USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 25
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96
There is no manner of determining the length of time required for the formation of the peninsula. It is possible it may have had its be- ginning in the glacial epoch, when the bed of Lake Erie was plowed out by the stupendous force of the immense body of ice, that, covering it,
215
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
moved slowly toward the east. It may, however, have begun ages after- ward, and exactly in accordance with the theory laid down by Mr. Quintus. The same processes are in constant operation on the ocean coast. Some historians have made the mistake of stating that within the memory of man it was a treeless waste. This statement can be made to apply to the eastern end, but not to the main peninsula. There are trees in the interior-pine, hemlock and oak-that undoubtedly are centuries old, while the floor contains the remains of fallen giants that were probably prostrate when the settlement of Erie was begun. And there is another fact not to be lost sight of, namely, that all the timber now growing there undoubtedly sprang from the seeds of trees that already occupied the ground. Those who have frequented the peninsula for forty years or more cannot from comparisons drawn from memory say that there is an appreciable difference in the general size of the trees with which it is timbered.
It is a tract of virgin forest. Save when the Marine Hospital cor- poration had control no timber has been cut on the peninsula, and then the cutting was confined to the red cedar. It has always been carefully guarded. Nor have any changes or permanent works been made or erected there-and here also a saving clause, because, to protect it from the influences of the storms the government constructed two moles or piers, one to prevent encroachment upon the Presque Isle lighthouse property. The Board of Commissioners of Water Works in pursuance of their enterprise to extend the intake pipe of their system out into the open lake beyond, opened up and deepened the lily pond at the west end of Big bend, and upon a reservation obtained for their use are construct- ing settling basins and laying out the grounds adjacent. But the growing timber has been spared. The unanimous sentiment of the people, as well as the scientific judgment of the U. S. government in whose custody it is, are for the preservation inviolate of this magnificent tract of forest.
The peninsula is composed of lake sand. The greatest altitude is about twenty feet. It consists of a series of ridges or drifts, more or less well defined, that extend about parallel and run in an almost due easterly and westerly direction. They are in fact ancient dunes now covered with timber. In the older part the soil has become modified by the formation of vegetable mould, and in many of the depressions there are peaty deposits, increasing year by year. Some of the ponds of the olden time are now practically filled up by the accumulations of this humus.
In the early sixties when the writer first became acquainted with the peninsula-and it was true for a score of years afterward-there was a constant entrance maintained by the natural currents, from the main bay into the first pond. It was not of uniform depth or width and
1
216
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
was tortuous and sometimes difficult of passage. Upon occasions, when the water was low in the bay and the flow had been outward for a consid- erable period, it was a difficult matter to navigate a boat through that passage, for, besides the current setting out, there was always a bar formed outside that in a low stage of water was likely to have not more than two or three inches of water over it. The currents or tides of the lake are just as regular as the winds, but not more so. When there is a strong wind from the west after a calm the water in the bay rises, and there have been instances where in severe storms the water has washed over the public dock. When the wind subsides the water recedes. On the other hand, an east wind after a calm lowers the water in the bay. The reason for this is apparent. Erie is near the eastern end of the lake. Besides, it is on the narrowest part. A gale from the west, there- fore, drives the water down the lake, and the contracted space between Long Point and this shore causes it to rise, even more than it would were the lake open and free.
When the water rises in the bay, naturally it flows into the ponds of the peninsula; when it flows out with the subsidence of the body of water in the lake; it is drained from the peninsula ponds. Thus was maintained a free navigable entrance. There is none now between the outer bay and the first pond, but not because there is a change in the pro- gram of nature-that the lake tides have ceased. Not at all. It is because the hand of man has interfered. There is a field of wild rice growing inside the entrance that it is almost impossible to force a boat through. That rice is not indigenous there. It was sown many years ago by the Fish and Game Association for the purpose of attracting the wild duck in the fall. That plantation of wild rice is what closed the entrance to the first pond, and it did so by forming a dam. Since it obtained its growth the free flow of the water has been retarded, and the stream being never at any time sufficient in volume to scour out the channel, the action of the waves, and the force of the winds has at length effectually bottled up the ponds, and now it is impossible without constant work to maintain even an artificial entrance.
The first of the ponds, which is circular in form, is of considerable extent, and has a low island in the centre. In the olden times this pond could be distinctly seen from the mainland lying calm and blue in its emerald surrounding, a picture itself. Now it is but indistinctly seen, the growth of aspens and cottonwoods that came up when the channel was closed, cutting off the view. Then not only was the view unob- structed but the navigation of the water was free, nothing more than clumps of rushes or perhaps a snag of a button-bush stump offering interference.
On the west, nearly opposite the little island, there was a winding but deep channel that led to the west, into a smaller pond of very irregular form that extended north and south, and had an arm extending like a
217
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
canal, it was so long and of such uniform width and depth, in a northerly direction. It terminated in a pine wood, under the large trees of which there were the remains of a trapper's hut.
Passing out of the second pond through another deep canal, evidently produced by old-time currents, entrance is found to a small circular pool, so filled with a growth of spatter-dock and toad-lilies that progress is retarded. A few yards, however, brings one to another passage, the en- trance to Long Pond, as lovely a stretch of water as could be found anywhere, extending northwest and southeast, at least a mile and may- be a mile and a half. Up at the end of the pond there is a good firm dry landing that admits into the heart of a splendid woods that forms the centre of the peninsula. From that point it is possible to walk across to the lake shore, through the deep woods, penetrating thickets of alder and willow where the ground is low, and then proceeding across the parallel lines of sand dunes in the little intervales of which the red cedar trees made vigorous growth, to the shore of the lake, the northern boundary of the peninsula.
Lying right at the door of a populous city. the peninsula is a piece of virgin forest into which we may step and be in close communion with nature, for the forest is yet inviolate. Go in the springtime and listen to the voices that come from woods and thickets, from shores and swamps. The birds that know no fear, that find perfect security to build their nests and rear their young ; the four-footed creatures, the chipmunk, the deer mouse, the hare, the muskrat, the mink ; the batrachians and chelonians, the snakes and the newts-most of them so wild they do not know enough to be afraid.
There is here a wilderness garden that can hardly be surpassed. In early May may be found many a stretch of low sand dunes that have been carpeted with the glossy evergreen leaves of the bear-berry, stretches acres in area, the air vocal with the melodious hum of a million bees, the air an ocean of delicate perfume. A week or two later mammoth beds of blue lupine cover sometimes an acre in extent, one mass of ultramarine, while here and there, on the edge of the patch or close by, is to be seen a clump of the brilliant orange of the hairy puccoon, and in the shady places growing where its feet are always in the cool damp- ness, the wild lily of the valley, as sweet scented as any convallaria ever was.
Or here is another trip. It is along a ridge that used to be entered upon at the lightkeepers' boathouse when it was on the interior pond, and the route is toward the west, but not to be undertaken if not immune to ivy poisoning, for the ivy grows rank on each side the path; it even hides the trail from view and grows higher than pedestrians' heads. The path passes out into an open woods, consisting of pines and oaks on the ridge, red maples, and an occasional tupelo or wild cherry on the
218
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
lower ground, and beyond, forming the margin of the pond, alders and willows, with humbler shrubs such as the winter berry, the button bush and the Carolina rose. The air is full of the fragrance of the pines, and vibrates with the music of the warblers and vireos and song-sparrows. Along the ridge the course leads, passing the loftiest point on the pen- insula, some twenty feet or more above the level of the lake. Soon lower ground is reached, but the woods are still heavy and they stretch more extensively on every hand. Here are to be found the big pink moccasin-flower, one of the most showy of our native orchids, and it grows here by the hundreds-yes, by the thousand. Gather them. Hands- ful, armsful will not exhaust them. And this is but one of the peninsular haunts of this beautiful flower.
Or, visit the peninsula in the season of wild roses. Where can there be found a grander rose garden? The passage up into Niagara pond in rose time is between solid walls of the Carolina rose with the air fairly heavy with the perfume, so numerous are the flowers. What is true of Niagara pond holds good from end to end of the peninsula in rose time.
And so it is with every period of the summer season-when the pontederias and the arrowheads are in flower; the button bush and cor- nels are in bloom; when the wild grape has its turn at perfuming the air ; when the rose-mallow blooms in the shallow water and the nympheas float out where it is deeper ; when the skullcap and the false dragonhead appear among the sedges ; and when, rounding out the season of flowers, we may gather the centaury and later the fringed gentian or make a bouquet of the fragrant leafless utricularia and equally. sweet-scented ladies tresses, with purple gerardias to complicate the color scheme.
Nor is everything to be found on the peninsula common and cheap. Quite the contrary. Let me make a few quotations from so good an authority as Gray's Manual. 6th Ed. Here is a plant called Utricularia resupinata, which after the description has this note as to its range: "Sandy margins of ponds, E. Maine to R. I., near the coast; also N. New York and Presque Isle, Lake Erie." Thus according to the book our peninsula has a special credit mark. It is only proper to add that this species of bladderwort is one of six found on the peninsula.
Here is another plant with its notation in Gray's Manual: "Eleo- charis quadrangulata Shallow water; central New York to Michigan and southward; rare." It is found growing in the first pond.
Again : a fern, a delicate plant that cost a painful experience with mosquitoes to collect when first discovered here: "Botrychium simplex * Maine to N. Y., Minn. and northward; rare." It is a peninsula plant.
Our water lily has an interesting story. It is not the water lily of the east, but an altogether different species. That of the coast is Nymph- aea odorata, is sweet scented and is sometimes pink. Our water lily is
219
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
Nymphaea reniformis, is never pink and has no fragrance or sometimes a slight odor as of apples. Years ago it was noted as growing only in the vicinity of Meadville, having been reported by Allegheny College. It grew in Conneaut lake. Now observe: The lilies we have here came from Conneaut lake. The seeds undoubtedly came down the canal- lilies are abundant wherever there is enough of the canal left to accom- modate them-they passed down from the canal through a little stream that empties into the pond at Waldameer and there they were first established in this vicinity. From there they worked eastward over the peninsula, the seeds carried perhaps by the water fowl, until now almost every pond of the peninsula has the white water lily growing in it.
Another plant that is generally rare-that was not reported from the shores of Lake Erie until within a few years, is a peninsula willow, Salix adenophylla, and a sedge, local and restricted in its habitat is Carex nigro marginata. Then there are a number of plants that grow on the sea-beaches which are frequent on the peninsula-the beach pea, the orange spurge, several rushes, the sea-rocket and several sedges and grasses.
Thus it may be seen that the peninsula possesses rare things well worth the seeking by those who are interested in plant life, and it proved an especially interesting field for study to the botanists of the Natural History Society when that organization was in active existence. Indeed it was through their work that the knowledge of many of its peculiar forms of plant life became known to the botanical world, and Presque Isle was added to the list of stations where rare and local plants were to be found.
Let it not be understood that this brief list furnishes anything like a catalogue of the plants or even of the showy flowers that are to be collected upon that tract of land. Far from it. Hundreds of species beginning with the lyrate rock-cress which flow- ers soon after the snow melts, and the blue violets of the sheltered nooks, and continuing in a procession of floral beauty until the grass of Parnassus and the fringed gentian close the books of the year, is to be enjoyed by the lover of nature who haunts the peninsula. And there the magnificent forests, vocal ever, sometimes with the sighing of the wind or the howling of the tempest, almost uninterruptedly by the music of the birds; fragrant with the pungent scent of the pines, the balm of the cottonwoods when their buds are bursting in the spring, the perfume of the wild grapes or the roses, or the aromatic odor of the sweet-gale or the mints of various species; the charm of the shifting sunshine and shade, and above all, its remoteness ; its delightful seclusion and its perfect rest, make the peninsula an ideal haunt for the lover of nature.
Just west of Misery bay there is a cove called the Graveyard pond, and there are traditions concerning the way in which it came by its
220
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
appellation : One is that on the little ridge between it and the larger bay the burial place of the Perry fleet was located. Perhaps there is no truth in the traditional tale; it is fact, nevertheless, that the pond has borne its gruesome title ever since the American fleet of 1813 was berthed in Misery bay.
Back in the seventies a number of Erie men, with what warrant is not known, but probably through the Marine Hospital proprietorship of the peninsula, opened up a resort a few rods west of the first pond, on the shore of the bay, and named it Crystal Point. It was a beautiful spot, and there having been built a number of rude booths where refresh- ments were sold, and the ground having been parked and provided with scats and paths and accommodations for dancing the place acquired con- siderable vogue. The steam yachts of the time made pretty regular trips across and the business of the place attained to quite large proportions. But it could not stand prosperity. In the course of time it retrograded to a place of low character, where bad liquor was the chief commodity traded in, and as a consequence it became of such evil repute that it had to be suppressed. In its last days in fell into the hands of Jim-or "Skipper"-Nesbitt.
Later, Jim moved from Crystal Point to a spot a short distance west and became a squatter, erecting a poor cottage there, where he lived with his mother. With the other place entirely abandoned and its build- ings removed, the "Skipper" called his place Crystal Point, and soon the old point was forgotten by its name, which became firmly attached to the skipper's ranch. Jim had some good points in his makeup, but unfortu- nately they were very few compared with the rest of his composition. His place earned an unsavory reputation until he left the city.
While he lived at the point there was a tragedy. His old mother lived with him and kept house for him. One day in the late summer she set out to gather berries, but she did not return in the evening. Jim loved his mother-and this was one of his good points-and he became greatly concerned when she did not show up before the darkness fell. It was a vain proposition to search the woods and thickets and morasses in the dark, but it was tried, in hopes that in same way, by sight or hearing, he might get track of her whereabouts. But he could not. All the next day the search was kept up and again night settled down upon the woods. Another day of vain search-how many days cannot now be stated-at length her lifeless body was found where she had fallen ex- hausted by her vain endeavor to find her homeward way.
When the skipper gave up his ranch on the point it was taken by Jake Geib. Now Jake was a man of energy and resource. The pitiful shack of Squatter Nesbitt was soon replaced by a modest but attractive little establishment that was an inn of decided pretensions. An excellent boat landing was constructed and the grounds to the extent of several acres were cleared of underbrush and became exceedingly attractive.
221
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
It was just when Geib had his resort in thoroughly good order that the hotel at Masassauga Point burned, and the grounds at the Head were closed for a season. The public, hungry for a place of resort, turned toward Crystal Point, and Jake Geib welcomed them with the glad hand, and prospered accordingly. Geib had been mine host of the Arcade previously ; it was he who had given that hostelry its name. He there- fore had the confidence of Erie people and their patronage, especially as there was no other way to turn.
In due course there came a change in the management of affairs on the peninsula. The War Department took it in charge, and the edict went forth that no one should make it a place of abode or have thereon a place of public resort. Squatter sovereignty on Presque Isle went out with that government fiat, and though Crystal Point may still be located by those who knew it in the days of its prosperity it is now a deserted place, rapidly recovering its old state of nature.
The Big Bend! There were gay times at the Big Bend picnic ground in its time, and there are many in Erie who still remember it as the favorite resort of churches and Sunday schools for their summer out- ings. Picnics there had far more of rusticity than the present-day func- tions of the same name. Then there was no "merry-go-round" for the children to patronize and no ice cream or pop-corn stand at which to spends nickels. The woodfire down by the beach, with a Gipsy crane from which to suspend the big coffee pot, portable tables with seats of logs or planks supported by fallen tree trunks, swings, and plenty of row-boats-these were the features of the picnics at Big Bend.
Not all the attractions ; one of the best was the stroll along the wood path across to the northern shore, where the fresh breeze from the west rolled in a splendid surf upon the beach, that was thickly strewn with driftwood, bleached and bare. It was a delightful relaxation, having mounted one of the huge boles of the fallen trees, there so common, to idly watch the combers as they came ashore, or to follow the course of some passing ship in its course up or down the lake.
It was also a fine ground thereabout for flower-gathering. The sea- son of picnics is the season of water-lilies, and in the land-locked pond a few rods west these abounded. So did the rose-mallow and, over to- ward the lake side, there was a glade where the butterfly weed grew in abundance. The wild sunflowers were then in bloom and the false dragon-head and the purple and yellow fox-gloves, while the bracted convolvolus grew abundantly almost everywhere. It was a rarely fine place for a picnic and in its day its popularity was commensurate with its deserts.
The "flash-light," as it is popularly called here, or "Presque Isle light," as it is known on the charts, was established in 1873, and the lighthouse went into operation in July of that year. The establishing
222
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
of that light station did much toward enabling the general public to ob- tain a better knowledge of the interior of the peninsula, because one of the first conveniences constructed for the light-keeper's use was a plank walk extending from the lighthouse directly to the boat landing on Misery bay. Intended for the light-keeper, it is a question whether the general public did not get a good deal more out of that walk than those it was built for.
The peninsula is a splendid collecting field for the ornithologist. It was the first field worked by the late George B. Sennett, who became one of the leading ornithologists in the United States. Since the Carnegie museum was established at Pittsburg the peninsula has been made a place for bird study to the extent of keeping a force of naturalists employed throughout an entire season.
Then there is Misery bay. But there is a story in Misery bay alone. The harbor of Perry's ships and prizes, it has been occupied by relics of that fleet, of one sort and another, for nearly a hundred years, and now there is resting beneath its waters the remains of the vessel that was the flagship when that splendid victory was won. Misery bay is now the most popular part of the peninsula, for it has convenient landing places and just enough beach and shade to spread such a cloth as a small party requires. Once it was a scene of business activity. At one time the Erie Ice Company had a large storage house there, and daily brought cargoes over to the city on scows. It proved too expensive, however, and was finally abandoned. There was also at one time a manufactory of caviar on the point that juts into Misery bay from the west, and this factory of Mr. Meyer's was what gave that spot the name of Sturgeon Point.
They were the only manufactories ever established on that piece of ground. Perhaps in the future the ultra utilitarians may succeed in de- spoiling the peninsula of its charms. It may be that in time it will sup- port enormous glass factories and immense furnaces of iron, and these will, possibly, be regarded in the light of improvements. It will mean so great an addition to the "business" of the city and such an increase of population ! It is worth all sorts of work to bring it about, say these iconoclastic town boomers.
It is quite possible it may come in time ; but, it ought never to come at all. . The peninsula should be a natural preserve for the people of Erie forever ; it should belong to all the people. It is possible to make of Presque Isle one of the finest parks on the continent, a park that shall be a delight to every sort and class and condition of Erie people. This ought to be its future, and it will if good sense shall prevail.
It is something like 38 years since Erie lost from its calendar a red- letter day that, for a time at least, was looked forward to as an event of interest, if not of importance. It was a purely local holiday, and be-
223
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
cause of enactment by the state legislature, legally a holiday. It was, moreover a holiday with which there was a certain amount of juggling by the councilmen, and, in an attempt to perpetuate it, the fostering care of the respected city father who had its interest at heart produced its death by inanition. It passed from remarkable vigor almost directly to an early death,
"Unwept, unhonored and unsung."
That holiday was Cranberry Day, and the date of it was the first Tuesday in October in each year.
It was a funny thing to legislate about, to be sure. Think of the grave and reverend legislators up at the state capital, in all solemnity passing on three readings a bill to legalize Cranberry Day for the benefit of the people of the little town of Erie-population then 3,500! And the governor of the great state of Pennsylvania affixing his signature and the seal of the commonwealth to the act that created Cranberry Day! Yet so it was; no holiday, not even the Fourth of July, had a better legal title to its existence than Cranberry Day had.
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.