Frostburg mining journal. [volume] (Frostburg, Md.) 1871-1913, 1901-02-23

Nv here Washington lodged IN l''OI
ton, about L. miles northwest of Con
nellsvillc. Although the population of
Perry township in 1850 was only l.426
yet among the early purchases of land
is that of George Washington. who as
far back as April 5, 1863, took up a
tract known us ''thc Meadows" con-
tanning 329 acres, which he surveyed
oct. - the same year April ;. 1863,
was the first day of the land office for
the pr0prictalieS for the sale of lands
west of tie mountains and it will thus
be seen TINT the Father of His Country
was not any behind his contemporaries
in looking after his interests and get
ting good thing.
Washington, writing from Mount
Vernon Sept. 81, 1867, gives a hint of
his first intent to purchase lands in
Perry township to Colonel William
Crawford, who at this time was living
in Il log cabin on the bank of the Yough-
ioghcny on the present site of New Ila-
ven, in its early days called Crawfords
vile. In this letter Washington says:
From a sudden hint of your brothers wrote
had more time for reflection. ! write more
deliberately and with more precision the sub
jeCt OF my last letter. then desired the favor
of you-as ! understood rights now might be had
for the lands which have fallen within the Penn
sylvan;a hncto look me out tract of about
1900, 1000 more acres somewhere in your
ncighborhood. meaning only by this that it may
be contiguous TO your own settlement such
body Of good land can be found. II will be easy
for you TO conceive that ordinary or even mid
ding lands would never answer my purpose
expectation, so far from navigation and under
such load Of expenses as these lands are incum-
bercd with. No; tract to please must be
rich-of which no person can be a better judge
than yourscf-and, il possible, level. Could such
piece OF land he found you would do a sin
guar favor in falling upon some method OF sccur-
ing it Immediately, as nothing is more certain
than that the lands cannot remain long ungranted
when once it is known that the rights to be
had. The surveying | would choose to postpone,
at least till the spring, whcn if you can give me
satisfactory account OF this matter and OF what
am next going to propose, | expect to pay you .
visit about the last Of next April.
There is nothing to show what Cap
tain Crawford did to get possession of
the lands in Perry township, but many
letters must have passed between the
two relating to the tracts. Records
show that on the day of the opening of
the land office 1.6OO acres of land in
Perry township were recorded, which
finally came into the possession of
General Washington, although the
Meadows" is the only one recorded in
Washington name. Before the issn-
ance of patents the lands were all pass
ed to Washington himself.
Captain Crawford, who selected the
land in Perry township. also acted as
Washington agent in taking up lands
for him in Washington county and
along the Ohio river valley in Virginia.
In lTIO Washington made a journey
through this section to see what Cap
tain Crawford had purchased for him.
He kept journal of the trip, and let
tiers taken from his biography give fire.
Qucnt reference to the lands near Con
Nellsvillc and New Haven. The jour
new was begun Oct. :, and on the 10Th
he writes:
We left Killman's early in the morning. break.
tasted at the Little Meadows, ten miles off, and
lodged at the Great Crossing of the Youghiogheny
at Somcrheld, % miles farther. which consid.
cred good days work.
The next day the journal says:
Set out al sunrise. Brcakiasted at the Great
Meadows, Fayctte county. 10 miles, and reached
Captain Crawfor1s about O'Clock. Crawford
is very fine land, lying on the Noughogheny at
a place commonly called "Sewart's Crossing"
On the 18th the journal has this en-
try:
At Captain Crawford's all day. Went TO 4
coal bank on the river not far from his house.
The coal seemed OF the very best kind. burning
freely. and abundance OF it.
So speaks George Washington OF
what was the outcrop of the nine foot
vein of Connellsville coal. The coal