USA > Pennsylvania > Cambria County > Johnstown > From trail dust to star dust : the story of Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a city resulting from its environment > Part 2
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3 Securing The Land
How was the land known as Pennsylvania secured? Among the Royal Charters of Charles II was the one granted to William Penn in 1681 for the lands of Penn- sylvania. Penn more safely secured the land by treaties with the Indians, for many of these charters were con- flicting. At one time by a similar charter Connecticut claimed almost one-third of Pennsylvania. When Colonel Thomas Dongan, Lord of Limerick, heard of Penn's negotiations with the Indians for the Susquehanna River, he became panic-stricken, for he feared the Indians, in- stead of bringing their furs to the Hudson River, would send them to what is now Philadelphia by way of the Susquehanna River. Dongan had conveyed his rights to Penn for 100 pounds. The following is from the colonial records of the deed or lease of Colonel Dongan to William Penn January 12, 1696:
"To have and to hold, from the date hereof, for and unto the end and term of 1,000 years paying . .. annually and every year on the Feast Day of Saint Michael the Archangel, the rent of a pepper corn if the same be lawfully demanded . .. To the said William Penn ... all that tract of land lying upon both sides the River commonly called Susque- hanna River and the lakes adjacent, in or near the Province of Pennsylvania .. . "
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Securing The Land
Because the west branch of the Susquehanna has its origin near Cherry Tree, the Fort Stanwix Treaty, 1768, included parts of Cambria, Clearfield, and Indiana counties. Immediately after the Fort Stanwix Treaty, the Commonwealth opened the land in that purchase to settlers and fixed April 3, 1769, as the date when appli- cations could be filed.
On that day Charles Campbell took out a warrant for land lying between the two rivers, for which he paid little more than 43 pounds. He sold it to Wilkins for a little more. Wilkins conveyed it to Johnston, who in turn and for a little more sold the warrant to James McLanahan for 50 pounds colonial currency. The latter sold the tract to Joseph Johns in 1793.
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4 The Early White Settlers
Jonah Davenport and James Le Tort, Indian traders, were the first travelers in the Connumoch valley. This was in 1731. Conrad Weiser, Indian interpreter and agent in dealing with the Indians, particularly the Iroquois, came through the valley in 1748, when he was securing the support of the Iroquois and Delawares for the Eng- lish against the French. The reports of these men show that Johnstown's history is connected with the Indians. On the Connumach Creek, there were three Shawanese towns with a total of 115 families and 360 men. Okewelah, their chief, favored the French.
The Adams family, Solomon and Samuel and their sister Rachel, are credited as being the first white settlers to "till the soil" on land within the confines of Cambria County. They came about 1770 from Berks County and settled in the section known as Horner's Town or the present Seventh Ward. Streams and hills perpetuate their names. Captain Michael McGuire and his family settled in the north of the County, along the branch near Kay- lor's Station, in 1787. Michael Rager also came to the County and reared 27 vigorous sons and daughters. These were perhaps the first permanent settlers. Prince Gallitzin, who became the beloved Father Gallitzin,
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The Early White Settlers
built at Loretto the first church to be erected between the Mississippi and the Susquehanna rivers. In a little log church dedicated on Christmas Eve, 1799, the first mass atop the Alleghenies was celebrated.
The Adamses made their living mostly by trading maple syrup, venison, and fish. These they would take by canoe, or by pack horse, or on foot over the trail to the east. If by trail, it would be the Bedford trail to Fort Bedford, the nearest protection from the Indians and their raids. The Bedford Road is, therefore, the oldest road in the County. Its name is perpetuated in the name of Bedford Street which was the terminus of the road. It is recorded that the Adams family walked to Bedford for protection when Indian raids were in progress. It is said that the family, having heard from a friendly Indian of a coming Indian raid, had gone to Fort Bedford; the brothers when returning for their cattle were ambushed on the trail. Solomon escaped, but Samuel and the Indian fought until they killed each other. After Solomon had given the alarm, he returned with several men, found the bodies, and buried them. This incident supposedly happened at the place now called Scalp Level. Their graves have been marked by the Cambria County Historical Society. Tradition also says that Rachel Adams was killed by Indians. Just as the Bedford trail led to the east and Fort Bedford, so the trail to the west led to Fort Ligonier and Fort Duquesne. These forts were havens of refuge, offering safety to the pioneers. The Shawanese and Delawares- both restless and quarrelsome and encroached upon by white men-raided and plundered and killed.
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From Trail Dust to Star Dust
In 1769 Joseph Schantz came from Switzerland to Berks County, Pennsylvania. From Berks County he went to Somerset County. Thirty years after his arrival in America he came from Davidsville to Conemaugh- Old Town. In 1793 he erected his log cabin of walnut logs near the head of Vine Street. In 1800 Schantz laid out the town of Conemaugh which included all the lots west of Franklin Street to The Point. He sold several lots for $10 and $20 and the remaining bulk was later disposed of. In his plan for the town, Joseph Schantz (later anglicized to Joseph Johns) guaranteed to the citizens five public plots: (1) a public square which to- day is called Central Park-on which Johns hoped the County courthouse would stand, (2) an oblong square at Market and Carr Streets for a school and a church, (3) the diamond at Main and Market Streets-in that day "the square" was considered necessary to every well- established town, (4) a parade ground for the militia and public sports, known today as The Point, (5) a Union Graveyard, now the site of the Cambria County War Memorial. Bodies buried in the Old Union Graveyard were reinterred in Grandview Cemetery.
Joseph Johns' failure to secure the courthouse for his town severely disappointed him. This, plus his undying love for farming, was responsible for his selling out his entire claim-exclusive of the five public lots-to Hartley and Anderson of Bedford, who subsequently sold it to Holliday (founder of Hollidaysburg), who in turn sold to Peter Levergood. The Johns ground included all land from Franklin Street, formerly known as Morrison Ave- nue, to The Point. Three acres lying between Clinton
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The Early White Settlers
Street and Franklin Street, from Cover Alley to Washing- ton Street, belonged to Adam Cover. Levergood and Cover (Johnstown's first realtors) plotted these lots. What is now the Swank corner was then Mr. Levergood's garden patch.
The land lying between Bedford Street and Baumer Street out to the "Horner Line" was acquired by Thomas Sharp in exchange for a cow. In the early days, this section was known as Sharpsburg. Peter Goughnour and Jacob Stutzman who lived in "the flats" were other early settlers. Mr. Cover lived on the plateau east of the level ground, known today as Green Hill or Cover Hill. Peter Levergood and Adam Cover (sometimes he spelled his name Coover) owned the ground from Franklin Street to the Frankstown Hill. The General Assembly in 1831 incor- porated these two areas into the Borough of Conemaugh which in 1834 became the Borough of Johnstown, named in honor of the founder, Joseph Johns.
It is traditional in the Cover family that when Mrs. Cover, in 1814, having ridden horseback from Harris- burg, then a thriving town, stood on Cover Hill and looked down upon the vast wilderness, she wept and wondered why her husband had brought her from "the city" to "the wilderness."
Knowing the present price of real estate in the heart of the City, a modern realtor would be interested in com- paring it with the prices paid and the exchange used when the land was first sold. Adam Cover in 1814 bought 177 acres for 100 pounds 12 shillings and 6 pence "law- ful" money of Pennsylvania, but in 1848 he stipulated to pay a purchase obligation in "lawful" money of the
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From Trail Dust to Star Dust
United States, which meant gold and silver. However, he accepted "Bedford" money in payment of a property pur- chase when he was pressed for cash to meet the obligations which he had incurred for his brother-in-law, Mr. George Brenizer. "Bedford" money was in bad repute at the time and was not accepted by banks. Cover's confidence, how- ever, was justified, for the money recovered normal value. (See Chapter 13, Exchange. )
The deeds to these properties are interesting. Those extant have a clause in them reserving for the Common- wealth one-fifth of all the gold and silver ore mined. This was to be paid at the mouth of the mine. The most excit- ing metal for Americans to pursue is gold. Yet for an industrial civilization iron is more valuable than gold. No mention is made in the deeds of iron or coal! They were then undiscovered. In many of the early deeds pur- chasers and sellers made their "marks" in lieu of signa- tures. In many of these early transactions, Joseph Schantz (who always wrote his name in German script), Adam Cover (Coover), Peter Levergood, and Christian Horner were the only ones able to write. Of the wives who signed the deeds, only Mrs. Cover could write. Each made his or her "mark" as an X. The original deed issued to Adam Cover, written on vellum, is still in the Cover family. It is dated 1785. In it Rittenhouse conveys to Jacob Stutz- man of Bedford a tract of land measured in part from a certain chestnut tree to a certain cucumber tree. The Cover descendents have early deeds bearing the signatures of Joseph Schantz and Peter Levergood. Several of the deeds bear drawings of plots showing Conemaugh-Old Town and the holdings of Adam Cover and Peter Lever-
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The Early White Settlers
good in Conemaugh-New Town. The measurements writ- ten in a mixture of German sound and English spelling are interesting: a lot is marked as 10 "rots" (rods) long or 8 "rots" wide. Some of the later deeds instead of being hand written on vellum are partially printed on paper, the printing of them being done by early newspapers in the County.
The Conemaugh and Stony Creek flats at the conflu- ence of the two rivers, being the gateway to the West, be- came a stopping place for travelers or a permanent home for less venturesome settlers. Some of the early pioneers left the coast intending to go west, but, finding the flats a likely place, stayed, leaving the westward adventure to the more hardy. Among those early settlers aside from those already mentioned were Ludwig Wissinger, Christian Good, David Singer, John Horner, Paul Benshoff, Moses Canon, Jacob Horner, Christian Horner. Descendents bearing these names still live in the City and County.
Although the Adamses are regarded as the first white settlers in the Valley, they did not live long enough to bear much influence on the developing town. Besides, they were here before the town was laid out and lived to the south of it. Mr. Stutzman, probably the first white man to occupy the bottom land, died in 1816. A son of Mr. Stutzman was killed by an ox-team which was scared by a rattlesnake. Peter Goughnour was here in 1798. The Indians had departed but the territory was a wilderness. He found monuments of stone on graves, flint arrows, elk horns, and other evidences of Indian occupation. Peter Goughnour's notes have preserved for modern dwellers of the Valley some interesting facts:
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From Trail Dust to Star Dust
"At the time, there were no roads through the wilderness and nothing but canoes for navigating. Beasts of burden were rare but wild beasts were numerous. Panthers, wolves, bears, and such howled at night around the cabins of settlers.
"The bottoms in vicinity of Conemaugh-Old Town were luxuriant in growth. The hills grand . . . with glorious forests, amid which the woodman's ax had never rung. Peavines, wild sunflowers twined and waved among the giant oaks, spruce and hickories.
"Yet there were troubles. Growing among the tall grass was a noxious weed, resembling garlic in taste and appearance called 'ramps' by the settlers which when eaten by the cows was sure to sicken them and stop the milk supply.
"The grass did not make good hay and the cul- tivation of corn, oats, rye and such was limited. To keep cattle from starving, the settlers cut down trees so the cows could browse upon the buds and young branches. The women had to clear the land and do rough work.
"Large quantities of maple syrup were manu- factured and 'packed' by horse to neighboring settlements. Venison was an article of import for which Bedford was the principal market.
"Pig iron was later shipped to Pittsburgh by flat-bottom boats in the spring of the year."
Conemaugh town was gradually becoming a place of business rather than farm land. Other early land titles were the Woodvale Titles, the Minersville Titles, the Os- borne-Suppes Titles, the Kern, Haynes and Dibert Titles, the Moxham Titles, the Von Lunen holdings, and the Johnson Purchase. By 1828, the population was 200.
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The Early White Settlers
These titles later designated boroughs which in time con- solidated into the city of Johnstown.
Before 1811, all mail was obtained in Stoystown. In 1811, Johnstown got its first post office, and mail was brought from Stoystown two or three times a week. At first the post office was in John Linton's cabin at Main and Franklin Streets. Later it was moved to S. Priestly's house where mail was kept in a bread basket on a table. Often in the absence of the postmaster, the people pawed through the basket for their own mail.
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5 The First Industries
The variety and types of early industries in or near Johnstown interested people of various cultures; Welsh in mining, Germans, Swedish and English in iron manu- facture, Irish in labor. Many pioneers or "path breakers" into the West passed through the Conemaugh valley and Johnstown on their way west. Some of the more venture- some continued; some finding the Valley full of oppor- tunities settled here. The cultures and traditions of many remain today. Later other cultural groups came.
The richness of the seven old cultures which immi- grants of colonial times brought to Pennsylvania from the old world is reflected in the lives of those who passed through the Conemaugh Valley or who remained here.
OLD CULTURES
1. Hollandish
2. Swedish
2. Russian Jewish
3. Armenian
4. Lithuanian
5. Polish
5. Scotch Irish
6. New England Puritans
7. Virginians
NEW CULTURES
1. Italian®
3. British Quaker, English, Welsh, Irish
4. Pa. Dutch (From Rhine Valley and Switzerland)
6. Russian
7. Greek
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The First Industries
The seven new cultures are in many ways as interest- ing as the old. They were moulded by the forces of our life into as good Americans as were the seven old cultures. But let us preserve what we can of the old while there are yet objects of those cultures to preserve.
"We hold to tradition, we never forget the past, we front the future from experience all our yesterdays have handed on to us." Cornelius Weygant
What did the settlers do? Among the very early settlers there were no trades. They bartered maple syrup, venison, fish, and nuts for the commodities they needed. Among those who came after the town was laid out, agriculture, wagon-making, carpentry, and forging were the chief pursuits. Not finding farming and cattle-raising successful, the early settlers added to those trades already mentioned a tannery, a gristmill, a sawmill, a distillery, and lumber yards. Most of the early settlers were German or Swiss. Then the Scotch-Irish came. In the north of the County, the Welsh and the Irish settled. At the time of the opening of the Canal, 1832, Cambria County, named by the Welsh for their own beloved hill-country, had 7000 inhabitants. All these people carried on the trades which were peculiar to either their own national groups or their present environment.
The great iron and steel industry in Johnstown was begun with the building of the first forge in Cambria County in 1809 at the head of Vine Street, according to Mr. James Swank in "Iron in All Ages." The forge was probably built by John Holliday, who had been connected with the iron industry in the Juniata valley. The first iron
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From Trail Dust to Star Dust
forged here was Juniata pig-iron brought in by pack horse over the Indian trails. Ore had not yet been dis- covered in the Johnstown hills. The "trains" which brought in this iron over the trails were certainly slow, tedious, and insignificant when compared with modern trucks. Five or six horses with a rider on the lead horse, and on each horse an inverted V frame, on which the bars of pig-iron rested, made up a train.
After the flood of 1811, the forge was moved to the Conemaugh River where the present entrance to Bethle- hem Steel Company now is-just below the Pennsylvania Railroad station. At that time, dams were used for power to move what machinery there was. Evidently the break- ing of the dam on the Stony Creek at the time of that flood caused the removal of the forge to the Conemaugh River. There the forge became the beginning of the great plant which is the industrial heart of Johnstown today.
At long last for the convenience of those who raised their own grain, a grist mill was erected in 1812 by John Storm. Buckwalter's grist mill was on Goose Island side of a race from the Conemaugh just below Franklin Street. This was a great satisfaction for the settlers. Before this time, they had to pack or haul all their grain many miles (by pack horse before wagon roads were available). Much of it was taken for grinding to Stoystown or to Bedford. Father Gallitzin, prince and priest, who looked after the temporal as well as spiritual welfare of his people, established a mill in his parish of Loretto. This was the first grist mill in Cambria County.
In 1816 the first keel boat was built by Isaac Proctor on the Stony Creek to convey freight and passengers to Pittsburgh when the water was sufficiently deep.
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The First Industries
The spectacle of iron in Pennsylvania begins with the blacksmith shop of Thomas Rutter near Germantown. It was doubtless with ore from the pits in the White Marsh Valley that he fashioned his latches and cranes, his horse- shoes and ploughshares. In 1714 William Penn gave Rutter patent for 300 acres on the Mantawny, eight miles above Pottstown. Three years later Rutter opened the Colebrookdale Mine and erected a charcoal furnace to smelt ores. Not content with his little business near tide- water, he wanted what seemed to him the inexhaustible supplies of water power, cordwood and ore that the back- woods alone could produce. Such a spirit as his animated the progress of iron making in Pennsylvania and resulted in making the "hinterlands" of Pittsburgh as famous as those about Birmingham in old England.
In fact, iron making in Pennsylvania began under the management of Englishmen. Rutter was English and so were the Pottses-the ironmasters most widely associ- ated with furnaces and forges in the Schuylkill Valley. Several early ironmasters were German. John Fritz, a German, will long be remembered for his inventions that helped Johnstown to prominence. Under his brilliant leadership. Johnstown became "the world's most import- ant producer of iron and steel." School geographies of the time pictured it as such.
Everywhere the traveler goes in Pennsylvania he comes upon pits or mines from which iron ore has been dug and furnaces in which iron was extracted from the ore. Unfortunately the furnaces near Johnstown have disappeared. Their names and their ironmasters' names survive in place names. Perhaps the most famous Penn-
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From Trail Dust to Star Dust
sylvania furnace was the one at Valley Forge, established by the Pottses, whose name survives in Pottstown.
The little business of Thomas Rutter has grown in two centuries to miles of mills. But nature has paid for the progress. Desolate places blacken western Penn- sylvania. The drum of its rollers, the pound of its ham- mers, the smoke and the dumps mar many sections. Residents may resent the smoke pouring over the land, but when it is absent and furnaces are silent, everyone would have them busy again.
The picturesqueness of these early furnaces is pre- served for Pennsylvanians today in old prints. J. B. Pearse uses as the frontispiece to his Iron Manufacture (1876) an engraving of an "Old Furnace on the Conemaugh." This shows it not as a sore spot on the landscape but as one with its environment against a woodland background. Please refer to illustration of the Millcreek Furnace, facing page 33 of this book.
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6 George S. King and Cambria Iron Co.
Johnstown was destined by its environment to become an iron and then a steel center rather than an agricultural community. Peter Goughnour's notes reveal why the Valley was not suitable for agriculture. Johnstown's in- dustrial history is the history of iron and steel making in the United States, for Johnstown mills were the setting for the dramatic development in iron and steel production. Destiny determined the time, the place, the men, the product.
GEORGE S. KING
From Trail Dust to Star Dust
George Shryock King is the father of the iron industry in Johnstown. He came in 1833 from Mercersberg think- ing that Johnstown would be a better business center than Mercersberg because the transportation facilities were better. The Pennsylvania Canal was being completed. He had been a store owner in Mercersberg at the age of 17; he opened his store in Johnstown when he was 24; he was the most honored citizen at the Centennial Celebra- tion in 1900 when he was 91. Mr. King was the principal discoverer of iron ore in the Johnstown area, the pioneer in making iron from it, the prime founder of Cambria Iron Co., and the industrial founder of the Town. The Johnstown Tribune in his obituary of December 8, 1903 refers to him as "beyond all doubt, the greatest benefactor Johnstown has ever known. The iron industry, which has grown to be the mainstay of the city, without his initia- tive and persistence might never have been firmly established."
In 1833, when Mr. King started his store, the Penn- sylvania Canal and Portage Railroad had just been opened. Johnstown looked to him like a good place to start business. In 1840, however, the effects of the Panic of 1837 were so serious that there was actually no money in Johnstown. Mr. King came to the conclusion that if some means were devised by which the natural products of the vicinity, especially iron, could be taken to Pittsburgh, he could exchange them for groceries and other essential goods. At the same time he would be furnishing employment to men in the Town. He believed there was enough iron ore in the hills to carry out his idea.
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TO MAKE KETTLES OR RAILS WAS THE QUESTION IN 1850 (Please refer to page 35)
Courtesy Cambria Public Library
MILLCREEK FURNACE - Upper Yoder Township
George S. King and Cambria Iron Co.
The search started. A crop of ore was found in Ben's Creek. It was tested in Blair County and proved to be good bar iron but hard and brittle. A furnace built at Ben's Creek was called the Cambria Furnace. Another furnace was built near an ore mine below Coopersdale. Shortly after this, a better vein was found in Benshoff's Hill. This ore was hauled to the Canal and then hauled from there to the Cambria Furnace. Following this the furnace on the Mill Creek was opened and still others followed. Rhey's Furnace at the foot of the Prospect Hill was also called the Johnstown Furnace (1846). Between 1842 and 1846 Johnstown's future was firmly established. Soon about 25 furnaces had sprung up over the local area. These furnaces were bought and sold in rapid suc- cession. Mr. Bell, who owned the Millcreek Furnace and operated it only a year or two, sold it to become a "forty- niner." This furnace was also near an ore mine along Mill Creek. Nearly all furnaces were along streams because water wheels worked the bellows to provide the air blast. When Cambria Iron Co. was organized, it bought up these privately owned furnaces.
As Mr. King had anticipated, he was able to trade the pig metal in Pittsburgh. Shipped by canal, it was exchanged there for dry goods. He had, in truth, saved Johnstown.
At this time, there were four charcoal furnaces oper- ating in the vicinity of Johnstown; Cambria, Benscreek, Millcreek, and Blacklick. Coke was not made here at the time, and so charcoal had to be used to heat the furnaces. Consequently much of the timber from the hills was used. When Cambria Iron Co. bought the local
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From Trail Dust to Star Dust
furnaces, their purchases included 25,000 acres of timber. The original growth of walnut, oak, and spruce was burned to make the charcoal.
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