Lykens-Williams Valley history - directory and pictorial review. Embracing the entire Lykens and Williams Valley, in the effort to preserve the past and perpetuate the present., Part 1

Author: Barrett, J. Allen
Publication date: 1922]
Publisher: [Harrisburg, Pa. : Telegraph Printing co.
Number of Pages: 320


USA > Pennsylvania > Dauphin County > Lykens > Lykens-Williams Valley history - directory and pictorial review. Embracing the entire Lykens and Williams Valley, in the effort to preserve the past and perpetuate the present. > Part 1


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M. L.


GENEALOGY COLLECTION


ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01126 3412


Pediratory


To those who were born and reared in this valley. Those who now live here. Those who have at one time lived here and are now living elsewhere. Those who lived in this history and have now passed into the beyond.


To these folks, this Volume is respect- fully dedicated.


"Remember the Days of Old, Consider the Years of Many Generations." -- Deut. 32: 7.


Lykens-Williams Valley 7


History - Directory


and Pictorial Review


Embracing the entire Lykens and Williams Valley. in the effort to preserve the past and perpetuate the present.


Edited and Compiled by J. ALLEN BARRETT


Published by J. Allen Barrett


Press of The Telegraph Printing Company Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.


AUTHOR'S PRELUDE NOTE


In a brief resume of the history of the Lykens and Williams Valley it is out of place to treat the Aborigines and even the early history of the state of Pennsylvania, save when some allusion to either may be deemed necessary. The founder of Pennsylvania is certainly deserving of grateful remembrance for his efforts to settle his Province, to protect the pioneers and to foster their industry and thrift. He was a remarkable man in many respects, and his "Frame of Government" is a model unequalled by the laws of any of the colonies or Provinees. The "Concessions" agreed upon in England for the encouragement of emigration to his Provinee was an important factor in that great movement which so materially assisted in building up this Western empire, and gave to the world the great state founded in peace. The indueements by Penn to settle were not confined to right of soil or voiee in government, but religious toleranee was guaranteed by him. The law of religious liberty as framed by him, and passed by the first Assembly at Chester on the 10th of December, 1682, was the first Act of toleration ever given to any people in the history of nations.


Owing to this toleration on the part of the Proprietary of Pennsylvania, that Province became a refuge and home to the people of all ereeds and religious beliefs. It is true that during the life time of the Founder, liberty of conscience was not questioned but at a later period, we regret to say, his re- ligious adherents would have throttled tolerance had they not feared revolution.


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As a general thing the first settlers were staid farmers. Their mutual wants produced mutual dependence, hence they were kind and friendly to each other-they were even hospit-


5


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LYKENS-WILLIAMS VALLEY HISTORY


able to strangers. Their want of money in the early times made it necessary for them to associate for the purpose of build- ing houses, cutting their grain, etc. This they did in turn for each other without any other pay than the pleasures which usually attended a country frolic. Strictly speaking, what is attributed to them as virtues might be called good qualities, arising from necessity and the peculiar state of society in which these people lived-patience, industry and temperance.


7


DIRECTORY AND PICTORIAL REVIEW


PREFATORY NOTE


The publication of this volume is made possible by the support of the business people whose advertisements are eon- tained herein. The Author earnestly requests the READER when in need of any commodity, to consult the Business Diree- tory of this book.


To those who are living in the present twentieth century, and have learned to revel in the resources into the past, the facts herein gathered should have a charm. The present will soon belong to the past, and thus, as the years roll on apaee, the very sketches here contained will be more highly treasured. If the sketehes of some who ought to have a place here are wanting, it is not the fault of the Publisher-it is that of the individual. Bearing in mind constantly, however, the limited space of this volume prohibits the dwelling in detail on any subjeet and ex- eluding altogether minor and non-important matter, thus af- fording room for the really important and interesting subjeets which permits the submission to the subseribers, of a perfectly reliable as well as valuable book.


As introductory to this volume, a resume of the history of the Lykens-Williams Valley is given, with other data nowhere else to be found. This feature being peculiar to this work.


In presenting the Lykens-Williams Valley History-Directory and Pietorial Review to its patrons, the Publisher and Author acknowledges with gratitude, the encouragement and support the enterprise has received, and the willing assistance in enab- ling him to surmount the many unforseen obstaeles to be met with in the production of a work of this nature and magnitude. To procure the material for its compilation, official records were carefully examined, newspaper files searched, manuscripts, letters and memoranda were sought, History volumes were eon- sulted and throughout the resume, excerpts were taken from Gordon's History of Pennsylvania, W. H. Egle's History of Pennsylvania, Egle's History of Dauphin and Lebanon Counties,


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LYKENS-WILLIAMS VALLEY HISTORY


The Biographical Encyclopedia of Dauphin County, Richard Nolan Diary, Diaries of old residents of the valley, Lykens Stan- dard, Millersburg Sentinel, Elizabethville Echo, Williamstown Times, Tower City Herald, and direct information from parties still living. To name those here would require several pages; therefore, ever mindful of the valuable assistance, my sincere thanks and appreciation are extended. Great care was taken to have sketches as free from error as possible, but I do not hold myself responsible for mistakes, as no charge was made for the insertion of any printed matter contained in this book, ex- cept for advertisements.


Therefore, kind reader, I submit to you this volume,-sin- cerely trusting you will be appreciable enough to realize the task involved to publish the same, that you will appreciate its value now and in time to come; and in knowing this, I feel that the effort has not been in vain.


J. ALLEN BARRETT.


Lykens, Pa., March 15th, 1922.


9


DIRECTORY AND PICTORIAL REVIEW


TABLE OF CONTENTS


Subject


Page


Business Directory


Last Page


Did You Know, or, Do You Remember Department, The 294


District Number 3. U. S. Selective Draft. Statistics 209


Elizabethville, Important Dates in History of 193


Early Families of The Valley 31


Early Settlers, How Lived 21


Game and Fish, Past and Present, By V. W. Barrett, Lykens Pa, .. 18.0


Geological Survey, A., of The Lykens-Williams Valley-By H. E. Buffington, Esq., Lykens, Pa. 13


Gratz Fair Association 55


High Schools In The Valley


208


Hoffman's Reformed Church 208


History of The Lykens-Williams Valley, Proper


22


History of Towns in The Valley-


History of Berrysburg


97


History of Elizabethville


131


History of Gratz


52


History of Lykens Township


51


History of Lykens Borough


100


History of Millersburg


63


History of Miffintownship 95


History of Porter Township 160


History of Tower City 165


89


History of Williamstown


145


History of The Discovery of Lykens Valley Coal


42


Honor Roll of The Valley ---


284


Honor Roll of Elizabethville


286


Honor Roll of Gratz


285


Honor Roll of Millersburg


280


Honor Roll of Tower City


290


Honor Roll of Wiconisco


283


Honor Roll of Williamstown 287


Indian, Lykens-Williams Valley 18


"Love Rock" A Legend of a Romantic Spot on Berry's Mt. 32


Lykens, Important Dates in The History of 192


Lykens-Wiconisco Athletic Club 224


Lykens Valley Summer-Rambo Apple 212


History of Wiconisco


Honor Roll of Berrysburg


279


Honor Roll of Lykens


10


LYKENS-WILLIAMS VALLEY HISTORY


Subject Page


Millersburg Gun Club


210


Mine Casualties at Lykens Valley Mines 193


Mine Casualties at Williamstown Mines 197


Mine Casualties at Towercity Mines


200


Mine Casualties at East and West Brookside Mines


200


Municipal Authorities of-


Berrysburg 187


Elizabethville


188


Gratz 185


Lykens


188


Millersburg


185


Tower City


191


Wiconisco Township


186


Washington Township


190


Williams Township


189


Williamstown


190


Public Services in The Valley


207


Roads in The Valley


206


Railroads and Transportations


206


Stone Church, The Old; Elizabethville


228


Sports of The Valley


213


St. John's Lutheran Church (Hill)


226


Twin County Base Ball League. Teams and Entire Statistics


for Season 1921 217


Towercity Swimming Pool


226


Who's Who in The Lykens-Williams Valley --


Elizabethville


260


Gratz


55


Lykens


239


Millersburg


231


Wiconisco


236


Williamstown


269


Towercity 275


"Wild Life in The Lykens-Williams Valley" By-Seth E. Gordon, Sec. Penna. State Game Commission 203


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DIRECTORY AND PICTORIAL REVIEW


INDEX TO PICTORIAL REVIEW.


Subject


Pages


Avenue, Scenes on Grand Avenue, Towercity 166, 168, 169, 170, 172, 173


Basin, Lykens Valley


46


Breaker, Lykens Valley 47


Breaker, Brookside Tower City


Breaker, Williamstown 48


49


Breaker, New at Brookside


50


Building, On Present Brubaker Site, Millersburg


65


Bridge, Across Wiconisco Creek


€8


Building, Brubaker, Millersburg


76


Bridge, Concrete Across Wiconisco Creek at Millersburg 81


90


Building, Old Polm; Where Present L. V. Bank now stands, Eliza- bethville


137


Budd, Portrait of the Late Cap't. Richard Budd, Williamstown


147


Canal, Old Wiconisco at Millersburg


44


Canal, Old Wiconisco, Loading Boats


44


Canal, Old Wiconisco, end of


45


Cottage Hill, Millersburg


67


Cemetery, Millersburg


69


Church, M. E. Millersburg


75


Church, Reformed Millersburg


78


Church, Lutheran Millersburg


79 89


Church, Zion Lutheran Lykens


103


Church, Grace M. E. Lykens


104


Church, Old Stone Elizabethville


133


Church, Salem Lutheran Elizabethville


134


Church, Salem Reformed Elizabethville


134


Church, Methodist Williamstown


149


Camp, Beaver One The West Branch Lykens


182


Club, Millersburg Gun


211


Depot, P. R. R., Millersburg


75


Draft, U. S. Selective Number 3 Elizabethville


209


Elizabethville, Market Street


133


House, Old Water.


For Wiconisco Canal


24


House, School, Millersburg, 1825-1860


70


Houses, Pioneer of Millersburg


S2


Hall, K. of P., Lykens


102


House, School, Elizabethville


132


Hotel, Snyder, Elizabethville


132


Hotel, Central, Williamstown


147


Hotel, Tower City


171


Lykens, Andrew, Drawing


100


Lykens, Main and Market Streets


101


Lykens, A scene in


104


Lykens, "When the Late Train Arrives"


105


Lykens, A scene in


106


Lykens, Main and Market Streets, 1860


107


House, School, Tower City


167


Creek, Wiconisco


Bridge, Trolley, at Wiconisco


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LYKENS-WILLIAMS VALLEY HISTORY


Lykens, Birds-E'ye-View 1888


108


Lykens, A Scene In


110


Lykens, Birds-Eye-View


112


Mountain, Berry's Below Millersburg


27


Mohantongo, Base of


28


Miller, Mrs. Daniel, Portrait


Market Square, Winter Scene, Millersburg


66


Market St., Millersburg


71


Market Sq., Millersburg, 1872


72


Millersburg, Bird's-Eye-View, 1872


72


Millersburg, The Original Town


73


Millersburg, Bird's-Eye-View


80


Map, Industrial of Elizabethville


135


Map, Elizabethville, 1875


136


Office, Old Shipping for Lykens Valley Coal Co.


43


Office, Post, Millersburg


78


Patrick, Mt., From End of Valley


25


Patrick, Mt., A Study in Reflection


26


Patrick, Mt., From Millersburg


30


Plant, New E'lectric, at Lykens Colliery


50


Park, Millersburg 64, 77


Pool Swimming, Lykens


111


Preserve, State Game, Scene on the Same


181


Preserve, State Game, Keepers Camp


204


Race Track, Gratz Fair Grounds


.56, 57, 60, 61


Railroad, Old Lykens Valley


68


Reservoir, Lykens


113


Reservoir, Tower City


173


Shaft, East, Brookside


47


Street Scene in Millersburg


.74, 76, 77


Seminary, Old Berrysburg


98


Trestle, Summit Branch at Mt. Patrick


45


Tower, Charlemagne, Portrait of 165


175


Team, Basket-Ball, Wiconisco H. S.


215


Team, Foot-Ball, L. & W. A. C.


225


Valley, A Scene Leading From Millersburg


23


Wisconisco, A Scene in the Town 91, 92


Wreck, P. R. R. Lykens, 1921 109


Williams, Daniel, from a Description


145


Williamstown, A Scene in the Borough,


146


Williamstown, Bird's-Eye-View from a Drawing in 1888


148


Wreck, P. & R. R., Tower City


Yard, Old Northern Central


174, 176 70


Tavern, Old Red, Elizabethville 137


Tower City, Bird's-Eye-View


63


13


DIRECTORY AND PICTORIAL REVIEW


A GEOLOGICAL SURVEY by


H. E. BUFFINGTON, ESQ.


Lykens, Pa.


This geological review will embrace a short structural, strat- ographic, and economic survey, as well as the prehistoric forma- tion.


A structural survey of the northern part of Dauphin County, known as the Lykens, Williams and Pine Valleys, discloses them to be wholly within and at the western end of a large canoe shaped basin. The rock strata of the two last valleys dipping steeply toward each other, at Lykens dipping north, at Gratz dipping south, forming a huge cradle within which nestles the lofty Big Lick and Gratztown Mountains. The basin sinks deeply toward the east and rapidly rises and flattens out toward the west, until at Loyalton the same formation of bed rocks which underly Lykens and Gratz, unite at the surface and spread out as the broad, flat Lykens Valley, and extending beyond the river at Millersburg where it was thrown up into the air by the underlying Pocono rocks coming to the surface as the juncture


14


LYKENS-WILLIAMS VALLEY HISTORY


of two mountains. The rocks of the Berry's Mountain dip to the north and those of the Mahantango to the south. The hard plates of Pocono sandstone which form the back bone of these mountains, having better withstood the elements while the soft shales of the valley were being croded and washed away, have created a well defined mountain as the boundary line, encir- cling the western end of the great syncline.


The big trough enfolds what is known as the Lower Anthra- cite basin, extending sixty miles long and six miles wide at its greatest width, from the mountain top at Loyalton, Dauphin County to Mauch Chunck, Carbon County.


East of Tower City, it is broken into or joined by a narrow over-throw syneline deep enough to carry the coal formations, and extending south-westward like a spur as the Stony and Sharp mountain.


The coal strata of the Big Lick Mountain dips north, while that of the Gratztown Mountain, dips south, bringing Bear Val- ley as the center line of the trough. The base line of the lower eoal veins spooning out at the surface on the mountain top at Loyalton, rapidly sinks toward the east until at Lykens it reaches a depth of 2702 feet. The pitch of the veins down the sides of the trough becomes very steep, at places approaching the perpendicular. The north dip or Lykens side is continuous and unbroken rounding the bottom and ascending the other side for a short distance; at this point the south dip or Gratz side has a down throw fault breaking its continuity ; the rock formation having at this point split off and slipped down. This fault has not been defined in the lower formations of the Lykens Valley.


The Stratography


When viewed according to their origin there are four kinds of rocks: Ignious, or those formed by fire as granite, ele., Sedi- mentary, fragments broken down from other rocks, washed away and deposited in water as the shales, sandstones, and con- glomerate; Animal origin, as the shells of oysters, etc., aceumu- lated under water, forming limestone, etc .; Vegetable source, producing carbon deposits, as coal, etc.


15


DIRECTORY AND PICTORIAL REVIEW


Rocks of ignious or animal source do not appear in the Lykens Valley ; however with these exceptions the Cove Dyke crosses the river above Halifax and is lost in the Berry's Moun- tain south of Rife. The molten trap-roek coming up through this crack in the earth's crust most probably will be found to continue across the Lykens Valley, but at some distance beneath the surface. Also there is a well-defined layer of calcarious shale on the George Harner farm east of Elizabethville. This is the nearest approach to limestone found in the valley.


The rocks are all of a sedimentary formation with the up- permost layers interlaid with the vegetable rocks, the coals, and the slates.


Belonging to Devonian and Carboniferous series the rocks are here displayed in their truest types.


The Pocono white sandstone forming the backbone of the Berry's and Mahantango Mountains here attain a thickness of two thousand feet. The sandstones are white and gray, with very little shale but occasional layers of hard conglomerate. The Criswald Gap conglomerate here attains a thickness of twenty feet. There also appears in the gorge south of Lykens at Peewee Rock a fossiliferous shale containing an abundance of vegetable fossils, among which the writer has classified the Lepidodendron, Chemungeuse, and Primaevum, Archaeop- teris, Bochchiana, etc. Underlying the uppermost layer of con- glomerate in the Pocono formation is a stratum of laminate rock, It is very persistent .thus forming a reliable key rock.


The Manch Chunk red shale overlies the Pocono forming the whole surface bed of the three valleys, and here attains a thickness of over two thousand feet, consisting chiefiy of red shales with occasional thin layer of red sand stone.


The Pottsville formation is the typical conglomerate over- lying the Mauch Chunk shales, and having a thiekness of over six hundred feet. Hoisting its massive conglomerate rocks a thousand feet above the valleys it forms the rugged mountains north of Lykens, interlaced with six beds of coal it here yields three thick workcable veins of the famous Red Ash coal. The carboniferous proper where it appears in the Bear Valley,


16


LYKENS-WILLIAMS VALLEY HISTORY


north of Lykens, overlies the conglomerate with but a small part of its formation. Only the lower productive measures has its bottom beds sunk deep enough in the trough between the Big Lick and Gratztown Mountains to be retained. However towards the east more layers are preserved until finally all the beds of the series are included.


Economic


The shales of the valleys disintregrate into a fertile farming soil ; the Pocono sandstones are used for building purposes and road making. The coal is extensively mined by the most mod- ern and up-to-date equipped collieries in the world and forms the chief occupation of the region.


The trough formation precludes oil from ever being pro- duced in commercial quantities in the Lykens Valley. The ap- parent small anti-cline fold passing through Berrysburg is a structural trap sufficient to collect oil if a porous oil bearing rock is present, but its restricted area of drainage would make the pool so small as to be worthless.


There are no precious metals nor minerals found except the scant aluminum and the iron contained in the red shales.


Historic Formation.


When the primitive great upheaval hoisted the first land above the water, creating the formative base of the North American Continent, it appeared as a large mass of granite in Canada, shaped like the letter V, with its apex resting on the northern shores of the Great Lakes, its one broad arm extending toward Alaska, the other paralleling the St. Lawrence River, with the Hudson Bay occupying the center. All the rest of North America still remained under water. Within the sea along the eastern front, paralleling the Atlantic Shore line for a one thousand miles was a long deep, broad trough. A de- pression under the sea counter-balancing the great uplift.


During millions of years the elements were attacking the massive land granite, disintegrating, eroding and washing the


17


DIRECTORY AND PICTORIAL REVIEW


sediment into the sea, where it was deposited as level layers of mud, sand or gravel, determined by its nearness to the shore line at the time of being laid down.


The bottom of the great trough was filled up thicker than elsewhere, until at the close of the carboniferous era we find that the successive seas of the Cambrian, Silurian, Devonian and carboniferous periods had accumulated a deposit of over thirty-five thousand feet, more than seven miles thick.


This added weight to an already weakened crust at the trough line, caused a gradual sinking of the under part of the shell into the molten center mass. It melted off the bottom shell of the trough until it became too weak to withstand the lateral pressure of the tremendous shrinkage strain from the cooling of the earth.


The great squeeze, at the close of the carboniferous era, came as a thrust from the southeast lifting the crust out of the sea and folding it up for a distance of one thousand miles along what is now the Atlantic Coast Line. Known as the Appa- lachian uplift it formed the mountain system from Maine to North Carolina.


Across the continental trough at Lykens, it is estimated the distance of the then level strata was shortened twenty miles by the shrinkage thrust, resulting in a folding up and a stand- ing on end of the strata, forming the synclines and anticlines, the troughs and the hogbacks of our present geological struc- ture.


The end of this upheaval marked the second great day for the permanent uplifting of land out of the seas. From Kansas west the whole of the United States, except a few islands, was still under water.


At some places as at Bellefonte, the crust broke off and was shoved up seven miles into the air; at others, as at Rock- ville it folded over on itself and looped back; at Lykens, the South side of the coal trough arose to an anticline whose crest line extends from the Glen at Lykens to Fisherville, then sweep- ing south in a slightly depressed plateau it meets the Round Top-Inglenook anticline and dips south with the Peters moun-


18


LYKENS-WILLIAMS VALLEY HISTORY


tain as the north side of Stony Mountain overthrow coal syn- celine. At the close of the upheaval a big layer of broken, split and erumbled up mass of Maneh Chunk shale, Pottsville conglomerate, and Carboniferous formation overlaid the three valleys thousands of feet thiek, with the still solid part tilted on its edge at an angle of sixty-five degrees.


Then for many more millions of years the rains and the elements kept eroding away at this covering mass and swept it into the then New Jersey sea, until today there remains only a small fraction of the carbonifers, and the Pottsville comglom- erate with its coal veins. For every ton remaining thousands have been swept away and lost on the bosom of the coastal lands.


THE LYKENS-WILLIAMS VALLEY INDIAN


In complexion, our uncivilized predecessors were of tawny color, inclining to red, which, differing from the complexion of every other portion of the human family, seems peculiar to most, if not all, the aborigines. Their cheek-bones were high and pro- minent; their eyes widely separated; their noses usually broad, even when curved in outline; and the ordinary east of their fea- tures was coarse and often inexpressive. The men were generally tall, straight, well proportioned, and hardly ever corpulent or in any manner deformed. The women were too apt to be short and elumsy ; their features were seldom delicate or handsome; and what feminine graces they had were soon obliterated by hard bodily labor combined with mental and moral degradation. The beautiful Indian maiden was only a myth or the dream of the poet. The mode of life of the men, and perchance their natural constitution, gave them a power of enduring fatique and priva- tion such as no European could rival. When necessary they would hunt for days together while suffering from hunger, or per- form long journeys through the forests with no other refresh- ment than a little parched corn and water.


For subsistence, the Indian depended much less upon agriculture than upon either fishing or hunting. They confined themselves chiefly to the raising of beans, corn, and tobacco. The corn and beans were cultivated by women and children,


19


DIRECTORY AND PICTORIAL REVIEW


the tobacco alone was thought worthy of the labor and attention of the men. The women of an ordinary family would commonly raise in a single season two or three heaps of corn, each con- taining twelve, fifteen, or twenty bushels. The corn was spread day after day in the sun, carefully shielded from the rain or dew, and when in this way sufficiently prepared was buried in the earth and thus preserved for the winter's subsistenee.


Hunting and fishing were perehance the chief dependence for food. The forest was filled with animals, some of them beasts of prey, others suitable for food, others valuable on account of their furs. Flocks of wild turkeys roamed through the woods, partridges and pheasants abounded, both in the woods and open country, and at certain times of the year the pigeons collected in such numbers that their flight seemed to obscure the light of the sun. The ponds, ereeks, and rivers swarmed with water-fowl. The river Susquehanna was alive with fish, and every spring great numbers of shad, rock-fish, salmon, and perch ascended the streams furnishing a seasonable supply to the natives when their provisions were exhausted by a long and severe winter.


The elothing of the natives was composed of skins cured so . as to be soft and pliable, and sometimes ornamental with paint and beads manufactured from shells. It may be stated in this connection that very little is known of the process used by the Indians to prepare bear- and deer-skins for shoes and clothing. Loskiel says, "Their shoes are of deer-skin, without heels, some being very neatly made by the women. Their skins are tanned with the brains of deer, which make them soft; some leave the fur upon the skin, and such fur shoes are remarkably light and easy." The buffalo robes sold by our furriers as tanned by the Indians are softer than those that are tanned by civilized people. Oeeasionally the women decked themselves in mantles made of feathers overlapping each other, as on the back of the fowl, and presenting an appearance of fantastie gayety which no doubt prodigiously delighted the wearers. Their dress consisted usually of two artieles, a leather skirt, or undergarment, ornamented with fringe, and a skirt of the same




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