set of Moose horns on the out-kitchen of Eckhard's tavern, beyond the Wind Gap, of similar size, but they were not viewed by Mr. Biddle. Several old men hanging about the tap-room told Mr. Biddle that the Pennsylvania Moose was a creature of appalling size, the males often stood eight feet at the hump, that the spread of the horns was tremendous but the creatures handled these appendages with great dexterity. Marks John Biddle, let it be said, was one of the very few gentlemen hunters of his day in Pennsylvania. In his stable at Reading he had a room fitted up as a museum, with cases all around the walls filled with stuffed animals and birds that he had shot. On top of the cases were stuffed panthers, one of which had a white spot on its breast, and above hung the antlers of deer and elks. Mr. Biddle was particularly fond of elk hunting, and is the gentleman who hunted elks "on some barren mountains in Northwestern Pennsylvania" in company with Mr. Peale of Philadelphia, which has been so often quoted by natural history writers. De Kay in his "Natural History of New York" mentions a set of what were probably Adirondack Moose horns in the Lyceum of Natural History in New York as being 48 inches in width. Beside the Pennsylvania horns at Heller's tavern they would have appeared like pygmies. Charles Augustus Murray, the distinguished English traveller thus describes the Wind Gap. "From Owego to Easton the country is undulating, wild, wooded and the soil light and poor. A few miles from the latter town the road passes through the Blue Ridge of mountains at a point called the Wind-Gap; and a most noble situation it is for a temple of Aeolus. I know not the exact elevation, but it is very high, and being the only gorge in the neighborhood, the wind sweeps through it with tremendous violence." It may be that in the bleak winds of today can be detected the shrill whistle of the vanished Moose, the stalwart Orignal of other days. As stated in previous chapters moose horns were found in St. James Park, Bradford, about 1819, embedded in the slough of the old salt lick, another set was dug out of the Tamarack Swamp, in Northern Clinton County, by a farmer named John Hennessy about 1850, and another set adorned the lintel of Captain Logan's cabin at Chickalacamoose the last years of the Eighteenth Century. This last named Moose is said to have weighed, including antlers, over one thousand pounds after death. According to some it was killed by Logan himself, by others it was claimed that pioneers named Smith and Flegal were the slayers. It is to be hoped that information leading to the discovery of other sets of Pennsylvania Moose horns will be forthcoming.

VI. THE ORIGINAL.

A Tale of Kittanning Point.

Reprinted from "Juniata Memories," by Henry W. Shoemaker.

(Copyrighted by J. J. McVey, Philadelphia, 1916.)

Kittanning Point is a spot pre-eminent in Pennsylvania song and story. As a pivotal point in history it will always be remembered; as a scenic glory it is the envy of all the States. And in legendary lore it holds a secure place, for clustered about it are many weird and curious traditions, some of which still linger only in the hearts and minds of the old folks. Those few of the tales which have been written out are read and re-read with breathless interest. Still there are others unrecorded that possess a thrill or charm worthy of competent chroniclers. History tells us that many Indian paths converged at Kittanning Point, including the main pathway from Aughwick to Fort Kittanning, consequently it was a frequent meeting place of the savages in their journeys across the mountains. They often camped near the springs in Kittanning Gap, or on Burgoon's Run, and many are the arrow points and other relics picked up thereabouts by persons of quick wit. In addition to the Indian paths, the Point was a favorite "crossing" for many kinds of wild animals. While out of the line of the bison, whose main trails were further east and further west, these noble creatures sometimes summered on the high mountains in small bands, coming to and from their fastnesses through the Gap.

Dr. Owen Jacobs (at right) and son Ezra (late of U. S. A.)
Descendants of Captain Jacobs, of Fort Kittanning Fame.

It was a favorite rallying ground for the elk and deer. They were so plentiful in Revolutionary days that all the hunters had to do was to penetrate the forests a few steps from their camps in order to have venison for dinner. And at that only the hindquarters or the saddles were used. A few elk lingered long in this region, ranging between the Point and Laurel Ridge, where one of the last killed in the State was slain at the Panther's Rock, in Somerset County, about the middle of the last century. Panthers also had a "crossing" over Kittanning Point. It was on one of their "migratory lines" between West Virginia and Central Pennsylvania. They always traveled by the same paths, consequently a hunter with a fair degree of patience would surely be rewarded. This "fixity" of travel was one of the reasons for their practical extinction in our Commonwealth. The wolves were prevalent at the Point until comparatively recent years, principally on account of the abundance of game. When it decreased, they left for more productive regions. Bears were often found about the Point, as the fine chestnut and walnut trees gave them rich "pickings" in the autumn months. In the Gap were several bear dens, which are still pointed out by the old hunters. These bears were all of the black variety. But most interesting of all the wild life, large and small, which ranged over these now desolated hills was the Black Moose. This mammoth animal, known in pioneer days in Pennsylvania by the quaint name of the Original, and elsewhere as Orignal, which is derived, according to Samuel Merrill, the great authority on Moose, from the Basque word Orenac meaning deer, was particularly partial to the glades and vales about Kittanning Point in the years immediately preceding the Revolution. In fact, its path for migration passed over the Point in a southwesterly direction. In these migrations these huge beasts made a practice of tarrying for several days amid the grand primeval hardwoods which covered the Point. Despite its size, for it is the largest of all deer, extinct or existing, the Original was very fleet of foot and well able to take care of itself. As far back as tradition goes there is no record that the moose ever bred in Pennsylvania to any considerable extent. They were distinctively a northern animal, though they had been coming to this State for untold ages, as their fossil remains well show. Pennsylvania was about the southerly limit of their migrations. After Southern New York had been opened to settlement, and the forests between the southern border of the Adirondack Mountains and the Pennsylvania State line cut away, the moose were unable to continue their journeys into the wilds of the Keystone State. The last to enter Pennsylvania came from the Catskill Mountains, crossing the Delaware River at various points north of the Water Gap.