He arrived in late 1794 by paddling with his family and household supplies in ten canoes, up the West Branch Susquehanna River and Pine Creek to the mouth of Slate Run.

[4] Pioneer settler Jacob Tomb and his family established a home, sawmill, and gristmill at the mouth of Slate Run in the 1790s, and others settled nearby along the Pine Creek floodplain.

[5] Driving the local economy toward the end of the century was the James B. Weed and Company hemlock sawmill, which operated in Slate Run from 1886 to 1910 and produced up to 100,000 board feet of lumber a day.

However, in the early 21st century, Slate Run still has a general store and post office, and a hotel with a restaurant and bar.

Pine Creek Gorge cuts through the township from the northeastern corner to the middle of the southern border.

[7] Pennsylvania Route 44 crosses the western side of the township, on the surface of the Allegheny Plateau, passing through the small village of Black Forest.

Pennsylvania Route 414 follows Pine Creek through the township, passing through the village of Slate Run in the bottom of the gorge.

[1] Nearly all of the township drains directly to Pine Creek, which flows south to the West Branch Susquehanna River near Jersey Shore.

The far western portion of the township drains west via Baldwin Branch and County Line Creek to Young Womans Creek, which flows southwestward to the West Branch at North Bend.