The most prominent speculators were of two descriptions, one by survey and warrant, the other by mere survey and agreement with the actual settlers, conditioned that the settler should receive for settlement to be made pursuant to the provisions of the above recited act, from one to two hundred acres according to contract. In the construction of these agreements many difficulties arose, productive of protracted law suits, which greatly retarded the settlement of the country. But most of these vexed questions are now at rest, and a quiet title to lands here may be had. We may mention however another source of title to lands in this district of country, upon which not a shadow of doubt has rested. Extensive tracts were laid out in 1785, in lots of 200, 250, 300, and 500 acres, which were given as gratuities to soldiers of the revolution, &c., in the Pennsylvania line. Part of district No. 1, in Muddy Creek township, and district No. 2 is wholly in the county. The original grantees, unwilling to assume the labors, and without taste for the pleasures of a peaceful agricultural life, generally sold their rights, and these donation tracts, generally of excellent quality, are mostly occupied and improved.

About the year 1796 settlements were commenced within the limits of Mercer county, in the forks of Mahoning, Shenango and Neshannock creeks.

As early as 1788, there were a few settlers within the limits of Crawford county.

"The first attempt to make a settlement in the limits of Indiana county, is believed to have been made in the year 1769, in the forks of the Conemaugh and Blacklick. The country was explored in 1776-7, and the explorers were particularly pleased with the spot, on which the town of Indiana now stands. It was clear of timber or brush, and clothed with high grass; a sort of prairie. When the settlers commenced improvements, within a few miles of the town, they cut the grass off the prairie, for the support of their cattle in the winter; but in making their hay they were greatly annoyed by rattlesnakes.

"About the year 1771 or 1772, Fergus Moorhead and James Kelly, commenced improvements near where the town of Indiana now stands. The country around might well be termed a howling wilderness, for it was full of wolves.

"As soon as these adventurers had erected their cabins, each betook himself, at night, to his own castle. One morning Mr. Moorhead paid a visit to his neighbor Kelly, and was surprised to find, near his cabin,'. traces of blood, and tufts of human hair. Kelly was not to be found.

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Moorhead, believing him to have been killed by the wolves, was cautiously looking out for his remains, when he discovered him sitting by a spring, washing the blood from his hair.

"He had lain down in his cabin at night and fallen asleep; a wolf reached through a crack between the logs, and seized him by the head. This was repeated twice or thrice before he was sufficiently awakened to change his position. The smallness of the crack, and the size of his head prevented the wolf from grasping it so far as to have a secure hold, and that saved his life. Sometime after this, the two adventurers returned to Franklin county for their families, and on their return they were joined by others.

"The privations of such a situation can, in some degree be measured by the difficulty of obtaining bread stuff, and other necessaries of life, of which the following is an example.

"Moses Chambers was another early settler. Having served several years on board of a British man of war, he was qualified for a life of danger and hardship. Moses continued to work on his improvements, till he was told one morning, that the last Johnny-cake was at the fire! What was to be done? There was no possibility of a supply short of Conegocheague. He caught his horse and made ready. He broke the Johnny-cake in two pieces, and giving one half to his wife, the partner of his perils and fortunes, he put up the other half in the lappet of his coat, with thorns, and turned his horse's head toward the east.

"There were no inns on the road, in those days, nor a habitation west of the mountains; save, perhaps, a hut or two at Fort Ligonier. The Kittaning path was used to Ligonier, and from thence, the road made by General Forbes' army. Where good pasture could be had for his horse Moses tarried and baited. To him, day was as night, and night as day. He slept only while his horse was feeding. Nor did he give rest to his body, or ease to his mind, until he returned with his sack stored with corn.

"How forcibly would the affecting story of the patriarch Jacob, apply itself to the condition of families, thus circumstanced. Jacob said to his sons, "Why do ye look one upon another?-and he said, behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt; get you down thither, and buy for us from thence, that we may live and not die."

"Moses Chambers was not the only one who had to encounter the fatigue and trouble of procuring supplies from Franklin county. All had to do so. Such was the condition of this country, and such the prospect of settlers after the peace of 1763."

But as great as these difficulties were, the first settlers of Indiana had others to encounter of a still more serious nature. The savage and hostile Indians gave them much trouble. Several of the inhabitants were killed and scalped; others were forced to leave their homes and seek a place of safety on the eastern side of the mountains. Kelly and Moorhead had many narrow escapes from the Indians. But they finally caught Moorhead, together with a settler by the name of Simpson. Simpson was killed and Moorhead was carried through the woods to Quebec, where he was confined 11 months. He was afterwards exchanged and sent to New York, and from thence made his way to his family. His wife and three children had fled to a place of safety, in a fort in Westmoreland county, and from thence to Franklin.

Settlements were gradually extended through the northwestern part of Pennsylvania, as far as Erie county, between 1790 and 1795. Among the early settlers in this county, were Miles,* King, Martin, Connelly, Reed, Reese, Cochran, Foster, Brown, Dobbins, Kelso, Wilson, Dunbar. In 1795 the town of Erie was laid out by Gen. William Irvine, and Andrew Ellicott.

In relation to the manners and customs of the early pioneers of the wilderness, we cannot do better than to insert extracts from an able and observing writer.

The following is abridged from the writings of the Rev. Dr. Doddridge : +

"The task of making new establishments in a remote wilderness, in a time of profound peace is sufficiently difficult; but when in addition to all the unavoidable hardships attendant on this business, those resulting from an extensive and furious warfare with savages are superadded, toil, privations and sufferings, are then carried to the full extent of men to endure them.

"Such was the wretched condition of the western settlers in making settlements there. To all their difficulties and privations the Indian war was a weighty addition. This destructive warfare they were compelled to sustain almost single-handed, because the Revolutionary contest with England, gave full employment for military strength and resources on the east side of the mountains.

* Mr. W. Miles, was captured at Fort Freeland, on the West Branch of the Susquehanna, 1778. He was then a lad, and was taken prisoner to Canada, where he remained until after the close of the revolution, when he crossed the lake, and settled in the Presque'ile country. He was a few years ago, still living at Girard, sixteen miles west of Erie.

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Their buildings were of the rudest kind-a spot was selected on which to erect a house. On an appointed day, a company of choppers met, felled trees, cut them off at proper lengths-a man with a team hauled them to the place-this while a carpenter was in search of a straight grained tree for making clap-boards for the roof. The boards. were split four feet long, with a large frow, and as wide as the timber would allow-they were used without shaving. Some were employed in getting puncheons for the floor of the cabin; this was done by splitting trees about eighteen inches in diameter, and hewing the faces of them with a broad-axe. They were half the length of the floor they were intended to make. These were the usual preparations for the first day-the second day the neighbors collected, raised and finished the house. The third day's work generally consisted of "furnituring" the house-supplying it with a clap-board table, made of a split slab, and supported by four raised legs set in augur holes. Some three-legged stools were made in the same manner. Some pins stuck in the logs, at the back of the house, supported some clap-boards which served for shelves for the table furniture, consisting of a few pewter dishes, plates and spoons; but mostly of wooden bowls, trenchers and noggins. If these last were scarce, gourds and hard-shelled squashes made up the deficiency. The iron pots, knives and forks were brought from the east side of the mountains, along with salt and iron, on pack-horses.

A single fork, placed with its lower end in a hole in the floor, and the upper end fastened to a joist, served for a bedstead, by placing a pole in the fork with one end through a crack between the logs of the wall. This front pole was crossed by a shorter one within the fork, with its outer end through another crack. From the first pole, through a crack between the logs of the end of the house, the boards were put on, which formed the bottom of the bed. Sometimes other poles were pinned to the fork a little distance above these, for the purpose of supporting the front and foot of the bed, while the walls were the supports of its back and its head. A few pegs around the walls for a display of the coats of the women, and hunting shirts of the men, and two small forks, or buck's horns to a joist, for the rifle and shot pouch, completed the carpenter-work. The cabin being finished, the next ceremony was "the house-warming." This was a dance of a whole night's continuance, prior to the cabin being moved into.

The diet of the first settlers was mainly hog and hominy. Jonny cake and pone were the bread for breakfast and dinner, mush and milk a standard dish for supper. When milk was not plenty, which was

often the case, the substantial dish of hominy had to serve the place of them; mush was frequently eaten with sweetened water, molases, bears oil, or the gravy of fried meat.

Their dress was partly Indian and partly of civilized nations. The hunting shirt was universally worn. This was a kind of loose frock, reaching half way down the thighs, with large sleeves, open before, and so wide as to lap over a foot or more when belted. The cape was large, and sometimes handsomely fringed with a ravelled piece of cloth of a different color from that of the hunting shirt itself. The bosom of this dress served as a wallet to hold a chunk of bread, cakes, jerk, tow for wiping the barrel of the rifle, or any other necessary for the hunter or warrior. The belt which was tied behind, answered several purposes, besides that of holding the dress together. In cold weather, the mittens, and sometimes the bullet bag, occupied the front part of it. To the right side was suspended the tomahawk, and on the left the scalping knife in its leathern sheath.

The hunting shirt was generally made of linsey, sometimes of coarse linen, and a few of dressed deer skins. These last were very cold and uncomfortable in wet weather. The shirt and jacket were of the common fashion. A pair of drawers or breeches, and leggins, were the dress of the thighs and legs; a pair of moccasins answered for the feet much better than shoes. These were made of dressed deer skins.They were mostly made of a single piece, with a gathered seam along the top of the foot, and another from the bottom of the heel, without gathers, as high as the ankle joint, or a little higher. Flaps were left on each side to reach some distance up the legs. These were nicely adapted to the ankles, and lower part of the leg, by thongs of deer skin, so that no dust, gravel or snow, could get within the moccasin.

The moccasin in ordinary use cost but a few hours' labor to make them. In cold weather the moccasins were stuffed with deer's hair, or dry leaves, so as to keep the feet comfortably warm.

In latter years of the Indian war the young men became more enamored with the Indian dress throughout, with the exception of the match coat. The drawers were laid aside, and the leggins made longer, so as to reach the upper part of the thigh. The Indian breech-clout was adopted. This was a piece of linen or cloth, nearly a yard long, and eight or nine inches broad. This passed under the belt before and behind, leaving the ends for flaps hanging before and behind over the belt. These flaps were sometimes ornamented with some coarse kind of embroidery work. To the same belt which secured the breech-clout,