1843 History of Fayette County, Pennsylvania

Fayette County was taken from Westmoreland by the act of 26th Sept. 1783. Length 30 miles, breadth 27; area, 824 sq. miles. The population, according to an estimate of Mr. Beeson, consisted in 1770 of not more than 50 or 100 whites; in 1780 there were 3,959 taxables; in 1790, by census, 13,043 free persons, and 282 slaves ; in 1800, 20,067 free persons, and 92 slaves; in 1810, 24,714; in 1820, 27,285 ; in 1830, 29,172; and in 1840, 33,574.

The physical features of this county are strongly marked. The eastern portion consists of an elevated and rather rugged belt, (perhaps it might be called a valley,) bounded on the east and west by two lofty and well-defined mountain ranges. A strange confusion has been allowed to prevail in the names of these mountains. The eastern range, south of the Youghiogheny,* is called Sugar Loaf mountain on the state map, deriving its name from a bold knob surmounting the range near the Youghiogheny. North of that river the range is continued unbroken as far as the Conemaugh river, in Cambria co., under the name of Laurel hill,-while the other range, directly west of it, is called Chestnut hill; but on tracing this latter ridge southward across the Youghiogheny, it also receives the name of Laurel hill. This confusion in bestowing the same name upon two distinct ridges, probably originated at the time the two military roads were cut out by the army,-Braddock's road, now the national road, and Forbes' road, now the Bedford and Pittsburg turnpike. The summits of these mountains are about 2,500 ft. above the level of the sea, and about 1,000 ft. above the intervening valley. Between these two mountains are several smaller detached ridges. The western section of the co. presents an undulating surface, in some parts rather hilly, well watered, abounding in coal and limestone, and well adapted for all agricultural purposes. Many of the valleys are exceedingly fertile. In the mountainous districts iron ore is abundant, and there are several furnaces and forges in operation. There is a mineral spring on lands of Andrew Stuart, Esq., eight miles east of Uniontown, near the national road, possessing qualities highly medicinal. Its location is in a deep glen, amid grand and picturesque scenery. Salt springs are found by boring, in the southwestern part of the county, on some of which salt works are erected.

The Monongahela river flows in a very circuitous course along the whole western boundary of the co. The Youghiogheny, breaking through both the great mountain ranges, and tumbling over several rocky ledges, crosses the co. in a northwestern direction, uniting with the Monongahela in Allegheny co. The other more important streams are Indian cr. and Jacobs cr., tributaries of the Youghiogheny, and Redstone cr. and Dunlap's cr., tributaries of the Monongahela, with a number of smaller streams. The Ohio-pile falls, on the Youghiogheny, between the mountains, form a wild and picturesque scene. The water here descends some 60 feet in the course of a mile. If either of the great public improvements which are contemplated on this route (the Bait. & Ohio railroad and the Chesapeake and Ohio canal) should be completed, this point may be the site of a large manufacturing town. It is at present nearly in a state of nature. Hon. Mr. Stewart, the proprietor, has made the commencement of an improvement by erecting a house and saw-mill; but the rugged nature of the surrounding country, and the want of access by good roads, will not justify a large expenditure at present.

Delany's cave, in Laurel hill, is situated some nine miles southeast of Uniontown. It is described, by those who have explored it, as composed of a series of chambers and narrow passages, with occasional perpendicular precipices, and streams of water through some of the rooms. Beautiful specimens of white spar are found on the rocky floors, formed by the constant dripping of water from above. The rocks are blue sandstone and limestone. A visitor says-

"Persons visiting this wonderful curiosity cannot be too careful of their lights, as it would certainly prove an utter impossibility to get out without the assistance of a light. We were informed in the neighborhood, by an eye-witness to the fact, that two young men, Grain and Merrifield, had gone in to a considerable depth, and returning, lost their course, and wandered about till their candles were all burnt out. When they were found, two days after, they were resigned to their fate, and one of them not able to speak. We saw the name of "Grain" written on the rocks in a very remote part of the cave, dated 1802.

Mr. Christopher Gist (who has been termed the Daniel Boone of Fayette co.) was sent out in 1750 to explore the country and make a report. He spent the whole summer and winter in visiting both sides of the Ohio for several hundred miles. "He set out from the south branch of the Potomac, proceeded northward to the heads of Juniata river, crossed the mountains, and reached the Allegheny, then called Ohio, by the valley of the Kiskeminetas. He crossed the Allegheny about four miles above the Forks where Pittsburg now stands, and must have passed through the high gorge now occupied by Alleghenytown, the hill where the seminary stands, concealing, as it does yet, from the valley, the mouth of the Monongahela, of which Mr. Gist makes no mention. Had he known the existence and general range of the Monongahela valley, it is extremely improbable that he would not have followed that route. The further route of Mr. Gist was down the Ohio to some point below Beaver river, and thence over to the Muskingum valley, westward to the Great Miami, called by him Miniami. On his return he crossed the Ohio at the mouth of the Scioto, and thence over what he names the Cuttawa country, now Kentucky, and by Western Virginia and North Carolina, to the Potomac." His journal is still preserved, and is said to be in possession of Hon. Charles Fenton Mercer, of Virginia.

It was the intention of the company to lay off a town and fort at the mouth of the Chartiers cr., a few miles below Pittsburg, and Mr. Gist was appointed surveyor for that purpose ; but the project was never executed. Soon after the treaty at Logstown in 1752, Mr. Gist made a settlement and built a cabin on the tract of land since called Mount Braddock, and induced eleven families to settle around him on lands presumed to be within the company's grant. His dwelling stood a few paces from the elegant mansion of the late Col. Meason, distinguished as an enterprising proprietor of iron works at an early day in Fayette co.

The Ohio Company appears to have erected a storehouse at the mouth of Redstone cr., and to have made a small establishment at the Forks of the Ohio, but the disturbed state of the frontier prevented them from bringing any large amount of goods beyond the Allegheny Mountains. The French war interrupted their operations entirely; and the company was afterwards, in 1770-72 merged in a more extensive one, in which Thomas Walpole, Dr. Franklin, Gov. Pownal, and others, were concerned. The revolution breaking out about that time, put an end to both companies, and the title to their lands was never perfected.

In October, 1753, Major George Washington, then 21 years of age, called at Mr. Gist's plantation, while on his way as a messenger to the commandant of the French forces at Le Boeuf, to inquire into the designs of the French. He received a very unsatisfactory answer, and preparations were made, in the ensuing year, by Gov. Dinwiddie of Virginia, to repel their encroachments. A regiment was raised under the command of Col. Joshua Fry, for the purpose of erecting a fort at the Forks of the Ohio. Washington was appointed second in command, with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. A small party of Capt. Trent's company was hastily sent forward to commence the fort, but were interrupted by the arrival of Capt. Contrecoeur with a thousand French and Indians, who drove away the English and erected Fort Duquesne. (See Allegheny, Erie, and Venango counties.) This was the first act of open hostility. The news reached Col. Washington while he was posted at Will's creek (now Cumberland) with three companies, waiting the arrival of Col. Fry with the remainder of the regiment and the artillery. He wrote immediately for reinforcements, and pushed forward with his companies towards the Monongahela, as fast as the process of cutting a new road through the wilderness would permit. His intention was to reach the mouth of Redstone, there to wait for the arrival of the artillery and reinforcements under Col. Fry, and then drop down the Monongahela by water to the Forks. He had designed to descend the Youghiogheny, but after an examination of the falls, abandoned the design.

Learning that the French were coming out to meet him, Washington hurried forward to the Great Meadows, and threw up a hasty intrenchment. This place is 10 miles east from Uniontown, a few rods south of the present national road, between the 52d and 53d miles from Cumberland. Commanded as it is by elevated ground on both sides within one hundred yards of the fort, it would seem to be injudiciously chosen for defence; but Washington knew the French and Indians could bring no artillery, and the meadows being entirely free from timber, the enemy would be compelled to emerge upon the open plain, beyond the protection of the woods, before he could efficiently attack the fort. Washington learned from Tanacharison, the half-king, a chief of the Six Nations, and from Mr. Gist, that La Force was out, from Fort Duquesne, with a party of French and Indians, and their tracks had been seen within five miles of the Great Meadows. He immediately dispatched a party of 75 on horseback, to reconnoiter their position, but they were not to be found. Washington writes on 29th May, 1754-

" About 9 o'clock the same night, I received an express from the half-king, who was encamped with several of his people about six miles off, that he had seen the tracks of two Frenchmen crossing the road, and that, behind, the whole body were lying not far off, as he had an account of that number passing Mr. Gist's. I set out with forty men before ten, and it was from that time till near sunrise before we reached the Indians' camp, having marched in small paths through a heavy rain, and a night as dark as it is possible to conceive. We were frequently tumbling one over another, and often so lost that fifteen or twenty minutes' search would not find the path again."

"When we came to the half-king, I counseled with him, and got his assent to go hand in hand and strike the French. Accordingly he, Monocawacha, and a few other Indians, set out with us, and when we came to the place where the tracks were, the half-king sent two Indians to follow their tracks, and discover their lodgment, which they did at half a mile from the road, in a very obscure place surrounded with rocks. I thereupon, in conjunction with the half-king and Monocawacha, formed a disposition to attack them on all sides,-which we accordingly did, and, after an engagement of about fifteen minutes, we killed ten, wounded one, and took twenty-one prisoners. The principal officers taken are M. Drouillon and M. La Force, of whom your honor has often heard me speak as a bold, enterprising man, and a person of great subtlety and cunning. With these are two cadets."

" In this engagement we had only one man killed, and two or three wounded, (among whom was Lieut. Waggener, slightly,)-a most miraculous escape, as our right wing was much exposed to their fire, and received it all."

"As I marched on with the prisoners, (after the action,) they informed me that they had been sent with a summons for me to depart-a specious pretext, that they might discover our camp, and reconnoiter our force and situation. This was so evident, that I was astonished at their assurance in telling me that they came as an embassy. By their instructions, they were to obtain a knowledge of the roads, rivers, and country, as far as the Potomac. Instead of coming as ambassadors-public, and in an open manner-they came secretly, and sought out the most hidden retreats, much better suited for deserters than ambassadors. Here they encamped; here they remained concealed for whole days together, within five miles of us. They sent out spies to reconnoiter our camp. The whole body then moved back two miles. Thence they sent messengers, as directed in the instructions, to acquaint M. Contreco3ur with the place we were in, and with our disposition, that he might forward his detachments to enforce the summons as soon as it should be given. An ambassador has no need of spies; his character is always sacred. Since they had so good an intention, why should they remain two days within five miles of us, without giving me notice of the summons, or of anything which related to their embassy? This alone would be sufficient to raise the strongest suspicions; and the justice is certainly due them, that, as they wished to conceal themselves, they could not have chosen better places than they did."

" They pretend that they called to us, as soon as we were discovered ; which is absolutely false,-for I was at the head of the party in approaching them, and I can affirm, that as soon as they saw us they ran to their arms, without calling, which I should have heard if they had done so."

And in a subsequent letter to Gov. Dinwiddie, Washington says, speaking of some deserters from the French, " These deserters corroborate what the others said and we suspected. La Force's party were sent out as spies, and were to show that summons if discovered or overpowered by a superior party of ours. They say the commander was blamed for sending so small a Party."*

* No transaction in the life of Washington has been so much misrepresented, or so little understood, as this skirmish with Jumonville. It being the first conflict of arms in the war, a notoriety was given to it, particularly in Europe, altogether disproportioned to its importance. War had not yet been declared between Great Britain and France, and indeed the diplomatists on both sides were making great professions of friendship. It was the policy of each nation to exaggerate the proceedings of the other on their colonial frontiers, and to make them a handle for recrimination and complaints, by throwing upon the adverse party the blame of committing the first acts of aggression. Hence, when the intelligence of the skirmish with Jumonville got to Paris, it was officially published by the government, in connection with a memoir and various papers, and his death was called a murder. It was said that, while bearing a summons as a civil messenger, without any hostile intentions, he was waylaid and assassinated. The report was industriously circulated and gained credence with the multitude. Mr. Thomas, a poet, and scholar of repute, seized the occasion to write an epic, entitled "Jumonville," in which he tasked his invention to draw a tragical picture of the fate of his hero. The fabric of the story, and the incidents, were alike fictitious. But the tale passed from fiction to history, and to this day it is repeated by the French historians, who in other respects render justice to the character of Washington, and who can find no other apology for this act than his youth and inexperience and the ferocity of his men.

"The mistakes of the French writers were not unknown to Washington; but, conscious of having acted in strict conformity with his orders and military usage, he took no pains to correct them, except in a single letter to a friend, written several years afterwards, which related mostly to the errors in the French account of the subsequent action of the Great Meadows. Unfortunately, all his correspondence, and the other papers which he wrote during this campaign, were lost the next year at the battle of the Monongahela, and he was thus deprived of the only authentic materials that could be used for explanation and defence. The most important of these papers have recently been found, [by Mr. Sparks, in his researches in England,] and they afford not only a complete vindication of Col. Washington in this affair, but show that it met with the unqualified approbation of the governor and legislature of Virginia, and of the British ministry." -Sparks' Life and Writings of Washinton-where the incidents of this campaign are ably and fully delineated, and the conduct of Washington, both in this affair and the capitulation at the Great Meadows, are clearly explained and triumphantly vindicated against the charges of the French.

There is in the possession of Mr. Veech, of Uniontown, a copy of the English translation of a work published by the French in 1756, entitled "Memoire Contenant le Precis des Faits, avec leur Pieces Justificatives, pour server de Reponse aux Observations envoyess, par les Ministres d'Angleterre dans les Cours de l'Europe. A Paris, de l'Imprimerie Royale, 1756;

or, A Memoir, containing a Statement of Facts, with corroborative documents, intended as an answer to the Observations circulated by the British Ministry among the Courts of Europe. This work contains the French dispatches from Fort Duquesne, the capitulation at the Great Meadows and Washington's journal, or rough notes of this campaign ; but it is said the journal had been distorted and mutilated, to suit the views of the French ministry. (See Marshall's Washington.)

Washington having sent his prisoners to the governor, prepared his intrenchments, by erecting a stockade, for receiving a more formidable attack from the French, which he had good reason to expect, after they should have heard of the loss of Jumonville's party. To this stockade he gave the name of Fort Necessity. Col. Fry had died in Virginia, and the chief command devolved on Col. Washington. Capt. Mackay, of the royal army, with an independent company of 100 men, arrived at the Great Meadows. Washington, leaving him in command of the fort, pushed on over Laurell hill, cutting the road with extreme labor through the wilderness, as far as Gist's plantation. This tedious march occupied them two weeks. During the march they were joined by the Half-king, and a numerous body of Indians, with their families, who had espoused the English cause.

A strong detachment was at length announced as being on their march from Fort Duquesne, under the command of Mons. De Villiers. It was at first determined to receive them at Gist's ; but on further information of the enemy's force, supposed to be nine hundred men, it was determined to retreat to Fort Necessity, and if possible, to Wills creek. Their provisions were short, their horses worn down, and it was with excessive labor and fatigue that they reached the fort, after a forced march of two days. Here only a small quantity of flour was found; but supplies were hourly expected, and it was therefore determined to fortify the place as well as circumstances would permit, and abide the event

On the 3d July the enemy appeared, and commenced firing from the woods, but without effect. Washington had drawn up his men outside of the fort with the view of inviting an encounter in the open field. This the French and Indians declined, hoping to draw him into the woods. It rained constantly during the day, and the muskets became wet, and were used with difficulty. Washington's troops withdrew within the trenches and fired as opportunities occurred. In the evening the French proposed a parley, which Washington at first declined, suspecting a design to gain an entrance to the fort, and discover his weakness; but he afterwards consented to send an officer to them. Capt. Van Braam, a Dutchman, who pretended to understand French, was sent to them, and returned with proposals, in the French language, for capitulation. These proposals, after being modified in some particulars by the besieged party, were agreed to. The garrison was to be permitted to leave the fort with the honors of war, taking their baggage, except their artillery, with them. They were not to be molested by the French, nor, as far as it could be prevented, by the Indians. Since their cattle and horses had been killed in the action, they were to be permitted to conceal such of their effects as could not be carried away, and to leave a guard with them until they could return with horses to take them away; but on condition that they should not within one year attempt any establishment there, or on that side the mountains. The prisoners taken at the time of Jumonville's death* were to be returned, and Captains Van Braam and Stobo were to be retained by the French as hostages, until the return of the prisoners. On the following morning Washington, with the garrison, left the fort, taking such baggage as they could carry, and transporting the wounded upon their backs. The Indians, contrary to the stipulation, annoyed them exceedingly, and pilfered their baggage. After a toilsome march they at length arrived at Wills creek, where they found rest and refreshment.

* In the French proposals this expression was insidiously written, " a l'assassinat de M. Jumonville;" and as Van Braam, the stupid interpreter, did not explain the force of the expression to Washington, the capitulation was signed in that shape.

After Braddock fell, the retreating soldiers carried their wounded general for four days, until they reached seven miles beyond Dunbar's camp, where he expired. He was buried in the centre of the road which his advancing army had cut; and to prevent the discovery of the grave, and to save the body from savage dishonor, soldiers, horses, and wagons were passed over it. Some of the soldiers so marked the trees near the spot, that those who visited the west many years after could point it out with certainty. Col. Burd, who continued the road to Redstone in 1759, mentions it in his journal. It is near a small run, a few rods north of the national road, between the 53d and 54th mile from Cumberland, and a little west of the Braddock's run tavern, kept by Mr. R. Shaw. The present national road deviates from Braddock's road near Mr. Shaw's, and crosses Laurel hill by a more southerly route. Before this was located, the old road was the great thoroughfare between the Monongahela settlements and Baltimore. Some twenty years since, while a party of laborers were repairing the old road, and digging away the slope of the hill, they disinterred some bones, with sundry military trappings, which were at once known by the old settlers to be those of Braddock. One and another took several of the most prominent bones, and the others were reinterred under the tree on the hill, near the national road. Mr. Stewart, of Uniontown, (father of the Hon. Andrew Stewart,) afterwards collected the scattered bones from the individuals who had taken them, and sent them it is believed, to Peale's museum in Philadelphia. A plain shingle, marked " Braddock's Grave," nailed to the tree where a part of the bones are reinterred, is the only monument to point out to the traveller the resting-place of the proud and brave but unfortunate hero of the old French war.

In the annexed view the position of the two men marks the spot where the bones were disinterred: the old road is beyond the men; and the single tree on the hill to the right, marks the spot where the bones were reinterred. A passing coach shows the present national road. The spectator is supposed to be looking towards the southeast.

There had long existed a tradition in this region that Braddock was killed by one of his own men, and more recent developments leave little or no doubt of the fact. A recent writer in the National Intelligencer, whose authority is good on such points, says:

When my father was removing with his family to the west, one of the Fausetts kept a public house to the eastward from, and near where Uniontown now stands, as the county seat of Fayette, Penn. This man's house we lodged in about the tenth of October, 1781, twenty-six years and a few months after Braddock's defeat, and there it was made anything but a secret that one of the family dealt the death-blow to the British general.

Thirteen years afterwards I met Thomas Fausett in Fayette CO., then, as he told me, in his 70th year. To him I put the plain question, and received the plain reply, "I did shoot him.'" He then went on to insist, that, by doing so, he contributed to save what was left of the army. In brief, in my youth I never heard the fact either doubted or blamed, that Fausett shot Braddock.

Hon. Andrew Stewart of Uniontown, says he knew, and often conversed with Tom Fausett, who did not hesitate to avow in the presence of his friends that he shot Gen. Braddock. Fausett was a man of gigantic frame, of uncivilized half-savage propensities, and spent most of his life among the mountains as a hermit, living on the game which he killed. He would occasionally come into town and get drunk. Sometimes he would repel inquiries into the affair of Braddock's death by putting his fingers to his lips, and uttering a sort of buzzing sound; at others he would burst into tears, and appear greatly agitated by conflicting passions.

In spite of Braddock's silly order that the troops should not protect themselves behind the trees, Joseph Fausett had taken such position, when Braddock rode up in a passion, and struck him down with his sword. Tom Fausett, who was but a short distance from his brother, saw the whole transaction, and immediately drew up his rifle and shot Braddock through the lungs, partly in revenge for the outrage upon his brother, and partly, as he always alleged, to get the general out of the way, and thus save the remainder of the gallant band who had been sacrificed to his obstinacy and want of experience in frontier warfare.

Dunbar's camp, and the scene of Jumonville's defeat, are near the Laurel hill, between the present national road and the gorge of the Youghiogheny, about five miles east of Uniontown.

After the disastrous termination of Gen. Braddock's expedition, Fayette co. remained a desolate wilderness unoccupied by civilized men until 1759, when Col. J. Burd was sent by Col. Bouquet, then commanding at Carlisle, to continue the cutting of Braddock's road where incomplete, as far as the mouth of Redstone cr., the present site of Brownsville. The following are extracts from Col. Burd's journal, on file among the archives at Harrisburg.

"Ordered, in Aug. 1759, to march with 200 men of my battalion to the mouth of Redstone cr., where it empties itself into the river Monongahela, to cut a road somewhere from Gen. Braddock's road to that place as I shall judge best, and on my arrival there to erect a fort in order to open a communication by the river Monongahela to Pittsburg, for the more easy transportation of provisions, &c., from the provinces of Virginia and Maryland. Sent forward the detachment under the command of Lieut. Col. Shippen, leaving one officer and thirty men to bring our five wagons."

"When I have cut the road and finished the fort, I am to leave one officer and twenty-five men as a garrison, and march with the remainder of my battalion to Pittsburg."

[He was ordered to pass by Fort Cumberland, and after inspecting the stores there, to continue on his route, which seems to have been along the road previously opened by Gen. Braddock, und which i" now nearly the route of the well-known Cumberland road.]

[In those good old times a chaplain accompanied even so small a detachment, and the preaching of a sermon is regularly recorded in the journal every Sabbath, unless very stormy weather prevented. Although the conflicts of the elements sometimes interrupted their devotions, yet it seems no turbulence of the human passions and desires was allowed to prevent them, for we find it recorded in the journal on one Sabbath, " The troops liked to mutiny this morning for want of provisions,-had sermon at 3 P. M.;" and at one time, when it rained, the sermon wag postponed "until tomorrow." Dr. Allison appears to have been the chaplain. The greater part of the journal is occupied with details of the daily occurrences, such as the arrival of pack-horses, loaded with flour,-the purchase of bullocks, sheep, &.C.,-breaking of wagons,-arrival and dispatch of messengers,-short allowances of provisions,-desertion of men,-the nature of the route and aspect of the rugged mountain passes. When they arrived at the Redstone, such was the wilderness nature of the country, and so little did any of the party know of the route, that it required a reconnaissance of a day or two before they were satisfied that it was the stream they sought. After a laborious research, and several scouting excursions by Col. Burd, Col. Shippen, Lieut. Graydon, and the hunters, they found some old blazes about 16 miles from the mouth of Redstone, which they supposed to have been made by Col. Washington, and which they assumed as a guide for their new road. A few extracts will show the character of their route.]

"11 Sept. Marched this morning; 2 miles from hence we found Gen. Braddock's grave, about 20 yards from a little hollow in which there was a small stream of water and over it a bridge. We soon got to Laurel hill; it had an easy ascent on this side, but on the other side very steep. At the foot of the hill we found the path that went to Dunlop's place, that Col. Shippen and Capt. Gordon travelled last winter, and about a quarter of a mile from this we saw the big rock so called. From hence we marched to Dunbar's camp,-miles, which is situated in a very stony hollow, surrounded by bills, and commanded on all sides; the worst chosen piece of ground for an encampment I ever saw. Here we saw vast quantities of cannon-ball, musket bullets, broken shells, and an immense destruction of powder, wagons, &c. Reconnoitred all the camp, and attempted to find the cannon and mortars, but could not discover them, although we dug a great many holes, where stores had been buried, and concluded the French had carried them off. We continued our march and got to Guest's place; here we found a fine country.

"13 Sept - Determined, if the hunters should not return before noon, to begin to open the road along some old blazes, which we take to be Col. Washington's. At noon began to cut the road to Redstone; began a quarter of a mile from camp, the course N. N. W. The course of Gen. Brad dock's road N. N. 10.. and turns much to ye eastward. Opened this afternoon about half a mile Marked two trees at the place of beginning thus:

The road to Redstone. Col. J. Burd, 1759.

The road to Pittsburg. 1759.

[In a few miles they crossed Redstone, and cut the road along a ridge in a W. N. W. course He seems to have been accompanied here by Col. Cresap, probably of Cumberland.]

"22. Saturday. This morning I went to the river Monongahela, reconnoitred Redstone, &c., and concluded upon the place for the post, being a hill in the fork of the river Monongahela and Nemocalling's cr., the best situation I could find, and returned in the evening to camp. The camp moved two miles to Coal run. This run is entirely paved in the bottom with fine stone coal, and the hill on the south side of it is a rock of the finest coal I ever saw. I burned about a bushel of it on my fire.

"23. Sunday. Continued working on the road. Had sermon to-day at 10 A. M: at noon moved the camp 2 1.2 miles to the river Monongahela. No batteaux arrived."

[" His Excellency Gen. Stanwix" appears to have commanded at Pittsburg at this time. Soon after this they suffered much for want of provisions, and were once threatened with a mutiny. The road when measured was 16 1-4 miles and 16 perches "from the place of beginning to the centre of this fort."]

"28 Oct. Sunday. Continue on the works; had sermon in the fort."

The last entry in the book is-"4 Nov. Sunday. Snowed today-no work. Sermon in the fort. Doctor Allison sets out for Philadelphia."

Further notice is taken of this fort in connection with the history of Brownsville.

The settlements on this side of the mountains commenced along the Monongahela, and between that river and the Laurel ridge, in the year 1772. In the succeeding year they reached the Ohio River. The greater number of the first settlers came from the upper parts of the then colonies of Maryland and Virginia. Braddock's trail, as it was called, was the route by which the greater number of them crossed the mountains. A less number of them came by the way of Bedford and Fort Ligonier, the military road from Pennsylvania to Pittsburg. They effected their removals on horses furnished with pack-saddles. This was the more easily done, as but few of these early adventurers into the wilderness were encumbered with much baggage.

Land was the object which invited the greater number of these people to cross the mountain, for as the saying then was, " It was to be had here for taking up; "that is, building a cabin and raising a crop of grain, however small, of any kind, entitled the occupant to four hundred acres of land, and a pre-emption right to one thousand acres more adjoining, to be secured by a land office warrant This right was to take effect if there happened to be so much vacant land, or any part thereof, adjoining the tract secured by the settlement right.

At an early period the government of Virginia appointed three commissioners to give certificates of settlement rights. These certificates, together with the surveyor's plat, were sent to the land-office of the state, where they laid six months, to await any caveat which might be offered. If none was offered, the patent then issued.

There was, at an early period of our settlements, an inferior kind of land title denominated a " tomahawk right," which was made by deadening a few trees near the head of a spring, and marking the bark of some one or more of them with the initials of the name of the person who made the improvement. I remember having seen a number of those "tomahawk rights" when a boy. For a long time many of them bore the names of those who made them. I have no knowledge of the efficacy of the tomahawk improvement, or whether it conferred any right whatever, unless followed by an actual settlement. These rights, however, were often bought and sold. Those who wished to make settlements on their favorite tracts of land, bought up the tomahawk improvements, rather than enter into quarrels with those who had made them. Other improvers of the land, with a view to actual settlement, and who happened to be stout veteran fellows, took a very different course from that of purchasing the "tomahawk rights." When annoyed by the claimants under those rights, they deliberately cut a few good hickories, and gave them what was called in those days a "laced jacket," that is, a sound whipping.

Some of the early settlers took the precaution to come over the mountains in the spring, leaving their families behind to raise a crop of corn, and then return and bring them out in the fall. This I should think was the better way. Others, especially those whose families were small, brought them with them in the spring. My father took the latter course. His family was but small, and he brought them all with him. The Indian meal which he brought over the mountain was expended six weeks too soon, so that for that length of time we had to live without bread. The lean venison and the breast of wild turkeys we were taught to call bread. The flesh of the bear was denominated meat. This artifice did not succeed very well. After living in this way for some time we became sickly, the stomach seemed to be always empty, and tormented with a sense of hunger. I remember how narrowly the children watched the growth of the potato tops, pumpkin and squash vines, hoping from day to day to get something to answer in the place of bread. How delicious was the taste of the young potatoes when we got them! What a jubilee when we were permitted to pull the young corn for roasting ears. Still more so when it had acquired sufficient hardness to be made into johnny cakes by the aid of a tin grater. We then became healthy, vigorous, and contented with our situation, poor as it was. My father, with a small number of his neighbors, made their settlements in the spring of 1773 Though they were in a poor and destitute situation, they nevertheless lived in peace; but their tranquillity was not of long continuance. Those most atrocious murders of the peaceable inoffensive Indians at Captina and Yellow cr., brought on the war of Lord Dunmore in the spring of the year 1774. Our little settlement then broke up. The women and children were removed to Morris' fort in Sandy creek glade, some distance to the east of Uniontown. The fort consisted of an assemblage of small hovels, situated on the margin of a large and noxious marsh, the effluvia of which gave the most of the women and children the fever and ague. The men were compelled by necessity to return home, and risk the tomahawk and scalping knife of the Indians, in raising corn to keep their families from starvation the succeeding winter. Those sufferings, dangers, and losses were the tribute we had to pay to that thirst for blood which actuated those veteran murderers who brought the war upon us! The memory of the sufferers in this war, as well as that of their descendants, still looks back upon them with regret and abhorrence, and the page of history will consign their names to posterity with the full weight of infamy they deserve. My father, like many others, believed that, having secured his legal allotment, the rest of the country belonged of right to those who chose to settle in it. There was a piece of vacant land adjoining his tract, amounting to about 200 acres. To this tract of land he had the pre-emption right, and accordingly secured it by warrant; but his conscience would not permit him to retain it in his family; he therefore gave it to an apprentice lad whom he had raised in his house. This lad sold it to an uncle of mine for a cow and calf, and a wool hat.

Owing to the equal distribution of real property directed by our land laws, and the starling integrity of our forefathers in their observance of them, we have no districts of " sold land," as it is called, that is, large tracts of land in the hands of individuals, or companies, who neither sell nor improve them, as is the case in Lower Canada, and the northwestern part of Pennsylvania. These unsettled tracts make huge blanks in the population of the country where they exist.

The division lines between those whose lands adjoined were generally made in an amicable manner, before any survey of them was made, by the parties concerned. In doing this they were guided mainly by the tops of ridges and water courses, but particularly the former. Hence the greater number of farms in the western parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia bear a striking resemblance to an amphitheatre. The buildings occupy a low situation, and the tops of the surrounding hills are the boundaries of the tract to which the family mansion belongs.

Our forefathers were fond of farms of this description, because, as they said, they are attended with this convenience, "that everything comes to the house downhill."

Most of the early settlers considered their land as of little value, from an apprehension that after a few years cultivation it would lose its fertility, at least for a long time. I have often heard them say that such a field would bear so many crops, and another so many, more or less than that. The ground of this belief concerning the short-lived fertility of the land in this country, was the poverty of a great proportion of the land in the lower parts of Maryland and Virginia, which, after producing a few crops, became unfit for use, and was thrown out into commons.

My reader will naturally ask where were their mills for grinding grain? Where their tanneries for making leather? Where their smith-shops for making and repairing their farming utensils? Who were their carpenters, tailors, cabinet workmen, shoemakers, and weavers? The answer is, those manufacturers did not exist, nor had they any tradesmen, who were professedly such. Every family were under the necessity of doing everything for themselves as well as they could. The hommony block and hand-mills were in use in most of our houses. The first was made of a large block of wood about three feet long, with an excavation burned in one end, wide at the top, and narrow at the bottom, so that the action of the pestle on the bottom threw the corn up to the sides towards the top of it, from whence it continually fell down into the centre. In consequence of this movement, the whole mass, of the grain was pretty equally subjected to the strokes of the pestle. In the fall of the year, while the Indian corn was soft, the block and pestle did very well for making meal for johnnycake and mush, but were rather slow when the corn became hard.

The sweep was sometimes used to lessen the toil of pounding grain into meal.* This was a pole of some springy elastic wood, thirty feet long or more; the butt end was placed under the side of a house, or a large stump. This pole was supported by two forks, placed about one third of its length from the butt end, so as to elevate the small end about fifteen feet from the ground; to this was attached, by a large mortise, a piece of a sapling, about five or six inches in diameter, and eight or ten feet long. The lower end of this was shaped so as to answer for a pestle. A pin of wood was put through it at a proper height, so that two persons could work at the sweep at once. This simple machine very much lessened the labor, and expedited the work. I remember that when a boy I put up an excellent sweep at my father's. It was made of a sugar-tree sapling. It was kept going almost constantly from morning till night by our neighbors for several weeks. In the Greenbriar country, where they had a number of saltpetre caves, the first settlers made plenty of excellent gunpowder by the means of those sweeps and mortars.

A machine, still more simple than the mortar and pestle, was used for making meal, while the corn was too soft to be beaten. It was called a grater. This was a half-circular piece of tin, perforated with a punch from the concave side, and nailed by its edges to a block of wood. The ears of com were rubbed on the rough edges of the holes, while the meal foil through them on the board or block to which the grater was nailed, which, being in a slanting direction, discharged the meal into a cloth or bowl placed for its reception. This to be sure was a slow way of making meal, but necessity has no law.

The hand-mill was better than the mortar and grater. It was made of two circular stones, the lowest of which was called the bed-stone, the upper one the runner. These were placed in a hoop, with a spout for discharging the meal. A staff was let into a hole in the upper surface of the runner, near the outer edge, and its upper end through a hole in a board fastened to a joist above, so that two persons could be employed in turning the mill at the same time. The grain was put into the opening in the runner by hand. These mills are still in use in Palestine, the ancient country of the Jews. To a mill of this sort our Saviour alluded when, with reference to the destruction of Jerusalem, he said, "Two women shall be grinding at a mill, the one shall be taken and the other left." This mill is much preferable to that used at present in Upper Egypt for making the dhoura bread. It is a smooth stone, placed on an inclined plane, upon which the grain is spread, which is made into meal, by rubbing another stone up and down upon it.

* See the cut under Potter county.

Our first water-mills were of that description denominated tub-mills. It consists of a perpendicular shaft, to the lower end of which a horizontal wheel of about four or five feet in diameter is attached; the upper end passes through the bed-stone, and carries the runner after the manner of a trundlehead. These mills were built with very little expense, and many of them answered the purpose very well. Instead of bolting cloths, sifters were in general use. They were made of deer-skins, in the state of parchment, stretched over a hoop, and perforated with a hot wire.

Our clothing was all of domestic manufacture. We had no other resource for clothing, and this indeed was a poor one. The crops of flax often failed, and the sheep were destroyed by the wolves. Linsey, which is made of flax and wool-the former the chain, and the latter the filling -was the warmest and most substantial cloth we could make. Almost every house contained a loom, and almost every woman was a weaver.

Every family tanned their own leather. The tan-vat was a large trough sunk to the upper edge in the ground. A quantity of bark was easily obtained every spring in clearing and fencing land. This, after drying, was brought in, and in wet days was shaved and pounded on a block of wood, with an axe or mallet. Ashes were used in place of lime for taking off the hair. Bears' oil, hogs' lard, and tallow, answered the place of fish oil. The leather, to be sure, was coarse; but it was substantially good. The operation of currying was performed by a drawing knife with its edge turned, after the manner of a currying knife. The blacking for the leather was made of soot and hogs' lard.

Almost every family contained its own tailors and shoemakers. Those who could not make shoes, could make shoepacks. These, like moccasins, were made of a single piece of leather, with the exception of a tongue piece on the top of the foot. This was about two inches broad, and circular at the lower end. To this the main piece of leather was sewed with a gathering stitch. The seam behind was like that of a moccasin. To the shoepack a sole was sometimes added. The women did the tailor work. They could all cut out and make hunting shirts, leggins, and drawers.

The state of society which existed in our country at an early period of its settlement is well calculated to call into action every native mechanical genius. This happened in this country. There was in almost every neighborhood someone whose natural ingenuity enabled him to do many things for himself and his neighbors far above what could have been reasonably expected. With the few tools which they brought with them into the country, they certainly performed wonders. Their ploughs, harrows with wooden teeth, and sleds, were hi many instances well made. Their cooper ware, which comprehended everything for holding milk and water, was generally pretty well executed. The cedar ware, by having alternately a white and red stave, was then thought beautiful; many of their puncheon floors were very neat, their joints close, and the top even and smooth. Their looms, although heavy, did very well. Those who could not exercise these mechanic arts were under the necessity of giving labor or barter to their neighbors in exchange for the use of them, so far as their necessities required.

The county seat of Fayette is the borough of Union, usually called Union-town. It is a large, flourishing, and rather compactly built town, situated on the national road, four miles west of Laurel hill and 62 from Cumberland. Two forks of Redstone cr. encircle the town. Besides the usual county buildings, which are neat and spacious, there are here a college, including a preparatory department, a female seminary, Presbyterian, Cumberland Presbyterian, Methodist, Reformed Methodist, Baptist, African, and Episcopal churches. Madison College, at this place, established originally in 1808, as an academy, became a college in 1825, and was incorporated as such in 1827. It was formerly under the charge of the Methodist Episcopal Church; but the gentleman now at the head of it is a Presbyterian clergyman from Scotland.

The place abounds in excellent hotels, and recently Mr. Stockton, an enterprising proprietor of stages on the national road, has erected a most costly and spacious establishment of this kind. The travel and wagon transportation on the national road gives great life and bustle to the principal street of Uniontown. Scarcely an hour of the day passes when a stage-coach may not be seen passing through the town. The property invested in these passenger lines is immense. Some idea may be formed of its importance from the fact that one proprietor, during the recent suspension of specie payments, is said to have kept in circulation and in good credit about $500,000 worth of shinplasters along the line of the road. The annexed view shows the entrance from the east to the main street of the town. The house of Judge Ewing is seen on the left. The building on the right is occupied by law-offices. The courthouse is not seen, being in the rear of the open space on the right. At the extreme end of the street, in the distance, is the site of the cabin of the first settler of the town. Population in 1840, 1,710.

Uniontown was laid out by Henry Beeson about the year 1767 or '69. Mr. Beeson was a Quaker from Berkeley co., Virginia. His cabin stood upon the place now occupied by the residence of Mr. Veech, at the west end of the town. At that time all the iron and salt for this region was transported on pack-horses from Cumberland ; and while Mr. Beeson was absent on one of these expeditions, his wife was greatly alarmed at seeing several groups of Indians skulking about the house, apparently with hostile intentions, and occasionally engaged in earnest conversation. She could understand a little of the French and Indian of one old man who was evidently communicating to his comrades the fact that Mr. Beeson was one of the " broad brims," or Wm. Penn's men, and that his family ought therefore to pass unmolested. The Indians soon after this dispersed without doing any injury:-a beautiful commentary on the peaceful policy of Wm. Penn. Jacob Beeson came several years after Henry, and purchased the Veech place from his brother, who removed to the south part of the town. Jacob Beeson was the former owner of the site of Mr. Stockton's elegant mansion at the west end. Windle Brown and his two sons, and Frederick Waltzer, lived about four miles west of Uniontown before Braddock's defeat. Mr. Freeman Lewis came here in 1796; and about that time the courthouse and market-house were erected. Since then the town has gradually increased with the opening of the country.

Brownsville, a large borough, is situated 12 miles N. W. of Uniontown, at the. intersection of the national road with the Monongahela river. It occupies a commanding point as a place of business, enjoying the advantages of the national road, and the improved navigation of the Monongahela, and the hope of being the future point of divergence of the Baltimore and Ohio railroad towards Pittsburg. Since the completion of the latter work to Cumberland, late in 1842, the business of the place is much augmented, during high-water, by the shipment of goods by steamboat for the lower rivers.

The inexhaustible veins of coal, of superior quality, must give the place a preference for manufacturing establishments. There are here a bank, a Masonic lodge, two Methodist, one Reformed Methodist, one Presbyterian, one Catholic, and one Episcopal church, and one Friends' meetinghouse ; two foundries, two machine shops, three paper-mills, one rolling mill and nail manufactory, three glass factories, two piano manufactories, and many other manufactories of various articles. Population of Bridgeport, 788 ; Brownsville, 1,362. The above statistics include also the borough of Bridgeport, which is the shipping place for Brownsville, and only separated from it by Dunlap's, originally Nemocalling's cr., which here enters the Monongahela.

Over this creek there has been a succession of bridges of different descriptions, one of which was a chain bridge, of the kind patented by the Hon. James Finley of this county. This bridge, suspended partly over the land and partly over the water, at the height of 25 to 30 feet, fell with a terrible crash early in the year 1820. It was covered with snow to a considerable depth, and gave way under that and the weight of a large road wagon heavily laden with merchandise. The teamster fell into the water, and escaped with very little injury, his wagon upon land, which prevented much damage to the goods. The wagon and team were much injured, several of the horses being either killed or drowned. Over this creek now, on the route of the national road, there is a bridge entirely of cast iron. This bridge is about 80 feet span, built at the expense of the United States government. It is the only one of the kind, and probably the most splendid piece of bridge architecture in the United States.

The splendid bridge over the Monongahela, 630 feet long, was built about the year 1832, at a cost of about 850,000. The borough of Brownsville was incorporated in January, 1815. The annexed view was taken from near the national road, where it winds up the hill west of the town. Brownsville is seen on the hill, and Bridgeport at the further end of the bridge.

The following particulars relating to the history of Brownsville were copied, by permission, from a manuscript sketch by James L. Bowman, Esq. He afterwards sent the sketch to the American Pioneer, where it appeared in February, 1843.

On an elevated and commanding bank on the east side of the Monongahela river there was once one of those ancient fortifications, similar to others which have been discovered at different points through the valley of the Mississippi. When or by whom erected, remains in doubt to this day. The military skill displayed in the location and laying out of these forts, and the remains of some articles of mechanism found therein, have impressed the idea upon the public, that this country was once the abode of a race of people more advanced in civilization and the arts than the present aborigines. It is known that nothing of the kind is now resorted to for defence by any of the tribes of Indians. If then those fortifications were the work of the ancestors of the present race, a retrogression in civilization must have taken place. The site of the one to which we have reference was a judicious one. On the northwest the Monongahela river washed the base of the hill, on the northeast and south were deep ravines, and on the east a flat of some extent An approach by a hostile force from either direction could easily be discovered by those within, nor could the weapons of attack at that day used reach the fort from the adjacent ground. Several acres were enclosed within; and near to, without, were springs of pure and limpid water.

Situated, as we have already stated, at the head of the immense Mississippi valley, it appears as if intended as a junctional point between the east and west, and to which the main trail over the intervening mountains was directed. Hence, we may suppose, it was a prominent point with the aborigines, as it was evidently of attraction to the whites in their trading excursions with the Indians. It was first known as the " Old Fort:" as those excursions were extended further west, and similar works discovered, it was designated as the " Old Fort at Redstone;" and in after years it became known as " Redstone Old Fort," by which name it is familiar to hundreds of the early settlers of Kentucky, as the place of their embarkation when emigrating to the "bloody ground." After the successful campaign of Gen. Forbes, in 1758, and the capture of Fort Du Quesne, it became necessary to form a more intimate and accessible communication between the settlement and that distant but important post, and also the establishment of others appurtenant thereto, to prevent the predatory incursions of the savages into the settled parts of the territory.

Col. Burd, in 1759, was dispatched with 200 men to cut a road from Braddock's road to the Monongahela river, so as to form a more direct communication with Fort Pitt We have seen it stated, in a creditable work, that the fort at that time was built by Captain Paull; that was doubtless an error, as the journal of Col. Burd is ample evidence to settle that matter. The probability is, that after the accomplishment of the object for which the commanding officer was sent, he placed Capt. Paull in command, and returned to report. We have been more minute in detailing the route of Col. Burd than we should otherwise have been, for the purpose of evidencing the accurate knowledge of the country at that day, and the judicious selection of the route; inasmuch as Col. Williams, Thomas Moore, and John Kerr, the first commissioners appointed by government for locating the national road, after a -laborious and minute examination, very nearly pursued the route of Braddock's road and that of Col. Burd to reach the same point; and although a departure took place at the formation of the road, we believe it has ever been considered, by those acquainted with the two routes, that the original location of the commissioners was the most practicable and of easy grade.

The name given to the fort at that time constructed, was "Fort Burd;" but Bo accustomed had the traders and hunters been with that of "Redstone Old Fort," that they did not abandon it. Block-houses were also erected, but how long it remained a stationed military post we cannot state; certain it is, however, that it retained its pre-eminency as a place of rendezvous for the white men, who acted as spies to watch the movements of the numerous tribes of Indians inhabiting the head waters of the Ohio and tributaries ; and when settlements were made on the west side of the Allegheny ridge, it was resorted to as a place of concentration for defence in cases of alarm or expected attacks.

Among the distinguished men of that day, for endurance and boldness in savage warfare, was Capt Michael Cresap; and although coupled and stigmatized with the unfortunate murder of Logan's family, we are nevertheless disposed to admire his brave and adventurous disposition, and award to him a credit for the many rescues of the whites, by the timely notices of the savages' approach, acquired by him in his vigilant watchfulness of their warlike movements. This fort was Capt Cresap's rallying place for himself and those under his direction. Thither they resorted at stated periods to interchange views and adopt plans for future action; or at more congenial tunes, when the warlike dispositions of the red men were lulled into inaction, and the tomahawk and scalping-knife, stained with the blood of innocent victims, were converted into emblems of the chase. To those hardy men, these were periods of conviviality. The days were spent in athletic exercises, and in the evenings, around a "huge log fire," they would recount their respective adventures and hair-breadth escapes; or, if perchance a fiddle or a jewsharp was possessed by any of the inmates, it was occasionally brought into requisition, and the monotony disturbed by the hilarity of a stag dance.

The scrutinizing mind of Cresap discovered, at that early day, that this location would, at a future period, become valuable, and accordingly took measures to secure a Virginia title, by a tomahawk improvement, to several hundred acres, embracing the fortification. Not content, however, with girdling a few trees and blazing others, he determined to make his object sure, and that a construction of the act for the deed could not be given to his measures, he built a hewed log house with a shingle roof nailed on. That is believed to have been the first shingled house west of the mountains in that part of the great domain. We have not the data to fix the precise year of its erection, but from circumstances suppose it to have been about the year 1770. He retained the title for years, and disposed of it to Thomas and Basil Brown, brothers, who had come from Maryland.*

The establishment, from 1770 to 1774, of several stockade forts at different points on the Ohio, with intermediate private ones and block-houses, restricted the operations of the savages pretty much to the west side of that stream, and intercepted marauding parties upon the settlements on the east side. Security being thus measurably given to the settlements on the Monongahela, induced others to join, and the country became rapidly populated. The emigration was principally from Maryland and Virginia, many bringing with them their slaves and the impression that they would be within the limits of the " Old Dominion;" nor were they apprised of the mistake until the line was actually run by the commissioners of the two states. Such of them as retained a prepossession for the customs, habits, and laws of their native state, disposed of their improvements and descended the river to Kentucky, as more congenial to their desire. These removals gave place to many of the society of Friends from Chester county, Pennsylvania, and from New Jersey. In 1785, the town of Brownsville was laid out on the site of the old fortification. The rapid settlement of Kentucky, which was then taking place, gave to this point a celebrity as a place of embarkation. Employment was given to mechanics of different kinds, particularly limit builders, for the construction of Kentucky boats, as they were called, in contradistinction to the Orleans boat*, which were of a larger and better finished kind, having a longer voyage to undergo. By means of these boats, the emigrants, with their families, slaves, and horses, descended to the place of debarkation, which was generally at Limestone, now Maysville. Supplies necessary, not merely for their consumption during the voyage, but for six and twelve months thereafter, were generally procured and carried with them, as well as agricultural and other necessary heavy implements, which could not easily be brought with them from the east. This was of great benefit to the farmers and mechanics, as it gave a market for their productions and an impetus to the improvement of the town and country.

Hitherto the settlers had to depend principally for their necessaries, such as iron, nails, salt, and many other things, upon the towns of Hagerstown and Winchester, whither they resorted with their pack-horses, carrying furs, ginseng, snakeroot, &c., to barter. In 1787, several stores, with what was then considered good stocks of goods, were established, and finding it their interest to supply the articles necessary for a new country, they necessarily drew the attention of the settlers, and in a few years dispensed with their eastern trips for the obtainment of supplies. The merchandise, salt, &c., was still brought out on pack-horses; two men could manage ten or fifteen horses, carrying each about 200 pounds, by tying one to the other in single file; one of the men taking charge of the lead horse to pioneer, and the other the hinder one to keep an eye on the proper adjustment of the loads, and to stir up any that appeared to lag. Bells were indispensable accompaniments to the horses, by which their position could be more easily ascertained in the morning when hunting up, preparatory to a start. Some grass or leaves were inserted into the bell to prevent the clapper from operating during the travel of the day.

* On the brow of the hill on which the town is built is an ancient graveyard. One of the stones contains the following inscription, which is here copied verbatim:-" Here lies the body of Thomas Brown who once was owner of this town who departed this life March 1797-aged 59 years."

The first wagon load of merchandise that was brought over the mountains on the southern route, or that now nearly traversed by the national road, was in 1789. They were for Jacob Bowman, who had settled at Brownsville as a merchant in 1787, and is still residing at that place. The wagoner was John Hayden, who also resided in Fayette County, until his death, a few years ago. He drove four horses, brought out about twenty hundred pounds, for which he received three dollars per hundred, and was nearly a month making the trip to and fro, from Hagerstown, Maryland, a distance of about 140 miles. By means of the great improvement in the road, six horses will now haul seventy or eighty hundred, between the same places, in seven days, for one dollar per hundred.

The great demand for iron in its various ramifications, and the expense of transportation from the east, caused an early and successful discovery of the ore in the mountainous regions thereabouts. The first blast furnace west of the mountains was erected on Dunbar cr., about fifteen miles east of Brownsville, by Col. Isaac Meason, John Gibson, and Moses Dillon, the latter of whom afterwards settled in Ohio and erected similar works on Licking, near Zanesville, and, for aught we know, it was the first furnace in the " Buckeye state." The first abovementioned was called "Union furnace," and was successfully carried on for many years. Others were soon added, and the number increased in a few years to fifteen or twenty, such being the great demand for their productions to supply that immense and fertile western valley. To several, forges were added as accompaniments, by which the metal was converted, by means of heavy hammers, into bar iron.

The facility of obtaining the raw material, and the abundance of bituminous coal for working it, caused the establishment of various manufactories in this section. Among them we may name that of a steam-engine shop, under the direction of David French, in Bridgeport, from which emanated an engine which was put on board the hull of the steamer Enterprise in 1814. The hull of this boat had also been built and belonged to a company there. She was the first steamer that ever ascended the Mississippi and Ohio rivers from New Orleans to Pittsburg.

In 1796, Samuel Jackson and Jonathan Sharpless, two ingenious mechanics of the society of Friends, who had been raised in the neighborhood of the extensive paper-mills of the Gilpins, on Brandy wine, erected and put into operation the " Redstone Paper-mill," four miles east of Brownsville. This was the first manufactory of the kind west of the mountains. The second was that on Little Beaver cr., erected in 1805-6, by John Beaver, Jacob Bowman, and John Coulter, and called the " Ohio Paper-mill," being within the limits of that state.

During the whiskey insurrection, in 1794, Samuel Jackson, who was of the Society of Friends, and conscientiously opposed to distillation, favored the acts of government as a means of suppression. He had dubbed one of the insurgent meetings a scrub congress. It gave umbrage to them, and at a subsequent meeting it was proposed that a file of men should be despatched to the residence of Samuel, about a mile distance there from, and bring him before them for condemnation and punishment. Samuel did not altogether like the visit nor the intent of his visitors, and being a large athletic man, might have given them some trouble had he laid aside broad-brim and drabby; but being a man of peace, he submitted without resistance, and accompanied his escort, with his peculiar and accustomed step, his long arms thrown crosswise behind, with as much thoughtfulness as if he were going to one of his own " fourth day meetings." The late Judge Breckenridge, who was of the assemblage, was personally acquainted with Samuel, and entertained a friendly regard for him, mounted the stand and commenced a harangue, in which he admitted that Samuel had been remiss in applying so opprobrious an epithet to so august and legitimate an assemblage of sovereign people, but that he attributed it more to a want of reflection on his part than to any enmity or design; and the best retaliation would be to pay him in his own coin, by stigmatizing him as a scrub Quaker. It had the intended effect. The insurgents took with it, and Samuel was discharged with the appellation of being a scrub Quaker. Had it not been for the turn thus given to it by Judge Breckenridge, it is very likely that Samuel would have been injured in his person, or, as others had been, in the destruction of his property.

Connellsville, on one side of the Youghiogheny, and New Haven on the other, are flourishing villages, 12 miles northeast of Uniontown. At New Haven is a very extensive woollen factory. There are also in the vicinity two large paper-mills, and a number of furnaces and forges. The Youghiogheny is a very precipitous stream, and affords excellent mill sites. The place contains an Episcopal, Baptist, two Methodist, and a Presbyterian church. Population of the township, 1,436.

Connellsville took its name from Zachariah Connell, who laid it out some 50 years since. It was incorporated as a borough in 1806. New Haven was laid out in 1796, by Col. Isaac Meason. The first settlers in the vicinity were Col. Crawford, Col. Paull, the Rogers family, Zachariah Connell, Benjamin Wells, and others.

The residence of Col. Wm. Crawford was on the left bank of the river, a little below New Haven. The ruins-a few old logs-were still remaining in 1839. The site is said to be precisely opposite the place where Braddock's enthusiastic army crossed the river on their way down, and the place is still called Braddock's ford. Col. Crawford emigrated from Berkeley co., Virginia, in 1768, with his family, having been out the year previous to fix upon a site, and erect his cabin. He was a captain in Forbes' expedition in 1758. He was the intimate friend of Gen. Washington, who was frequently an inmate of his humble dwelling during his visits to this region for the purpose of locating lands and attending to public business. Col. Crawford was one of the bravest men on the frontier, and often took the lead in parties against the Indians across the Ohio. His records and papers were never preserved, and very little else than a few brief anecdotes remain to perpetuate his fame. At the commencement of the revolution, he raised a regiment by his own exertions, and held the commission of colonel in the continental army. In 1782, he accepted, with great reluctance, the command of an expedition to ravage the Wyandott and Moravian Indian towns on the Muskingum. On this expedition, at the age of 50, he was taken prisoner, and put to death by the most excruciating tortures.

PERRYOPOLIS

Perryopolis is pleasantly situated within half a mile of the Youghiogheny run, about 14 miles north of Uniontown. It lies in a rich agricultural country. Much of the peculiar kind of sand for the glass-works at Pittsburg is taken from this place. It was laid out at the close of the last war, by Dr. Thomas Hersey, John Shreve, and Robert (or Samuel) Burns.

BELLEVERNON

Bellevernon is a new town on the Monongahela, 25 miles above Pittsburg, and bids fair to become a manufacturing place. Population estimated at 400.

The other villages of Fayette co. are New Geneva, Woodbridge, Haydentown, Smithfield, Monroe, Germantown, M'clellandstown, New Salem, Merritstown, Middletown, and Cookstown.

NEW GENEVA

New Geneva is situated on the right bank of the Monongahela, at the mouth of George's creek. The place contains some 60 dwellings, a church, an extensive steam flour-mill, and a manufactory of glass.

The place derives its name from Geneva, in Switzerland, the native land of Albert Gallatin. The extensive glass-works here were established many years ago, by Mr. Gallatin, in connection with Mr. Nicholson, and the Messrs. Kramer, Germans. As this was then the only establishment of the kind in the western country, its products met a lively demand, and the concern proved very profitable. Mr. Gallatin, being engaged in more important affairs, sold out his interest to the younger men, the Kramers, who carried it on to advantage. Mr. Gallatin dwelt for some years in a log-cabin near the river; but after he became distinguished in public life, he caused a more splendid mansion to be erected on the high grounds about two miles above Geneva,

The place is now in possession of a French gentleman of fortune, who is either a relative or intimate friend of Mr. Gallatin; and who is extensively concerned in commercial and manufacturing enterprises at the village. The farm, though not remarkably fertile, is extensive, and well provided with buildings. A long circuitous avenue, shaded with tall cherry and forest trees, imparts an aristocratic air to the grounds.

The following particulars were derived from a highly respectable and aged gentleman, long intimate with Mr. Gallatin:

Albert Gallatin was born at Geneva, in Switzerland, on the 29th Jan. 1761. He was left an orphan in his infancy; but under the kind protection of a female relative of his mother, received a very thorough education, and graduated at the University of Geneva in 1779. His family friends were wealthy and highly respectable; and we have been told that his aged grandfather, with whom he resided, was deeply imbued with the aristocratic prejudices of the ancient regime. Young Albert, on the contrary, was an ardent republican, and made no secret of his adhesion to the revolutionary school. Without the knowledge or consent of his family, Albert, then only 19, with a comrade of the same sentiments, left the home of his father to seek glory and fortune, and freedom of thought, in the infant republic of America. He was recommended by a friend to the patronage of Dr. Franklin, then at Paris. He arrived in Boston in July, 1780, and soon after proceeded to Maine, where he purchased land, and resided till the end of 1781 at Machias and Paseamaquoddy. Here he served as a volunteer under Col. John Allen, and made advances from his private purse for the support of the garrison. In the spring of 1783 he was appointed instructor in the French language at Harvard University, where he remained about a year. Going to Virginia in the fall of 1783, to attend to the claims of a European house for advances to that state, he fell in with many of the eminent men of the state, and particularly with Patrick Henry, who treated him with marked kindness and respect, and predicted his future eminence. In accordance with Mr. Henry's advice, Mr. Gallatin sought his fortune in the new and wild country then just opening on the Ohio, and purchased considerable tracts of land in Western Virginia, between 1783 and 1785. In Dec. 1785, he purchased his plantation at New Geneva, where he subsequently established the glass-works.

His talents for public life soon became extensively known, and he was honored, in 1789, with a seat in the convention to amend the constitution of Pennsylvania. In that convention he took a decided stand on the democratic side, opposing the pretensions of property as an element in political power, and advocating the extension of the right of suffrage, restricted only by length of residence. When the new federal constitution was before the country for adoption, he took ground against it; but when adopted, lent it his efficient support. He became distinguished with all par. tics in the legislature for his ready comprehension of the great questions at issue, particularly of financial subjects; and was elected to the U. S. senate in Feb. 1793, notwithstanding there existed a majority in the legislature opposed to his own party, and though he had himself expressed doubts respecting his own eligibility. When he took his seat in the senate, in Dec., the question of his citizenship was revived, and he lost his seat, after an elaborate examination and report, on the ground that he had not been nine years a legally naturalized citizen of the United States. The question was decided by a strict party vote of 14 to 12, in Feb. 1794, between the federalists and democrats. Mr. Gallatin soon after married a daughter of Com. Nicholson, a distinguished officer of our navy, and returned to Fayette co. While contesting his seat in the senate, he received, through Robert Morris, a thousand guineas from his family friends, who, it would seem, had not for some time previously been apprised of his movements in this country.

During the Whiskey insurrection of 1794, Mr. Gallatin, although sympathizing with the insurgents in lawful and constitutional opposition to the law, yet boldly and openly opposed the adoption of warlike and treasonable measures. In this course he was sustained by the people of his own county; and his popularity was evidenced in Oct. of the same year by his election to congress from the Washington and Greene co. district, (although he did not reside in it,) in opposition to Hugh H. Breckenridge. Both were of the Democratic Party. Mr. Gallatin was not aware of his being himself a candidate until the election was announced to him. He had been at the same time elected to the legislature from Fayette co.

In congress, where he continued during three terms, he was distinguished as a leader of his party, in conjunction with Madison and Giles. He was appointed secretary of the treasury by Mr. Jefferson, in 1801-a post which he occupied for a number of years with preeminent ability.

His official reports are models of clearness and conciseness: in one of these he originated the project of the National Road.

On retiring from the cabinet, in 1813, he entered upon his diplomatic career in Europe, as one of the commissioners at Ghent, in negotiating the peace with Great Britain; and soon afterwards associated with Messrs. Adams and Clay, at London, in negotiating the commercial treaty with that power. He continued in Europe, as ambassador at Paris, until 1823, when he returned to the new mansion, which had been built during his absence, at New Geneva, and spent a few years in dignified retirement. He was again minister to England in 1826. On his return he sold his place at New Geneva, and resided for a time in Baltimore; and subsequently removed to New York, where he is still living. He has been for some years president of the "National Bank," (not the U. S. Bank,) of that city. He stands decidedly at the head of the financiers of the country, and holds high rank both as a statesman and a scholar. Notwithstanding his foreign birth, his state papers exhibit a perfect mastery of our language, and show no sign whatever of foreign idiom. His career has been alike honorable to himself, to his adopted country, that fostered and appreciated his talents, and to his native land.