THE HISTORY OF SMITHTON, PENNSYLVANIA FROM 1800 TO 1950
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Members of that branch of the family still live in the Barren Run valley, and are well known farmers of the district. Henry’s son, Joseph, however, did not accompany his father to Barren Run. He remained near the river and converted the still house into a grist mill, so that for a long time there were two mills running-Sam Smith’s, which was the original stone mill on the river bank, and his nephew Joseph’s mill. This Joseph Smith, in company with other young men of the district, J. W. R. Hough, Jacob Medsger, and Samuel Anderson, sailed round the Horn to join the Gold Rush of ‘49. They all returned, eventually, none the worse nor any the richer, but Joseph Smith had acquired a nickname that endures to this day-”Californy Joe.” His mill located on the right bank of Mineral Run was a water mill. The mill race started about halfway up Dutch Hollow, skirted the hill where the slate dump now stands, and from thence down to the mill, which stood near the homes now occupied by Harold Lancaster and Carl Nicolaus, Sr. By 1855 the towering forests were levelled and waving fields of rye, corn and wheat covered the hills and slopes surrounding Smith’s Mills. Hills now grown wild and wooded again, were then under cultivation. In 1855 the Pittsburgh and Connellsville Railroad was put through. By this time the community had grown and homes were built up both Hollows. By 1858 the need for a more convenient school was felt. From 1800 to 1858, the children of the Smith’s Mills families had gone either to Port Royal or to the Red School House on the hill between Eureka and Jacob’s Creek. Andrew Reed’s records show that the citizens hauled the brick and subscribed the money to pay for the building and furnishings. Among the names are those of Peter Rhoads, Andrew Reed, Henry Hanna, Adam Pore, Henry Shupe, Samuel Smith, John Smith, Henry Rhodes, J. Henghsteller, William Shupe, J. D. Hough, William Lee, Henry Smith, Abie Hewitt, John Rhodes, Samuel Rhodes, Daniel Rhodes, Joseph Rhodes, Jr., Warren Anderson, Joseph Smith, Henry Sheppard, Daniel Houngh, and Joseph Rhodes, Sr. One hundred dollars was the amount subscribed on this list. The same names appear on another list on which smaller amounts were contributed for the purchase of two chain lamps for the new school building. Other contributors were J. H. Bennett, H. S. Hepler, Christ Aspey, Samuel Welsh, David Rhodes, Arch Nicholls, Elija Hough, Solomon Rhodes, Jacob O. Shupe, Michael Hewitt, and Martin Hewitt. The school was built on the present site of Mineral School, and served as school, Sunday school, and social center. Reverses came to the growing community in 1859, when on June 25, a killing frost destroyed all the grain, vegetables, and fruit. The resourceful farmers hurriedly plowed their fields and sowed buckwheat. The next winter humans and livestock alike lived on buckwheat. It is said that the hogs thrived and fattened on their buckwheat diet.
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