History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 2

Author: Bell, Herbert C. (Herbert Charles), 1868- ed; John, J. J., 1829-
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, Brown, Runk
Number of Pages: 1424

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The only elevations that reach the grade of mountain attitudes are found in the territory south of the North Branch. The western end of Mahanoy mountain, rising abruptly from the level of the Susquehanna river and at a short distance from it, has much the appearance of a huge promon- tory, with the river at its base and a broad expanse of picturesque landscape on the north, west, and south. Two ranges diverge at this point, known, respectively, as Line mountain and Little mountain, both of which extend entirely across the county, inclosing the coal measures of the Shamokin basin, a region essentially mountainous in its character. Line mountain separates Little Mahanoy and Cameron townships on the north from Jackson, Washington, and Upper Mahanoy on the south, and has possessed political significance longer than any other interior township line of the county; its course does not diverge materially from a straight line, and the only gap between the Susquehanna river and Schuylkill county, a distance of nine- teen miles, is that of Mahanoy creek. Little mountain, the northern range, is less regular in contour and elevation; two breaks in its trend occur in this county, the gaps of Shamokin and Roaring creeks. It is the mutual boundary of Jackson, Little Mahanoy, Zerbe, and Coal townships on the south, and Lower Augusta, Rockefeller, Shamokin, and Ralpho on the north. Several ridges, of which the most important are Swartz's, Fisher's, and Jacob's, extend partially across the extreme southern part of the county

THE COLONIAL PERIOD.

parallel with Line mountain; the Shamokin hills (known as Gilger's between Shamokin and Roaring creeks), are similarly situated with reference to Little mountain, while all that part of the county south of the North Branch is more or less diversified by local elevations of varying altitude.

Two parallel elevations extend latitudinally across the northern part of the county, known, respectively, as Montour ridge and Limestone ridge. The former is twenty-seven miles in length, terminating at Espy, Columbia county, Pennsylvania, on the east, and at the Susquehanna river, four miles above Northumberland, on the west; it has an altitude of seven hundred fifty feet above tide level, and declines in a long, gradual slope at each extremity. A beautifully symmetrical crest and remarkable regularity of outline are its distinguishing characteristics. At its base on either side is a low, narrow valley, bounded on the side opposite the ridge by a succession of broad, undulating hills. It is the line of Point and Chillisquaqe town- ships, and also separates the former from Montour county. Limestone ridge, the mutual boundary of Turbut and Chillisquaque townships, extends from a point on the Susquehanna river just below Milton to Chillisquaque creek near Washingtonville, Montour county. Its trend across this county is continuous and regular, with an altitude of six hundred fifty feet above tide level. The northern boundary of Delaware and Lewis townships is formed by the Muncy hills, from which there is a general slope to the south and southwest.

With respect to drainage, the entire area of the county is situated within the watershed of the Susquehanna river. In order from the north, the principal streams that flow into the West Branch are Delaware run, Warrior run, Muddy run, Limestone run, and Chillisquaque creek, of which the last named is the most important. It rises in the northern part of Northumber- land, Montour, and Columbia counties, and the main stream first attains considerable proportions in the township of Derry, Montour county; from thence its course is nearly due southwest to its junction with the river at the end of Mountour ridge. In order from the east, the streams that flow into the North Branch from Northumberland county are Roaring creek, the south branch of which forms the county line; Little Roaring creek, which sepa- rates this county from that part of Montour south of the river; Logan's run and Wilson's run, the principal streams of Rush township, and Gravel run, which separates Rush and Upper Augusta. Much the larger part of the county south of the North Branch is drained by tributaries of the main Sus- quehanna river, of which Shamokin and Mahanoy creeks are the most important. The main branch of Shamokin creek has its source just west of Centralia, Columbia county, Pennsylvania; it flows west through Mt. Carmel and Shamokin townships, receiving the waters of Beaver and Locust creeks in the former and of Coal run, Weikel's run, Buck creek, Furnace run, Trout run, and Carbon run in the latter, thus draining nearly all that part

HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

of the Western Middle coal field situated in this county. It finds a passage through Little mountain at the gap north of Shamokin borough, and pur- sues a northerly course as the mutual boundary of Shamokin and Ralpho townships; thence it deflects to the west, and continues a meandering course through Shamokin and Upper Augusta to the Susquehanna river at the southern limit of the borough of Sunbury. Its principal affluent is Little Shamokin creek, which, with Plum creek, drains Rockefeller township. Hol- lowing run and Boyle's run are streams of local importance which flow directly into the Susquehanna from that part of Lower Augusta township situated between the Shamokin hills and Little mountain. Mahanoy creek rises near Delano, Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, and flows westward through the Mahanoy coal basin to the town of Ashland, where it breaks through the Mahanoy mountain. From this point its course is nearly due west, with little deflection through the townships of Cameron and Little Mahanoy; from the latter it flows through a gap in Line mountain, and thence, by a very circuitous course through Jackson township, reaches the Susquehanna river at the town of Herndon. Its only affluents of impor- tance are Zerbe run, which drains the extreme western part of the Western Middle coal field in the township of that name, and Schwaben or Greenbrier creek, the largest stream in this county south of Line mountain. Fiddler's run and Stone Valley creek empty into the Susquehanna from Jackson and Lower Mahanoy townships, respectively, and Mahantango creek, which forms the southern boundary of the county, receives numerous unimportant tributaries from its territory.

The topography of the county, however much its general aspect has been modified by the development of its economic resources, has not changed in any essential respect since the region comprised within its limits was first penetrated by the influences of civilization. No upheaval of nature has inter- rupted the ceaseless flow of the broad rivers that course majestically through its territory, or disturbed the mountains and hills that diversify its surface, with the streams that meander at their bases and the corresponding succes- sion of valley, slope, and intervale. It is not difficult to revert, in imagina- tion, to the period when the primeval forest covered the entire country, and a different race of people held sway over its woods and waters; and thus the foregoing description of the physical features of the county forms an appro- priate introduction to its early history.

The first exploration of the Susquehanna valley was made in 1615-16 by Etienne Brule, interpreter to Samuel de Champlain and one of the two Frenchmen who accompanied him on his first journey to Lake Huron. Champlain had agreed to join the Hurons in an expedition against the Iro- quois; following the course of the Ottawa river from Montreal to its source and crossing the portage to Lake Nipissing, he entered Lake Huron by the French river, coasted along the eastern shore of Georgian bay a distance of

THE COLONIAL PERIOD.

more than a hundred miles, and, after visiting several of the more important Huron towns, arrived at Cahiague, the rendezvous of their combined forces, August 17, 1615. There it was learned that an allied tribe occupying terri- tory adjacent to the Iroquois south of the Great Lakes had promised to rein- force the Hurons with five hundred warriors; and, in response to this intelligence, Etienne Brulé, at his own solicitation, was sent to urge them forward, in order that their movements might harmonize with those of the general body. Twelve Indians accompanied him; they crossed Lake Ontario and made their way in safety through the Iroquois country to Carantouan, a palisaded town of eight hundred warriors. There they were received with every evidence of friendliness and joy; the departure of the promised rein- forcement was delayed by these demonstrations, however, and before they reached the Iroquois town the Hurons had retired, after a brief but desultory siege in which Champlain sustained a severe wound. Brulé thereupon returned to Carantouan, "and, with enterprise worthy of his commander, spent the winter in a tour of exploration. Descending a river, evidently the Susque- hanna, he followed it to its junction with the sea, through territories of pop- ulous tribes at war the one with the other."* In the spring of 1616 he retraced his course, and, arriving at Carantouan, was given an escort to guide him toward Canada. The route again lay through the country of the hostile Iroquois; he was captured and narrowly escaped death at the stake, but finally reached the friendly Hurons, whom he accompanied on their annual descent to Montreal. There he again met Champlain; three years had elapsed since they parted at Cahiague, and during that period Brule had doubtless traversed a large part of interior Pennsylvania and New York.

The Carantouans are identified by Parkman as the Andastes, a branch of the great Algonquin family. At the beginning of the seventeenth century it is supposed that they occupied the western and central portions of Penn- sylvania, particularly the valleys of the Allegheny and Susquehanna. Like the Hurons of Canada and the Iroquois of New York they fortified their towns and gave a limited degree of attention to agriculture, and in numbers and prowess enjoyed the superiority among the surrounding tribes on the east and south. Captain John Smith's exploration of Chesapeake bay in 1608 first brought them in contact with the English; from him they received the tribal designation of Susquehannocks, by which they were generally known in their intercourse with the Maryland provincial authorities. The Dutch, who formed their acquaintance as early as 1615, and the Swedes, who settled on the Delaware in 1638, called them Minquas.

Between this tribe and the Iroquois an intermittent but sanguinary war was waged. For many years it was without positive advantage to either side, as the Iroquois, although the stronger party, had to contend with the Hurons as well as the Susquehannocks, who rendered mutual assistance against the

*Parkman's Pioneers of France in the New World, p. 378.

HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

common enemy. This is shown by the success of Brule's mission; and on a subsequent occasion (1647), the Susquehannocks, who numbered thirteen hundred warriors and had acquired the use of fire-arms, again offered to assist their allies beyond the Great Lakes, who were almost exterminated in the wars of the following years. This enabled the Iroquois to concentrate their entire strength against the Susquehannocks, but the latter were assisted by the English of Maryland and the Dutch on the Delaware, and for some time the scales of victory inclined in their favor. On the Susquehanna river some fifty miles from its mouth, they had a fort, defended by several cannon mounted in European style; it was invested in 1663 by eight hundred Iro- quois warriors, who were repulsed with great loss. But misfortune and dis- aster at length succeeded victory and success; reduced in numbers by the ravages of disease and deserted by their former European allies, the Sus- quehannocks were almost annihilated in 1675. Some of the survivors were taken to New York and adopted by their captors; the remainder located on the Potomac river at the western confines of Maryland, but afterward returned to their former territory and obtained a reservation on the Conestoga creek in Lancaster county. From that time they were called Conestoga Indians; many of them had embraced the Moravian faith and were making fair prog- ress in civilization, when, on the 27th of December, 1763, having taken refuge in the old jail at Lancaster, they were attacked by the Paxtang Rangers and killed without the opportunity of defending themselves. And thus the Andastes, once the most powerful Indian nation in Pennsylvania, finally became extinct.

The Delawares were also a branch of the Algonquin family. In their own language they called themselves the Lenni Lenape (original people). Their traditions have probably been preserved, through the Moravian mis- sionaries who labored among them, with greater distinctness than those of any other of the Pennsylvania tribes. According to the legend, their ancestors formerly dwelt far to the west, presumably upon the shores of the Pacific ocean, but migrated eastwardly and at length reached the Namoesi Sipu (Mississippi river). There they met another powerful nation, the Mengwe (Iroquois), who had likewise come from a distant region. East of the Namoesi Sipu the country was occupied by the Allegewi, a people whose towns were defended by earthworks; permission to pass through their confines was obtained, but after a part of the Lenape had crossed the river the Allegewi attacked them, thus provoking a protracted struggle in which the Mengwe and Lenape united their forces, expelled the Allegewi, and apportioned their former territory among themselves, the Mengwe receiving the region about the Great Lakes and the Lenape the Ohio valley. At length their hunters penetrated the country east of the Allegheny mountains and thither they again migrated, occupying the same relative positions as before. The legend doubtless possesses many elements of truth.

THE COLONIAL PERIOD.

The territory of the Delawares extended along the Atlantic coast from the Hudson river to Chesapeake bay. There were three principal clans, viz .: the Turtle or Unamis, the Turkey or Unalachtgo, and the Wolf or Minsi, while their great council seat was at the Minisink, a locality on the Delaware river in Monroe county, Pennsylvania. At the time they first came in contact with the Dutch the Delawares were a numerous and powerful tribe, and had long waged a successful war against the Iroquois. According to their accounts, this was terminated in 1617 by a treaty at Albany, New York, whereby they agreed to devote themselves to peaceful pursuits in the interest of general harmony among the various Indian tribes. As part of this compact they were to receive the protection of the Iroquois, but the latter also arrogated over them the right of command; this provoked another war, for which, having laid aside their arms, the Delawares were unprepared, and, being unable to defend themselves, they were easily reduced to the position of a tributary tribe. The Iroquois, on the other hand, asserted that their contest had been achieved by fair war, and denied the machinations alleged against them. Whatever may have been the means by which their subjugation was effected, the Delawares could not deny the fact; and although they did not, like other conquered tribes, furnish recruits to the Iroquois in prosecuting their wars, a tribute was rendered in token of continued submission.

Allumapees was the first Indian chief and only Delaware king who resided within the present limits of Northumberland county at the period to which accurate information relates. He first appears in public affairs under the name of Sassoonan. He was a chief of his nation as early as 1709, when he appeared at Philadelphia with several others, "chiefs of the Delaware Indians settled at Paxtang above Conestoga and other adjacent places" on the Susque- hanna river. In 1712 he made a visit to the Five Nations with the tribute from his tribe and a present from the Governor of Pennsylvania, for whom he brought a present from the Iroquois confederacy on his return. In 1715, with others of his tribe, he had a conference with the provincial authorities at Philadelphia, and in a speech on that occasion referred to "their late king, Scollitchy ;" it is probable that the latter was the immediate successor of the renowned Tammany, and that after his death Allumapees assumed the regal prerogatives. In the general release of 1718 he is styled "King of the Delaware Indians." It is supposed that at that time he resided on the Dela- ware river, from whence he removed to Shamokin, an Indian town at the site of Sunbury; there he lived among the Minsi, the most belligerent of the Lenape clans, who, after the expulsion of the Andastes, had occupied that part of their former territory between the Kittatinny mountains and the sources of the Susquehanna.

For some years after this he does not appear to have had much inter- course with the provincial authorities, doubtless on account of the remoteness

HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

of his residence. In 1728 he was interviewed by James Le Tort regarding a rumored Indian conspiracy; from that time he is generally referred to by the name of Allumapees, although that of Sassoonan was also retained to the close of his life. On the 4th and 5th of June, 1728, he was in confer- ence with the Governor and Council regarding the Tulpehocken lands; he also visited then on the 10th of October of the same year. In 1731, while in a state of intoxication, he killed his nephew, Shakatawlin; about the same time, Opekasset, another nephew and a chief among the Delawares for some years, also died. Under the weight of this double affliction his grief was such that "it was like to cost him his life," as he "forbore taking necessary food." The Governor accordingly invited him to Philadelphia, where he spent several days in August, 1731. He was again in that city, August 20-21, 1736, and October 3-4, 1738, and on both occasions met the Proprietor, Thomas Penn. At a conference on the 1st of August, 1740, he said that he had come "from Allegheny, a long way off," where he had been to hunt. The last treaty he attended was that of July, 1742, but it does not appear that he took any active part in the proceedings. In 1744 he had a long sickness, but recovered, nothwithstanding his age. Spangenberg wrote, under date of June 4, 1745: "He is very old, almost blind, and very poor, but withal has still power over and is beloved by his people, and is a friend of the English." And on the 20th of July, 1747, Conrad Weiser wrote: "Allumapees would have resigned his crown before now, but as he had the keeping of the public treasure (that is to say, the council bag), consisting of belts of wampum, for which he buys liquor, and has been drunk for this two or three years almost constantly, and it is thought he won't die so long as there is one single wampum left in the bag." In the following Septem- ber Weiser informed the Governor that he understood Allumapees was dead, but could not be sure of it; on the 15th of October he wrote: "Allumapees is dead." The Delawares were a tributary people when he became their king; he appears to have accepted the situation as he found it, making no effort to recover their former standing as a nation. He enjoyed, and doubtless merited, the confidence of the English, and was an ardent promoter of peaceful rela- tions between them and his people. One of his granddaughters was the first wife of Andrew Montour; her son, John Montour, served under General Daniel Brodhead in the West during the Revolution with the rank of captain. t

The Shawanese were of southern origin. At a conference with the chiefs of the Six Nations, August 26, 1732, the provincial authorities informed them " that the Shawanese, who were settled to the southward, being made uneasy by their neighbors, about sixty families of them came up to Conestoga about

+ This sketch has been principally derived from the minutes and correspondence of Council; further particulars may be obtained by reference to the following : Colonial Records, Vol. II. pp. 469, 546, 557, 559-561; III. pp. 296, 304, 315, 316-326, 334-337, 403-406, 506; IV. pp. 53-56, 307-311, 432-434, 443- 447, 585, 742; V. p. 138; VII. p. 95. Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. I. pp. 214, 220, 222, 224, 228, 344-345, 649, 762, 772.

THE COLONIAL PERIOD.

thirty-five years since and desired leave of the Susquehanna Indians, who were planted there, to settle on that river; that those Susquehanna Indians applied to their government that they might accordingly settle, and they would become answerable for their good behavior; that our late Proprietor arriving soon after, the chiefs of the Shawanese and of the Susquehannas came to Philadelphia and renewed their application; that the Proprietor agreed to their settlement, and the Shawanese thereupon came under the protection of this government; that from that time greater numbers of the same Indians followed them and settled on Susquehanna and Delaware." They appear to have occupied the upper Susquehanna valley in common with the Delawares, both being under the suzerainty of the Six Nations. It is thought that they had a town at the mouth of Chillisquaque creek. Con- rad Weiser was ferried across that stream by an old Shawane; Jenoniawano by name, on his journey to Onondaga in 1737; Bishop Spangenberg calls it Shawane creek in the journal of his visit to Onondaga in 1745, and men- tions passing "the site of the town that formerly stood there." The tribe was migratory in its tendencies, and, with no certain tenure to the lands it occupied in central Pennsylvania, gravitated to the westward, locating on the Allegheny and Ohio rivers. Fearing that it might be won over to the French interest the provincial authorities sought to induce a return but without avail.

The Iroquois, although not the actual occupants of any part of Penn- sylvania, played an important part in its history throughout the colonial and Revolutionary periods. They inhabited the fertile region south of Lake Ontario and about the headwaters of the Hudson, the Delaware, the Susquehanna, and the Allegheny rivers, including the valley of the Mohawk on the east and that of the Genesee on the west. Five tribes, the Senecas, Onondagas, Oneidas, Cayugas, and Mohawks, originally constituted the confederacy, whence they were called the Five Nations; a sixth, the Tus- caroras, was admitted about the year 1712, and after that they were known as the Six Nations. Each tribe exercised exclusive jurisdiction in purely domestic affairs, while matters concerning the nation as a whole were determined by the great council at Onondaga. This was the center of their power, which was practically coextensive with the thirteen original States, embracing also southern Canada and a part of the Mississippi valley. In the extent of their dominion, their absolute power, and the statecraft exer- cised in rendering conquered tribes subsidiary to their purposes, they have not been inaptly styled "the Romans of America." In all the arts of a savage people they excelled. Their fields were well cultivated, their towns were strongly fortified, their form of government secured practical unanimity in the execution of military projects, and in their intercourse with Euro- peans their chiefs often evinced a remarkable skillfulness in diplomacy and profoundness of policy. Their career of conquest was doubtless inaugurated

HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.

by the subjugation of the immediately contiguous tribes, and thus, in the extension of their power to the south, the Andastes and Lenni Lenape were first brought under their sway. The Shawanese, Ganawese, Conoys, and other Pennsylvania tribes also acknowledged their supremacy, and for the better government of these troublesome feudatories the great Onondoga council was constrained, in the early part of the eighteenth century, to place over them a resident viceroy. To this responsible position Shikellimy was appointed, and for a score of years his name is associated with every important transaction affecting the Indians of the Susquehanna valley.

Shikellimy was a Susquehannock by birth, descended from the ancient Andastes, and thus returned to govern the land from which his fathers had been expelled. Like many of the more enterprising youth of his tribe, he had entered the military service of their conquerors; his valor in war was rewarded by adoption into the Oneida tribe, of which he at length became a chief, an exceptional preferment for one not a member of that nation by birth. It is not probable that he was appointed viceroy before 1728; he was not present at the treaty with the Five Nations at Philadelphia in July of the preceding year, and Le Tort does not mention him among the Indians of consequence whom he met "on the upper parts of the river Susquehanna " in the winter of 1727-28. The first conference that he attended at Philadel- phia was that of July 4-5, 1728, but it does not appear that he took any active part in the proceedings. He was present on a similar occasion in the following October, when, after the close of the conference, the Council con- sidered "what present might be proper to be made " to Shikellimy, " of the Five Nations, appointed to reside among the Shawanese, whose services had been and may yet further be of great advantage to this government." The secretary of Council had gained a more accurate idea of his functions three years later, when, in the minutes of August 12, 1731, he gives his name and title as "Shikellimy, sent by the Five Nations to preside over the Shawanese." At the close of the conference which began at Philadelphia on that date, the Governor having represented that he was "a trusty good man and a great lover of the English," he was commissioned as the bearer of a present to the Six Nations and a message inviting them to visit Philadelphia. This they accordingly did, arriving on the 18th of August, 1732. Shikellimy was pres- ent on this occasion, when it was mutually agreed that he and Conrad Weiser should be employed in any business that might be necessary between the high contracting parties. In August, 1740, he came to Philadelphia to inquire against whom the English were making perparations for war, rumors of which had reached the great council at Onondaga. He was also present at the conference at Philadelphia in July, 1742, at the treaty at Lancaster in June and July, 1744, and at the Philadelphia conference of the following August. He does not appear to have taken a very active part in the discus- sions, a privilege which, among the Six Nations, seems to have been reserved

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History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, Part 2

Author: Bell, Herbert C. (Herbert Charles), 1868- ed; John, J. J., 1829- Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago, Brown, Runk Number of Pages: 1424

Author: Bell, Herbert C. (Herbert Charles), 1868- ed; John, J. J., 1829-
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, Brown, Runk
Number of Pages: 1424