Endless Mountains

Proposed National ParkPennsylvania
A river curving through a steep forested gorge in full autumn color
All proposed National ParksEndless MountainsNo active campaign
Location
Pennsylvania
Current protection
Ricketts Glen State Park, World's End State Park, Pine Creek Gorge
Status
No active campaign
Tier
Tier 1 · National Park
Undiscovered America
Featured in the film and the book

Why should it be a National Park?

The Endless Mountains are a region in northern Pennsylvania made up of hills, canyons, and rivers that rise and plunge across hundreds of miles of forested wilderness. The most commonly visited sites in the region are Ricketts Glen and World's End State Parks, as well as the complex of state lands that comprise the boundaries of the massive Pine Creek Gorge.

Traveling further east, you'll find Ricketts Glen, the crown jewel of the Endless Mountains. It is a wonderland of waterfalls and lush greenery that was originally slated to join the National Park Service in the 1930s, before the plans were set aside due to lack of funds during the Great Depression. It is currently administered as a Pennsylvania state park, but this park is the centerpiece for redefining the grandeur of forgotten nature in the Northeastern United States. Ricketts Glen covers just over 13,000 acres, boasting 24 major waterfalls which are accessible via a single trail that follows the path of Kitchen Creek as it descends through a series of glens. While Ricketts Glen was intended to become a National Park Service site in the 1930s, World War II brought an end to this plan for development and it instead became a Pennsylvania state park.

The history of National Park Campaigns

Pennsylvania's own park history says Ricketts Glen "was approved as a National Park site in the 1930s." The fuller record: in 1935 a 22,000-acre area was approved and the National Park Service opened a CCC camp there, but in 1936 the money was "sidetracked" to the Resettlement Administration for direct relief — the same fate that befell Pennsylvania's five Recreational Demonstration Areas (French Creek, Raccoon Creek, Laurel Hill, Blue Knob, Hickory Run), which strongly suggests Ricketts Glen was slated as a federal recreation area in the RDA family rather than a "National Park" in the Yellowstone sense. Depression finances and WWII ended it; the state bought the glens in 1942.

Distinct National Park attempts
1 (1935 federal approval, defunded 1936)
Other designation attempts
state park 1941–44; NNL 1969; Natural Area 1993

Sources

  • PA DCNR, "History of Ricketts Glen State Park"
  • John C. Paige, The CCC and the NPS, 1933–1942: An Administrative History (NPS, 1985), App. C
  • NPS Recreational Demonstration Area program records (RG 79, NARA)
  • Pennsylvania Department of Forests and Waters records on the 1941 act
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  1. 1868–1918

    Col. R. Bruce Ricketts assembles 80,000+ acres, logs most of it, spares ~2,000 acres of old growth in the glens, builds the Falls Trail (1889–93). (Wikipedia; DCNR)

  2. 1920–24

    Heirs sell 48,000 acres to the Pennsylvania Game Commission, keeping 12,000+ acres around Ganoga Lake, Lake Jean, and the glens. (DCNR)

  3. 1935

    FEDERAL PARK APPROVAL. "An area encompassing 22,000 acres was approved as a National Park site in 1935, and the National Park Service operated a Civilian Conservation Corps camp at 'Ricketts Glynn' (sic)." (Wikipedia-derived, citing John C. Paige, The Civilian Conservation Corps and the National Park Service, 1933–1942, App. C, Table C-1)

  4. 1936

    Funding "sidetracked... when the money was redirected to the Resettlement Administration for 'direct relief.'" Parallel projects at French Creek, Raccoon Creek, Laurel Hill, Blue Knob, and Hickory Run were also defunded — all later NPS Recreational Demonstration Areas transferred to Pennsylvania in 1945. (same source; DCNR: "World War II brought an end to this plan for development")

  5. August 1, 1941

    Governor signs the law creating Ricketts Glen State Park; 1942 — heirs sell 1,261 acres (falls and glens) to the Commonwealth; 1943, 1949 purchases from William Ricketts; 1944 park opens. (DCNR)

  6. October 12, 1969

    Glens Natural Area designated a National Natural Landmark; 1993 State Park Natural Area.

  7. Pine Creek Gorge — Leonard Harrison SP (1922), Colton Point SP (1936), NNL (1968), Pine Creek named a study river in the 1968 Wild & Scenic Rivers Act, Pine Creek Rail Trail (1996–2007). Worlds End SP (1932). No national-park proposal found for either.