The legendary self-reliance of the frontiersman is not without some basis in fact. The nature of the frontier experience itself was conducive to its development. Its appearance among the Fair Play settlers is implied in various contexts. Politically, it is suggested in the creation of the Fair Play men, the annual governing tribunal, an extra-legal political agency in this extra-Provincial territory. Economically, it is intimated in the image of the frontier farmer tackling the wilderness with rifle and plow and the unbounded determination to make a better life for himself and his family. Socially, the self-reliance of these doughty pioneers is indicated in the continuation of their religious practices and worship, despite the absence of any organized church. Their self reliance is indicated, as well, in the flexibility of a social structure whose main criterion was achievement, a society in which "what" you were was more important than "who" you were. These examples are, of course, only brief glimpses of the elusive trait of self-reliance which Turner considered typical of the frontier.
Independence, or the ability to act independently, was a characteristic frontier trait, according to Turner. The Fair Play settlers presented some contradictions. It is true that they organized their own system of government and the code under which it operated. However, their key leaders lived on the periphery; and the settlers petitioned the Commonwealth government for assistance in the vital questions of defense and pre-emption rights.[8] The Fair Play settlers were generally independent, a condition promoted by the necessities of frontier life; but, obviously, they were not isolated.
It is difficult to assess the nationalizing influence of this particular frontier. In the first place, aside from the Second Continental Congress, there was no national government during most of the Fair Play period. The Articles of Confederation were not ratified until 1781, and Fair Play territory was opened to settlement after the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1784. Furthermore, the patriotism of the Fair Play settlers seems to reflect an ethnocentric pride in their own territory and an exaggerated interpretation of its significance to the developing nation.[9] Their patriotism was apparently for an ideal, liberty, to which they were devoted, having already enjoyed it in a nation only recently declared, but yet to be recognized. And, for its support, there had been a rush to the colors by these settlers "beyond the purchase line."[10] The "real American Revolution," as John Adams described it, was "in the minds and hearts of the people," and it was "effected before the war Commenced."[11] That revolution had already occurred in the Fair Play territory prior to the firing of "the shot heard round the world" on Lexington green.
The frontier experience had a profound influence on the development of the American philosophy of pragmatism. Turner claimed that it was "to the frontier" that "the American intellect owe[d] its striking characteristics."[12] And the Fair Play settlers showed that
... coarseness and strength combined with acuteness and inquisitiveness; that practical, inventive turn of mind, quick to find expedients; that masterful grasp of material things, lacking in the artistic but powerful to effect great ends; that restless, nervous energy; that dominant individualism, working for good and for evil, and withal that buoyancy and exuberance which comes with freedom....[13]
The frontiersman of the West Branch was a free spirit in a free land, a doer rather than a thinker, more concerned with the "hows" than the "whys" of survival. This practical approach to problems can be seen in the homes he built, the tools he made, the clothes he wore, the political and social systems under which he operated, and the set of values by which he was motivated. The development of these characteristic American traits owed much to the frontier and the new experiences which it offered.
This ethnographic analysis of the Fair Play settlers of the West Branch Valley has attempted to present a clearer picture of the "style of life" on this particular frontier and, in so doing, to suggest a further technique for the frontier historian. There are, no doubt, certain defects in this specific study, but the fault lies with the limitations of the data rather than the technique. The scope of this investigation has carried into questions of geography, demography, politics, economics, social systems, and leadership. Unfortunately, the frontier had not yet provided the leisure essential to artistic and aesthetic pursuits. Consequently, these areas were given a limited treatment. Furthermore, the mythology and folklore of this valley offered little of record. However, the breadth of this analysis has furnished evidence of the existence of democracy on this frontier and, thus, support for Turner's thesis, or at least for this interpretation of it.
The geographic analysis has clarified the question of the Tiadaghton, demonstrating that Lycoming Creek, rather than Pine Creek, was the true eastern boundary of the Fair Play territory. The substantial destruction of an erroneous legend has been the main contribution of the geographic part of this study.[14] It is now clear that the Fair Play territory extended from Lycoming Creek, on the north side of the West Branch of the Susquehanna River, to the Great Island, just east of Lock Haven. This frontier region was beyond the legal limit of settlement of the Province and the Commonwealth from 1769 to 1784. Hence, within its limits was formed the extra-legal political system known as Fair Play.
The demographic portion of this study has added to the undermining of the frontier myth of the Scotch-Irish. The evidence presented here indicates that it was the frontier, rather than national origin, which affected the behavior of the pioneers of the West Branch Valley. The Fair Play settlers, a mixed population of seven national stock groups, reacted similarly to the common problems of the frontier experience. In one important exception, the Fair Play system itself, there is, however, an apparent contradiction. Since no account of any "fair play system" has turned up in the annals of the Cumberland Valley, the American reservoir of the Scotch-Irish, it seems quite probable that the "system" originated in either Northern Ireland or Scotland, or else on the frontier itself. This probability offers good ground for further study, particularly when the existence of a similar "system" in Greene County, which was found in conjunction with this investigation, is considered.[15] If the Fair Play system originated on the frontier, why did not it also appear on the Virginia and Carolina frontiers where the Scotch-Irish predominated? Regardless, the lack of data corroborating the American origin of the Fair Play system leads to the conclusion that the germ of this political organization was brought to this country by the Scotch-Irish from their cultural heritage, and that those elements were found usable under the frontier conditions of both central and southwestern Pennsylvania. If so, the politics of "fair play" will add to, rather than detract from, the myth of the Scotch-Irish.
This study has also brought forward the first complete account of court records validating the activities of the Fair Play men. Mainly concerned with the adjudication of land questions, this frontier tribunal developed an unwritten code which encompassed the problems of settlement, tenure, and ejectment. Subsequently reviewed in the regular courts of the counties of which the Fair Play territory became a part, these cases provide substantial evidence of the existence of a "system" as well as insight into the manner of its operation. The fairness of the Fair Play system is marked by the fact that none of the decisions of its tribunal was later reversed in the established county courts. Supplemented by the Committee of Safety for Northumberland County and augmented by peripheral leaders, who gave them a voice in the higher councils of the State, the Fair Play men and their government proved adequate to the needs of the settlers, until all were driven off in the Great Runaway of 1778.