Local History: Part III - Biographical and Portrait Cyclopedia of Blair Co, PA: Samuel T. Wiley, Philadelphia, 1892, pages 91 - 120. 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 Industrial Development. - The early settlers in Blair county were drawn by the well-watered and exceedingly fertile valleys [91] of the county, and no wonder, for to-day there are not better farms in the world that those of Morrison's cove and Sinking valley. For a quarter of a century after the Indian troubles had ceased the growth of the county was very slow, and was confined to agricultural pursuits. Then the discovered iron ores were worked, and furnaces and forges erected by Canan, Stewart, Moore, Bell, Royer, and Shoenberger. These men were the master spirits of their day in the Juniata valley, and by their wonderful energy made Blair one of the great iron producing counties of the State. The iron industry that sprang into life under their hands has gradually increased until to-day it has attained such proportions that several thousand tons of iron per week are produced to supply the foundries, rolling mills, mail factories and machine shops that are within the present boundaries of the county. One reason of the prosperity enjoyed by Blair county is that its development has not been confined to the iron branch of industry alone. It offers good advantages to farmer, miner and mechanic alike, and while its fertile valleys, its coal mines; its iron beds, wonderful railroad shops, and planing mills offer employment and wealth, yet it had not neglected the mental and moral growth of its people, who are well provided for by schools, academies and churches. This progress, so substantial, is an unerring index of future prosperity. Present Railways. - The railways in the county are operated by three companies: The Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania & Northwestern, and the Altoona & Wapsononock. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company owns the principal lines in the county, which are operated from four main centers: Altoona, on the greatest highway of travel in the United States and the world; Tyrone, connecting with roads of northern Pennsylvania and southern New York; Hollidaysburg, from which branches radiate to Duncansville, and Newry, Williamsburg and Roaring Spring, Martinsburg and Henrietta, extending mainly southward through Morrison's cove to form direct connection with the southern part of the State; and Bellwood, from which the Pennsylvania & Northwestern runs into Clearfield and Jefferson counties. The Altoona & Wapsononock railway runs from the Mountain City to the celebrated Wapsononock summer resort on the Alleghenies, and is being built to Coal Port in order to make it an avenue of commerce, as well as being used for a route to pleasure grounds. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company occupy for business purposes one hundred and twenty-two acres of ground at Altoona, where their buildings have an aggregate frontage of over two miles. They have there the largest railroad plant in the world, in whose successful operation they employ a small army of workmen, having between two and three thousand of a regular force. In addition to their depots, they have roundhouses, iron and brass foundries, machine, paint, blacksmith, car, tin, cabinet and upholstery shops, car works, and store houses, all of which are most intelligently and accurately described in Ewing & Slep's History of Altoona and Blair County. Political History. - Before Blair county was formed, in 1846, its territory (nearly all) as a part of Huntingdon county, was embraced in the following Congressional districts: 1791. Sixth. Huntingdon, Franklin, Bedford, Northumberland, and Mifflin counties. [92] 1794. Tenth. Huntingdon, Bedford, and Franklin. 1802. Fourth. Huntingdon, Mifflin, Dauphin, and Cumberland. 1812. Ninth. Huntingdon, Centre, Mifflin, Clearfield, and McKean. 1822. Twelfth. Huntingdon, Centre, Mifflin, and Clearfield. 1832. Fourteenth. Huntingdon, Centre, Mifflin and Clinton. 1843. Seventeenth. Huntingdon, Centre, Mifflin, and Juniata. STATE SENATORIAL DISTRICTS. 1790. Huntingdon, Luzerne, and Northumberland. 1794. Huntingdon and Bedford. 1801. Huntingdon, Bedford, and Somerset. 1808. Huntingdon and Mifflin. 1829. Huntingdon, Mifflin and Cambria. 1836. Huntingdon, Mifflin, Perry, Union, and Juniata. 1843. Huntingdon and Bedford. STATE SENATORS. -1848 TO 1892. Huntingdon, Bedford, and Blair District. 1848-50. Alexander King. Huntingdon, Blair, and Cambria District. 1851-53. Robert A. McMurtrie. 1854-59. John Cresswell, jr. Blair, Cambria, and Clearfield District. 1860-62. Louis W. Hall 1863-64. William A. Wallace. Blair, Huntingdon, Centre, Mifflin, Juniata, and Perry District. 1865-67. Louis W. Hall and Kirk Haines. 1868-70. C. J. T. McIntyre and J. K. Robinson. 1871-73. P. B. Petriken and D. M. Crawford. Blair and Cambria District. 1874-80. John A. Lemon. 1881-88. Henry A. Boggs. 1889-91. John A. Lemon. William A. Wallace was from Clearfield county, Kirk Haines and C. J. T. McIntyre were from Perry, J. K. Robinson and D. M. Crawford from Juniata, P. B. Petriken from Huntingdon, and Henry A. Boggs from Cambria county. HOUSE OF REPERSENTATIVES. Blair. 1847. Henry Bridenthall and David Blair. 1848. Henry Bridenthall 1849. Joseph Higgins. 1850. Charles Kinkead. Blair and Huntingdon. 1851. Seth R. McCune and W. B. Smith. 1852. Seth R. McCune and W. B. Smith. 1853. James L. Gwin and W. W. Warton. 1854. James L. Gwin and James Maguire. 1855. George Leas and G. W. Smith. 1857. John M. Gibbony and J. H. Wintrose. Blair. 1857. John M. Gibbony and J. H. Wintrose. 1858. Robert W. Christy. 1859. Jacob Burley. 1860. Jacob Burley. 1861. James Roller. 1862. Thaddeus Banks. 1863. R. A. McMurtie. 1864. R. A. McMurtie. 1865. James B. Adlum. 1866. James B. Adlum. 1867 Samuel McCamant. 1868. Samuel McCamant. 1869. Joseph Robinson. 1870. Joseph Robinson. [93] 1871. B. L. Hewit. 1872. B. L. Hewit. 1873. Seth R. McCune. 1874. Seth R. McCune. 1875. J. C. Everhart and L. H. Rawlins. 1876. J. C. Everhart and L. H. Rawlins. 1877. Daniel Shock and David M. Jones. 1878. Daniel Shock and M. Edgar King. 1879. B. L. Hewit and D. A. Gilland. 1880. B. L. Hewit and D. A. Gilland. 1881. B. L. Hewit and Theo. Burchfield. 1882. B. L. Hewit and Theo Burchfield. 1883. J. A. Rohrer and Theo. Burchfield. 1884. J. A. Rohrer and Theo. Burchfield. 1885. S. B. Isenberg and Edmnnd Shaw. 1886. S. B. Isenberg and Edmund Shaw. 1887. S. B. Isenberg and Edmund Shaw. 1888. S. B. Isenberg and Edmund Shaw. 1889. A. P. McDonald and Dr. A. S. Strayer. 1890. A. P. McDonald and Dr. A. S. Strayer. 1891. A. P. McDonald and Dr. A. S. Strayer. 1892. A. P. McDonald and Dr. A. S. Strayer. POPULAR VOTE FOR PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES. In 1872 Ulysses S. Grant received 4,251 votes in Blair county, to 2,183 cast for Horace Greeley. In 1876, in a total vote of 8,720, Hayes had a plurality of 819 votes over Tilden, Cooper, and Smith; and in 1880, Garfield, in a total vote of 10,731, had a plurality of 1,080 votes over Hancock, Weaver, and Dow. 1884 Republican James G. Blaine 6,396 Democrat Grover Cleveland 4,649 Prohibition John P. St. John 252 Greenback Benjamin F. Butler 133 1888 Republican Benjamin Harrison 7,311 Democrat Grover Cleveland 5,175 Prohibition Clinton B. Fisk 316 Greenback Alson J. Streeter 35 Postal History. - In the postmaster-general's report of 1805, Hollidaysburg is given as one of the few post offices of the Juniata Valley. In 1822 we have the following postal record of what is now Blair county: POSTOFFICES. POSTMASTERS. Blair's Gap John Blair. Hollidaysburg John Swoope. Frankstown Joseph Patton. Sinking Valley D. Boyer. Williamsburg Samuel ____. In 1846, after Blair county was formed, the United States postal reports give the following post offices and postmasters of the new county: POSTOFFICES. POSTMASTERS. Altoona George C. Ferree. Antestown John Bell. Blair Furnace Hugh McNeal. Clover Jacob L. Daugherty. Duncansville John Stanley. East Freedom Robert Todd. East Sharpsburg George L. Cowen. Fostoria Established. Frankstown James L. Morrow. Hollidaysburg Joseph Baldrige. Martinsburg Jacob McIntyre. Newry Peter O'Hagan. Sarah Paul Mank. Sinking Valley Mills David P. Tussey. Springfield Furnace Samuel Royer. Tyrone John T. Mathias. Williamsburg Samuel Hoover. Yellow Spring James M. Kinkead. From 1846 to 1892 the post offices increased in number from eighteen to forty- [94] one, and the following table gives the name of each office now in the county, together with its location and population: POSTOFFICES IN 1892. TOWNSHIP. POPULATION, 1890. Altoona Logan 30,337 Arch Spring Tyrone 102 Bellwood Antis 1,146 Be'nington Fu'ce Allegheny 1,054 Blue Knob Juniata 67 Bushman - - Canoe Creek Frankstown 78 Claysburg Greenfield 178 Clover Creek Huston - Cove Forge Woodbury 139 Culp - - Curryville N. Woodbury 75 Drab - - Duncansville Allegheny 1,277 East Freedom Freedom 217 East Sharpsburg Taylor - East Tyrone Snyder 435 Eldorado Allegheny 229 Fostoria Antis 96 Frankstown Frankstown 392 Ganister Catharine - Glen White Logan - Henrietta N. Woodbury 369 Hollidaysburg Blair 2,975 Kipple Logan - McKee's Gap Freedom 164 Martinsburg N. Woodbury 588 Mines Woodbury 211 Newry Blair 335 Olivin Snyder 63 Ore Hill Taylor 153 Poplar Run Freedom 82 Roaring Spring Taylor 920 Royer Woodbury 197 Sabbath Rest Antis 70 Sinking Valley Tyrone 82 Tipton Antis 173 Tyrone Snyder 4,705 POSTOFFICES IN 1892. TOWNSHIP POPULATION, 1890. Vail Snyder - Williamsburg Woodburg 884 Yellow Spring Catharine 82 The Press. - The first newspaper published in what is now Blair county was the Hollidaysburg Aurora, established August 9, 1833. From 1834 to 1835, the period of its existence, it was conducted in the interests of the anti-Masonic party. Its successor was the Hollidaysburg Sentinel and Huntingdon, Cambria, and Bedford County Democrat, whose career commenced October 6, 1835, and ended within two years. The third paper was the Standard, and after it came the Canal and Portage Register, a whig sheet, established July 2, 1836, and after having its name changed several times, it became, on March 16, 1868, the present Hollidaysburg Register, which has always been a stanch republican paper. The fifth newspaper was the present Hollidaysburg Democratic Standard, a strong democratic sheet, which was founded in the spring of 1838. The Blair County Whig was founded In 1846 at Hollidaysburg, and in 1868 became the Radical, of Altoona. In 1849 Hayden Smith commenced the publication of a Catholic paper called the Shield, but it was soon discontinued. The eighth paper in the county was the Altoona Register, which was established in the spring of 1855. After six months of publication it was discontinued, while its material went to help start, on January 1, 1856, the Altoona Tribune, now edited by H. C. Dern. In the same year the Tyrone Herald was established as the American Era, and after being issued under different names, was reestablished in 1867 under its present name. The eleventh paper was the Leader, of Hollidaysburg, founded in 1866, and after two years [95] its material went to start the Temperance Vindicator, of Williamsburg, a sheet that only existed two years. The Altoona Sun was founded May 1, 1868, as the Altoona Vindicator, while the Tyrone Democrat, established in 1870 as the Tyrone Blade, was burned out in 1880, and has never been resurrected. In 1873 the Altoona Baptist was commenced, but only ran one year. The Altoona Mirror was started June 13, 1874, as the Evening Mirror, and after various changes, is now published by Harry and W. H. Slep. In the same year the Living Age made its appearance, and for several years was known successively as the Globe, and then as a greenback paper. In 1875 the Cove Echo was published at Martinsburg. In 1876 the Home Base, a baseball paper, was issued in Altoona, followed in 1877, in the same city, by the Musical Advocate, and on March 28, 1878, the Deutsche Volksfuerer (the German Peoples' Leader) was founded by Harry Slep. The year 1879 witnessed the start of one paper at Altoona, the Youth's Mirror, while the nest year gave three papers to the county: Overwork, and the Book-keeper and Penman, of Altoona, and the Tyrone Times. The year 1881 was marked by the establishment of two papers, the Sunday Morning, of Altoona, and the Williamsburg Independent, and since then among the papers that have appeared and are still in existence are the Morning Tribune, the Chronicle, Sunday Graphic News (1882), the Loyal American (1885), and the Gazette (1892), all of which are published in Altoona. Churches. - We compile the following table of the number of churches in the county from 1850 to 1870 from the United States census reports: NUMBER OF CHURCHES IN BLAIR COUNTY. DENOMINATION 1850 1860 1870 Presbyterian 6 12 8 Lutheran 10 16 12 Methodist 6 14 17 Baptist 5 11 15 Reformed 5 9 5 Catholic 3 8 7 Tunker 1 2 0 Mennonite 0 1 0 Union 0 3 0 Episcopal 0 0 1 Minor sects 3 0 7 Total 39 76 72 At considerable labor, the following lists of churches of the different denominations in the county, and the time of their establishment, have been secured: METHODIST EPISCOPAL. Williamsburg, about 1800 Martinsburg, about 1819 Hollidaysburg 1832 Logan Valley (Bellwood) 1844 East Freedom (McKee's Gap), before 1845 First, of Altoona 1851 Tyrone, before 1855 Roaring Spring 1866 Duncansville, before 1867 Second, of Altoona 1867 Third, of Altoona 1872 Simpson Chapel (Altoona) 1881 Tipton Claysburg East Tyrone Ore Hill Fifth Avenue (Altoona) Eighth Avenue (Altoona) Chestnut Avenue (Altoona) Walnut Avenue (Logantown) [96] Fairview Juniata EVANGELICAL CHURCH. Newry, before 1816 Zion (Williamsburg) 1850 First, of Hollidaysburg, about 1824 First, of Altoona 1834 St. John's, before 1849 Claysburg 1846 St. Luke's (Roaring Spring) 1856 Duncansville 1858 St. James (Altoona) 1860 Second, of Altoona 1871 First, of Tyrone 1872 Grace (Bellwood) 1876 Fourth, of Altoona 1882 East Freedom St. Paul's (Altoona) Juniata The First Lutheran church of Hollidaysburg was first organized at Frankstown. CATHOLIC. St. Luke's, about 1800 St. Mary's (Hollidaysburg), about 1800 St. Patrick's (Newry), about 1800 St. Matthews (Tyrone), before 1851 St. John's (Altoona) 1852 St. Mary's (Altoona) 1860 St. Michael's (Hollidaysburg), before 1862 St. Mark's (Altoona) Sacred Heart (Altoona) 1892 REFORMED. St. John's (Martinsburg) 1804 Clover Creek, before 1829 Sinking Valley, before 1846 Claysburg 1846 Sharpsburg 1850 Christ's (Altoona) 1863 Millerstown 1875 Ore Hill Trinity (Altoona) PRESBYTERIAN. First, of Hollidaysburg, about 1772 Williamsburg 1816 Sinking Valley, before 1818 Logan Valley (Bellwood) 1837 First, of Altoona 1841 Duncansville 1846 Tyrone 1857 Catharine 1860 Tipton Second, of Altoona Third, of Altoona BAPTIST. Williamsburg 1829 First, of Hollidaysburg 1833 Logan Valley 1837 First, of Altoona 1842 Duncansville 1844 Tyrone 1870 Second, of Altoona 1873 Tipton, Memorial (Altoona) The First Baptist church of Altoona was first organized under the name of Pleasant Valley. CHURCH OF GOD. Williamsburg 1842 Altoona 1862 Roaring Spring 1872 PROTESTANT EPISCOPAL St. Luke's (Altoona), before 1858 TUNKER. Tyrone, before 1855 Williamsburg Altoona, about 1869 The Tunker church is known as the Dunkard, and also as the German Baptist church. [97] UNITED BRETHREN IN CHRIST. Altoona, about 1855 East Freedom 1879 EVANGELICAL ASSOCIATION. Zion (Tyrone), before 1860 Emanuel (Altoona) HEBREW (SYNAGOGUE). Ahabath Achim (Altoona) 1857 AFRICAN METHODIST EPISCOPAL. Allen Chapel (Altoona) 1858 Early Schools. - From the "Centennial" school report of the State superintendent of Pennsylvania we glean the following facts: In 1809, no matter what may have been the character of the schools up to that time, the first law was enacted tending toward a general system of public free schools for the "education of the poor gratis." In 1834 the present law was passed, which has been modified at various times. Two schools were established within the present limits of the county as early as 1790, one at Williamsburg, the other near "Red Ore Bank," on Clover creek. Williamsburg was formerly called Aketown, and Jacob Ake owned the land upon which it was built. Believing that the education of the youth in his vicinity was a matter of importance, Mr. Ake secured teachers and paid all expenses out of his own purse. The system of instruction Mr. Ake established lasted fifteen years, when subscription schools began. Mr. James Martin taught until 1825. He was followed by Messrs. Cassel, Irvin, Opdyke, and Spencer, and Miss Nancy Anderson. The school on Clover creek was taught by John Bridenthal, in a house which stood on what is now the Hyle farm. John Diltz taught a school in a private house in the vicinity of Leather Cracker (now Henrietta), about 1795. William Loose, George Glass, and ______ Ketring were among other teachers who taught in this vicinity during that period. Another school was established near Etna Furnace at an early day, which was in operation in 1797. In 1800 the house was destroyed by fire, and another to take its place was located near Keller's church. James Martin is the only teacher of this school whose name has been handed down to posterity. About 1800 John Fisher taught a school in a private house near Sharpsburg, and in 1802 a school house was built in the same vicinity, known as the Hauser school. Most of the schools were German. The first English school taught in the "Cove" was in 1800, by Mr. Roach, in a house which stood near Roaring Spring. Thomas Kinney taught a school near Elizabeth furnace in 1800. Another school was taught near Bell's Mills in 1809. Alexander Kerr and Dudley Burnham were the leading teachers in this community. Sixty-seven years ago John Steele taught in a private house in Gaysport. Thomas Stearns, John Knox, Joshua Williamson, William Anderson, John Wertz, Robert McNamara, Joseph Cadwalder, S. F. Henry, and Ephraim Galbraith are among the teachers who taught in Frankstown. (At the time Frankstown included the present territory of Allegheny and Blair townships.) In 1812 James Laugham taught a school near Black's Mills, Greenfield township. John Dodson also taught in this neighborhood. John Swoveland built a school; house at his own expense and donated it for school purposes. In 1815 a school house was built near Allegheny Furnace, called the Beales school. John Gwin and a Mr. Summerville were among the teachers here. Within the [98] present limits of Allegheny township, the first school house with shingle roof was built (in Duncansville) in 1815. Banks. - The inhabitants of the territory of Blair county were dependent for banking facilities upon the Huntingdon bank, until 1836 or 1837, when the "Branch of Exchange bank of Pittsburg, at Hollidaysburg," was established. In 1849 it was succeeded by the First National bank, which, in 1863, was changed into the present First National bank of Hollidaysburg. In 1850 a branch of the Farmers' bank, of Lancaster, was started at Hollidaysburg, and has been succeeded by the banking houses of Bryan, Gleim & Co., Bryan, Gardner & Co., James Gardner, and Gardner, Morrow & Co., which last firm has existed since 1874. The first banking house at Altoona was that of Bell, Johnson, Jack & Co., which continued until 1873. The present banks of the city were established as follows: First National, in 1863; Mechanics' Savings, 1870; and the Altoona bank, in 1872. The banks of Tyrone are the Tyrone bank, established April 1, 1871, and the Blair County Banking Company, organized December 15, 1874. The Williamsburg bank was established on September 25, 1873; and the Bank of Bellwood has been lately organized. County Societies. - The Blair County Medical society was organized at Hollidaysburg, July 25, 1848. The Blair County Agricultural association was chartered in March, 1873, and on January 30, 1875, officers were elected. The first fair was opened on September 28th of that year, at Dell Delight, near Hollidaysburg, and the second and third fairs were held at Altoona park, respectively in 1878 and 1880. Insurance. - The Blair County Protection Mutual Fire Insurance Company was organized May 4, 1849, under the provisions of a special act of the legislature, approved April 8, 1848, and did a successful business in Centre, Cambria, Huntingdon, Mifflin, and Blair counties until 1880, when it went out of existence by mutual dissolution. For the last quarter of a century the leading fire, life, and accident insurance companies of the United States and Great Britain have been well represented in all the cities and larger town of the county. Secret Orders. - The leading secret and beneficial orders of the United States are well represented in Blair county. Odd Fellowship. - We compile the following statistics of the lodges in Blair county for the year 1890: No. Name. Members. Relief Afforded 119 Hollidaysburg 157 $1029 152 Tyrone 122 902 227 Vandalia 63 793 315 Orphan's Home 97 643 445 Roaring Spring 85 254 473 Altoona 180 1665 497 Bellview 59 72 532 Verandah 170 896 713 Claysburg 38 53 819 Bellwood 56 59 837 Mountain City 21 1536 856 Model 114 651 Totals 1355 $8553 The amount of relief in the above table embraces what was paid by these twelve lodges to relieve sick brothers, widowed families, burying the dead, and educating the orphans. The order has the following degree lodges of the Daughters of Rebekah in the county: [99] NO. NAME. LOCATION. 21 Eleanor Altoona. 174 Winona Roaring Springs. 213 Lady Viola Tyrone. An account of the other different orders will be found in this volume under the heading of miscellaneous. Townships. - Blair county at this time contains fifteen townships, which were organized from the following townships and counties in the years named. TOWNSHIP. FROM. YEAR. Allegheny Frankstown 1793 Antis Allegheny 1810 Blair Frankstown 1839 Catharine Morris 1840 Frankstown Bedford county 1775 Freedom Juniata 1857 Greenfield Bedford county 1846 Huston Woodbury 1842 Juniata Greenfield 1847 Logan Alleg'ny and Antis 1850 N. Woodbury Bedford county 1846 Snyder W. Mark and Antis 1841 Taylor Huston and North Woodbury 1855 Tyrone Bedford Co. before 1787 Woodbury Bedford Co. before 1787 Allegheny. - This township is bounded on the north by Logan township; on the east by Logan, Frankstown and Blair townships; on the south by Blair and Juniata townships; and on the west by Juniata township and Cambria county. It originally embraced the territory of the townships of Antis and Logan. Coal mining, farming and the manufacture of lime and iron are the principal occupations of its inhabitants. Its greatest distance is from east to west, and its surface is drained by streams flowing toward the southwest. In the western part of the township is to be found the Kittanning power coal bed, which forms a coke-producing zone, in which coke is produced second only to the celebrated Connellsville coke. One hundred bee-hive ovens were erected in 1880, at Bennington, by the Cambria Iron Company, and since then the coke industry has slowly increased until it has attained its present favorable proportions. The iron ores were developed at an early day. The Portage Iron works, at Duncansville, were built in 1833, and Bennington furnace was erected in 1846 at Bennington, which is one of the iron centres of the county. In 1787 among those living in the township were: Thomas Armstrong, Jacob Burgoon, Capt. Thomas Blair, Hon. John Blair, Robert Curry, Henry Caldwell, John Edmiston, John Fetter, Michael Fetter, jr., George Fetter, Matthew Hofstadet, James Hart, John Kerr, William McFarland, Hugh McFarland, Luke McGuire, Christopher Nipps, Matthew Patton, Daniel Titus, John Williams, Francis Whittinger, Jacob Whittinger, Matthew White, Charles Wellbaum, Henry Wertz, William Williams. Jacob Burgoon settled on Burgoon's run, which takes its name from him. Captain Thomas Blair was a prominent resident of the township, in which, in 1788, he owned, at Blair's Gap, a grist and saw mill, one Negro slave, four horses, four head of cattle, and three hundred acres of land. His son, Hon. John Blair, for whom the county was named, was also prominent in township as well as county affairs. In this township, near the mouth of Sugar run, occurred the massacre of the "Bedford Scout." Its principal villages are Duncansville, Bennington, and Germany, or "Foot of [100] Ten." Duncansville is situated partly in Blair township, and lies on the Blairsville & Newry branch of the Pennsylvania railroad, and the Huntingdon, Cambria & Indiana turnpike. The Gibboney foundry of the place was erected in 1842. Bennington is in the northwestern part of the township, on the main line of the Pennsylvania railroad, and is near to vast coal beds. Foot of Ten, or Germanyville, derives its name from being at the foot of the tenth inclined plane of the old Portage railroad. The population of Allegheny township since the formation of the county has been as follows: U.S. Census. Population. White. Colored. 1850 2352 2329 23 1860 1649 1642 7 1870 1913 1902 11 1880 2149 1890 2850 Antis Township. - It is one of the six western townships of the county, and is bounded on the north by Cambria county and Snyder township; on the east by Snyder and Tyrone townships; on the south by Tyrone and Logan townships; and on the west by Logan township and Cambria county. It embraces a considerable part of the Tuckahoe valley, and the slope of its surface is to the northward. Workable beds of coal have been opened in the northern part, near the Snyder township line. One of these beds is 500 feet above Tipton station, and, therefore; 1,480 feet above ocean level, while the crest of the Allegheny mountain is only 790 feet above the coal vein at Kramer & Hart's mine. The main line of the Pennsylvania railroad northward through the eastern part of the township, and the main centers of population, are at the towns of Bellwood, Fostoria, Tipton, and Elizabeth Furnace. Bellwood is the starting point of the Pennsylvania & Northwestern (formerly Bell's Gap) railroad. This road was built in 1872 to bring coal from the mines on the mountain, but was afterward extended to Coalport, and to-day is much traveled by tourists, and sight-seers, on account of the grand and romantic scenery along its course. It has been described by one who has passed over it in the following language: "This wonderful little road is a narrow gauge, and the average grade for seven miles from the starting point is at the rate of one hundred and fifty-five feet to the mile. The great canon up which it threads its way is called Bell's Gap, although there are plenty of tourists who sigh for a more romantic name. In laying out the road the engineers were compelled to wind along the frowning precipice in order to successfully make the ascent, and as this track is necessarily very crooked, it has not inaptly been compared to a huge serpent coiled about the hills. Starting from the little station on the main track of the Pennsylvania railroad, the cars are pushed up by a locomotive, and return of their own gravity with carefully managed brakes. Some very high trestle bridges are passed over, which are now being obviated to a certain extent by fillings. The first trestle is eighty feet in height, and the curve has a radius of twenty-eight degrees, which makes it sharp and graceful. Another trestle over Shaw's run is seventy-six feet in height, with a similar curve. As the ascent is being made the view is very fine, and as the little locomotive sweeps around the graceful curves and dashes over the high bridges, it resembles a thing of life, in these mountain solitudes. [101] After crossing, Shaw's run trestle, which is appropriately termed the Horse Shoe Bend of the Bell's Gap road, the track rapidly pushes up the mountain at a grade of one hundred and fifty-five feet to the mile. A better idea of the sharpness of the curve may be formed when it is stated that it is two miles around from heel to heel, and probably not more than six hundred feet across from where the curve commences. From this sharp bend the road climbs the mountain rapidly, and when Point Lookout is rounded, a scene of unsurpassed grandeur is unfolded to the eye. In sweeping up from the great curve an altitude of three hundred feet has been gained, which puts the tourist nine hundred feet above the track of the main line at Bell's Mills (Bellwood), only a few miles distant. But it is the sublime magnificence of the scene which is presented from the Point that captivates the eye and causes the traveler to stand spell-bound as he gazes upon it. As he looks down the wild gorge, bounded on either side by graceful mountains, clothed from base to summit with dark green foliage, and away beyond for six miles the view is exceedingly fine, until it is shut out by Brush mountain, which rises like an immense green curtain to form the background of the picture. The scene resembles an immense panorama suddenly unveiled before the vision by some giant hands, and as the little locomotive halts at the point to breathe, as it were, excursionists never fail to avail themselves of the opportunity to drink in the glorious scene. The writer has seen wilder gorges in the Sierra Nevada mountains, but nothing to compare with this in softness of beauty, graceful outlines, and richness of foliage. The journey over the Switchback has been extolled in rapturous language, but it must sink into comparative insignificance when compared with the Allegheny scene." There is account preserved of the following, settlers in the town ship in 1787: William Allen James Crawford Johathan Edlington Philip Edington John Glasgow Robert Ricketts Edward Tipton Mesaugh Tipton. In 1793 among the additional residents were: Christian Black Manasseh Bradley William Clark John Clark Abraham Crane Robert Edington Samuel Edington Jacob Fetter John Hunter, jr. Jacob Myers Daniel Swartz John Swartz Giles Stephens John Tussey Caleb Tipton Tim'y Van Schoick Aaron Van Schoick Peter Wertz. In 1811 John Ake owned a grist and saw mill; Edward Bell a grist mill and distillery; Shepley Priestly a distillery; and Michael Wallace a saw mill. After Bellwood, which is described in the list of boroughs, the most important places in the township are Tipton and Fostoria. Tipton was laid out January 1, 1856, by Herman Haupt, its proprietor. It was named for the Tiptons, who settled at its site in an early day, and Autis forge, whose fires went out in 1855, was built at the place in 1828 by Dysart & Lloyd. Fostoria is a promising railroad town between Bellwood and Tipton. Davidsburg was a place of importance on the old wagon road from Bellefonte to the Portage railroad, but its glory departed with the coming of the Pennsylvania railroad. The population of Antis township since 1850 has been: [102] U.S. Census. Population. White. Colored. 1850 2452 2450 2 1860 2204 2204 0 1870 1893 1893 3 1880 2281 - - 1890 2060 - - Blair Township. - It is one of the three central townships, and is bounded on the north by Allegheny and Frankstown townships; on the east by Frankstown and Taylor; on the south by Taylor and Freedom; and on the west by Freedom and Allegheny. Its territory lies in the Clinton red shale, or geological formation V, which carries several lime veins and the fossil iron ore bed, whose southern outcrop is just northeast of Hollidaysburg. The surface, although broken, is mostly adapted to farming. The iron manufacturing of the township is carried on principally in the boroughs of Hollidaysburg and Gaysport. It is well supplied with railroads. From Hollidaysburg, one minor branch of the Pennsylvania railroad runs through the western part of the township to Newry; and another branch runs south through the eastern part into Bedford county. We have account of the following settlers in Blair township between 1768 and 1788: Patrick Cassidy. Henry Champinour. Michael Fetter, sr. Michael Fetter, jr. George Fetter. Samuel Fetter. John Fetter. Paul Frazier. Wm. Holliday, sr. Maj. John Holliday. Wm. Holliday, jr. John Holliday. jr. Thomas McCune. John McCune. John McDonald. James McDonald. Angus McDonald. Patrick McDonald. William Pringle. Jacob Shingletaker. _____ Stockleather. James Somerville. John Wareham. Since 1850 the population of Blair township at each United States census has been as follows: U.S. Census. Population. White. Colored. 1850 991 972 19 1861 1176 1171 5 1870 1571 1561 10 1880 1094 - - 1890 1143 - - Catharine Township. - It is one of the east central townships of the county, and is bounded on the north by Tyrone township and Huntingdon county; on the east by Huntingdon county and Woodbury township; on the south by Woodbury and Frankstown townships; and on the west by Frankstown and Tyrone townships. The township lies principally in Canoe valley, and is in the Trenton, or No. II geological formation, which carries limestone veins and the brown hematite iron ores. The surface is much broken by mountains and ridges, yet there is considerable good farming land and many fine farms. It is drained by Canoe creek and the Frankstown branch of the Juniata river. Among the pioneer settlers of Canoe valley in this township, between the French and Indian and revolutionary wars, were: John Bell, John and Matthew Dean, the Beattys, Ferguses, Moreheads, Lowrys, and Stewarts, Jacob Roller, sr., John Sanders, Samuel Davis, Edward Milligan, and the Simontons and Van Zants. Yellow Springs post office is in the central part of the township, and during the palmy days of the old turnpikes the Yellow Springs tavern was a noted place in Blair county. Etna furnace, which was blown out in 1877, was the first iron furnace erected in the county. It was built in 1809, and passed sometime afterward from the hands of its owners, Canan, Stewart & Moore, to Mr. [103] Stewart, who sold it in 1823 to Thomas Jackson, and since Mr. Jackson's ownership it has been successively the property of Henry Fisher, Henry Spang, Henry A. Spang, Spang, Keller & Co., and Isett, Keller & Co. In speaking of what is now Catharine township, Jones says: "Water street is an old place, and was settled prior to the revolution. A stream of water from the Canoe mountain, supposed to be the Arch spring of Sinking valley, passes down a ravine and empties into the Juniata at this place. For some distance through a narrow defile the road passed directly through the bed of this stream, a circumstance which induced the settlers to call it Water Street when the original settlement was made. "This for a long time was an important point, being the canoe landing for the interior country; hence the name of Canoe valley, applied to the country now known as Catharine township, in Blair county. At this place was General Roberdeau's landing, where he received his stores for the lead mines in Sinking valley, and where he shipped the lead ore to be taken to Middletown for smelting." The population of Catharine township since the formation of the county has been: U.S. Census Population White Colored. 1850 889 885 4 1860 815 815 0 1870 907 907 0 1880 596 - - 1890 513 - - Frankstown Township. - It originally embraced the present territory of Allegheny, Autia, Blair, Frankstown, and Logan townships and a part of Catharine township. It is bounded on the north by Logan and Tyrone townships; on the east by Catharine, Woodbury, and Huston; on the south by Woodbury and Huston; and on the west by Taylor, Blair, Allegheny, Logan, and Tyrone. It has much rugged surface, but contains excellent farming lands in the northern part in Scotch valley, or Frankstown cove. Geologically it lies in formation No. V., Clinton shale, No. VI., lower Helderberg; and No. VII., Oriskany sandstone; and is rich in limestone, iron ores, and building rock. "The Frankstown ore bed is opened and worked near Frankstown. The ore bed can be found in a regular position, four hundred feet below the double fossil bed, for a limited distance, as shown on the map; but beyond that short run it thins out to nothing. Numerous openings on the outcrop of the horizon show the measures which overlie and underlie the ore wherever it is a workable bed, in their usual position and thickness, but the ore bed entirely lacking. The ore is so valuable that diligent search has been made for it along the mountain flanks in the vicinity of the Hollidaysburg and Frankstown region, but so far without success, except along the small outcrop line back of Frankstown. "The ore is overlaid by blue slate, fossiliferous for forty feet or more. In this blue slate there occur three regular and persistent 'ore pins,' as they are usually called. These are reddish colored, with numerous small fossils, usually siliceous, and of no practical value as iron ore. They range from one-half inch to two inches in thickness. The upper one is thirty-seven feet above the Frankstown ore bed; the middle one is twenty-six feet above the ore, and the lower one is seventeen feet above the Frankstown ore bed. The Frankstown ore bed is, on the average, about fifteen inches [104] to sixteen inches in thickness, ranging from eight inches at the lowest to say twenty-two inches at the greatest thickness. "Two small 'ore pins' come in under the ore bed, one four inches below the ore, and one ten inches below it. They are of no value." The early history of the township, and the founding of Frankstown, is given in the account of the early settlement of the county. The first assessment of the township was made in 1788, by Daniel Moore, assisted by Capt. Thomas Blair and Patrick Cassidy, and by their return the resident taxpayers of Frankstown township in 1788 were: Jasper Brough. Henry Baker. Patrick Cassidy. Richard Clawson. Abraham Crum. Henry Champinore. William Crawford. Samuel Davis. Samuel Edges. Thomas Ferguson. John Freeman. Michael Fetter, sr. Adam Fleck. Thomas Flynn. Alex. Fulton. Michael Fink. Paul Frazier. John Gripe. Samuel Gripe. John Henry. Benoni Halbert. Wm. Holliday, sr. John Holliday. Wm. Holliday, jr. John B. Hess. Nicholas Keene. Lazarus Lowry. John Laird. John McDonald. James McDonald. Angus McDonald. Patrick McDonald. Simon Mason. John Mansfield. Thomas McCune. John McCune. John McPherson. Hugh Murray. Andrew McIntosh. Donald McIntosh. Samuel Moore. Daniel Moore. James Moore. John North. John Newcomer. Daniel Nelson. William Pringle. John Royster. Abraham Robinson. William Reed . Jacob Stephens. Jacob Shingletaker. James Smith. Charles Stewart. Christopher Shively. Peter Titus. Samuel Thomas. Leonard Wolf. John Wise. Michael Waters. John Warren. John Wareham. John Waggoner. William Wright The single freemen by the same assessment list were: Andrew and William Devenny, Dr. John McCloskey, John Davis, James Farrell, Stephen Atchinson, James Kerr, John Reed, Matthew Huffsteder, John Thompson, David McRoberts, Daniel Mcdonald, Patrick Sullivan, William Patterson, Samuel Caldwell, William Blair, William Blair (from Ireland), John Babes, and Alexander McDonald. Thomas Blair was assessed with one grist mill, one saw mill, and one Negro slave; Samuel Davis, one Negro slave; William Holliday, sr., one Negro slave; Lazarus Lowry, one Negro slave; and John Torrance, four Negro slaves. Frankstown village is now a station on the Hollidaysburg and Williamsburg branch of the Pennsylvania railroad, but has never recovered from the effects of losing the Pennsylvania canal reservoir. In 1790 Lazarus Lowry sold goods here, and twenty years later it contained twenty houses, and Dr. John Buchanan was the resident physician. It then had several distilleries, a tannery, mill, and two or three stores. It was incorporatated as a borough about 1831-32, but on account of Hollidaysburg securing the reservoir, and many of its leading men moving there, Frankstown never reported any borough officers, except a few constables, to the county authorities. About 1836 Frankstown furnace was erected by Daniel Hileman and Stephen Hammond, and has contributed much to keeping up [105] the town. After several changes in ownership it came into possession of the Blair Iron and Coal Company, and under their management has regularly employed from fifty to seventy-five men. The population of Frankstown township, since the formation of the county, by each United States census, has been as follows: U.S. Census Population White Colored. 1850 1482 1478 4 1860 1363 1363 0 1870 1553 1551 2 1880 1753 - - 1890 1505 - - Freedom Township. - This township is bounded on the north by Juniata and Blair townships; on the east by Blair and Taylor; on the south by Greenfield township, and on the west by Juniata. It is drained by the Frankstown branch of the Juniata river and several of its tributary runs, and while broken in surface, yet contains some fine farming lands. Iron ore is mined in the township, which has received but mere mention in the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania. Among the pioneer settlers and early residents of the township were: Stephen Delaney. George Myers. William Earley. John Shadle. John Gost. Christopher Gost. Edward McGraw. Peter McGraw. George McKee. William Leamer. Richard Shirley. Peter Miller. Samuel Donner. Jacob Glass. Jolin Dodson. Nicholas McGuire. John Stiffler. William Shaw. William Dickey. Samuel West. Joachim Storm. John Tickerhoof. Charles Malone. Nicholas Burke. Peter Hetrick. Jere. Reinhart. Matthew Ivry. John McConnell. William Crawford. David Crawford. Harmon Forber. William Riddle. John Riddle. Alex. Knox, sr. Dr. Wallace. Henry Colclesser. John G. McKee. Philip Beight. Frederick Singer. There are three villages in the township: Poplar Run, in the western part; East Freedom, on the Frankstown branch; and McKee's, on the Morrison Cove railroad. Poplar Run was founded in 1840 by a man named Baird, under the quaint name of Puzzletown. Its present population is about ninety. The first building at East Freedom was a log school house. The first house was built in 1838 by Joseph McCormick, and is now a part of the "Freedom House." The town was laid out in 1839 or 1840, and contained two hundred and seventeen inhabitants by the census of 1890. McKee's Gap was owned before 1810 by George Myers, who had a grist and saw mill on the site of the present town. Sometime after 1810 George McKee purchased the gap property, and since then the place has gone by his name. The stream of water passing through the Gap was utilized in 1830 by Dr. Peter Shoenberger for driving his iron forges. His son, Edward, built Martha forge in 1838 and Martha furnace in 1844. This furnace has been rebuilt and enlarged, and is now known as the Hollidaysburg and Gap Iron works. In operating it, its owners, in 1880 employed over two hundred men. On April 4, 1871, McKee's Gap was laid out as a town, and by the last census contained a population of one hundred andsixty-four. The population of Freedom township, since 1860, has been as follows: [106] U.S. Census Population White Colored. 1860 792 792 0 1870 1020 1020 0 1880 1228 - - 1890 1140 - - Greenfield Township. - It was detached in 1846 from Bedford to form a part of Blair county, and comprised, besides its present territory, the townships of Juniata and Freedom. It is bounded on the north by Juniata and Freedom townships; on the east by Taylor township and Bedford county; on the south by Bedford county; and on the west by Bedford and Cambria counties. Its surface is broken by precipitous mountain sides and narrow valleys, which are fertile and productive. The Blue Knobs run through the center of the township and divide it into an eastern and a western (Swites) part. The early settlers were of German descent, and came from Bedford to the vicinity of Sarah furnace about 1770, and of that number were: Thomas Ives. _____ Dively. Val. Lingenfelter. Jacob Lingenfelter. Geo. Lingenfelter. John Nicholas. >From 1783 to 1788 we find record of the following persons as having settled in the township: Henry Bennett. George Barnhart. Adam Black. ____ Dodson. _____ Justice. Henry Walters. David Walters. John Walters. Joseph Walters. The only town in the township is Claysburg. It is situated near the mouth of Beaver Dam creek. John Ulrich Zeth settled on the site of the village in 1804, and in the following year built a grist and saw mill. In 1838 Conrad Lang built a stone house, and on March 23, 1839, lots were laid on the east side of Main street. From that time the village grew and prospered, and now has a population of nearly two hundred. The only iron works ever built was Sarah furnace. It was erected by Dr. Peter Shoenberger in 1831-32, and the ore for running it was obtained in Taylor township. The furnace was never a paying investment after it passed out of Dr. Shoenberger's hands, and was torn down in 1882. The population of Greenfield township since 1850 has been: U.S. Census Population White Colored. 1850 1032 1032 0 1860 1099 1099 0 1870 1233 1229 4 1880 1085 - - 1890 1319 - - Huston Township. - This township is in the southeastern part of the county, and is bounded on the north by Woodbury township; on the east by Huntingdon county; on the south by North Woodbury and Taylor townships; and on the west by Taylor and Frankstown townships. The western and central parts of the township lie in No. II geological formation, while the eastern part is in No. III, No. IV, and No. V. The township is well watered, contains many excellent farms, and has an industrious and thrifty population. Rebecca furnace was the first furnace, built in 1817, by Doctor Shoenberger, the great iron master. It afterward became the property of Edward Lytle, and was operated as late as 1881 by Dr. S. M. Royer, of Martinsburg. Among the early settlers in Huston township prior to 1776 were: Jacob Brumbaugh. Conrad Brumbaugh. Harmonus Clapper. John Clapper. Jacob Clapper. Henry Clapper. [107] David Conghenour. Isaac Hutson. Christian Hoover. Paul Rhodes. Jacob Rhodes. Philip Metzker. Jacob Smith. Jacob Smith, jr. James Spencer. William Shirley. John Shirley. Christopher Shrom. Henry Wesour. The only post office in the township is Clover Creek, which was known in an early day by the name of "Clappertown." The population of Huston township at each United States census from 1850 has been as follows: U.S. Census Population White Colored. 1850 1174 1165 9 1860 1214 1214 0 1870 1335 1335 0 1880 1533 1890 1391 Juniata Township. - Juniata was erected in 1847 from Greenfield township, and ten years later Freedom was taken from its territory. It is bounded on the north by Allegheny township; on the east by Freedom; on the south by Greenfield; and on the west by Cambria county. The surface of the township is rough, yet most of its inhabitants are engaged in agricultural pursuits. Beds of iron ore and bituminous coal exist in many localities. Among the early settled families of the township prior to 1800, were the Wilts, Burgers, Bousers, Costlows, Champenours, Deihls, Beegles, Feathers, Gaileys, Helsels, Conrads, Leightys, Lingenfelters, McIntoshes, Mashes, Morgans, Rhodes, Stifflers, Shows, Longs, and Yinglings. The only village in Juniata township is Blue Knob, which has a population of sixty-seven. The population of Juniata township since the formation of the county has been as follows: U.S. Census Population White Colored. 1850 1752 1752 0 1860 545 545 0 1870 621 621 0 1880 729 1890 684 Logan Township. - It was formed from Allegheny and Antis in 1850, and is bounded on the north by Cambria county and Antis township; on the east by Antis, Tyrone and Frankstown townships; on the south by Frankstown and Allegheny townships; and on the west by Allegheny township and Cambria county. Logan township is said to have been named for Captain Logan, the Cayuga chieftain. Jones says: "The most prominent friendly Indian that ever resided in the valley (Logan), however, was Captain Logan. This, of course, was not his proper name, but a title bestowed upon him by the settlers. He is represented as having been a noble and honorable Indian, warm in his attachment to a friend, but, like all Indians, revengeful in his character. A kindness and an insult alike remained indelibly stamped upon the book and page of his memory; and to make a suitable return for the former he would have laid down his life, shed the last drop of his heart's blood. He was a man of medium height and heavy frame; notwithstanding which he was fleet of foot, and ever on the move. He came to the valley before Chillaway did, and settled with his family in the little valley east of Martin Bell's furnace, which is still known as Logan's valley. He had previously resided on the Susquehanna, where he was the captain of a brave band of warriors; but, unfortunately, in some engagement with another tribe, he had an eye destroyed by an arrow from the enemy. This was [108] considered a mark of disgrace, and he was deposed; and it was owing to that cause that he abandoned his tribe and took up his residence in the Juniata valley. One day, while hunting, he happened to pass the beautiful spring near the mouth of the Bald Eagle - now in the heart of Tyrone city. The favorable location for both hunting and fishing, as well as charming scenery, fascinated Logan; and he built himself a wigwam, immediately above the spring, to which he removed his family. Here he lived during the revolutionary war, not altogether inactive, for his sympathies were on the side of liberty. During that time he formed a strong attachment to Captain Ricketts, of Warrior's Mark, and they became fast friends. It was to Ricketts that Captain Logan first disclosed the plot of the tories under John Weston; and Edward Bell gave it his firm conviction that Logan was among the Indians who shot down Weston and his men on their arrival at Kittanning. Although Logan had learned to read from the Moravian missionaries when quite a lad, he knew very little of the formula of land purchases; so he failed to make a regular purchase of the spot on which his cabin stood, the consequence of which was that, after the war, some envious white man bought the land warned the friendly savage off. Logan was too proud and haughty to contest the matter, or even bandy words with the intruder; so he left, and located at Chickalacomoose, where Clearfield now stands, on the west branch of the Susquehanna. Captain Logan continued visiting the valley, and especially when any of his friends among the pioneers died. On such occasions he generally discarded his red and blue eagle feathers, and appeared in a plain suit of citizens' clothes. But, at length Logan came no more. The Great Spirit called him to a happier hunting ground; and all that is mortal of him - unless his remains have been ruthlessly torn from the bosom of the mother earth - lies beneath the sod, near the moth of Chickalacamoose creek. It is to be regretted that more of his history has not been preserved, for, according to all accounts of him, he possessed many noble traits of character. Unlike Logan, the Mingo chief, Captain Logan, the Cayuga chief, had no biographer like Thomas Jefferson to embellish the pages of history with his eloquence. Well may we say, 'The evil that men do lives after them, while the good is oft interred with their bones.'" From east to west the following geological formations are found in Logan township: IV, Medina and Oneida sandstone; VIII, Chemung Shale and other rocks; IX, Catskill red sandstone; X, Pocono sandstone; XI, Mauch Chunk red shale; XII, Pottsville conglomerate; and XIII, Coal measures. The coal and iron ore lie in the central and western parts of the township, which are mountainous, while in the southeast and northeast good farming land is to be found. The township is well drained by streams affording good water power. The early iron manufactories were Allegheny and Blair furnace, and Colclesser's ax and pick factory. Allegheny furnace was built in 1811 by Allison & Henderson, and was run on charcoal until 1867. In 1835 it was purchased by Elias Baker and Roland Diller, of Lancaster county. In 1854 Mr. Baker erected a massive stone dwelling at a cost of seventy-five thousand dollars, and mill which cost nearly twenty thousand dollars. Since his death, in 1854, his son, S. C. Baker, has managed the estate. [109] Daniel Colclesser established the Colclesser ax and pick manufactory, near Eldorado, in 1832. Among the early settlers of Logan township prior to the revolutionary war were: Thomas Coleman. Michael Coleman. Michael Wallack. James Hardin. James Hart. John Torrance. John Guilleford. Wm. Guilleford. In 1810 we have account of the Crawfords, Colclessers, Crissmans, Gibboneys, Grays, Gwins, Hamiltons, Glunts, Hartsocks, Longs, Loudons, Kinsels, Lantz, McCauleys, McCartneys, McAteers, Rugglers, Rees', Shomos, Trouts, Youngs, Akes, Burdines, Boyles, Hutchinsons, Hunters, Irwins, Myers, Matthews, Robinsons, Smiths, Snyders, Stewarts, and Yinglings. The postoffices of Glen White and Kipple are in Logan township. The population of Logan township by each United States census has been: U. S. Census. Population. White. Colored. 1860 2538 2517 21 1870 2422 2409 13 1880 4950 - - 1890 7688 - - North Woodbury Township. - This township is described by one writer as follows: "This township is the southeastern division of Blair county. From the extinguishment of the Indian title to lands in this region, in 1758, to the time of the formation of Bedford county, in 1771, this bit of the vast domain of the commonwealth was included within the boundaries of Cumberland, and from the latter year until the erection of Blair, in 1846, it formed part of Bedford. In 1855 a considerable portion was detached to form the present township of Taylor. Hence, as now organized, North Woodbury is bounded on the north by Huston township; east by Huntingdon and Bedford counties; south by Bedford county; and west by the latter county and Taylor township. "With Tussey's mountain on the east, it embraces a portion of the beautiful and fertile region known as the Great, or Morrison's Cove. Martinsburg borough is situated in the northwest part. About three miles east of Martinsburg, near Clover creek, is the small village of Fredericksburg, otherwise known as Clover Creek postoffice, southward from the latter place the hamlet known as Millerstown, and in Henrietta, also a postoffice station, and the terminus of the Morrison's Cove branch of the Pennsylvania railroad. "Iron ore abounds in many localities. Fine farms and farm buildings are seen on every side, and many evidences of prosperity and contentment prevail. Its only considerable water course, Clover creek, flows northerly through the eastern part, and in doing so turns the wheels of several grist and saw mills. "About 1755 a colony of Dunkards, otherwise known as German Baptists, began to settle in the southern portion of the cove. They gradually worked their way northward until many of them became residents of the present townships of North Woodbury, Taylor, and Huston, and numbers of their descendants hold possession to this day. "It is an historical fact that the Great Cove, now known as Morrison's, which commences at Pattonsville, in Bedford county, and ends at Williamsburg, on the Frankstown branch of the Juniata, bounded by Dunnings and Lock mountains on the [110] west, and Tussey's mountain on the east, was settled by Scotch-Irish as early as 1749; but these lands were yet owned by the Indians, and in answer to their prayers, the bold squatters were expelled by officials representing the Penn family. Nothing daunted, however, many of them returned soon after and continued their improvements. Yet the northern, or Blair county portion of the cove, was almost unexplored until the Penns made the new purchase in 1754." During the Indian wars from 1754 to 1765 numerous murders were committed in Morrison's cove, and some in what is now North Woodbury township. King Shingaws and Beaver led one incursion in person. After the commencement of the revolutionary war the Indians again raided Morrison's cove, so that life and property were unsafe and insecure until that great struggle terminated in favor of the thirteen colonies. Of the pioneers settlers of the township from 1781 to 1800, we have record of the Albrights, Allenbaughs, Blakes, Burkets, Bridenthals, Bowers, Brumbaughs, Benners, Bulgers, Cowans, Camerers, Conrods, Dillingers, Deeters, Eversoles, Emricks, Flenners, Faulkners, Grabills, Gensingers, Hoovers, Holsingers, Knees, Lowers, Looses, Longeneckers, Martins, Metzkers, Myers, Moores, Nicodemuses, Nisewangers, Oungsts, Puderbaughs, Rhodes, Roemers, Strayers, Shoenfelts, Stoners, Skyleses, Stouffers, Smiths, Stoudenones, Tetwilers, Winelands, and Zooks. The township lies principally in geological formation II, "Extensive brown hematite iron ore mines of the Cambria Iron Company are located in Leathercracker cove, at Henrietta postoffice, in the extreme southeast corner of the township, close to the Bedford county line; the most southern openings, in fact, lying almost on the boundary line. Henrietta postoffice is only six miles north of Pattonsville Gap, in Tussey mountain; but its railroad communication is through McKee's Gap, of Dunning mountain to Hollidaysburg and Altoona, the distance being twenty-eight miles to the latter. The mines are all in Leathercracker cove, and the chief features of its complicated geological structure have already been given in the detail of the structure of Blair county. The ore line has a different strike from the line of Tussey mountain, and the effect is to bring the ore the closer to the mountain in going to the southward. "The main open cut of the Henrietta mines (mine No. 1) is the most northern point from which ore has been taken. It is opened on what was a very heavy surface outcrop; the ground having been covered deep with loose ore lamps and wash ore. To the north of the mine there is no ore outcrop, and trial pits put down around the north end of the mine failed to strike any ore. Some ore, however, was thrown out in digging the cellar of the store, which is two hundred and fifty yards north of the north end of the mine; this latter is the most northern point at which any ore has been found on this ore line. The cut has been gradually widened and deepened until it is now six hundred feet long, by two hundred feet wide, by sixty feet deep. Nearly all the stuff from the large opening has been washed, for it has been almost all ore clay. Projectiong bowlders of limestone, much rounded and decomposed, stand up irregularly on the floor; and occasional masses of lean clay, bearing almost no iron ore, are left standing, the ore being followed around and [111] between them, as in the case with the limestone bowlders. Always on the east side of the pit is the black clay overlying the ore; always the west side the mass of limestone clay underlying; the solid limestone coming into and just west of the mine. The dip as given by the limestones is not over thirty degrees south, seventy degrees east; as given by the ore from the outcrop to where it shows in the bottom it would be much steeper. But the ore dip is not the dip of the measures, for the hollow in which the ore lies does clearly not conform to the dip of the solid limestones. The uncertain and ever varying disintegration of the underlying limestone throws the ore mass either back or forward, as the case may be, and gives it a locally steeper or gentler dip. "Some of the main features of the mine are similar to features found in nearly all the brown hematite deposits of the Lower Siluro-Cambrian limestones. While nearly all of the ground removed was washed (except the stripping from the present east side of the mine), and while all the exposed face is wash ore (except the surface on east side), yet this wash stuff presents extremely varied characteristics. At times the ore runs in great masses, packed together and like a regular ore bed; but this fades out more or less gradually, plainly in sight, into clay, carrying perhaps not so much as ten per cent of ore in it. The streaks of clay follow no dip; they are folded and rolled in all shapes; come in suddenly and as suddenly entirely disappear; are in places white and perfectly free either from ferruginous coloring matter, or from wash ore; and are again deep red or brown, and sticky." The Henrietta ores are rich in iron and high in phosphorus. They are cheaply mined, work easily in the furnace, and were very valuable ores when the heavy demand for the iron rails made a constant market for such pig metal as would be yielded by these ores when judiciously admixed with some others. When some one shall discover an economical way of eliminating phosphorus in the Bessemer converter, these ores will take a high grade. Such a discovery is claimed in the Thomas & Gilchrist process, which was brought to public notice in England in 1880. The Millerstown Red Ore mine is one-half mile northeast of Millerstown. The mine is one large open pit, and was long since abandoned. The outcrop at the mine is very heavy, but does not extend to any distance from the mine, and trial pits put down in different directions around the mine failed to reveal any deep deposit of wash ore. North Woodbury township contains the villages of Henrietta, Fredericksburg, and Millerstown. Henrietta is the southern terminus of the Morrison Cove branch of the Pennsylvania railroad, and contains over one hundred inhabitants. By each United States census since 1850, the population of North Woodbury township has been as follows: U.S. Census. Population. White. Colored. 1850 1836 1829 7 1860 907 906 1 1880 1695 - - 1890 1651 - - Snyder Township. - It is in the northern part of the county, and is bounded on the north by Centre county; on the east by Huntingdon county; on the south by Antis and Tyrone; and on the west by Cambria and Clearfield counties. The western [112] part of the township lies almost wholly on the Allegheny mountains, and its heavily timbered tracts of land were cut over for charcoal making. Well watered and fertile land abounds in the southeastern part of the township. Amount the earliest settlers in the township were the celebrated Ricket brothers, noted for their daring as Indian scouts, and many others whose names have passed away even beyond the traditions of the Juniata valley. The villages of the township are Tyrone Forge, Ironville, and Grazierville. The population of Snyder township has been since 1850 as follows: U.S. Census. Population. White. Colored. 1850 1090 1083 7 1860 1422 1422 0 1870 1412 1412 0 1880 1424 - - 1890 2011 - - Taylor Township. - This township is on the southern border of the county, and is bounded as follows: On the north by Blair and Frankstown townships; on the east by Huston, Frankstown, and North Woodbury; on the south by Bedford county; and on the west by Greenfield, Freedom, and Blair townships. The southern and central parts of the township lie in the geological formation V, or the Clinton shale. The western part is rich in iron ore, and the eastern part contains fine farming lands. The celebrated Soister iron ore mine, which is now abandoned, lies in Taylor township. The ore is a limonite, hard and compact, and in color varies from a reddish brown to a vermilion. The Bloomfield iron ore mines are three miles south of Roaring Spring. These mines have been extensively worked to supply Bloomfield, Sarah, Martha, and Rodman furnaces. The ores of these mines exist in unusually large quantities, and are free from phosphoric acid. The mines have a fine and costly appointment for washing and shipping the ore, which is widely known for its excellent character. Captain Rodman preferred the Bloomfield pig metal for making heavy ordnance, and urged the United States government to purchase the whole Bloomfield ore deposits. Among the residents in this township from 1763 to 1775 were: Jacob Neff. Christian Hoover. Martin Houser. Jacob Houser. In 1787: John Brumbach. Daniel Ellrich. Christ Markle. Abraham Plummer. From 1790 to 1800: Jacob Shoenfelt, sr. John Ullery. Edward Cowen. _____ Neterer. John Lower. Jacob Plummer. Peter Hoover. Philip Stoner. Peter Stoner. Adam Lower. Frederick Hartle. John Morgan. Tobias Shiffler. The main places in the township are Roaring Spring and East Sharpsburg. The Upper, Middle, and Lower Maria forges, now gone, were built by Dr. Shoenberger, respectively in 1828, 1830, and 1832. Rodman furnace was built in ninety days, in 1862, to furnish metal for the construction of Rodman guns. Since 1860 the population of Taylor township, by each Untied States census, has been as follows: U.S. Census. Population. White. Colored. 1860 1137 1137 0 1870 1368 1368 0 1880 2011 - - 1890 1116 - - [113] Tyrone Township. - This township, whose territory is better known as Sinking valley, is bounded on the north by Snyder township and Huntingdon county; on the east, by Huntingdon county and Catharine and Frankstown townships; on the south by Frankstown township; and on the west by Logan and Antis townships. In 1787 the original township of Tyrone contained the following free holders: James Armitage. Robert Adair. Edward Burke. George Baxter. - Burgess. Andrew Boyd. Thomas Ball. John Bell. Joshua Burley, sr. Joshua Burley, jr. John Burley. Charles Bradley. Henry Block. Edward Beatty. Andrew Cook. Henry Climing. James Champion. James Creswell. William Crossman. James Caldwell. Joseph Cox. John Caven. James Coleman. James Crawford. William Clark. Richard Cheney. James Calderwood. Robert Craig. Joseph Drake. Samuel Daniels. James Dickson. Thomas Donaldy. William Davis. John Dennison. Abraham Elrod. Peter Fleck. Alexus Fowler. Joseph Galbraith. Absalom Gray. Jacob Gray. George Gibson. Samuel Gess. Peter Graffius. Moses Gray. Jacob Genner. Peter Gilson. Francis Gardner. Harmon Gray. John Gray. William Gadowner. Wm. Hendrickson. John Hays. David Hagon. Ulrich Hoofstotter. Jonathan Hartsock. Leonard Harthane. John Hunter. James Jackson. Benjamin Johnson. James Johnson. Joshua Igo. James Igo. Anthony Johnston. Henry Larvis. William Johnston. Thomas Kerr. William Kelley. Samuel Kyle. Hugh Kennedy. Hugh Logan. John Lindsay. William Lindsay. David Lowry. William Laird. John Lewis. Thomas McCune. Thomas Moorehead. William McCain. William Moore. David Mains. Joseph McCain. Thos. McGonnery. David McClure. John Musser. James McElroy. Peter McIntosh. John McCreery. George Mattern. William McClellan. John Mann. Peter McMullen. Henry Moore. M. McLain. Hugh Murrain. John Maguire. M. Mussey. Fred. Marcus. John Matter. Joseph Moore. Patrick McGuire. Chas. Montgomery. George Meek. Allen McKee. Richard Nolan. Sarah Noble. Daniel O'Hara. Andrew Porter. William Porter. John Porter. Theo. Prigmore. Samuel Peden. James Parks. Daniel Pennington. Richard Ricketts. John Rogers. John Roller. Joseph Ross. Edward Ricketts. David Ramsey. Alexander Ramsey. Michael Roller. Jacob Roller. Samuel Reaugh. David Stewart. Richard Shorts. William Spitler. Abraham Sells. John Smith. Alex. Stewart. William Stewart. Robert Stewart. David Scott. George Sexton. Giles Stephens. John Troxel. John Tussey. Samuel Thomas. Mary Travers. David Temple. David Thompson. James Taylor. George Templeton. William Thompson. Thomas Thompson. Luke Tipton. John Tipton. [114] Jesse Tipton. Thomas Vaughan. Zeph. Weekly. James Williams. Robert Wilson. John Wilson. Henry Whitsell. Thomas Weston. Single Freemen: Richard Beatty, Adam Carson, Samuel Clinton, John Dean, Alex. Ewing, Fred Harpst, Thomas Henry, Chas. Lemon, George Mattern, John McGonnery, Robert McCartney, George Morgan, Henry Nearhoof, Erasmus Pennington, Andrew Porter, John Parks, John McQuitty (schoolmaster), Thomas Ricketts, Arch. Ramsey, Philip Roller, James Stewart, John Spanogle, William Templeton, and William Weston. The limestone soil of Sinking valley is said to be as rich as any in the world. Its natural wonders, Arch Spring and Sinking run, have been described elsewhere, and it but remains, in connection with its topography and geology, to speak of its mineral wealth. The township, geologically, lies principally in formation II; or the Trenton with its veins of limestone, beds of iron ore, and deposits of lead and zinc. The pipe iron ore of its mines is very rich and good, and has been successfully mined at McCahan's and several other places in the township. But the main interest in the minerals of Sinking valley has centered in its zinc and lead deposits, and to give the fullest information possible, we quote, at some length, from the Geology of Blair County, by Prof. Franklin Platt: "It may be said that the valley (Sinking) occupies the center of the northern part of Blair county; that along its northern edge, from end to end, is the Little Juniata river; on its east side is one arm of Brush mountain; on its west side is another arm of Brush mountain; and at the south the valley terminates in a point, where the two arms of the mountain unite. "The valley is therefore cove-shaped or triangular. Its trend is northeast and southwest; its width, at its broadest part, namely along the northern edge, is five miles, which is the distance from the base of one mountain to the base of the other. Its length is nearly ten miles, measuring in a straight line from the Birmingham on the Little Juniata, to the so-called "kettle" at the extreme southern end of the valley. The surface area, exclusive of the mountain flanks, amounts to about twenty-one miles. "The topography presents, in brief, a gently undulating plain, with a slightly elevated ridge or hum, running lengthwise through the center. At the sides of the valley on the northwest and southeast are precipitous but symmetrical mountain flanks, which rise a thousand feet and more above the bed of the valley, and end in the summits of the same even shape and height. These summits steadily approach each other towards the southwest, thus gradually narrowing the valley surface between, until finally this is terminated at the "kettle" by the two mountains uniting into a single ridge. The average elevation of the floor of the valley above mean tide Atlantic ocean in, in round numbers, 1100 feet; its elevation above the bed of the Juniata river ranges between 200 and 300 feet, the channel of this stream being only a few feet below the Pennsylvania railroad, which skirts its right bank, and which at Tyrone is 907 feet above the ocean level; 866 feet at Birmingham, and 777 feet at Spruce creek. The north end of the valley is open, being cut off from the country beyond by a narrow canon-like ravine. "The drainage is into the Juniata. The [115] high mountain walls on the east and west and south being unbroken, no water passes through them, but pours down their flanks into the valley below, whence it is carried into the river by means of two small streams, Sinking run and Elk run, which, heading close to one another in the "kettle," flow parallel with and at the base of the mountains. There are no cross streams; whatever water collects on the central ridge, flows down into the depressions on either side. Some of the drainage, and perhaps a considerable amount of it, is effected by subterranean passages. "An anticlinal axis traverses the valley lengthwise. The exact path of this axis is rendered somewhat obscure, by reason of imperfect exposures, but it crosses the river from Nittany valley, a little west of Birmingham; passes then close to the developments of the Keystone Zinc Company, near Mr. Kinch's house; runs past the deep shaft of the Borie farm, and so on into the "kettle" where it expires. "Three features only of this anticlinal require special mention here: "1. That the axis is almost overturned at its crest in the vicinity of Birmingham, where one group of zinc and lead fissures is found. "2. That this overturn has nearly disappeared at the deep shaft, where there is a second group of fissures. "3. That the anticlinal sinks southwestward along its central line, at the rate of 600 feet to the mile; or dips, in other words, along its strike at an angle of more than 6 degrees. "For the rest, it may be said, that from the center of the anticlinal the rocks dip steadily, but at varying angles, toward and under the mountains on both sides. These mountains are of monoclinal structure. The rocks, therefore, which make their summits and flanks are of a much later origin than those which occupy the bed of the valley. "The decrease in the force of the anticlinal southwestward necessitates, of course, a constant change in the rock horizon in the same direction. The importance of this change is obvious, for while at the Keystone mines, near Birmingham, there are only a few hundred feet of limestone, there are several thousand feet of the same material at the deep shaft near the "kettle;" and if the zinc and lead fissures are confined to this limestone formation, as they perhaps are, the depth of the veins at the two places would stand in the proportion nearly of 1:10. "The rocks exposed in the valley, from the lowest to the highest, belong to the Cambro-Silurian and Silurian epochs. Along the river, and at the center of the anticlinal, the Potsdam sandstone formation I, appears, for a short distance above the water line. Over this, spread out in regular order, the limestones and dolomites of the next higher formation, II, the Calciferous, Chazy, Trenton, etc. As already intimated, these latter rocks make the greater part of the floor of the valley. They extend nearly to the base of the mountains, where they are overlapped by a deep black border of the slates of III, the Hudson river, Utica, etc.; finally formation IV, the Oneida and Medina sandstones, are piled up in regular order, stratum upon stratum, to form the high mountains ridges, which make the sides of the valley. "In April, 1778, an expedition of considerable strength, and under the command of General Roberdeau, started from Carlisle for the Sinking valley, where [116] a lead mine was subsequently opened and worked. Small reducing works were linewise built close by, in which the ores were treated as fast as they were mined, and the metal so obtained, was most likely shipped in the boats down the Juniata, whenever the river was flooded. "The Roberdeau expedition, though it continued work for some time, was in the end a failure. Various exaggerated notions, as to the probable yield of these mines, were entertained by those who had the work in charge; nor was the enterprise finally abandoned without some protestations on the part of General Roberdeau, against the slender support and assistance rendered him by the governmental authorities; a support, moreover, which seems to have been guaranteed to him at the outset of his undertaking. The failure of the enterprise may, perhaps, be ascribed as much to the expense of mining and treating the ores, as to the causes assigned for it by General Roberdeau. "There is no record of the total amount of metal produced at this time in the Sinking valley, nor of the cost of it, nor of the time when work was finally abandoned. "After the abandonment of this enterprise, nothing was done with the zinc and lead deposits of Sinking valley for several years. "But that work on them was resumed before the close of the last century, is shown by an agreement between John Musser and Robert Morris, who were equally concerned in a lead mine situated in Tyrone township. By the terms of this agreement, which is dated August 4, 1795, Musser was to drive a 'level,' for drainage purposes, through to a certain shaft on which some work had already been done, but in which the miners had been prevented from going deeper on account of water. Of the amount of work done during this latter period, even less is known that of the Roberdeau expedition, but it cannot have been extensive or there would be more evidence of it in the shape of shafts and pits. "The third period is represented by the operations of the Keystone Zinc Company. This was the period when the mineral deposits of the valley were most fully explored and developed; indeed, it was the only period when anything of importance was done. "The Keystone Zinc Company, or organization which still exists, was incorporated in 1864; it had a comprehensive charter and abundant capital, and work was begun by it on an extensive scale. The mining operations of the company were mainly directed to the so-called "bowlder deposits," near Birmingham; several thousand tons of ore were mined; that large reducing works, with all the modern appliances, were erected at a considerable expense, on the south bank of the Juniata river, near Birmingham; that zinc oxide was made in these works, not only from the ores of the valley, but also from material brought hither from a distance; and finally it may be said, without entering further into the history of the enterprise, that having become embarrassed financially, the company suspended operations about 1870, since which time their mines have not only been idle, but, to a large extent, have fallen shut. "So many years have elapsed since the mines were abandoned, and nothing having been done in the interval to prevent them from filling with water, or otherwise closing up, that they are now entirely inaccessible. It is unreasonable, in matters of this kind, [117] to admit without question, the evidence of persons not only unfamiliar with the subject of mineral deposits, but entirely unaccustomed to make critical examinations of them; and the evidence is still further weakened when it is furnished from memory, unaided by note or memorandum, and many years after the observations were made. Hence, in the following description, little attention is paid to the statements received from the residents of the valley, except when fully substantiated. "But to the Keystone Zinc Company we are indebted for much information respecting the ore deposits, and particularly those at Birmingham. During the time covered by the operations of this company several experts were engaged to examine the mines and openings in their different stages of development, and to report upon their value. Prominent among these gentlemen, were Dr. W. Th. Roepper, of Bethlehem, an expert of deservedly high reputation; Mr. Williams, of Philadelphia; Mr. Dickerson, Mr. Spillsbury and others. "The Birmingham fissures are on the property of the Keystone Zinc Company, opposite the farm of Mr. E. Kinch, and about one-half mile southwest of Birmingham. The improvement consists of a number of shafts sunk from the top of a knoll raised about 80 feet above the township road. An adit driven from the level of the township road, connected with these shafts, or at least with some of them, for drainage purposes. This is the same adit that was begun at the close of last century. It was afterwards continued by the Keystone Company, in a southwest direction, for a distance of 347 feet under the hill. It is now shut, its sides having recently caved in. "The shafts were ill-advisedly sunk, and without much attempt at system. O?e line of pits, however, would seem to indicate the course of a vein, running northeast and southwest, or parallel to the stratification of the enclosing measures. Other shafts were sunk on both sides of the line, to the north and south of it; that to the north, or between the line and the road, went down only some forty feet, and seems to have had little success, nothing more than indications of ore having been met with; but in that to the south of the line, and some three hundred feet away from it, the results were very encouraging. "This deposit at this place is shut up within a small area. Along the river front on examination of the rocks exhibited there reveals no trace of the veins; and in the opposite direction, towards the southwest, every effort to trace the ore beyond the neighborhood of the adit has been a failure. What may be the condition of the vein between these two points, its northeast and southwest limit, the work already done is not calculated to fully reveal. Mr. Williams states that the vein was disclosed for one hundred and sixty-six feet along its strike by a gallery leading from one shaft to another; but, with the exception of this, there seems to have been no effort made to connect the pits by trenches along the outcrop or by underground passage-ways, which would have served to show, not only the extent of the vein in a horizontal direction, but its exact condition and width. "More than two thousand tons of ore were taken from the shafts during the time they were operated by the Keystone Company. It is said that the shaft furthest northeast yielded a very lean ore, with barely ten per cent of zinc in it; but the specimens of ore exhibited as having come [118] from the main shafts, those near the adit, are of fine character, and vastly superior to the ores from the other group of veins at the southwest end of the valley. "Nearly all the ore removed from these shafts was reduced in the works at Birmingham; several tons, however, remained over. An examination of these shows an ore of very even quality. Mr. Williams states that the best of the material averages 30 per cent, of metallic zinc; which statement the old dump heap at the works fully corroborates. "The ore consists mainly of a mixture of the sulphides of zinc and lead, zinc blende, and galena. It is a compact, fine-grained mass of dark color, and when broken, has a waxy luster at the fracture. Some of the lumps are of the size of a man's head, from which they graduate down to fragment of all sizes. In the specimens representing the best of the ores, zinc blende largely predominates; galenite is always present, but subordinate to the other; there is also usually a small amount of calamine (hydrous silicate of zinc). The gangue matter is inconsiderable; there is some limestone, or rather some dolomitic limestone, and there is also some iron pyrite, but never very prominent. "I have estimated that there have been produced about 1300 tons of rock ore (worth about 30 per cent, for metal), and some two thousand (2000) tons of wash or earthy ore, worth probably 8 per cent, for metal. The total cost (as given in the payroll of the company, from which it is to be deducted, the surface (farm) expenses, and those for permanent improvement), shows us that this ore has been produced at a cost not much exceeding $3.00 per ton. "The zinc and lead deposits at the southwest end of the valley differ in many respects from those near Birmingham; particularly, however, in their more extended distribution, in the character and composition of the area, in the narrowness of the fissures, and in the position these occupy in the rocks. "Developments have been made on both sides of the valley and in the center of it; but no two openings have yet been connected by a continuous cross-cut, to show the actual course of any one vein, or its extent, although the fact that the fissures chiefly cross the measures transversely to the stratification, has been sufficiently established. Moreover, the shafts sunk on the different farms have shown that the veins are vertical, or nearly so; and further, that few of the veins exceed six inches in width. "The ore when freshly mined is a smooth, compact mass of zinc blende, Smithsonite (carbonate of zinc), and galenite in a gangue of heavy spar and dolomite. Zinc blende is usually the most prominent of the minerals, though occasionally it is replaced somewhat by the galenite. "The geological considerations arising out of the zinc and lead-bearing deposits of the Sinking valley may be very briefly presented. "The question first in importance is, whether they are merely segregated deposits, pseudomorphs by replacement on an extended scale, or whether they are true fissure veins, extending indefinitely downward through the rocks, and owing their origin to some deep-seated mechanical cause. "To answer this question satisfactorily would require somewhat more information about the deposits than we now possess; but in the light of such facts as we have it [119] seems to us that the deposits are fissures, formed by the same agencies that originally lifted the valley above the sea level, and threw its rocks into their present anticlinal structure. "The face that the ores are mainly sulphides, and placed in the rock almost entirely unaccompanied by clay, excludes the idea of their being merely mechanically transported into already existing cavities of the rocks. The whole mode of occurrence contradicts such a supposition, and leads, irresistibly, to the conviction that the ores were formed in the place they are now found by geologico-chemical agencies; that the pocket shape of the lodes is merely the result of mechanical derangement and contortion of the hill, and that these pockets have been formed out of original true veins following the original northeast and southwest strike of the strata. It is only necessary to notice the shattered condition of the rock, and to observe the contortions exhibited by the section of the hill along the Pennsylvania railroad, readily to account for the transformation of regular veins into a more or less irregular system of pockets. "As to the process by which the fissures became in time filled up with the material we now find there, such considerations are rather chemical than geological. "The question relating to the depths to which these veins descend, has already been sufficiently answered by what has been said above. It may, however, be repeated, that the Birmingham fissures doubtless extend to indefinite depths, though not always in the same condition as we find them in the limestone. But confining them to this one formation, they are at least 500 feet deep; and at the southwest end of the valley, there are several thousand feet of limestone resting on the back of the anticlinal, at the place where the fissures occur. Hence, their economic value will not, for the present, depend so much on the question of their ultimate depth, as upon other considerations, namely, upon their horizontal extent, their width, the character of their ores, and the cost of mining them. And upon these vital points our information is very meager. "Near Birmingham, the conditions for mining are much more simple than at the southwest end of the valley, and would involve considerably less expense in the production of the ore. Mr. Williams states that the ore taken out of this place by the Keystone Zinc Company, on the average, cost only $3.00 per ton; Dr. Roepper gives the cost as $4.00 per ton; and allowing this, or even something in excess of it, there should yet be a large margin of profit in mining ores so rich in metal as the analyzed samples would indicate these to be. "Yet the attempts to work and develop them have thus far been failures, even with large reducing works close at hand, to convert the ores into zinc oxide as fast as they were mined, and thus save almost all cost of transportation of the raw material. If the ores maintain what is asserted of them, it is impossible to explain this failure, except by mismanagement. Without such mismanagement, fair profits must have resulted from working mines esteemed so valuable by every expert who examined them. Doubtless, the work will again be undertaken at some future day; when it is, the efforts should be directed to the proper development of the Birmingham fissures; and unless other deposits are found at the southwest end of the valley, more valuable than those already discovered, the work of [120] development in that section should cease with what has already been done." Tyrone township contains two villages - Arch Spring and Sinking Valley, or Laurelville - with a population respectively of 102 and 82. Sinking Valley was founded in 1808, by Henry Henchey. The population of Tyrone township, since the formation of the county, has been as follows: U.S. Census. Population. White. Colored. 1850 1068 1061 7 1860 1766 1723 43 1870 1006 1005 1 1880 1004 - - 1890 1239 - - Woodbury Township. - It is bounded on the north by Catharine township; on the east by Huntingdon county; on the south by Huston township; and on the west by Frankstown. This township lies between Tussey and Lock mountains, and is a part of the Great Cove, which since 1770 has been known in what is now Blair county as Morrison's Cove. The larger part of the township is in geological formation No. II, and contains some very valuable beds of iron ore. In 1778 we have account of the following heads of families as living in the present township of Woodbury: John Boren. Henry Boren. David Boyer. Benjamin Beal. Peter Bowers. Edmund Cullins. David Coughenour. Joseph Chapman. Rezin Davis. Isaac Hutson. Frederick Herron. Henry Painter. Daniel Powell. Capt. Wm. Phillips. Wm. Phillips, jr. Samuel Prawley. Peter Rench. Benjamin Tudor. David Ulrich. Christian Wineland. Peter Wineland. Phillip Walker. Henry Wesour. Ludwick Wesinger. Nicholas Warner. There were also the following single freemen: William and John Brumbaugh, John Doyle, Michael Fogel, John Houdurf, Nicholas and Daniel Stull, Jacob Server, jr., and Christley Wineland. Of the iron works that have been erected in the township; Cove forge was built by John Royer, in 1811; Springfield furnace by Daniel and John Royer, in 1815; and Franklin forge by Samuel Royer, in about 1830. The villages of Woodbury township are Cove Forge, Mines, and Royer, whose population in 1890 were, respectively, 139, 211, and 197. The population of Woodbury township, by each United States census since 1850, has been as follows: U.S. Census. Population. White. Colored. 1850 1450 1448 2 1860 1279 1279 0 1870 2107 2091 16 1880 894 - - 1890 2112 - - [Concluded in Part IV]