Local History: Part I - Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Blair Co, PA: Samuel T. Wiley, Philadelphia, 1892, pages i - 58. Contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by Judy Banja jbanja@email.msn.com Typing and proofreading by these subscribers to the RootsWeb PABLAIR mailing list: Ann Denson, Annie Whiteman, Bonnie Millican, Debbie Stearns, Denise Wagner, Donna Thomas, Eileen Van Allman, J. Goddard, Judy Banja, Lyn Frieda, and Sally. ____________________________________________________________ USGENWEB NOTICE: Printing this file by non-commercial individuals and libraries is encouraged, as long as all notices and submitter information are included. Any other use, including copying files to other sites, requires permission from the submitters PRIOR to uploading to any other sites. We encourage links to the state and county table of contents. ____________________________________________________________ BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT CYCLOPEDIA OF BLAIR COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA EDITED BY SAMUEL T. WILEY AND W. SCOTT GARNER ILLUSTRATED GRESHAM PUBLISHING COMPANY PHILADELPHIA, PA RICHMOND, VA CHICAGO, IL 1892 [v] PREFACE. History and biography are inseparably connected, for history is the synthesis of biography, and biography is the analysis of history. History is philosophy teaching by example, and most of its important and useful lessons are derived from the lives of the men who shape and control the events of their day. Biographical history is history by induction, which is the natural and philosophical method. It is far more complete in its scope than the annals of public events, for in it is contained all the elements of history and the details of biography. In the centennial year of the American Republic, it was appropriate and fitting that the representatives of the people in Congress assembled, should, by joint resolution of both houses, recommend to every city, town, and county the duty of collecting for permanent preservation their local history and the biographies of their worthy citizens. In the first century of our National life, the annals of town and county, and the individuality of the citizen, were absorbed in the popular story of the State and the more masterful theme of the life of the nation; but in the second century of our existence as a nation, local history and biography have received a larger share of attention, although biographical history is yet in its pioneer stage. It was never systematically attempted in any county within the Keystone State until 1889, when John M Gresham, one of the publishers of this volume, became the pioneer in this line of work in Pennsylvania, and issued the first cyclopedia of biographies ever published in the State. Blair county is worthy of especial notice, as it has developed from a forest region into one of the beautiful, productive, and wealthy counties of the State. Distinguished for the intelligence and industry of its citizens, blessed with a healthy climate and a fertile soil, and possessing great mineral wealth, its future for prosperity is assured. No labor or expense has been spared in the preparation of the historical part of this volume, and the historian of the company, Samuel T. Wiley, made an extensive [vi] research among public and private documents in order to present a full and accurate account of what little is known of the Mound Builders and Indians in this county. The geology given has been taken mainly from the volumes of the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania; and the names of those from this county who fought for the preservation of the Union have been accorded ample space, for Blair county's war record is one of which she may well be proud, as her sons served faithfully and with honor on many a bloody battlefield, where many of them fell to rise no more. Census statistics have been specially introduced to supply a feature that is wanting in nearly every county history published in the United States. While numbers are not the progress measure of county life, yet their rapid increase indexes every great stride in the development of a county's material resources; and their marked decrease chronicles every great drain by emigration. The condensed statistics of agriculture, manufacture, and wealth, will forcibly tell their own story without need of illustration or explanation. Contemporary history has been given in connection with ancestral history, and thus is presented the lives of the enterprising and progressive citizens of the county, from its formation down to the present time. Great care has been taken in the preparation of these biographies, and the larger part of them have been written by the editors in charge of the work, though they have been assisted to some extent by others. In this cyclopedia of biographies, presenting the life-record of so many worthy and enterprising citizens of Blair county, we would strive to incite its sons to aims of usefulness and lives of integrity, honor, and distinction. THE PUBLISHERS. [NOTE: pages i-58 - Part I wileyhistory01.txt 58-90 - Part II [Civil War] wileyhistory02.txt 91-120 - Part III wileyhistory03.txt 120-156 - Part IV] wileyhistory04.txt CONTENTS HISTORICAL. PAGE. Allegheny Portage Railroad 54 Altoona and Tyrone 58 Anglo-Saxon Pioneers 49 Arch Spring 39 Banks 98 Blair County 33-156 Blair County Home 149 Blair County in 1855 143 Census Statistics 136-141 Agricultural Statistics 139 Colored Population 137 Manufactures, Statistics of 138 Population, Statistics of 136 Population of Minor Civil Divisions 136 Race and Nativity 136 School, Military, and Voting Ages 138 Wealth 140 White Population 137 Churches 95 African Methodist Episcopal 97 Baptist 96 Catholic 96 Church of God 96 Evangelical 96 Evangelical Association 97 Hebrew 97 Methodist Episcopal 95 Presbyterian 96 Reformed 96 Tunker (German Baptist) 96 United Brethren 97 Cities and Boroughs 120 Altoona 125 Bellwood 132 East Hollidaysburg 135 East Tyrone 134 Gaysport 134 Hollidaysburg 121 Martinsburg 133 Newry 135 Roaring Spring 133 Tyrone 130 Civil Roster-1846-1892 56-57 and 141-143 Commissioners 56 County Treasurers 56 Prothonotaries and Clerks 56 Registers and Recorders 56 Sheriffs 56 Civil War, The 58 Third Pennsylvania Infantry 58 Company A 58 Company B 59 Company C 59 Company D 60 Company E 61 Company H 61 Fourteenth Pennsylvania Infantry 62 Company H 62 Company I 62 Fifty-third Pennsylvania Infantry 63 Company C 63 [viii] CONTENTS. Civil War, The, continued. PAGE. Sixty-second Pennsylvania Infantry 65 Company M 65 Seventy-sixth Pennsylvania Infantry 66 Company C 66 Company F 68 Seventy-seventh Pennsylvania Infantry 69 Company F 70 Eighty-fourth Pennsylvania Infantry 70 Company A 71 Company C 71 Company E 72 Company I 74 One Hundred and Tenth Pennsylvania Infantry 75 Company A 75 Company C 76 Company H 78 One Hundred and Twenty-fifth Pennsylvania Infantry 80 Company A 80 Company B 81 Company D 82 Company E 83 Company G 84 Company K 84 One Hundred and Ninety-Second Pennsylvania Infantry 87 Two Hundred and Fifth Pennsylvania Infantry 87 Company A 87 Company C 88 Company I 89 Two Hundred and Eighth Pennsylvania Infantry 90 Twelfth Pennsylvania Cavalry 79 Nineteenth Pennsylvania Cavalry 85 Twenty-second Pennsylvania Cavalry 86 Blair Men in Other Regiments 90 Coal Measures 36 County Formation 55 County Societies 98 Drainage 38 Early Courts and Lawyers 149 Early Furnaces and Forges 54 Early Physicians 150 Early Schools 97 Fort Roberdeau 52 Frankstown 50 Free Masonry 151 Geology 34 Grand Army of the Republic 151 Healthfulness 151 History and Literature 148 Hollidaysburg 55 House of Representatives, Members of 92 Indian Murders 53 Trails 48 Villages 48 Indebtedness 141 Industrial Development 90 Insurance 98 Iron Ore 37 Knights of Pythias 151 Kossuth's Visit 58 Lead and Zinc Deposits 37 Lead Mining in 1778 52 Levels Above Tide 38 Lewistown Limestone 37 Mexican War 152 Miscellaneous 141 Associate Judges 141 Auditors 141 Coroners 141 Directors of the Poor 142 District Attorneys-1846-1892 141 President Judges 141 Surveyors 141 Mound Builders 40 Altar Mounds 42 Effigy Mounds 42 Fortifications 42 Fortified Heights 43 Old Forts 42 Temple Mounds 42 Tomb Mounds 42 Odd Fellowship 98 and 151 Old Roads 53 Patriotic Order Sons of America 151 Pennsylvania Canal 54 Pennsylvania Railroad 57 Political History 91 Popular Vote for Presidential Candidates 93 [ix] CONTENTS. PAGE. Postal History 93 Present Railways 91 Presidential Vote from 1824 to 1888 155 Press, The 94 Roaring Spring 40 Revolutionary War 50 Captain Robert Clugage's Company 51 Savage Period 44-48 Secret Orders 98 Settlers' Forts 51 Sinking Valley Cave 40 Sons of Veterans 151 State History 152 State Senators, 1848 to 1892 92 Summer Resorts 150 Taxation 141 Territorial Changes 34 Topography 37 Tory Expedition 52 Townships 99 Allegheny 99 Antis 100 Blair 102 Catharine 102 Frankstown 103 Freedom 105 Greenfield 106 Huston 106 Juniata 107 Logan 107 North Woodbury 109 Snyder 111 Taylor 112 Tyrone 113 Woodbury 120 Villages 135 Williamsburg 135 Duncansville 135 Henrietta 136 War of 1812 152 William Penn 155 [xv] CONTENTS. ILLUSTRATIONS. FACING PAGE The Capitol, Washington Frontispiece Blair County Alms House 149 Blair County Court House 124 Bush, Rev. E. A. 478 Collin, John B. 409 Dean, Judge John 157 Green, M. A. 163 Hewit, Hon. B. L. 375 Hicks, J. D. 214 Horse Shoe Bend 528 Landis, Aug. S. 418 Mackey, M. H. 235 Marshall, Capt. James H. 191 McCarthy, S. L., M. D. 447 McCarthy, Dr. S. L., Residence of 449 McClain, Frank 271 Plummer, J. Lee 320 Robinson, Charles M. 338 Stevens, A. A. 397 State Capitol at Harrisburg 152 Thompson, McLeod W. 393 Trout, T. J. 289 Wood, Daniel D. 178 Woodcock, William L. 199 [33] HISTORICAL SKETCH OF BLAIR COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA. Boundaries and Area - Territorial Changes - Geology - Topography - Arch and Roaring Springs - Sinking Valley Cave - Mound Builders - Indians - Anglo-Saxon Pioneers - Frankstown - Revolutionary War - Settlers' Forts - Tory Expedition - Lead Mining under the Continental Congress - Fort Roberdeau - Old Roads - Early Furnaces and Forges - Pennsylvania Canal - Allegheny Portage Railroad - Hollidaysburg - County Formation and Civil Roster - Pennsylvania Railroad - Altoona and Tyrone - Kossuth's Visit - The Civil War and Lists of Soldiers - Industrial Development and Present Railways - Political and Postal History - The Press, Churches, Schools and Banks - County Societies - Secret Orders - Insurance - Townships and Boroughs - Census Statistics - Miscellaneous - State History. It is impossible in a work of this character to treat extensively of history; yet the publishers desire to record, briefly, the important events in the history and development of the present territory of Blair county, before making record of the biographical sketches of the county's leading citizens. BLAIR COUNTY, Pennsylvania, is in the beautiful and far-famed Juniata valley, and lies between the forty-first and forty-second degrees north latitude; and the seventy-eighth and seventy-ninth degrees west longitude from Greenwich, England, or the first and second degrees west longitude from Washington city. As a political division of the State, it is bounded on the north by Centre and Clearfield counties; on the east by Huntingdon county; on the south by Bedford county; and on the west by Cambria county. Of the sixty-seven counties of the State, in order of age, it is the fifty-ninth; in order of alphabetical designation, the seventh; and in population ranks nineteenth. In geographical position Blair county is one of the south central counties of the State, while its geographical center and center of population are not far apart, and both are located in Frankstown township, a few miles north-east of Hollidaysburg. Blair county has an estimated area of five hundred and ten square miles by Small's legislative hand book of 1888, and five hundred and ninety-four square miles, or 380,160 acres, by the second geological survey of Pennsylvania; was named for Hon. John Blair, a worthy man and public-spirited citizen; and is one of the rich mineral counties of Pennsylvania. [34] The county is in the XVIIIth Congressional and 33d State Senatorial districts, while it constitutes the 24th Judicial district of Pennsylvania, and sends two representatives to the State legislature. Territorial Changes. - The present territory of Blair county was a part of the following counties for the respective times specified: Chester, from 1682 to May 10, 1729. Lancaster, May 10, 1729, to January 27, 1750. Cumberland, January 27, 1750, to March 9, 1771, and under which county, in 1767, was organized as a part of Bedford and Barre townships. Bedford, March 9, 1771, to September 26, 1787, and under which county, in 1775, was included in Frankstown township. Huntingdon and Bedford, September 20, 1787, to February 26, 1846, the former including all of Blair, except the territory of North Woodbury and Greenfield townships. Geology. - Prof. J. P. Lesley, in the second geological survey of Pennsylvania, describes the characteristic features of Blair county as follows: The Allegheny mountain (2000' to 2500' A. T.) is the boundary on the northwest, and its many short, deep ravines, all containing the lowest Productive coal beds at their upper ends, issue, between short projecting knobby spurs of Catskill and Pocono rocks, and lower down as Chemung and Hamilton vales, into the long transverse water bed of the Little Juniata, flowing along the soft Marcellus outcrop, from Altoona (1178' A. T.) north-eastward to Tyrone city (896' A. T.). Here, re-enforced by the similarly arranged Bald Eagle creek, coming from Centre county, it turns and gaps the mountain, exposing VII, VI, IV, and III, and crosses Sinking Creek valley to the end of Canoe mountain. The drainage of the southwest townships is more complicated. The mountain ravines here pour their rainfall into the Juniata through a hatchet-shaped synclinal basin; from which it issues by the Williamsburg gap through Canoe mountain to traverse the Canoe valley limestone rocks to the gap in Tussey mountain. Canoe valley opens southward into Morrison's cove, which is drained backward through McKee's gap in Dunning mountain into the river above Hollidaysburg. The vast anticlinal arch of Nittany valley dies southward up Sinking Creek valley; while the equally huge arch of Morrison's cove dies northward against it at Frankstown. Thus the important Lower Helderberg limestone No. VI outcrop, and the still more valuable Clinton ore beds No. V, not only run the whole length of the county, but fold back into the Frankstown cove, greatly increasing the exposure of ore and flux. Immense holes along the limestone outcrop of No. VI (as at Blair furnace), have been filled with brown hematite; while in Canoe valley at Springfield, and elsewhere, and in Morrison's cove on Roaring Spring run, still larger deposits of pipe and ball ore (occupying ancient caverns in the limestone of No. II long since uncovered by erosion), once stocked the first small furnaces of Dr. Shoenberger, and still support in whole or part the Rodman, Holliday, Martha, Frankstown, Bennington, Springfield, AEtna, Rebecca, and Sarah furnaces, some using coke and others charcoal. The Pennsylvania railroad tunnel through the crest of the Allegheny mountain (2126' A. T.) cuts through the Freeport upper coal bed (5' thick) with a westward dip of 1†, the railroad gradient upwards in that direc- [35] tion being also 1†. Below it are six other coal beds from 2 to 4 feet thick, which crop out around the heads of all the ravines along the mountain wall for many miles. The Mahoning sandstone makes the range of knobs along the summit of the mountain; and the thickness of coal measures under it is 350'; descending we have exposed, at first with gentle, and then with steeper and steeper dips, until they become quite vertical in the Bald Eagle mountain, the following formations: Conglomerate XII, 220'; red shale XI, 280'; gray sandstone X, 1240'; old red sandstone, &c., IX, 2560'; middle and lower Devonian VIII, 6520'; Oriskany sandstone VII, 50'; limestone VI, 900'; red shale and fossil ore V, 1330'; the three sand-rock divisions of the Bald Eagle mountain IV, 2900'; the dark slates of III, say 900'; and a measured thickness of Canoe valley limestone strata II, 6600', without reaching the Potsdam No. 1, which nowhere appears; i. e. 23,855 feet of Palaeozoic strata, all of them exposed in detail at many points in the county. The original height of the great rock arches over Sinking creek, Canoe valley and Morrison's cove must have been nearly five miles above the present surface; and the lowest limestone strata visible at Birmingham, Springfield, and Bloomfield, must plunge vertically under Altoona to an equal depth beneath the Allegheny mountain. The Nittany arch is broken between Birmingham and Tyrone city by a fault, and the Morrison cove arch by a similar fault along the east foot of Dunning mountain. Two small transverse cracks throw the Bald Eagle rocks westward north of Tyrone city; and Canoe mountain is still more apparently dislocated by a diagonal fault just north of Williamsburg. The range of picturesque roofed and unroofed caverns through which Sinking creek finds its way in a straight line for three or four miles to the Little Juniata, are fine examples of the combined chemical and mechanical erosion of past ages, still going on, which has removed the great Palaeozoic arches from over the present surface. The Springfield ore bank in Canoe valley, and the Bloomfield ore bank in Morrison's cove, are two of the largest and richest in the State. The great ore deposit in Leathercracker cove near the Bedford county line is peculiar, because at the upper edge of the limestone next the slates of No. III, at the foot of Tussey mountain. Prof. Franklin Platt, in speaking of the geological structure of Blair county, says: It is grand and simple in its main broad outlines, though a close examination shows that this simplicity is rendered complex in places by subordinate anticlinals, synclinals, overturns, and faults. The broad simplicity of structure is this, the eastern center of the county, along its entire length, is the limestone valley of Morrison's cove and Canoe valley. The center of this anticlinal brings to daylight limestone and sandstone which is fully 6000 feet below the bottom of III, and is probably in or near to the top of the Potsdam sandstone, Formation I. To the east and west of this anticlinal the measures dip away from it, until to the westward the Lower Productive coal measures, XIII, are caught on the Allegheny mountain at Bennington, while to the eastward the same measures are caught in the Broad Top coal field in Huntingdon and Bedford counties. The coal measures are only some 2000 feet above tide, and the center of the eroded anticlinal is from 1000 to 1500 feet above tide. Some idea of the magnitude of the axis may be formed from the fact [36] that it is 40 miles broad from base to base; and, if the center of the arch were not eroded, the coal measures would now be riding over Morrison's cove in a mountain over 20,000 feet above the sea level. The subordinate complications of structure, as given by Professor Platt, include extended mention of the following anticlinals from east to west. Canoe Valley, Snake Spring, Morrison's Cove, Alexandria, Bloomfield, Sinking Valley, Short Mountain, Tipton-Altoona, and Blue Knob. Professor Platt also states that Blair county, like Bedford, Centre, Clinton, and Lycoming, along the same belt, extending from the top of the Allegheny mountain down to and across the ridges and valleys which front that escarpment, is crossed by outcrops of all the Palaeozoic formations, from the Productive coal measures (No. XIII), down to the Lower Silurian, or Siluro-Cambrian limestones (No. II), and even to the top layers of the Potsdam sandstone (No. I). The order of these formations are as follows: Feet Thick. Carboniferous System - Lower Productive coal measures XIII 345 Pottsville conglomerate XII 223 Mauch Chunk red shale XI 283 Pocono gray sandstone X 1,241 Devonian System - Catskill red sandstone IX 2,560 Chemung olive shales Portage gray grits Genesee dark slates Hamilton sandstones VIII 6,519 Marcellus dark slates Upper Helderberg limestone Oriskany sandstone VII 50 Silurian System - Lewiston (L. Helderberg) limestone VI 900 Waterlime, Salina and Niagara | marls | V 1,328 Clinton red shales and fossil | ore | ______ Carried forward 13,449 Brought forward 13,449 Medina upper white and lower | red sandstone | IV 2,906 Oneida white sandstone | Siluro-Cambrian System - Hudson River shales | Utica Black shales | III 900 Trenton limestone | Calciferous (Magnesian) | II 6,600 limestone | Potsdam sandstone I Traces ______ Total 23,855 Nothing is known of the thickness of the Potsdam formation at the bottom of this column of over 23,000 feet, or the older systems which lie thousands of feet under it, with their gneis, granite crystalline limestone, and beds of magnetic iron ore. Formation XIII carries six coal beds: A, two veins, 4 feet and 20 inches; B, 3 1/2 feet; C, two veins, 7 2/3 feet, and 2 5/6 feet; D, 3/4 foot; E, 5 1/2 feet; and a light bed, 2 2/3 feet. It also carries some veins of fire clay and iron ore. Coal Measures. - The coal measures of Blair county cap the Allegheny mountain, and are mined in the upper reaches of the ravines by which the old Portage and the new Pennsylvania railroads ascend to their respective summit levels. The lower beds can be entered in all the ravines which descend from the Cambria county highland, along the whole west boundary line of Blair county. The coal measure rocks touch only a part of the western edge of Blair county; and that part only included between the old abandoned Portage railroad on the south, and the Buck Horn tavern on the north. This comprises an area barely nine miles long. This area is principally in the lower productive coal measures, whose seams are Freeport upper coal (coal bed E), or Lemon seam, which is nearly always 5 feet thick; Freeport lower coal (coal bed D), 3 feet [37] thick; Kittanning upper coal (coal bed C), 2 feet 10 inches, and 42 feet below bed D; Kittanning middle coal, 2 feet, and 52 feet below upper coal; Kittanning lower coal (coal bed B), 3 feet 6 inches thick, and about 30 feet below middle coal; Clarion coal (coal bed A), 1 foot 8 inches thick, and 34 feet below the Kittanning lower; and the Brookville coal (coal bed A), 4 feet thick, and 27 feet below the Clarion bed. The Lower Barren measures carries one coal bed of 2 feet 8 inches on the crest of the Allegheny mountain, and the Pottsville conglomerate carries the Mt. Savage coal bed, 1 foot 8 inches thick. From the Lower Kittanning coal is produced a coke second only to the famous Connellsville coke. Lewistown Limestone. - This formation (sometimes called Lower Helderberg) is mostly a dark blue massive limestone, capping the Silurian, or No. VI group. It swells from 780 feet at Tyrone, to over 900 feet near Hollidaysburg. Many veins of this limestone are of unusual purity, and of great value for furnace use, or burning for agricultural purposes. This limestone also follows the sweep of the mountains of IV, and along this great line of outcrop can be easily mined. Iron Ore. - Considerable quantities of brown hematite ore has been mined in No. VI, or the Lewistown limestone, but No. V is the great iron ore producing formation of Blair county. Its rocks hold several different fossil iron ore beds in their extended outcrop around the outer edge of the mountains of IV. These iron ore beds are: The upper fossil ore, 1 foot thick; double fossil ore, two veins, 1 foot 4 inches, and 1 foot 1 inch; Frankstown fossil ore, 400 feet below the double fossil, averages 16 inches in thickness, is regular and persistent in character, and an analysis yields from 41,900 to 52,000 parts of metallic iron in 100,000 parts of samples; and the Keel, or hard fossil ore, which is often mixed with higher, grade ores with a favorable result. The brown hematite iron ores of No. II (Siluro-Cambrian) are of great importance in Blair county. The most important mines are: The Springfield (3), Henrietta, Seister*, Bloomfield, Rebecca, and Red ore, of Morrison's cove; the Williamsburg mine; and various productive mines in Canoe and Sinking valleys. In analysis of samples from these mines the metallic iron runs from 46,000 to 54,900 out of 100,000 parts tested. Lead and Zinc Deposits. - The lead and zinc deposits of the county are confined to the limestone formations of Sinking valley, where, in the Kettle, in the southern part, General Roberdeau, in 1778, opened and worked a lead mine, and where, in 1864, in the northern part of the valley, The Keystone Zinc Company opened their lead and zinc mines, which they operated until 1870, when they became embarrassed. There seems to be no ore-bearing rocks in the central part of the valley, while the old mines and shafts are so filled up as to preclude satisfactory inspections without great labor. It is said that the ore of the Keystone shaft was even quality, yielded 40 per cent of lead, and cost $3 per ton at the mouth of the mine. If the ores in the northern part of the valley maintain what is asserted of them, it is impossible to explain the failure of the Keystone Company except by mismanagement. Topography. - The topography of Blair county depends directly on the character and structure of the underlying rocks; the soil is made from the disintegration [38] of the rocks in place, there being only a few unimportant spots where there is any mass of foreign material; the wash of loose stuff along the foot of some of the mountains being clearly of no more distant origin than the mountain it skirts. The district can be divided into limestone, slate and sandstone country. The limestones make the large level valleys of Morrison's cove and Canoe valley; the slates make small valleys, with sharp, steep hills; and the stone of IV, IX and X make mountains. The topography of the county is somewhat intricate, and beautifully illustrative of the geological structure. As the very nature of the structure prevents any rational description of the county by townships, each mountain is taken in turn. Starting on the south, where it enters the county, and proceeding from east to west, we have: Tussey, Dunning; Loop, Lock, and Short mountains making one range; Canoe, Brush, and the Allegheny mountains. In these mountains are the following water gaps: McKee's, Short Mountain, Tyrone, Pattonsville, Water Street, Spruce Creek, Trout Run, Raver's, Dry, and Black's. In regard to the valleys, as there is no wide-spread drift material in Blair county, the surface soil comes from the decomposition of the rocks underlying. The lands of Morrison's cove and Canoe valley are limestone, and very productive farms; while the barrens of those valleys are not really barrens, but having been kept wooded for twenty years, and having no springs or running water, were not brought into cultivation until of late years. The small valleys, underlaid by the slates of III, are cultivated, and Bald Eagle valley, which rests on the slate of formations VIII and IX, is good farm land, while Sinking valley is a limestone valley of rich and valuable farms. Drainage. - The drainage of Blair county is somewhat complex from its geological structure, and, starting from the south, we have the following drainage systems: Frankstown Branch, Beaver Dam, and Little Juniata. Levels above tide. - The elevations along the following lines of railways are shown in the tables given below: 1. Pennsylvania Railroad STATIONS. FEET ABOVE TIDE. Tunnell, at east end 2126 Bennington Furnace 2038 Alligrippus 1920 Murdocks 1626 Kittanning 1494 Altoona, at ticket office 1178 Blair Furnace 1114 Elizabeth Furnace 1079 Bellwood (Bells' Mills) 1060 Fostoria 1020 Tipton 990 Tyrone R. R. junction 907 Tyrone water station 896 Birmingham 866 Union Furnace 799 Spruce Creek 777 Tunnel, west end 761 Barre Forge 724 2. Northwestern (Bell's Gap) Railroad STATIONS FEET ABOVE TIDE. Fallen Timber 1422 Van Ormer's 1482 Cree's Summit 1857 Vanscoyoc 1995 Figart's 2108 Summit Allegheny mountain 2301 Lloyd's Station 2180 Lloyd's Junction 2167 Point Lookout 1915 [39] STATIONS. FEET ABOVE TIDE. Collier 1642 Root's 1222 Bellwood 1060 3. Hollidaysburg, now Williamsburg, branch STATIONS. FEET ABOVE TIDE. Altoona 1178 Allegheny 1152 Eldorado 1093 Canaan 1066 Duncansville 990 Hollidaysburg 953 Old Terminus 944 Brush Run (old canal line) 933 Frankstown " 918 Reese Station " 903 Clapper's Run " 901 Koofer's Run " 893 Juniata River " 893 Pike Ponds " 885 Flowing Spring " 881 Springfield " 876 Williamsburg " 847 4. Morrison's Cove Branch STATIONS. FEET ABOVE TIDE. Hollidaysburg 942 Drawbridge 943 Juniata River 937 Reservoir 967 Catfish 968 Ridde's Lane 933 Brook's Mill 1006 McKee's Gap 1036 Martha Furnace 1054 Hammond's 1133 Roaring Spring 1196 Erb's Summit 1354 Martinsburg Junction 1344 Martinsburg 1366 Henrietta Junction 1391 Matthew's Summit 1471 Nicodemus Summit 1432 Clover Creek 1392 Henrietta, ore bank 1409 Terminius in Leathercracker Cove 1422 5. Springfield Branch, Canoe Valley. STATIONS. FEET ABOVE TIDE. Williamsburg Tunnel 876 Trestle No. 1 968 Goods 1006 Davis' Summit 1376 Eighth-mile post 1374 Although about one-half of the county has a rugged, mountainous surface, unsusceptible of cultivation, the rest is good valley land; and so great is the variety and scope of its geology that both its agricultural and mineral products are unusually varied and valuable, and its wealth and prosperity exceptionally great. The coal and coke works at Bennington and other places on the Allegheny mountains; the blast furnaces at Bennington, Altoona, Hollidaysburg, McKee's Gap, Rebecca, Springfield, and Frankstown; the various forges and rolling mills, and the great railroad shops at Altoona; the brown hematite iron ore mines of Bloomfield, Springfield, and numerous other places (the two first named second in size and value to none other in the State); and the fossil ore of the Clinton formation mined at Frankstown, Hollidaysburg, and McKee's Gap, are all important industries. Moreover, the valleys show numerous rich farms in Morrison's cove and Canoe valley. Arch Spring. - This spring in Sinking valley was described by a writer in the Columbian Magazine, in 1788, as a deep hollow formed in the limestone rock, about 30 feet in width, with a huge arch of stone hanging over it, forming a passage for the [40] water, which is thrown out with some degree of violence, and with so much volume that a fine stream is formed. U.P. Jones in describing it, in 1856, said: That the Arch spring is one of the greatest curiosities to be found in any country. It gushes from an opening, arched by nature, in such force as to drive a mill, and then sinks into the earth again. Roaring Spring. - This is the largest spring in the upper end of the Juniata valley, and has more the appearance, it is said, of a subterranean river breaking out at the hillside than a spring. It gives name to the town of Roaring Spring, drives a grist mill only 100 feet below its head, and within two miles its stream of water furnishes motive power for two flouring mills, a saw mill, and four forges. It derives its name from flowing with a sonorous sound over a rocky bed. Sinking Valley Cave. - The triangular Sinking valley occupies the centre of the northern part of Blair county, narrowing south from the Juniata river until its east and west boundary arms of Brush mountain unite in a point. It is ten miles long; has an area of about twenty-one square miles; lies 1,100 feet above the Atlantic ocean; and contains some of the finest farming land in the county. The Sinking Valley cave is an opening in a hillside which is said to be large enough to admit a shallop with her sails full spread. Into its mouth flows Sinking run, whose source is Arch spring, and whose subterranean waters can be seen at places three hundred feet down in the earth through openings or pits in the limestone formation of the valley. After entering the cave, it flows some four hundred feet until the cave widens into a large room, where it falls into a chasm or vortex, and can not be followed any farther. No one has ever been able to explore this remarkable cave beyond where Sinking run falls into the vortex. Another remarkable subterranean run is one which rises and sinks back of Tyrone, where it breaks out in a large spring, while seven miles below Hollidaysburg, on the right bank of the river, is a spring that ebbs and flows with the regularity of the tides of the ocean. Mound-Builders. - The history of Blair county, Pennsylvania, naturally divides itself into three distinct periods, each of which is characterized by a peculiar inhabiting race, as follows: 1. Aboriginal Period - Mound-builders. 2. Savage Period - Indians. 3. Civilized Period - White race. There is but little known of the ancient history of the North American continent, despite the most exhaustive researches. Four centuries ago, when human eyes in the track of the morning sun-rays first beheld the forest shores of America, it was as if a great curtain had rolled away from the western world of waters. But back of it lay a continent with only the Mound-builders' ruins and the Red men's traditions. No history in volumes traced, no record in rock-written inscription, to tell when the one race with a civilization but no history had gone, or the other race with a tradition but no civilization had come. Of the Mound-builders' original and mysterious fate - first we have supposition, next theory from relics, then speculation, and that is all. Within the last quarter of a century some light has been thrown on the aboriginal and the earlier part of the savage period by the researches in the field of archaeology. Dr. [41] Brinton, in his Oceanographic Dictionary of the Arts and Sciences, says: That prehistoric archaeology is an independent branch of the general history of man, and is an indispensable introduction to the general history of culture, for the rude objects of ancient art are mute witnesses of a period of human existence back of the scope of written records, and that they supply the long-sought means of tracing man from almost his first appearance on the globe down through his conquests over nature to the time when history takes up the thread of his career. De Mortillet divides prehistoric archaeology into the ages of stone, bronze and iron, and has the first age to embrace three periods: 1. Etholothic, or fired stone. 2. Palaeolithic, or chipped stone. 3. Neolithic, or polished stone. The nomenclature of the archaeology of the western hemisphere is closely similar to that of the eastern, and the prehistoric is separate from the historic by the discovery of America by Columbus; so that whatever in this country is ante- Columbian is also prehistoric. The prehistoric archaeology of the United State lies wholly within the age of stone as confined to the palaeolithic and neolithic periods. In the first period occurred the glacial age, whose disappearance most of the geologists agree in placing at thirty thousand years ago. Among the extinct animals of that period were the true mammoth (Elephas primigenius), the mastodon, the great musk ox (Ovibos bombifroms), the reindeer, a huge lion (Felis atrox), whose bones have been found near Natchez, and a large tiger, which frequented the area of Texas, besides two species of the horse. It is generally accepted now that man existed in North America during the glacial epoch of the Palaeolithic period; and stone implements made by him have been found in the Trenton gravels, the Nebraska Loes beds, and the auriferous gravels of California, which strengthen this view; as well as the finding of the celebrated Calaveras human skull, at the depth of 150 feet, in a mining shaft in Calaveras county, California. The art products of the aboriginal American are represented by articles in stone, clay, bone, and shell. Those of stone are arrow and spear-heads, grooved hammers and axes, gouges, semi-lunar knives, awls, scrapers, mortars and pestles, food vessels, spades, plummets, ornaments, pipes, images, and inscribed petroglyphs or tablets. The pottery of the middle Atlantic states was rude in character and imperfectly burned. Bone was used for fish hooks, spoons, awls, and ornaments. Shells were used for cups, spoons, chisels, and knives. At what time and by what route the Mound-builder came into America none with certainty can tell. Geology, archaeology and botany now agree in the existence at one time of a narrow stretch of land, extending from the shores of England to the coast of the State of Maine, which was rended by the great ice fields of the glacial age into mere island fragments, of which alone Iceland and Greenland remain to-day. The study of the ocean currents, the winds and temperature of the South Pacific, with the record of drifting boats from the land of the Orientals being thrown upon the western shores of the South American continent, allow the possibility of a Mound-builder emigration from eastern Asia to western South America. Came they from Asia when Abraham sojourned in the land of Egypt? [42] Came they at a later date, across the trackless wilds of inhospitable Siberia, passing over the Behring strait on its ice-bound floor; or did they, in the northern winter land's sickly smile of summer, coast along the chain of the Aleutian islands stretching from Asia to America; or left they fabled Atlantis, when it was sinking in earthquake throes, to plant themselves on the North American shores? Did they cross on the north Atlantic isthmus ere it was torn into fragments by the fateful ice field; or were they wafted by favoring breezes from the Flowery Kingdom or East Indian isles to the South American continent? No one can tell. Mexican and Indian traditions and relics found in the mounds favor the hypothesis of their migration from Asia by Behring strait or the Aleutian islands, and that they were the ancestors of the Toltecs and Aztecs of Mexico. David Cusick, an educated Indian, in a work entitled "Ancient History of the Six Nations," states an Indian tradition assigning the Mound-builders back twenty- two centuries before the landing of Columbus. Were they strong in numbers? Undoubtedly. As no traces exist of their possessing domestic animals, it must have taken great numbers of men long periods to build the great works whose ruins remain to this day. These great works were of two kinds: first, mounds; second, fortifications. The mounds may be considered in regard to form and use; in form they were round, oblong, and pyramidal; as regards use, the may be divided into four classes: Temple Mounds. - The first great class is pyramidal, in form they were round; in the west they are from fifty to ninety feet high and from three hundred to seven hundred feet long, with terraces or steps ascending to their summits, where clear traces of former buildings are to be found. Altar Mounds. - The second great class in form is round, and found to be from two to four feet high, and five to eight feet across. On the top is generally a depression in a layer of hardened clay; and in this depression; ashes; and in these ashes, evidences of burnt sacrifices. Effigy Mounds. - The third great class in form body forth rude representations of different animals, and, north of the Wisconsin river, are some representing the human form. Tomb Mounds. - The fourth great class of mounds in form is round and oblong, their dimensions widely varying in different localities. One close to St. Louise is forty feet high and three hundred feet long. They are far more abundant than those of the other classes. They are of two kinds: first, interment mounds; and second, battle mounds, where the slain were piled up and the earth heaped over them. These mounds in the Ohio valley are larger, and the bodies in them, by an advanced stage of decomposition, show them to be older than the mounds of the Atlantic states. A careful examination of the interment mounds in many places gives evidence of the practice of cremation rites. Fortifications. - The second kind of these great works may be considered in regard to form, as circular, square, or elliptical; in regard to use, they may be considered as of two classes. Old Forts. - The first great class existed all over the Mississippi valley, enclosing from a few yards up to several cares of land. They were of different shapes, and stood on the banks of some water. They were earth [43] structures, east of the Mississippi; while west, stone was extensively used in their construction. Fortified Heights. - The second great class in the east are generally found in Georgia; where, in one section of the State, all defensible mountains were fortified by this extinct race. Mt. Yond, 4,000 feet high, and Stone Mountain, 2,360 feet high, were fortified with stone rolled and heaped, and built into defensive walls. What tools did they employ in the construction of their great works? Revealed by the plow-share, unearthed from the mounds, brought up from the half-hidden pit and concealed hiding-place, they are nearly all stone, although it seems about the time of their last work in this country they had commenced to use copper tools, such as axes and hammers, obtained by working mines on Lake Superior, where a block of copper weighing six tons was discovered some years ago that they had commenced to take out, with their rude stone and copper tools lying by its side. Why left this mighty race this great empire? Did war from the Indians, famine or fever, waste them? Or sought they a southern clime more warm than glows beneath our northern skies? None with certainty can tell. Cusick gives us Indian tradition, that the Indians drove them south 2,0000 years before Columbus came, and that the Mound- builders came from the south; which might have been Louisiana or Mexico; but there are many things to impair the story. Theory favors, but certainly does not stamp, the conclusion that the Mound-builders were the ancestors of the Aztecs and Toltecs, and obeying a migratory impulse, sweeping forward and southward to the plains of Mexico and Peru, established themselves under the reign of emperor and the rule of inca. Leaving this country, these mounds may have been the rude model structures of ideas they developed into those wonderful structures that greeted the greedy eyes of Cortez and Pizarro. The introduction of stone into their mound- structures here must have represented an idea of progress - an experimental mode of a proposed change, whose consummation might have been achieved in the great halls, cities, temples, and aqueducts of the Montezumas. In these Mound-builders, whom he calls fort builders of centuries ago, Mr. Schoolcraft finds the "Ancient Alleghans" who left their name upon the Allegheny mountains. He says: "This ancient people who occupy the foreground of our remote aboriginal history, were a valiant, noble and populous race, who were advanced in arts and the policy of government, and raised fortifications for their defense. While they held a high reputation as hunters, they cultivated maize extensively, which enabled them to live in large towns; and erected those antique fortifications which are extended over the entire Mississippi valley, as high as latitude 43 degrees and the lake country. The Mound-builders of Blair county seem to be of that nation or tribe which left its works in the Wyoming valley, where the ruins of mound and fort were plain to be seen by the early settlers of that part of Pennsylvania. The absence of forts would indicate that the Mound-builders in this county were merely induced to occupy the Juniata valley as a hunting-ground, and not for the purpose of permanent settlement. The early settlers paid but little attention to the Mound-builders' ruins, as they were [44] merely regarded as the work of the Indian; while unfortunately the historians of the county made no research concerning them, and thus has been lost so far all trace of the ruins of tomb-mounds, which were said to have been in the county at the time of its early settlement. Savage Period: Indians. - One theory credits the Indians as being descendants of the Jews. Succeeding theories blended them with the Carthagenians, traced them to the Phoenicians, derived them from the Egyptians, rendered them of the Grecians, established them of the Romans, gave them origin of the Northnfen*, made them natives of the soil, and held them to be descendants of the Mound- builders. A plausible theory of their origin is that they are of the Mongolian extraction; that while the wave of population in the old world was from east to west, in the new world it was from north to south; that the Indian was the second wave of population from Asia, following in the track of the first wave - the Mound- builder. The first fact in favor of the Indians being of Mongolian extraction, is that all their traditions state that they came from the North. The second is the grammatical affinity of all the Indian languages constituting the sixth or American group of languages, which, in principal of formation and grammatical construction, bears unquestionable resemblance to the Tartar, or third group of languages, which is one of the two great language families of the Mongolian race. The Indian occupation of the United States admits of two theories: first, a peaceable possession; second, a forcible possession. The first is the most likely, as the Mound-builders were a semi-civilized race, and, from their great works, it is fair to presume, as strong in numbers as the Indian invaders. But, it is fair presumption, that between the inferior-advancing and the superior- retreating races, the clash of mortal conflict would be inevitable. The withdrawal of the Mound-builder from the field of battle after repulsing his Indian foe, to resume his southward journey would give to the Indian the idea that his enemy had fled; and on this his tradition of conquest, repeated to white prisoners in 1754-55, was undoubtedly founded. The Indian copied after the Mound-builder. He used flint to make his arrow and spear-heads, and stone to make his tomahawks, hammers, pestles, and ornaments; clay and shells to make his pottery-ware, but failed to work copper, and had lost all trace of the mines left by the Mound-builders. The stone-grave chamber of the Mound-builder suggested the stone-pile grave of the Indian. Stones of memorial constitute the second class of Indian stone heaps. They were thrown up in heaps at the crossing of trails, and on the summit of some mountain, and each Indian that passed added a stone. "Lawson's Carolina," published in 1709, at page 309, makes mention of the Indians in the South piling up these memorial heaps. They were piled up in Asia by the Hindoos, according to "Coleman's Hindoo Mythology," page 271. Stone circles existed as the third class of the Indians' stone-heaps, being stones piled in a great circle and sometimes placed standing, inside of which the East Virginia Indians gathered and went through a great many ceremonies, according to Berkley's History of Virginia, page 164. The Indians east of the Mississippi were tall, and straight as arrows, with long [45] coarse, black hair, which they generally kept shaved off, except the scalp lock; high cheek bones, and black, piercing eyes. Their limbs were supple by exercise and their muscles hardened by constant exposure to the weather. Their dress was the skins of wild animals, smoked or tanned with the brains of the animals killed. Their wigwams were poles stuck in the ground and bent together at the top, covered with chestnut and birch bark. Their weapons, war- clubs, bows and arrows and stone tomahawks, until they procured iron tomahawks and guns from the white traders. Their boats were log and birch bark canoes. Their religion was the worship of the Great Spirit, and they believed there was a happy hunting-ground in the spirit-land beyond the mountains of the setting sun, where brave warriors went at death and pursued the chase for ever and ever; and where no coward was ever permitted to enter. Each tribe had its chief, and medicine man, who, with the old men, taught the young brave never to forgive an injury or forget a kindness. They taught him that sternness was a virtue and that tears were womanish, and if captured and burning at the stake to let no torture draw a groan or sigh from him; but to taunt his enemies, recite his deeds of prowess, and sing his death-song. He was also taught that the great object of life was to distinguish himself in war and to slay his enemies. He was taught to be faithful to any treaty he made; and to use any deceit or practice any treachery upon an enemy was honorable, and that it was no disgrace to kill an enemy wherever found, even if unarmed. John Bach McMaster, in his History of People of the Unites States, speaks of the Indians as follows: "The opinion which many careful and just-minded persons of our time have formed touching the Indians, of whom the settlers in the border-land then stood in constant dread, is a singular mixture of truth and romance. Time and absence have softened all that is vile and repulsive in his character, and left in full relief all that is good and alluring. We are in no danger of being tomahawed. We are not terrified by his war-whoop. An Indian in his paint and feathers is now a much rarer show than a Bengal tiger or a white bear from the Polar sea. Of the fifty millions of human beings scattered over the land (1880), not five millions have ever in their lives looked upon an Indian. We are therefore much more disposed to pity than to hate. But, one hundred years ago there were to be found, from Cape Ann to Georgia, few men who had not many times in their lives seen numbers of Indians, while thousands could be found scattered through every State whose cattle had been driven off, and whose homes had been laid in ashes by the braves of the Six Nations, who had fought with them from behind trees and rocks, and carried the scars of wounds received in hand-to-hand encounters. In every city were to be seen women who had fled at the dead of night from their burning cabins; who had, perhaps, witnessed the destruction of Schenectady; or were by a merciful providence spared in the massacre of the Minisink; whose husbands had gone down in the universal slaughter of Wyoming; or whose children had, on that terrible day when Brant came into Orange county, stood in the door of the school-house when the master was dragged out, when their play [46] mates were scalped, when their aprons were marked with the black mark which, like the blood upon the door-posts, a second time staid the hand of the Angel of Death. The opinions which such men and women held of the noble red man were, we may be sure, very different from those current among the present generation, and formed on no better authority than the novels of Cooper, and the lives of such warriors as Red Jacket and Brant. "Of the true character of the Indian it is difficult to give any notion to those who are acquainted with it only as it appears exalted or debased in the pages of fiction. In him were united in a most singular manner all the vices and all the arts which form the weapons, offensive and defensive, of the weak, with many of those high qualities which are always found associated with courage and strength. He was, essentially, a child of nature, and his character was precisely such as circumstances made it. His life was one long struggle for food. His daily food depended not on the fertility of the soil, or the abundance of the crops, but on the skill with which he used his bow; on the courage with which he fought, single-handed, the largest and fiercest of beasts; on the quickness with which he tracked, and the cunning with which he outwitted the most timid and keen-scented of creatures. His knowledge of the habits of animals surpassed that of Audubon. The shrewd devises with which he snared them would have elicited the applause of Ulysses; the clearness of his vision excelled that of the oldest sailor; the sharpness of his hearing was not equalled by that of the deer. "Yet this man whose courage was unquestionable, was given to the dark and crooked ways which are the resort of the cowardly and the weak. Much as he loved war, the fair and open fight had no charms for him. To his mind it was madness to take the scalp of an enemy at the risk of his own, when he might waylay him in an ambuscade, or shoot him with a poisoned arrow from behind a tree. He was never so happy as when, at the dead of night, he roused his sleeping enemies with an unearthly yell, and massacred them by the light of their burning homes. Cool and brave men who have heard that whoop, have left us a striking testimony of its nature; how that no number of repetitions could strip it of its terrors; how that, to the very last, at the sound of it the blood curdles, the heart ceased to beat, and a strange paralysis seized upon the body." In the above description, McMaster has painted the Indian truthfully, except that he has now allowed him credit for his honorable treatment of the Quaker, who bought his land; nor criticized the Puritan, Patroon and Cavalier for not adopting the policy of Penn, and averting nearly all of the Indian wars of the colonial period. The Indian was a terrible and cruel foe. On their own ground in the woods they were far more formidable than the best European troops. Although inferior in numbers, they defeated Braddock's grenadiers and Grant's highlanders. The finest drilled veteran troops of the world failed when led against the dark tribesmen of the forest. When on their own ground, and any ways near equal in numbers, the Indians were never defeated by any enemy except the backwoodsmen of the Alleghenies, who won their most notable victory over the Indians at the battle of Point Pleasant, or the Great Kanawha, in 1774. The Huron-Iroquois family of nations [47] was the most powerful of any dwelling on this continent at its discovery. Of these, the most formidable were the Iroquois. They were the most intelligent and advanced, and also the most terrible and ferocious. Such was their eloquence and energy of character, and the extent of their conquest, that Volney, the French historian, called them "The Romans of the West." Parkham says: The Iroquis were the Indians of Indians - a thorough savage, yet a finished and developed savage. He is perhaps an example of the highest elevation which man can reach without emerging from his primitive condition of the hunter. The Iroquis were often called the Five Nations, and after they were joined by the Tuscaroras, the Six Nations. They called themselves Ho-de-no-sau- nee, or People of the Long House. Their original home was wholly in New York. "The Iroquois were bound together by a remarkable league, which was the secret of their power and success. They constituted a confederacy, in some respects like our federal union, in which the nations represented States, to which were reserved general powers of control, that the several nations exercised with great independence of each other, while certain other powers were yielded to the confederacy as a whole. "In each nation there were eight tribes, which were arranged in two divisions, and named as follows: Wolf, Bear, Beaver, Turtle, Deer, Snipe, Heron, Hawk. The division of the people of each nation into eight tribes, whether pre- existing, or perfected at the establishment of the confederacy, did not terminate in its object with the nation itself. It became the means of effecting the most perfect union of separate nations "ever devised by the wit of man." In effect, the Wolf tribe was divided into five parts, and one-fifth of it placed in each of the five nations. The remaining tribes were subjected to the same division and distribution; thus giving to each nation the eight tribes, and making, in their separate state, forty tribes in the confederacy. Between those of the same name - or, in other words, between the separate parts of each tribe - there existed a tie of brotherhood which linked the nations together with indissoluble bonds. The Mohawk of the Beaver tribe recognized the Seneca of the Beaver tribe as his brother, and they were bound to each other by the ties of consanguinity. In this manner was constructed the Tribal League of the Hodenosaunee; in itself, an extraordinary specimen of Indian legislation, and it forms an enduring monument to that proud and progressive race, who reared, under its protection, a wide-spread Indian sovereignty." The Six Nations, who claimed ownership over the territory of Blair county and the Juniata valley, traversed the whole length of the Apalachian chain, and descended like the enraged yagisho and megalonyx on the Cherokees and Catawbas. Smith encountered their warriors in the settlement of Virginia, and La Salle, on the discovery of Illinois. Such was the prowess of the Iroquois, or Six Nations. The first of the Indians to occupy the territory of Blair county, was the Leni Lenape, or Delaware nation, a branch of the Algonquin family; and, when the white pioneers came into the Juniata valley, they found there the Monsey, Conoy and Nanticoke tribes of the Delawares, together with a few Shawnees and Tuscaroras, and some Mingoes of the Iroquois nation. The Delawares had a [48] tradition of coming from the west, and after crossing the Mississippi, encountered the Allegewi, or Mound-builders, whom they vanquished and drove southward. At some time between 1677 and 1684 the Delawares were conquered by the Five Nations, or Iroquis confederacy, which in 1712 became the famous Six Nations, by the admission of the Tuscaroras, of North Carolina and Virginia. The Pennsylvania authorities made treaties and purchased land at first from Delawares, and afterwards of the Six Nations. In 1742 the Indians complained of white men settling on their territory on the Juniata river, and two years later they murdered John Armstrong, an Indian trader, and two of his companions, at Jack's Narrows. In 1750 in response to continued complaints of the Six Nations concerning the occupation by white men of their uneeded territory on the Juniata, the lieutenant-governor of Pennsylvania sent out an armed expedition, which burned the cabins of several intruders whom they captured. The title to the territory of Blair county and the Juniata valley was purchased of the Indians in 1754, and re-confirmed to the Pennsylvania authorities by the treaty of 1758. Indian Trails. - The Tuscarora path is said to have passed through the south- eastern part of the county, and the Kittanning path that passed over the site of Frankstown was the great Indian highway from Kittanning, on the Allegheny river, to the eastern part of the State. There were several branch or minor trails from these two main paths, that passed out of the county, but of which no account is given in any published work of the county. The great Catawba war- path that ran from the Carolinas to New York passed close to the western boundary of the county. Indian Villages. - Assunnepachla, meaning a meeting of many waters, or the place where the waters join, was the name of the Indian village which was situated on the site of Frankstown, and was known to the Indian traders as early as 1730. The Delaware Indians remained peaceable at Assunnepachla until 1754, when they became dissatisfied with the treaty of that year, made between the whites and the Six Nations at Albany, whereby the Juniata valley, including all the territory of Blair county, was transferred to the authorities of Pennsylvania for four hundred pounds. The Delawares having their land thus sold without their consent, became angry, and the larger part of the warriors at Assunnepachla, in 1755, dug up the tomahawk and joined the French at Ft. Duquesne. In 1758 a considerable portion of them returned to the Juniata valley, but in a few days after their return General Forbes marched up the Raystown branch, in his expedition, which resulted in the capture of Ft. Duquesne, and the spies sent out from Assunnepachla went back with such alarming reports of the size and war-like appearance of the English and colonial force under Forbes, that the Indians resolved upon leaving the Juniata valley. They broke up their villages, crossed the Alleghenies by the Kittanning path, and were never seen again upon the territory of Blair county, only when engaged in raids upon the white settlers during the revolutionary war. While Assunnepachla was the center and metropolis of Indian power in the valley of the Little Juniata, yet undoubtedly there were small villages in different parts of [49] Blair county, although no account of them can be found. Anglo-Saxon Pioneers. - At the opening of the eighteenth century, the Alleghenies constituted the western boundary of English colonial territory, but in the mountain valleys, between the tide-water regions of the south and the Alleghenies, and in the same longitudinal mountain valleys between the Susquehanna river and the Allegheny mountains, arose a wonderful class of people, whose arms and whose courage won the great west from the Alleghenies to the Rio Grande and the Pacific. They will be known in the future as the backwoodsmen of the Alleghenies, a name applied to them by Roosevelt in his work entitled, "The Winning of the West." The backwoodsmen were American by birth and parentage, and of mixed race, Irish, German, Scotch, English, Welsh and Scotch-Irish. But the dominant strain in their blood was the Scotch-Irish, whose preachers taught the creed of Knox and Calvin. The English element of this backwoods race was represented by Daniel Boone, and its Cavalier spirit had fitting exemplification in Clarke and Blount, while the German element produced the Whetzels, and the Welsh contributed the Morgans. The first settlers of Blair county are rightfully entitled to the name of backwoodsmen, and many of their sons and grandsons were in the tide of the backwoodsmen of the Alleghenies who won the great Mississippi valley and the far west. Tradition asserts that Stephen Frank, a German and an Indian trader, was the first man to settle temporarily in the county. He settled at Frankstown in 1756, if not earlier. In 1744 Lazarus and James Lowry were licensed as Indian traders, and were temporary residents, before 1754. James Lowry received the first land warrant issued for the upper part of the Juniata valley in the purchase of 1754. It was granted February 3, 1755, for three hundred acres of land, which was located at or near Frankstown. Adam and William Holliday settled at Hollidaysburg in 1768, and shortly after this Samuel Moore and his seven sons and two daughters came to Scotch valley, from which they were driven by the Indians in 1778. James, the second son, was killed by an Indian during their retreat. In 1780 Samuel Moore returned with a colony of Scotchmen, consisting of the Crawfords, Irwins, Fraziers, Stewarts, McPhersons, and others, and numbering from twenty-five to thirty persons, all clad in full Highland costume, with bonnet and kilt, and armed with claymores and Queen Anne muskets. Between 1763 and 1775 Jacob Neff, Martin and Jacob Houser, and Christian Hoover settled in Taylor township. About 1770 the Ives, Divelys, Lingenfelters, and Nicholas' settled in Greenfield township, while prior to 1776 the Colemans had come to Logan township, and the Brumbaughs, Clappers, Rhodes', Shirleys, and some others had settled in Huston township. A list of pioneer settlers, as full as can be obtained, will be given in this volume under the history of the respective townships in which they settled. The early settlement of the county received a check from Pontiac's war, in 1763. In that year Pontiac led the Indian tribes north of the Ohio against the English forts from Detroit to Ligonier. Colonel Bouquet was dispatched to the relief of the forts of western Pennsylvania. He raised the siege of Fort Ligonier, and marched to the relief [50] of Fort Pitt with a force of five hundred Scotch Highlanders and colonial volunteers. On August 5, 1763, near the site of Harrison City, Westmoreland county, he was drawn into an Indian ambuscade. Darkness saved his army from terrible defeat, and on the next day, by masterly strategy, he drew the Indian force into an ambuscade by a feigned retreat, and finally routed them with great slaughter. This battle, so nearly lost on the first day by the carelessness, and so brilliantly won on the second day by the masterly generalship of Col. Henry Bouquet, is classed by Parkman (the historian) as one of the "decisive battles of the world;" for mighty Pontiac's grand dream of Indian empire was wrecked when his warrior hosts were crushed and scattered at Bushy Run. Frankstown. - This town was the earliest center of trade in the Little Juniata valley, and around its site and name cling romantic memories of Indian and revolutionary times. It rose on the site of Assunnepachala, the seat of power and the metropolis of Delaware dominion in the territory of Blair county. Before the Indian had left its site, tradition says that Stephen Frank had become a temporary resident among the bark wigwams, yet it seems that he never became a permanent settler by purchasing land; and after his death we have two accounts for the name of Frankstown, as applied to the village by the whites. According to one authority, it was named for Stephen Frank, and by the other for the Indian chief Frank. The first account, which seems most probable, states that the Indian chief as well as the town was named for Stephen Frank. Lazarus Lowry seems to have been the leading citizen if not the principal founder of Frankstown; and what the old Assunnepachala was to the Indians and the Kittanning path, Frankstown became to the early white settlers, and the first highway across the Alleghenies, which was named after it, was known all through the State as the old Frankstown road. Revolutionary War. - On June 14, 1775, Congress authorized the raising of six companies of expert riflemen in Pennsylvania, to join the Continental army near Boston. One of these companies was raised from Bedford county, passed the Hudson river above West Point about August 1, 1775, and reached the vicinity of Boston in a few days thereafter. Thatcher describes the battalion, of which this Bedford county company was a part, as follows: "They are remarkably stout and hearty men, many of them exceeding six feet in height. They are dressed in white frocks, or rifle-shirts, and round hats. These men are remarkable for the accuracy of their aim, striking a mark with great certainty at two hundred yards' distance. At a review, a company of them, while on a quick advance, fired their balls into objects of seven inches diameter at the distance of two hundred and fifty yards. They are now stationed in our lines, and their shot have frequently proved fatal to British officers and soldiers who expose themselves to view, even at more than double the distance of common musket shot." This battalion was designated as athe 2d regiment until January 1, 1776, when it became the 1st Pennsylvania regiment of the Continental line, and participated in various battles until the close of the revolutionary struggle. The Bedford county company, in which were some officers and men from what is [51] now Blair county, was commanded by Capt. Robert Clugage, and its roll was as follows: CAPT. ROBERT CLUGAGE'S COMPANY. - OFFICERS. Robert Clugage, captain. John Holliday, 1st lieutenant. Robert McKenzie, 2d lieutenant, died in 1776. Benjamin Burd, 2d lieutenant. James Holliday, sergeant, killed at Brandywine. Daniel Stoy, sergeant. Querinus Meriner, sergeant. David Wright, sergeant. Angus McDonald, corporal. Joseph McKenzie, corporal. William Lee, corporal. Aquilla White, corporal. Timothy Sullivan, drummer. PRIVATES Anderson, Adam. Beckey, Philip. Bowman, John. Broughdon, Thaddeus. Brown, Thomas. Bruner, George. Campbell, John. Casek, Thomas. Cessna, Stephen. Clark, Patrick. Conner, Philip. Corrowan, James. Craig, Joshua. Crips, John. Crugen, Alexander. Cunningham, Thos. Curran, James. Davis, John. Dilling, Cornelius. Donelin, William. Dougherty, Matt. Dowling, Lawrence. Franks, Daniel. Freeman, George. Garrett, Amariah. Gemberland, Daniel. Gillespy, Reuben. Hardister, Richard. Hanning, Conrad. Jamison, Francis. Johnston, Andrew. Judry, Matthias. Kelly, John. King, Peter. Knight, James. Laird, William. Lenning, Charles. Leonard, Robert. Lesley, John. McCartney, Henry. McClain, Daniel. McCune, John. McDonald, John. McDonald, Patrick. McFarlane, Thomas. Magee, Thomas. Magum, Daniel. Miller, Michael. Piatt, Robert. Pitts, John. Plumb, Samuel. Reynolds, Martin. Rhoads, Daniel. Ritchie, Philip. Shehan, Thomas. Shives, Francis. Simonton, Alex. Smith, Emanuel. Smith, Henry. Stoy, Daniel. Stuart, John. Taylor, Jonathan. Thompson, John. Turmoil, James. Tweed, Andrew. VanZandt, James. Vanderslice, Daniel. Vaughn, Thomas. Wallace, Samuel. Walker, Solomon. Warford, James. Ward, Thomas. Wilson, Alexander. Whitman, George. Woodward, Samuel. Settlers' Forts. - These forts, which were often called Indian forts, were mostly erected in 1777 and 1778 by the whigs to protect themselves against the Indians and the tory residents of Juniata valley. Jones, in his History of the Juniata Valley, says (page 194): "These forts were generally stockades, built of logs or puncheons, with loopholes made to flare on the outside, in order to bring rifles to bear in several directions." J. Simpson Africa, in his History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, states that "Those (forts) most elaborately built were made of timbers set on end and firmly imbedded in the ground, and were called stockades. Inside were magazines for the safe storage of ammunition, and barracks for the accommodation of soldiers and those seeking protection." The first of these forts in Blair county was built about one mile above Hollidaysburg, near the site of McCahen's mill, and was called Fetter's or Frankstown fort. One mile below Hollidaysburg, opposite the second lock, Peter Titus' log barn was fortified by Mr. Holliday and some others, and [52] went by the name of Holliday's fort. Farther northward a fort was built in Sinking valley, near the house of Jacob Roller, and was named after him. Roberdeau's or the Lead Mine fort, which was the largest and best defended fort on the frontier, was also built in Sinking valley, in 1778. Lowry's fort was built in Canoe valley, near the site of the Reformed church, but being small, the house of Matthew Dean, farther up the valley, was also fortified. The inhabitants of Clover creek, Jones says, forted about three miles above the site of Williamsburg, at the house of Captain Phillips. Tory Expedition. - According to Edward Bell, the most of the tories in Blair county resided in Canoe valley, where, Jones says, they held secret meetings at the house of John Weston, who was the tory leader of the Juniata valley. These meetings were often attended by tory emissaries from Detroit. "It appears that a general plan was formed to concentrate a large force of Indians and tories at Kittanning, then cross the mountains by the Indian path, and at Burgoon's Gap divide-one party to march through the Cove and Conochocheague valleys, the other to follow the Juniata valley, and form at Lancaster, killing all the inhabitants on their march. The tories were to have for their share all the fine farms on the route, and the movable property was to be divided among the Indians." In the spring of 1778, about thirty tories, started at night, after electing John Weston as captain, but when near Kittanning they were fired on by the Indians, through a mistake. Weston was killed, the remainder scattered, and most of them never returned to Blair county. Richard Weston, a brother of Capt. John Weston, stated after being arrested, that the Indians fired on the party before they reached Kittanning; while Samuel Caldwell, in an account compiled from statements of the early settlers, says that Capt.. John Weston halted his party near Kittanning, entered the village, and was returning with a body of Indians to escort his company into the Indian town, when his men rose up and moved forward with their arms in their hands, which so alarmed the Indians that they shot Weston and fired on his company, which sought safety in flight, with the loss of eight or ten men. The account of Richard Weston is presumed to be the correct version of the mistaken attack of the Indians on the tories. Jones says that Captain Logan, the Cayuga chief, was the spy that reported the march of the tories from Canoe creek, and that in forty-eight hours after their departure they were pursued by Capt. Thomas Blair and thirty-five men, who met two of the returning tories, and learned from them of the destruction of Weston's company by the Indians. Lead Mining Under the Continental Congress. - The lead mines of Sinking valley were well known to the Indians, and from the extensive ruins of a ditch and shaft, made prior to the advent of English settlers, would indicate that the French, not later than 1750, had sought for silver or lead in the valley. The scarcity of lead in the American army caused Congress, in 1778, to accept the proposition of General Roberdeau, to mine lead in the Sinking valley for the use of the Continental armies. Fort Roberdeau. - It was familiarly known as the Lead Mine fort, and was built by General Roberdeau in 1778, and garrisoned by Major Clugage with a regular company from Cumberland county. Two cannon were placed on its walls, and plenty of [53] small arms and ammunition was provided by the Continental Congress for its defense against the Indians and tories. The most vigilant watch was kept, and the most rigid military discipline was enforced to prevent its surprise, as Congress relied largely upon the mine which it protected for lead for the American armies. Indian Murders. - No account was ever written by the early settlers of their adventures, hence of the many who were slain upon the present territory of Blair county we have but the names of a few which have been preserved in tradition. The year 1777 seems to have been the time when the Indians commenced their raids into the county, which lasted until 1781, or a period of four years. Jacob Neff killed two Indians who attacked him at his mill at Roaring Spring, in November, 1777, and fled, after which the entire war party came up and burned his mill. In July, 1778, Captain Phillips, of Williamsburg, and ten men went on the fateful "Bedford scout," which resulted in the massacre of the entire party by the Indians, except Captain Phillips and his son. During 1778 John Guilliford was killed, but not scalped, while looking over his crops near the site of Blair furnace, and in August of that year William, second son of Samuel Moore, was shot in Scotch valley, while hunting his horses, by an Indian, who received his death wound at the hands of George McCartney, a boy of only fourteen years of age, who was with Moore at the time. In 1780 Matthew Dean's wife and three children were murdered and the house set on fire, while Dean and his older children were in the field at work. In May, 1781, a man by the name of Houser and his son fell beneath the tomahawk and scalping knife of the Indian. In August 1781, William Holliday, with his sons, Patrick and William, and his daughter, Janet, went from Fort Roberdeau to their farm to take off a second crop of hay, when a band of ten Indians attacked them and killed both sons and the daughter. In the fall of the same year Jacob Roller and a man by the name of Bebault were killed in Tyrone township, and with their massacre closed four years of cruel murders by the Indians. Old Roads. - The oldest road in the county that was made by the English was the old Frankstown road, which came from Huntingdon and through Water Street gap into Canoe valley and thence to Frankstown, from which it crossed the Alleghenies into western Pennsylvania. This was the great highway in early days from central to western Pennsylvania, and it and the Forbes road constituted the two main routes of early travel from eastern to western Pennsylvania. Several minor bridle roads branched off from the Frankstown road, and the principal one of these was the Bald Eagle road, which ran from Frankstown to near the site of Milesburg, in Centre county. The revolutionary war interrupted the laying out and building of roads, and the larger streams were declared public highways, and on them trade was carried on by means of the ark and the keel boat. In 1787 the State road, over the Allegheny mountain, was authorized by the legislature, which afterward made appropriations of one hundred and one hundred and fifty pounds to pay Robert Galbraith for opening said road from the Frankstown branch to a branch of the Conemaugh, which road, he reported, was fifty-four miles long, and "sufficiently opened, digged, and bridged so that wagons and horses could pass and repass." [54] The wagon road was succeeded by the turnpike, and as early as 1806 legislation was had for a turnpike from Harrisburg to Pittsburg, to run through Blair county. On March 20, 1810, the Huntingdon, Cambria & Indiana Turnpike road was authorized by the legislature. A company, of which John Blair was president, was formed and incorporated to construct the road, and in its construction from Huntingdon to Blairsville (a distance of seventy-seven miles) considerable quantities of "script" was issued to meet accruing debts for work performed. Early Furnaces and Forges. - In 1716 Thomas Rutter commenced the manufacture of iron in Berks county, and in 1756 Peter Dicks had a bloomery in York county, west of the Susquehanna, and the first furnace in Juniata valley was Bedford furnace, which was built in 1785, in Huntingdon county. The first iron works in Blair county were Etna furnace and forge, in Catharine township, built in 1805 by Canan, Stewart & Moore. Cove forge, northeast of Williamsburg, was erected between 1808 and 1810 by John Royer, and Allegheny furnace was built in 1811 by Allison & Henderson. The next furnace was Springfield, built in 1815 by John and Daniel Royer, and it was followed by Rebecca furnace, erected in 1817 by Dr. Peter Shoenberger, who afterwards became the most prominent iron master in the State. Elizabeth furnace, of Blair county, was the first in the State to use gas from the tunnel-head for the production of steam. The gas was first used in 1836, and the improvement was patented about 1840 by the furnace owner and inventor thereof, Martin Bell. These furnaces manufactured the celebrated "Juniata charcoal iron," so much sought for in the market three-quarters a century ago. Pennsylvania Canal. - In 1826 the legislature provided for the construction of the Pennsylvania canal, and in 1831 the main line of the canal, from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, was completed at an expense of over thirty-five million dollars. John Blair was largely instrumental in securing the canal route through Blair county. On June 1, 1831, a letting of the work on the canal, between Huntingdon and Hollidaysburg, was made at Williamsburg, where three thousand spectators were present and over four thousand bids were handed in for the work. The plans embraced fourteen dams, forty-three locks, seven guard-locks, and seventy-three sections. The work was pushed with rapidity, and the Frankstown line of the Juniata division of the Pennsylvania canal, extending from Huntingdon to Hollidaysburg, was completed in a little over one year. The passage of the first canal packets over the Frankstown line was honored with ovations at all the towns along its route. The building of this canal led to the formation of Blair county, through the efforts of Hon. John Blair and others. Allegheny Portage Railroad. - To carry passengers and freight across the mountain from Frankstown line to the Conemaugh division of the Pennsylvania canal was the idea that led to the building of the Portage railroad. Jones says that the stately and learned Moncure Robinson was brought from England to survey the route. The road, divided into thirty-five sections, was let at Ebensburg, this State, May 25, 1831, and on March 18, 1834, was opened as a public highway. The Portage railroad was thirty-six and two-thirds miles in length, and consisted by eleven "levels," or [55] grade lines, and ten inclined planes, five on each side of the mountain. At the head of each plane was stationed two engines of thirty-five horse-power, which gave motion to the endless rope to which the cars were attached. The aggregate cost of this road was over sixteen hundred thousand dollars. Hollidaysburg. - The establishment of the western terminus, or basin of the canal was necessitated, at Frankstown, or in its immediate vicinity. Ewing & Slep, in their History of Altoona and Blair County, say: Jacob Wertz's refusal to sell land for the basin at Frankstown, although offered ten thousand dollars for the same, led to the abandonment of Frankstown, then the metropolis of the county, and the substitution of the hamlet of Hollidaysburg as the terminus of the canal, where the reservoir was built on the farm of Patrick McCloskey. This change of the basin was, however, largely due to the efforts of Hon. John Blair, and from the moment of this change Hollidaysburg had an assured future safe from decline as long as any other rival route of travel was not carried across the Alleghenies. County Formation. - As early as 1839 the citizens of Hollidaysburg, Hon John Blair, and a few others, agitated the formation of a new county from parts of Huntingdon and Bedford counties, with its county seat at Hollidaysburg, but the movement met with determined opposition upon the part of the counties named, who succeeded in preventing any favorable action by the legislature until 1846. Blair county was created by act of legislature, as approved by Governor Shunk, on February 26, 1846. The new county was composed of the townships of North Woodbury and Greenfield, of Bedford county, and the townships of Allegheny, Antis, Snyder, Tyrone, Frankstown, Blair, Huston, Woodbury, and the west part of Morris township, of Huntingdon county. Governor Shunk, under the provisions of the act creating Blair county, appointed Henry McBride, of Westmoreland, General Orr, of Armstrong, and Judge Christy, of Juniata counties, as commissioners to run the county lines and select a county seat. They performed their duties, and designated Hollidaysburg as the seat of justice. The first court was held by Judge Jere. S. Black, on Monday, July 27, 1846, in the old Methodist Episcopal church, and John Mahony's stone building, adjoining the church, was used for a jail. On July 4, 1846, Daniel K. Reamey became the contractor to build a court house and jail, which he completed by 1847 at a cost of $14,576.18. In 1875 this court house was found to be too small, and on August 11th of that year the commissioners contracted with John Schreiner, of Pittsburg, to erect the present court house for $103,700. This court house is in the modern Gothic style of architecture, with towers, and in form resembles somewhat the letter T, and is heated throughout by steam. It has fire-proof rooms for its records, is regarded as one of the finest court houses in the State, and was dedicated to public use by appropriate ceremonies on July 2, 1877. The present jail was built in 1868-69 by Jonathan Rhule, at a cost of about $100,000. It is built in the most approved style of prison architecture, the corridors are well lighted and ventilated, and at the same time are perfectly secure. The county home and house of employment is one and one-half miles north of Hollidaysburg, and was built in 1849-50 [56] by Peter Empfield and John B. Westley for $7,866.50. It is a fine brick building, two stories and a half high. The farm contains two hundred and sixty- seven acres of good land. CIVIL ROSTER. - 1846 - 1892. For the following list of prothonotaries we are indebted to the kindness of Charles Geesey; for that of recorders to J. Lee Plummer; for that of sheriffs to John Orr; of treasurers to Martin Grafius; and of commissioners to Jacob D. Weyant, the efficient clerk of the present board. Lists of the other county officers, which are not yet fully compiled, will be found under the head of miscellaneous, while members of the legislature and State senators are given in the political history. PROTHONOTARIES AND CLERKS OF COURTS. 1846. J. Cunningham. 1846. Joseph Smith. 1849. George W. Johnson. 1852. Hugh McNeal. 1855. Joseph Baldrige. 1861. (Dec. 1) Anthony S. Morrow. 1873. (Dec. 1) James P. Stewart. 1883. (First Monday in January) Charles Geesey. 1892. (First Monday in January) J. L. Hartman. REGISTERS AND RECORDERS. 1846. J. M. Gibbony. 1847. Lewis H. Williams. 1856. Hugh A. Caldwell. 1865. David M. Jones. 1875. Abraham Lingenfelter. 1881. James S. Plummer. 1887. Charles R. Downing. 1889. James Roller. 1890. (January 6) J. Lee Plummer. Mr. Downing died January 7, 1889, and James Roller was appointed in his stead. SHERIFFS. 1846. Benjamin E. Betts. 1846. Samuel J. Royer. 1849. Thomas Rees. 1852. William Reed. 1855. George Port. 1858. James Funk. 1861. Samuel McCamant. 1864. Martin L. Bechtel. 1867. John McKeage. 1870. Henry B. Huff. 1873. Alexander Bobb. 1877. James M. Stiffler. 1880. G. T. Bell. 1883. George Fay. 1886. Graham M. Meadville. 1889. John Orr. 1892. Thomas D. Hughes. COUNTY TREASURERS. 1846. Robert H. McCormick. 1848. Joseph Morrow. 1850. John Penn Jones. 1852. Alex. M. Lloyd. 1854. James M. Hewett. 1856. Joshua McCord. 1858. Samuel Hoover. 1860. John Lingenfelter. 1862. John McKeage. 1864. James H. Cramer. 1866. David Stiteler. 1868. John H. Black. 1870. John M. Clark. 1872. Joseph Baldridge. 1874. George M. Metz. 1876. Isaac F. Beamer. 1878. Alexander Rutledge. 1880. J. C. Akers. 1883. John G. Lingafelter. 1886. David Over. 1889. Martin Grafius. [57] COMMISSIONERS. 1846. William C. McCormick. 1846. William Bell. 1846. Valentine Lingenfelter. 1847. Edward McGraw. 1847. William Bell. 1847. John K. Neff. 1849. Jacob Hoover. 1849. David Caldwell. 1849. Jacob Burley. 1850. Samuel Dean. 1851. John Bennet. 1852. John Lowe. 1853. John Campbell. 1854. James Roller. 1855. James Hutchison. 1856. David M. Confer. 1856. Jacob Barnhart. 1857. John R. McFarlane. 1858. Enos M. Jones. 1859. George L. Cowen. 1860. George Koon. 1861. James M. Kinkead. 1862. Daniel Shock. 1862. Joseph Irwin. 1863. George W. Hewitt. 1864. Robert Waring. 1865. John C. Biddle. 1866. R. R. Hamilton. 1867. Joshua Roller. 1868. David Henshey. 1869. Jacob Walter. 1870. David S. Longenecker. 1871. Samuel Morrow. 1872. David Aurandt. 1873. John Clark. 1875. Alexander Caruthers. 1876. John Halfpenny. 1876. Jonathan Slippy. 1876. John Hileman. 1879. John Halfpenny. 1879. Samuel B. Confer. 1879. James McIntosh. 1882. John S. Calvert. 1882. Joshua H. Roller. 1882. James McIntosh. 1885. John S. Calvert. 1885. John Wighaman. 1885. James McIntosh. 1888. J. B. Cowen. 1888. John Wighaman. 1888. C. Blythe Jones. 1891. J. B. Cowen. 1891. M. H. Fagley. 1891. C. Blythe Jones. Pennsylvania Railroad. - The construction of the Pennsylvania canal led to the establishment of Blair county, and the development of Hollidaysburg from a hamlet to a prosperous city, but the building of the Pennsylvania railroad was the death of the old canal, and the establishment of the cities of Altoona and Tyrone, caused Hollidaysburg to decline in prosperity until some years later, when it revived and received a new impetus by being connected by rail with its two formidable rival cities, and becoming a railway center for diverging lines to Williamsburg and Roaring Spring. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company was incorporated by act of legislature on April 13, 1846, and in June, 1850, the road, with a single track, was completed to Huntingdon. On September 17, 1850, trains ran via Altoona to Duncansville, and on the 10th of December the first train ran through from Philadelphia to Pittsburg, by using the Portage railroad and its inclined planes. The mountain division of the road was completed on February 15, 1854, and on that day trains first ran through from the Quaker to the Iron City. From a local single line in this State, the Pennsylvania Company has extended its operations, and [58] has control of roads in fifteen different States, and is now the greatest highway of travel and traffic in the world. Altoona and Tyrone. - Altoona was created by the Pennsylvania Railroad Company, when it determined upon its site as the spot where the low grade of their road in the Juniata valley terminated, and as thus being the spot for the location of their shops at the eastern base of the Alleghenies. As the railroad grew and prospered, so Altoona has built up and flourished. It was incorporated as a city in 1868, contains the largest railroad car and machine shops in the world, and is the metropolis of the Alleghenies. The building of the railroad also brought Tyrone into existence in the year 1849. It was incorporated as a borough in 1857, and has rapidly grown into importance, since 1876, as one of the most populous towns and railroad and mining centers of central Pennsylvania. Kossuth's Visit. - On Saturday, January 17, 1852, Louis Kossuth, the distinguished Hungarian patriot, visited Hollidaysburg, in his tour through the United States, and was warmly welcomed by over five hundred people. He was given a banquet at the Mountain house, and remained over Sunday at the county seat. [Continued in Part II.]