Jack's Spring Then and Now 1909

In 1909, when Charles H. Welch published his History of Mount Union, the town was already nostalgic. He printed Jack's Spring twice: as it used to be, and as it is today. The spring is celebrated for its cool, silvery water. Welch's side-by-side plates show a landscape transformed within a lifetime. The wild spring of the earlier days gave way to carefully walled stone, a visible mark of progress and care.

From the record

Passages about this subject, quoted from county histories now in the public domain. Each one names the book and the position in the text so it can be checked. Spelling is as printed.

This event, which spread alarm and consternation among the frontier settlers and the traders, gave name to the narrow gorge through which the Juniata breaks its winding course. Jack's Narrows are known to every traveler who has wended his way through the narrow defile. ''Jack's Spring" is celebrated for its cool, silvery water. P The following deposition communicates the first authentic intelligence of the murders: "Paxton, April 19th, 1744, "The Deposition of the Subscribers Testifieth and Saith that the Subscribers having a Suspicion that Juhn Armstrong, Trader, Together with his Men, James Smith & Woodworth Arnold were Murther'd by ye Indians, They met at the IIouse of Joseph Chambers in Paxton, and there consulted to go to Shamokin, To Consult with the Delaware King & Secalima! & their Council, what they should do Concerning the Affaire. Wherenpon the King € Councel Ordered Eight of their men to go with the depts. to the House of James Berry, in order to go in quest of the Murther'd persons; but that Night they came to said Berry's House, three of the Eight Indians ran away, and the next Morning these Dep‘, Together wth ye five Indiens that remained, Set on their Journey Peaceably to the last Supposed sleeping place of the Deceased, and upon their Arrival, these Depts. dixpersed themselves in Order to find out the Corps of the deceased, & one of the Depts.J. Simpson Africa, History of Huntingdon and Blair Counties, Pennsylvania (Philadelphia: Louis H. Everts, 1883) · character 73,119 of the scanned text

The road from Huntingdon eastward was not made passable for wheeled carriages through Jack's Narrows until many years thereafter. The river became and continued for many years to be the principal highway for traffic. Arks and keel-boats conveyed the surplus products to the eastern markets, and the latter, pushed by hand brought up merchandise and the household goods of the immigrant. The Huntingdon, Cambria and Indiana turnpike road company, that constructed the turnpike road from the borough to Blairsville, a distance of 77 miles, was incorporated February 15th, 1815, and the Lewistown and Huntingdon company constructed their road a few years later. The extension of the canal from Lewistown to Huntingdon was commenced in 1828, and so far completed by the 1st day of November, 1830, that on the 2nd of that month water was let in at the Huntingdon dam to test and settle the banks. On the 4th and 5th of that month the good people of Huntingdon celebrated the near approach of the consummation of water communication with the seaboard by excursions on the canal from basin to basin, music, salute-firing, illumination of houses and dancing in the evening and other demonstrations of joy. The next spring boats commenced to run regularly. The Pennsylvania Railroad was opened to Huntingdon in June, 1850.Historic Huntingdon, 1767-1909 · character 281,847 of the scanned text

Many persons believe that Jack's mountain and Jack's narrows derive their names from this peculiar individual, but John Harris, the founder of Harrisburg, who was contemporary with Captain Jack, speaks of the narrows as "Jack Armstrong's narrows, so called from his being there murdered." The driving out of the squatters and the burning of their cabins in the spring of 1750 was, in the main, ineffectual, either in checking the immigration to the Indian lands or in bringing satisfaction and contentment to the savages. In fact, some of the first settlers had not been molested by Secretary Peters and his party, and this encouraged others to cross the mountains and establish themselves in the Indian country. James Patterson settled near the present town of Mexico, Juniata county, in 1751, only a year after the trespassers had been driven out, and cleared land on both sides of the river.John W. Jordan, ed., History of the Juniata Valley and Its People (New York: Lewis Historical Publishing, 1913) · character 97,259 of the scanned text

Checked 2026-10-13 · Historic Mount Union collection

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