The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1873-01-17
LFrom the Printers Circular Phila.1
Early Printing Days On the AIIeshen,
Mountains.
BY A TYPO.

BY A TYPO.
a recent visit to the scenes of nv early
life on the summit of the Allegheny Noun
tains recalled-for they could not fail TO
a"aken-many "reminiscences at once sad
ana pleasing; and as / am an illustration of
that old axiom among printers (for there is
much truth in It), that the boy who once
hreathes, practically, the atmosphere of a
printing Office, is as securely bound to the
craft as ever the ictim who drank of
the charmed waters of the NagOochee TO the
Iocahty in which they flow, and still hnger
amid the types, / naturally felt most inter
life.
The little county of Cambria settled prin-
clpally by Welchmen, was my home in early
years and TO look upon it to-day, still in
rugged and undeveloped grandeur, and COM
pare 1t with what it was foTUy-eigfIt years
ago, when the inhabitants were not iuaptly
dubbed the ''frosty sons of thunder" and
when all the surroundings gave but little
promise of the Developments which have so
substantially added to its wealth, I can scarce
realize that the same century IS still plod-
didg on.
About 1880 the first newspaper was estah-
lished in Ebensburg-then, as it is now, the
county seat-by Dr. Robert Young, mem
Der of the Constitutional Convention of 1887
g it was edited by the doctors brothcr-in-
law, Moses Canaan, ESD, member of the
bar. Both gentlemen have long since been
deceased. The typographical work un-
der the direction of Thomas Read, who had
learned the art preServative - in Indiana
borough some twenty miles distant. Apart
from The wonder and excitement attendent
upon the advent of printing office, l
member but little in connection with the pa
per, except that its career was brief. a cOu-
pie of years later, if, indeed, il was not
revival after brief interval, The SKY was
started by two young men who had just
graduated from the office of the Blairsville
RecOrd-J Ohm j. Cannan and WIN. IL. Brown.
Moses Cannan, the father of the elder part
her, still continued editor.
The editions of The SKY were worked off
on an Old-fashiOned Ranage, the Tradition
ary balls being used to ink the forms. The
office was in the old re6 church. which served
rs chapel, school-house, and lecture-hall,
from the earliest settlement of the town until
about 1S39-40, when it was demolished. The
motto of this journal had poetic charm for
my youthful mind. 1t was:
Truth and the right we will maintain,
UnhOught by Hfuci &c and unoribcd by gain
In year or so Mr.. Brown retired, and
John Scott became associated i'll its publ!ca-
tion. 1t WAS with these gentlemen l COM
menCed my printers career.
An event of more than usual interest in
the typogra phic line occurred about 1875.
II the publication of the first book-a
volume OF some two hundred pagrs-that
had ever been issued upon the mountain top
of the Alleghcnies. The work was ''The
Primitive Ages, " translated from the WelCh
by Rev. John Roberts (PembrOke),< famil-
iarly known Judge Roberts, as he
Associate Judge of the county, as well as co
pastor of the independent Welch Church of
Ebensburg, if not of the still more ancient
town of Beulah, every trace of which has
long since been blOtted oHt. The publishers
of this book We're Griffith Rowland, at that
time county jailor, and William Scott. l
doubt if hundred, or even fifty copies can
now bc found among all the carly families
of Cambria. The venture, at least, was not
profitable one. Ia connection with its
publication, a hindery became necessary,
for there WIS none nearer than Harrisburg
and man named Friend, from Lebanon
borough, was established in that business for
a compile OF years. Upon this book, as the
leading workman, first made his appearance
in that section, James Morgan, the nOnadic
and erratic, though whole-souled genius, to
whom 1 made brief allusion III previous
article.
Tlis was before the days of railroads, and
when the stages of Colder, Wilson & Moore
plodded through from Philadelp phia to Pitts
burgh III nine ten Gays-then fast time
and when no less than from fifty to one hum
dred broad-wheeled wagons, with siX-horse
ConcstUga teams, bedeckUd with gay hous-
ings and tinklng bells, daily passed through
the little mountain town. The Portage Rail
raOd, built by the State, between Holidays
burg and Johnstown, and connecting the
quicker routes of passenger and freight tran
sit by canals east and west of the mountains,
made Johnstown Il more desirable place for
business than Ebensburg, and The SKY vas
removed. In Was an era in my life to get
where passenger ears, of decidedly pTimi-
tive structure, ratified, with horse power at
tachment, over thirty-six mile road, upon
which were ten inclined planes, and TO see
canal boats merrily glide to the improvised
music of the hoatman's horn. 1 remember
we'll the jokes which were perpctrated by
neighboring journals at the expense OF our
little sheet, as, ''When the SLyfa you NAV
expect to catch larlls - but they were all
harmless aid unheeded i'll the more extend
ed area OF usefulness opened mp to us.
Tie Sly was served weekly To Ebcnsburg
subscribers by myself for long tilne-a ride
on freight cars being often either stolen or
protfered far rs Palmer's (nOw Wilmore),
and thence carried on foot distance of ski
miles Ebensburg was without n paper for a
couple of years, when VIM. B. Conway,
noted journalist and brilliant writer, re-
moved his paper from JohnStown TO the
county seat. Since then, with the exception
OF one two brief intervals, neither of these
two places have heen without a newspaper: ::
and to-day there are in the county nve week.
lies and one daily, betokening the progress
which has been made i'll business and social
we'll political Importance. Since the
early day of which l speak, The SKY has
long since been blotted out of the newspaper
armament, and is almost entirely forgotten.
To attempt to follow the mutations and
changes in the journalistic history of little
Cambria, would he task do not feel like
entgring upon. l have simply and hastily
sketched "A few recollectioHs and thoughts,
without any date TO guide me, rs they We're
suggested on flying trip to these early
scnces of my life.
LANCASTER December, 1872.
*An error both in the Christian name and
birthplace of this gentleman. which should be
Rev. George Roberts, Montgomery ryShirc.
Flight miles at least j. the distance from Will
more to EhenSburg.-ED- ELEEMAN.
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