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Armstrong Township is a township in Lycoming County, Pennsylvania, United States. The population was 717 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Williamsport, Pennsylvania Metropolitan Statistical Area. ==History== The first European settlers arrived in Armstrong Township in 1773. Thomas Hartley, Michael Graybill, George Leffler, and John Kern all received warrants for land on February 11, 1773. Hartley then purchased the properties of Graybill, Leffler and Kern on March 31, 1773. This was to avoid a Province of Pennsylvania law that stated that no one man could purchase more than one tract of land. Marcus Huling appears to have been the first permanent settler in Mosquito Valley, which makes up the greatest portion of Armstrong Township. Huling settled in the eastern portion of Mosquito Valley, near where Culbertson's Path crossed. Huling and family cleared land, built a cabin, a sawmill, and distillery in 1795. Huling's son, Thomas, carried on the family businesses until his death. Interestingly, although the Huling's were apparently successful businessmen, they never saw fit to settle their debt on the land that they had developed. Upon Thomas Huling's death, the land was foreclosed and was left to be reclaimed by nature until the arrival of German farmers in 1832. Armstrong Township was formed from part of Clinton Township in 1842. It is named in honor of James Armstrong, a prominent lawyer. Mosquito Valley was cleared by the lumber companies that made nearby Williamsport the "Lumber Capital of the World." Lumberjacks harvested the old-growth forests of white pine and hemlock. They then floated the logs down Mosquito Run to the sawmills close to the mouth of the creek. As the valley was cleared of trees, farmers moved into the area and began several successful orchard and dairy operations. Armstrong Township is not limited to Mosquito Valley alone. Bald Eagle Mountain runs through the northernmost portions of it. From this ridge, several mountain streams find their source. The lumber barons from Williamsport flocked to Mosquito Run in the south and western sections of the township and to Hagerman's Run in the eastern portion of the township. The barons built summer cottages on both streams, fished for trout in the waters, and built small dams for recreational swimming and ice skating. They also built several trout hatcheries in Mosquito Valley. The Williamsport Municipal Water Authority quickly saw the value of the fresh water that was in abundant supply in both Mosquito and Hagerman's Runs. It acquired water rights to the streams and eventually bought up most of the farmland in the southwestern portion of Armstrong Township in the early 1920s as part of its watershed. Visitors to the "water company" lands can see the stone remains of the early settlers homesteads spread throughout the watershed. This mass purchase of farmland in Armstrong County has accounted for the steep decline in population since 1890. Mosquito Run and Hagerman's Run still provide drinking water for Williamsport. The water authority built a multimillion-dollar water filtration plant in the 1990s in Mosquito Valley. With the construction of this plant the lands of the water authority were opened as a nature preserve to the general public. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Armstrong Township, Lycoming County, Pennsylvania」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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