The first land warrants for Clarion County land was issued in 1785. Right away the choice land areas were taken up by large speculating companies like the Holland Land Company, Broadhead and Thomas, and many other large companies of the day. A land sales office was opened on May 1, 1785, and it wasn’t until 1801 and 1802 that the first permanent settlers arrived.

Many other families were also buying land and setting up small businesses or other ways to keep their family on the right track, like farming. Most of these families were among the first to ever do so in this area. The Cherrys were well known gunsmiths that operated in Beaver Township. The Cherrys were the only gunsmith shop within 50 miles of anyone else, which made a huge impact on the surrounding communities, or in this case upcoming communities. In those days you had to shoot what you ate if did not grow it on a farm, so the gunsmith was as important to a community as was anything else. Self-protection from the wilderness was also another concern that people had to deal with, so in many ways the presence of a gun that worked was of great importance and the Cherrys took care of this with their shop. Still other families like the Goughlers set up mills that were very useful for farmers who sometimes had to haul their grain long distances to be ground into flour. The Goughlers at one time had a gristmill set up in present day Knox at the site where the glass plant would later be located. Early settlers would start businesses that they thought could add to the community or be of important use, so naturally this began to draw more and more people to the area. This it did. By this time Edenburg was comprised of a hand full of houses and so were many of the other small towns that kept popping up on the countryside. This is when Edenburg felt it necessary that they have their own post office, when they requested their proposal was granted and the founder of Edenburg was it’s postmaster. Before this post office was installed the mail was carried on horseback from Emlenton to Shippenville on horseback. Which was an inconvenience for these folk living miles from each. After a short time it was found out that the state already contained an Edenburg, so the post office’s name was then changed to Knox. Around the same time three people were commissioned to organize the lay out of the county seat. They also set county borders to separate Clarion County from Venango and other counties that may try to crowd in and limit the amount of land that would otherwise belong to Clarion County.

In 1865, the first news of oil was being spewed around, because at the mouth of Deer Creek five oil wells were erected and for a short while they produced good quality oil, and descent quantity (30 barrels a day from the well called the Pocahontas). But, the structure of the wells was poor and soon the wells were "wet holes" because of the abundance of water and the lack of a casing inside the well itself. Never the less this was very important because it made the settlers aware that oil was present, and that set things off!

People from the neighboring townships then started to drill for oil and once they discovered that they too were hitting oil fields, thousands flocked in from all parts of the state. Other states heard of the news and they too tried their luck at the oil business if they could find some land to operate on. However, if you didn’t act fast you had little hope of ever striking it rich. The population grew very quickly and many boom cities were erected. One source says that the oil derricks surly numbered in the 800’s during the peak of the boom in just the Keystone Area.

The early settlers of the keystone area had a great effect on the citizenry of Knox, for they laid the foundation of what we have today. Without the help of these "pioneers" in a sense, this area would not nearly be what it has proved to be today. But of course every good thing comes with its own setbacks as well. The early settlers hurt the community in some ways too; they disturbed a great hunting area for the Indians of the time while all together pushing them farther west. Also among the settlers there were a few sinister people that were active at that time, the most notorious was "Ross Buck" the horse thief slash counterfeiter of the time. Another negative effect was that the sudden growth of development was left behind as spasmodic foundations littered across the land. That is only the case in those towns that failed, or burnt up in an oil fire and was not thought fit to fix. Considering everything though, these negative effects were relatively small, and the community overcame it with ease.

The early settlers of Knox only contributed to other communities and possibly other states with their production of goods, and more notably with the production of oil. This production of oil may have in turn made a impact on the nation, for it was a monumental discovery. Before this oil was not drilled for in large quantities like it was beginning to be done in Pennsylvania. We can give all the kudos of these major impacts to the early settlers of the Keystone area.

Works Cited

Davis A.J., "History of Clarion County Pennsylvania". 1887. D Madison & Company, publishers. Syracuse Ny.

"Knox Centennial". 1976. Knox Historical Committee.

"A History of Wentlings Corners, Blairs Corners, Monroe".

Caldwell J.A., "Caldwell's Illustrated Historical Combination Atlas of Clarion County Pennsylvania". 1877