[Illustration: JEFFERSON COUNTY] XLII JEFFERSON COUNTY Formed March 26, 1804; named for Thomas Jefferson; steep and rugged hills line the watercourses of every stream, alternating with fine valley land, traversed by good roads through most picturesque scenery; the views are a continual delight. In early days large tracts of this land were held by rich proprietors who would neither improve nor sell at a fair price. The pioneer hewed his canoes out of pine trees, large enough to receive a barrel of flour crosswise; a homemade rope of flax was attached to the front to pull them over the ripples. The county is wonderfully rich in coal and an abundance of natural gas, and has developed more along commercial than it has along artistic lines. Chief industries: stock raising, coal, iron, glass, and silk. County seat, BROOKVILLE, laid out in 1830; population 3272. Hunts Point, now Carrier’s addition of Brookville, was once an Indian village. Main Street runs east and west. Pickering Street crosses at right angles. Courthouse, at the corner of Main and Pickering Streets; Renaissance, brick; contains portraits. The Brookville Park Association is making great civic improvements; a park of ten acres is in the center of the town and a fine new park building or auditorium is being erected; the organization being truly altruistic, to the intent that no dividends shall be paid to the subscribers, but all profits applied to municipal improvements. There are several churches, among them may be mentioned the Presbyterian and Methodist for architecture; both Romanesque; stone. The Presbyterian has good stained glass windows. The Daughters of the American Revolution have placed a small monument to Joseph Barnett in the old cemetery. Fort Barnett was one mile east of Brookville, on the old turnpike (Mead’s Trail); his cabin in 1799 is said to have been the only one within seventy-five miles.