History of Erie county, Pennsylvania. Containing a history of the county; its townships, towns, villages schools, churches, industries, etc, Part 22

Author: Bates, Samuel P. (Samuel Penniman), 1827-1902; Whitman, Benjamin, 1940-; Russell, N. W. (Nathaniel Willard); Brown, R. C. (Robert C.); Weakley, F. E; Warner, Beers & Co. (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : Warner, Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1280

USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > History of Erie county, Pennsylvania. Containing a history of the county; its townships, towns, villages schools, churches, industries, etc > Part 22

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Dip of the Rocks .- Everywhere throughout Erie County the strata appear to be horizontal, but in reality they possess a slight dip southward and west- ward. Along the Corry meridian it is twenty-five feet per mile; from Erie to the Ohio River, it is twenty feet per mile, and farther west it is slighter. The dip westward along the parallel of Wattsburg is eleven feet per mile, and along the southern line of the county seven feet per mile. Two miles south of Middleboro, there is a slight northward fall of the rocks. Manyf other slight variations and undulations may exist, but if so they have not been detected.

The Shenango Group .- This group probably representing the Pocono form- ation, No. X, is the highest geological strata found in Erie County. The She- nango Shale deposit generally consiste of blue, gray and brown clay-shales and in Crawford County varies from thirty-six to sixty feet in thickness; if found in Erie County at all, ite bottom layers are left on the highest hill-tops. The Shenango sandstone, immediately below the shale, is from fifteen to thirty-five feet thick in Crawford County, and in Erie County caps two or three isolated knobs in Concord Township.

The Meadville Group, immediately below, and with the Shenango corre- sponding to the Cuyahoga Shales of Ohio, in Crawford County, consists of Meadville Upper Shales, Meadville Upper Limestone, Meadville Lower Shales, Sharpsville Upper Sandstone, Meadville Lower Limestone, Sharpsville Lower Sandstone and Orangeville Shales. In Erie County they have scarcely an existence. The Sharpsville Upper Sandstone crops out in the east end of the county in a few isolated knobs.

The Oil Lake Group, a part of Pocono Sandstone, No. X, and supposed by Mr. White to be identical with the Berea grit of Ohio, includes the Corry and the Cussewago Sandstones and the Cussewago Limestone and Shale. The Corry Sandstone is found in a few of the highest hills in the southern parts of Concord, Union and LeBoeuf Townships. One mile south of Corry, about 300 feet above the city. and 1, 160 feet above Lake Erie, are two quarries. Only eight feet of the sandstone have escaped erosion, and four feet are so shattered that the lower four feet only can be used. The Cussewago Limestone is exposed in D. Matterson's ravine, near the center of Concord Township, where it is a foot thick.

Beneath the Cussewago sandstone and down to the Venango group, a dis- tance of about eighty feet, occurs a series of very fossiliferous drab, bluish and gray sandy shales, sometimes shaly sandstone, called the Riceville Shale.

The Venango Oil Sand Group includes the most important strata of Erie County. It varies in thickness from 250 to 350 feet, and crops out over most of the surface south of the great divide. In the counties farther south, it is this group buried far beneath the surface that yields petroleum. The First, . Second and Third Oil Sands there correspond with the Venango Upper, Middle and Lower Sandstones.

Venango Upper Sandstone .- A coarse sandstone is the only reservoir of free petroleum, and a loose gravelly sandstone the only kind from which an oil producer expects a free flow in large quantities. The Upper and Middle Venango sands of Erie County are in the form of compact, fine grained, muddy flagstones, and consequently contain little or no oil. The Venango Upper Sandstone lies high up the hills and the flags are often grayish- white. Two miles west of Edinboro, at Anderson's quarry, they are bluish-white, smelling of petroleum. At Russell's quarry, just north of Corry, a bluish- white sandstone lies at 1,070 feet elevation above the lake, the seams and crevices of which hold petroleum. Underlying the Upper sand are pale blue shales, 90 to 100 feet thick, containing fossil shells of the Chemung type.

154

HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.

The Venango Middle Sandstone makes little show in Erie County, being merely marked by a greater number of sandy shales or flagstone layers in the mass of softer shales. At Harry Comer's' quarry, however, in Washington Township, are exposed twelve feet of bluish-white sandstone, smelling strongly of petroleum. In the Maynard's Run bluffs, Amity Township, the same flage crop out 125 feet above the Le Bœuf Conglomerate. (Venango Lower Sand- stone.) In the interval of from 100 to 125 feet between the Venango Middle and Lower Sandstones lie blue, gray and brown shales, very fossiliferous.

Venango Lower Sandstone .- This famous " Third Sand" of the old oil regions outcrops on the great divide, and may also be seen in French and Le- Bœuf Creek Valleys at the head of Elk Creek and Black Run and along Conneaut Creek, four miles above and below Spring Post Office. Its exposures always show it charged with petroleum, even where it is a sand and not a gravel rock. Its lower layers yield excellent building stone nearly everywhere, and it is the principal quarry rock of Eric County. There is often a division into an upper gravel or pebble rock and a lower sandstone. Petroleum per- vades both, but there is more in the gravel rock. Among the quarries where it is taken out for building purposes are the Carroll quarries, Le Bœuf Town- ship; Doolittle's quarry, Amity Township; Allen's quarry, two and one-half miles from Doolittle's; Reynolds' quarry, Summit Township; Howard's quarry, Franklin Township, and Goodman's, northeast from Howard's.

Its frequent exhibitions of petroleum with the numerous oil springs along its outcrop through Erie County have been a fruitful source of vain hope to explorers. Little supposing that the show came from the outcrop itself, and had nothing to do with the under rocks, explorers have drilled in almost every township to depths varying from 100 to 1,800 feet. Probably a half million dollars have been thus wasted in Erie County, sunk through measures underlying the exposed third oil sand, which the drillers were seeking far be- low. The whole petroleum deposit in Erie seems now to be practically voided, but a residuum of oil, lowered in gravity and partly oxidized, still remains, sufficient in places to unfit the stone for building purposes.

Below the Venango group are found 325 feet of typical Chemung strata, alternate groups of shale and sandstone, fossiliferous, with a thin limestone layer at the bottom. Some tolerably massive sandstone layers occur in the up- per part of the series, but no pebbles, nothing coarser than sand grains, have been noticed. It outcrops along the Lake Erie slope, and the top layers are exposed also in the valley of French Creek.

Beneath this is the Girard shale, a transition series between Chemung and Portage, a succession of ashen gray and bluish shales, with only an occasional sandy stratum. It is without fossils, except fucoids, and has a thickness of about 225 feet. It forms the drift-covered rock surface of Western Erie County facing the lake, and is finely exposed in every ravine which descends northward from the great divide, but especially along Elk Creek, above Gi- rard. Seen from a distance, its bluff slopes look remarkably like the bowlder clay of the drift and sometimes like vast banks of gray coal ashes. Its baee or lowest layer is at lake level at Raccoon Creek, near the Ohio line, and 475 feet above lake level at the New York line.

The Portage Flags, the lowest strata of Erie County, consist of alternate layers of gray shale and thin layers of hard sandstone with no fossils except fucoids. The top layers rise from the water's edge two miles from the Ohio line, and slope up along the lake front until at the New York line they reach an elevation of 475 feet. Petroleum and gas issue from some of the thin sand layers. Collections of condensed gas undoubtedly exist, and in quarries not in-

155

HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.

frequently cause explosions. The gas and oil wells of Erie vary in depth from 450 to 1,200 feet.

The following is a list of barometric elevations above Lake Erie of various points throughout the county:

Feet.

Feet

Corry (depot) 854

Cross Roads at Cranesville ... .382

Union City (P. &. E. depot).

.728

Girard Junction (E. & P. R. R.). 124

North East (L. S. & M. R. R.). 231

Crosses (E. & P. R. R.) . 192

Moorheads (L. S. & M. R. R). 195

Albion (E. & P. R. R.).

284

Harbor Creek (L. S. & M. R. R.). 157

Belle Valley (Phila. &. E. R. R.)

434

Wesleyville (L. S. & M. R. R.). 124

Langdon's (Phila. & E. R. R.)

562

Erie (L. S. & M. R. R.). 113

Jackson's (Phila. & E. R. R.). 657

Swanville (L. S. & M. R. R.). 152

Waterford (Phila. & E. R. R.). 620

Fairview (L. S. & M. R. R.). 162

Le Bonf (Phila. & E. R. R.). 644

Girard (L. S. & M. R. R.). 144

Lovell's (Phila. & E. R. R.) . 791

Springfield (L. S. & M. R. R.). 90

Cedar Ridge, Concord Township 1285

Concord Station (N. Y.,P. & O. R. R.) .. 788

Greenfield P. O. 852

Union City (N. Y., P. & O. R. R). .... .738

Wattsburg.

752

Mill Village Station(N. Y ., P. & O. R. R.)643

Beaver Dam ..

.862

Franklin P. O.

667

Eagle Hotel, Waterford. 612

CHAPTER IV.

STREAMS, LAKES, BAYS, BRIDGES AND CULVERTS.

THOUGH one of the best-watered sections of the State, Erie County has no rivers and few streams of importance. A large number of creeks and runs have their origin on the dividing ridges, and course through the county in all directions, so that almost every farm has its running water, but only three or four are of sufficient size to be given a place on the general map of the com- monwealth. The dividing ridges separate the water system of the county into two distinct divisions, which may be classed for the present purpose into the Northern and Southern. All of the streams which form on the north side of the main ridge flow into Lake Erie, and thence, through Niagara River, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence, to the Atlantic Ocean. T'hose on the south side invariably unite with the Allegheny River, which in turn pours its waters into the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the Gulf of Mexico. Of the southern streams the most important is French Creek, the common receptacle of all the rest, with the exception of the Brokenstraw, which flows through a corner of Wayne Township, and the head-waters of Spring Creek and Oil Creek, which have their sources, the former in Concord and the latter in that and Union Town- ship. The principal tributaries of French Creek, within the county, are the South Branch, the Outlet of Lake Pleasant and Le Boeuf Creek. The Con- neauttee, which rises in Franklin Township, and the Cussewago, the sources of which are both in that township and Elk Creek, join the same stream in Crawford County.

Of the lake shore streams, the leading ones are as follows: Conneaut, Crooked, Elk, Trout, Walnut, Mill, Four Mile, Six Mile, Twelve Mile, Sixteen Mile and Twenty Mile, the five last mentioned being named according to their distance from Erie city. The smaller streams which empty directly into Lake Erie, are Raccoon and Turkey Runs, in Springfield Township; Fort Run, in Fairview Township; Danford Run, the Head Run, and One, Two and Three

Cross Roads at Middleboro. 497

156

HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.

Mile Creeks, in Mill Creek Township; Cascade and Garrison Runs in Erie City; Five Mile Creek, Elliott's Run and Scott's Run, in Harbor Creek Town- ship; Spring, Spafford and Averill Runs, in North East Township; and sev- eral rivulets, the titles of which are variously given.

TRIBUTARIES OF THE ABOVE.

The tributaries of the above streams are as follows, the terminus of each being in the township indicated:

French Creek-In Greenfield Township, a number of creeks and runs; in Venango Township, Middlebrook Alder Run and Fritts Run of the West Branch, and Spafford Run of the East Branch; in Amity Township (East and West Branches unite), the Outlet of Lake Pleasant, Jones' Brook, Henry Brook, the Hubbell Alder Run, Deerlick Run, the Hatch Hollow Alder Run and Duncombe Run; in Waterford Township, Davis Run; in LeBœuf Township, the South Branch, LeBoeuf Creek, Trout Brook, Colt Run, Mill Run, Mora- vian Run, Gill Brook and Mallory Run.

Le Bœuf Creek .- In Waterford Township, the West Branch, Boyd Run, Trout Run and Benson Run. (Boyd and Trout Runs empty into Lake Le- Bœuf, which is really no more than an expansion of the creek).

The South Branch of French Creek. - In Concord Township, Scotch Run, Spring Brook, Lilly Run, Beaver Dam Run, Spencer Run, Baskin Run and Slaughter Run; in Union Township, Scotchman's, Wilson, Mulvin, Carroll, Pine, Tolbert and Benson Runs.

Conneaut Creek .- In Conneaut Township, the East Branch, the West Branch and Marsh Run. The tributaries of the East Branch are Frazier's Run in Elk Creek Township, and Crane and Jackson Runs in Conneaut Township.

Elk Creek .- In McKean Township, the South Branch; in Fairview Town- ship, Fall Run and Little Elk; in Girard Township, the West Branch, Hall's Run, Brandy Run and Spring Run.

Walnut Creek. - In Mill Creek Township, McNair and Nece Runs; in Fair- view Township, Bear and Beaver Dam Runs.

Mill Creek .- In Mill Creek Township, Bladen's Run.

Four Mile Creek .- In Harbor Creek Township, McConnell Run.

Sixteen Mile Creek .- In Northeast Township, the Borough Branch.

Hare Crcek, the only tributary of the Brokenstraw flowing from the county, joins that stream in Warren County, below Corry. Its chief inlets are Bear Creek and Scioto Run.

The Conneauttee is joined by the Little Conneauttee a short distance across the line, in Crawford County, and by Pratt and Herbert Creeks in Washing- ton Township.

PRINCIPAL SETTLEMENTS, RAILROADS, ETC.

Most of the cities, towns, villages and important settlements are located upon these streams, having originated in numerous cases in consequence of the early establishment of mills. Mill Creek, Cascade and Garrison Runs flow through the city of Erie, and Hare Creek with two of its branches, through the city of Corry. Belle Valley is located along the banks of Mill Creek; Wes- leyville on Four Mile Creek; Harbor Creek Village on Elliott's Run; Moor- headville on Twelve Mile Creek; North East and Freeport on Sixteen Mile Creek; East Springfield on a branch of Crooked Creek; West Springfield on Turkey Run; Greenfield Village and Lowville on the West Branch of French Creek; Wattsburg at the junction of the East and West Branches of the latter

Mulus S, Red

159

HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.

stream; Mill Town on the outlet of Lake Pleasant; Beaver Dam on the run after which it was named; Elgin and Union City on the South Branch of French Creek; Mill Village on Mill Run branch of French Creek; Waterford on Le Bœuf Creek and Lake; Branchville on the South Branch of Elk Creek; Middleboro at the union of the South Branch with the main stream; Edinboro on Conneauttee Lake and Big Conneauttee Creek; McLallen's Corners and Draketown on the Little Conneauttee; Albion and Wellsburg on the East Branch of the Conneaut, and Keepville on the main stream; Cranesville on Crane Run; Sterrettania and West Girard on Elk Creek and Girard Borough on the eastern bluff overlooking its valley; Lockport on Hall's Run; Kearsage and Manchester on Walnut Creek; and Fairview and Avonia on Trout Run.

The Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad, after leaving the lake shore, crosses Crooked Creek, into the Conneant Valley, and follows it into Crawford Coun- ty; the Philadelphia & Erie rises from the level of Lake Erie to the Walnut Creek Valley, pursues the same to the Le Bœuf Valley, continues down the latter, crosses French Creek in Le Boeuf Township, and then runs up the South Branch to Corry; the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio follows the route of the South Branch to a point near its junction with French Creek, and from there keeps close to the banks of the main stream to a point below Meadville; the route of the Buffalo, Pittsburgh & Western road is along the head-waters of the South Branch in Concord Township. The abandoned Erie Canal entered the Elk Creek Valley in Girard Township, passed over the stream by a lofty aqueduct, and then followed Hall's Run and Crane Run to Conneaut Valley, which formed its route into Crawford County.

FEATURES OF THE STREAMS.

The most striking feature of the lake shore streams is the deep channels they have cut in their passage from the high ground where they originate to the level of Lake Erie. These ravines or "gulfs" attend them all, to some extent, but are deepest and most picturesque along Elk Creek, in Girard and Fairview Townships, Walnut Creek in Fairview, Four Mile Creek in Harbor Creek, Six Mile Creek in the same township, and Sixteen and Twenty Mile Creeks in North East. The "gulfe" of Four and Six Mile Creeks, where they have worn a course through the First and Second Ridges, are from 100 to 150 feet deep, and are well worth a visit by those who enjoy novel scenery. In Girard Township, at the union of the West Branch with Elk Creek, is the natural curiosity known as the "Devil's Backbone," which is yearly visited by many seekers after the picturesque. Another feature of the lake shore streams deserving of mention is the fact that, while those eastward from Erie City flow directly to the lake in a general northwesterly course, those in and west of the city, run almost exactly westward until within a short distance of the lake, when they suddenly turn to the north and soon after unite with the great current which pours over Niagara. This is the more noticeable of Mill Creek, which rises in Greene and empties into the lake at Erie; Walnut Creek which also rises in Greene, flows across Summit, Mill Creek and Fairview Townships, and terminates at Manchester; and Elk Creek, which rises in Waterford, crosses Mckean, Fairview and Girard Townships, and enters the lake below Miles Grove. Conneaut Creek is to some extent an exception to the rule, rising as it does in Crawford County, flowing nearly due north through Conneaut Township to within a short distance of the Girard line, and then bending abruptly west- ward, forming the boundary between that and Springfield Townships, finally entering Ohio, and, after a devious course, becoming the harbor of Conneaut in that State. The peculiarity here noted is due to the successive hills, making

160

HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.

up what is known as the Dividing Ridges, each one of which forms a separate valley in which it is claimed the water was originally confined until a break or gulf was created through which a passage was found to the lake. The streams of the northern division have a rapid current and abound in tiny water falls, while the flow of those in the southern division is comparatively gentle. The latter are usually bordered by narrow strips of flat land, and the scenery, though of a pleasing pastoral character, affords little that is novel or inspir- ing. French Creek, all three of its branches-the East, West and South- and Le Bœuf Creek, were at one period navigable for rafts and flat-boats, and before the building of good roads were the chief avenues for bringing goods and provisions into the county. There has been no rafting to speak of on the branches of French Creek for forty years, while the business on the main stream may be said to have suspended about the time of the outbreak of the last war. All of the streams in the county were formerly much larger and more re- liable. The cutting off of the timber has had an alarming effect in drying up the streams, and the seasons of high water which were once of two or three weeks' duration now last only a few days. There being no forests to retain the rain, the water runs off very rapidly, causing floods that sometimes do consid- erable damage in the southern part of the county. All of the streams were at one time full of trout and other fish.

FRENCH CREEK AND ITS PRINCIPAL TRIBUTARIES.

It is not the purpose of this chapter to describe any of the minor streams, an account of which will be given in the township sketches, to which the reader who wishes to know more about them is directed. Only those streams will be referred to here which possess something of a general interest by reason of their relation to two or more townships, or in consequence of their historical associations:

French Creek .- This stream-the most important in the county-was variously known to the Indians as the Toranadakin and Innungah, the latter word having some reference to " a rude and indecent figure carved upon a tree," which the Seneca tribe found when they came to this region after having conquered the Eriez. The French at first gave it the name of the River Aux Bœufs, but changed it to the River Venango, being a corruption of the Indian word Innungah. When the Americans occupied the country, they dropped both the Indian and French names, and gave the stream the plain appellation of French Creek. The main stream is created by the junction of the East and West Branches in Amity Township, just south of the borough limits of Wattsburg. The East Branch takes its rise in Chautauqua County, N. Y., near the village of Sherman, and the head of the West Branch is usually said to be in Findley's Lake, about two miles over the New York line, in the same county. The former has a length of more than twenty miles, and flows through a corner of Venango Township. The length of the latter is about the same, crossing in its course the whole width of Greenfield and Venango. Both streams were navigable in the beginning of the century for canoes and rafts as far north as the New York line, but the erection of dams and the drying up of the water made Wattsburg in later years the practical head of navigation. After the junction of the East and West Branches, the creek traverses Amity, Waterford and Le Bœuf Townships, leaving the county to enter Crawford in the last named. It passes through the whole width of Crawford County from north to south, nearly in the center of the county, and after watering half of Venango County unites with the Allegheny at Franklin. Its length from Wattsburg to Franklin cannot be less than a hundred miles, or a hundred and

161

HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.

twenty or twenty-five, measuring from the mouth to the source of either of the branches. By the time French Creek joins the Allegheny, it has become a good-sized stream, which deserves the title of river better than many that figure more prominently upon the maps. It was along the valley of this creek that Washington traveled on his visit to the French at Fort Le Bœuf, and he descended the stream in a canoe on his return journey. The last rafting from above the mouth of Le Bœuf Creek was done in 1862.

Outlet of Lake Pleasant. - This stream, as its name indicates, carries off the excess of water in Lake Pleasant. It issues from the foot of the lake, in Venango Township, and empties into French Creek in Amity, after a course of some three miles.

The South Branch .- The South Branch of French Creek rises in Concord Township, flows through that and Union, and unites with the main stream in LeBœuf, a short distance below the Philadelphia & Erie Railroad bridge. It has a course of perhaps twenty miles. The valley of the South Branch forms the route in part of no less than three railroads, the Philadelphia & Erie, the Buffalo, Pittsburgh & Western, and the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio.

LeBœuf Creek was known to the French as the river Aux Bœufs and was at first supposed to be the main stream. It was so named from the number of cattle discovered by them on the flats near its mouth. The creek is formed by two stems, the eastern one of which rises on the Venango Township line, and flows across Greene Township, while the western has its source in Summit Township, the two coming together on the northern boundary of Waterford Township. On the edge of Waterford Borough the creek enters Lake LeBœuf, from which it issues somewhat increased in size. It joins French Creek in LeBœuf Township. From the head of the East Branch to the mouth of the creek, the distance is about twenty miles. The head of navigation was at Waterford Borough, just above the lake.

THE LAKE SHORE STREAMS.

Conneaut Creek, the second largest in the county, rises south of Con- neautville, Crawford County, flows in a general northerly direction through Conneaut Township, nearly to the Springfield line, then turns abruptly west. ward and continues into Ohio. After changing its course it forms the bound- ary line between Conneaut and Springfield. In Ohio it flows nine miles west- ward to Kingsville, then makes another sudden bend to the east, and comes back eight miles to Conneaut, where it turns again to the north, and, after a further course of about a mile, empties into Lake Erie not far from the Penn- sylvania line, forming Conneaut Harbor. It is a very crooked stream, the length from head to mouth being fully seventy miles, while the distance by an air line is not more than twenty-five. More costly bridges cross this creek than any other in Erie County. The East Branch of Conneaut Creek rises on the northern edge of Crawford County, flows through Elk Creek Township, and unites with the main stream a mile or so northeast of Albion. In the latter borough it is joined by Jackson Creek, which rises on the Elk Creek and Conneaut line, near Crawford County. The East Branch is about ten miles long and Jackson Creek some five miles.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Erie county, Pennsylvania. Containing a history of the county; its townships, towns, villages schools, churches, industries, etc, Part 22

Author: Bates, Samuel P. (Samuel Penniman), 1827-1902; Whitman, Benjamin, 1940-; Russell, N. W. (Nathaniel Willard); Brown, R. C. (Robert C.); Weakley, F. E; Warner, Beers & Co. (Chicago, Ill.) Publication date: 1884 Publisher: Chicago : Warner, Beers & co. Number of Pages: 1280

Author: Bates, Samuel P. (Samuel Penniman), 1827-1902; Whitman, Benjamin, 1940-; Russell, N. W. (Nathaniel Willard); Brown, R. C. (Robert C.); Weakley, F. E; Warner, Beers & Co. (Chicago, Ill.)
Publication date: 1884
Publisher: Chicago : Warner, Beers & co.
Number of Pages: 1280