HISTORY: Warner Beers, 1886, Part 2, Chapter 20, Cumberland County, PA Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Judy Bookwalter Copyright 2009. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/ ______________________________________________________________________ History of Cumberland and Adams Counties, Pennsylvania. Containing History of the Counties, Their Townships, Towns, Villages, Schools, Churches, Industries, Etc.; Portraits of Early Settlers and Prominent Men; Biographies; History of Pennsylvania; Statistical and Miscellaneous Matter, Etc., Etc. Illustrated. Chicago: Warner, Beers & Co., 1886. http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/cumberland/beers/beers.htm ______________________________________________________________________ PART II. HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. PENNSYLVANIA. CHAPTER XX. COOK TOWNSHIP. COOK TOWNSHIP, at present the youngest township in Cumberland County, was formed from the southern part of Pennsylvania in the year 1872. The whole of it is mountain land, well timbered, and containing at places large quantities of valuable iron ore. There are several streams in the township, the most important of which is the Mountain Creek, which, after being formed by the junction of two smaller streams near Pine Grove, flows in a slightly north-easterly direction through the mountainous portion of Dickinson Township; then almost north, through south Middleton, until it empties into the Yellow Breeches Creek. The State road from Carlisle to Gettysburg passes through the wild and uncultivated mountain scenery of this township, as does also the Harrisburg & Gettysburg Railroad, which was originally built, in 1869- 70, as the South Mountain Road, from Carlisle to Pine Grove, by the South Mountain Iron Company, for the development of their extensive property at that place. In 1883, under the name of the Gettysburg & Harrisburg Railroad, it was extended from Hunters Run, a station on the former road, to the celebrated "Round Top," on the battle-field, three miles beyond Gettysburg. It was opened for travel on April 21, 1884.* J. C. Fuller was the first president and William H. Woodward the first general superintendent, secretary and treasurer, a position which he still holds. The road has established a popular and pleasant park near Pine Grove Furnace, in the midst of the wild mountains, and which is one of the most attractive places of its kind which is to be found in the county. The chief property, however, of the company, in the township, is the Pine Grove Furnace and the Laurel Forge, with about 25,000 acres of land, some small part of which, however, is in Adams County. These Pine Grove Iron Works are located on Mountain Creek about ten miles north of Mount Holly Springs. It is not known when the first furnace was erected at this place. The tract of about 150 acres was originally granted by Thomas and Richard *In August of this first year, over 50,000 people were carried over the road in ten days to the encampment of the National Guards of Pennsylvania at Gettysburg. 270 HISTORY OF CUMBERLAND COUNTY. Penn, in July, 1762, to Samuel Pope, and on the 7th of October of that year it was conveyed by him to George Stevenson, who was a partner at that time in the Carlisle Iron Works, at Boiling Springs. George Stevenson was born in Dublin in 1718, educated at Trinity College and came to America about the middle of the last century. He was a prominent man - a judge at one time of the counties of York and Cumberland by a commission in 1755 under the reign of George II. He was later a prominent lawyer at Carlisle. In connection with William Thompson (afterward a general), and George Ross, a signer of the Declaration of Independence, he became a large land-owner and manufacturer of iron, and erected, in 1764, a furnace and forge (known as Mary Ann Furnace) in York County. In 1769 he removed to Carlisle and engaged in the iron business in Mount Holly. He married Mary Cookson, the widow of Thomas Cookson, the deputy surveyor who laid out the town of Carlisle. In 1772 George Stevenson conveyed this Pine Grove property to Findlay McGrew, in which deed it is described "as being the same tract as was surveyed by William Lyon, Esq., and whereon the said Findlay McGrew hath lately erected a saw mill," etc.; and in the year following, McGrew conveyed said tract to Jacob Simons, who, in December, 1782, conveyed it, together with another tract which he had improved, to Michael Ege and the two Thornbergs, Thomas and Joseph. It is in this deed that the property is called the Pine Grove Iron-works - a name by which it has been known ever since. Michael Ege continued to own this property until his death in 1815, after which it was confirmed, by proceedings in partition, to his son Peter Ege, since which time it has passed through various hands, until it came into the possession of the present owners. The only postoffice in the township is called Pine Grove Furnace, and the only iron way is the South Mountain Railroad, spoken of fully above.