History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 30

Author: Craft, David, 1832-1908; L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 812

USA > Pennsylvania > Bradford County > History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and biographical sketches > Part 30

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Immediately on the organization of the county, a num- ber of changes in the township lines were asked for. In the northeastern part of the county the townships were very inconveniently situated. The part of Rush included in Bradford was a narrow strip, one mile wide and twelve miles long, with an attachment on the south of a territory five miles by six, while Orwell was very inconveniently large. At the first session of the court a petition was pre- sented, signed by a large number of the inhabitants, praying for a division and reorganization of the territory into four townships. Whereupon the court appointed Jonathan Ste- vens, Lemuel Streator, and Reuben Hale commissioners to inquire into the propriety of granting the prayer of the petitioners, who, at the April sessions, reported in favor of erecting four townships, viz., Warren, Windham, Orwell, and Pike, out of the described territory. The report was confirmed nisi in April, and finally in August. At the same sessions (January, 1813) a petition was presented praying for the division of Smithfield. That township was very large, being nineteen miles from east to west and five from north to south. Joseph Kingsbury, Julius Tozer, and Samuel Gore were appointed viewers, who in April reported in favor of making three townships, by lines running north and south at equal distances; the western one was called

Columbia, the name of the central one was for some time in doubt, some preferring the old Connecticut name of Murraysfield, and others the name of Springfield ; finally, at the November sessions, 1814, the name of Springfield was re-established as has since remained. The eastern division retained the name of Smithfield.

Also at this same first term of court application was made for a new township, to be taken from the western part of Athens. Isaac Wheeler, Samnel Wood, and Austin Leonard were appointed commissioners, who reported in favor of erecting a new township, to be cut off from the western part of Athens by a line running south from the sixty-seventh milestone; the new township to be called Wells. The report was confirmed nisi in April, and finally in the August fol- lowing.

When they ran the line setting off a part of Luzerne to Lycoming county, it was south from the fifty-sixth mile- stone, leaving a strip about four miles wide and ten miles long attached to Wysox. On the application of Col. Frank- lin, the upper part of this strip was attached to Athens, while the lower part remained attached to Wysox. In 1814, the part of this strip which was bounded by Ulster was attached to the latter township.

At the April sessions of 1814, on the petition of Jona- than Terry, and others, praying for the division of Wyalu- sing, the court appointed William Myer, Gurdon Hewitt, and Renben Hale commissioners, who reported August, 1814, in favor of erecting so much of the township as lies west of the river into a separate township, by the name of Asylum, which report was confirmed finally November, 1814.

In May, 1815, on petition of divers inhabitants of Bur- lington, praying for a division of the said township, Solomon Morse, Jr., Samuel Satterlee, and James Gerould were ap- pointed a commission to inquire into the propriety of grant- ing the prayer of the petitioners, who reported on the follow- ing September in favor of setting off a new township, with the following boundaries, to wit : Beginning at a point on the north line of Burlington township, nine and three-tenths miles from the northwest corner thereof; thence south 12º east, two and six-tenths miles; thence south two miles to the south line of old Burlington ; thence on the said line of Burlington west ten and one-half miles, to the west line of the county ; thence north 2º west, four and one-half miles, to the northwest corner first mentioned ; and then east, as aforesaid, to the place of beginning. The township thus described to have the name of Troy. The report was con- firmed finally December sessions, 1815.

A number of the inhabitants of Wells and Athens peti- tioned the conrt at its May term, 1817, to set off a portion of each township into a new one, as the distance and want of roads rendered it difficult for many of them to attend to the town business, and therefore pray that so much of the two townships as lies between a line south from the sixty-fifth milestone and one run from the seventy-second milestone be made a new township by the name of Ridgeberry. Sam- uel Mckean, Ebenezer Kendall, and John Barber were ap- pointed viewers, who reported favorably at the following December, and their report was confirmed finally February, 1818.

A petition, signed by sundry inhabitants of Canton,

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

stating that, whereas the said township of Canton is almost twenty miles square, they ask the court to appoint viewers to consider the advisability of dividing the township, Eliphalet Mason, Burr Ridgeway, and Noah Spalding were appointed commissioners, who, at the May term, report that they have laid out a township, by the name of Franklin, with the following bounds : Beginning on the south line of Burlington township, and opposite in a southern direction to where the townships of Burlington, Ulster, and Towanda come together ; thence to extend on the said south line of Burlington west nine miles ; thence across the township of Canton south to the county line ; thence on the said county line to a point opposite the first-mentioned place; thenee north to the place of beginning, taking parts of Canton and Towanda townships. The report was confirmed finally at the September term, 1819.

At the December sessions, 1819, a petition of a number of the inhabitants of Ulster living on the east side of the river was presented to court, in which they asked for a divi- sion of the township by the river. The commissioners ap- pointed to consider the propriety of granting the prayer of the petitioners reported "that although the territory within the bounds of Ulster, as we find it, is not too large, in our opinion, for a township, yet, in consequence of the township elections, which happen to be in the spring of the year, often when the river is impassable, which renders it unsafe and hazardous in erossing the same, whereby the people on one side of the river are deprived of the right of suffrage, we believe the township ought to be divided, and divide the same, making the Susquehanna river the dividing-line. That part of the township on the east side of the river to be called Sheshequin, that on the west side to retain the name of Ulster." The commissioners were John F. Sat- terlee, Stephen Hopkins, and David Paine, whose report was confirmed nisi February, 1820, and finally May, 1820.

At the December term, 1819, another petition was laid before the court, asking for a new township to be formed out of parts of Towanda and Burlington. The commis- sioners, Samuel Mckean, Harry Spalding, and Abner C. Rockwell, report the lines of the new township, which they eall Monroe, to be as follows, viz .: Beginning at the south- west corner of Ulster ; thence south to the northeast corner of Franklin; thence east to the Towanda ereek ; thence down the ereek to the Susquehanna river; thence up the river to the south line of Ulster; thence along the south line of Ulster, south 59° west, to the place of beginning. What is included within these lines to be Towanda, and the remainder of what was Towanda township to constitute Monroe.

The township of Athens was reduced on the east by cut- ting off the township of Litchfield, whose bounds were de- seribed as beginning at a point on the Susquehanna river due north from the northwest corner of a traet sold by Le Ray de Chaumont to Elnathan Lewis; then to the south line of Athens township; thenee east to a point south of the fifty-second milestone, on the west line of Windham ; thenee north to the fifty-second milestone on the State line; thenee west to the Susquehanna river; thenee down the river to the place of beginning. The court appointed Adriel Simons, Edmund Lockwood, and Jared Holeomb viewers,

who reported favorably to the petitioners May, 1821, and the report was confirmed finally December, 1821.

The settlements on the south branch of Towanda creek, which were included in Asylum township, were removed several miles from the river settlements, and the intervening country was densely wooded, and the roads almost impassa- ble the greater part of the year; consequently, the two parts of the township were widely separated from each other. In order to avail themselves of the privileges of a township organization, Horatio Ladd and others petitioned the court at the February term, 1823, for a division of Asylum. The commissioners appointed, Charles Whitehead, Morris Spald- ing, and Andrew Irvin, report the dividing-line to begin on the line between Asylum and Monroe, ten miles from the mouth of Durell creek ; thence south 48° east to the county line; the new township to be called Albany. The report was confirmed nisi September, and finally in February, 1824.

Ezra Long, James Gerould, and Samuel Strait, commis- sioners appointed May term, 1830, on the petition of David Weed and others, laid out a new township, about six miles square, taken from Sheshequin, Wysox, and Orwell. The lines for the most part coincided with warrant-lines. Their report was confirmed finally in February, 1831, and the new township was called Rome.

The erection of the township of Durell was proposed in a petition signed by Eliphalet Mason and others, and pre- sented to court February term, 1842, on which J. D. Mon- tague, Thomas Elliott, and George A. Mix were appointed . viewers, who report the bounds of the new township as fol- lows : Beginning at an elm-tree near the mouth of To- wanda ereek, thence south 11° east, 1192 perches, thenee north 75° east, 1220 perches, to the river near the lower point of Homet's island, thence by the several courses of the Susquehanna river to the place of beginning ; and the re- port was finally confirmed the December following.

In 1842, at the September term of court, the inhabitants on the top of Armenia mountain petitioned the court for a township called Armenia, bounded on the west side by the line of the county, and on the other sides by the mountain. The petition being referred to James M. Edsall, Darius Bullock, and James Gerould, they reported favorably, and the report received final confirmation February term, 1843.

The inhabitants residing on the belt of land lying between Albany township and the river petitioned the court, Sep- tember, 1848, for a new township, to be ealled Wilmot, and James C. Ridgeway, B. La Porte, and Francis Homet were appointed to lay out the township if in their opinion it would be for the publie good. They reported favorably, and at the May term, 1849, the court confirmed the report finally. As the lines were run, however, no one was aecom- modated. It left the old township of Asylum a narrow belt about twelve miles in length by about three in breadth, lying on the river, and the township of Wilmot about the same shape and area, lying upon the hills, without roads, with but little cleared land, few school-houses, and they inconveniently situated, making taxes burdensome and duties of township officers onerous. In December, 1857, a petition was filed asking for a new division-line. Accordingly, John F. Cham- berlain, John Stalford, and Edward Homet, who had been

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

appointed viewers, began at the river and ran a line in a southwesterly direction to the Albany line. The south part was called Wilmot and the north part Asylum. The repert received final confirmation in September, 1858.

On a petition of H. L. Scott and others, praying for a division of Towanda township, presented at the December term of court, 1850, G. H. Bull, E. C. Kellogg, and Earl Nichols, the commissioners appointed, reported that they have run a division-line from the south line of Towanda borough across the ridge east to Burlington, and recom- mended that the south part be called South Towanda, which was confirmed finally Dec. 15, 1851.

The record of the erection of the township of Granville is defective, but at the February term, 1831, the report in favor of making a new township out of parts of Franklin, etc., was confirmed finally, and the same new township be called Granville.

The South creek is bordered by high, steep hills. On the opening of the Williamsport and Elmira road down the South creek valley, a number of families settled in there, so that in 1834 fifty-seven families had located aleng the valley, who experienced great inconvenience from their isolated situation, and applied to court in December of that year for a new township. Reuben Wilbur, James P. Bull, and Darius Bullock, the viewers, report in favor of granting a new township, which shall be bounded by a line beginning at the seventy-fifth milestone, thence south to the line of Columbia township, thence east to a point one hundred and sixty-eight rods east of the corner of Wells and Ridgeberry, thence north to the State line, at a point 70% rods east of the seventy-first milestone, thence west to the place of beginning. The new township was called South Creek, and the report was finally confirmed at the May term, 1835.

At the May term, on a petition of John C. Rockwell and others, praying for a new township to be taken out of parts of Canton and Franklin, the court appointed William Pat- ton, N. N. Betts, and Joseph Montanye, who reported in favor of granting the prayer of the petitioners, and of calling the new township Union, but the lines by which its bounds were described were so indefinite that at the December term, 1835, John Van Dyke, Daniel Stene, Solomon Morse, Hugh Holcomb, and Albert G. Packard were appointed to ascer- tain and mark the lines before described, which they report to be as follows : Beginning at the southwest corner of Granville, thence south six miles to the county line, thence along the said county line sonth 70° east four miles and four perches to the southwest corner of Franklin township, thence north 24° east nine miles and one hundred and eighty perches to the southeast corner of Granville town- ship, thence sonth 79° west along the said Granville line to the place of beginning. The report was confirmed finally, and the name of the new township changed to Le Roy, Dec. 18, 1835.

On the petition of Simon Stevens and others, inhabitants of Wysox, praying for a division of that township, at the February term, 1841, the court appointed Aaron Chubback, Jesse E. Bullock, and Irad Stevens, who reported in favor of a division, by running a line beginning at the Narrows, thence north 50° west four and a half miles. The report

was confirmed, and the new township called Standing Stone.

At the September term, 1852, Edward McGovern and others pray the court to appoint a commission to lay out a new township if it be thought to be for the public good ; accordingly, N. N. Betts, Thomas Elliott, and E. G. Nichols were appointed, and reported at the December term in favor of erecting a new township, to be called Overton, and whose lines should be as follows : Beginning on the county line at the southeast corner of Le Roy, thence by the said county line south 78° east eleven miles and one hundred and fifteen rods; thence north 122° west eight miles and two hundred and seventy-six rods to Schræder Branch, at the junction of the Monroe and Franklin township; thence up the Schrader eleven and one-fourth miles to the Le Roy township line ; thence by the said line south 272° west one mile and one hundred and eighty rods to the place of beginning, which report was confirmed finally, at the Feb- ruary term, 1853.

Burlington was divided in accordance with the report of a commission, consisting of Elihu Case, James C. Mckean, and Joseph P. Hunt, appointed September, 1854, by the court to consider the prayer of a petition of Morgan De Witt, Rosewell Luther and others, for the erection of a new township out of the west part of Burlington. The division- line they describe as follows: Beginning at a post in the north boundary of Franklin township; thence north eleven hundred and ten perches ; thence north 9}° west one hun- dred and thirty-seven perches to the southwest corner of Burlington borough ; thence by the west line of said borough north 94° west two hundred and eighteen perches ; thence north five hundred and forty-eight perches to the south boundary of Smithfield. The remaining lines were left un- changed. The report was finally confirmed at the February term, 1855, and the name of West Burlington was given to the western township.

At the December term of court, 1866, J. E. Spalding and others petition the court for a division of Franklin township. E. C. Kellog, Freeman Sweet, and Philo Alden were appointed commissioners, who report in favor of di- viding by a line beginning at a post in the line of Franklin and Monroe townships; thence north 86° west two and four-tenths miles ; thence north 85° west one and a half miles ; thence south 71° west one and seven-tenths miles ; thence south 84° west one and two-tenths miles to a post in the line of Le Roy and Franklin townships; and Barclay was suggested for the name of the new township. On ac- count of objections being made to the granting of the town- ship, an election was ordered to ascertain the sentiments of the people affected by the proposed division, which being favorable, the court confirmed the report of the commis- sioners, September term, 1867.

There is no record of the organization of Herrick, al- though other evidence makes it certain that it was about 1837.

Without counting the boroughs, which were mostly in- corporated by special acts of legislature, and will be noticed in their proper place, we find that in the sixty-five years of our history as a county the ten townships have become thirty-seven, and the ratio of increase in wealth, population,

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and improvements has been much greater. Unimportant changes which were made in township lines for the accom- modation of a few families or individuals, together with a list of other incorporations which were for other than politi- cal purposes, will be found elsewhere.

CHAPTER X.

GEOGRAPHY, TOPOGRAPHY, AND GEOLOGY .*

BEGINNING at the cast line of the State, Bradford is the third in order of the northern tier of counties of Pennsyl- vania. Susquehanna county borders it on the cast ; Tioga on the west ; Sullivan and Lycoming on the south ; Che- mung and Tioga counties, in the State of New York, on the north ; and the northwest angle of Wyoming enters its southeastern corner. But for this re-entrant angle Brad- ford County is nearly a parallelogram upon the map. Its northern line is the line of the State, laid, as was supposed, along the parallel of 42º north latitude, f and its cast line is nearly coincident with the meridian of 0° 48' 30" east from Washington. The location of the court-house at Towanda is given in the surveyor-general's report as being on the line of 41º 47' 0" north latitude, and on the meridian of 0° 25' 28" east longitude from Washington.

The Susquehanna river enters the county midway on its northern boundary ; and the Tioga, flowing from the north- west and draining central southern New York, unites with it below Athens, and just five miles south of the State line. It may be here remarked that the name of this stream in Pennsylvania is Tioga, while that part of it which is in the State of New York is called Chemung. It takes its rise in the Tamarack swamp, in the township of Armenia, in this county, and after describing a course somewhat re- sembling an elongated letter C, enters the State near the sixty-seventh milestone, and joins the Susquehanna at a point less than twenty miles from its source. The Sus- quehanna river flows in about a straight line due south nearly to the centre of the county, and then takes a south- east course, with nine horseshoe bends, until it enters Wyo- ming county.

During its straight course it flows in a rather wide valley of erosion in Chemung rocks. The rest of its tortuous course is through Catskill rocks, where it cuts a cañon through the synelinal Towanda mountain, and a deep narrow valley through the Chemung rocks, across the broad antielinal valley to the south of it.

One-half of Bradford County is a high rolling country, into which enter two ranges of flat-topped, coal measure, synclinal mountains, connected with the great mountain plain of Lycoming county to the south west and south.

Blossburg mountain crosses the west line and occupies

Armenia township. A few high hills in Springfield and Smith- field, of which Mount Pisgah is the principal, and all that is left of the mountain along the trough which it formerly oc- cupied. No doubt at one time there was a mountain cañon on the Susquehanna, in the townships of Ulster and She- shequin, and the mountains must have reached the northeast corner of the county, and passed on into Broome Co., N. Y.

Towanda mountain forms the salient feature of the county. Being very broad and flat where it comes out of Lycoming county, it is split lengthwise into two by the deep cañen of Schrader creek, is cut across transversely by the gorge of the South Branch creek, and was cut through, in early ages, by the Susquehanna river. Through Standing Stone, Wyalusing, Tuscarora, Herrick, and Pike townships its ancient existence is testified to, and it is, in fact, con- tinued, as a range of high hill-country, nearly to Great Bend, in Susquehanna county. The right-hand branches of Wyalusing creek drain this high land sonthward, while the left-hand branches of Wysox creek, and the head streams of Wappusening and Apolacon creeks, drain it northward and westward.

In conformity with this configuration the two last-named creeks flow northerly, while the two former flow southwest- erly into the Susquehanna. In the western part of the county we find Seeley's, South, and Bentley's creeks run- ning north into the Chemung, while farther south, Sugar creek and the Towanda take almost a direct easterly course into the Susquehanna, which they reach within less than three miles of each other; while still farther south, the Sonth Branch and Sugar Run run nearly north, the former being a confluent of the Towanda, and the latter emptying into the Susquehanna. The south line of the county is the water-shed between the North and West Branch valleys of the Susquehanna, the source of the Lycoming being at the southwestern angle of the county, and of the Loyal Sock in the townships of Overton and Albany.

Towanda mountain is about as high as Blossburg mount- ain ; the railroad summit at the Barclay mines being 2038 feet ; the head of the incline plane, 1753 feet; its foot, 1268 ; at Greenwood, where the Schrader creek falls into the Towanda, 820 feet ; at Monroeton junction with the railway south to the coal mines of Sullivan county, at Ber- nice, 759 feet ; and at the Towanda junction with the Penn- sylvania and New York Canal Division railroad, on the bank of the Susquehanna, 741 feet. The height of the mountain above Towanda creek, which flows in a deep narrow valley of erosion, at its northern foot, is therefore over 1200 feet, and the depth of the gorge which splits the mountain is not far from 1000 feet ; the sides being very precipitous, and crowned with cliffs of massive conglomerate, sometimes 100 feet thick.

The Susquehanna river, at Waverly, in New York, is about 800 feet above tide (the railroad grade is 826 feet). At Athens the railroad grade has fallen to 799 feet, at Ul- ster to 746 feet, at Towanda to 741 feet, at Standing Stone 709 feet, at Rummerfield 703 feet, at Wyalusing 681 feet, and at Lacevyille, two miles below the Bradford County line, 666 feet.

Lycoming ereek and Towanda creek, heading together in the southwest angle of the county at 1200 feet above tide,

* Principally from the "Report on Bradford County of the Second Geological Survey of the State," by Andrew Sherwood, assistant geologist.

t According to the resurvey of the State line, made in the summer of 1877, the line is not as accurately run as had been supposed ; is not precisely on the parallel, nor straight between its extreme limits.

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HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA.

flow in opposite directions ; the first, southwest to Williams- port (544 feet), the other east to Towanda (741 feet above tide). The former creek cuts a tremendous canon trans- versely through the Alleghany mountain table land of Ly- coming county, which in Sullivan county, next south of Bradford, attains altitudes above the sea of 2335 feet at Long pond, and 2285 feet on the turnpike, one mile west of Long pond. This is the highest recorded level on the Mehoopany plateau, in Sullivan county. In the early history of the country it will be remembered the path lead- ing from the West to the North Branch of the Susque- hanna passed up this canon, whose deep, precipitous sides offered formidable obstacles to the traveler, according to the testimony of Conrad Weisser, Zeisberger, and Hartley, the last of whom declares the passage of the Alps was not more difficult.

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and biographical sketches, Part 30

Author: Craft, David, 1832-1908; L.H. Everts & Co Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia : L. H. Everts Number of Pages: 812

Author: Craft, David, 1832-1908; L.H. Everts & Co
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : L. H. Everts
Number of Pages: 812