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A PICTURE
OF
LYCOMING COUNTY
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MARCH 26,1804
WARRENO
SMETHPORT O
WAR
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MARCH 12,1800
MC K
E
A
N
0
F 0 .: REST
MARCH 12,1800
TÍONESTA
APRIL 11,1848
E
L
K
FRANKLIN
VE NẠNGO
APRIL 18,1843
MARCH 11,1839
CLARION
MARCH 26,1804
CLARION
BROOKVILLE
MARCH 26,1804
JEFFERSON
CLEAR
E LD
CLEARFIELD
ARMSTRONG KITTANNING
C
MARCH 12.1800
INDIANA INDIANA
MAY 30.1803
ORIGINAL COUNTY LINE
COUNTY LINE
AMERICAN GUIDE PENNSYLVANIA
EMPORIUM O MARCH 29,1860
O RIDGWAY
CAMERON
W
Y 0 R K
APRIL 2,1804 1
MARCH 26,1804
B RADYF 0 RD
LO TOWANDA
WELLSBORO O
OTTER MARCH 26,1804
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1
0
G A
SULLIVAN
APRIL 13,1795
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MARCH 15,1847
L
L
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IN G
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JUNE 21.1839 1
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LOCKHAVEN
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N
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LEWISBURG o
DELLEFONTE O
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T
R
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FEBRUARY 13,1800
MAP
SHOWING
COUNTIES TAKEN IN WHOLE OR IN PART FROM THE ORIGINAL COUNTY
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. Y C
NG
O M
SCALE IR MILES 6
12
COUDERSPORT
FEBRUARY 21,1810
ON
O LAPORTE
WILLIAMSPORT
MARCH 22,1813
N
Tiadaghton Elm. Under this tree the "Pine Creek Declaration of Independence" was signed
A PICTURE OF
LYCOMING COUNTY
Written and compiled by the Lycoming County Unit of the Pennsylvania Writers' Project of the Work Projects Administration
Sponsored by the Superintendent of Schools of Lycoming County, Frank H. Painter
First Edition
Published by THE COMMISSIONERS OF LYCOMING COUNTY PENNSYLVANIA 1939
COPYRIGHT 1939, BY THE COMMISSIONERS OF LYCOMING COUNTY
FOREWORD
In A Picture of Lycoming County I believe that The Pennsylvania Writers' Project has prepared a book well fitted for use in teaching the history of our county.
Interestingly written, it cannot help but give a truer and better picture of local history to any readers, from seventh and eighth grade pupils up to adults, many of whom will find the book stirring up reminiscences of their own youth.
-FRANK H. PAINTER Superintendent of Schools of Lycoming County
IX
FEDERAL WORKS AGENCY JOHN M. CARMODY, Administrator
WORK PROJECTS ADMINISTRATION
COLONEL F. C. HARRINGTON, Commissioner FLORENCE KERR, Assistant Commissioner LT. COL. PHILIP MATHEWS, Pennsylvania Work Projects Administrator
x
PREFACE
A PICTURE OF LYCOMING COUNTY is the first in a series of new county histories being prepared by the Pennsylvania Writers' Project. As befits their special purpose of classroom use, apart from their interest to the general reader, the method of treatment varies widely from the more formal guide books which have already appeared as units in the American Guide Series.
For this reason, the staff of the Writers' Project has special reason to be grateful to the educators, historians, and other scholars whose contribution of time, advice, and constructive criticism are woven into the pages of this book. In this respect, grateful acknowledgment is here expressed to the following consultants, some of whom reviewed the entire manuscript, others devoting themselves to portions on which they have special knowledge:
Frank H. Painter, Superintendent of Lycoming County Schools; Dr Charles A. Lose, President of the Montoursville School District; Russell H. Rhoads, head of the Department of Social Studies, Williamsport Senior High School; Bruce A. Hunt, editor of The Williamsport Sun and member of the Pennsylvania Historical Commission; Dr. T. B. Stewart, of Lock Haven; Dr. T. K. Wood, of the Muncy Historical Society; and Miss Katharine Bennet, Assistant Librarian of the James V. Brown Library, Williamsport.
Acknowledgment for permission to use special photographs is hereby tendered several friends of the project, whose names are given individually in the list of illustrations. Full cooperation was given by the various newspapers and by the James V. Brown Library in placing their files at the Writers' Project's disposal. Also worthy of mention is the spirit of cooperation shown by the various city and county officials to whom members of the staff went for special information on governmental topics.
A Picture of Lycoming County was nearly completed by the Penn- sylvania Unit of the Federal Writers' Project, with Paul Comly French, State Director. The Pennsylvania Writers' Project superceded the activities of the Federal Project and brought the publication to completion under the immediate direction of Joseph A. Kilcullen, Editor-in-chief.
The book from its beginning was under the supervision of James T. Gilson, formerly District Editor in charge of the Lycoming County Unit. His writing and research staff included Howard E. Painton, J. D. P. Smithgall, Morton B. Reeser, Leo Orso and George Reidell, Sr. Clerical assistance was given by Kathleen J. O'Connor and Florence Edythe Coder. ,
The drafting of maps was under the supervision of William J. Hagerty, of the State Staff.
George B. Reeves, formerly Assistant State Director, gave final editorial supervision to the manuscript.
The Pennsylvania Writers' Project, sponsored by the Pennsylvania De- partment of Public Instruction, operates under the supervision of Anna M. Lebengood, Director, Professional and Service Division, and under the juris- diction of Lt. Col. Philip Mathews, State Administrator, Work Projects Administration.
-C. C. LESLEY Acting State Supervisor, Pennsylvania Writers' Project.
November 10, 1939.
XI
€
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Chapter
Page
1. Introduction to the County
1
2. Indians of Lycoming County
5
3. Explorers and Land Purchases
15
4. Early Settlement
27
5. Lycoming in the Revolution
41
6. The Big Runaway
47
7. Pioneer Life
61
8. Lumbering 77
9. Civil War Days
95
10. Industry, Agriculture, and Labor 103
11. The Turn of the Century 117
12. The World War, Business Prosperity, and Depression 131
13. Contemporary Scene 143
Appendix A Civil Government
County 157
City 167
The Judiciary 173
Borough 179
Township 181
Appendix B Townships of Lycoming County 183
Appendix C Boroughs of Lycoming County 201
Appendix D Williamsport 211
Bibliography 221
Lycoming County Court House, Williamsport
XIII
ILLUSTRATIONS
Tiadaghton Elm (Ritter)
Lycoming County Court House (Ritter)
Page Frontispiece XVI
Along Pine Creek (Courtesy Penna. Dept. of Highways)
4
Brock Mansion
30
Site of Indian Massacre
46
Model of Fort Muncy (Ritter)
50
Pioneer Log Cabin (Courtesy Zimmermann)
70
Sawmill at Gray's Run (Courtesy Zimmermann)
72
Portable Sawmill (Courtesy Zimmermann)
78
Bark Peeling Scene (Courtesy Zimmermann)
80
Crew at Lumber Camp (Courtesy Zimmermann)
84
Log Boom in the Susquehanna (Courtesy Zimmermann)
90
Band Saw in Factory (Ritter)
92
Spraying Varnish (Ritter)
105
Corn Husking (Ritter)
108
Scene in Muncy Valley (Ritter)
110
In Horse Car Days (Courtesy Zimmermann)
120
Paddle-Wheel Boat Hiawatha (Courtesy Zimmermann)
121
At Old Curbstone Market (Courtesy Zimmermann)
123
Oxen and Cart (Courtesy Zimmermann)
126
View from Wildwood Cemetery (Ritter)
144
Third Street, 1936 Flood (Courtesy Williamsport Sun)
146
Market Street, 1936 Flood (Courtesy Williamsport Sun)
150
Williamsport, 1854 (Copy by Ritter)
153
Russell Inn
155
View above Trout Run (Courtesy Vincent Smith)
178
Quaker School, Pennsdale
192
View of Jersey Shore, 1854 (Copy by Ritter)
203
Peter Herdic (Courtesy Williamsport Sun)
214
Williamsport Dickinson Seminary (Ritter)
218
Lycoming County Today (Map)
XIV
Lycoming County Court House, Williamsport Pa.
CHAPTER I
Introduction to the County
N the heart of Pennsylvania, 125 miles west of the Delaware 1 River and 30 miles south of the New York State line, is Ly- coming County, largest in area in the Commonwealth. Formed by act of the Legislature, April 13, 1795, Lycoming originally contained more than 12,000 square miles, or nearly one-third of the entire State. Through gifts of territory to new counties Lycoming County has been reduced to an area of 1,220 square miles, or approximately one-tenth of its original size. It is bounded on the north by Tioga and Bradford counties; on the east by Sullivan and Columbia; on the south by Montour, Northumberland, and Union; and on the west by Clinton and Potter. The area is drained by the West Branch of the Susque- hanna River and its numerous tributaries, the most important of which are Muncy, Loyalsock, Lycoming, Larrys and Pine Creeks. South of Lycoming County, at Northumberland, the West Branch unites with the North Branch to follow a south- eastwardly course to Chesapeake Bay.
FIRST INHABITANTS
The first human inhabitants of the county were the In- dians. In its primitive state the land, the forests, and the streams were ideally suited to their mode of living. Except for occasional warfare with another tribe, the Indians were con- cerned principally with the problem of finding food, clothing, and shelter necessary for existence. Game and fish were plentiful, and a few basic vegetables were raised in fertile land along the streams.
2
A PICTURE OF LYCOMING COUNTY
The factors which made the country attractive to the In- dian contributed directly to his replacement by white settlers. The valuable furs and plentiful supply of game and fish induced the first white traders to visit the region, and their reports at- tracted the first settlers. Once the natural wealth contained in its vast forests was recognized, the growth of the county was rapid.
LUMBER BOOM
Except for a few clearings, the first settlers found the terri- tory which is now Lycoming County covered with a magnificent growth of hemlock and pine trees. Although its value was not immediately recognized, this timber was later to provide the county with its largest industry and to make Williamsport the lumber center of the continent. From 1862 to 1894, lumber was "King." At the peak of the lumber era more than one and one-half million logs, containing over 318,000,000 board feet, were cut from the mountain slopes in a single year. Two disas- trous floods played a part in the destruction of the lumbering industry. The flood of June 1889 broke the booms which had been constructed in the river to catch and hold logs that had been floated down stream. Millions of feet of logs were lost in this flood and another which struck the valley in 1894. But, even if floods had not come, it was apparent that the reckless cutting could not continue. After the forests had been stripped of their most accessible trees, the lumber business declined.
Many of the inhabitants returned to the cultivation of the soil. Thousands of acres of land which had been stripped of its trees were cleared of underbrush and prepared for crops, or used for grazing. Agriculture developed and expanded until it be- came the dominant industry. Some of the people, not inclined toward farming, founded industries based upon the wealth created by the lumber industry.
3
INTRODUCTION TO THE COUNTY
THE CONTEMPORARY PICTURE
The valleys and lowlands of the county compare favorably in fertility with other sections of the State, and the hilly por- tions are particularly adaptable to grazing, dairying, and fruit growing. Although the county is primarily agricultural, it has numerous and varied industries. A variety of products, ranging from crepe paper novelties to steam boilers, are manufactured and shipped to every state in the Union and to many foreign countries.
Nature has been exceedingly kind to Lycoming County. Majestic mountain ranges, deeply carved with narrow gorges, are contrasted with beautiful valleys and wide stretches of fertile farm land. Within an hour's drive of Williamsport, industrial center of the county, are mountain views, dense forests, crystal- clear streams, and picturesque waterfalls, Brooks meander through grassy meadows; cattle graze in green pastures, and prosperous-looking farm buildings are set in fields heavy with crops.
Scene along Pine Creek
CHAPTER II The Indians of Lycoming County
B EFORE the coming of white men, Lycoming County was inhabited in turn by two great Indian families or groups: the Iroquois and the Algonquin. Except for several dependent tribes who lived in the mountainous region of eastern Tennessee, northern Georgia, northern and western North Carolina, and southern Virginia, the Iroquois lived in Central New York from the Genesee River in the west to the Hudson in the east. Just how long they had lived there is not definitely known, but they were well established in the territory before the white man arrived.
Though their realm was not as extensive as the Algonquin, the Iroquois were the more powerful. About 1570, they or- ganized the powerful Indian confederacy known as the Five Nations. It was a league of five tribes, the Seneca, Cayuga, Oneida, Onondaga, and Mohawk. The Tuscaroras, an Iroquoian tribe living in North Carolina, were driven out by the white settlers, moved slowly northward over a period of a hundred years, and joined the Confederacy, thus forming the Six Nations or, as they called themselves, "The United People." Other tribes of Iroquoian stock, who were not taken into the con- federacy, were considered enemies or dependent tribes of the Six Nations.
The first known inhabitants of Lycoming County were members of an Iroquoian tribe called Andastes, a name given by the French to the "Susquehannocks" who lived on the upper reaches of the Susquehanna River. The name Andastes distin-
6
A PICTURE OF LYCOMING COUNTY
guished the West Branch Valley Indians from those living on the river to the south. It was the Susquehannocks that Capt. John Smith contacted along the Chesapeake Bay in 1608. Since Capt. Smith saw many American Indians, the Susquehannocks must have been a splendid and magnificent people to deserve Smith's glowing description.
CAPTAIN JOHN SMITH'S DESCRIPTION
In his journal, The True Travels, Adventures and Ob- servations, Smith wrote: "Sixty of those Susquehannocks came to us with Skins, Bowes, Arrows, Targets, Beads, Swords, and Tobacco-pipes for presents. Such great and well proportioned men are seldome seene, for they seemed like Giants to the English yea and to the neighbors, yet seemed of an honest and simple disposition, with much adoe restrained from adoring us as Gods. Those are the strangest people of all those Countries, both in language and attire; for their language it may well beseeme their proportions, sounding from them as a voyce in a vault. Their attire is the skinnes of Beares, and Woolves, some have Cassacks made of Beares heads and skinnes, that a mans head goes through the skinnes neck, and the eares of the Beare fastened to his shoulders, the nose and teeth hanging downe his breast, another Beares face split behind hime, and at the end of the Nose hung a Pawe, the halfe sleeves coming to the elbows were the necks of Beares and the armes through the mouth with the pawes hanging at their noses. One had the head of a Wolfe hanging in a chaine for a Jewell, his tobacco pipe three-quarters of a yard long, prettily carved with a Bird, a Deere or some such devise at the great end, sufficient to beat out ones braines; with Bowes, Arrows and Clubs, suitable to their greatness. They are scarce known to Powhatan. They can make near 600 able men, and are palisaded in their Townes to defend them from the Massawomenkes [Iroquois] their mortal enemies. Five of
7
THE INDIANS OF LYCOMING COUNTY
their chief Werowances came aboard us and crossed the Bay in our Barge. The picture of the greatest of them is signified in the Mappe. The calfe of whose legs was three-quarters of a yard about, and all the rest of his limbes so answerable to that proportion, that he seemed the goddliest man we ever beheld. His. hayre the one side was long, the other close with a ridge over his crowne like a cocks combe. His arrowes were five- quarters long, headed with the splinters of a white chirstall-like stone, in form of a heart, an inch broad and an inch and a half or more long. These he wore in a Woolves skinne at his backe for his quiver, his bow in one hand and his club in the other."
The old Indian fortification on the bank of the Susque- hanna River near the mouth of Muncy Creek was built by the Andastes. This fort probably fell in 1663 when the Five Nations, armed with guns secured from the Dutch, attacked the Andastes and drove their remnants southward. It is believed that another Andaste fortification at the mouth of Pine Creek was destroyed at the same time. Although the Andastes were of the same linguistic stock, they did not accept the domination of the Iroquois and after a period of bitter struggle they faded into obscurity. In 1763 there were only twenty known sur- vivors of this once great tribe. Because of threats from whites, angered by Indian attacks on the Pennsylvania frontier, they took refuge in the Lancaster jail, where they were massacred by a mob.
THE ALGONQUINS
The Algonquian family inhabited a territory completely surrounding that of the northern Iroquois. While there were numerous tribes in this group, and they occupied a vast region, they were not able to organize with as high a degree of effective- ness as the Six Nations of the Iroquois. Their most important confederation was the Lenape, or, as it was more frequently
8
A PICTURE OF LYCOMING COUNTY
called, the Delaware. This confederacy was composed of three principal tribes, the Uname, also called the Turtle, because its totem was the turtle; the Minsi or Munsee, or Wolf tribe, whose totem was the wolf; and the Unalach or Unatachtigo. The totem of this tribe was the turkey, and because of this was called the Turkey tribe. The Munsee or Wolf tribe is the only one of the Delaware group who lived in the Lycoming district. The others lived farther south, with the Turkey tribe being the southernmost.
The Munsee tribe, most savage and warlike of the Dela- wares, at one time held a broad expanse of territory between the Blue Mountain and the headwaters of the Delaware and Susque- hanna Rivers and as far south as the Lehigh River. Though most of the Indians living in the West Branch Valley at the time of the first white explorations were Munsees, they were a migratory tribe and scarcely left a mark upon Lycoming County. They had villages at the mouth of Loyalsock Creek; on the present site of Newberry; and at Linden. But they were not able to withstand the prolonged attacks of the Six Nations and after little more than a generation they went westward. When Conrad Weiser passed through in 1737, there were only mixed remnants of Munsees and Shawnees. The main body had already moved westward into Ohio. The name of this tribe has been perpetuated in the names of the borough of Muncy, the valley, creek, township, and the Muncy Hills to the south of the borough.
After their conquest of the Munsees, the Six Nations be- came the undisputed rulers of the West Branch Valley, and it was they who figured in the troubles between the early settlers and the Indians. Although the Six Nations did not settle in the region to any great extent, they were loath to relinquish valuable hunting and fishing grounds to the whites. During the Revolutionary War they allied themselves with the British and made many bloody forays into Lycoming County.
9
THE INDIANS OF LYCOMING COUNTY
TYPE OF HABITATION
Before their contact with white men the Indians were not nomadic but lived in permanent villages, leaving them only to hunt, to fish, or to fight. Because they knew nothing about digging wells to obtain water, their towns were located near lakes, streams, or large springs. In winter they moved into timbered sections where game and furs were plentiful. The Iroquoian houses were mostly of one design, square or rec- tangular in shape, and ranging from 20 to 180 feet in length. The framework of the structure was constructed of peeled poles, Sides and roofs were covered with bark, with the smooth side inward, laid so that one strip of bark overlapped the other. The poles were fastened together by thongs made from the cured skins of animals or withes made from grass or green bark. Fires were built on the earthen floor, and directly overhead a hole in the roof functioned as a chimney. If a house was long, roof holes were provided for each fire. The average sized house would accommodate 15 persons, and each occupant was allotted a space. The floors were covered with skins and furs of animals and with woven mats. In the winter the occupants slept with their feet toward the fire.
The Algonquian house, typified in Lycoming County by the dwellings of the Munsees, was described quite well by Wil- liam Penn: "Their houses are Mats, or Bark of trees set on Poles, in the fashion of an English Barn, but out of the power of the Winds, for they are hardly higher than a man; they lie on reeds or grasses." Their houses were much smaller than those of the Iroquois, and much easier to move from place to place. Sometimes they were arranged in rows; often they formed a ring around a central space where games and occasional celebrations took place.
The Indians, at least by modern standards, were untidy in their dress. Their garments were made chiefly from the cured
10
A PICTURE OF LYCOMING COUNTY
skins of animals. Frequently the head of the animal was re- tained, thus giving the wearer an exceedingly grotesque appear- ance.
They cooked over open fires, roasting birds, squirrels, venison, and eels on spits. Fish, mussels, clams, and corn in the husk were covered with hot ashes. Heated stones, usually placed in bark vessels, were used in the treatment of disease. A hole was dug in the earth and lined with clay; into this the sick person crept through a small opening. He sat down and heated stones were placed around him. After sweating for some time, he would leave the rude vapor bath and plunge into a stream of cold water. This rigorous treatment was often fatal to them. Arthritis and tuberculosis were prevalent among the Indians, but they were not affected by smallpox and measles until after their contact with whites.
A primitive, but apparently quite effective, division of labor existed between the sexes. It has been said that the men had all the better of the arrangement. perhaps because much of their time was spent in hunting and fishing. But what the city- bred white man might consider sport and recreation was to the Indian the sternest sort of struggle for existence. The Indian did not kill more food than he could eat, and because of this fact game was plentiful until after the introduction of guns and the development of trade in furs by the white man. In their villages the men were occupied in the making of snowshoes, lacrosse sticks, stone and pottery pipes, and knives of chert. They made implements as well as ornaments of bone, antler, and shell. After they had gathered elm and basswood bark, the women made it into cords and ropes. Men hunted pelts and as- sisted the women in tanning and manufacturing them into cloth- ing and shoes. Women sewed hunting shirts and leggings, embroidering them with moose hair and porcupine quills which the men had secured. Corn mortars and pestles were made by
11
THE INDIANS OF LYCOMING COUNTY
cutting logs to proper length and hollowing out by fire. Some of the mortars were made of stone. Bows, arrows, war clubs, ladders, and troughs were fashioned of wood. They were very particular about their hats and each man made his own. The Iroquois hat was a tight fitting cap topped by gay-colored feathers.
On the march, the women carried the burdens so that the men could use their weapons freely in case of attack. The guarding of the camp or village was a duty shared equitably by the men, and the provision of food for the party was a con- stant task, so difficult in fact that many perished on winter hunting trips.
RELIGION
The Indians were by nature religious. Before their con- tact with white missionaries they worshipped a "Great Spirit" or "Manito" whom they believed governed the universe. In the forests, streams, mountains, and valleys which supplied their sustenance they saw reflected the power and influence of this "Great Spirit." Because they believed that the earth was created by Him for the common good, they were hospitable and gen- erous, often sharing food and shelter with strangers.
Marriages among them were not entered into for life, but only so long as husband and wife pleased each other. Before their contact with white men, they considered separation and divorce a disgrace and they happened rarely. The practice of polygamy was banned.
CONDUCT IN WARFARE
In military affairs the Indians were well disciplined; when confronted with a necessity for action, they could move quickly and in unison. Their strategy varied with circumstances and terrain. They often advanced in scattered formation for great distances without disorder or confusion, even though their line
12
A PICTURE OF LYCOMING COUNTY
was more than a mile in length. They were adept in the per- formance of various maneuvers, such as the formation of a circle, half circle, or hollow square. The latter maneuver was employed to avoid being surrounded and fired upon from the rear.
They entered battle unencumbered with clothing, usually fighting naked, except for moccasins, leggings, and breechclout. Although military operations were planned by leaders, once the battle began each man fought as if the outcome depended upon his own ability. To disobey an order or shirk a duty was a degrading act, and punishment for such infractions was severe.
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