The western border of Pennsylvania was as difficult to determine as the southern border, although the southern border and its ultimate resolution by the Mason-Dixon Line was the subject of considerably more publicity and controversy.
Originally, the western border was to be five degrees longitude west of the eastern boundary, the winding Delaware River. Until about 1774, the assumption was that this would take place. Many maps of the times showed the western border paralleling the same curved path as the river on the east.
Virginia assumed that the western boundary was the Laurel Ridge, and both states claimed the southwestern corner of the state for some years. Both had court systems and counties in what became the Fayette-Greene-Washington-Westmoreland-Allegheny area.
After a delay in resolving the border problems because of the Revolutionary War, it was finally agreed by both Pennsylvania and Virginia to extend the Mason-Dixon survey line to a full five degrees west of the Delaware River. From there, a straight line was to be drawn northward.
That line became the border, and was not permanently determined until 1786. North of the Mason-Dixon Line, Virginia kept only a portion of land between the border and the Ohio River on its south side, which later became known as West Virginia's Panhandle when that state was created.
Squirrel Invasion
In 1783, southwestern Pennsylvania and some areas to the west experienced a substantial failure of acorn and nut crops, which caused quite a problem for squirrels. The result was a mass migration eastward toward and across the mountains.
Masses of squirrels swimming across rivers and streams caused some problems, and on the Ohio River at times forced a halt to boats for long periods. Nearly every meal at many taverns and inns included squirrel in some form.
This area was so overrun by squirrels that residents sought bounties to encourage reducing the squirrel population, and one with a two-pence-per-squirrel amount was passed. A North Huntingdon Township resident collected 758 squirrel scalps in claiming his bounty payment.
Indian trails
Some of the first Indian trails across area terrain set the stage for military and later highways, although there were few visible remains when historians attempted to document them.
The names were applied later to the trails in most cases.
Obviously, nearly all these towns didn't exist then but are mentioned for easier identification of the trail routes.
History of boatbuilding
Boatbuilding was a center of Pittsburgh-area activity early, a starting date cited as Feb. 23, 1777, when 14 carpenters and sawyers arrived at Fort Pitt from Philadelphia. Busy communities included Elizabeth and Brownsville.
The arrivals went to work along the Monongahela River 14 miles from the fort, and built 30 large batteaux intended for troop transport. They were 40 feet long, 9 feet wide and 32 inches deep.
As late as 1794, an advertisement for a boat line running to Cincinnati and back every four weeks carried some flavor of the times of flatboats and keelboats then in use:
"No danger need be apprehended from the enemy, as every person on board will be under cover made proof against rifle or musket balls, and convenient port holes for firing out of," the ad stated. The enemy was Indians.
Seagoing vessel construction began in 1801. In 1811, the first steamboat was built here for navigation of western waters.
In the 1860s, the boatbuilding industry decreased its volume as river traffic slowed as a result of railroad completion. By the 1880s, the industry had substantially declined.
Pack horses vital in commerce
The earliest commercial activity from the south and southeast to Pittsburgh was keyed by pack horses from Carlisle, Shippensburg, Chambersburg and Winchester, Va. Hauled west to these points, it was transferred to pack trains of from 10 to 25 horses.
As late as 1790, there were only six freight wagons engaged in hauling goods to Pittsburgh from over the mountains, according to a commemorative city newspaper later.
Groceries, salt, iron, liquor and just about all other supplies entered the town on backs of horses. On their return trip from Pittsburgh, the horses were loaded with furs, skins and ginseng by traders.
Conestoga wagons then filled the gap until about 1850 when the railroads came along, with some help from canal traffic for two decades before the trains.
This date in history
Oct. 5 shows up as early as 210 years ago in history, when Col. James Burd, of Brownsville fort fame, died in 1793.
In Greene County, New Freeport post office was established in 1853, with George C. Nuzum as postmaster. Another office with this date was created in Tarrs, Westmoreland County, in 1877, with William Stoner as postmaster.
In 1908, a gas line explosion and fire damaged the PPG plant near New Kensington.
Former President William Howard Taft spoke in Indiana, Pa., in 1917, and President Herbert Hoover stopped in Greensburg and elsewhere in 1932.
Pittsburgh Mayor David L. Lawrence was cleared by a grand jury in 1951 in a city lighting system contract situation.
The demolition of the Wabash building in Pittsburgh began in 1953.
It was an eventful Oct. 5 in 1961. A 34-day strike of Walworth Company in South Greensburg came to an end. In Uniontown, two commercial buildings were destroyed by a fire that started in the Kinney shoe store.
Other spectacular fires on this date ravaged an elementary school in Rostraver Township in 1964 and hit Somerset Gasoline Co. in 1978.
Rules for automobiles
A century ago, irate rural residents in the state and area organized a Farmers' Anti-Automobile Association and published these suggested rules for drivers:
1. Automobiles traveling on country roads at night must send up a rocket every mile, then wait 10 minutes for the road to clear. The driver then may proceed with caution, blowing his horn and shooting off Roman candles.
2. If a driver of an automobile sees a team of horses approaching, he is to stop, pulling over to one side of the road, and cover his machine with a blanket or dust cover which is painted or colored to blend in with the scenery, and thus render the machine less noticeable.
3. In case a horse is unwilling to pass an automobile on the road, the driver of the car must take the machine apart as rapidly as possible, and conceal the parts in the bushes.
One rather doubts that many, if any, motorists followed these "special interest" rules.
Sports history
Some collegiate football past:
Today, some fans find the traffic jam is after the game toward Port Matilda and Altoona, when played at State College.
