USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 34
USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 34
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The first grist-mill in the township was the William Bracken mill, erected about 1772 to 1774, as it is meutioned in the surveys of 1772
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-74, and called the " Bracken mill." This was situated on a run which flows into Black Lick. During that stormy period, although deserted for several years, and many buildings in this section were destroyed, it escaped all damages, save that from Time's ruthless hand, and upon the return of Bracken was again put in order, aud did a large amount of work for the new-comers who arrived after the war. The Bracken mill was succeeded by the William Clark mill, a better arranged mill than its predecessor. The present saw-mill of David Tomb is the third mill that has occupied its site. The next grist- mill was the George Findley mill, on Laurel run. The first was erected in 1784-85, aud was a small, rude log mill, using a teu-foot undershot wheel, and had only one run of stones. The second was worn out in 1817, and was then using a breast wheel, and it too had only one run of stones. The third was erected in 1817, aud had two run of stoues, and used an overshot wheel, sixteen feet in diameter. The Isaac Rogers mill was erected by Robert Work, a noted wheelwright, about 1784-85, on the Con- emaugh. It was the only "dry weather " mill in this section, and was resorted to by tlie peo- ple living distant even forty miles. It was the most noted of all the early mills, and when its mates were prostrate with drought, it went ou its way merrily grinding night and day. Old settlers speak of camping near it, and waiting even three or four days for the chance to get their grist. The present mill is the fourth on its site.
" Among those who are known to have first settled along that part of the Conemaugh river which bounds West Wheatfield township on the south, were James Clark, " Billy " Woods, David Inyard, William Bennet, Archibald McGuire, Ben Sutton, Neil Dougherty, David Lackens and James Galbraitlı. On and near “Tub- mill " creek there were the ancestors of the numerous families of Bradys now living in the northern part of Indiana couuty. It is claimed
to have been the home, for many years, of the great Indian hunter, Captain Samuel Brady.
" William P. Brady, after the disposal of his property, together with "Big Joe" Brady, "Little Joe " Brady, "Big Peggy " Brady, John Brady, aud numerous Huglis, Sams and Jims, becoming disgusted (as did also Ben Sut- ton, Billy Woods, Davy Inyard, William Ben- nett, Sr., William Bennett, Jr., and others too numerous to mention) with the scarcity of bears, wolves, panthers, etc., as well as Indians left in search of homes more prolific of their accus- tomed surroundings. Some went to the north part of this county and others migrated to west- ern Virginia and the Ohio country, where Cap- tain Samuel Brady achieved the most exciting exploits ever recorded in the history of Indian warfare."
We give the following list of the taxable in- habitants of Wheatfield township, Indiana county, which was returned for 1807 :
Henry Auberts, innkeeper; James Anderson, distiller ; Valentine Amsbough, Adam Ams- bough, Henry Amsbough, Thomas Askins, John Armstrong. William Alexander, Thomas Bracken, Sr., Samuel Bratten, Johu Bruce, cab- inet-maker ; Frederick Brantlinger, Alexander Barr, Jr., innkeeper ; Archibald Beckwith, Thomas Bracken, Jr., Ruth Bracken, widow ; John Bowler, George Bowler, Jacob Bowser, Mary Boner, widow ; John Bennett, shoemaker ; George Bowers, Nathaniel Bryan, Jr., Henry Bowers, John Bowers, Thomas Barr, Francis Boals, William Boals, David Boals, David Campbell, blacksmith ; Alexauder Carnalian, cooper ; Samuel Caruahan, James Campbell, shoemaker ; James Campbell, James Crawford, Moses Crawford, Alexander Campbell, Samuel Cochran, Jolin Campbell, Elizabeth Carney, widow ; Thomas Clarke, Willian Clarke, Jr., Ruth Clarke, spinster; Findley Cameron, Dan- iel Cameron, Hugh Cameron, Audrew Camp- bell, Mark Campbell, William Clarke, Esq., Robert Craig, William Campbell, Andrew
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Campbell, Jr., John Crisswell, Francis Chap- man, Thomas Craven, John Carney, Jacob Craig, weaver ; Jolin Craven, Jolin Coleman, shoemaker ; James Campbell, stonecutter ; Mary Dempsey, widow ; Chris. Dumars, shoemaker ; Peter Dike, blacksmith ; John Davis, Joseph Davis, William Davis, Matthew Dill, Sr., Mat- thew Dill, Jr., wheelwright ; Richard Dill, Thomas Dias, Sr., Richard Dias, Robert Davis, tobacconist ; John Davis, Nathaniel Davis, James Dunwoody, Isaac Dicker, Job Dicker, William Erwin, innkeeper ; Jolin Elder, George Empfield, millwright; Jacob Empfield, millwright; Joseph Evans, Hugh Evans, Rob- ert Elkins, John Evans, John Ewings, Eliza- beth Faloon, widow ; George Finley, James Finley, Isabella Ferrier, widow; Andrew Fee, John Fink, carpenter ; John Fleaker, car- penter ; William Fowler, Lawrence Fox, Wil- liam Ferguson, Jr., William Ferguson, Sr., James Grimes, Sr., innkeeper ; Josepli Grimes, William Grimes, Jr., Allen Grimes, John Grimes, William Grimes, Sr., Isaac Griffith, William Gamble, George Glassford, Sr., George Glassford, Jr., Alex. Glassford, Leon- ard Gooshorn, blacksmith ; John Grimes, Sr., James Grimes, Jr., Charles Gibson, Hugh Junkins, mason ; Robert Hill, John Hopkins, Henry Heis, George Heis, William Heis, Thomas Hull, Barbara Heater, widow; Rob- ert Holmes, tailor ; William Johnston, Sr., William Johnston, Jr., Mary Jolinston, widow ; Archibald Jameson, Sr., blacksmith; Archibald Jameson, Jr., Allen Jameson, Sr., Williani Jameson, John Jameson, Allen Jameson, Jr., shoemaker ; Alexander Jameson, David Jen- kins, John Jones, mason ; David Kennedy, weaver; William Kennedy, Thomas Laps- ley, Mary Lapsley, widow; Francis Latlı- ers, Robert Liggett, Elizabeth Likens, widow ; Samuel Logan, weaver ; James Longstreth, William Lee, James Luke, Archibald Louth- ers, William McBroom, weaver ; Heury Mc- Broom, Robert McBroom, carpenter; James
McLean, Robert Muck, Joseph McDonald, Archibald McCochran, tailor ; James McCocli- ran, Robert Marshall, tanner ; Archibald Mat- thews, distiller; William Mayben, George Mc- Garrow, David McKown, Robert Maffet, Rob- ert Michael, distiller ; William Murphy, Pat- rick McCormick, James McDonald, James Mc- Nitt, Joseph McCartney, Sr., treasurer ; Joseph McCartney, Jr., John McCartney, John Mecune, Sr., John Mecune, Jr., Jolin McDowell, Neal Manaman, George McEntire, distiller ; John McCarland, weaver; Samuel Parker, cabinet- maker; William Parker, cabinet-maker ; Hugh Parker, Frederick Persian, John Patterson, Thomas Patterson, Joseph Patterson, Samuel Patterson, Archibald Patterson, William Patter- so11, Benjamin Pitman, Joseph Pitman, Thomas Pettigrew, David Reed, Esq., Aaron Robinson, Isaac Rodgers, miller ; Robert Rodgers, Daniel Reynolds, Adam Ritchie, Matthew Rhea, Aaron Rose, Philip Smires, Hugh St. Clair, James Shaw, Robert Sutton, Adam Sides, Thomas Sanderson, Esq., Samuel Stevens, Benjamin Stevens, John Stillwell, Shedrick Steveus, Dan- iel Sleppey, Thomas Selfridge, Christopher Stinemen, James Strong, weaver; John Thorn, David Tomb, constable ; Henry Taylor, George Turner, Henry Treece, Alexander Tilford, Jesse Talkington, Thomas Taylor, David Wakefield, wheelwright; James Wakefield, Thomas Wakefield, Robert Wakefield, Ephraim Wallace, Robert Wallace, John Wallace, Rich- ard Wilson, speculator; Andrew Wilkins, Alex- ander Wilson, Joseph Wilson, weaver ; Richard Williams, Robert Wier, William Wilson, dis- tiller ; Archibald Woodsides, Henry Wyke, John Wolf, Jeremiah Wakefield.
In 1859 Wheatfield township was divided into East and West Wheatfield townships. East Wheatfield township lies between the Nolo and the Laurel Hill axis, while the larger part of West Wheatfield township is between the Nolo and the Chestnut Ridge axis. The southeastern part of East Wheatfield and the northern and
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western parts of West Wheatfield are in the Lower Coal measures.
The Pennsylvania geological report of 1880 gives the following description of both town- ships :
Between the Conemaugh river and Black Lick creek, in the Ligonier Basin, ranges a belt of smooth high land, the surface of which, deeply gashed in places by ravines extending north and south, is composed of Lower Barren rocks, excepting along the flanks of Laurel hill and Chestnut ridge. Tlie region so in- cluded embraces the Wheatfield townships, a name at once suggestive of deep fertile soils, which are the product of the disintegration of the prevailing surface rocks.
Through the centre of these townships and along the highest land runs the Indiana and Cambria turnpike, which, from Mr. Clark's house on the east slope of Chestnut ridge, to the Ling property east of Armagli, traverses Lower Barren rocks. At one point, namely, at the Stone House between Armagh and Ling's, the road is nearly four hundred feet above the Upper Freeport coal bed.
The course of Black Lick, though not exactly parallel to the Conemaugh, is yet in effect the same, both streams flowing generally west and northwest across the basin. But in spite of the similarity in the direction of the two streams, the geology displayed along Black Lick differs in many respects from that along the Conemaugh. Precisely the same rocks compose both valleys;' the difference in tide water level between tlie surfaces of tlie two streams is everywhere trifling in this basin; yet certain points along Black Lick correspond- ing in position to the shallowest parts (geologi- cally) of the Conemaugh Valley are the deepest along the first named stream, while certain other points among the deepest on the Conemaugli correspond in position to the shallowest parts of Black Lick. To verify this statement, the reader has only to compare the geology at
Baker's furnace with that exhibited at the old Black Lick furnace, the latter being scarcely more than three miles northeast of the former, and along the strike of the rocks. Under such circumstances one would naturally expect to see the conditions of the one place repeated at tlie other; but so great is the fall of the Laurel Hill anticlinal in this distance of three miles, a fall, moreover, participated in by the rocks at the base of the mountain, that a difference of nearly four hundred feet exists between the geological horizons of the two places, and in- stead of the Conglomerate and Lower Product- ive hillsides, prevailing at Baker furnace, we find at the old Black Lick furnace Barren Measure slopes two hundred and fifty feet in height; near the base of these slopes is the Black fossiliferous limestone, itself two hundred feet above the highest coal of the Lower Pro- ductive measures. This explains the absence of workable coal beds above water level in the region of Black Lick furnace, and why it is that all efforts to find such in the interval be- tween the old furnace and Dilltown, either on the hills extending southwest towards the pike, or northeast into Buffington township, have been and must be unavailing.
Again, to compare the country between Cen- treville and Lockport with that between the old Buena Vista furnace and the mouth of Brush creek on the Black Lick is to discover that of the Lower Barren rocks, of which the hills are entirely composed at the first named locality, scarcely a vestige remains on the creek, and what is there left of them is forced to the very highest land, thus giving place to the Lower Productive Coal measures, and even to the Conglomerate of XII. Instead, therefore, of the smooth arable slopes at Centreville, steep rugged hillsides prevail at tlic Buena Vista furnace, and the country has remained a wilder- ness, excepting along the uplands, which arc covered by Lower Barren rocks.
This last change in the geology has no imme-
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diate connection with Laurel Hill, but has been effected by the Nolo anticlinal, the sub-anticlinal axis of the Ligonier Basin, an axis whose force, gradually weakening southward, was nearly exhausted before reaching the Conemaugh, and, in consequence, was there unable to push the lower rocks upwards to the same level that they are found on Black Lick, along which waters the anticlinal exercises a potent influence, and is one of the main features of the valley.
The section of Lower Barrens exposed along Black Lick between the Cambria county line and Dilltown embraces over four hundred feet of rocks, in which are included three small coal beds and several limestone layers. Besides these, there is a band of carbonate iron ore, which ranges near the top of the section, and which is known generally by the local name of the " Black Lick ore." This ore stratum was at one time extensively worked, supplying not only the Black Lick furnace with material for smelting, but also the Buena Vista furnace below Dilltown, and even the Baker furnace on the Conemaugh. The Morgantown sandstone is the highest rock (geologically) in this valley; it leaves the basin at Dilltown, being forced into the air by the Nolo anticlinal, but it ex- tends southwest from the creek along the centre of the basin, and is conspicuous on the Cambria pike, near the Stone House east of Armagh. It is a heavy, compact rock, often conglomeritic and at least fifty feet thick.
Though the Lower Productive Coal measures outcrop at the eastern end of the valley, in the ravines at the base of Laurel hill, these rocks can be studied to better advantage, because more frequently exposed, at the western end of the trough, namely at Heshbon, where all the coals of the Lower Productive series have been developed by the farmers.
The coal once mined by Mr. Clark near the headwaters of Laurel run, which is crossed by the Cambria pike at the foot of Laurel hill, came from a bed near the base of the Lower
Productive group. The same bed was long afterwards developed to supply the Black Lick furnace with fuel. It is said to exist as a double seam parted by a thick band of soft clay; the upper bench, however, is now all that is visible at the old works. It measures four feet thick and is overlaid by a heavy mass of black slates. These conditions would indicate the presence of bed B at this place.
On the unexplored hillside rising westward above the mine come in all the higher coals of the Lower Productive series. Advancing in the direction of the dip, the uppermost coal of the group appears on Mr. Ling's farm, where it has been explored, measuring 3} feet thick. Still further west, the Lower Barrens make up the country rock.
It was shown in the Report of Progress for 1875 that the Lower Productive Coal measures are above water level at the old Ritter furnace, which stands at the forks of Black Lick, on the dividing line between Indiana and Cambria counties. It was further stated in that report that the iron ore band once worked at the forks of the creek, for the supply of Ritter furnace is at the top of the Lower Productive Coal measures. The stratum must not, however, be confounded with the " Black Lick ore" of the Black Lick furnace region.
After crossing the Indiana county line, Black Lick flows a nearly due west course for about a mile, and the Lower Productive rocks disappear under the creek bed. Bending then to the southwest it runs along the strike of the rocks to Black Lick furnace, the geology of the valley in this distance undergoing little change. Below the furnace, at which point the synclinal axis crosses the valley, the creek flows west and northwest to Dilltown, the rocks rising in the same direction towards the Nolo anticlinal. This forces the Lower Barrens above water level and Lower Productive rocks appear below Dilltown.
The Lower Barren rocks have been thorough-
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ly explored on the Kern property below the Black Lick furnace, and again on the Stevens farm near Dilltown.
Mr. Kern has failed to discover a single workable bed of coal above water level on his farm, and it is unlikely that a bed of minable dimensions exists there. Several seams have been found at various intervals, but none exceed one foot in thickness. This, moreover, is the size of the Elk Lick bed, for whichi, however, on the Stevens farm a thickness of three feet is claimed. The lower coals of the section have been mined at Dilltown on both sides of the creek, but these are below water level on the Kern farm.
The black fossilifcrous limestone has been finely exposed by Mr. Kern, together with a smaller but much purer stratum which occurs about seventy feet higher in the measures.
The "Black Lick ore" was benched on nearly every hillside close to the furnace. It ranges as a persistent deposit, varying from six inches to two feet in thickness ; resting in shale it can be cheaply mined, and a sufficient amount of ore was easily obtained near at hand, for the supply of the small furnaces once dependent upon it for support. The ore is rather coarse grained, of a bluish cast, and to all appearances rich in iron.
Advancing to Dilltown, the lowest Barren Measure coals as yet explored in this region are visible at the grist-mill on the Stevens property. These coals, measuring respectively two and three feet thick, and separated by thirty feet of rock, have been mined by Mr. Stevens, and have further been explored on the J. Tomb property to the south of the Dilltown bridge.
The black fossiliferons limestone has been exposed on the Stevens' hill, as also the Black Lick ore, the latter stratum appearing near the top of the hill, and measuring, according to Mr. Stevens, two feet thick.
A test liole for oil was drilled some years ago to a depth of nearly 1,200 feet below the level
of the creek at Dilltown bridge. The record of this drilling, which started at the top of the Lower Productive Coal measures, and extended downward nearly, if not quite, to the base of No. X, is no longer obtainable.
The northwest rise of the rocks brings the Upper Frecport coal (bed E) to daylight about one-half mile below Dilltown, whence to Heshbon the outcrop line of this coal follows along both sides of the creek. It runs up all the small ravines, which widen into the Black Lick Valley; and it preserves an unbroken line across the Nolo anticlinal, shooting out finally into the air on the flank of Chestnut ridge.
Dill mine. The bed is exposed on several farms below Dilltown. It shows on both sides of the creck at McCartney's mill, being here quite extensively developed on the north bank of the stream by Mr. J. C. Dill.
Still further west a bed of coal, similar in appearance and dimensions to the above, is mined on the D. Killen farm. This is also most likely the Upper Freeport bed, which, at the Killen mine, is 160 fect above the creek level.
About one-half mile below Armagh a bed of coal and slate four feet thick was opened at the level of the run on the A. Campbell farm. Thirty feet higher in the measures there is another coal seam 3 fect thick. Neither of these beds correspond with that mined by Mr. Killen, although the mines are nearly on a level, and along the strike of the rocks. The rapid rise of the Nolo anticlinal to the north- east sufficiently explains the difference in the horizons, the coals at Mr. Campbell's corre- sponding doubtless with the beds (Philson and Coleman) once worked by Mr. Stevens at the grist-mill near Dilltown.
Buena Vista furnace stood on the right bank of Black Lick, about one-half mile below the mouth of the Armagh run. The ore supply at this place seems to have been inconstant and
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irregular, and the furnace was long ago aban- doned on account of ill success.
The Lower Productive rocks make up the hillsides bordering the creek at the furnace, the Conglomerate of XII also rising above water level for a short distance at the centre of the Nolo anticlinal, which crosses Black Lick be- tween the furnace and the mouth of Brush creek, the country between being an unexplored wilderness, from which the valuable timber has in large part been cut.
In the vicinity of Heshbon, one mile and a half below the mouth of Brush creek, the entire Lower Productive group is above water level. Three coal beds only of this series have been developed to any extent at Heshbon, these being the three lowest seams of the section,
The Johnstown Cement bed has a long line of outcrop at Heshbon; and, existing here as a good limestone upwards of five feet thick, it furnishes the farmer with abundance of fertili- zer. Hitherto little attention has been paid to the deposit, but recently active steps liave been taken to explore the limestone and to make practical use of it. The dominating rock of the Lower Productive measures at Heshbon is sand- stone.
The Lower Productive Coal measures at Heshbon are a trifle over three hundred feet thick. They include in the aggregate about the same amount of coal as at Bolivar, although neither Bed E nor Bed B is so thick on the Black Lick as on the Conemaugh. But Beds A and C fully make up the difference, these coals at Heshbon being more than double their dimensions at Bolivar.
The Conglomerate of XII is divided into three members along Black Lick, and in this respect corresponds with its condition on the Conemaugh. It measures at least seventy-five feet from top to base, its full thickness being, perhaps, slightly in excess of that figure. Its lowest member rises above the creek below the grist-mill, and is a compact, heavy, coarse-
grained sandstone. The Piedmont sandstone, the top layer of the deposit, is partially ex- posed on Mr. Hoskinson's land, between the mill-dam and the village, the rock there skirt- ing the water in a vertical cliff twenty feet high. It is fine-grained, of a greenish color, and much current-bedded. Between this sand- stone and the lowest member of the XII oc- curs an interval of concealed rock, which out- crops in the bank at the mill, and there fills a space twenty-five feet high.
Bed A. The lowest workable coal bed of the Lower Productive series here comes in almost immediately on top of the Piedmont sandstone. The coal-bed is exposed on Mr. Hoskinson's land, and measures four feet thick.
Sandy shales and sandstone fill the interval to bed A', which occurs sixty-eight feet higher in the measures. This is the small coal seam that outcrops in the bed of the run on the A. Campbell farm to the south of the village. It is only one foot thick.
Bed B. Continuing upwards in the column, thirty feet of shales and sandy clay bring us to bed B, which, though only three feet thick, has nevertheless been quite frequently explored by the neighboring farmers.
Three coal beds of the Lower Productive series are of workable thickness at Lockport, and together aggregate fifteen feet of coal. These beds are E, D', and B; coals D and C being of little importance in this vicinity. Lime- stone abo unds in the hills, the Lower Productive series containing alone as much as seventecn feet of this kind of rock, while the portion of the Lower Barren group present in the hills above Lockport hold nearly as much more. Some of these limestone layers have been developed close to Lockport, and used for fertilizing, but as yet little attention has been paid to them.
The developments of Bolivar, a small village at the eastern end of Packsaddle gap, and about one mile below Lockport, are chiefly confined to the fireclay bands, one of which is a member
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of the Freeport group of rocks, and the other underlies coal bed A, at the base of the Lower Productive Coal measures, this whole series being above water level in the hills at Bolivar.
Several clay works have been established at this village on the fireclay deposits, the clay being good, abundant, and close at hand, while the bricks and retorts made from it are highly esteemed. Moreover, the clay works at Lock- port derive their supply of clay almost entirely from the Bolivar hills, the plastic variety being underneath the river bed at Lockport, while the Freeport deposit is there, thin and worth- less.
The fireclay belonging to the Freeport group, is from 15 to 20 feet below bed E. It is con- veniently situated for mining, and has been worked on nearly all the hills close to the vil- lage. Tlie deposit is very variable in thick- ness, varying from 3 to 8 feet in height, and yields a smooth even clay quite free from im- purities. It is overlaid by shale and rests upon a similar rock. .
The principal towns of East Wheatfield township are Armagh, the second town founded in the county; Nineveh and New Washington. The population of the township from 1860 to 1890 at each U. S. census has been: 1420, 1104, 937 and 775. The principal town of West Wheatfield is Centreville, on tlie Cone- maugli, which was founded by William Leg- gett in 1828 on land on which Ephraim Wal- lace had settled in 1800. The township also contains Clyde, a village of 50 inhabitants.
The population of West Wheatfield township at each census from 1860 to 1890 has been: 1408, 1318, 1359 and 1699.
Armagh, in East Wheatfield township, "the second and the oldest of all the existing towns in the county (Newport being the first), was founded in September, 1792, by Margaret Jane Graham, the wife of James Graham. The first settlers were a portion of a ship-load of emigrants from Ireland, most of them
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