Montour County, Pennsylvania

Beginnings [1]

Formed May 3, 1850; named for Catharine Montour (Madame Elizabeth Catharine Montour, eighteenth-century Native American leader and translator for colonial governments); surface hilly; traversed by several barren ridges. Muncy Hills lie along the northwest border, while down the river for miles stretches the Montour Ridge, furnishing quantities of best iron ore; there is also finest limestone; and much fertile land, drained by the Chillisquaque and Mahoning creeks. Chief industries are iron and steel production, and manufactories. Here, it is said, the first "T" rail was made, in 1844, and the first cannon in the United States, made of anthracite iron, was cast at the foundry in 1842.

1. Archambault, A. Margaretta, ed., A Guide Book of Art, Architecture, and Historic Interests in Pennsylvania, John C. Winston Company, Philadelphia, 1924