serious
doubts.

[48] _Pennsylvania Archives_, Fourth Series, III, 545.

[49] _Ibid._, p. 546.

[50] Linn, _History of Centre and Clinton Counties_, p. 473.

[51] _Ibid._

[52] _Ibid._

[53] _Ibid._

[54] _Ibid._ _See also_ John H. Carter, "The Committee of Safety of
Northumberland County," _The Northumberland County Historical Society
Proceedings and Addresses_, XVIII (1950), 44-45.

[55] _See_ map of the Fair Play territory in Chapter One.

[56] Linn, _History of Centre and Clinton Counties_, p. 469. _See also_,
Carter, "The Committee of Safety," pp. 33-45, for a full account of the
activities of the Committee. Carter notes that the county committee
consisted of thirty-three members, three from each of the eleven
townships chosen for a period of six months.

[57] _Ibid._, pp. 472-474.

CHAPTER FOUR

_The Farmers' Frontier_

The economy of the West Branch Valley was basically agrarian--a farmers'
frontier. The "new order of Americanism"[1] which arose on this frontier
was in part due to the cultural background of its inhabitants, the
knowledge and traditional values which they had brought with them. It
was further influenced by the frontier status of the region itself--an
area of virgin land in the earliest stages of development. And finally,
it was affected by the physical characteristics of the territory,
particularly the mountains which separated these settlers from the more
established settlements. It has been said that "many of the enduring
characteristics of the American creed and the American national
character originated in the way of life of the colonial farmer."[2] The
Fair Play territory was typical of this development.

The early pioneer, particularly if he was Scotch-Irish, generally came
into the area from the Cumberland Valley, the "seed-plot and nursery" of
the Scotch-Irish in America, the "original reservoir" of this leading
frontier stock, via the Great Shamokin Path.[3] Since there were no
roads, only Indian trails, the frontier traveler customarily followed
the Indian paths which had been cleared along the rivers and streams.
The Great Shamokin Path followed the Susquehanna from Shamokin (now
Sunbury) to the West Branch, then out along the West Branch to the
Allegheny Mountains.[4] Loading his wife and smaller children on a pack
horse, his scanty possessions on another horse, the prospective settler
drove a cow or two into the wild frontier at the rate of about twenty
mil