The years leading up to the turn of the century and following after were filled with change in the Alle-Kiski area:

Do You Have Blue Blood: They may have part of a volunteer fire department. Thomas McCulloch was their first captain, back in 1848. The force became something more in the 1860s when Civil War broke out. Answering America's first call for troops, with Samuel M. Jackson as their Captain, were the "Independent Blues of Apollo." They were a brigade from Apollo and other local areas, but were 'held in readiness for future service' by the Governor. The Blues did not leave the area until early June of 1861. Now called "Company G", they were part of the 11th regiment of Pennsylvania Reserves. Their Captain, Sam Jackson, rose to the rank of Colonel by 1863. It is said they fought valiantly. The Blues finished out the war under Captain James H. Mills. They were apparently part of many battles; including an attack on Confederate forces at Spottsylvania. Its men were said to be 'gallant and patriotic'. One writer of the period said there were so many Independent Blues men in the Kiski Valley as well as Armstrong County, that it would "fill nearly 100 pages."

Pump Thump: The noise started in 1894, and may not have ended until the 1950s. The constant thump of six natural gas pumps, pulling gas out of the earth and whisking it to Brackenridge and Leechburg steel plants, could be heard miles away. But Upper Burrell residents came to find it sort of a weather forecaster. The constant thumping sound carried further and louder when rain was coming. The sound naturally carried better. Workers at the pump station in the '20s also provided another service. During their spare time, they would charge the 6-volt batteries local farmers used in their radio, for only 25 cents. Workers such as John Stuchell, William Troutman Sr., Ken Heckman, Floyd Foster, Roy Fryer and Roy Fulton were called a "credit to their community… always ready to help in any situation" by the editors of "Upper Burrell: The First 100 Years" 1979 Centennial historical publication. The battery recharging stopped around 1937-38 when Upper Burrell got electrical service. The pump station, once near Merwin on Markle Road, was torn down and replaced by a better method in the late 1950s. The location is now on Alcoa's Technical Center.

Now You're Cookin' With Gas: The story was almost typical. The discovery of oil barely a few hours north of Freeport set off a drilling frenzy, and some of the key figures with drilling know-how were in the Freeport-Natrona-Tarentum area. It was only natural that drilling for oil and gas would breakout the Freeport area. Soon a gas well was drilled right next to Massey Harbison's descendants' farm, on Mordecai Wilson's land in the Freeport area. Suddenly, a "roar like distant thunder" boomed down the valley when the drill bit broke. An oily mix of sand, water and gravel was spit up into the air. Sparks from the drill-break lit the gas, according to Francis Harbison in "Flood Tides Along The Allegheny," and a humongous explosion rocked the countryside. A fountain of flame devoured the drilling derrick and related equipment swiftly, and burned as a pillar of fire in the darkness until workers were able to contain the gas-fed fire. Within a short time the gas was being channeled through to points distant. It was one of many petroleum wells that dotted the Freeport/Tarentum areas.

Kier's Kerosene: Samuel Kier's searches for uses for the oily by-product (petroleum) from his dad's Natrona/Brackenridge/Tarentum salt works helped lead to America's first big oil strike. But he initially found another use for the substance. Around 1855 he found how to turn the substance into kerosene for heating and developed a lamp to use it for lighting as well, and so he began an oil refinery. He played a significant part in an oil revolution that changed the world in at least three ways: night became day with kerosene lamps, cold weather had less of an effect on people's lives, and industries found both a new source of power, machinery lubrication, and fuel for furnaces. Ironically, Kier's work only indirectly benefited the river plains from Bull Creek (Tarentum / Brackendridge / Natrona) leading up to the Little Buffalo. This area was, Francis Harbison in "Flood Tides Along The Allegheny" says, "barren of oil…[though there were some natural gas wells at the time] farmers had not generally enjoyed any substantial amount of unearned money, such as befell those in the oil fields." However, one natural gas well, the Larden Well near the Patrick Harvey farm on Bull Creek, provided enough gas to fire the Tarentum glassworks as well as an industry in Aetna. But by the early 1900s, gas production had fallen and the area's natural resources gave way to another source of fuel: coal.

Opened The Door: Football in the Fall of '29, as the Great Depression was getting started, was still pretty much the same in Vandergrift, until Chuck Miles walked on the field. Chuck tried out for the team that year and became the first black player on Vandergrift's football team. He played his senior season also, getting a chance to play on the newly created Davis Field. It had just been created from fill from the mill being dumped into a deep ravine at the location. Miles remembered getting all dirty and scraped up, from the ash that would come up through the dirt on the field as they played. Prejudice also was prevalent and there was a lot to overcome then. In the Vandergrift history book, "Something Better Than The Best," he said, "There wasn't too many blacks playing at all then, in any of the schools. Most… never went to high school. As they got old enough to get a job, they quit school and started to work." Miles didn't do that, however. He got a job at the local mill after graduation in '31 and worked there 42 years.

The Legend Of The Name…: Reliable sources, and we are not making this up, say that families who worked in the Kiski Valley salt wells in the area below Leechburg had an method of salt production that gave a community its name. They would bag salt and load it onto canal boats or wagons by handing off the packages of salt to one another, and when they were ready to receive more salt, they would say "Hand me another bag, Dad". And that, the story goes, is why the community near the Leechburg Allegheny Ludlum plant is called Bagdad. It became well known for its salt. Some families who lived there and worked in salt production included David Lynch, Daniel Hill, the Kistlers, Clines, Stulls, Shusters, Sherbondies, Shirys, Klingensmiths, and the Walters. One of the last salt wells in the Kiski Valley was in Bagdad. Jonathon Stoops sold his salt works to Capt. R. D. Elwood, who traded them to a Mr. Parker, who sold them to a Mr. Rowan. He leased the works to a B. B. Ashbaugh and a H. Wray who were among the last to produce salt here in the Valley. The year was 1872, and David Lynch, at 78, ran the works and boiled off the brine to get the salt.

Major Merger: On April 9th, 1872, a town near the Allegheny and already 103 years past its founding, was incorporated as a borough and officially named "Parnassus." Thirty years later, on November 28th, 1891, the town on the Allegheny--on a land parcel formerly known as "Hermitage"--, was incorporated as a borough and named "New Kensington." The town-building project had been known as Kingston. As people spoke of going to that "new Kingston", the town became popularly known as we know it today, New Kensington. But it was during the Great Depression that two towns in the valley joined forces to become one important industrial area. The year was 1931 when the City of New Kensington and the borough of Parnassus merged together.

Into The Wild Blue Yonder: Airplanes were still a novelty in September of 1930 when one dropped out of the sky near the John Hankey farm in Plum. George and John Hankey told the editors of "Where Wild Plum Trees Grow" (a history of Plum), a story of a biplane that blew a piston over the farm and sat down in a nearby freshly plowed field just east of Sardis Road. The soggy mud slowed the plane down enough to prevent serious damage, but the engine was in bad shape from the blown piston. The pilot stayed at the farm as he worked on the engine. He wound up going to Pittsburgh for a new one. Apparently the nearest one was in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The pilot's grounding turned into an all-winter affair, as he had to travel in a car to Tulsa to get the engine and bring it back in the back seat area. Unfortunately while he was gone, according to the story, souvenir hunters fascinated with the event had stripped the plane. It took until March of 1931 to get the plane back in working order. Just before takeoff he offered his hosts a ride in the plane, which they politely declined. And with that, he took off, made a last fly-by, waved good-bye and was gone.

One Dog Night: It was late afternoon in the spring of 1916, and James Ednie was out walking one of several dogs he and William Stivison boarded and trained in Saltsburg. As James walked this particular dog, 'Night' (so named for his color), along the railroad tracks near a Saltsburg playground and pumphouse, a young girl burst up the hillside from the Kiski River. She was so frantic that it took James Ednie a second to realize what she was saying. It didn't take 'Night' that long. The dog figured something was going on and shot off to the Kiski and plunged in. Something incredible happened there, according to Anabel Ednie Maguire (who told this in 'Canal Chronicle', Saltsburg Area Historical Society's Winter '97-'98 newsletter.) 'Night' dragged a three-year-old girl out of the water to safety before anyone who could help arrived on the scene. Mrs. Maguire tells us that people in the area were "hugging the dog and crying" and later the little girl's mom brought 'Night' an entire beef roast to eat. But the story doesn't stop there. Flash ahead almost 20 years. James Ednie is relaxing on his front porch, waiting for a parade. A young lady walked up out of the parade-waiting bystanders up onto Mr. Ednie's porch, saying "Mr. Ednie, you don't know me, but I'm the girl your dog pulled from the river many years ago." All grown up, she'd moved to New York, gotten married and become a mom.