A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. I, Part 12

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851-1922; Smith, Ernest Gray
Publication date: 1909-1930
Publisher: Wilkes-Barre : Raeder Press
Number of Pages: 734

USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. I > Part 12

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The explorers visited the Chuckchee tribe, t inhabiting the country nearest to the coast line occupied by the Asiatic Eskimos. Their terri- tory is about as large as the German Empire, and the people resemble the American Indian as to stature and general appearance. Their legends and religion are not like those of the Eskimo, but have many

* See foot-note, page 96.

+ See page &8.

points in common with those of the Indian. Farther inland, inhabiting a tract of country almost as large as that of the Chuckchees, are the Koryaks and Kereks, with whom the Indian characteristics are still more noticeable than with the people who live nearer to the Bering Sea. They are bronze-colored, have straight noses, are tall and well formed, and their legends, religion and customs are like those of the North American Indian. The Chuvantzis are the farthest inland tribe reached by the explorers. Unlike their neighbors they do not raise cattle or reindeer, and they prefer to walk, no matter how great the distance inay be, rather than employ the reindeer. They are morose, brooding and fierce, and exceedingly vindictive. Although they live thousands of miles away from the coast, the explorers, who studied their habits and characteristics, think that they bear a closer resemblance to the Ameri- can Indians than any of the other tribes.

From the mass of information gathered by these explorers-photo- graphis* and measurements of some 1,500 Siberian natives ; war imple- ments, ceremonial objects and household utensils ; bones and fossils- astounding similarities have been found as to mode of life and mythology,, which go far to point to a common and kindred origin of all the tribes of north-eastern Asia and the Eskimo and Indian tribes of north-western America, which had its rise possibly at a remote time during the land connection between the two shores.

In view of the discoveries mnade Dr. Boas says it is certain that the customs, traditions, manners and fundamental religious beliefs of the Siberian natives so closely resemble those of the North American Indian of the North Pacific slope as to warrant a conclusion that the same "culture," as it is termed, exists in both peoples. But this "cul- ture," while an important feature of the investigation, does not have any bearing as a matter of scientific proof upon the more important ques- tion whether the North American and the North Siberian natives are of the same origin. That may only be obtained by a comparison of the varied data collected. M. Bogoras is of the opinion that he and the other explorers found indisputable evidence of the connection between the North American Indians and the Palæo-Asiatic races on the Bering Sea coast. Concerning the peopling of America, he has formed the hypothesis that this occurred at a period when the Malay archipelago, the Philippines, Formosa and the Japanese Islands either formed a con- tinental peninsula connected with Kamchatka or an unbroken series of islands, and when Asia and Alaska were connected.

In concluding this branch of our subject it may be stated that many anthropologists now believe that the cradle of the human race was south- eastern Asia-that region being the focus from which the earliest streanis of emigration radiated.

Prof. F. W. Putnamt declares (and he is supported in his opinion by the testimony of inany other scientists) that "we have in this country the conclusive evidence of the existence of man before the time of the glaciers,¿ and, from the primitive conditions of that time, he has lived

* Some of these photographs-of Kalmuk girls in particular-åre, seemingly, perfect representations of modern North American Indian squaws.

+ Curator of the Peabody Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Professor of American Archæology and Ethnology at Harvard University.

He is one of the leading explorers and writers in the line of American archæology.

Į See quotation from Dr. Brinton, page SS.

here and developed through stages which correspond in many particu- lars to the Homeric Age of Greece." But the history of the North American Indian begins with the advent of the white people upon this continent. Back of that time all is speculation and myth, and inuch that has been written about the pre-Columbian, or pre-historic, period is only a repetition of old legends and traditions. Lewis H. Morgan (referred to on page 107), writing in 1876, stated his belief to be "that there never was a pre-historic American civilization, properly so called, but only an advanced and wonderfully skillful barbarism, or semi-civili- zation at the utmost." The Europeans found the Indians self-sustain- ing and self-reliant, with tribal governments, many forms of worship and many superstitions ; with ample clothing of skins and furs, and food fairly well supplied-all these conditions being characteristics of an ancient people. But they were wild men and women, to whom the restraints of a foreign control became as bonds of steel.

"It is in evidence that many Indian tribes have become extinct from various causes, especially war, famine and disease, since the European has been on the continent; others were described by the Indians as having become extinct long prior to the white man's arrival. So that by observation and tradition, as well as their own statements, the thought is forced that the Indian nations or tribes or bands were on the decline at the date of the arrival of the whites under Columbus. Still, with all this presumably large aboriginal population in what are now the United States, not a vestige reinains to tell of the so-called pre- Columbian men and women except traditions and legends, and now and then a mound, a fort, a pueblo or a grave."t

The earthworks or fortifications, stockades and inounds found in New York, Ohio, Tennessee and elsewhere were erected for residence, defense Seetion of Large Mound A EUL . BecGioo er Ming Section through dlich ; or burial-places. The earthworks Meund B about 25 ft. froas A to D Low Mound & were generally built alongside streams-often on high banks-and were frequently in the vicinity of rich alluvial soil, where corn and other crops were easily raised ; the streams supplying fish and mussels, and the forests game in abundance. The accompanying plan is a reduced reproduction of a ground-plan by Professor Putnam of a fortified village dia Luw Hounds on Spring Creek, Tennessee, which was published in 1882. This (as well as the illustration following) will, better than words, give the Scala of Feet reader a good idea as to the usual shape of the earthworks referred to and the character of the locations in which they were most frequently established. It will be observed that in the Putnam plan an "Elin tree, 4 feet and 2 inches in diameter" (which would indicate a tree of great age), is noted as growing in the embankment-the presumption being, of course, that the tree liad sprung into life after the earthwork was constructed.

+ "Report on Indians in the United States at the Eleventh Census," page 49.

'The first illustration shown on this page is a reduced reproduction of a view of an earthiwork in the township of Oakfield, Gen- esee County, New York, as it appeared about the year 1859. In that year E. G. Squier* thus referred to it in his "Ancient Monu- ments of the United States" (sec Harper's MMagasine, XX : 737) :

"It is remarkable as being one of the best preserved and most distinct of any in the

State. It is situated upon the western slope of one of the billowy hills which characterize the rolling lands of the West, and between which the streams find their way to the rivers and lakes. The banks of the little stream which washes the work upon the north are steep, but not more than ten feet in height. Upon the brow of the bank, where the stream approaches nearest the work, the intrenchment is interrupted, and the slope toward the water is more gentle than elsewhere-indicating an artificial grade. The embankments will now probably measure six feet in average heiglit. * At the * sides of the principal gateway leading into the inclosure from the east, according to the statement of an intelligent aged gentleman who was among the earliest settlers in this region, traces of oaken palisades were found, upon excavation, some thirty years ago [circa 1829]. They were, of course, almost entirely decayed. A part of the area is still covered with the original forest, in which are trees of the largest dimensions. An oaken stump which measures upward of two feet in diameter stands upon the embankment."

Some of the most elaborate series of works, as those at Marietta and Circleville, Ohio, have yielded from their deepest recesses articles of European manufacture, showing an origin not farther back than the historic period. But we need not go so far as this to observe the analo- gies of structure in the earthworks found in the different parts of this country. If we look at Professor Putnam's ground-plan on the pre- ceding page, and compare it with a similar plan of a modern Mandan village (in what is now North Dakota) as given by Prince Maximilien of Wied-Neuwied in his "Voyage in the Interior of North America," published at London in 1843 (see Harper's Magazine for August, 1882, page 350), we find their arrangement to be essen- tially the same. Each is on a promontory, or high bank, protected by the bed of a stream ; each is sur- rounded by an embank- ment which was once, in all probability, surmount- ed by a palisade. Within this embankment were the houses, distributed irreg- ularly in Putnam's plan, as will be observed. I.

* EPHRAIM GEORGE SQUIER (born at Bethlehem, New York, in 1821 ; died at Brooklyn in 1888) was an indefatigable explorer, archæologist and anthor. For a number of years he was a successful news- paper editor. In 1849 he was appointed United States chargé d'affaires to the States of Central America, and while occupying that position carried on extensive geographical and archaeological explorations in those regions. For these researches he received a gold medal from the Geographical Society of France. He published numerous books, pamphlets and magazine articles relating to his explorations.

The accompanying illustrations are reduced reproductions of draw- ings made by George Catlin for his "Letters and Notes," mentioned on page 84. The original pictures represented by these drawings were painted by Mr. Catlin in the Summer of 1832, during a stay of three months in the principal town of the Mandans 1,800 miles above St. Louis, on the west bank of the Missouri River, near the present town of Mandan, North Dakota. The first picture (I.) gives a distant view of the town, and shows the character of its location, while the second (II.) is a bird's- eye view of the same town. In 1832 the Man- dans numbered, accord- ing to Mr. Catlin, 2,000 souls. They occupied two permanent towns, each of which was forti- fied by a strong palisade of pickets eighteen feet high, and a surrounding ditch. Each town was further protected in front by the river, with a bank forty feet high. The II. lodges, varying in size from forty to fifty feet in diameter, were circular in form and covered with inud, which had become so compact by long use that men, women and children reclined and played upon the tops of the lodges in pleasant weather .*

* The MANDANS, or MIAHTANEES, "People of the Bank," now a feeble tribe of only 247 souls, the remnant of a once powerful nation, have resided on the upper Missouri for a long time. Catlin, in his various works, describes their manners, cus- toms and personal appearance. They were looked upon as the best of the North American Indians when Catlin first wrote about them. They were industrious, well armed, good hunters and brave warriors. In personal appearance they were not surpassed by any nation in the North-west. The men, who wore their hair banged, were tall and well made, with regular features and a mild ex- pression of countenance not usually seen among Indians. Their complexion was a shade lighter than that of other tribes, often approaching very near to some European nations, as the Spaniards. Another peculiarity was that some of them had light hair, and some gray or blue eyes, which are very rarely met with among other tribes. The picture of the head-chief here shown is a reduced copy of a drawing made by Mr. Catlin after a portrait painted by himself in 1832. Mr. Catlin described this chief as "a haughty, austere, over- bearing man, respected aud feared by his people rather than loved. * * The dress of this chief was one of great extravagance and some beauty. manufactured of skins; and a great number of quills of the raven forming his stylish head-dress. He is represented holding two calumets or pipes of peace."

Mr. Catlin had a theory of the Mandans being Welsh, and of their ancestors coming from across the Atlantic to a sonthern port, and afterwards migrating to the upper Missouri. However, this idea concerning Welsh Indians was not original with Mr. Catlin. In the seventeenth century John Josselyn, in his "Voyages to New England," men- HA-NA-TA-NU-MAUK ("Wolf Chief"). Head of the Mandan tribe iu 1832. tioned that the customs of the inhabitants re- sembled those of ancient Britons ; and Sir Thomas Herbert, another traveler of the same period, in his "Travels" gave Welsh words in use among these Indians. A century later reports from several traders and others were received of an Indian tribe that possessed manuscript, spoke Welsh and retained ceremonies of Christian worship. Among ·other information then published was the report of Capt. Abraham Chaplain of Kentucky, that his gar-

The remains of many earthworks have been discovered, from time to time, in New York State, and much has been written concerning them. The latest publication on the subject is the Rev. Dr. W. M. Beauchamp's "Aboriginal Occupation of New York," issued in Feb- ruary, 1900, as Bulletin No. 32, Vol. VII, of the New York State Museum. The author says that nearly 250 "defensive earthworks and mounds alone are now known" to have existed in New York. "The location of aboriginal dwellings," says Dr. Beauchamp, "depended on a variety of circumstances. In a certain way those nations termed seden- tary and agricultural were migratory, moving their towns every ten or twelve years. When the land was worn out, or wood was too far off, the women gave the signal and the town went elsewhere. Sometimes it was but a mile or two, often much more. In times of war defensive positions were chosen on the hills, and these were quite retired if the nation was weak. In such cases a favorite place was on a

ridge between two deep ravines. * Shallow lakes and bays, or their shallow parts, were preferred to deep water as usually affording the best fishing-grounds, and the fords and rifts of rivers were chosen for the same reason. Ancient earthworks, of which but two or three exist near the Mohawk [River], increase in frequency westward, becoming numerous in the territory of the Onondagas, and of their probable ancestors in Jefferson County. They are often of a generally elliptic or circular form, more or less irregular according to the nature of the ground. Usually there is an outside ditch, and one or more gates. It has now been definitely ascertained that some of these banks, at least, supported palisades. Of course there was no ditch at the gateways. * * In historic times defensive works were generally of palisades peculiarly arranged with upright and cross timbers. Galleries ran along the intersecting tops of the pickets. These were reached by ladders from within, and were useful in defense."

The accompanying illustration is a reduced facsimile of an engraving in the "Documentary History of New York," representing an Oneidan palisaded fort, or village, which is believed* to have stood on the shore of what is now known as Nichols' Pond, in Madison County, New York, and which was besieged by Champlain in 1615.

Squier, in his "Antiq- uities of the State of New York," published in 1851, in discussing the question as to the builders of these old-time earthworks and fortifications, says :

rison, near the Missouri River, had been visited by Indians who conversed in Welsh with some Welshmen in his company. Those Indians were thought to be descendants of a colony said to have been formed by Madoc, son of Owen Gwynedd, on his discovery of America in 1170.

* See Bulletin of the New York State Museum. Vol. VII, No. 32, page Ss.

"The relics found were identical with those which mark the sites of towns and forts known to have been occupied by the Indians within the historic period. The pottery taken from these sites, and from within the supposed ancient inclosures, is alike in all respects ; the pipes and ornaments are undistinguishable, and the indications of aboriginal dwellings are precisely similar and, so far as can be discovered, have equal claim to antiquity. Near many of these works are found cemeteries in which well pre- served skeletons are contained, and which, except in the absence of remains of European art, differ in no respect from the cemeteries found in connection with the abandoned modern towns and castles of the Indians. " * I am aware that the remnants of the Indian stock, which still exist in the State, generally profess total ignorance of these works. I do not, however, attach much importance to this circumstance. When we consider the extreme likelihood of the forgetfulness of ancient practices, in the lapse of 300 years, the lack of knowledge upon this point is the weakest of all negative evidence, not to be weighed against the incontrovertible testimony of the works themselves."

In his "Ancient Monuments," previously referred to, Squier says :

"It may be objected that if the Indians found in occupation of the Atlantic States. constructed earthworks of this kind, the facts could not have escaped the notice of the early explorers, and would have been made the subject of remark by thein. The omission may be singular, but is not unaccountable. They all speak of the aboriginal defenses as composed of palisades set in the ground. The simple circumstance of the earth having been heaped up around them to lend them greater firmness, may have been regarded as so natural and simple an expedient as to be undeserving of a special mention. * * *

"In respect of the antiquity of these works nothing positive can be affirmed. Many of them are now covered with heavy forests ; a circumstance upon which too much im- portance has been laid, and which in itself may not necessarily be regarded as indicative of great age, for we may plausibly suppose that it was not essential to the purposes of the builders that the forests should be removed. It is not uncommon to find trees of from one to three feet in diameter standing on the embankments and in the trenches, which would certainly carry back the date of their construction several hundred years- perhaps beyond the period of the Discovery in the fifteenth century. There is nothing, however, in this circumstance, nor in any other bearing upon the subject, which would necessarily imply that they were built by tribes anterior to those found in occupation of the country by the whites. Indeed, the weight of evidence is decidedly in favor of the conclusion that most of these works were erected by the Iroquois, or their western neigh- bors, and do not go back to a very high antiquity."

Dr. Beauchamp-having, during a period of many years, personally examined numerous earthworks and the relics found in and near them -has recently declared that he is "fully in accord" with Squier on the points mentioned hereinbefore ; "but," he adds, "the Iroquois, what- ever their relations to them, were descendants neither of the so-called Mound-builders, nor of any of the earlier visitors in New York. A study of their relics makes this evident."

In an article on "Pre-historic Man in America," published in The Forum in January, 1890, Maj. J. W. Powell (previously mentioned) said :

"Widely scattered throughout the United States, from sea to sea, artificial mounds are discovered which may be enumerated by the thousands or hundreds of thousands .* They vary greatly in size ; some are so small that a half-dozen laborers with shovels mnight construct one of them in a day, while others cover acres and are scores of feet in lieight. These mounds were observed by the earliest explorers and pioneers of the country.t They did not attract great attention, however, until the science of archaeology demanded their investigation. Then they were asstimed to furnish evidence of a race of people older than the Indian tribes."

* It may be noted here that there were Mound-builders in Siberia at a very early day. Bell, in his "Journey from Petersburg to Pekin." gives an account of mounds that he saw in the year 1720 (when making a trans-Siberian journey with a Russian embassy to the Court of China), and which he considered the tombs of ancient heroes. The author says (Vol. I, page 253) : "Many persons go from Tomsk [a city in southern-central Siberia] and other parts every Summer to these graves, which they dig up, and find among the ashes of the dead considerable quantities of gold, silver, brass and some precious stones ; but particularly hilts of swords and armor. They find, also, ornaments of saddles and bridles, and other trappings for horses; and even the bones of horses, and sometimes those of elephants. Whence it appears that, when any person or general of distinction was interred, all his arms, his favorite horse and servant were buried with him in the same grave. This custom prevails to this day among the Kalmuks and other Tartars, and seems to be of great antiquity."

+ The Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee and other southern tribes of Indians, occupying what we now call the "Gulf States," were first visited by Fernando de Soto in 1540, on his famous expedition when he dis- covered the Mississippi. The narratives of his explorations represent these Indians as cultivating extensive fields of corn, living in well-fortified towns-their houses erected on artificial mounds, and the villages having defenses of embankments of earth. These statements are verified by existing remains.

No other part of the United States has proved such a treasure-house of relics of pre-historic man and the Mound-builders- "whose vast earthworks are still, after a century of study, the perplexity of archeologists"- as south- ern Ohio ; and of this ter- ritory the Scioto Valley has been probably the richest area. Many archæ- Group of Mounds (circa 1840) on the left bank of the Scioto River, six miles south-east of Chillicothe, Ohio. ologists and anthropolo- gists (including Dr. Brinton previously mentioned) favor the theory that the Mound-builders of Ohio were of the same race as the Choctaws, Cherokees and other southern Indian tribes, and were probably their ancestors. The existing remains of the southern tribes referred to certainly compare favorably in size and construction with those left by the mysterious Ohio race, or tribes .* It is clear, also, that the latter had much in common with those well-known tribes of Indians, the Mandans, Onondagas and Oneidas, in their way of disposing and pro- tecting their homes.

Some writers have claimed for the Mound-builders of the Ohio and Upper Mississippi valleys an existence dating fully one thousand years ago ; while others have regarded them as a race so remote from the present Indian tribes that there could be nothing in common between them. Frederick S. Dellenbaugh, however, in his comparative study of North American Indian life, published in 1901 under the title "The North Americans of Yesterday," says that the Mound-builders "were only Amerinds whose development took a form that was impressive and lasting." And, to quote further from the Forum article of Maj. Powell :

"It is enough to say that the Mound-builders were the Indian tribes discovered by white men. It may well be that some of the mounds were erected by tribes extinct when Columbus first saw these shores, but they were kindred in culture to the peoples that still existed. * * * No ruin has been discovered where evidences of a liighier culture are found then exists in modern times at Zuñi, Oraibi or Laguna. The earliest may have been built thousands of years ago, but they were built by the ancestors of existing tribes and their congeners."

Squier, previously mentioned (on page 93), wrote as follows in 1860 concerning the Mound-builders of Ohiot :

"They must have been a numerous, stationary and agricultural people ; for a nomadic population would never rear works so extensive, systematic and manifestly of permanent intention ; and a population so large as to afford the labor for their construc- tion could not subsist on the precarious and scanty returns of the chase. And if the Mound-builders were a numerous, stationary and agricultural people, it follows almost of necessity that their customs, laws and religion had assumed a fixed and well-defined form. * In all these [mentioned] respects their works show them to have been far in advance of the tribes found in occupation of the country at the time of the Dis- covery. But there is no evidence that their condition was anything more than an approximation to that attained by the ancient Mexicans, Central Americans and Peruvians. * * *

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. I, Part 12

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851-1922; Smith, Ernest Gray Publication date: 1909-1930 Publisher: Wilkes-Barre : Raeder Press Number of Pages: 734

Author: Harvey, Oscar Jewell, 1851-1922; Smith, Ernest Gray
Publication date: 1909-1930
Publisher: Wilkes-Barre : Raeder Press
Number of Pages: 734