Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 10

Author: Stocker, Rhamanthus Menville, 1848-
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : R. T. Peck
Number of Pages: 1318

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" Among the more prominent birds are hen, night, fish and sparrow hawks, partridges, crows, blackbirds, cuckoos, blue jays, whip- poor-wills, horned and screech owls, catbirds, snowbirds, chickadees, kingfishers, cranes, king- birds, meadow larks, bobolinks, pigeons, quails, wild ducks, robins, chipping birds, several va- rieties of woodpeckers, wrens, thrushes, swal- lows, yellow birds, scarlet red birds with black wings, bluebirds and humming birds. One or two eagles have been killed here, but they are very rarely seen. Dr. L. A. Smith, of New Milford, has in his office a very extensive col- lection of neatly-stuffed speeimens, representing nearly every species common to this latitude. The wild turkey was also a native of the prime- val forest.

"Toads, frogs and lizards inhabit all the swamps and pools in great numbers, and occa- sionally a mud or land turtle is met with. Striped snakes, as well as the little brown and green snakes, are numerous. Water snakes abound along the sunny borders of ponds and water-courses, and a species of spotted adder, known as the milk snake, is common. It is sometimes ncarly as large as the rattlesnake, and presents a formidable appearance. The rattle- snake, once very numerous in certain localities, is occasionally met with in the county."

FISH .- The clear mountain streams of Sus- quehanna County once abounded in trout, the native fish of this region of country. The In- dians took the speckled beauties from the bubbling waters of the Wyalusing, Meshoppen, Tunkhannock and other streamlets of Susque- hanna County long before the white man visited this region. The tanneries, mills and factories have rendered the waters too impure for this dainty fish in many cases, and the

LINES OF TRAVEL.

sportsmen, by persistent fishing in others, have nearly depleted the streams and lakes of this fish. Catfish, perch, shiners, sunfish and eels were also native fish. Pickerel were put into the lakes about 1836, and bass about 1870 ; George R. Lathrop, Dr. Smith and other sports- men put the bass into the lakes. J. P. Taylor was instrumental in putting five thousand Cali- fornia trout into the Meshoppen Creek and Carmalt's Lake, in Choconut township, in 1886; also five thousand salmon trout and ten thousand white fish, for food, into Silver Lake, in 1887. He also proposes to stock the Wya- lusing with California trout. As the mills and tanneries disappear, the rapid-running mountain streams of Susquehanna County can be success- fully stocked with trout again.

CHAPTER VII.

LINES OF TRAVEL.

Indian Trails-Pioneer Roads-Turnpikes-Stage Routes-Railroads.

INDIAN TRAILS .- One of the many subjects that afford interest in connection with the habitation of this region of country by the de- parted race, is the study of their lines of travel- routes chosen by them to facilitate intercourse with each other and with distant tribes, and also to places affording means for the supply of their simple wants ; indeed, for just such pur- poses as civilization requires in modern lines of travel, but, of course, to a very limited extent.

It is erroneous to suppose that the Indians roamed about and through the wild woods with undefined purpose or destination ; the directions of these trails were well chosen for ease of travel, and they probably rarely departed from tliem except in pursuit of game. More of our highways than we imagine are laid upon lines surveyed to us, and well defined long before the country was invaded by us, and before the original possessors were despoiled and driven away.

It must beeome apparent to those who give attention to the subject, that the Indians lived ! in 1779.

almost exclusively in the valleys and on the borders of lakes and streams, because here were obtained that upon which they subsisted,- game, fish, berries, fruits and Indian corn. They could do very little, indeed, with their stone implements in felling trees and clearing forests, and the land cultivated for maize was such as the generous hand of nature furnished them, in the drift and alluvial deposits, made by successive, but irregular, periods of inunda- tion. Along the course of the river, where there is a margin of level land of any extent, we find almost invariably evidence of the existence of camp-fires in the charred wood and heat-dis- colored stones and clay disclosed by the crumb- ling earth along the river-bank, and in the plowed fields adjacent ; in such localities are found almost exclusively the Indians' imple- ments of warfare, and those for domestic utility, -the stone age, in fact, in all its variety, in- cluding numberless fragmentary specimens of the fictile art; while to find even an arrow- point or spear-head on the mountain is notice- ably a rare occurrence.

Numerous arrow-heads have been found along the Wyalusing and Susquehanna Rivers in this county.

The most extensive and well-known of In- dian trails in this part of the country is that commencing at the Hudson River, passing in a westerly direction to and through the Mini- sink country, thence along the base of the Blue Mountain to Mahanoy Valley, and to the Sus- quehanna River at Sunbury. At the Hudson the trail extended castward to the New England States. Along this national highway, as in modern times we would speak of it, radiated trails north and south of the great artery for its whole length, notably those through the Dela- ware Water Gap, Tatemy's Gap, Wind Gap and Lehigh Gap ; those to the northward, up the numerous valleys and streams that intersect the main thoroughfare at varying angles. The well-known Indian trail to Wyoming Valley was one of these diverging lines of travel, and furnislicd the bearings for the road cut for the passage of General Sullivan's army on its march to the rescue of the Wyoming sufferers

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

There were two Indian trails at Great Bend : one leading to the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valleys, and the other extending more easterly, through Cobb's Gap, to Easton and Philadel- phia. It was one of the war-paths of the Six Nations, and was not used by any other tribe without their consent after the subjection of the Delawares. Another extended northward from Great Bend to the Indian settlements in New York. Another well-worn trail extended from the Susquehanna eastward through Mt. Pleas- ant, Wayne County, to the Delaware River.

Surely the poor Indians have been better to us than we to them, for they have shown us " the way we should go," and it is literally true that we follow in their footsteps.

"The lines along which, with roar and rumble, the engine now rushes with its mighty load, making an old-time day's journey in sixty minutes, are almost exactly coincident with the first rude wagon-roads of the pioneers of a century and more ago, and also with the paths or trails along the water-courses and through the easiest mountain passes trodden from time imme- morial by the moccasined foot of the red man. The skilled surveyor and engineer has followed with scientific instruments where the Indians first went, guided only by the instincts of woodcraft. The differ- ence between the new and the old is far less in the lines of communication than in the method of travel, and the moderns, with all of their wisdom and knowl- edge, have done little besides making grand improve- ments on old routes-building with stone and iron and steel, it is true, but, nevertheless, along the course of the old, narrow, leaf-strewn path that the Indian first found out was the most direct and prac- ticable line of communication between two given points."

PIONEER ROADS .- The desire to facilitate intercourse with each other, evinced by the early settlers of a neighborhood, in the immedi- ate construction of foot-paths, bridle-paths and roadways from dwelling to dwelling, as each new settler appeared, probably gave rise to the old Roman maxim that " the first step in civili- zation is to make roads." In most cases the first roads were constructed upon foot-paths by the new dwellers, and so continued as other families appeared, for the convenience of friendly intercourse and mutual protection, without thought that these foot-paths were destined in time to become the established high- ways of the country. Hence the adverse criti-

cism on country roads in general is more fre- quent than just. It is very easy now to dis- cover where hills might have been avoided and distances shortened and to reproach these pio- neers for the lack of engineering skill displayed in road-making.

Roads laid out by order of court in these early times were frequently located upon Indian trails, and not unfrequently upon the trails of wild animals. Senator Benton advised Colonel Fremont, in his first expedition, to notice the trail of animals across the country westward, observing that "the buffalo is the best of engineers."

The correctness of this observation is con- firmed in the experience of old hunters, who ascertain that deer and other wild animals, when unpursued, follow the best chosen route of travel from their hiding-places in the swamps to the plains and across the mountains ; and that class of hunters who avail themselves of this knowl- edge dispense with the use of the dog and the excitement of the chase for the more successful, though solitary, "still hunt," lying in wait upon the trail until such time as the well-known habits of the animal lead him to quit his hiding- place in quest of food and water, when he falls an easy prey to the deliberate aim of the hunter.

Roads through the several "Gaps" or depres- sions in the Blue Ridge, between the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers, were laid out on Indian trails. These trails were severally used as found most convenient, from time iinmemorial, by the different tribes of Indians living between the Delaware and Susquelianna, in their intercourse with other tribes and nations south of the moun- tain, and subsequently in their attendance upon the numerous conferences held at Easton and Philadelphia ; as also in conveying their furs and pelts to a place of barter. But it was in the way of these people to Bethlehem, to seek a city of safety during the troublesome times that fol- lowed the advent of the white man, that these mountain paths became most frequented after the settlement of the Moravians, in 1742.

For many years after settlements were made in the Minisink there was little or no intercourse with the inhabitants south of the Blue Ridge,

LINES OF TRAVEL.

and no wagon-roads in that direction or any other, except "the Old Mine road," extending from the copper-mines at Pahaquarri to Esopus, on the Hudson, a distance of one hundred miles. This was the first road north of the mountain, and is claimed to be the first of that extent in the province of Pennsylvania.

The Old Mine road greatly facilitated immi- gration to the Minisink, and brought to that section a well-to-do class of men. In the succeeding fifty years there was little immigra- tion from any other direction.

The country south of the Blue Ridge was inaccessible except by Indian paths through the several "gaps " in the mountains.

The Mine road was also one of the main avenues of communication between New Eng- land and Wyoming. Over it passed the enter- prising people of Connecticut on their way to settle in this valley, which was claimed by their State, to the great disturbance of the Pennsyl- vania portion of the Minisink, and which was the occasion of frequent communications with the authorities at Philadelphia. Over this road also passed the suffering fugitives after the massacre at Wyoming in 1778, after fifty miles of weary wandering through a desolate wilderness between the Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers.

The old Mine road is the principal highway for modern travel for the country through which it passes.

a wagon-road, and the only method was the slow process of burning, after they had been felled to the ground by the axemen.

They could have had little knowledge either of the geography or topography of the section through which they were passing, and must have encountered difficulties in determining even the general direction, without scarcely attempt- ing to make choice of favorable grade or suita- ble location, and yet we are told that the road is very judiciously laid out; and this all seems to be explained when we learn that it was laid on the old Indian trail leading from the Hudson to the Delaware Water Gap.

The first road opened by the Connecticut set- tlers who came to the Wyoming Valley followed an old Indian trail a large part of the way. It was cut through in 1762 by the first colony of settlers at Wyoming. It formed connection with the Minisink road that came down from Car- penter's Point, near Port Jervis, to Milford ; thence through the wilderness barrens of Pike County, by way of Blooming Grove, to Major Ainsley; thence across the Wallenpaupack, near the old Marshall Purdy place, westward through Salem township, Wayne County; thence west- ward through Cobb's Gap to the Lackawanna Valley; thence to Wyoming. The North and South State road was opened from near Pocono Point, (now Tannersville), in Monroe County, extending northwest through the western part of Wayne County to the State line by John, Joseph and William Hilborn in 1788. The Legislature appropriated one thousand pounds to open this road, and also a branch road from it to extend westward to Tioga Point. The road was not cut through to Tioga Point, but about that time Andrew Ellicott, who was commis- sioner on the part of Pennsylvania to run and fix the boundary line between this State and New York, did cut a road which terminated in 1789 at the mouth of Cascade Creek, and was generally known as Ellicott's road.

As to the time the road was built, we know, to a certainty, very little. That it was in exist- ence when Nicholas Depui settled in the Lower Minisink, in 1725, is unquestioned. It is fair to conclude, therefore, that the road was built and the mining commenced before the English obtained possession of New York, in 1664, and if so, it was the oldest road of the same extent in the county. Whether constructed by govern- ment or by individual enterprise, it was a work of great magnitude at that early day. The country through which it passed being, of course, an entire wilderness, the difficulties to be over- In 1789, Samuel Preston, of Stockport, be- gan opening a road from Stockport to Har- mony, on the Susquehanna, as a portage road. In 1791 the State appropriated four hundred pounds towards the expense of opening such come we can well imagine to be such as would be considered formidable at this day, with the benefit of modern skill and modern appliances. To remove the gigantic trees of the primitive forest was impossible in the narrow compass of | portage road. A road was opened at private

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

expense, in 1791, from the Delaware to Great Bend. The Newburg turnpike afterwards fol- lowed the general course of this road. 1 In 1798 a road was opened from Great Bend to Tunk- hannock, and another (1799-1801) from the forks of the Wyalusing to join the latter.

About 1800 Oliver Trowbridge and others petitioned for " a road from the plantation of Ichabod Buck (at Red Rock), extending up the river to the north line of the State," and also one " from the north line, on the east side of the Susquehanna, down the same to Abner Com- stock's to a fording, thence across the river, to intersect the first-mentioned road, near the plan- tation of William Smith." Simeon Wylie and David Brownson were the viewers.

In 1801 still another road, or marked path at least, was gained, " from the north line of the State, near the seventeenth mile-stone, down to the road that leads from Great Bend to Har- mony."

In 1802 a road was viewed from the settle- ment near the mouth of the Snake Creek to Great Bend, four miles. Timothy Pickering, Jr., was one of the viewers of another road in Willingborough about the same time.

In November, 1808, Dr. Rose petitioned for a road from Silver Lake to Great Bend, which was granted in 1809. In 1799 a road was granted from Robert Corbett's house (New Mil- ford) to Solomon Millard's, in Nicholson (now Lenox). Many of the early settlers followed the streams or found their way by marked trees. The first court after the county was erected was almost entirely spent in considering petitions for roads and in appointing road-view- ers, and that has continued until the county now has thousands of miles of public roads over the hills and through the valleys in all directions.

2 THE STATE ROAD-" In 1808 an act was passed authorizing commissioners to explore and mark out a road from where the Cochecton turn- pike passes through Moosic Mountain to the west line of the State. This road is probably the one that left the turnpike at Robert Chand- ler's, in Gibson, and ruuning westward reached the Wyalusing at Grangerville."

NEWBURG TURNPIKE ROAD-THE NEW- BURG AND COCHECTON TURNPIKE. - March 20, 1801, the Legislature of New York granted a charter to Robert Browne, John De Witt, William Seymour, George Clinton, Jr., and others, under name of " The President, Direc- tors and Company of the Newburg and Co- checton Turnpike Road, with a capital limited to $80,000, and authority to construct a turn- pike road in the nearest and most convenient and direct route from the village of Newburg, on Hudson's River, to Cochecton, on the Dela- ware River." " The stock was soon taken, and the road constructed, running a line of sixty miles, with substantial bridges and all the ap- pointments of a good road. Though De Witt lost his life and Miller became financially crip- pled, the road opened up the country and, to- gether with its connections with other roads, became a great thoroughfare of travel. This road is here mentioned because in connection with the Cochecton and Great Bend Turnpike Road.

THE COCHECTON AND GREAT BEND TURN- PIKE COMPANY was incorporated by an act of Assembly dated March 29, 1804, the commis- sioners being Henry Drinker, Edward Tilgh- man, Thomas Harrison and William Poyntell, of the city of Philadelphia; John Conklin, Jason Torrey and Samuel Stanton, of Wayne County ; and Asahel Gregory, John Tyler and Minna Dubois, of Luzerne County. The shares were ten dollars each, and the act provided that four hundred shares should be subscribed in Philadelphia, three hundred in Cochecton and three hundred at Great Bend. The act stipu- lated that the company "shall cause a road to be laid out from Damascus Mills to the top of Moosic Mountain aforesaid, to or near the twenty mile-stone in the north line of the State, unless such places where nature ground render greater width expedient," the width was to be twenty feet. The turnpike was finished in 1811. The travel upon it was very great, as, with its con- nections, it was the principal route from New- burg to Western New York. Daily mail-coaches, drawn by four horses, were run upon the road for years. Numerous taverns were built along the line. The construction of the Erie Canal

1 Blackman, page 510.

2 Blackman, page 511.

LINES OF TRAVEL.

lessened the travel upon this turnpike, but it was a much-used thoroughfare until the Erie Railroad was built. Then through travel was almost wholly suspended.

The length of the road from Cochecton to Great Bend is fifty miles. Beginning at Co- checton on the Delaware, it crosses the river and passes through the townships of Damascus, Le- banon and Mt. Pleasant, in Wayne County ; and Gibson, New Milford and Great Bend, in Susquehanna County.

"It was built by individual enterprise; most of the stock was taken on the line of the road. It was con- structed twenty feet wide, at a cost of $1,620 per mile. The materials are earth, stone, lime and timber. Its form was convex, being about four inches higher in the centre than at the sides. During the first three years it paid a debt of $11,000, besides keeping itself in repair. Some portions of this part of the State owe their early existence and growth to this road. It gave a decided impulse to the increase of population and improvements in the surrounding country."

These two turnpikes constituted what was known as the Newburg road. In the fall of 1872 a meeting of the directors of the Newburg and Cochecton road was held at Newburg, and the road was given up as a turnpike. Like other abandoned turnpikes, it has now become a pub- lic highway, and is kept in repair by the town- ships and boroughs through which it passes.

MILFORD AND OWEGO TURNPIKE .- Janu- ary 26, 1807, an act was passed authorizing commissioners to open books and receive sub- scriptions to the Milford and Owego turnpike road. The commissioners were authorized to adjourn from time to time until two thousand shares were subscribed, and subscribers were to pay five dollars for each share subscribed. When a certain number of shares were subscribed they were incorporated under the name of the Presi- dent, Manager and Company of the Milford and Owego Turnpike Road. The Improvement Bill, passed 26th March, 1821, authorized and required the Governor to subscribe, on behalf of the Commonwealth, $16,000 to the capital stock of the Milford and Owego Turnpike Road Com- pany, and as soon as any five miles were com- pleted and approved of, it became the duty of the Governor to draw his warrant on the State Treasurer for a sum in proportion to the whole

distance, and a like sum for every five miles un- til the whole sum be drawn, provided, that the money hereby appropriated shall first be applied to making the unfinished part of said road." Shortly after the act of 1809, subscriptions to the stock were received by the company. Isaac Post appears to have been the first treasurer.

The shares were twenty-five dollars each, and were generally paid for in work on the road. The work was commenced as early as 1812. Isaac Post, treasurer, made a contract with Henry Newton, January 7, 1812, to construct one mile of the road for $1200, to be completed November 19. 1813. He was to receive $250 in cash and the rest in stock, or lands lying along the road belonging to the company. The road was to be twenty feet wide, clear of the ditches, bedded with wood, eartlı, stone, gravel or other proper material, so as to secure a solid foundation. The bridges were to be strong, having four-inch plank and side railings. The contract price varied from $800 to $1200 per nıile.

Among those who took stock were,-

No. of shares.

Work on road.

Isaac Post.

10-$250.00

$600.00

G. Clymer

48-1200.00

...

Joshua Miles

10- 250.00 493.50

David Aldrich.

land- 348.76 245.00

Bucklin & Newton .. 4- 100.00

400.00

Henry Newton 7- 175.00 440.00

Norton & Millard ..

4 -- 100.00 210.00

Jonathan West.

22- 550.00 297.00

Zenas Bryant 4- 100.00

430.00

Benjamin Walker.

.- 278.00 720.00

Ebenezer Coburn. 62-1550.00

1606.68

Chas. Nichols. 2- 50.00 142.04

Obadiah Merrill.

-1825.00

4600.00

Michael Dow

60-1500.00

2250.00

Chas. S. Campbell.

-1031.00

2256.00

R. W. Green

400.00

1200.00

D. Robble, W. Gragg, Leman Turrell, A. Thatcher, I. & S. West, S. Bentley, E. Griffis, J. Street, S. Tag- gart, S. Wilson, R. Whitney, D. & J. McMillan, J. Garnsey, E. Summers, J. Tewksbury, A. Sweet, Bailey & Co., Orlen Capron and others did work on the road and took one-third cash and the balance in land and stock.

This work was done between 1812 and 1818. The $16,000 State aid gave a new impetus to the work and it was completed in 1821. Robert H. Rose appears to have been president, Isaac

HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

Post, treasurer, and B. T. Case, secretary and surveyor. Putnam Catlin was treasurer for about seven years prior to 1824, when Freder- ick Bailey was elected and continued in that office until the gates were thrown down.

February 15, 1816, New Jersey granted $20,000 to the Milford and Owego Turnpike Company, on condition that they would pledge themselves to complete the road. October 12, 1818, the president and managers pledged "the road and all the funds to such person as shall give security as aforesaid."

July 21, 1821, Robert H. Rose, president, and Putnam Catlin, treasurer, certified that they had settled with all persons who had con- tracted to do work prior to the preceding March.

January 4, 1819, Putnam Catlin, treasurer, reported receipts for the last two years, $12,596 .- 86 ; orders paid, $5798.69; balance in treasury, $6798.17 ; amount of stock issued, 2013 shares -$50,326.

The early gate-keepers were Samuel Dotterer, Edward Otto, Michael West, Elias West, Moses Coborn, Chas. B. Seaman and Noah Rogers.

November 8, 1822, R. H. Rose wrote to the Postmaster-General, urging liim to carry the mail from New York to Owego by way of the Milford and Owego turnpike, and not by the Newburg turnpike. He gives the following distances :- By the Newburg and Owego road, from New York to Newburg, 69 miles; thence to Great Bend, 108 miles; thence to Owego, 37 miles ; total, 214. By the Milford and Owego road, from New York to Milford, 60 miles ; thence to Montrose, 70 miles; thence to Owego, 30 miles; total, 160 miles, or 54 miles nearer by the Milford and Owego than by the Newburg road.

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Centennial history of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania, Part 10

Author: Stocker, Rhamanthus Menville, 1848- Publication date: 1887 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : R. T. Peck Number of Pages: 1318

Author: Stocker, Rhamanthus Menville, 1848-
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : R. T. Peck
Number of Pages: 1318