Part 24

The most beautiful auto ride through the county is from Montrose to SUSQUEHANNA, incorporated in 1853, called the City of Stairs; Erie Railroad shops are here, the buildings, covering eight acres, include a Library and Lecture Hall. Martin’s Creek Viaduct, 1600 feet long with eleven spans, on the Lackawanna Railroad, is said to be, next to the Tunkhannock Viaduct on same road, the largest concrete bridge in the world; this road is known as the shortest route between New York and Buffalo; owing to its high elevation through this county, the views are of extraordinary

[Illustration: SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY]

beauty. Earliest white settlement was at Great Bend; General James Clinton, with 1600 men, encamped here in 1799, _en route_ to join General Sullivan at Chemung against the Indians. Chief industry, agriculture and butter making.

MONTROSE, population 1661; made county seat in 1811, first settled by Stephen Wilson of Vermont in 1799, is a notable health resort because of its altitude; it was developed through the liberality of Dr. R. H. Rose and Isaac Post, the latter was first postmaster in 1808. Dr. Rose purchased 100,000 acres in 1807, partly in Silver Lake Township, and developed the resources of the county. Public buildings face the square, in which is the monument to Civil War soldiers. Courthouse, a fine structure, colonial architecture, built in 1842, contains a portrait of Honorable Galusha A. Grow, who was sent to Congress from this county. The conference building seats 3000; here The Bible Institute is held each summer. At SPRINGVILLE was farm of Zophar Blakeslee, whose daughter, Sarah, was married to Honorable Asa Packer. BROOKLYN was early residence of George Catlin, who became noted as a painter of Indians. JACKSON started as a beaver meadow. When THOMSON was first settled, in 1820, an unbroken forest of beech wood stretched eastward for fifty miles.

[Illustration: BRADFORD COUNTY]

XLIV

BRADFORD COUNTY

Formed February 21, 1810, as Ontario; on March 24, 1812, named in honor of William Bradford, an attorney general in the cabinet of Washington; surface hilly or rolling. Chief industries are dairying and breeding of fine cattle and thoroughbred horses. Said to be first place on record visited by a white man in Pennsylvania; in 1615 Stephen Bruhle, explorer and interpreter for Samuel Champlain, with twelve Huron Indians, came to Carouantian, a palisaded village of the Carouantiannais, on Spanish Hill, just above present towns of Sayre and Athens; he found here 800 warriors, 500 of whom went with him to aid Champlain against the Onondaga stronghold in New York. Bruhle returned to Carouantian, remained during the winter of 1615-16, and explored the Susquehanna River to the sea, making report to Champlain.

First road was the great Indian warpath along the Susquehanna, used by General Sullivan and his Continental Army in expedition against the Indians in 1779; the state road, from Wilkes-Barre, up the river, through Wyoming and Bradford counties, is substantially on this old trail; historic places along the road are well marked, a monument thirteen feet high, native stone, from Campbell’s Ledge above Pittston; erected by the Moravian Historical Society in 1871 near Wyalusing, marks location of the Moravian mission, inscription, “To mark site of Friedenshutten (Machwilusing), a settlement of Moravian Indians between 1765-1772”; this mission was removed to Beaver County in 1772. Farther west, near the Presbyterian church, is a large boulder with bronze tablet, inscription, “Near this site from August 5-8, 1779, camped the army of Maj. Gen’l Sullivan, on their expedition against the Six Nations, erected by Machwilusing Chapter, D. A. R. 1914”; this road after leaving Wyalusing, leads over the hill a distance from the river, to which it returns again at Rummerfield, near where Mrs. Roswell Franklin was killed by Indians; her family was rescued.

Farther up the river is the county’s oldest historic landmark on west bank of the Susquehanna, “Standing Stone,” 25 feet high, 21 feet at base, tapers from 4 to 3 feet in thickness, rising out of the water; a landmark even in early Indian history; plainly visible from the road; General Sullivan’s army of 3500 men camped on the plain opposite; three miles east of Towanda is Wysox village and creek, in front of an old brick church is where Major Henry van Campen, with two other captives, succeeded in releasing themselves, under guard by twice their number of Indians, killing all except one. Near is a large boulder of Barclay sandstone, with bronze tablet; inscription: “This stone commemorates the passing through Wesauking, Aug. 9 and Oct. 4, 1779, of Maj. Gen’l John Sullivan and his troops against the Six Nations. Erected, 1908, by the George Clymer Chapter, D. A. R., Towanda, Pennsylvania”; on the level plain between this creek and the river General Sullivan’s army camped.

From Wysox the road diverges west from the old trail, continues over a modern steel bridge, built in 1915, replacing an old covered wooden one made in 1834, to Towanda. Eight miles northwest is Ulster; passing on the way: near mouth of Sugar Creek is site of an important palisaded Indian village called “Ogehage,” later “Oscalui,” still later, in 1779, “Newtychanning,” marked; at junction of this great warpath along the Susquehanna, with one leading from this point to head waters of Towanda Creek near Canton; thence to head waters of Lycoming Creek, down that stream to West Branch of the Susquehanna near Williamsport. At Ulster (old Sheshequin) was a Moravian mission, removed at time of migration to Beaver in 1772; a steel bridge crosses the river here. Next is Milan village, near which was Indian Queen Esther’s Town, destroyed by Colonel Hartley in 1778.

Proceeding on General Sullivan’s road, one crosses the Chemung (Tioga) River on a modern steel bridge and enters Athens, formerly Tioga Point; here was Fort Sullivan, base of supplies for the army; destroyed by themselves in October, 1779, on their departure for Wyoming; marked by boulder with bronze tablet, inscription: “In Sullivan’s expedition, the march that destroyed savagery and opened the Keystone and Empire States to civilization, four brigades, furnished by the States of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and New Hampshire, with Proctor’s Artillery, and Farr’s Riflemen took part; at Tioga Point, long the southern door of the Indian Confederacy, 5000 troops encamped; here stood Fort Sullivan, with four blockhouses, from August 11 to October 3, 1779; tablet erected by Tioga Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.” Below the plate is embedded a ball from one of General Sullivan’s guns; the road separates here, one following the Susquehanna to Owego, the other following the Chemung to Elmira (Newtown), New York; near the latter road is the “Battlefield of Newtown,” where General Sullivan fought the Tories and Indians in 1779.

A soldiers’ monument is on the campus in front of the old ATHENS Academy, designed by McKim, Mead & White, New York; ground foundation twenty-five feet square, inclosed in granite curbing with polished globes at each corner; pedestal, eleven feet high, rising from the center, polished granite, on unpolished granite coping, surmounted by a bronze group, “The Protection of the Flag,” a barefoot drummer boy with a flag over his shoulder and a tall, fearless soldier, holding a musket which points to the ground, sculptor, George T. Brewster; inscription, in bronze letters, fitted to the face of the granite: “_Pro patria et gloria_. Erected to the memory of our soldiers who fought in defense of the flag”; presented by Joseph Whipple and Charlotte Snell Stickler. Spaulding Library and Museum, classic Renaissance with Ionic porch, open to the public, contains paintings, portraits, and relics. In 1688 a Spanish fort was near the present borough of Athens; population 4384.

TOWANDA, county seat, laid out in 1812; population 4269; courthouse native sandstone, classic Renaissance, built in 1897; in front is the soldiers’ monument, at base are bronze tablets inscribed with names of battles of Bradford County men in war for the Union;

[Illustration: DEFENSE OF THE FLAG

_McKim, Mead & White Pedestal George T. Brewster, Sculptor_]

Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg; and the battle scene at Antietam; dedicated in 1901. Towanda Free Library, French Renaissance, brick, built, 1897, was given and endowed by Francis R. Welles of Paris, France; architects, Barney & Chapman, New York; contains a special set of art books, “L’Art.”

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.

[Illustration: SCHUYLKILL 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

[Illustration: HENRY CLAY IRON MONUMENT, POTTSVILLE]

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.

[Illustration: LEHIGH COUNTY]

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,

[Illustration: ZION REFORMED CHURCH, ALLENTOWN

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

[Illustration: LEBANON COUNTY]

[Illustration: THE OLDEST CANAL TUNNEL IN THE UNITED STATES

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.”