Clearfield County Area History: History of Pennsylvania - Chapter on Clearfield County
Contributed by:
Ellis Michaels, <ellisrn@earthlink.net>, Jan 2011
Copyright 2011. All rights reserved.
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Title Page
BI-CENTENNIAL EDITION.
HISTORY OF THE
COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA,
CIVIL, POLITICAL, AND MILITARY,
FROM ITS EARLIEST SETTLEMENT TO THE PRESENT TIME.
INCLUDING
Historical Descriptions
OF
EACH COUNTY IN THE STATE,
THEIR TOWNS, AND INDUSTRIAL RESOURCES.
BY
WILLIAM H. EGLE, M.D., M.A.,
Memeber of the Historical Society, Pennsylvania
THIRD EDITION, REVISED AND CORRECTED.
PHILADELPHIA:
E. M. GARDNER.
1883.
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CLEARFIELD COUNTY.
BY WILLIAM D. BIGLER, CLEARFIELD.
CLEARFIELD COUNTY was brought into existence by an act of the General Assembly of Pennsylvania passed the 20th of March, 1804. The same act provided also for the erection of Jefferson, M'Kean, Potter, Tioga, and Cambria counties. Clearfield was formed out of the counties of Huntingdon and Lycoming, and its boundaries were set forth in the law which created it as follows: " Beginning where the line dividing Canan and Brodhead's district strikes the West Branch of the Susquehanna river, thence north along said district line until a due west course from thence will strike the southeast corner of M'Kean county, thence west along the southern boundary of M'Kean county to the line of Jefferson county, thence southerly along the line of Jefferson county to where Hunter's district line crosses Sandy Lick creek, thence south along the district line to the Canoe Place on the Susquehanna river, thence an easterly course to the southwest corner of Centre county on the heads of Moshannon creek, thence down the Moshannon creek the several courses thereof to the month, thence down the West Branch of the Susquehanna river to the beginning." A portion of the territory included in the above boundaries was taken in 1848 to form a part of Elk county, and a small portion in 1808 was annexed to Jefferson and Elk counties.
[image]
View of the Borough of Clearfiedl
(From a Photograph by J. K. Bottorf.)
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By authority of this law, Governor M'Kean appointed Roland Curtin, James Fleming, and James Smith, commissioners, who, after receiving several proposals for the location of the county seat, finally selected, in the year 1805, for that purpose, a tract of land belonging to Abraham Witmer, being the site of the old Indian town of Chincklacamoose, and the site of the present town of Clearfield.
It was not for some time after its creation that Clearfield county was regularly organized and assumed absolute management of its own internal affairs. The commissioners of Centre county, by virtue of a legislative enactment of March 14, 1805, took charge of the infant county, and exercised a provisional authority over it from that time until 1812, when Clearfield county selected its first board of commissioners, to wit Robert Maxwell, Hugh Jordan, and Samuel Fulton, who at their first session appointed Arthur Bell, Sr., county treasurer. The connection between the two counties for judicial purposes continued until the 29th of January, 1822, when the Legislature passed a law "organizing Clearfield county for judicial purposes, and empowering her to elect county officers." From the adoption of this law dates the complete organization of the county.
Clearfield county occupies a central position in the State, and is situate on the west side or rather behind the main ridge of the Allegheny mountains, on the sources of the West Branch of the Susquehanna river. The surface is generally hilly and broken—in some parts mountainous, with occasional level plateaus as you approach the heads of the streams. There are no continuous mountain ranges which can be distinctly traced, but a succession of ridges and hills, irregular in outline and deeply indented by small streams, which indicate the close proximity of a mountain range. There is considerable flat land along the larger streams. The river, more particularly in the southern and central portion of the county, is bordered with a valley of rich bottom land, which spreads out at times to considerable width. But following the course of the river through the north-eastern part of the county, the country assumes a bolder aspect—the valleys and bottom land gradually narrow, in places disappear, and high, rugged hills, from whose summits are opened long vistas of beautiful mountain scenery, hem the river on either side.
The entire county is traversed from the southwest to the northeast by the West Branch of the Susquehanna river, which takes its rise in the adjoining county of Indiana. The upper West Branch is a beautiful mountain stream, and while there is a prevailing sameness in the general outline of its scenery, yet it exhibits an interesting variety in its tortuous course, alternately sweeping toward the middle of narrow valleys and back again to hug the base of gently sloping ridges or steep, forest-crowned hills—at times a gently flowing current. and again a torrent of waters rustling in wild tumult through narrow and rocky channels. It is also a useful stream, being the great outlet for the material wealth of the county ; and every year, when swollen by freshets, it is a scene of life and activity, and its bosom is freighted with the valuable crafts of the sturdy lumberman, on his way to the markets in the eastern part of the State. Cush, Chest, Anderson, Clearfield, and Moshannon creeks, and Bennet's Branch of the Sinnemahoning, are its principal tributaries in the county, and partake of
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the characteristics of the main stream, both in topographical feature and scenery.
The line of water shed, which separates the streams of the Atlantic from those which flow into the Gulf of Mexico, passes through the western end of the county, and within a few rods of each other. Within the limits of the county are springs whose water form a part of this widely diverging drainage. In the one ease they traverse a distance of over two thousand miles, watering twelve States, in the other they reach the same tide water line, in a distance of three hundred miles.
Territorially, Clearfield is one of the largest counties in the State. Its length is forty-five miles, and its average breadth thirty-two miles; its area one thousand four hundred and forty square miles, and embracing in its boundaries over eight hundred thousand acres of land.
The soil is generally fertile, but varies s great deal with the surface of the county. The valleys and the bottom lands along the banks of the streams are rich and productive. The soil on the higher lands is naturally thin, but yields good crops, and by careful husbandry will compare favorably with some of the recognized agricultural districts in the State. There are occasional strata of limestone of good fertilizing qualities to be found throughout the county. Whilst its agricultural resources are naturally good, Clearfield county has suffered a great deal from poor farming. The original fertility of the soil in many cases was exhausted, and lands being plenty and cheap, it was found to be more profitable to clear new fields than to bring back old onto to a proper state of cultivation, and thus in many Clearfield farms the eye is pained with the sight of large fields of abandoned soil, with scarce a blade of grass to hide the naked earth. It is only within the last few years that the subject of agriculture has received the attention in this county which its importance demands. Lumbering has always been the principal industry, a more attractive industry than farming, because it has been more profitable, and affords more variety in its pursuit; and in the early spring, or, in local parlance, in rafting time, the season most essential to the interest of the agriculturist, the farm was neglected for a " trip down the river." This neglect, with the consequent bad results, has been the authority for the familiar remark that the " soil is poor, and farming don't pay here." But the rapidity with which the pine forests are disappearing before the axe of the lumberman, and the early prospect of their complete exhaustion, and also the recent stagnation or rather prostration of the lumber interest throughout the State, has compelled many of the citizens to turn their attention to some other occupation as a means of subsistence and profit. This has given a strong impetus to the cause of agriculture, and of late there has been an uplifting of the business of farming from a condition where neither knowledge or skill were used to the higher plane it occupies elsewhere. Recent efforts have demonstrated not only the natural capacity of the soil, but what is an essential element to the prosperity of an agricultural people, its capability to produce an amount equal to and in excess of home consumption. Hitherto Clearfield exported lumber to bring back flour and grain, and thus was dependent upon her neighbors for her daily bread; but the day is not distant when her hills and valleys will blossom as the rose, through the efforts of the skilled husbandman, who has recognized
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farming as a science and an art, and not a thing of chance, and whose return for his labors are proportioned to his advancement by careful study and experiment in the knowledge of his occupation.
Its pine trees have been the county's great source of wealth. Before the advent of the settler this county was a vast wilderness of pine and hemlock—plenteously intermingled with many varieties of hard wood, such as oak, maple, beech, birch, poplar, etc. To the early settler the value of the pine was unknown, because there had not yet been any markets established for that commodity on the river below, and on account of its bulk was most troublesome to dispose of in clearing up the land. Hence he was wont to take its life by girdling it with his axe, and leave it stand; and in different parts of the' county can be seen many fields covered with those dead standing pines—mute monuments of man's wastefulness.
The first trade of the county was in bituminous coal. This was engaged in as early as 1810, and carried on for many years. The coal was loaded in arks, which were built to contain from one thousand two hundred to one thousand five hundred bushels; and when the freshets came these arks were run down the river to the larger towns, and the coal disposed of at prices ranging from twelve to twenty-five cents per bushel. The building of dams on the Susquehanna put an end to this trade, as the schutes in these dams interfered with the success for navigation of these primitive vessels—the least mishap sending them and their cargoes to the bottom of the river.
It was not until the year 1837 that lumbering in square timber was carried on as a business, nor with any degree of success until about the year 1842, and the prices even then (four to six cents per cubic foot) would not be considered very remunerative now, when the same quality of timber brings in the market from fifteen to twenty cents per cubic foot. But the wants of the lumberman of those early days were few, his expenses small, and smaller profits satisfied him than would satisfy the operator now-a-days.
But with occasional reverses the business rapidly grew, until it has become one of the most important industries in the State. There are different processes by which the business of lumbering is carried on—one of the principal modes is by felling the trees generally during the fall and winter season, hewing them, i. e., squaring them up on all sides with axes made for the purpose—hauling them on sleds to the river and larger creeks ; and then when the freshets come in the spring, they are rolled into the stream and fastened together, generally enough sticks to make five to eight thousand cubic feet, with a semblance of regularity and neatness, by lash poles of hickory or white oak couplings. Large oars or sweeps are put at either end. When completed this is called a raft, and being provided with a crew of hands, in charge of a pilot, is started down the river to market. The current is the propelling power, and the oars are used to keep the craft from striking the shore or staving on the numerous rocks and obstructions in the channel- Mishap sometimes overtakes the unskillful navigator, and then the "trip" is attended with a great deal of hard work, and occasionally with risk to life and limb. The occupation of a raftsman has just enough of excitement and danger in it to make it attractive, and begun in boyhood is generally adhered to through life.
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Another process was to "raft and run" the manufactured lumber. This branch of the business was carried on extensively for many years, and there were at one time, within the county, no less than four hundred saw mills—principally small water mills with an average capacity each of sawing one hundred thousand feet per annum. The establishment of large booms at Lock Haven and Williamsport has revolutionized this branch of the business, and board rafts on the West Branch are almost a thing of the past. These booms are located at points on the river where there are good facilities for shipping lumber by railroad and canal to the markets all over the country, and it was found more profitable to "drive" the loose logs from the heads of the stream into these booms, and manufacture them there, than to manufacture them at home and send the lumber in rafts to the uncertain markets on the river. The advent of railroads to Clearfield county within the last few years has been gradually working a second revolution in this business. Large steam saw mills are being erected along the lines of the new railroads, and if the pine forests would hold out, not many years would elapse before the most of her lumber would again be manufactured within the limits of the county.
To show the rapidity of the growth of this lumber trade and its importance now, it is estimated that during the year 1840 the amount of lumber rafts out of the county would not exceed one hundred and fifty rafts, or seven million five hundred thousand feet board measure. For the last twelve years, from 1862 to 1874, the amount inclusive of both the logging and square timber will equal two hundred and forty million feet annually. There has been, in addition, within the same period, an average annual shipment by railroad of twenty to forty million feet of manufactured lumber. A reasonable valuation on this lumber exhibits an annual trade to the county of over two millions of dollars. It also exhibits another fact, and a warnful one to the lumberman—that the end of this large white pine lumber trade is not far distant. These noble forests are fast disappearing before the axe of the woodman, and at the present rate of operating another decade of years will witness their entire exhaustion. What will Clearfield have to depend on when her pine trees are all gone? Where will her capital find investment, and her surplus labor employment? That question has been already answered. In addition to the steady development of her agricultural resources, since the year 1862, a new industry has been growing up which will in theist period overshadow her lumber trade. Clearfield county lies in the centre of the largest bituminous coal basin in the State. An idea of its extent may be gathered from the following brief sketch made by one who has given the subject much attention.
The full depth of the coal strata is yet unknown, but there is no difficulty in tracing its lateral bearings in any direction. The numerous tracts of land extending to the head of the Moshannon, and those embracing the vast region between Moshannon creek and Tyrone and Clearfield railroad, cover a coal region of about one hundred square miles, which is only the undisturbed part of the coal territory lying in Centre county. Trout run, Bear run, and Wilson run course through this part of Centre county, and the ravines in which they flow afford splendid openings for striking the heavy coal beds that crop out along the hillsides.
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Westward of the Moshannon, the coal extends throughout the regions coursed by Beaver run, Whiteside run, Muddy run, Clearfield creek and its numerous tributaries, Chest creek, and Susquehanna river, embracing an area of nine hundred or one thousand miles. Following southward into Cambria county, the continuation of the coal region covers an additional area of about three hundred square cites; and if we take in Jefferson and Indiana counties we have a coal territory embracing the greater part of five counties, with Clearfield as the great central basin, the whole covering an area of about five thousand square miles. In some places there are not less than twelve seams of coal, and these will average at least four feet in thickness. The vein worked in this region is six feet from top to bottom, while many other veins measure only three feet, but over on Clearfield creek, at the mouth of Beaver Dam branch, fifty feet below water level, a seam of coal was found, which measures fourteen feet in thickness, and there is no doubt this same body of coal underlies the whole extent of our coal territory.
Bennett's Branch extension of the Allegheny Valley railroad, or what is familiarly known as the low grade railroad, which was recently completed, passes through the northern and western ends of the county, and has opened up and brought into market the bituminous coal lands of the famous Reynoldsville basin.
The Tyrone and Clearfield railroad, a branch of the Pennsylvania, enters the county at its south-east corner, and is extended more than half way through it. This is the outlet for the coal of the Moshannon basin. From this main branch numerous smaller branches and lateral roads are building and extending every year, and penetrating this vast coal field in many different directions.
The first coal shipped from this region was from the Powelton colliery in the year 1861. Now there are in the Moshannon region twenty-five large collieries, employing over three thousand men, and with an aggregate daily capacity of twelve thousand tons. The total amount of coal now annually shipped from the county is not less than two millions of tons. This coal has become a great favorite in the eastern markets, and for steam generating purposes is preferred to other varieties of bituminous coal.
The coal trade of Clearfield county is only in the infancy of its development, yet its rapid growth in the short time of its existence, the many superior qualities of the coal, the extended area of its basin, warrant the prediction that it is destined to be, in the not far off future, the largest and most active bituminous coal trade in the world.
Fire clay is also among the valuable resources of Clearfield county. It abounds in great quantities all through this bituminous region. It has been subjected to the most severe tests, and found to be in all respects equal to the celebrated Scotch day, or the Mount Savage clay of western Maryland. There are three large establishments in the county, one at Clearfield town, and the other two within five miles, at Woodland, with a total capacity of thirty thousand brick per day, engaged in the manufacture of fire brick, and also some forms of terracotta ware. These brick have established for themselves a good reputation, not only among the iron men of Pennsylvania, but find a ready market as far west as Chicago and St. Louis.
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Iron ore is also found in considerable quantity throughout the county, but not in veins of sufficient size or richness to attract capital from other localities, in a State that is so famous for the abundance and superiority of that precious metal. In 1814, Peter Karthaus, a native of Hamburg, Germany, but afterwards a resident merchant of Baltimore, a man of large means and energies, with great eccentricities of character, established a furnace at the mouth of the Little Moshannon or Mosquito creek, in the lower end of the county. It was a stupendous undertaking, and called forth more than the ordinary attributes of human sagacity and skill to build up iron works in an almost unbroken wilderness, so far from market, and with few facilities for transportation. But Karthaus possessed all these qualities, and made his works a partial success for several years. They afterwards, about the years 1833-6, passed into the hands of different owners, who carried them on until the year 1840, when they succumbed to the fluctuations of the times, the disadvantages of distance of market, and the cost of transporting their products. Within a few years a railroad has penetrated to a short distance from Karthaus, and projected branches into these lands have already been surveyed. Capital has found its way back after a long absence, and in a brief period of time the clank of the forge-hammer, and the busy hum of industry may soon again be heard where it has been silent for over a quarter of a century.
The territory now included in the limits of Clearfield county was, until the close of the last century, an unbroken and almost unexplored wilderness, visited only by venturesome hunter and the surveyor. It was the undisturbed habitation of the bear, the wolf, the panther, the moose, and the deer.
The colonial struggles for liberty had been over many years, our nationality had been achieved, and America had a place in the family of nations, and her people had gradually settled down to the arts of peace long before the white man had penetrated these wilds to build himself a home, and therefore the early settlement of this county was not attended with those stirring scenes and tragic incidents of border warfare which marked the early history of the white settlement in the valleys of the lower West Branch. The Indian was still here, but he had already succumbed to his inevitable destiny, and was peacefully receding before the onward march of civilization. Although their slumbers were not broken by the war whoop of the savage, nor their families live in hourly dread of his tomahawk and scalping-knife, yet these hardy pioneers exhibited the same stern and unbending heroism in strifes where no world could look in upon and applaud, in unceasing daily toil, a courage and self-devotion in hand-to-hand struggle with hardship and want as would have made them heroes on fields of war. With few exceptions, they have long since passed away ; but many of them lived long enough to reap some reward for their early trials and sufferings in the enjoyment of the local honors of their fellows, and the material comforts of life which their labors had gathered around them. Ogden, Leonard, Bell, Reed, Kyler, Bloom, McCracken, Ferguson, Fulton, Irwin, are historic names in the annals of Clearfield county, and although the achievements and fame of these pioneer settlers may not have crossed the mountains which surround their former homes, and the story of their lives go unrecited to the world outside, family tradition will long preserve the record of their ancestral deeds.
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CLEARFIELD, the county seat, was laid out in 1805 by the commissioners appointed by the Governor to make selection of a site for a county seat for Clearfield county. It was incorporated into a borough by an act of the Legislature, approved 21st April, 1840. Its location is one of great natural beauty, on the bank of the river, and embosomed in an amphitheatre formed by surrounding hills, from whose summits a fine panoramic view can be had of the town and the narrow valley which borders the river for several miles. It is located on the site of the old Indian town of Chinklacamoose, and the openings or clearings made by the Indians, which the first settlers found upon their arrival here, gave the name of Clearfield to the town and county. The town derives its importance from its connexion with the lumber trade of the county, it being the residence of many of those who were the pioneers of the timber business, and are still prominently engaged in that pursuit. Its public buildings, the court house and jail, are both new structures, modern in their styles of architecture, and of a size and capacity to meet the growing wants of the county for many years to come. It contains six churches—Presbyterian, Methodist, Catholic, Episcopal, Baptist, and Lutheran. The two first named are fine large edifices, models of architectural skill, and a credit to the enterprise and liberality of the community that erected them. It contains one of the finest public school buildings in the central part of the State, the result of the munificence of one of its citizens, Judge James T. Leonard, who donated the ground and erected and furnished the building at an expense of not less than twenty-five thousand dollars. Judge Leonard is the oldest inhabitant of the town, and one of a few still living of the early settlers of the county, having come here with his father in 1803, when he was only three years old. He endured all the privations and hardships incident to the life of a pioneer in the wilderness, when the means of subsistence were only obtained by unceasing toil. By his never-failing industry and prudent management, he has made his life a success, and for many years has been at the head of the business of the county.
The present population of Clearfield is something over two thousand. The Tyrone and Clearfield railway passes through the town. It presents an appearance of neatness and comfort in its wide and finely shaded streets, its numerous spacious and tasty homes, and its business and manufacturing establishments, all indicative of the enterprise and thrift of its citizens.
CURWENSVILLE, named after John Curwen, of Montgomery county, upon whose land the town was laid out. It was made a borough by an act of the Legislature, approved 3d February, 1832. It is pleasantly situated on high rolling ground, near the confluence of Anderson creek with the West Branch of the Susquehanna. It is noted for its many handsome private residences, its numerous business establishments, and the enterprise and public spirit of its citizens. Curwensville is the present terminus of the Tyrone and Clearfield railway. Since the advent of the railroad the town has been making marked strides in the increase of population and growth of its trade. It has many natural advantages in its location. Surrounded by a large and prosperous agricultural district, and possessed of ample water power for manufacturing purposes in its adjoining stream, these, with the business activity and spirit of improvement which animate her people, warrant the belief that the town will never stand still.
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OSCEOLA was laid out by a company of capitalists from Centre county, in the year 1859. It was located in the centre of a vast pine and hemlock forest, all of which covered immense deposits of bituminous coal. The Tyrone and Clearfield railroad was completed to this point in 1862, and since that time the growth of the town has been rapid and substantial. Thirteen large lumber manufactories were erected and in operation in and about the town within a circuit of a few miles, the largest of which was that of the Moshannon land and lumber company, with a capacity of sawing seventy-five thousand feet of lumber per day, and in its arrangements and improvements one of the finest mills in the United States. The development of the coal trade, soon after the arrival of the railroad, gave additional impetus to the town, and caused its rapid expansion. The Moshannon Branch railroad, projected in 1864, which penetrates the coal basin in different directions, connects with the parent road at this point. The town was made into a borough in 1864. In 1875 its population had increased to two thousand. Many tasteful and costly dwellings and large and substantial business houses had been erected. The valuable resources of this region had attracted capital from all parts of the country. Its future was bright and promising until the 20th May, 1875, when the town was almost entirely destroyed by the. Fifteen hundred people were made homeless, and the result of years of toil and industry was swept out of existence in a few brief hours. Discouraging as the prospect was, the pluck and enterprise of the citizens soon came to the surface, and while still a smoking ruin, the scene of the conflagration was dotted over with the rude shanties and tents of those determined to commence the battle of life anew. Not a year has elapsed since the fire, and although it has been a year of unusual depression of the industries in which her people are largely engaged, Osceola has come up phoenix-like from its ashes. The din of the hammer and saw has been unceasing day and night. More than two hundred buildings have been erected in that short time. Scarce a vestige of the great fire remains, and the scenes and the incidents of that day already belong to the historic past.
HOUTZDALE was laid out in the year 1870 by G. N. Brisbin, on land of Dr. Houtz. It is located six miles west of Osceola, on the Moshannon Branch railroad. It was incorporated into a borough in 1871, and has a present population in the town and neighborhood of three thousand. Houtzdale is like some of those famous western towns that spring into existence already incorporated, and spread out faster than the woodman can fell the forest in advance of them. It is an outgrowth of the coal development of this region; is surrounded on all sides by collieries, which secures a large trade and business activity to the town. Although one of the youngest towns in the county, it is rapidly coining to the front in size and importance.
NEW WASHINGTON is a thriving little town, situate in the southern part of the county, and was incorporated by the Legislature on the 13th of April, 1859. It is in the midst of a rich agricultural region, and only needs the advent of a rail road to rouse its latent energies.
LUMBER CITY is situated on the river, six miles above Curwensville, and derives its name from its connection with the lumber trade of the county. It was made a borough in 1857. It is a busy place in the spring of the year, during the freshets in the river, being the head of navigation for full-length rafts.
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WALLACETON was laid out in 1868, and incorporated in 1873. Its population is about two hundred. It is on the line of the Tyrone and Clearfield railway. Is the seat of a large steam saw mill, and is a point of shipment for considerable manufactured lumber, railroad ties, etc.
BURNSIDE borough was incorporated in the year 1874. It is in the extreme south-western part of the county. Is located on the bank of the river, and her citizens are largely interested in lumbering. It is an enterprising town, and is in the full tide of expectancy for a railroad outlet for her valuable material resources.
FRENCHVILLE, in Covington township, is a large and flourishing French settlement, which was commenced in 1832. It is composed of over two hundred industrious and thrifty families. Its pioneers were from Normandy and Picardy, and the location of a French colony in the then wilderness of the Upper Susquehanna was brought about by the failure of a Philadelphia banker having a large indebtedness in France. M. Zavron, a wealthy French creditor, got possession of these lands, and through the assistance of John Keating, his agent, established a colony of his countrymen.
GLEN HOPE, in Beccaria township, is an enterprising town, situate on the head-waters of Clearfield creek. It is within the limits of the Clearfield bituminous coal basin, and is on the line of proposed railroad extensions.
GRAHAMTON, in Graham township, both named in honor of H.. James B. Graham, the largest landholder in the township, and for many years a resident therein. Mr. Graham came to the county in 1822. He commenced life without any means, but possessed of a willing heart and an energy that could master any difficulty, he has, by a life of well directed industry, secured not only competency, but the respect and esteem of his fellows, and his name is always found at the head of every enterprise, public and charitable.
GRAMPION HILLS, in Penn township, includes one of the oldest and most productive farming districts in the county. It was first settled about the year 1805, and the name was given to it by Dr. Samuel Coleman, one of the early settlers, a man of ability, but eccentric in his habits, on account of the resemblance to the celebrated hills of his native country. This region was settled principally by Quakers, and is noted for its manny finely cultivated farms, and the intelligence and general prosperity of the farmers.
KYLERTOWN, in Morris township, is yet a small town, but has a promising future, because of its close proximity to large coal operations, and on the line of projected railways.
LUTHERSBURG, in Brady township, is situate in the centre of the finest agricultural district in the county. The settlers in the township are principally Germans, noted for their industry and thrift. The town has always been a good business point, but new railroad towns in the vicinity have of into diverted some of its trade.
PENNFIELD, in Huston township, is a new and thriving railroad town, on the line of Bennett's Branch of the Allegheny Valley railroad, and growing rapidly.
RUMBERGER, in Brady township, on the line of the Bennett's Branch Extension railroad, although a town of few years' existence, is fast increasing in size and importance. It is within the Reynoldsville coal basin, and several collieries
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are in operation around it. It is also the location of one of the largest saw mills in the United States.
WOODLAND, in Bradford township, six miles east of Clearfield, on the line of the Tyrone and Clearfield railroad, is the seat of two large fire brick manufactories and a steam saw mill, and under the influence of these industries is improving rapidly.
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