Column 1, and sometimes column 2, carried random news items, sometimes mixing local, national, international, and human interest stories on a single page. On February 1, for example, agricultural advice reprinted from the Country Gentleman appeared alongside an item describing battles between United States troops and Native Americans in the West.
Columns 3-6, again, were advertisements. Unlike ads
appearing on other pages of the Valley Spirit, however, information on
page 8 clearly appealed especially to agricultural, commercial, and
legal interests. Market information appeared here (with commodity
prices from Chambersburg, and usually from Philadelphia and Baltimore
as well), as did a yearly almanac calendar. The remainder of the
columns were generally filled with information about banks, land sales
(local and regional), court cases, and other legal notices, such as
estate divisions.