The man pointed out the fluted edge of a crockery flower pot, his fingers fitting exactly into the prints made by his father's hands, perhaps sixty years ago. Everett B. Anderson, Communiy Park Road, Oklahoma, Pa, was telling us how his father, George M. Anderson was connected with the Girty, Pa. pottery from 1892 to 1904.

We could easily understand why that little village in South Bend Township was originally named Clayton. A short distance up Crooked Creek there still can be seen part of a six foot vein of fire clay that supplied the pottery. The land was owned by W.A. or Alex Coleman, who was the grandfather of Mr. Anderson, and also of W. Lyle Coleman, Vandergrift, and Roy Coleman, who still lives on the old farm on the Indiana road. Built by James McNees in 1874, the pottery was a frame building 90 x 28 ft. and about one hundred feet northeast of the Crooked Creek bridge entering Girty. The site may be located today by a line of evergreen trees on the property owned by Lloyd Rupert.

We saw a picture of George Anderson, aged 18, in the heavy apron he wore as a "turner" in the pottery at the time it was run by George McNees and Uriah George. In later years when McNees went into politics and became well known in the state, Anderson took his place at the pottery end of the business while his partner manufactured the "stone" pumps.

Not only was the plant known far and wide for its crocks and jugs, but for square stone pumps and octagonal-shaped pipes which were installed on many properties over the country. One still remains in use. E.D. Anderson told us "at the home of Mrs. Armor Moore, R.D. 3, Apollo." The wooden handles for these pumps were made in the woodshop connected with the pottery. People said there was no chance of a cold drink of well water tasting of iron rust with the McNees stone pump.

James Wherry, South Bend, the grandfather of Byron Wherry, Vandergrift, operated a saw mill just up the creek a little, and I recall being told my mother boarded the five or six workers from the mill.

The clay for the pottery was dug by the wagon load, with pick and shovel, a small sum being paid the landowner for each trip. Enough was dug in the autumn to last one year, and was stored on the pottery grounds until needed. We wondered if the clay would bcome too hard to work after a while, but were assured that the water used at the time the clay was ground and cleaned made it malleable once again.

"We could turn out about 300 crocks, or jugs a day, and when they hardened over night, it took about an hour or two next day to add handles and spouts. After being dried in a kind of bake-oven, the pieces were stored in a loft until there were about 3,000 gallons, or enough to "fire the kiln."

The single pottery kiln was heated by four fireplaces which burned wood and coal, and it was a job to keep a hot fire for 36 hours. When we asked how they checked the exact temperature, Mr. Anderson replied, "They just seemed to know."

In its original state, the clay was a rather dirty snow color, and when fired did not darken a great deal. The material into which the individual pieces were dipped to make brown or gray stoneware was called "slip," and was purchased by the barrel.

Everett Anderson went on. "As a boy of twelve, I drove a team and wagonload of crockery on many overnight runs of 600 gallons, or 3,000 pounds. The crocks were sold wholesale to stores in Indiana, Armstrong and Westmoreland Counties at five cents a gallon; the merchants retailed them at ten cents, while now they sell at forty cents a gallon." He said, "There was a woods three miles long on the way from Girty to Hesbun, near Johnstown in Indiana County, the longest road trip I ever took. The trip brought about 30 dollars."

And once I hauled a previously ordered wagonload to a store near Saltsburg, and they refused it. Just a boy, I never considered offering it to another merchant, but drove the whole way back to Girty with the stock. Later I felt worse than my father to find out there was another storekeeper in Saltsburg who would have taken them off my hands."

"Girty had at one time two blacksmith shops and a general store. and people visiting liked to stop in to see the pottery. Once a man named Byron Rupert came-a real genius. He took some clay and molded it into wonderful animal shapes, and my father ran it through the kiln for him. How I'd like to come across one of those figures now!"

The fact that Girty had no railroad for convenient shipping was thought by some to have caused the pottery to fall into disuse about 1907. Further more, glass jars were starting to take the place of earthenware then.

In his little shop filled with antiques; organs, a spinning wheel, and fine old rifles, we were shown examples of the Girty pottery pieces prized by Mr. Anderson. There were quart stone jars, brown in color. Fruits canned in them kept safe by tin lids and red sealing wax. In his childhood when frosts struck late in the spring, he remembers his father lamenting: "It will be a poor year for us --few canning jars will be needed. We saw crocks in sizes from quarts to six gallons. The grays were decorated in blue with what looked like a laurel wreath and the printing, "McNees & Co., Girty, Pa. There was a soap dish shaped like a large brown turtle, the feet broken off, and the head lifted realistically. "My father was an artist," he said.

We were shown a small brown cream pitcher; and something Mr. Anderson called a "monkey jug." The latter had two spouts and a curved crockery handle. "When you were thirsty and tipped the jug, the second spout let air in and the cool drink poured freely."

An interesting square piece seems to have been an inkwell. It was found by E.B. Anderson in recent years while digging in the vicinity of the old pottery site. On the side were the script letters, B.B. and B. "but--a sure sign of its authenticity--on the underside the name G.M. Anderson, 1889."

A brown shape like an artillery shell had a slot in its top, and the side in raised letters S A F E. We asked how the money got out after it was saved and the reply was, "The usual knife and a good shaking, I suppose."

There were also low, heavy "pans" that were used for cooling milk, but we imagine the pride and joy of the entire collection was the little crock that was turned by our host when he was just 19. Baked on is his own signature, E.D. Anderson, Girty, Pa, Feb. 25, 1901. Naturally our favorite was the one he presented us, a small glossy brown salt crock perfect for a bouquet of our daffodils.

We quote from an old publication, Mineral Resources of the Elders Ridge Quadrangle, Pennsylvania: "...the stone articles made at the McNees Pottery are crocks, jugs and pump tile, all of which are much esteemed in the neighbohood."

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Transcribed by Maury Tosi
McNees Crock and Shallow Well Pump Pictures Courtesy of Don Rupert