 A Thrilling Bear Hunt
from the Cambria Freeman- 1873
Messrs. Aaron Dougherty and Andy Green are two backwoodsmen who have achieved no unenviable reputation as Nimrods. They have spent much of their time in the primeval forests, and the number of bear, deer and smaller game killed by them is beyond compute.
They tell some thrilling anecdotes of their experiences in the rough wilds of the country where they have roamed—anecdotes of which, if embodied in book form, would make a narrative interesting as the story of Daniel Boone’s campaigning in Kentucky in the days of long agone. From amongst the mass of recollections as detailed to the writer hereof by the two gentlemen named, we put on record this sketch:
A number of years ago in midwinter, while trailing through the woods in Clearfield Township, Cambria County, for “signs,” Messrs. Dougherty and Green struck the track of a bear. It was the largest track of an animal of that species they had ever seen. So, like thoroughbreds, as they are, and without wasting only the quantity of time necessary to see that their guns and knives were ready for immediate service, they hurried in pursuit of the monster.
From indications, easily discernible by a true backwoodsman, it was speedily discovered that the track was not more than an hour old, and so the utmost caution was observed in following the trail. This was in the forenoon. Several deer were seen and permitted to go unharmed during the hours which succeeded, and the presence of foxes and rabbits went unheeded; for, though an unwieldy brute, the bear is a fast traveler, and the two hunters well knew that the report of a gun would cause it to take to the mountains, where pursuit would be unavailing.
The trail was a most eccentric one. It led Messrs. Dougherty and Green from the place where it started, across the Laurel Run; then here, and there, and everywhere, but always going further away from the place of beginning.
At about the hour of five o’clock, when the sun was fast disappearing beyond the mountaintop, Mr. Dougherty by a peculiar whistle notified Mr. Green that he had treed the game. It had taken refuge in a log cabin. Both parties silently cocked their guns and unloosed their knives, and took cover behind a tree, to await a favorable opportunity to fire.
In about five minutes, smoke began to emerge from the chimney of the log cabin. Mr. Dougherty and Mr. Green agreed in saying that it was a most remarkable occurrence—that they or either of them had ever before heard of a bear occupying a house with a chimney to it, and that chimney belching out smoke.
A closer reconnaissance was had, and it was ascertained that the inmate of the cabin was a man. He was club-footed, each of his feet closely resembling an exaggerated letter O.
He had been prospecting around that day and Messrs. Dougherty and Green had been following the imprints made in the snow by his feet.
- Altoona Tribune
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Cambria County’s Moon Tree
Located on the front lawn of the Cambria County Courthouse is a small brass plaque with the following inscription: “Bicentennial Moon Tree—Sycamore planted June 29, 1976– Seed carried to the moon by Astronaut Stuart A. Roosa on Apollo XIV, February 1971.” |
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Black Monday, November 6, 1922
By Jack Bartock - from Barnsboro’s Centennial Book
It began just like any other Monday in Spangler. It had rained all night and the air was damp and chilly on that bleak November morning. Most of the women in town had sent their men off to work and were busy cleaning up the breakfast dishes or getting children ready for school just as they had done many other days. But today was not to be like any other. At 7:45, Monday, November 6, 1922, there was an explosion that changed just another working day into "BLACK MONDAY." The explosion took p1ace at the Reilly Colliery Mine #1 when methane gas exploded. There were 108 men inside the mine. The men had just entered the mine and were on their way to the "faces" where they worked when the gas exploded a mile inside the mine. The explosion, fire and after damp snuffed out 77 lives. It was the second-worst mine disaster in Cambria County history, eclipsed only by the Cambria Steel Company Rolling Mill mine disaster of July 10, 1902, where 112 miners died.
The blast ripped the sides out of the fan house and put the ventilator fan out of commission. It was two hours before the fan could be restarted and then it was reversed to blow fresh air into the gas¬-filled mine instead of functioning in its usual capacity as an exhaust fan.
Things began to move rapidly on the surface, although it seemed like an eternity to those trapped alive below until rescuers reached them. The call went out, and help began pouring in from near and far. Safety crews were dispatched from other mines, not only in northern Cambria, Indiana and Clearfield counties, but also from as far away as Johnstown. The federal mine safety car was dispatched from Pittsburgh and arrived in Spangler at 1:15, after making a record breaking run averaging fifty-seven miles per hour. Another mine rescue car arrived from Johnstown.
In the hours that followed, doctors, nurses, priests and ministers, undertakers, mine inspectors, and hundreds of miners intent on helping those entombed below, arrived in town. Others who streamed in, included newsmen, state policemen of Troop A, the Red Cross and the Salvation Army.
About 500 rescuers worked in relays around the clock that Monday, throughout the day and night. Many of them had to wear gas masks because of afterdamp (carbon monoxide) that was pervading the mine. Methane gas was again starting to accumulate in some sections.
The women busy in their homes heard the belly-churning WHOOMP all miners' women folks had lived in dread of hearing all their lives. As one, they caught their breath and stopped in their tracks, as though the earth had momentarily ceased its rotation. And as one, they sprang to life again. Wives, mothers, sisters and sweethearts grabbed their wraps and began running through the rain to the Reilly shaft, many of them clutching babies or dragging small children behind them. One glimpse at the shattered fan house and the smoke and dust rising from the hoist shaft told them their worst fears had been realized. The entire community was thrust into upheaval. Families waited near the mine for word on the fate of their loved ones. There were cries of agony and sighs of relief as bodies were recovered or survivors located.
The coal company set up benches in the "Blacksmith" shop for the women. Newsmen described this building as a shrine to grief. Many of the women who waited already knew they had lost one loved one and were awaiting word of others.
The disaster proved devastating to most Spangler families. There was hardly a home that did not lose at least one family member or close relative. Some lost many. One widow lost three sons. In fact, three families lost three members each - the Sinczaks, the Plutkos and the Shopas. Many lost two members. Fathers and sons perished.
There were stories of fate intervening to save a life here and there. Spangler mining engineer Charles Schlicher and a crew were to have gone into the mine with the miners that morning, but one of the crew was late getting to the office and they didn't get started as planned. Except for that bit of tardiness, the inspection team probably would have been deep into the mine when the explosion happened. John Kriss and Mike Mehal had played in an orchestra at a wedding celebration that Sunday, the day before the blast. The musicians interspersed their music with ample interludes of food and drink, and when Monday morning dawned, Kriss and Mehal were too hung over to go to work. That saved their lives. Patrick Griffin missed work that day because he was at the Courthouse in Ebensburg getting a marriage license. His two brothers Mike and John were killed that day. Mike was to have been married the next week.
Joseph Chernicky, Mickey and Thomas Walsh had arrived together in the Ten Left section just moments before the blast occurred. Thomas Walsh, who had been recently discharged from the Navy, and this being his first job remarked, "How often does this happen?"
George Popovich, the longest living survivor, was working in the Ten Left section when the blast occurred. "I was on the compression side (behind), not the combustion side of the explosion." He said the fact that the two elevator cages were positioned, one at the top and the other at the bottom, probably saved the men who did survive. "If they had been anywhere in the shaft, they would have been knocked off the tracks and by the time something else would have been rigged to get men out, it would have been too late to save anyone."
Martin McAvoy and Arthur “Red” McKivigan were working in the air course for the Nine Left entry when the blast let go in Room 13 of that entry. The air was rapidly filled with afterdamp as the two tried in vain to reach safety. Their story was scrawled in two messages McKivigan wrote in chalk on pieces of rail that were later found by a rescue team. The first message proclaimed: "Martin died first." A little further on another message was found: "Bad air. Arthur McKivigan. Tell Mother not to worry, I am all right." But he wasn't. Red McKivigan, 21, was married to the sister of John and Mike Griffin, both of whom died in the mine.
Of the 108 men inside the mine at the time of the explosion, only six made it out under their own power with little or no injury. They were William Dean, John Elliot, Allen Kline, Edward McDonald, Mick Mandish and Michael Whalen.
Many of the miners perished in the explosion and fire, but far more died from the afterdamp, which snuffed out life after life in the hours before rescuers pulled those still living to safety. Men cursed and tried to joke, but it was hard to find any humor. Some men cried. Some uttered the names of wives, mothers, sweethearts and children. Nearly everybody prayed. They prayed in English, Slavic, Italian and Polish and they asked for God's mercy.
The Fallen Miners
Joseph Abrams
John Anderson
George Baker
Hugh Bearer
Ollie Bearer
Merril Berkey
Thomas Brooks
Antonio Cantalope
Ralph Cantalope
Gentile Caribardi
James Clawson
James Decker
Samuel Derricott
Joseph Dolan
Michael Dunchak
James Elliott
Patrick Flanagan
Joseph Fritz
Stanton Gray
Warren Gray
John Grecca
John Griffin
Michael Griffin
Jacob Hurey
Hary Hutchko
John Jones
George Kuchmer, Sr.
George Kuchmer, Jr.
George Kelly
Hayden Kelly
Alex Kuzmishin
Richard Leek
Guy Leslie
John Logue
Martin McAvey
Clyde McGaughey
Sloan McGaughey
John Manac
Stephen Manac
Arthur McKivigan
Frank Mendochino
Vincent Miller
John Novorka
Edward Ostrander
Paul Owens
Felix Pallone
John Tanak
John Pello
Oscar Peterson
Anthony Polvis
John Popovich
Joseph Potonic
John Potonic
Andrew Plutko
Joseph Plutko
Michael Plutko
William Rodgers
Joseph Saltsgiver
Ambrose Shopa
John Shopa
Rudolph Shopa
Aftan Sinczak
Michael Sinczak
Steven Sinczak
Rudolph Smolko
Vallie Smolko
Bernard Tanzy
A. E. Vaughn
Anthony Villella
Peter Voytko
Michael (Voytko) Washko
Roy Wetherson
Frank Wysconski
Barto Ycovack
John Ycovack
Michael Zuranko
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Recent Accessions
Artifacts
Cambria County Public School Certificates, 1929 and 1932 – donated by Jonathan Miller
Barnesboro High School Diploma, 1933 - donated by Jonathan Miller
Teacher’s Monthly Attendance Report, Ebensburg School, September 1946 - donated by Jay Stenman
Wooden dynamite (cap) box #6, manufactured by J.V. Hammond of Spangler, PA – donated by Atty. Lewis H. Ripley Jr.
Books
Cambria County Railroads compiled by Thomas T. Taber III – donated by Thomas T. Taber III
The Community Cook-Book, Hastings, Pennsylvania 1924 - – donated by Jonathan Miller
Founding Families of Loretto by Edmund J. Adams – donated by Betty Mulhollen
Headrick Cemetery, East Taylor Township, Cambria County, PA by Donna Davis
A History of the Cambria and Indiana Railroad from the diary of S. H. Jencks, former chief engineer – donated by Betty Mulhollen
Johnstown Flood of 1889 by Dr. Nathan Daniel Shappee - donated by Betty Mulhollen
Johnstown, Pennsylvania A History, Part One: 1895-1936 by Randy Whittle
North Barnesboro Cemetery reading. Includes North Barnesboro, St. Stanislaus Kostka, Byzantine Catholic, Prince of Peace, St John the Baptist, and Ranck cemeteries – donated by Martha Brown, Ray Miller, Ethel Miller, and Mary Perez.
Upward Struggle, A Bicentennial Tribute to Labor in Cambria and Somerset Counties by Bruce T. Williams and Michael D. Yates – donated by Betty Mulhollen
Vital Records of Holy Name Parish, Ebensburg PA 1844-1900 - donated by Betty Mulhollen
Yearbooks, The Phoenician of Westmont-Upper Yoder High School, Johnstown PA. 1934, 1936, 1937, 1939 – donated by Margaret Kist
Yearbook, The Spectator – Johnstown High School, Johnstown, PA. 1964 – donated by Margaret Kist
Genealogies
The Family History of John Calvin Bowser & Sarah Idella Diehl –donated by Connie Evans Sutton
Microfilm
Internal Revenue Assessment Lists for Pennsylvania, District 17, 1862-1866 - donated by Emery C. Lengyl
Newspaper, Johnstown Democrat, Johnstown, PA. Jan, Feb, Mar, Oct, Nov, Dec 1932
Newspaper, Johnstown Tribune, Johnstown, PA. Apr, May, Jun 1932 |
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The
Heritage is published quarterly and mailed to CCHS Members. A few
of the articles will be published here.