Chapter XX

SINKING VALLEY--THE LEAD MINES--FORT ROBERDEAU--INDIAN MURDER, AND HEROIC CONDUCT OF A WOMAN--ENCOUNTER WITH A SAVAGE--MURDER OF ROLLER AND BEBAULT, ETC.

One of the most prominent points in Pennsylvania, during the Revolution, was Sinking Valley, owing, in a great measure, to the fact that it had a fort, under military discipline,--where the sentry marched upon ramparts, where the reveille aroused the inmates at the dawn of day, and where people felt secure in the immediate presence of muskets with bristling bayonets, a pair of cannon, and an abundance of ammunition, and where, for a long time, the greater part of the lead used by the Continental army was procured.

There is every reason to believe that the lead mines of Sinking Valley were known to the French as early as 1750. Although they searched extensively for minerals, it is not probable that they ventured as far into the Penn lands as Sinking Valley, unless the secret of the existence of the mines had been imparted to them by the Indians.

The Indians of the Juniata, after they had acquired the use of fire-arms, could always procure an abundance of lead. This, they said, they procured--almost pure--on a ridge, near where Mifflintown now stands, in Kishicoquillas Valley; and also at the foot, or in one of the ravines, of the mountain. With true Indian craft, the warriors kept the precise location of the lead mines a secret. The scarcity of lead, in early days, made it a valuable commodity to the settlers; and many an Indian's jug was filled with whiskey on promise of showing the lead mines--promises that were always "kept to the ear, but broken to the hope." It is, therefore, pretty evident that all the lead-ore the savages displayed was procured in Sinking Valley;--if they obtained any at other places along the Juniata, the mines have not yet been discovered, and not for the lack of many thorough searches for them, either.

The supposition that the French had been prospecting extensively in Sinking Valley many years ago is based upon the fact that, previous to Roberdeau's erecting the fort, several old drifts or openings were discovered, as well as an irregular trench, extending from the upper to the lower lead mines,--a distance of nearly six miles. The vestiges of this trench are still visible, and there is no question but what the digging of it and the immense amount of labor necessary for its construction was performed in the full confidence that they would be rewarded by the discovery of a silver mine, or, at least, an inexhaustible bed of pure lead-ore.

The fact that lead-ore existed in Sinking Valley was ascertained by the settlers about 1763, and the consequence was that a number of persons took up their residence there, but without purchasing lands. The certainty of the existence of lead, and the fabulous stories of the existence of various other precious metals, induced the proprietary family to reserve it to themselves, and to that end George Woods surveyed it for them a short time previous to the Revolution.

The earliest accounts we have of any permanent settlers in Sinking Valley bears date of 1760. There is a well-authenticated story of an occurrence that once took place in 1763, but neither names nor dates have been transmitted. Mr. Maguire had frequently heard the woman's name mentioned, who became quite a heroine, and lived in Sinking Valley until some time during the Revolution; but it had slipped his memory.

The story was that a man occupied a cabin in the upper end of the valley, and one day left it to go to the mouth of the Bald Eagle, leaving his wife and child at home. No savages had been in the neighborhood for some time, and, in fact, no friendly Indians either, except some few who resided in what is now known as Tuckahoe Valley. Fortunately, the man possessed two rifles, both of which he loaded, placed one over the chimney-piece, the other upon his shoulder, and departed on his errand. While the woman was busy attending to her household affairs, she saw two Indians, partly concealed by some bushes in front of the house. In an instant she took down the loaded gun, and watched their motions through the window. In a few minutes both of them stealthily approached the house, when she pointed the gun at the foremost savage and fired; the bullet striking him in the breast, he fell to rise no more. The other savage came directly toward the house, when the woman, still retaining in her grasp the rifle, ascended a ladder to the loft, where she stood with the gun in an attitude of defiance. The quick eye of the Indian detected her movements, and he followed, but with the usual caution of a savage; and when his head reached the opening, he peered into the dark garret to see his intended victim. Grasping one of the puncheons which composed the floor with one hand, he attempted to draw up his rifle with the other, when a discharge followed, and he fell lifeless to the floor. The woman, more dead than alive with fear, remained for a time in the loft, but, hearing no noise, she at length ventured down-stairs, and at the foot of the ladder found the savage perfectly dead, lying in a pool of blood. She took her child out of the cradle, and started for the mouth of the Bald Eagle, but fortunately met her husband but a few rods from the house.

All things taken into consideration, and especially the fact that the woman had never pulled the trigger of a gun before, this was probably one of the most heroic acts on record.

The nearest neighbors were summoned, and, on examining into the matter, it was concluded that, after the first Indian had been shot, the second one immediately cocked his rifle, and that while ascending the ladder the trigger must have been touched by a twig on the hickory rung of the ladder. The bullet had struck him under the chin, passed through his tongue, and lodged in his brain. His death was certainly an interposition of Providence in behalf of the woman and her infant child.

Sinking Valley proper never could have been much of a resort of the Indians, for no traces of the existence of any villages in it have ever been discovered, neither have any relics ever been found or exhumed in it, that we can hear of, with the exception of some few arrow-heads and a skull, found near the Arch Springs.

The attention of Council was called to the existence of lead in Sinking Valley in a letter from Major-General John Armstrong to President Wharton, dated Yorktown, 23d February, 1778. He says:--

As at present there appears to be a scarcity of the important
article of lead, and it is certain a Mr. Harman Husbands, now a
member of Assembly for our State, has some knowledge of a lead mine
situated in a certain tract of land not far from Frankstown,
formerly surveyed for the use of the proprietary family.

General Gates, President of the Board of War, having signified his
earnest desire to see and converse with Mr. Husbands on the subject
of the mine, and being greatly hurried with business, I have, at
his instance, undertaken the present line, that you would please to
use your influence with the House of Assembly and with Mr.
Husbands, that he, as soon as possible, may be spared to concert
with the Board of War on the best measures for making a trial of
and deriving an early supply from that source.

The general is of opinion with me, that the mine ought to--or may
at least for the present--be seized by and belong to the State; and
that private persons, who, without right, may have sat down on that
reserved tract, should neither prevent the use of the lead nor be
admitted to make a monopoly of the mine. I am of opinion that a few
faithful laborers may be sufficient to make the experiment, and
that the lieutenant of the county, or some other good man, may be
serviceable in introducing the business.

I cannot doubt the compliance of the honorable Assembly and
Council.

P.S.--It may be proper that a summary consideration be first
taken, whether the State will make the effort alone or leave it to
the conduct of the Board of War; that, at any rate, the salutary
effects, if any, may be gained to the public. The water-carriage
is a great thing. _Query_--Whether the ore should be run into
portable bars at the bank, or at Middleton?

At the writing of the above, some few persons had found their way to the mines, raised small quantities of ore, and smelted it; but their operations were contracted for want of tools and the proper appliances for smelting. They confined themselves to such ore as was on or near the surface, and made small oven furnaces, and smelted with charcoal.

The Council soon took the suggestion of General Armstrong in hand; and it was resolved to give the general superintendence of the mining operations to General Daniel Roberdeau, then a member of Congress, who went forward to Carlisle to make the necessary arrangements. From that place he wrote to President Wharton, on the 17th of April, 1778, as follows:--

The confidence the honorable the representatives of our State have
placed in me by a resolve, together with the pressing and
indispensable necessity of a speedy supply of lead for the public
service, induced me to ask leave of absence of Congress to proceed
with workmen to put their business into a proper train, and have
reached this place on that errand; and, having collected men and
materials, and sent them forward this day, propose to follow them
to-morrow. My views have been greatly enlarged since I left York on
the importance of the undertaking and hazard in prosecuting it, for
the public works here are not furnished with an ounce of lead but
what is in fixed ammunition; on the other hand, the prevailing
opinion of people, as I advance into the country, of Indian
depredations shortly to commence, might not only deter the workmen
I stand in need of, but affright the back settlers from their
habitations, and leave the country exposed and naked. To give
confidence to one and the other, I have drawn out of the public
stores here twenty-five stand of arms and a quantity of gun-powder,
and intended to proceed this morning, but was applied to by John
Caruthers, Esq., Lieutenant of the County, and William Brown,
Commissary of Provisions for the Militia, who advised me on the
subject of their respective departments, and, by the account they
gave of the orders from your honorable board to them as to calling
out and supplying the militia, I find the State is guarding against
the incursions of the savages. This confirmed me in a preconceived
intention of erecting a stockade fort in the neighborhood of the
mine I am about to work, if I could stir up the inhabitants to give
their labor in furnishing an asylum for their families in case of
imminent danger, and thus prevent the evacuation of the country.
Mr. Caruthers, convinced of the necessity of the work for the above
purposes, condescendingly offered one company of the militia, which
he expected would consist of about forty men, under my command, to
co-operate in so salutary a business,--as it consisted with the
orders of Council respecting the station, being only a deviation of
a very few miles,--and that one other company, of about the same
number, should also join me, for the greater expedition, until the
pleasure of Council was known, which he presumed might coincide
with such dispositions, otherwise it might be deranged by an
immediate express; and, that the pleasure of Council might be known
without delay, I give this intelligence. If these measures are for
the good of the public wheel, [weal,] I hope to be honored with a
confirmation, and orders to the militia to exert themselves in
carrying the design into immediate execution; if otherwise, I rely
on the well-known candor of Council that I shall not be suspected
of any sinister design in leaning to an offer freely made as above,
from, I believe, the best motives, much less that I have presumed
to interfere with the arrangements of Council, as this early notice
is full proof to the contrary, as the whole is in their power as
much as if nothing had passed between the lieutenant and myself. I
have only to add, on this subject, that your design of
patrolling-parties of good riflemen shall be encouraged by me. The
commissary, Mr. Brown, being destitute of money, I would have
spared it out of my small stock, but that, by my interference, 1200
dollars--all he asked--was supplied by a public officer here; but
further sums will, he said, be soon necessary, and he expressed
much concern for the scarcity of provisions. I was advised very
lately, by Judge McKean, of a quantity of salted beef in the
neighborhood of Harris's Ferry; and before I left York, I applied
to him by letter to advise me of the quantity and quality, with a
design to purchase, as I intended to employ a much greater number
of men than are already employed at the lead mine, to carry on the
business with vigor. If Council should think proper to order a
quantity of said provisions up the Juniata for the militia, I
should be glad of being favored with what I want through the same
channel. I intend to build such a fort as, with sufficient
provisions, under the smile of Providence, would enable me to
defend it against any number of Indians that might presume to
invest it. If I am not prevented, by an opportunity of serving the
State eminently by a longer stay in the wilderness, I purpose to
return to my duty in Congress in about three weeks. Will Council
favor me with the exemption of a number of men, not exceeding
twenty,--if I cannot be supplied by the adjutant-general, who has
orders co-extensive with my want of smelters and miners from
deserters from the British army,--to suffer such to come to this
part of the country, contrary to a preceding order? If Council
should think such a measure of exemption for the public good, I
should be glad to receive their orders on that head. I would not
intrude my sentiments on Council, but am of opinion that, besides
the supplying of provisions to the militia in Bedford, it is very
important that the intended stockade should be seasonably furnished
with that article; therefore, if it should not be thought advisable
to improve the above hint, that the provisions already mentioned in
the neighborhood of Harris's should be left unnoticed until I shall
have an opportunity of furnishing my own supplies from that stock.
If I shall be advised by Mr. McKean, it is in my offer. My landing
is at Water Street, in [on the] Juniata; but I could, on notice,
receive any supply from Standing Stone.

In the mean time, the persons employed went forward to the mines, and, under the direction of a Scotch miner named Lowrie, commenced sinking shafts and raising ore at the upper mine. General Roberdeau arrived at Standing Stone after the tory expedition to Kittaning, being, as it would appear, his second visit; the first was a mere tour of observation. From this point he wrote as follows to John Carothers:--

_Standing Stone, April 23, 1778._

SIR:--The enclosed was put into my hands, to be forwarded
to you by express. The intelligence it contains is abundantly
confirmed by several persons I have examined, both fugitives from
the frontiers and some volunteers that have returned for an
immediate supply of ammunition and provisions, to be sent forward
to Sinking Spring Valley, as the troops will be obliged to quit the
service except they are supplied without delay. Want of arms
prevents those who would turn out. I shall furnish what I brought
from Carlisle as soon as they come forward; but it is very
unfortunate that these arms, and the ammunition, which is coming by
water, have been retarded by contrary wind, and probably the
lowness of the water. To remedy this, I have despatched two canoes
this morning to meet them on the way. I am giving Mr. Brown, who is
here, every assistance in my power; but your aid is greatly wanted
to stimulate the militia, and furnish arms, ammunition,
pack-horses, and every thing necessary in your line of duty. The
insurgents from this neighborhood, I am informed, are about thirty.
One of them (Hess) has been taken, and confession extorted, from
which it appears that this banditti expect to be joined by three
hundred men from the other side the Alleghany; reports more vague
mention one thousand whites and savages. The supply of provisions
for so great a number renders it improbable; but, in answer to
this, I have been informed by the most credible in this
neighborhood, that strangers, supposed to be from Detroit, have
been this winter among the disaffected inhabitants, and have
removed with them. If you have authority to call out the militia,
in proportion to the exigence of the times, I think it of great
importance that a considerable number of men should be immediately
embodied and sent forward to meet the enemy; for it cannot be
expected that the volunteers will long continue in service, and I
find that the recruiting the three companies goes on too slowly to
expect a seasonable supply from them of any considerable number. If
you have not authority to call the necessary aid of militia, you,
no doubt, will apply to the honorable the Council, and may furnish
them with my sentiments, and to the Board of War for arms and
ammunition. With ten men here, under the command of Lieutenant
Cluggage, in Continental service until the 1st of December next, I
intend to move forward as soon as the arms, ammunition, and other
things come forward, to afford an escort to Sinking Spring Valley,
where I shall be glad to meet as great a number of militia as you
will station there, to enable me to erect a stockade, to secure the
works so necessary to the public service and give confidence to the
frontier inhabitants, by affording an asylum for their women and
children. These objects, I doubt not, you will think worthy your
immediate attention and utmost exertion, which, I can assure
you,--making the fullest allowance for the timidity of some and
credulity of others,--is a very serious matter; for without
immediate aid the frontiers will be evacuated, for all that I have
been able to say has been of no avail with the fugitives I have met
on the roads,--a most distressing sight, of men, women, and
children, flying through fear of a cruel enemy.

I am, respectfully, sir, your most obedient, humble servant,

DANIEL ROBERDEAU.

The enclosure spoken of in Roberdeau's letter was a note from Robert Smith to Robert Cluggage, of which the following is a copy:--

SIR:--Be pleased to send expresses to Lieutenant Carothers by the
first opportunity, to give him some account of insurrections on
the South Mountain, and likewise to inspect very closely into who
is abroad at this time and upon what occasion, as there is a
suspicion, by information, of other insurrections rising in other
parts of the county of Cumberland; and in so doing you will oblige
your friend to serve,

ROBERT SMITH.

_April 23, 1778._

The letter of Gen. Roberdeau, as well as Smith's, were sent to President Wharton by Lieutenant Carothers, enclosed in another of his own dated at Carlisle, on the 27th of April.

Previous to this, however, he sent a letter to the Council, dated on the 24th, in which he speaks of the deplorable condition of the frontier and the constant alarms from the tories. He said:--

The marching classes of the fifth battalion I have been obliged to
send up to Sinking Valley and Bald Eagle, which will amount to near
seventy privates. The frontiers in those parts have been greatly
alarmed of late by a number of tories who have banded together,
threatening vengeance to all who have taken the oath of allegiance
to the States. This moment I have received an express from
Kishicoquillas for a supply of arms, and that Colonel McElevy, of
Bedford county, came there express himself, with an account that a
body of tories, near three hundred and twenty, in and above
Standing Stone, had collected themselves together and driven a
number of the inhabitants from Standing Stone Town. Immediately
Colonel Buchanan and Colonel Brown marched off with a few men who
could be got equipped, and we are waiting with patience the issue.

General Roberdeau wrote to Council on the 27th of April, after Captain Blair's return, as follows:--

_Sinking Spring Valley, April 27, 1778._

SIR:--I have little more time to refer you to the enclosed
examination, taken in great haste, but correct as it respects the
testimony. The confiscation of the effects of the disaffected in
these parts is very irregular, and the brutality offered to the
wives and children of some of them, as I have been informed, in
taking from them even their wearing apparel, is shocking. I wish
the magistrates were furnished with the late law respecting
confiscation, and that they were more capable ministers of justice;
the one I have seen is such a specimen of the popular election of
these officers as I expected. I am happy to inform you that a very
late discovery of a new vein promises the most ample supply; but I
am very deficient in workmen. Mr. Glen is with me, to direct the
making and burning of bricks, and is to come up to build a furnace,
by which time I expect to be in such forwardness as to afford an
ample supply to the army. The want of provision I dread
notwithstanding the active endeavors of Mr. Brown, for it is
scarcely to be got; therefore I beg leave to refer you to a hint on
this subject in my letter from Carlisle. Of forty militia, I have,
at most, seven with me, which retards building a stockade to give
confidence to the inhabitants, who were all on the wing before I
reached this. I send Richard Weston, under guard, to Carlisle jail,
to wait your orders. He is conducted by Lieutenant John Means, of
the militia. The inhabitants are hunting the other insurgents, and
hope they will all be taken, but wish any other the trouble of
examining them, as my hands are full. I am, with respectful
salutations to Council, sir,

Y^r most ob^t, humb^l serv^t,

DAN^L ROBERDEAU.

The general speaks of the tory Hess (in his first letter) as if he had been forced to confess. This is an error. Hess made a voluntary confession after the return of Captain Blair, and after some of Blair's men had partially hung him and let him off.

The statement that McElevy _reported_ at Kishicoquillas that three hundred and twenty tories had driven off some of the inhabitants of Standing Stone Town is no doubt true enough, but no such occurrence ever took place. The fears of the people no doubt prompted McElevy to exaggerate, in order to get aid forthwith. Shortly after the arrival of Buchanan and Brown at Standing Stone, the Blair expedition returned, so that their services were not required.

General Roberdeau complained of the manner in which confiscations were conducted. He was grossly misinformed. The facts in the case are simply these:--On the receipt of the news of the disasters met by the tories at Kittaning, many of the tory families fled, leaving every thing behind them. These articles, even if wearing apparel was included, could not well escape confiscation unless they were pitched into the street. There is no instance on record of the women and children of tories having any thing like wearing-apparel taken from them. If such acts were committed, they were without the sanction of the officers or the people, by outlaws who lived by plunder, who may be found in any community, and for whose acts most assuredly the patriots should not have been held accountable.

General Roberdeau's stay at the mines must have been brief. The next we hear of him is in a letter to Vice-President Bryan, dated at York, on the 30th of May of the same year. The direction of affairs at the mines was probably left in the hands of Lowrie and Cluggage.

It is altogether uncertain how long the mines were carried on by government, but not longer, probably, than till the fall of 1779; and what the total yield of lead was during that time we cannot ascertain. In one place in the Records we find an order forwarded to one of the sub-lieutenants of the county for five hundred pounds; and we also hear that quantities were issued to the militia at sundry times. There must have been some kind of a bargain existing between government and Roberdeau for taking out the lead, for, in a letter to Vice-President Bryan for some pay due him, he says, "My late engagement in the lead-works has proved a moth to my circulating cash, and obliged me to make free with a friend in borrowing." He also says, in a letter to President Reed, bearing date November 10, 1779:--

SIR:--Permit me to ask the favor of you to make my request known to
the honorable Board of your Presidence that they would be pleased
this day to order me payment for the ten hundred pounds of lead
delivered to your order some months ago. The price of that article
is so enormous that I should blush to make a demand, but my
necessity keeps equal pace with the rapid depreciation of our
money; and particularly as I purpose leaving the city to-morrow,
dependence has been had on the money in question, for my advances
are insupportably great, for my defected purpose of supplying lead
to Continent, which, entirely through default of Congress in not
furnishing the necessary defences, has been entirely stopped, as
the honorable the Assembly have been informed. After the most
diligent inquiry, I cannot find less than six dollars per pound
demanded for lead by the quantity,--a price which, Mr. Peters just
now informed me, the Board of War was willing to give.

This epistle near about fixes the time of the abandonment of the mines; and it also shows that lead commanded rather an exorbitant price at that time--payable, of course, in Continental funds.

In 1779, Sinking Spring Valley contained, according to an anonymous writer, "sixty or seventy families, living in log-houses." The principal portion of these were foreigners, who were taken there to work the mines. After Roberdeau's project had fallen to the ground, in consequence of the scarcity of the ore and the immense expense of mining and melting it, these miners attempted for a while to carry on operations for themselves. Their close proximity to the Indians, and the fact that several incursions were made into the valley by the savages in search of plunder and scalps, made those men, unused to border life, quit, and seek refuge in the Atlantic cities. The fort was evacuated by the government militia. Nevertheless it was still a place of refuge, and was used by the settlers of Sinking Valley and Bald Eagle up to the close of the war.

In 1781, Jacob Roller, Jr., and a man named Bebault, were massacred by Indians in Sinking Valley. Few particulars of this massacre are known, and many contradictory stories still exist in regard to it. We give Mr. Maguire's version of it, but would at the same time state that he did not vouch for the authenticity of it, as he gathered it from the exaggerated rumors that in those days followed the recital of current events.

Roller, it appears was an active and energetic frontier-man, bold, fearless, and daring; and the common belief was that his unerring rifle had ended the days of many a red-skin. Be that as it may, however, it is certain that the Indians knew him, and marked him out for a victim long before they succeeded in despatching him. Several small roving bands were in the habit of coming down into the valley after the mines were abandoned; but no favorable opportunity offered for a long time to kill Roller.

On one occasion, four of the settlers had met at Roller's house for the purpose of going on a hunt for deer. Early in the morning, when just ready to start, Roller heard the breaking of a twig near his cabin. He peered out into the deep gloom of the misty morning, and discovered three Indians crouching near an oak-tree. It was very evident that the Indians had not been close enough to the house to ascertain the number within, and the inmates were in a state of doubt as to the number of savages. Profound silence was observed, and it was resolved to shoot from the window as soon as the light was sufficiently strong to render their aim certain. The Indians were evidently waiting for Roller to come out of his house. At length, when they thought the proper time had come, the settlers gathered at the window, and thrust out their rifles as silently as possible. The quick eyes of the savages saw, even by the hazy light, that there were too many muzzles to belong to one man, and they took to the woods with all the speed they could command, leaving behind them a quantity of venison and dried corn, and a British rifle.

On another occasion, Roller had an encounter with a single Indian in the woods, which probably stands unparalleled in the history of personal encounters between a savage and a white man. Roller left home about seven o'clock in the morning, in search of deer. He had ranged along the edge of the mountain an hour or two, when he heard a rifle-shot but a short distance from him, and a minute had scarcely elapsed before a wounded doe came in the direction where he stood. To shoot it was but the work of an instant, because he supposed that one of his neighbors had wounded it; for the thought of the presence of Indians never entered his head. Yet it appears that it was an Indian who fired. The Indian mistook the crack of Boiler's rifle for that of a companion left at the base of the mountain. Under this impression, the Indian, anxious to secure the doe, and Roller, intent on bleeding her, both neglected one of the first precautions of the day,--viz.: to reload their rifles. Roller was leaning over the doe, when he heard the crust of the snow breaking in a thicket near him. He jumped to his feet, and was confronted by the Indian,--a tall, muscular fellow, who was quite as large as Roller. The savage, well aware of the fact that neither of the rifles were loaded, and probably satisfied in meeting "a foeman worthy of his steel," deliberately placed his gun against a tree by the side of Roller's, and, drawing his tomahawk, he cast a glance of savage delight at the white man before him, which seemed to imply that he would soon show him who was the better man of the two. Roller, anticipating his intentions, drew his tomahawk and stood on the defensive. The savage made a spring, when Roller jumped aside, and the Indian passed. The latter suddenly wheeled, when Roller struck him upon the elbow of the uplifted hand, and the hatchet fell. Fearing to stoop to regain it, the savage drew his knife, and turned upon Roller. They clinched, and a fearful struggle ensued. Roller held the savage's right arm, so as to render useless his knife, while the Indian grasped firmly the hand in which Roller held his hatchet, and in this manner they struggled until they were both tripped by the carcass of the doe; still both retained their hold. Roller fortunately grasped his knife, lying beside the doe, with his left hand, and thrust it into the side of the Indian. The struggle now became terrible, and by one powerful effort the savage loosened himself and sprang to his feet; but Roller was as quick as he was. In attempting to close again, the savage stabbed Roller in the shoulder and in the arm. Roller had dropped his hatchet in regaining his feet, and the combat was now a deadly one with knives. They cut and thrust at each other until their buckskin hunting-shirts were literally cut into ribbons and the crusted snow was dyed with their blood. At length, faint with the loss of blood, the combat ceased, by mutual consent, as it were, and the Indian, loosening himself from Roller's grasp, took his rifle and disappeared. Roller stanched, with frozen snow and some tow, the only dangerous wound he had, and managed to reach his home. He was stabbed in four or five places, and it was some weeks before he fully recovered from his wounds. The skeleton of the savage, with his rifle by his side, was found the succeeding summer on the top of Warrior Ridge.

The time of Roller's death is not positively known. Mr. Maguire thought it was in the fall of 1781. From subsequent evidences, three Indians came down the mountain, avoiding the fort of Jacob Roller, Sr., which was located at the head of Sinking Valley, and passed on down through the valley to the house of Bebault, whom they tomahawked and scalped.

From thence they went to the house of Jacob Roller, Jr., who was alone at the time, his family being at his father's fort. He was murdered and scalped while at work in his corn-field. His absence from the fort at night created alarm, and early next morning a party went down to his house to see if any thing had befallen him. While searching for him, one of the men discovered blood on the bars, which soon led to the discovery of his body in the field. From the footprints in the ground, it was plain that the murder had been committed by two men and a boy between twelve and fourteen years of age. Roller had been shot and scalped, his head shockingly mangled with a tomahawk, and the region of his heart was gashed with a dozen cuts and stabs made by a sharp scalping-knife. The inference was that, after shooting Roller, the men induced the lad to tomahawk and stab him. In other words, they gave him a lesson in butchery and courage.

Bebault was found shot and scalped, although still alive,--a shocking spectacle to look upon. He was so much exhausted by the loss of blood as to be unable to give any account of the transaction.

The bodies of both were taken to the fort and buried, and, as soon as possible, a large party, consisting of the Rollers, Beattys, Rickets, &c, started in pursuit. They followed the trail for nearly fifty miles, but at last lost it, and were compelled to return without overtaking the murderers.

Every settler knew Roller, and his death cast a universal gloom over the valley. The manner of it alarmed the settlement to such an extent that such fall crops as were still out were suffered to rot upon the field, as no force could be spared from the forts, and people would no longer risk their lives to the mercy of the marauders.

Jacob Roller, Jr., was the oldest of seven brothers, all powerful fellows, and active frontier-men.

There are quite a number of the descendants of the seven brothers, who reside in various places,--some in the West, but probably a majority of them at Williamsburg, or in the neighborhood of Springfield Furnace, in Blair county.

Richard B. McCabe, Esq., in a series of reminiscences of old times, published in 1832, while speaking of the lead mines in Sinking Valley, said:--

The Upper Lead Mine, as it is called, on the lands now belonging to
a German family of the name of Crissman, exhibits but the traces of
former excavation, and trifling indications of ore. The lower one,
about a mile in direct distance from the Little Juniata, was worked
within my remembrance, under the superintendence of a Mr. Sinclair,
a Scotch miner from the neighborhood of Carron Iron-works, in the
"land o' cakes." The mine was then owned by two gentlemen named
Musser and Wells. The former, I think, lived and died in Lancaster
county. Mr. Wells was probably a Philadelphian. Three shafts were
sunk to a great depth on the side of a limestone-hill. A drift was
worked into the bowels of the hill, possibly a hundred yards, six
feet high, and about the same width. This was expensive. No furnace
or other device for melting the ore was ever erected at this mine.
Considerable quantities of the mineral still lie about the pit's
mouth. The late Mr. H----, of Montgomery county, who had read much
and practised some in mining, (so far as to sink some thousand
dollars,) visited this mine in 1821, in company with another
gentleman and myself, and expressed an opinion that the indications
were favorable for a good vein of the mineral. But the vast mines
of lead in the West, such as Mine a Barton and the Galena, where
the manufacture of lead can be so much more cheaply carried on,
must forever prevent a resumption of the business in Sinking
Valley, unless, indeed, some _disinterested patriot_ shall
procure the adoption of a _tariff of protection_ for the
lead-manufacturer of the happy valley.

Notwithstanding Mr. McCabe's prediction implied that the lead mines of Sinking Valley would in all probability never be worked again, some enterprising individuals from New York prospected at the upper mine so late as 1852, and soon found, as they supposed, sufficient encouragement to sink shafts. Accordingly, several were sunk, the German heirs agreeing to take a certain percentage on all ore raised. A regular company was organized, and, for a while, the "Sinking Valley Lead Mining Company" stock figured among the bulls and bears of Wall Street, in New York. Extensive furnaces for smelting, and other operations on a large scale, were _talked_ of; but suddenly, one very fine day, the ore, like the Yankee's horse, "_gin eout_;" the superintendent left, the miners followed, and the stock depreciated so rapidly that it could have been purchased for about one cent on the dollar. Latterly, we have heard nothing whatever of the Lead Mining Company. There is unquestionably lead-ore still left at the upper mine; but, in order to make the mining operations pay, foreign wars must create a demand at increased prices.

The people of Sinking Valley long entertained the idea that stores of mineral wealth still existed in it; and a legend was current that a man from the city of Philadelphia, on the strength of a letter from Amsterdam, came there to seek for a portion of it in the shape of a canoe-load of bullion, buried by two men many years ago. The person who searched found some of the guide-marks pointed out to him, but he did not reach the bullion. The treasure, it is generally believed to this day by the older residents, was found by a Mr. Isett, while engaged in digging a mill-race. This belief was based upon the fact that, previous to digging the race, Mr. Isett was poor, but became wealthy and abandoned the digging of the race before it was half completed.

We have incidentally mentioned the name of a Scotch miner taken to Sinking Valley by General Roberdeau, named Lowrie. He was the head of an illustrious line of descendants, some of whom have figured in Congress, at the bar, on the bench, and in the pulpit. One of the present Supreme Judges of Pennsylvania is a grandson of the old Scotch miner, and nearly all of the name in the Union are his lineal descendants.

Truly may it be said that Sinking Valley was once a place of note.