USA > Pennsylvania > Clearfield County > Twentieth century history of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania, and representative citizens > Part 35
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WOODWARD TOWNSHIP
This township was erected by a decree of the court of quarter sessions of Clearfield
The township is bounded on the north by Boggs and Decatur townships, on the east by Decatur township, on the south by Bigler and Gulich townships and on the west by Bigler and Knox townships.
This township has some of the finest coal deposits in the county, and these have been op- erated on a large scale for many years.
The population, according to the census of 1910, was 2,535.
The major portion of the lands in this town- ship were owned by Hardman Philips, and were settled upon by the same class of people who settled Decatur township, and who bought their lands from Mr. Philips.
This gentleman sold his lands to these pion- eers on credit, and as they were very poor he never expected to get very much out of them in payment, but would take a sack of meal, a bushel of potatoes, or oats, or wheat, or any- thing they could spare in settlement of what they owed him. Or, if they could not pay any- thing, it was all the same. On his return to England he placed his accounts in the hands of Josiah W. Smith, Esq., of Clearfield, who was as lenient as the owner.
One of the oldest settlers in this township was Henry Cross, an Irishman, who settled on a farm now in sight of Beulah Church, in 1818.
Another old settler was the father of Mathew MeCully, who settled near Mr. Cross, in 1827, on a piece of land now immediately in front of Beulah church, and later owned by T. C. Heims. Mr. McCully was but two years old when his father carried him to that farm, or rather that spot in the forest. and he spent a long and happy life in the wilds of Clearfield county.
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Robert Stewart moved into the Wheatland Settlement in 1829, having come from Chester county. He died during the year 1886, aged nearly one hundred and five years.
In 1837 Hugh Henderson moved from Phil- ipsburg to a piece of land he had purchased from James Allport, one hundred and forty- seven acres, near what is now called the San- born Settlement. Mr. Henderson had emi- grated ten years before from the parish of Donahachie, County Tyrone, Ireland. He was the father of six children-Thomas, Robert, William, Samuel, James and Margaret. The boys of this family, being hard workers, soon acquired sufficient means to purchase additional lands, and marrying, they branched out for themselves, buying lands near the parent farin, and thus helping to clear this township. As proved afterwards, all the lands in this and Decatur township were underlaid with coal, though these old settlers never dreamt of such a thing, or at least if they knew it, did not sup- pose it would be of any value to them. Coal was opened and worked for smithing, and local consumption as early as 1804, on the Hawkins place, near Philipsburg, but was not accounted of much value to its owner.
The farm bought by Samuel Henderson at the head of Goss Run, was sold in 1873 to John Whitehead, and the celebrated Ocean colliery was opened upon it.
James Hegarty was another pioneer of this township, emigrating with his father from Ire- land when eleven years old, in 1808, and set- tling on lands later known as the "X Roads" farm, in 1820. He afterwards purchased three hundred acres in what is now known as Geu- lich township. Mr. Hegarty died on the 3Ist of May, 1846, leaving a family of four chil- dren.
Rev. John M. Chase is another old settler, having early cleared a farm on Clearfield Creek, in Happy Valley. Mr. Chase was a minister of the Baptist Church, having been or- dained a pastor of the church near his place in 1871.
Christian Shoff, of Osceola Mills, was another old settler of this township. Mr. Shoff's grandfather settled near the vil- lage of Puseyville, at the lower ford. That his father, Samuel Shoff, settled near Glen Hope in 1811, is known, and Christian was born there in 1830. When five years old his father moved to Wheatland, now called Amesville. This, then, may be called the first settlement of thie hamlet of Amesville. Shoff, the father. moved in company with Benjamin Wright, Billy Myrtle. Abraham Kady. Robert Hag- gerty, and John Whiteside, the descendants of whom still inhabit the farms in and around this place. The Alexander family are later addi- tions to the township, but still can be styled old settlers.
Lumbering occupied the time of these old pioneers as much as farming. The township being covered with a most magnificent pine and hemlock forest, they, in winter, felled the pine trees, squared them, rafted the timber, and ran it to market by way of Clearfield Creek and the Susquehanna River. Wages for hewers in those days was sixty-two and one-half cents per day of twelve hours.
Logging. or cutting the trees into logs dif- ferent lengths, was not commenced for some time after the lumbering, or the making of square timber, and when the first logs were placed in the creek to be run out on the first flood, the anger of the lumbermen was so raised against the loggers that a number of them proceeded to chop the logs to pieces, while
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others drove nails and spikes into the logs so that they could not be sawed. A lawsuit was the result, which was gained by the loggers. and thereafter logs and rafts had equal rights to the water. William R. Dickinson was the first man to run logs, and his logs were the ones destroyed.
In 1847 a very heavy flood occurred in the waters leading from the county, the river be- ing ten feet higher than has been known since. In 1865 another flood occurred, but not so dis- astrous as the preceding one.
Mills for the manufacturing of lumber were built as early as the forties, but it was not un- til 1854 that the first mill was built in the town- ship. This was Houtz, Reed & Co.'s mill at Houtzville (now Brisbin). Another mill was built above Houtzdale, about a mile, by Dull & Kessler, in 1867. The lumber from these two mills was hauled by tram-road to Moshannon mines in 1868, and shipped by rail.
The Reeds built another mill in what is now Iloutzdale, in 1869, and from that date on nu- merous mills were built, notably Heim's mill. in 1871, situated two miles west of Osceola Mills ; Kephart & Bailey's "bill mill," in 1873. one mile west of the same place. Isaac Tay- lor also built a mill on Coal Run in 1869, and S. S. Kephart has a mill there yet. Jesse Dig- gins built a mill on Goss Run, a little below Houtz, Reed & Co's mill, in 1873, and a man named MeOmber had a portable mill at the head of Goss Run as early as 1868, while J. A. G. White built the first shingle mill near Osce- ola Mills in 1867.
Thomas Henderson also built a mill near his farm in 1877, and a Mr. Allport one at the head of Coal Run the same year. McCaulley & Ramey built a mill at Stirling in 1870. and another one at a point now called Ramey in
1874. The timber of this region was so fine that sticks squared one foot, and seventy-six feet long, were furnished for the Centennial buildings, and seventy-two feet long for the insane asylum at Norristown.
Beyer & Kirk built a mill near Morgan Run in 1882, and another near Madera in 1885. Messrs. Fryberger & Fee had a shingle-mill in operation near Houtzdale in 1881. and Walker Brothers one on Morgan Run, and William Lu- ther one at Madera, while Frederick Ramey had another at Osceola Mills.
There was another saw-mill one mile south of Osceola Mills, and another three miles west of the same place, and though these last two were in Centre county, just over the line, yet they helped to clear the forests of this side of the county line.
Mr. Mays and John Hamerly built a plan- ing-mill one mile west of Houtzdale in 1874. This mill was afterwards sold to Samuel T. Henderson, and by him to Giles Walker in 1885, but Mr. Walker re-sold the mill to Hen- derson in 1886.
The shipment of lumber from this region from 1867 to 1884 was 1,082,742 tons, aver- aging two tons per thousand feet, aggregating 541,371,000 feet of lumber. This only rep- resents the amount manufactured in the town- ships under review. There was a large amount of logs cut and floated to market. Jacob Kep- ler logged the southern side of the A. B. Long tract as early as 1858, while Howard Matley and John Bordeaux logged the Moshannon Coal Company's tract in 1869.
The Moshannon Branch Railroad was built in 1869, and from that time improvements have followed each other very fast. The pop- ulation in 1872, when Houtzdale was taken from it, was eighteen hundred, while in 188;
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it was over ten thousand, by adding the bor- plank and tramroad was never destined to be oughis and townships erected within its borders since the former date.
A most sanguinary battle, so tradition has it, was fought between General Anthony Wayne and the Indians, about half a mile south of Houtzdale, and the graves of the slain can be distinctly traced. Many relics, bones, ar- row-heads and other relics have been picked up around the spot, and the trees bore many a mark of the conflict. In fact, when these trees were felled and hauled to the mills to be sawed they often destroyed the saws and en- dangered the life of the sawyer by coming in contact with some stone implement or arrow- head imbedded in the wood.
Before the advent of the railroad, however, Dr. Houtz, who had bought large tracts of lands in the township, and on which Houtz- dale, Brisbin, and a number of villages stand, determined to make a way to get his lumber to market, and, with this end in view, he dep- utized his son-in-law, George M. Brisbin, to come into the township and see what could be done. Mr. Brisbin came here, then, before the advent of railroads, though the Tyrone and Clearfield railway was talked about. He proposed and actually surveyed a route for a plank road from Osceola Mills to Jeansville, and Madera, about ten miles. This was to be supplemented by a tramroad, so as to enable them to haul their lumber to the railroad. This
built, however, for when Mr. Brisbin had everything ready to commence, the Messrs. Knight, who owned the extensive coal lands at Moshannon, came along and asked Dr. Houtz to join with them and build a railroad three miles long. The doctor agreed to this, as it would bring his lands within one mile of an outlet, and the road was built. This was the first of the Moshannon Branch. Mr. Bris- bin then built a tramroad from the mills at "Houtzville," as it was then called, to Moshan- non, one mile long, and hauled his lumber to that point and shipped it.
The cause of the sudden increase of popula- tion was the opening the coal beds. It has not been all prosperity, however. The miners did not always work, but created an occasional disturbance by striking. The first general strike occurred in January, 1869, but it did not last very long. Wages were advanced about fifteen per cent. Since then other strikes have taken place with varying success.
Madera is a village situated on the east side of Clearfield Creek, four miles from Houtz- dale. It was formerly called Puseyville, after Charles Pusey, who owned the land upon which it was built, and who erected saw-mills and a large grist-mill near the town site. The town is surrounded with hills in which are nu- merous coal beds. (For Brisbin and Houtz- dale boroughs see succeeding chapter. )
CHAPTER XXIV
THE BOROUGHS
Historical Sketches of the Boroughs of Brisbin, Burnside, Chester Hill, Clearfield, Coalport, Curwensville, DuBois, Glen Hope, Grampian, Houtsdale, Irvona, Lumber City, Mahaffey, Newburg, New Washington, Osceola Mills, Ramey, Troutville, Wallaceton and Westover.
BOROUGH OF BRISBIN
The Borough of Brisbin is situated on lands formerly owned by Dr. Daniel Houtz of Alex- andria, Pa., and was named in honor of George M. Brisbin, Esq., of Osceola Mills, a son-in-law of Dr. Houtz. Mr. Brisbin had charge of what are known as the Houtz lands for Dr. Houtz, and located where the town of Brisbin now is in 1854 and erected a saw-mill, which was operated until 1869. In 1874 the Moshannon Branch of the Pennsylvania Rail- road was extended to Brisbin and in 1880, Hoover, Hughes & Company having pur- chased a large quantity of timber in the neigh- borhood, erected a steam saw-mill at Brisbin and operated it until May 27, 1881, when it was burned and was immediately rebuilt and continued to be operated until the timber was manufactured.
The borough was incorporated on January 8, 1883, and on June 20th of the same year, a postoffice was established, John E. Vaughn was appointed postmaster.
The coal operations in the neighborhood of the town were rapidly developed after the building of the railroad and the population
continued to increase and the town prospered and was a thriving place until on the 2nd of May, 1884, it was totally destroyed by fire. The fire first started in the woods, west of the town, and spread so rapidly that the inhabit- ants were not able to save any of their prop- erty or personal belongings, but were forced to flee for their lives. One aged lady, who after reaching a place of safety, returned to try to save her cow, lost her life.
.Although greatly discouraged by the de- struction of their town, the people of Brisbin went bravely to work to rebuild their homes and soon a new Brisbin sprang up and pros- pered until the timber on the adjoining lands was cut and manufactured and the coal under- neath exhausted, since which time Brisbin has not increased much in population or business. The present population is about five hundred.
The town has three churches, good public schools and is supplied with water and electric light from the neighboring town of Houtzdale.
BOROUGH OF BURNSIDE
The Borough of Burnside was incorporated October 5. 1874, and is situated in Burnside township, in the southwestern corner of the
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county, on the West Branch of the Susque- Pennsylvania Railroad at Steiner's Station hanna River. The town is located on high ta- and by the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad, which latter company has a branch line from Munson to Chester Hill, but calls its station Philipsburg. ble land and surrounded by a beautiful farm- ing country. It is reached by the Cambria & Clearfield division of the Pennsylvania Rail- road.
In the lumbering days of Clearfield county, Burnside was a thriving and prosperous com- munity, but since the cutting out of the timber in that section of the county, the borough of Burnside has been dependent for its prosperity upon the trade from the surrounding terri- tory.
The town has three churches, and a good schoolhouse.
The present population of the borough is four hundred and ninety-three (493).
BOROUGH OF CHESTER HILL
The Borough of Chester Hill is situated in Decatur township, on the western bank of the Moshannon Creek, which stream is one of the boundaries between the counties of Clearfield and Centre. The town was laid out by the late Jacob F. Steiner, who located there in 1849 and engaged in the lumber business. The borough was incorporated in the year 1883. Although Chester Hill is in Clearfield county, it is practically a part of the borough of Phil- ipsburg in Centre county, Pa., and many of its citizens are engaged in business in that town.
The principal industry upon which the town is dependent, is the Fire Brick Works of the Harbison-Walker Refractories Company, which gives employment to a large number of mien. There are also several coal operations in the neighborhood.
The borough is on the line of the Altoona & Philipsburg Connecting Railroad and it is also reached by the Tyrone Branch of the
The borough has two churches, water and electric lights, good schools, a number of busi- ness places and the present population is about five hundred.
BOROUGH OF CLEARFIELD
The early history of Clearfield is contained in a former chapter and in this article we will refer only to the history of the town since its incorporation as a borough, by an Act of As- sembly approved the 21st day of April, A. D. 1840, which may be found in the Pamphlet Laws of Pennsylvania for the year 1840, at page 734.
The boundaries of the borough, as given in said Act, are as follows :
"Beginning at a point on the Susquehanna river about sixty feet south of Walnut street, thence east until it strikes the West line of Hugh Levy's out-lot so as to in- clude the houses and lots now occupied by Dr. H. Lo- rain and John Powell, thence north along said lot of Hugh Levy until it again strikes Walnut street, thence east along the southern edge of Walnut street to Fourth street, thence north along the eastern edge of Fourth street to Pine street. thence west along the northern edge of Pine street to the Susquehanna river, and along said river by its several courses to the place of beginning. to include the town of Clearfield, as at first laid out, ac- cording to the plan thereof, and the two lots south of said town now occupied by said Dr. H. Lorain and John Powell, as above described."
The boundaries of the borough have been enlarged from time to time, and it now con- tains four wards and includes the former bor- ough of West Clearfield and the borough lim- its now cover a territory nearly two miles long by one mile wide on both sides of the West
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Branch of the Susquehanna River. When the Michigan Southern Railroad are also trans- town was originally laid out, Abraham Witmer ported. donated certain lands for public buildings, By means of these railroad connections, Clearfield is within three hundred miles by rail of Philadelphia, Pittsburg, Buffalo, Roch- ester, Baltimore and Washington. and also two triangular pieces of land border- ing on the river to be used as public parks. These parks have been beautified by the plant- ing of shade trees and add greatly to the ap- pearance of the town.
Having the advantage of being the county seat, Clearfield has rapidly grown in popula- tion and wealth, and many fine business blocks and beautiful private residences have been erected.
Aside from the public buildings belonging to the county to which reference has been made in a former chapter, the Dimeling Hotel, Clearfield National Bank block, the County National Bank building, the Clearfield Trust Company building, the Keystone block and Leitzinger Brothers store building are the principal business buildings in the town and are all of modern architecture and fully up- to-date in every respect.
The town has eight churches, a Young Men's Christian Association building and or- ganization, several fine school buildings, two daily and four weekly newspapers, several miles of brick paved streets, gas and electric light, a public steam heating plant and a splendid supply of pure mountain water.
Next to DuBois, Clearfield is the most pop- ulous town in the county, it having, according to the census of 1910, 6,851 inhabitants.
The railroad facilities are of the very best. the town being reached by three, to-wit :- The Tyrone division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, the Beech Creek division of the New York Central & Hudson River Railroad, and the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburg Railway, over which latter road, trains of the Lake Shore &
The principal manufacturing establishments are the two large fire brick plants of the Har- bison-Walker Refractories Co., the large sole leather tannery of the Elk Tanning Company, the Clearfield Toy Works, the Clearfield Man- ufacturing Company, the Clearfield Machine Shops, and the Clearfield Clay Working Com- pany.
The social side of life is not neglected by the people of Clearfield. The Dimeling Hotel contains a fine ball room and the citizens of Clearfield and Curwensville maintain the Clearfield-Curwensville Country Club, whose grounds, club house, and golf links are sit- nated at Centre, half way between Clearfield and Curwensville.
The citizens of the town are progressive and awake to all the interests of their community, and Clearfield is in many respects typical of the results of the best efforts of American citi- zenship.
BOROUGH OF COALPORT
Nearly all of the towns in Clearfield county are situated at points where the natural advan- tages are such as to draw population or busi- ness to the locality. The situation of the Borough of Coalport is a good illustration of this fact. It is located on Clearfield Creek, in the southern part of the county and near the division line between Clearfield and Cambria counties, twenty-three miles from Altoona, and twenty-five miles from Clearfield. It is on the line of the Pennsylvania and Northwestern
Grace Lutheran Church, Curwensville
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Presbyterian Church and Parsonage. Curwensville
First Baptist Church, Curwensville
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M. E. Church. Corner State and Walnut Streets, Curwensville
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division of the Pennsylvania Railroad, which connects with the main line at Bellwood, and is also on the Cresson and Coalport division, which connects with the main line at Cresson, Pa., thus giving the town good railroad facili- ties. Valuable deposits of bituminous coal are found in the neighborhood and the various coal operations make Coalport the center for a large amount of business.
The town was originally laid out by James Haines and S. M. and J. D. Spangle and was incorporated as a borough in 1883. It has five churches, one weekly newspaper, a National bank, and fine public schools. The present popuation of the borough is about fifteen hun- dred.
CURWENSVILLE BOROUGH
On December 10, 1798, John Curwen, Sr., of Montgomery county, Pa., obtained from the Commonwealth a patent for three hundred and fifty-one acres of land on the banks of the Susquehanna River, at the mouth of Anderson Creek, in what was at that time part of Lyco- ming county. On this property Curwen laid out a town, consisting of forty-eight lots, lying between what are now known as Thompson and Locust streets, which he named Curwens- ville. John Curwen, Sr., bequeathed this property to his son, George Curwen, from whom the greater portion of it was subse- quently purchased by John and Wm. Irvin. Up to the year 1812, not a single building had been erected on the town plot, although from the best information now obtainable, it seems that there were at that time two dwellings on the Curwen lands. One of these was erected by Job England, near where the Patton liome- stead now stands, and the other by a Mr. Weld, near the dwelling now owned by the
Misses Nannie and Alice Irvin. In 1813 Dan- iel Dale built the first house in the town proper, upon the lot corner of State and Filbert streets, where the Owens block is now located ; James Moore, James Young, Mark Jordon and Josiah Evans, Esq., built the next dwell- ings in about the order named. During the year 1818 William Irvin, Sr., the father of Colonel E. A. Irvin and John Irvin, Sr., the father of Colonel John Irvin, came to Cur- wensville. John Irvin erected a saw-mill, and a grist-mill near the present site of the Irvin flouring-mill.
After the completion of the Erie turnpike, in 1824, the progress of the town was rapid, and by an act of the Legislature, approved the 3rd day of February, 1851, it was incorpora- ted as a borough.
The limits of the borough have been en- larged several times, first by an act of the Leg- islature, approved the 21st day of March, 1856, and again by an act approved the 24th of April, 1869, and the third time, in 1884, on application of the inhabitants of the adjacent territory, the boundaries were extended by the court so as to include what was known as South Curwensville, and all the property as far north as Hogback Run, and east as far as the eastern line of the Irvin farm, and west to near Roaring Run.
In 1871, through the efforts of the citizens, subscriptions amounting to over $60,000 were obtained, and the extension of the T. and C. Railroad to the town, was secured. The road was finished and opened for traffic in 1874.
The Clearfield & Mahoning Branch of the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburg Railroad, which passes through Curwensville, was open for traffic in 1893 and the Curwensville & Bower Railroad, a branch of the New York
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Central & Hudson River Railroad was con- structed in 1903-4, so that the town is well supplied with railroad facilities.
Curwensville has seven churches, a weekly newspaper, a national bank, fine system of graded public schools, good water supply, paved streets and electric lights, and is one of the most thriving and progressive, as well as the most beautiful town in the county.
The principal industries are two large tan- neries, the largest fire brick plant in the county, two stone quarries, besides other smaller industries.
The present population of the borough is about three thousand (3,000).
·BOROUGH OF DU BOIS
The Borough of Du Bois is situated in the extreme northwestern part of the county, two miles east from the Jefferson county line. It is located on a part of what is known as the "Great Beaver Meadow." This "Beaver Meadow" is from five to six miles long and from one-half to three-fourths of a mile wide and Sandy Lick Creek flows through the cen- ter of it. The land for a distance of five miles along Sandy Lick Creek, is almost level, there being only a fall of twenty-one feet in the five miles. The town has extended far beyond the width of the Meadow and occupies a large portion of the adjacent hills.
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