Beers Historical Record
Volume I
Chapter 5
Methods of Transportation, Ancient and Modern
RIVERS AND STREAMS--SURVEYS AND IMPROVEMENTS--DECLINE OF WATER TRANSPORTATION--THE SIX CAPTAINS--THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL--POSTAL FACILITIES--ROADS AND ROAD BUILDING--MODERN METHODS--RAILROADS--A NOTABLE GATHERING--ELECTRIC RAILWAY LINES
The Allegheny river passes nearly north and south through the western part of the county, fed on the east by the Red Bank, Mahoning, Pine, Cowanshannock and Crooked creeks, and the Kiskiminetas river; on the west by Buffalo creek and several large runs. The Allegheny is now the only navigable stream in the county. Red Bank creek forms the northern boundary line, and is so called from the outcropping deposits of red sandstone near its mouth. Mahoning creek, a large and rapid stream, rises in Jefferson county and after flowing through Armstrong fro about forty miles, joins the Allegheny, ten miles above Kittanning. Crooked creek rises in Indiana county, winds its tortuous way through Armstrong and enters the Allegheny six miles below Kittaning. There are many good mill sites on this stream and in the past there were seven large flouring mills on its banks, but in 1913 there were no mills by a dam site in operation except at South Bend, where D. B. and L. A. Townsend operate a large waterpower mill. The Kiskiminetas on the southern boundary line is a beautiful stream of considerable width, with frequent shallows and rapids. On its banks were many salt wells and iron furnaces, and at one time Pennsylvania canal utilized its waters for most its length. Buffalo creek rises in Sugar Creek township, flows southward for twenty miles, supplying several mills on the way, and finally enters the Allegheny one mile below the mouth of the Kiskiminetas. In the county are also Pine, Mill, Licking, Plum, Bear, Catfish and Limestone creeks, and many small runs with appropriate or romantic names. Cowanshannock creek is the most sedate of the streams and bears almost a straight course through the county, emptying into the Allegheny two miles above Kittanning.
KEELBOATS AND RAFTS
Before the invention of steamboats the traffic on the streams was carried on by means of keelboats and barges, propelled by sweeps. Large numbers of rafts were sent down in the flood stages of the rivers and creeks, most of them being of sawed lumber. These were utilized by the pioneers as a method of transportation to the south and west, and many a raft held the entire family, cattle and household goods. Josiah Copley recalled seeing a raft moored to the bank at Freeport that held fully one hundred persons. The travelers were going about their household duties in as unconcerned a manner as if they were on dry land, instead of having ten feet of water under their feet.
From 1835 to 1840 the quantity of lumber floated down he Allegheny exceeded 50,000,000 feet board measure, and the total was over $1,000,000 in value. According to the Western Navigator of Pittsburgh, the quantity of boards and timber floated down the Allegheny in 1811 was 3,000,000 feet, amounting to $27,000, at $9 per thousand. That timber is now worth at least $24 per thousand. In that year keelboats brought to Pittsburgh 16,000 barrels of salt, averaging $8 a barrel, and returned with cargoes of whisky, iron castings, cider, apples, bacon and foreign imported goods.
EARLY IMPROVEMENT OF STREAMS
Those primitive modes of transporting goods from the North and East were obviated by the completion of the Pennsylvania canal, skirting the southern border of this county, in or about 1828. Freeport thereafter became an entrepot for merchandise and other freight from the East, and of considerable quantities from Pittsburgh for the region drained by the Allegheny river.
By act of March 9, 1791, the Kiskiminetas, and by act of March 21, 1798, the Allegheny river and the Sandy Lick or Red Bank creek were declared public highways, the Allegheny to the northern boundary of the State and the Red Bank from its mouth to the second great forks.
An order was issued by the county commissioners, June 22, 1819, to Samuel C. Orr, for $77.68, for his services as a commissioner appointed by act of Assembly to superintend the expenditure of $1,000 appropriated for the improvement of Red Bank, and $200 for the improvement of Toby's creek, now the Clarion river. On the same day an order was issued to Alexander Wilson for $16, and on Sept. 22d to David Lawson for $12, for their services for examining the improvement of the navigation of those two creeks.
STEAMBOATING
From and after 1828 passengers, goods and other freight were transported up and down the Allegheny river in steamboats and barges towed by them during such portions of the year as there was a sufficient stage of water. The increase of various branches of business, resulting from the rapid increase of population along the east and west of that river, and the multiplicity of furnaces for the manufacture of pig iron, caused by a vast deal of transportation by steamboats. The last trip of a steamboat for passengers was made by the "Ida Reese," Capt. Reese Reese, in April, 1868, and the last trip of a keelboat from Pittsburgh to Warren was by the "Yorktown," the next month thereafter. For several years a line of ten steamboats had plied from Pittsburgh to Oil City, but the completion of the Allegheny Valley railroad killed this traffic. Of these the passenger steamers "Bell," Capt. John Russel, "Laclair," Capt. James Kelly, both of Armstrong county, and the "Ida Reese," Capt Isaac Reese, were the principal boats. The largest distributing warehouse on the river was at the mouth of Mahoning, from which point Brookville, Clarion and several furnace towns were supplied with freight. Jeremiah Bonner owned the warehouse.
SURVEYS
By resolutions of Congress, surveys of the Allegheny river were heretofore ordered to be made. One was made, in 1829, under the superintendence of James Kearney, lieutenant-colonel topographical engineers, from Pittsburgh to eleven miles above the mouth of French creek, and another, in the summer and autumn of 1837, under the superintendence of George W. Hughes, United States civil engineer. The maps, charts and plan of the latter, who was required to examine into the practicability of constructing a canal along the valley of the Allegheny river, were unfortunately destroyed by the burning of the building occupied as an office. Nothing was saved but a mutilated portion of the profile, and the journal which was kept by the gentleman charged with the soundings and making an examination of the bed of the stream, so that he was obliged to avail himself of the report of Colonel Kearney's survey, from which are gathered the following:
The Allegheny river, above, the Kiskiminetas, flows generally through a deep, rocky and precipitous ravine. Its bed is formed of a succession of eddies or ponds, with intervening natural dams, having an inclination or slope in the direction of the current, the limits of which, in terms of the altitude and base, may be expressed by the fraction 1/12 and 1/700 nearly. The bottom is mostly of sandstone in place, except upon the ripples or obstructions, where it is usually covered with gravel and stones broken and rounded by attrition. The navigable depth of water on these obstructions does not exceed two feet; and upon some of them there is not more than eighteen inches--a depth which is often confined to a very narrow space; the greater part of the shoals being nearly, and, in some places, quite bare at low water. Following the lines of the survey, which are not always parallel to the axis of the stream, the distance from the mouth of French creek to the Kiskiminetas would be ninety-four and a half miles, nearly, with a descent of the stream of two hundred and sixteen feet; and from the Kiskiminetas to Pittsburgh, twenty-seven miles, with a fall of forty feet.
HIGH WATER
In the middle of July, 1842, the stage of water in the Allegheny was such that its navigable condition was very good, which had been and which has since been an unusual occurrence at that season of the year. The water was so high that rafts of the largest size passed down it to Pittsburgh, and the steamers "Izaak Walton," "Warren," "Ida," "Pulaski," and "Forrest" made trips to points in the upper Allegheny.
The tremendous floods in the Allegheny in 1913 caused the national government to establish "flood relief boats" for this section. Light draft, high speed boats will be stationed at Pittsburgh to be sent in cases of high water to removed imperiled persons and afford prompt relief in cases of hunger and destitution. Complete crews will be held at instant call and all the most improved life saving devices will be kept on board for instant use. Medical men will be summoned for the emergency work, when needed. The great flood of March 1866, was most destructive, when over two hundred barges of oil and several steamers were swept away when the ice broke up.
LATER IMPROVEMENTS
Within the last twenty years the improvement of the Allegheny has consisted of only a few dikes to confine the stream to smaller limits and deepen the channel. Three of these dikes are located in the boundaries of Armstrong county, at Nicholson's island, near the mouth of the Cowanshannock and opposite Watersonville.
The traffic on the river has become practically nothing, the old-time passenger and freight steamers being converted into sand dredges and the flatboats are only seen at Pittsburgh during high stages of water. The last passenger steamer to make the trip between Kittanning and Pittsburgh was the "Nellie Hudson," in 1913, being wrecked in the ice breakup in the spring of this year, Capt. James M. Hudson.
The only business done on the Allegheny now is the dredging of sand and gravel, the business being in the hands of practically one family, the Hudson brothers, who have almost three million dollars invested in dredging machinery and boats. James M. Hudson alone has $80,000 tied up in the stretch of river between Parker and Freeport.
The cradles on the boats operate endless chain bucket dredges, that delve thirty-five feet into the bed of the stream, bringing up the sand and passing it over screens where it is drained of water and loaded into barges alongside. One of these boats can average 500 tons a day. The product is sold to the plate glass works at Ford City, Tarentum and Kittaning and shipped even as far as New York. For grinding glass the sand is unsurpassed, the Kittaning plant using 150 tons a day and the works at Ford City, 250 tons daily.
An interesting and remarkable fact is that the Allegheny river in this county is practically controlled by the Hudson brothers, who are the last remnant of the old guard who are trying to have the stream restored to its pristine popularity. For over sixty years this family of steamboatmen have plied the rivers and piloted its steamers and they have an undying faith in the value of the watercourses of this county. At all times they are ready to champion the cause of river improvement, and they have hopes to realize their ambition of seeing again the procession of craft plying up and down the Allegheny, as in the days of yore. They with most other business men in the valley belong to the Allegheny River Improvement Company, whose slogan is "On to Cairo."
Every one of the six Hudson brothers was born in Westmoreland county, but their homes are in Armstrong and here their life work has been done. Each of the six brothers is either a captain or pilot, holding working certificates now, although the oldest one will be seventy-nine in January of the coming year -- 1914. W. K. Hudson was born Jan. 24, 1835; J. P. Hudson, April 16, 1838; John S. Hudson, Sept. 9, 1844; T. P. Hudson, May 11, 1847; H. P. Hudson, Sept 11, 1849; James M. Hudson, March 16, 1852.
THE PENNSYLVANIA CANAL
The act of the Legislature authorizing the construction of the Pennsylvania canal was passed in 1825 and the work of digging and blasting started in the following year. The length of the canal from Johnstown to the mouth of the Kiskiminetas river was sixty four miles, in which space there were a number of locks. This did not include the different sections of slackwater, one of which extended from Leechburg to below Apollo. This was called the seven-mile level. The distance covered by the canal within the bounds of Armstrong county was twenty-five miles, most of which was along the bank of the Kiskiminetas. At the mouth of that river the canal was carried across the Allegheny by means of a wooden aqueduct, resting on stone piers. Thence the course was through Freeport across Buffalo creek on another aqueduct, and down the Allegheny to Pittsburgh. The water for this thirty-five miles was supplied from the dam at Leechburg, this county, where the boats were locked out of the seven-mile level into this the longest stretch of canal on the entire route.
The stone for the locks and bridge piers was obtained from the quarries near the rivers, and the work of construction was mostly done by Irish immigrants, who finally became settlers and land owners after their labors were ended.
The estimated cost of the canal was: Excavation, embankment, etc. $654,124.93; 368 feet of lockage at $600 per foot, $220,800; 35 bridges at $250, $8,750; 32 miles of fence at $480, $15,360. The total cost is estimated at about one million dollars. The dimensions were: Width at the waterline, 40 feet; width at the bottom, 28 feet; depth, 4 feet. The locks were 15 feet wide and 90 feet long.
After the completion of the Pennsylvania railroad the trade of the canal languished, and in August, 1857, the State sold the entire line of the canal, locks, etc., to the railroad for $7,500,000. That road having thus eliminated its only competitor, allowed the canal to relapse into ruin, using but a small portion of the route for a roadbed. For almost the entire length of the route through this county the canal is not used by the road, although upon that side of the river most of the towns are located.
The locks and dam at Leechburg, built by David Leech, caused a lake to form as far up as Apollo, where boats again entered the canal, the locks being located a short distance below if going east. Going west they entered the canal above Apollo at dam No. 2, both in Armstrong county. The dam at Leechburg was 27 feet high and 574 feet long.
The first boat that passed Leechburg on the canal in 1834, was a packet, built near Saltsburg, probably at Coal Port, which made a fine display, having on board banners and music. About two weeks afterward one of Leech's boats was launched and started for Pittsburgh. She was detained a considerable length of time below Freeport, in consequence of a break in the embankment at the aqueduct. After the water was let into the canal above Leechburg a boat was drawn out of the river into the canal, run up to Johnstown and loaded with fifty tons of blooms. On her return, while passing through the tunnel, says Morris Leech, she was filled with bout three tons of stone and clay. When about one hundred yards below the tunnel, hundreds of tons of earth, etc., fell from the tunnel into the canal, which shut off the water below it, so that the boat did not reach Leechburg until nearly a month afterward.
A FAMOUS RACE
Soon after the breach at the Freeport aqueduct was repaired, a prize of five hundred dollars was offered to the proprietor of the boat that would first arrive at Pittsburgh. Harris and Leech were the contestants. The former's boat was a light packet, and the latter's -- the "General Leacock" -- was a much larger and heavier one. Harris was confident that his smaller and lighter boat would win the prize. On the 1st of July, about four miles above Pittsburgh, Leech's was within a mile of Harris'. The next day Leech's men cut poles, peeled the bark off them and laid them across the canal, in which there was then only six inches of water. By the aid of one hundred men, relays of the poles, five yoke of oxen and ten horses the boat was kept up out of the mud and moved onward. When Leech's horses came abreast of Harris' boat, an extensive and fierce fight between the crews of the two boats began. When Harris discovered that he had to contend with superior numbers, he proposed that he would give up the contest if his contestants would quit fighting and permit his boat to go to the rear. On a signal being given by Leech all fighting cease, and his hundred muddy men plunged into the clear water of the Allegheny and washed. The next day all hands aided with the poles in hauling Harris' boat to the rear and starting her up the canal. On the Fourth of July tables were set in the hold and under canvas on the deck of Leech's boat, on which a sumptuous dinner was served to five hundred persons, including General Leacock, then canal superintendent, who presided, engineers and a large number of Pittsburgh merchants.
The number of freight and passenger boats then built was four, "Pioneer," Captain Monson; "Pennsylvania," Captain Cooper; "De Witt Clinton," Captain Joshua Leech; "General Leacock," Captain Robert King. The cabin for passengers in each was in the center.
DAMAGES
A part of dam No. 1 at Leechburg was swept away July 7, 1831, b a sudden and heavy flood in the Kiskiminetas, causing a cessation of canal navigation for that season. A new lock and dam were located by the engineers about sixty rods below the former ones and within the limits of the town. At the letting the contract was awarded to Thomas Neil, of Tarentum, Pa., for about $16,000. He had scarcely entered upon the performance of his part of the contract when the commissioners turned it into to State job, the cost of which is known to very few persons, if any. From Nov. 10, 1831 and throughout the principal part of the following winter, the weather, most of the time, was very cold, which caused a large accumulation of ice in the river, which broke up Feb. 10, 1832, with a high flood that carried away the lock, the northern abutment of the dam, and did much damage elsewhere. That abutment had to be repaired and a new lock built before navigation could be resumed on the canal.
David Leech, Robert S. Hays, George Black, George W. Harris and William F. Leech, constituting the copartnership of D. Leech & Co., of which David Leech was the traveling agent, subsequently established distinct lines of freight boats and packets, or exclusively passenger boats, which they continued to run until the canal was superseded by the Pennsylvania railroad in 1864.
POSTAL FACILITIES -- OLD AND NEW
There was only one post office in 1818 between Kittaning and Indiana, and the weekly mail was carried by a postboy, who rode horseback the entire distance, stopping at the several homes of the settlers en route. The roads, if it is possible to dignify the routes of those days with that title, were circuitous and only passable to wheeled vehicles in the summer.
Josiah Copley, the mail carrier in 1819, was an apprentice at the printing trade, under James McCahan, proprietor of the American, a weekly published in Indiana. Part of his apprenticeship contract was that he should carry the mail for one-half of the three-year term for McCahan, who had the mail contract. This was an economical arrangement for the contractor, who had his mails carried free, and secured a printer for the same remuneration. Copley had many adventures in his trips through the country, and gained a wide experience which served him well in later years of his life.
The route in 1819 was from Indiana via Greensburg, Freeport, Lawrenceburg (Parker City), to Butler. The people of the vicinity of Red Bank creek also received their mail from Kittanning.
As the years passed the postal routes were extended and the mails were usually carried by the stage coaches. Then came the railroads, with their speed and larger capacity, and the number of post offices increased rapidly as the country was settled more. The number of post offices had reached the greatest height by 1900. After that date the gradual introduction of the rural mail routes caused the abolition of the smaller of the offices, until at this date there are less post offices in the county than in 1880, but the mails are more frequent and regular.
Within the last year the introduction of the long-desired parcel post has worked a revolution in the mail service. Specially built wagons and automobiles pass over the roads daily, delivering letters, packages and the daily papers to the formerly isolated farmers, and in return the farmers ship their produce direct to the city dwellers without delay or damage. What the final result of these wonderful advances of the postal facilities will be, none but a prophet can predict.
POST OFFICES
The post offices in Armstrong county in the year 1913 are: Adrian, Apollo (with four rural routes), Atwood, Brickchurch (one rural route), Chicasaw, Cockran Mills, Cowanshannoc, Cowansville (one route), Craigsville, Dayton (three routes), Dime, Echo (two routes), Edmon, Elderton, Ford City (two routes), Fordcliff, Freeport (two routes), Girty, Johnetta, Kaylor, Kelly Station (two routes), Kittaning (seven routes), Leechburg (three routes), Logansport, Longrun, McGrann, Mahoning (one route), Manorville, Mateer, Mosgrove (two routes), Oak Ridge, Olivet, Parker's Landing (six routes), Pierce, Furnace Run, Queenstown, Rimer (one route), Rosston, Rural Valley (one route), Sagamore, Seminole, South Bend, Spring Church, Templeton, Tidal, Wattersonville, Whitesburg, Widnoon, Worthington (two routes), Yatesboro (one route). Several of these post offices will be abandoned and the patrons served by rural routes at the close of this year, 1913.
EARLY ROADS
At the early settlement of this county there were not any well-made roads. From 1805 till 1810 the court of Quarter Sessions granted orders for opening twenty-five public roads in various sections within the present limits of this county. Yet those who traversed the county as late as 1821 say that most of the roads then afforded very poor facilities for travel and transportation of goods. Most of the traveling was done on foot and horseback, and for lack of bridges the fording of streams was often hazardous.
After the introduction of wheeled vehicles into the county there were some attempts made to build roads, but lack of knowledge prevented any permanent good resulting. The State-aided roads were the Kittanning and Freeport road, in 1824; the Kittanning and Indiana road, in 1835. Other routes were the Butler and Freeport and the Kittanning and Butler turnpikes. All of these roads were "worked" or kept up with the plow and shovel, with occasional stone topping. Some of the turnpikes began to be made about 1815.
Prior to 1810, before the manufacture of iron was begun on the Conemaugh, and salt on the Kiskiminetas, iron was transported from Winchester, Va., and salt from Hagerstown, Md., as well as other goods from the East, on pack-horses, over the Allegheny mountains. After the commencement of the manufacture of salt and iron west of the Allegheny mountains, they were transported to Pittsburgh, in flatboats, down the Conemaugh, Kiskiminetas and Allegheny rivers. After the completion of the turnpike from Pittsburgh to Philadelphia, goods purchased in the latter for this region were left at Blairsville, and distributed thence to their various places of destination. They were generally hauled by six-horse teams in large covered Conestoga wagons, bells being a part of the horses' trappings. An early writer said that he had seen as many as twenty of these teams stop at a country tavern over night. The drivers, each having his own hammock, would lie in every direction in the barroom. Each prided himself on having the best team and hauling the heaviest load. When intoxicated, they would get into broils and scuffles in making good their respective claims to those merits, the resultant blackened eyes being then deemed but trivial circumstances.
As early as 1825 there was a mail stage line from Ebensburg, Cambria Co., Pa., via Indiana, Elderton and Kittanning, to Butler, leaving Ebensburg at 3 o'clock P. M. on Thursday and reaching Butler at 10 o'clock A. M. on the following Saturday. That was considered a very important line, because it opened up a direct communication between the eastern and most western counties of this State, and was then a cheap and expeditious mode of conveyance. The fare from Ebensburg to Butler was $3.75, or six cents a mile for way passengers, and the time between those two points was forty-three hours.
Either before or shortly after 1825 lines of stages were established extending from Freeport via Slate Lick, Worthington, Brady's Bend and Catfish, with a branch from Slate Lick via Kittanning, to Clarion, and another branch from the mouth of Mahoning to Brookville, which were withdrawn after the completion of the Allegheny Valley railroad and its branches.
There were for a while two opposition lines of stages running north from Freeport, and so brisk was the competition that passengers were carried for almost nothing, and in some instances furnished with meals and whiskey gratis.
While the Pennsylvania canal was closed through the winter, and the river was too low for steamboats, stages were the public conveyances for passengers from this region to and from Pittsburgh. While the canal was open they were conveyed by packet-boats from Pittsburgh to Freeport, thence by state--some of the time by a packet-boat towed by horses--to Kittanning and other points, and by packets also to Leechburg, Apollo and other points along the canal, and thence to their respective destinations by private conveyances.
Those who traveled those routes know the rate of speed with which trips used to be made. But for the information of those who use modern methods of rapid transit, it may be appropriate to state, in this connection, that it required about eighteen hours to make a trip by stage and canal from Kittanning to Pittsburgh.
One of the only good roads in the county was made by a few of the citizens of Leechburg and Freeport after the Pennsylvania canal was abandoned. In 1878 they leased the canal from the Pennsylvania railroad for a nominal sum and graded the bed with cinder, thus creating a level and convenient driveway from Leechburg to Freeport, crossing the Allegheny on a ferry.
MODERN ROADS
At present roads are handled in the same slipshod manner as in the early times, except in the case of those roads taken over by the State. Of these latter there are sixteen miles in Armstrong county, twelve of macadam and four of brick construction, now completed. There are 143 miles of road to be treated with concrete and brick surfaces in the future.
In the sixty-seven counties of Pennsylvania there are fifty superintendents of roads for the State. Mr. Charles W. Meals, the official in charge of this district, has all of Armstrong and half of Clarion and part of Butler counties under his control.
From the reports of the constables of the townships in 1913 the following is a condensed review of the condition of the roads of the county: Ten reported the state of the roads as fairly good. Those of South Buffalo, Valley, Wayne and Cowanshannock were said to be poor. Bad roads were reported in Brady's Bend, Gilpin, Burrell, Manor, South Bend and Kiskiminetas. Roads at Manorville, Ford City, Wickboro and Elderton were stated to be dangerous to travel. One original genius, Albert Morrison, from North Buffalo stated that the roads in his section were "neighborly like." Such are the problems that confront the residents of this county in these modern times of autos and good roads.
RESULTS OF BAD ROADS
Pennsylvania built the first really good road noted in the history of the Colonies--the Lancaster Turnpike--and it was just a century ago that the old Cumberland road was being built within the borders of the State. Pennsylvania was always to the fore in facilities for transportation, roads, canals and railroads, but latterly the people of the State have seemed to rely on its previous achievements in this respect. When New Jersey, in 1891, established State aid in the building of highways, Pennsylvanians thought it a good thing--for New Jersey. When Massachusetts inaugurated a system of State roads in 1894, Pennsylvanians congratulated that State on a step which would perhaps reduce the number of abandoned farms, which at that time had become a menace. As other States fell in line, with State aid or State road laws, Pennsylvanians continued to plod through the mud, maintaining a sympathy for those States where the physical conditions required that public money be expended on the public highways.
In 1903 Pennsylvania awoke. A law was enacted creating a State Highway Department, and granting aid to counties and townships for the purpose of improving the highways. Under this law and a number of amendments, many local roads have been improved in nearly every county in the State. Then the revolution came. The automobile, originally a fad of the rich, emerged from its chrysalis. Over night the whole scheme of transportation of persons and goods was changed, and the developments from the change are still continuing.
A study of the subject disclosed the fact that the ill-kept conditions of our roads was responsible for many of the ills to which the people were subject. While the original inspiration for this study was probably due to the automobilists, the study itself proceeded along economic lines, the interests of the whole people being taken into consideration.
A newspaper investigation conducted three years ago in Pennsylvania, showed that there were seven thousand abandoned farms in our State. They were the farms where it had proved impossible to pay the bad road tax of $1.41 on the products. When the roads are improved, and this excess of cost of marketing is eliminated, these abandoned farms will again become productive: the land will become of substantial value and both the local community and the State at large will profit.
The State has already taken over the roads, and it is necessary for the State Highway Department to improve them. The only method by which this can be properly accomplished is by so amending the constitution that from time to time bonds may be issued to pay the cost of such construction. It can never be done so long as Legislature appropriations must be depended upon.
MODERN REMEDIES
The whole American public agrees that we need better roads; the farmers' Granges are in favor of better roads; farmers themselves know that a good road in front of their property increases its value; and all who ride in carriages, wagons or automobiles are aware of the value of good roads. So it isn't necessary to tell the people of this country that we need good roads--they are already convinced of that fact. But they want to know how to get them and at the same time not burden themselves with future debts that will hang like a sword over the heads of their children. Bond issues are suggested and not many months past the people were permitted to express themselves on the bond question. In that election the will of the people was strongly thrown against a bond issue that seemed to be supported by the most enterprising and prominent citizens of the State of Pennsylvania. But the issue was not so much as to whether a bond issue was necessary but as to whether those who offered this method of road building were sincere in their offers of help, or merely desired to get their hands into the pockets of the farmer. The farmers, to a large extent, seemed to lean to the latter view.
However, it is universally accepted by those who have the building of roads at heart that the bond issue is the real remedy. The matter becomes one of economics. Can we make and maintain good roads under the bond plan and be better off financially than in the past? Under the old plan of letting each community pay for its own roads the prosperous portions of the county had good roads and kept them up with economy, while the poorer portions were compelled to do without, or at best suffer from incompetent and misdirected labors of local workmen. Under the State-aid plan fifty per cent of the work is paid for by the State commission, and the balance is made up by the county, all sums being raised by taxation.
But the bond issue goes further. By means of this method all of the road tax is applied to the work direct, and the proportion is adjusted in such a manner that those who can afford to pay for good roads are automatically compelled to assist those in less fortunate situations.
KINDS OF ROADS
Now about the roads themselves. Conditions alter the methods of road building in each community. Let us see what they are in this county. Here we have three classes of vehicles to contend with--the farm wagon, with sharp, narrow tires and heavy loads; the automobile, with soft tires and high speed; and the traction engine, with wide tires and great weight.
First, the farm wagon. Here we find that a road must be made of firm, hard surface, but at the same time of sufficient surface roughness to give grip to the shoes of the horses. The sharp calks of the horses and the narrow tires of the wagons soon cut into a soft surface. For this class of traffic, the most successful road is the stone or macadam one.
Second comes the automobile, which is growing in use year by year. For this vehicle a road is needed that has a slightly rough surface, but the material must be bound together by a tar or other binder, in order to prevent the violent suction from tearing the road to pieces.
Third, the heavy traction engine requires a deep, hard road, with a very substantial foundation. Traction engines are really road improvers, as they help to compact the road surface and counteract the injury done by the autos.
Lastly, let us look upon the class of materials offered by the local conditions of Armstrong county. We have stone of three kinds, sandstone, and two kinds of limestone. We must reject the sandstone, owing to its soft and disintegrating character. And the two limestones are not much better, even though used in the form of concrete mixtures. They are too soft and liable to turn to dust after continual use. Time has proved the truth of these statements by the evidence of the present so-called roads which have been the receptacles of funds for many generations, just as a deep well would be--there is no evidence to show of the money spent in the past.
But nature has not left Armstrong entirely destitute of good road material. Man needs but add his labor to the great mass of clays--firebrick, or vitrified brick--is the ideal road surface. It will withstand the cutting action of the wagon tire and toe-calk, the suction of the autos and the great weight of the traction engine. And the supply of raw material is almost inexhaustible, while the price compares favorably with the best of other materials. Undoubtedly, the future roads of the county will be of brick, with a tar binder and a deep concrete base.
THE AUTOMOBILE
Ten years ago the automobile was the rich man's toy, and there were less than 30,000 of them in the United States. To-day there are about 80,000 in the State of Pennsylvania alone.
To-day the motor vehicle enters into every phase of commercial and industrial life as well as the various social factors in human existence. The doctor who presides at a birth or is called in an emergency which might often mean life or death, gets there on time in his motor car, which too often was not the case with the horse. When a marriage ceremony takes place they must have automobiles and at funerals the motor hearse and motor carriages are coming more and more in use every day. In all the necessities for a vehicle of any kind the motor vehicle is becoming paramount. The business man of one town or village with his automobile can drive a distance of fifty miles or so in the morning, transact his business during the middle of the day and drive home with less effort than would be required to drive twelve or fifteen miles with a team. The merchant makes his round of customers in the country and the doctor visits his patients in one quarter of the time previously consumed. The farmer can drive ten miles to town for needed supplies, almost before breakfast, while with a team and bad roads a large portion if not all the day would be required. The auto trucks enable merchants to greatly extend their zones of delivery and to make their deliveries promptly and under all weather conditions, while under the old system there were few who went beyond the boundaries of the cities or villages. The fact that there are1,100,000 automobiles and trucks now in use in the Unites States as against 30,000 ten years ago, and that 350,000 more are being built this year and that most of these are put to every possible kind of use, and that their daily area of travel is about ten times that of a horse, indicates to every person who thinks that to the traffic of ten years ago has been added a new traffic ten times as great.
It is not that the new traffic has taken the place of the old. It has in the main been added to it. Many roads that were traversed by 100 teams a day ten years ago are now traversed by 100 teams and 1,000 motor vehicles. It is the new travel that has created the revolution in transportation and the revolution has only commenced. New vehicles are constantly being devised and placed on the roads to add to the convenience of the public, and these call for more and better highway construction.
Motor trucks carrying from eight to twelve tons are already common and roads must be built to sustain their weight. Motor omnibus lines are springing up all over the country, and even trolley cars that run on the roads without rails are in use in some localities, particularly in the State of New York.
RAILROADS IN ARMSTRONG COUNTY
By act of April 4, 1837, when the late Gov.. Wm. F. Johnston was representing this county in the lower house of our State Legislature, a charter was granted for constructing the Pittsburgh, Kittanning and Warren railroad. Various supplements were afterward passed, by one of which the name was changed, as suggested by Josiah Copley, to the Allegheny Valley railroad. Nothing was done toward making the road until about fifteen years after the granting of the original charter, when Mr. Johnston, the first president of the board of managers, and other earnest and energetic friends of the project, began to utilize the power and privileges conferred by that charter, and succeeded in raising a sufficient amount of stock to build it as far as Kittanning, to which point it was completed in January, 1856, which was its northern terminus for about eleven years, when the late William Phillips became the leading energetic spirit in prosecuting its extension to Brady's Bend, and thence to Oil City, and in leasing other roads above, until in 1880 the company controlled lines to Brockton, N. Y., and other points on the Philadelphia & Erie. The Bennett's branch, or "Low Grade" division of this road, was built in 1874, from the mouth of Red Bank creek to Driftwood.
The Northwestern Pennsylvania road was chartered in 1853, to run from Blairsville to Freeport, but after some construction had been done it failed. It was bought by the Western Pennsylvania railroad in 1859, work was resumed in 1863, and in 1864 the first train run as far as Kiski Junction. The following year trains ran into Allegheny, and in 1871 the Butler branch was built and operated.
The Parker and Karns City narrow gauge road was chartered in 1872 and operated in 1874. It was consolidated in 1881 with the Pittsburgh & Western, became financially embarrassed in 1879, and in 1882 leased to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company. It was make standard gauge in 1887.
The Pine Creek & Dayton road, narrow gauge, was built in 1869 to carry ore to the Pine Creek furnace. In 1899 the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh road built their line through the county, using part of the old roadbed of the Pine Creek road. A line of the B., R. & P. was also surveyed through Apollo to Pittsburgh, but not utilized in any way. The Rural Valley R. R. is a branch of this road, from Echo to Rural Valley.
The first telegraph lines in the county were erected along the line of the Allegheny Valley road in 1863. Later they were absorbed by the Western Union.
The Pennsylvania Railroad Company began the operation of the Allegheny Valley road under lease, Aug. 1, 1900, and on April 7, 1910, acquired possession of the entire line. The mileage of the Pennsylvania in the county is 34.38 miles of main track, of which 29.68 miles is double track. The company proposes to complete the double tracking of the entire line through the county and to change the alignment wherever necessary. One of the improvements under way is the great Kennerdell tunnel through the hill at Brady's Bend, which will be completed in 1916.
Since the company took charge of the road they have built new stations at Johnetta, Templeton and Kittanning, and erected modern steel bridges over the Kiskiminetas river, Red Bank and Mahoning creeks. They have also added 29.68 miles of secondary track in the county.
There are an average of seven northbound and seven southbound passenger trains through Kittanning daily, and four northbound and four southbound passenger trains through to Pittsburgh and Kittanning every day. The average number of freight trains running through Kittanning every twenty-four hours is twenty-eight, and the number of employees of the road in the county is almost one hundred. This is certainly a very economical and creditable report for the chief railroad in this part of the State.
At present there are 200 miles of steam railroad through and adjoining this county. Of this the Allegheny Valley division of the Pennsylvania has 60 miles; the Conemaugh division, 23 miles; the Low Grade division, 25 miles; the Butler branch, 8 miles; the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh, 33 miles; the Pittsburgh, Shawmut & Northern, 30 miles; the Bessemer & Lake Erie's branch from Brady's Bend, 6 miles; the Baltimore and Ohio, 4 miles. The Buffalo and Susquehanna road enters the county for about one mile on the eastern border, the terminal station being Sagamore. These roads are not all strictly in the county, but run in some instances along the borders, so that the people of Armstrong are dependent upon them for transportation, and the stations are connected with the towns by bridges over the several separating rivers.
Numerous projected surveys have been run through the county in various portions, for roads of the Buffalo & Susquehanna, Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Pittsburgh, Shawmut & Northern roads.
PITTSBURGH, SHAWMUT & NORTHERN RAILROAD
One of the most important events in the history of Armstrong during the last twenty-five years occurred during the year that this history was compiled and the writer had opportunity to view the beginning of the life of a railroad financed partly by Armstrong county capital and catering largely to Armstrong county people. This was the Pittsburgh, Shawmut & Northern railroad, which connects together with iron bands the people of Kittanning and Brookville.
The road was organized in 1905 and construction commenced in 1906. The first train left Kittanning on Monday, Oct. 20, 1913, with forty-one passengers. The first ticket was purchased by James Millville, one of the officials of the American Bridge Company, who were the contractors for the beautiful bridge across the Allegheny at Mahoning creek. J. W. Williams was the engineer and D. H. Croyle conductor. J. F. Carpenter, depot agent, sold the first ticket. Dr. C. E. Keeler of Elderton received the first package of freight that came over the new road.
The length of the road through Armstrong county is thirty miles, and the stations on the line are McWilliams, Eddyville, Fort Pitt, Putneyville, Oakland, Seminole, Caldwell, Tidal, Chickasaw, Mahoning, West Mosgrove, Furnace Run and Kittanning. The route is through East Franklin, Washington, Madison, Mahoning and Red Bank townships, following closely the west bank of the Allegheny and the Mahoning creek banks on both sides. It does not cling so closely to the Mahoning as the "Low Grade" division of the Pennsylvania does to the Red Bank, but crosses the former at two places in Madison township, avoiding the severe bends of that stream by two bridges and two tunnels. The route on the Mahoning is wonderfully picturesque, that stream having as yet escaped the vandal touch of the noisy but necessary rolling mill, the clear waters flowing undefiled through a valley of great scenic beauty.
On the night of Oct. 23, 1913, a banquet was given at Kittanning by a number of the representative citizens of Armstrong County to the officials of the road at the home of Hose Company No. 1, at which many addresses were made, a most historic and interesting one being that of J. D. Daugherty, a prominent attorney of Kittanning. The historic significance of this gathering will be better realized by those who in future years peruse these pages and see how far the expectations of these 1913 pioneers are realized. For the benefit of future historians and as a record of a few of the leading men of this enterprise and their supporters, is appended a list of the participants in this banquet.
Officials of the railroad and allied corporations--F. S. Smith, receiver; F. B. Lincoln, assistant receiver; Dwight C. Morgan, vice president and general manager; W. S. Hastings, auditor and treasurer; S. A. Vanderveer, assistant treasurer; John T. Armstrong, purchasing agent; C. L. McIntyre, claim agent; W. W. Henshey, chief engineer; H. R. Downs and D. H. Martin, assistant engineers; N. L. Strong, solicitor; G. H. Jones, R. E. Ball, W. R. Craig, James H. Corbett, E. A. Corbett, Chas. P. Morgan, C. A. Marshall, M. C. Aubrey, James T. Ganson, Stanley Cobham, J. N. Henderson, C. J. Best, P. J. Burford, J. V. Carpenter, G. K. Russell, J. S. Porter, C. S. Ferne, J. B. Strong, F. A. Schmidt, C. W. Pryor, Arnold Hurst, Arthur White, Thomas Hall, C. P. Bailey, J. R. Herbert, J. I. Downs, G. E. Doverspike, F. D. King, William Atkins, H. C. Watson, F. E. Clawson, Dr. B. J. Longwell, Dr. L. Z. Hays, Dr. T. R. Hilliard, Dr. W. B. Adams, E. W. Tait, J. C. Barnett, H. H. Gardiner, E. J. McLaughlin, J. T. Odell, F. S. Hammond, John L. Smith, J. D. Weaver, H. S. Wilgus, J. C. Smith, J. P. Creagh, M. L. Gahr, R. L. Barrett, C. L. Lathrop, B. C. Mulhearn, W. R. Craig, W. W. Morrison, Fred Norman, R. P. Mellinger.
Representative men of Armstrong County--Robert Allen, Dr. J. E. Ambler, James Amet, Joseph Apple, Benjamin L. Arnold, Harry A. Arnold, Henry Bauer, C. N. Bayne, R. C. Beatty, L. E. Biehl, Dr. W. J. Bierer, Fred E. Blaney, Harry P. Boarts, S. F. Booher, John Borger, Dr. Albert E. Bower, M. L. Bowser, W. A. Bowser, William F. Brodhead, W. P. Brown, Andrew Brymer, Hon. Joseph Buffington, judge U. S. court, Joseph Buffington, Orr Buffington, George H. Burns, Henry Bernd, P. P. Burford, I. T. Campbell, A. H. Chandler, H. M. Claypoole, J. S. Claypool, Blair Coggon, Charles Colwell, Henry C. Colwell, Henry Colwell, John P. Colwell, R. C. Conner, Leo Conner, William Copley, Daniel H. Core, James Coughlin, Jr., John Crossett, L. H. Croyle, R. A. Crum, J. P. Culbertson, Fred C. Dailey, J. D. Daugherty, William B. Daugherty, C. H. Davis, Ivan D. Doverspike, J. R. Einstein, Harry Ellermeyer, William Ellermeyer, Paul T. Evans, William Fecther, W. N. Ferguson, George B. Fleming, K. G. Fleming, C. E. Foster, F. M. Foster, John A. Fox, Frank M. Fries, Daniel G. Fry, Chambers Frick, J. M. Gable, H. G. Gates, Harry R. Gault, J. A. Gault, A. L. George, J. E. Geiger, Hon. J. Frank Graff, Peter Graff, Abe Greenbaum, M. J. Glenn, A. S. Gruskin, A. E. Handcock, C. E. Harrington, P. L. Heaphy, Harry A. Heilman, H. H. Heilman, Neale Heilman, Tyson Heilman, Wm. M. Heilman, Hon. D. B. Heiner, Hon. W. G. Heiner, W. C. Heidersdorf, Harry Hefferin, H. B. Henderson, Miram Hill, Harry E. Himes, B. S. Henry, E. S. Hutchison, P. C. Hutchison, Rev. J. W. Hutchison, W. W. Irwin, A. L. Ivory, M. S. Jack, W. H. Jack, Dr. C. J. Jessop, Dr. S. A. S. Jessop, F. C. Jones, S. L. Kaufman, J. B. Kennerdell, R. E. Kennerdell, C. C. King, E. M. King, Hon. J. W. King, E. E. Kinter, Dr. J. K. Kiser, F. S. Knoble, Charles Kwal, E. B. Latshaw, C. K. Leard, Paul Libarakis, James Linnon, W. A. Louden, H. G. Luker, R. T. Lytle, Blaine Mast, A. M. Mateer, M. J. Maxwell, Charles Meals, Frank Means, Harry W. Miller, Burt Milson, W. B. Meredith, Charles J. Moesta, Henry Moesta, Dr. F. C. Monks, D. H. Montgomery, H. E. Montgomery, William Moore, R. W. Moorhead, C. O. Morris, S. H. McCain, W. P. McCartey, E. E. McCoy, L. E. McConnell, A. W. McClister, Harry D. McClure, J. C. McGregor, James McCullough, Jr., Dr. T. N. McKee, Paul L. KcKendrick, Hon Geo. W. McNees, H. L. McNees, S. G. McNees, F. H. McNutt, Frank C. Neale, Valentine Neubert, L. H. Nevins, W. A. Nicholson, C. T. N. Painter, James M. Painter, Hon. John H. Painter, H. L. Patterson, George Peecook, W. L. Peart, Roy W. Pollock, E. G. Procious, John Pryor, J. O. Ralston, George W. Reese, C. L. Reeder, Ferdinand Reisgen, W. E. Reisgen, Fritz Reitler, Harry Reynolds, S. H. Richardson, John W. Rhodes, E. E. Ritchey, Dr. Russell Rudolph, John A. Rupp, Howard Sargent, E. E. Schaeffer, D. L. Schaeffer, Tillman Scheeren, K. B. Schotte, W. H. Schuyler, H. H. Schweitering, H. G. Semple, John W. Shadle, Henry Shaffer, J. M. Shankle, A. L. Sheridan, Roland B. Simpson, S. A. Smith, W. S. Snyder, Fred B. Stage, Dr. J. M. Steim, R. A. Steim, R. D. Steim, Charles Stenger, H. H. Streiber, W. J. Sturgeon, George G. Titzell, Charles A. Utley, Joseph Walbert, Hay Walker, Charles Watterson, Charles Weylman, H. H. Weylman, Douglas White, John Wick, Jr., B. L. Willard, George W. Wilson, O. N. Wilson, R. D. Wray, Charles A. Wolfe, Dr. E. H. Wright, Dr. Jay B. F. Wyant.
ELECTRIC RAILWAYS
Armstrong county is supplied with but one electric road, but it is possible that soon other lines will cross the county, as fast as the many advantages are brought to the notice of the capitalists. The road is in two sections, located in the northern and southern ends of the county.
The Kittanning and Ford City Street Railway Company was organized in 1898 with F. A. Moesta, president, John T. Crawford, secretary, and James McCullough, Jr., treasurer. They, with J. A. Gault and John F. Heilman, constituted the directors.
The first trial trip after the completion of the road was made on July 3, 1899, and the regular operation of the line began in August of that year. The line through Ford City was built in 1903, and the extension to Lenape Park in 1904. In 1907-08 the line was extended north through Wickboro to Cowanshannock creek. The length of this line is 10 3/4 miles.
The Leechburg & Apollo Electric Railway Company was organized in 1902 with the following officials: John Q. Cochran, president; S. M. Jackson, treasurer; S. M. Nelson, John P. Klingensmith, Dr. J. D. Orr, Edward Hill, J. W. Crosby, James B. Kifer, directors. The road was opened for traffic in 1902. In 1905 the company name was changed to the Pittsburgh and Allegheny Valley Railway, most of the officers being retained in the reorganization. It was sold to the West Penn Traction Company in 1911. This line runs from Leechburg to Apollo, passing through Gilpin, Parks and part of Kiskiminetas townships, a distance of eight miles, part of the line being along the towpath of the old Pennsylvania canal.
A portion of the construction was under different charters, Kittanning and Leechburg Street Railways Company, Kittanning and Ford City Street Railways Company and the Kittanning & Mosgrove Street Railways Company. These companies were afterwards merged under the name of the Kittanning & Leechburg Railways Company in the year of 1904.
The officers and directors were F. A. Moesta, president; James McCullough, Jr., secretary and treasurer; John A. Fox, Charles J. Moesta and Henry E. Moesta, directors.
This property was sold to the West Penn Traction Company Nov. 1, 1911. In this sale was included the Kittanning Electric Light Company, which supplies light and power in Kittanning, Wickboro, Applewold and Manorville.
The power house of the Kittanning line is located at Garrett's Run, and has an installation for emergency purposes of 2,400 horsepower. The current, however, is supplied from the West Penn plant at Connellsville, one of the greatest in the world, by means of high power lines that run across the county through Leechburg and into Westmoreland county. The power houses at Garrett's Run and Leechburg are only kept ready in case of breakdowns. The amount of current that can be supplied is unlimited.
Surveys and considerable detail work have been done between the temini of the line at Lenape Park and Leechburg, with the possibility of the completion of this line at some future date. Extensions are also contemplated from the northern terminus at Cowanshannock to Mosgrove.
RAILROADS IN ARMSTRONG COUNTY
By act of April 4, 1837, when the late Gov.. Wm. F. Johnston was representing this county in the lower house of our State Legislature, a charter was granted for constructing the Pittsburgh, Kittanning and Warren railroad. Various supplements were afterward passed, by one of which the name was changed, as suggested by Josiah Copley, to the Allegheny Valley railroad. Nothing was done toward making the road until about fifteen years after the granting of the original charter, when Mr. Johnston, the first president of the board of managers, and other earnest and energetic friends of the project, began to utilize the power and privileges conferred by that charter, and succeeded in raising a sufficient amount of stock to build it as far as Kittanning, to which point it was completed in January, 1856, which was its northern terminus for about eleven years, when the late William Phillips became the leading energetic spirit in prosecuting its extension to Brady's Bend, and thence to Oil City, and in leasing other roads above, until in 1880 the company controlled lines to Brockton, N. Y., and other points on the Philadelphia & Erie. The Bennett's branch, or "Low Grade" division of this road, was built in 1874, from the mouth of Red Bank creek to Driftwood.
The Northwestern Pennsylvania road was chartered in 1853, to run from Blairsville to Freeport, but after some construction had been done it failed. It was bought by the Western Pennsylvania railroad in 1859, work was resumed in 1863, and in 1864 the first train run as far as Kiski Junction. The following year trains ran into Allegheny, and in 1871 the Butler branch was built and operated.
The Parker and Karns City narrow gauge road was chartered in 1872 and operated in 1874. It was consolidated in 1881 with the Pittsburgh & Western, became financially embarrassed in 1879, and in 1882 leased to the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Company. It was make standard gauge in 1887.
The Pine Creek & Dayton road, narrow gauge, was built in 1869 to carry ore to the Pine Creek furnace. In 1899 the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh road built their line through the county, using part of the old roadbed of the Pine Creek road. A line of the B., R. & P. was also surveyed through Apollo to Pittsburgh, but not utilized in any way. The Rural Valley R. R. is a branch of this road, from Echo to Rural Valley.
The first telegraph lines in the county were erected along the line of the Allegheny Valley road in 1863. Later they were absorbed by the Western Union.
The Pennsylvania Railroad Company began the operation of the Allegheny Valley road under lease, Aug. 1, 1900, and on April 7, 1910, acquired possession of the entire line. The mileage of the Pennsylvania in the county is 34.38 miles of main track, of which 29.68 miles is double track. The company proposes to complete the double tracking of the entire line through the county and to change the alignment wherever necessary. One of the improvements under way is the great Kennerdell tunnel through the hill at Brady's Bend, which will be completed in 1916.
Since the company took charge of the road they have built new stations at Johnetta, Templeton and Kittanning, and erected modern steel bridges over the Kiskiminetas river, Red Bank and Mahoning creeks. They have also added 29.68 miles of secondary track in the county.
There are an average of seven northbound and seven southbound passenger trains through Kittanning daily, and four northbound and four southbound passenger trains through to Pittsburgh and Kittanning every day. The average number of freight trains running through Kittanning every twenty-four hours is twenty-eight, and the number of employees of the road in the county is almost one hundred. This is certainly a very economical and creditable report for the chief railroad in this part of the State.
At present there are 200 miles of steam railroad through and adjoining this county. Of this the Allegheny Valley division of the Pennsylvania has 60 miles; the Conemaugh division, 23 miles; the Low Grade division, 25 miles; the Butler branch, 8 miles; the Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh, 33 miles; the Pittsburgh, Shawmut & Northern, 30 miles; the Bessemer & Lake Erie's branch from Brady's Bend, 6 miles; the Baltimore and Ohio, 4 miles. The Buffalo and Susquehanna road enters the county for about one mile on the eastern border, the terminal station being Sagamore. These roads are not all strictly in the county, but run in some instances along the borders, so that the people of Armstrong are dependent upon them for transportation, and the stations are connected with the towns by bridges over the several separating rivers.
Numerous projected surveys have been run through the county in various portions, for roads of the Buffalo & Susquehanna, Buffalo, Rochester & Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and Pittsburgh, Shawmut & Northern roads.
Source: Page(s) 28-46, Armstrong County, Pa., Her People, Past and Present, J. H. Beers & Co., 19114.
Transcribed 1998 by Cynthia G. Hartman and James R. Hindman for the Armstrong County Smith Project.
Contributed by Cynthia G. Hartman and James R. Hindman for use by the Armstrong County Genealogy Project (http://www.pa-roots.com/armstrong/)
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