1843 History of Clearfield County, Pennsylvania
Contributed by Nancy Piper
[Source: Historical Collections of the State of Pennsylvania, by Sherman Day, Philadelphia, 1843, Page Page 230-233]
CLEARFIELD COUNTY Clearfield County was taken from Lycoming, by the act of 26th March, 1804. In 1805 it was placed provisionally under the charge of the commissioners of Centre co. In 1812 the county elected its own commissioners ; and by the act of 29th January, 1822, was fully organized for judicial purposes. In April, 1823, a small triangular piece taken from Lycoming was attached to the eastern side of the county. A part of the new county of Elk has been taken from this county in 1843. Length 45 m., breadth 32; area 1,425 sq. m. Population in 1810, 875; in 1820, 2,342; in 1830, 4,803; and in 1840, 7,834. This county is situated behind the Allegheny mountain, on the sources of the West branch of the Susquehanna. Its surface is exceedingly mountainous and broken, yet no long and distinct ranges can be traced entirely through the county. The ranges are broken into innumerable irregular spurs, deeply indented by the streams. The county is watered by the West branch of the Susquehanna, here comparatively a small stream; Chest cr., Clearfield cr., Mushannon cr., branches of the Susquehanna; and Bennett's branch of the Sinnemahoning. Several branches of the Allegheny have their sources within the county, west of Elk mountain. The soil varies with the surface of the county: the alluvial bottoms of the valleys are rich; the undulating uplands make excellent grazing farms, and where limestone strata prevail, approach the fertility of the alluvial lands. Coal, iron, fire-brick clay, and other minerals abound. The coal is said to be of superior quality, and while the projects were under consideration for extending the state improvements into this region, great anticipations were indulged that coal would form a prominent article of export. Without such facilities the cost of transportation would exhaust the profits long before it reached a market. A large furnace and ironworks were established at Karthauss on the West Branch; but their operations are now suspended. Lumbering still constitutes the main business of the inhabitants, and agriculture has hitherto been only a secondary pursuit. The hard times, however, have wrought a favorable change in this respect; and the people of Clearfield are opening their lands, and discovering that farming, if not a quicker, is at least a surer way to get rich than sawing and rafting, or even making iron. The turnpike from Bellefonte to Meadville crosses the Susquehanna at Curwensville. Another turnpike has recently been constructed, with part of the bonus of the U. S. Bank, through Clearfield town, connecting with the Milesburg and Smethport road, which passes through the northeastern portion of the county. |
| The county is still but partially settled, the population in 1840 being
only 5 to the square mile. The inhabitants are chiefly from other parts of
the state, but there are several distinct colonies of Yankees, Germans, and
French. Until near the close of the last century, Clearfield co. remained
an unbroken wilderness, with the exception perhaps of here and there an Indian
cornfield. Indian trails, connecting the great eastern and western waters,
crossed the mountains in various directions. There was a trail towards Fort
Venango, another towards Kittanning, and one towards the sources of
Sinnemahoning.
In the summer of 1772, a remarkable company of pilgrims, 240 individuals, of all ages, crossed the Allegheny mountains from Bald Eagle cr., and reached some one of the branches of the Allegheny, on their way to the Ohio. They were the Moravian missionaries, with their families, and the Christian Indians from Wyalusing and Sheshequin, on the North Branch. They had with them their children and children's children, their household goods, cattle, and horses. What a wilderness for such a multitude to penetrate, with no other road than an Indian trail! (See Bradford co.) |
| The following facts were gathered from respectable citizens of the county:-
On the site of the present county seat, there was an old Indian town by the name of Chinklacamoose, or, as some have it, Chinklacamoose's old-town. Clearfield was for many years called Oldtown, and is still by many of the older settlers. A small stream north of the town still retains the name of Chinklacamoose cr., though sometimes shortened to 'Moose cr. The Seneca Indians of Cornplanter's clan used often to hunt around Chinklacamoose. Arthur Bell, Daniel Ogden, and Paul Clover, were among the first white settlers in the county. Clover settled at Curwensville. In 1796 Gen. Ellicott located the Susquehanna and Waterford turnpike, leading from Curwensville, past Fort Franklin and Meadville, to Waterford. In 1797 the road was opened. Arthur Bell and Daniel Ogden, with his son Matthew, then a lad of 18, came up the West branch in the spring of 1796, bringing with them the simple tools of the pioneer, with a few potatoes and seeds for their first crop. Bell settled a few miles above Clearfield; Ogden near the mouth of Chinklacamoose creek, where, after a year or two, he built the first mill in the county. They suffered various trials and hardships in opening their new homes. Provisions were very scarce, and the nearest settlement was at Bald Eagle, about 140 miles by water; nothing of any weight could be brought by land. Mr. Bell was at one time compelled to travel this whole distance to get a plough point repaired ; poling his canoe patiently up the stream, loaded with his irons, and some provisions, his provisions by Borne accident were wet; the first time he used his plough, the point broke again, and his toilsome journey was in vain. For some time before the mill was built, they pounded their corn in mortars. Their route by land was the old Indian path across the mountains by the Snow-shoe camp to Milesburg. Mr. Ogden once travelled this route in winter with snow-shoes, requiring 2 1-2 days to reach Milesburg, 33 miles. Among the older residents was John Bell, a brother of Arthur. He had been an old revolutionary soldier, and when the conflict was over he sought an asylum with his brother. From his very diminutive size he commonly bore the name of Johnny Bell. From the force of military habits, or for fear of losing the art of fighting by disuse, he used to have an occasional quarrel with the friendly Indians about the settlement, and usually came off triumphant. In a frolic of this sort two of them attempted to drown him, but he came very near drowning both of them. Being an old bachelor, he was rather whimsical, and would sometimes get in a pet; in some such mood he once quit his brother's house, and encamped in the woods, determined to remain there; but Greenwood Bell, his nephew, one day made him a call at his camp, picked the little fellow up, slung him over his shoulder, and toted him off home, where he was afterwards contented to remain. |
| Clearfield, the county seat, was laid out by commissioners under the
act of 4th April, 1805, on lands of Abraham Witmer, Esq., a resident of Paradise,
in Lancaster co. The first settlers in and about the town were Robert Collins,
who came in 1807, the widow Leathers, the Valentines, Andrew Bowers, Abraham
Leonard, our jovial host old John Cuyler, and a few others. Mr. Witmer still
holds about 500 acres contiguous to the town. Clearfield is a smart, improving
place, pleasantly situated on a broad plain by the side of the Susquehanna,
and imbosomed among the hills. The annexed view was taken from the Curwensville
road, west of the river.
The town contains a brick courthouse and county offices, a jail of stone, an academy, Catholic, Presbyterian, and Methodist churches. A bridge here crosses the Susquehanna. A turnpike road recently completed enables the stages between Bellefonte and Erie to pass through the town. Mr. Robert Shaw has an extensive flouring and lumber mill near town, on Chinklacamoose creek. Population in 1840, about 300. |
| Curwensville is a busy little place on the Susquehanna, about six miles southwest of Clearfield, on the Bellefonte and Meadville turnpike. It was named after John Curwen, Esq., of Montgomery co., who was proprietor of the land, but was never settled here. Paul Clover was the first settler, and kept a tavern here about the year '98 or 1800. The village contains some 30 or 40 houses and stores, and one or two churches. A fine substantial bridge has just been erected here (in 1842) across the Susquehanna. Curwensville is quite a lively place during the lumbering season on the creeks above. |
| Karthauss is situated on the West branch of the Susquehanna, at the mouth of Little Mushannon creek. It derives its name from Peter Karthauss, Esq., of Baltimore, who established a furnace here about the year 1820, and carried it on for some years with success. There is a very ample water-power here. In 1836 a company purchased the works and expended upon them about $80,000, but were not equally successful with the former owner. Their works were managed with coke, and were capable of making 100 tons per week. About the year 1840, their operations were suspended by the fluctuations of the times. |
| Caledonia is a recent settlement of New Yorkers and New England y men, in the northern part of the county, at the confluence of Trout run with Bennett's branch of the Sinnemahoning. The road from Milesburg and Karthauss to Smethport passes through the place, and another road runs northwest to Ridgeway. |
| Luthersburg is a small German settlement on the turnpike, 10 miles N. W. of Curwensville. The land in the vicinity is rolling, and of good quality. There is a deposit of limestone not far from the place. |
| Mountpleasant is a small village in the southern end of the county, on the road between Phillipsburg and Ebensburg. Not far from this place, in the forks of Clearfield cr., just south of the Cambria line, are the remains of an ancient circular fortification, the banks of which are four or five feet high, and overgrown with large trees. Clear-fields, or open patches of prairie, apparently the site of some ancient cornfields, were found in this vicinity ; hence the name Clearfield. |
| On the left bank of the West branch of Susquehanna, below the mouth of Trout run, a colony of Frenchmen, from Normandy and Picardy, settled themselves about the year 1835 or '36. It was a wonder how they should have selected so secluded a spot, since there were previously no French within a hundred miles. The explanation of the phenomenon shows by what singular and apparently trifling causes the destinies of whole communities may be affected. Some person failed in Philadelphia, in debt to a merchant in Paris. Mr. Keating, his agent in Philadelphia, took land on the West Branch to settle the debt. The Paris merchant, by means of a German agent, to make his lands available, induced a number of families to emigrate to these particular lands; they induced others, until they number some 40 or 60 families. Thus the failure of a Philadelphia merchant planted a little French colony in the wilds of the upper Susquehanna. They have not increased much of late years, the reports of their success not having been sufficiently favorable to induce further emigration. |