It has been a good number of years now since my wife and I and our two small sons enjoyed vacation stays at our bunkhouse camper parked scant feet above the Allegheny River at Cloverleaf Campground located on Route 62 about six miles north of Tidioute.

After the McLauglin family closed the facility, many of the campers relocated to a similar facility located on the river south of Tionesta, while we moved a few miles upstream to our present cabin at Althom.

Much of the Cloverleaf land has been sold off in large lots running from the river across a large playing field to the river’s secondary bank, where large vacation homes have been built on land once occupied by the campground’s distinctive white, peaked-roof cabins and by recreational vehicles such as ours.

Three of the campground’s original cabins remain. All three have brown stained siding, and are located above the area’s lower portion. The river’s secondary bank (which probably confined the river prior to the construction of the Kinzua Dam) separates the two areas, which are linked by a flight of stairs.

When we first visited Cloverleaf, we used to stay in the middle cabin of the three.

Given their age, it is doubtful that these three cabins are habitable today.

Much of the former campground’s southern portion remains undeveloped.

At our camper, an awning shaded a planked porch facing the river on which we placed a couple of comfortable chaise lounges.

We could pull our canoe, which we used for frequent paddles up the Althom Eddy (when the river wasn’t running too high) onto a small rocky beach below the camper.

We were far enough from Route 62 that traffic noise wasn’t a problem, and Conklin Run could be heard gurgling down into the river just across the way.

Our neighbors who occupied other camper trailers spaced along the river were mostly considerate, and they included a couple who, it seemed, would drive up from Pittsburgh every weekend without fail.

They would host evening weekend gatherings around a campfire of others who (like themselves) had been Cloverleaf campers for many years. These gatherings broke up fairly early in the evening, in line with the 11 p.m. campground curfew.

(I do recall one sign in the campgrounds’ bathhouse which read, in this approximate wording “If lights aren’t out at 11, you are.”)

The campground’s congenial host was Mike McLaughlin, a disabled World War II veteran who lived with his wife in a mobile home located just above Route 62

I recall Mike’s stories about the war’s conflict in the Pacific, and being impressed by the sacrifices made by him and others who endured combat there.

I also recall Mike, who was apparently rather stoic to pain, relating that when he came down with appendicitis, drove himself at night to the Veterans Administration Hospital in Erie for the necessary surgery.

It was Mike’s brother “Mac,” Warren school teacher, who established the campgrounds, and he and his wife, Eleanor, had a home above the far southern end of the campground. The subsequent owner built an enclosed equestrian facility below the home.

In later years, it was Mike’s son, Jack, who ran the campground and he built a beautiful rustic home at the northern end of the campground, where he and his wife lived before moving to Florida.

If I recall correctly, Jack’s daughter, Cathy, took over the home after her father moved south.

When we were camping at Cloverleaf, Jack lived at an old home on Route 62 which overlooked the campground. When he lived there, trucks often passed that were hauling coal to the now-closed power plant at Starbrick.

He said that he got so used to the trucks hitting a large nearby bump in the road, that it disturbed his sleep when highway workers eliminated the bump.

One of the unusual offerings at the campground were the movies shown on weekend evenings in a basement area below the old barn which stood above the campground on Route 62.

I recall attending one showing, and being impressed by the number of bats that flitted above the small audience, drawn there by the insects the bright beam of the movie’s projector attracted.

The water slide with a small pool at the bottom constructed for the entertainment of children at the campground was said to have been a poor investment due to the excessive cost of insurance, and was only briefly in operation.

We were faced with a number of issues in the last year or so that the campground was in operation.

Our camper neighbor to the north, on at least one occasion (and possibly more), arrived very late in the evening well after we had retired and proceeded to split wood for a campfire just a few yards from our bunks. (It should have been obvious to him that we were at our place, since our car was there.)

We learned that he was a coal miner, and, with his wife or girlfriend, would drive up from the southern part of the state after his day or evening shift was over.

There were other coal miners who would spend weekends or longer at the campground, and they would tell of working the “hoot owl” shift (which started at midnight), and of working in shafts much lower than their standing height.

…..(Besides this, they faced the prospect of black lung disease.)

The last issue I faced before Cloverleaf closed some 30 years ago, was a case of severe diarrhea, which I blamed at first on a meal we ate on a return trip home from the campground.

“I guess those French fries were too much for me,” I recall saying.

But the malady persisted, and although I was not seriously ill, I spent many a day with the “trots,” (to use the common euphemism). Not long after my embarrassing ailment had run its course, I realized that I very likely had had giardiasis, an ailment acquired through polluted water.

Giardiasis is caused by the microscopic Guardia duodenalis parasite.

According to the Mayo Clinic:

The most common way to become infected with giardia is after swallowing unsafe (contaminated) water. Giardia parasites are found in lakes, ponds, rivers and streams worldwide, as well as in public water supplies, wells, cisterns, swimming pools, water parks and spas. Ground and surface water can become infected with giardia from agricultural runoff, wastewater discharge or animal feces. Children in diapers and people with diarrhea may accidentally contaminate pools and spas.

I had most likely acquired my case of giardiasis from the well water supplied to the campers by the campground itself.

We never used this water for drinking, but just for washing our dishes and an occasional shower. Perhaps this was enough to spread the parasite, as this water was released into the ground below the RVs.

Although most of the campers were barred from releasing any tainted water from bathrooms, there was an area on a bluff above the campground itself dubbed “Sewer Hill” where there was a septic system used by those who camped there. Conceivably, this system could have leaked.

I seriously doubt that the giardiasis I apparently came down with was caused by my habit of swimming in the river.

I had only one case of the illness, and I had often swum in the river before my illness, and continued to do so thereafter.

Am I being overly “kind” to the river in ruling it out as the cause of my illness? I sincerely hope not.

Robert Stanger has lived seasonally for more than 40 years along the Allegheny River and has the stories to tell about it.