Why the Thousand Steps Are There

Thousands of people climb the Thousand Steps every year. Far fewer know they were somebody's job.

The federal engineering survey has the answer, and it got it from the man responsible. Frank Pollicino, who worked in the Harbison-Walker quarry in the 1970s, asked John Shaffer, the superintendent of the mine, about the steps cut into the south face of Jacks Mountain. Shaffer said he had his own quarry workers build them, in 1936, to give the men a better way up to their work. The survey adds one more thing worth knowing: it came right after the flood of 1936 destroyed the dinky bridge, and Shaffer may simply have been looking for something to keep his crew working until the damage was repaired and the quarry could run again.

So a flood shut a mountain down, and the men built a staircase up it while they waited.

The stone building in this picture is the engine repair house the company kept up at the quarry.

Checked 2026-08-27 · Historic Mount Union collection

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