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The Port Allegany Musical Association was organized by S. W. Adams in August, 1876, with C. A. Larrabee, Mrs. Kate Cowdrey, S. W. Smith, Mrs. T. McDowell and H. J. Barrett, officials.

The Business Men's Club was organized in November, 1889, with F. E. Rowley, president; B. C. Gallup, vice-president; G. C. Farnsworth, secretary; R. J. Mott, treasurer; J. H. Williams, J. V. Otto and W. W. Rinn, trustees.

The McKean County Agricultural Society.-For some years before the war an agricultural society existed in the county and held fairs annually, Smethport being the headquarters. After the war, and up to 1875, the old society showed signs of life, but the oil excitement of 1875 diverted men's attention from farms and farming, and the organization may be said to have ceased. few years later, when oil prospectors did not succeed so well east of the divide, the prosperous farmers of Liberty, Keating and adjoining townships suggested their willingness to revive their association, and as a result the McKean County Agricultural Society was organized in February, 1880, with A. J. Hughes, N. N. Metcalf and E. B. Dolley, directors. Among the stockholders were the officers named and F. H. Arnold, A. M. Benton, G. L. Blackman, S. R. June, Goltry and Camp and S. W. Smith. In 1881-82 V. R. Vanderhule was president and A. J. Hughes, secretary. The McKean County Agricultural Society petitioned for incorporation September 24, 1883. F. H. Arnold, W. J. Davis and N. N. Metcalf were elected directors, and the total membership was twenty-five. The following officers were elected for 1890: President, N. R. Bard; vice-president, E. B. Dolley; secretary, A. J. Hughes; treasurer, F. H. Arnold; directors: Henry Smith, B. C. Gallup, L. J. Gallup; auditors: Thomas McDowell, E. P. Dalrymple, W. J. Davis. The shares are $100 each.

Port Allegany is beautifully located in one of the most picturesque parts of the Allegheny Valley. Nestling upon the banks of the river, it forms the gate to the upper Allegheny country, and from it leads the first railroad built in that country. A range of hills bounds the horizon, from the summits of which is spread out, before the observer, a landscape rivaling in beauty and exquisite perfection many of the scenes chosen by master artists for their pencil or brush. The whistle of the locomotive is constantly heard, as hurrying trains come and go; the river gives life and animation to the scene, and all in all the city site was well chosen and her streets surveyed on proper lines. Round the business section and interspersed with the houses of trade are seen the modern homes and well-kept grounds of the people; school and church buildings, and even the park, the whole completing a picture at once harmonious and attractive. This pretty town is a monument to the intelligence of the people and to their enterprise, which will survive when superficial tokens of remembrance shall have crumbled into dust.

CHAPTER XVIII.

NORWICH TOWNSHIP.

TOPOGRAPHY, ETC.-GEOLOGY-COAL MINES-OIL WELLS-POPULATION-OFFICERS FOR 1890-ASSESSMENT, 1837-EARLY SETTLERS-THE OLD NORWICH CHURCH-THE NORWICH CEMETERY ASSOCIATION-STORES IN 1847-MINERAL WELLS-TIMBER LANDS AND SAW-MILLS-NEWERF.

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ORWICH TOWNSHIP forms the southeast corner of the county in conjunction with a strip of territory belonging to Liberty township. The divide occupies a central position, reaching an elevation of 2,348 feet above the ocean. From this height the east branch of Potatoe creek flows south and west, to join the main creek running north by the divide; North creek and Portage creek, southeast to the Sinnemahoning portage, and the head-waters of Allegany portage north into the Allegheny river above Port Allegany. The Salt Works branch of the Sinnemahoning also rises in the southeast corner. The Emporium and Norwich anticlinal valleys traverse this section, while the Norwich and Clermont synclinals or bituminous coal basins parallel the anticlinals. The highest elevation of the bottom of the Olean conglomerate is found three-fourths of a mile northwest of Keating depot, 2,275 feet above ocean, and the lowest at the Hamlin coal opening, 1,890 feet. The low est measured point in the township is just below Crosby post-office, where the creek bottom is 1,508 feet above ocean level. The average dip from the Keating summit near the depot to the Lyman Camp mine in the Potatoe creek coal basin is 140 feet per mile, but in sections it ranges from 250 feet per mile to 100 feet. From the Lyman Camp to the Hamlin mine the dip is only eleven feet, and thence to Burnt Hill eighteen feet. From Norwich Hill to Splint mine on the eastern side the dip is 110 feet per mile; the southeastern dip, in the southwest corner, 132 feet per mile, and the dip between Wolcott-Comes creek summit and well No. 1, twenty-two feet per mile. There are many local dips in the coal beds of this township, while the rock outcrop extends vertically downward to the upper Chemung shale and sandstone, a distance of 1,240 feet (as at Coal Pit mines, which open 2,183 feet above tide), from the shale overlying the Dagus coal bed. This stratum shows 290 feet of coal measures, including Olean conglomerate, 450 feet of Mauch Chunk and Pocono, 300 feet of red Catskill and from 150 to 250 feet of Chemung. The 290 feet of coal measures show fifteen feet of shale, three of gray slate, five of Dagus coal, one and one-half of fire-clay, forty of shale and sandstone, three and one-half of coal, one and one-half of fire-clay, thirty-three of shale and slate, one and one-half of Clermont coal, one and one-half of fire-clay, fifty of Johnson run sandstone, five of black slate, two and one-half of Alton upper coal, eight of fire-clay and shale, three-fourths of Alton middle coal, four and one fourth of shale and sandstone, four of Alton lower coal, two of fire-clay, forty-eight of Kinzua creek sandstone, two and one-third of Marshburg upper coal, two and two-thirds of fire-clay and fifty-five of Olean conglomerate and sandstone. The section was made from the survey by F. E. Gleason in 1876. The conformation at the Rock coal mine, 2,138 feet above tide, varies a little, showing a

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fifteen-feet exposure of flaggy sandstone at the opening, while the Hamlin and Splint coal beds rest on Kinzua creek sandstone. The Blue coal opening is 2,028 feet above tide; the Spring, 2,035 feet, and Rochester cannel mines, 2,074 feet. In the test of these coals it was found that Coal Pit coal yielded about 56.2 of fixed carbon and 63.6 of coke; Spring, 59.3 and 67.3, respectively; Hamlin, 61.6 and 69.2; Blue, 62.1 and 69; Rock, 58 and 70; Lyman Camp, 57.5 and 68.8; Charley, 49.2 and 64.2; Block coal, 38.8 and 61.5; Burnt Hill (cannel), 48.1 and 66.3, and Rochester (cannel), 37.7 and 75.9 per cent of fixed carbon and coke. In the gas test, one pound from the Hamlin seam yielded 5.10 cubical feet; from the Spring and Blue seams, over four; from the Block, over three and one-half, and from the Burnt Hill cannel almost three cubical feet. In 1875-76 explorations on the Backus and Chadwick lands (known as the Butterfield purchase), in the southeast and southwest corners of Sergeant and Norwich townships, were reported by Seth Backus, of Smethport. Well No. 1 opened 2,232 feet above ocean level in five and one-fourth feet of soil, resting on a bed of shale from fourteen to twenty feet in depth. This well reached a depth of about 1,400 feet, striking white, fine, micaceous sand rock at the bottom, passing through thin beds of coal (thirty feet below the mouth) and iron ore. In well No. 2 a heavier coal deposit was found sixty-four feet below the surface, and in well No. 4 about forty-seven feet below the top. In the vicinity of No. 4 the Buffalo Coal company opened a well 2,173 feet above ocean level, and at a depth of almost 127 feet bored through the Marshburg coal. Up Indian run several four-inch beds have been opened.

Near Hamlin, an oil well was drilled in 1875-76 to a depth of 2,002 feet, and in June, 1877, the great flagstone quarry was opened by Orlando Gallup, and worked by John Digel.

The population of Norwich township in 1880 was 431. In 1888 there were 96 Republican, 63 Democratic and 3 Prohibitionist votes cast, or a total of 162, representing a population of 810.

The officers for 1890 are as follows: Supervisors, B. D. Colegrove, E. E. Burdick; school directors, J. B. Oviatt, N. C. Gallup; justice of the peace, M. Blodgett; constable, Ellis Griffith; town clerk, J. B. Oviatt; auditors, W. E. Wilson, C. A. Anderson and C. D. Comes for one year; collector, O. D. Gallup; judge of election, R. N. Wilson; inspectors, W. O. Gallup, W. B. Richey. The assessment of residents of Norwich township in 1837 shows the names of John Abbey, Tim Abbey, John Avery, Dave Allard, Joe Apple, I. Burlingame, William Brewer, Wheeler and Henry Brown, George and Daniel A. Easterbrooks, Rowland Burdick, Nathan Brewer, Asa Cotton, Dave Comes, Elias J. Cook, Benjamin and Jonathan Colegrove, Francis J. Chadwick, Edward Corwin and son, Amos Coats, Henry Chapin, Edward Dickenson, Levi Davis, Jr., R. Eastwood, John Ellis, Job Gifford, John S. Gunning, O. W. Wheeler, Jabez, N. C. and A. E. Gallup, Luke B. Gibson, J. W. Howe, John Housler, Ben Haxton, L. and Hiram Havens, Horatio and William Hall,* Thomas Hookey, George and H. Jacox, Henry Lasher, Asenath Lawrence, Levi Lathrop, Samuel Messenger, Abner Miller, Marsh, I. Murphy, Eben Pattison, Daniel Rifle, Nathan Robbins, Esseck Smith, William Smith, Henry Scott, Levi Thomas, Asa Townes, Rhoda White, Samuel Wiswall (trader), William White, Tim and L. F. Wolcott. Henry Scott was assessor, and he recommended Daniel Rifle and Esseck Smith for collectors.

The first permanent settlement was made in 1815 by Jonathan Colegrove, the Abbeys and Wolcotts from Norwich, Chenango Co., N.Y.,with others from various towns, giving the township the name of their old home. William Smith and

the Whites and Corwins also settled in Norwich.... William Gifford, who * William Hall was the owner of the grist-mill.

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