Byways to the Past Series
For thousands of years before the first European settlers arrived, people were moving along the rivers and valleys of central Pennsylvania. Their movements were channeled through gaps cut by rivers in the long parallel ridges of the region, such as the Lewistown Narrows, where the Juniata River has carved a six mile long gorge through the mountains. Archaeological investigations at site 36Ju104 revealed evidence of nearly 9,000 years of human use. Temporary camps contained the traces of small groups moving across central Pennsylvania’s landscape in search of food and other resources, a pattern continued in the roads, railroads and canals that passed through the Lewistown Narrows in the historic period.