Owl's Nest is one of those places I've been hearing about for years. It was a hamlet in the Allegheny National Forest that owed its living to the natural gas industry. The residents are all gone, though some gas company still operates some machinery there. Because of my morbid fascination with abandoned town sites, I took an interest in the place.I've had ideas about visiting Owl's Nest for about three years, strictly on the back burner. Looks like I'll be putting those plans on an indefinite hold. Front page headlines of the aptly named Kane Republican trumpet "Marcellus Shale Gas Drilling Near Owl's Nest." The long awaited and much anticipated Marcellus Shale has finally struck a blow in Northwestern Pennsylvania. Never mind that the company doing the drilling is out of Oklahoma, and the drillers have been imported from Oklahoma, Texas, Wyoming, and Colorado. Never mind that this Marcellus Shale drilling can only pollute our aquifers and give the local economy nothing in return...unless, perchance, the drillers choose to spend their weekends living it up at the famous Hallton Hilton, which, like Owl's Nest, is another local legend I have yet to experience. And who owns this bed of ancient shale anyway? (Hint: Not you.)
The drilling is taking place two miles west of Owl's Nest, on State Game Lands #28, a beautiful spot that I know well. It's where Pigeon Run meets Spring Creek. In his book Hiking the Allegheny National Forest, Jeff Mitchell calls the path through this area "one of the most scenic trails in the ANF." It follows an abandoned railroad grade that runs alongside Spring Creek and passes through both the state game lands and the ANF. (See hike #34 on page 82.) Here's a cell phone snapshot I took in the fall of 2008. I wonder what the place looks like today. And what will it be in a few years? Do people really think that Marcellus Shale is going to bring prosperity to this region? How much drilling will have to occur, doing irrevocable damage, before local people admit that drilling for Marcellus Shale makes no returns to the local economy and runs the risk of destroying the quality of life that we currently have?
There appears to be one inhabited, nicely appointed home and outbuilding lot in Owls Nest. It is perhaps 1/4 mile from the very old National fuels building/pump station/maint shed. As of last night when I came past, it had power, phone lines, and recent mowing. Lights inside the place indicates it is inhabited. 4.3 miles to the north in the town of 'Sacket' there appear to be perhaps 1 dozen houses. 2 look like permanent homes, the rest camps. Coming past Pigs Ear to get there, you pass a couple dozen camps, but most were quiet dark and some abandoned. I have never seen this area this 'dis-used'.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Sackett. We lived in the company house next to the pump station. I could write a book about my adventures as a boy living , hunting and trout fishing in the sticks. Good memories. ..
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