USA > Pennsylvania > Armstrong County > History of Armstrong County, Pennsylvania > Part 77
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The common school has afforded the chief edu- cational facilities. Rev. J. A. Campbell, the first county superintendent, taught a normal class here in 1855-6.
The second resident physician in this part of the town is Dr. Theodore P. Klingensmith, who set- tled here in 1874.
The first store here was opened by George W. .
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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
Goheen in 1845, with which and a house and lot he was then assessed at $700. He does not appear to have been assessed with the store after 1846. The mercantile business in this part of the town has since then been chiefly limited to the Putney brothers and sons. G. S. Putney and sons are the present owners of two stores-one containing a general assortment of goods and the other limited to hardware.
The place of worship of the Methodist Episcopal church was changed from edifice near William Smullins' to this place, in 1844, and held public services in the schoolhouse and occasionally in the Associate Reformed or U. P. church edifice, until their present edifice, frame, 40×60 feet, two stories, costing $5,000, was erected, in 1873, on the north- east side of First, about sixteen rods above Grant street, on a lot conveyed, December 27, 1870, by George S. Putney to Amzi Loomis, John F. Gear- hart, William B. Smullin and himself, trustees, " containing sixty-four perches, also five feet from the south line for hitching purposes."
David Putney, endearingly called Father Putney by his neighbors, was elected a member of assembly in 1853, but was defeated for the nomination the next year on account of the hne and cry raised against him because of his instrumentality in pro- curing the passage of an act authorizing the taxing of dogs for the purpose of paying damages for the loss of sheep killed by them-a piece of legislation that was needed and which has since been supplied. His son, George S. Putney, was elected to the same office in 1870, and served during the next session of the legislature.
The Associate Reformed, now called United Presbyterian church, was dependent on supplies most, if not all the time, until quite recent years, when it ceased to exercise its ecclesiastical func- tions. Its membership was too small to maintain a regular pastor. The lot, containing 100 perches, adjoining Grant, between Third and Fourth streets, on which its frame edifice is situated, was conveyed by J. T. and G. S. Putney to James L. Armstrong, John Duff and Samnel Ferguson, committee or trustees, and their successors, December 8, 1853, for $1. The congregation became divested of their title to it by sheriff's sale to William R. Hamil- ton, who had been one of the chief contributors to the maintenance of the organization during its ephemeral existence.
The first bridge across the Mahoning, connecting the two parts of this town, was erected at an early date. The present superstructure is the third one.
Lodge No. 735, Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, was established here December 1, 1870.
The western portion of Putneyville is situated on the right bank of the Mahoning on a part of the Le Roy & Co. tract No. 319, warrant No. 3000, the patent for which to the Holland Company is dated February 12, 1829, which Willink & Co. conveyed to John Millison, October 8, 1836,* that is, the upper or northwestern part of the 98 acres and 8 perches which were then conveyed to him for $197-that part seeming on a connected draft to project into the northeastern and southern pur- parts of the Arthur Bryan tract. This part of the town does not appear to have been laid out, like the eastern part, into town lots. Small parcels have, however, been sold to divers persons at vari- ous times. Millison conveyed half an acre to J. T. and G. S. Putney, July 7, 1842, for $2; 1 acre and 84 perches to John Grinder, June 17, 1850, for $200, and 1 acre and 8 perches to him, December 7, 1853, for $100; Grinder to John C. and Miles D. Gray, part of the parcel which Millison had conveyed to him, June 17, 1850, for $111.50-they were first assessed on the Putneyville list in 1856, and John C. Gray as a merchant in 1862-his store being on this lot, south of West Main and west of Short streets. South of the former and east of the latter street is the parcel which Millison conveyed to Grinder, 1 acre and 84 perches, June 17, 1850, for $200 (where the latter opened a hotel in 1860), 52} perches of which Grinder reconveyed to Millison, January 28, 1860, for $100, and which Millison conveyed to Michael Huffman, June 2, 1866, for $100, where the latter kept one of the two hotels in this town for several years, and which is now kept by S. Nulf. Opposite this hotel, on the corner of West Main and West Water streets, is the other hotel, kept by Joseph C. Schrecongost, which is on the parcel conveyed by Millison to Enoch Lewis, November 11, 1848, who conveyed it to George W. Goheen, May 1, 1861, for $500, and he to Schrecongost, June 6, 1850 - their deeds evi- dence this anachronism-for $500, where he was first assessed as an innkeeper in 1860. Grinder to L. W. Corbett, one-fourth acre, which the latter conveyed to Jas. L. Hettrich, July 21, 1861, for $52.50. Conveyances of various other parcels have been made from one to another which have not yet been recorded.
The first separate assessment list for Putneyville was in 1851, showing that the entire town then contained 24 taxables, indicating the number of inhabitants then to have been 110. Though the occupations were assessed at $320, there are no specifications of what any of them were. The ag-
* He was first assessed with fifty acres of it and two oxen in 1832, at $100.
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gregate valuation of real estate was $1,735, and of personal $165. The assessment list for 1876 shows: taxables, 51, indicating the population to be 234. The occupations were specified thus : Minister, 1; school-teacher, 1; surveyor, 1; physician, 1; farm- ers, 2; laborers, 8; merchants, 2; millers, 2; shoe- makers, 2; blacksmith, 1; cabinetmaker, 1.
Willink & Co. conveyed other portions of this tract : 87 acres and 6 perches to John Daubenspike, June 17, 1829, for $168 ; 224 acres and 19 perches to John Shoemaker, December 20, 1832, for $140.07, and he to Jacob Smith 164 acres and 87 perches, June 23, 1840, for $662.50; 93 acres and 63 perches to Peter Hine, December 19, 1833, for $58.30, and he to George S. Putney ; 186 acres and 100 perches to A. and J. A. Colwell, August 18, 1847, for $186.60. Sixty-five acres "in the northwestern corner" of this tract in the southern half of the eastern bend of the Mahoning, southeast of the furnace, were conveyed by Benjamin B. Cooper to John Thorn, January 6, 1819, for $97.50. This parcel appears to have belonged to the heirs of Yost Smith, and it is now a part of the furnace property.
Passing up to the northern portion of this town- ship, west of "Quito," is the territory covered by the warrant to Willink & Co., No. 2896, on tract No. 280, called "Lisburn," 990 acres, divided into six allotments, the patent of which is dated Sep- tember 6, 1802. Allotment 2 is in the northeastern part and chiefly on the northern or Clarion side of the Red Bank, traversed by Leasure's Run, and on which the town of New Bethlehem is situated. Lewis Dauhenspecht appears to have been the first permanent white settler on this allotment when it was in Toby township. He was first assessed on the list of that township as a single man in 1806, and the next year with 200 acres, "improvement." Willink & Co. conveyed 130 acres and 16 perches to him October 5, 1811, for $195. The portion of this allotment on the southern, or Armstrong side of the Red Bank continued to be owned by Danbenspike and his heirs, who released to his son Lewis April 2, 1850, for $654, until the latter conveyed 54 acres and 124 perches, including one- half an acre formerly sold, to William R. Hamil- ton, January 22, 1874, for $7,500, on a part of which he laid ont the town of South Bethlehem. As indicating the value of real estate in this new town a few years since and up to the present time, the following conveyances are here given : Wm. R. Hamilton to C. C. Cochran, lot No. 79, 64 perches, October 23, 1875, for $250; 12 acres and 49 perches, "beginning at the corner of Short and Broad streets," to Washington Craig & Co.,
November 16, for $2,750; lots Nos. 5 and 7 to James H. Craig, November 19, for $500; lots Nos. 10 and 12 to C. H. Ide, March 15, 1876, for $1,500 ; lot No. 81 to Mary C. McMillen, March 25, for $300 ; lot No. 8 to George E. Cowan, April 6, for $200 ; lots Nos. 16, 18, 20, 22, 78 to Philip Eaker, May 7, for $1,200 ; lots Nos. 104, 106 to W. Craig & Co., December 28, for $200; lot No. 85 to James McMillen, May 10, for $250; * lot No. 8 to L. W. Corbett, May 27, for $500. In West Bethlehem : Lots 40, 42, 44 and part of 46 to Jacob F. Anthony, June 2, for $1,325; two- fifths of an acre to L. M. Putney, January 6; 64 perches to Mahoning school district September 1.
The major part of allotment 1, in the north- western part of this tract, is on the north side of the Red Bank. This allotment has upon it on the map of original tracts the name of Casper Nulf, probably the younger. Casper Nulf, Sr., was first assessed with 100 acres, two horses and one cow, on the list of Red Bank township in 1808, at $51, and Casper Nulf, Jr., with 50 acres, one horse and two cows, in 1812, at $100. It was probably from this allotment that the former "moved away"-to Plum Creek township in 1816-17, where he and his wife died at the advanced age heretofore men- tioned. Benjamin B. Casper conveyed this allot- ment to John Mohney, December 20, 1831, for $165, and he to Frederick Mohney, March 7, 1835, for $300, who had been assessed with it, one horse and one cow at $207, in 1833. Willink & Co. con- veyed 157 acres and 46 perches of allotment 6 to James Cathcart, who had formerly occupied a parcel of "Lurgan," March 13, 1838, for $118. He must also have acquired allotment 4, or a portion of it, for he conveyed 59 acres and 148 perches off the east end of it and allotment 6 to John Corbett, April 1, 1851, for $49.62, and 137 acres and 12 perches off the same to George Space, March 29, 1855, for $1,500; he had been assessed with 94 acres at $94, in 1844. Moses McLain was assessed with 100 acres of allotment 3, one horse and two cows at $72, in 1831. It does not appear from the records that he purchased this parcel. A portion of this tract was included in the purchase made by Alexander Colwell and his co-vendees, for they conveyed 157 acres of it-it seems to have been of this allotment -to Thomas McKelvy, April 15, 1863, for $460, which he conveyed to Isaac Lam- berson July 22, 1865, for $600, 28 acres of which the latter conveyed to George Seward October 14 for $250. The father of the last-named, Chauncy
* Since the centennial year- in South Bethlehem- lots Nos. 14, 17, 19 to C. C. Cochran, December 20, 1877, 9900 : to A. S. Brown, lot No. 54, October 30, for $200 ; lots Nos. 27, 28, 29, 31, 69, 71, 73, 75, 80 and 82 to Geo. S. Putney and sons, January 15, 1878, for $1,830.
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Seward, who claimed to be a kinsman of ex-Gov- ernor, Senator, Secretary William H. Seward - he may have descended from the family or a branch of the family of Deacon Seward, of Durham, Connecticut, where there were families by the name of both Chauncy and Seward -settled on this part of this tract about 1839, for he was assessed with 350 acres of it, two horses and two cows in 1840, at $435. Whatever inchoate title he may have acquired does not appear to have been perfected. Lamberson conveyed 100 acres to John McClain, July 31, 1866, for $-, and McClain to James H. Mayo, June 28, 1871, for $1,500. Wil- link & Co. conveyed 94 acres and 93 perches of allotment 4 to Frederick Mohney, March 13, 1838, for $70.90. The latter conveyed 27 acres and 139 perches, either of this or an adjoining allotment, to John Lamberson, May 12, 1862, for $350. James McLain was assessed with 170 acres of allotment 5 and one yoke of oxen in 1837, at $115. Colwell et al. conveyed this allotment to him December 19, 1849, for $171.50, and McClain to Mayo, June 6, 1872, for $5,000, so that this allotment, on which was formerly a schoolhouse, and the above-men- tioned John McClain parcel are now a portion of the Red Bank Cannel Coal and Iron Company's property.
Adjoining the last preceding tract on the west was the Holland tract No. 281, covered by warrant to Willink & Co. No. 2891, the chief part of which was in the upper part of the Great bend in Red Bank creek, in what is now Clarion county. It con- tained six allotments. Portions of 2, 4, 6 are on the east side, and portions of 3, 5 are on the west side, of the Great bend. Jacob Anthony was assessed with 200 acres of it, two horses and three cows in 1824, at $93. James Anthony's name appears on the Red Bank township assessment list the same year. He appears to have been assessed with 50 acres, the eastern part of allotment 2, 260 acres of some other tract, one yoke of oxen and two cows at $120. Willink & Co. conveyed 72 acres and 32 perches of the east end of this allot- ment to him February 3, 1837, for $54.45.
Benjamin Price was assessed on the Red Bank township list in 1833 with 140 acres in the east end of allotment 4, two horses and two cattle, at $201. Willink & Co. conveyed to his administra- tor in trust for his heirs 111 acres and 4 perches thereof June 14, 1841, for $130, which his widow and heirs conveyed to Jacob Nulf March 19, 1845, for $700, which, with other land belonging to his estate, was divided by proceedings in partition February 20, 1854, into two purparts, the one of which contained 108 acres and 137 perches and
the other the same quantity less three perches. The former, " A," valued at $1,632.84, was taken by Barbara Baughman, and the other, valued at $1,197.21, by the guardian of Jacob Nulf, Jr., which the latter with his mother and the other heirs, for the purpose of releasing him from his recognizance, conveyed to David Gumbert August 21, 1865, for $1,525. A parcel in the west end of allotment 5, on the west side of the Great Bend, was formerly conveyed to James Bleakney, who conveyed the same to George W. Goheen March 15, 1845, and Goheen to the present owner, Joseph IIettrich, 82 acres, May 19, 1857, for $300. The Rockford road seems to cross the Red Bank on or near the line between allotments 4 and 6.
The tract next south of the last preceding one was No. 291, covered by warrant No. 2886, a con- siderable portion of which is within the Great Bend in what is now Clarion county, the patent for which to Willink & Co. is dated September 6, 1802. Jacob Anthony was, according to one of J. E. Meredith's connected drafts, formerly the owner or occupant of the portions of allotments 4 and 6 east of the Red Bank. He was probably here, or in the vicinity, in 1822, when he was first assessed with one cow at $10, with 200 acres, two horses and three cattle at $93, in 1824, and with 400 acres of Holland land, two horses and two cattle at $500, in 1837, which must have included the quantity in the southern part of the Great bend, which he also owned. The records in this county do not show from whom he purchased or to whom he sold. Willink & Co. conveyed 100 acres of the east end of allotment 2 to Wm. Anthony August 4, 1847, for $109. The eastern part of allotment 6 was settled by William McClain, who was first assessed with 50 acres of it, one horse and two cows in 1832, at $62.50. He afterward, according to Meredith's connected draft, pos- sessed 106 acres and 50 perches, the title papers of which are not recorded. There is a parcel con- sisting mostly of allotment 1, in the northwestern part of this tract, on which Samuel Buzzard set- tled in 1833. He was first assessed with 75 acres and two cows at $91 ; the next year, being then in Red Bank, but after 1836, in Madison, township. Colwell et al., in pursuance of a previous agree- ment, conveyed 181 acres and 60 perches to Robert Blakeney, in trust for Samuel Buzzard's heirs, December 23, 1852, which they conveyed to Will- iam Willison May 27, 1858, for $400, 10 acres of which, along the southern or left bank of Red Bank creek, became vested in David Stewart, on which he erected the firebrick works in 1872-3. The cost of these works, including that of the rail-
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road from them to the claybank, and of the bridge and trestle-work, was about $32,000. The clay used in the manufacture of the brick, which is said to be of an excellent quality, its analysis com- paring favorably with that of any other in this country or in Europe, is obtained from a vein from four to ten feet thick on the farm of Thomas Buzzard, about three-quarters of a mile southeast- erly from the works, up the creek. The capacity of these works is said to be adequate to the daily manufacture of 8,000 bricks and work for about thirty employés, though the present daily produc- tion is only about 3,000. During the time of their erection about fifty persons were employed. The number employed in 1874, when these works were first represented in a separate assessment list, was fourteen, including the proprietor, one manager, one yard-manager, one clerk, one miner and eight laborers. The number in 1876 is only three. This property now belongs to John B. Bell, of Allegheny City, and the estate of Samuel M. Kiers, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Next south or above that Buzzard-Willison par- cel is the one on which Thomas Buzzard settled in 1836, when his land, two horses and two cows were assessed at $225. Willink & Co. conveyed 168 acres and 155 perches of allotment 3 to him, June 19, 1847, for $338. Contiguous thereto on the south is the western end of allotment 5, containing 132 acres and 22 perches, which Willink & Co. conveyed to George Nulf, August 15, 1839, for $265.50, with 50 acres of which, one yoke of oxen and one cow he had been first assessed in 1831. The Oakland postoffice, George Nulf, postmaster, was established here December 20, 1841. The first edifice of the Red Bank Baptist church, frame, was erected on this parcel in 1846, and was burned in the fall of 1873. . Its site may yet be recognized by the graveyard north of the Auderson Creek road, nearly opposite the schoolhouse. This part of allotment 5, except the Baptist church lot, and 50 acres and 70 perches of allotment 2, tract 309, warrant 2864, were conveyed by George C. Nulf to John McCauley, October 9, 1855, for $2,800. The latter conveyed these two parcels and another one of 4 acres and 100 perches, which he had purchased from Thomas Buzzard, to W. W. Wakelee, March 13, 1865, and which Wakelce reconveyed to Mc- Cauley, January 17, 1868, for $3,000. One hundred and thirty-eight acres of the last-mentioned parcel were, according to Meredith's connected draft, occupied by W. Mitchell. Another parcel, accord- ing to the same, 126 acres and 127 perches, southeast and east of the latter and south of the Great Bend, was occupied by Samuel Adams, who appears to
have removed hither from "Springfield " -- that part of it north of the Mahoning-in 1834, when he was first assessed in Red Bank township with 100 acres of the Holland land, probably the parcel of allotments 1, 3, containing 1273 acres, conveyed by Willink & Co. to James Authony, August 11, 1845, for $122.50. Fifty acres of it became vested in Samuel W. Kinney, which he conveyed to James Stewart, July 19, 1850, for $400, which passed from him to Joseph K. Wright by sheriff's sale, in March, 1856, and which he conveyed to John Mc- Cauley in June, 1862, for $400. East of the last- named parcel and southeast of the Great Bend was another parcel, consisting of parts of allotment 6, of tract 291, warrant 2881, and allotment 2, of tract 308, warrant 2886, with which, 318 acres, two horses and one cow, Conrad Lamberson was first assessed at $209, in 1835, and which Willink & Co. conveyed to him, October 3, for $337. He con- veyed this parcel to his son, Isaac Lamberson, and his son-in-law, James Anthony, January 8, 1839, each one's purpart to be determined by the survey and division made by Robert Richards, December 1, 1838. Anthony's purpart, containing 140 acres and 34 perches, included the western portion of the parcel, and Lamberson's, 151 acres and 84 perches, the eastern portion, in the northeastern part of which are the town lots which he laid out in the village of Oakland. The agreement between the grantor and grantees was that the former and his wife should have the privilege of living on either of these purparts, either in the house where they then resided, or with the family of either one or the other of the grantees; that the grantor be fur- nished with hay and pasturage for one cow, suffi- cient firewood, one-fourth of all the grain raised on those premises, fifty pounds of beef and fifty pounds of pork annually, and that he should have the privilege of digging for and raising stone coal thereon during his life. Anthony conveyed 35 acres of his purpart to Henry Adams, May 23, 1857, for $175, and 52 acres and 96 perches to John Shoemaker (of Philip), May 19, 1866, for $631; and Lamberson, 136 acres and 130 perches of his purpart to Charles E. Andrews, March 29, 1873, for $5,500.
Other portions of tract 308, warrant 2886, south of the foregoing, were conveyed by Willink & Co., namely: 164 acres and 52 perches of allotment 6 to Philip Shoemaker, June 22, 1831, for $125, and 175 acres of allotment 5, September 20, 1832, for $127.50, and he to his son John, 112 acres and 10 perches of allotment 6, February 27, 1840, for $100, and the east half of allotment 5, together with the east end of allotment 1, tract 317, warrant
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HISTORY OF ARMSTRONG COUNTY.
2880, for $120.60. John Reedy was assessed with 160 acres of allotment 2 of the last-mentioned tract, one yoke of oxen and one cow, in 1836, at $48. Ile did not perfect his inchoate title. This allotment was included in the sale from Willink & Co. to Colwell et al., who conveyed 125 acres and 10 perches of it to John Beham, February 5, 1856, who conveyed this parcel to J. A. Colwell & Co., May 10, 1871, for $3,000." It is singular that in the several deeds this allotment is described as No. 2 of tract 319, warrant 3000, the northeast corner of which adjoins the southwest corner of the southern purpart of the Bryan tract. Willink & Co. conveyed 93 acres and 50 perches of allot- ment 1 to Daniel Reedy, May 1, 1840, for $93.33, with 46 acres of which he is still assessed; and 172 acres and 72 perches of allotments 3 and 5 to Joseph K. Wright, July 15, 1841, for $112.50, with 160 acres of which his heirs are still assessed.
The population of this township, including that of the above-mentioned towns, in 1860, was 1,446 white ; in 1870, native, 1,333 ; foreign, 69, and col- ored, 1. The number of taxables in 1876 is 426, indicating a population of 1,959.
In 1860 the number of schools was 9; average number months taught, 4; male teachers, 7 ; fe- male teachers, 2 ; average monthly salaries of male, $16.86 ; average monthly salaries of female, $17.50 ; male scholars, 208 ; female scholars, 163 ; average number attending school, 226; cost of teaching each scholar per month, 54 cents ; amount tax lev- ied, $734.02 ; received from state appropriation, $72.07 ; received from collectors, $673.16 ; cost of instruction, $612 ; cost of fuel and contingencies, $185.74 ; cost of schoolhouses, $378.66.
In 1876 the number of schools was 10; average number months taught, 5 ; male teachers, 7; fe- male teachers, 5 ; average salaries male per month, $31.14 ; average salaries female per month, $25.40 ; male scholars, 272 ; female scholars, 242 ; average number attending school, 322 ; cost per month, 76 cents ; amount tax levied, $3,035.89 ; received from state appropriation, $378.51 ; from taxes and other sources, $2,974.56 ; cost of schoolhouses, $1,158.79 ; paid teachers, $1,615 ; paid fuel, etc., $517.90.
The vote on the question of granting license to sell intoxicating liquors was, for, 35 ; against, 119.
The population of this township having been small and sparse prior to the adoption of the com- mon school system, the educational facilities were correspondingly meager. The buildings purposely erected for schoolhouses before the passage of the free or common school law of 1834 appear to have
been the primitive log ones heretofore mentioned, located nearly a mile east of Oakland, in the " Cove," and on Millseat run. The pioneer teach- ers were Robert Walker, George Ellenberger and William Foster.
The mercantile appraiser's list for 1876 shows the merchants in this township to be two in the fourteenth class, three in the thirteenth, and one the eleventh.
The general geological features of this township, as communicated to the writer by W. G. Platt, after completing his geological survey of this county : The deep valleys of Mahoning and Red Bank creeks exhibited conglomerate and subcon- glomerate rocks. The lower productive measures usually make up the interval between the conglom- erate and the highlands, except in the eastern corner of the township, where a small portion of the lower barrens cap the hills. Of these lower barrens the Mahoning sandstone forms the prin- cipal part. . It is handsomely exhibited on the slopes overlooking Putneyville from the north. It is very massive and seventy-five feet thick. The lower productive coal measures present some ex- ceptional features of interest, the entire group, with all its coals and limestones, being favorably situated for study. At the "Point," at Putney- ville, a complete section of those measures is oh- tained, displaying all the typical members of the group in connected succession. By typical members are meant the following strata in descending order : Freeport upper coal, formerly called Upper Free- port, 33 feet thick ; Freeport upper limestone, the one chiefly mined in this vicinity ; Freeport lower coal ; Freeport lower limestone, the middle hed at Bostonia ; Freeport sandstone, massive and promi- nent ; the Kittanning upper coal ; the Johnstown cement limestone ; Kittanning middle coal ; Kit- tanning lower coal, 3 feet thick ; ferriferous lime- stone, 10 feet thick, and supports its usual iron ore ; Clarion coal ; Brookville coal. The last-mentioned coals are not important here. Further down the Mahoning the ferriferous limestone and iron ore used at Colwell's furnace, where the Upper Free- port coal supplies the fuel for the stack. The Pottsville conglomerate is conspicuous at the base of the slopes at Putneyville and below the furnace, and extends along Red Bank creek to the outskirts of New Bethlehem, where it sinks under water level.
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