Cougar Hollow

Painter Run - Centre/Mifflin County Line

Folks come up to me when I'm in camp in Cougar Hollow and say, "You know how this hollow got it's name?"
"Tell me," I say.
And they explain, "They call it Cougar Hollow because the loggers found a big mountain lion up here -used to call them "painters"- and they tracked him in the snow with dogs and hunted him down and shot him and skinned him out and wore the hides for jackets."
"Is that a fact," I say.
"Yessir, that's the real story behind Cougar Hollow," the fellow tells me.
"It sure is interesting," I say.

I don't tell people the truth about the hollow, because I don't think they would ever believe me. It would spoil their weekend if I did, anyway. These outsiders who come up here might not always go back to Philadelphia or New Jersey with a turkey or a buck or a string of trout, but they bring home their stories of local lore and tell all their neighbors about the wild places they visited up in Clinton County. So I just let it alone.

But just between you and me, here's the real truth of it. This hollow was first settled by a Civil War veteran named Charles Kuglar. He was a trapper, and I have seen his 1862 Colt revolver. He moved up here after the war was over. He was from Enola, down by Harrisburg. After he died the state bought up his land. That was in 1928. They paid three dollars a square acre for it. This was the Twenty-eighth District and it was called Kuglar Hollow until some young forester came around. He must have been given the job of naming every stream and hollow. His name was Lawrence, and he decided that Kuglar wasn't a good enough name, so he changed it to Cougar Hollow. Ever since then, every flatlander who comes up here has been telling cougar stories about the place.


Snake Bite, Lives and Legends of Central Pennsylvania
James York Glimm
University of Pittsburgh Press