The township which completed the first trio, was Young, organized in , and taken from Perry township. It was then quite large, embracing all the southeastern portion of the county. It was named for Judge Young, at that time president judge of the Westmoreland judicial district. The township is now bounded on the north by McCalmont, south by Indiana county, east by Belle township, and west by Perry.
It is rectangular in form, six miles long by three wide - eighteen square miles, and contains 11, acres. The Mahoning Creek flows across the township from east to west, in a deep, wide valley in which Punxsutawney is situated.
South from the creek the region is an upland plateau, the top of which is three hundred and fifty feet above the creek level, and is but little broken by ravines. The region north of the creek is, on the other hand, no less high, is much diversified by hill and vale - a fortunate topographical arrangement for the commercial interests of the township, as it makes access easy above water level to the large and valuable coal beds.
The small tributary valleys of which there are four, trend southward, and are roughly parallel to one another. The most important of these is the Elk Run Valley. The Freeport Upper Coal, though a bed of considerable thickness, yields much inferior coal. The coal trade of Young township is now second to none in the county, as will be seen from a report of the Wallston mines given elsewhere. The Freeport upper limestone is of very little account in Young township, showing but few exposures, and these of an impure character.
Early Settlers. They were of Quaker extraction, and with the Gaskills infused into the early life of the south side of the county an element that was an important factor in the history of those days of early pioneer struggle.
