AREA HISTORY:  Topography, Fairview Township, York County, PA

Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Kathy Francis

Copyright 2005.  All rights reserved.
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History of York County, Pennsylvania.  John Gibson, Historical Editor.
Chicago: F. A. Battey Publishing Co., 1886.
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TOPOGRAPHY – Page 640

The shape of this township is very irregular.  The southern boundary is an 
artificial line nearly in the form of a bow, separating it from Newberry.  The 
remainder of the boundary is natural, with the Stony Run separating it on the 
southwest from Warrington, forming a winding line of about four miles.  A 
portion of the western division is a small stream which divides it from 
Monaghan, a distance of four and one-half miles, and empties into the Yellow 
Breeches, whose remarkably winding current washes the remainder of its western 
and northwestern boundary and separates Fairview from Cumberland County.  The 
river, here over one mile wide, for a distance of six miles passes along the 
north and northeast, separating it from Dauphin County.

A ridge of hills crosses the center of the township, and, extending in almost a 
due north and south direction, illustrates a singular geological feature.  It is 
the only example in the county of a ridge extending in that direction.  The 
local name given is the “Pinch Mountain,” a name, if it ever was appropriate, is 
not very poetical and not especially noted for its beauty of sound.  It was 
named by early settlers as the “Free Mountain,” from the fact that the original 
occupants of the land along its slopes were squatters, occupying the land for a 
considerable time without legal titles.

The “River Mountain,” a ridge of wooded hills, containing much valuable timber, 
extends from the Middletown Ferry, skirting almost the entire northeastern 
boundary.  The Northern Central Railway passes along here on the north side of 
them.  One of the characteristic geological features is the abundance of huge 
bowlders of basaltic rocks.  A part of the extreme eastern section is of trap 
formation.  The large crevices in the rocks yet afford a convenient lurking 
place for the fox, and the large hollow trees for the raccoon and opossum.  The 
wolf once had his haunts in these forests and much later wild turkeys in the 
thickets.  The township is drained by the Yellow Breeches Creek, Miller’s Run, 
Bennett’s Run, Fishing Creek and other smaller tributaries of the Susquehanna.  
The soil is generally very fertile and productive, growing all the cereals 
common to this latitude with equal success.  The northwestern or Marsh Creek 
section is the lower end of the rich limestone region, which extends into 
Fairview from Cumberland County.  The Fishing Creek and Redland Valleys are of 
mostly red sandstone formation, frequently passing into the red shale soil.  
These valleys are in a high state of cultivation, as is the alluvial soil along 
the Yellow Breeches Creek.