USA > Pennsylvania > Northumberland County > History of Northumberland County, Pennsylvania > Part 36
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The Georgetown anticlinal brings the Lower Helderberg to the surface in Lower Mahanoy and Jordan townships; it has a double crest, of which the northern only elevates the limestone within the limits of Jordan. The rock is quarried and burned extensively for agricultural uses.
The pure limestones of the Bossardville group are everywhere abruptly terminated below by a succession of buffish-gray, pale green, magnesian, and otherwise impure limestones which have generally been considered as part of the Lower Helderberg series, but which,' from the fact that they are immedi- ately succeeded by other beds which characterize the Salina series in New York, have been classified under that name by Pennsylvania geologists.
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AGRICULTURE.
Three groups are recognized: the Upper Salina, consisting of the pale green limestones and limy shales which invariably appear at the base of the Bos- sardville beds; the Middle Salina, which consists of alternating red and greenish shales, limestones, etc .; and the Lower Salina, a thick mass of red rocks, usually rather sandy, and often found in steep bluffs, especially where it is cut by streams. The latter variety is very fully represented in the bluffs of Fishing creek at Bloomsburg, and from this circumstance is known as Bloomsburg red shale. In Northumberland county the Salina beds bor- der upon Montour ridge, making a continuous valley on either side, that on the north in Chillisquaque township and that on the south in Point; the variety in both instances is the Lower Salina, or Bloomsburg red shale. The Upper Salina is brought to the surface in Upper Augusta township by the Selinsgrove anticlinal, and in Lower Mahanoy by the Georgetown anticlinal, but in both cases it is restricted to an exceedingly narrow area. The pale green, impure magnesian limestone, calcareous shales, and interstratified red beds of the Upper and Middle Salina occupy the southwestern corner of Lewis and a corresponding area in Delaware, brought to the surface by the Watsontown anticlinal. The same formation is elevated in Turbut by the Milton and Watsontown anticlinals and intermediate folds, which also bring up the Bloomsburg red shale of the Lower Salina in a series of semi- ellipses in Delaware and Turbut. The soil made by these beds, especially the Upper and Middle groups, is exceptionally fertile; the topography is distinguished by a prevailing softness of contour, and a large quantity of lime, as well as other elements of fertility, are set free as the rocks decom- pose. The broad, triangular area of the Salina beds, which, beginning just north of the Milton anticlinal at the western line of Montour county, rapidly widens westward, embracing Turbut and the southern portions of Lewis and Delaware townships, is the richest agricultural territory of Northumberland county.
The Oriskany sandstone (No. VII), a formation of the Upper Silurian system, is elevated by each of the five anticlinals that cross the county. In Delaware and Lewis townships it is brought up by the Watsontown anticlinal, and passes from the West Branch to the county line in a general southeast- erly direction, just north of the Lower Helderberg outcrop and parallel with it. It makes the long southern slope of Limestone ridge at the northern line of Chillisquaque township; it is also found at the bases of Montour ridge, making a low ridge through Point township, where its small, hard boulders occur in many localities. The crest of the Selinsgrove anticlinal is formed of Oriskany from the point where the Lower Helderberg subsides to Little Shamokin creek; exposure to atmospheric influences has changed the character of the rock quite perceptibly, bleaching it to a grayish-white color and depriving it of its iron and lime components. The Oriskany of the Georgetown anticlinal is quite massive, exhibiting much less of the cherty character which distinguishes it farther north.
334
HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.
Of the Devonian formations that occur in this county the most widely diffused are the Hamilton and Chemung (No. VIII). Three types of the Ham- ilton are recognized, distinguished as the Northern, Middle, and Southern, corresponding to their relative geographical positions. The first mentioned extends across Delaware and Lewis townships as part of the elevation of the Watsontown and Milton anticlinals. In Lewis the shales of the Hamilton are described as dark brown in color and nearly horizontal; Marcellus black slates, a cognate variety, also occur. In Delaware the Hamilton bottom rocks trend westward in the valley of Delaware run from the township line to the forks of that stream, where they veer northwestward into the valley of the West Branch. North of this line the Hamilton beds stretch out into a broad valley varying in width from one and one half to two miles, the north- ern margin of which is identical with the northern line of the township for some distance east of the river. The Hamilton rocks occupy a belt about two miles wide across the central portion of Chillisquaque township, and are quite well exposed in the vicinity of Fitzer's school house and the Evangelical church, where dark brown shales crop out along the road. The Marcellus black shale is also exposed. The formation is here the westward extension of the Lackawanna synclinal. A belt also extends through Point township and crosses the North Branch into Rush, from which it emerges opposite Dan- ville. In the latter township an exposure of the Tully limestone of this stratum occurs; it has a dull gray or buff color throughout on weathered sur- faces, but in some of the layers a dark blue is revealed on fresh fracture.
The Middle type of Hamilton rocks may be seen on either side of the Selinsgrove anticlinal. It differs from the Northern both in thickness and composition, several new members being intercalated; of these the most im- portant is a sandstone which makes its appearance in the middle of the Ham- ilton group, so thick and massive as to change entirely the topography. In- stead of the valleys that distinguish the Hamilton in Chillisquaque and in Delaware and Lewis there is here a high ridge with a belt of Hamilton on either slope and upon its crest, comprising the larger part of Upper and Lower Augusta, Rockefeller, Shamokin, and Ralpho townships, terminating at the county line. Shamokin creek passes through this formation from a point near Paxinos to its mouth. The wide valley of this stream is excavated in the Marcellus black slates and the lower portion of the Hamilton. The Southern type is reached after passing south from the Georgetown anticlinal, and extends into every township in the county south of Line mountain.
The Hamilton beds, particularly as displayed in their Northern type, are eminently a valley maker, since all of their components-Genesee, Tully, Hamilton, and Marcellus-readily break down and disintegrate into soil, the quality of which is excellent, some of the best farms of the county being situated upon this formation.
The Chemung (No. VIII) beds cover a belt about two miles broad in the
335
AGRICULTURE.
northern part of Delaware and Lewis townships, extending northward in an undulating plateau far into Lycoming county. A second belt is distinguished in Point, Upper Augusta, and Rush. The range of hills which incloses the valley of Shamokin creek on the north, extending through Upper Augusta and the southern part of Rush, is of Chemung formation; it is elevated by the Selinsgrove anticlinal, and has a counterpart on the southern slope of that axis in the watershed that separates Boile's run and Hollowing run. A con- tinuation of the latter ridge may be seen in the great cliffs of rock along the west bank of Shamokin creek between Paxinos and the mouth of Miller's run. Chemung beds, brought to the surface by the Georgetown anticlinal, cover the southern portion of Jackson and Washington, and a considerable part of Upper and Lower Mahanoy and Jordon. This formation consists of olive-green shale, which readily disintegrates when exposed to atmospheric influences, crumbling into small chips and splinters which soon decompose; or of dark gray, dark olive green, and brown sandstones, sufficiently hard to make high ridges and a succession of ragged cliffs wherever cut by streams. The base of the series rises abruptly from the Hamilton beds, which always border it, and usually makes a high ridge of rocky, barren land, deficient in many desirable agricultural components.
The Catskill (No. IX) formation occurs in that part of the county above the North Branch only at the site of Northumberland. At the northern line of Upper Augusta these beds make lofty cliffs, dipping rapidly into the Northumberland synclinal, which occupies the bed of the river at this point. This synclinal spreads a comparatively narrow belt of Catskill across Upper Augusta and Rush; the Shamokin synclinal causes two narrow strips to cross the southern part of the county, one at the northern base of Little mountain and one at the southern base of Line mountain; while a narrow border fringes the extreme south boundary. The character of the rocks composing this stratum is very changeable; in one locality more than two thirds of the whole series may be massive looking, greenish sandstones, with only thin beds of red shale interstratified; while only a few miles distant the green sand- stones disappear and in their stead are found very thick red beds. When shaly and weathered down into a rolling topography, the Catskill beds make a very good soil, which produces excellent crops of oats, grass, and corn, and, when enriched with lime, very fair crops of wheat. Where the beds become very sandy, however, and massive green sandstones predominate, the country is barren.
The Pocono sandstone (No. X) is the material component of Little and Line mountains, the western rim of the Western Middle coal field. This formation is pre-eminently the mountain maker of this region. It usually begins at the top with a very hard grayish or yellowish sandstone, in layers from one to three feet thick, which sometimes contain small pebbles. Beneath this lie gray and green sandstones, interstratified with occasional beds of
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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.
shale. It is terminated below by a massive gray and yellowish white con- glomerate, and between this and the Catskill is a group of rocks to which the name of Pocono-Catskill has been applied. The series is exposed at three points in Northumberland county: once in Line mountain, at the gap of Ma- hanoy creek; and twice in Little mountain, at the gaps of Shamokin and Roaring creeks. At the latter exposures the combined thickness of the Pocono and Pocono-Catskill beds is twelve hundred feet, of which about seven hundred should be considered as belonging to the former.
The Mauch Chunk red shale (No. XI) forms the valley between Little and Big mountains, drained in this county by the south branch of Roaring creek, Trout run, Shamokin creek, and Zerbe run; and the valley of Mahanoy creek, between the Shamokin coal basin and Line mountain, em- braced in Cameron and Little Mahanoy townships. In the latter it possesses fair agricultural qualities.
Besides the regular formations described, terraces occur at several points on the rivers of Northumberland county, in which the soils of several strata are combined. A vast deposit of water-worn boulders is found along the bank of the West Branch near the northern line of Delaware township, forming a series of terraces, three in number, the first of which is a narrow shelf along the present channel, of which it is the flood plain; the second, covered with sand and coarse gravel, rises abruptly from the inner margin of the first to the height of forty feet above the river, and extends eastward in a nearly level plain a quarter of a mile; the third rises with an almost pre- cipitous escarpment from the summit of the second to the height of one hundred seventy-five feet above the river, spreading eastward in a gently rising plain, and covered with a mass of boulders. This vast deposit of Pocono, Catskill, Chemung, and Hamilton debris, piled up in a broad terrace along the Susquehanna just where it emerges from the Chemung highlands, is supposed to have been dropped in the eddy formed at the junction of the West Branch with a great river flowing westward along the Hamilton valley during the Flooded River epoch. The corresponding area in Lewis also gives evidence of submersion; a thick deposit of transported boulders occurs all over the Hamilton, Salina, and Lower Helderberg formations, upon the tops of the highest hills as well as in the valleys, usually resting in an admixture of clay or sand, and may possibly have been dropped from float- ing ice, which, breaking off from the northeastern glacier, carried the material of the terminal moraine over the areas submerged by the Flooded River epoch. Terraces occur at Northumberland, at the respective altitudes of twenty-five, fifty-five, eighty, and one hundred seventy-five feet above the river. Two broad terraces are seen along the North Branch in Point town- ship, both covered with sand and transported boulders, one at an altitude of four hundred fifty-five feet above tide, the other thirty feet higher. . A wide terrace spreads out in the vicinity of Sunbury at an elevation of four hun-
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dred fifty feet above tide; from the top of this a second slopes rapidly upward; both are covered with small rounded boulders and have evidently been the flood plains of the Susquehanna. In the vicinity of Georgetown a broad, level terrace is seen at an altitude of one hundred twenty-five feet above the level of the river, covered with sand and loam.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE FARMING INDUSTRY.
Whether the aggregate of capital invested, the amount of labor employed, or the value of its products be considered, agriculture is unquestionably a most important industry; and, from the period when its pursuit was practi- cally universal to the present, it has sustained to every community the rela- tion of a primary and ultimate source of wealth. The dignity of the call- ing has been recognized in all ages; its quiet amenities have been celebrated by the poet and artist since the dawn of literature and art; men of ability and eminence in the cabinet or on the field, at the bar or in the pulpit, and in every department of human activity have been drawn from its ranks. And yet the history of agriculture, although marked by a gradual and certain progress, is singularly deficient in brilliant passages.
Pioneer farming involved as a necessary preliminary the removal of the forest. This was principally the accomplishment of physical force. The trees were felled together in double windrows, and after being exposed to the sun and wind several months became so dry that a fire applied at one end would be driven by a proper breeze with incredible rapidity, consuming the interlaced branches and leaving nothing but charred and blackened trunks. These were usually brought together in great heaps and submitted to the burning process until scarcely a vestige remained. Another method was to fell the trees and after lopping off the branches for firewood, drag the logs together and pile them in huge pyramids, in which condition they were con- signed to the flames. Where the growth of timber was not particularly dense, much of the labor was obviated by removing the underbrush and "girdling" the larger trees. The bark was cut from the trunk of the tree in a section about a foot wide, thus depriving the limbs and leaves of sap entirely, and as a result the tree was dead within a brief period. The bark and smaller branches fell to the ground, affording a valuable fertilizer, but the trunk, white and ghastly by exposure to the weather, was allowed to re- main for years in many instances, until wood had acquired some commercial value or the farmer was moved by a desire to improve his land. Farming operations in a field where the trees had been girdled were sometimes attended with distressing fatalities; rotten branches were liable to fall at any time, and the close proximity of the plowman and his team could not arrest the action of the force of gravitation.
But if the work of clearing the land was protracted and laborious, the virgin soil responded to the first effort at cultivation with a profusion and
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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.
liberality that compensated largely. The methods of cultivation in vogue at that day were crude in the extreme. The principal implement used in preparing the ground was a "drag" or triangular harrow formed of two pieces of timber united in the form of the letter V; each piece had a number of wooden teeth intended to grub up the soil so as to afford a lodging place for the grain, but stones and stumps occurred with such frequency that this purpose was only accomplished to a very limited extent. The first crops consisted of corn, oats, wheat, and potatoes. Corn was planted in hills and potatoes in rows, while wheat and oats were sown broadcast and covered by dragging a tree-top over the field. Of the different cereals corn was most readily prepared for consumption or sale and received a corresponding degree of attention. Husking was sometimes done in the field but more frequently at the barn, and the combined energies of the community were often brought to bear upon this work. Grain was cut with a sickle. Harvest time was a season of severe and protracted labor, and it would have been considered impossible to withstand its requirements without resorting to a neighboring distillery for assistance. The threshing and cleaning of wheat involved an amount of labor utterly incommensurate with its marketable value. Sheaves of grain were placed in order on a floor of puncheon or hard clay, where the grain was tramped out by horses or threshed with a flail. This was but one part of the work, however; it still remained to separate the wheat from the chaff, and with no machinery save a riddle or sieve of home construction, this was an almost endless task. Threshing frequently required the farmer's time nearly the whole winter.
As already remarked, the transition to present methods was gradual. It would be impossible to indicate definitely the time when the sickle was replaced by the grain cradle, or when the latter was superseded by the reap- ing machine and binder. The plow, originally a ponderous instrument requiring great strength in its manipulation and constructed almost entirely of wood, received in succession an iron point, coulter, and mould-board, the first stage in the evolution of the latter being a sheet-iron sheath for the wooden mould-board. The windmill was the first innovation for winnowing wheat; the next was a revolving cylinder to take the place of the flail, and afforded an opportunity to utilize horse power; the combination of these two machines, with such modifications as experience has suggested and ingenuity devised, has resulted in the modern threshing machine. The grain drill, at first clumsily provided with an apparatus to regulate the amount of seed sown, was introduced almost as soon as the general condition of the land would permit its use. The mowing machine has taken the place of the scythe, while the hay-rake, tedder, and hay-fork relegate much of the hardest labor in connection with this department of farm work to the past. The application of manure as a measure of restoring and sustaining the fertility of the soil has been continued, but commercial fertilizers have also come into
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AGRICULTURE.
general use as a means of further accomplishing this purpose. Rotation of crops, scientific methods of drainage, and other departures of a similar nature have followed as the natural result of careful and intelligent experi- ment, placing the farming community of Northumberland county in a posi- tion to compare favorably with any other in this part of the State.
The introduction of domestic animals into the region that now comprises Northumberland county occurred before its settlement began. Horses were first brought by Indian traders, and subsequently owned by Shikellimy, his sons, and other Indians at Shamokin. After the erection of Fort Augusta, cattle, sheep, and hogs were brought thither in herds from the lower counties for the use of the garrison. The first settlers usually brought only a few domestic animals with them. The number of acres of improved land, and of horses, cows, sheep, indentured servants, and slaves assessed in Augusta and Turbut townships-in the former, 1774; in the latter, prior to 1775 -- which then comprised the present area of the county, was as follows :--
Township.
Acres.
Horses.
Cows.
Sheep.
Servants.
Slaves.
Augusta
676
135
172
43
11
1
Turbut
2265
261
311
37
21
4
Total
2941
396
483
80
32
5
The largest improved farms in Augusta township were those of Ellis Hughes-forty acres, three horses, and eight cows; Charles Gough- thirty acres, two horses, four cows, and ten sheep; John Clark-thirty acres, two horses, three cows, and one servant; Samuel Weiser-thirty acres, two horses, and three cows; John Shaffer-twenty-five acres, two horses, and two cows; and Henry Cliver-twenty-five acres, one horse, and two cows. The follow- ing is a similar exhibit for Turbut township: William Plunket-one hundred fifty acres, four horses, eight cows, six sheep, two servants, and one slave; Matthew Cunningham-fifty acres, one horse, and two cows; Alexander Ful- lerton-fifty acres, two horses, and two cows; Richard Malone-fifty acres, two horses, four cows, three sheep, and one servant; John Neilson-fifty acres, three horses, two cows, and one servant; James McMahan-fifty acres, three horses, three cows, and one servant; John Murray-fifty acres, two horses, and two cows; Charles Lomax-forty-three acres, one horse, and one cow; Paul Geddis-forty acres, three horses, and four cows; Thomas Hewitt -forty acres, three horses, three cows, and one servant; Robert Moodie- thirty-four acres, two horses, three cows, and one servant; Richard Irwin- thirty acres, two horses, and two cows; David Chambers-thirty acres, one horse, and one cow; David Carson-thirty acres, one horse, and one cow; Thomas Jordan-thirty acres, one horse, and two cows; Thomas Lemon- thirty acres, two horses, and three cows; John Montgomery-thirty acres, two horses, four cows, and six sheep; Robert McCully-thirty acres, two
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HISTORY OF NORTHUMBERLAND COUNTY.
1
horses, and three cows; Barnabas Parson-thirty acres and one servant; Philip Davis-twenty-six acres, two horses, and two cows, and Adam Mann- twenty-five acres, two horses, three cows, and six sheep. In the foregoing list the number of acres, horses, cows, sheep, servants, and slaves accredited to each improved farm of twenty-five or more acres is given.
The First Nurseries in Northumberland county for the propagation of improved varieties of fruit trees were established early in the present cent- ury. In an advertisement in the Northumberland Gazette of October 26, 1801, Robert Caldwell, of Limestone run, Turbut township, states that he has " a nursery of young apple trees now fit for planting out, of excellent kinds, both summer and winter fruit. The said plants are but three years old and from seven to eight feet high. There have been one hundred of them planted out last spring and all grow well. They will be sold at six pence each plant." In the issue of the same paper for October 23, 1802, Joseph Priestley, Jr. advertises a collection of the best kind of apple, pear, plum, cherry, nectarine, apricot, peach, and other varieties of fruit trees, procured from different parts of the United States and propagated at his nursery in Northumberland.
Condition of the Farming Interests in 1845 .- The following extracts from a report of the county commissioners to the State board of revenue commissioners, transmitted under date of February 28, 1845, contain some interesting particulars regarding the condition of the farming industry at that time :-
" We have made the following division of the lands in said county, as follows :-
Good, 11,730 acres, valued at $50 per acre $ 586,500.00
Middling, 41,062
30 1,231,860.00
Poor, 109,970 66
15
4 205,240.00
Total, 214,072
.6 $3,673,150.00
" The whole amount of acres of seated and unseated lands in said county is: Seated 214,072 Acres, 72,945 Acres. Unseated
"The above is as near as can be ascertained from the books.
"We believe that the lands in said county have been assessed about ten per cent. below their real values.
" We believe that the price of lands in said county has declined at least twenty per cent. in value within the last five years.
" We do not believe that the canals and railroads of the Commonwealth have advanced or lowered the price of lands materially in said county.
" There has been no reduction made in the assessed value of the lands in the several townships and boroughs in said county generally; but the value has been reduced in some individual instances and raised in others-with the exception of Turbut township being reduced one fifth in 1842.
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