| Prior to
the Fort Stanwix pact, itinerant pioneers were
the only white men to traverse the valley
wilderness. Among them were some of early
Pennsylvania's most famous explorers: James
LeTort, John Davenport, Christian Frederick Post,
George Croghan, Conrad Weiser and Col. John
Armstrong, who later defeated the Indians at
their Kittanning stronghold. As early as 1731 LeTort
reported to Governor Patrick Gordon that he found
45 Indian families living on “Connumach
Creek,” also referred to in the colonial era
as “Cough-naugh-maugh,”
“Connumah,” “Ko-ne-ma,” or
“Gunamonki,” to name a few of the
derivitives.
Other early traders
and explorers stopped off at Kickenapaulin's--a
name applied to an individual as well as to his
Indian settlement. Early maps place
Kickenapaulin's at the present site of
Quemahoning Dam in Somerset County. It is
possible that Kickenapaulin also may have settled
for a time near Johnstown as his tribe moved
westward.
Whether
Johnstown proper was once the site of a permanent
Indian village is disputed among historians and
researchers. Nevertheless, there is evidence that
the Delawares and Shawnees (or Shawanese)
frequently passed through and near the area. An
old Indian trail--the Conemaugh Path--extended
from Bedford to Johnstown and thence through the
Conemaugh Gap westward to the Ohio Country.
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