Islands of the Allegheny River
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The Islands of the Allegheny River
If you travel up the Allegheny River from Point State Park, you might be surprised to find many islands along the way. These islands have a very rich history dating back thousands of years. Many of the islands were formed from rich, glacial sediment, as the Allegheny River is the product of the continental glacier which melted 16,000 years ago while some islands have been formed by rivers picking up sediment like sand and mud and depositing them into the riverbed. Locks and dams along the river have also contributed to islands being created as it alters the water flow, with pools being calmer it increases the chance of islands being created.
Because of these islands, the Allegheny River is noted for having a diverse range of habitats and supports an abundance of aquatic species. The islands near Pittsburgh include: Herrs Island, Sixmile Island, Sycamore Island, and Ninemile Island within city limits, as well as Twelve Mile Island, Fourteen Mile Island, and Jacks Island all located outside the city in Allegheny County.
Herrs Island
You might know Herrs Island by its current name of Washington’s Landing, located less than two miles away from Point State Park. Although the island now holds a marina, townhouses, a business center, tennis courts, and many other activities, it used to be home to stockyards and was notorious for its foul smell. In 1884, the central part of the island was purchased and opened as a yard to receive animals from the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad by James Callery, who owned a nearby tannery. In the following years, the northern part of the island saw a rendering and fertilizer plant and a slaughterhouse built. It got so bad that in 1887, the Allegheny City Common Council passed a resolution declaring the fertilizer plant a nuisance. This site was also used as a garbage dump, where garbage and refuse were piled so high the railroads had to elevate their bridges. After many decades of these operations running, the stockyards eventually closed, and all operations on the island stopped.
In 1987, Pittsburgh City Council renamed the island to Washington’s Landing, being named after the time George Washington’s raft capsized on the Allegheny River, forcing him to spend a night on the island in 1753. In the 1970s, the island had been deemed a “brownfield,” a term used to define an abandoned industrial site, so the city council had a lot of work to do before they could develop anything new on the island. Around 18,000 cubic yards of contaminated soil was deposited on the island and sealed off, as well as another 10,000 tons being moved to an Ohio landfill. There were also decades of organic materials on the island, mainly due to bones left behind from the slaughterhouse, as well as from large animals that had died at the Pittsburgh Zoo. The island is now a thriving spot for both residents and visitors, with very little evidence of its industrial past. The only way that you can see this evidence is along the shorelines, where pieces of bottles, buttons, toys, and bones from the island's past are found. You can access the island by pedestrian or vehicle bridge.
Sixmile Island
Sixmile Island (along with Ninemile, Twelve Mile, and Fourteen Mile Island) are aptly named due to their distance from the Point, originally being named that way by boatmen in the 1860s. It has also been given the names of Nancy Werner Park and Guyasuta Island. Guyasuta was a Native American leader of the Seneca people in the 18th century who played a significant role in the American Revolution and was a friend of George Washington. He migrated down the Allegheny River when he was young and settled in the Pittsburgh area. Today, he is memorialized across the city with many forms of tributes, as well as his burial site said to be along the Allegheny River near Sharpsburg. The island was gifted to O’Hara Township in 1982 by Ephram Werner, husband of Nancy Werner whom the island's namesake is for. It should also be noted that it is an alluvial island, meaning it was formed by many deposits of sand, rock, and mud carried down by the river over time.
Sixmile Island is an island which I have been able to visit firsthand, as Three Rivers Waterkeeper has been doing restoration work on the island over the past few years alongside River to Land Stewards and O’Hara Township. Three Rivers Waterkeeper holds volunteer stewardship events on the island (sign up for our volunteer list here!). Staff at Three Rivers Waterkeeper and volunteers recently cleared out old tree tubes used to support native plants as they grow, as well as planted new ones along the island. Three Rivers Waterkeeper will continue this work in the future in hopes of restoring the island’s health!
Sycamore Island and Ninemile Island
Sycamore Island and Ninemile Island neighbor each other about nine miles up the Allegheny River from the Point in Blawnox. A century ago, Sycamore Island and Ninemile Island were owned by the Pennsylvania Railroad before the islands were leased to the Audubon Society of Western Pennsylvania in 1936, when the islands served as the first bird sanctuaries of the Pittsburgh region. In the 1960s, the Harbor Isle Boat Club occupied the island, but closed down within a decade, leaving behind a barge, swimming pool and docking platform. After going through a few different private owners, Allegheny Land Trust acquired the land in 2008 and has been taking care of the island since then.
Not much other information could be found about Ninemile Island, but it’s about 5 acres in size and was acquired by the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy in the 1970s. It is currently owned by Golden Triangle Water Ski Club. Ninemile Island used to be much larger in size with an estimated 31 acres of land, but dredging and sediment loss has slowly eaten away at the island and will continue to do so for a very long time.
Twelve Mile Island
Twelve Mile Island is a privately owned island that is 12 miles up from Point State Park, located in Harmar Township. The island is located just downstream of Lock and Dam # 3 on the Allegheny River. Many people own camps and spend weekends and summers on the island, bringing lots of recreation to this area of the Allegheny. Other than some private properties on the island, there is not much information about the island. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania hoped to acquire the island back in the 1980s along with the previously mentioned islands to establish Allegheny River Edge Park. Pennsylvania was unable to purchase the island due to established camps and erosion, and the idea was scrapped. Although the island itself is private, anyone can launch from Deer Creek Boat Ramp and recreate in the area around Twelve Mile Island.
Fourteen Mile Island
Fourteen Mile Island (although now two islands) is a large part of the Allegheny Islands State Park which takes up about 50 acres along the Allegheny River. Fourteen Mile Island became two islands in 1932 after the construction of the Allegheny River Lock and Dam #3 which was built to facilitate the passage of larger vessels. Before the name of Fourteen Mile Island, it was called Hulings Island after the island’s owner from the 18th century, Samuel Hulings, who worked along the river. The island was eventually purchased by the McDonough Corporation who used it to mine for sand and gravel, but the deposits were of poor quality which left the island in its natural state. The island was then donated to the Western Pennsylvania Conservancy in the early 1970s which was quickly bought by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania in 1974 and established as the Allegheny Islands State Park in 1980.
Today, the island is open to the public and is only accessible by boat. There are no markers to indicate that it is a state park and it lacks any trails, but visitors can find many footpaths and are able to camp on the state park as well. Because it has less visitors, it is sometimes seen as a refuge for native plants and animals.
Jacks Island
The final island in Allegheny County is Jacks Island, located within Allegheny River Pool Four near Natrona. The island used to be much larger, but as time has gone on and in addition to the lock and dam being built close by, its size has decreased. The island once had many wood cabins along it in the middle of the 20th century and was accessible by row boats. It used to be one contiguous island, but is now separated, mostly due to human activity. A lot of the topsoil and some gravel and sand were removed in the 1960s and left the island without many trees and created a water lagoon along the island. The island has recovered in some capacity, but the forests and vegetation are very sparse in comparison to the island’s past.
How You Can Get Out on the Islands
The islands are a great way to explore our waterways and native species, and with many of them being open to the public, you are free to explore them yourself! All of them are accessible by boat, but some of the larger ones like Herrs Island can be accessed by a bridge leading right onto the island. If you want to get more involved on the islands, Three Rivers Waterkeeper provides plenty of opportunities as well! One of our programs is 3 Rivers Watch, which allows attendees to learn how to spot and identify pollution on our waters. These events are hosted both on our Waterkeeper boat or on kayaks and happen between March and October. There are also plenty of volunteer opportunities which happen on or around the islands, from trash cleanups to water sampling to planting native species. These happen throughout the year and you can sign up for them here. The history and landscape of the islands are very interesting, and we hope that you can explore them soon!
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