Lockhouse at Lock 44 & Power plant

Lula Brant Harsh was the daughter of the last lock keeper at Lock 44, near Williamsport. She reported in an interview in the Cracker Barrel.

I don't know how many floods we lived through. I don't know why we put up with it because the canal closed in '24. We only had to pay $1 a year to live there after the canal closed but we had to do our own papering, painting and repairs, anything that needed done to the house.

Sometimes the floods would come up to just the first floor; sometimes it would come up in the second floor. We would move up to the second floor; then if it was getting really bad, we had to move everything out.

In 1936 there was nothing but the comb of the roof sticking out. The whole house was underwater. We were standing over on the hillside watching all the junk coming down - the chicken coops, everything hitting the house. Every time it was hit, we'd think the house was going to go.

After the flood was over, and Dad had checked everything, I think the house was moved about 1/2 inch on the foundation, so it must have been really well built. It took an awful beating. That was the worst one.