In 1792 Reading Howell published a map which indicates a road across Path Valley where the Three Mountain road now runs, and the records show this road to have been made in 1786, the first to cross the mountain into Path Valley, consequently it is correctly represented on this map. This road was built by John Skinner, a resident of Horse Valley, in compliance with an agreement entered into with the Governor and Executive Council, to build a road from Shippensburg to Burnt Cabins. The contract was awarded for six hundred pounds in gold or silver, one-third to be paid that fall to enable the said Skinner to get his beef and pork for the winter; another third when work was half done, and the remaining third when the road was finished, on or before November 25th, 1787. Mr. Skinner completed the road within the prescribed time, but as he had been paid in paper currency instead of gold or silver, he subsequently petitioned the Council for an allowance between the value of currency and species, which was granted. Howell's map also shows a road running parallel with the valley from Fort Loudon to Concord, and one through the Narrows to Tuscarora Valley, in about the same location as the present main road, through Dry Run.
A careful study of the Scotch-Irish, the people who settled this section of the province, shows that while they were aggressive, they moved along the line of a higher civilization; while they were firm in their convictions they advocated the rights of man to liberty of thought and action; while they cherished many of the institutions and beliefs of the old country they were intensely patriotic and loyal to the new; and while they possessed what they regarded the best lands they were just in the dealings with the untutored red men. Patriotism was a predominant trait. They were conspicuous among the provincial troops in the old French war, and throughout all the Indian wars they sustained nearly the whole burden of defending the frontier. When a new purchase was made they were the first to make an opening in the wilderness beyond the mountain, and when the alarm of the America Revolution echoed along the rocky walls of the Kittatinny Mountains it awakened a congenial thrill of blood in that race which years before in Ireland and Scotland had resisted the arbitrary powers of England. These were the people who laid broad and deep the foundations of social, education and religious liberty in America. Great injustice has been done these Irish Emigrants in their settlements and conduct towards the Indians. Mr. Sherman Day, in his "Historical Collections of Pennsylvania," terms them a pertinacious and pugnacious race." Judge George Chambers, in his "Tribute to the Principles, Virtues, Habits and Public Usefulness of the Irish and Scotch Early Settlers of Pennsylvania," enters a most emphatic protest. He says: "Admitting the aggressive character of the early Scotch-Irish settlers in pushing into the forests and occupying lands, the outrages and massacres were, nevertheless, not the direct result of these encroachments, but a retaliatory protest against the unjust manner in which their lands and hunting grounds had been taken from them by so-called purchases and treaties with the government. The wrongs of the government, and not the encroachments of the few daring settlers, produced these destructive Indian outrages."
This statement is corroborated by the reply made by the Assembly to Governor Denny, in June, 1757, which says: "It is rendered beyond contradiction plain that the cause of the present Indian incursions in the province and the dreadful calamities many of the inhabitants have suffered, have arisen, in great measure, from the exorbitant and unreasonable purchases made, or supposed to be made, of the Indians, and the manner of making them–so exorbitant that the natives complain that they have not a country to subsist on."
Settlements were commenced in the Kittatinny, now Cumberland Valley, when Indians were numerous, when they and the white settlers chased, in common, the deer, the bear and other game, and angled in the same stream, teeming with the finny tribe?
To one man, above all others, is due the distinction of bringing about the friendly relations that at first existed and continued to exist as far as the Six Nations were concerned, for any trouble that came from the Indians in later years came from the tribes hostile to the confederation. In 1730 Benjamin and Joseph Chambers located in what is now Chambersburg. Joseph remained but a short time and then removed to another section of the valley. Benjamin continued to reside here. The Indians were greatly attached to him, and he used his influence with his acquaintances to settle in this neighborhood, and directed their attention to desirable and advantageous situations, ever reminding them of the importance of treating the Indian in a kind and friendly manner.
As years advanced and the number of settlers increased, we find them pushing further westward and crossing the Kittatinny Mountain. Path Valley was then a hunting and fishing ground for the Indians, which was highly prized by them. None of the tribes made permanent settlements in its forests, which accounts for the absence of Indian relics so numerous in certain western and southern localities. With reluctance they finally left the valley to seek their game and fish elsewhere.
Path Valley was settled quite early in the last century. The records of the surveyor's office show that Samuel Bechtel had a warrant, in what is now Fannett township, then Hopewell, Lancaster county, for 176 acres, which bore the date of January 24th, 1737, and was surveyed the 24th of the following May by Zach Butcher, deputy surveyor. The same records show that Thomas Doyle had a warrant in the same region for 530 acres, dated November 29, 1737, and surveyed December 30th following. Neither of these men had neighbors immediately adjoining them, showing the settlements to have been sparse. That the valley rapidly increased in population is evident, for in 1746 a number of whites went there in violation, as the Indians claimed, of the treaty rights and privileges, in which position they were sustained by the civil authorities of the province at a meeting of the provincial council, held in Philadelphia, on May 25th, 1750, when Governor Hamilton informed the House of the violation of the treaty, and that he had directed Mr. Peters, the secretary, and Mr. Weiser, the Indian interpreter, to proceed to Cumberland county, which had just been stricken from Lancaster, and take proper measures to remove the settlers who had presumed to stay, notwithstanding his proclamation prohibiting such action. Subsequently on July 2d, 1750, Mr. Peters reported to the Governor the result of the visit. After having met the representatives of the Indians and the justices of Cumberland county at Mr. Crogan's, it was decided to evict the settlers from the territory beyond the Kittatinny until such time as the Six Nations would agree to make sale of the land, the magistrates announcing that the inhabitants would submit. Mr. Peters says: "The magistrates and company proceeded over the Kittatinny Mountains and entered the Tuscarora Path or Path Valley, though which the road to Allegheny lies. Many settlers were found in this valley and all the people were sent for. The following appeared: Abraham Slack, James Blair, Moses Moore, Arthur Dunlap, Alexander McArtie, Felix Dole, Andrew Dunlap, Robert Wilson, Jacob Pyatt, William Ramage, Reynolds Alexander, Samuel Patterson, Robert Baker, John Armstrong and John Potts. These men did not offer resistance but submitted to be bound in recognizance of one hundred pounds each to appear and answer for trespass on the first day of the next county court of Cumberland to be held at Shippensburg. They gave bond to the proprietaries to remove with all their families, servants, cattle and effects, and having give up possession of their log houses, to the number of eleven, these were burned to the grounds, the trespassers cheerfully carrying away their goods. This was the first and only eviction in this section of the province.
This action was taken by Gov. Hamilton in conformity with a treaty entered into with the Indians in 1748, whereby the latter surrendered two millions of acres on the eastern side of the Susquehanna, for which a certain sum of money was paid. This territory was for the white settlers with the distinct understanding that no encroachments were to be made upon the Indians west of the Susquehanna river.