USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > Brookville > A pioneer history of Jefferson county, Pennsylvania and my first recollections of Brookville, Pennsylvania, 1840-1843, when my feet were bare and my cheeks were brown > Part 19
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At this point Indian trails connecting the great eastern and western waters crossed the mountains in various directions. There was a trail towards Fort Venango (through Brookville), another towards Kittanning (through Punxsutawney), and one towards the source of the Sinnema- honing (through Brockwayville). Punxsutawney was another central point for Indian paths, and this Chinklacamoose trail is famous, made so by the fact that the " white prisoners" were carried over it to Kit- han-ne, in Munsi Indian, and Gicht-han-ne, in Delaware, meaning Kit- tanning, or a town near or on the main stream,-viz., the Allegheny River.
I copy from the Armstrong history a few of the early cruelties prac- tised on the prisoners carried over this trail.
" At a council, held in Philadelphia, Tuesday, September 6, 1756, the statement of John Coxe, a son of the widow Coxe, was made, the substance of which is: He, his brother Richard, and John Craig were taken in the beginning of February of that year by nine Delaware In- dians from a plantation two miles from McDowell's mill, which was between the east and west branches of the Conococheague Creek, about twenty miles west of the present site of Shippensburg, in what is now Franklin County, and brought to Kittanning 'on the Ohio.' On his way hither he met Shingas with a party of thirty men, and afterwards, with Captain Jacobs and fifteen men, whose design was to destroy the settle- ments in Conogchege. When he arrived at Kittanning he saw here about one hundred fighting men of the Delaware tribe, with their families, and about fifty English prisoners, consisting of men, women, and chil- dren. During his stay here Shingas's and Jacobs's parties returned, the one with nine scalps and five prisoners. Another company of eighteen came from Diahogo with seventeen scalps on a pole, which they took to Fort Duquesne to obtain their reward. The warriors held a council, which, with their war-dances, continued a week, when Captain Jacobs left with forty-eight men, intending, as Coxe was told, to fall upon the in- habitants of Paxton. He heard the Indians frequently say that they intended to kill all the white folks except a few, with whom they would afterwards make peace.
IS3
PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
" They made an example of Paul Broadley, whom, with their usual cruelty, they beat for half an hour with clubs and tomahawks, and then, having fastened him to a post, cropped his ears close to his head and chopped off his fingers, calling all the prisoners to witness the horrible scene.
" Among other English prisoners brought to Kittanning were George Woods, father-in-law of the eminent lawyer, James Ross (deceased), and the wife and daughter of John Grey, who were captured at Bigham's Fort, in the Tuscarora Valley, in 1756. Mr. Grey came out here with Armstrong's expedition, hoping to hear from his family. These three prisoners were sent from Kittanning to Fort Duquesne and subsequently to Canada,
" Fort Granville, which was situated on the Juniata, one mile above Lewistown, was besieged by the Indians July 30, 1756. The force then in it consisted of twenty-four men under the command of Lieutenant Armstrong, who was killed during the siege. The Indians having offered quarter to those in the fort, a man by the name of John Turner opened the gate to them. He and the others, including three women and several children, were taken prisoners. By order of the French commander the fort was burned by Captain Jacobs. When the Indians and prisoners reached Kittanning, Turner was tied to a black post, the Indians danced around him, made a great fire, and his body was run through with red- hot gun-barrels. Having tormented him for three hours, the Indians scalped him alive, and finally held up a boy, who gave him the finishing stroke with a hatchet.
" Such were a few of the terrible enactments of which Kittanning was the scene in the eighteenth century."
POPULATION OF THE STATE OF PENNSYLVANIA AND OF THE UNITED STATES FROM 1790 TO IS40 INCLUSIVE.
1790.
Whites.
Free Colored.
Negro Slaves. Total in Pennsylvania.
424,099
6,537 3,737 434,373
Population in the United States, 3,929,827.
1800.
586,098
14,561
1,706 602,365
Population in the United States, 5,305,941.
1810.
786,704
22,492 795 S10,09I
Population in the United States, 7,239,814.
1820.
1,017,094
32,153
2II 1,049,458
Population in the United States, 9,638,191.
I84
PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
1830.
Whites.
Free Colored. Negro Slaves. Total in Pennsylvania.
1,309,900
37,930 403 1,348,233
Population in the United States, 12,866,020.
1,676,115
1840. 47,854
64 1,724,033
Population in the United States, 17,069,453.
RATIO FOR A MEMBER OF CONGRESS.
1790-33,000
Number in Pennsylvania, 13
Total membership, JO5
I S00-33,000
IS
I4I
ISIO -- 35,000
66
.6
23
66
ISI
IS20-40,000
66
66
26
66
66
213
1830-47,000
66
66
66
28
66
240
1 840-70,680
66
24
66
223
Salary of a Congressman, eight dollars a day.
CHAPTER XI.
THE ERECTION OF THE COUNTY-SITE FOR COUNTY ESTABLISHED, AND DEED FOR PUBLIC LOTS-PIONEER
COURT-HOUSE AND JAIL-THE PIONEER ACADEMY.
ERECTION OF JEFFERSON COUNTY.
WHEN William Penn came to what is now the State of Pennsylvania and organized what has become our present Commonwealth, he erected three counties, which were Bucks, Philadelphia, and Chester. Chester County extended over the western portion of the State at that time. In reality, it had jurisdiction over only the inhabitable portion, but its boundary lines extended west of what is now Jefferson County.
On May 10, 1729, Lancaster County was erected from Chester. On January 27, 1750, Cumberland County was erected from Lancaster. On March 9, 1771, Bedford County was erected from Cumberland. March 27, 1772, Northumberland County was erected, and for thirteen years our wilderness was in this county. On April 13, 1795, Lycoming County was erected from Northumberland, and on March 26, 1804, Jefferson County was erected from Lycoming County. Thus you will see that this wilderness was embraced in six other counties before it was erected into a separate county. The name of the county was given in honor of Thomas Jefferson, who was then President of the United States. The original area of Jefferson County contained 1203 square miles, but it now has only about 413,440 acres ; highest altitude, from 1200 to 1880 feet above sea-level ; length of county, 46 miles ; breadth, 26 miles.
13
IS5
PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
" Jefferson County is now in the fourth tier of counties east of the Ohio line, and in the third tier south of the New York line, and is bounded by Forest and Elk on the north, Clearfield on the east, Indiana on the south, and Armstrong and Clarion on the west. Its south line now runs due west twenty-three and one-third miles from the Clearfield-Indiana corner ;
WARREN.
MCKEAN
T
VENANGO
TIONESTA
DI11W 618
Montmorency
RIDGEWAY
E
JEN KS
G
D
R
Clarion. RIV.
BARNETT
$1991 .717
SNY-
DER
ELDRED
WARSAW
SNY
DER
Turnpike Brook.V.
ARION
Po
Barnett
1842
CLOVER
RO
SINE
sand
WASHINGTON.
Redbank
PORTER
CL
Punxsutawney
. YOUNG
GASKEAL
Mahoning
INDIANA
Map of Jefferson County, 1842.
its west line thence due north twenty-eight and one-quarter miles to the Clarion River ; its north line, first up the Clarion River to Elk County, thence due south one-half mile, thence southeast thirteen and three- quarter miles, to Clearfield County ; its east line runs first southwest ten miles, thence due south fifteen and one-third miles, to the starting-place at the Clearfield. Indiana corner.
IS6
CLEARFIELD
N. Br.
PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
GEOGRAPHY.
" The original boundary lines enclosed an area of more than one thou- sand square miles, embracing much of what is now Forest and Elk, be- yond the Clarion River. At what time the present boundaries were erected is not certain ; but much shifting took place, especially along the northern border, until comparatively recent years.
" The pioneer people were mainly of Scotch-Irish descent, with a considerable intermixture of the German element, industrious, prudent, and thrifty.
TOPOGRAPHY.
" The surface of Jefferson County is uniformly broken and hilly ; everywhere occupied by the same set of rock strata, lying nearly hori- zontal, and excavated into valleys and ravines in the same style. Although one valley cannot be said to be the exact counterpart of another, nor the streams be considered of equal size and importance, yet the type of the topography is the same wherever we look at it, and any one part of the county, therefore, is, in this respect, a picture of the whole.
" Standing upon one of the many elevated points of the region, the observer may see beneath him a broad valley, from three hundred to five hundred feet deep, and as irregular in its trend and course as its slopes are variable in their fall. Here precipitous walls face the stream on both sides ; there a sharp descent upon the one side is faced by a long gentle slope upon the other, according as the dips are arranged ; at another place the valley widens under the influence of a synclinal, and both its slopes are gradual. Numerous ravines, some short, some long, some deep, others shallow, debouch into the valley from both sides. Uplands un- dulating, but of a pretty uniform height, stretch away in both directions. No mountain ridges are anywhere visible on the horizon. As far as the eye can see there spreads an elevated table-land, broken by vales, valleys, and ravines.
" The height above tide of the upland summits ranges from twelve hundred to eighteen hundred and eighty feet. They are lowest at the southern end of the county, and highest at the northern end, in obedi- ence to a topographical law prevailing throughout Western Pennsylvania : that the surface elevations gradually increase in the direction of the rising anticlinal axes,-i.e., towards the northeast.
" To this law there is one notable exception in Jefferson County ; the southeast corner borders on the high table-land of the Chestnut Ridge anticlinal, whose summits frequently attain an elevation of two thousand feet ; and some few points in Gaskill township rise nearly to that height ; but these points are related more closely to the topography of Indiana and Clearfield Counties than to that of Jefferson, which is in fact a mere continuation of that prevailing throughout Clarion, Armstrong, and western Indiana Counties.
IS7
PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
ELEVATION.
Feet.
Hillman
above sea-level, ISSo
Perrysville
1170
Winslow
66
66
1636
Horatio
66
66
I2II
Falls Creek
above tide, 1405
Evergreen
66
1398
Magee's (Sandy Valley P. O.)
66
66
1387
Panther Run
66
66
1386
Reynoldsville .
66
66
1377
Prior Run
66
66
I366
Prindible .
66
66
I360
McAnnulty's Run
66
66
I359
Camp Run
66
I341
Fuller's
66
66
1327
Wolf Run
66
1319
Iowa Mills
66
66
I 299
Bell's Mills
66
66
I242
Brookville Station
66
1235
Coder's Run
66
I223
Puckerty Point
66
66
I207
Baxter
66
1206
Troy .
66
66 1161
Patton's
66
66
1131
ELEVATION ABOVE TIDE FROM FALLS CREEK TO RIDGEWAY.
Near Falls Creek Station
Surface of ground, MeMinn's Summit
above tide, 1406 66 1625
(McMinn's Summit is the Boon Mountain divide.)
Brockwayville
66
1466
Ordinary low water in Little Toby
66
66 1451
Mouth of Little Toby Creek .
1321
(This is the ordinary water-level.) 66
Big Run
66 I287
Sykesville
66
66 1350
Punxsutawney
66 I225
DRAINAGE.
" The drainage of Jefferson County is all westward towards the Ohio River, through (1) the Clarion River at the north end of the county, (2) Red Bank Creek in the centre, and (3) Mahoning Creek on the south. Each of these streams has its own complex system of tributaries, each with its own system of small branches and branchlets ; and thus the sur- face of the whole county is broken into hills.
ISS
I268
Brookville Tunnel, east end
1214
Rattlesnake Run
66
1186
Heathville
144I
On the main Ridgway Road
PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
" Although the Clarion and Mahoning are larger streams, yet they flow on the borders of the county, and are less important to it than the Red Bank.
" Red Bank Creek is the principal stream, as a glance at the map will at once show. Its water basin is unsymmetrical on the two sides, a much larger part of its drainage coming in from the north than from the south. Excepting indeed from the Little Sandy branch its basin on the south side would be confined pretty much to the hills which overlook the creek ; whereas towards the north its far-reaching arms extend to what is now the Elk County line.
" Red Bank Creek in the original maps and drafts of Jefferson County bore the name of Sandy Lick, which name is still retained for its main branch, coming from Clearfield County, along which the Bennett's Branch Railroad is laid. The creek assumes the name of Red Bank at Brookville, where Sandy Lick unites with the North Fork, and both branches carry enough water during floods to float rafts and logs.
" Mill Creek, a branch of the Sandy Lick, is also a rafting stream.
" Little Sandy, before alluded to as occupying the southwestern part of the county, is a rafting stream.
" The volume of water, however, in all the streams, large and small, is extremely irregular, varying as it does from stages of high flood when the larger streams are destructive torrents, to stages of almost complete exhaustion during periods of severe drought. This extreme of variability is largely the consequence of the porous and loose condition of the surface rocks, which thus copiously yield water so long as they hold it. In 1879, an exceptional year, after a succession of prolonged droughts, there was a dearth of water in all parts of the county ; the larger streams had barely enough in them to turn a mill ; and considerable difficulty was experienced, especially in the upland country, to obtain water for the cattle. As a rule, the county is abundantly watered for agricultural pur- poses, and for domestic supply in towns and villages.
" The Red Bank-Mahoning divide in the southeast corner of the county crosses from Clearfield at a point nearly due east of Reynoldsville. Thence it follows an irregular southwest line, around the heads of Elk Run, and around the heads of Little Sandy. Paradise settlement stands at the top of it ; so does Shamoka, Oliveburg, and Frostburg. Porter Post-Office at the southwest end of the county marks the top of the divide in that region.
" The Red Bank-Clarion divide on the north enters Jefferson south of Lane's Grove, where one branch of Rattlesnake Run takes its rise. After passing Brockwayville the water-shed is forced almost to the edge of Little Toby valley, as will be seen on examination of the county map. Along the last-named stream it passes in Elk County, where curving about the heads of the North Fork (Red Bank system), it returns again to Jefferson, whence closely skirting the Clarion River, it runs southwest of Sigel.
IS9
PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
There it turns sharply about and next sweeps around the head of Big Mill Creek, extending thence south to within a few miles of the Red Bank valley. It therefore describes a semicircle in northern Jefferson, stretching from one side of the county to the other."
FOREST-TREES.
" The southern portion of Jefferson County was mostly covered with white oak, black oak, rock oak, chestnut, sugar, beech, and hickory.
" The rock areas of northern Jefferson were covered with pine and hemlock, with scarcely a trace of white oak. There is still a consider- able quantity of marketable hemlock left.
" White oak, chestnut, sugar, beech, and hickory were the principal kinds of wood on the cleared lands.
" White oak was found mostly on the high uplands.
"W. C. Elliott says, ' There were four kinds of maple, four of ash, five of hickory, eight of oak, three of birch, four of willow, four of poplar, four of pine, and from one to three of each of the other varieties. The following are the names of all of them ; some of the trees are not correctly named, but the names given are the only English names by which they go. Their Latin names are all correct and would be given, but would not be understood. Sweet-bay, cucumber, elkwood, long-leaved cucumber, white basswood, toothache-tree, wafer-ash, spindle-tree, Indian-cherry, feted buckeye, sweet buckeye, striped maple, sugar-maple, white maple, red maple, ash-leaved maple, staghorn sumach, dwarf sumach, poison elder, locust, coffee-nut, honey-locust, judas-tree, wild plum, hog-plum, red cherry, black cherry, American crab apple, crab-apple, cockspur, thorn, scarlet haw, blackthorn, Washington thorn, service-tree, witch- hazel, sweet-gum, dogwood, boxwood, sour-gum, sheep-berry, stag-bush, sorrel-tree, spoonwood, rosebay, southern buckthorn, white ash, red ash, green ash, black ash, fringe-tree, catalpa, sassafras, red elm, white elm, rock elm, hackberry, red mulberry, sycamore, butternut, walnut, bitter- nut, pignut, kingnut, shagbark, white hickory, swamp white oak, chest- nut oak, yellow oak, red oak, shingle oak, chinquapin, chestnut, iron- wood, leverwood, beech, gray birch, red birch, black birch, black alder, speckled alder, black willow, sand-bar willow, almond-willow, glaucous willow, aspen, two varieties of soft poplar, two varieties of cottonwood, two varieties of necklace-poplar, liriodendron (incorrectly called poplar), white cedar, red cedar, white pine, hemlock, balsam, fir, hickory, pine, pitch-pine or yellow pine, red pine, Virginia date, and forest olive. In addition to the above were numerous wild berries, vines, etc.'
GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE.
" The rocks of Jefferson County are folded in a regular succession of parallel anticlinal ridges and synclinal basins, stretching from southwest
190
1
PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
to northeast. The folds are not all equidistant from each other. Those west of Perrysville anticlinical are nearly so.
" The anticlinical arches are low, and the synclinal basins are shal- low ; and while they are not equal in height and depth, when compared with one another, the difference is small, although of considerable im- portance in its effect upon mining interests. Some idea of how gently the rocks incline from the horizontal may be got from the fact that the whole thickness of strata outcropping at the surface in any basin does not exceed five hundred feet, although the basin is in some cases six miles wide.
" The axes of the rolls and troughs being parallel, the line of strike is necessarily uniform in all parts of the county ; about N. 40° E. (S. 40° WV.).
" The normal dip, therefore, is either to the N. 50° W. or S. 50° E. But the real dip is somewhat different, owing to the plainly marked rise of the whole region (with its anticlinals and synclinals) towards the northeast."-Geological Report of Jefferson County, Pennsylvania.
" AN ACT TO ERECT PARTS OF LYCOMING, HUNTINGDON, AND SOMERSET COUNTIES INTO SEPARATE COUNTY DISTRICTS.
" SECTION I. Be it enacted, etc., and it is hereby enacted by the author- ity of the same, That part of the county of Lycoming, included within the following lines, to wit : Beginning at the northeast corner of Venango County, and thence east thirty miles (part along the line of Warren County), and thence by a due south line fifteen miles, thence a south- westerly course to Sandy Lick Creek, where Hunter's district line crosses said creek ; thence south along Hunter's district line to a point twelve miles north of the canoe-place, on the west branch of Susquehanna ; thence a due west line until it intersects the eastern boundary of Arm- strong County ; thence north along the line of Armstrong and Venango Counties, to the place of beginning, be, and the same is hereby erected into a separate county, to be henceforth called Jefferson County ; and the place of holding the courts of justice shall be fixed by the Legislature at any place at a distance not greater than seven miles from the centre of the said county, which may be most beneficial and convenient for the said county.
"SECTION 7. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the Governor shall, as soon as convenient, appoint three Commissioners to run and mark the boundary lines of the counties of Jefferson, Clear- field, and Cambria, and shall appoint three other Commissioners to run and mark the boundary lines of the counties of McKean, Potter, and Tioga, according to the true intent and meaning of this act; and the said Commissioners, or any two of them, shall have power to run the aforesaid lines, and shall have, for their services, the sum of two dollars
191
PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
for every mile so run and marked, to be paid out of the treasury of this Commonwealth.
" SECTION 8. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That as soon as it shall appear by an enumeration of the taxable inhabitants within the counties of Jefferson, McKean, Clearfield, Potter, Tioga, and Cambria, that any of the said counties, according to the ratio which shall then be established for apportioning the representation among the several counties of this Commonwealth, shall be entitled to a separate representa- tion, provision shall be made by law apportioning the said representa- tion, and enabling such county to be represented separately, and to hold the courts of justice at such place in the said county as is or may here- after be fixed for holding the same by the Legislature, and to choose their county officers in like manner as in the other counties of this Commonwealth.
" SECTION 9. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the Governor be, and he is hereby authorized and required to appoint three suitable persons for trustees in each of the said counties, who shall receive proposals in writing from any person or persons, or any bodies corporate or politic, for the grant or conveyance of any lands within the said counties respectively, and within the limits prescribed by this act for fixing the place of holding courts of justice in said counties respectively, or the transfer of any other property, or payment of money for the use of said counties, and transmit to the Legislature from time to time a copy of the proposals so received under their hands ; and when the place of holding courts of justice in the said counties respectively shall be fixed by the Legislature, to take assurances in the law for the lands and other valuable property, or money contained in any such proposals, which shall or may be accepted of.
"SECTION 13. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That for the present convenience of the inhabitants of the county of Jef- ferson, and until an enumeration of the taxable inhabitants of said county shall be made, and it shall be otherwise directed by law, the said county of Jefferson shall be, and the same is hereby annexed to the county of Westmoreland ; and the jurisdiction of the several courts of the county of Westmoreland, and the authority of the judges thereof, shall extend over and shall operate and be effectual within the said county of Jef- ferson.
" SECTION 15. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the electors within the counties erected by this act shall continue to elect at the same places and with the same counties as heretofore.
" Approved-the twenty-fifth day of March, in the year of our Lord one thousand and eight hundred and four.
" THOMAS MCKEAN,
" Governor of the Commowealth of Pennsylvania."
192
PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
"AN ACT APPROVING THE APPOINTMENT OF COMMISSIONERS TO FIX UPON A PROPER SITE FOR THE SEAT OF JUSTICE IN JEFFERSON COUNTV.
" SECTION I. Beit enacted, etc., and it is hereby enacted by the authority of the same, That John Mitchell, of the county of Centre, Alexander Mc- Calmont, of the county of Venango, and Robert Orr, Junior, of Arm- strong County, be and they are hereby appointed Commissioners, who, or a majority of whom, shall meet at the house of Andrew Barnett, in the county of Jefferson, on the first Monday in September next, and from thence proceed to view and determine the most eligible and proper situa- tion for the seat of justice for the said county of Jefferson, and make report into the office of the Secretary of the Commonwealth on or before the first Monday of December next ; and each of said Commissioners shall receive three dollars per day for every day they shall be necessarily em- ployed in the duty aforesaid, to be paid by warrants drawn by the Commis- sioners of Jefferson County on the treasurer of said county : Provided, That in case of death, resignation, or inability of any one or more of the Commissioners to serve, the Governor shall be authorized and required to appoint such suitable person or persons to fill such vacancy or vacancies.
" SECTION 2. And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the Commissioners of Jefferson County shall have power, and it shall be their duty to take assurances, by deed, bond, or otherwise, of any land, lots, money, or other property which hath or may be offered for the use and benefit of the said county, either for the purpose of erecting public buildings, or for the support of an academy or other public use.
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