I am posting this to find out if any list members have heard of the term,'Bernhard's Summit' to refer to an elevated spine of land running N-S. several miles east of Greensburg. I have been researching the building of the Pennsylvania RR through the Greensburg Area and ran into the term in J. Edgar Thomson's 'First Report of the Chief Engineer', which was issued in 1848. .................................................... Next in the 1848 report, Thomson turns his attention to the Greensburg Route, he did not use his assistants’ words to describe it; he spoke in his own terms. Perhaps this was because, as we already saw him acquiring property along that route, it was his choice for the route of the PRR’s main line. But he was not ready to disclose that fact to the stockholders just yet. [begin quote] A line has also been located from the junction of Turtle and Brush creeks, which passes up Brush Creek and through Greensburg to Bernhard’s Summit, thence by the valleys of Fourteen Mile Run, Soxman’s and Magee’s Runs, to the Conemaugh, at the gap through Chesnut ridge. If the Conemaugh route, by Johnstown, should be adopted, the line by Greensburg will be about 3 miles longer than that by Turtle creek, but passes east of the Loyalhanna, over much more favorable ground than any other line examined. Its advantages, in relation to the local trade of a rich and populous section of country, west and east of Chesnut Ridge . . . give it strong claim for consideration. [end quote] Thomson’s use of the term, Bernhard’s Summit, is curious. It does not show up in local literature or map references. On the other hand, Thomson did have a habit of giving names to places. When he worked for the Georgia RR, previous to signing on with the PRR, his line came to a junction with another railroad being built in Georgia. The place where the two lines met was a little cluster of houses with a store. Thomson gave a name to the place. We still know it by that name today, Atlanta GA. Working on the Pennsylvania line, he gave the name to Altoona, then Latrobe. Did he give that name, Bernhard’s Summit, to the area several miles east of Greensburg, or was he just mistaken? By the time he issues his next Chief Engineer’s Report in December of 1849, he calls the landform Huckleberry Ridge. That is a term that has had some local currency. There was once a place on Route 30, just west of Mountain View called Huckleberry Inn. The ridge running north and south through the Mountain View area had that name at one time. Today it shows up on maps as Dry Ridge. It is the high point on the main line between Latrobe and Greensburg. The PRR’s original main line pierced it with a tunnel called Carr’s. It is now the site of a sizable RR cut; the area is called Donohoe.