USA > Pennsylvania > Mifflin County > History of Mifflin County : its physical peculiarities, soil, climate, &c. ; including an early sketch of the state of Pennsylvania Volume I > Part 26
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The present appearance of this town is not what the locality presented in 1755 or 1760. Now the railroad is traversed six times a day by the fiery steed, whose shrill whistle is re-echoed from the surrounding mountains. The woolen mills are doing the work once done on the spinning wheel and loom. The hotel is the home of the stranger, three stores supply the wants of the community. The warehouse for storage and the supply of the most modern and improved agricultural machinery, shows the advance of the times. Two fine churches and educational facilities of a high order, are among the recent improvements of this town.
In addition to its railroad facilities for freight and travel, in con- trast with the canal and pack-horse of ancient times, they have their fine turnpikes for their excellent teams, and carriages, and stages, to the west end of the valley. The march of improvement is proceeding now more rapidly than ever before.
A fine class of residences have recently been erected of brick and frame, showing the success of the business of the town, by the beautiful homes that are now being occupied by the people. Some fine new business houses occupy the main street, and at this writing, others are in process of erection. Taking all in all, we
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know of no more interesting point in Mifflin county, and for scenery and historical interest in Pennsylvania. Of her future prospects we can say that for a prospective manufacturing or com- mercial locality, she has the most substantial advantages, her water power, her adjacent fine agricultural regions, and the wealth and enterprise of her people all combined, to ensure her success, she needs a local newspaper.
Yeagertown.
On the south side of the Narrows, and in the same romantic, historic and classic region, as Reeedsville is located, the village of Yeagertown, named after the family of the name 1842, and to whom the town owes its beauty and prosperity through the prosperity and superior business of its proprietors. The town has two stores, one of the best mills in the State, one church, two school houses, and the usual mechanics of a country village, in a healthy pros- perous condition. To say what we should of this towu, alone would be to repeat what we have said in the above section, as to the locality and surroundings of Reedsville, and to save space and repetition we refer the reader to the description of the scenery, historical incidents, &c., there set forth. Long may it wave.
Newton Hamilton.
The above named place is located on the Pennsylvania rail road, west of Lewistown, and near the west line of Mifflin county. It has been in existence for a great number of years, and is one of the oldest towns in the county. It has a population of about three hundred and fifty people, is noted for the substantial character and the moral status of her citizens.
Newton Hamilton has the usual religious and educational insti- tutions of a country town, has stores that are doing a fine substan- tial local trade, and the usual mechanics for a town of her size and location. Like every place else in Mifflin county, or in central Pennsylvania, the town is surrounded by most beautiful and picturesque scenery that is an attraction to the visitor and stranger.
Allenville.
This village gems the west end of Kishacoquillas Valley, and contains a good local trade, and is surrounded by an agricultural region unsurpassed in the State of Pennsylvania. They have a
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good line of mechanics, a first-class hotel that is just what a hotel should be, and the business houses of the town perhaps enioy a better local trade than is customary, on account of being surround- ed by the agricultural region that they are. The town has also the usual school and church facilities of a prosperous and successful, moral and intelligent people, and on the whole the town of Allen- ville and its surroundings present a most perfect picture of a moral, intellectual and successful community.
McVeytown.
Beautifully located on the Juniata river above Lewistown, and surrounded by as beautiful scenery as this world affords, is the town above named. It is no new enterprise, but we trace its beginnings as far back as the times of the earliest settlers in the county. When the early pioneer sought a beautiful home, it is not strange that he found it on the river between Fort Granville and where Mc Veytown now stands. Its original cognomen was Waynesburgh, and by this it was known until it first got a post office; and there being other Waynesburghs and Waynesboros in the State, the post office was called McVeytown, after the proprietor. When the town be- came incorporated it was incorporated in its present name. It has a population of about seven hundred inhabitants, a number of stores, and the mechanics, mills and manufacturing establishments usual in a town of its size and location, only rather more so. In her schools she excels. She has four public schools and a private school, all conducted in an able manner. Of them we have desired to get a more full detail, but have failed to do so and can only re- fer to them from general reputation. One thing is peculiar in the history of McVeytown, and that is the large number of prominent public men she has given to the county and to the country, and the substantial wealth and intelligence, and the general education of her people. For the details of her public and prominent men we refer the reader to the biographical department of this work.
Another important item in the history of this town was the men it furnished both for the war of 1812 and the rebellion, and the en- viable position and prominence of those men in our not only coun- ty's history, but of our State and government generally, as many of them enjoy a National reputation. Its importance as a shipping point was also important, and that at an early day McVeytown was an important station on the old stage line described otherwheres, and on the completion of the canal above Lewistown, it was for a
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time the head of navigation till further completed to Huntingdon. Taken all in all, this is a most healthful and agreeable town, and a most pleasant people, pleasant in their genial sociability, and noted for their high moral standing, wealth and stability.
Greenwood alias Belleville.
This town is beautifully located in the west end of Kishacoquil- Ias valley, and in days of "auld lang syne " went by the name of Greenwood, a most appropriate cognomen, situated as it is " midst pleasant groves and fountains," and among most beautiful undula- tions of mountain and valley, lill and plain. The same we have said of the schools, churches and people of McVeytown, will apply to the same in Greenwood. We have used every effort to get sketches of her churches by addressing the ministers thereof, but the god of silence has reigned supreme.
The country about the town of Greenwood is very rich and un- der a high state of cultivation, and is tilled by the most substantial people in the State of Pennsylvania. Rich farms, fine improve- ments, substantial and educated people are their surroundings. " Happy are the people that are in such a case."
Mechanicsburgh.
The above beautiful little village is situated near to and north- west of Greenwood, and is a pleasant homelike place. It is on the northern slope of the centre ridge of Kishacoquillas valley, and is, as its name indicates, a mechanicsburgh, as its residents seem all to be mechanics. It is useless to add that its inhabitants are a sub- stantial, intelligent people. It would not be Kishacoquillas valley if they were not of this class.
Their churches, schools and pleasant residences indicate their morality, education and their refinement.
Logan.
The origin of this village was the establishment of the ironworks known as Freedom Forge, about the year 1813 or 1814, by Judge Brown, who was for some time the sole proprietor. The firm was then changed to Brown & Norris.
The first clerk of this establishment was Mr. Finley Ellis, who served them many years, and died at the age of ninety years. His widow still survives him, and is a resident of Lewistown.
These works have grown to immense dimensions, and are now known as the Logan Iron and Steel Works, and their manufactured
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articles are shipped long distances on account of their superior qual- ity. We are informed that their tires for the driving wheels of lo- comotives, are shipped to California and other distant points. We have been unable to obtain data of the present capacity of these works, though we have made strenuous efforts so to do. This vil- lage is pleasantly located on Kishacoquillas creek, between Lewis- town and Jack's Narrows, and between Furgeson's and Little Val- leys, a most picturesque location. The village is mostly composed of the residences of the employees of these extensive works, and the business of the place is all tributary to and controlled by the firm.
There can be no more favorable site in the world for a manufac- turing establishment than that occupied by Mann's Axe Factory, Yeagertown Mills and Logan Iron and Steel Works. An abun- dance of fuel, and of water, and of the crude iron ores of the best quality in the world, and surrounded by an agricultural region equalled by few and excelled by none.
Siglerville
Is located a few miles east of Milroy. A small, quiet, pleasant village ; pleasant in situation, and being located in east end, could not be otherwise than to have beautiful surroundings, that consist in magnificent mountain scenery and such farms and farm homes as. exist only in Kishacoquillas Valley.
Locke's Mills
Is located in the east end of the Kishacoquillas Valley, a pleas- ant village, of most beautiful surroundings in both mountain, valley and people, and has some most pleasant homes and pleasant. people.
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HORTICULTURAL AND FLORAL.
TT is superfluous to comment on the elevating, refining and healthful influences of fruits and flowers. The former so ad- mirably adapted to our wants physically, and the latter, not only physically, but mentally and morally. Beautiful in form, beautiful in color, beautiful in arrangement, infinite in variety, endless in profusion ; decking, without reluctance, the poor man's cot ; bright- ening, without pride, the rich man's home ; blooming, with wild content, in the lonely forest glades, and on the unvisited mountain sides ; blazing, without ambition in the public parks, shedding their fragrance without anxiety, in the chamber of sickness ; cheer -- ing, without reproach, the poor wretch, in his prison cell ; blushing; in the hair of virtuous beauty, and shedding, without a blush, their beantiful light, on the soiled brow of her fallen sister; sleeping in the cradle, with the innocent life of childhood, and blooming, still, on the coffin, with the cold, clay, that remains after life is spent ; scattering their prophetic bloom through orchard and field, where robust industry prepares its victories, and lighting up the grave- yards, with their still, undismayed promises ; scorning no sur- roundings, however humble, or however sinful ; flinging beauty in the wild wantonness of infinite abundance, on the most worthless. and the most precious things. They are God's incarnated smiles,. shed forth with love, on our poor, sinful world, to stimulate us to love purity and truth, with an infinity that puts our uttermost love to the blush ; teaching us a theology better than the creeds, and a science better than the schools, perpetually urging on the great heart of humanity, by their myriads and nneuding illustrations, the lessons of infinite trust in the Divine Fatherhood, which gives splendor to the lillies, and tells us that "Solomon in all his glory, was not arrayed as one of these." A love of the beautiful in the creations of nature, is a part of our existence, and is an element in the rude savage and the highest and most refined civilization. Some Indian chiefs, on a visit to an eastern city, were taken to see one of the magnificent churches that adorned the place. One of them, looking np at the stained windows and frescoed walls, ex-
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claimed, " Surely this is the house of the rainbow." Presently the organ struck up a beautiful air.
At once they began to search for the origin of the sound, when one of them, pointing to the chandeliers, exclaimed in Nature's own dialect : " Yonder is the home of the sweet thunder !" The delight which these sons of the forest manifested on beholding the beauties that art had created suggests that this love of the beautiful is an inherent characteristic of humanity. This love of the beautiful in nature and in art is developed in early childhood.
The boy paints his ball club and his kite. The little girl fills her cof- fers with the brightest clippings that fall from her mother's scissors. This peculiarity is not confined to savages nor children. The love of the beautiful which manifested itself in our childhood has not deserted any of us as years advance.
A soul so hideous and deformed as not to have a love of nature's beauties as displayed in the mountains and the valleys, in nature's varied scenery, can scarcely be conceived of. This element of man's character may be uncultivated, but one and all of us in some way are striving after the beautiful in form, color and arrangement. This element of character in the human race is so universal that it must be in accordance with the divine will of Him whose works of beauty so cover and beautify the earth (and He certainly designed that they should be cultivated), makes us better and draws us nearer to Him. The poet, the architect, the painter, the sculptor, are sent on a mission from God to refine and elevate the race. Alas, that these noble gifts are so often perverted or left uncultivated. That they are, is not the fanlt of our Creator, but of those to whose keeping they are entrusted.
The hand of God, through the laws of Nature (and Nature's laws are God's unchanging thoughts), has decked the heavens with maj- esty and filled the earth with glory ; has carpeted the green mead- ows and spangled them with gold ; has purpled the grape and gilded the orange. She has crimsoned the apple and the peach and gar- landed the forest. Beauty is hid in the modest violet and crowns the majesty of the rose, glows in the morning-glory and revels in the gaudy tulip. It is lit up in the hoar frost, enshrined in the rain drop; it gleams on the mountains and dances on the crested bil- lows, it crowns the cataract with rainbows and enamels the wing of the tiny insect ; it curves the neck of the graceful swan and twinkles in the plumage of the peacock and the humming bird, and smiles on the gloomiest places of the earth.
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In the dark cavern is the diamond, on the ocean bed is scattered pearls and studded the caverns with crystal gems, it bids the light- ning fresco with brighter shades the sombre cloud from which it leaps, and from the frozen regions of the north sends forth the Aurora Borealis. These flashes of beauty from the hand of nature are sent to influence us for good and fill our souls with pleasure. It is our duty then to do all we can to make earth a paradise, by cultivating the fruits and the flowers, so bountifully bestowed upon us for our health and comfort. We may not all be able to live in a palace, nor own a town and park, with their fountains and flowers, but if we have only a cottage and a few feet of ground, it can be adorned with graceful vines, grass and flowers, and let love and kindness reign there, and it may be the very gate of heaven to us.
Fruit Growing.
The adaptation of the fruits of the climate where we live to our physical wants and our health, is of importance to our well being. The succession of fruits as the reason advances, is emblematic of the wisdom of the creator in the adaptation of means to ends. First in the season comes the delightful and delicious strawberry. How our appetites desire and our taste approves this delicious fruit. All the chemistry in the world cannot invent a more con- genial purifier and strengthener of the blood than the malic acid and other chemical elements of the strawberry. As the season advances then comes the raspberry, the blackberry, the currants, &c., with similiar acids for the building up of the energies of our system, as the early strawberry and with some astringent proper- ties added thereto. Further on comes the peach, the apple, the pear, the grape, &c., which have peculiar adaptations to our wants, as the season passes on, and those we most need are those most easily preserved for winter's use.
To give the best possible information on the growth of fruits and flowers will be the aim in the work before us.
The Mechanical Organs of Plants.
The wonderful mechanism of the human eye, the arrangement and construction of the ear, the number and diversified uses of the muscles, the mechanical organisms of plants, the various combina- tions of the elements, as well as the harmony, immensity and diver- sified arrangements of the solar system, would almost lead us to
18
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believe that diversity alone, distinct from every other considera- tion, was the motive in the mind of the Creator or the agents of His will. The dissecting room, the microscope and the laboratory ยท partially reveal to ns the arcana of nature, but the science of astronomy, beyond all others, displays to us the splendor and the magnificence of His operations. Through this the mind rises to . sublimer views of the Diety, though we cannot familiarize ourselves with the minor details in this department of His works, as we may in the one I have chosen as the present topic.
A few observations on the vegetable kingdom it will be our ain to notice particularly. One great object in nature in the structure and growth of plants, is the perfecting the seed and its preservation until it is perfected. This intention shows itself, in the first place, by the care which appears to be taken to protect and ripen, and every advantage that can be given them by situation in the plant, those parts which most immediately contribute to fructification, viz : the anthers, the stamini and the stigmata. These parts are usually lodged in the centre, the recesses or the labyrinths of the flower, during their tender or immature state-are shut up in the stalk, or sheltered in the bud; but as soon as they have acquired firmness of texture sufficient to bear exposure, and are ready to perform the important office to which they are as- signed, they are disclosed to the light and air, by the bursting of the stem, or the expansion of the petals, after which they have, in many cases, by the very form of the flower during its bloom, the light and warmth reflected on them from the concave side of the cup. What is called also the sleep of plants, is the leaves or petals disposing themselves in such a manner as to shelter the stems, bud or fruit. They turn up or fall down, according as this purpose renders this change of position necessary. In the growth of wheat, whenever the bud begins to shoot the two upper leaves join to- gether, and embrace the ear, and protect it till the pulp has acquired a certain degree of consistency. In some water-plants the flower- ing and foundation is carried on within the stem, which afterwards opens to let loose the fecundated seed. The pea tribe enclose the parts of fructification within a beautiful folding of the internal blossom, itself protected under a penthouse formed by the external petals. This structure is very artificial, and it adds to the value of it, though it may diminish the curiosity, as it is very general.
It has also this further advantage, it is strictly mechanical, that all the blossoms turn their backs to the wind whenever it blows
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strong enough to endanger the delicate and internal fragile organs on which the seed depends. It is an aptitude which results from the form of the flower, and, as before remarked, strictly mechani- cal, as much so as the folding fans on a windmill, or the cap on the top of a chimney.
In the poppy and many familiar flowers, the head, while it is growing, hangs down, a rigid curvature in the upper part of the stem giving it that position, and in that position it is impenetrable by rain or moisture. When the head has acquired its size, and is- ready to open, the stalk erects itself for the purpose of presenting the flower and its instruments of fertilization to the genial influence of the sun's rays. This is a curious property provided for in the constitution of the plant, for if the stem be only bent by the weight of the head, how comes it to straighten itself when the head is the heaviest ? These instances show the attention of nature to this principal object, the safety and maturation of the parts on which the seed depends.
In trees, especially those which are natives of colder climes, this point is taken np earlier. Many trees produce the embryo of their leaves and flowers one year and mature them the following year. There is a winter also, to be got over. Now what we are to remark is how nature has prepared for trials and severities of that season. These tender embryos are in the first place wraped up with a com- pactness that no art can imitate, in which state they compose what we call the bud. The bud itself is enclosed in scales, the remains of past leaves or the rudiments of future ones. In the coldest climates a third preservative is added by the bud having a coat of gum or resin, which being congealed resists moisture and frosts. On the approach of warm weather, this gum is softened and ceases to be a hindrance to the expansion of leaves and flowers. The seeds themselves are packed in capsules or vessels composed of coats which compared with the rest of the flower is strong and tongh. From this seed-vessel, projects a tube through which the fertilizing properties issue from it and are admiited to the seed. Here occurs a mechanical variety accommodated to the different circumstances under which the same is to be accomplished. In flowers which are erect, the pistil is shorter than the stamini, and the pollen shed from the anthera into the cups of the flower is caught in its descent on the head of the stigma. In flowers which hang suspended, the crown imperial the fushia, &c., this arrange- ment is reversed, the pistil being the longest, and the protruding
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summit receives the pollen as it drops downward. The seed vessels assume an immense variety of forms in the different plants, all evidently conducing to the same end viz: the security of the seed. Of the gourd, the mellon, &c., the seed vessels assume an immense bulk. In stone fruits and nuts the seed is incased in a strong shell, the shell itself incased in a pulp or husk. In numerous kinds of berries, in grapes, oranges, &c., the seed is inclosed in a glutinous syrup contained in a skin or bladder. In apples, pears, &c., it is embedded in the heart of a firm fleshy sub- stance, or as in the strawberry pricked into the surface of a soft pulp. These and many other varities of forms exist in what we call fruits. In grains, grasses, trees, shrubs, flowers, &c., the variety of seed vessels are incomputable. We have seeds as in the pea tribe regularly disposed in parchment pods, which though soft and menbranons are impervious to water. At other times as in the bean lined with a fine down, we have seeds packed in wool, as in the cotton plant, lodged between hard and compact scales, as in pine cones, protected by spines, as in the thistle, placed under a penthouse, as in the mushroom, in ferns, in slits on the back of the leaves or as in our grains and grasses (and all our grains belong to the family of grasses), covered by strong close tunicles attached to a stem according to an order appropriated to each plant.
In the above enumeration we have noticed a unity of purpose under a variety of expedients; nothing can be more single than the design, nothing more diversified than the means. Pellicles, shells, pods, husks, pulps, skins, scales armed with thorns, are all mechan- ically employed for the same end. We may also observe in all these cases that the purpose is fulfilled within a just and limited degree. We can perceive that if the seeds of plants were more strongly guarded than they are their greater security would inter- fere with other uses, for many species of birds and animals would perish if they could not obtain access to them. Here, as in many cases, a balance is to be maintained between opposite uses. The prc- vision for the preservation of the seeds appears to be directed chiefly against the inclemency of the elements, the inconstancy of the seasons ; the depredations of animals and the injuries of accidental violence seem to be provided against by the abundance of increase. When Nature has perfected her seeds, her next .care is to sow and disperse them for the growth and reproduction of species. The seed cannot fulfill its end while it remains in the capsule. After
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