Baden's First 100 YearsPage Six
In presentign the earliest recorded history of this region up to the time of its incorporation as the Borough of Baden, let us try to think of this section as a forest wilderness broken only by the rivers and creeks and by the trails of the Indians. According to record the waters abounded in fish and fur-bearing animals while immense herds of buffalo, elk, and deer roamed the forest. It has been impossible to locate the Indian trails through our town. All we can find is the record of a trail coming from the Forks of the Ohio down the river crossing the Beaver Creek at Eridgewater and continueing over the hills and back of Beaver in what is known in Beaver County as the Tuscarawas Road. This section of Beaver County was a part of Beadford County in the early days. A little later it was made into Westmoreland County, still later into Allegheny County and finally into Beaver County in 1800. These many changes confuse the exact location of early trails through our town. We would like to know that our present Sate Street was one of the earliest routes for traders and explorers. At that time it was narrow winding road called by the first settlers "The Big Road." It was the main thoroughfare for traders and travelers going from Pittsburgh to Ohio of farther West. Many interesting tales have been related by Baden's first settlers of having seen bands of wandering Indians on foot or horseback journeying along this road. Travelers taking their stock from Ohio to the markets in Pittsburgh drove herds of cows, frocks of sheep, turkeys and geese, and droves of hogs along this early highway. This section was known as Indian country, hostile to the white settler. Passing over much familiar history we find at the close of the Revolutionary War, 1781, the Colonial Governor of Pennsylvania setting aside certain tracts of land in various sections of Western Pennsylvania for the purpose of redeeming the certificates for Colonial money that had been issued to the officers and soldiers in payment for their services in the Revolutionary War. The value of the certificates had depreciated because the Colonial money had become worthless, consequently these tracts of land become known as "Depreciation Land." These worthless certificates have handed down to posterity the familiar phrase, "Not worth a continental." Baden occupies some of the land included in Depreciation Tract No. 2, surveyed by one Daniel Leet in 1785. According to this survey Lot No. 22 through Lot No. 26 make up the town. Beginning at the south end records show that Lots No. 22 and No. 23 were patented by the Governor to Thomas McKean, Esq., of Philadelphia, who served as governor from 1799 to 1808. By will this property was
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LOCAL HISTORY MAIN PAGE
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