USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Annals of Luzerne County; a record of interesting events, traditions, and anecdotes > Part 14
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oats. A market for its surplus produce is found at Hazel- ton, Jeansville, and Beaver Meadows. It has 5 saw- mills, 2 grist-mills, 2 stores, 1 church, 1 tannery, and 2 taverns. Its population, in 1850, was 425.
BLAKELY TOWNSHIP, was formed from Greenfield and Providence in 1818; and was named in honor of Captain Johnson Blakely, who commanded the United States sloop of war Wasp, and distinguished himself in an engagement with the Avon, a British sloop of war.
The first settlement in Blakely was made by Timothy Stevens, in 1786; and in 1814 he erected the first grist- mill, known as Mott's Mill, on the Lackawanna. In 1795, Nicholas F. Leuchens, the father of God Save Nicholas Francis Leuchens, built a log-cabin on the site of Pecksville. Captain John Vaughn settled in the township in 1797; and Moses Dolph in 1798.
The area of Blakely is 48 square miles, with an undu- lating surface, one-third of which is cultivated. It pro- duces wheat, rye, corn, oats, &c., and being in the coal region has a home-market. There are several villages in this township.
Archbald, named in honor of James Archbald, for many years chief engineer of the Delaware and Hudson Canal and Coal Company, contains about 300 dwellings, 6 stores, 3 churches, 2 taverns, and 1 saw-mill.
Jessup, named in honor of William Jessup, contains 50 dwellings, 1 store, and 1 tavern.
Pecksville has 20 dwellings, 1 store, 1 grist-mill, 2 saw- mills, 1 sash factory, and 1 paling-mill.
Oliphant contains about 100 dwellings. It is a coal town, belonging to the Delaware and Hudson Canal and Coal Company, and has lately sprung into existence.
Besides those in the villages there are in the township 5 saw-mills, 1 store, 1 tavern, and 1 church.
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The population of Blakely in 1840 was 510, and in 1850 it was 1703. This township was not divided be- tween 1840 and 1850, and exhibits the rapid increase of population in the mining districts. About one-half of its present inhabitants are Irish, Germans, and Welsh. In 1840 only 4 persons were engaged in mining, and 119 in agriculture.
BUCK TOWNSHIP was formed from Covington in 1833, and derived its name from George Buck, who was one of its early settlers, and who kept the first tavern, after- wards known as Terwiliger's. John Nagle was the first settler in Buck. He built his log-cabin on the old Sulli- van road, near the Lehigh, in 1782, fourteen miles from any human habitation. Conrad Sox, Justice Simonson, Samuel Wildrick, and Thomas Tattershall settled here soon after. Mr. Simonson is nearly one hundred years of age, and within the past four years has walked to Wilkesbarre, a distance of fifteen miles.
The first saw-mill was erected in 1806 by Hugh Conner, on the site of Stoddartsville, and in 1816 the first church was built there by John Stoddart.
In 1810 the Great Swamp, which extends over a con- siderable portion of Buck, was purchased by a company of Philadelphia speculators. A president and eighteen councilmen were elected; and the "City of Rome" was laid out, one hundred miles from the seaboard, in a dark gloomy swamp, called the "Shades of Death" by those who fled through it from Wyoming after the massacre in 1778. Three or four shipbuilders and a number of arti- sans of various trades were actually induced to purchase lots and remove to the "city," where reptiles and wild- beasts should alone have habitation. A respectable mer- chant of Philadelphia meeting a citizen of Wilkesbarre seriously inquired, " Will not the new and flourishing
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City of Rome become a dangerous rival of your town ?" The scheme was at length exposed through the columns of the "Gleaner," by Charles Miner, Esq., but not until many poor men had invested their means and removed to the "Shades of Death."
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Buck contains 50 square miles. Its lumber is hemlock, spruce, and pine, and lumbering is the chief employment of the inhabitants. It has 11 saw-mills, 3 stores, 3 taverns, and 1 church; and the people consume more of agricultural products than they raise.
Stoddartsville is a town, located on the Lehigh, con- taining about 30 dwellings, and lies partly in Luzerne and partly in Monroe counties. It was laid out by John Stoddart, Esq., of Philadelphia, in 1815, who erected a large stone mill-the walls of which are yet standing-at a cost of $20,000. It was supplied with grain from Wyoming.
Gouldsborough, pleasantly situated on the Lehigh, con- tains about 30 dwellings, 1 store, 2 churches, and a large and commodious hotel. It is connected with the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad by a good plank-road. The large and extensive tannery of D. W. Lee, Esq., described in another place in this work, is located here. The population of the village is 450.
Beaumont is a small village of 14 dwellings, with 1 store and 1 tavern. It was named in honor of the late Andrew Beaumont of Wilkesbarre.
The population of Buck township in 1840 was 307, and in 1850 it was 539.
BUTLER TOWNSHIP was separated from Sugarloaf in 1839, and was named in honor of Colonel Zebulon Butler. In 1784 John Balliet, " solitary and alone," made the first settlement in Sugarloaf Valley, within the limits of what is now Butler township, on the Beisel farm, about one
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ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
mile from Drum's. He, in company with a number of others from Northampton county, had visited the valley, a year or two previous, for the purpose of burying the dead soldiers who had been killed by the savages. Bal- liet was soon followed by Philip Woodring, Henry Davis, Andrew Mowery, and George Drum, father of Abraham Drum, late sheriff of this county. Samuel Woodring erected a log grist-mill with one run of stone, and also a saw-mill attached, on the Nescopeck Creek in 1788. These were the first mills in Sugarloaf Valley.
The area of Butler is 31 square miles, two-thirds of which are cleared. It embraces a portion of Sugarloaf Valley, and the remainder of its surface is undulating. Its timber is oak, hickory, and pine; and its farms pro- duce wheat, rye, corn, buckwheat, oats, &c., which find a market at Hazelton and Jeansville. It has 10 saw- mills, 2 grist-mills, 2 stores, 3 taverns, and 2 churches.
Mount Surprise is a pleasant village in Butler, contain- ing about 20 dwellings.
The population of the township in 1840 was 514, and in 1850 it was 725.
CARBONDALE TOWNSHIP was formed from Blakely and Greenfield in 1831. C. E. Wilbur, now a resident of Jefferson, and upwards of ninety years of age, was one of the first settlers in Carbondale, about the year 1800. It was he who first discovered the coal, near the Lacka- wanna, now in the third ward of the city of Carbondale. In 1812 William Wurts, under the guidance of Mr. Wil- bur, explored this region, and discovered coal at several places in the township. This induced him and his brother Maurice to purchase property here, then owned by Mr. Russell, of Northumberland county. These enter- prising men, in 1824, erected the first log-house in Car- bondale for the accommodation of themselves and laborers.
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But there was then no outlet or market for coal, and little or nothing was accomplished in this business until the organization of the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, and the completion of the railroad to Carbondale in 1828.
The township contains an area of 23 square miles. Its surface is rugged though not sterile, and being un- derlaid with anthracite coal, like other mining regions, agriculture has not received much attention from its inhabitants. In 1840 the number of persons engaged in mining was 252, and in agriculture 32. Its population in 1840, including the city, was 2398. In 1850, without the city, it was 459. (For 1860, see Appendix X.)
FIRST HOUSE BUILT IN CARBONDALE.
CARBONDALE CITY was incorporated by Act of Assembly in 1851. Prior to that time it was a borough which, in 1850, contained 4945 inhabitants. The first dwelling in the place was built by Maurice Wurts, Esq., in 1824, and for some years was used as a boarding-house, and called the " Log Tavern."
In the year 1828 a Catholic church was built; also a
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Union church, occupied by Protestants, and a school- house. With a few exceptions, the following-named gentlemen are the only persons residing in Carbondale, who located there prior to 1830: Dr. T. Sweet, D. N. Lathrop, John M. Poor, S. E. Rayner, Samuel Mills, R. E. Marvin, Henry Johnson, Stephen Rogers, and D. Yarington.
There are a court-house and jail here, and a recorder's court for the city is held four times in each year by the Hon. John N. Conyngham. There is also a mayor's court held four times a year.
The city contains 56 dealers in merchandise, 24 restau- rants, 5 hotels, and 8 churches; also 2 machine shops, and 3 foundries. There is only one brick building in the city.
The present population is estimated at 7000, of whom probably three-fourths, including the children of foreigners, are native born Americans. (See Appendix X.) About one- half of the adult population is thought to be foreign born.
COVINGTON TOWNSHIP was formed from Wilkesbarre in the year 1818, and was named in honor of Brigadier- General Covington, of the United States Army, who fell in the battle of Williamsburg, Canada West, during the war of 1812.
Between 1787 and 1791, Henry Drinker, Jr., of Phila- delphia, father of H. W. and Richard Drinker, purchased 25,000 acres of beech land, known as "Drinker's Beech," lying in Luzerne, Wayne, and Pike counties. In 1792 John Delong was employed to cut a road to these lands from the Lehigh, and in 1815 a clearing was made, and the first log-house was erected in Covington by H. W. Drinker, Esq. The land was sold at $5 per acre, and began to be settled by a hardy pioneer race of men, among whom were Michael Mitchell, Lawrence Dersher-
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mer, John Webster, Ebenezer Covey, John and Willianrd Ross, William Copeland, J. and L. Stull, J. Wragg. John Simpson, and E. Wardell. Mr. Wardell erected the first house in Daleville. Holmes & Eastley put up the first saw-mill in 1821; the first church was erected in 1828, and the first grist-mill, by Levi Depew, in 1830, on Bear Creek.
Covington contains 34 square miles, one-eighth of which is cultivated. Its timber is beech, maple, and hemlock, and its soil is adapted to grass and the coarse grains. There are in the township 6.saw-mills, 3 taverns. 2 stores, and 2 churches. Its villages are Daleville and Turnersville, the former containing about 12 and the latter about 8 dwelling-houses.
The population of the township in 1850 was 650.
DALLAS TOWNSHIP was formed from Kingston in 1817, and embraces a portion of one of the certified townships called Bedford. It was named in honor of Alexander J. Dallas, of Philadelphia.
Ephraim McCoy, a revolutionary soldier, erected the first log-cabin in Dallas, near the site of McClellandsville, in 1797. E. and D. Spencer, J. Mears, J. and J. Honey- well, Jr., J. Wait, J. Kelley, and Isaac Montanye were among the first settlers. The first saw-mill was built by Jude Baldwin, on a branch of Toby's Creek, in 1813, and the first church in 1851. The area of this township is twenty-one square miles, three-fifths of which are cleared and cultivated. Its timber is pine, oak, chestnut, and hickory. Its surface is undulating, and its soil is adapted to grass, as well as wheat, rye, corn, &c. Improved farms are valued at from $30 to $45 per acre. It has 8 saw- mills, 2 stores, 1 tavern, and 1 church. Its market is at Wilkesbarre and Pittston. Large quantities of butter, packed in tubs, are monthly taken to Wyoming 13
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village, and sent thence on the Lackawanna and Blooms- burg Railroad to Goshen, New York. From that place it is transported to New York city market. The best butter produced by our dairy farmers, not only in Dallas but in other townships, goes to a foreign market.
The town of McClellandsville contains 15 dwellings. The population of the township, in 1850, was 904.
DENISON TOWNSHIP was formed in 1839 from Hanover, and was named in honor of Colonel Nathan Denison. It was first settled by Germans, from Northampton county, about the year 1798. It contains 39 square miles, one-eighth of which is cleared. Its surface is rugged and mountainous, and its timber is principally hemlock, pine, and oak. Lumbering is the chief employment of. the inhabitants, who consume more than they raise of agri- cultural products. It has 9 saw-mills, 1 store, and 2 taverns, but no grist-mill and no church. Their school- houses are occupied for religious services.
There is a small village in Denison called Port Jen- kins, situated at the head of the Lehigh navigation.
The population of this township, in 1850, then in- cluding White Haven and Foster township, was 1517.
DORRANCE TOWNSHIP was formed from Newport, in 1840, and was named in honor of Lieutenant-Colonel George Dorrance, who fell in the battle at Wyoming, July 3d, 1778. Its original settlers came from North- ampton county, about the year 1785. It contains 28 square miles, of which one-fifth is cleared. Its surface is rough and mountainous, but produces rye, corn, buck- wheat, oats, &c., which find a market at Wilkesbarre and Hazelton. Oak, hemlock, white and yellow pine. are the prevailing species of timber. There are 4 saw- mills, 1 grist-mill, 1 tavern in Dorrance, but no store
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and no church. Preaching is done in the school-housed The population, in 1850, was 420.
EXETER TOWNSHIP is one of the original or certified townships, and retained its name on the division by the court, in 1790. Its name is derived from Exeter, in Rhode Island.
James Sutton put up the first saw and grist mills in Exeter, in the year 1776, on a small stream four miles above the battle-ground. The mills and his dwelling, all log-buildings, were burnt by the enemy in 1778, and the mill-irons were carried away, except the crank, which mnay now be found in the collection of the Wyoming His- torical and Geological Society. Forts Jenkins and Winter- moot were located in this township, and a portion of the ground, where the battle of July 3d, 1778, was fought, lies within its bounds. The township line crosses the plain a short distance below the Old Jenkins House, which stands on the site of Wintermoot Fort. In 1796, when it included Ransom and Franklin townships, it con- tained 70 taxable inhabitants,* 41 horses, and 165 head of horned cattle.
On the 22d of February, 1794, a subscription for funds to erect a meeting-house was started in Exeter, and the following subscribers, with the sums to be given, were obtained :--
John Jenkins, £5
James Scovell,
5
Benjamin Sınith,
1
Elisha Scovell,
1
Thomas Jenkins, . 1
The oldest residents of the township are William Love, aged 77, John Shales, 75, Mrs. Hoover, 75.
* For names of taxables, see Appendix, K.
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ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
Exeter contains an area of 23 square miles, of which one-half is cleared and improved, producing the usual grains of the country. Its markets are Pittston, Scranton, and Wilkesbarre. It has 3 saw-mills, 1 grist-mill, 1 plaster-mill, 1 church and 1 tavern.
The population in 1850 was 833.
FAIRMOUNT TOWNSHIP was formed from Huntington in 1834, and lies in the north-west corner of the county. The first saw-mills, in Fairmount, were erected about the year 1837, on Huntington Creek and Maple Run, by Shadrach Laycock and Peter Boston.
This township contains 44 square miles, of which one- tenth is cleared and cultivated. The surface is undu- lating, and the soil yields wheat, rye, corn, buckwheat, and oats. The timber is principally pine, hemlock, and oak. Hazelton is the market for its produce. It has 15 saw-mills and 1 tavern, but no grist-mill and no church.
Its population in 1840 was 594, and in 1850 it was 958.
FELL TOWNSHIP was formed from Carbondale in 1845. It occupies the extreme north-east corner of the county. It was named in honor of Jesse Fell, Esq., who, for many
years, was an associate judge of our county courts. Its area is 19 square miles, being generally rugged and mountainous, with a few arable spots. Its timber is hemlock, oak, and pine chiefly. Only one-seventh of the township is cleared, which produces rye, oats, and buck- wheat. These find a market at Carbondale. It has 2 saw-mills, 1 store, 1 tavern, 1 large tannery, and 1 sash factory, but no church and no grist-mill.
Its population in 1850 was 356.
FOSTER TOWNSHIP was formed from Denison in 1855, and was named in honor of Asa L. Foster, one of its early settlers. The few original settlers were from Northampton county ; but mining becoming the chief employment, the
.
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present population are mostly Germans, Irish, Scotch, and Welsh. Thomas Morrison made the first clearing in 1837, and erected a saw-mill on Pond Creek in 1851. To this James Morrison attached a grist-mill in the same year. In 1854, Richard Sharp, George Belford, Francis Weiss, William Reed, A. L. Foster, and John Leisenring, explored a considerable tract of land belonging to the estate of the late Tench Coxe of Philadelphia, with a view to the establishment of coal works. Their examination proving satisfactory, they erected a steam saw-mill, at a cost of $7000, and commenced operations at Fillmore, now Eckley, but then a wilderness. In 1855, they shipped 2000 tons of coal, and have since increased it to 110,000 tons per annum.
Foster contains a territory of 50 square miles, but only a small portion of it is adapted to agriculture, being generally mountainous. Its inhabitants consume of agri- cultural products more than they raise.
Eckley is a village containing 130 dwellings, 1 store, a large and commodious hotel, 2 churches, 2 private schools, and about 800 inhabitants.
FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP was formed from portions of King- ston, Exeter, and Dallas in 1843, and was named in honor of John Franklin, one of the first settlers of Wyo- ming. It was settled principally by people from New Jersey and New York. The first saw-mill in its territory was erected on Sutton Creek by Mr. Munson in 1808. The first and only grist-mill was built in the same year on the same stream by Elijah Brace, and was rebuilt, in 1828, by Conrad Kunckle. The first church was put up in 1835. William Brace, Benjamin Chandler, and James Hadersel are among the oldest inhabitants now living in the township.
Franklin contains 16 square miles, one half of which
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ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
is under cultivation. Oak, hemlock, and pine abound in its forests. The soil is adapted to grazing, and excellent butter is made in this locality, which also pro- duces the usual grains. Its market is at Pittston ; and though small in territory, its agricultural capacity is very fine. The township has 2 saw-mills, 1 store, 1 church, and 1 tavern.
Orange is a pleasant village, containing 14 dwellings. The population of Franklin in 1850 was 642.
GREENFIELD TOWNSHIP was separated from Abington in 1816, and then included a portion of the country known as the " Beech Woods." Its original settlers came from Connecticut and Rhode Island in 1797, but since then many Germans have purchased lands and located within its bounds. Among the first settlers in this and the adjoining township of Scott, were Elijah Hobbs, Hosea Phillips, Joseph Sackett, Joseph Barry, Isaac Finch, Joseph Waller, Daniel Waller, Nathan Weatherly, Levi Weatherly, Mr. Howe, and Newton Nokes. The wife of Mr. Nokes was lost, at one time, in the woods for five days, subsisting on roots and berries, and spent one night in a tree-top, surrounded by howling wolves. The first saw-mill here was put up by the Rev. William Robinson in 1813. Henry Austin erected the first grist-mill, and the Methodists the first church in 1851.
Greenfield has an arca of 25 square miles. Its surface is undulating, one-third of which is cleared, and it pro- duces wheat, rye, oats, buckwheat, corn, &c., which find a market at Carbondale. It is adapted to grazing and stock growing. Within its territory are 5 saw-mills, 1 grist-mill, 2 churches, and 1 tavern.
Its population in 1850 was 869.
HANOVER TOWNSHIP is one of the original townships laid out by the Susquehanna Land Company. It was
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called, in the first place, Nanticoke, from the Nanticoke Indians, who had a village near the site of the present village of Nanticoke. But in 1770 it was granted to Captain Lazarus Stewart and his associates, who changed the name to Hanover, from the region of country called Hanover, their former home, now included in the county of Dauphin. The first building in Hanover was a block
house, erected by Captain Lazarus Stewart in 1771. Its location was near the Susquehanna, on the lot belonging to the estate of the late Alexander Jameson, Esq., two miles below Wilkesbarre. It was one and a half stories high, with an overshoot and loopholes, and it had four rooms on the first floor. The second house was put up by Lieutenant Lazarus Stewart, in the same year, on the lot now the property of Messrs. Stewart Sively and Benjamin Pfouts. The first church, also the first in the county, was put up in 1777, near the site of the German Reformed Church. The first grist-mill was a log structure with one run of stone, built by Mr. Delano, on the site of the present Beehe Mill, in 1783.
On the division of the county into eleven townships, in 1790, the boundaries of Hanover, as before stated, were extended, and in 1796, when it included Wright, Denison, and Foster, it contained 91 taxable inhabitants,+ 58 horses, 111 oxen, and 152 cows.
The present area of Hanover is 25 square miles, two-thirds of which are cleared; but as a considerable portion of the land is owned by coal companies, farms. once well cultivated and productive, are now neglected. There are several farms, however, in a good state of cultivation, which yield abundantly to the profit of their owners. It has within its territory 3 grist-mills, 2 saw- mills, 4 stores, 3 churches, 2 taverns, and 1 tannery.
* See p. 115, for engraving of this building.
+ For names of taxables, see Appendix, L.
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ANNALS OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
The villages of Nanticoke, Peastown, and Hendricks- burg, contain each about thirty dwellings.
The population of Hanover, in 1850, including Wright, was 1506. In 1840 there were 53 persons engaged in mining, and 200 in agriculture.
HAZEL TOWNSHIP was formed from a portion of Sugar- loaf, in 1839, and was so called from the great quantity of hazel bushes growing in its territory.
The first saw-mill in Hazel was erected on Hazel Creek in 1810, and stood within the present limits of the borough of Hazelton. John Charles, while digging in the earth for a ground-hog in 1826, discovered the first coal at the old Hazelton mines. The oldest residents in the township are Anthony Fisher, Joseph Fisher, Casper Thomas, Conrad Horn, and Adam Winters.
Lewis Davenport is the oldest resident of the borough of Hazelton.
The area of Hazel is 49 square miles, but being a mountainous country, only a small portion of it is sus- ceptible of cultivation. Its timber is chiefly yellow pine, used for props in the mines. Mining is the principal employment of the people.
Jeansville derives its name from Mr. Jeans, the original owner of the coal lands and projector of the works in the vicinity. Its population is about 1500. It contains 1 church, 1 store, 1 tavern, and 1 foundry and machine- shop. The coal mines are now worked by William Milnes & Co.
Stockton contains about 130 dwellings, 1 church, 1 store, and 1 tavern. Its mines are worked by Packer, Lockhart & Co.
Jeddo is a village of about 100 dwellings. 'The popu- lation of Hazel, in 1840, was 893, of whom 21 were
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BOROUGHS AND TOWNSHIPS.
engaged in agriculture, and 207 in mining. In 1850 the population was 2081.
HAZELTON BOROUGH was incorporated in 1856, and owes its prosperity mainly to the Hazelton Coal Company. The streets cross each other at right angles, and the dwellings generally are constructed of wood. It has 4 dry goods stores, 1 drug store, 3 churches, 4 taverns, 1 foundry and 1 machine shop, and 1 steam grist-mill.
HOLLENBACK TOWNSHIP was separated from Nescopeck in 1845, and was named in honor of Matthias Hollenback, Esq., one of the first associate judges of the county courts.
It has been said by some of the oldest inhabitants of Hollenback that the famous Grasshopper War between the Delaware and Shawnee Indians occurred on a plain lying at the junction of the Wapwallopen Creek with the Susquehanna, where numerous aboriginal graves have been found.
A few substantial German farmers, from Northampton county, settled in the territory of Hollenback as early as 1789 ; but in 1796 it did not contain more than 10 tax- able inhabitants.
The area of this township is 38 square miles, one-fifth of which is cleared. The surface is undulating, and the soil, naturally good, is improving under judicious cultiva- tion. It produces wheat, rye, corn, oats, &c., which find a market at Hazelton. Its timber is pine, oak, hemlock, and chestnut. It has 6 saw-mills, 3 grist-mills, 2 powder- mills, 3 churches, and 1 tavern. Its population in 1850 was 742.
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