USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > History of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections > Part 3
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Big Wapwallopen also has its rise in Wright township at Crystal springs, pass- ing through the south part of Dorrance township, into Hollenback township, turns northwest and falls into the river at Wapwallopen village. Then comes Nescopeck and its confluent, Black creek. These join near the north line of Black Creek township, and from there run northwest and strike the river below Nescopeck; Little Nescopeck creek is an affluent of the main stream that rises near Jeddo and joins the main stream in Sugar Loaf township. Its general course is westerly. Another branch of the Nescopeck is Oley creek, joining the main stream at the west
28
HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
of Yager mountain. The Indian word for Nescopeck signified deep black water. The stream rises in Denison township and is twenty-eight miles in length. Along its shores is the beautiful Sugar Loaf valley, which gets its name from the cone- shaped mountain standing nearly in the center of the valley.
Passing along the southern and southeastern line of the county the watershed turns its drainage toward the Lehigh river. Wright's creek runs south toward White Haven, principally through Denison township. Then is the more important stream, Bear creek, with its many branches spreading like the limbs of a tree nearly all over the township of that name. Shades creek drains the "swamp " in Buck township and falls into the Lehigh a few miles above Bear creek. Many of these streams have their sources in the numerous lakes and ponds that abound, while others start from springs. All have clear cold water, many affording excel- lent water power.
The largest body of fresh water in the State is Harvey's lake near the north line of the county in Lake township. This is now finely improved and is a noted summer resort, growing in fame with each successive season.
The Mountains in these range; also run from northeast to southwest in their general trend, some in the lower part of the county runuing nearly due east and west, as the Bucks mountains that pass entirely through the county. Passing north from Bucks mountains is the valley of Nescopeck creek, that extends from the west line of the county to White Haven and branches at Yager mountain and runs through Bear Creek township. Then is the Nescopeck range. Then is the valley of the Wapwallopen, and passing this going north brings us to the Wyoming mountains, spurs of which follow down the east side of the river to Nescopeck borough. Passing northeast to nearly opposite Wilkes-Barre is Bald mountain and Moosic mountain, which are merely different names for the same ranges. From Shickshinny to Nanticoke along the river on the east side are Lee mountains. The ranges of mountains on the west of the river, commencing in the southwest of the county and following in the direction of the river to Pittston and are broken through there by the river and continue their general course through Lackawanna county, are known by several local names. In the extreme southwest is Huntington mount- ain, then the Shickshinny, the Kingston, the Capouse. Running across the north- west corner of the county are the North mountains, a range that turns the waters north and south on its respective sides.
The general face of the country is broken and mountainous, with, however, many rich and beautiful valleys, among others the world-famed Wyoming valley, one of the large and certainly one of the richest in the world, equally immortal in war and in peace. These were beautiful and coveted lands to the eye of beast, savage and civilized man, as prolific in sustaining life as they were lovely on their face. The Indians following the game gathered here and in time civilization and savagery warred and killed for their possession and in the brief century, with the confines of the county being ever contracted by the erection of new counties, there are here 201,203 inhabitants. More people added to the county in ten years than there are in one of the States of the Union. There are sixty-seven counties in the State, with a total population of 5,258,014. Of the eight counties showing more than fifty per cent. increase in the decade just past is Luzerne, which, with no large city in its border, in 1880 already had far more than the average county's population -- 133,065, or, in other words, the exact per cent. of increase in ten years was 51.21. The marked feature of the increase in Luzerne is more manifest when we bear in mind that the State's increase has largely been in urban population, while in this county it is the rural population that has added the marked increase. This is significant, vastly so, because the healthy conditions of society are not in the rapid growth of cities and the gradual decrease of farm and village life, but in the reverse. The smiling fields and the pure free air are the conditions evolving better lives, stronger men and women-morally, mentally and physically. Thus
29
HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
nature and man's energies have happily joined hands here and made Luzerne county one of the highly favored spots of earth.
Harvey's Lake is 1,000 feet above the level of the Susquehanna, situated in Lake township, twelve miles northwest of Wilkes-Barre. It is an immense spring of pure cold water, with a beautiful clean sand and gravel bottom, and varies in depth from five to 200 feet. It was first discovered by Benjamin Harvey, who settled upon its outlet prior to the Revolutionary war. It was surveyed in 1794, when covered with ice, by Christopher Hurlbert, who found it extended over an area of 1,285 acres, a little more than two square miles. It is the largest body of fresh water in Pennsyl- vania, and furnishes an abundant supply of fish, which, owing to the purity of the water, are of superior quality. The first canoe ever launched upon the bosom of this lake, by a white man, was made in Wyoming valley, in 1800, by Andrew Ben- nett. It was shod with hickory saplings, and was drawn over the mountain by horses, and used in fishing and hunting.
Beaver Lake, in Buck township, is one mile in length and a half mile in breadth. It is the source of Pond creek, which flows into the Lehigh.
Triangle Pond, in Wright township, has an area of 150 acres, and is one of the sources of the Little Wapwallopen creek.
Long and Round Ponds, in Slocum township, are also sources of the Little Wap- wallopen, and abound in fish. The former is about a mile long by a half mile wide; the latter is smaller. Their depth is from twenty-five to fifty feet.
Three Cornered Pond, in Lehman township, is a handsome body of clear water, and constitutes one of the sources of Hunlock creek.
North and South Ponds, in Ross townships, the former covering 250 acres, and the latter about 150, discharge their waters through Hunlock creek.
Mud Pond, in Fairmount township, empties into the Huntington creek, which also receives the waters of Long pond, in Sullivan county, near the Luzerne county line. At this latter point, on the summit of the North mountain, is 2,636 feet above the level of the sea.
In 1777, when this was Westmoreland county, Conn., and its wide territory included what is now Luzerne, Wyoming, Susquehanna, Bradford, and a portion of Wayne county, there were, all told, 1,922 souls. Sixteen years after that, 1790, in the same territory, except the part of Wayne county above, there was a population of 4,904; or one to each square mile. In 1800 there were 12,838, showing an average annual increase of 793. In 1810 there were 18,109, a slight average decrease. In 1820, with Bradford and Susquehanna counties taken off, there were 20,027 inhabit- ants, and in 1830, 27,304; in 1840, 44,006; in 1850 (Wyoming taken off) the popu- lation of Luzerne county was 56,072. [At that time Wyoming county had 10,653 people.] The following table exhibits the classified population of Luzerne for the years 1850 and 1860:
The following table exhibits the classified population of Luzerne for the years 1850 and 1860:
White males
1850. 29,465
46,613
Females
26,234
43,327
Colored persons.
373
450
Families
9,672
15,065
Dwellings
9,587
14,920 2,956
Births
1,976
Deaths
383
878
Married
597
925
Persons who could not read and write.
2,228
3,981
Persons over one hundred years.
3
2
Between ninety and one hundred ..
6
8
Blind ..
10
14
Deaf and dumb
8
12
Insane ...
12
16
Number of foreigners.
12,567
23,486
1830, foreigners, 785.
1860.
30
HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
The official figures for the census years 1880 and 1890 show the following in detail:
Luzerne county
1890. 201,203
133,065
Ashley borough
3,192
2,799
Avoca borough.
3,031
1,913
Bear Creek township
343
159
Black Creek township.
2,178
1,057
Buck township
94
173
Butler township.
1,984
1,917
Conyngham township.
1,299
488
Dallas borough
415
272
Dallas township.
885
879
Denison township, including Middleburg village.
973
976
Middleburg village
532
Dorranceton borough
586
Dorrance township
742
639
Edwardsville borough
3,284
Exeter borough
790
Exeter township
452
1,021
Fairmount township
1,090
1,085
Mountain Top village.
961
Forty Fort borough
1,031
478
Foster township, including Eckley, Highland and Sandy Run villages
7,590
ยท5,116
Highland village
657
571
Sandy Run village.
596
Franklin township
521
593
Freeland borough.
1,730
624
Hanover township.
2,579
2,000
Hazel township, including Ebervale, Hollywood, Lattimer and Milnesville villages
12,494
10,547
Ebervale village
567
1,108
Hollywood village.
598
260
Lattimer village.
1,051
784
Milnesville village
824
572
Hazelton borough ..
11,872
6,935
Hollenback township
724
736
Hughestown borough
1,454
1,192
Hunlock township.
881
759
Huntington township
1,557
1,596
Jackson township
657
661
Jeddo horough
358
350
Jenkins township.
2,320
2,202
Kingston borough.
2,381
1,418
Kingston township
3,809
5,878
Lafin borough
231
Lake township.
1,144
863
Laurel Run horough
606
Lehman township
1,093
940
Luzerne borough
2,398
Marcy township ..
2,904
1,158
Miners Mills borough
2,075
Nanticoke borough ..
10,044
3,884
Nescopeck township, including Nescopeck town. Nescopeck town .
698
360
New Columbus borough
214
267
Newport township, including Glenlyon village Glenlyon village.
5,411
1,531
Parsons borough
2,412
1,498
Pittston borough
10,302
7,472
Pittston township
3,284
2,666
Plains township.
6,576
5,354
Plymouth borough.
9,344
6,065
Plymouth township.
8,363
7,818
Eckley village
1,241
1,070
Fairview township, including Mountain Top village.
1,008
1880.
1,456
1,205
2,255
31
HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
Ross township
1,102
1,053
Salem township
1,303
1,448
Shickshinny borough
1,448
1,058
Slocum township
409
377
Sugar Loaf township.
1,854
1,390
Sugar Notch borough
2,586
1,582
Union township.
874
920
West Hazleton borough
931
191
West Pittston borough
3,906
2,544
White Haven borough
1,634
1,408
Wilkes-Barre city.
37,718
23,339
Wilkes-Barre township
2,917
2,445
Wright township
152
880
Wyoming borough
1,794
1,147
Yatesville borough.
414
415
Going over the detailed official reports of the population of the divisions of the county, it is striking, even as early as 1860, how much more rapidly the coal-bearing sections increased over the other portions of the county. The vast coal interests at that time were only fairly begun to develop. Since then the rapid increase of popula- tion, still centering in the vicinity of the mines, has kept pace with the enormous growth of the coal output, and yet there is no great city in the county. Indeed until the last few months Wilkes-Barre was the only organized city in Luzerne county, and that contained less than 40,000 of the 201, 000 inhabitants of the county. Hazleton is just now made a legal city, with only a population of about 12,000. Therefore, it is plain that the increase of population here, the past century, from a little more than 4,000 to more than 200,000, with the territory reduced by the counties of Wyoming and Lackawanna recently taken off, in addition to Bradford and Susquehanna, that were extracted in the early part of the century, shows a growth of rural population unequaled in any county in the United States.
POSTOFFICES IN LUZERNE COUNTY.
Postoffices.
Townships.
Postoffices.
Townships.
Alden Station.
Newport
Glen Lyon
. Newport
Alderson
Forty Fort
.Kingston
Ashley
Hanover
Freeland.
Foster
Askam
Hanover
Gowen
Black Creek
Avoca. Avoca Borough
Grand Tunnel
Plymouth
Beach Haven
. Salem
Gregory.
.Hunlock
Bear Creek
Bear Creek
Exeter
Bell Bend
Salem
Huntington
Bloomingdale
. Ross
Harleigh
. Hazle
Briggsville
Nescopeck
Harveyville
Huntington
Cambra.
.Huntington
Hazle Brook
Foster
Carverton
. Kingston
Hazleton
Hazle
Cease's Mills
.. Jackson
Hobbie
Hollenback
Chauncey ..
Plymouth
Hudson
Hunlock Creek
.Hunlock
Conyngham
Sugarloaf
Huntington Mills.
Huntington
Dallas
.. Dallas
Huntsville
Jackson
Dorrance
Dorrance
Idetown. Lehman
Jenkins
Drifton
Hazle
Irish Lane
.Ross
Drums
Butler
Jeansville
Hazle
Dupont
Pittston
Duryea.
Marcy
Ketcham
Franklin
Ebervale
Hazle
Kingston
Kingston
Eckley
Foster
Koonsville
Union
Edwardsdale
Kingston
Kunkle
Dallas
Exeter ..
Exeter
Kyttle Fairmount
Fade's Creek
... Lake
Lafflin
Pittston
Fairmount Springs
Fairmount
Lake (at Harvey's Lake) Lehman
Dorranceton
Kingston
Inkerman
Jeddo Hazle
Clarkes View
Harding
Hardpan
1890.
1880.
32
HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
Postoffices. Townships.
Postoffices.
Townships.
Laketon
. Lehman
Rhone
Nanticoke Borough
Larksville (formerly Blindton). Plymouth
Ripple
Lattimer Mines . Hazle
Rittenhouse
Fairmount
Lehman
Lehman
Rock Glen
Black Creek
Loyalville.
Lake
Ruggles.
. Lake
Luzerne Luzerne Borough
Sandy Run
Foster
Maple Run .Fairmount
Shavertown
Meeker.
Shickshinny. Salem and Union
Milnesville Hazle
Silkworth Lehman
Miners' Mills Plains Slocum
Slocum
Moosehead. Denison
Stockton
Hazle
Stoddartsville
Buck
Mountain Top
Wright
Sugarloaf.
Butler
Muhlenburg
. Union
Sugar Notch
.Sugar Notch
Nanticoke
Hanover
Sweet Valley
.Ross
Nescopeck
Nescopeck
Seybertsville
Sugarloaf
New Columbus
Huntington
Tank.
Black Creek
Oliver's Mills (Laurel Run Borough)
Orange
Franklin
Town Line
Union
Trucksville
.Kingston
Parsons .
.Plains
Black Creek
Peely (Warrior Run).
Hanover
Pike's Creek
Lake
Wanamie
Newport
Wapwallopen
. Conynghan
Plains .
Plains
Waterton
.Huntington
Plainsville, L. V. R. R. Station.
. Plains
Plymouth
Plymouth
Pond Hill.
West Nanticoke
Plymouth
Port Blanchard. .Jenkins
Wilkes-Barre Wilkes-Barre
Prichard
Hunlock
White Haven
. Foster
Red Rock
Fairmount
Wyoming Wyoming Borough
Register
.Huntington
Yatesville Jenkins
Reyburn
Union
Zehner
Foster
LOCALITIES WHOSE POSTOFFICE DIFFERS FROM THE NAMES BY WHICH THEY ARE GENERALLY KNOWN.
Localities.
Postoffice.
Localities.
Postoffice.
Alberts
Ashley
Coalville.
Ashley
Allentown Lehman
Columbus.
New Columbus
Ashberton .Hazleton
Conyngham Station
Conyngham
Avondale. . Grand Tunnel
Cora's Mills.
Harding
Baltimore Mines Parsons
Council Ridge.
. Eckley
Barn Hill. Grand Tunnel
Coxton Pittston
Beach Grove
.Belbend
Cramer's Hook
Sweet Valley
Bear Creek Junction
Bear Creek
Cranberry .Hazleton
Bear Hollow
Outlet
Crystal Ridge Hazleton
Beaumont Stoddardsville
Beaver Run
Ruggles
Davis Mills
Harding
Bennets .. . Luzerne
Derrenger Gowen
Berger's Moosehead
Diamond Addition. .Hazleton
Black Creek
Rock Glen
Drifton Junction
White Haven
Black Ridge. Conyngham P. O.
Duck Pond Wilkes-Barre
Bowman's Hill Wilkes-Barre
Dundee Nanticoke
Bradersville White Haven
East Sugar Lake .Eckley
Empire
Wilkes-Barre
Brown's Colliery
Pittston
Espy Run . Peely
.Pittston
Browntown
Yatesville
Bryar Hill. Port Blanchard
Buck Mountain Station Weatherly
Falls Run.
Rock Glenn
Buttonwood .Askam
Falls Run City
Rock Glenn
Butzbaugh's Landing Nanticoke
Fern Glen.
Gowen
Ceasetown Nanticoke
Forest Castle
Harding
Charlestown
. Avoca
Forestdale
Rittenhouse
Church Hill
Nanticoke
Foundry
Jeddo.
Upper Lehigh
Foster
Pittston
Pittston
Town Hill
Huntington
Outlet
Lake
Turnback
Weintz.
West Hazleton. Hazle
Daken Huntsville
Bridge No. 28. Moosehead
Brown's Corners Huntsville
Everhart Coal Company
Fairview
Falling Springs Mountain Top
. Harding
Mountain Grove Black Creek
33
HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
Localities.
Postoffice.
Localities.
Postoffice.
Foundryville Eckley
Moretown
.Sweet Valley
Franklin .
Pittston
Morrison ..
White Haven
Freehold
Freelaud
Mountain Grove Camp
Mountain Grove
Frenchtown Jeansville
Mountain House
Milnesville
Frogtown Pittston
Gardner's Switch . Parsons
Georgetown Wilkes-Barre
Mount Pleasant Colliery
.Hazleton
Gradsey Pond . Sweet Valley
Great Rock Red Rock
Greenridge Moosic
Hanover Nanticoke
Hardwicksburg
.Ashley
Harris Hill Trucksville
Hartzille
.Slocum
Harwood
Hazleton
Harvey's Creek Hotel West Nanticoke
Harvey's Lake
Lake
Hazleton Mines. Hazleton
Headley's Camp Ground. Harveyville
Headley's Grove Harveyville
Head of Plains
Nescopeck
Heberton
Upper Lehigh
Heimville
Black Ridge
Hellertown
Belbend
Pike's Peak Nanticoke
Pincherville. .Orange
Pine Ridge Shaft. Miner's Mills
.Pittston
Pleasant Hill
Sweet Valley
Pleasant Valley
.Avoca
Plumbtown,
.Sugar Notch
Pond Creek Sandy Run
Pond Creek Colliery. .Eckley
Port Bowkley
Plainsville
Hughestown .Pittston
Humbolt
Hazleton
Huntington
Town Hill
Ice Cave.
Trucksville
Indian Springs Stockton
Iona Shickshinny
Iron Dale Port Blanchard
Jackson Huntsville
Jenkins Port Blanchard
Jersey Mills Plymouth
Jerusalem White Haven
Johnson's Mill Nescopeck
Johnsonville .Nescopeck
Kocher's Notch Sandy Run
Koonsville Harveyville
L. & B. Junction Pittston
Lake House.
Lattimore. Hazleton
Laurel Hill
Hazleton
Laurel Run Oliver's Mills
Lockwood Lake. Moosehead
Lockout White Haven
Lumber Yard
Stockton
Lutsoy
.Slocum
Maltby
. Wyoming
Maple Island
White Haven
Marr.
. Avoca
Middleburg
White Haven
Mill Creek.
Hudson
Summit Siding . Moosehead
Tannery Station Lehigh Tannery
Thomas' Mill Spring Brook
Tomhicken Sugar Loaf
Tunnel Hill Moosehead
Tyler Harveyville
White Haven
Powder Mills
Freeland
Prospect House .Willkes-Barre.
Ritta Station Mountain Top
Sandy Valley. Eckley
Sax. .Wilkes-Barre
Scale Siding. Upper Lehigh
Scale Siding . Eckley
Schloyer's Store
Nescopeck
Schloyerville
.Nescopeck
Scotch Hill
Pittston
Sebastpol'. Pittston
Sewellsville. Gowen
Shoemaker's Mills Wyoming
Shorer Town Dallas
Lake Siding No. 7 .Slocum
Slocum
Mountain Top
Sloyersville Wilkes-Barre
Slykersville. Audenried
Solomon's Gap. Mountain Top
South Heberton Freeland
South Pond. Sweet Valley
Stanton Hill. Wilkes-Barre
Stark's Colliery Pittston
Stark's Patch. . Avoca
Sturmerville Pittston
Summit. Moosehead
Mill Hollow Luzerne
Milltown Luzerne
Mine No. 2. Eckley
Mine No. 3. Eckley
Mocanaqua Shickshinny
Changed to Harwood. . .. Mount Zion Harding
Nescopeck Gap Mountain Grove
Nescopeck Junction White Haven
Nescopeck Station Moosehead
Nescopeck Tunnel Moosehead
New London .Gowen
Newport. Wanamie
Newtown Wilkes-Barre
New Troy .Wyoming
North Pond Sweet Valley
Oakdale Jeddo
Oley Valley .Eckley
Patterson Grove. . Harveyville
Pencadore Wilkes-Barre
Penobscot
.Mountain Top
Hendricksburg. Ashley
Henrico Rittenhouse
Hick's Ferry
Belhend
Highland
Jeddo
Hoffenbach Wilkes-Barre
Hollywood Minersville
Honey Pot. Nanticoke
Hornsville Jeddo
Hublersville. Huntington Mills
Port Griffith
Port Blanchard
Port Jenkins
Pittsburg.
Mountain House Briggsville
Mount Pleasant. Wilkes-Barre
34
HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
Localities.
Postoffice.
Localities.
Postoffice.
Union Junction
. Yatesville
Wintermute Island.
.Port Blanchard
Warrior Run
. Peely
Wolfton
Mountain Grove
West End.
Wanamie
Woodside
. Freeland
West End Honey Pot Yard.
Nanticoke
Woodville.
Wilkes-Barre
White Oak Hollow
Port Blanchard
Yorktown
Jeansville
White Row
Port Blanchard
CHAPTER II.
1762.
THE FIRST ATTEMPTED SETTLEMENT -FIRST WHITE MEN TO VISIT THIS SECTION-CHARACTER DEVELOPED UNDER ADVERSITY-OLD FRENCH WAR -- MASSACRE OF SETTLERS JOHN AND EMANUEL HOOVER, NOAH HOPKINS-CAPT. LAZARUS STEWART-AGAIN THIS IS A SILENT DESERT-NEXT ATTEMPT AT SETTLEMENT 1769-FIRST PENNAMITE AND YANKEE WAR-FIRST FORTY SETTLERS, LIST OF-FOUR TIMES THE SETTLERS DRIVEN OFF- CAPT. BUTLER AND CAPT. AMOS OGDEN-LIST OF THE FIRST TWO HUNDRED CONNECT- ICUT SETTLERS RENEWAL OF THE TROUBLES BETWEEN YANKEES AND PENNAMITES- EFFORT TO FORM A NEW STATE-A HOUSE DIVIDED AGAINST ITSELF, ETC. .
TN the preceding chapter is attempted something of a short account of the incalculable wealth of natural deposits within this favored county. So far reference has been confined to the natural resources-that existing order for the good of man as it came from the hand of the Creator. The preparation for the arrival of the white man and the taking permanent possession of the country had gone on, like everything in nature, through the geological eons, being slowly evolved, first deposited in the beds of the ocean, then uplifted and made dry lands and mountains, valleys and rivers, and as the ages were reeled off this and that came, flourished and passed away, the rocks slowly grew and hardened, the vegetable coals deposited and nature's prodigious alembic was busy gathering the sunbeams and laying them away for our use and benefit. The incalculable energies of nature and the inconceivable lapses of time combined, fashioned our world as we see it. What an awful miracle is the most insignificant animal or even vegetable life, looked upon with the eye of science! What an inconceivable little speck is this ever-wheeling world of ours from the astronomer's view! Im- palpable star dust compared to the average heavenly bodies that are without num- bers or bounds. Suppose there is life in the average of these other worlds or planetary systenis; then we may suppose that the length of individual life there is proportioned to the increased size of the particular planet; in that case there are many worlds where the longest animal or vegetable life here would be com- paratively as seconds to centuries.
Having traveled hurriedly over the account of the work of nature, iu preparing this as the most favored spot of earth for civilized man, it is well now to consider something of the obstacles that lay in the way of the pioneers in the stupendous work of making this garden we see of the tangled wilderness. Imperfect as this will necessarily be, yet it is a little of the other side of the story of the greatest movement of men that has occurred in history. Hence this, while one of the world's comparatively young places, is pregnant with history, if not the philosophy of the movements of the mind. There were three chief obstacles confronting the pioneers: first, the rocks and hills and the dense and dark old woods that every- where cumbered the earth, and that required many a stroke of the woodman's axe
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a fancy
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HISTORY OF LUZERNE COUNTY.
to admit the first glint of sunshine to warm the rich dank soil beneath; second, the dangerous wild beasts on every hand and his more dangerous congener the wild forest Indians, and third and greatest of all was the long, bitter and often bloody contention between the "Yankee and Pennamite," where Greek met Greek, and made wounds that are hardly healed to this day. The first two mentioned were average of the pioneer's difficulties in other portions of the land. They had in addition to go through the same experience attendant upon the first settlement of every part of the continent, namely, of malarial diseases that always come of turning the virgin soils. We hear of these things now with little appreciation of the terrible afflictions they brought to our forefathers. Frequently there were times when there were hardly enough of the well to attend the sick; when physicians were scarce and medicines very difficult to obtain even after long journeys. The majority of cases at one time when families from necessity doctored themselves; barks, herbs and roots of the forest were diligently gathered and teas and decoctions were provided in every household. It is the oaks that battle with the storms that strike their roots deepest in the earth, and this principle ripens manhood for the severe trials of life. These people had little protection from the unfriendly elements about them, and brave hearts and strong hands were a first necessity .
Within a circle of ten miles from the Wilkes-Barre court house, where is now a population of considerably over 100,000, was for fifty years the heart of the battlefield between savagery and civilization, and then came the War of the Roses in contention for the possession and ownership of the soil. The waye of the death struggle swept back and forth; literally charges and retreats and counter charges; captures and expulsions and then recaptures and again repulsed; the swarming immigrant this year, the sad exodus the next; the victory to-day, the bloody mas- sacre almost sure to swiftly follow. The scythe of death mowed its winrows in the ranks and eagerly came others in the place of the dead. What destiny hung in the balance, so long suspended by a single hair! This was something of the alembic that distilled the remarkable manhood that has inscribed high in the temple of the immortals the names of most of the first settlers of what is now Luzerne county. Illustrious men and glorious women, all as brave as death! Your suffer- ings and your dearly earned triumphs deserve the record of the inspired pen, and that page would be the most luminous in history. Men, real men, develop best under adversity; the weak and inefficient faint and fall by the way, and the fittest survive and stamp their iron qualities upon their offspring, and this natural selection brings us a race of men on whose shoulders may rest a world. Heroes indeed, a race of the world's bravest and best. The simple story of their struggles and the final supreme triumphs are each and all an epic that should be written in every living heart. Let their deeds be immortal! their memories most sacred.
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