HISTORY: “Valley of the Conemaugh” by Thomas J. Chapman, 1865 Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Diann Olsen , September, 2008 Copyright 2008 All rights reserved. http://http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cambria/ _______________________________________________ THE VALLEY OF THE CONEMAUGH. BY THOMAS J. CHAPMAN. ALTOONA, PA.: McCRUM & DERN, PRINTERS. 1865. --------------------------------------------------------------------- CHAPTER VI. BLAIRSVILLE. This town is situated on the northern turnpike leading from Huntingdon to Pittsburg, at the distance of forty-two miles to the east of that city. It is built upon elevated ground on the right bank of the Conemaugh river, about thirty miles below Johnstown. A rough per- pendicular precipice rises from the water's edge, which is now chiefly hidden by large warehouses and other buildings, somewhat similar in point of architecture to those of the Cowgate in Edinburg, which, Judge Brackenridge says, are thirteen stories on one side and half a story on the other. The location of Blairsville is extremely healthy; the water very good, and the place has never been visited to any extent by those dreadful disorders that sometimes carry off whole populations at one fell stroke. This town is laid out with great regularity. The streets are broad, well paved, and as straight as a rule can make them. There are three principal streets, which run nearly due east --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE CONEMAUGH. 119 and west, and five cross streets. There are also four alleys running parallel with the principal streets, which divide the different squares into equal parts. The sloping character of the ground upon which the town is situated affords excellent drainage, and the streets and alleys are thus easily kept clear of filth, which no doubt adds greatly to the healthfulness of the place. Adjoining Blairsville on the east is the village of Brownstown. It contains a population of perhaps two hundred and fifty souls. It is not incorporated, but forms a part of Burrell township. It is to all intents and purposes a suburb of Blairsville, and ought to be included in that borough. The village was probably laid out by, and named in honor of, Mr. Andrew Brown, who lived in this neighborhood as early as 1818, and was one of the charterers of Blairsville. In Brownstown are a public school house, two large hotels, a fine Catholic church edifice, school house and parsonage, a foundry, and a threshing-machine manufactory. The turnpike passes through this town. The hill upon the slope of which the village is built contains several fine veins of coal which have long been opened, and supply the townspeople with that mineral for their own use, as well as large --------------------------------------------------------------------- 120 THE HISTORY OF quantities for export. The coal of this region is of excellent quality. The surrounding country is an alternation of hill and dale, and grove and meadow, divided into farms, most of which are highly productive. The bank of the river about half a mile above Blairsville is very high and precipitous, and is known as the "Alum Bank." There is an upright wall of nature's own masonry, in some places fifty or sixty feet high, and below this an abrupt descent of perhaps a hundred feet more to the water's edge, covered with forests. This cliff is a mile or two in length. Several veins of iron ore and coal have been opened upon its face. The spectator who stands upon the edge of this precipice may see the tops of tall trees just at his feet and almost within his grasp. Below these is the river, beyond which may be seen the canal, the railroad, broad fields and patches of woodland stretching away to the foot of the Chestnut Ridge. There is a number of fine buildings in Blairsville. The hotels are excellent; the churches large and tastefully finished, and the school house, containing four rooms and two halls, is spacious and commodious. There is a fine market house of brick, built in 1857, containing on the first floor an entry, a lock-up, --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE CONEMAUGH. 121 and a large apartment devoted to the purposes of a market; and, on the second floor, an entry, a council chamber, and a spacious room provided with seats and a rostrum, which is used for a town-hall. On the north- ern side of the town, surrounded by ornamental trees and shrubbery, is the Female Seminary, a large brick building of imposing, appearance. It was opened for pupils in 1853. It has always maintained a high character as an institution of learning. This town was laid out about the year 1819, and was named in honor of John Blair, Esq., of Blair's Gap. The town-site originally belonged to Mr. James Campbell. The turnpike which passes through it was constructed in 1819, and gave an impetus to the growth of the town. In 1821, the noble bridge which spans the river at that place was erected. Though it has been standing for more than forty years it gives promise of lasting for years to come. It is a single arch, three hundred feet in length. For many years after its erection it was considered the best bridge in Western Pennsylvania, and was the especial pride of the good people of Blairsville. Prior to the building of this bridge, Mr. John Mulhollan ran a ferry-boat across the river where the bridge now stands. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 122 THE HISTORY OF In 1825, the town was incorporated as a borough; and two years afterward the population was ascertained to be 500. In 1828, the West- ern Division of the canal was completed to this place, and the Eastern was advancing, step by step, towards the mountains; the intermediate sections of canal and the railroad over the mountains, were in progress, but still unfinished. The carrying trade, therefore, and the increasing travel, were obliged to resort to the turnpike. This gave great importance to Blairsville as a depot, and the place was full of bustle and prosperity. Long strings of wagons laden with goods of various descriptions were every day arriving and departing. At night, the whole town was one vast caravansary for the accommodation of man and beast. There are old citizens of Blairsville who still speak in glowing terms of those golden days. Immense hotels and warehouses were erected; four or five churches were built within three years; property increased in value, and the hotels were swarming with speculators, engineers, contractors, and forwarding agents. Men grew rich there in a day. In 1834, the communication was opened over the mountains; the use of the turnpike was to a great extent abandoned, and the merchants and inn keepers of Blairs- --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE CONEMAUGH. 123 ville were compelled to sit and see the trade and travel "pass by on the other side." A reaction and depression of course ensued to some extent; but the enterprising citizens were only driven to the natural resources of the country as a basis of trade.* The town, notwithstanding this back-set, continued to thrive at a more healthy rate, and in 1840 it had a population of 1000. So, too, through the next decade, and in 1850 the population had run up to the neighborhood of 1500 souls. Business was brisk. The surrounding country is an excellent farming district, and large quantities of agricultural products were exported. A large steam grist mill, a woolen factory, a starch factory, two flourishing brick yards, two extensive foundries, one on the Blairsville and the other on the Bairdstown side of the river, and two or three prosperous tanneries, contribued to swell the amount of exports from the port of Blairsville to a respectable figure. Capacious wharves had been built along the slackwater upon which the town is situated, and boats were at any time to be seen lying there, either shipping or discharging their cargoes. The “tarry sailorman" and the typical mule team were every- ----- *Day's Hist. Col., page 379. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 124 THE HISTORY OF day sights in the goodly streets of Blairsville. But all these have now disappeared. It may be interesting to the present race of Blairsvillers to read the opinion formed by a stranger of Blairsville and its society more than thirty years ago. We extract from a letter written by a tourist, June 18th, 1833, at Blairsville. He says: "I address you now from a town, which, as you see it marked on the map, is a place of minor consideration, but which in reality, considered as a point in the chain of public improvements which connects the eastern and western parts of the State, is of vast importance. Blairsville, a few years since, consisted of a solitary public house, at which the traveler across the mountains might stop to refresh himself and his beast; now it contains a large number of substantially built and handsome brick edifices -- several churches -- a market and school house, and not less than four or five well kept hotels. It has sprung up suddenly, but its duration will not be the less permanent. "Blairsville stands on the western* bank of the Conemaugh river, a stream flowing into the Allegheny river, about thirty miles from Pittsburg, and is distant from that city by ----- *This is incorrect. Blairsville is situated on the eastern side of the Conemaugh. --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE CONEMAUGH. 125 land, forty miles; by the course of the river seventy. This river is one of the most beautiful and romantic streams in the west. I have passed along its banks for some distance, and been strongly reminded of our favorite Schuykill, which, in some respects, it strongly resembles. Its course is meandering and irregular. Along this river a canal has been made, east to Johnstown, and west to Pittsburg, forming the western division of the Pennsylvania Canal. “The society of Blairsville is remarkable for its intelligence. I say this not to deteriorate from the respectability of other western towns, but because from personal intercourse and observation, I have had abundant opportunities to ascertain the fact. We of the east do not properly estimate the worth of character which exists in the west. We are too apt to fancy that the well-informed -- the statesman -- the philosopher -- the man of breeding, is only to be found in large cities. This is a great mistake as applied to western Pennsylvania. With the most of those to whom I have been introduced across the mountains, my acquaintance has been extremely pleasant, and the kindness and attentions of the Blairsville people I shall never forget." ----- * See Philadephia Gazette, June, 1833. --------------------------------------------------------------------- 126 THE HISTORY OF A newspaper was started here about the year 1825. It was called, if we mistake not, "The Blairsville Record and Westmoreland Advertiser." The first editor, we believe, was a Mr. McFarland. It soon dropped a part of the name, and was called merely the "Blairsville Record." It was successively styled the "Record," "Citizen," " Apalachian," "True American," and "Journal," and was carried on by different parties to the year 1861, when it foundered in an open sea. Down to 1849, when Messrs. Matthias & Caldwell took charge of it, it had been the avowed exponent of the Democratic party in the county; but in the hands of these gentlemen it soon lost the characteristics of a party organ, and made its appearance in the garb of a neutral. Mr. T. S. Reid, who succeeded in the proprietorship in 1855, changed the name from the "Apalachian" to the "True American," and the paper itself from a neutral to a strong Republican sheet. About this time a new paper was started in the town under the auspices of the Democrats, and bore the time-honored appellation : "The Blairsville Record." This paper was kept afloat until the year 1863, when it also went down. In the spring of 1865, the Republican paper was revived under the name --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE CONEMAUGH. 127 of the "New Era," of which Wm. R. Boyers, Esq., is editor. The decade commencing with 1850, opened with bright prospects for Blairsville. Business on the canal was brisk, and the amount of shipments and imports at that place exhibit a state of great prosperity. For 1851, the receipts at that port amounted to nearly $11,500. Two extensive yards were kept in constant employ in building or repairing boats. In 1851, the Pennsylvania Railroad was finished as far as that place, and passengers for the west here took the boat for Pittsburg. These were gala days for Blairsville. It was, however, but a repetition of the short-lived prosperity of 1830. Thousands of emigrants and others passed through the town every week, and of course left behind them more or less of their specie. Blairsville thus suddenly be came a great transhipping port. A new town called O'Harra, was laid out by Hr. William Maher, around the railroad depot, on the southern side of Blairsville, and town lots were readily sold for hundreds of dollars that could now be purchased for perhaps as many tens. Fine houses were erected, and every thing was carried along on the top-wave of success. But all this prosperity was evanes- --------------------------------------------------------------------- 128 THE HISTORY OF tent, as it had been in the former case. The railroad was finished through to Pittsburg in the latter part of 1852, and again the mer- chants and inn-keepers of Blairsville were compelled to see the trade and travel “pass by on the other side." No more car-loads of obese emigrants from the "Faderland" came to Blairsville with their clinking pouches of gold and silver. No more hack-loads of well-dressed ladies and gentlemen were seen approaching the hotels, to the inexpressible delight of mine host, whose practised eye saw his account in them at a glance. From this time down to 1860, the town steadily declined. In that year the population was found to have receded to 1000 souls; just what it was in 1810. The Blairsville Branch railroad that connects with the main road at a point about three miles from the town, about the year 1856 was extended to the town of Indiana; and though the latter was greatly benefited, Blairsville was improved thereby no whit. Her fate seemed to be sealed. She was apparently one of the “doomed cities." Her people had nothing more to do. The town was finished; and the inhabitants sat down peacefully to await the providence of God. But from this depression Blairsville is rapidly --------------------------------------------------------------------- THE CONEMAUGH. 129 recovering. The construction of the Western Pennsylvania Railroad, commenced about 1854, and then abandoned for some years, has contributed a fresh impetus to the prosperity of the town, and given the citizens heart of hope. Some improvements have been made since 1860, and other and more important ones are in contemplation. The neighboring hills abound in iron ore, coal, limestone, and so forth, of the best quality, and favorable signs of oil have been discovered in the valleys. There is no conceivable reason why manufactures of different kinds, and especially of iron, should not be carried on in Blairsville with the greatest success. The population now (1865) is said to be over 1500. This shows a wonderful reactionary tendency; and as her prosperity this time seems based on a more stable foundation, Blairsville will yet arise to the dignified position for which God and nature have designed her.