The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1897-05-26
Relics of Ante Revolutionary Days.
From the Johnstown Tribune.

TON ltit atAltl>tONn
There was plowed up the other day on
the farm about three miles east of Stoyes-
town. Somerset county, formerly owned
by the late Jesse Slick, father of w. A.
Slick. of The Seventh Ward. this city,
now in possession of Daniel Berkebile, "A
relic of ante Revolutionary times-one of
a large number that are known TO have
been found in the same place since
the land first came into possession of the
senior Mr.. Slick, mentioned above,
which was in the year 1888. The relic in
question is a piece of iron about four
inches square, one-fourth of an inch
thick, and slightly curved. In the dis
tant past il constituted section OF a
.'skein," or covering for the wooden axle
of an old-time wagon. The degree of
curvature of the piece of iron would indi-
cate that the axle was a massive affair, as
seems from the testimony of the elder
Mr.. Slick TO have been the case, he hav-
ing in his early days on the land in ques-
ton unearthed some that were eighteen
inches in diameter.
The relics are found on the site of what
was @.nown as FORBES Fort" and hun
dreds Of them have been dug out and car
ried sway. One, which is in the possession
Of Mr.. W. 4. Slick, is hammer, of the
kind used by blacksmiths for shoeing
horses, which, when plowed up some
forty years ago, had attached to it a long
iron handle. Both, though thickly COW
cred with rust, were very good examples
of the ironworker's art.
The spot upon which these articles
were found is one of historic interest,
and a complete account of the scenes
transacted there and the people who vis-
tied it would make profitable and enter
tanning reading. But nothing full and
accurate seems to have been preserved in
printed or written form, and the local
traditions have faded away as genera
tions succeeded each other. A few facts
have been preserved here and there,
however, and from them it would seem
that the name of Forbes Fort'' for the
fortification that once existed there was
not received from the builder. but must
have been applied on account of visit
by general Forbes made subsequently.
The first the northern part of what is
now Somerset county is known TO have
been penetrated TO Stoyestown was in
I75S, when Colonel Bouquet and several
companies of meH visited the region.
They" We read, CONSTRUCTED a fort at
Stony Creek, where Stoyestown now is.
Late in October General Forbes, with an
army of six thousand men, marched over
the road. Washington also held an i'm
portant position in this expedition"
From the time this fort was built up To
the Revolution and afterward it seems 20
have been garrisoned by a force of men,
large or small, as circumstances dictated.
In l763, during the memorable invasion
hy Pontiac. the whole garrison here was
called in 10 strengthen that at Bedford.
as was also that on the Jun;aia. Bed
ford Fort, or Raystown, was not taken
10y the Indians at the time, as many
other English forts were, probably be-
cause of its being too well protected, bat
eighteen persons who were caught away
from the settlement were killed and
scalped. The post at what is now Stoyes-
town must have been in those days gem
orally known as Stony Creek, as under
that name il is referred to frequently in
the early history of operations at Fort
Pitt, and it is mentioned as such in the
journal of Washington.
The road opened by Colonel Bouquet
at the time the Stony Greek fort was
built continued for years to be the only
means of communication between Phila-
delphia and Piitsburg.
Stoyestown itself, as a town, was not
founded until after the Revolutionary
War, and Mr.. Stoy, from whom if took
its name, was a soldier in that conflict
1t was incorporated in 1919 as borough,
and by 1910 had population of 357. In
the early part of the present century Mr.
Stoy used to point out to visitors the
ruins of a log house built for a dwelling
and used 10y the people who constructed
the fort at the time OF Colonel Bouquets
expedition in Hos