USA > Pennsylvania > Lackawanna County > The Wyoming Valley, upper waters of the Susquehanna, and the Lackawanna coal-region : including views of the natural scenery of northern Pennsylvania : from the Indian occupancy to the year 1875 > Part 1
USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > Susquehanna > The Wyoming Valley, upper waters of the Susquehanna, and the Lackawanna coal-region : including views of the natural scenery of northern Pennsylvania : from the Indian occupancy to the year 1875 > Part 1
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Gc 974.801 L97c 157935
M. L.
REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIDNANT 3 1833 01181 6425
4
Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016
https://archive.org/details/wyomingvalleyupp00clar
THE STOURBRIDGE LION,
The First Locomotive Engine ever placed upon the track on the American Continent. Purchased in England by the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company.
.
THE
WYOMING VALLEY. 9 0 PPER W ATERS OF THE SUSQUEHANNA,
AND THE
LACKAWANNA COAL-REGION,
INCLUDING
VIEWS OF THE NATURAL SCENERY OF NORTHERN PENNSYLVANIA,
FROM THE INDIAN OCCUPANCY TO THE YEAR 1875.
PHOTOGRAPHICALLY ILLUSTRATED.
EDITED BY
J. A. CLARK.
SCRANTON, PA .: J. A. CLARK, PUBLISHER. IS75.
1579359
· Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1875, by J. A. CLARK,
in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington.
-
TO WILLIAM AND ABIGAIL GREEN,
AND THEIR CHILDREN, EMMA, ENGLEBERT AND PAULINE, OF WARREN, BRADFORD COUNTY, P.A.,
WHO CONSTITUTED THE HAPPY HOME OF MY ORPHAN BOYHOOD,
IN WHOSE CIRCLE I WAS RECEIVED AND NURTURED WITH ALL THE TENDERNESS AND SDLICITUDE OF ONE OF THEIR OWN BLOOD, HIS VOLUME IS GRATEFULLY DEDICATED, BY THE AUTHOR.
-
1
"No man is the lord of any thing, Till he communicates his parts to others : Nor doth he of himself know them for aught. Till he behold them formed in the applause, Which they're extended !" -[ Ulysses urging Achilles.
PREFACE.
The chapters forming this volume were published in parts, and designed to cover the region embraced in the title from the Indian occupancy to the year 1875. The only merit it seeks to claim is that of a photographic view of the territory, the pioneer history in the perspective,-the grand industries, mammoth enterprises, and natural beauties in the foreground. It was the province of the pen merely to accompany the camera, serving to elaborate where obstacles cut off the view, and to retouch incomplete points. The task has been an arduous one, and like Goethe's star "without haste, but without rest," it has accomplished its mission, little deserving the profuse kindnesses which it has received from the local press. These favors came at an hour when they were peculiarly welcome, and will be treasured and cherished while the author lives.
SCRANTON, May, 1875. J. A. C.
CONTENTS.
-
CHAPTER I.
Indian Occupancy of the Susquehanna, from Otsego Lake to Wyoming.
CHAPTER II.
The Pioneers of Wyoming Valley, and the Question of Title to the Soil 7
CHAPTER III.
The Early Settlements of Wyoming Valley-A Second Eden, a Theatre of Strife, Discord, and " Hell- Born Hate"
CHAPTER IV.
The Appearance of New Enemies-The Invasion by Colonel John Butler and the Indians. . .
CHAPTER V.
Colonel Zebulon Butler in Command of the Americans-Encounters the Enemy-The Forts Beseiged. 22 CHAPTER VI.
The Retreat and Pursuit Down the Valley-Official Reports from both Commanders
. ..
26
CHAPTER VII.
Incidents of Tory Cruelty-The Capitulation at Wyoming.
30
CHAPTER VIII.
Joseph Brant-Thayendanegea, the Great War Chief of the Six Nations-Was He at Wyoming ?. ..... 37 CHAPTER IX.
General Sullivan's Expedition from Wyoming to the Lakes-The Story of Frances Slocum-Ma-Con- A-Qna, the Captive Girl.
CHAPTER X.
The Pennamite War-Permanent Peace Restored to Wyoming Valley. - 48
CHAPTER XI.
The Wyoming Monument-List of the Slain. 5 1
CHAPTER XII.
Campbell's Ledge.
.. 55
CHAPTER XIII.
Prospect Rock
62
PAGE
vii.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XIV.
Pioneer Enterprise-Historical Incidents-The Ship Building Era.
TAGE
CHAPTER XV.
The Lumber trade-Arks-Rafts-Susquehanna River Commerce. ;2
CHAPTER XVI.
Nay- Aug Falls 74
CHAPTER XVII.
The "Stourbridge Lion"-The First Locomotive ever placed upon a Railroad Track on the Ameri- can Continent. -6
CHAPTER XVIII.
Coal-Its Origin and Formation.
CHAPTER XIX.
Theories Concerning Coal
CHAPTER XX.
Anthracite-Northern Coal Field, Embracing what is known as the Wyoming, Lackawanna, Scranton and Wilkes-Barre Regions.
93
CHAPTER XXI.
The Pioneers of the Coal Trade.
CHAPTER XXII.
CHAPTER XXIII.
IC6
Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company
CHAPTER XXIV.
II3
Joseph H. Scranton.
120
SeIden T. Scranton.
121
CHAPTER XXVII.
The Resident Representative Men of the Lackawanna Iron & Coal Company-J. C. Platt, William Manness, E. C. Lynde, E. P. Kingsbury, W. W. Scranton, C. F. Mattees, and others, . .
CHAPTER XXVIII.
Delaware and Hudson Canal Company. 132
CHAPTER XXIX.
Thomas Dickson, President of the Delaware & Hudson Canal Company.
155
James Archbald
CHAPTER XXX.
150
CHAPTER XXXI.
Joseph J. Albright and Edward W. Weston. 102
Colliery-Incidents in and around Coal Mines.
102
Colonel George W. Scranton
CHAPTER XXV.
CHAPTER XXVI.
viii.
CONTENTS.
CHAPTER XXXII. PAGE
Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad 165
CHAPTER XXXIII.
Hon. Samuel Sloan. 176
CHAPTER XXXIV.
Moses Taylor and Wm. E. Dodge. CHAPTER XXXV. 170
Representative Officials of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad-John Brisbin, Wm. R. Storrs, Wm F. Hallstead, James W. Fowler, and David T. Bound IS5
CHAPTER XXXVI.
William W. Winton. CHAPTER XXXVII.
Biographical Shetches-Lewis Watres ; Hon. Wm. Merrifield ; Hon. George Sanderson ; Hon. A. B. Dunning ; Hon. Wm. N. Monies ; Hon. Robert H. McKune ; Hon. Steuben Jenkins ; Major-Gen- eral E. S. Osborne ; Hon. Hendrick B. Wright ; John Jermyn ; George Starkey (Sculptor) ; F. Lee Faries (Painter) ; Architects 103
CHAPTER XXXVIII.
The Judiciary and Bar of Scranton ........ 210
CHAPTER XXXIX.
Cities and Towns-Carbondale, Pittston, Wyoming, Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, Powder Works, &c. . . .. 215 CHAPTER XXXX.
1 The Judiciary of Luzerne County-Rush, Cooper, Chapman, Gibson, Burnside, Scott, Jessup, Conyng- ham, Dana, Hoyt, Harding, Handley, Rhone, and Woodward. 227
CHAPTER XXXXI. 235
John B. Smith and the Pennsylvania Coal Company
THE WYOMING VALLEY,
UPPER WATERS OF THE SUSQUEHANNA, AND THE LACK- AWANNA COAL-REGION.
CHAPTER I.
INDIAN OCCUPANCY OF THE SUSQUEHANNA, FROM OTSEGO LAKE TO WYOMING.
"On Susquehanna's side, fair Wyoming! * * *
* * + Sweet land ! may I thy lost delights recall."
Gertrude of Wyoming.
"Oh! not the visioned poet in his dreams, When silvery clouds doat through the wildered brain, When every sight of lovely, wild and grand, Astonishes, enraptures, elevates- When fancy at a glance combines The wondrous and the beautiful,-
So bright, so fair, so mild a scene Hath ever yet beheld."
In 1769, only one hundred and four years ago, Dr. Smollett, who was acknowledged by the en- lightened world, as an able writer, in history, science and fietion, issued his edition of "The History of Nations," the eighth volume of which we obtained from Mr. J. G. Noakes, of Hyde Park, Scranton, who purchased it because of its antiquity, at some hidden corner in London, while on his journey to his native country- Wales, during the past year.
1
It must be taken for granted that Smollett who figured in his time with the enlarged minds of the day, had every facility to enable him to set before the then unenlightened reading public, all that was necessary for historical purposes, and accepting this theory, it is to be assumed that he was thorough in his search for statisties, and ample in judgment as to mature conelusions.
Shelley's Queen Mab.
Yet, with but a century between. the present volume enters upon a detailed record of a region entirely unnoticed and altogether unknown to his pen, and which in detail as to enterprise and resource, ean eclipse anything in the knowledge of himself or his eontemporaries.
The very narrow seope to which the British provinees of Pennsylvania, New York, and the Jerseys, was entitled to, in what was considered at that time as an universal, yet minute narration of places, men, and events, will scarcely escape the shadow of a broad smile upon its pages, still it is serious and astoundingly magnificent, if viewed with an eve upon the one broad idea of what has transpired in the short space of time, scarcely covering the allotted years of father and son.
Sinollett, with a truly loyal devotion to the
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THE WYOMING VALLEY.
crown, gloried in the province of Pennsylvania, as containing seven counties, four of which are ealled the upper, and three the lower. "Of the upper, viz. Buckingham, Philadelphia, Chester, and Laneaster, the three first are the lands in- cluded in King Charles the Second's grant, and designed Pennsylvania ; the lower, viz. those of Newcastle, Kent, and Sussex, were ealled Nova- Belgia, before the duke of York sold them to Mr. Penn. The upper counties end at Mareus Hook, four miles below Chester town, where the lower begin, and run along the coast near one hundred miles. Each of these counties has a sheriff, with a quarterly and monthly session, and assizes twice a year. Though some parts of the colony are not yet completely pianted and inhabited, yet it is said to have contained, many years ago, up- wards of one hundred thousand souls."
If the dreams of one age are realized in the next, the presence of the early English novelist and historian, on the banks of the upper Sus- quehanna, or in the still later developed region of the Lackawanna, would eause a satisfaction, uninspired by a lewd faney such as he imagined in Roderick Random's limited adventures, and the scene that would greet him could but stagger the pure romance which his jovial heart once eon- tained.
Even Campbell, one of Britain's gifted bards would gaze with an unalloyed astonishment at the natural transfiguration of scene, comparing the present business hum of Wyoming Valley, with the Elysian loveliness which he portrayed in his "Gertrude of Wyoming :"
"Then, when of Indian hills the daylight takes His leave, how might you the flamingo see Disporting like a meteor on the lakes- And playful squirrel on his nut-grown tree: And every sound of life was full of glee, From merry mock-bird's song or hum of men :
While hearkening, fearing naught their revelry.
The wild deer arched his neck from glades, and then, Unhunted, sought his woods and wilderness again."
From where the grand Susquehanna enters up- on its eeaseless wash, as musical as it is roman- tic, at the outlet of Otsego Lake, made immortal by James Fenimore Cooper, as the Glimmerglass of the red men, down through plains of more than ordinary enchantment, until it shimmers away into a ealmer and broader flow below Wy. oming's classic vale, can no spot on the American
continent compare with it for natural beauty of scenery, boundless mineral resources, majestic growth and historieal interest.
Its own intrinsic loveliness has been the theme of poet and tourist since the day when enraptured eyes first beheld it. Its historical ineidents have been breathed over the firesides of the entire American nation. Its sudden and giant-like growth has drawn to it the wonder and applause of the world, while its seemingly never-exhaust- ing supply of mineral wealth, challenges the as- tonishment of the old world, that but a century ago had never dreamed of this El Dorado in the forests of America.
The importanee, which was manifested toward the region which is included in the scope of this work, in the minds of the natives, is a matter of more than speculative theory. While the forests of the broad Atlantic slope were inhabited by elans, each of which had characteristies peeuliar to its own nation or tribe, still it is significant that outward and external influences signalized the deportment of each loeal band. The corps du esprit of the Pequots and the Naragansetts, who were reared along the "stern rock bound" coast of New England partook of the nature of the surroundings. The Powhatan type of red men were but natural exponents of living ideas of locality, in sentiment, aetion, and results ; yet, in what region, save in the invigorating and brae- ing latitude of the Mohawks on the north and the Delawares on the south, could a symbolic, natural being be found, who could answer to the ideal forester, which Cooper in his portrayal of a genuine production presents, in whom could be centered, pure, though crude, the perfect, yet unshaped elements of the highest standard of manhood.
The inherent passion for the true and the beau- tiful is stamped upon the mind of man by the force of external action ; whether it be the daring and seemingly reckless conduct of Tell, it is but the inspiration of Switzerland's natural towers which defy man's impotence ; whether it be for a human movement which, like an avalanche swoops down upon everything before, it is because a Pontiac has been reared in a mighty northwest- ern American forest where bounds know no hu- man ends ; or whether it be a calm and almost
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3
INDIAN OCCUPANCY OF THE SUSQUEHANNA.
holy tint in the sky, it is because the artist has . able barbarity ; as though the summary toma- dreamed away hours of ecstacy in the golden heavens of Italy.
The Indian of the American forest was never conventional ; he was individual in every thought and action. The common ease with which civi- lized society accepts a position whether for good or evil, because of democratic necessity, was un- known to him, who trod God's footstool with a personal feeling of being.
What more natural then, than that the dusky warrior, who knew the least ripple of aggression moving against his hunting-grounds a hundred miles away, should resent it as though it were an individual affront. What still more becoming then, in an embodiment of all that is noble, than that the sunburnt warrior should cling with an en- dearing affection to the wild streams and roman- tic glades where his children had skipped like their types in the forest, from the beautiful lakes of the Mohawks, to the emerald glens of Wyom- ing, ten thousand times more enrapturing then than now. The grand and the beautiful, acting upon man's nature, were no less pleasing to their appreciative minds than to the white man's studied taste, and
"Strike for your altars and your fires, God and your native land,"
. would have thrilled a Mohawk as effectually as it has moved many a noble heart to deeds less praiseworthy in later days.
It will not appear amiss, it is hoped, in these pages, to transeribe an idea from the pen of Col- onel Stonc, the biographer of Brant, who, in treating of the mode of Indian warfare, adds :
"Without pausing to reflect that, even when most cruel they have been practicing the trade of war-always dreadful-as much in conformity to their own usages and laws, as have their more civilized antagonists ; the white historian has drawn them with the characters of demons. For- getting that the second of the Hebrew monarchs did not scruple to saw his prisoners with saws, and harrow them with harrows of iron ; forgetful, likewise, of the scenes at Smithfield, under the direction of our own British ancestors; the his- torians of the poor, untutored Indians, almost with one accord, have denounced them as mon- sters sui generis, of unparalleled and unapproach-
hawk were worse than the iron tortures of the harrow, and the torch of the Mohawk, hotter than the faggots of Queen Mary.
"Nor does it seem to have occurred to the 'pale- faced' writers, that the identical cruelties, the records and descriptions of which enter so large- ly into the composition of the earlier volumes of American history, were not barbarities in the es- timation of those who practiced them. The scalp lock was an emblem of chivalry. Every warrior in shaving his head for battle, was careful to leave the lock of defiance upon his crown, as for the bravado, "take it if you can." The stake and the torture were identified with their rude no- tions of the power of endurance. They were in- flicted upon captives of their own race, as well as upon the whites; and with their own braves these trials were courted, to enable the sufferer to exhibit the courage and fortitude with which . they could be borne-the proud scorn with which all the pain that a foe might inflict, could be en- dured."
With these ennobling traits of mind, devout and thankful to the beneficence of their imagi- nary deity for casting their lot in a land so re- plete with fascination and eharm, we find the swarms of aborigines occupying the territory herein marked out, with none to molest or to make afraid.
Chalmers estimates the number of warriors who controlled the forest in 1660 under the grand sachemship of the renowned Iroquois, or the Five Nations, at twenty-two hundred.
Bancroft, who saw in the strength of their arms, the prolific tendency of the tribes whose numbers constituted their boast, and the vigorous stamp of the race, puts the number at ten thous- and.
The impression which one receives from the writings of James Fenimore Cooper would lead to a belief that the forest could summon many more, and this authority upon Indian history should be taken as supreme, for, whether detailing the in- dividual emotion, or the collective capacity of the rulers of the forest, Cooper stands proof against criticism. This assertion is a broad one, and well calculated to draw fire ; but the reply is suf- ficient to silence all, if guaged with the keen pre-
அனை வரும்
4
THE WYOMING VALLEY.
.
cision with which every thought of that eminent writer, whether in description of a forest tree, or the animate subject who made his couch upon its leaves, is most happily inspired, and charm- ingly accurate.
The advent of the white man into the region comprised in the two prominent valleys, seems to be taken for granted by nearly every historian of Wyoming. It is elaimed that Count Zinzendorf, of Saxony, who, in 1742, sought the forests for missionary purposes, was the only white man who had at that time, ever beheld the beauties of this romantic section. Tradition, only, seems to be the authority upon which writers assume to pro- mulgate this fact. That Zinzendorf was the first distinguished personage who had claims upon the historian eannot be doubted, but, that he was the first white man who visited the Delawares, ean- not admit of proof, for this tribe was for years previous in lingual communication with white adventurers and famous hunters, whose exploits were handed down by tradition from the earlier settlements of the Delawares, before their dislodg- ment by more powerful tribes, and their emigra- tion farther down the Susquehanna.
But, while the pale faced hunter may have for years encountered the high-strung, yet hospita- ble Delaware, in the forests, and the results may not have had any perceptible influence upon the general advancement of civilization, yet Zinzen- dorf in his appearance, brought the first tangible idea of permanent location, by way of coming as a missionary and teacher, from light to darkness, to sow for a harvest.
The Delawares had enjoyed at one time an almost paramount supremacy over the upper waters of the Susquehanna, and the grandeur of the noble red man was never more fully devel- oped than when the manners and customs of this particular tribe were feared and respected by ad- joining clans. The sudden assumption of power, and the stern exercise of it by the Iroquois, or the Six Confederate Nations, compelled the Dela- wares to yield to a pressure, which fate, from that time to the present, has unrelentingly ad- ministered ; and the proud tribe left the narrow vales and beautiful lakes of their ancestors, and settled on THE LARGE PLAINS, a territory new to the taste of a Delaware, but one well eal-
culated to be appreciated by the new monarchs, as it has been ever since by all who study the rare beauties of Wyoming.
The modern name of the valley, Wyoming, signifies in its earlier interpretation, the name which the Indians gave to it viz : THE LARGE PLAINS, or in the original language, Maugh- wauwame. Maughwau, large, wame, plains. The earliest white settlers, including the German missionaries pronounced, M'chweuwami, but the encroaching elements which swelled the Valley with new ideas as well as numbers, rendered the name Wauwaumie, from thence the cadence was softened to Wiawaumie, which still retained the pure and romantie Indian sweetness ; but from this the anglieising sternness of speech, destroyed the native melody by pronouncing the word Wi- omie, and a later tendency to soften brings it to us as Wyoming-a name which is suggestive the world over, of romance and fact, beauty and hor- ror, fascinating traditions and wonderful feats of modern enterprise.
The Susquehanna river at this point, as if wearied with its wild and reckless flow in the head waters, betrays an anxiety to move along at ease, as if the enchanting valley was the mnost desirable point at which it could refresh itself with the charms of nature before it rushes in majesty to the sea to be forever in commotion with strange and uncongenial waters.
The lowlands of the valley inundate at high- water, but in the summer season, when nature's loveliness seems enraptured with its own ele- gance, the soft green landscape along the river, and stretching away from mountain to mountain on either side of the winding stream, is one which it would be hard to match under the sun.
This broad expanse of plain, so unusual in a mountainous country, and where the river is comparatively but a thread, induced another name in Indian history for this coveted spot. The Six Nations whose prowess was called to ac- tion before the white man eould recline in secur- ity under his own vine and fig-tree, named Wy- oming, Sgahontowano, or THE LARGE FLATS, Ga- hanto, according to Chapman's History of Wy- oming, meaning in the tongue of the Iroquois,- a large piece of ground without trees.
This definition is a peculiarly happy one in
5
INDIAN OCCUPANCY OF THE SUSQUEHANNA.
understanding the original forest aspcet of the valley, and lends an enchantment to former scenes, which the present generation must forever be deprived of. The development of mineral wealth has marred the face of this beautiful eoun- try, and the mammoth undertakings of eorpora- tions necessitate the obliteration of many spots of historic interest. Yet, the general contour, the smiling perspective, and unmolested nooks, still furnish food for many eager and poetic na- tures.
It is maintained, and praiseworthily adhered to, by Indian relie hunters, and the best delinea- tors of the early savages, that the possession of this paradise has cost many struggles, and the shedding of blood of thousands, over whose graves can be found no trace of whence they came, why they lived, what their destiny, or whither the ultimate end of their fate. The sad epitaph of fragments, scattered in characters over the plain is the only record from which a worshipping posterity ean derive inspiration wherewith to glo- rify their obseure deeds.
Stone, an enthusiastie admirer of the Indian race, and the biographer of Brant -- Thayendan- egea -- in commenting on the earlier ages of Wy- oming, adds :
"The possession of, this valley has not been an objeet of the white man's ambition or cupidity alone. It has been the subject of controversy, and the fierce battle-ground of various Indian tribes, within the white man's time, but before his possession ; and from the remains of fortifica- tions discovered there, so ancient that the largest oaks and pines have struck root upon the ram- parts and in the intrenchments, it must once have been the seat of power, and perhaps of a splen- did court, thronged by chivalry, and taste, and beauty-of a race of men far different from the Indians, known to us since the discovery of Co- lumbus."
Chapman, in his History of Wyoming, de- seribes in a graphic manner, which signalizes his work a masterly production, his own research, being the labor which he required to satisfy his own conclusions. He calls attention to the fact that the remains of fortifications which are found, appear to have been constructed by a race of peo- ple very different in their habits from those who
occupied the place when first discovered by the whites. The one upon which this early historian dwells most at length, was situated in the town- ship of Kingston, but as late as 1817, the time at which it was inspected by Chapman, the promi- nent features had been entirely obliterated by the operations of agriculture. It was oval or elliptical in form, built upon a level plain on the north side of Toby's Creek, about one hundred and fifty feet from its bank, and about a half a mile from its confluence with the Susquehanna. The plain upon which it stood not abounding in stone, it was of a necessity eonstrueted of earth, in the shape of a mound, the walls of which were uniform on all sides, and seemed to have served the purpose of ramparts, an evidence of mueh im- portance in understanding the mode of warfare of this earlier race. The resistance which was necessary to repel an assault must have been in- dueed by a manner of attack different from the tactics of the Indians the continent over. The weapous and instruments of death were mightier in execution beyond a doubt, as upon the outside of the rampart wall, the modern fortifieation ditch was built with an idea to repulsing any force which might have been brought against the position.
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