German emigrants, and is now possessed by their descendants, a majority of whom are from the former source. That the inhabitants are religiously and morally disposed, may be inferred from the fact, that in 1830 there was a church in the county for every 650 souls.

INDIANA, the county seat, was laid out in 1805, upon a tract of 250 acres granted for that purpose by George Clymer. It is a pleasant, neatly built town, containing the usual county buildings, an academy, Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran or "Zion," and Seceder churches, and about 80 or 100 dwellings. The public buildings, and many of the stores and dwell

ings, are of brick or stone. The turnpike from Kittanning to Ebensburg passes through the town. Population in 1840, 674. The place has been much improved within the last few years. It is said there are some traces of an ancient aboriginal fortification about three miles S. W. of the town.

BLAIRSVILLE is situated on the right bank of the Conemaugh, immediately below the mouth of Blacklick cr., and on the northern turnpike, 40 miles from Pittsburg, and 14 from the county seat. It was laid out about the year 1819, and was named in honor of John Blair, Esq., of Blair's gap, then president of the Hollidaysburg and Pittsburg Turnpike Company. The town site originally belonged to Mr. Campbell. The construction of the turnpike fostered the growth of the town, and a large hotel was erected to accommodate the travel. In 1821 the noble bridge was thrown across the river by the turnpike co. It is of one span, 295 feet between the abutments, and is built on the Wernwag plan, similar to the one which was burnt down at Fairmount a few years since. In March, 1825, the town was incorporated as a borough; and in 1827 the population was ascertained to be 500. From this period to 1834 were the palmy days of Blairsville. In 1828 the western 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 turn

pike. This gave great importance to Blairsville as a depot, and the place was full of bustle and prosperity. 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. 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 Blairsville 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. A very considerable quantity of agricultural products are sold here, the surrounding country being very productive. Quite a number of houses are largely engaged in the pork business. The town is improving with a gradual and healthy growth. Population in 1840, 990. The citizens of this place are said to be, without disparagement to other towns, remarkably intelligent and hospitable. There are now five churches in the place-Presbyterian, Episcopal, Lutheran, Methodist, and Catholic. A daily line of stages passes through on the turnpike.

SALTZBURG is a small village on the Conemaugh river and canal, in the S. W. corner of the co., 10 miles from Blairsville, and 17 from the county seat. It derives its name from the many salt works in the vicinity. It contains some 30 or 40 dwellings, stores, taverns, and a Presbyterian church. Population in 1840, 335. The settlements around this place were among the earliest in the county. (See preceding extract relating to the salt manufacture.)

ARMAGH is a small village 13 miles east of Blairsville, on the turnpike to Ebensburg, near the western base of Laurel hill. Its location is elevated and healthy. There is a Presbyterian church in the village, and Methodist, Baptist, and Seceder churches in the vicinity. The hotels, of which there are two, are excellent.

Armagh is quite an old village, originally settled by Irish, who gave it its Irish name. It is two miles from this place to the canal landing, at a small hamlet called NINEVEH.

JEFFERSON COUNTY.

JEFFERSON COUNTY was taken from Lycoming by the act of 26th March, 1804, but was at first attached to Westmoreland for judicial purposes, and afterwards to Indiana co. The first commissioners were not appointed until 1824. Length 46 miles, breadth 26; area 1,203 sq. miles. Population in 1810, 161; in 1820, 561; in 1830, 2,025; in 1840, 7,253.

There are no mountains in the county, but the surface is hilly, particularly near the large streams, which flow through deep and precipitous valleys. On the summits between the large rivers the land is more gently undulating. The soil, on an average, is second-rate, with occasional bottoms of first-rate land along the streams. The rocks pertain to the series of coal measures lying on the outskirts of the Pittsburg coal basin. Coal is found among the hills near Brookville, and in other places. Iron ore is also found. The co. is still but partially improved. Several causes have operated to check its improvement as rapidly as its resources would justify. The lumber business having chiefly occupied the attention of the citizens, the more steady and sure business of farming has been neglected. The reaction in commercial affairs of 1840-'42, promises to correct this evil.

Large bodies of land in the best locations are still held by rich proprietors at a distance, who will neither improve their lands nor sell them at a fair price to those who will. This casts the burden of public expenses, and the labor of making roads, upon the few who have improved their lands. Wild land sells at from $1 to $3 per acre.

For many years after its establishment this county was little better than a hunting-ground for whites and Indians. The first commissioners were not appointed until 1824. They were Andrew Barnett, John Lucas, and John W. Jenks-and first met at Port Barnett. In 1825 the only townships were Pine creek and Perry. The following sketch of the first white settlement within the county was principally derived from Andrew Barnett, jr., Esq. :

Old Mr. Joseph Barnett was the patriarch of Jefferson co. He had done service on the West Branch under Gen. Potter during the revolution; and also under the state against the Wyoming boys. After the war he settled in Lycoming co., at the mouth of Pine creek; and very probably might have been one of the Fair-play boys; at any rate, he lost his property by the operation of the common law, which superseded the jurisdiction of fair play. Again, in 1797, he penetrated the wilderness of the Upper Susquehanna by the Chinklacamoose path, and passing the head lands between the Susquehanna and the Allegheny, arrived on the waters of Red-bank, then called Sandy Lick creek. He had purchased lands here of Timothy Pickering & Co. He first erected a saw-mill at Port Barnett, where Andrew Barnett, jr., now resides, at the mouth of Mill cr., about two miles east of Brookville. His companions on this expedition were his brother Andrew Barnett, and his brother-in-law, Samuel Scott. Nine Seneca Indians, of Cornplanter's tribe, assisted him to raise his mill. Leaving his brothers to look after the new structure, he returned to his family in Lycoming, intending to bring them out. But Scott soon followed him with the melancholy news of the death of his brother Andrew, who was buried by the friendly Indians and Scott in the flat opposite the present tavern. This news discouraged him for a while; but in 1799 he removed his family out, accompanied again by Mr. Scott. They sawed lumber and rafted it down to Pittsburg, where it brought in those days $25 per thousand. The usual adventures and privations of frontier life attended their residence. The nearest mill was on Black Lick creek, in Indiana co. Mr. Barnett knew nothing of the wilderness south of him, and was obliged to give an Indian $4 to pilot him to Westmoreland. The nearest house on the path eastward was Paul Clover's, (grandfather of Gen. Clover,) 33 miles distant on the Susque

hanna, where Curwensville now stands; westward, Fort Venango was distant 45 miles. These points were the only resting places for the travellers through that unbroken wilderness.

The Senecas of Cornplanter's tribe were friendly and peaceable neighbors, and often extended their excursions into these waters, where they encamped two or three in a squad, and hunted deer and bears; taking the hams and skins in the spring to Pittsburg. Their rafts were constructed of dry poles, upon which they piled up their meat and skins in the form of a haystack, took them to Pittsburg, and exchanged them for trinkets, blankets, calicoes, weapons, &c. They were always friendly, sober, and rather fond of making money. During the war of 1812 the settlers were apprehensive that an unfortunate turn of the war upon the lakes might bring an irruption of savages upon the frontier, through the Seneca nation.

Old Capt. Hunt, a Muncy Indian, had his camp for some years on Red-bank, near where is now the southwestern corner of Brookville. He got his living by hunting, and enjoyed the results in drinking whiskey, of which he was inordinately fond. One year he killed 78 bearsthey were plenty then-the skins might be worth about $3 each, nearly all of which he expended for his favorite beverage.

Samuel Scott resided here until 1810, when, having scraped together, by hunting and lumbering, about $2,000, he went down to the Miami river and bought a section of fine land, which made him rich.

year

John, William, and Jacob Bassbinder, a family from New Jersey, came in and settled on Mill cr., three miles northeast of Barnett, about the 1802 or 1803. John Matson, sen., came in 1805 or 1806. Between the years 1830 and 1840, a number of German families came into the lower part of the county, and settled near Red Bank cr.

The impulse given to the lumber-trade, by the speculations in the state of Maine, was not without its influence upon remote sections of the Union. The keen sagacity of the Yankees discovered that there were vast bodies of pine-lands lying around the sources of the Allegheny river, not appreciated at their full value by the few pioneers who lived among them. The Yankees had learned to estimate the value of pine-land by the tree and by the log: the Pennsylvanians still reckoned it by the acre. Somewhere between 1830 and 1837, individuals and companies from New England and New York purchased considerable bodies of land on the head-waters of Red Bank and Clarion rivers, from the Holland Land Co., and other large landholders. They proceeded to erect saw-mills, and to drive the lumber-trade after the most approved method. The little leaven thus introduced caused quite a fermentation among the lumbermen and landholders of the county. More lands changed owners; new waterprivileges were improved; capital was introduced from abroad; and during the spring-floods every creek and river resounded with the preparation of rafts, and the lively shouts of the lumbermen as they shot their rafts over the swift chutes of the mill-dams. The population of the county was trebled in ten years.

BROOKVILLE, the county seat, is situated on the Waterford and Susquehanna turnpike, 44 miles east of Franklin, and immediately at the head of Red Bank cr., which is here formed by the confluence of three branches. The town was laid out by the county commissioners in 1830: the lots were sold in June of that year, at from $30 to $300 per lot, and the erection of houses commenced soon after. The place now contains about 50 or 60 dwellings and stores, a large brick courthouse and public offices, and a Presbyterian church. The town is watered by hydrants, supplied by a copious spring in the hill on the north. The scenery around this town would be fine, were it not that all the hills, except on the north side, are still clothed by the original forest of pines, being held by distant proprietors, who neither sell nor improve. Population in 1840, 276. The great state road, called the Olean road, between Kittanning and Olean,

passes through the county, about seven miles west of Brookville. North of the turnpike, however, this road has been suffered to be closed by windfalls, and is not now used. In the annexed view, taken at the west end of the village, part of the Presbyterian church is seen in the foreground on the left, and the courthouse in the distance.

A road leads from Brookville to RIDGEWAY, a settlement of New England and New York people, made some years since on the Little Mill cr. branch of Clarion river, in the northeastern corner of the county. It took its name from Jacob Ridgeway, of Philadelphia, who owned large tracts of land in this vicinity.

PUNXATAWNY is a small village with 15 or 20 dwellings, on a branch of Mahoning cr., about 18 miles southeast from Brookville.

BROCKWAY is a small settlement on Little Toby's cr., at the crossing of the road between Brookville and Ridgeway.

SOMERVILLE, or TROY, is a small cluster of houses on the right bank of Red Bank, seven miles below Brookville. Not far from this place is a Seceders' church, one of the first built in the county.

JUNIATA COUNTY.

JUNIATA COUNTY was separated from Mifflin by the act of 2d March, 1831. Average length about 40 m., breadth 9; area 360 sq. m. Population in 1840, 11,080. The county comprises that portion of Mifflin which lay S. E. of Black Log and Shade mountains, and has for its southeastern boundary the lofty barrier of Tuscarora mountain, which takes the name of Turkey mountain east of the Juniata. These mountains enclose, S. W. of the Juniata, the beautiful and fertile valley of Tuscarora cr., composed of undulating hills of slate and limestone; and on the N. E. of the Juniata smaller valleys of similar formation. Black Log val