The New Bloomfield, Pa. times. (New Bloomfield, Pa.) 1877-188?, 1877-07-24


"A Curiosity. Newville Star tells
the following story regarding q Spring
in Buffalo twp. Wewish some our sub
scrbers would send us some of the ber-
ries spoken of. "In Watts twp, former
ly part of Buffalo, there exists a hol-
low or cut in the mountain which has
long been and is still an object of curl
osity. In or about the year 1916, there
lived in the neighborhood family NAM
family was of unsound mind and many
were the strange phantasies that from
time to time ran through his head. He
was an oddity in the neighborhood. At
that time the feeling against the British
ran high, and Rodgers partook of it
with spirit that knew no bounds. He
got cannon cast at neighboring foun-
dry which he tastefully mounted on
wheels and had it placed in position as If
hourly expecting an attack from the
British. 1t was about this time that he
conceived the idea of connecting Buffa-
10 township with the opposite valley by
means of a cut through the mountain
At last the idea became an uncontrolla-
BILE mania, and with pick, spade and dig
ging iron he entered upon his work
with zeal, Notwithstanding the hercule-
an character of the work which loomed
up before him. And from day to day
l, clnxx,lxy aI tn ha,
tain, not like true engineer, endeavor-
ing to pierce the vast hill in the form of
tunnel but by digging it down from its
summit to its base. 1t is presumed by
those familiar with the place and the
traditions connected with the occur
renee that many months had elapsed
and the digging was still going on, moth
ing daunting the faith of the insane man
but that some day the light of the oppo-
site valley would burst through his
gorge. But an unexpected occurrence
suddenly dampened his ardor. AS he
was digging, as he doubtless dreamed,
into the very bowels of the mountain,
there suddenly gushed forth beautiful
stream of water, and then the work
ceased. The crazy man was of the firm
belief that he had struck the bottom of a
Chinese sea or river. " for" said he, "
could hear the Chinese in their boats, the
splashing of their oars,' &c., and (he
often asserted) as he did not want to be
in company with those heathen he
thought best to give up the work and
spare this country the calamity of a
Chinese influx. The cut is thought to
have been nearly one hundred yards
long, but is now partly filled up, but the
pure mountain water continues to gurgle
forth, o perpetual memorial of Rodgers
insane idea. To this day the spring is
called Rodgers Folly Spring." Rodgers
died and the bushes began to grow in
his gorge, and among those bushes there
| sprang up, in large numbers, giant
specimen of the whortleberry bush,
which grew to such size that good
| sized boy could climb up several feet
among the limbs. These bushes, besides
being giants in their size, bore and still
bear (for they flourish there to this day.
a large blue berry possessing at the same
time very fine flavor. This curious
hollow is situated about two miles east
of the Juniata and about mile and a
half west of the Susquehanna, about 8
miles from where the rivers fork. Our
friend Chambers got the foregoing from
an old resident who is now dead and
gone.
Iuniata COunty.-We copy the follow
ing from the Juniata county papers OF
last week.