Dougherty, Eckenrode, Flick, Glass, Hertzog, Litzinger, McConnell, McCoy, McDermitt, McGough, McGuire, McMullen, Miller, Myers, Nagle, Noel, O'Neill, Parish, Skelly or O'Skelly, Smith, Hoover or Huber, Kane, Kean or Cain, Kaylor, Kelly, Little, Stevens, Storm, Sweeney, Weakland and Will. There were twenty-five families by the names of Bradley and McGuire; Dougherty, twenty-two; Eckenrode, twenty-three; Glass, twenty; McConnell, twenty; Myers and Noel, each, twenty-three; and Will, twenty. The aggregate number of families represented is 2143.

MUNSTER.

The Village of Munster is about five miles east of Ebensburg, and was plotted for a town by Edward V. James in 1808. It is said to have been a rival for the county capital, but there is no evidence of that fact. It was an Irish settlement. The town plot was extensive, but it never prospered. The lots were sixty-six feet in frontage and about one hundred and eighty feet in depth, and sold for $16 specie.

It is near the headwaters of the Little Conemaugh river, and one of the streets was named Conemaugh. It was located on the first road made in the county-the Frankstown, or the old Galbreath road, which is noted elsewhere. It had the advantage over Ebensburg, Buela and Loretto at that time, as neither of these localities had a good road east or west. About twenty years after the town was plotted there was an effort to make a new township to be named Donegal, but it caused so much friction the court declined to create it. Some of the freeholders were John O'Gara, Hugh McWilliamson, Hugh Gara, Moses Noon, Michael Burns, William Manly, Edward Smith, John Nickson, Patrick Dawson, Dennis Lynch, John Rhey, John Miller, Philip Noon, John D. Kerney, Jacob Glass, John Curren, Peter Storm, Bartholomew Kearney, Cornelius Freel, Joseph McGeehan, James Kean, James O'Kean and John Boyle. The descendents of Kearney and the Glass and other families still reside in that vicinity. However, there were few houses erected. The village is on the crest and western slope of the divide.

CHAPTER XI.

THE RIVERS, CREEKS AND RIVULETS-SAW AND GRIST MILLS, AND RAFTING.

A spring on the farm of Andrew Strittmatter, in Carroll township, near Strittmatter's tunnel, on the Cambria and Clearfield division of the Pennsylvania railroad, is the accredited source of the west branch of the Susquehanna.

Flowing in a northwesterly direction for half a mile, thence for an equal distance nearly west, the stream above mentioned is enlarged by another run, rippling down from Carrolltown, about a mile and a half to the northeast. This is the longer run of the two and is by some considered the source of the river, which from this junction of waters all unite in denominating the west branch of the Susquehanna.

From this point, flowing northwest generally, though with many deflections to the right and left, the river passes through Carroll township to the northeast corner of Barr, from where it follows the boundary line of Barr and Susquehanna into the latter. On its way it is augmented by the waters of at least eleven runs, some small, others of more volume, bearing such names as Walnut run, Moss creek, and Long run.

At this point, on the right bank, is the mining town of Spangler, which extends for about a mile and a half along the river. Here the river turns due north for a short distance, when it makes a left curve, about a mile in length, down to Garmantown, on the left bank. It is soon afterward joined by a small rivulet from the west, and Pine run which rises near Plattville and flows into it from the east, is the last large accession the west branch receives in, but not from Cambria county. From this point the general direction of the river is northward until it leaves the county at the historic Cherrytree.

Three other streams that rise in Susquehanna township flow north into the west branch in Clearfield county, the last of which is Beaver run.

The West Branch and its tributaries have been to Northern Cambria what the Conemaugh has been to Johnstown and its vicinity-except in disaster. As public highways, between 1857

and 1880, they were of much more utility than the Conemaugh ever was, for on them were floated to the eastern markets hundreds of millions of feet of valuable timber, the proceeds from the sale of which built up thousands of happy homes and laid the foundation of the prosperity of Northern Cambria.

The predominating timber in Northern Cambria and adjoining districts of Clearfield and Indiana counties was white pine. The principal uses to which this species of wood is put are for lumber, shingles, and spars or masts for ships. Pine cut in the summer months would be speedily devoured by grubs, or worms, called sawyers; hence, it became necessary to cut the timber in the fall and early winter months. Formerly, the principal part of the timber intended for lumber was cut down, and hewn on three sides, the other side being "barked" with a peeling ax. A tree was hewn forty, sixty, or eighty feet-according to height-straight on two sides, that the timber might be lashed or pinned together into rafts. On the other side it was hewn to suit the crooks if there were any. It was then hauled to a landing, generally on a dam, put into the water, a number of pieces placed side by side, several poles laid across them through which auger holes were bored down into the timbers, and pins of wood securely driven in. A rudder made of a long pole fastened on a pivot was fixed at the front and rear of the raft for the purpose of guiding it through the water. A shanty in which the cooking was done and which sheltered the raftsmen was then built upon it, and the raft was ready for high water, which generally occurred in the spring and fall of the year.

"Spars" were cut the length a tree would permit-eighty or one hundred feet-with some of them four feet and even larger at the base. As it is necessary to know if a mast is sound throughout, a simple expedient was used to determine that important point. Close to one end of the spar a man placed his ear, while another struck the other end with a heavy hammer or sledge. If the stick was solid throughout a sharp sound was heard by the person listening, while if the stroke was not heard, or but a dull thud was the result, the timber was condemned as unfit for use. Spars were made into rafts, sometimes along with square timber. The job of hauling them to the water's edge was often a very laborious and expensive one, many men and teams being required for the undertaking.

In later years much timber was floated down in sawlogs, the logs being cut and peeled in the woods. It is remarkable

how fast an expert "peeler" can remove the bark from a log or tree with his doublebit peeling ax, the bits being thin, about eight inches broad, each bit being shaped somewhat like an ancient battle ax. The logs are hauled to the edge of a stream and placed on the landing or dumped into a dam made for the purpose. Sometimes logs were pushed for miles in chutes, or "slides," made of small trees. In making these chutes one tree was pinned on a piece of timber laid on the ground or sometimes elevated on blocks to overcome unevenness of the line, with a piece fastened at either side as a fender. Into the groove thus formed the logs were placed-sometimes many in number -a team of horses was hitched to the hindmost log by means of a grab driven into the rear end, and this log being shoved on and bumped started those ahead of it. On reaching the dump the team was turned around or run to one side of a tree or pole close to the chute, and the grab released from its hold.

As much of this logging was done on small streams, resort was had to splash-dams to drive the logs down to the river. A splash-dam is constructed with a wicket that may be raised or lowered at pleasure, and when ready it is opened, releasing the water held in store and carrying the logs below down the stream, along which men, provided with pikepoles, are stationed to keep them in the channel. The boots of these men are armed with spikes somewhat like the climbers used by linemen on telegraph and electric poles, only smaller, and thus provided they often leap on logs to release jams with the greatest imaginable dexterity and fearlessnessa hazardous undertaking nevertheless. Sometimes a number of logs were made into rafts, but logs were often floated loose.

When the spring had opened and the ice had left the river sufficiently to insure safety, the sluices of the great dams in which the rafts were securely held were opened and the downward journey along the river began.

This was a perilous journey, and none but the hardiest of men were desirable for raftsmen. To steer the raft aright was a very particular job. Sometimes bends were to be rounded where the current hugged the shore, often boulders and obstructions had to be avoided, and dams had to be "shot" through chutes provided for the purpose. Here, if the raft was not kept straight in the current as it entered the chute there was great danger of its being wrecked. If the front bowsman was not an expert there was the probability of his being swept off by the

water or knocked off by the rudder when the front part of the raft dipped into the water below the chute.

The rafts and logs were floated down the river to Lock Haven, Williamsport, Muncey, and sometimes even to Havre de Grace, Maryland, on the right bank of the river near the head of Chesapeake bay. Arrived at their destination, they were secured in large dams or along the shore by means of ropes. thrown around stakes or poles fastened to piers or driven into the ground. The logs were run into booms, near which were located great sawmills which manufactured them into lumber. A boom is an obstruction of long logs securely fastened together by clamps and swiveled chains, or by cribs thrown diagonally across the greater part of the stream-generally from the inner curve of a great bend in the river or in a dam-thus reflecting the logs from the current into the slack water, where they remained until taken therefrom to be worked up into lumber, as was also the square timber of the rafts.

The fall rafting generally consisted of the timber that was left over from the spring "drive," or that was not ready at that time. Often a summer freshet was taken advantage of and sometimes a lowness of water prevented or delayed a drive at the usual time.

At first raftsmen on their return were compelled to walk, or ride on horseback or in the stage to their homes, but after railroad facilities became available that method of traveling was adopted.

Rafting on the West Branch of the Susquehanna is now practically a thing of the past, the people of Northern Cambria having turned their attention to agricultural and mining pursuits, and, with ever increasing railroad facilities, the mineral resources of that thriving section of the county are being rapidly developed.

After leaving Cambria county, the West Branch runs in a northeasterly and then in a northerly direction to McGee's mills, where it turns to the northeast, a few miles farther on receiving the waters of Chest creek, which general course it continues to Clearfield, where it is augmented by the waters of Clearfield creek. Down these two streams the greater part of the rafting from Cambria county found its way to the West Branch.

Winding eastward to Northumberland county it empties