Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1898-08-19
Van Buren,, Pa.

The territory covered by Penn.
sylvania was granted to VIM. Penn
by Charles ii, March A, 1851, and
for nearly a century great por'
ton of it was held by the Indians.
What is now Washington coua-
ty was acquired by purchase from
the Indians in l76S, under a treaty
made with them at Fort Stanwix,
now Rome, N. Y. In my boyhood
| was often puzzled to know where
fort Stanwix" was, as my uncle,
John NJ. Black, had in his pos.
session a horn with this name and
the date, 1866, cut ON it, as rec.
ollect, and this was the "only
book in the library" that even
mentioned this important place,
But it interested and puzzled me.
In the early history Of this
country there arose a boundary
dispute between Virginia and
Pennsylvania that continued for a
long period, almost running into a
"war between the states" This
was the outgrowth of a Gland syn.
dicate," in which Lawrence and
Augustine Washington, brothers
of G. w., were interested.
During these years there was
also a boundary dispute existing
between Maryland and Pennsyl.
vania, the settlement of which
was left to Charles Mason and
Jeremiah Dixon, surveyors, .of
London. This survey was begun
in November, 1853, and ended in
1865. The line runs from the
tableware river to Dunkards
creek" in Washington county,
Pa, and at the time of the survey
a stone was set up every five miles,
with the coat of arms of the Penns
on one side and the Baltimores on
the other. Mason and Dixon
might have been still extending
the line on through Spain but for
the "friendly Intervention" of some
of the native Indians, who met
them at "Dunkard's creek" and
suggested if the thing was not
stopped they might use the toma.
hawk argument. What a pity
these friendly Indians" did not
afterward meet the fellow who
carried the line through to the
Gulf and tomahawk him before
he crossed Dunkards creek.
In 1906 congress passed q law
for the purpose of building a road
from Cumberland, Maryland, to
"Ohio," wherever that was, in
order to keep that "far-away from
, tier state in the Union" and this
road was afterward built at cost
to the national treasury of S1,7O3,
600, and overit all the public mer
from Tennessee passed on thell
way to the capital of the United
States. Gen. jackson, on his way
to his Inauguration, passed ovel
this road and stopped over night
within a few miles of where l an
living. Washington in 1854 made
a prospecting tour looking out
line for public highway, and il
after years this road was bull
f over the line he mapped out. i
was on this trip that he first me-
Albert Gallatin, who was after
ward secretary Of the treasury
; under Jefferson. Under Jackson'l
first administration the estates
rights doctrine" of his party mad'
it necessary to transfer this roat
to the state through which it pass
> ed, and thus ended the existenc,
of the only national road" thi
country ever built.
\ Before the revolution what i
1 now Pittsburg was held for a lonl
G time by the French as Fort d.
e Quesne, named in honor of Maj
quis Du Quesne, the French gov
ernor of Canada, but after it fel
into the hands of the English, the
6 built fort there, at a cost of owe
q 10000 pounds sterling, which the
{. called Pitt, in honor of Williar
. Pitt, Earl of Chatham, and it wa
70 during the struggle over this tel
20 ritory that Gen. Braddock wa
20 killed in 1866 on the grounds no.
20 occupied by Carnegie's ste'
20 works, or, to be more accurate
= by the Edgar Thompson stet
30 works. In General Braddock
lie correspondence he referred t
" VIM. Penn as "the postmaster {
d Pennsylvania"
This county is intimately col
d. nected with other interestin
% points of our general history, som
90 of which l may find time to te
X, you something about one of thes
y, days. L. M. HURST.
le August 0, 1898.
DnrIIyc