The following shows the population in 1840, and in 1850, together with the number of dwellings:--
Counties. Pop. in 1840. Pop. in 1850. Dwellings.
Bedford 29,335 23,052 3,896 Blair, (formed out of Huntingdon and Bedford, 1846) -- 21,777 3,718 Huntingdon 35,484 24,786 4,298 Mifflin 13,092 14,980 2,591 Juniata 11,080 13,029 2,168 Perry 17,096 20,088 3,412 ------- ------- ------ Total 106,085 117,712 20,083
If we add to Bedford the 7567 inhabitants taken from it to form Fulton county, we shall find that the population increased 19,192 in the valley, between 1840 and 1850. This may be rated as an ordinary increase. To the same increase, between 1850 and 1860, we may add the extraordinary increase caused by the building of the Pennsylvania and the Broad Top Railroads, which, we think, will increase the population to double what it was in 1840 by the time the next census is taken.
The number of dwellings in the valley, it will be observed, amounted, in 1850, to 20,083. Since then, five hundred buildings have been erected in Altoona, one hundred and fifty in Tyrone, five hundred in the towns and villages along the line of the Broad Top Road, a hundred along the line of the Pennsylvania Road, while the towns of Hollidaysburg, Huntingdon, McVeytown, Lewistown, Mifflin, and Newport, and, in fact, all the villages in the valley, have had more or less buildings erected during the past five years. A corresponding number erected during the next five years will, we venture to predict, bring the census return of buildings up to 40,000.