USA > Pennsylvania > Clarion County > History of Clarion County, Pennsylvania > Part 4
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Benjamin Franklin was elected president of the Council in 1785. In May, 1787, the convention to frame a constitution for the United States met in Philadelphia. Upon the completion of their work the instrument was sub- mitted to the several States for adoption. Pennsylvania adopted the constitu- tion on the 12th of December. Thomas Mifflin was elected president of the Council on the 5th of November, 1788. A convention assembled in Novem- ber, 1789, to prepare a new constitution for the State, which was adopted on September 2, 1790. The Council was abolished, and the executive duties were vested in the hands of a governor. Legislation was intrusted to an Assembly and a Senate.
Thomas Mifflin was elected governor under the new Constitution, and served three successive terms. A system of internal improvements was undertaken and a great debt was accumulated. The Bank of Pennsylvania
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was chartered in 1793, and continued to exist until 1857. The yellow fever visited Philadelphia in 1793, and nearly 5,000 perished by the pestilence. The whisky insurrection in some of the western counties of the State occurred in 1794. The counties comprising the southwestern quarter of the State were engaged almost exclusively in the production of grain. Being distant from any market, a large proportion of the surplus grain was turned into distilled spirits, on which Congress laid a tax of four pence per gallon in 1791. This tax bore heavily on these people, and they formed a determination to resist its collec- tion. Acts of violence followed. In 1792 the tax was reduced. President Washington issued a proclamation commanding all persons to submit to the
law, but without effect. The insurgents organized for forcible resistance, and assembled at Braddock's field to move on to Pittsburgh. Governor Mifflin took measures to ascertain the facts about the trouble and bring the leaders to justice. President Washington called out the militia of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, and Virginia, to the number of 13,000 men, to quell the insurrection. Governor Mifflin took command of the Pennsylvania troops, and Washington himself accompanied the army. This had the effect to change the attitude of the insurgents. Washington proceeded as far as Bedford, but the submission of the people rendered it unnecessary to go any farther. A number of arrests were made, but all were ultimately pardoned.
The capital of the State was removed to Lancaster in 1799. Thomas Mc- Kean was elected governor the same year, and Simon Snyder in 1808. Har- risburg was made the State capital in 1810. In 1812 war was declared against Great Britain. The national call for 100,000 men required 14,000 from this State; but so great was the enthusiasm that several times this number tendered their services. Pennsylvania did not suffer from invasion during this war. Her troops and sailors participated in the various actions of the war, and it was in Erie harbor that the fleet was organized that won the signal victory under Perry, on Lake Erie. General Smith, a Pennsylvania veteran of the Revolution, repulsed the invading army under General Ross, near Baltimore, where Ross was killed.
William Findley was elected governor in 1817, Joseph Hiester in 1820, and Andrew Schulz in 1823. During this period the State banks set a flood of paper money afloat, lines of canals were opened and vast debts incurred.
Coal was discovered and used in the State as early as 1769, but little was known of its importance until an accident brought about a knowledge of how to make it burn. In 1820, 365 tons were sent to Philadelphia, which amount
glutted the market. In 1885 the production of anthracite coal in the State was 31,750,546 tons, and of bituminous coal 20,647,720 tons. The bituminous coal was discovered and utilized a little earlier than the anthracite, a cargo having been sent down the Susquehanna from Clearfield county in 1804.
Iron ore was discovered and worked soon after Philadelphia was laid out.
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HISTORY OF CLARION COUNTY.
It is not known when or where the first forge was erected. In 1717 Jonathan Dickinson spoke of the great expectations of the iron works forty miles up the Schuylkill. Where they were situated is not settled. It is supposed that the reference was to the Coventry forge, on the French Creek, in Chester county, which is said to have been built by a man named Nutt. It is said to have gone into operation in 1720. But a forge is also mentioned in March, 1719 or 1720, at Manatawney, now Montgomery county.
The first mention of iron-making in Pennsylvania in Minutes of Council is February 24, 1726, where it is stated that " several companies are already en- gaged in carrying on iron-works." In 1728 Mr. Logan wrote that there were four furnaces in Pennsylvania in blast. In 1730 there were four furnaces, nine forges, and two bloomeries, which manufactured 1,072 tons pig iron and about 300 tons bar iron. One hundred years later the product of forty-five furnaces was about 40,000 tons, which grew in the next seventeen years (1847) to over 380,000 tons, from 522 establishments. The products of 810 estab- lishments in the State, engaged in the manufacture of iron and its various products during the year 1885 were valued at more than $120,000,000. This sum is a decided decrease from that of some preceding years. Pennsylvania has long ranked first of the States in the Union in the production of iron.
During the administrations of George Wolf, elected in 1829, and Joseph Ritner, elected in 1835, a system of public education was established and brought into a good degree of successful operation. Attention had early been given to education in the colony. In 1749 a charter was obtained for a " college, academy, and charity school of Pennsylvania." The University of Pennsylvania was chartered in 1752, Dickinson College in 1783, Franklin and Marshall College in 1787, and Jefferson College in 1802. Charters were granted for academies at the county seats of forty-one counties, and appropri- ations were made of money, and in several instances of land grants. In 1809 an act was passed for the education of the " poor, gratis." By the act of 1834 a general system of education by common schools was established. It was complex and unwieldy, and in 1836 a new bill was adopted; and from this time forward the system has been in efficient operation. In 1854 the system was improved by establishing the county superintendency, and in 1859 by providing for State Normal schools for the professional training of teachers.
The constitution was revised in 1837-38. The " Buckshot War " occurred at the opening of Governor David R. Porter's term, who was chosen in 1838. The origin of this commotion was the attempt on the part of the Anti-Masonic party to "revise " the returns of the election, which gave Porter (the Demo- cratic candidate) some 5,000 majority. Anarchy prevailed for a time at Har- risburg. Two speakers were elected. An infuriated lobby from Philadelphia and other cities collected and took possession of the two Houses, driving the members from the chambers. The militia were called out and supplied with
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buckshot cartridges. The capitol was cleared, but Governor Porter was duly inaugurated.
Francis R. Shunk was chosen governor in 1845. The Mexican War occurred during his term of office. Two volunteer regiments under Colonels Wynkoop and Roberts were sent to the field. Colonel John W. Geary afterwards suc- ceeded Roberts in command of the second regiment. William F. Johnston succeeded Governor Shunk. William Bigler was elected in 1851, James Pol- lock in 1854, and William F. Packer in 1857. During these administrations the lines of public works undertaken at the expense of the State were com- pleted. Their cost had been enormous, and a debt of over $40,000,000 was piled up against the commonwealth. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company purchased them during Governor Pollock's administration for $7,500,000.
In the administration of Governor Packer petroleum was discovered in quantities in this State by boring into the bowels of the earth. From the ear- liest settlement of the country it was known to exist. As early as 1627 Joseph Delaroche Daillon, a French missionary, described it in a letter published in 1632. Fathers Dollier and Galinee made a map of this section of the country in 1670, on which was marked, at about the point where the town of Cuba, N. Y., is now situated, " Fontaine de Bitume." The governor of New York instructed his chief engineer, Romer, in 1700, in his visit to the Six Nations, to examine a spring that he was told blazed in a flame when fire was brought into contact with it. The French give an account of an Indian dance, near where now is Oil City, at which oil was burned that had been gathered from the surface of the water in the creek.
In nearly all geographies and notes of travel published during the early period of settlement, this oil is referred to, and on several maps the word petro- leum appears opposite the mouth of Oil Creek. Washington, in his will, men- tions a bituminous spring on his lands on the Great Kanawha, and Jefferson, in his " Notes on Virginia," gives an account of a burning spring on the same river. This oil seems to have been gathered in very early times. Upon the flats a mile or so below the city of Titusville are many acres of cradle-holes dug out and lined with split logs, evidently constructed for the purpose of gathering oil. Trees of large size are growing in the midst of these cradles, so that they must have been operated long ago. This may have been the work of the mound builders. Even in later times the oil was collected by throwing a woolen blanket upon pools of water, where oil was floating on the surface, and then wringing it into a tub.
But it remained for Mr. E. L. Drake to open a new enterprise, by drilling into the earth, and, after many discouraging experiences, when about to give up in despair, finally to strike a strong current of oil. From this time forward the business of drilling for oil has been rapidly developed, until it has extended over a wide area of Western Pennsylvania, and into the adjoining States of New
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HISTORY OF CLARION COUNTY.
York, Ohio, and West Virginia. The oil has been found in paying quantities in McKean, Warren, Forest, Crawford, Venango, Clarion, Butler, Armstrong, and Washington counties. It was first transported in barrels loaded on wagons and drawn by teams. Flat-boats carried thousands of barrels down the Alle- gheny River from Oil City to Pittsburgh in the early days of development. Lines of railway were soon constructed from the nearest trunk lines. Barrels gave place to immense iron tanks riveted upon cars, and finally great pipe lines were extended from the wells to the seaboard and to the immense refineries on the Great Lakes, through which the fluid is forced by steam power to its dis- tant destinations.
The production has been enormous, having reached a grand total of over three hundred million barrels up to January 1, 1887, and seems as yet to show no signs of diminution.
In addition to the oil, the prodigious volume of gas that issues from the wells in some parts of the territory has been utilized, and towns and cities are now lighted and heated by this product of the earth's interior. Manufactories are supplied with this subtle fuel carried through pipe lines from the wells, and economy and convenience of its use bid fair to have a lasting beneficial influ- ence upon the business interests of this section of the country.
Andrew G. Curtin was elected governor in 1860, and Abraham Lincoln president of the United States. Fifteen of the slave States seceded from the Union and established a separate government, under the name of the Con- federate States of America. On the 12th of April, 1861, an attack was made upon a garrison of United States troops holding Fort Sumter. On the 15th the president summoned 75,000 volunteers, to serve for three months, calling for sixteen regiments from Pennsylvania. Instead of sixteen, twenty-five regi- ments were organized in this State. Governor Curtin obtained permission from the Legislature to organize a select corps of thirteen regiments of infantry, one of cavalry, and one of artillery, to serve within the State for its defense against invasion ; but at the time of the first Bull Run disaster, in July, 1861, the na- tional government being without troops to defend its capital, the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps was called out of the State, and fought gallantly on many a bloody field during the three years' term of service. During the war Pennsyl- vania furnished a grand total of more than 350,000 men to serve in the armies of the republic.
In 1862 the Confederates, under General J. E. B. Stewart, invaded Penn- sylvania, and burned some buildings at Chambersburg. In June of the follow- ing year General Lee led his entire army (of Northern Virginia) into this State. The Army of the Potomac, under General Hooker, followed. General George G. Meade was appointed to supersede Hooker while the army was on the march. The vanguards of the armies met at Gettysburg on the Ist of July. For three days the battle raged with relentless fury. General Reynolds fell on
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the first day, and the First and Eleventh Corps of the Federal army were forced to retire after a desperate struggle, and to take position on the heights south of the town. During the night reinforcements continued to come up for both armies, and preparations were made to renew the struggle. On the second day the battle opened on the extreme left of the Union army by an attack from the Confederate right. After a bloody slaughter the Union troops lost ground, but still continued to hold Little Round Top, the key to their position. In the evening of the same day a desperate charge was made on the center of the Union line, but the Confederates were repulsed with terrible loss. About the same time an attack was made on the extreme right of Meade's army, which had been weakened by withdrawing troops to other parts of the field, and the line was occupied and held by the Confederates during the night. On the morning of the third, the battle opened for the recovery of this part of the line and raged with great fury until ten o'clock, when the Confederates were driven from the position and the line of rifle pits was reoccupied by the Union troops.
About two o'clock a heavy artillery fire was opened on the Union line, which was responded to for two hours. Rarely has such a cannonade been heard on any field. A corps of 18,000 Confederates now advanced upon the Union line. A concentrated artillery fire was opened upon the column, with fearful effect. When the advance had come within musket range the Union troops poured in a murderous fire. Still on came the brave Southerners, and actually crossed the Union lines; but the slaughter was too terrible to withstand. Many were killed or captured ; a small remnant staggered back, and the battle of Gettys- burg was won for the Union.
The losses on the Union side were 2,834 killed, 13,709 wounded, and 6,643 missing, an aggregate of 23,186. Of the Confederates 13,621 prisoners were taken, and their loss in killed and wounded must have been equal to that on the Union side.
Gettysburg was the culminating battle of the war, and from that time for- ward the fortunes of the Confederacy continued to wane. During the summer of 1864 Pennsylvania was again invaded by a force of Confederates, and al- most the entire town of Chambersburg was laid in ashes.
The war ended in 1865. The State provided schools for the soldiers' or- phans, furnishing food, clothing, instruction, and care until the age of sixteen. The number thus cared for up to January 1, 1887, has been about 14,000, at an annual expense of about $375,000.
John W. Geary was elected governor in 1866. A convention for a revis- ion of the constitution assembled in 1872, and the instrument was framed and adopted in 1873. John F. Hartranft became governor in 1873. The first cen- tennial anniversary of the Declaration of Independence was celebrated in 1876, by holding an international exposition in Philadelphia. The exposition opened
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HISTORY OF CLARION COUNTY.
on the 10th of May and closed on the 10th of November, with a total attend- ance of 9,789,392. The largest number of people admitted on any one day was 274,919, on Pennsylvania Day, September 28. During Hartranft's admin- istration occurred the great strike (1877), when travel and traffic were sus- pended for some time. At Pittsburgh and Scranton conflicts occurred, in which a number of people lost their lives. An uneasy feeling prevailed for several weeks, but the National Guard, assisted by the Regulars, at length suc- ceeded in restoring order, and business again assumed its usual course.
In 1878 Henry F. Hoyt was chosen governor, and Robert E. Pattison was elected in 1882. The Legislature which met in 1883, having adjourned with- out passing a congressional apportionment bill, was reconvened by the gov- ernor in extra session, and remained in session from June to December without agreeing upon a bill.
General James A. Beaver was elected governor in 1886, and is the present incumbent.
CHAPTER III.
TOPOGRAPHY OF CLARION COUNTY.
Table-Land Character - Drainage -Streams -- Elevations -General Description - Forests - Scenery - Ancient Channels.
T r THE surface of Clarion county has a sufficient general elevation above the
level of the large streams to merit the name of a table-land ; but its nu- merous water-courses, many of them with valleys of gorge-like depth and abruptness, break it up into a succession of ridges and rolls, leaving little of the level associated with the idea of a table-land. A thickly intersected undulatory plateau it is, therefore ; and a miniature of the great one of West- ern Pennsylvania, intersected by the Allegheny and its tributaries. Clarion county occupies a central position in Western Pennsylvania, lying but six miles north of a line drawn east and west through the middle of the State.
A glance at the map will show three main systems of drainage : The great central one of the Clarion River, comprising three- fourths of the county ; the northern, where the edge is drained by streams falling into Tionesta Creek and the Allegheny ; and the southern, whose streams take their course to Red- bank, with the exception of Catfish and Black Fox Runs, emptying into the Allegheny. The great artery of the county, the Clarion River, is a clear, beautiful stream which, being formed by the junction, at Ridgway, Elk county, of West Clarion and Elk Creek, enters the county at Cooksburg, and, traversing
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TOPOGRAPHY OF CLARION COUNTY.
it in a general southwest course, though with many serpentine bends, falls into the Allegheny about three-fourths of a mile below Foxburg ; a distance of fifty miles. It has an average fall of seven feet to the mile, but in the numerous " riffles," which alternate with the "eddies," it often attains great swiftness, and its fall is much greater.
Beginning at the east on the northern side, the noteworthy tributaries of the Clarion are as follows, in their order : Tom's Run and Toby Creek, rising in Farmington township; Deer Creek, which receives water from every north- ern township with the exception of Highland, Salem, and Richland; Canoe Creek, Beaver Creek, and Turkey Run. Ritchey Run is a portion of the western boundary, and flows into the Allegheny. These streams have an average fall of thirty-five feet to the mile. On the south: Blyson's Run; Mill Creek, an important lumber outlet ; Piney Creek, draining Limestone, Monroe, and parts of Piney and Clarion townships; and Licking Creek, which takes its rise in Piney township and receives Little Licking and Cherry Run.
In the north, beginning at the east we have Waley's Run and Little Coon Creek, which flow from Farmington township into Coon, or Raccoon Creek, a tributary of the Tionesta; Hemlock, which skirts Washington township and takes a northwest course to the Allegheny at President; and East Sandy, passing through the northern part of Elk and Ashland, west into the Alle- gheny.
Into Redbank Creek, likewise beginning at the east, flow Pine Run, Town Run ; Leasure, Long, Leatherwood, and Fiddler's Runs. These, with Catfish, have a rapid fall, ranging from fifty to one hundred feet per mile.
From the course of its affluents we may see that the general trend of the basin of the Clarion is, on the north, to the southwest, and on the south to the northwest. The northernmost parts of Farmington, Washington, Elk, and Ash- land townships lean slightly to the northwest; while the southern part of the county, with the exception of parts of Madison, Toby, and Perry, on the Alle- gheny, have a directly southern slope. We have spoken of the basin of the Clar- ion ; this is so deceptive a term as almost to be a misnomer. The territory drained by the Clarion and its affluents is rather a plateau, deeply intersected by numerous streams which have a gradual descent, while the land between these may be said to maintain its elevation almost to the verge of the Clarion, where it breaks off precipitously and plunges down 300 to 400 feet to the water's edge, in rugged, wooded slopes, forming a picturesque gorge the entire length of the river.
The northern divide between the Clarion and the Allehgeny and Tionesta Rivers is a continuation of the "Big Level " of Mckean county, entering Farm- ington township a little south of its northeast corner, and passing southwest- wardly by Tylersburg and Jamestown to Salem and Richland townships. Another notable level is that between Paint Creek, a branch of Deer, and
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HISTORY OF CLARION COUNTY.
Toby Creek, extending in a north-northeast direction till it merges in the divide level near Tylersburg. It is now traversed by the Pittsburgh and West- ern Railroad.
The descent of the northern slope of the county is very gradual ; so much so as to be scarcely perceptible in northeastern Farmington. This is partially accounted for by the smallness of its scope. If, however, we turn to the south we shall find the Clarion-Redbank dividing ridge much more marked, as the depressions are greater, especially on the Redbank side. We shall also observe that as we pass from the river country toward the divide, the surface grows less rugged and the hills less steep.
The average elevation of the county above sea level is about 1,300 feet. The lowest point in the county is at the mouth of Redbank, 851 feet ; the high- est, the heights to the southeast of Fryburg, on Mr. Denslinger's farm, which are 1,775 feet above ocean level. As a rule, however, the summits of the northern half range lower than those of the south ; the former ranging from 1,500 to 1,600 feet, while the latter are from twenty-five to fifty feet higher. The highest point south of the river is the peak near St. Nicholas Church, in Limestone township, which claims an elevation of 1,750 feet above sea level. The summits on the Clarion-Redbank divide range from 500 to 625 feet above water level in Redbank Creek.
The general character of the surface is hilly-almost mountainous-near the water courses, and undulating in the uplands. Here and there on the line of the dividing ridges rise bold, isolated knobs, usually stream sources. Their crests are in most cases cleared and cultivated to the summit ; some are capped by a picturesque grove or orchard. Streams and springs are everywhere in profusion. The primeval forests of pine, hemlock (abies Canadensis), and oak are fast disappearing. South of the river with one or two exceptions they have entirely vanished, and a secondary or tertiary growth taken their place. The ax of the pioneer, the mills and iron-furnaces have done their work well there. Still, in the southern division there is considerable woodland of a later age, with oak predominating. Chestnut is abundant in almost every town- ship, intermixed with hickory, ash, and common and sugar maple. The north- eastern quarter of the county contains yet some forests of pine and hemlock, but they are being rapidly depleted. In many places forest fires have assisted the ax in the work, and many a spot where once stood a majestic forest pre- sents the blackened, unsightly trunks rising from a dreary, profitless waste of saplings and undergrowth.
Of the lesser flora we cannot pass over the brilliant laurel or rhododendron, which clothes the river hillsides luxuriantly.
Scenery. - The scenery of Clarion county is diversified, comprising the checkered undulations of the well-cleared and cultivated south, the wildness of the river country, and the flat stretches of alternate wood and farm land in the north.
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TOPOGRAPHY OF CLARION COUNTY.
Brady's Bend .- Our county can boast of nothing unique in landscapes, but it claims some very charming scenes. A magnificent view of the great horse- shoe bend in the Allegheny, with East Brady and Phillipsburg in the distance, is to be had from the heights, near the junction of the East Brady and Phillips- burg roads in the neck; where the silver Allegheny, after sweeping around the precipitous slopes below Catfish ; East Brady, and Phillipsburg-a distance of eight miles-doubles on itself, till less than a mile measures the isthmus.
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