Clarion County came into being in 1839 when parts of Venango and Armstrong counties were broken off to form a new county along the banks of the Clarion river. The county grew rapidly due to the oil and timber industries; it lies in the same oil region for which Titusville, PA is so famous, and Cook Forest is the home of the largest stand of virgin white pine east of the Mississippi River. For decades timber and the sawmills which turned it into lumber drove the county’s economy. Clarion is now as famous for tourism as for industry, exemplified by the annual Autumn Leaf Festival. It’s also a place which takes the law seriously: in 1911, invitations to the county’s first–and only–hanging were sent out in hopes that such a sight would serve as a lesson. Unfortunately, many good citizens were incensed when they realized they had not been invited. The lesson in etiquette was not the kind of lesson the sherriff had in mind.