I'm working with an old letter from my gggg-uncle, Jabez HUNTER BOWER, to his brother. The letter is dated 25 Feb 1867. Jabez is staying at a boarding house at Sugar Valley Mountain and working at a Shingle Mill. Can anyone tell me the location of Sugar Valley Mountain? In a later letter, dated 24 Mar 1873, Jabez's son, George BOWER, is writing to his uncle telling him how his father, Jabez HUNTER BOWER, died. The death took place on Sugar Valley Mountain and burial was at Washington Presby Cem as the roads were too bad to Collomsville. Jabez was "putting fire in the engine" at the Shingle Mill. The men wanted to stop the engine to "file", so when they went to tell Jabez, they noticed that he had suddenly taken deathly ill. He died less than 24 hours later at the boarding house. I'm hoping someone can answer some of the questions below: Did these mills use steam power and was "putting fire" to an engine firing the boiler? What did it mean to stop the engine to file? The letter was written at Uniontown? I don't see anything by that name on the map in that general area. One last question for an old-time equipment buff. This sentence is in another letter from this same time period, written by Moses BOWER in Hepburn Township. "David STAIGER with others was sawing wood with a horse power machine and the balance wheel bursted and killed him." I can't imagine what kind of a machine a horse would power that would have a balance wheel like that. In the letter, "horse power" is not written together like it would be when you describe the power of an engine, for example. Would they have had those one-cylinder engines with the large balance wheel at this time and would they have called it a horse power machine? Thanks for your help. Harold Bower Valrico, Florida haroldbo@ij.net