The Elk advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Elk Co., Pa.) 186?-1868, 1866-07-26

moved that the present location was fix
ed. 1t is consolotary to the living, that
although of dust thou art, and unto
dust thou shalt return" we can view
without fear Of interruption or removal
the ground under which their beloved
dead are mo''dering and returning to
their native element The marble me
mento, the simple paling, the myrtle,
the blooming rose, or the willow with
with its streaming branches - like
mourners tears, are objects sacred to
our eyes, ms we cherish affectionately
the remembrances of the dead.
But the writer is constantly digress
ing, -, uiara'iaing, but he has this ex-
cusc, L. seated at first that no order
voD't be Observed, nor design to con
nacc events; the simple facts, or ideas
suggesting their conclusions, as it were,
are promisouously jotted down, and the
reader mus. act part like the mechan-
ic when the frame work or the different
parts OF machinery lie scattered about
put them together, whether their ap-
pearance Or utility is congenial to their
views or not.
Within eighteen months after Hughes
&c Dickinson broke ground in the cree
ton of their mills they were manufac-
turing boards, and thereafter commenc-
ed more regular system of rafting and
running lumber out of the Clarion from
Ridgway than previously. The saw.
mill Of Enos ellis had manufactured
sufficient boards to test the capabilities
and power Of the staeam. They were
making some boards on Little Toby, out
OF which "run" within two years was
was considered a quick trip. There
was some three or four individuals in
and about ridgway who had been down
Toby to Pittsburgh, ana they were re
garded as eminent pilots. Some funds
had been raised by subscription to blast
out some Of the most dangerous and
prominent rocks and the Duke" had
spent two summers in drilling and
burning powder, and he might be said
to have a good knowledge of all the
dangers Of the navigation-thus Henry
Karns was among the first and best pi,
lots then there we're Thomas Barbour
and Joab Dobbin. Now Joab was for
a year or two regarded as the oracle by
which every raft was started on its
downward voyage. When the rains
fell or the spring thaws commenced, and
the turbid waters gave indication of a
L" flood oars were hung, cables affixed.
bread and beans baked-all on tip toe
for a start, awaiting the pilot. Joab
would emerge from his morning nap, and
sally out from his dwelling which stood
near the mouth of Elk crcek-tak a
look, first at the water, and then cast
his eye along the valley of Elk creek,
and unless tke waters were high enough
to Submerge the roots and part of the
trunk of the large elm tree just oppo
site the mouth of Fix creek, and the
fog shooting upwal DIS from along its
eastern course-no woodchuck on Can,
dlemas day, emerging from his burrow
and seeing his shadow, scampering back
to his hole TO abide six weeks contin
usuce Of cod weather was more certain
OF his instincts, than Josb Dobbin tc
retreat to his house and quietly peg
away al his boots and shoes, if these (tj
him) evidences Of flood did not ap.
pear. A few experiments in running
exploded this theory, and it Tas soor
discerned that this mark, for a rafting
flood, was at least two feet too high fol
all purposes of safe navigation. The
rafting and running of lumber out o
the Clarion twenty-five years ago an(
the year 1860 were vastly unlike-a
the present period calculations must b.
made for every fourth raft being stove
and a good bit lost; there was necessa
riIy good deal of " gigging back" Ga
Joab would call it), in consequence o
low water, or being picked up by somt
forgotten rock, or unskillful inexper
fenced steering. There were no road
or guides for the returning raftmen saw
the stream itself or the boundaries O
the windfall," which ofton.times en-
ticed the weary traveller within where
the eddying blast had caused bay o
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