USA > Indiana > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 36
USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > Biographical and historical cyclopedia of Indiana and Armstrong counties, Pennsylvania > Part 36
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regiment, Pa. Vols., in Capt. William Seanor's company (I), 54th regiment, Pa. Vols., and in Capt. George Tanner's company (H. D.), 1st Pa. Vols. Mary Drummond, wife of Joseph Pound, was a daughter of John and Mary (Bullman) Drummond, and granddaughter of Joseph and Theresa (Byard, now Bayard) Bull- man, of New Jersey. John Drummond was a son of William and Ellen (Cannan, now Ca- naan and Keenan) Drummond, of New Jersey, the latter a direct descendant of John Cannan, who came to Plymouth Colony from London, England, in 1621, and his wife one of the ladies that came in the " Mayflower."
William Drummond died of wounds received while a soldier in the Revolutionary war, and was a direct descendant of the great Drummond family of Scotland. William and Ellen (Ca- naan) Drummond were the parents of John and George Drummond and Nancy Drummond) Cox, of Ohio. John and Mary (Bullman) Drummond were the parents of William, Gowin and Joseph Drummond, Ellen, wife of John McCrac- ken, John Drummond, Saralı, wife of Archibald Cunningham, and Nancy Drummond. John Drummond manufactured salt for many years on the Conemaugh river, was a man of strict integrity and owned a large farm in Conemaugh township, Indiana county. He was born in 1763 and died in 1843.
The Ponnds, Tichingers, Colliers, Bullmans, Cannans and Bayards came prior to the Revo- tionary war from New England (mostly from Plymouth Colony) to northern New Jersey, from whence a number of them came to western Pennsylvania, among whom was John Pound (a nephew of Adonijah Pound), who came to Indiana county, where his descendants may still
RAYNE, WHITE, CENTRE, CHERRY HILL, BRUSH VALLEY, GREEN, PINE AND BUFFINGTON TOWNSHIPS.
Historical and Descriptive .- The first five townships named constitute the central part of Indiana county, while the last three enumer- ated are the eastern townships of the county.
Rayne township is drained by the waters of Crooked creek and lies within the Blairsville basin and the Marion and Saltsburg sub-basins of the Fourth Great basin. The larger part of the township is in the Marion sub-basin. It is situated in the barren measures excepting two small areas of the Lower Coal measures on Crooked creek-one at Kintersburg and the other at Chambersburg.
In the geological report of 1878 no detailed account is given of the valley of Crooked creek.
Rayne Township was formed from Washing- ton and Green in 1847 and received its name from Robert Rayne, an early settler on Rayne's run. The soil is a sandy loam well adapted to farming and stock-raising, and its most valu- able minerals are coal and iron ore. There is but little account to be had of its early settlers. Among those who came in an early day was Robert Thompson and Hugh Cannon, who set- tled near Kellysburg. The " Old Block House," in the south western part of the township, was erected in 1790 and torn down in 1811. Kel- leysburg (Home P. O.), a place of about 125 inhabitants, was laid out in 1838 by Daniel Stanard and named in honor of Meek Kelley.
Chambersburg, with a population of 60, was laid out by William Swan in Oct., 1848, and named for Elisha Chambers, who purchased in
1789 the tract of land upon which it is situated.
Kintersburg (Gilpin P. O.) is a town of 100 inhabitants and was named for Isaac Kinter, who opened a store there in 1854. John Bu- chanan made the first improvement about 1800 on the site of the village. Its population at each census from 1850 to 1890 has been : 1184, 1595, 1735, 1958 and 1924.
White Township was formed in 1843 from Centre, Washington, Green and Armstrong townships and was named for Judge Thomas White. It contains the county-seat and there are said to have been an Indian encampment or village within its borders. Geologically it lies within the same basin as Rayne township, but only has one bed of the Lower Coal measures, which is in the southeastern part of the township, on Two Lick creek. For a description of Two Lick creek see Cherry Hill township. The population of White township since 1850 to 1890 at each census has been : 1288, 1749, 2146, 1716 and 1612.
Centre Township was formed from Arm- strong in 1807 and is irregular in shape, but it is an impossibility to trace its boundaries from any State, county or geological map of Indiana county which we have seen up to this writing. It lies in the Marion sub-basin and the Blairs- ville basin and contains (in the eastern part) four large areas of the Lower Coal measures. Of the middle area Prof. Platt says that Tearing run affords access to nearly all the coal beds
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and other strata of the Lower Productive group, and its northern slope will be the starting- point of extensive drifts, if ever such be estab- Jished here on these coals. All the seams of the lower group run uninterruptedly from this point to the Yellow Creek Valley, offering thus an unbroken expanse of coal, above water level, of more than one mile in width, while length- wise in a north west and southeast direction the coal spreads in great shects up and down the mountain flank. A large part of this section of country is owned in fee simple by the Indi- ana Coal company, which company holds also in addition extensive mining rights.
The Upper Freeport coal bed is underneath the waters of Tearing run, as high up the ravine as Coy's saw-mill. But after its emergence above the water line it rises rapidly on the słopes towards the east and southeast, and has been explored on nearly every farm in the upper part of the valley.
It is now most extensively mined on the property that goes by the name of the " Bracken farm." It is there roofed by a high hill, in which the Mahoning sandstone as a heavy compact rock is the most conspicuous feature.
As here developed, the Mahoning sandstone furnishes excellent building material, not only for heavy foundations, but equally well for pur- poses of decoration. Sandstone land has been much overworked and often stands in need of fertilizing material. The deposit outcrops 20 feet below the base of the coal on the Bracken farm. An outcrop of apparently good fire clay was observed immediately above the limestone.
The Lower Freeport coal (bed D') is a small and unimportant seam in this neighborhood, just as it is along Yellow creek. Its outcrop is very distinct on the township road a short distance east of the Bracken mine, from which it is here separated vertically by an interval of 60 feet. From indications here and also on Yellow creek, it would appear that the Lower Freeport bed is accompanied throughout this
region by its usually attendant stratum of lime- stone. But this is not certain, the exposures being very imperfect at this horizon.
Below this there are no rock exposures along Tearing run for an interval of 115 feet, which most likely brings us to bed B, this being the seam exposed a few feet above water level on the Bracken farm. Coals C and D are there- fore concealed here, as is also the Johnstown Cement bed, nothing whatever being seen of these strata anywhere in the valley. But they were all found along Yellow creek, and are simply hidden on Tearing run, the rock expo- sures occurring there being less complete than on Yellow creek.
Bed B on the Bracken farm shows four feet of very soft and inferior coal. Only the ont- crop has been exposed at this place, but ascend- ing the run we find this same coal opened and mined on Mrs. McAdoo's property, just above the forks of Tearing rnn. From water level at the Bracken farm it has risen to a point 50 feet above that line at Mrs. McAdoo's. This bed is considered identical with the so-called " four foot " seam at Findlay's and at Lewis', on the opposite flank of the anticlinal, but barely two miles distant from the exposures above described.
Along Tearing run bed B is overlaid by 20 feet of black slates and fissile shale, while at only a few feet beneath the coal sandstone shows in the bed of run, thus concealing bed A and keeping it below water level in this valley across the Chestnut Ridge anticlinal.
The northern areas of Two Lick and Yellow Creek are thus described :
Crossing Black Lick creek to proceed north- east along the base of Chestnut Ridge by the Homer road from Bell's mills, there is no change to record in the general geology of this region as compared to that described in the last chapter. The Lower Productive Coal measures continue to occupy the summit and flank of the ridge ; and the same rocks are crossed by all the streams, large and small, descending into Two Lick, and
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also by the Two Lick itself, but only as far down the latter valley as the "Two Lick upper mills," beyond which to the west, past Homer, and beyond this to its junction with Black Lick, Two Lick flows over Lower Barren rocks. This latter fact is of considerable importance, inas- much as the high Two Lick bluffs overlooking Homer are thereby condemned as non-coal- bearing. These bluffs, supporting the rich pas- ture lands of western Centre and Black Lick townships, have been searched again and again by the farmers for coal beds of workable dimen- sions, but always without success. They yield abundance of good limestone that would serve well to enrich the stiff clay soils that sometimes overspread the surface in this vicinity.
The outcrop of the Upper Freeport coal is crossed a few hundred yards north of Bell's mills, the road then rising quickly above it into the Mahoning sandstone, which covers the sur- face and makes the country rock at the school house one-half mile north of the village. At Mr. J. Rugh's house the Upper Freeport coal bed is only a short distance beneath the surface, its outcrop being plainly defined by a high bench which rises rapidly on the slopes east of the house.
The coal appears above water level in the shallow valley of a small nameless run that joins Two Lick at the Lutheran church. The lower part of this ravine is occupied by the Mitchell and Col. Shephard properties (Zach farm), on both of which the bed has been opened.
The bed on the mountain flank is six feet. In this, however, is included a damaging slate parting that ranges within about one foot of the roof, and virtually reduces the seam to a bed four feet thick, inasmuch as it renders the upper bench of coal worthless for all practical pur- poses, the slate parting being too tliick to be profitably taken down. Moreover, this system of mining is here rendered obligatory because of the great weakness of the roof slates of the coal.
As on the Conemaugh at Bolivar, so along
the lower waters of Two Lick and Yellow creek, this great parting of clay and slate is the most conspicuous and distinctive feature of the Upper Freeport coal bed. It is so persistent and con- tinuous throughout the Homer region as to ren- der the bed easily identifiable there. Not a single section of the seam as exposed in the numerous drifts along the lower waters of Two Lick and Yellow Creek but what shows this parting always in the same position and nearly always of about the same thickness.
There were in the township several block- houses in olden times, to which the people were in the habit of congregating for mutual protec- tion from the ravages of the Indians. One was on the farm now owned by Peter Fair. The logs with marks of port-holes still remain. Among the earlier settlers of the county who fled to this block-house were Thomas Wilkin, Daniel Mckesson, James Mitchell, Andrew Dixon, Samuel Dixon, G. Doty, Thomas Mc- Cray, Samuel Todd-the latter was owner of the land on which the building stood. Thomas Wilkins carried apple trees on liis back from Franklin county and planted them on the farm now owned by Robert McGee. The family were forced to flee and while they were away the Indians came and pulled up all the trees, except three, which are still standing. The family returned again several years afterward. Thomas Burns settled on the farm now owned by Thomas and William Burns in the year 1791. He brought apple trees from Chambersburg and planted them ; they are yet living. The oldest organized church in Indiana county is in Centre township. It bears the name of Bethel. The Psalm book used by the Rev. J. W. Henderson is still in existence. Mr. Henderson was the first Presbyterian preacher in the county, and was made pastor of the Bethel church at the time of its organization. The association called " The Whiskey Boys " had their headquarters at the house now owned by Robert Hamil. Jolın Allison built the first grist-mill in Centre town-
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ship, the site of which is located on the land now owned by John H. Devers.
The following list of taxable inhabitants of Centre township was returned in 1807 :
Adam Altimes, blacksmith ; Andrew Allison, John Armitage, Robert Allison, Jr. ; Robert Allison, Sr. ; Thomas Allison, surveyor ; John Allison, miller; John B. Allison, carpenter ; John B. Allison, Robert Allison, carpenter ; Gavin Adams, John Armstrong, Robert Adams, James Adams, John Arthurs, Beany Adear, James Alcorn, James Alexson, miller ; John Allison, Sr .; Peter Bricker, William Brown, carpenter ; Thomas Burns, George Byers, John Clyde, William Cain, Jacob Cribs, William Cummins, John Cummins, David Cummins, Jean Cummins, Moses Chambers, Solomon Chambers, James Canon, mason ; Ann Camp- bell, John R. Cummins, mason ; James Dixon, Andrew Dixon, William Dickie, blacksmith ; Martha Dean, Martha Dean, Jr .; John Davis, James Donald, Moses Donald, William Don- ald, Andrew Dickon, Robert Eggy, Jona- than Eggy, Daniel Elgin, Jacob Fluke, William Fleming, George Frederick, William Fulton, schoolmaster; Robert Gordon, John Griffin, Lydia Gibson, Robert Gordon, John Gourley, shopkeeper; James Gardner, tailor ; William Hamilton, Esq .; Robert Hutchinson, William Hall, John Hawk, Joseph Henderson, minister ; Christopher Harold, James Huston, Robert Jordon, Meek Kelly, carpenter; Patrick Kelly, James Kelly, John Laughlin, James Laughery, John Lowery, Samuel Lowery, William Lowery, John Lytle, Daniel Leny, cooper; Randolphi Laurence, Mary Latta, John Laughery, mason; Fergus Moorhead, Sr .; Fer- gus Moorhead, tanner ; Daniel McKisson, John McLanahan, James McLanahan, Robert Mc- Lanahan, James McKnight, Esq .; Charles Morrow, James McGenity, John Murphy, William McKee, Michael McAnulty, James Montgomery, Daniel McGlaughlin, James Mc- Lane, prothonotary ; Joseph Moorhead, Esq .;
James Moorliead, carpenter ; Samuel Moorhead, carpenter ; Thomas Moorhead, James McFarlin, Thomas McCartney, sheriff; John Micksell, John Matson, carpenter; Jean McConaughey, James McKisson, Daniel McQuelkin, black- smith ; James O'Harra, Charles O'Harra, Mary Patton, James Patton, Adam Pilson, John Pil- son, Mary Pilson, John Pounds, Adonijah Pounds, Benj. Pard, shopkeeper; Armor Phillips, Ann Quigley, John Ross, carpenter ; John Ross, Alexander Rea, Samuel Rea, Jolin Rankin, Philip Rice, Conrad Rice, John Redick, Robert Rea, James Reynolds, schoolmaster ; James Stunkard, James Simpson, Andrew Speddy, John Sines, Charles Stewart, James Stewart, Richard Stewart, David Semple, James Semple, Peter Sutton, innkeeper ; Thomas Sut- ton, carpenter; Daniel Stanard, lawyer; William Shields, Matthew Steel, William Smith, Alex- ander Taylor, William Tremble, Samuel Todd, James Thompson, John Thompson, Joseph White, Samuel Wiggins, Thomas Wiggins, William Wiggins, James Wilkins, James Wil- kins, Sr .; William Wilkins, John Wilson.
The population of Centre township at each census from 1850 to 1890 has been: 1193, 1397, 1555, 1265 and 1277.
Cherry Hill Township is in the Blairsville and Ligonier basins. It is irregular in shape and is in the Lower Barren measures, except the Yellow and Two Lick creek valleys, which carry the Lower Coal measures, and a small area of Pottsville conglomerate near Mitchell's Mills P. O.
The developments along so much of the valley of Yellow Creek as falls within the limits of the present discussion are almost wholly confined to the Upper Freeport coal bed, of which there are frequent exposures. Some of the mines are worked quite extensively, this being the nearest point to the county seat of any workable coal bed above water level. And while large quantities of this coal are yearly con- sumed in the country round about, it confessedly
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does not rank as high as the coal from the Pitts- burgh bed, and for domestic use cannot compete successfully with the latter in the Indiana mar- ket, although the Pittsburgh coal has to be brought at a considerable cost of transportation from either Blairsville or West Lebanon, near the Armstrong county line. In the chemical compo- sition of the coals, especially in the case of that coming from the Pittsburgh bed at Blairsville, there is little or no difference.
The conditions for cheap and easy mining are very . favorable along the Yellow Creek valley. Gangways could be driven along the strike of the rocks, southwest to Tearing run, or northeast to Two Lick ; and such gangways would command enormous fields of coal. The projected Homer and Cherry Tree R. R. would furnish the region with an outlet to market.
Ascending Yellow creek from its mouth, the Mahoning sandstone, in the same compact and massive condition that characterizes it along Tearing run, is the county rock for nearly a mile. It is the upper part of this deposit that shows in the left bank of the stream at the Homer bridge. As the rock slowly rises above the water line it grows more and more conspic- uous on the slopes, over which fragments and boulders of coarse and fine-grained sandstone are strewn in great abundance.
The Upper Freeport coal bed, as exposed in this valley by Messrs. McDonald, Markle, Shep- hard, Griffith and Porterfield, is a double bed of uniform thickness, yielding in all about six feet of coal, of which the lower bench makes up nearly two-thirds. The section is the same in all the mines, and about identical with that given for the same bed on Tearing run.
The little valley of Dixon's run leads from the Two Lick creek to the top of the divide between Two Lick and the Mahoning. Ascend- ing the little valley of the run from Two Lick we start in rocks at or near the base of the Low- er Productive system, and slowly rise in these measures until finally the slope of the stream bed
carries it above them into the Lower Barren group.
The coal mined at present in this valley comes entirely from the Lower Freeport bed. The seam varies somewhat in thickness at dif- ferent points, but invariably yields a good clean coal. The existence of other coal beds both above and below that now worked is well known, but there is no inducement to further investigate them.
What little limestone has been used by the farmers in fertilizing the soil has been taken from the Freeport deposit, here an important and valuable stratum yielding excellent lime- stone, easily raised, and giving off its carbonic acid quickly in the kiln.
The lower part of the valley, that is, from the school-house at Woodison's to the mouth of the run, has been very little explored for its mineral contents. The developments begin at Woodison's and extend beyond Dixonville, where the Lower Freeport coal is close to water level.
Bed D was once uncovered near the grist-mill ; it showed 18 inclies of coal. Underneath it was the Johnstown Cement bed, four feet thick, and according to Mr. Woodison, who exposed these strata, made up of good stone.
About 50 feet above this exposure the Lower Freeport coal outcrops.
Cherry Hill was formed from Green and Brush Valley townships in 1854 and was named from "Cherry Hill Manor," which was surveyed to the Penns. The soil is a sandy loam and the main minerals are coal, lime and iron ore. Among the early settlers were the Mortons, Evanses and Hustons. Diamondville (Mitchell's Mills P. O.) was laid out by Dr. Robert Mitchell between 1823 and 1825. Greenville (Penn Run P. O.) was founded in 1838 by William Evans, and Hustonville derives its name from Robert Huston, who built a house and blacksmith shop on its site iu 1850.
The population of Cherry Hill township at
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each census from 1860 to 1890 has been : 1758, 1976, 2243 and 1794.
Brush Valley Township was formed in 1835 from Wheatfield aud derived its name from the valley of Brush creek. It lies in the Ligonier basin aud is included principally in the sub- basin between the Nolo and the Chestnut Ridge axis.
The ravine of Brush creek is important as unfolding the geology of Brush Valley town- ship. The creek heads in the high land about Mechanicsburg and flows south to meet Black Lick at Ash's saw-mill, oue mile and a half above Heshbon.
It is sufficiently clear that the Lower Pro- ductive Coal measures are in the hills at the mouth of Brush creek. A portion of these rocks, however, but only a small portion of them, is there below water level, the tops of the ravine being crowned by Lower Barren meas- ures, in which the Mahoning sandstone is prominent.
As Brush creek is asceuded the ravine grows rapidly shallower by the slope of the stream bed. This gradually conceals the Lower Pro- ductive coal rocks as the valley becomes more and more narrow, until finally the tops of the ravine join and spread out on a wide sheet of Lower Barrens, on which the town of Mechan- icsburg is built. These same rocks cover nearly the whole of the surface of Brush Valley town- ship, by which is explained the total absence of workable coal beds, not only at Mechanicsburg, but everywhere on the uplands of this town- ship. The sheet of Barrens extends west of Mechanicsburg nearly to the summit of Chest- nut ridge, and eastward it sweeps across the top of the Nolo anticlinal. But in the deep valleys skirting the township on the north and south range the Lower Productive coal beds, nearly all of which are of workable thickness.
The few developments made in the ravine of Brush creek illustrate what has just been said with regard to its geology.
Thus two coal beds and two limestone bands have been exposed near the mouth of the creek. The lower of the coals was discovered in sink- iug a well on the Mock farm, aud is reported as a parted seam three feet thick ; it is not else- where kuown in the ravine.
Ascending the creek to Overdorff's mill, the upper seam is at water level.
Ascending the stream still higher and ad- vaucing to the Wilson property, about one-half mile above Overdorff's mill, two limestone lay- ers, thirty feet apart vertically, make their ap- pearauce on the left side of the ravine. The lower of these is a very ferruginous rock, which calcines only under the hardest buruing aud yields then an impure reddish lime. The up- per stratum, likewise partly opened by Mr. Wilson, is, on the other haud, an unusually pure limestone for the coal measures; it is streaked with thin veins of calcite, and slakes down readily into a white lime. These lime- stone bands were identified as belonging to the Upper and Lower Freeport deposits, neither of which coals, however, have yet been opened hereabouts.
Mechanicsburg was laid out by John Taylor for Robert McCormick in September, 1833, and as it was a place for mechanics it was called Mechanicsburg. Heshbou is a place of 36 pop- ulation and Snucliff has 26 inhabitants. Brush Valley at each census from 1850 to 1890 con- tained the following population : 1481, 1733, 1606, 1365, and 1179.
Green Township was formed from Wheat- field about 1816 and was named on account of the green color of its heavy forests. It is in the Ligonier basin between the Nolo and the Chestuut Ridge axis. The Lower Coal meas- ures extend along the north fork of Two Lick in the western part of the township.
Cookport was named for William Cook and the first house was erected by Lewis Shaw in 1858. Dixonville was established in 1860 and Kesslerville (Beringer P. O.) was laid out by
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Peter Kessler in 1871. The first house at Tay- lorville (Utah P. O.) was erected by A. T. Moorhead in 1854 and the place was named for President Taylor. The first house at Pine Flat was built in 1860 by Evan Williams. The population of Green township at each census from 1850 to 1890 has been : 2281, 1723, 2160, 2606 and 2401.
Pine Township was taken from Wheatfield in 1850 and derived its name from the extensive pine forests then within its boundaries. It is in the Ligonier basin, and contains a long and narrow area of the Lower Coal measures, which lie in the Little Yellow Creek Valley. The eastern part of the township is between the Laurel Hill and the Nolo axis, while the western portion is in the sub-basin between the Nolo and the Chestnut Ridge axis. The geology of Little Yellow Creek received but scant notice at the hands of the State geologists during the last survey.
James Strong owned the site of Strongstown, and some time shortly after 1823 built the first three houses of that place. Strongtown has 75 inhabitants. Nolo was founded under the name of the "Stone House," which it bore until 1858, when the post-office of Nolo was established, and the place changed its name to that of the post- office. The population of Pine township from 1860 to 1890 has been: 1860, 1788; 1870, 921; 1880, 1189; 1890, 1003.
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