ARMSTRONG COUNTY.

ARMSTRONG COUNTY derived its name from Gen. John Armstrong, who commanded the expedition against the Indians at Kittanning, in 1756. The county was taken from Lycoming, Westmoreland, and Allegheny, by the act of 12th March, 1800. In 1802, commissioners were appointed to fix the county seat, and upon their report, in 1804, the present site was laid out; in 1805, the county was fully organized for judicial purposes. James Sloan, James Matthews, and Alexander Walker, were appointed the first commissioners for locating the county seat and organizing the county; but Alexander Walker declined serving. The county has recently been curtailed by the separation of Clarion. Average length, 25 ms.; breadth, 25; area, about 625 sq. miles. The population, in 1800, 2,399; in 1810, 6,143; in 1820, 10,324; in 1830, 17,625; in 1840, 28,365, of which about 9,500 should be deducted, being now in Clarion co. A great portion of the population is of German descent, having emigrated from Northampton and Lehigh counties.

The most important feature in the county is that noble river, the Allegheny, which traverses its entire length. The general features of the Allegheny are peculiar, and in some respects remarkable, particularly as regards its connection with great channels of internal communication in other sections of the country. By means of French creek, and Le Bœuf lake, and Conewango creek, and Chatauque lake, on the northwest, it almost touches Lake Erie; on the northeast it stretches out its long arms towards the Genesee river, in New York, and the west branch of the Susquehanna; on the east, through its branches, the Kiskiminetas and Conemaugh, it is chained by an iron tie over the Allegheny mountains to the sources of the Juniata; while on the south it pours its waters into the Ohio. On all these routes great public improvements have been projected, and on several completed. For the greater part of its course this river flows, not through a broad valley, like most others, but through a great ravine, from 100 to 400 feet below the common level of the adjacent country. From about the middle of Armstrong county, downwards, it is true, there are many fine bodies of alluvial land, (on one of which Kittanning is located,) but from that upwards precipitous hills, for the most part, jut close to the water's edge on both sides of the river. The scenery is in some places wild and rugged, but more generally picturesque and beautiful. The hills, though steep, are clothed with a dense forest, presenting the appearance of a vast verdant wall, washed at its base, on either hand, by the limped water of the river, alternately purling over ripples, or sleeping in deep intervening pools. This regular succession of alternate pebbly ripples and deep pools, is another peculiarity of this river; there are no rocks, strictly so called, in the channel. This circumstance renders the navigation in its natural state very safe at full water; and on this account, also, no river is better adapted for improvement by artificial means. Mineral wealth is scattered along its banks in great profusion. Bituminous coal in exhaustless quantities is found as far up as Franklin; iron ore is also abundant, and limestone

beds frequently alternate with the coal measures. Salt is obtained by boring from 400 to 700 feet.

In addition to the Allegheny, the Kiskiminetas forms the southwestern boundary of the co., with the main line of the Pennsylvania canal along its margin. The other streams are Red Bank, the northern boundary, formerly called Sandy Lick cr., Mahoning, formerly called by the Indians Mohulbucteetam, Pine cr., Crooked cr., and a few smaller streams, all tributary to the Allegheny. Red Bank and Mahoning drain a vast extent of pine lands, and annually bear upon their waters innumerable rafts of lumber. Water power is most abundant.

The soil of the county, though various, averages well: much of it is very good. The whole face of the country, where unimproved, is covered with a very heavy growth of timber of every description known to this section of the Union. As an article of trade, the white pine, which abounds chiefly in the northeastern portion of the county, stands foremost.

Salt-wells are numerous, both along the Allegheny and the Kiskiminetas: there have been in operation between 25 and 30 in the whole county; but many have ceased operations with the change in the times. To obtain a supply of salt water, the earth is perforated to the depth of from 400 to 700 feet. In this operation the auger is driven by steam, horse, or hand power, at a price per foot varying with the depth, from $2 to $3. The fuel used for evaporation is generally coal; and in many cases it may be thrown from the mouth of the mine into the furnace.

There are several iron furnaces in the county, of which the most prominent are the Bear Creek furnace on Bear creek, and the Great Western on the Allegheny, at the mouth of Sugar creek, both in the northwest corner of the county; the Allegheny furnace, near Kittanning, on the west side of the river; and one on the Kiskiminetas.

The Great Western Iron Works is one of the most extensive establishments in Pennsylvania. It was commenced some four or five years since, under the management of Philander Raymond, Esq., in connection with several wealthy gentlemen of New York city. The lands of the company, which before selection were carefully explored by Mr. Raymond, comprise every material and facility for prosecuting the iron business. There are rich deposits of ore, bituminous coal of the finest quality, limestone, forests of timber, water power, and sufficient land for agricultural purposes. The whole process of making the iron is carried on with bituminous coal and coke, in the manner practised in Wales; and although the article resulting from this process possesses some peculiar qualities in working with which our western blacksmiths are not yet familiarized, yet it is growing in favor with them as they learn how to manage it. The company has in operation one or more furnaces, a rolling-mill, nail factory, foundry, store, &c.; and a beautiful busy little village has sprung up around the works, as if by the effect of magic. A large quantity of railroad iron has been made by this establishment.

KITTANNING, the seat of justice, is situated upon a broad flat of alluvial soil, on the left bank* of the Allegheny river, near the centre of the county,

* In the topographical descriptions in this work, the terms right and left bank of a river, in common use among civil and military engineers, are used in preference to north, south, east, or west bank. It is understood when these terms are used, that a person is going down the river. This method defines the position of a town far more correctly than the other;-for instance,

It was formerly the site of an old Indian town of the same name; and a great trail called the Kittanning path went over the mountains to Black Log valley, Standing-stone, (now Huntingdon,) &c. &c., by which the Indians communicated with the Susquehanna country. There was also another Indian town at the mouth of Mohulbucteetam, or Mahoning creek. Kittanning was a prominent point in the northwestern boundary of the last great purchase made by the Proprietary government, in 1768, at Fort Stanwix. The line stretched across from Kittanning to the southwestern source, or "the canoe place," of the West Branch of Susquehanna, thence by that branch to the mouth of Pine creek, &c. The country north and west of the Ohio and Allegheny rivers was purchased by the commonwealth, at Fort Stanwix, in 1784.

The present town was laid out in 1804, and incorporated as a borough in 1821. Four streets run parallel with the river, crossed at right angles by eight others. Population in 1840, 702. It contains the usual county buildings, an academy, a very flourishing female seminary, and Methodist, Presbyterian, and Episcopal churches. The Lutherans and Associate Presbyterians have no edifice of their own, although they worship regularly in the town. Kittanning is said to be very healthy, and the water pure and wholesome.

The place is well situated for manufacturing purposes. The hills which environ the town are rich in coal-one bed of which is 4 1-2 feet thick-and some of them in iron ore: a fine productive country surrounds it. The Allegheny affords ready access to market at all times by keelboats, and often by steam. A turnpike road leads 16 miles west, to Butler, and another 24 miles southeast, to Indiana. The river is crossed here by a ferry-boat driven by the force of the current. It is said to have been invented by Mr. Cunningham, the ferryman of the opposite shore, in 1834; though (as the writer thinks) the plan has long been known to French military engineers, under the name of Pont Volant, or flying

Wheeling, Va., is on the east side of the Ohio; so is Economy, Pa. Yet they are not on the same side; Wheeling being on the left bank, and Economy on the right bank, to a person going down the river.

bridge. About 400 yards above the landing on the west side, a strong wire is attached to a tree on the bank of the river; the other end is attached to the boat by means of stay-ropes, with which it can be brought to any desired angle with the current. By bringing that end of the boat intended to go foremost a little up the stream, it immediately sets off like a thing of life, impelled solely by the oblique action of the water against its side. The trip is performed in about five minutes. The wire is kept out of the water by means of several small boats of peculiar construction, which cross simultaneously with the large boat, like so many goslings swimming with their mother.

The following account of the destruction of the old Indian town of Kittanning, is from the Pennsylvania Gazette of Sept. 23, 1756. Dr. Maesé, in a note in the N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., endorses the accuracy of this statement, which he had compared with the original letter of Col. Armstrong to the governor of Pennsylvania. The letter alluded to is among the archives of the state at Harrisburg, and is said to be very long and minute in detailing the occurrences of the expedition.

Saturday last, (Sept. 1756,) arrived an express from Col. Armstrong, of Cumberland county, with advice that he marched from Fort Shirley on the 30th past, with about 300 of our provin cial forces, on an expedition against Kittanning, a town of our Indian enemies on the Ohio, about 25 miles above Fort Duquesne, (Pittsburg.) On the 3d instant, he joined the advanced party at the Beaver dams, near Frankstown; and on the 7th, in the evening, being within six miles of Kittanning, the scouts discovered a fire in the road, and reported that there were but three, or at most four Indians at it. It was not thought proper to attempt surprising those Indians at that time, lest if one should escape the town might be alarmed; so Lieut. Hogg with twelve men was left to watch them, with orders not to fall upon them till daybreak, and our forces turned out of the path, to pass by their fire without disturbing them. About three in the morning, having been guided by the whooping of the Indian warriors at a dance in the town, they reached the river, 100 perches below the body of the town, near a corn-field, in which a number of the enemy lodged out of their cabins, as it was a warm night. As soon as day appeared and the town could be seen, the attack began in the corn-field, through which our people charged, killing several of the enemy, and entered the town. Captain Jacobs, the chief of the Indians, gave the warwhoop, and defended his house bravely through loop-holes in the logs, and the Indians generally refused quarters which were offered them, declaring they were men and would not be prisoners. Col. Armstrong (who had received a wound in his shoulder by a musket ball) ordered their houses to be set on fire over their heads, which was immediately done. When the Indians were told that they would be burned to death if they did not surrender, one of them replied, "he did not care, as he could kill four or five before he died;" and as the heat approached, some began to sing. Some, however, burst out of their houses, and attempted to reach the river, but were instantly shot down. Capt. Jacobs, in getting out of a window, was shot, as also his squaw, and a lad called the king's son. The Indians had a number of spare arms in their houses, loaded, which went off in quick succession as the fire came to them; and quantities of gunpowder, which had been stored in every house, blew up from time to time, throwing some of their bodies a great height in the air. A body of the enemy on the opposite side of the river fired on our people, and were seen to cross the river at a distance, as if to surround our men: they collected some Indian horses that were near the town to carry off the wounded, and then retreated, without going back to the cornfield to pick up those killed there at the beginning of the action.

Several of the enemy were killed in the river as they attempted to escape by fording it, and it was computed that in all between 30 and 40 were destroyed. Eleven English prisoners were released and brought away, who informed the colonel, that besides the powder, (of which the Indians boasted they had enough for ten years' war with the English,) there was a great quantity of goods burnt, which the French had made them a present of but ten days before. The prisoners also informed, that that very day two batteaux of French Indians were to join Capt. Jacobs, to march and take Fort Shirley; and that 24 warriors had set out before them the preceding evening, which proved to be the party that kindled the fire the night before-for our people returning, found Lieut. Hogg wounded in three places, and learned that he had in the morning at. tacked the supposed party of three or four, at the fire-place, according to orders, but found them too numerous for him. He killed three of them, however, at the first fire, and fought them an hour-when, having lost three of his best men, the rest, as he lay wounded, abandoned him and

fled, the enemy pursuing. Captain Mercer* being wounded in the action, was carried off by his ensign and eleven men, who left the main body, in their return, to take another road. On the whole it is allowed to be the greatest blow the Indians have received since the war began. The conduct of Col. Armstrong in marching so large a body through the enemy's country and coming so close to the town without being discovered, is deservedly admired and applauded—as well as the bravery of both officers and men in the action.

It is proper to observe that the current tradition among the aged men of the town now is, that no one but old Jacobs was burned in the house ; that all the other Indians had gone off. Yet it would seem that Col. Armstrong's official report ought to be true. The site of this house was near where Dr. John Gilpin's now stands; and in excavating his cellar, the bones of old Jacobs were dug up.

Armstrong's men had quite a skirmish with the Indians out at Blanket hill, 5 miles east of Kittanning, the place at which the detachment of 14 remained. A silver medal was presented to Col. Armstrong by the city of Philadelphia, for his conduct in this expedition-a representation of which is given in the memoirs of the Penn. Hist. Society, vol. 2.

After the destruction of the Indian town, the location remained unimproved by white people until near the close of the last century. The land remained in possession of the Armstrong family; and when the establishment of the county was proposed, Dr. Armstrong of Carlisle, a son of the general, made a donation of the site of the town to the county, on condition of receiving one half the proceeds of the sales of lots.

Mr. Robert Brown, still residing near town, and David Reynolds, were among the first who erected dwellings in the place. Mr. Brown came here first in 1798, with several hunters. He first settled on the opposite bank of the river. At that time there were very few settlers in the region. Jeremiah Loughery, an old frontier-man, who had been in Armstrong's expedition, lingered around the place for many years. He had no family, and wandered from house to house, staying all night with people, and repaying their hospitality with anecdotes of his adventures. The early settlers of that day found it necessary to be always prepared for Indian warfare, and for hunting the beasts of the forest: indeed, their character generally throughout the surrounding region, was a mixture of the frontier-man, the hunter, and the agriculturist. Not long after coming here, Mr. Brown remembers attending a military review at which there was neither a coat nor a shoe: all wore hunting shirts, and went barefoot, or wore moccasins.

In the winter of 1837-8, a remarkable gorge occurred in the Allegheny river opposite Kittanning. The ice first gorged about 1 miles above town, and caused considerable alarm. It broke, however, and passed the town freely,-but again gorged below. The water thus checked, instantly fell back upon the town, and deluged the whole flat quite to the base of the hills. Many fears were expressed that the whole town would be swept away. The ferry-boat passed quite up to the high grounds, and all the inhabitants had escaped to the hills. Providentially the gorge broke after about 20 or 30 minutes, and the frightened inhabitants returned with lightened hearts to their homes.

The following biographical sketch is abridged from an article in the Kittanning Gazette of Sept. 1833:

Died, at his residence in this borough, on the 4th inst., in the 89th year of his age, the venerable ROBERT ORR, one of the associate judges of this county. Judge Orr was born in the county of Derry, Ireland, and emigrated to the United States in the year 1766, and from that time until the year 1773, resided east of the mountains, in which year he married a young lady by the name of Culbertson, of respectable family, in the (then) county of Cumberland, (now Mifflin.) In the same year, he settled with his wife at Hannahstown, in Westmoreland co. Immediately on the declaration of Independence, Mr. Orr took a very active part in favor of his adopted country, and as the frontier was at that time unprotected from the excursions, depredations, and cruelties of the savages by any regular force, he was always found foremost in volunteering his services, and in encouraging others to do so.

In the summer of 1781, Gen. Clarke, of Virginia, having determined to make an excursion against the hostile Indians, down the Ohio river, requested Archibald Laughrey to raise in Westmoreland co. 100 volunteers, and on communicating this request to Mr. Orr, he immediately

Believed to be Gen. Mercer of the United States army, who died near Princeton, of the ef fects of the wounds received in the battle at that town in 1777, Jan. 12.