Allegheny Portage Railroad National Historic Site, in partnership with Pennsylvania Highlands Community College, will host "Canal Days" today and tomorrow from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. at the park. Over 1,000 students from 20 different schools will participate. Park rangers and over 35 volunteers will demonstrate 19th century skills including log hewing, blacksmithing and stone cutting. Women will demonstrate 19th century housekeeping techniques. Students will also have the chance to see a covered wagon, horses and mules and watch a black powder demonstration by the American Highlanders, a Mexican War reenactment group. Those in attendance will have the opportunity to meet Anna Myers, the author of the book "Hoggee", a story about a young boy who works with mules on the Erie Canal and befriends a girl who is deaf. Twenty signers from Mount Aloysius College will interpret activities taking place at each station. Local rotary clubs, Wal-Mart, the C & O Canal National Park and the Tribune-Democrat newspaper helped to make the event a success.
