surgeons' REPOUTS PENNSYLVANIA SEVENTEENTH DISTRICT. 337 



or, in round iinnibers, 10,000 men; for many of the recruits iind substitutes presented themselves 

 lor exainination who were so manifestly untit for military duty tbat 1 dismjssed them without 

 wasting' time or paper to make their record. 



T\n- SeventeenthDistriet of Pennsylvania comprises the counties ofCamhria, Blair. ITuntinsdon, 

 and IMitilin, In ;i direct line due east and west. It is one hundred and tliiityiive miles long and 

 thirty-live miles wide; bounded on the west by ludiau.a aud Westmoreland Counties ; south by 

 Somerset, Bradford, aud Fraidvliu Counties; east by Juniata and Snyder Counties; and north by 

 Centre and Clearfield Counties. 



The Pennsylvania Central Railroad runs directly through the long diameter of this district, 

 making the headquarters easily accessible from the remotest sub-district, and, in this respect, is 

 perhaps the most convenient and desirable of any one in the State, excepting those in populous 

 cities. 



The district is traversed north and south by the Alleghany, Brush, Canoe, Stone, and Jack's 

 Mountains, averaging from one thousand to one .thousand live hundred feet in height over the 

 level of the valleys at their respective bases. These mountains run parallel with each other, with 

 beautiful, fertile valleys between. 



Cambria County lies several hundred feet higher than Blair, Huntingdon, or Mifflin, aud con- 

 tributes by her springs to the waters of the Atlantic Ocean and Gulf of Mexico. 



At Bradley's station, on the larni of liuss Sloyd, esq., on the Ebensburgh and Cresson 

 Railroad, two springs arise, fourteen yards from each other, one on the north and the other on 

 the south side of the road. The eastern spring runs into the West Branch of the Susquehanna 

 River, and through the Cliesapeake Bay into the Atlantic Ocean ; while the western s[)ring tiows 

 into the Conemaugh, and througii the Kiskiininitas, Alleghany, and Mississippi Rivers, tinally 

 reaches the Gulf of Mexico. 



The whole surface of Cambria County being so elevated is of mountainous character; the 

 surface is rolling, with high bluffs and deep ravines ; the soil is naturally sterile and unproductive 

 of cereals, but produces fair crops of oats, potatoes, and grass. 



Tbe Alleghany Mountain divides Cambria from Blair County. On its western slope, it may be 

 said to be a mass of mineral wealth. Bituminous coal and several varieties of iron-ore of sui)erior 

 quality as well as hydraulic cement lie there in Jiixtai)Osition, and are inexhaustible. The hills 

 throughout this country also contain large quantities of the above minerals. Along the streams 

 flowing through tbe ravines, there are strong indications of petroleum, which is uo,w the object of 

 attention of the enter[)risiug men of tbe county. 



The Cambria Iron Comi)any have erected works at Johnstown on the Pennsylvania Railroad, 

 yielding one hundred and tifty tons of railroad-iron per day, and affording employment to two 

 thousand seven hundred bands. This comi)aiiy are now enlarging I heir works with the view 

 of doubling their capacity. They get all their raw material within a ihvi hundred yards of their 

 works ; and, although they own several thousands of acres of mineral-lands here, the w"hole area 

 occui)ied, including mines, does not exceed fifty acres in their present operations. Cresson, the 

 delightful sum mer-retreat on the Alleghany Mountains, too well known from Maine to Mexico to 

 require descrii)tion, is in this county. Tbe surface of Cambria County is covered with dense 

 forests of pine, hemlock, poi)lar, and oak timber where the land has not yet been cleared. 



The eastern slope of the Alleghany Mountains, in Blair County, furnishes the headwaters of 

 two principal branches of tbe Juniata. Tliis river passes with a rai)id current in an easterly direc;- 

 tion through Iliintiiigdon and JNIifflin Counties, receiving tributaries every few miles in its descent 

 toward the Susquehanna River, with which it unites in Perry County. 



Blair and Huntingdon Counties, being supplied with inexhaustible beds of iron-ore and bitumi- 

 nous coal, also with dense forests of timber, yield large quantities of iron ; tbe former probably 

 more in proportion to its size, than any county in the State. In Blair County, near Birmingham, 

 there are extensive lead and zinc mines now being develoi)ed, which will be made productive during 

 the coming year, as an enterprising company are about erecting a furnace for smelting the ores. 

 These mines were opened previous to the revt)lutioiiary war, and for many years the inhabitants 

 of this country resorted thither to obtain their lead. 



Tuckahoe Valley, in Blair County, at the base of the Alleghany Mountains, has, since the con- 

 43 



