USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > Erie > Erie; a guide to the city and county > Part 3
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The region was a dense forest at the time the first settlers arrived.
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HISTORY
Louis Philippe, Duke of Chartres and later King of France, was enter- tained at the mouth of Mill Creek in 1795 by Thomas Rees and was greatly impressed by the beauty of the wilderness scenery.
Migration to this section was slow during the first five years after laying out the town because of Indian opposition. The entire population of the Triangle in 1800 was 237, with 81 at Erie. After 1805, the county began to be settled more rapidly, and Erie had a population of 394 in 1810. Most of the settlers prior to 1800 came from New England and New York. Subsequent migrations were also from the same sections.
Erie County was made a separate county in 1800 with Erie designated as the place for holding court. The first election in the county had been held at Erie in 1798 while it was still part of Allegheny County. Erie was incorporated as a borough in 1805, and the first election was held on May 5, 1806. The boundaries of the borough extended from the bay south to 12th Street and from Chestnut Street to Parade Street, practically forming a one mile square.
The first act of borough council at their meeting May 9, 1806, was to fix the pay of Regulators, or streets commissioners, at one dollar per day. All the meetings were held at the village inn. In the 1806 election a burgess, five councilmen, and a constable were elected. The newly elected officers met at the Buehler Hotel and appointed a town clerk, three street commissioners, and a treasurer. The first ordinance passed by the borough council was made at the first meeting and provided for the examination and regulation of Second Street from the west side of Parade Street to the east side of French Street to the north side of Sixth Street, the marking of street intersections, driveways, and other matters pertaining to the town plan.
Erie was still a straggling village of around 400 inhabitants when war with England was declared in 1812. Western settlers looked with alarm at their well organized enemy across the lakes. Erie, while regarded as one of the most important points on the south shore of Lake Erie, had only a handful of buildings at the time, and the territory between Buffalo and Sandusky was sparsely settled. The British were in a favorable position to strike a fatal blow at any time.
Capt. Daniel Dobbins acquainted President Madison with the dangerous situation and was authorized to build a fleet. The construction of ships was begun under great handicaps, lack of finances, materials, and men. A young naval lieutenant, Oliver Hazard Perry, was commissioned to take command of the Lake Erie fleet. He arrived in Erie March 27, 1813, and personally supervised the building of the two largest ships.
Considerable difficulty was experienced in getting the two large ships, Lawrence and Niagara, over the sand bar at the entrance to the harbor,
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ERIE: A GUIDE TO THE CITY AND COUNTY
but they were finally lifted over and the fleet sailed out August 12th with about four hundred men, their objective being Sandusky where they were to meet Gen. William Henry Harrison's army.
Perry's startling and brilliant victory in the Battle of Lake Erie, Septem- ber 10, 1813, routed the British from the Great Lakes and turned the eyes of the world upon Erie (see COUNTY TOUR 1). The citations of Perry and his men, by a grateful Congress, and the wild acclaim of the entire Nation, was reflected directly upon Erie. Large numbers of militia, marines, and sailors stationed at Erie strutted around the town, basking in the glory of the victory, the only time in naval history that an entire British squadron had been made to surrender. Wild rumors of marauding Indians and British expeditions marching to burn Erie lent an air of tense excitement and confusion to the town.
GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
The first mode of travel was by foot, horseback, or water. The roads were rough, muddy, and impassable at certain times of the year. When they were somewhat improved around 1810, the two-horse wagons were introduced. These wagons were crude affairs covered with cotton cloth stretched over hickory ribs, furnishing shelter for the entire family and its goods. Supplies for Perry's fleet were transported in flat boats to Waterford and from there by way of the turnpike to Erie.
The opening of the salt trade in 1800 did much to develop Erie as a port and a transportation center. The salt was shipped from Buffalo to Erie, then carried to Waterford by ox teams, where it was transported down French Creek and the Allegheny River on flatboats to Pittsburgh. During the height of the trade, it was estimated that one hundred teams of oxen were constantly on the road between Erie and Waterford trans- porting salt. Vessels leaving Buffalo for the West were loaded principally with salt from 1805 to 1810. Six thousand barrels of salt were registered at the Customs House in Erie in 1808, and the figure reached a peak of 18,000 in 1811.
Some dissension arose as to whether the salt trade was beneficial to the county. An "Old Salt-hauler" gave his views in the Erie Mirror, January, 1809, stating that, "The farmers were obliged to haul salt to procure the comforts, if not the necessities of life, such as sugar, tea, coffee, wearing apparel, etc., as salt seemed to be the current medium of trade during the embargo; it was the only commodity they had for market or exchange, the greater the traffic the more the farmers progressed in the improve- ment of the soil."
The freightage charge from Buffalo to Erie was 871/2 ¢ per barrel, with
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HISTORY
a 121/2 ¢ charge for storage. It cost $1.50 a barrel to haul the salt from Erie to Waterford and $1 from there to Pittsburgh. The receipts to the trans- porters aggregated $42,000 in one year and the trip from Salina, N. Y., to Pittsburgh took from four to six months. The salt trade became so im- portant that at one time salt was the only circulation medium in the sec- tion, with oxen and other commodities being paid for in salt. The dis- covery of salt wells nearer Pittsburgh was responsible for the abandon- ment of the Erie trade in 1819.
Sawmills, gristmills, tanneries, and breweries were erected all over the county and prospered until shortly after the War of 1812. Every stream that could develop power was used to drive from one to a dozen wheels. The county at that time was covered with forests but, with the gradual cutting of the timber, the streams dried up and the mills fell into disuse.
The early settlers were a hardy lot of people who lived in a frugal manner. Mush, corn, bread, and potatoes were the principal foods, with flour, pork, and sugar looked upon as luxuries. Any meat that graced the table came from the pioneer's backyard, for the county abounded with game.
Mills were far apart and the roads through the woods mere pathways. Small loads of grist were carried on the backs of horses or men, and it was not unusual to see men carrying bags of grain on their backs from Waterford or farther to be ground at Erie. Few families had stoves and cooking was usually done over open fires. Beds were made up by laying blankets over boxes or rude frames. Every house had a spinning wheel and many were provided with a loom to make home-made clothing. Liquor was distilled on most farms and few families were without a bottle for the safety of guests that might be bitten by the poisonous snakes reported but seldom seen in the county.
The pioneer's home was usually a log cabin of unhewn logs laid one upon the other, the crevices filled in with mud. As conditions improved, structures of hewn timber were erected, mortar displacing mud. Wall paper was unknown and many houses were without window glass. As saw mills increased in number, frame buildings of a better character were substituted for the log cabins. An occasional brick or stone structure was regarded as an architectural marvel.
At the "raisings," when a new residence or barn was to be erected, neighbors and friends from miles around were invited. Liquor and cider flowed freely at these combination community work and merry-making events.
The dense forest covering the county abounded with deer, wolves, bears, panthers, rabbits, foxes, raccoons, squirrels, oppossums, minks, skunks, martins, and some wild cattle or buffalo. All except the smaller
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ERIE: A GUIDE TO THE CITY AND COUNTY
game, and one or two small herds of deer are extinct today. Deer were so abundant that hunters lay in wait for them at numerous deer licks within the county and slaughtered them mercilessly. The wolves destroyed so much stock that a bounty of twelve dollars a head was offered for them. Pigeons, ducks, geese, pheasants, partridges, and turkeys were plentiful, and the lakes and streams teemed with fish.
A disturbing factor in the pioneer's life was the Indians. They were generally friendly to the settlers except when under the influence of whiskey, but the ease with which they obtained liquor from the traders made them a constant menace. Most of these red men were good-natured friends of the white man, bearing such curious names as Half Town, Cheat, Twenty Canoes, Laughing Thief, Surly Bear, and Stinking Fish, usually descriptive of a possession or personal characteristic; occasionally, as with our nicknames, they marked a childishly frank and brutal humor.
The city gradually began to expand from its early location around Third and French Streets westward. Third Street was the most important business thoroughfare until the early 1820's when it was superseded by French Street, which remained the busiest until the 1860's.
Immigration of the Pennsylvania Germans set in around 1825, followed by Irish and German immigrants ten years later, boosting the population to 1465 in 1830, more than double that of the previous decade.
A branch of the United States Bank of Pennsylvania was established at Erie in 1837 and sold $200,000 worth of stock in one day. This, coupled with the previous surveying of the canal to Beaver, the charter granted for a railroad to Sunbury, and Government work in building piers and deepening the harbor, gave strength to the belief that Erie was destined to become a great city. Prices of real estate skyrocketed, one lot purchased for $10,000 selling a month later for $50,000. The speculation lasted until 1839, when bank failures throughout the Nation caused a serious panic.
Industries which later were destined to play an important role in Erie's development started during this period. The fishing industry, which later gave Erie the name of being the largest fresh water fishing port in the world, began with the establishment of the Shaw Fish Company in 1821. The establishment of the Hinkley, Jarvis Company in 1833 started Erie on the road to industrial importance. This company was the forerunner of the heavy manufacture of engines and boilers in latter day industry.
The opening of the Erie and Pittsburgh Canal in 1844 brought a boom to business in the section (see TRANSPORTATION). The canal did a profitable business for thirty years and lapsed quietly, despite the protests of the canal men, when the Erie and Pittsburgh Railroad bought it to eliminate competition.
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HISTORY
The oilcloth industry began in Erie in 1840 and soon there were a dozen such plants in operation. They were shortlived, however, dying out during the Civil War industrial scare.
Erie obtained its city charter in 1851, a short time before it began to vie with other sections of the country in the sometimes mad construc- tion of railroad lines in all directions. Short roads were built, later to be consolidated into larger lines. The wild period of railroad construction reached its peak with the so-called Railroad War, in which Erie citizens vigorously protested what they considered a death blow at the town's growth (see TRANSPORTATION).
Despite the Civil War and its effect of frightening away capital invest- ment and industry, the decade from 1860 to 1870 saw the largest numerical increase in population to that time, when Erie gained from 9,414 to 19,646. The first foreign immigration really began during this period with small numbers of Germans, Italians, and Poles coming in. Railroad consolida- tion began to be felt and national expansion westward bulged over into this territory. The village of South Erie was incorporated as a borough in 1866 and consolidated with Erie in 1870.
When oil was first discovered at Titusville in 1859, Erie again saw an opportunity to become a large city. Twenty refineries were set up in a short time and production mounted from 325 barrels to a peak of 15,092 barrels in two years. The peculiar structure of the railroads and their schedule of rates apparently discriminated in favor of a few and the local oil companies were discouraged by being overcharged by the roads. Refinery after refinery moved out, and another boom had hit Erie and left it without visibly affecting its economic status.
The oil boom of the 60's brought a large demand for drills, fittings, pipe and oil well machinery, and dozens of little shops that had located here with the rise of Northern industry prospered. The factories were first set up only to satisfy local consumption; among these were oilcloth fac- tories, bakeries, breweries, packing houses, stove works, oil refineries, and clothing and textile plants. Erie was termed "the home of cockroach industries" because it was a city of small shops. The tendency toward small scale production was affected by the manner of development of the city's economic life. Craftsmen set up little plants and slowly ex- panded them in line with the demand.
Commodity prices doubled and tripled during the Civil War period be- cause of the issuance of script by the local authorities and "greenbacks" by the Federal Government.
Until 1862 employees rarely received as much as a dollar in cash for their labor. Workers were paid mostly in printed due bills good for merchandise. The State passed a law prohibiting the issuance of these
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ERIE: A GUIDE TO THE CITY AND COUNTY
due bills, but the New Furnace Company circumvented the law by issuing metal tokens, called pewteringtum. The due bills, which were used even during the construction of the Erie and Pittsburgh Canal, were called "blue crackee," colloquially called "crackee and be d ---- d." Un- certain fluctuations of National currency during this period made the blue crackee often preferable to National currency.
Life in the county during the 70's changed from the colorful, romantic life of the boatmen to the uncertain one of politics. Erie became politi- cally minded during the 1850's and attained sufficient prominence in 1875 to entertain the only State assemblage of either party when the Democrats convened in Erie. The citizens took their politics seriously, and were often moved to vigorous action. Newspaper owners and editors were political czars, and their offices the center of all prominent politicians. On several occasions irate citizens raided newspaper plants and destroyed them in the frenzy of a political campaign.
Erie continued to expand after 1870 and almost tripled its 1870 popula- tion during the next thirty years. The gradual influx of immigrants and the steady increase in industrial activity were the primary factors in this development. The town was caught between the Buffalo trading area, with its superior communication and transportation connections with the Atlantic coast, and Cleveland, the western railroad division head and refinery center. Erie could scarcely hope to compete on equal terms with these cities. But its transportational advantages still existed and much of the overflow trade from the East and West found its way here.
In 1885 Erie adopted the electric trolley system, being the second city in the United States to do so. With the organization of interurban and suburban lines in all directions shortly afterwards, a consolidation of the county's population drew the people into a more compact trading group.
While there were no outstanding local events of major importance, exclusive of National development, many industries located in Erie and expanded. The Hammermill Paper Company came to Erie in 1898 and probably marked the first step in bringing nation-wide attention to Erie's industries. Other industries which had been struggling through the for- mative years of 1870 and 1880 were firmly entrenching themselves to participate in the golden industrial eras soon to follow.
By 1900 Erie had become nationally known for the manufacture of its engines and boilers, which were shipped to all parts of the world. The establishment of a branch of the General Electric plant in 1911 once again focused attention on the advantages of Erie's location, and its large labor reserve.
War clouds hanging over Europe brought a flood of immigrants to the section. Thousands of Italians, Poles, and Germans thronged to Erie
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HISTORY
as laborers in its many industries. When America entered the World War, many of the local plants were easily adapted to the manufacture of munitions, and Erie knew a prosperity that it had never known before. Workers in crowded factories toiled day and night, drawing fabulous wages in comparison to the pre-war period. Money flowed freely, and there was a further expansion of industry.
By 1920 Erie had a population of 93,372. The Mill Creek flood of 1915, with a loss of 25 lives and property damage of $2,000,000, had, some- what paradoxically, led to certain city-wide improvements. A flood con- trol tube was built, many new sewer lines were laid, streets and parks were beautified, and a school building program was begun that gave Erie three well-equipped high schools.
The significance of industry in Erie's development may be seen from a comparison of the total numbers of employees and Erie's population. In 1900, with a total number of 10,579 employees, Erie had a population of 52,733. Twenty years later the total number of employees had increased to 24,783, or an increase of more than 140 percent, while its population had increased to 93,372, or only 66 percent.
On the momentum of the post-war boom Erie hit an all time mark of $40,000,000 in total wages and salaries in 1920, a figure that was not again equalled until the banner year of 1929. After 1929 Erie's "durable goods" industries were adversely affected by the Depression. However, a measure of recovery has been achieved (1938), and today Erie is third in the diversity of industries for cities of its size.
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TALES AND LEGENDS
C OMPETITIVE sports were played between Indian tribes before the coming of the white man. Foot races, wrestling matches, and weight throwing contests were quite common. Baseball had its antecedents in a game the French named la crosse. Called "boggataway" by the Indians, it is probably the oldest sport in America, and the game furnishes a leg- endary background for a war between the Eries and Senecas which re- sulted in the virtual extermination of the Erie tribe in 1654.
For years a feud had existed between the two tribes, a feud which had never broken into open hostilities because of the peaceful influence of an Indian queen, Yagowanea, who was respected and revered by all the Indian tribes living in the New York-Pennsylvania region. Attempts of the Eries to embroil the Senecas in war had often been halted by this wise old woman, and it was not until the Eries insulted the Senecas during a boggataway game that open warfare became inevitable.
The game was played with a curved hickory stick, the loop of which was netted with gut and rawhide. The Eries lost a contest to the Senecas, and immediately challenged them to a foot race, intending somehow to humiliate their rivals. The winners were to scalp the losers with their own tomahawks. Again the Senecas won, but they refused to carry out the bloody bargain.
A few weeks after the boggataway game, the legend says, a group of Erie warriors went to Yagowanea with an unjustified grievance against two Seneca chieftains who were visiting in the Eries' camp. In a moment of absentmindedness the queen found the Seneca warriors guilty of the trumped-up charge and gave the complaining Erie warriors permission
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TALES AND LEGENDS
to execute the Senecas, thus bringing about the Erie-Seneca War. The Iroquois Confederation joined with the Senecas, and the Eries were com- pletely routed. Remnants of the once powerful tribe were split into small groups and distributed among tribes friendly to the Senecas.
There are several stories concerning the fali of Fort Presque Isle to the Senecas during Pontiac's Conspiracy in 1763. One of these, exemplary of the red man's cunning, states that an Indian appeared at the Fort and told the British commander that his canoe, laden with furs from Detroit, had sprung bad leaks and could proceed no further. He asked the commander if he wished to purchase the furs, as the Indians were anxious to return home and would sell the furs at a sacrifice price. The commander was suspicious, but the Indian answered his questions readily. Still somewhat distrustful, the commander left the fort with two men to inspect the furs, giving instructions not to admit anyone to the fort until he returned.
An hour later, several Indians laden with furs appeared at the gate. They asked the garrison to open the gates so that they might deliver the furs according to the commander's instructions. They said that the com- mander would be back soon. As soon as the gates were opened the Indians dropped their furs and drew tomahawks, which had been concealed in their clothing, and held the gates open long enough to permit a waiting army of hidden Indians to enter and massacre the British garrison.
One of the stories told about Gen. Anthony Wayne and the Indians, which is probably more fiction than fact, tells of the time when Wayne and two of his men in a canoe were fired upon by an Indian war party on shore. Wayne and his men paddled vigorously in an attempt to get out of range of the bullets. But a large Indian war canoe loaded with warriors brandishing tomahawks suddenly appeared, blocking their progress and heading them towards shore.
Caught between the two hostile parties, Wayne quickly ordered his men to overturn the canoe. While they held on, he swam under water to the Indian war canoe and, coming up underneath it, gave it a mighty shove, dumping its cargo into the Lake. He snatched a tomahawk from one of the Indians and attacked them so viciously that they swam away, leaving Wayne and his two soldiers to continue their journey unmolested.
So great was the Indian fear of Wayne that, even after his death, some Indians abided by a treaty they had made with the settlers, saying that the ghost of Wayne had appeared menacingly before them. It is re- grettable that the whites did not show as much respect for this American hero, for when his son disinterred Wayne's body in 1809 in order to trans- port it to Radnor for burial he found that some culprit had pilfered Wayne's remaining good boot.
Early borough ordinances reflect the rude civilization of the frontier.
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One dated 1810 called out every man to dig out stumps in the main streets. Another ordinance required convicted drunkards to dig three stumps from the town's streets as punishment.
Money was scarce among the early settlers. Few of them were able to employ labor in accomplishing a difficult task. It became the custom among the settlers to combine their labor in mutual assistance. Thus, when a family built a log house, neighbors from the vicinity gathered on an appointed day, felled trees, and hauled them to the site of the new house. Entire families gathered for these events. The women prepared the food, and gossiped as they knitted socks, underclothing, and scarves for their husbands and children.
In the cutting of trees a suitable clearing was provided for a garden and cornfield. Brush and undergrowth were removed and piled in heaps for burning. Stumps usually stood for two or three years after the land was cleared, gradually drying out, and becoming seasoned for fuel.
Following the long day's labor, the settlers gathered at the fireside of the new house to drink home-distilled whisky and recount tales of their daily lives. As the evening progressed a squeaky fiddle would be brought on and a square dance begun. Until early morning, the younger members of the group swung and swayed to Money Musk, the Virginia Reel, and Turkey in the Straw. The marriage of a young couple furnished sufficient excuse for another logging and house building. Few settlers could get along without the help of neighbors in the early days.
Characteristic of the early pioneer life in this section is a tale of a "wild boar" hunt. The pioneers were always chasing wolves, panthers, and bears, so it did not strike them as unusual when one man reported that his cornfield was being ravaged by wild boar. With equal resignation they would have picked up their rifles if a Bengal tiger or an African lion had been reported in the vicinity. They soon tracked the boar down and shot him.
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