Two miles west from Hollidaysburg, on the northern turnpike, is a flourishing village which has recently grown up around a very extensive iron-works.

NEWRY is another small village, 4 miles southwest from Hollidaysburg. An attempt was made in the legislature of 1843 to establish a new county, to be called BLAIR, out of parts of Huntingdon and Bedford cos. ; but it failed to pass. The details of the bill are not known to the com

piler, but it is presumed Hollidaysburg was to be the county seat. WILLIAMSBURG is a flourishing borough, 14 miles below Hollidaysburg, on the canal, and 10 miles, by road, west of Huntingdon. A copious spring which issues from a limestone rock behind the town, is sufficient to drive a flour-mill, woollen factory, and saw-mill. The town contains Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Lutheran, and German Reformed churches. Two miles above is a forge; and a little above that is Canoe furnace. Population in 1840, 637. The town was laid out in 1794, by Jacob Ake, a German, who owned the land. He leased the lots on ground rent; a circumstance which has since created some unpleasant feelings between the citizens and the proprietor. Favored with a fine waterpower from the spring, and enjoying the trade of the large and fertile valley of Morrison's cove, the place continued for some years to flourish; but the completion of the canal has not tended to increase the prosperity of the place, though it has greatly benefited the farming interest in the vicinity. Among the first settlers near the town, were Judge Stuart and "Esq." Phillips. One mile above this place, on the left bank of the Juniata, is a remarkable perpendicular ledge of rock, thin, sharp, and broken into fantastic forms, jutting out some eight or ten feet from the more friable rocks of the hill to which it is attached. It has much the appearance of the flying buttresses and turrets of a Gothic church.

ALEXANDRIA is a handsome borough, on the left bank of the Juniata, 7 miles above Huntingdon, near the mouth of Little Juniata. It contains a Presbyterian and a Methodist church. Population in 1840, 574. East of Alexandria, three miles, is the small borough of Petersburg, also on the Juniata, at the mouth of Shover's creek. It contains 196 inhabitants. Two miles above Alexandria is Water-street, so called from the circumstance of the road in early days passing through a gap in the mountain literally in a stream of water. The iron-works in this region are valuable. BIRMINGHAM is a thriving borough, 15 miles N. W. of Huntingdon, on the Little Juniata, near the old lead mine, and in the midst of the ironworks of Sinking valley. In 1824 it contained but nine houses. It now contains enough to accommodate 235 inhabitants. It was incorporated in 1828.

SHIRLEYSBURG is in the Aughwick valley, near the creek, 16 miles S. of Huntingdon, containing 247 inhabitants. Some reminiscences of Fort Shirley will be found above in the history of the county. In Aughwick valley, four miles S. of Shirleysburg, stood Bedford Furnace, the first one erected in western Pennsylvania. It has long since fallen to ruins. The estate, formerly Ridgley and Cromwell's, has changed owners, and a town has been laid out at the site of the old furnace, called Orbisonia, from the name of the present proprietor, William Orbison, Esq., of Huntingdon. Two furnaces and a forge have been built; and the inexhausti

ble mines of valuable ore, and steady water-power, promise to make it a growing place.

There are several other small villages in this county. McCONNELLSBURG, about five miles S. W. of Huntingdon, in Woodcock valley; Ennisville, at the upper end of Stone valley; and a number of little hamlets connected with the principal iron-works. The annexed extracts are from Philadelphia papers.

On Saturday, 30th May, 1840, within two miles of Shirleysburg, Huntingdon county, Pennsylvania, a series of murders were committed, which, for atrocity, have scarcely a parallel on record. No less than six human beings were hurried from time to eternity, by the hand of a coldblooded murderer, viz.: a Mrs. Brown, and her five children, from the age of 21 to 10 years The old lady was found with her throat cut-the son aged 21, and the daughter about 16, with rifle balls through their bodies-the three younger ones, with their brains knocked out with stones, in a field hard by the dwelling-house-supposed to have fled on witnessing the butchery of their mother, &c. Mr. Brown was from home, and on his return, a short time after his family were murdered, was fired at twice from the barn, the last ball taking effect, ranging along the lower jaw and passing through the ear. He was stunned, but did not fall. At the moment of receiving the second fire, he saw a man jump from the barn loft, and make for the woods. This man he believed to be his own son-in-law, by name, Canaughy. On this suspicion, or rather strong belief, Canaughy was arrested, and the testimony taken before the examining and committing magistrate, went to fix guilt strongly upon him. It appears Brown, the father-in-law, owns a farm worth three or four thousand dollars. Canaughy, the morning of the murders, started with his wife for the residence of his mother, some miles distant in the mountains. He had contrived, however, before starting, to procure the return to their father's residence of the son and daughter, who were absent aiding a neighbor, not far distant, in his field labors, by coining a plausible story, so that his motive for the deed might be made fully and effectually available. Had he succeeded in destroying the father-in-law, his (Canaughy's) wife, the only survivor, would have inherited the estate. This was, undoubtedly, the moving cause to the hellish deed. In addition, it was in evidence, he had borrowed his father-in-law's two rifles, and they were found in the barn from whence the murderer fled. Canaughy was arrested, in bed, at his mother's residence the same night. He denies,-but there is little doubt of his guilt. The community, in the neighborhood of this horrible transaction, is greatly excited.

Robert Canaughy suffered the awful penalty of the law at Huntingdon, on the 6th Nov., 1840. He was executed in the jail-yard, a few minutes before 3 o'clock, P. M.

The closing circumstances of his guilty and miserable career were peculiar: down to the hour of his execution, nay to the very moment the drop fell, he stubbornly persisted in asserting his innocence. All hope of his making any acknowledgments was entirely removed by his dogged conduct. He was taken upon the scaffold-every thing adjusted—the moment arrived, the drop fell, and not a word confessed. But the rope broke, and instead of hanging, very much to his astonishment, we suppose, he found himself upon the ground, under the gallows! He thought he was "clear," but the illusion was present with him but a moment. He was immediately taken up on the gallows again; every thing made ready; the drop about to fall, when he begged for "time to talk a little," and proceeded "to make a full and detailed confession of his crimes to the clergyman present, Mr. Brown and Mr. Peebles, who reduced it to writing in his own words, as he made it," and who will cause it to be published for the benefit of his wife and children. His confession, it is said, casts yet deeper and darker shades of cruelty over the bloody affair.

He had scarcely concluded his confession, when the last minute that the execution could be delayed arrived and he was again swung off, and paid his life a forfeiture for his crime !-Sentinel.

INDIANA COUNTY.

INDIANA COUNTY was separated from Westmoreland and Allegheny by the act of 12th March, 1803. Length 33 ms., breadth 23; area 770 sq. miles. Population in 1810, 6,214; in 1820, 8,882; in 1830, 14,252; in

1840, 20,782. This county is situated on the north side of the Conemaugh river, in the second tier of counties west of the Allegheny mountain. Its surface is undulating, like that of most of the western counties, formed as it is by the abrading action of water upon what was originally a vast and uniform inclined plane. Laurel hill touches the southeastern corner of the co. Chestnut ridge passes north and south through it; becoming much depressed, and almost losing its identity as a distinct ridge to the north of Two Lick cr. The region of these mountains is more rough and precipitous than the other portions of the co. The Conemaugh river forms the southern boundary, assuming the name of the Kiskiminetas, at the confluence of the Loyalhanna, just before leaving the co. Black Lick cr., with its branches, Yellow cr. and Two Lick cr., tributaries to the Conemaugh, water the southern end of the co.; the northern is watered by Crooked cr., Plum cr., and two branches of Mahoning cr., tributaries to the Allegheny.

"The lowest known summit in Pennsylvania between the waters of the Atlantic and of the Gulf of Mexico, lies in the northeastern part of Indiana county, at the head of Cushing creek, one of the head springs of the West Branch, and divides that stream from Two Lick, a branch of the Conemaugh. This dividing ground is probably (speaking from recollection without the opportunity of referring to documents) about 500 feet lower than the Allegheny mountain at its most depressed point. To this summit and to another between Sinnemahoning and Clarion river, the hopes of those who expected a complete navigable communication through the state, were principally directed."

The western division of the main line of the Pennsylvania canal passes along the Conemaugh, frequently opening into a series of slackwater pools in the river: nine miles below Blairsville it passes through a tunnel over 1,000 feet long, and emerges upon a magnificent stone aqueduct across the Conemaugh.

To the traveller passing up the canal, the view of the aqueduct, and the western entrance of the tunnel, with the river and the rugged mountains above it, is exceedingly picturesque. Previous to the construction of the canals, the Conemaugh was a rough impetuous stream, of dangerous navigation.

The hills through which the Conemaugh winds its way are filled with mines of coal, iron, and salt. The manufacture of the latter article has been for some years one of the leading branches of industry in the southern end of the co. In the interior, agriculture is the leading business, and on the forks of the Mahoning the lumber trade is vigorously prosecuted. The following is from a traveller's letter, published in Hazard's Register for 1831:

The existence of salt water in this section was indicated by the oozing of water, slightly brackish, through the fissures of the rock. These places are called licks, from the fact of deer and other animals resorting to them, to drink the water and lick the mud or rocks, though the salt is scarcely perceptible to the human taste. Hence, "watching a lick" is a phrase often heard among sportsmen in that part of the country; and it is common to see a kind of scaffold or nest among the branches of a neighboring tree, in which the gunner awaits the approach of the unsuspecting animal to its favorite lick. Many deer are killed in this manner.

About the year 1813, when salt, in consequence of the war, was extravagantly high, an enterprising gentleman (Mr. William Johnston, deceased several years since) determined to perforate the rock, and ascertain whether there was not some valuable fountain from whence all these oozings issued. He commenced operations on the bank of the Conemaugh, near the mouth of

the Loyalhanna, and persevered until he had reached the depth of 450 feet, through various strata of hard rock, when he struck an abundant fountain, strongly impregnated with salt. He immediately proceeded to tubing the perforation to exclude the fresh water, erecting furnaces, pans, and other fixtures, and was soon in the full tide of successful experiment, making about thirty bushels per day, all of which was eagerly purchased at a high price.

Mr. Johnston's success induced many others to embark in the business, most of whom were successful. Very soon the hitherto silent and solitary banks of this river were all bustle, life, and enterprise. Well after well was sunk; competition ran high, and brought the price of the article lower and lower, until it was reduced to one dollar per barrel. This was too low. Some establishments were abandoned, others were carried on amidst every difficulty. However, a reaction, which was naturally to be expected, at last took place; the price was fixed at two dollars per barrel, which afforded a fair profit. The business regained its former spirit, and the quantity manufactured rapidly increased, and is still increasing.

The wells or perforations are from 300 to 600 feet in depth, and about two and a half or three inches in diameter. They are made with a common stone chisel attached to poles. The operation is generally performed by hand, by striking the chisel forcibly upon the bottom. It is a tedious, laborious, and expensive operation, often requiring the labor of two men for more than a year. When water of the required strength and in sufficient quantity is obtained, the well is tubed to exclude the fresh water, and a pump inserted, which formerly was worked by horsepower, but now more commonly by a small steam-engine. The water is first boiled in large square sheet-iron pans, until it attains a strength but little short of crystallization; from these pans it is transferred to large cisterns, in which the sediment is deposited; thence, purified, it is put into large kettles placed in the rear of the pans, in which it soon becomes crystallized without any further attention. I have often watched the curious and beautiful process of crystallization. Spear after spear, of the most delicate structure and fantastic shape, will dart into existence as if by magic; the process becomes more and more rapid every moment; presently it looks confused and muddy, then, almost before he is aware, the spectator finds his eyes fixed upon a kettle

of salt.

Sufficient water is drawn from one well to supply from three to five pans, making from fifteen to twenty barrels of salt daily. About thirty gallons are usually evaporated to every bushel. Coal is exclusively used as the fuel, nature having provided it in exhaustless abundance, and as convenient to the works as could be desired. At many of them it is thrown from the mouth of the pit into schutes, through which it descends by its own gravity to the side of the furnaces. Copperas is manufactured to some extent in Mercer county. On Blacklick creek, in Indiana county, a few miles from Blairsville, there is evidence of an abundant source of this article, though there is no regular manufactory of it.

The most authentic history of the early settlement of Indiana county is the following sketch by R. B. McCabe, Esq., originally published with the signature of Mohulbuckteetam, in the Blairsville Record, in 1833:

The first attempt at making a settlement in the limits of Indiana county, is believed to have been made in the year 1769, in the forks of Conemaugh and Blacklick. The country had been explored in 1766–7, and the explorers were particularly pleased with the spot on which the town of Indiana now stands. It was clear of timber or brush, and clothed in high grass-a sort of prairie. So was what is now called the marsh, near the town on the Blairsville road, though at this time a nearly impervious thicket. When settlers had commenced improvements within a few miles of the town, they cut the grass off the prairie for the support of their cattle in winter. In making their hay they were greatly annoyed by rattlesnakes. Persons are yet living in the neighborhood, who have seen this natural meadow with the hay cut and stacked upon it.

About the year 1771 or 1772, Fergus Moorhead and James Kelly commenced improvements near where the town of Indiana stands. Kelly's cabin stood within the limits that now enclose his son Meek Kelly's orchard. The country around might well be termed a howling wilderness, for it was full of wolves.

So soon as the cabins were finished, each of these adventurers betook himself at night to his castle. One morning Mr. Moorhead paid a visit to his neighbor Kelly, and was surprised to find near his cabin traces of blood and tufts of human hair. Kelly was not to be found. Moorhead, believing him to have been killed by the wolves, was cautiously looking about for his remains, when he discovered him sitting by a spring, washing the blood from his hair.

He had lain down in his cabin at night and fallen asleep; a wolf reached through a crack between the logs, and seized him by the head. This was repeated twice or thrice before he was sufficiently awakened to shift his position. The smallness of the crack and the size of his head prevented the wolf from grasping it so far as to have a secure hold, and that saved his life. Some time after this the two adventurers returned to Franklin county (then Cumberland) for their families. On their return, they were joined by others. Joseph M'Cartney settled near them at an early period.

The privations of such a situation can, in some degree, be measured by the difficulty of obtaining bread-stuffs, and other necessaries of life, of which the following is an example:-Moses Chambers was another early settler. Having served several years on board a British man-of-war, he was qualified for a life of danger and hardship. Moses continued to work on his improvement till he was told one morning that the last johnnycake was at the fire! What was to be done? There was no possibility of a supply short of Conococheague. He caught his horse and made ready. He broke the johnnycake in two pieces, and giving one half to his wife, the partner of his perils and fortunes, he put up the other half in the lappet of his coat with thorns, and turned his horse's head to the east. There were no inns on the road in those days, nor a habitation west of the mountains, save, perhaps, a hut or two at Fort Ligonier. The Kittanning path was used to Ligonier, and from thence the road made by Gen. Forbes' army. Where good pasture could be had for his horse, Moses tarried and baited. To him day was as night, and night as the day. He slept only while his horse was feeding; nor did he give rest to his body nor ease to his mind, until he returned with his sack stored with corn.

How forcibly would the affecting story of the patriarch Jacob apply itself to the condition of families thus circumstanced! "Jacob said to his sons, Why do ye look one upon another?—and he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt; get you down thither, and buy for us from thence, that we may live and not die."

Moses Chambers was not the only one who had to encounter the fatigue and trouble of procuring supplies from Franklin county-all had to do so. Such was the condition of this country, and such the prospects of settlers after the peace of 1763.

A scarcity of provisions was one of the constant dangers of the first settlers, and, to make their case worse, there were no mills, even after they began to raise grain. The first year some Indian corn was planted. It grew, and in the form of "roasting ears" was gladly gathered for food. I can see, “in my mind's eye," the hardy dame, with her homemade apron of "lye color and white" pinned round her waist, stepping cautiously between the rows of corn, selecting the finest, that is to say the best, ears for dinner, ay, and for breakfast and supper too.

When the grains got hard, it made good hommony. Reader, didst ever eat hommony? If thou hast not, one of the good things of this world hath escaped thy notice entirely!

About the year 1773, William Bracken built a mill near where William Clark, Esq., lately resided on Blacklick, which was a great convenience to the settlers. They marked out a path, (they had never heard of railroads, canals, or even turnpikes,) by which they travelled to Bracken's mill. I see one of them before me; his bridle, or rather the bridle of his horse, is of hickory bark, and he rides on a pack-saddle!

About the year 1774, Samuel Moorhead commenced building a mill on Stony Run, where Andrew Dixon's sawmill now stands; but before it was completed, the settlers were driven off by the Indians. They fled to what was then called the Sewickly Settlement. This was called Dunmore's war; by some of the old settlers it was called the civil war, but I don't know why. They lost their cattle and their crops. However, they returned in the fall to their improvements, and Moorhead completed his mill.

The Indians were living on the Allegheny river at this time. They had a town called Hickorytown, another called Mahoning, also Punxatawney, (or Gnat or Mosquitoe-town.) At their leisure-and they contrived to have a good deal-they stole the white men's horses, and showed symptoms of no doubtful character as to their feelings towards their new neighbors.

By this time the disputes between the colonies and the mother country blazed out into war. The war, the most important in its effects that faithful history has ever recorded, reached even the hardy settlers of Indiana.

About 1775 or 6, a regiment or battalion of soldiers was sent to Kittanning to build a fort for the protection of the frontiers. This drove the Indians into open hostility.

Little is known or recorded concerning the adventures of the settlers during the war of the revolution, and the subsequent campaigns of Harmar, St. Clair, and Wayne. It is probable their residence here was precarious and unsettled. Every settler was a soldier, and preferred indeed occasionally the use of the rifle to that of the axe or the plough. John Thompson was one of the very few who remained here. He had erected a blockhouse six miles N. E. of Indiana borough, where he resided throughout all the troubles of the frontier.

After Wayne's treaty in 1795, the settlers again returned to their homes, and resumed the occupations of peace. When old Mr. McLehoe came to the county, about the year 1800, Greensburg, in Westmoreland, was the nearest trading town. At Saltzburg and at Johnstown there were only a few cabins. The county was settled principally by Irish and