Happy 33rd Birthday, Moraine State Park
A moraine is soil, rocks and debris that accumulates at the edges and underneath a glacier. Moraine State Park, in Butler County, received its name because at least four continental glaciers have reached their greatest extent near the park, leaving their signatures on the landscape.
According to the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, during the fourth great ice advance about 20,000 years ago, a continental glacier dammed area creeks making three glacial lakes. To the north, Slippery Rock Creek filled giant Lake Edmund. To the southeast, extinct McConnell's Run filled tiny Lake Prouty. In the middle, Muddy Creek filled the medium-sized Lake Watts.
In the 1800s, settlers cleared the forests and drained the swamps there to make farm fields. Sand and gravel deposited by the glaciers were mined and sold. Limestone and clay were mined to make ceramics. Local shale was used to make bricks. Deeper underground, the discovery of bituminous coal ushered in a boom time for the region. Seven coal beds were deep-mined and later the land was strip-mined. In the late 1800s, gas wells were drilled to extract oil and gas. When the wells dried up, they were abandoned and left unsealed. Much of the park area lost its topsoil and many streams were polluted with acid mine drainage. The land remained largely unoccupied.
In 1926, Frank W. Preston of England moved to the town of Meridian and opened a glass research lab. A leader in glass research, Dr. Preston was also a geologist and naturalist. On a trip to the Muddy Creek Valley, he noticed how the hills changed their shape and attributed it to the glacial periods. Preston studied the land for decades and named many of the landforms after Edmund Watts Arthur, a prominent Pittsburgh attorney and naturalist. With the support of friends, Preston formed Western Pennsylvania Conservancy, which went on to later purchase land that recreated the glacial landscape and preserved open space. Muddy Creek was dammed to create modern Lake Arthur as a smaller version of glacial Lake Watts.
By November of 1968, the dam was complete and two years later Lake Arthur reached its full level. Moraine State Park was dedicated on May 23, 1970. Lake Arthur (pictured above) reminds us that our use of natural resources to meet human needs requires decisions that affect the quality of the environment.
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