Rockhill: the first settlers

From the county histories, on Rockhill borough. The passage below is printed exactly as it appears in 1883, including the spelling of the day and the errors the scanner made. It has not been rewritten, summarised or added to.

From the west are several small streams flowing into Aughwick Creek, the largest of which is Old Woman's Run, which empties into the Aughwick a little below the mouth of Black Log. The East Broad Top Railroad passes through the township nearly northeast and southwest, alongside the borough of Orbisonia, and through the town of Rock Hill. There are under the surface of Cromwell township large quantities of iron ore, both hematite and fossil, principally owned by the Rock Hill Iron and Coal Company, whose furnaces are located just outside the borough of Orbisonia. The farming lands of this township, scattered as they are through the small valleys, are susceptible of a high state of eultivation, and upon some are raised large crops of corn, wheat, oats, and potatoes. Early Settlers and Pioneer Incidents. , This township being on the old path from the lower Susquehanna to the Ohio country, and a portion of the gap or gateway through which many of the pioneers to the then far-off West journeyed, it would naturally attract the attention of some of the pilgrims in search of future homes. Of this class were ` THE CLUGAGE FAMILY., This family of pioneers settled in Black Log, which was sometimes called Horse Valley, about the year 1763, and consisted of Robert, the father, who died a few years thereafter, and sons named respectively Robert, George, Thomas, Francis, James, and Gaven, each of whom became owners of land in the valley between the Shade and Black Log Gaps.J. Simpson Africa, History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1883) · character 1,637,971 of the scanned text

Quoted from the county histories

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