The Elk advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Elk Co., Pa.) 186?-1868, 1866-05-17
at being charged with dsfraudine the

|
ing in Elk county;Mwho can possibly
come within the scope Of this " history "
or biography istns ypu my. be pleas:
ed to call IT'D are all pure, uncontami.
mated patriots. The future 7p,storiiaa
will have adiffefeht task in describing
the active, speculative, inqdisitive, med
ding and olcaginous ,ot Of fellows that
a railroad circulates and breeds. His.
tory travels fast, and one year now is
equal to twenty Of, the past ~ e. . u
The brief notes which j hand you
must circulate as they were "jotted I"
at the time. Some anachronisms may
rnny be discovered by the reader who
has had personal cognizance of the ev-
ents, but they are of too little impor-
tanee to create any dispute or offence.
ssa Truly Iours,es NV. PA.lii
5grrE m-sl ----4+ 1e. .. Ely .
Early Settlement Of Ridgway and Vicinity. Z
1t was the often expressed desire Of
one of the first settlers, who was conspic.
uously connected with all the trials,
incidents and Improvements of this sec
tiou ofPcnnsylvania, and who has since
gone to that bourne from whence no
traveller returns, that some condensed
history or brief record of facts and
events that occurred during the fati-
guing, if not perilous labors, in opening
out and settling of the country south Of
Smethport in McKean county should
be recorded, sr5 a-g.- t7Jh' a. 9le7'
There must always be some interes.
ting "reminiscences connected with the
early settlement of any portion of our
wide spread domain ina the United
States particularly ywhen the progress
of cultivation aud improy cment il slow
aud retarded by want of capital and the
great physical requirement necessary for
improving such vast wilderness as
extended one hundred miles east and
west, and aboutthe same distance north
and south, ora district Of country Of
ten thousand square miles; of which
Ridgway might geographically be called
the centre Indeed, Ridgway was (if
not now proyerbially described as be-
ing forty miles from any place: Boun
ded on the north by Smcthport, forty
miles, on the south by Brooktile, forty
miles, on the east by Clearfeld, forty
miles, and on the west by Warren, forty
miles: There was such brevity and
conciseness, in its boundaries, suchi
matter of fact lixedncss in its location,
lthatany child within the territory above
named, could direct the lost or stray
traveller with unerring certainty, the
way to or from Ridgway.a From the
first establishment of Post Office, and
when its first quarterly report to the
Post Office Department did not exceed
l83 cents Of receipts i to- theg7present,
it was the centre or terminus Of several
mail routes, making it from necessity a
sort of distributing Office The advan
tages of such a.concontration of mail ia
cilities, frors lis earliest settlement to
the present time, must bc apparent to
every one. E9qTli sH-H Hf 3' .h
For many long years, for they must
have appeared long to those who were
compelled TO travese this wilderness
region" the roads land oh such roads }
as they were called, were merely bride
paths, except perhaps iu the winter
season sled might with difficulty be
got through with much chopping of
logs or cutting away the underbrush
A few settlers had penetrated from the
interior of Pennsylvania and settled in,
and about Kersey, cleared some lan6,
fixed up their log cabins, aud with a
fortitude and perseverance, entitlinp
them to the greatest praise, held on tc
their homes endeared to them by ylsut
fering and toil-7-raised, and without any
school system except such as emanated
from their own judgment and desire fol
4 knowledge; they educated their chill
dren for useful aud patriotic citizens
many, if not most Of these first denizen'
have gone to their long rest, but thos,
who remain, and their descendants, wh'
shall read this brief allusiou, to thei
history, will retrace with lively recollec
ton many incidents in their lives, il
which hope and disappointment, doubt
and fears, anxiety and suffering, pleas
h ure and distress, alternately predomina
ted during their long struggle in thi
almost interminable wilderness, which
affords such striking contrast with tn
prairies Of the west. But there was al
antidote for all this; they had gooc
health and abundant appetites, the
could eat as much as they could raise
aud ATTY deficiency was madeiup by til
game Of the forest-'tis true, they wer
not hunters in the strict sense of tn
word. The tsmeness of the deer di'
not require strategem nor great fatigu
in the chase. grtN r D.. 1- $50
The curiosity oflthis noble animal, o
4 its peculiar love for turnip patch, en-
ticed sufficient number to their yer,