Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I, Part 11

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 930

USA > Pennsylvania > Indiana County > Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I > Part 11

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HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

thought proper to mention these things, that trials of muscular strength and activity- the people now may know what the early set- gave way to the more noble ambition for mental endowments, to the spread of educa- tion, and skill in the useful arts. tlers had to undergo. We, however, did not complain half as much as people do now. Our diet was plain ; our clothing we manufactured In the stead of the rude song, roughly and unskillfully sung, succeeded the psalm, the all on an equality .. How the scene has hymn, the quartette glee, and the swelling anthem. ourselves. We lived independent, and were changed ! Children of these same pioneers know nothing of hardships; they are spoiled by indulgence, and are generally planning ways and means to live without work."

It is, indeed, to many who have been brought up in the lap of ease, not a little sur- prising that a wife and mother should do the housework for a family in which were six, eight or more children, and occasionally some hired men, without extra help. Yet such in- stances were common.

But advancement in society is an American trait. Had we pursued the course of the greater number of the nations of the earth, we should have been, at this day, treading in the footsteps of our forefathers, from whose example in many respects we should have thought it criminal to depart.

The horse paths by which the early settlers made their laborious journeys over the moun- tains for salt, iron and other necessaries were succeeded by wagon roads, and those again by turnpikes, which brought the distant region, once denominated as the backwoods, into close and lucrative connection with the great At- lantic cities. Then followed, in quick suc- cession, as if by magic enchantment, canals, railroads and telegraphs. The duration of time for making the once perilous journey over the mountains was successively reduced from weeks to days, and from days to hours.

The ruder sports of former times-the

The linsey and coarse linen of the early set- tlers were in time exchanged for the substan- tial and fine fabrics of Europe and Asia, and soon superinduced the spirit of American genius for manufacture, which we now see fairly rivaling the world's industries.

The hunting shirt gave place to a suit of broadcloth, and the feet that once trod in moccasins were enclosed in boots and shoes of tanned leather.

Our development in the useful arts finally brought forth our great manufactories of iron and steel, crockery and glassware, implements and machinery, and the rude utensils of the pioneer are supplanted with articles of the most improved utility and beauty, fabricated at our very doors.

Instead of a blind imitation of the manners and customs of their forefathers, the people thought and acted for themselves; they changed themselves and everything around them. The changes gave new currents to public feeling and individual pursuit, causing the improvements in the dress of the people and the furniture of their houses. Had the hunting shirt, moccasin and leggins contin- ued to be the dress of the men, had the three- legged stool, the noggin, the trencher and wooden bowl remained as the furniture of their houses, progress towards science and civ- ilization would have been much slower.

CHAPTER IV . MODES OF TRAVEL

Most striking changes have occurred in the standing that the horse was seldom allowed to modes of travel during the past century. One fall short of a trot. The balance of the night hundred years ago most of the travel was on we stayed at Mr. Robert McCrea's, and al- foot. It was not uncommon for men to walk though only nine miles from Indiana, we rode thirty miles to reach home. When more than half the distance had been ridden, we were farther from home than when we started in the morning. to Pittsburg and Harrisburg and sometimes to Philadelphia. The grandfather of the writer walked to Philadelphia from Buffing- ton township, Indiana county, to purchase his farm, traveling on an average four miles per hour. In those days horses were scarce, but when horses became more plentiful horseback

"Fitted out with a good horse under me, and a tin horn in my belt, I usually started at four o'clock in the morning, meander- riding became the common mode of travel. ing now upon this side, then upon that, of The father and mother rode on horseback to church and the children walked until they conceived the idea that it would be good fun the Pittsburg road, making that highway my center of operation, until I reached Elder's Ridge, where I had my dinner, and horse to break the colts and ride with their parents fed at Mr. Robert Wilson's, not far from where to church. The mails were all carried on horseback. The personal experience related the Elder's Ridge academy now stands. When approaching a box on the side of a by J. S. Reed will give some idea of the dif- tree in the woods, where a package was to be ficulties encountered in carrying the mail on left, I gave the signal by blowing my horn, that the nearest subscriber might know to examine the box for the package; but never waited a moment longer than I could place the package in the box, and be off again at a fast gait.

horseback in the early days. The following is the story as told by him: "On New Year's day of 1827, I commenced my apprenticeship, in the Indiana and Jefferson Whig, the first Democratic paper in Indiana county. It was established by Alexander Taylor, who sold to "About every third or fourth trip a fresh horse was necessary, which was obtained by either selling the one on hand and buying another, or swapping directly for another. At length the boss purchased an Indian pony, which I taught to perform many antics; one of which was to stop short, when the rider would say 'stop.' This pony performed all John McCrea, with whom I served my appren- ticeship. The terms of the apprenticeship were, that I should find my own clothing, and ride two days in the week, alternately with Samuel Young, a boy near my own age (eight- een years), who had been in the office a few weeks before me, and serve three years. At that time there were only three post offices in that was required of him, while the distribu- the county, and our business was to carry the tion of newspapers was necessarily performed packages of newspapers in saddlebags, on horseback, and leave them in their respective boxes fixed to the sides of trees, at blacksmith shops, gristmills, and private houses, to suit the convenience of subscribers. The first day's

by the 'printer's devil' on horseback, and was instrumental in giving a great deal of sport to the boys then in and about Indiana. A fresh rider would be mounted upon him to take a ride, and told to say 'stop,' when the ride, measuring all the zigzags we made, pony was on the gallop. The rider would counted fifty miles. The first eighteen miles say 'stop,' as directed. The pony would in- were ridden before breakfast; and in winter- stantly stop, with his head a little downwards; time, when the days were short, and the roads so unexpectedly, that the rider would pitch bad. the last eight or ten miles of that day's forward on the pony's neck, when he would ride were to be ridden after night, notwith- drop his head so low as to let his rider down

HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

head-foremost to the ground. Another boy tremely swift, and their banks so entangled would mount feeling confident that he would with laurel and drift that there was great danger of being beaten down below the cross- ing, which would have been certain death to both horse and rider. stick on; but only to share the same fate as his predecessor, until sometimes from a half dozen to a dozen of an evening, one after an- other, would mount, to be surely let down in the same way.

"My boss dispensed with the distribution of his newspapers on his own hook. and ob- tained two contracts for carrying the mail on horseback-one from Indiana to Port Barnett, in Jefferson county, by way of Ewing's Mill and Punxsutawney, then merely having a name as a white man's town; the other from Indiana to Blairsville; and, as I had proved myself to be an expert in horsemanship, I had the honor conferred on me of riding both routes.

"The round trip to Port Barnett, by the route directed by the post office department. to and from, was one hundred and sixteen miles. I left Indiana on Tuesday morning in wintertime so early as to be at Crooked Creek by daylight, and took breakfast and dinner each week at Mr. Henry VanHorn's, sixteen miles on my route, and continued on the after part of the day, having the mail changed at Mahoning and at Punxsutawney, rode on and stayed over night at Mr. Isaac Lewis's. at the edge of an unbroken wilderness of seventeen miles-the first house being Port Barnett, a tavern on the clay pike leading from Erie to Lewistown, a mile and one-half east of where Brookville has since come into existence.

"The regulation was to ride through the wilderness on Wednesday before breakfast. take breakfast at Port Barnett, which stood on the north bank of Sandy Lick (or Red- bank, as it is now called ). On three occasions. that winter, to cross Sandy Lick was alto- gether impossible. The first I started as usual before daylight, without breakfast; got to the bank of the creek about ten o'clock, blew my horn, and was answered by Andrew Barnett (postmaster) that it was impossible to cross the stream through the drift that was passing. So I had to tack about with the mail as it was, and ride to the settlement without breakfast or feed for my horse. The road was bad, and my horse weak with hunger and fatigue was unable to make time. Night came on me before I reached the settlement. I had fed my horse before starting in the morning; but had not eaten anything from supper the night before. until late at night after arriving at the place I had started from in the morning.

"On another occasion my boss sent with me to lift some money that was collected for him, which I put into a large calfskin pocket- book. Most of the money was silver. When within about fifteen miles of Indiana on my way homeward, 1 overtook Francis Gumpers, driving cattle. Just as I approached. the

"This wilderness was to be crossed both to and from Port Barnett in one day, with the cattle took fright and I left the road. I addition of six miles to Punxsutawney, mak- ing forty miles through mud and pine roots, endangering the horse's legs in many places of being broken.

"I endured hardships and risks of life throughout the winter of '28 sufficient to make the hair turn grey upon a nervous man's head. There was not a bridge across a stream on the whole route. There are five streams on the route which were afterwards navigated for many miles above where they were then to be forded. Old men will remember that it rained almost incessantly during the winter of 1828, and consequently the streams were often over their banks and rushing through the laurels and hemlock timbers the whole breadth of the bottom land along them. In approaching the bed of the stream the horse would blunder over pine stumps hidden un- der water, and next plunge into a mudhole sleep was a stranger that night. My boss had so deep as to bring the water upon his sides. lent me his boots, new calfskin, which slipped The main current of the streams was ex- on with a pretty good fit. That unlucky day

jumped off my horse, gave him the rein and brought back the cattle to the road some dis- tanee ahead, while he rode on, leading my horse with the mail, and my overcoat thrown across the saddle. After again mounting and riding some miles. 1 found that the pocket- book and money were gone. I turned my horse and rode at a fast rate in search of the lost treasure, but without success. When I again met my old friend Gumpers, with his cattle, I intrusted the mailbag to him with a promise that he would deliver it at the post- office in good time. But as bad luck would have it, his cattle left the road. he left his horse, his horse left him, took to the woods, lost the mail, and finally got to a farmhouse. where his owner found him next day, minus the mail. I rode back until benighted, stayed over night at a farmhouse on the road, but

HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

it had rained so much as to wet them both There was a little snow on the ground, hazy inside and outside. I sat by the fire until they got dry. With a great deal of difficulty I got one of them off with a bootjack, but the other was not to be got off, even though the old farmer got me down on my back and pulled till he hauled me along; then one of his boys at my request caught by my shoulders and held back while his father pulled ; but all to no purpose. The boot was there, I insisted on sitting by the fire; but boot or no boot I must go to bed. So neither barefoot nor shod I spent the night in bed. The next morning the boot that was off would not go on, though soap and smoke and sweat and breath were liberally expended in the effort to get it on. I rode back to a place where I was last sure of having the pocketbook, but without hearing anything of it. After returning to within a few miles of town I heard that the mail had been lost, which added no little to the chagrin I was already suffering. It is beyond the power of my pen to describe my feelings as I rode up street with one boot immovably on, and the other in my hand, while from every shop or store window and door I had to hear the sarcastic inquiry, 'Tom, where's the mail ? What's the matter with your foot ?' The mail had been found by an honest hunter, who had carried it to town on his back, and delivered it to the post office, a fact which I only learned when I called upon Mr. Dennison, the postmaster, to give myself up to the consequences of my carelessness. It was some consolation to know that I was for- given, so far as the mail matter was con- cerned. But how to meet my boss without his money was the question. After putting away my horse I ventured to the office where, con- trary to my anticipations, I was met with a smile instead of severity.

"The money was safe, though neither boss nor I knew it until I arrived at Mr. Van- Horn's (my place of breakfasting) on the following week. Two young men, one a nephew of Mr. VanHorn's, found it but a few minutes after it had been dropped, just where I had thrown my overcoat across the saddle, which turned the mouth of the side pocket down, and the weight of the silver in the book had caused it to drop out. I was very satis- factorily surprised when it was handed to me with the $42, the amount I had lifted, in it, and boss was as much surprised when I handed it to him on my arriving at home.

clouds, hiding the moon, and snow together making it almost as light as day. I jumped up, dressed, fed my horse, and hardly waiting till he was done eating, started. I rode on and on, deeper and deeper, into the dreary wilderness, the light only changing the dark- ness as I got into the dense pine timber, or becoming lighter as I emerged from it into open wood. At length the moon went down; then came on a torrent of rain; the little snow in a few minutes was gone, and such darkness was never surpassed, even in Egypt. My horse stopped and I could hear the water rushing against his legs. I was afraid to move him, lest he might have left the road, and was in the bed of some stream, where he could go no further. So I sat upon his back not knowing how soon he and I might be washed away by the rising flood. There I sat for hours, the rain pouring down, and, as I imagined, the waters rising to floods (as in- deed they were) in the streams both before and behind me. While sitting there, I could hardly know which I feared most, being drowned or eaten by wild beasts, as wolves and panthers were numerous in those wilds. A Mr. Henry Brewer had shot an old she panther, and captured five young ones, in the same wilderness, but a short time previously. This circumstance made my fears the greater. "Daybreak at last appeared, when I found myself sitting upon the horse's back, the horse in the middle of the road ascending the hill north of Big Sandy, and the water rushing down the road sufficient to run a mill. I put spurs to my horse, and by sunup had plunged through Sandy Lick, which was considerably swollen, had my horse fed, mail changed, and breakfast in a hurry, that I might get back through Sandy Lick and Big Sandy before they should get too high to be forded. This I effected by fast riding and reached the set- tlement much earlier in the day than on any other occasion.

"The regulation was to leave Indiana on Tuesday mornings, make the trip, and arrive again on Thursdy by three o'clock P. M .; and leave on Friday morning for Blairsville, re- turning the same evening."

Our merchants generally rode on horse- back to Philadelphia, a distance of 248 miles, to purchase their stocks of merchandise. Thomas Sutton kept a horse chiefly for the

"On another trip I left Mr. Lewis' in great . purpose of going to Philadelphia to lay in his haste, supposing I had overslept myself, be- stock of goods. A. W. Taylor tells of his lieving it to be daybreak when I first awoke. father going to Harrisburg to attend the ses-

HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

sion of the Legislature, with his own horse and sleigh.

Forty years ago neither a buggy nor a carriage was seen in a funeral procession. The relatives all rode by twos on horseback.

Singing schools and spelling bees were very common forty years ago, and the young men of the neighborhood lined up on both sides of the entrance to the church or schoolhouse to ask the young ladies for their company home. If the young lady did not want a young man's company she "sacked him," but if she accepted she would take hold of his arm, which was extended to her, and be es- corted to a stump or a rail fence ready to jump on behind him on his praneing steed. The wilder the horse the more interest to the young people. A young man took great pride in having a sleek horse, a good saddle and bridle, and a large spur. Horse racing by both sexes was a very common sport. At that time the ladies rode on sidesaddles; now but few of the young ladies can ride, even astride.

As time went on buggies and spring wagons came into use. Buggies displaced horseback riding and the spring wagon was used instead of the heavy wagon which was used on the farm for hauling, going to mill, to the store, and to the church. The spring wagon gave place to the surrey, which was more conven- ient, protected from the rain and storm, and more in keeping with the times. The cart, a two-wheeled vehicle, one that would shake you to pieces. was used. but has almost gone out of use. During the winter the "spider" and the "jumper" gave way to the sleigh. The sleigh and the sled are still in use, but we do not have the snow for sleigh- ing as in former times.

The stagecoach and the canal boats have given way to the electric car and steam car; the buggies, surreys, and dray wagons to the

that men cannot afford to spend so much time in travel.

For many years it was the custom to carry Indiana county has shared in all of these the grain to mill on horseback. This was a improvements. Almost all important points job for the boys. As a rule two long tow in the county can be reached by trolley or bags were filled with grain and thrown across railroad. From Indiana town we have street car communication with Blairsville and all intervening points; with Clymer, making con- nection with the Pennsylvania and New York Central railroads to Cherrytree and Glen Campbell, Pine Flats and Heilwood, and Dix- onville : and with Creekside and Ernest. the horse's back by the father or a big brother and the boy placed on the horse to go four or five miles to mill. When the bags slipped off, as was usually the case, it was impossible for the boy to get the bags on the horse again until he would find some man to give him assistance. The slipping off usually occurred either going up or down hill.

The Indiana Street Railway Company was chartered in April, 1902. The incorporators were John A. Scott, D. H. Tomb, M. C. Wat- son, J. Wood Clark, Griffith Ellis, Henry Hall, Walter Arms, J. N. Stewart, D. L. Moorhead and W. H. Jackson. This company sold to Ilon. John P Elkin and his associates August 6, 1907, and took the name, Indiana County Street Railways Company. The present of- ficers are as follows: T. L. Eyre, Philadel- phia, president; James B. Phelom, Punxsu- tawney, Pa., vice president ; John G. St. Clair, Indiana, Pa .. secretary and treasurer. The company has thirty-seven miles of street rail- ways and is in a prosperous condition.

There are two railroads going out from Indiana, the Indiana Branch of the Pennsyl- vania and the Buffalo, Rochester and Pitts- burg. The Indiana Branch railroad, extend- ing from the Blairsville Intersection to Indi- ana borough, a distance of nineteen miles, was opened under the direction of the Pennsyl- vania Company on the 5th of June, 1856. At that time it consisted of a single track, had three bridges and seven intermediate stations, and employed two daily trains. In 1859 over forty tons of freight were handled. During 1858 over six thousand tickets were sold at this station. For many years there were only two daily trains, the one leaving at 6:15 o'clock in the morning, causing passengers to leave the town without breakfast; and the other at 4:30 in the evening. Now we have five trains leaving and returning daily on the Indiana Branch, connecting with the Pennsylvania at Blairsville Intersection, and one train, "The Mountain Goat," daily between Cresson and Indiana by way of Ebensburg, Vintondale, and Black Lick.

With the band playing and whistles blow- ing and lusty cheers from a thousand throats the first passenger train on the Indiana Branch automobiles. We are moving at a rapid rate. of the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburg rail- Distances that required an entire week to travel can now be covered in a few hours. Time and business have become so important

way rolled into the county seat 9:10 o'clock, the first Monday morning in May, 1904. A good portion of the population of the town

HISTORY OF INDIANA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

and two hundred girl students from the ereek past North Point, Loop, and Goodville normal school crowded the platform of the to Dayton and thence to Butler, where it con- station, mounted to the top of flat cars and stood on board piles to join in the welcome. nects with what was formerly the Narrow Gauge, but now the Buffalo & Ohio, at New Castle. There are two trains daily on this road.

Had the big glittering engine been a hero of national fame it would not have received fonder caresses than were bestowed upon the iron monster as it stood panting and throb- bing, after the initial run from Punxsutaw ney. A procession headed by the Indiana Band and town council marched to the court house, where a jollification was held. The meeting was addressed by .lIon. Harry White, who told of the experience of the Indiana county residents in buying stock for the In- diana Branch of the Pennsylvania railroad, which had a monopoly of the business of this territory for nearly half a century. Attorney John A. Scott, representing the Buffalo, Roch- ester and Pittsburg Railway Company, stated that while the main object in constructing the line was to secure a road for freight traffic the passenger department would not be slighted and that good service would be given at all times. Hon. John P. Elkin, who spoke of the industrial interest of the county and the great stores of hidden wealth which lie under the local hills for development, proph- esied that the population would take mar- velons leaps in the next few years and that by the close of the next decade there will be 100,000 residents in the county and 15,000 in Indiana.

J. J. Archer, the ticket agent, reported that one hundred and sixty tiekets had been sold at Indiana the first day. This railroad trav- erses a beautiful farming section in the north- ern part of the county, and is of great benefit to the inhabitants of that section. The road is well patronized. There are two trains daily which not only accommodate those who wish to go north in the morning and return in the evening, but also those who wish to come to the eounty seat and return the same day. At Creekside the train connects with a branch of the same road which goes to Sheloeta, Park- wood, MeIntyre, Jacksonville, Altman, West Lebanon, Clarksburg and Iselin. Two trains are run on this branch daily, accommodating the residents of the southwestern portion of the county. A combination train runs daily from the Buffalo, Rochester and Pittsburg depot at Indiana to Vintondale. It traverses its own track to Josephine and from there to Vintondale on the Pennsylvania line.

The North-Western Railroad Company was chartered by act of Assembly, approved Feb- rmary 9, 1853. The road extended to Blairs- ville down the valley of the Conemaugh and Kiskiminetas rivers, through Indiana and Westmoreland counties, to Freeport, in Arm- strong county. At this point it left the Al- legheny and ascended the Big Buffalo to Rough run ; thence up Rough run to the head waters of Coal run; thence down Coal run to Butler, and thence through Butler and Law- rence counties to New Castle, where it con- nected with the Cleveland and Mahoning rail- road, the intention being to form a continuous railroad route, without break of gange, to Chicago, St. Louis and the West. The North- Western Railroad Company, after grading that part of the road from Blairsville to Alle- gheny Junetion and completing the masonry, failed and was sold out at Philadelphia. in May, 1859, and purchased by a committee of the bondholders recognized as the Western Pennsylvania Railroad Company, under a charter approved March 22, 1860. The work of completing the road was begun in the spring of 1863. The track was laid each way, from Blairsville west and Allegheny Junction east. Passenger trains were put on in the fall of 1864, and run from each end. The high bridge over Wolford run was finished in 1865, and through trains immediately put on, running between Blairsville and the Al- legheny Valley railroad at the mouth of the Kiskiminetas river. The bridge over the Al- legheny river was completed in 1865. The part of the road from Freeport to Allegheny city was completed in the fall of 1866 and trains began to run through from Blairsville to Allegheny city at once. The branch to Butler was completed in 1871. The first train ran from Blairsville to Saltsburg. This road which is now the Pennsylvania Railroad of the Conemaugh Division (commonly known as the West Penn) has four trains daily from Pittsburg to Blairsville Intersection by way of Saltsburg and Blairsville, giving the resi- dents of the southwestern part of the county railroad facilities to Pittsburg and the east as well as to the county seat.

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Indiana County, Pennsylvania, her people, past and present, Volume I, Part 11

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp Publication date: 1913 Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co. Number of Pages: 930

Author: Stewart, Joshua Thompson, 1862- comp
Publication date: 1913
Publisher: Chicago, J. H. Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 930