"Amongst the active and industrious citizens were the blacksmiths. John LUNGER was one of the earliest, and had a shop on Ferry Street. John DEAN's smithy was on Market near Ferry Street, where by many and well-directed blows he hammered out a fortune. Joseph CORNELISON's was on Mahoning near Mill Street.

"George McCULLEY was one of the pioneer carpenters and removed to Ohio, near Wooster, where some of his descendants still reside. Daniel CAMERON, a worthy Scot and the great pedestrian who walked from Harrisburg to Danville in a day without deeming it any great exploit, was a skillful carpenter and builder. Adam SCHUYLER and George LOTT were also engaged in that business.

"The chairmakers were William HARTMAN who was also a wheelwright, and the brothers KIRK. William MANN was also engaged in that calling for a year or two.

"Shoemakers--William WOODS, Gideon MELLON, Henry SANDERS, Thomas WILEY.

"Tailors--William M. WILEY, who removed to Harrisburg; William WHITAKER, Amos E. KITCHEN. William INGOLD was a vagrant workman who plied his needle at the houses of his employers, and was noted for his quips and quirks and idle pranks, whereby he amused and often astonished the boys of the village.

"Honest John REYNOLDS, from Reading, was the veteran hatter, who for long years supplied men and boys with hats. Martin McCOLLISTER was a more recent and very skillful workman.

"Thomas BLACKWELL carried on the fulling-Mill and saw-mill near what is now the junction of Mill and Bloom Streets.

"The first brewer was Richard MATCHIN. The citizens of that day were not, as we now phrase it, educated up to a due appreciation of that beverage, consequently it proved less profitable than brewing lager, weiss and buck beer at the present time.

"George WILSON was the first cabinet-maker, and some of his substantial old-style furniture has survived to the present day. Burrows MOORE was long engaged in the same business.

"The Scotch weavers had been famous in the early days of the settlement. Of those who were engaged in the business fifty years since I can now only recall the names of Christopher SMITH and Peter GOODMAN. The latter was a most respectable and industrious German from the Fatherland.

"Coppersmiths and tinners--Alexander WILSON, James WILSON, John C. THEIL.

"Watchmaker and Jeweler, Samuel MAUS.

"There were several saddlers--Alexander BEST, Hugh FLACK, Daniel HOFFMAN, and possibly others.

"Rifles were in demand, and had always been much used by the pioneers. These were supplied by Samuel BAUM and George MILLER; the son of the latter succeeded him and still continues the business.

"Of public functionaries, we had but few, and their removals were few and far between. In the language of an eminent statesman it might then have been truly said: "Few die and none resign." Judge Seth CHAPMAN was long the presiding judge of our courts. He was a man of moderate legal attainments, yet he made a good presiding officer. He was assisted by his associates, Judges MONTGOMERY and RUPERT. George A. FRICK was prothonotary, having been appointed to that office by Gov. SNYDER in 1813.

"William WILSON, Rudolph SECHLER and Joseph PRUTZMAN were the justices of the peace; Andrew McREYNOLDS, sheriff; Daniel CAMERON, constable. Mr. SECHLER was also register and recorder. James LOUGHEAD, a dignified yet popular gentleman of English origin, was postmaster, and held the office for the long term of fourteen years, twice as long as any other with one exception. The office was first established in 1806. Judge MONTGOMERY being the first one appointed, and held his commission from President Jefferson, and filled the office for seven years. This just and pious man discharged this trust, as he did all others, to the entire satisfaction of the Government and the community. He was succeeded by that other faithful public servant, Rudolph SECHLER, who held it for a like term of seven years, until Mr. LOUGHEAD's appointment. I never knew a more honest man than Mr. SECHLER. With him it was innate. He could not be otherwise than honest. His countenance, his actions, his words, in short everything about him proclaimed his sterling integrity; and what gave a charm to it he was quite unconscious of his being more honest than other men. Of his large number of connections I never knew one whose integrity was called into question. It is highly gratifying to know that in the seventy years the office has been in existence, there has never been a defaulter to the National Government, and that all of the thirteen incumbents of the office have diligently and faithfully discharged the trust reposed in them.

"One of the eccentric characters of the vicinity was Mr. FINNEY, who died ten or twelve years subsequent to the period of which I write, almost a centenarian. He was a man of gallantry, a kind of Beau Nash of more than eighty, with a peculiar child-like tenor voice, who delighted to play the gallant with the young ladies of the village, and drive them around the place and vicinity in his old-style chaise. Robin FINNEY, as he was always called, from his great age and attention to the fair sex, was a great favorite with them, and was well known to the people of that day. His chaise and one owned by Gen. D. MONTGOMERY and one by Judge MONTGOMERY were the only pleasure carriages of that kind in the county. The old time carriage of Philip MAUS, which attracted the attention and excited the wonder of the village urchins, and the more modern carriage of Gen. MONTGOMERY were the only pleasure carriages of that style. Traveling on horseback was then the proper thing for both sexes, old and young, gentle and simple, and its general disuse is to be regretted.

"Abe BROWN was an African, or an American of African descent, and the only one in the place. He had been a mariner, and after he came here, was a servant to Mr. LONGHEAD. He immigrated to Mahoning County, Ohio, where by industry and frugality he acquired a competency and enjoys the respect of the community where he resides. Jack HARRIS was an octoroon, a fine looking lad, and so nearly white that he might pass for an Anglo-American. though not darker than a brunette, the rude boys persisted in calling him Black Jack. These boys attended the schools and were treated with justice.

"The great flood of 1817, usually called the August flood, surrounded the place so that, for the time, it became insular. The only approach was by boats. I saw the bridge over the brook on the road, then an extension of Church Street, float away with a man on it who secured it before it reached the river.

"The inhabitants were supplied with flour from the mills of John and Alexander MONTGOMERY and Joseph MAUS, all propelled by the water of the Mahoning. Farmers in the vicinity took their grain in sacks to the mills; the miller ground it for a toll of one-tenth. Except for the Baltimore, Philadelphia, or Reading markets, it was seldom put up in barrels. Steam power had not been introduced in the place or neighborhood, except at BOYD's mill, which was then a new one on the left bank of the river above town.

"Whisky was the Archimedean lever that moved the world. Contracts could not be made or performed without its potent aid. The merchant kept it on his counter, for his customers would not purchase goods without it. It was indispensable at musters and elections. The farmer's fields could not be cultivated without its use as a motor. Mr. ROBINSON, in the vicinity, offered the laborers who were employed in his harvest fields extra pay if they would dispense with it, but they refused. The temperance caused was advocated by its friends, but its opponents, numerous, defiant and violent, determined that their liberties should not be subverted by a few fanatics who were worse than the Federals.

"The half century just closed has been an eventful, almost a marvelous one. In 1826 we had no railways, telegraphs, type-writers, gas, petroleum, no canals, iron furnaces, forges, rolling-mills; no bridge over the river, no fire engines of any kind, nor many other indispensable improvements, deprived of which we would speedily retrograde to what we were at that period. The population has increased more than tenfold, and Danville has kept pace with the rest of the world, and shown an energy and perseverance worthy of her, not withstanding the many depressions and conflicts incident to her position as a great manufacturing center. Her numerous sons, dispersed throughout the great West, and in other portions of our vast republic, now in exile from her borders, look with pride upon her onward course in material prosperity, and her commendable progress in religion, morals, and science, the social virtues and the amenities of life, which they trust may continue, and enable her, for all future time, to maintain her elevated position in the good old commonwealth.

"There was an old tradition, or rather a prophecy, among the Indians that roamed about the Susquehanna, that great floods in this river occurred at regular intervals of fourteen years. The first great flood of which we have any account was in 1744; the second in 1758; the third in 1772, and that which is known as the great 'pumpkin flood' was in 1786--there being just fourteen years between each of these floods. The 'pumpkin flood' was in the month of October, and was so designated on account of the immense number of pumpkins that floated down the stream from the fields above. It began to rain on the 5th of October, 1786, and rained incessantly for several days. The water rose rapidly and swept all before it. Several persons were drowned near the place now called Rupert, and at Sunbury houses were overflowed and many people were lost. Northumberland was also flooded and much damage was done. This flood was long remembered and known among the old settlers as 'the great pumpkin flood.' In the spring of 1800, just fourteen years after the 'pumpkin floor,' another great freshet occurred. It rained three days and three nights, carrying off a deep snow and doing much damage. In 1814 there was another destructive flood that caused much loss of life and property. Here the old Indian tradition that floods occurred every fourteen years failed; for the next was in 1817, after an interval of only three years. The next flood of not was in 1847. If there were any from 1817 to 1847 we have no record of them. Many will remember that of 1859, which also raised the water in the North Branch over eight feet above high water mark. Still more vividly do they remember the extraordinary flood of March, 1865. The exciting scenes in Danville on the 17th and 18th of that month will never be forgotten. The river began to rise on Friday, and on Saturday the water rose to four feet above the highest flood on record. A great portion of Danville was overflowed and many families were compelled to leave their homes in haste. Women and children were taken from their houses in boats. The whole district from Sageburg to Mill Street was covered with water reaching up Mulberry Street and to the scales in front of the Montgomery building. The low lands along the Mahoning were also under water. On Mulberry as well as on Mill Street boats and rafts were moving among the houses and gliding high over the gardens. The river bridge was much injured but withstood the onset. Many stables and other buildings floated about and found new and strange foundations as the water receded without any regard to the side that was up or down. Only one man, Peter GREEN, was drowned at this place. He fell into the Mahoning from a small raft while attempting to supply his family with coal. His body was recovered and properly cared for. Another great flood in the North Branch in 1875 took the river bridge that had so long withstood the assaults of the angry torrent, but when the Catawissa bridge came down and struck it broadside it had to yield. It has since been rebuilt more substantially than before. There was another great freshet on the 12th of February, 1881."

This account of fifty-six years ago rounds out the first half-century of Danville, completing the history to the second and important event in the town's history. The opening of the canal started the second era in the town's growth and its permanent and solid development. As soon as the building of a canal became an assured fact, men of enterprise and capital, anticipating the results to flow along with its completion, began to rapidly come to the place. Capital was attracted here, labor came where it was sure of ready employment at living wages. Iron ore was here in great abundance and the best quality, and the canal brought the coal fields almost to our door, and soon the movement was on foot that moved with mighty strides to the building of the great factories that have made the name of Danville familiar throughout the commercial world.

Danville became an incorporated borough in 1849. Its growth from its settlement until the building of the canal had been very slow, the improvements more than keeping pace with the additions to the population. In 1840 the population was 1,100. In the next decade, however, it was increased over 200 per cent and in the next half-decade, 1855, to 6,000 and in 1857 to 8,000. In that day this was unprecedented. The present stationary condition of the town shows that the large part of this population was drawn here by the iron manufactories. In 1849 it was reaching rapidly its importance and growth as a manufacturing town. In the establishment of its manufactories, the public and private buildings, and its commerce and increase of capital in every line of industry, were then widely known and began to give the place an enviable reputation throughout the country.

When made a borough it was divided into two wards. Its official machinery was simple, economical and effective. The freshets in the river had suggested that the lower parts of the town must be raised to an established grade to prevent the injurious overflows. In 1852 Northumberland Street was filled up to grade. At different times fills had been made in the low parts of Mill and other streets in the near vicinity of the canal. The fills on these streets can be readily seen by their present elevation above the tow-path, and here there is nearly an average fill of three feet above the natural surface of the ground.

In 1855 the borough limits were enlarged and for the first time accurately defined as they exist now. These limits contain 996 acres, lying in greatest length along the river and extending back to Montour's Ridge. There were only two wards until 1867, when the divisions were made into four wards, and by this change twelve councilmen were provided for, or three from each ward. At the then following election three alderman were elected in each ward to serve respectively one, two and three years, and one to be elected at each succeeding annual election to serve three years.

In common with the entire country the business of the place suffered a check from the financial panic of 1857. This was especially felt in its large iron mills, but was only temporary. It had disappeared in 1859. In the latter part of 1860 the portentous war clouds were lowering upon the country, and in 1861 the storm broke and the Nation trembled in the throes of war. The imperative wants of the country had soon set to work the busy machinery of Danville, and again the tide ran high in all its lines of industry. The demand in the ranks of the army upon employers and laborers was great, but great as it was it was met with an enthusiastic rush, and in Danville as everywhere in all the land, men were going and coming, the prices of labor and commodities went up and up, wants increased, the flow of money from the government center was immense, which rapidly circulated among the people and they were exuberant and intoxicated with patriotism, and money getting, and this rapidly bread extravagant habits in the majority and colossal fortunes in the hands of many. The war over and people again settling down to the attempt to try the old fashioned anti-war simplicity and sobriety, that had unconsciously passed away apparently never to return, and hence to many the times were out of joint, and others were at a loss to readjust themselves, or, to use the term that was then applied properly only to the revolt States, to put on and wear gracefully the new habiliments of reconstruction. The war left the country flooded with cheap money and flush times. Men no longer hesitated to go in debt, to pay the heaviest discounts upon the glittering but deceptive future. The thinkers of pessimistic tendency argued that the war closed, the debris cleared away, that the reaction would swiftly come that would engulf every daring adventurer. But the war closed in 1865, and a lustrum of years had come and gone and financial prosperity only swelled its daily great volume. the reaction had not come. The pessimist ceased to warn, the optimist confidently told himself that the resistless stream of prosperity could not be stopped or changed in its onrushing course. Had not the northern patriots put down at incalculable sacrifices the monster rebellion? The South was crushed, pauperized and millions of slaves were freed, and no longer did northern labor have to contend against the unpaid slave labor of the country. Was not Providence justice? Was it a farthing more, indeed, but a pitiful recompense for our great sacrifices that this stream of financial and industrial prosperity should flow on forever?

To these golden dreams came the fatal year, 1873. The telegraph flashed the simple announcement, but really portentous news over the land, "Jay Cook's failure," and in a day the average business man of the country was in fact a bankrupt. The sad scenes around the bankrupt courts exceeded even those in England when the great South Sea Bubble burst. may a return of the like be ever spared our land! We had trampled upon every financial law of political economy, and we had to pay the most fearful penalties, compounding the interest to the most implacable Shylock that ever demanded the pound of flesh from nearest the human heart.

In this financial revolution, following upon the heels of the social and moral upheaval of the times, Danville, because of its distance from the great cities, probably suffered less severely than the majority of places of its size. But still it felt severely the shock. It to-day bears the marks of the wounds thus inflicted, although a decade of years have come and gone since the great panic passed away. The financial, commercial and industrial history of the town from the commencement of the war to the present is contained in the history of the country during that period--a history yet to be written, but a fruitful and instructive theme indeed, to the historian able to write it.