Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. The term is used in connection with national population and housing censuses; the United Nations defines the essential features of population and housing censuses as "individual enumeration, universality within a defined territory and defined periodicity", recommends that population censuses be taken at least every 10 years. United Nations recommendations cover census topics to be collected, official definitions and other useful information to co-ordinate international practice; the word is of Latin origin: during the Roman Republic, the census was a list that kept track of all adult males fit for military service. The modern census is essential to international comparisons of any kind of statistics, censuses collect data on many attributes of a population, not just how many people there are. Censuses began as the only method of collecting national demographic data, are now part of a larger system of different surveys.
Although population estimates remain an important function of a census, including the geographic distribution of the population, statistics can be produced about combinations of attributes e.g. education by age and sex in different regions. Current administrative data systems allow for other approaches to enumeration with the same level of detail but raise concerns about privacy and the possibility of biasing estimates. A census can be contrasted with sampling in which information is obtained only from a subset of a population. Modern census data are used for research, business marketing, planning, as a baseline for designing sample surveys by providing a sampling frame such as an address register. Census counts are necessary to adjust samples to be representative of a population by weighting them as is common in opinion polling. Stratification requires knowledge of the relative sizes of different population strata which can be derived from census enumerations. In some countries, the census provides the official counts used to apportion the number of elected representatives to regions.
In many cases, a chosen random sample can provide more accurate information than attempts to get a population census. A census is construed as the opposite of a sample as its intent is to count everyone in a population rather than a fraction. However, population censuses rely on a sampling frame to count the population; this is the only way to be sure that everyone has been included as otherwise those not responding would not be followed up on and individuals could be missed. The fundamental premise of a census is that the population is not known and a new estimate is to be made by the analysis of primary data; the use of a sampling frame is counterintuitive as it suggests that the population size is known. However, a census is used to collect attribute data on the individuals in the nation; this process of sampling marks the difference between historical census, a house to house process or the product of an imperial decree, the modern statistical project. The sampling frame used by census is always an address register.
Thus it is not known how many people there are in each household. Depending on the mode of enumeration, a form is sent to the householder, an enumerator calls, or administrative records for the dwelling are accessed; as a preliminary to the dispatch of forms, census workers will check any address problems on the ground. While it may seem straightforward to use the postal service file for this purpose, this can be out of date and some dwellings may contain a number of independent households. A particular problem is what are termed'communal establishments' which category includes student residences, religious orders, homes for the elderly, people in prisons etc; as these are not enumerated by a single householder, they are treated differently and visited by special teams of census workers to ensure they are classified appropriately. Individuals are counted within households and information is collected about the household structure and the housing. For this reason international documents refer to censuses of housing.
The census response is made by a household, indicating details of individuals resident there. An important aspect of census enumerations is determining which individuals can be counted from which cannot be counted. Broadly, three definitions can be used: de facto residence; this is important to consider individuals who have temporary addresses. Every person should be identified uniquely as resident in one place but where they happen to be on Census Day, their de facto residence, may not be the best place to count them. Where an individual uses services may be more useful and this is at their usual, or de jure, residence. An individual may be represented at a permanent address a family home for students or long term migrants, it is necessary to have a precise definition of residence to decide whether visitors to a country should be included in the population count. This is becoming more important as students travel abroad for education for a period of several years. Other groups causing problems of enumeration are new born babies, people away on holiday, people moving home around census day, people without a fixed address.
People having second homes because of working in another part of the country or retaining a holiday cottage are dif
Marriage
Marriage called matrimony or wedlock, is a or ritually recognised union between spouses that establishes rights and obligations between those spouses, as well as between them and any resulting biological or adopted children and affinity. The definition of marriage varies around the world not only between cultures and between religions, but throughout the history of any given culture and religion, evolving to both expand and constrict in who and what is encompassed, but it is principally an institution in which interpersonal relationships sexual, are acknowledged or sanctioned. In some cultures, marriage is recommended or considered to be compulsory before pursuing any sexual activity; when defined broadly, marriage is considered a cultural universal. A marriage ceremony is known as a wedding. Individuals may marry for several reasons, including legal, libidinal, financial and religious purposes. Whom they marry may be influenced by gender determined rules of incest, prescriptive marriage rules, parental choice and individual desire.
In some areas of the world, arranged marriage, child marriage and sometimes forced marriage, may be practiced as a cultural tradition. Conversely, such practices may be outlawed and penalized in parts of the world out of concerns of the infringement of women's rights, or the infringement of children's rights, because of international law. Around the world in developed democracies, there has been a general trend towards ensuring equal rights within marriage for women and recognizing the marriages of interfaith and same-sex couples; these trends coincide with the broader human rights movement. Marriage can be recognized by a state, an organization, a religious authority, a tribal group, a local community, or peers, it is viewed as a contract. When a marriage is performed and carried out by a government institution in accordance with the marriage laws of the jurisdiction, without religious content, it is a civil marriage. Civil marriage recognizes and creates the rights and obligations intrinsic to matrimony before the state.
When a marriage is performed with religious content under the auspices of a religious institution it is a religious marriage. Religious marriage recognizes and creates the rights and obligations intrinsic to matrimony before that religion. Religious marriage is known variously as sacramental marriage in Catholicism, nikah in Islam, nissuin in Judaism, various other names in other faith traditions, each with their own constraints as to what constitutes, who can enter into, a valid religious marriage; some countries do not recognize locally performed religious marriage on its own, require a separate civil marriage for official purposes. Conversely, civil marriage does not exist in some countries governed by a religious legal system, such as Saudi Arabia, where marriages contracted abroad might not be recognized if they were contracted contrary to Saudi interpretations of Islamic religious law. In countries governed by a mixed secular-religious legal system, such as in Lebanon and Israel, locally performed civil marriage does not exist within the country, preventing interfaith and various other marriages contradicting religious laws from being entered into in the country, civil marriages performed abroad are recognized by the state if they conflict with religious laws.
The act of marriage creates normative or legal obligations between the individuals involved, any offspring they may produce or adopt. In terms of legal recognition, most sovereign states and other jurisdictions limit marriage to opposite-sex couples and a diminishing number of these permit polygyny, child marriages, forced marriages. In modern times, a growing number of countries developed democracies, have lifted bans on and have established legal recognition for the marriages of interfaith and same-sex couples; some cultures allow the dissolution of marriage through annulment. In some areas, child marriages and polygamy may occur in spite of national laws against the practice. Since the late twentieth century, major social changes in Western countries have led to changes in the demographics of marriage, with the age of first marriage increasing, fewer people marrying, more couples choosing to cohabit rather than marry. For example, the number of marriages in Europe decreased by 30% from 1975 to 2005.
In most cultures, married women had few rights of their own, being considered, along with the family's children, the property of the husband. In Europe, the United States, other places in the developed world, beginning in the late 19th century and lasting through the 21st century, marriage has undergone gradual legal changes, aimed at improving the rights of the wife; these changes included giving wives legal identities of their own, abolishing the right of husbands to physically discipline their wives, giving wives property rights, liberalizing divorce laws, providing wives with reproductive rights of their own, requiring a wife's consent when sexual relations occur. These changes have occurred in Western countries. In the 21st century, there continue to be controversies regarding the legal status of married women, legal acceptance of or leniency towards violence within marriage, traditional marriage customs such as dowry and bride price, for
2010 United States Census
The 2010 United States Census is the twenty-third and most recent United States national census. National Census Day, the reference day used for the census, was April 1, 2010; the census was taken via mail-in citizen self-reporting, with enumerators serving to spot-check randomly selected neighborhoods and communities. As part of a drive to increase the count's accuracy, 635,000 temporary enumerators were hired; the population of the United States was counted as 308,745,538, a 9.7% increase from the 2000 Census. This was the first census in which all states recorded a population of over half a million, as well as the first in which all 100 largest cities recorded populations of over 200,000; as required by the United States Constitution, the U. S. census has been conducted every 10 years since 1790. The 2000 U. S. Census was the previous census completed. Participation in the U. S. Census is required by law in Title 13 of the United States Code. On January 25, 2010, Census Bureau Director Robert Groves inaugurated the 2010 Census enumeration by counting World War II veteran Clifton Jackson, a resident of Noorvik, Alaska.
More than 120 million census forms were delivered by the U. S. Post Office beginning March 15, 2010; the number of forms mailed out or hand-delivered by the Census Bureau was 134 million on April 1, 2010. Although the questionnaire used April 1, 2010 as the reference date as to where a person was living, an insert dated March 15, 2010 included the following printed in bold type: "Please complete and mail back the enclosed census form today." The 2010 Census national mail participation rate was 74%. From April through July 2010, census takers visited households that did not return a form, an operation called "non-response follow-up". In December 2010, the U. S. Census Bureau delivered population information to the U. S. President for apportionment, in March 2011, complete redistricting data was delivered to states. Identifiable information will be available in 2082; the Census Bureau did not use a long form for the 2010 Census. In several previous censuses, one in six households received this long form, which asked for detailed social and economic information.
The 2010 Census used only a short form asking ten basic questions: How many people were living or staying in this house, apartment, or mobile home on April 1, 2010? Were there any additional people staying here on April 1, 2010 that you did not include in Question 1? Mark all that apply: Is this house, apartment, or mobile home – What is your telephone number? What is Person 1's name? What is Person 1's sex? What is Person 1's age and Person 1's date of birth? Is Person 1 of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin? What is Person 1's race? Does Person 1 sometimes live or stay somewhere else? The form included space to repeat all of these questions for up to twelve residents total. In contrast to the 2000 census, an Internet response option was not offered, nor was the form available for download. Detailed socioeconomic information collected during past censuses will continue to be collected through the American Community Survey; the survey provides data about communities in the United States on a 1-year or 3-year cycle, depending on the size of the community, rather than once every 10 years.
A small percentage of the population on a rotating basis will receive the survey each year, no household will receive it more than once every five years. In June 2009, the U. S. Census Bureau announced. However, the final form did not contain a separate "same-sex married couple" option; when noting the relationship between household members, same-sex couples who are married could mark their spouses as being "Husband or wife", the same response given by opposite-sex married couples. An "unmarried partner" option was available for couples; the 2010 census cost $13 billion $42 per capita. Operational costs were $5.4 billion under the $7 billion budget. In December 2010 the Government Accountability Office noted that the cost of conducting the census has doubled each decade since 1970. In a detailed 2004 report to Congress, the GAO called on the Census Bureau to address cost and design issues, at that time, had estimated the 2010 Census cost to be $11 billion. In August 2010, Commerce Secretary Gary Locke announced that the census operational costs came in under budget.
Locke credited the management practices of Census Bureau director Robert Groves, citing in particular the decision to buy additional advertising in locations where responses lagged, which improved the overall response rate. The agency has begun to rely more on questioning neighbors or other reliable third parties when a person could not be reached at home, which reduced the cost of follow-up visits. Census data for about 22% of U. S. househol
Agnes Scott College
Agnes Scott College is a women's private liberal arts college in downtown Decatur, Georgia. Agnes Scott enrolls 937 students. In 2006, the student to faculty ratio was 10:1. Eighty-seven percent of the faculty are full-time, 100% of the tenure-track faculty hold terminal degrees. Agnes Scott is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church and is considered one of the Seven Sisters of the South; the college is affiliated with numerous institutions. Students who graduate from Agnes Scott may receive a Bachelor of Arts degree or a Bachelor of Science degree, depending on major. Offered are dual degrees in Nursing and Computer Science through Emory University, a dual degree in Engineering through Georgia Institute of Technology, a Bridge to Business Program in partnership with the Georgia Tech Scheller College of Business. There are two masters partnerships offered with Georgia Institute of Technology's M. B. A. program and Emory University's Master of Public Health Program. The college was founded in 1889 as Decatur Female Seminary by Presbyterian minister Frank H. Gaines.
In 1890, the name was changed to Agnes Scott Institute to honor the mother of the college's primary benefactor, Col. George Washington Scott; the name was changed again to Agnes Scott College in 1906, remains today a women's college. Agnes Scott is considered the first higher education institution in the state of Georgia to receive regional accreditation; the ninth and current president since July, 2018 is Leocadia I. Zak, who worked as director of the U. S. Trade and Development Agency. On July 27, 1994, the campus was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the South Candler Street-Agnes Scott College Historic District; the historic district boundaries are East College Ave. South McDonough St. S. Candler St. East Hill St. and East Davis St. It includes the entire campus, as well as historic homes adjacent to the campus; the campus is designated by the City of Decatur as a historic district. Agnes Scott College is located within walking distance of downtown Decatur. A MARTA subway station, located in downtown Decatur, allows students to travel to Atlanta.
Agnes Scott Hall, the oldest building on campus, was built in 1891 and once housed the entire school. This is documented in the history of Agnes Scott by Dr. McNair entitled Lest We Forget published in 1983. Agnes Scott occupies more than 90 acres in Decatur; the college owns the Avery Glen apartments as well as more than a dozen houses in the surrounding neighborhoods housing faculty and students. There are six dedicated undergraduate dormitories located on campus; the Bradley Observatory at Agnes Scott houses the Beck Telescope, a 30-inch Cassegrain reflector, as well as a planetarium with 70-seat capacity and a radio telescope. Agnes Scott College and the Georgia Tech Research Institute have collaborated on a project that added a LIDAR facility to the observatory; the college's science building contains a three-story rendering of part of the nucleotide sequence from Agnes Scott's mitochrondrial DNA. The DNA came from a blood sample of an ASC alumna, a direct descendant of the college's namesake.
American poet Robert Frost was an annual visitor at Agnes Scott from 1945 to his death in 1962. During his visits, he would read poetry in Presser Hall. A statue of the poet sculpted by George W. Lundeen sits in the alumnae gardens. A collection of Robert Frost's poetry and letters can be viewed at McCain Library. Agnes Scott has committed to becoming a carbon-neutral institute by the college's 150th anniversary in 2039 and has taken steps such as partnering with the Clean Air Campaign to reduce its impact on the local environment; as of 2015, the college has five solar arrays, four of which are part of Georgia Power's Advanced Solar Initiative. The fifth array is on the rooftop of the Bradley Observatory and is used for student research; the renovation of Campbell Hall into a mixed use residence hall, learning center, office space was concluded in 2014 and included installation of a hydro-geothermic HVAC system. The college hosts a Zipcar; the library at Agnes Scott College was an original Andrew Carnegie Library built in 1910.
It was renamed in 1951 for James McCain, on the occasion of his retirement as the 2nd President of the College. Non-commuter students are expected to live in on-campus housing for all four years as an undergraduate at Agnes Scott College. There are six resident halls situated around the Northern edge of the campus: Winship, Inman, Rebekah and Agnes Scott Hall. Agnes Scott owns off-campus apartments one block from campus called Avery Glen. Winship and Walters are traditionally reserved for first-year students. Upperclasswomen participate in a numeric room selection process, where students choose to live in loft-style dorms, tower rooms, or apartments with their friends. Single rooms are available in Inman and Rebekah, while triple rooms are available in Main. Beginning in August 2014, Campbell offers students suite-style rooms for four, with two students per room and a shared restroom. Hopkins Hall was retired as a residence hall after the 2014–2015 academic year due to increased need for office space on campus.
Due to the small size of the Agnes Scott College community, students are encouraged to start any organization or group that does not yet exist on campus. Students are welcome to join the diverse group of organizations recognized by the school's student government, including a secret society or two; the Silhouette is the yearbook published by the students of Agnes Scott College. All students are invited to join the staff. Aurora is the Agnes Scott literary magazine
Pledge of Allegiance
The Pledge of Allegiance of the United States is an expression of allegiance to the flag of the United States and the republic of the United States of America. It was composed by Captain George Thatcher Balch, a Union Army Officer during the Civil War and a teacher of patriotism in New York City schools; the form of the pledge used today was devised by Francis Bellamy in 1892, formally adopted by Congress as the pledge in 1942. The official name of The Pledge of Allegiance was adopted in 1945; the most recent alteration of its wording came on Flag Day in 1954, when the words "under God" were added. Congressional sessions open with the recital of the Pledge, as do many government meetings at local levels, meetings held by many private organizations. All states except Hawaii, Iowa and Wyoming require a scheduled recitation of the pledge in the public schools, although the Supreme Court has ruled in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette that students cannot be compelled to recite the Pledge, nor can they be punished for not doing so.
In a number of states, state flag pledges of allegiance are required to be recited after this. The United States Flag Code says: The Pledge of Allegiance to the Flag—"I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America, to the Republic for which it stands, one Nation under God, with liberty and justice for all."—should be rendered by standing at attention facing the flag with the right hand over the heart. When not in uniform men should remove any non-religious headdress with their right hand and hold it at the left shoulder, the hand being over the heart. Persons in uniform should remain silent, face the flag, render the military salute. Members of the Armed Forces not in uniform and veterans may render the military salute in the manner provided for persons in uniform; the Pledge of Allegiance, as it exists in its current form, was composed in August 1892 by Francis Bellamy, a Baptist minister, a Christian socialist, the cousin of socialist utopian novelist Edward Bellamy. There did exist a previous version created by Captain George T. Balch, a veteran of the Civil War, who became auditor of the New York Board of Education.
Balch's pledge, which existed contemporaneously with the Bellamy version until the 1923 National Flag Conference, read: We give our heads and hearts to God and our country. Balch was a proponent of teaching children those of immigrants, loyalty to the United States going so far as to write a book on the subject and work with both the government and private organizations to distribute flags to every classroom and school. Balch's pledge, which predates Bellamy's by 5 years and was embraced by many schools, by the Daughters of the American Revolution until the 1910s, by the Grand Army of the Republic until the 1923 National Flag Conference, is overlooked when discussing the history of the Pledge. Bellamy, did not approve of the pledge as Balch had written it, referring to the text as "too juvenile and lacking in dignity." The Bellamy "Pledge of Allegiance" was first published in the September 8 issue of the popular children's magazine The Youth's Companion as part of the National Public-School Celebration of Columbus Day, a celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas.
The event was conceived and promoted by James B. Upham, a marketer for the magazine, as a campaign to instill the idea of American nationalism in students and to encourage children to raise flags above their schools. According to author Margarette S. Miller, this campaign was in line both with Upham's patriotic vision as well as with his commercial interest. According to Miller, Upham "would say to his wife:'Mary, if I can instill into the minds of our American youth a love for their country and the principles on which it was founded, create in them an ambition to carry on with the ideals which the early founders wrote into The Constitution, I shall not have lived in vain.'"Bellamy's original Pledge read: I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic for which it stands, one nation, with liberty and justice for all. The Pledge was supposed to be quick and to the point. Bellamy designed it to be recited in 15 seconds; as a socialist, he had also considered using the words equality and fraternity but decided against it, knowing that the state superintendents of education on his committee were against equality for women and African Americans.
Francis Bellamy and Upham had lined up the National Education Association to support the Youth's Companion as a sponsor of the Columbus Day observance and the use in that observance of the American flag. By June 29, 1892, Bellamy and Upham had arranged for Congress and President Benjamin Harrison to announce a proclamation making the public school flag ceremony the center of the Columbus Day celebrations; this arrangement was formalized when Harrison issued Presidential Proclamation 335. Subsequently, the Pledge was first used in public schools on October 12, 1892, during Columbus Day observances organized to coincide with the opening of the World's Columbian Exposition, Illinois. In his recollection of the creation of the Pledge, Francis Bellamy said, "At the beginning of the nineties patriotism and national feeling was at a low ebb; the patriotic ardor of the Civil War was an old story... The time was ripe for a reawakening of simple Americanism and the leaders in the new movement rightly felt that patriotic education should begin in the public schools."
James Upham "felt that a flag should be on every schoolhouse," so his publication "fostered a plan of selling flags to schools through the children themselves at cost, whi
Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania
Huntingdon County is a county located in the center of the U. S. state of Pennsylvania. As of the 2010 census, the population was 45,913, its county seat is Huntingdon. The county was created on September 20, 1787 from the north part of Bedford County, plus an addition of territory on the east from Cumberland County. Huntingdon County comprises PA Micropolitan Statistical Area. According to the U. S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 889 square miles, of which 875 square miles is land and 15 square miles is water. Raystown Lake Tussey Mountain Centre County Mifflin County Juniata County Franklin County Fulton County Bedford County Blair County As of the census of 2010, there were 45,913 people and 17,280 households within the county; the population density was 52 people per square mile. There were 22,365 housing units at an average density of 24 per square mile; the racial makeup of the county was 92.50% White, 5.21% Black or African American, 0.09% Native American, 0.40% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.87% from other races, 0.92% from two or more races.
1.58% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. 33.9 % were of 17.1 % American, 11.1 % Irish, 7.5 % English and 5.7 % Italian ancestry. There were 16,759 households out of which 30.10% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.10% were married couples living together, 8.30% had a female householder with no husband present, 29.60% were non-families. 25.80% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.30% had someone living alone, 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.44 and the average family size was 2.92. In the county, the population was spread out with 21.70% under the age of 18, 10.10% from 18 to 24, 29.40% from 25 to 44, 24.00% from 45 to 64, 14.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 109.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 110.20 males. Everyone that lives in Huntingdon County speaks English as their first language; the dominant form of speech in Huntingdon County is the Central Pennsylvania accent of English.
In some areas of the county, such as Kishacoquillas Valley, where many Amish and Mennonite people live, a dialect of German known as Pennsylvania Dutch is spoken. The United States Office of Management and Budget has designated Huntingdon County as the Huntingdon, PA Micropolitan Statistical Area; as of the 2010 census the micropolitan area ranked 11th most populous in the State of Pennsylvania and the 249th most populous in the United States with a population of 45,913. Mark Sather Scott Walls Jeffrey Thomas John H. Eichelberger Jr. Republican, Pennsylvania's 30th Senatorial District Jake Corman, Pennsylvania's 34th Senatorial District Rich Irvin, Pennsylvania's 81st Representative District John Joyce, Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district Pat Toomey, Republican Bob Casey, Jr. Democrat Huntingdon Area School District Juniata Valley School District Mount Union Area School District Southern Huntingdon County School District Tussey Mountain School District Tyrone Area School District Huntingdon County Career and Technology Center: Mill Creek Tuscarora Intermediate Unit 11 New Day Charter School: Huntingdon Stone Valley Community Charter School: McAlevy's Fort Calvary Christian Academy: Huntingdon Class School: Mill Creek Grier School: Birmingham Huntingdon Christian Academy: Huntingdon Huntingdon County Child & Adult Development Center Meadow Green Mennonite School: Three Springs Shavers Creek Christian School: Petersburg Tiny Tots Childcare and Learning Center: Shade Gap West Penn F Grace Brethren: Saxton Woodcock Valley Center on Children: Huntingdon Juniata College, a small, independent liberal arts college, is located in the county seat of Huntingdon.
DuBois Business College, Huntingdon County campus, located in the former Huntingdon High School building in the borough of Huntingdon. Pennsylvania Highlands Community College, Huntingdon center Huntingdon County Library Memorial Public Library of the Borough of Alexandria Mount Union Community Library ESPN RADIO 1150 AM: Huntingdon WIEZ 670 AM: Lewistown WMAJ 1450 AM: State College WVAM 1430 AM: Altoona WFBG 1290 AM: Altoona WKMC 1370 AM: Roaring Spring WRTA 1240 AM: Altoona WRSC 1390 AM: State College WBLF 970 AM: Bellefonte WPHB 1260 AM: Philipsburg WKVA 920 AM: Burnham WHP 580 AM: Harrisburg KDKA 1020 AM: Pittsburgh WWVA 1170 AM: Wheeling, West Virginia- WGY 810 AM: Schenectady, New York WHUN 106.3 FM: Huntingdon WLAK 103.5 FM: Huntingdon WKVR 92.3 FM: Huntingdon W273BE 102.5 FM: Huntingdon WFGY 98.1 FM: Altoona WFGE 101.1 FM: Tyrone WBUS 93.7 FM: State College WWOT 100.1 FM: Altoona WJOW 105.9 FM: Philipsburg WSKE 104.3 FM: Everett WJSM 92.7 FM: Martinsburg WHPA 93.5 FM: Gallitzin WBRX 94.7 FM: Cresson WRXV 89.1 FM: State College WTLR 89.9 FM: State College WRKY 104.9 FM: Hollidaysburg WRKW 99.1 FM: Ebensburg WFGI 95.5 FM: Johnstown WVNW 96.7 FM: Burnham WCHX 105.5 FM: Burnham WQ
Main Line of Public Works
The Main Line of Public Works was a package of legislation supporting a vision passed in 1826 — a collection of various long proposed canal and road projects that became a canal system and added railroads designed to cross the breadth of Pennsylvania with the visionary goal of providing the best commercial means of transportation between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. Built between 1826 and 1834 by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, it established the Pennsylvania Canal System, the Allegheny Portage Railroad, the Pennsylvania Canal System administrated under a new Commission. Amendments substituted a new technology, railroads in place of the 82 miles canal, planned on the right-of-way of the substitute: the Philadelphia and Columbia Railroad, a new technology, for an envisioned canal link connecting the Delaware River to the Susquehanna River that would have proved too costly. Trans-Appalachian settlement had begun in earnest during the latter years of the French and Indian War, the British post-war Governments side agreements made with the Iroquois Confederacy caused the policy curbing expanded settlement in the colonial mid-west was one cause that created support for the American Revolution.
After the 1779 Sullivan Expedition broke the power of the Five Nations of the Iroquois towards the end of the American Revolution, the Susquehanna Valley from above Pennsylvania's southern tier counties north into all of upstate New York, Mohawk River to Lake Erie, the trans-Appalachian territories from the north banks of the Ohio River & all of its tributaries to the lower Great Lakes west as far as Minnesota & Wisconsin was thrown open to settlers. As the war wound down, many a family group began to head west, having full knowledge of the existence of the French settlements scattered along the Mississippi up to Detroit — so scattered settlements sprang up from below the Wyoming Valley across the near west into the retreating western frontiers and the lands of the old Ohio Country. By 1792, under the new American Constitution — this de facto land grab condition was endorsed, organized by treaty and territorial laws with the early acts of the United States Congress to mediate between the claims made by the various states, setting the western frontiers of New York, Connecticut, Virginia and Kentucky, plus establishing the Northwest Territory and the legal systems under which it would be administered.
In the early 1800s, turnpikes and other transportation infrastructure works funded by private funds or local governments had connected the new farms along the moving frontier back to the cities with crude trails of the Amerindians systematically widened and worked over to become foot paths, bridle trails worthy of mule train and widened into wagon roads. The 1790s-1850s was the age of turnpikes and the American Canal age, with pioneering projects like the Lausanne-Nescopeck Turnpike joining Philadelphia & the communities of the Delaware Valley through the Lehigh Gap to the Susquehanna, thence along the Susquehanna & Tioga Turnpike to Elmira, NY and the new port of Buffalo, NY on Lake Erie. A half-decade after that long way went online, the trouble with England exacerbated an difficult energy crisis, bituminous coal imports from Liverpool, England in 1812 ground to a halt under an embargo. Industrialists in Philadelphia pressed for some solution to their foundries fuel needs and by years end in 1812, legislation was on the books for improving the Schuylkill River into the Schuylkill Canal which ended up sadly underfunded, so got opened'years late to the party' when, first in 1820 two of its disgruntled directors put the Lehigh Canal into operation in just under two years in late 1820, the much heralded and derided'Clinton's Folly', the Erie Canal, opened the first sections in 1821.
Lead by the successes, by mid-decade canal projects and some railroads were being proposed, chartered, or built throughout the entire northeast seaboard states — and no where more so than in Pennsylvania as influenced by neighboring New Jersey and Baltimore. By the 1810s, population west of the mountains was exploding with new cities seeming to rise every couple of years anchored by 1800s transport hubs like Brownsville, Cincinnati, Detroit, New Orleans, by the 1840s, St. Louis, St. Joseph Missouri; the market potential of this burgeoning population was the target of Philadelphia and New Jersey's business class. In 1823 entrepreneur White made a proposal which would have dammed and created a Ship Navigation allowing deep keeled coastal shipping to reach docks and pickup and tran-ship the coal coming down the Lehigh Canal into Easton, Pennsylvania. An employee of industrialist Josiah White's had figured out how to get "Rock Coal" to burn properly during the War of 1812 renewing serious interest in exploiting these coal resources.
Efforts to improve shipping capabilities on the Schuylkill Navigation was lagging hope when backers took to quarreling over the best way to proceed. White went looking for a source of coal in 1815 looked at
