History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 10

Author: Smith, Robert Walter
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago : Waterman, Watkins
Number of Pages: 790

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MANUFACTURING STATISTICS FOR 1850.

Grist mills, 21 ; saw mills, 13 ; salt-boiling estab- lishments, 12; carpentering and building estab-

lishments, 5 ; manufactories of brick, 9; manufac- tories of tin and shect-iron ware, 3 ; manufactories of woolen fabrics, 3; manufactories of nails, 1 ; rolling-mills, 2 ; furnaces for making iron, 6 ; iron foundries, 2 ; tanneries, 8.

PRICES OF LAND.

In 1825 Charles C. Gaskill, agent of the Holland Land Company, offered 150,000 acres for sale, a considerable portion of which was in this county, at from $1.50 to $2 per acre, on these very easy terms : if at $2 per acre, 5 per cent of the purchase money was to be paid at the time of the purchase ; if at $1.75 per acre, 25 per cent in hand ; and in case one-half of the purchase money was paid in hand, $1.50 per acre, and the balance in either case to be paid in eight equal annual payments, with interest after the second year. Mr. Gaskill stated among other things that the county was considerably im- proved by good roads, mills, and other conveniences which do not usually exist in infant settlements.

In 1830 the best improved farming land sold from $12 to $20 per acre. The best improved farming land is now worth from $60 to $100 and upward per acre.

VALUE OF PROPERTY.

The report of the commissioner of statistics of Pennsylvania for 1873 shows the assessed valuation of real and personal property in Armstrong county to have then been as follows : Real estate, $11,- 488,318 ; personal estate, $2,259,795. Total, $13,- 748,113. Multiple to produce true value, 3. True value of real and personal estate, $41,244,339.

PRICES OF PROVISIONS AND LABOR.

In and before 1830: flour, $3 a barrel; beef, 3 cents a pound; venison hams, 13 cents a pound; fowls, 6 cents each; butter, 6 to 8 cents a pound; eggs, 6 cents a dozen.

The price of labor was fifty cents a day per hand, besides boarding, but very little cash was paid.

There is a great contrast between those and present prices. For instance, flour is now quoted at $7 to $8 a barrel; butter varies from 14 to 35 and 40 cents a pound through the year, and eggs from 10 to 20 or more cents a dozen, and so on.

AGRICULTURAL.

The people of this county have been generally engaged in agricultural pursuits. The number of those engaged in other avocations is compara- tively small.

There were raised and made in this county in 1870, according to the census, 298,194 bushels of wheat, 135,257 bushels of rye, 680,314 bushels of

HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

corn, 883,846 bushels of oats, 33,192 tons of hay, 126,068 pounds of wool, and 964,020 pounds of butter, besides large quantities of other agricultu- ral products.

The report of the secretary of internal affairs shows the area of this county to be 612 square miles, or 391,680 acres, of which nearly two-thirds are under cultivation.

THE ARMSTRONG COUNTY AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY was organized in 1855 .* Its object was to foster agricultural, horticultural, domestic and mechan- ical arts, and for a while excited a lively interest in these objects. A fair ground was leased for a term of years and put in proper condition. Cred- itable and largely attended fairs were held in Octo- ber, 1856 and 1857, after which they ceased to be held, and the society languished and died.

The order of Grangers or Patrons of Husbandry has been introduced into this county within the last three years. The present number of lodges or granges is twenty-two, and the number of mem- bers about 1,550. The object of this order is to advance the interests of agriculturists by the inter- change of opinions, diffusion of useful knowledge, and by dispensing, as far as possible, with the aid of middle-men in their purchases of store goods and agricultural implements-purchasing those articles, as far as practicable, directly from the manufacturers and wholesale dealers. As those middle-men constitute a considerable percentage of the consumers of agricultural products, a ques- tion to be solved is: What will be the effect of changing that class of consumers into producers?

The agricultural implements in former years were quite primitive. The plow, for instance, was of the old wooden moldboard kind. Spring carriages and wagons began to be used at a com- paratively recent date. Small quantities of grass- seed were sown. The principal crops were rye, wheat, corn, oats and buckwheat. In 1819-20 the price of wheat was fifty cents a bushel, rye, forty cents, and oats twenty cents. Threshing ma- chines began to be used in this county about 1849. A few mowing machines and reapers began to be introduced about 1859-60. They and sulky rakes were brought into use from 1863 to 1865. The various labor-saving agricultural machines now in

use are as numerous, or nearly so, as the broken surface of the territory of this county will permit. The culture of the soil is becoming more effective as the light of science and the tests of experiments are more freely enjoyed.

About 1838 a superior breed of sheep was intro- duced into this county. Other stock have since been improved by importations of choice breeds from abroad.

Some of the soil, especially along the streams, is very fertile. Much of the rest is strong, and may, with proper culture, be made remunerative. Some other portions are unfit for cultivation.

SURVEYS OF THE ALLEGHENY RIVER.

By resolutions of Congress, surveys of the Alle- gheny river were heretofore ordered to be made. One was made, in 1829, under the superintendence of James Kearney, Lt. Col. Topographical En- gineers, from Pittsburgh to eleven miles above the mouth of French creek, and another, in the sum- mer and autumn of 1837, under the superintend- ence of George W. Hughes, U. S. Civil Engineer. The maps; charts and plan of the latter, who was required to examine into the practicability of con- structing a canal along the valley of the Allegheny river, were unfortunately destroyed by the burning . of the building occupied as an engineer office. Nothing was saved but a mutilated portion of the profile, and the journal which was kept by the gen- tleman charged with the soundings and making an examination of the bed of the stream, so that he was obliged to avail himself of the report of Col. Kearney's survey, from which the writer has gathered the following: The Allegheny river, above the Kiskiminetas, flows generally through a deep, rocky and precipitous ravine. Its bed is formed of a succession of eddies or ponds, with intervening natural dams, having an inclination or slope in the direction of the current, the limits of which, in terms of the altitude and base, may be expressed by the fraction 7's and yoo nearly. The bottom is mostly of sandstone in place, except upon the ripples or obstructions, where it is usually covered with gravel and stones broken and rounded by attrition. The navigable depth of water on these obstructions does not exceed two feet ; and upon some of them there is not more than eighteen inches-a depth which is often confined to a very narrow space ; the greater part of the shoals being nearly, and, in some places, quite bare at low water. Following the lines of the survey, which are not always parallel to the axis of the stream, the dis- tance from the mouth of French creek to the Kis- kiminetas would be ninety-four and a half miles,

* A movement must have been inaugurated as early as 1823, for organizing an agricultural society in this county, which, so far as the writer can learn, was not consummated. That an attempt was then made to organize such a society is evident from the following clause in a letter from Malthus A. Ward, who had previously been a resident physician at Kittanning, to the late Eben Smith Kelly, dated Salem, Mass,, August 8, 1823: " I rejoice to see the doings toward an agricultural society, and wish that in a few years your cattle-show may rival that at Brighton. I fear, however, that it will be many years before Armstrong county can show such a farm as Josiah Quincy's, or Henry Denby's."

SURVEYS OF THE ALLEGHENY RIVER.

nearly, with a descent of the stream of two hun- dred and sixteen feet ; and from the Kiskiminetas to Pittsburgh, twenty-seven miles, with a fall of forty feet.

From Cumming's trunk, which is at or near the northwestern corner of this county, down along the river to Freeport, the numbers of obstructions in, and the geological features on each side of the river, are noted as follows:

Cumming's trunk-obstruction No. 34. Sand- stone and timber in abundance.

Clarion river-obstruction No. 35. Sandstone and timber in abundance.

Parker's Falls, Bear Creek-obstruction No. 36. Bed of river chiefly of sandstone rock in this vicinity. Right bank rises 10' in 15 yards; soil sandy. Left bank rises 15' in 40', and is also stony. Obstruction No. 37. Right bank : soil, clay: rises 23' in 70'. Left bank stony, with a rise of 15' in 40'.

Fox Island Rapid-obstruction No. 38. Right bank rises 60' in 25', and left bank is at an angle of 35°: soil stony.

Eagle Island Rapid-obstruction No. 39. Head of shoal. Right bank retreats 30 yards; sandy, then rises 15' immediately.

Armstrong's Rapid-obstruction No. 40. Left bank slope of 45°, and is a mixture of sand and clay; rubble along shore, and continues much the same to the 356th picket (below Catfish), at which point the right bank rises from shore 14' in 30'. Left bank generally at an angle of 45° as before, and composed of a mixture of sand and clay.

Catfish Falls-obstruction No. 40}. Banks gen- erally mixture of sand and clay, with stony beach receding from 0 to 5 yards, and then rising about 14' in 30'. Left bank generally at an angle of 45° in this vicinity.

Opposite Sugar Creek-obstruction No. 41. Banks generally mixture of sand and clay, with stony beach receding from 0 to 5 yards, and then rising about 14' in 30'. Left bank generally at an angle of 45° in this vicinity.

Goose Bar-obstruction No. 42. Banks gener- ally mixture of sand and clay, with stony beach receding from 0 to 5 yards, and then rising about 14' in 30'. Left bank generally at an angle of 45° in this vicinity.

Above Frazer's run or Denneston's-obstruction No. 43. Banks generally mixture of sand and clay, with stony beach receding from 0 to 5 yards, and then rising about 14' in 30'. Left bank gen- erally at an angle of 45° in this vicinity.

Red Bank Ripple, near Red Bank Creek-ob- struction No. 44. Right bank rises at an angle

of 35°; soil clay. Left bank rises 18' in 50', and is rocky; the bed of the stream gravel; rubble along the shore.

Early's Ripple -obstruction No. 45. Right bank rises 20' in 60', and is a mixture of sand and clay; plenty of rubble along the beach. Left bank rises 25' in 40"; soil a mixture of clay and stones (debris).

Dixon's Falls-obstruction No. 46. Right bank stony, at an angle of 45°. The beach on the left is about 24' in width, and the bank of sandy soil; rises suddenly to an altitude of fifteen feet.

The dam at this place is about 10' high. It does not back the water more than about ten rods above the highest point of the dam. Banks angular, 15° slope; sandstone.

Nelly's Chute-obstruction No. 47. Hills very steep on each side of river; rubble in abundance. Banks nearly the same as at Dixon's Falls.

Near Mahoning Creek - Obstruction No. 48. Right bank rises 32' in 80', and is a mixture of sand and clay. The left bank is sand, with a rise of 26' in 56 yards.

Near Col. Orr's-obstruction No. 49. Right bank rises 32' in 80', and is a mixture of sand and clay. The left bank is sand, with a rise of 26' in 56 yards.

Near Pine Creek-obstruction No. 50. Banks perpendicular; strata of sandstone rock; 12' high, timbered.

Cowanshannock Creek -obstruction No. 31. Banks perpendicular; strata of sandstone rock; 12' high, timbered.

Above Kittanning-obstruction No. 52. Right bank is stony, with a rise of 25' in 26 yards. Left bank steep, having a rise of 28' in 20'; soil sandy.

Kittanning Ferry-obstruction No. 53. Very small stone on beach. Right bank recedes from the river 120 yards, with a very gradual rise of from 12 to 15 feet; sandy soil. Left bank soil the same, rising 20' in 30 yards.

Cogley's Island-obstruction No. 54. Very small stone on beach. Right bank recedes from the river 120 yards, with a very gradual rise of from 12 to 15 feet; sandy soil. Left bank soil the same, rising 20' in 30 yards.

Cogley's Island-obstructions Nos. 55 and 56. Bed of stream rocky; sandstone.

Crooked Creek Island -obstruction No. 57. Banks rise at an angle of 30°. Soil a mixture of sand and gravel.

Nicholson's Run, Shafer's Mill - obstruction No. 58. Banks rise at an angle of 30°. Soil a mixture of sand and gravel.

Nicholson's Run, Shafer's Mill - obstruction

HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

No. 59. Banks ascend at an angle of 45°; soil sand and gravel.

Above the mouth of Kiskiminetas, and below where the aqueduct was-obstruction Nos. 60, 61 and 62. Banks the same as before, soil sand and stones.

In the middle of July, 1842, the stage of water in the Allegheny was such that its navigable con- dition was very good, which had been and which has since been an unusual occurrence at that sea- son of the year. The water was so high that rafts of the largest size passed down it to Pitts- burgh, and the steamers Izak Walton, Warren, Ida, Pulaski and Forrest made trips to points in the upper Allegheny.

MINERAL.

Every section of this county is pervaded by dif- ferent systems and species of bituminous coal, sandstone and iron ore. Here and there are veins of excellent fire-clay, from one of which specimens have been tested that proved to be equal in quality to any in the world, except one in Ger- many, from which crucibles are made. According to an estimate made by J. McFarlane from facts collected by him, 355,586 tons of bituminous coal were mined in the county in 1870. Large quanti- ties of petroleum have been produced in the north- western section during the last ten years.

LOCOMOTION.

The increased need of facilities for locomotion, arising from increasing population, has been met by the public authorities, in the construction of numerous roads and bridges. Iron superstructures of bridges have, within the last few years, taken the place of wooden ones in several instances, because they are found to be the best, and in the end the cheapest. There are now nine county bridges of that material, most of which are already completed.

PATRIOTIC. - THE WAR OF 1812.

Whenever war's dread tocsin has sounded in our land, the hardy sons of Armstrong county, imbued as it were with the martial spirit of him whose name it bears, have patriotically rallied in defense of our country's glory, honor and integrity.

During the progress of the revolutionary war there was but a mere handful of permanent resi- dents within what are now the limits of this county, so that the number therefrom that engaged in that war, if any, must have been very small.

In the war of 1812, when the population of this country was still small and sparse, one full com- pany volunteered its services and was ordered to Black Rock, N. Y. It was recruited by Capt. James Alexander, the editor and proprietor of the Western Eagle.

Another company was drafted, of which John Banuckman was captain, and assigned to the army of the Northwest. Its members, in common with the rest of the militia from Pennsylvania, must have evinced true valor and patriotism. Their six months' tour of duty had expired before the arrival at Fort Meigs of the reinforcements which Gen. Harrison was then awaiting. Impending charges from the hostile foes appeared to threaten all around. That fort was exposed - it was besieged. Longer services of those whose terms had expired were needed. Then, April 1 or 2, 1813, it was that our late fellow citizen, Gen. Robt. Orr, then hold- ing the rank of major, and others of the Pennsyl- vania detachment, numbering two hundred, volun- teered, officers and all, as private soldiers, for fif- teen days longer in defense of the fort. They were honorably discharged on the 17th of that month, on the arrival there of the expected reinforcements from Kentucky and elsewhere. From the general orders then issued by Gen. Harrison, which the writer finds in the Pittsburgh Mercury of April 29, 1813, he cites this paragraph:

"The General, on behalf of the government, gives his thanks to Majors Nelson, Ringland and Orr, and every other officer, non-commissioned officer and private of this detachment for their services and magnanimous conduct upon this oc- casion."

The Mercury said: "Fort Meigs is now "-Thurs- day, April 29, 1813-" in a perfect state of security and defence in men and works. The conduct of these men in volunteering for its defense when left nearly destitute was truly patriotic and deserving the notice of government."

The writer has learned from another source that Major Orr kindly administered to the wants of the men under his command, and if a private soldier became sick or unable to march, the major would dismount and give the disabled the use of his horse.

In the Mexican war the services of an organized company were tendered to and almost accepted by the government. About half a dozen citizens of this county served through that war in other com- panies.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES.

COL. JOHN ARMSTRONG.

Col., afterward Gen., John Armstrong was born in the north of Ireland in the year 1720. About 1746 he came to Pennsylvania, and settled in what was then called the Kittatinny, now the Cumberland valley, on the southeast side of the Kittatinny or Blue mountains. The passing re- mark may here be made, that on Reading Howell's map of Pennsylvania, published in 1792, the valley south of Bedford and between Will's and Evit's mountains, through which flows Evit's creek, is named Cumberland. On the historical map of this state the word and query, "Armstrong (?)," are along the Kittatinny or Blue mountains in the northwest part of the present county of Franklin. It may be that that is the place where Armstrong first settled, which was then a part of the western frontier of Pennsylvania. He was a good surveyor. After the organization of Cumberland county, in 1750, he and a Mr. Lyon were employed by the. then proprietaries to lay out Carlisle. In 1762 the former resurveyed and laid it out according to its present plan. He was sent, in 1754, by Gov. Morris to the then colony of Connecticut, respect- ing the, as it turned out to be, illegal purchase of land in Pennsylvania by the Susquehanna com- pany, or Wyoming settlers, from the Indians. He accordingly visited New Haven and conferred with Gov. Fitch and others concerning that pur- chase, and on December 11, 1754, reported to Gov. Morris the discoveries which he had made while in Connecticut. He ascertained that Gov. Fitch, some of the prominent men, and the generality of the people of that colony believed that purchase to be entirely of a private nature, and contrary to the laws of both colonies, while some instanced the antiquity and extent of their charter on which the claims of that company were based. He was selected, the next year, to be the surveyor and one of the commissioners for laying out roads from Carlisle to "Turkey Foot," in the forks of the Youghiogheny, in the present county of Somerset, and to Will's Creek, the present site of Cumber- land, Md. He was appointed a captain of a com- pany in the second battalion of provincial troops in January, 1756, and lieutenant colonel May 11 following. In 1757 he rendered valuable services in arranging the defenses along the frontier. He was appointed colonel May 27, 1758, and partici- pated as commandant of the advance division of the Pennsylvania troops in Gen. Forbes' march to and capture of Fort Du Quesne. Five years later, while Pontiac's war was raging, he recruited 300

volunteers, and in the latter part of September moved against the Indian towns on the west branch of the Susquehanna, Great Island and Manniqua-the latter at the junction of Kettle creek with that river. The Indians had left, leaving behind them large quantities of provisions, which, with those towns, were destroyed. He was ap- pointed the first on a committee of correspondence by a large meeting of the citizens of Cumberland county, held at Carlisle, July 12, 1774, for the pur- pose of expressing their sympathy with the people of Boston. He was also the first one on a com- mittee appointed to tender to Benjamin Franklin, who was then president of the committee of safety, their services in raising a full battalion in that county. He was the first of the six brigadier generals who were chosen by Congress, February 29, 1776. In the following April he was ordered to South Carolina, whither he proceeded and took command of the troops collected at Charleston, which place was in danger of being attacked by the British fleet under the command of Sir Peter Parker. Gen. Charles Lee, who was commandant of the southern department, having arrived there in the fore part of April, assumed command, keep- ing Gen. Armstrong with nearly 2000 men at Haddrell's Point, which was a mile or so from Fort Moultrie, as the fort on Sullivan's Island was afterward called in honor of Col. Moultrie, who, under the immediate orders of Gen. Armstrong, so heroically commanded it during the bombard- ment of the British fleet for ten hours, June 28, when it was defeated.

Gen. Armstrong, having resigned his position in the Continental army, April 4, 1777, was the next day appointed first brigadier general, and, June 5, major general of the troops in Pennsyl- vania, to whom Gen. Washington wrote, July +, and expressed his "pleasure at this honorable mark of distinction conferred upon him by the state." He afterward, during the last named year, rendered efficient and valuable services in erecting works of defense along the Delaware river, and at the battles of Brandywine and Germantown, and when an invasion was apprehended at Philadelphia he was ordered thither to command the militia. His public life ended with his services in Congress, to which he was elected for the years 1779-80 and 1787-88.

Judging from a likeness of him which the writer has seen, his personal appearance must have been somewhat like that of Washington, his presence commanding and dignified and well calculated to win the esteem and confidence of those who came in contact with him. He was a citizen of Cumber-

HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

land county, Pa., where he lived and died* highly esteemed and gratefully remembered, and, says Bancroft, in his cursory notice of the battle at Kittanning, " famed as inheriting the courage and piety of the Scotch covenanters." Gen. James Wilkinson, in his memoirs, pays this tribute to him : "The hero of Kittanning in the war of 1756, and one of the most virtuous men who has lived in any age or country."

And William B. Reed, in his oration, delivered on the occasion of the reinterment of the remains of Gen. Mercer, paid him this just tribute : "To fearless intrepidity of the highest cast there was united in his character a strong sense of religious responsibility that rarely blends with military sentiment. He belonged to that singular race of men, the Scottish Covenanters, in whom austerity was a virtue of high price, and who, in the con- flicts to which persecution trained them, never drew the sword or struck a mortal blow without the confidence, which enthusiasm seemed to give them, that agencies higher and stronger than human means were battling in their behalf, and that their sword, whether bloodless or bloody, was always ' the sword of the Lord.' Educated in these sentiments, Jolin Armstrong never swerved from them. He was foremost in his country's ranks, whether her cause was defense against a foreign foe or revolt against oppression-in the colonial conflicts as well as in the war of the revo- lution. He was always known to kneel in humble devotion and earnest prayer before he went into battle, and never seemed to doubt in the battle's fury that the work of blood was sanctified to some high purpose. Under this leader did young Mercer-for a common sympathy, at least on this soil, united the Jacobite and the Cameronian- fight his first American battle; and it was in the arms of the son of this his ancient general that he was carried mortally wounded from the bloody field of Princeton."

Gen. Armstrong became a Presbyterian, and was an active and influential member of the first church at Carlisle, whose first church edifice was erected in 1757.

CAPT. MERCER.

Capt. Hugh Mercer, in the action at Kittanning, was induced by some of his men, as Col. Arm- strong believed, to detach himself with his ensign and ten or twelve others from the main body by being told that the main force was in great danger and that they could take him into the road by a nearer route. He had not, however, been heard

from when Col. Armstrong closed his report to Gov. Denny. He and those with him were then supposed to have been lost. From another source than Col. Armstrong's report, I learn that he was wounded in the wrist and discovered there was danger of his being surrounded by the hostile Indians, whose war-whoop and yell indicated their near approach. Having become faint from the loss of blood, he concealed himself in the hollow trunk of a large trec. The Indians came there, seated themselves for rest, and then disappeared. Capt. Mercer then left his hiding place and pur- sued his course through a trackless wild, a hundred miles, to Fort Cumberland, subsisting, in part at least, on the body of a rattlesnake which he had killed. Some writers state that it was in the battle of the Monongahela that he was separated from the main force, and that he started on that lonely tour to Fort Cumberland from Fort Du Quesne. In con- firmation of the opinion that Capt. Mercer's lonely and perilous journey and escape to Fort Cumber- land was when he was separated from the main force at Kittanning, instead of near Fort Du Quesne, Bancroft, in his brief account of the affair at the former place, says : " Mercer, who was wounded severely and separated from his companions, tracked his way by the stars and rivulets to Fort Cumberland." His authority for saying that Kit- tanning was the starting point of that journey is the above mentioned oration by William B. Reed. .

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History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, Part 10

Author: Smith, Robert Walter Publication date: 1883 Publisher: Chicago : Waterman, Watkins Number of Pages: 790

Author: Smith, Robert Walter
Publication date: 1883
Publisher: Chicago : Waterman, Watkins
Number of Pages: 790