HISTORY : Part 2- Chapman's "The Valley of the Conemaugh," 1865 [southwestern PA]

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[Archivist's Note:  Part 1 contains Chapters I - IV.  Part 2 Chapters V - X.]


                          THE VALLEY OF THE CONEMAUGH

                             BY THOMAS J. CHAPMAN

                  ALTOONA, PA:  McCRUM & DERN, PRINTERS, 1865

                    "Lives there a man with soul so dead,
                       that never to himself hath said,
                    'This is my own, my native land?'"
                        
                                             Sir Walter Scott

                   ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

INDEX OF PART 2


CHAPTER V.

Johnstown and its Suburbs.             100

CHAPTER VI.

Blairsville                            118

CHAPTER VII.

Other Towns and Villages               130

CHAPTER VIII.

Cambria Iron Works                     152

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CHAPTER IX.

Other Enterprises                      162

CHAPTER X.

Biographical                           175



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                                   CHAPTER V.

                          JOHNSTOWN AND ITS SUBURBS.

Johnstown is the metropolis of the Conemaugh valley.  It is situated on the
point of land between the Conemaugh and Stony Creek, at their junction.  Its
location is very similar to that of Pittsburg.  The ground upon which the
chief part of the town is built is nearly at a dead level; there being
scarcely fall enough in any direction to answer the purposes of proper
drainage.  In military parlance, Johnstown is "commanded" by high hills.  It
lies in the narrow basin between the Alleghanies and the Laurel Hill.  Lofty
hights girt it round about on every side.  There is no good farming lands in
the immediate vicinity of Johnstown; but the surrounding hills are "full" of
valuable minerals, to which the town owes its importance.

Conrad Weiser, Interpreter of the Province of Pennsylvania, seems to have
been the first white man that ever set foot upon the site of Johnstown.  It
is true that ere his time white captives may have passed over this spot on

<[101]>

their melancholy way to the western wilds; but if so, we have no account of
them. In 1748, Weiser was despatched with, a large present to the Indians on
the Ohio, to confirm them in their allegiance to the British cause. George
Croghan, a celebrated frontiersman of that period, was sent along to conduct
the expedition through the Indian country.

On the eleventh day of August, 1748, the little party of Weiser left Berks
county on their important mission. After traveling nearly two hundred miles,
August 22d, they "crossed the Allegheny hills, and came to the Clear Fields."
The day following they came to the Showonese Cabbins," a distance of
thirty-four miles. Here they met about twenty of the horses sent by Croghan
to convey the goods from Frankstown. By the " Showonese Cabbins," we believe
is indicated the present site of Johnstown as it is well known that a
Shawanese town once stood here. The distance from one point to another, as he
names them, considering the route they probably pursued, which it is likely
was not far from a straight line, would just about bring their to this place.
On the 25th, they crossed what he calls the "Kiskeminetoes Creek," by which he
means the lower Conemaugh, and came to the Allegheny river, then called the
Ohio, at

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the distance of fifty-eight miles from the "Showonese Cabbins."

Ten years later, in November, 1758, Christian Frederick Post, on a message
from the government to the Indians on the Ohio, also passed through this
place.  Post came over from Raystown, now Bedford.  While coming through
Somerset county, he found to his dismay, near Sony Creek, as he says, "on of
the worst roads that ever was traveled." - Some people believe that the road
supervisors haven't been along that route since.  On the 11th of November he
came to an old Shawanese town, called Kickenapawling.  This village is said
to have occupied the spot upon which Johnstown now stands, and was, then,
identical with the "Shownese Cabbins" of Weiser.  At the period of Post's
visit it seems to have been long abandoned, for he speaks of it distinctly as
the old Shawanese town, and further says, that it was so grown up with "weeds,
briars and bushes," that they could scarcely get through.  The following lines
from Campbell are perhaps descriptive of the village as it appeared to Post:

 "All ruined and wild is their roofless abode,
   and lonely the dark raven's sheltering tree;
 And traveled by few is the grass covered road,
 Where the hunter of deer and the warrior trode
   To his hills that encircle the sea."

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Post spells the name Heckkeknepalin. This is undoubtedly a lapsus pennae, or
a mis-print. We think the correct name is Keckkeknepalin. By what authority
it has been changed to Kickenapawling, we are at a loss to tell. Probably the
name Keckkeknepalin was given to the village some time subsequent to the visit
of Weiser, in honor of a chief of that name who probably afterward lived here.
- This chief was a conspicuous person during the French and Indian troubles of
1750 - 1760. He was the leader of a gang of Indians that made an onslaught on
the settlers near Penn's Creek, on the sixteenth of October, 1755, killing
fifteen, and taking prisoners ten more, whom they carried to. Kittanning. We
also find his name among the "Captains and Councillors" who delivered a
speech to Post, at Cuscusking, September 3, 1758. His partners in this were
King Beaver, Delaware George, Kill Buck, and others. Post also mentions a
visit which he received from him at Old French Town, at the mouth of Beaver
Creek, on the seventeenth of November of the same year. These facts lead us
to the opinion that Keckkeknepalin and his people had migrated to that
section some time before.

On leaving Kickenapawling, Post and his

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companions ascended a very steep hill, perhaps what is now called "Benshoof's
Hill," and the horse of Thomas Hickman "tumbled and rolled down the hill like
a wheel," whereupon Thomas grew angry, and declared he would go no farther
with them; but not being able to find another road, and perhaps not liking
the hospitalities of Kickenapawling, he very wisely reconsidered his
resolution, and rejoined the party shortly afterward, feeling, as the
ingenuous Post says, "a little ashamed."  He adds, however, that they were
"glad to see him."  This unfortunate fellow would seem to have been born to
bad luck.  Post relates another little mishap that befell him on the 9th of
September, 1758: "We took a little foot-Path," says he, "hardly to be seen,
and we lost it and went through thick Bushes till we came to a mire, which we
did not see till we were in it, and Tom Hickman fell in and almost broke his leg."

In 1791 or 1792, Joseph Johns, an enterprising German, who had not the fear
of the red men before his eyes, strayed over to the ancient village of
Kickenapawling.  He seems to have liked the locality better than the former
inhabitants did who had abandoned it so many years before, for he determined
to settle

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here. He did more than this; he determined to found a city on the ruins of
Kickenapawling. Perhaps visions of its future greatness and prosperity filled
up the vacuity of many a lonely hour!

As this was the heart of navigation to those seeking the western waters, Mr.
Johns was not long the only settler in this wild region. Other hardy spirits
soon joined him here. The whole territory hereabouts was them known as the
"Conemaugh country." By 1800, the number of settlers here was so numerous
that Mr. Johns proceeded to carry out what we fancy was his darling project:
to establish a town; for, November third, of that year, he filed a charter in
Somerset describing and legalizing the town of "Conemaugh," as he chose to
christen it. The venerable Abraham Morrison, Esq.,* of Johnstown, then a
practicing attorney in the town of Somerset, was a witness to this document.

From this charter we find that the town was then comprised in "one hundred
and forty-one lots, ten streets, six alleys, and one Market Square." Johns
conveyed to the use oŁ the public, "one acre for a Burying ground,"  "the
square on Main street containing the

*Died February, 1865.

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Lots. No. Forty-nine, Fifty, Fifty-one, & Fifty-two for a County Court House
and other public buildings," and declares that "all that piece of ground
called the point, laying between the said town and the Junction of the two
rivers or creeks aforesaid, shall be reserved for commons and public
amusements for the use of the said Town and its future inhabitants for
ever."  Among the earliest settlers in the town of Conemaugh were Peter
Goughenour, Joseph Francis, and Ludwig Wissinger.  The descendants of
Goughenour and Wissinger still live in the neighborhood.

The following incident we find in A.J. Hite's little volume entitled "The
Hand-Book of Johnstown."  It describes the final exit of the last of the
Shawanese that figure in the history of Kickenapawling:

"Long after the white man had opened his lodge on the 'flat,' a solitary
Indian remained, who spent his time in hunting, and fishing along the rivers
contiguous.  He is described as having been a venerable looking man, and of a
peaceful disposition, neither interfering with the affairs of the whites nor
encroaching on their property, but who quietly set his traps for beaver or
sat by the stream at his favorite fishing-grounds, deeply wrapt in thought.

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One day, while paddling peaceably in his canoe, near town, a rife, in the
hands oŁ a renegade white man, was fired from a neighboring thicket, and the
old man fell dead into the stream.

"The scene of this tragic occurrence was on the Conemaugh, opposite where the
Red Mill now stands, fronting Hingston's Gap."

Though Johns had conferred the name of "Conemaugh" on the new village, it
gradually changed to Johnstown. The infant settlement slowly but steadily
increased in size and importance. A road was cut through the wilderness to
Frankstown, on the eastern side of the mountains. This road was the great
trans-Allegheny route for many years. 

The early history of Conemaugh was marked with but few incidents which have
been thought worthy of preservation. It is recorded that in 1808, and again
in 1816, the village was overflowed with water, and the inhabitants were
obliged to fly to the hills for safety.  About the year 1812, the first
grist-mill was erected. A small forge was also put up about the same time. 
The manufacture of iron was thus an early pursuit in Johnstown.  The
transportation of this article was long performed by means of pack-horses and
mules.

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At a little later period this business was carried on in rafts and
flat-boats.  These craft made the trip from Conemaugh to Pittsburg, then a
thriving young city, whenever the stage of water was favorable.  In 1816, the
first keel-boat was built by Isaac Proctor, one of the earliest merchants in
the village.  It was built on the bank of Stony Creek, near the site of the
Union Graveyard.  One or two other iron forges were subsequently erected. 
One of these is known to have stood on the bank of the Stony Creek, a little
below the place where Bedford street comes out upon the creek, and another on
the Conemaugh, near the spot where McConaughy's steam tannery now stands.  Mr.
Hite says, that while digging the race for the last forge, old firebrands,
pieces of blankets, an earthen smoke-pipe, and other Indian relics were
discovered twelve feet below the surface of the earth.

Broken occasionally by such slight ripples as these, the stream of time in
ancient Conemaugh glided calmly along until the year 1828.  In that year the
long debated public improvement were commenced.  We have treated of this
matter at length in another chapter.  Johnstown, for by this name the village
was universally known, fortunately for

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herself lay just where it was necessary to make the connecting point between
the canal and the railroad.  This fact gave to Johnstown some importance.  A
large canal-basis was dug, and depots, machine-shops, warehouses, and all the
other paraphernalia belonging to the termini of the railroad and canal were
erected.  In the course of a few years the line was completed, and the
arrival and departure of the boats and railroad trains imparted a degree of
life and activity to the town.

In the year 1831, the town was incorporated by the name of Conemaugh.  It
then had a population of about seven hundred souls.  By 1840, it had
increased to 912; 1850, to 1269; 1860, to 4185, and at this time, 1865, it
cannot be far from 6000.  In 1846, a furnace was erected on the bluff just
across the canal from where the railroad station now stands.  It furthered
materially the prosperity of the town.  In 1864, it was completely torn down,
having lain idle for some years immediately preceding.  About 1830, the first
foundry in Johnstown was built by Sylvester Welsh, the chief engineer of the
Portage Railroad.  It stood upon the ground now occupied by the store of
Wood, Morrell & Co.  In 1831 or

<[110]>

1832, a new firm became proprietors of the concern, and a new foundry was
built on what is known as the "Island," the new enterprise supplanting its
predecessor.  This foundry passed through different hands, until, in 1864, it
came into the possession of the Johnstown Mechanical Works Company.  At about
12 o'clock on Tuesday night, June 5th, 1865, the foundry was discovered to be
on fire, and in a few hours this venerable enterprise lay in ashes and
smoldering ruins on the ground.  In 1852, S.H. Smith, Esq., then owner of the
foundry, connected with it a large establishment for the making of cars and
machinery.  By an act of the legislature, approved April 14th, 1834, the name
of the town was changed from Conemaugh to Johnstown.  In 1861, an act was
passed extending the limits of the borough so as to include that suburb known
as "Goose Island."  By the same act, we believe, the town was divided into
five wards.  The fifth ward comprises Kernville, and lies on the southern
side of the Stony Creek.  A neat, substantial bridge connects the two
sections of the town.

The first newspaper published in Johnstown, we believe, was the "Johnstown
Democrat," which was started about the year 1834.

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In 1836, the " Ebensburg Sky," which had been published by the late Hon.
Moses Canan,* was removed to Johnstown, where it was published by his son,
John J. Canan, Esq. These early papers have had numerous successors - the
"Cambria Gazette," the "Johnstown News," the "Cambrian," the "Transcript,"
the "Allegheny Mountain Echo," the "Cambria Tribune," &c.  The papers now
published here are the "Johnstown Tribune," by J. M. Swank, Esq., and the
"Johnstown Democrat," by H. D. Woodruff & Son. The last named is a new paper
started in 1863.

The real progress of Johnstown dates from the year 1853. In that year the
Cambria Iron Works were built. This mammoth enterprise at once attracted to
the town a large amount of business, and a vast increase of population, as
may be seen above. Scores of new houses were immediately put up. Besides the
increased importance of Johnstown proper, offshoots from the town sprang up
like the creations of Aladdin's lamp. These offshoots now compose the
boroughs of Millville, Cambria, and Prospect. Conemaugh Borough also swelled
its attenuated outline to more respectable able proportions.

* See sketch of his life, Chap. X.

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Johnstown proper contains, as we have said, about 6000 souls. It is divided
into five wards.  It contains a large number of stores, shops, offices, and
manufacturing establishments, of different kinds. There are several
creditable hotels, and a large number of elegant private residences. Religion
and education are fostered, and churches and schools are numerous.  Of the
churches the Lutheran, Presbyterian, Methodist Episcopal, and Roman Catholic
are very fine edifices. The people of Johnstown and vicinity, indeed, of the
whole valley, are industrious, enterprising, and patriotic. During the late
terrible war no section of our country supported the government with more
zeal and unanimity than did the people of the Conemaugh valley. 

SUBURBS OF JOHNSTOWN.

Conemaugh Borough. - This is a comparatively old borough. It was incorporated
March 23d, 1849. It was formerly the great business centre of this
neighborhood. It contained, in the palmy days of the old main line, many
large warehouses, which have now entirely disappeared, or are in the last
stages of dilapidation, the State depot, and so forth, all of which have

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long since gone round the Horn. It contains at present a population of about
2500. In it are two or three hotels, several stores and drinking saloons, a
brewery, the "Johnstown Mechanical Works," four school houses, and two
churches. The business of shook making is carried on to some extent in this
town. Conemaugh Borough is divided into two wards. The sidewalks are
generally covered with planks, but the streets themselves in wet weather are
in a deplorable condition. The glory of the town departed with the
abandonment of the old public improvements and but little business is now
carried on in it. The people generally depend upon the rolling mill for
employment.

Prospect Borough. - This is a small village lying upon the high hill
overlooking Johnstown on the north. It was incorporated in 1863. The
population is about two hundred and twenty-five, principally, miners.

Millville. - This borough lies on the western side of Johnstown, and is
separated from it by the Conemaugh river. A fine bridge built in 1861, and
the old aqueduct, connect the two towns. Millville was incorporated in 1858.
It contains about 2300 inhabitants. In this town are the most important
improvements in
 
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the Conemaugh valley. In it are the Cambria Iron Company's rolling mill,
foundry, machine, pattern, blacksmith, carpenter, wagon maker, cabinetmaker,
and harness maker shops, a flouring mill, offices, and four large blast
furnaces. The greater part of this town was built and is owned by this
company. It is peopled almost exclusively by the employees of the rolling
mill. In it are a hotel, several stores, a large steam tannery, the railroad
station, and four school houses. The lower part of the town is called
Minersville. A substantial bridge upon which is a roadway for wagons and
pedestrians, a railroad track for a locomotive, and another track for the
company's coal trains, spans the river, and connects this town with Cambria
Borough, that lies just on the opposite its side. At a upper end of the town
a handsome iron bridge is thrown across the river, upon which the
Pennsylvania Railroad runs.

Cambria Borough. - This town lies west of Johnstown, and on the southern bank
of the Conemaugh. It was laid out about 1853, and was incorporated in 1862. It
is usually called Cambria city. It has a population of about 800. It is
principally made up of employees of the Cambria Iron Works. In it are two or
three stores, three or four hotels and boarding

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houses, a fine brick church edifice belonging to the German Catholic
congregation, and a large school house. Cambria Borough is beautifully
situated on a broad, flat tract of land that stretches away for a mile or
more beyond the present borough limits, which will allow the town to expand
with the demands of the times. At the upper extremity of the town, and just
outside of the borough, are the extensive cement works of A. J. Haws, Esq.

Conemaugh Station, or, as it is sometimes called, Sylvania, is on the
Pennsylvania Railroad, about one mile east of Conemaugh Borough. It is an
important fuel and water station for the locomotives used on the road. Here
is a large "round-house," which will accommodate sixteen locomotives, a
blacksmith and machine shop, a water station, a large, coal scaffold some
twenty-five feet high, to which the trucks loaded with coal ascend by means
of an inclined plane, a telegraph office and a boarding house, all the
property of the railroad company. There are also three or four stores, two or
three hotels, a church, and two school houses. The Conemaugh river runs
through the village, dividing it into nearly equal parts. The river is
spanned by a railroad bridge, and another bridge for the convenience of foot

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passengers.  Large quantities of shook are made here.  At this place is a
blast furnace but recently erected.  It was built by E.F. Hodges & Co., of
New York.  It has a capacity of about 100 tons per week.  The furnace is well
located, and has every facility for making good metal.  It stands but a few
rods distant from the railroad, with which itis connected by a branch.  The
population of Conemaugh Station is about 500.  The town is not incorporated.  
It is a very pleasant village to live in.

Woodvale. - This town, which was laid out in 1864, lies in the beautiful flat
extending between Johnstown and Conemaugh Station, and forms an articulating
link between the two places.  A substantial bridge is thrown across the
river, and connects the upper end of Conemaugh Borough with the lower end of
the new town.  Woodvale was laid out by the Johnstown Manufacturing Company,
the proprietors of this site.  It embraces an area of nearly one hundred
acres of the best land in the neighborhood of Johnstown; being a rich
alluvial soil, with a descent of about twenty feel in the mile.  This will
afford sufficient drainage to keep the town dry and healthful.  The Conemaugh
flows along one side of the 

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town, and the Pennsylvania Railroad passes along the other.  The principal
street, which is nearly a mile long, extends the length of the town, and runs
east and west parallel with the railroad.  This street is sixty feet in
breadth, and has been graded and neatly and substantially paved with stone. 
Along the river bank a stone wall six feet high and about a mile in length
has been built to prevent the washing away of the shore.  A street railroad
will be made, running from Woodvale to Johnstown.  This will bring this new
town into such close connection with the business part of the older town
that, what with the beauty of the location, and exemption from the dust and
annoyances of Johnstown and the rolling mill, which the citizens of Woodvale
will enjoy, it will cause the latter to be the most attractive spot for
houses in all this neighborhood.  The Company's new woolen mill is located
here, and a beautiful town is springing up around it as if by enchantment. 
There is no doubt that in a very few years Woodvale will be the most
flourishing and pleasing suburb of Johnstown.

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                                CHAPTER  VI.

                                BLAIRSVILLE.

This town is situated on the northern turnpike leading from Huntingdon to
Pittsburg, at the distance of forty-two miles to the east of that city.  It
is built upon elevated ground on the right bank of the Conemaugh river, about
thirty miles below Johnstown.  A rough perpendicular precipice rises from the
water's edge, which is now chiefly hidden by large warehouses and other
buildings, somewhat similar in point of architecture to those of the Cowgate
in Edinburg, which, Judge Brackenridge says, are thirteen stories on one side
and half a story on the other.  The location of Blairsville is extremely
healthy; the water very good, and the place has never been visited to any
extent by those dreadful disorders that sometimes carry off whole populations
at one fell stroke.

This town is laid out with great regularity.  The streets are broad, well
paved, and as straight as a rule can make them.  There are three principal
streets, which run nearly due east

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and west, and five cross streets.  There are also four alleys running
parallel with the principal streets, which divide the different squares into
equal parts.  The sloping character of the ground upon which the town is
situated affords excellent drainage, and the streets and alleys are thus
easily kept clear of filth, which no doubt adds greatly to the healthfulness
of the place.

Adjoining Blairsville on the east is the village of Brownstown.  It contains
a population of perhaps two hundred and fifty souls.  It is not incorporated,
but forms a part of Burrell township.  It is to all intents and purposes a
suburb of Blairsville, and ought to be included in that borough.  The village
was probably laid out by, and named in honor of, Mr. Andrew Brown, who lived
in this neighborhood as early as 1818, and was one of the charterers of
Blairsville.

In Brownstown are a public school house, two large hotels, a fine Catholic
church edifice, school house and parsonage, a foundry, and a
threshing-machine manufactory.  The turnpike passes through this town.  The
hill upon the slope of which the village is built contains several fine veins
of coal which have long been opened, and supply the townspeople with that
mineral for their own use, as well as large

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quantities for export.  The coal of this region is of excellent quality.  The
surrounding country is an alternation of hill and dale, and grove and meadow,
divided into farms, most of which are highly productive.

The bank of the river about half a mile above Blairsville is very high and
precipitous, and is known as the "Alum Bank."  There is an upright wall of
nature's own masonry, in some places fifty or sixty feet high, and below this
an abrupt descent of perhaps a hundred feet more to the water's edge, covered
with forests.  This cliff is a mile or two in length.  Several veins of iron
ore and coal have been opened upon its face.  The spectator who stands upon
the edge of this precipice may see the tops of tall trees just at his feet
and almost within his grasp.  Below these is the river, beyond which may be
seen the canal, the railroad, broad fields and patches of woodland stretching
away to the foot of the Chestnut Ridge.

There is a number of fine buildings in Blairsville.  The hotels are
excellent; the churches large and tastefully finished, and the school house,
containing four rooms and two halls, is spacious and commodious.  There is a
fine market house of brick, built in 1857, containing on the first floor and
entry, a lock-up,

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and a large apartment devoted to the purposes of a market; and, on the second
floor, an entry, a council chamber, and a spacious room provided with seats
and a rostrum, which is used for a town-hall.  On the northern side of the
town, surrounded by ornamental trees and shrubbery, is the Female Seminary, a
large brick building of imposing appearance.  It was opened for pupils in
1853.  It has always maintained a high character as an institution of
learning.  This town was laid out about the year 1819, and was named in honor
of John Blair, Esq., of Blair's Gap.  The town-site originally belonged to Mr.
James Campbell.  The turnpike which passes through it was constructed in 1819,
and gave an impetus to the growth of the town.  In 1821, the noble bridge
which spans the river at that place was erected.  Though it has been standing
for more than forty years it gives promise of lasting for years to come.  It
is a single arch, three hundred feet in length.  For many years after its
erection it was considered the best bridge in Western Pennsylvania, and was
the especial pride of the good people of Blairsville.  Prior to the building
of this bridge, Mr. John Mulhollan ran a ferry-boat across the river where
the bridge now stands.

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In 1825, the town was incorporated as a borough; and two years afterward the
population was ascertained to be 500.  In 1828, the Western Division of the
canal was completed to this place, and the Eastern was advancing, step by
step, towards the mountains; the intermediate sections of canal and the
railroad over the mountains, were in progress, but still unfinished.  The
carrying trade, therefore, and the increasing travel, were obliged to resort
to the turnpike.  This gave great importance to Blairsville as a depot and
the place was full of bustle and prosperity.  Long strings of wagons laden
with goods of various descriptions were every day arriving and departing.  At
night, the whole town was one vast caravansary for the accommodation of man
and beast.  There are old citizens of Blairsville who still speak in glowing
terms of those golden days.  Immense hotels and warehouses were erected; four
or five churches were built within three years; property increased in value,
and the hotels were swarming with speculators, engineers, contractors, and
forwarding agents.  Men grew rich there in a day.  In 1834, the communication
was opened over the mountains; the use of the turnpike was to a great extent
abandoned, and the merchants and inn keepers of Blairs-

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ville were compelled to sit and see the trade and travel "pass by on the
other side."  A reaction and depression of course ensued to some extent; but
the enterprising citizens were only driven to the natural resources of the
country as a basis of trade.*

The town, notwithstanding this back-set, continued to thrive at a more
healthy rate, and in 1840 it had a population of 1000.  So, too, through the
next decade, and in 1850 the population had run up to the neighborhood of
1500 souls.  Business was brisk.  The surrounding country is an excellent
farming district, and large quantities of agricultural products were
exported.  A large steam grist mill, a woolen factory, a starch factory, two
flourishing brickyards, two extensive foundries, one on the Blairsville and
the other on the Bairdstown side of the river, and two or three prosperous
tanneries, contributed to swell the amount of exports form the port of
Blairsville to a respectable figure.  Capacious wharves had been built along
the slackwater upon which the town is situated, and boats were at any time to
be seen lying there, either shipping or discharging their cargoes.  The "tarry
sailorman" and the typical mule team were every-

*Day's Hist. Col., page 379.

<[124]>

day sights in the goodly streets of Blairsville.  But all these have now
disappeared.

It may be interesting to the present race of Blairsvillers to read the
opinion formed by a stranger of Blairsvill and its society more than thirty
years ago.  We extract from a letter written by a tourist, June 18th, 1833,
at Blairsville.  He says:  "I address you now from a town, which, as you see
it marked on the map, is a place of minor consideration, but which in
reality, considered as a point in the chain of public improvements which
connects the eastern and western parts of the State, is of vast importance. 
Blairsville, a few years since, consisted of a solitary public house, at
which the traveler across the mountains might stop to refresh himself and his
beast; now it contains a large number of substantially built and handsome
brick edifices-several chuches-a market and school house, and not less than
four or five well kept hotels.  It has sprung up suddenly, but its duration
will not be the less permanent.

"Blairsville stands on the western* bank of the Conemaugh river, a stream
flowing into the Allegheny river, about thirty miles from Pittsburg, and is
distant from that city by

*This is incorrect.  Blairsville is situated on the eastern side of the Conemaugh.

<[125]>

land, forty miles; by the course of the river seventy.  This river is one of
the most beautiful and romantic streams in the west.  I have passed along its
banks for some distance, and been strongly reminded of out favorite Schuykill,
which, in some respects, it strongly resembles.  Its course is meandering and
irregular.  Along this river a canal has been made, east to Johnstown, and
west to Pittsburg, forming the western division of the Pennsylvania Canal.
 
                               *  *  *  *

"The society of Blairsville is remarkable for its intelligence.  I say this
not to deteriorate from the respectability of other western towns, but
because from personal intercourse and observation, I have had abundant
opportunities to ascertain the fact.  We of the east do not properly estimate
the worth of character which exists in the west.  We are too apt to fancy that
the well-informed - the statesman - the philosopher-the man of breeding, is
only to be found in large cities.  This is a great mistake as applied to
western Pennsylvania.  With the most of those to whom I have been introduced
across the mountains, my acquaintance has been extremely pleasant, and the
kindness and attentions of the Blairsville people I shall never forget."*

*See Philadelphia Gazette, June, 1833.

<[126]>

A newspaper was started here about the year 1825.  It was called, if we
mistake not, "The Blairsville Record and Westmoreland Advertiser."  The first
editor, we believe, was a Mr. McFarland.  It soon dropped a part of the name,
and was called merely the "Blairsville Record."  It was successively styled
the "Record," "Citizen," "Apalachian," "True American," and 'Journal," and
was carried on by different parties to the year 1861, when it foundered in an
open sea.  Down to 1849, when Messrs. Matthias & Caldwell took charge of it,
it had been the avowed exponent of the Democratic party in the county; but in
the hands of these gentlemen it soon lost the characteristics of a party
organ, and made its appearance in the garb of neutral.  Mr. T. S. Reid, who
succeeded in the proprietorship in 1855, changed the name form the
"Apalachian" to the "True American," and the paper itself from a neutral to a
strong Republican sheet.  About this time a new paper was started in the town
under the auspices of the Democrats, and bore the time-honored appellation: 
"The Blairsville Record."  This paper was kept afloat until the year 1863,
when it also went down.  In the spring of 1865, the Republican paper was
revived under the name

<[127]>

of the "New Era," of which Wm. R. Boyers, Esq., is editor.

The decade commencing with 1850, opened with bright prospects for
Blairsville.  Business on the canal was brisk, and the amount of shipments
and imports at that place exhibit a state of great prosperity.  For 1851, the
receipts at that port amounted to nearly $11,500.  Two extensive yards were
kept in constant employ in building or repairing boats.  In 1851, the
Pennsylvania Railroad was finished as far as that place, and passengers for
the west here took the boat for Pittsburg.  These were gala days for
Blairsville.  It was, however, but a repetition of the short-lived prosperity
of 1830.  Thousands of emigrants and others passed through the town every
week, and of course left behind them more or less of their specie. 
Blairsville thus suddenly became a great transshipping port.  A new town
called O'Harra, was laid out by Hr. William Maher, around the railroad depot,
on the southern side of Blairsville, and town lots were readily sold for
hundreds of dollars that could now be purchased for perhaps as many tens. 
Fine houses were erected, and every thing was carried along on the top-wave
of success.  But all this prosperity was evanes-

<[128]>

cent, as it had been in the former case.  The railroad was finished through
to Pittsburg in the latter part of 1852, and again the merchants and
inn-keepers of Blairsville were compelled to see the trade and travel "pass
by on the other side."  No more car-loads of obese emigrants from the
"Faderland" came to Blairsville with their clinking pouches of gold and
silver.  No more hack-loads of well-dressed ladies and gentlemen were seen
approaching the hotels, to the inexpressible delight of mine host, whose
practised eye saw his account in them at a glance.

From this time down to 1860, the town steadily declined.  In that year the
population was found to have receded to 1000 souls; just what it was in
1840.  The Blairsville Branch railroad that connects with the main road at a
point about three miles from the town, about the year 1856 was extended to
the town of Indiana; and though the latter was greatly benefited, Blairsville
was improved thereby no whit.  Her fate seemed to be sealed.  She was
apparently one of the "doomed cities."  Her people had nothing more to do. 
The town was finished; and the inhabitants sat down peacefully to await the
providence of God.

But from this depression Blairsville is rapidly

<[129]>

recovering.  The construction of the Western Pennsylvania Railroad, commenced
about 1854, and then abandoned for some years, has contributed a fresh impetus
to the prosperity of the town, and given the citizens heart of hope.  Some
improvements have been made since 1860, and other and more important ones are
in contemplation.  The neighboring hills abound in iron ore, coal, limestone,
and so forth, of the best quality, and favorable signs of oil have been
discovered in the valleys.  There is no conceivable reason why manufactures
of different kinds, and especially of iron, should not be carried on in
Blairsville with the greatest success.  The population now (1865) is said to
be over 1500.  This shows a wonderful reactionary tendency; and as her prosperity 
this time seems based on a more stable foundation, Blairsville will yet rise 
to the dignified position for which God and nature have designed her.

<[130]>

                                  CHAPTER VII.

                           OTHER TOWNS AND VILLAGES.

                                CAMBRIA COUNTY.*

The villages of Cambria county may be divided into two classes-those which
lie in the north of the county, and are of spontaneous growth, and those
which lie in the south of the county, and have sprung up in consequence of
the different lines of public improvements.

The villages in the north of the county are Ebensburg, Carrolltown, Loretto,
St. Augustine, Chess Springs, Munster, Belsano, and Plottsville.  Ebensburg
has been already described.

Carrolltown is eight miles north of Ebensburg, and is connected with it by a
plank road.  It is located on an eminence.  The original Carrolltown lies on
the south side of the hill; but the part of the village more lately built
extends over the crest of the hill, down the northern slope into the valley
beyond.  It is about half a mile in length.  The Catholic

*For this description of the towns and villages in Cambria county, I am
indebted to my excellent friend, S. B. McCormick, Esq., late Superintendent
of Cambria county.

<[131]>

church is a large brick building, situated on the highest ground in the
village, and about midway between the extreme ends.  The public school-house
is similarly located, and stands on the opposite side of the street from the
church.  It contains a thriving population, and is surrounded by a productive
country and thrifty farmers.

Loretto is situated about five miles east of Ebensburg, on a public road
leading from Cresson to Carrolltown.  It is located on the southern slope of
a hill, and contains quite a number of inhabitants.  The Sisters of Charity
have a female school in operation in this place, and the Franciscan Brothers
have a college with ample grounds attached, and which is largely attended,
built in close proximity to the village.  There is also a very large brick
Catholic church in this village.

Chess Springs lies eight miles northeast of Loretto, on a public road leading
from Loretto to White township.  It is built on elevated ground which slightly
slopes westwardly, and contains some fifty dwellings.  Beautiful farms
surround the place, and it is healthful, and supplied with excellent water. 
There is a steam saw mill in the vicinity.  This village might be called the
Buenos Ayres of Cambria county.

<[132]>

St. Augustine is three miles northeast of Chess Springs, situated on the same
public road.  The ridge which runs along between the valleys near the place,
is called the Loop.  On that ridge there is at one place a slight depression
of the surface, and in this depression, there are cross roads, at which the
village is built.  There is a frame Catholic church, and a public
school-house in the place.

Munster is the next town in size of the northern class, and is situated four
miles east of Ebensburg on the turnpike road.  The Ebensburg and Cresson
railroad runs through the place.  It is built on a level plot of ground, and
is surrounded by a great number of productive farms.  It contains a small
population, but no public buildings.

Belsano is located about eight miles southwest of Ebensburg, on the Clay
Pike, leading to Indiana borough.  It is a small place, in an unproductive
section of country, and is now almost isolated from the business world.

Plottsville lies eight miles north of Carrolltown, on the road leading to the
Cherry Tree, a small town in Indiana county.  It is a small village of little
importance.

The towns in the southern portion of the county are Johnstown and surrounding


<[133]>

boroughs, Summerhill, Wilmore, Foot-of-Four, Summit, Cresson, Gallitzin,
Perkinsville, Scalp-Level, Geistown, and Parkstown.  Of these Summerhill,
Wilmore, Foot-of-Four, and Summitville are relics of the Allegheny Portage
Railroad, which in its time ran through them, and which gave origin to their
existence. - Johnstown and its suburbs have been already described.

Summerhill, which should have been termed Winter Hollow, is located in a
narrow valley between hills through which the Portage Railroad ran.  The
Pennsylvania Railroad runs close by the old village, and sustains its
vitality.  It contains two or three hundred inhabitants.

Wilmore is similarly situated, a few miles east of Summerhill.  The
Pennsylvania Railroad passes near the place.  It was once a brisk village,
but is now decaying rapidly.  There are many beautiful and productive farms
in the vicinity.

Foot-of-Four was built at the foot of plane No. 4, on the Portage Railroad. 
The Pennsylvania Railroad runs close by this village; nevertheless, it is in
a state of dilapidation.  The town is called Foot-of-Four, the station
Lilly's Station, and the Post Office Hemlock.

<[134]>

Summitville was built on the summit of the mountain, at the head of the
planes on the Portage Railroad.  It is now a decayed village, although there
is a fine Catholic church in the place.  It is half a mile from Cresson, on
the Pennsylvania Railroad.

Cresson, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, is four miles east of the
Foot-of-Four, and is a watering place, much frequented in the summer months
by visitors from the cities.  Otherwise it is an unimportant place.

Gallitzin is situated at the east end of the tunnel on the Pennsylvania
Railroad, and also comprises Tunnel Hill, on the top of the mountain above
said tunnel.  It lies partly in Blair county.  It is a growing place.

Perkinsville is a small village on the Canal three miles west of Johnstown.

Scalp-Level and Geistown are small villages in Richland township, towards
Somerset county.

Parkstown is a small place on the old Frankstown road, about two miles east
of Johnstown.

Benscreek. - This is a small village surrounding a furnace of the same name,
situated about three miles south of Johnstown, on the Somerset road. A
portion of the village is in Cambria and a portion in Somerset county.

<[135]>

The furnace, which has been in operation for many years, is not now in blast;
and, as a consequence, the population is somewhat thinned out.  It was once a
thriving settlement.

Mill Creek. - This is another village, similar in its origin and surroundings
to Benscreek, situated five miles southeast of Johnstown, at the base of the
Laurel Hill, and is connected with Benscreek by a tram railroad, five miles
in length.  The furnace is not at present in blast, and the inhabitants are
not numerous, nor in a prosperous condition.

Cambria Furnace. - About five miles northwest of Johnstown, and near one mile
from the Conemaugh river, northward, there is a furnace located, near the base
of Laurel Hill, with the foregoing name and title, surrounded by a smart
little village.  Like the other two furnaces, it is not now in operation. 
All these furnaces formerly belonged to Shoenberger & Co., and are now, with
the lands adjoining, the property of the Cambria Iron Company.

                             SOMERSET COUNTY.

Davidsville is a small village on the plank road leading from Johnstown to
Stoystown.  It is much frequented in the sleighing season

<[136]>

by gay companies of young folks from the former place, who believe that a
good supper and a merry dance repay them for the journey of sixteen miles
there and back.

Stoystown lies on the same road, ten mils beyond Davidsville.  This is an old
village.  It was laid out by an old Revolutionary soldier named Stoy.  We have
already spoken of the ruins of a house here visible at a late period, which
was said to have been built in 1758.-This town was incorporated as a borough
in 1819.  It is a flourishing town, and has a population of several hundreds.

Six miles from Stoystown on the same road is Snydersville, a small town
containing a post office, a tannery, and several houses.

Twelve miles from Johnstown, on the turnpike leading to Somerset we come to
Forwardstown.  This is a small village.

Six miles from Forwardstown is Jennerville, on the same road.  It contains a
store, a tavern, and so forth.

Sipesville is a small town on the same road, four miles from Jennerville.  It
contains a couple of stores, a tavern, and so on.

Jenner Cross Roads is a well known point at the crossing of the Somerset and
the Pittsburg turnpikes, a couple of miles from Jennerville.

<[137]>

                           WESTMORELAND COUNTY.

Conemaugh Furnace lies on the Pennsylvania Railroad seven miles west of
Johnstown.  A furnace was built here in 1839 or 1840, by Messrs. McGill,
Foster & White.  It was kept in operation for some time, but has been
abandoned for many years.  The stack alone remains to indicate that it ever
had an existence.  A number of people still live here in the houses that were
put up for the accommodation of the furnace hands.  This place lies right in
the gorge of the Laurel Hill, upon one of the most beautiful stretches of
water along this entire river.  The scenery around is of the wildest and most
romantic description.

Nineveh Station lies two miles west of Conemaugh furnace.  Here are a
water-station, a store, and several very comfortable residences.  Large
quantities of bark, shook, staves, and so forth, are shipped from this point.

New Florence is six miles west of Nineveh station.  This is a pleasant and
thriving town, surrounded by a rich, productive country.  It was laid out about 
the year 1851 or 1852.  In this village are several stores, a hotel, a couple

<[138]>

of churches, a school house, and a number of fine residences.  The people of
New Florence are distinguished for their intelligence, respectability, and
morality.  Before the war a fine classical school was located in this
town.-Laurel Hill furnace, and exploded enterprise, is situated at the foot
of the Laurel Hill, at the distance of a mile or two from this town.

Three miles west of New Florence is Lockport.  This is a small village lying
on the canal and the railroad.  A beautiful stone aqueduct of five arches
here crosses the river.  In this village are a wood and water station, a
couple of stores, school house, and establishments for the manufacture of
fire brick.  There are also the remains of an old furnace.

About three miles from Lockport in a southerly direction is a small hamlet
known as Covodesville.  It is the property of the Hon. John Covode, the
distinguished politician, who has his home here.  This village contains a
large woolen factory, saw mill, school house, and so forth.

Bolivar lies one mile west of Lockport.  In this village are extensive
fire-brick establishments.  A foot-bridge crosses the Conemaugh, and a neat
stone aqueduct a small stream that flows into the river at this place from
the southward.

<[139]>

Proceeding along the railroad five miles further, we come to the Blairsville
Intersection, where the branch railroad leading to Blairsville and Indiana
intersects the main road.  Here are a station, telegraph office, post office,
a hotel, and some five or six dwelling houses.

In going from Bolivar to the Blairsville Intersection, we pass through the
Chestnut Ridge by a valley apparently cut by the river for its own
accommodation.  The scenery along here is exceedingly wild and picturesque. 
Coming down from the southward, and splitting the Ridge at about right angles
with the river valley, is a deep gorge known as the Pack Saddle.  A high
"dump" crosses this gorge at its mouth, upon which the track of the railroad
is laid.  Immediately opposite to the mouth of the Park Saddle is the abrupt
termination of a lofty mountain range that comes down from the north.  The
work of constructing the railroad through the Chestnut Ridge was a difficult
enterprise, and the classic region of the Pack Saddle was the scene of many a
hard fought battle between the "Corkonians" and "Far-downers," whom the work
had brought together.

Four miles west of the Intersection we come to Hillside.  This is important
as a wood and

<[140]>

water station on the railroad.  It contains a store, a large steam tannery,
and several dwelling houses.

About two miles from Hillside, at the base of the Chestnut Ridge, is a
remarkable cavern known as the Bear Cave.  It was explored more than thirty
years ago.  It consists of one main entrance, which, at a short distance from
the mouth, branches off into innumerable and hitherto interminable
ramifications, and these again into countless other branches, forming, on the
whole, a labyrinth that would have puzzled the brain of Theseus himself.

A few years ago, we formed one of a party of five that visited this
subterranean wonder.  We went provided with light and with a large ball of
strong twine.  Fastening one end of this twine near the mouth of the cavern,
we continued to unroll the ball as we proceeded, thus having a certain clue
to find our way back.  On our return, we wound up the twine as we came along,
and, by measuring the string afterward, we were able to tell the distance we
had penetrated.  We found it to be over five hundred paces, or more than a
quarter of a mile!  After we had gone this distance, the end of the passage
seemed as far off as ever.

<[141]>

The reader must not imagine this cavern to resemble in any respect the famous
Mammoth Cave, in Kentucky.  This, so far as it has ever been explored, is only
a log, narrow, sinuous passage, or rather a system of such passages;
sometimes, it is true, expanding into little chambers hung with lack-lustre
stalactites; but, for the greater part of the way, only the narrow passage we
have described, as though an earthquake had partly rent the mountain in
twain.  We remember walking along the crumbling edge of a precipice,
steadying ourselves by the walls, while below us was an abyss so deep, so
dark, so profound that it seemed to be bottomless.  A single false step here
would send the thoughtless adventurer down into depths immeasurable.

So contracted is this passage in some places that the explorer is obliged to
make his way on his hands and knees,--nay, he sometimes, from his
longitudinal posture, would seem to be a sharer in the sentence of the
serpent, and lucky is he if he doesn't have to eat dirt on the way.

Visitors to this cavern should enter it only in dry weather.  The channel of
a little mountain stream passes through it.  This in wet weather of course
becomes swollen, and must nearly, if not quite, stop up the passage

<[142]>

through this labyrinth.  The fate of one who should become thus immured may
be easily imagined.  The narrow escape from such a fate which we ourself made
on that occasion, has made a lasting impression on our mind.

There have been many stories circulated in that vicinity about spacious
apartments, magnificent with natural decorations, of beautiful altars, and
columns, and other wonderful formations, that have been discovered in this
cavern; but upon our visit we saw nothing of the kind-nothing in the main but
a long, tortuous maze with blackened walls and uneven floors; dark, yawning
chasms, that seemed to have no bottom; and gloomy side-passages into which if
one should wander he might never return.

Derry Station, an important point on the Pennsylvania Railroad, lies four
miles west of Hillside.  This place is rapidly improving, and promises at an
early day to be a town of no mean pretensions.  A number of fine houses have
been recently put up, and others are in course of building.  A road to
Ligonier and other towns in the Ligonier Valley, passes through this place. 
At the distance of two or three miles from Derry station, there is a
prominent peak of the Chestnut Ridge, known

<[143]>

as Duncan's Knob.  This mountain range being the westernmost outlier of the
Alleghanies, furnishes from its exposed hights many fine and extensive
prospects.  Of all these exposed points, Duncan's Knob perhaps affords the
most expansive view.  We visited it some years ago.  We were able to see
plainly the towns of Jacksonville and Indiana, and all the intervening and
surrounding country.  Some six or eight towns and villages were distinctly
visible.  And yet the distance from where we stood to the town of Indiana,
which must be in the neighborhood of twenty-five miles, compared with the
distance which we could see beyond that town, seemed to us to bear about the
same ratio that an inch bears to a foot-rule.  The broad expanse of hill and
dale, meadow and woodland, stretched away to the north and west until it
gradually blended in an indistinct haze with the far-off horizon.  A correct
idea of the extent and magnificence of our globe can only be obtained by
viewing it from such a standpoint as this.

And standing on that rugged peak, with this vast amphitheater at our feet, we
thought of the beautiful lines of Goldsmith:

  "E'en now, where Alpine solitudes ascend,
   I sit me down a pensive hour to spend;
   And place on high, above the storm's career,
   Look downward where a hundred realms appear."

<[144]>

New Derry, an old village in spite of its name, is situated a short distance
north of Derry station.  It is a pleasant little town lying in the midst of a
rich farming district, and contains several churches, shops, stores, and so on.

St. Clair lies on the railroad a couple of miles west of Derry station.  It
is an unimportant railroad station.

Latrobe is three miles west of St. Clair.  It lies on both sides of the
railroad, upon a broad, level loop of land formed by a bend in the
Loyalhanna.  This is an important, thriving town.  It was laid out about the
year 1851, and has already grown to be a town of considerable size.  It
contains several fine churches and hotels, two or three large flouring mills,
a car manufactory, and a number of stores, shops, and so forth.  The
surrounding country is highly fertile, and is well cultivated.  This village
is yet in its infancy, and will doubtless soon become one of our most
flourishing inland towns.

Youngstown is situated on the turnpike about a mile south of Latrobe.  It is
a country village of very modest pretensions.  It contains several churches,
stores, hotels, and so forth.  Contiguous to the village are two large
establishments for the education of youth.  These

<[145]>

belong to the roman Catholic church, and are known, the one as St. Vincent's,
and the other as St. Xavier's:  the latter for the education of young ladies, and 
the former for young gentlemen.  These institutions are well patronized, well 
conducted, and stand high in the estimation of the church to which they belong.

Ligonier is on the same turnpike, about ten miles east of Youngstown.  We
have already mentioned that here was a stronghold during the Indian troubles
of the last century.  At the time of Forbes' expedition it was known as
Loyalhanna.  It may be remembered that after the defeat of Major Grant at
Fort Pitt, the enemy attacked Colonel Boquet in his camp at Loyalhanna, but
were driven off with loss.  Shortly after this we find that the place was
known as Fort Ligonier.  An attack was also made upon this fort in 1763, but
as unsuccessfully as before.  The site of the old fort is still remembered,
and numerous bullets, and other relics of the battle-field, have been found
in the neighborhood.  Ligonier is a pleasant village, and finely located. 
The surrounding country, which is known as Ligonier valley, is one of the
most beautiful and productive districts in western Pennsylvania.  The
citizens of Ligonier are a quiet, unambitious, 

<[146]>

intelligent people, and their town is one of the most pleasant villages to be
found.

Oak Grove and Waterford are two small villages lying on the road leading from
Ligonier to Johnstown, and at the distances respectively of three miles and
five miles from the former.  In the neighborhood is a furnace.

Laughlinstown is a small place three miles east of Ligonier, and just at the
foot of the Laurel Hill.  Like all turnpike towns, it is going to decay. 
Modern improvements have supplanted in a great measure the turnpikes and
canals of a former era, and the old-fashioned roadside villages are finding
themselves left "out in the cold."  In the vicinity of Laughlinstown are two
or three furnaces that, we believe, are now entirely abandoned.

Bairdstown lies on the Conemaugh, just opposite Blairsville, with which it is
connected by a bridge.  The turnpike passes through it, and also the obsolete
Pennsylvania Canal.  This town lies chiefly along the face of a hill called
Baird's Hill.  When the canal was in all its glory, Bairdstown contained
several extensive boat-yards.  The sides of the canal were covered with large
warehouses, stables, and so forth, some of which have since disappeared, while
the rest have fallen into disuse.  There

<[147]>

is but little business now carried on in the town.

Livermore is a small village on the canal, about six miles below
Bairdstown.  The Western Pennsylvania Railroad now passes through it, which
will preserve it from absolute decay.

New Alexandria, or, as it is more frequently called, Dennisontown, is on the
old northern turnpike, about eight miles west of Blairsville.  It is an
incorporated town, and has a population of three or four thousand
inhabitants.  It is not now as thriving as when the turnpike was in more
general use.

Fairfield lies four miles south of New Florence, on a public road leading
from the latter place to Ligonier.  It contains two churches, a school house,
several stores, a couple of hotels, and other public places of business.  In
the churchyard lie the remains of several of the early pioneers of this
section of country, who were killed by the Indians.

                               INDIANA COUNTY.

Nineveh is an old, decayed village, on the canal, about one mile north of
Nineveh station.  It contains a saw mill, tavern, and a few dwelling houses.

<[148]>

Centerville is also on the canal, lying immediately opposite New Florence.  A
bridge across the Conemaugh connects the two villages.  Centerville is an old
town, and was formerly in a more prosperous condition than at present.  An
old Indian village is said to have stood near where Centerville now stands. 
This is believed to have been called Kiskemeneco, and was visited by Post and
his party in November, 1758.  At three o'clock of the same day on which they
passed through Kickenapawling, they came to Kiskemeneco, which Post described
as "an old Indian town, a rich bottom, well timbered, good fine grass, well
watered, and lays waste since the war began."  It was within half-a-day's
ride of Kickenapawling, and from the name was evidently situated somewhere
upon the Kiskiminetas or Conemaugh river.

Fillmore, on the Conemaugh, just opposite to Livermore, is a small village. 
A bridge connects the two places.

Saltsburg lies at the confluence of the Conemaugh and Loyalhanna.  It is
about twelve miles from Blairsville.  It derives its name from the numerous
salt works in its vicinity.  The discovery of salt at this place has been
already described.  This was one of the earliest

<[149]>

permanent settlements in the county, as there were cabins standing here as
early as 1800.  Saltsburg is a thriving little town.  The Pennsylvania canal
and the Western Pennsylvania Railroad pass through it.  It contains a number
of stores, hotels, shops, and so forth.

Clarksburg is on the Black Legs creek, five miles northeast of Saltsburg.  It
contains two churches, several stores, a school house, tannery, a grist mill,
a saw mill, a tavern, and other buildings.

Elder's Ridge is four miles north-west of Saltsburg, on the road leading from
Saltsburg to Elderton, in Armstrong county.  It is a small village, and only
important as being the seat of a first class Presbyterian academy, which has
long been conducted by the Rev. Alex. Donaldson, D. D., a gentleman of fine
abilities and of eminent success in his profession.

Lewisville is five miles east of Clarksburg, on the road going from
Clarksburg to Blairsville.  It is a small town.  It contains a church, store,
post office, tannery, and other buildings.

Jacksonville lies on the road leading from Saltsburg to Indiana, and is ten
miles from the latter town.  It also contains a fine academy, and is a
thriving little place.

<[150]>

Homer is a smart village on the Indiana Branch railroad, about six miles from
Indiana.  It was laid out about the year 1855, by the late William Wilson,
Esq. It contains a church, school house, several stores, a hotel, grist mill,
a large steam saw mill, a tannery, and other improvements.  The place is
improving rapidly, and seems destined to become an important town.

Mechanicsburg is a pleasant, prosperous village on the road leading from
Homer to Strongstown, six miles from Homer.  It contains an academy, several
stores, hotels, and so forth.

New Washington is on the northern turnpike two miles west of Armagh.  It
contains a tavern, store, and so forth.

Armagh is an old village on the turnpike, about fourteen miles east of
Blairsville, and two miles from Nineveh station.  It lies near the base of
the Laurel Hill on the western side.  Its location is elevated and healthful,
and the surrounding country is beautiful and fertile.  The village contains a
church, store, hotel, shook-shop, and other buildings.  It is not so
prosperous now as when the turnpike was the great highway from the east to
the west.

The Indiana Iron Works are situated in a

<[151]>

deep valley about two miles from Conemaugh furnace.  A furnace was built here
by Henry Noble, about the year 1837.  Having passed into the hands of Elias
Baker, about the year 1848 it was torn down, and a new furnace built.  A
forge was built close by a short time afterward.  It has gone to decay.  The
furnace is at present in successful operation.  A bucket factory formerly
stood on the site of these works.  It was built about the year 1828, and was
owned by Hart & Thonpson.  The Indiana Iron Works are at present better known
as Baker's furnace.

Blacklick Furnace was built in 1844, by David Stewart.  It is situated three
miles from Armagh, on a public road leading from the Indiana Iron Works to
Strongstown.  It is not now in operation.

In this neighborhood are two other abandoned enterprises of the same
kind:--Buena Vista Furnace and Eliza Furnace.  The first of these is on the
road leading from Armagh to Indiana, about two miles north of the former
town.  It was built by Henry M'Clelland about the year 1847.  Eliza Furnace
was built by David Ritter, about the same time.  It was located near the
junction of the north and south forks of the Blacklick, about six miles east
of Armagh.

<[152]>

                              CHAPTER VIII.

                         THE CAMBRIA IRON WORKS.

If Johnstown is the metropolis of the Conemaugh valley, it is owing entirely
to the Cambria Iron Works.  We have seen that prior to 1853, at which time
these works were established, the town was a rather unimportant affair.  It
is true, the Pennsylvania Railroad, which was completed about this time,
might have had the effect of causing some improvement to be made in it,
though to what extent it is of course impossible to say.  But whatever
advantage the construction of that thoroughfare might have ben to the town,
there is no question that it would have been vastly more than counterpoised
by the subsequent sale and abandonment of the old main line.

The credit of establishing this mammoth enterprise is mainly due to the Hon.
George S. King, of Johnstown.  Mr. King, in company with others, owned
several furnaces and large tracts of ore land in the neighborhood of this
place.  About 1852, stockholders and capital were secured, and a company was
forth-

<[153]>

with organized under the general manufacturing law of June 14th, 1836.  The
capital required by the act of incorporation was one million of dollars. 
Operations were at once commenced.  A large and well constructed frame
building was put up.  The building was in the form of a cross; the main part
was six hundred feet long and one hundred feet wide, and the transverse part
three hundred and fifty feet in length and seventy-five feet in width.  It
contained a large amount of heavy machinery, which was set in motion by five
powerful steam engines.

The works were kept in operation by the original company for some time, but
did not prosper.  In May, 1855, they were leased for a term of years by Wood,
Morrell & Co.  In the hands of this company new life was infused into the
enterprise.  The works were set going to their fullest capacity, and an air
of activity, energy and prosperity was everywhere apparent.

In the summer of 1857, however, a casualty befell the rolling mill that
threatened at the time to put a quietus to its career of prosperity and
usefulness, and plunge the town back into the state of torpidity from which
it was just emerging.  About six o'clock, Saturday even-

<[154]>

ing, August 1st, of that year, the mill was discovered to be on fire.  The
fire had originally broken out in a small out building contiguous to the
mill, from which it was speedily communicated to the latter.  The lumber of
which the building was composed being thoroughly dried by the sun of summer
and the constant heat of the furnaces within, took fire with the quickness of
tinder, and in a comparatively few minutes after the first breakout of the
fire, the whole immense structure was enveloped in flames.  The tidings
spread through the town with the greatest rapidity, and in a very brief space
of time a vast concourse of spectators had collected to witness the
destruction they were powerless to prevent.  The scene struck terror and
dismay to the hearts of the assembled thousands.*

The work of destruction, however, was soon over, and the spot where a few
hours before had stood the mammoth rolling mill, was covered only with
blackened and smouldering ruins.  The mill had contained twenty-one double
and eleven single heating furnaces, and a large amount of valuable machinery,
together with a set of rolls of an improved kind that had been put up but a
day or two before.  The

*See Cambria Tribune, August 5, 1857.

<[155]>

loss amounted to fully one hundred thousand dollars; and, but for the massive
and durable character of the principal part of the machinery, it would have
been vastly greater.

The work of erecting a new mill was immediately commenced.  The rubbish was
cleared away and temporary wooden sheds were put up, in which business was at
once resumed.  These were replaced as fast as possible by a building of a more
substantial and creditable character.  By the latter part of the same month
the works were again in operation as vigorously and prosperously as before,
and the rebuilding of the mill carried on to a considerable stage.  It is a
remarkable fact that this building, one of the largest and best constructed
works of the kind in the world, was erected over the heads of the numerous
workmen connected with the mill, without causing a single accident to any
one, or interfering in any degree with the course of operations within.

The new building is of brick, and is covered with a roof of slate.  It stands
upon the site of the old mill, as we have said, though it is somewhat larger
in every direction.  It was completed in 1858.  In 1863, another mill, three
hundred feet long by one hundred feet wide, was built.  It stands parallel
with the old

<[156]>

mill, and not more than thirty or forty feet distant, and is connected with
it by a wing.  Another mill is now in course of erection.  It is attached to
the northern end of the transverse portion of the old mill.  It will cover
over an acre of ground.  These buildings are designed to be all of the same
style of architecture and finish.  There are now in operation twenty-two
heating furnaces and thirty double puddling furnaces, a train of rail-rolls,
squeezers, and other machinery necessary to a complete rolling mill.  The
machinery used in these works is of the most improved kinds.  There are three
vertical steam engines, and the flywheels are immense castings weighing forty
tons, and make as high as seventy-five or eighty revolutions per minute.  A
writer in one of the daily papers published in Pittsburgh, thus describes the
process of manufacturing railroad iron at this mill:  "The ore is taken from
the mines near the works, and after being put through the roasting process,
which requires some time, it is thrown into the blast furnaces, of which
there are four in number, capable of running one hundred and ninety tons each
per week; thence the metal is transferred to the puddling furnaces, and after
undergoing the process of puddling, it goes thence

<[157]>

through the squeezers, and thence through the puddle rolls, when it is ready
for the heating furnaces.  After being heated in the latter, it is prepared
for its final rolling into bars."  These works employ about twenty-seven
hundred hands, and from three hundred to four hundred head of horses and
mules.  The amount of finished rails made here in the year 1864, was about
forty thousand tons.  The capacity of the works, when the part now building
is completed, will be from 60 to 70,000 tons.  There are over thirty-five
engines employed in driving the works; the waste heat from the heating and
puddling furnaces generating all the steam required.  A visit to these works
after night, when they are in full operation, causes one to think of old
Vulcan and his assistants forging thunderbolts for Jove in their smithy under
Mount Etna.

In 1864, valuable additions were made to these works by the building of a new
blacksmith shop, machine and pattern shop, and a foundry.  The blacksmith shop
is an octagon of 74 feet diameter.  It contains sixteen fires, which are blown
by means of a large fan that is kept in motion by steam.  The fire-places are
smoke-consuming, and the interior of this model blacksmith shop, which is
neatly painted 

<[158]>

and whitewashed, is as clean and tidy as a dry goods store.  The machine
and pattern shop is two hundred and twelve feet long, and sixty-four feet
wide.  The foundry is one hundred and forty-eight feet in length, and several
in breadth.  These new buildings all stand contiguous to the main works.  They
are of brick and covered with slate, and are furnished with all appliances
calculated to secure comfort to the workmen, and to facilitate their work.

Besides the large quantities of metal manufactured for the use of these works
by the furnaces mentioned above, vast amounts of pig metal, worn out railroad
iron, car wheels, and old metal of a miscellaneous description, are used. 
The metal yard, where the shipping and unshipping of rails and iron are
carried on, presents a scene of activity second only to the interior of the
mill itself.  Acres of ground, almost, are sometimes literally covered to the
depth of many feet with the new rails ready for transportation, and old metal
brought there to be worked over.

Perhaps no iron works in the world are so well situated with reference to the
raw material to be worked up, as well as to facilities for shipping its
products to market.  The ore,

<[159]>

coal, and so forth, necessary to the carrying on of the works are right at
hand.  Railways are constructed leading from the mines right to the place
where these minerals are wanted, without having to transport them a long
distance, and subject them to repeated handling.  The great Pennsylvania
Railroad passes within a few rods of the works, and branches connect with it,
thus affording excellent means for shipping the rails here manufactured to
every section of the country.

For the accommodations of the employees of this immense enterprise,
comfortable dwelling houses have been erected by the company.  These houses
are to be counted by scores.  They do not present that squalid, crowded,
uncomfortable appearance which is characteristic of the tenement houses that
are usually huddled around similar works.  These houses are large and well
constructed, and are in general better adapted than three-fourths of the
dwelling houses any where.  Each family has its suite of apartments distinct
and separate from its neighbors, or in many instances a house to itself,
roomy and comfortable.  These dwellings are rented only to the employees of
the mill.  The rents are not high, and the houses are kept in constant good

<[160]>

repair.  This company can afford to be munificent towards its employees, and
it is so.

Connected with these works are stores and shops of different kinds.  There is
a large dry goods store, a grocery, and a meat market.  There is a blacksmith
shop, a carpenter shop, and shops where shoemaking, tailoring, painting,
cabinet making, wagon making, harness making, and so forth, are carried on. 
These various establishments do an immense amount of business, which is felt
all through the town.  To take away the rolling mill and its influences,
Johnstown would be something like the play of Hamlet with the part of Hamlet
left out.  It is the all-important feature of the town-the great center of
industry, from which all other enterprises receive their stimulus.  The
amount of business transacted by this establishment may be judged from the
fact that the internal revenue tax alone, paid by this company for the year
1865, will be over two hundred thousand dollars, or more than one half of the
total amount collected in the district during the year.  We venture to say
that there are but few corporations in the country that pay a larger tax of
this kind.  The pre-eminent success of this establishment is greatly
attributable to the excellent management of

<[161]>

Daniel J. Morrell, Esq., the accomplished resident partner of the firm, and
Mr. George Fritz, the efficient engineer of the works.  In the hands of these
gentlemen the Cambria Iron Works have acquired an extent, completeness, and
influence unsurpassed by any similar works in the world.

<[162]>

                                CHAPTER IX.

                            OTHER ENTERPRISES.

The Johnstown Manufacturing Company.

This company was organized in the year 1864.  Its operations are necessarily
yet in their incipiency.  The company comprises some of the wealthiest and
ablest members of the two greatest corporations in Pennsylvania-the
Pennsylvania Railroad and the Cambria Iron companies.  The business of this
company is at present limited to the Woolen Mill and the Steam Brickyard. 
The woolen factory, began in 1864 and finished in 1865, is situated in the
new and what promises to be the prosperous town of Woodvale.  The main
building is fifty by seventy-five feet, and to this is added a wing forty by
twenty-five feet.  The walls of the entire structure are of brick, and four
stories high, the distance from floor to floor being about twelve feet.  The
frame-work is of heavy timber.*  The roof is covered with

*Johnstown Tribune, Jan. 27th, 1865.

<[163]>

slate, and the whole surmounted by a handsome cupola.  The woodwork is all
neatly painted, and the building altogether presents an imposing appearance,
standing, as it does, entirely detached from any other building.  A boiler
and dye-house, boarding-house, storerooms, and dwelling houses, have also
been erected, all on a scale corresponding with the extent of the factory,
and the means of this company.  The entire machinery of this large
establishment will be of the most improved kinds.  Constant employment will
be given to about one hundred and fifty operatives.  The agent for the
factory advertises for 300,000 pounds of wool per annum, thus encouraging the
business of wool-growing in this and the adjacent counties.  This business
ought to be very productive in this mountainous region, and with the reliable
home market which this establishment will afford, it ought to become the most
remunerative employment in which our farmers can engage.  This factory will
gradually attract around it other industrial establishments, until the
pleasant little village of Woodvale will become the most busy and prosperous
suburb of Johnstown.

On the opposite side of the Conemaugh

<[164]>

from Woodvale is the extensive Steam Brickyard of this company.  The old
Portage Railroad passes through it, and a track leading from the brickyard to
Conemaugh station, a distance of nearly a mile, where it intersects with the
Pennsylvania Railroad, affords an easy means of transportation for the bricks
made here.  The extent of this establishment, and the modus operandi of brick
marking, as practiced here, may be seen from the following account chiefly
complied from the "Johnstown Tribune," January 27th, 1865:

We found sixteen hands at work in the various departments of the brickyard. 
The brick are manufactured by the patent steam machinery of Chambers, Brother
& Co., of Philadelphia.  The clay, which is obtained from a four-foot bed
covering ten or fifteen acres of the company's lands immediately adjoining
the factory, is converted into brick ready for drying at the rate of a
cart-load every ten minutes, or forty-eight bricks every minute.  The process
is this:  The clay is dumped from the cart into a hopper, whence, after being
thoroughly pulverized, it is forced, in a continuous thread, through an
aperture of proper shape, and is taken up by a leather or gum belt which is
kept in motion by a series

<[165]>

of little wheels.  This belt carries the moulded clay to a revolving knife,
which cuts off a brick at each revolution.  The brick thus formed is picked
up by another belt, which carries it under a box from which sand is
constantly sifted, after which it is, in winter, carried to the
drying-houses, each forty by seventy feet.  The bricks are laid upon the
floors, and dried ready for the kiln in about thirty-six hours.  These floors
are heated by flues-forty flues to each floor-the heat being generated by
twenty-four furnaces in all.  For summer drying they have numerous spacious
sheds.  The bricks are burnt in the usual manner.  They are much smoother
than those made in the old-fashioned way, and are said to be much stronger
and more durable.  The company have just completed a new kiln of a capacity
for burning 300,000 bricks at once.  The number of hands now employed is
about thirty.

The Johnstown Manufacturing Company possess a cash capital of two hundred
thousand dollars.  It and Woodvale, and the brick factory, are now
established institutions of our town.  Because of the magnitude of the
enterprise which they unitedly represent, and of the vast influence for good
they are destined

<[166]>

to exert upon the future of this locality, we have deemed them worthy of this
extended notice.

The engine used in this establishment is one of a forty horse power, and the
pressure used in forcing the clay through the funnel, is equal to a weight of
seven hundred tons, and yet the machinery works as smoothly, and with as much
apparent ease, as the turning of a grindstone.*

With all these vast facilities, these brick-making works are constantly kept
in operation to their full capacity, and yet the supply is unequal to the
demand.  This fact alone is one of the strongest evidences of the wonderful
improvements continually going on in Johnstown and vicinity; for scarcely a
brick of all the hundreds of thousands made here every month is ever carried
to a distance.

The Johnstown Mechanical Works.

This establishment is located in Conemaugh Borough.  As the best sketch of
its extent and design, we present the following, which has been compiled from
the "Johnstown Tribune," and the "Johnstown Democrat," 1865:

*Johnstown Democrat, 1865.

<[167]>

The ground upon which the Works are located embraces seven lots, fronting 350
feet on Portage street and running back 180 feet to the Little Conemaugh.  On
the northwest corner stands the car and machine shop, the dimensions of which
are 136 by 100 feet, the principal entrance being from Portage street.  The
old foundry stands in line with the new building, a private street about
fifty feet wide dividing them.  Attached to the foundry is the office.  On
the northeast corner of the company's ground is located a new stable, and on
the southeast corner there will soon be placed the dwelling-house for the
night watchman, which now stands a few rods nearer the foundry.  The rest of
the space is occupied as a lumber yard and by tracks connecting the foundry
with the machine shop.

The plans of the company embrace the tearing down of the foundry building,
and the erection in its stead, but at right angles with it, of an entirely
new structure, to be 125 feet long, 42 feet wide, 20 feet high to the eaves,
and 42 feet to the comb of the roof.  This structure is to contain the foundry 
proper and the blacksmith shop.  In the latter will be eight fires.  Attached 
to the eastern end of the building will be an L, 40 feet long by 12 feet

<[168]>

wide, which will contain the founder's cupola and the core oven.  The cupola
will be large enough to melt four tons of pig metal at one heat.  The whole
structure will be of brick, covered with slate, and surmounted by an apex
twelve feet high, running the whole length.

In the machine shop there are in full operation four lathes for turning iron,
one iron planer, two drill presses, one screw-cutting machine, one punching
machine, and one casting cleaner.  In the wood shop are two circular saws,
two planning machines-one a Daniels and the other a Woodworth, one side
planer, one sash, moulding and slat machine, one power mortising machine, two
cut-off saws, two gig saws, one tenoning machine, one foot mortising machine,
one boring and shaping machine, and two wood lathes.

The firm has over $50,000 invested, and they intend to carry on a foundry,
smithshop, machine shop, make railroad cars, manufacture pumps, plane
flooring and weather-boarding, make cutting boxes, and, in short, make every
thing that a business community desires to be done, all with choice lumber
well seasoned by steam.  A railroad will pass each side of the building, thus
facilitating transportation.

<[169]>

Such are the Johnstown Mechanical Works, past, present, and prospective.  The
organization of the company, and the tearing down of the old foundry to make
room for the improvements we have noted, mark an important era in the history
of Johnstown, and help to fix with unerring certainty its destiny as one of
the principal manufacturing towns in the Union.

This organization was formed in 1864.  Fortune or misfortune forestalled the
company in their design of tearing away the old foundry, as mentioned above,
for on the night of the 5th of June, 1865, it took fire and burned to the
ground.  The work of building a new foundry on the extensive scale above
described, is in progress.

McConaughy's Steam Tannery.

This establishment stands on the right bank of the Conemaugh, between the
bridge and the aqueduct that connect Johnstown proper with Millville
borough.  It was built by J. P. McConaughy, Esq., in 1861, and supplanted the
old establishment that occupied the corner of Walnut and Canal streets, in
Johnstown.  The chief part of this building is of brick, three stories high,
fronting fifty-two feet on Cinder

<[170]>

street, and extending back along the river seventy-five feet.  In the rear of
this building is a two-story extension of frame, fifty-two by one hundred and
twelve feet.  Altogether, this is one of the largest buildings in the town.

The ground floor of the front part of this establishment is occupied by vats
and the steam engine.  The vats are fifty-four in number.  The engine is of
twenty horse-power, and runs the bark mill, the machinery for rolling the
leather, and so forth, and is also used for heating the liquors in the
vats.  The second story embraces a counting-room, warerooms, and so on.  The
third story is in one large room, exclusively used as a drying room, except
one corner, in which is the rolling machinery.  In the frame part are the
leaches in which the liquors used in the business are made.  The leaches are
ten in number.  These leaches and vats are all connected together by
subterranean conduits.  Up-stairs in this building is the bark mill.  The
rest of this building, as well as a large shed adjacent, is used for stowing
bark in.  About one thousand cords of bark are used every year.

This establishment annually finishes not less than eight thousand sides of
heavy sole leather.  This leather is of the very best quality, and is
manufactured exclusively for the eastern market.  

<[171]>

This is by far the largest establishment of the kind in this section of country.

Other Tanneries.

There are numerous other tanneries in the valley of this river.  The largest
of these, after McConaughy's, we believe, are Levergood's and Dibert's, in
Johnstown, the one at Blairsville, and the one at Hillside.  Smaller
establishments of this kind are to be found in nearly every village in the
four counties.  Tanning has been largely followed in this part of the country
from its earliest settlement.  One great incentive thereto has always
unquestionably been the abundance of bark to be found on every land.  Within
late years the shipping of this article to distant points has been
extensively carried on, and it is becoming noticeably scarce where it was
formerly to be found in unlimited abundance.  It now sells in Johnstown, and
other places along the line of the railroad, as high as eight dollars per
cord.

Haws' Cement Mill.

This establishment stands on the left bank of the Conemaugh, a short distance
below its

<[172]>

confluence with the Stony Creek, and just at the end of the Iron Bridge.  It
is situated on a bluff perhaps fifty feet above the water.

A mill for the manufacture of hydraulic cement was established in Johnstown
by the Commonwealth a great number of years ago.  The cement made by it was
used exclusively on the public works.  This mill stood at the eastern end of
the aqueduct, and was run by water conducted from the canal for that
purpose.  It was a small affair.  It subsequently passed into other hands,
and about the year 1852, it was transferred to the spot where it now
stands.  In 1857, it came into the hands of A. J. Jaws, Esq., the present
proprietor.

Though this enterprise is known simply as the Cement Mill, it is really
something more.  In it are made hydraulic cement, fire brick, and ground fire
clay.  The machinery of the mill is of the most ponderous character, and is
run by an eighty horse-power engine.  The amount of business annually done at
this mill may be set down at 7,500 barrels of cement, 1,200,000 fire brick,
and 600 tons of ground fire clay.  The ground fire clay is used for making
the mortar in which the fire brick are laid.

The material of which the fire brick are made is called whetstone clay, and
is found at Mineral Point,

<[173]>

about nine miles east of the works.  In the hill just behind the works is 
a vein of cement stone, seven feet thick, and resting upon it is a vein of 
excellent coal three and a half feet thick.  Some sixty feet above is another 
vein of coal two and a half feet thick, and just under it a three foot vein of 
plastic fire clay.  Above these again is another vein of coal four feet thick.  
Such an abundance of mineral in the near neighborhood makes this one of the 
very best localities that could be desired for such an establishment.  
The railroad, passing, as it does, within fifty feet of the mill, affords the 
best facilities for bringing the whetstone clay to the works, and for exporting 
the cement, and so forth, to market.  The Cambria Iron Works are supplied 
with fire brick, cement, and ground fire clay by this mill.

Oil Wells.

We have already stated that strong indications of oil exist in the valley of
the Conemaugh.  In the search for this article many wells have been sunk. 
The traveler through this valley will frequently meet with them.  Lofty
derricks stand throughout the country as plentifully as gibbets in England
during

<[174]>

the reign of Queen Elizabeth.  They are to be seen by the water-courses, by
the roadside, and in lonely fields.  They have generally been abandoned,
their owners having verified the saying of Banquo-

  "The earth hath bubbles as the water has."

These wells, we believe, are most numerous in the neighborhood of
Blairsville.  Some of them are promising enterprises, oil having been
actually obtained, though as yet not in sufficient quantities to make them
profitable.  There is no doubt that oil abounds in the valley of this river,
and that it will finally be made available by capital and perseverance.

Saw Mills.

Saw mills are very numerous in the section of country embraced in the
Conemaugh valley.  Several of these are extensive enterprises.  Lumbering, in
the northern part of Indiana and Cambria counties, is a very flourishing and
important business.  Timber, in nearly every portion of the valley, is
sufficiently abundant to render the business of sawing remunerative.  Large
quantities of hemlock, pine, ash, cherry, and poplar lumber, are exported.

<[175]>

                                  CHAPTER X.

                                 BIOGRAPHICAL.

In this chapter we shall present biographical sketches of some of the
prominent early settlers of the Conemaugh valley.

REV. D. A. GALLITZIN.

Rev. Demetrius Augustine Gallitzin died at Loretto on the 6th of May, 1840. 
For forty-two years he exercised pastoral functions in Cambria county.  The
venerable deceased was born in 1770, at Munster, in Germany.  His father,
Prince De Gallitzin, ranked among the highest nobility in Russia.  His mother
was the daughter of Field Marshal General de Schmeltan, a celebrated officer
under Frederick the Great.  Her brother fell at the battle of Jena.  The
deceased held a high commission in the Russian army from his infancy. 
Europe, in the early part of his life, was desolated by war-the French
revolution burst like a volcano upon that convulsed continent:  it offered no
facilities or attractions for travel, and it was

<[176]>

determined that the young Prince de Gallitzin should visit America.  He
landed in Baltimore in August, 1782, in company with Rev. Mr. Brosius.  By a
train of circumstances in which the hand of Providence was strikingly
visible, his mind was directed to the ecclesiastical state, and he renounced
forever his brilliant prospects.  Already endowed with a splendid education,
he was more prepared to pursue his ecclesiastical studies under the venerable
Bishop Carroll, at Baltimore, with facility and success.  Having completed his
theological course, he spent some time on the mission in Maryland.

In the year 1789, he directed his course to the Alleghany mountain, and found
that portion of it which now constitutes Cambria county a perfect wilderness,
almost without inhabitants or habitations.  After incredible labor and
privations, and expending a princely fortune, he succeeded in making "the
wilderness blossom as a rose."  His untiring zeal has collected about
Loretto, his late residence, a Catholic population of three or four
thousand.  He not only extended the church by his missionary toils, but also
illustrated and defended the truth by several highly useful publications. 
His "Defence of Catholic Principles" has gained merited celebrity both here
and in Europe.

<[177]>

In this extraordinary man we have not only to admire his renunciation of the
brightest hopes and prospects; his indefatigable zeal-but something greater
and rarer-his wonderful humility.  No one could ever learn from him or his
mode of life, what he had been, or what he had exchanged for privation and
poverty.

To intimate to him that you were aware of his condition, would be sure to
pain and displease him.  He who might have reveled in the princely halls of
his ancestors, was content to spend thirty years in a rude log cabin, almost
denying himself the common comforts of life, that he might be able to clothe
the naked members of Jesus Christ, the poor and distressed.  Few have left
behind them such examples of charity and benevolence.  On the head of no one
have been invoked so many blessings from the mouths of widows and orphans. 
It may be literally said of him "if his heart had been made of gold he would
have disposed of it all in charity to the poor."*

To this sketch may be properly appended the following:

Princess Amalia Gallitzin, a lady distinguished for talent and a strong
propensity to mysticism.  She was the daughter of count

*Mountaineer, May 14, 1840.

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Schmeltan, and lived, during a part of her youth, at the court of the wife of
prince Ferdinand, brother of Frederick the Great.  She was married to the
Russian prince, Gallitzin; and, as much of his time was passed in traveling,
she chose Munster, in the center of Germany, for her permanent residence. 
Here she assembled around her some of the most distinguished men of the age,
Hemsterhuis, Hamann, Jacobi, Goethe, Furstenberg, and others.  The two first
were her most intimate friends.  She was an ardent Catholic, and strongly
given to making proselytes.  With the exception of her children, she followed
Rousseau's system.  The princess is the Diotima to whom Hemsterhuis, under the
name of Dioklas, addressed his work On Atheism.  She died, in 1806, near
Munster.  Her only son was a missionary in America.*

GENERAL ARTHUR ST. CLAIR.

General St. Clair was born at Edinburg, in Scotland, and accompanied the
fleet under Admiral Boscawen to America, in 1755.  He

*Encyclopaedia Americana, Vol. V. p. 361.

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was a lieutenant in the British army under General Wolfe.  When the French
war was closed, he had command of Fort Ligonier assigned to him; and also
received a grant of one thousand acres of land in that vicinity, which he
fancifully chose to lay out in the form of a circle.  Here he settled, and
was appointed to several civil offices under the government of
Pennsylvania.  When the Revolution commenced, he embraced the American cause,
and in January, 1776, was appointed to command a battalion of Pennsylvania
militia.  He engaged in the expedition to Canada, and was second in command
in the proposed attack on the British post at Trois Riviers.  He was
afterwards in the battle of Trenton, and had the credit of suggesting the
attack on the British at Princeton, which proved fortunate.  In August, 1776,
he was appointed a brigadier, and in February, 1777, major-general.  He was
the commanding officer at Ticonderoga when that post was invested by the
British, and evacuated it July 6, 1777, with such secrecy that a considerable
part of the public stores were safely conveyed away.  Charges of cowardice,
treachery, and incapacity were brought against him in consequence, but a
court of inquiry

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honorably acquitted him.  He afterwards joined the army under General Greene,
in the south, and at the close of the war returned to his former residence. 
In 1783, he was a member of the Executive Council of Pennsylvania, and the
same year was elected president of the Cincinnati Society, of that State.  In
1785, he was elected to Congress, and in February, 1787, was appointed
president of that body.  In October following, he was appointed governor of
the territory of the United States northwest of the Ohio, an office which he
retained until November, 1803, when he was removed by Jefferson in
consequence of the too free expression of his political opinions.  He had
previously, in 1790, been the unsuccessful candidate of the federal party,
against Gen. Mifflin, for the office of governor of Pennsylvania, under the
new constitution.  In 1791, he commanded an army against the Miami Indians,
and was defeated on the 4th of November, with the loss of six or seven
hundred men.  He was on that occasion worn down by a fever, but nevertheless
exerted himself with a courage and presence of mind worthy of a better
fate.  He was borne on a litter to the different points of the battleground,
and in this condition directed the

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movements of the troops.  On this occasion a portion of the citizens were
loud in their censure of his conduct; but a committee of inquiry of the House
of Representatives acquitted him from blame.  He resigned his commission as
major-general in 1792.  With the profuse liberality of a soldier, he became
reduced in his old age to poverty, and resided in a dreary part of
Westmoreland county, on the Chestnut Ridge, a little south of the turnpike. 
He applied to Congress for relief.  His claims on the sympathy of his country
were listened to with indifference, and admitted with reluctance.  After a
long suspense, he obtained a pension of sixty dollars per month.  He died
August 31st, 1818, in his eighty-fourth year.*

RICHARD B. McCABE, Esq.

Richard Butler McCabe, Esq., first saw the light in the county of Cumberland,
now Perry, in Pennsylvania, on the 5th day of August, 1792.  His grandfather,
Owen McCabe - in the Colonial Records erroneously called McKibe - was a
native of Tyrone county, Ireland, and came to this country at an early age. 
His first

*Day's Hist. Col. Pp. 686, 687.

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home was in Lancaster county, where he intermarried with Catharine Sears, and
subsequently moved with his wife and eldest son, James, the father of Richard,
to Sherman's Valley; these two were the first white men who settled in the
valley.  Their settlement was named Tyrone township, in memory of the
childhood's home of the elder McCabe.  Tyrone Iron Works and Tyrone City, on
the Central Railroad, also derive their name from the same hardy pioneer.

The life of a settler in that unprotected frontier country, constantly
exposed to hostile incursions of Indians, full of peril and hardships of
every kind, was well calculated to educate him to endure with patience and
fortitude the toils and privations of camp life.  When the War of
Independence broke out, the brave old pioneer, with two hardy and stalwart
sons, Robert and William, in company with Nicholas Hughs, Richard's maternal
grandfather, and two equally gallant sons, shouldered arms and went to Bunker
Hill.  This event was celebrated at the time in verse, by a rustic poet of the
neighborhood.

From the family of the deceased's mother descended the founders of many
distinguished and wealthy families of the south and west.

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James McCabe, the father of Richard, was regarded by his cotemporaries as a
man of the purest integrity, scrupulously conscientious in all his dealings,
brave, kind, and generous.  Before Forbes approached Fort Duquesne, or
Armstrong burnt Kittanning, a company was formed at or near Carlisle, the
first that ever, in Pennsylvania, pursued the Indians as far as the Alleghany
Mountains.  James McCabe was a lieutenant in that company.  The Indians had
been down in Sherman's Valley, plundering, capturing, and destroying.  The
company pursued them as far as the heads of Blacklick, in Cambria county;
here they halted, being without guides, and not knowing how many foes they
might have to encounter west of the mountains, and turning back, started for
the Muncey towns, on the Susquehanna.

The period of his early boyhood passed; he left his quiet and romantic home


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in the country, and was bound an apprentice to a carpenter; but not liking 
this occupation, he went to Philadelphia.  The war of 1812, having just broken
out, he entered himself on board a privateer which was about starting on a
cruise; but one of his brothers learning the facts, prevented his
departure.  This was a most fortunate occurrence, as the vessel proved to be
a pirate craft.  Thus diverted from his purpose, he went to Richmond, Va.,
where, it is thought, he read law for a short time.  Returning again to the
interior of Pennsylvania, he became clerk in a store.  In 1815, he went to
Pittsburg, passing through this county, [Indiana,] then almost a wilderness;
there he entered a counting house, but soon returning to the country, he
passed a few years as clerk, and finally manager, of several iron works.

Marrying about 1820, he removed to Harrisburg, where he entered the office of
the Secretary of State.  While thus engaged, he returned to the study of the
law, under the supervision of the Attorney General of the State, M. Elder. 
After his admission to the bar, he went to Huntingdon, and commenced his
professional career.  Subsequently he removed to this county, where he
resided until his death-a period of more than thirty years.

<[185]>

He enjoyed for the most of the time a lucrative practice.  During one term he
served as prothonotary of the county, and performed the duties of the office
to the entire satisfaction of his fellow citizens.  His antiquarian
researches were extensive; no man knew more of the early history of out
State.  He was a frequent contributor to the periodical and newspaper
literature of his time; his style of composition was simple and unadorned. 
He was an admirable writer of narrative, and his Brady, and other sketches,
found in almost all histories of Pennsylvania, are well known to every school
boy.  At the close of his life he was engaged upon a biography of the Priest
of the Alleghany Mountains, the Russian prince, Gallitzin, which promised to
be a most charming and interesting work.

In his social intercourse, Mr. McCabe was kind and obliging.  His charity
knew no bounds; he gave freely, without hope, desire, or expectation of
reward.  He did not permit his left hand to know what his right did, and many
a widow and orphan had cause to bless, without knowing who was the
benefactor.  Modest almost to a fault, he abhorred parade and show, and
desired that his place of burial should not be marked with stone of monu-

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ment, only by trees and flowers.  In the family circle he was uniformly kind,
gentle, and cheerful, never permitting an ill-natured word against a neighbor
to be spoken in his presence without rebuke.  In politics and religion, he
was much in advance of the present age.  He spoke with scornful contempt of
the tricks of mere politicians.  No inducements of worldly advancement or
fortune were sufficient to seduce him for a moment from the path of
rectitude.  No man can justly charge him with a single departure from the
truth and honor.  He died January 10th, 1860, in the eighty-eighth year of
his age.*

HON. MOSES CANAN.

The old men, whose histories connect the present generation with the past,
are rapidly passing away.  Soon the last one, whose birth dates back into the
previous century, will be gone.

Conspicuous among this class of deaths is that of Hon. Moses Canan, who died
September 29, 1863, in the 80th year of his age, more than half of whose life
was spent in Cambria county, in active participation in all things

*Blairsville Record, Jan. 25, 1860.

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connected with the prosperity of its people.  This fact will justify us in
occupying more than the usual space, in our paper, in giving a sketch of the
life and character of the deceased.

Judge Canan was born in Huntingdon county, Pa., March 1st, 1784.  After
enjoying the advantages of the best schools in the borough of Huntingdon, at
the age of sixteen he entered Dickinson College at Carlisle, and enjoyed the
advantages of the excellent institution for four years.  He then entered the
law office of Judge Rawle, of Philadelphia, and pursued his studies there for
three years.  In 1807, he was admitted to the bar, soon after married, and at
once entered into an extensive and lucrative practice in Huntingdon and
adjoining counties.

A short time prior to the breaking out of the war of 1812, the young attorney
had located himself on a beautiful farm on the "blue Juniata'" near
Alexandria, in his native county, and devoted a portion of his time to
agricultural pursuits.  Surrounded by all the luxuries of life, in the
receipt of an ample income, enjoying all the bliss and happiness of domestic
life in the society of his youthful companion and two little daughters, his
was a home ardently to be desired.  But, in the midst of all this domestic
bliss, he heard his country call for

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brave men to repel an insolent foe, that would trail, in foul dishonor, the
glorious emblem of his country's greatness.  In answer to the call he
voluntarily forsook the comforts of home, the society of his loved ones, and
organizing a company of volunteers, composed of his kinsmen and his boyhood
companions, in the winter of 1812-13, marched to the Niagara frontier.

His love of military was always of the most ardent kind, and he freely
contributed of his time and means in forming and keeping up military
organizations.  For many years he was major of a battalion, Cambria county
volunteers.  He organized, and for years commanded, the "Cambria Guards," a
company of the "Frosty Sons of Thunder," which was the germ from which sprang
a company that aided in planting the stars and stripes in the "Halls of the
Montezumas," as well as another which has notably defended the old flag, in
many a hard fought battle, since the commencement of the present unholy
rebellion.

So strong was the love of the deceased for military life, and so true his
patriotism and devotion to country, that the infirmities of age, alone,
prevented him from again buckling on his sword, and rushing to the defence of
the old flag when wantonly assailed by domestic

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traitors.  Although too old to take an active part, his sympathies and his
prayers were with and for his country, and to his latest hour he indulged the
fond hope that the Union would be preserved.

He attended the first court held in Cambria county, in 1807, and for more
than fifty years, with one or two exceptions, was present at every term.  In
the spring of 1818, he took up his residence at Ebensburg, and became fully
identified with all the interests of the county.  His practice at this time,
and for many years subsequently, was very large in Cambria and adjoining
counties.  He was retained on every important suit, and was proverbial for
the great care with which he prepared his cases, and for the fidelity with
which he watched over the interests of his clients.  His even temper,
sociability, and kindness of heart made him a favorite with all the members
of the bar.  He retained their esteem during a long life, and, as a body,
they followed him to the tomb.

Extensive as was his practice, and greatly occupied as was his time in the
duties of his profession, yet his great industry-his willingness to work late
and early, connected with his regularity of habits, enabled him to devote
considerable time to literary pursuits.  For about 30 years he was more or
less connected

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with the editorial department of some one of the county papers.  He was
frequently called upon to deliver Fourth of July orations, and lectures upon
different subjects.  In the preparation of his editorials, orations, and
lectures, he bestowed great care.  His style, as a writer, was concise and
pointed, and his productions will compare favorably with those of the best
writers of his day.

In all things calculated to secure the improvement of the material condition
of the county, he freely gave his time and money.  Ever anxious to elevate
the moral condition of the people, his voice, his oen, and his purse, were
always freely employed in advocating and supporting all movements in that
direction.  But, prominent among all others, was his desire to improve the
intellectual condition of the people.  His efforts in this behalf were
unceasing, and the results were such as to redound to his credit, and should
cause, not only his family, but the present and future generations, to revere
his memory.  Through his efforts an academy was established at the county
seat, endowed by the State, and supplied with the best teachers the country
could afford.  This institution gave to the country many young men who have
since distinguished themselves in the pulpit, at the bar, in the

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army, and in the varied duties of life.  Upon the first introduction of the
free school system it was violently opposed.  In the front ranks of its
friends stood Judge Canan, who, sacrificing political preferment, and every
selfish consideration, freely committed himself to the task of defending the
system and laboring for its success.  For many years he was a member of the
Board of School Directors, and lived to see the system overcome the violent
opposition of its enemies, and secure an abiding place in the affections of
the people.

A long life, usefully spent, is now ended.  The faithful attorney and upright
judge-the useful citizen and pure philanthropist-the kind husband and
indulgent father-the devoted patriot and consistent Christian-has departed. 
It can be truly said, he died as he lived, without an enemy.  He is gone from
our midst, but the memory of his usefulness-his kindness of heart-his devotion
to his country, his family, and his God-will live after him.*

HON. JOHN CUNNINGHAM.

John Cunningham was born near New London, Chester county, Pa., February 17,
1794.

*Cambria Tribune, October 30, 1863.

<[192]>

About three years afterwards he moved to Kishacoquillas valley, Mifflin
county, and there, at the age of sixteen, it was his misfortune to be left
fatherless; from that day he was cast upon his own resources, not only for
his own maintenance, but, being the oldest son, for the maintenance also of a
dependent mother and several brothers and sisters.  He at once devoted himself
to learning a trade, and, this accomplished, he labored for several years as a
journeyman to obtain the means to support his mother and her family.  In the
spring of 1818, he removed to this county [Indiana]; and in the fall of the
same year, took up his residence in this town.  Having made a profession of
religion before he came here, he at once identified himself with the few in
the neighborhood who loved the Savior; through his influence, in part, a
prayer-meeting was established and kept up, and occasional preaching secured,
until in September, 1822, the Presbyterian Church of West Union (the name and
location were afterwards changed to Blairsville,) was established.  From that
day to this our departed father has been identified with the existence and
prosperity of this church.  He was one of the original thirty-three who
covenanted
 
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with each other and with God to walk together as a Church of Christ.  Of
these but five or six are now on earth; but three are now members of this
church, and but one of them has been connected with it all the time since its
foundation, at the organization of the church.  Mr. Cunningham, though then
comparatively a young man, was chosen and ordained one of its Ruling
Elders.  This office he held for nearly forty-three years, and how well and
faithfully he discharged his duties, you are all witnesses.  Pre-eminently
wise in counsel, prudent in action, self-denying in labor, and spiritual in
heart, he was almost from the first, and has ever continued to be, the
recognized leader and main dependence of the Session.  For thirty years he
was the superintendent, and almost the life, of the Sabbath School.  He was
for a much longer period the center around which the prayer-meeting lived and
had its being.  He has been the main pillar of this part of the church of
Christ:  the head, the father of this congregation, to whom we all looked
with the confidence and affection of children; and now, as our eyes follow
his prepared flight, we instinctively cry, with the anguish of a bereaved
Elisha, "My father, my father, the chariot of Israel, and the horse-

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man thereof!"  On whom shall the mantle of our departing Elijah fall?  Help,
Lord, for the goodly man ceaseth; for the faithful fail from among the
children of men.

Not less closely has our venerated father been connected with the growth of
this town.  He came here when the place where Blairsville now stands, was an
almost unbroken forest.  He built and used as a workshop the second tenement
which was erected in it, and cut with his hand-axe a path diagonally across
the town (s town then only on paper) from his own lot to the lot of Mrs.
Shields, which contained the only other house in place.  From that day to
this he has been identified with the material, intellectual, moral, and
religious welfare of the town.  He had a large part in all plans and labors
for its improvement.  He was trusted and honored by his fellow-citizens by
being called to a large share of the official duties connected with the
government.

Nor was his influence circumscribed by the limits of his own immediate borough 
and neighborhood, The county and the State felt it; the dignity and honor with 
which for a number of years he filled the position of Associate Judge was 
one of the ways in which this influence was exerted.  It is not too much to

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say, that such were his endowments of mind that if he had enjoyed in early
life the advantages of education which are now within the reach of every
child in the State, his name would have been known and his influence largely
felt in the councils of the nation.  He was possessed of a wise and large
hearted patriotism.  No man who has passed from earth since the struggles of
our country with perfidious treason and gigantic rebellion began, has left a
fairer record on this point than he.  I do not consider it improper here to
say that I know the joyful satisfaction and honest pride he felt, when two of
his sons went out as representatives of the family in the armies of the
nation.  "You are doing right.  It is your duty to go-it is the duty of all
to go who can."  These were his unselfish-his right loyal-his noble words. 
Such were his feelings at the commencement of the war, and they remained
unchanged, except in ever-increasing intensity, to the last.  It was with him
a cause of devout thankfulness to God that he lived, like our martyred
President, to see rebellion receive its death blow, and to behold his country
rise in majesty and glory above the dark clouds that have for years enveloped
her.  Such was he as a citizen, and altogether it is

<[196]>

no disparagement to others to say, that no man has held a higher place in the
confidence and esteem of all who knew him than he, that none was more beloved,
especially by the poor, the widow, the orphan, and the afflicted than he.  The
natural traits of his character were marked.  They were gravity, integrity,
firmness, straightforwardness, candor, generosity, benevolence, humility. 
These natural endowments were largely sanctified and directed by divine
grace.  His religious character was one of great symmetry and consistency. 
It was one which pre-eminently approved itself to the judgment of all who
knew him.  It bore successfully the applications of that severest of tests
given by the Great Master himself.  "By their fruits ye shall know them."  It
was not one which depended for the demonstration of its genuineness on frames
and feelings and ecstacies.  He died April 26, 1865, in the 72d year of his age.*

CHRISTIAN HORNER, ESQ.

Christian Horner, Esq., died at his residence, in Jenner township, Somerset
county, on Friday, the 6th of October, 1865.  Born in Franklin 

*From a Discourse by Rev. George Hill, of Blairsville.

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county, on the 25th day of January, 1778, he was, therefore, 87 years, 8 months 
and 12 days old at the date of his death.

Mr. Horner was married the first time in 1799, by Rev. Mr. Stoy, the founder
of Stoystown, in Somerset county.  The same year he removed within the
present limits of Cambria county, and first located near where the reservoir
now is.  He was compelled to camp out with his family, under a tree, till he
had a cabin erected to protect them from the winter.  This was the year
before Johnstown was laid out by Joseph Johns, and several years before
Cambria county was erected.  Subsequently, 'Squire Horner, as he was
familiarly called, removed to the farm on which Joseph Geis now lives, in
Richland township, and within three miles of Johnstown.  Here he resided till
1847, when he removed to Somerset county.  Mr. Horner, in common with the
residents of Cambria county, at that early day, had to endure great
hardships.  Salt could not be procured at any nearer point than Bloody Run,
in Bedford county.  Here the settlers, their only road a narrow bridle path,
would annually resort, and exchange their furs for iron and salt, and then lead 
their horses, laden with these necessary articles, over the mountains to their

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homes, in the wilderness.  Salt at that day cost four dollars per bushel, and
money was much scarcer than greenbacks are now.

John Horner, the father of Christian Horner, at an early day, dedicated the
lot on the bank of Stony Creek, now adjoining Sandy Vale Cemetery, as a
family burying ground.  The first person buried in this lot, was a daughter
of Christian Horner, who died some time in the year 1800.

In 1809, Gov. Snyder commissioned Mr. Horner a Justice of the Peace for
Conemaugh township, Cambria county.  It will give some idea of Esq. Horner's
jurisdiction, when we state the fact that Conemaugh township then embraced
the territory in which are now included the townships of Conemaugh, Croyle,
Summerhill, Jackson, Taylor, Yoder, and Richland, and the boroughs of
Johnstown, Conemaugh, Prospect, Millville, Cambria, and Wilmore.  This office
he held until his removal to Somerset county, in 1847.

Mr. Horner was married the second time in 1828, and leaves a widow to survive
him at the age of 82 years.  He had in all fifteen children, eleven of whom
are living.  He also leaves one hundred and seventeen grand-children, and one
hundred and two great grand-children to morn his death.

<[199]>

Esq. Horner's remains were brought to this place, and interred in the Horner
family burying ground, where his daughter has slept for 65 years, on Monday,
the 9th inst.  A large number of our citizens turned out to pay their last
tribute of respect to his memory.

Thus, at a ripe old age, has passed away another of Cambria's pioneers.  Soon
the last will be gone, and then will perish much that ought to be carefully
gathered for the pages of history.  A narrative of the trials undergone, and
the scenes witnessed by Mr. Horner, in the early days of the settlement of
this county, would make a volume at once eloquent and thrilling, a volume
which our sons and daughters could read with far more profit, than anything
presented in the pages of fiction.  We little know, and still less appreciate
the toils, the privations, the danger, our fathers endured, in order that they
might make this wilderness "bloom and blossom as the rose" for us.  Honor to
their memory!  Peace to their ashes!*

SAMUEL SEYMOUR.

With the name of Samuel Seymour, but few of the 

*Johnstown Democrat, Oct. 18, 1865.

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present citizens of Johnstown are familiar; though in his day he was a conspicuous 
man in this community, and will be remembered by some of my older readers.

Mr. Seymour was a citizen of one of the eastern States, and was by profession
an artist.  I use the term artist in the sense in which it was used fifty
years ago, and not as applied to daguerreotypists, photographers, and so
forth.  He was a skillful and talented disciple of Angelo and Rembrandt, of
Reynolds and West.

In the early part of this century, he accompanied the expedition of Colonel
Long to the Rocky Mountains.  That part of our country which is now included
in the States of Missouri, Iowa, Wisconsin, and others, was then almost a
terra incognita.  It was a soil that had scarcely been pressed by the foot of
a white man.  Mr. Seymour, desirous of transferring to his canvas the wonders
and beauties of that hitherto unrevealed region, and of seeking adventures of
a new and thrilling character in those western wilds, forsook the ease and
safety of home and friends, and volunteered in that arduous undertaking.  He
ascended with Col. Long the towering peak that still bears his name, and that
stands, as it will ever stand, a

<[201]>

giant sentinel to guard the route to the Pacific shores.  The drawings which
illustrated Col. Long's narrative of his expedition, were by the pencil of
Mr. Seymour.  He was an engraver as well as painter, and his name may be
found in many of the illustrated works of forty or fifty years ago.

The few works of Mr. Seymour that have descended to our day, show him to have
been a man of exquisite taste and culture.  One of his oil paintings is in the
possession of the writer.  It represents a young lady-whether it is a
portrait, or a mere fancy-sketch, perhaps will never be known.

"She sits, inclining forward as to speak,
Her lips half open, and her finger up,
As though she said, 'Beware!'"

The latter years of Mr. Seymour's life were spent in Blairsville and
Johnstown.  In the former town he made the acquaintance of the writer's
father, who was also an artist, and became a frequent visitor at his house.

About the year 1832, perhaps, he came to Johnstown, where he continued to
reside until the period of his death, which occurred in May, 1834.  He was
aged about 50 years.  He died in extreme poverty; for it is a singular fact,
that genius and wealth are rarely found together.  Where Mr. Seymour was
buried is

<[202]>

not known to the writer.  A few months ago, he, in company with a friend,
searched among the old monuments in the Union Graveyard for his tomb, but was
unable to find it.  If he was buried there, as in all probability he was,
there is no mark by which his last resting place may be distinguished.

Pittsburg is taking measures to erect a suitable monument to the memory of
her painter, Blythe, a man of similar genius and misfortunes; should not
Johnstown make an effort to perpetuate the name of the great artist who died
and lies buried within her limits?

THE END.