of these bills of credit at from one and a half to seventy-five per cent, varying each month from 1777 to 1781, and in accordance with that scale certificates, called certificates of depreciation, were issued to those officers and soldiers for the indebtedness of the State to them.

The above cited act of March 13, 1783, also provided that the unreserved portion of the tract of depreciation lands should be laid out thus: The surveyor general, in accordance with such directions as should be given him by the supreme executive council, should cause it to be laid out into lots of not less than 200 and not more than 350 acres each, numbering them in numerical order. As soon as the whole tract, or a hundred lots of it, were surveyed, the surveyor general, secretary of the land office and receiver general were directed to sell them, in numerical order, at such times and places, and under such regulations, as should be prescribed by the supreme executive council. The amounts bid at these sales were to be paid into the receiver general's office either in gold or silver or in those certificates; whereupon, and on the payment of the expenses of surveying and the fees of the different offices, patents should be issued to the vendees, and whatever specie the receiver general thus received he was to pay into the State treasury for the purpose of redeeming such of those certificates as remained unsatisfied at the close of these sales.

Three pounds and ten shillings, including the wages of chainbearers and markers, were allowed for laying out and returning the survey of each lot into the surveyor general's office, to be paid in specie before the patent could be issued. But very few lots or parcels of that depreciation tract were sold until after the passage of the act of April 3, 1792, respecting the provisions of which enough has already been given in the sketch of the Holland Land Company.

PIONEERS AND THEIR TRIALS

Wiser laws and a more liberal interpretation of those existing, caused the country to be settled much more rapidly after 1796. The pioneer settler of Armstrong county was Capt. Andrew Sharp, who settled in the Plum Creek region in 1784, with his wife and infant child. He resided there for some years, suffering much from the depredations of the Indians, until finally tiring of the exertions necessary for existence in that harassed region, he decided to return to Kentucky. In May, 1794, he

built a boat, in partnership with three other men, Taylor, Connor and McCoy, and with their combined families started down the Kiskiminetas river. At the mouth of Roaring run, near the rapids, they decided to halt for the night, preferring to shoot the rapids by daylight. However, they had scarce started for the bank ere they were fired upon by a band of Indians, who had lain in wait for them. In the ensuing fight McCoy and Connor's son were killed and Connor and Sharp severely wounded. The boat was quickly pushed off from the bank and rapid progress made away from the danger point. Owing to the wounding of the men, Mrs. Sharp was compelled to row the boat all night, but at daybreak she succeeded in attracting the attention of some men on the bank, who took charge of them and piloted the freight of wounded and dying to Pittsburgh, where Sharp died July 8th. From that city Mrs. Sharp went with her brotherin-law, Andrew, to Cumberland county, remaining there three years, later returning to her former home at Plum Creek after the conditions were more favorable.

Her second daughter, the first white child born in Armstrong county, was the wife of David Ralston, and later of James Mitchell.

Other pioneer settlers in this county will be found mentioned in the sketches of the different townships and boroughs.

HOME BUILDING

In early times neighbors were scarce and far apart and mutual cooperation was a necessity. The interchange of the heavier labors was frequent. When a log cabin was to be raised the inhabitants for several miles would assemble at the proposed site, with their teams, axes and other necessary implements. Such a cabin was generally one and a half stories high, roofed with clapboards weighted down with poles, with openings cut in the sides and ends for doors and windows. The logs were round, the loft covered with puncheons, and the chimney of stones and sticks daubed with mud. Greased paper was used in place of glass for the windows. The only tools to be had were the ax, the heavy saw, the drawing knife, adze, broadaxe and the now obsolete centerbit, which was often made at some rude forge by the carpenter himself.

A suitable spot was selected on which to erect the house and on the appointed day a company of choppers felled the trees, cut them to proper lengths, and hauled them to the chosen spot. Meanwhile the carpenter had selected a straight-grained tree and was split

ting out the clapboards. These were split with a large "froe" and were four feet long by the greatest width the tree would allow. Next puncheons for the floor were made of trees eighteen inches wide, halved and faced with a broadaxe. All being ready, on the second day the neighbors gathered and assisted in the "house raising." On the third day the house was furnished. A table was made of a slab, supplied with sapling legs driven into auger holes. Several three-legged stools were made in the same manner. Pins stuck into the logs served to support the clapboard shelves for the kitchen, and were receptacles for the few pewter dishes, plates and spoons; but often the tableware consisted of wooden bowls, "trenchers" and "noggins." When even these were scarce, gourds and hard-shelled squashes made up the deficiency. A few iron pots, knives and forks had been brought from east of the mountains, together with salt and the bedding, by means of packhorses.

A pole with a fork near the lower end was driven into an auger hole in the floor and the upper end fastened to a roof joist. Poles were laid across the fork to the walls and supported through the cracks between the logs, forming the frame of the bed. Across these were laid other poles to bear the grass mattress, which was later filled with corn shucks after the crop was gathered. A few pegs around the single room, to suspend the few dresses of the women and the coats of the men, completed the "furniture."

Then came the "house-warming," and a real one it was, lasting for days, or as long as the limited supply of "corn-juice" held out. The nights were occupied with dancing until almost dawn.

It required two days to notify the men then living within a circuit of thirty miles of such a raising. Until as late as 1834 trees suitable for building logs on this and adjoining tracts were considered common property. If any one saw a tree which would answer his purpose, either on the tract on which he had settled or on any other, he appropriated it to his own use, without leave from any one.

COSTUMES

The universal costume was a composite of civilized and Indian dress. The hunting shirt was universally worn. It was a loose frock, reaching half way down the thighs, with large sleeves, and so wide as to lap over in front a foot or more when belted at the waist. It often had a cape collar, handsomely fringed with

some bright colored cloth. The expansive bosom of the shirt served as a pocket to hold a chunk of bread, gun wadding or other necessities of the hunt. The heavy buckskin belt had manifold uses. Mittens and the bullet bag were stuck in the front, the tomahawk on one side and the hunting knife on the other, there still being space for smaller articles between. The shirt was generally made of linsey, sometimes of coarse linen, and a few of dressed deerskins. These last were very cold and uncomfortable in wet weather.

A pair of breeches, or drawers and leggins, were the covering of the legs. Moccasins answered much better than shoes for the feet. They were different from the modern design of moccasin, being made of dressed deerskin, in a single piece, with a gathered seam in front and at the heel, as high as the ankle joint. Flaps were left at each side, reaching some distance up the legs, laced with deerskin so as to exclude the snow and dust. The ordinary moccasin cost but a few hours to make, while shoes were expensive and hard to procure. In cold weather the moccasins were stuffed with deer hair or dried leaves for warmth.

The linsey petticoat and gown were the universal dress of the women of pioneer days. A small home-made handkerchief was the only ornament at the neck. In summer they went barefoot, and in cold weather wore moccasins and hand-made "shoepacks." Stockings were a luxury. When any head covering was worn, it was the universal sunbonnet.

Most of the clothing of the pioneers was hung on the pegs around the cabin walls, and visitors could readily estimate the wealth of the occupants by the visible display of wearing apparel.

HOME MANUFACTURES

In early days every cabin was a factory where clothing was manufactured. Busy hands kept the spinning-wheel and loom buzzing and slamming early and late. In almost every household there were a large number of mouths to feed and bodies to clothe. Shoes were used sparingly by the lucky few who possessed them, for leather was high and money scarce. Often girls and women would walk to church barefooted, carrying shoes and stockings, which they put on when near the house of worship. Tow and linen, buckskin and similar homemade goods formed the clothing worn by males of all ages. The girls' best dresses were frequently spun, woven, dyed, cut and made by the wearers. An old resident remarks: "The

girls were just as pretty in those days as they are now, and were probably satisfied with their costumes, but could one of our present fashionably-dressed belles have stepped among them, they might have gone wild with envy and excitement.'

TRAVELING IN PIONEER TIMES

All the travel of the settlers was performed on foot or on horseback. Wagons were almost unknown within the memory of men now living, while carriages are a comparatively modern innovation. As in most new settlements, the first lines of travel were paths marked by blazed trees. Afterward trees and underbrush were cut away, and some of the principal routes of travel were converted into highways. There is, however, scarcely a road in the county that follows its course as originally traced. Thoroughfares were built at the cost of a great expenditure of time and labor.

THE CHASE

Skill in hunting was the chief accomplishment of the men and boys, and from childhood they were trained in the use of weapons. The boys emulated the Indians in the use of the bow and arrow and became almost as expert as their red rivals. Throwing the tomahawk and knife, running, jumping and wrestling were also frequently indulged in by all. In addition, most of the males could imitate the cries of the wild fowl and beasts of the forest, and thus bring them within shooting distance.

MORALS

Honesty was held in great esteem in those days, and a thief not only received what justice the few laws imposed, but was often ostracised by his neighbors as well. Lying was not a common practice, and offenders of that kind were soon labeled by their companions. Female virtue was respected and as a general rule the morals of the early days might well be set up as a criterion for those of the present times. One curious custom was for an aggrieved party to challenge the aggressor to a "fisticuff" match, and if one or the other thought he was physically overmatched he could obtain a substitute.

FOOD

"Hog and hominy" constituted the principal diet of the first settlers. Johnnycake or pone

were the breads for breakfast and dinner; mush and milk a standard dish for supper. Milk was often scarce and a substantial dish of hominy took its place. Mush was frequently eaten with sweetened water, molasses, bear's oil or fried meat gravy.

The early settlers found game abundant, and very little hunting enabled them to keep a constant supply of fresh meat on hand. Grain food was not so easily procured. The farmer's supply of wheat and flour was often exhausted before harvest time; and in such cases wheat was cut while in the milk, and boiled, making a very palatable and wholesome food. Salt was a valuable commodity and very scarce. The settlers were obliged to go to the eastern counties to obtain it. When a man made a trip "east of the mountains," or to Pittsburgh or Westmoreland county, he went literally loaded with errands, generally taking several packhorses along to bring back supplies.

AMUSEMENTS

The amusements in rural districts in early times consisted chiefly of frolics, or "bees,' grubbings, railmaulings, corn-huskings, quiltings, singing-schools at private houses, and occasional dances at frolics. In 1828 there was a prevalent mania for circular fox and wolf hunts. The areas of the several circles covered nearly the entire territory of the county. Several columns in the papers were filled with notices of the routes, times and arrangements. Those hunts temporarily excited a deep and general interest in the aged, middleaged, and the young. They were designed not only for amusement, but for the beneficial purpose of exterminating these pestiferous and destructive animals.

PROMINENT PIONEERS

One of the settlers of Sugar Creek township was David Rumbaugh, who was an original genius in his way and a great practical joker. He had the likeness of a clock painted on the gable end of his house next to the public road, being what is now the Kittanning and Brady's Bend one, the hands representing the time to be 11:45 o'clock, and he was occasionally amused by travelers comparing the time indicated by their watches with and setting them by it.

Such was the class of pioneers who formed the population of this county in early times. They were rough but honest, poor but enterprising, limited in education but religious, and