Chapter XI: Part 11

In Christ Protestant Episcopal Church, native sandstone, is memorial window to William Ulysses Mercur, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, 1882-87; makers, Cox Sons & Buckley, London. The Methodist Episcopal Church, also, has memorial windows. Historical Society of Bradford County, fireproof building open to the public; contains Indian and Civil War relics, curios, and portraits of pioneer men and women, a reproduction of a pioneer log house, and specimens of all native woods in the county. In Riverside Cemetery is the grave of David Wilmot, who made the famous proviso, engraved on his monument, against slavery. There are many borough and township high schools in Bradford County.

XLV

SCHUYLKILL COUNTY

Formed March 1, 1811, named for the Schuylkill River; was purchased from the Six Nations in 1749. George Godfried Orwig, first settler, in 1747, lived at Sculp Hill; he was followed by other Germans. ORWIGSBURG, first county seat, in 1811, was founded in 1796, by Peter Orwig, son of George; old courthouse still standing, is used as a factory; extensive views from here of mountains and agricultural valleys. In chain of frontier forts, were Franklin, built, 1756, by order of Benjamin Franklin; Fort Henry, south of Pinegrove; and Fort Lebanon, later known as Fort William, the most important, its site near Auburn, is marked by boulder with bronze tablet, inscription, “On this site stood Fort Lebanon, built, 1775, by Colonel Jacob Morgan, for protection of early settlers against Indians, erected in 1913 by Mahantongo Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, Pottsville, Pa.” Indian warriors came down from the mountains and made savage forays on the peaceful farms, in which many people were massacred, and mills and houses were burned; the old oak tree is standing near, from which sentinels took observations; in this fort the first religious services in the county were held.

One mile from Fort Lebanon is the old Red Church, built in 1755, destroyed by Indians, 1756, rebuilt, 1776, celebrated its sesquicentennial in 1905. This county revels in picturesque scenery; excellent roads curve through valleys of surpassing richness and fertility, or wander along a ridge with glorious views on either side; in the north, the sky line of a mountain range is often broken by a weird coal breaker; in every direction there is beauty and interest. Laurel may be seen by the acre, and much rhododendron. Great cliffs of various colored conglomerate rock are found throughout the county.

This is the southern limit of the ANTHRACITE COAL fields in east central Pennsylvania, the only ones of importance in the United States; divided into three well-known trade regions, Wyoming; Lehigh; and Schuylkill; comprising an area of 480 square miles, in the counties of Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Northumberland, Luzerne, Susquehanna, and Schuylkill. Discovered in Schuylkill County by Nicho Allen in 1790; while camping out overnight, he built a fire among some rocks, under shelter of the trees; during the night, being awakened by unusual heat he saw the rocks a mass of glowing fire, he having ignited the outcrop of a bed of coal. The birth of this great productive industry may be dated from 1820, when 365 tons were sent to Philadelphia from the head waters of the Lehigh River. 80,000,000 tons per annum are now produced; location of coal was shown in William Scull’s map of Pennsylvania published in 1770; three places marked.

In 1795 it was used successfully for smithing by a blacksmith named Whitestone, but not generally for this purpose until 1806. In 1812, Colonel George Shoemaker produced coal from a shaft on land he owned, now known as the Centreville Tract; loaded nine wagons and drove to Philadelphia, where he was accused of being an impostor, attempting to sell stone for coal; he sold two loads for cost of transportation, and gave the rest away to those who promised to try to use it; he induced Messrs. Mellon & Bishop to try it in their rolling mill in Delaware County, where it was found to be a complete success; iron was heated in much less time than usual, and the workmen said, “It passed through the rolls like lead.”

From 1830, rapid improvements were made in methods of mining and transporting coal. First breaker in this county was erected by Gideon Bast on Wolf Creek, near Minersville. The St. Clair shaft was sunk in 1845, by Alfred Lawton, to Primrose vein, 122 feet; in 1851, E. W. McGinness continued the depth of shaft to the Mammoth vein, 438 feet. At Wadesville a shaft was sunk 619½ feet. A shaft located by General Henry Pleasants is deepest coal shaft in the United States, 1584 feet. The collieries of the Philadelphia & Reading Coal Company are the most extensive. Property in Schuylkill and Columbia counties 18,333 acres, one third coal, devised by Stephen Girard to the City of Philadelphia in trust, comprises some of the most valuable tracts in the anthracite region; Girard was largely instrumental in building the Schuylkill Canal to Philadelphia, connecting with this was a railroad and a series of gravity planes between Girardville and Mount Carbon, head of the canal; the Girard Railroad, opened in 1834, was one of the greatest engineering feats of the time, attracting international comment; much of the masonry is still to be seen.

In 1690, William Penn called attention to the feasibility of passage by water between the Susquehanna River and Tulpehocken Creek, a branch of the Schuylkill; in 1762 David Rittenhouse and Dr. William Smith surveyed a route for a canal, to connect waters of the Susquehanna and Schuylkill, via Swatara and Tulpehocken Creeks; and actually traced a line between the Delaware and Ohio Rivers at Fort Pitt, thence to Erie. The Union Canal connecting the Schuylkill and Susquehanna Rivers was completed in 1826 by the Schuylkill Navigation Company; they did great work in their day; years of greatest prosperity were from 1835-41.

In 1800, Reese & Thomas located an iron furnace on the site of Pottsville. In 1807 Greenwood furnace and forge were erected by John Pott. In 1839, Pioneer furnace at Pottsville, under Burd Patterson, was blown in with anthracite coal, by Benjamin Perry, and ran for about three months, among the first to use successfully anthracite coal in the blast furnace in United States. POTTSVILLE, county seat, 1395 feet above sea; population 21,876, laid out in 1816, has not one level street; flights of steps are frequently used to get to various heights; fine views from every point. A commission for city planning has lately been appointed.

Courthouse erected in 1892, architect, Mr. Taylor, stands on a hill in a terraced square, has portraits of judges; in the old courthouse, to the rear, now torn down, the Mollie Maguires were tried and convicted in 1876. Soldiers’ Monument erected in 1891 is in Garfield Square, on a pedestal are names of battles fought by Schuylkill County men in Civil War; the Washington Artillery and National Light Infantry of Pottsville, 246 men, were part of the 530 Pennsylvanians

who first arrived at our national Capital for its defense in 1861; Schuylkill County sent 13,000 volunteers; there are also soldiers’ monuments at Port Carbon, St. Clair, and Mahanoy City. A statue of John Pott is in the playground of Center Street public school, formerly a cemetery.

Pennsylvania, the coal-producing state of the Union, has every reason to be grateful to Henry Clay for advocating a protective tariff on her principal product; Pottsville’s enthusiasm culminated in the Henry Clay Monument, completed in 1855, soon after his death, west of South Center Street, an iron Doric column, surmounted by an iron statue of Henry Clay, after the painting by P. F. Rothermel, “Senate of 1850”; first colossal iron casting of its kind made in the United States; from sidewalk to top of statue, 205 feet. Pottsville Cemetery contains grave of Joseph Elison, member of Greely Arctic expedition, who died at Port Haven, Greenland, in 1884, soon after being rescued by the late Rear Admiral Schley; a diary, kept until his hands were frozen stiff, will soon be published by the Pottsville Historical Society. Parks in Schuylkill County are, “Lakeside,” above Mahony City; “Marlin,” near Pottsville; “Manilla,” east of Tamaqua; “Woodland,” between Ashland and Girardville; “Washington,” between Ashland and Locust Dale; they are combinations of formal gardening with natural beauty; “Tumbling Run Dam,” near Pottsville, is beautiful in its setting. SHENANDOAH, population 24,726, contains a mixed mining population; twenty-six languages and dialects are spoken here.

XLVI

LEHIGH COUNTY

Formed March 6, 1812; named for Lehigh River, from an Indian name, Lechauwekink (where there are forks); Indian trails forked in various directions below Bethlehem. The Blue Mountains are north and the Lehigh Hills south, containing large deposits of slate and cement. Chief industries, agriculture and manufacturing.

ALLENTOWN, county seat, at junction of Jordan and Little Lehigh Creeks; population 73,502; was settled in 1751 by Chief Justice William Allen, a friend of the Penns; is entered from the south by, it is said, the largest concrete bridge in the world, erected by a trolley company, 2650 feet long and 120 feet high; built in 1913. The city has an abundant supply of pure water, pumped direct from the spring to the residences; daily flow, 12,000,000 gallons. Courthouse, colonial, with cupola, Fifth and Hamilton Streets. First Presbyterian Church, North Fifth Street, near Hamilton, Renaissance. Jail, North Fourth Street, near Linden, feudal architecture, with tower 100 feet high, brown sandstone. Architect G. A. Aschbach.

Allen Park, Fourth and Walnut Streets, contains “Trout Hall,” stone, built, 1770, by James Allen, son of the founder, which will be occupied by the Lehigh County Historical Society; West Park and River Park are also in Allentown; west of the city is Dorney’s Park, along Cedar Creek. In Center Square is the Soldiers’ Monument to the men of Lehigh County in the Civil War; on the pedestal are bronze bas-reliefs depicting scenes of war and reconciliation, and medallion busts of Generals Meade, McClellan, Hancock, and Hartranft. United States post office, at the corner of Sixth and Turner Streets, classic, built in 1906; brick and Indiana limestone; architect, George B. Page, Philadelphia. Several fine churches of brick or stone show Italian and Gothic architecture. The Zion Reformed, Gothic, stone, built, 1840, Hamilton Street between Sixth and Seventh, is notable for having sheltered the Liberty Bell and the Christ Church bells, during British occupation of Philadelphia, in 1777; marked by tablet, placed by the Liberty Bell Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. The Rhoads House, 107-109 North Seventh Street, built, 1762, by a Revolutionary patriot, is the oldest building in the city.

MUHLENBERG COLLEGE with preparatory school, is beautifully located at Twenty-sixth and Chew Streets, on campus of seventy-two acres; the buildings, brick and stone, were built from 1903 to 1915; administration building, English Renaissance, architects, Ruhl & Lange; contains portraits, including one of Dr. Muhlenberg, by Gilbert Stuart; the late Peter A. Gross, in 1914, provided by will for the founding of an art school in Muhlenberg College, and an art museum in Allentown. Allentown College for Women, Walnut Street between Thirtieth and Thirty-first Streets, classic; and the new high school, North Seventeenth Street, classic Ionic, are fine buildings. At Seventeenth and Chew Streets are the State Hospital,

Guardian of the Liberty Bell and Christ Church Bells during the Revolution]

Georgian; brick and Indiana limestone; and the Nurses’ Home, memorial to Judge Edward Harvey; said to be the best equipped for the purpose in the United States, architects, Ruhl & Lange.

Road from Rittersville to Bethlehem passes Central Park, overlooking Lehigh River, and the historic Geissinger farm, where Solomon Jennings settled in 1736; he was a participant in the Indian Walk of 1737. BETHLEHEM (see Northampton County). State road from Allentown to Slatington passes through WERNERSVILLE, near where Lynford Lardner built, in 1740, a hunting lodge, “Grouse Hall,” and where the Jordan Reformed Church was founded in 1752, present stone building erected, 1808. Through GUTHSVILLE, Guth homestead still standing, built, 1745, through SIEGERSVILLE, on left is Colonel H. C. Trexler’s game preserve of 2000 acres, containing buffalo, elk, deer, and trout hatchery. To SCHNECKSVILLE, former home of Professor Rudy, founder of the Rudy School, Paris, in 1865, an International Association of Professors; he was a Fellow of the French Academy. Here is Land Spring Park.

The next village, NEFFS, has an ancient graveyard, burial place of many Revolutionary patriots. Then to SLATINGTON, heart of the slate region. A chain bridge built over the Lehigh River in 1826 leads to LEHIGH GAP. Another state road from Allentown goes through CATASAUQUA; here, in 1914, was celebrated the seventy-fifth anniversary of the successful uniting of the state’s two chief resources, the use of ANTHRACITE COAL in the IRON FURNACES, by David Thomas from Wales. Coke has since replaced anthracite, but the furnaces and the general method are much as Thomas left them; these were the mother furnaces of the Bethlehem Steel Works, Cambria Iron Works, Thomas Iron Works at Hockendauqua, and the stupendous development of the iron trade in this country. A private art collection owned by D. G. Dery, Esq., comprises an important collection of paintings, statuary, bronzes, ivories, Chinese porcelains, and jades. Continue on state road through Mickley’s to EGYPT. Union Church, Lutheran and Reformed, founded, 1734, in log church; present brick building erected, 1785. Near by is Deshler’s Fort, built, 1760, and the Troxell-Steckel House, stone, built, 1756. A mile north is tablet, placed by Lehigh County Historical Society, marking place where occurred the last Indian massacre in this county, of three families in 1763.

XLVII

LEBANON COUNTY

Formed February 16, 1813; Scriptural name, from the cedar trees covering the range of mountains on northern boundary, “Cedars of Lebanon”; settled by Germans in the east, by the Scotch-Irish in the west. Leading industries, agriculture, iron, tobacco. Three solid hills of rich, magnetic iron ore have been worked for over 170 years, and still seem inexhaustible; they require no mining, simply to be quarried; down to the present these mines have produced more iron ore than any other single iron ore property in the United States. In 1737, Peter Grubb became sole owner of these ore hills; he built Hopewell forge on Hammer Creek, and the large blast furnace was named for Cornwall, his ancestral home in England. The property was inherited by his two sons, who were colonels in the Revolutionary War; cannon balls and stoves were cast here for the Continental Army. In 1798, Robert Coleman purchased five-sixths of these ore banks; they were near the old road between Harris Ferry and Philadelphia, known as the Berks and Dauphin Road. Later his grandsons, Robert and G. Dawson Coleman, built furnaces on the Union Canal, then the great means of transportation; by that time charcoal furnaces were going out.

The construction and operation of the Union Canal through this county, connecting the Schuylkill River at Reading with the Susquehanna at Middletown, was a

North Lebanon]

momentous event, with its tunnel 767 feet long, first in the United States. Extract: “Lebanon, June 15, 1827. Last Monday evening, June 11th, the citizens of this town and vicinity had the privilege of seeing the first boat, the _Alpha_ from Tulpehocken, come up the Union Canal and remain at North Lebanon for the night; the next morning it continued its journey westward and passed through the tunnel; this was the first boat to pass through a tract of ground upon which corn and potatoes were being grown.”

County seat, LEBANON, population 24,643, on the William Penn Highway; settled in 1750. Streets run north and south, east and west. Courthouse, at the corner of Eighth and Cumberland Streets, colonial, brick. United States post office, classic, with Doric columns. A historic inn, the St. Eitz, built in 1752, was occupied by George Washington. Hill Church, colonial, brick; in the yard is a monument to Rev. John Casper Stoever, first Lutheran minister in Lebanon County, in 1733. St. Luke’s Protestant Episcopal Church, Gothic, stone, built without a nail, has three memorial windows, “The Nativity,” by Lamb; others made in England; also fine collection of altar cloths, chasubles, and credence cloth made abroad, in filet, of fifteenth century design. Soldiers and sailors’ monument in Monument Park; tall, fluted column with Ionic capital. Lebanon Historical Society has collections of local interest. ANNVILLE is seat of Lebanon Valley College, founded by the United Brethren in 1865; a school of high grade under supervision of that church.

MT. GRETNA, a camp ground of 1000 or more acres, 1000 feet above sea level, was purchased by the state for mobilization of the state’s National Guard. It will accommodate 20,000 men, and has been used for this purpose since 1885. The War Department considers Mt. Gretna an ideal military camp, sanitary and well drained. SCHAEFFERSTOWN, one of the earliest and most historic places in this county, laid out in 1744, had the first waterworks system in the United States, in 1753. Franklin House built in 1750; in the cellar there is a remarkable series of carved arches; it served as a place of refuge from Indians. Fountain Hill Park is here. MYERSTOWN is the seat of Albright College. FREDERICKSBURG has the Lick Monument, erected, in 1881, by James Lick, in memory of his grandfather’s services at Valley Forge, and of John Lick, founder of Lick Observatory on Mount Hamilton, California.

XLVIII

UNION COUNTY

Formed March 22, 1813, named for the Union; chiefly agricultural, is divided by spurs of the Alleghenies, known as White Deer, Nittany, Buffalo, Paddy’s, and Jack’s mountains, into three valleys; the center, Buffalo Valley, is one of the garden spots in Pennsylvania, formerly home of many Amish and Dunkards, good farmers and citizens.

LEWISBURG, county seat, laid out in 1785; population 3204; named for Ludwig (Lewis) Doerr, who purchased the land from Richard Peters of Philadelphia. A rare specimen of conveyancing is deed, lot 51, in plan of Lewisburg, tracing title from the Creator, down through Adam and Eve, to one Flavel Roan, recorded at Sunbury, in deed book F, 1793. Finely located at mouth of Buffalo Creek, West Branch of the Susquehanna, on the great Indian path from Sunbury to Muncy, now main highway from Harrisburg to Williamsport, and on line of turnpikes leading from Erie through Waterford, Meadville, and Franklin to Susquehanna River. Seat of Bucknell University, incorporated in 1846, co-ed, with courses in arts, science, philosophy, and engineering; the Library and Museum have the Jeremiah Gernerd collection of Indian relics, open to the public; from the top of the astronomical observatory is a fine view. In Lewisburg Cemetery is the grave of Colonel John Kelly, distinguished in Indian warfare and the Revolution; he died in 1832; his

monument, with military emblems, was erected in 1835, sculptor, W. Hubbard; also the grave of Mary, widow of Captain John Brady, the great Indian fighter, who was massacred by Indians and buried near where he fell, in Lycoming County.

One mile west of Lewisburg, from the top of Smoketown Hill, is a fine view of Buffalo Valley across the Susquehanna to Muncy Hills and North Mountain. Historic places, site of Shikellimy’s old town, a wooded crest opposite Milton, four miles north of Lewisburg; he was chief of the Oneidas, and father of Logan the Mingo chief, place now called Oak Heights. DRIESBACH, five miles west of Lewisburg, German Reformed and Lutheran Church, first log building built, 1788, on site of present brick church; in burial ground is the grave and monument to Samuel Maclay, born, 1741, brother of William Maclay; inscription, “Samuel Maclay, United States Senator 1803-09, Surveyor, Farmer, Soldier, Legislator, Statesman. Erected by State of Pennsylvania, 1908.” Buffalo X Roads, Presbyterian Church, first built, 1775, present brick building about 1846.

MIFFLINBURG, the neatest town you ever saw, with uniform curbing and walks, population 1744, in heart of Buffalo Valley (named for Governor Mifflin); ten miles west of Lewisburg, laid out 1792, by Elias Youngman. NEW BERLIN, laid out, 1792, by George Long, delightfully situated on north bank of Penn’s Creek; first county seat; at one time home of Union Seminary, Central Pennsylvania College.

XLIX

COLUMBIA COUNTY

Formed March 22, 1813, name explains itself: is in Appalachian Mountain belt; surface quite broken, with wonderfully beautiful drives. The Catawissa Railroad, noted for its remarkable trestle bridges, first one at Mainville, runs through this county, crossing the Susquehanna River at Rupert. Arable land, mostly red shale and limestone, with deposits of iron ore at Bloomsburg, and the anthracite coal basin at Centralia. Chief industries, manufacturing; the carpet mill here is said to be the second largest in the United States. Earliest historical bands of Indians, in this county, were the Shawnees and Delawares, vassals to the Six Nations; Wyoming Path, their route of travel for hunting or war, left Muncy on the West Branch, ran up Glade Run, through a gap to Fishing Creek and on to Luzerne County, through Nescopec Gap, and up North Branch to Wyoming.

BLOOMSBURG, population 7819, laid out in 1802 by Ludwig Eyre, on a bluff on Fishing Creek, became county seat in 1846. In 1772, the Shawnee Indians had a village between the mouth of the creek and the town. James McClure located his farm near the same point in 1781; a fort was erected there, built by Major Moses VanCampen, now marked, from which he led scouting parties. In 1779, VanCampen, as quartermaster, accompanied General Sullivan’s expedition against Indian towns on the Genessee. There is much discussion here about city planning. The town lies due north and south, named streets; east and west numbered; Second Street being the main street, and also forms part of state highway leading from Harrisburg to Wilkes-Barre. Courthouse on Main Street, Renaissance; contains, it is said, “a very beautiful piece of tapestry.” Jail, stone, feudal architecture. Soldiers and Sailors’ Monument at the intersection of Main and Market Streets, erected in 1908.

The Methodist Church, Gothic, stone, has a Tiffany window, “Christ Blessing Little Children”; other churches that may be mentioned for architecture are St. Paul’s Protestant Episcopal and First Presbyterian, both Gothic; St. Matthew’s, Evangelical Lutheran, Trinity Reformed, and St. Columba’s Roman Catholic, colonial. In 1869, this was made the educational center of northeast Pennsylvania, with the State Normal School, corner-stone laid by Governor Geary in 1868. Normal auditorium, colonial; and other extensive buildings. CATAWISSA, originally a Quaker settlement; scenery fine and picturesque; was laid out in 1787 by William Hughes from Berks County; has an old Friends’ meeting house. John Hanch was one of the first to build an iron furnace here on the Catawissa in 1816; earlier the Piscatawese or Gangawese (Kenhawas) had wigwams here. Fort Jenkins, near mouth of Briar Creek, on the Susquehanna, was attacked and burned by Indians, 1779-80; a house is now on the site of the fort. BERWICK was settled by Evan Owen in 1783. Here in 1826 the steamboat _Susquehanna_ blew up while ascending the Nescopec Falls. Also ground was broken here for the North Branch Canal.

L

PIKE COUNTY

Formed March 26, 1814, named for General Zebulon Pike, killed in Canada, 1813. When the chronicler takes up his pen to write of the glories of Pike County in works of art, architecture, and monuments to the departed “Great,” in peace or war, he is somewhat appalled at the dearth of them; the landmarks are what God made, softened and beautified by time.

MILFORD, county seat, population 768, was laid out by John Biddis, 1793, in squares, after pattern of Philadelphia; it rests high above the Delaware River, overlooking a valley of myriad hues that have made the town notable for its quaint, umbrageous beauty and repose. Pioneer settlers were substantial people whose descendants still reside here. It is a popular resort for trout fishing in the spring, vacationists in the summer, and for deer and bird hunting in the fall. Courthouse, brick, French design, built in 1873, in center of town, facing the public square; two mortars from the Civil War are in the front lawn; opposite is the jail, built in 1815 as courthouse and jail, made of native boulders carefully selected for shades and tints; some are opalescent and show brilliantly in certain lights; a wooden trout, five foot long, pointing the way of the wind, is as old as the building.

Forestry building, probably handsomest village structure of its kind in the United States, erected in 1900 by the late James Wallace Pinchot, Normandy

design; native stone; architects, Hunt & Hunt; in niches are busts of Washington and Franklin; mortised in alternately are bas-reliefs of F. A. Michaux, 1746-1802, author of “Flora Boreali Americana”; General Lafayette in 1777; and Bernard Palissy, 1506-89, potter, and writer on botany and forestry; sculptor, J. F. Weir. The Homestead Library, formerly home of Cyrille Pinchot, pure colonial, is in center of town; to the rear is Normandie Cottage, an architectural gem, replica of a peasant’s home cottage.

Gray Towers, the Pinchot estate, native stone, reproduction of a baronial castle in the Scottish Highlands, crowns the hill about 1000 feet above Milford; the old Scotch garden, with high stone wall, is of rare beauty; Yale School of Forestry is on the Pinchot estate, within echo of the Sawkill Falls. Monument to Tom Quick, the avenger of the Delaware, is on his birthplace; he killed ninety-nine Indians to avenge the death of his father, who was the first settler in Milford, in 1733. The principal denominations are represented in the churches. Old inns are, the Crissman House, built, 1810; the Sawkill House, 1823, southern colonial; the Dimmick House, 1828, Horace Greeley stopped here in 1840 and later; one of his fondest hopes was the coöperative, community of interest settlement, known as the “Sylvania Society,” which he, with others, organized in 1842 at Greeley; founded on the “Sacredness of toil,” but the young men, sons of affluent parents, who had been sent there by New Yorkers who bought stock, did not know how to work, nor did they wish to learn, and so they deserted.

The Bluff House on the banks of the Delaware, built, 1876, commands a fine view; lawn of Milford Inn is planted with rare shrubs and trees from all parts of the world; the Hermitage has three unique bronze sundials, sculptor, Louis F. Ragot; the one depicting Father Time with upraised reaper, is beautiful. The Hermit’s Glen, so a legend goes, is where an old French hermit of profound knowledge and benevolence found the water of life after a world-wide search; these waters now flow into the lake through two bronze masques; two cement giants hold up the dam that feeds the lake. Wells Glen lies along the Sawkill Brook; rhododendrons, wood flowers, and giant hemlocks make it beautiful. Childs Park, back of DINGMAN’S FERRY, given in perpetuity for use of the public by Mrs. G. W. Childs, is a rugged mountain stretch, woodland and meadow; cataracts and deep pools are in the trout stream that comes through it.

BUSHKILL, another haunt for nature lovers, and SHOHOLA, all remarkable for beautiful falls, glens, caves. In writing of the Delaware Valley, Edmund Clarence Stedman says: “But here there is no swooning of the languid air, and no seeming always afternoon; it is a morning land with every cliff facing the rising sun; the mist and languor are in the grain fields far below; the hills themselves are of the richest, darkest green; the skies are blue and fiery; the air crisp, oxygenated, American; it is no place for lotus eating, but for drinking water of the fountain of youth, till one feels the zest and thrill of a new life that is not unrestful, yet as far as may be from the lethargy of mere repose.” Among the artists who have painted here are, William M. Chase, J. Alden Weir, Swayne Gifford, Carroll Beckwith, Henry Satterlee, Charles C. Curran, W. A. Rogers, and Benjamin Constant, France.

LI

PERRY COUNTY

Formed March 12, 1820; named for Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry; lying between the Tuscarora and the Blue Mountains, it abounds in beautiful scenery, low hills, rich valleys, and abundant streams. Chief industry, agriculture.

NEW BLOOMFIELD, county seat, settled in 1820; streets run due east and west, north and south. Courthouse faces the center square; colonial with cupola, brick; built in 1868; fireproof annex, built, 1892. Soldiers’ Monument in the square, memorial to soldiers and sailors of Perry County. Among the good church buildings may be noted the Methodist; architect, M. A. Kast, Harrisburg. SHERMANSDALE was in 1720 an Indian village. At MARYSVILLE a long stone arch bridge on the Pennsylvania Railroad line crosses over the Susquehanna River from Rockville, Dauphin County. The Marysville Civic Club has done much for the improvement of the town, and has beautified the town square and schoolyard.

Beyond DUNCANNON, where an immense traffic in coal and iron is carried on, one goes through the valley of the beautiful Juniata; the scenery along this river, as one crosses ridge after ridge of the Alleghenies is most picturesque, and the region traversed is full of historical reminiscences of the struggles of the early Scotch-Irish colonists with the Indians, and of the enterprise of David Brainard and other missionaries. At MILLERSTOWN one threads the Tuscarora Gap, where the railway, river, road, and canal squeeze their way through a narrow defile; this lay in the land of the Tuscarora Indians.

JUNIATA COUNTY

LII

Formed March 2, 1831; name, from the Juniata River, was given by the original people who lived in this region, and who were obliterated by the Iroquois; root of word means “a stone.” “Standing Stone” may be regarded as translation of “Onojutta-Haga” or the Juniata people. A mountainous country with many fertile valleys, situated between the Tuscarora and Blue Ridge Mountains, famous for its scenery, with the blue Juniata making a wide sweep. The old Pennsylvania canal followed its banks throughout its whole course. First settlers were mostly Scotch-Irish.

The old homestead of Francis Innis, one and a half stories, stone, east of McCoysville, is still in possession of descendants, now used as a spring house; his two children, captured by the Indians, were recovered among those delivered to Colonel Bouquet in 1764. Another old landmark, eight miles away, is the D. B. Esh house, on east Waterford Road, built by Mr. Graham in 1802; has an open stairway carved by hand. First road laid out in 1768, was from Sherman’s Valley to Kishecoquelas Valley. The historic road between Harrisburg and Pittsburgh, through the famous Jack’s Narrows, over which stage coaches traveled, is now part of the William Penn Highway. Sites of Forts Bingham and Patterson will soon be marked by the General Thomas Mifflin Chapter,

Daughters of the American Revolution. Chief industries, agriculture and manufactories.

MIFFLINTOWN, county seat, population 1083, joined with its twin borough, MIFFLIN, on Pennsylvania Railroad main line, by bridge over the Juniata, was laid out in 1791 by John Harris, and named in honor of the governor of the state, General Mifflin. Courthouse in center of town on Main Street, built, 1874, brick, Georgian, with Ionic porch and cupola; in the yard is a monument, surmounted by a spread eagle, to Civil War soldiers from Juniata County, erected in 1870. The churches are of good architecture, and the graded high school is said to be the best between Harrisburg and Huntingdon.

LIII

MONROE COUNTY

Formed April 1, 1836; named in honor of President James Monroe. The Pocono Mountains and long, fertile valleys cover the surface. Chief industries, farming, lumber, and manufacturing. In the southeast, where the Delaware River turns suddenly at Mount Kittatinny, towering 1600 feet above it, is the Delaware Water Gap, with views of great distance from the highest point; near are the Wind Gap and Smith’s Gap; William Penn’s famous Walking Land Purchase ended near here. The Milford Road, laid out about 1800, from Easton, leaves Delaware River at Water Gap village, thence four miles to Stroudsburg, then to Bushkill and beyond.

STROUDSBURG, county seat; population 5278; first settled by Jacob Stroud, laid out at right angles, with a liberal plan of broad avenues, and houses set back thirty feet from the sidewalk, resembles a New England village. Courthouse, built, 1890, of rough stone, with high chimneys and belfry, contains portraits of judges; with jail and county house forms group facing the public square. Churches are of all principal denominations. The National Bank and other buildings are chiefly by Lacy & Son, architects. A fine stone and iron bridge, built by the state, over Broadhead Creek, connects the two boroughs of Stroudsburg and East Stroudsburg; it replaced a wooden one, over one hundred years old, carried away by the freshet in 1862. In 1755, Indians crossed over the old bridge, burned Dansbury Mission and other buildings, leaving Stroudsburg without a house or resident. Ephraim Collver, who had a grist mill there, escaped with his family to the Moravians at Bethlehem.

About 1756, a line of forts were erected to protect the frontier settlements; sites are unmarked; Fort Norris at Greensweigo, Eldred Township, on road toward the Minisinks, eighty feet square, was completely stockaded. Fort Hyndshaw, at the mouth of Bushkill Creek, was built for the Revolutionary War. Fort Hamilton was built in 1757, some one hundred feet beyond the Lutheran Church in western part of the town. Fort Penn, center of town, was residence of Jacob Stroud, who died in 1806; here in 1778, he cared for thirty or more persons, fugitives from the Wyoming massacre, who crossed the Pocono plateau with great toil and distress, later proceeding to their former homes in Connecticut. At Locust Ridge in Wyoming Valley, a battle was fought called the Pennamite War, between Connecticut claimants and Pennsylvanians. General Sullivan and his troops, in 1779, laid out a road through this county, from Wind Gap to Stoddartsville, Wilkes-Barre, and on, continuing an expedition from Easton to Genessee Valley, against the Indians; it may still be traced almost the entire way. General Daniel Brodhead and most of his male relatives from Monroe County, were in the Revolutionary War.

Monroe County was a portion of the lands of the Minisinks; there were several Indian villages; the Delaware chief, Tedyuscung, born on the Pocono Mountains, resided here. It is said that the first white settlement in Pennsylvania was at Shawnee, by the Low Dutch or Hollanders, in “Meenesink,” many years before William Penn’s charter. When Nicholas Scull surveyed the land for the province, Samuel Depui was here; he purchased land in 1727 from the Minsi Indians, now site of Shawnee, an attractive village, five miles east of Stroudsburg; and the same property later from William Allen, 1733, for whom the oldest survey in the county was made.

LIV

CLARION COUNTY

Formed March 11, 1839; named from Clarion River. The scenery is beautiful and diversified; at the highest point, over 1600 feet above sea level, a flagstaff has been erected; from here, on a clear day, may be seen the bridge at East Brady and four villages in the far distance. Hills and valleys are dotted here and there with oil and gas wells. There are beautiful views along the Clarion and Allegheny rivers and Redbank Creek; the scenery at East Brady is notable on account of the precipitous hills and winding streams. First white settler was Captain Samuel Brady of Revolutionary fame; his parents having been killed by Indians, he swore vengeance against them. He conducted an expedition in 1779 under General Brodhead, who had started with a large force from Fort Pitt. The Indians had become troublesome along the Allegheny River; Brady, in advance with scouts, discovered them on a flat rock at a place which is now East Brady; he took possession of a narrow pass, and when the Indians arrived, he opened fire, with the main army in the rear; escape was impossible, and nearly all were killed or taken prisoners.

In early days this region was called “The Iron City,” on account of its many furnaces; forty were in operation at one time, they are now cinders and banks of earth. The oil production in this county has been wonderful; 5000 oil wells were drilled in Clarion after 1870, and there is still much wealth in it; other industries are gas, coal, and agriculture. Two long tunnels are at Madison Furnace on the railroad between Clarion and Franklin; it is said there are but two longer ones in the world. The first bridge was built across Clarion River in 1834. The present one, which is of fine construction, is the third.

CLARION, population, 2,793, made county seat in 1840; is finely located on a hill 1500 feet above sea level, on the Bellefonte and Meadville Turnpike. Public buildings face the park; Courthouse, third reconstruction, completed in 1882, Georgian; architect, Mr. Betts; contains portraits of judges. Jail, Norman architecture, stone with brick front, was built in 1874. Connected with the State Normal School is a stone chapel containing busts of Abraham Lincoln and Henry W. Longfellow; also Navaree Hall, Spanish architecture, stone, brick, and concrete; architects, Allison & Allison, Pittsburgh.

Among the six churches are the Methodist and Presbyterian, stone, Roman architecture. The Woman’s Club has accomplished much for civic improvement, changing the cemetery from an unsightly spot to a place of beauty, planting the park with shrubbery and flower beds, and starting a free public library; in the park is a monument to Civil War soldiers. At FOXBURG is a fine free, memorial library; colonial; native sandstone; architect, Arthur H. Brockie, Philadelphia. In the “Memorial Church of Our Father,” native sandstone; architect, James Sims, Philadelphia; is a painting by Edwin Howland Blashfield, “The Angel of the Resurrection.”

LV

CLINTON COUNTY

Formed June 21, 1839; named for DeWitt Clinton. Has superb scenic beauty; lofty mountains, rolling hills, and highly productive valleys border the West Branch of the Susquehanna River. About one-fourth is State Forest Reserve of mountainous wilderness, where large and small game, trout, and other fish abound. Chief industries are in vast deposit of commercial clay, from which is made fire, building and paving brick, tile sewer pipe, and concrete blocks; and a large chemical plant, very important in war chemicals; agriculture, including tobacco growing; several creameries and a large milk condensery.

LOCK HAVEN, with advance road signs, county seat; population 8559. Through the efforts of the city government, Board of Trade, and Women’s Civic Club, John Nolen, of Cambridge, Massachusetts, was engaged to prepare a formal “City Plan” for the future growth and development of the city. This plan includes no radical changes or extravagant improvements, but conforms to the requirements of a small community. Embraces simple, but definite plans for the esthetic improvement of the fronts of the Susquehanna and Bald Eagle Rivers, between which Lock Haven is situated. The proper location and grouping of future public buildings, with a civic center at Monument Place, the intersection of the two main thoroughfares.

River front of Lock Haven]

The installation of modern street lighting systems with underground wires. And the gradual improvements in store fronts and business places.

It calls for the establishment of drives, playgrounds, and parks; the acquiring of a woodland reservation, adjoining Highland Cemetery, at the edge of the town, for a public park; and purchase of an outlying mountain top for future recreation. Much of the plan has been carried out. A unique and beautiful parkway has been made by utilizing the abandoned basin of the old canal, which cut through the heart of Lock Haven; it had become a dump heap, but under the Nolen plan was filled, and has blossomed into one of the show places of the city, with flower beds, lawn, trees, and special landscape garden effect at each end. The river front has been made into a park, at entrance to the bridge, over the Susquehanna, a modern structure built by the state, which replaced a picturesque, covered bridge built, 1855, about 800 feet long; it includes the old toll house, pronounced by Mr. Nolen a valuable asset for the city. A smaller, quaint, old covered wood bridge, same period, about four miles from Lock Haven, spans Bald Eagle stream, on Bald Eagle Valley Road; near is the Clinton “Country Club” house, artistically built of cobblestones, architect, Lester Kintzing, New York.

The Courthouse, red brick and brownstone, surmounted by two dome-shaped towers, built in 1869, on site of an earlier one built, 1842, is on Water Street facing the river. On the river front is a stone marker, inscription, “Located in the stockade of Fort Reed, built, 1775, for defense against the Indians.” On the river road, leading to Williamsport, near McElhattan, is site of Fort Horn, stone marker, both placed by the Hugh White Chapter, D. A. R., to mark the last two, of the trail of stockade fortifications, built along the river in defense of the pioneer settlers. Where Lock Haven stands was original site of several Indian villages; burial places; and marked one of their great thoroughfares from the north to the coast. Granite monument to 1938 soldiers of Clinton County in the Civil War is in center of city.

St. Paul’s Protestant Episcopal Church, stone, Gothic, with spire, built, 1852, on Main Street, has memorial windows by Tiffany and Lamb, New York, and chancel window from England. The Immaculate Conception, Roman Catholic Church, built, 1905, and rectory, 1915, Gothic, with two towers, Hummelstone brownstone, architect, J. A. Dempwolf, York, Pa., corner of Water and Third Streets, is on site of an earlier church, built in 1857, dedicated by Rev. John C. Gilligan, pioneer missionary. Central State Normal School, on ground given by Philip Price of Philadelphia, founded, 1871, includes twelve buildings, on thirty-two acres of land, commanding extended view; the main building was erected in 1890, architect, A. S. Wagner, Williamsport; art course includes the theory and practice of teaching art; industrial art and lectures on art history; reproductions of paintings, and European architecture, also replicas of sculpture, are placed about the buildings.

Ross Memorial Free Library, on Main Street, opened, 1910, further endowed by the late Wilson Kistler, sends traveling libraries to rural schools; contains painting by E. H. Shearer, “Ole Bull’s Castle in Potter Co.”; a noteworthy collection of North American Indian relics, 10,000 pieces, owned by Dr. T. B. Stewart, has been offered as a loan to this library, the collection is especially rich in local relics of domestic life and implements of war. “The Fallon House,” built in 1855, still in excellent condition, is said to have been built with funds of Queen Isabella II, of Spain, who invested largely of her private fortune in Pennsylvania, for a retreat in case of revolution. In Highland Cemetery is an exact reproduction of the St. Martin’s Cross, 16 feet 8 inches high, on the Island of Iona, off the coast of Scotland, erected in 1914, in memory of Samuel Richard Peale.

LVI

WYOMING COUNTY

Formed April 4, 1842; named from the Wyoming tribe of Indians who occupied the land when the white settlers came; name signifies extensive flats.

Lies in the northern opening of the wonderful Wyoming Valley, celebrated for its fertility and beauty; surface diversified by numerous spurs of the Appalachian system, which tower into lofty peaks; Mount Solecca, 1000 feet above the river; Mount Chodano, nearly opposite, about the same height; Mount Metchasaung, still higher, at La Grange. Several lakes are well stocked with fish; the largest, Lake Cary, three miles long, one mile wide, is surrounded by lofty pines and hemlocks. Glen Moneypenny, six miles below Tunkhannock, is a wildly picturesque location; many such are to be found among the mountains of this country.

This beautiful setting was the scene of Indian plottings that culminated in the Wyoming Massacre in 1778 (see Luzerne County). The following year General Sullivan’s army passed through this region, on march to subdue the Six Nations, and encamped on the shore of the Susquehanna River at Tunkhannock, where the tannery now stands. Forty years ago passenger pigeons were so plentiful that when they flew across a town in dense flocks, they obscured the sun; one colony occupied a strip of woodland in Wyoming County, seven miles long by three miles wide; Alexander Wilson wrote of counting ninety nests in a single tree. Chief industries, agriculture and manufacturing.

TUNKHANNOCK, county seat; population 1736, first called Putnam, after General Israel Putnam of Revolutionary War; settled, 1790; was incorporated 1841. Lies due north and south, east and west. Courthouse on Courthouse Square has two marble tablets in the corridor, with names of Revolutionary War soldiers buried within the limits of Wyoming County, placed by Tunkhannock Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution. The Soldiers’ Monument is on the same grounds. Among the churches of different denominations, the Methodist may be mentioned for Gothic architecture. At FACTORYVILLE is the Keystone Academy. Crossing Tunkhannock Creek, near Nicholson, is the Tunkhannock Viaduct, said to be the largest concrete bridge in the world, 2375 feet long, 240 feet high, above water level; height from bedrock 300 feet; carries the double tracks of the main line of the Lackawanna Railroad from mountain to mountain across the valley.

LVII

CARBON COUNTY

Formed March 13, 1843; named for its coal deposits; coal was first discovered by Philip Ginter in 1791, on top of Sharp Mountain, now town of Summit Hill, nine miles southwest of Mauch Chunk. In 1818 the Lehigh Navigation Company and the Lehigh Coal Company were formed; under skilful management the almost insuperable obstacles in the way of transportation were overcome; boats 18 feet wide by 25 feet long, two or more hinged together, were floated by artificial freshets on the Lehigh; owing to the great fall in the river and consequent rapidity of its motion, dams were constructed near Mauch Chunk, with sluice gates, invented by Josiah White, a manager of the Navigation Company; they were the first on record used permanently; Lehigh coal is the hardest known anthracite in the world. Other mineral productions are iron, slate, and mineral paint. Wire rope was first invented in Mauch Chunk.

The first settlers were Moravian missionaries who, in 1746, purchased 200 acres on the north side of Mahoning Creek above its mouth, for converted Mohican Indians; each Indian family possessed their own lot of ground and Gnadenhütten became a town; the church stood in the valley, with the Indian houses forming a crescent on one side, on the other side was the missionary’s house and burial ground. The road to Wyoming lay through the settlement, being the

famous Warrior’s Path over Nescopec Mountain. In August all partook of their own first fruits in a love feast. Christian Ranch and Martin Mack were the first missionaries residing here; several parts of Scripture had been translated into the Mohican language; the Holy Communion was administered every month, the Indians calling that “The Great Day.” In 1749 Bishop (Baron) John de Watterville went to Gnadenhütten and laid the foundation of a large church; Indian congregation 500 persons. After Braddock’s defeat in 1755 the whole frontier was open to the savage foe; suddenly in 1757, the mission house on the Mahoning was attacked and burnt by French and Indians, and many inhabitants were murdered; a broad marble slab, placed there in 1788, near LEHIGHTON, marks the grave of those massacred.

In 1756 Benjamin Franklin was authorized by the Provincial Government to erect forts on the Lehigh; one opposite Gnadenhütten was named Fort Allen, for William Allen, the Chief Justice. At WEISSPORT, in the rear of the “Fort Allen House” may be seen the well dug under Franklin’s supervision; it was within the inclosure of the fort and supplied the soldiers with water. Weissport was settled by Colonel Jacob Weiss, Quartermaster General in the Revolutionary Army, on site of Fort Allen. Municipal parks are at Lehighton and Weissport, given by Jacob Weiss. Also at Lehighton is All Saints’ Chapel, early English Gothic.

In 1780 Andrew Montour, leader of an Indian party, captured the Gilbert family, twelve persons, and took them over Mauch Chunk and Broad Mountains into the Nescopec path, across Quakake Creek to Mahoning Mountain and over wild and rugged country to Canada; eventually they were all redeemed at Montreal, in 1782, and returned to Byberry. A view of great scenic beauty is from Prospect Rock, over the Nescopec Valley; Cloud Point, frequently covered by vapor, may be seen; near is Glen Thomas with a picturesque Amber Cascade, named for David Thomas, pioneer in the iron trade. GLEN ONOKO, two miles above Mauch Chunk, with its wild beauty, total ascent over 900 feet, forms the channel for the clear stream which flows over innumerable cascades to the Lehigh; the most noticeable are “Chameleon Falls,” fifty feet high, and “Onoko Falls,” ninety feet high, with overhanging rocks, covered with moss and ferns.

MAUCH CHUNK, county seat, population 3666; Indian name means Bear Mountain; first settled in 1815; has one principal street, following the tortuous course of Mauch Chunk Creek as it winds through a narrow gorge between three high, steep, and rocky mountains, averaging 850 feet above the town. The important buildings are directly on this street. Courthouse, Norman, brownstone, quarried at Rockport, Carbon County; built in 1894. Jail, where some of the Molly Maguires were executed. The Dimmick Memorial Library, built in 1890, brick. Churches here and in East Mauch Chunk are unusually handsome. St. Mark’s Protestant Episcopal, Gothic, stone, has memorial windows by J. & R. Lamb; the reredos is very beautiful. First Presbyterian, colonial, brick, has a memorial window by John LaFarge, and one by Tiffany. The Immaculate Conception, Roman

This church is built on solid rock]

Catholic, also has fine stained-glass windows. St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal is the oldest church in the town.

The Woman’s Clubs are seeking to improve conditions, sanitary and scenic; to widen the life of the town and in every way make it more in unison with its natural surroundings. In the limited space of the narrow valley, land is too precious to be used except for buildings, but the hills are so magnificent that they look to them for the necessary beauty; Flagstaff Park has natural effect. The first railroad in Carbon County and one of the oldest in the United States, is the famous SWITCHBACK, a gravity road, extending from Mauch Chunk to SUMMIT HILL, opened in 1832, for bringing coal from the mines to the canal; used now only for pleasure; a double track is laid to the summit of Mount Pisgah, 2322 feet distant from the foot, at an angle of twenty degrees, with elevation about 900 feet above the river. Scene from the top is superb, with a succession of mountain ridges rising, range after range, with distant view of Lehigh Water Gap, and farther to Schooley’s Mountain in New Jersey. The principal attraction at Summit Hill is the burning mine, discovered to be on fire in 1859. General Craig of Revolutionary fame resided here.

LVIII

ELK COUNTY

Formed April 18, 1843; possesses everywhere great scenic beauty; a large herd of elk, last-known herd of the Black Forest, still existed, for which the county was named; the last elk was killed in 1857. The Black Forest formerly covered a vast area of northwest Pennsylvania, the deep green of the hemlock giving a mystery of blackness; here many varieties of large and small animals abounded. Climate and geological formation differ from surrounding counties in ratio of altitude; the growing season is usually two or three weeks later on account of late frosts; agriculture is now chief industry. Bituminous coal was discovered by “Blind Mike” on Priest’s Land at St. Mary’s in 1853, and is continuously worked. Natural gas, oil, high-grade clays, and shale are other mineral resources. Jimanandy Park, 3600 acres of almost virgin forest, stocked with deer; through which a trout run flows, is the property of heirs of Senator James K. P. Hall, and Honorable Andrew Kaul; permission to inspect the park may be obtained at office of J. R. P. Hall at St. Mary’s.

RIDGWAY, county seat, laid out in 1843 and named for Jacob Ridgway, Philadelphia, who was United States Consul at Antwerp; population 6037. Courthouse, center of town, built in 1872, brick, with clock tower, surmounted by a large statue of Justice; stands in a well-kept park with jail in the rear. Main Street, very wide, paved with brick, has many fine residences. Forest Lawn Cemetery contains the Hall and Hyde family mausoleums and a large community mausoleum built in 1912. ST. MARY’S, ten miles from Ridgway, along the state road through beautiful scenery, is largest town in the county, population 6967; known as the Summit City, on a high plateau, altitude 1660 to 1950 feet. Has wide streets paved with brick, and is surrounded by a fertile farming country. The Charles A. Luke Memorial Park, four acres, acquired by gift in 1873 for the public, was laid out by George C. Miller, landscape gardener of Boston, Massachusetts, in 1914, through St. Mary’s Village Association.

St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, oldest and largest in the county, built in the fifties by the German Catholic colonists, from plans made by the late Ignatius Garner, native undressed sandstone, recently dressed with cement, spoiling its rusticity. In St. Mary’s Cemetery are buried Baron Van Essel and many war veterans. Large German Benedictine College and Convent conducted by the Sisters of St. Benedict, established, 1862, is one of the three schools in America which teach the Della Sade system of voice culture, introduced by the venerable Sister Marie who learned the system of the great Italian master. In the Convent is said to be an original Van Dyke painting. Sacred Heart Church, native sandstone, Gothic. The Shiloh Presbyterian Church is an ecclesiastical building of native sandstone. At St. Mary’s and Kersey Road is a small chapel, wood, old German design, built in 1870 by the late George Decker, in fulfillment of a vow; prayer service is held here at stated times.