Three Springs: the first settlers

From the county histories, on Three Springs 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.

Lick Branch and North Branch are the head-waters of Mountain Branch, flowing easterly through the north part of the township, and Three Springs Creek, rising in the central portion of the township, flows northeasterly and receives the Mountain Branch at Three Springs borough. There are several mineral springs in the township, and through the central portion of the township are several outcrops and indications of hematite and fossil ores, The East Broad Top Railroad runs across the northeast end of the township, following the valleys of Mountain and Lick Branches as they wind around the base of mountains and ridges, passing through Three Springs and Saltillo boroughs and Clear Ridge Gap, in the extreme north part of the township, and out through a tunnel under Sideling Hill Mountain near P. Hoffman's. Early Settlers and Pioneer Beginnings., A mong the pioneers of what is now Clay township we find Col. George Ashman, who came here about 1779, and purchased the land called "The Three Springs Tract," containing over eighteen hundred acres, still known as the Three Springs farm. He built a house thereon, which became his future residence, and is still standing. He brought with him his "human chattels," as at that early day slavery had not been abolished in the Keystone State. The plantation was subsequently divided into eight or nine farms, but the original homestead is still in possession of his heirs, of whom Richard Ashman, of Three Springs borough, is principal.J. Simpson Africa, History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1883) · character 1,598,994 of the scanned text

Quoted from the county histories

← All stories from Three Springs borough