The Lofty Tunnel, at 1750 feet above sea level, once was the highest point on the route of the Catawissa Railroad which was completed in 1854. This railroad was one of the earliest built in the United States. Its construction was a grand feat of mountain railroad engineering for that day, the state of the art just barely past iron faced wooden tracks. Today Lofty, (once called Summit or Summit Station), has only a few houses. In its heyday it was a busy railroad junction and switching town.See some other text material on this tunnel  here.

 The generations-renowned spring is still in healthy operation.  In the 1940s,'50s, '60s the visible spring-pipe didn't exist. You filled your glass jugs from the stone grotto enclosure at the head of the iron pipe.  The spring joins the headwaters of the Schuylkill a few hundred feet downstream.  The Schuylkill River has its beginnings on the north slope of the Delano Mountain.  By the time it gets to Lofty, about two miles away, it's a pretty good small trout stream.

Also see an old black and white picture, taken when the tunnel was in constant operation. This picture also contains "The Arch", a related LVRR railroad overpass over the nascent Schuylkill River a short distance away. See more pictures of the Arch here.

Additional notes on early Klein Twp. and the Catawissa Railroad.

Map Index