now live in Gatlinburg TN and it is alot like home here.
Todd Davidson

Great web page. Many happy hours I spent there in the 1930s. Our seventh/eighth grade teacher, Mr. Knepshield (Colonel) used to take the classes on a hike to Jackson's on the last day of school. I always called Rattling Run, Jackson's Run since it was on the property settled by my family in the 1700s. There are still Jackson's living just up the road from the falls.

I have been wanting to take a hike up there before I get too old to do it. I am hoping to get my son and grandson to go along, since it is a part of their history also. We have lived in Mercer County for over fifty years, but Jackson's Hollow and all the swimming holes are forever memories.

When your father was my parent's pastor, there were a lot of Jackson's in that church also. I grew up in that church and it is a pain in the heart every time I see it sitting mostly unused. Anyone who grew up in Apollo in the 30s or 40s remember Mr. Knepshield. His name was Blaine, but his students called him "Colonel." Not to his face, of course. I remember your father's family when they were living on Grove Street. I have told a lot of my friends who no longer live in Apollo about your web page, so I imagine you will be getting more hits. Your family will remember Jake Jackson as my father.
Dick Jackson (Jake) [email protected]

Hi Lee.
I just ran across your web page on Jacksons Falls, as a boy I swam there many times when there was so much sulfur in the water you could not open your eyes. I remember when the old mine trestle went from one hill to the other just above the falls. It was a trestle above the first falls that went between two hills and carried mine cars to the main tipple on the RR along the Kiski River, When we were kids we used to walk through one tunnel for a short cut.

You might also ask other people about the huge rock near where the two streams join, we used to call it Camel Back and had many good times climbing on it and keeping warm with fires we built under it in what we called the cave.I am surprised that there was no mention of the blue holy that was just below the joining of the two streams.

I was born on the old star route where Saxions store once stood, after that it was known as Lyons store. My grandfather worked in the Apollo Steel mill for many years and I attended the Kiski school on the old Star Route. I now live in Sea Girt N.J. and have for many years , But I still enjoy thinking about the good times I had at Jacksons falls.

Hope to hear from you.
Dick

Lee,
Hi, I just wanted to say that I've been going to Jackson Falls since high school and it's one of most relaxing places I've seen in the country. You did a great job on the website and I have to agree with you that the best view of the large falls is from the bottom (preferably with the water falling directly on your head.)
Henry

Lee,

   Wow. What a site. (laughter) I'm stunned! Seriously.
   Lee - you brought back so many memories... I grew up in Apollo and moved away at age 15 to Colorado - I had no idea how much I had forgotten to remember!
   Are you a member of the same Schefer family who had a photo studio in downtown Apollo? (No, but I knew him) I remember Mr. Schaeffer taking our photos in elementary school... sooo long ago...!
   Just wanted to comment on the site and the AMAZING pictures of Jackson's Falls - I often swam there and the photos do it great justice.
   My wife was breathless - "CAN WE MOVE THERE?" (laughter) See what you've started??
   Have a great day. Thanks.
           Doug

Lee,
I was browsing the web and lo and behold there was Jackson Falls. I have nothing but fond memories of them, the trail and the woods that surround them. I have a special place in my heart for the second falls. It was there (down below on the island) that I received Jesus into my heart. I am living in Chattanooga, Tennessee. I suspect that if I make it back to the Kiski Valley this Thanksgiving I am going to have to take a hike down the trail. Thanks for the memories!!!
Ken

The small pictures on this page were captured using a SNAPPY DIGITIZER from an 8mm video tape.
The larger pictures were taken in the spring of 2003-4 with a Canon A40 Digital camera.
The October 2007 pictures were taken with a Canon A630