USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > History of Erie County, Pennsylvania, Volume One > Part 15
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GUN, POWDER HORN, AX AND KNIFE USED BY FRONTIERSMEN
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CHAPTER XI
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PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY.
GEOLOGY, CLIMATE, MINERALS, TIMBER, BOTANY, SOIL AND STREAMS-BARO- METRIC ELEVATIONS OF COUNTY POINTS-ALTITUDES AT VARIOUS POINTS IN ERIE CITY-DIMENSIONS AND AREAS OF THE GREAT LAKES-AREA OF THE TWO SECTIONS OF COUNTY-LAKE SHORE A SUMMER RESORT-"CRAN- BERRY DAY"-PENINSULA TITLES-"CONE-IN-CONE"-ANCIENT BURIED TREE-BOG ORE-GAS AND OIL-STONE QUARRIES-"DEVIL'S BACKBONE"- HOWARD'S FALLS.
The County of Erie is happily termed "The Chimney Corner of the State". This appellation came to it by reason of its situation at the top of the outline of the state, as well as by its form, being similar to that of a chimney upon the roof of a house. We of this section have somewhat imbibed the spirit of dwellers in a chimney corner by the side of the ingle- nook of our beloved state. Our homes and our hearts are hospitably open to the sojourner, and we are becoming widely and favorably known for a most hospitable community in which to spend summer vacations, and as the meeting place for great state and fraternal conventions. Being bor- dered upon its northern side by a wonderfully picturesque shore-line, with a vast outlook upon the waters of a great inland sea, strangers are at- tracted to us for the boating, the fresh-water fishing, bathing and other shore pleasures and recreations which delight the tourist and the inland dwellers.
Our county is bounded on the north by the shores of Lake Erie, and includes the expansive harbor of Presque Isle, which one of its French admirers, in 1753, termed "the finest spot in nature"; on its eastern side by the State of New York and Warren County; on the south by Crawford County ; and on the west by the State of Ohio. It is 36 miles in length
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
and 20 miles wide, contains 720 square miles, or 460,800 square acres. Its latitude is 43° north latitude upon the "Old State Line" which runs from the Delaware River west to Lake Erie.
The surface of Erie County may be divided into sections which in the main may be described as extending east and west for length, and parallel with the coast of Lake Erie. The first is a plain, known as the Lake Shore Fruit Belt, elevated about 100 to 200 feet above the level of the lake. The second is a series of ridges with plains and valleys between them rising ridge upon ridge from the southern margin of the Lake Shore Plain, constituting "The Divide" between the flow of waters into Lake Erie, and those which flow towards and into the Ohio River, and thence into the Gulf of Mexico. The third, being the valleys and flats of the French Creek drainage system; while beyond these rise other high lands which are the first steps in the great Appalachian Mountain System. Three main creek valleys cut through the northern series of ridges, enter- ing Lake Erie after crossing the Lake Shore Plain: these being Mill Creek, Walnut Creek and Elk Creek valleys. It is a peculiarity of the north-bound streams in this county, that, while the current of Lake Erie flows eastwardly, most of the streams entering it flow first wholly to the west until about to enter the lake, when they flow directly into it. It is also a well known fact that the railroad station in the borough of North East is considerably higher than is that in the city of Erie; and that railroad trains going east require far more power than those traveling west, over this section of the railways.
The lake beaches are more or less isolated; and continuous stretches of lake beach are rarely more than a half to one mile in length; and many of them are of but a few rods in extent. Those at Elk Creek, Walnut Creek, Twelve-Mile Creek (now known as Shorewood), Sixteen-Mile Creek (known as Free Port), are practically the only beaches in the county easily and readily approached and entered by vehicles ; others are usually found at the foot of a steep declivity, and are hardly accessible. The lake bathing is safe and enjoyable. Lake fishing is good at the Elk Creek, Shorewood and Free-Port beaches; while from the port of Erie is con- ducted the most extensive fresh-water fishing business in the world. Along the shores of the lake, and at the small inland lakes, such as Lake LeBoeuf, Lake Pleasant, Conneauttee Lake, and some much smaller bodies, summer camping is becoming much indulged in; and considerable invest- ments have been made for the accommodation and convenience of families
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
desiring vacation facilities. Camping facilities are being provided along the shores of the many streams in the county ; and summer homes occu- pied by dwellers in the cities and boroughs, as well as by families from a distance, are being constructed more and more by the sides of the lakes and streams throughout the county. This has resulted in much increased valuations for all such locations, which are being more and more sought and improved for summer use, and somewhat for more permanent occu- pancy, for those who are in business in the cities. The streams flowing into Lake Erie, are mostly of rapid flow, and not at all suitable for boating purposes. Those flowing southward have usually much slack-water suit- able for bathing and boating.
Just west of the city of Erie, the Presque Isle Peninsula juts out from the mainland into the lake, and extends around the harbor at Erie for a distance of some seven miles, and is about a mile and half wide in its greatest width. It was very evidently created by the storms from the lake depositing lake sand upon a bar, which in the course of time grew wider and longer, became covered with vegetation, and then shrubs, and later trees became established upon it. For years and generations the wooded appearance has remained practically unchanged. The place is a forest primeval. Its trees those of a virgin forest tract. The great trees now standing have not seemed to grow any larger in the memory of the oldest observer; while other forest giants equally great and ancient, have fallen years ago and lie prone and decaying amongst their living com- panions. Originally the place must have been a series of sandy ridges; while gradually vegetation accumulated humus, and today a very good soil thus formed constitutes a veritable garden for the growth of an in- finite variety of plants, shrubs, flowers, trees and vegetation of all sorts. Our peninsula is famed amongst botanists as one of the few places in the country where certain rare botanical specimens may be found growing wild. In Gray's Botanical Manual may be found frequent mention of such specimens with a reference to our peninsula as one of the places of the habitat.
One of the plants now indigenous to the peninsula is the wild cran- berry. Prior to the Civil War, people generally as they might desire, would go upon the peninsula to pick cranberries for preserving against the Christmas and other festivities. Officialdom at length intervened, and sundry laws of the commonwealth, and of the United States were enacted, together with ordinances passed by the City of Erie, making it a high
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
crime to do so at any other than an open season commencing the first Tuesday in October, which shortly came to be known as "Cranberry Day", to be indulged in by young and old as a day for a frolic on the peninsula. The observance probably reached its height on the first Tuesday of October, 1867, following the adoption of a resolution in Erie Councils which had been introduced by Mr. Phineas Crouch regulating the time and manner of gathering the fruit. That day will long be remembered by those who participated, and who may still be living, as one of un- bounded hilarity, exhaustive endeavor, and small returns in fruit. The law still remains in full force and effect, establishing "Cranberry Day", but few of our citizens would now be able to explain what the term means, although the cranberries still grow upon the peninsula, and they are more used than formerly by our people ; yet little if any picking of them is done on the peninsula either in or out of season.
The title to this tract of land has had many changes of ownership, passing from the Federal Government to the State of Pennsylvania, then to the City of Erie, then to the Marine Hospital corporation, and by Act of Assembly of May 11, 1871, in consideration of an appropriation by the state to the Marine Hospital corporation, that body was to re-convey the peninsula to the United States of America "to be held near as may be, in its present condition, and only for the purposes of national defense and for the protection of the harbor of Erie, but in all other respects to be subject to the civil and criminal jurisdiction of the state of Pennsylvania; and the consent of the state of Pennsylvania is hereby given to such trans- fer of title only for the purpose, and under the limitations herein before mentioned." Later a deed was delivered for this purpose, and the federal government assumed control, subject to the local jurisdiction civilly and criminally. This situation remained until finally the State has acquired ownership with the right of the Federal Government to use such portions as may be required for military purposes; and with substantial portions in use by the water works, the Life Saving Station, Lighthouses, etc. The State and City of Erie are co-operating in parking it, the plans promising one of the finest public parks in the country.
From the survey of the state by Prof. H. D. Rogers, state geologist, which was commenced in the year 1836, it appears that the geological surface of this county is much the simplest of all the sections of the state, as to its variety of strata and their structural features. The lowest great division of the fossiliferous strata, the paleozoic formation, con-
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
sists here of but two formations, the vergent flags, a rather fine-grained gray sandstone in thin layers, parted by their alternating bands of shale; and the vergent shales, a thick mass of gray, blue, and olive-colored shales and gray-brown sandstone. The former abounds in marine vegetation, the latter containing many fossils.
The vergent flags exhibit many ripple marks; and in the more cal- careous varieties of the fine-grained clay shales, many forms of concre- tions abound, usually in the forms of spheroids considerably flattened, and curiously added to on the sides by the accumulation of fresh matter, fill- ing the crevices and cracks with little veins of carbonate of lime, which sometimes assumes odd forms, such as that first observed in this section by Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell, a distinguished geologist of New York, in 1827, and by him studied with great interest. He termed them "Argillaceous Schist of a peculiar conchoidal fracture", and, while it is occasionally met with in England in the finer shales and clay ironstones of the coal measures, it is nowhere found in such wholesale quantities, and in one vast series of formations as in this section bordering upon Lake Erie, from Chautauqua Creek to Cleveland. It is usually called "Cone-in-Cone", and resembles a round thickish cake somewhat spheroidal, embedded be- tween an outer casing of some one or two inches in thickness upon either side of this flattened cake of harder shale; the outer shell being some- what soft and mealy, its entire structure composed of little cones within cones, some of them built into each other resembling the peaks in a moun- tain range. It is the more interesting to us, as it is a real geological curiosity and is practically peculiar to this region. It is plentifully found near the lake in the out-croppings of the rocks along the shore, and back along the banks of streams emptying into the lake, notably the Twenty- Mile, Sixteen-Mile, Twelve-Mile, Walnut, Elk-creek and Conneaut creeks.
A most interesting geological discovery was made a few years ago while Mr. Samuel Blair was drilling a water well on his farm west of Fairview, and along the south side of the Nickel Plate Railroad. When down about 60 feet the drill broke into a stratum of conglomerate rock of something like one or two feet in thickness, and immediately beneath this encountered a soft substance, which upon examination of its frag- ments when brought to the surface, proved to be a large log very like the hemlock, and perfectly sound, although bearing every evidence of having had a long stay in the brown water of the gravel stratum. When that
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
log was bedded there, and when that conglomerate formed over it, are equally curious and interesting speculations.
Calcareous marl is found in some places; and at Beaverdam, west of Union City, it used to be burned for lime. Lime of first quality was also manufactured at Walnut Creek. Northeast of Waterford along the line of the Pennsylvania Railroad, a deposit of marl used to be known as the "Sink Hole", and the deposit seemed to be really inexhaustible. An analysis showed it to be composed principally of lime, but which was not so good as that which could be obtained from other sources.
Erie County Bog-ore was formerly used very extensively in the furn- aces at Erie, and elsewhere. This is found at very many spots throughout the county, and the blast furnace of Vincent, Himrod & Co. was operated principally with this Erie County Bog iron-ore. From an item in the Erie Gazette in 1843, a reference to it is taken as follows: "An inspection of 1200 32-pound shot was made by the navy agent, at the Presqu'ile Foun- dery, from Erie County ore, and a contract was finished with government for 300 8-inch shot and 7,000 32-pounders, part of which were shipped to Buffalo and Sackett's Harbor." Many years ago large quantities of this ore were shipped at Massassaque for a small furnace in Conneaut, Ohio.
At several places throughout the county, a ledge of hard, blue lime- stone has been exposed and quarried for building purposes. One of these quarries was located near Franklin Center and was known as the "Howard Stone Quarry", from which hundreds of tons of this fine building stone was mined and used in many kinds of construction. The stone tiling of the present court house floors was furnished from this quarry.
Small quantities of coal have been found in isolated places. Sulphate of alumina has been found compounded with sulphate of iron, the mineral from which is manufactured the commercial product known as alum. Many salt springs abound in the county, and were much resorted to by wild animals, and later by the settlers; but no great commercial use of them seems to have been attempted.
Within a narrow belt along the lake front many wells have been drilled for natural gas, which has been produced in limited quantities for many years; many of the wells are still producing quantities in sufficient amount to supply the homes and buildings of the owners; but it does not develop in sufficient volume to make it useful for further extension of the
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
service. A very limited amount of petroleum has been obtained from some of these wells, usually of an exceedingly heavy character. It is usually obtained along with the gas, both of which are found at the shal- low depth of 500 to 1,200 feet. At the mouth of the Twelve-Mile Creek it is found constantly bubbling from a rift in the rock forming the bed of the stream, as well as from the bottom of the lake just west of the creek and about 100 feet from the rocky wall which there bounds the lake. Either of these seepages would be sufficient to supply a considerable serv- ice, if practicable.
At various places in the county have been found springs, and at other places have been drilled wells, which produce waters of strong impregna- tion of different minerals; in some of which sulphur is strongly present, in others iron, magnesium, lime, and other minerals, although but little attempt has been made to commercialize them.
At Waterford the construction of the Pennsylvania Railroad, begin- ning in 1856, discovered a very singular situation through the settling of the roadbed while the grading was in progress. It attracted much attention amongst engineers at the time. Soundings made by the contrac- tors at one place showed no bottom until a depth of 300 feet was reached, as an iron rod was run down to that depth before touching solid gravel bottom. The top crust was usually quite hard, but after penetrating that, the rod was run down quite easily. It was determined that at one time this place must have been a large lake which became filled up with drift and vegetable matter which remained at the top forming the surface crust; while the bottom was still very soft. Several other places in the county have had a like manifestation.
A few miles south of Girard Borough, on the creek called Little Elk, is a most curious formation which is locally known as "The Devil's Back- bone", consisting of a ridge of sand and slate extending eastwardly from the west bank of the ravine, against which the waters of the stream dash on their way down the gorge, being diverted, they turn eastward and pass around the obstruction and thence returning to what would have been their channel if they had not been turned from their course. At this point the waters of the creek are a bare 50 feet apart, the thickness of this ridge of rock. During the flow around the "Bone" the fall of the stream descends about 25 feet, so that the height of the "Bone" is about 125 feet on its southern side, and about 150 on its northern exposure. It is about 200 feet in length, sloping down at its eastern end into and
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
forming a wide extensive flat around which the stream makes its tortuous way. The top of this curiosity is now so sharp that it is very dangerous to attempt to cross the ridge, although John Blair, the writer's grand- father is said to have driven a pair of oxen from end to end of it in the pioneer days; and to have dragged the carcass of a deer back over it in his younger days.
Not far below this curious geological freak, is the junction of the main stream with this one of Little Elk. Here the course of the two streams has carved out a sharp-nosed cliff having a height of some 150 feet, which is locally known as "The Devil's Nose". The junction of the two streams is widely known as "The Forks of Elk Creek".
The banks of most of the large streams flowing across the Lake Shore Plain into the lake have precipitous walls of shale rock, which present a most picturesque appearance. This is notably so along some of the reaches of Elk Creek, Walnut Creek, Millcreek, Twelve-Mile Creek, Six- teen-Mile Creek, and the gulf of the Twenty-Mile Creek. Some of these gorges are bordered on either side by these stupendous, and inaccessible cliffs, and have local names as significant as those along Little Elk. One famous gorge just east of Erie on the Four-Mile Creek is called Winter- green Gulch, so named because of its great quantities of wintergreen growing about the place.
On an insignificant stream in Franklin Township, close to the Howard Stone Quarry, the water of the stream drops over a rocky ledge of 50 feet into the bed of the stream below; making, when a goodly volume of water is present, a most beautiful waterfall.
The soil within the county is extremely varied; generally along the Lake Shore Plain it is a warm sandy loam, suitable for the growth of melons, tomatoes, grapes, peaches, plums, apples and other fruits and garden vegetables in profusion. Upon the slope of the ridges south of this, it becomes first a gravelly loam, and then becoming a clay loam as one comes nearer the top of the ridges. This land is suitable to the growth of grains, grapes, and tree fruits, as well as many kinds of garden crops, especially upon the lower slopes of those same ridges. From the top of the first line of ridges southwardly to the southern limits of the county, the tops of the hills and ridges is usually and uniformly, a stiff clay loam adapted to grass and grazing; and in the plains and flats be- tween, and upon the creek bottoms, a variety of friable loam, both yellow and black, is found, especially adapted to grain and hay. The late frosts
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
of spring, and the early frosts of autumn prevent the growth of certain varieties which would otherwise grow luxuriantly in those sections. How- ever, the most valuable of the lands in the county are those in the Lake Shore Plain, where every kind of fruit, grain and vegetable suitable for growth in the temperate region thrives wonderfully. In the eastern por- tion of this belt is to be found the great vineyards of Concord grapes, consisting of a few acres up to several hundred acres in extent. The vines are tied upon wires running longitudinally, and in the spring, or during the winter, are trimmed back to but a few buds, from which a new growth is sent out which produces the annual crop. A well matured vine- yard is valued at several hundred dollars per acre.
At the time of the first settlements, this whole region was covered with a solid growth of virgin forest. The timber trees which were native here were the great oaks, red, white, yellow and black; American Chest- nut; the silvery-barked Beech, and the spreading American Elm; the sweet Hickory and its cousin, the bitter Hickory; the wonderful Hemlock, and the sugar-bearing Maple; the straight, fine-grained yellow Poplar, the decay-resisting Cucumber together with the native Black Walnut, and the White Walnut (or Butternut) ; the great Buttonwood, also known as the Sycamore and Water Beech; while back from the lake region upon the higher lands the stately White Pine was found in abundance. Other trees of fewer numbers were the Basswoods, white and red Birches, black and white ash, and the black or swamp Willow. In some of the swamps of the southern portions, were to be found the tamaracks. Some of the lesser sorts were the red or Virginia Cedar, the Service-berry, Flowering Dogwood, Paw-paw, Wild Plum, Witch-hazel, and the Water or Blue Beech and the Alders. A species of Oak is found upon the Peninsula which does not grow on the mainland. Wild berries such as the Blackberry, Raspberry, Elder, Strawberry, Thimbleberry, Huckleberry, and Spiken- ard, grew plentifully, and are still to be found in most localities.
The animals which were native to this county, embrace the American Bison or Buffalo, Elk, Deer, Bear, Red Fox, Timber Wolf, Panther, Bob- cat, Lynx, Wolverine, as well as the lesser ones such as the Mink, Beaver, Hare or Rabbit, Muskrat, Squirrels, red, gray, black; Skunk, Weasel, Mar- tin, Chipmunk and Raccoon.
The native birds embraced the Crow, Hawk, Eagle, Belted Kingfisher, Heron, Crane, Gulls, Blackbird, Cowbird, Bobo'link, Meadow Lark, Robin, Blue bird, Sparrows, song, ground and many others; American Finch,
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
Wren, Nightingale, Whippoor'will, Geese, Ducks of several varieties, Grebe, Pheasants and Bob-whites, Barn Owls, Screech Owls, Orioles, Tur- tle Doves, and great flights of the famous but now extinct Wild Pigeons, the last of which the writer can well remember as flying over in great flocks seemingly in endless numbers.
Our county enjoys an exceptionally fine and equable climate. Its proximity to Lake Erie serves to temper the extremes of both heat and cold, rendering the average much more even than would otherwise be the case. The section within three or four miles of the waters of the lake being particularly favored in this regard, which operates to lengthen the season at both spring and autumn time.
The following list of barometric elevations above Lake Erie at various points throughout the county will be of interest and useful for reference :
Feet
Feet
Corry (depot) 854
Waterford, at Eagle Hotel 612
Union City (P. & E. depot) 728
Cross Roads at Cranesville 382
North East (N. Y. C. depot) 231 Girard Junction (E. & P. R. R.) 124
. Moorheads (N. Y. C. R. R.) 195
Harborcreek (N. Y. C. R. R.) 157
Albion (E. & P. R. R.) 284
Wesleyville (N. Y. C. R. R.) 124
Belle Valley (P. & E. R. R.) 434
Langdons (P. & E. R. R.) 562
Swanville (N. Y. C. R. R.) 152
Jackson's (P. & E. R. R.) 657
Fairview (N. Y. C. R. R.) 162
Waterford (P. & E. R. R.) 620
LeBoeuf (P. & E. R. R.) 644
Lovell's (P. & E. R. R.) 791
Cedar Ridge (Concord Tp.) 1285
Greenfield P. O. 852
Wattsburg 752
Mill Village Station 643
Middleboro, at Cross Roads 497
Beaver Dam 862
Franklin P. O. 667
Official Measurements of Elevations in Erie Above the Bay.
On Second Street going west from
At French Street 58'
Parade:
At State Street 56'
At Parade Street
19'
At Peach Street 59'
At German Street 58'
At Sassafras Street 63'
At Holland Street 59'
At Myrtle Street 63'
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Girard (N. Girard, N. Y. C. R. R.) 144
Springfield (N. Y. C. R. R.) 90
Concord Station (Erie R. R.) 788
Union City (Erie R. R.) 738
Crosses Station (E. & P. R. R.) 192
Erie (N. Y. C. R. R. depot) 113
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY
At Chestnut Street 67'
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