Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.pdf/278

 COLUM BIA A N D MONTOUR COUNTIES

239

ing from the mouth o f Hemlock creek to the site of the village o f Buckhom. H e and his family lived in their wagon until their home was built. A ft e r the house w as completed and several crops raised he built what w as for years called the Hemlock mill, at the foot o f a hill about i6 o rods from the mouth o f H em ­ lock creek, on the north bank. In 1842 this mill w as tom down by his son Isaiah and re ­ built, the name being changed to " R e d M ill," from the color of the soil around it. Isaiah M cK clvy in 1885 purchased the mill and in­ stalled the roller system. Since Uien it has been held by G. W. Sterner, K. R. Ikeler and the present ow ner, Jo h n I. Davenport. About 1 8 1 2 a mill w as built on the upper waters o f (he north branch o f Hem lock creek by a man named Pepper. It w as operated by a small overshot wheel and w as sim ilar to most of the m ills o f that period. William K lin e w as the next ow n er, being succeeded by Jac o b Ziesloft. T h e lattcr's daughter M aria is now the owner, but the mill is not in use, ow in g to the washing out of the dam. T h e only improve­ ments m ade since the beginning have been the installation o f a turbine and replacement of the wooden gearin g with iron. T he m ill Inside the road to M illville on the banks o f L ittle Fish in g creek, in the northern part of the township, w as built some time a fte r­ ward by J . Beagle. It w as a lar^c building and one of the best equipped m ills m this section, being operated by a large overshot wheel and later by a turbine, but it w as subject to dam age by repeated freshets and finally abandoned. It is still standing, but in a ruinous condition. Mines fo r the development o f limestone as flux in the furnaces and fo r agricultural pur­ poses w e re operated at the junction of the two Fishing creeks and along the line o f F ro sty valley. N one of these mines is now in use. A tannery w as operated on the west hank of Fish in g crcck, near Bloom sburg, by John K. G rotz from 1850 to 1870.

owners and producers being M cK clvey & N eal and W illiam Neal & Sons, until the time when the supply o f ore w as exhausted. P art of these ore fields w as owned by the F arran d svillc Iron Company, who sliipped their product over the Pennsylvania canal to Centre township, but never reduced it, later purchasers smelting it at Bloom sburg. When the so ft ore w as exhausted a sh aft w as sunk on the north side o f M ontour ridge in search of the hard ore, but the enterprise did not prove profitable. Because of these iron mines and the indus­ tries in connection with them a large floating Kipulation cam e into the township and the vilagcs o f Buckhom and W edgetown cam e into being to cater to their wants. T h e toss o f all of the township's industries have relegatwl these places to the status o f small settlements.

T h e D iscovery o f Iro n

In a museum at Allentown is preserved part o f a buck’s antlers imbedded in a section o f an oak tree. T liis tree stood on the edge o f a swam p near the site of the present town and m arked the junction o f a path from the forts and settlements and an old Indian trail to N orth mountain. Som e Indian ha- Y ou n g, a farm laborer, discovered iron ore on the farm of Robert G reen, at the point where M ontour ridge is severed by the w aters o f Fishing crcck. The peculiar character of the soil inducccl him to open up a d rift and have the mineral ana­ lyzed. T n is w as the first of the mines in this township, and the product w as hauled across the river to the E sth er and Penn furnaces near Catawissa. A ft e r 1844 the Bloom sburg Iron Company took the product for ten years, later

S la te Q uarrying A limestone qu arry on the west bank o f Little Fish in g creek had long supplied the iron furnaces witn fluxing m aterial. A bout 186S a clergym an from Northampton county while visiting here noticed the shale on the sides of the bluff and w as led (0 organize a company fo r the production o f slate mantels and roofing materia . H e form ed the Thom as Slate Com]>any, bought twenty-three acres o f land along the creek, built a factory and installed some m achinery. H ere a fine grad e o f slate w.as ob­ tained and fo r a lime the industry w as vigor­ ously prosecuted under the name o f Susuehanna Slate Com pany, but in later years the death of the president of the com pany, William M ilncs, and the poor management o f his suc­ cessors caused the closing of the plant and the sale of the machinery. It has never been re­ opened, although the raw m aterial is still plen­ tiful and the market good. BUCKHORN