USA > Pennsylvania > Cambria County > History of Cambria County, Pennsylvania, Volume I > Part 20
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Loretto is about seven miles in an easterly direction from Ebensburg, and was incorporated as the borough of Loretto by the Act of March 8, 1845.
Among the early settlers with Captain Michael McGuire and his wife Rachel Brown, were Cornelius McGuire, William Dodson, Michael Rager, John Storm, John Douglass, William Meloy, Luke McGuire who married Margaret O'Hara, Richard Nagle, Richard Ashcraft, James Alcorn, John Trux and John Byrne.
The souvenir of Loretto contains the names of all the families, and those of the children, with dates of birth and death from November 17, 1793, to October 10, 1899, which renders it very valuable for genealogical purposes.
The surnames are: Adams, Bradley, Brown, Burgoon, Burke, Byrne, Christy, Conrad, Coons or Kuhns. Dimond, Vol. I-14
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Dougherty, Eckenrode, Flick, Glass, Hertzog, Litzinger, Mc- Connell, McCoy, MeDermitt, McGough, McGuire, McMullen, Miller, Myers, Nagle, Noel, O'Neill, Parish, Skelly or O'Skelly, Smith, Hoover or Huber, Kane. Kean or Cain, Kaylor, Kelly, Little, Stevens, Storm, Sweeney, Weakland and Will. There were twenty-five families by the names of Bradley and McGuire; Dougherty, twenty-two; Eckenrode, twenty-three; Glass, twen- ty: McConnell, twenty; Myers and Noel, each, twenty-three; and Will, twenty. The aggregate number of families repre- sented is 2143.
MUNSTER.
The Village of Munster is about five miles east of Ebens- burg, and was plotted for a town by Edward V. James in 1808. It is said to have been a rival for the county capital, but there is no evidence of that fact. It was an Irish settlement. The town plot was extensive, but it never prospered. The lots were sixty-six feet in frontage and about one hundred and eighty feet in depth, and sold for $16 specie.
It is near the headwaters of the Little Conemaugh river, and one of the streets was named Conemaugh. It was located on the first road made in the county-the Frankstown, or the old Galbreath road, which is noted elsewhere. It had the ad- vantage over Ebensburg, Buela and Loretto at that time, as neither of these localities had a good road east or west. About twenty years after the town was plotted there was an effort to make a new township to be named Donegal, but it caused so much friction the court declined to create it. Some of the free- holders were John O'Gara, Hugh McWilliamson, Hugh Gara, Moses Noon, Michael Burns, William Manly, Edward Smith, John Nickson, Patrick Dawson, Dennis Lynch, John Rhey, John Miller, Philip Noon, John D. Kerney, Jacob Glass, John Curren, Peter Storm, Bartholomew Kearney, Cornelius Freel, Joseph McGeehan, James Kean, James O'Kean and John Boyle. The . descendents of Kearney and the Glass and other families still reside in that vicinity. However, there were few houses erect- ed. The village is on the crest and western slope of the divide.
CHAPTER XI.
THE RIVERS, CREEKS AND RIVULETS-SAW AND GRIST MILLS, AND RAFTING.
A spring on the farm of Andrew Strittmatter, in Carroll township, near Strittmatter's tunnel, on the Cambria and Clear- field division of the Pennsylvania railroad, is the accredited source of the west branch of the Susquehanna.
. Flowing in a northwesterly direction for half a mile, thence for an equal distance nearly west, the stream above mentioned is enlarged by another run, rippling down from Carrolltown, about a mile and a half to the northeast. This is the longer run of the two and is by some considered the source of the river, which from this junction of waters all unite in denominating the west branch of the Susquehanna.
From this point, flowing northwest generally, though with many deflections to the right and left, the river passes through Carroll township to the northeast corner of Barr, from where it follows the boundary line of Barr and Susquehanna into the latter. On its way it is augmented by the waters of at least eleven runs, some small, others of more volume, bearing such names as Walnut run, Moss creek, and Long run.
At this point, on the right bank, is the mining town of Spangler, which extends for about a mile and a half along the river. Here the river turns due north for a short distance, when it makes a left curve, about a mile in length, down to Garman- town, on the left bank. It is soon afterward joined by a small rivulet from the west, and Pine run which rises near Plattville and flows into it from the east, is the last large accession the west branch receives in, but not from Cambria county. From this point the general direction of the river is northward until it leaves the county at the historic Cherrytree. .
Three other streams that rise in Susquehanna township flow north into the west branch in Clearfield county, the last of which is Beaver run.
The West Branch and its tributaries have been to Northern Cambria what the Conemaugh has been to Johnstown and its vicinity-except in disaster. As public highways, between 1857
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and 1880, they were of much more utility than the Conemangh ever was, for on them were floated to the eastern markets hun- dreds of millions of feet of valuable timber, the proceeds from the sale of which built up thousands of happy homes and laid the foundation of the prosperity of Northern Cambria.
The predominating timber in Northern Cambria and ad- joining districts of Clearfield and Indiana counties was white pine. The principal uses to which this species of wood is put are for lumber, shingles, and spars or masts for ships. Pine cut in the summer months would be speedily devoured by grubs, or worms. called sawyers; hence, it became necessary to cut the timber in the fall and early winter months. Formerly, the prin- cipal part of the timber intended for lumber was cut down, and hewn on three sides, the other side being "barked" with a peel- ing ax. A tree was hewn forty, sixty, or eighty feet-according to height -- straight on two sides, that the timber might be lashed or pinned together into rafts. On the other side it was hewn to suit the crooks if there were any. It was then hauled to a landing, generally on a dam. put into the water, a number of pieces placed side by side, several poles laid across them through which auger holes were bored down into the timbers, and pins of wood securely driven in. A rudder made of a long pole fas- tened on a pivot was fixed at the front and rear of the raft for the purpose of guiding it through the water. A shanty in which the cooking was done and which sheltered the raftsmen was then built upon it, and the raft was ready for high water, which generally occurred in the spring and fall of the year.
"Spars" were cut the length a tree would permit-eighty or one hundred feet-with some of them four feet and even larger at the base. As it is necessary to know if a mast is sound throughout, a simple expedient was used to determine that. important point. Close to one end of the spar a man placed his ear, while another struck the other end with a heavy hammer or sledge. If the stick was solid throughout a sharp sound was heard by the person listening, while if the stroke was not heard, or but a dull thud was the result, the timber was con- demned as unfit for use. Spars were made into rafts, some- times along with square timber. The job of hauling them to the water's edge was often a very laborions and expensive one, many men and teams being required for the undertaking.
In later years much timber was floated down in sawlogs, the logs being out and peeled in the woods. It is remarkable
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how fast an expert "peeler" can remove the bark from a log or tree with his doublebit peeling ax, the bits being thin, about eight inches broad, each bit being shaped somewhat like an ancient battle ax. The logs are hanled to the edge of a stream and placed on the landing or dumped into a dam made for the purpose. Sometimes logs were pushed for miles in chutes, or "slides," made of small trees, In making these chutes one tree was pinned on a piece of timber laid on the ground or some- times elevated on blocks to overcome nnevenness of the line, with a piece fastened at either side as a fender. Into the groove thus formed the logs were placed-sometimes many in number -a team of horses was hitched to the hindmost log by means of a grab driven into the rear end, and this log being shoved on and bumped started those ahead of it. On reaching the dump the team was turned around or run to one side of a tree or pole close to the chute, and the grab released from its hold.
As much of this logging was done on small streams, resort was had to splash-dams to drive the logs down to the river. A splash-dam is constructed with a wicket that may be raised or lowered at pleasure. and when ready it is opened, releasing the water held in store and carrying the logs below down the stream, along which men, provided with pike-
poles, are stationed to keep them in the channel. The boots of these men are armed with spikes somewhat like the climbers used by linemen on telegraph and electric poles, only smaller, and thus provided they often leap on logs to release jams with the greatest imaginable dexterity and fearlessness- a hazardous undertaking nevertheless. Sometimes a number of logs were made into rafts, but logs were often floated loose.
When the spring had opened and the ice had left the river sufficiently to insure safety, the sluices of the great dams in which the rafts were securely held were opened and the down- ward journey along the river began.
This was a perilous journey, and none but the hardiest of men were desirable for raftsmen. To steer the raft aright was a very particular job. Sometimes bends were to be rounded where the current hugged the shore, often boulders and obstruc- tions had to be avoided, and dams had to be "shot" through chutes provided for the purpose. Here, if the raft was not kept straight in the current as it entered the chute there was great danger of its being wrecked. If the front bowsman was not an expert there was the probability of his being swept off by the
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water or knocked off by the rudder when the front part of the raft dipped into the water below the chute.
The rafts and logs were floated down the river to Lock Haven, Williamsport. Muncey, and sometimes even to Havre de Grace, Maryland, on the right bank of the river near the head of Chesapeake bay. Arrived at their destination, they were secured in large dams or along the shore by means of ropes thrown around stakes or poles fastened to piers or driven into the ground. The logs were run into booms, near which were located great sawmills which manufactured them into lumber. A boom is an obstruction of long logs securely fastened together by clamps and swiveled chains, or by cribs thrown diagonally across the greater part of the stream-generally from the inner curve of a great bend in the river or in a dam-thus reflecting the logs from the current into the slack water, where they re- mained until taken therefrom to be worked up into lumber, as was also the square timber of the rafts.
The fall rafting generally consisted of the timber that was left over from the spring "drive," or that was not ready at that time. Often a summer freshet was taken advantage of and some- times a lowness of water prevented or delayed a drive at the usual time.
At first raftsmen on their return were compelled to walk, or ride on horseback or in the stage to their homes, but after railroad facilities became available that method of traveling was adopted.
Rafting on the West Branch of the Susquehanna is now practically a thing of the past, the people of Northern Cambria having turned their attention to agricultural and mining pur- suits, and, with ever increasing railroad facilities, the mineral resources of that thriving section of the county are being rap- idly developed.
After leaving Cambria county, the West Branch runs in a northeasterly and then in a northerly direction to McGee's mills, where it turns to the northeast, a few miles farther on receiving the waters of Chest creek, which general course it continues to Clearfield, where it is augmented by the waters of Clearfield creek. Down these two streams the greater part of the rafting from Cambria county found its way to the West Branch.
Winding eastward to Northumberland county it empties
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its waters into those of the North Branch, forming there the greatest river of Pennsylvania-the historic Susquehanna.
Chest creek rises near Kaylor Station, on the Cambria and Clearfield railroad, in Allegheny township, and joined by the West Branch, which rises in Cambria township, near Winterset Station, on the same railroad. flows in a slightly northwest di- rection through Clearfield township and between those of Elder and Chest into Clearfield county, where it enters the West Branch of the Susquehanna.
Before the town of Patton is reached, where the Little Chest creek flows in, Laurel Lick run, Chest Springs run and several others pour in their waters.
Between the points where Flanagan's run and Blubaker creek join it, begins the outeropping of red shale that underlies the lower coal measures of the Westover and Johnstown basins, here separated by the Laurel Hill antielinal.
Blubaker creek, the largest tributary of Chest creek, rises in the southwestern part of Elder township, and passes through the town of Hastings to its junction with the Little Blubaker creek. four miles beyond. Blubaker creek unites with Chest creek, just a short distance before the latter enters Clearfield county.
Of late years the development of the vast mineral resources of the Blacklick region following the construction of a railroad along the valley of the South Branch has brought that section of the county prominently before the people; but probably few are aware of the vast area of the drainage of the system, second only to the Conemaugh.
The Blacklick in Cambria is composed of two large branches -the North Branch and the South Branch-and their tribu- taries.
The North Branch of the Blacklick-if preference is given length and size-rises in Carroll township, abont a mile north of the Cambria township line. near the old Ebensburg plank road. Beginning its course in a northeasterly direction, swerv- ing to the northwest, westward, and southwest, it unites, when between four and five miles in length, with another branch, which, rising about a mile to the southwest of the source of the stream already noted, runs in a less circuitous course toward the northwest. Forming from its source the boundary line be- tween the townships of Cambria and Carroll it flows northwest, receiving various runs and rivulets from the north and south,
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until it reaches the northeast corner of Blacklick township, which, in assuming a more westerly course, it divides from Barr on the north for a couple of miles. Flowing south, on the line of Blacklick township, it receives Dutch run. This run. rising in Indiana county, flows southeastward into Barr township. then in a southwesterly direction, crossing and re-crossing the line between that township and Indiana county, finally flows into the North Branch heretofore noted, from which place the united waters, now of considerable volume, continue their course southwestward, augmented from the east by what Pomeroy, who published the best map of the county ever produced, calls Elklick run, and its southern branch, Elk run, down to within a half mile of the southwestern corner of the township, where it enters Indiana county, and soon unites with the South Branch.
The South Branch of the Blacklick, formed by the union of many considerable streams, the principal of which Pomeroy calls the Middle Branch, rises in Cambria, within a quarter of a mile of Allegheny township, the dividing line between which two townships at this point is the West Branch of Chest creek, about a mile from the headwaters of Clearfield creek and also of the North Branch of the Conemaugh. Flowing south, north- west and west and modified by several short windings past historic Beulah close to the line of Jackson and Blacklick town- ships, and later dividing them, it emerges into Indiana county to form the considerable stream known as the Blacklick, and crosses the southeastern end of that county to a point near Livermore, below Blairsville, on the Westmoreland county line, where its waters are merged with those of the Conemaugh.
The principal tributaries of the South Branch are the East Blacklick, which rises a short distance north of Ebensburg and flows southwest to its junction with the Middle Branch, which, receiving another large branch which rises in the northern part of Cambria township, becomes the South Branch; then two smaller tributaries from the western part of the same town- ship and from Blacklick township four small runs, and from the south Steward's run, which, rising in Cambria, flows in a north- westerly course through Jackson township, augment its waters.
('learfield creek is the name of a stream which rises in two branches in Cambria county near the dividing ridge, along whose crest runs the Cresson and Clearfield railroad, one branch rising near Kaylor Station and the other near Cresson. They
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HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.
unite in Himmelwright's mill dam and thence their waters flow northward into Clearfield county.
It is a misnomer to call this stream a creek, as it has the size and importance of a river, having served as an outlet for hundreds of millions of feet of pine lumber to markets along the West Branch of the Susquehanna of which it is a tributary.
The name of the stream, which is perpetuated in that of one of the townships of this county and also of a neighboring county. is derived from the "Clear Fields"-a few small acres of cleared ground on which the Indians raised maize, located along its valley near the old Kittanning path, not far from the present town of Ashville.
John Storm, or Sturm, is said to have erected a grist mill on the Clearfield creek, near Loretto in 1792, now Seibert's mill, Dawson Station, on the railroad.
Along what is undoubtedly the main branch,, which, as be- fore stated, rises near Kaylor's, was the first permanent settle- ment of white men, viz: that of Captain Michael McGuire, who, in 1787. moved his family to a clearing and started a colony, with which Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin, prince and priest, twelve years thereafter cast his lot and established the Catholic congregation of Loretto.
Gallitzin was a man who looked after the temporal interests of his people as the handmaid of their spiritual welfare, and on this creek, about a hundred yards up the stream from the bridge that spans the run, which is the highest name by which it can be here truthfully called, built the third grist mill in Cam- bria county. This was early in the present century, and was then an undertaking of considerable magnitude, as the fall in the stream is here so slight that a millrace about a half mile in length had to be dug to give the water sufficient "head." The water wheels of this mill might have been seen near the ruins of the mill until a few years ago.
Some years after the erection of this mill Gallitzin had built on the eastern branch at the present site of the mill of the late B. P. Anderson a sawmill, the dam of which is still in use. It was built, according to the testimony of one of the old pio- neers, "at a cost of $1,500, at a time when men worked for fifty cents a day and did an honest day's work."
This was probably the first water sawmill in the county. It was built on this stream at a distance of two miles from
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the grist mill for the reason that the water power at the latter was not deemed sufficient to turn the crank of a sawmill.
About a mile below this mill the two branches unite in Him- melwright's mill-dam, which, as well as Anderson's, can be seen from the ('resson and Coalport railroad, a branch of the Cambria and Clearfield division. Another mile further down is located Seibert's grist mill, near Dawson Station, a couple of hundred feet below which Bradley's run, which rises in Alle- gheny township, Blair county, enters Cresson township and flows down through Gallitzin borough and Gallitzin township and pours its murky waters into the hitherto comparatively pure stream of the Clearfield. Next from the west a small stream called Beaver Dam run comes in from Allegheny township, Cam- bria county.
On the eastern side, near the small mining town of Amsbry, a small, swift mountain stream, which formerly swarmed with tront, drains part of Gallitzin township, and at Ashville, a mile further down, Trexler's run empties in from the same side.
At Ashville is Kratzer's sawmill dam, and close to it on the western side is the site of old Ashland furnace, the ruins of which were dug up and hauled away about 1896. While quarry- ing stone for the foundations of this furnace, about 1840, the workmen found on a high rocky bluff the skeletons of several human beings, buried in a horizontal position with the feet towards the east. The bones of one of these skeletons indicated that in life the individual whose remains were ruthlessly dis- turbed, must have been of gigantic stature, probably eight feet in height. The mode of burial, so different from that of the Indians, who interred their dead in a crouching, vertical posi- tion, and the size of the skeletons would appear to indicate that they were those of people of a pre-historic race of a higher degree of civilization than the Indians-a supposition that is borne out by the fact that many articles of pottery have been found in the vicinity.
Within sight of this cemetery is one of the "Clear Fields," about three acres in size, and about a mile farther up the creek is a smaller one, while about three miles to the northwest is a. circular clearing, about three hundred feet in diameter, with a solitary old red oak tree exactly in the centre. To this place the old settlers gave the name of "The Indian Garden," but it was probably a place of meeting for the council fires of the
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HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.
red men who frequented the region, and near which several of their graves may yet be found.
Between the first of the "Clear Fields" and the quarry where the large skeletons were found, lay the old "Kittanning Path," so well known to the early settlers of Northern Cambria.
Tradition says that in the bed of the Clearfield creek at Kratzer's dam, and a mile below and also a mile above, lead ore of remarkable purity was known to the Indians. It was here the party that captured Mrs. Elder and Felix Skelly in the Juniata valley in the early part of 1778 camped the first night of their journey to Detroit, and, according to the testimony of Skelly, replenished their store of lead, of which they molded many bullets, and also loaded him with a bundle of hickory withes, presumably for bows.
Just below this dam, some of the old settlers used to say, occurred a tragedy equal in atrocity to that of Hinckston's run, in which a poor Indian, who was standing on a log of a pile of driftwood, looking intently into the stream, was shot and killed by a white trapper named Beatty, whose brother had been mur- dered near Shaver's creek, now in Blair county, by a party of Indians during the Revolutionary war.
From the west, a short distance below Ashville Swartz's run flows in from the direction of St. Augustine. This is the last stream of note on the west until the Beaver dam system pours in the largest volume of water the Clearfield receives at any one point in Cambria county.
The name "Beaver Dam" is probably of more frequent ap- plication to streams in this and Somerset county than any other appellation-"Laurel run" coming next. But this stream is undoubtedly entitled to the distinction of being the most import- ant of its name in Cambria county, deriving its appellation from the fact that on this run was formerly a large dam, covering ser- eral acres of ground, built by beavers.
The valley of the Beaver Dam run, lying principally in White township, is a deep alluvial soil, bearing traces of having been at an early period covered with water.
The main branch of the Beaver Dam run rises near St. Augustine and flows in a direction west of north to its junction with the main stream, the direction of which throughout is east of north. Into this stream about half a mile below the Clearfield township line flows the Slate Lick, the direction of which is northward.
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HISTORY OF CAMBRIA COUNTY.
In sight of the forks of the Slate Lick and the Beaver Dam run is a hill two hundred feet high, from the summit of which an unobstructed view for miles around is obtainable, and from which, in prehistoric times, another race of men viewed, with what emotions we know not, the extended landscape round about. This is "Fort" Hill, so called because in the time of the early settlers there existed thereon earthworks of circular form, about three hundred feet in diameter and about five feet high, with two openings. The site of this work may still be seen from the ab- sence thereon of pine stumps, which are found all around the area of the inclosure. When first known to the white settlers it was covered with a growth of maple, elm, and beech trees, some of them twenty inches in diameter. Some of the old pio- neers think this was intended for a fort, but the absence of iron relics about the site indicates that it was not built by white men ; and the probability is that it was never used as a place of de- fense, but rather as the site of council fires of the Indians or a place of worship by some former and more civilized race of men.
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