XXVIII
BEAVER COUNTY
FORMED March 12, 1800; named for one of our most industrious little animals; was in the track of earliest of French and English explorers of the Mississippi Valley, to which the Ohio River Valley forms an integral part. It was the scene of heroic labors of Moravian and Jesuit missionaries, who built their stations on the borders of the Beaver River. The Indian villages were the homes of some of the most noted warriors of the aboriginal tribes, and sites of important treaty conferences between them and the colonial governments of Pennsylvania and Virginia. Chief industries are coal and steel. Yards of the Pennsylvania Railroad at Conway, said to be the largest in the world; the famous glass factories of Rochester and Monaca, are at junction of the Ohio and Beaver rivers. Four bridges are here, including that of the Pittsburgh and Lake Erie Railroad, a massive structure of fine engineering skill, 90 feet above the river.
Beaver, county seat (Indian, Shingoes Town), population 4135, was laid out in 1791, on a high level plateau overlooking the Ohio River, by the Surveyor General of the state. Five streets, 100 feet wide, following direction of river, were planned, with five of same width crossing at right angles, and each square divided again by streets 25 feet in width; eight squares were reserved for use of the town, one at each corner, north, east, south and west, and four in the center, which, with a wide strip fronting the river, constitute the parks; all beautifully laid out, they have large trees, and are planted with ornamental shrubbery. The present added territory, east and west, makes the town twice the original size. Courthouse, brick with stone trimmings, is on one of the center squares; the jail, a quaint old stone building, faces on opposite square; in center stands the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Monument. At foot of Market Street is a tall flagstaff marking site of Fort McIntosh, built, 1778, by General McIntosh, on earlier site of a French town built in 1754.
Beaver Falls, population 12,802, oldest and largest manufacturing town, consequent on the great water power of Beaver River and Falls, has Geneva College and a fine Carnegie Library. The residence section is on a bluff 200 feet high, with fine view. New Brighton, population 9361, connected with Beaver Falls by bridges, has the Merrick Art Galleries, acquired by gift to the city, with collection of paintings of merit and value, and liberal endowment for purpose of adding to the collection, library, museum, and to employ teachers in the future. Armory is headquarters of the famous Tenth Regiment. Near the town is a ravine, through which flows Brady’s Run, scene of many thrilling events in life of the famous Indian fighter, Captain Samuel Brady. Morado has a beautiful park on the Beaver River. At Rock Point, on the Connoquenessing Creek, is wild and tumultuous scenery.
Legionville, General Anthony Wayne wintered his soldiers here in 1792; the trenches and position of some of the redoubts are still discernible; marked by flagstaff, erected by the Fort McIntosh Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. Farther east is quaint old town of Economy, home of the Harmony Society, disciples of Doctor Rapp; thrifty, industrious people of the past, almost effaced by the town of Ambridge, of the American Bridge Company, who purchased a large tract of their land.
Near Smith’s Ferry, on the north bank of the Ohio, is large group of interesting Indian picture carvings, cut into the surface of the Piedmont sandstone, exposed in the river at a three foot stage of water; they are scattered over the surface of the rock ledge, for a space about forty feet in width, and 700 feet in length, and represent a great variety of the forms of men and animals, birds, fish, and reptiles, including the beaver, bear, wolf, turtle, snake, and eagle, human footprints and the tracks of various beasts; as well as inanimate objects, scalphoop, bows, and arrows; there is also a picture of a bison chasing a dog; another large collection of similar pictures, on the Susquehanna River at Safe Harbor, Lancaster County, contains the same forms of the wolf and the turtle, from which well-known tribes of the Delaware Indians were named, which would seem to connect them with that tribe; casts and photographs of these carvings may be seen at the Carnegie Museum, Pittsburgh.
Crawford County