USA > Pennsylvania > Perry County > History of Perry County, Pennsylvania, including descriptions of Indians and pioneer life from the time of earliest settlement, sketches of its noted men and women and many professional men > Part 2
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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
line. The trend of the river is from north to south, with consid- erable bend to the west at Duncannon. The southern boundary, starting at the Susquehanna River from a point seven iniles nortli of Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania, follows the crest of the Blue Mountain, adjoining Cumberland County, for fifty-three miles, at an average elevation of one thousand feet above the Cum- berland Valley, to the south. The course of the mountain for the first twenty-two miles is almost a straight line, due westward. Then it curves back, northward, to Welsh Hill, and makes a loop, in which lies Green Valley. Going out again to practically the same line from which it receded, to Pilot Knob, it makes a second loop-deeper than the first-which is the location of Kennedy's Valley. Thereafter its course is practically southwest to the Franklin County line for over a dozen miles. The air line dis- tance along the southern border is thirty-eight miles.
The extreme western boundary, which borders Franklin County, is only a little over eight miles, crossing a series of mountains, described further on, at very irregular intervals. From the north- west corner it follows the crest of the Tuscarora Mountain to the Juniata River, the first ten miles being almost straight in a north- eastern direction. It then makes two small offsets at the west of Madison Township and assuming the same general direction runs "straight as a crow flies" to the western bank of the Juniata River. At this point the line runs due north for a mile and a half, and thence almost due east about thirteen miles to the western bank of the Susquehanna River.
The mountains in and surrounding Perry County are from six hundred to twelve hundred feet high, measured from the valley levels adjoining, but are eight hundred to sixteen hundred feet above sea level. A brief description of these mountains follows. intich of the information being drawn from the works of Professor Claypole, the geologist :
MOUNTAINS.
Kittatinny or Blue Mountain. This mountain is known by various names. Geographers term it the Blue Mountain; the pioneers called it the Kitta- tinny Mountain, derived from the Indian "Kau-ta-tin-chunk," meaning the main or principal mountain; Conrad Weiser, the Indian interpreter, inter- preted it as "the endless mountain"; Richard Peters, the provincial secre- tary, in a letter to Governor Hamilton, dated July 2, 1750, first officially called it "the Blue Hills"; the residents east of the Susquehanna called it the First Mountain, and the residents of the Cumberland Valley called and many yet call it the North Mountain, as it lies north of that valley. In a provincial record dated May 6, 1752, this mountain is called "Kekach- tany" or "Endless Hills," the title which the Delaware Indians applied to it. In the Albany grant of July 6, 1754, for the lands which now com- prise Perry County and others, recorded in the provincial records of February 3. 1755, it is called the Kittochtinny or Bhte Hills, by which it was known throughout provincial and colonial times in all records. The
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LOCATION, PHYSICAL, FEATURES, GEOLOGY, ETC.
description at the beginning of this chapter only applies to this mountain in so far as it is the southern boundary of the county. This Indian name, "Kautatinchunk," as quoted in some volumes, is said to have been "Tyan- nuntasacta" by the Six Nations, and "Kekachtannin" by the Delawares. The name is defined at one place as meaning "steadfast in storm and ever true blue." It is to be regretted that the old Indian name, Kittatinny, has fallen somewhat into disuse. Luther Reily Kelker, in his History of Dauphin County, speaking of the Kittatinny Mountain also being called the Blue or North Mountain, said, "The Indian name alone should be used; any mountain may be blue at a distance, and any one is north of some place."
These mountains (of the Appalachian system) really stretch from a point not far from Newburgh, New York, on the Hudson River, across New York State, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, and enter North Carolina and Tennessee, being broken by water gaps to let through the waters of the Delaware, the Lehigh, the Schuylkill, the Swatara, the Susquehanna, and the Potomac (at Harper's Ferry). At the southern part of the county its crest-length of fifty-three miles is umbroken by a single water gap. For seventeen miles it runs, with one small zigzag, parallel to Bower Mountain, separated from it by the steep and narrow vale of the north branch of Laurel Run, which starts at the Franklin County line. Both mountains run on thus southwestward through Franklin County, unite and end before reaching Fort Loudon. Bower Mountain is therefore only a return zigzag of Blue Mountain.
It received its name First Mountain from the early settlers of south- eastern Pennsylvania, especially those who built their cabins along the Susquehanna River at Columbia, Marietta, and Harrisburg, and had occa- sion to go up the river in canoes through the water gaps. The first moun- tain they passed by was this mountain, hence the name, First Mountain. The second was Cove Mountain, and from the Susquehanna to the Lehigh it has retained the name of Second Mountain ever since; the third was the Sharp Mountain of Schuylkill County, which traverses Dauphin County, but does not quite reach the Susquehanna River; the fourth was Peters' Mountain, opposite Duncannon. Here, at the mouth of the Juniata the numerals stopped, as the mountains farther up, Berry's and Buffalo, did not run in the same general direction.
In September, 1742, David Zeisberger, the missionary, and a party of friends, among whom was Conrad Weiser, on their way from the settled part of the province "came to a ridge of forest-crowned mountains, across which led a blind trail, full of loose, sharp stones, and close to high rocks the rugged sides of which rendered horseback riding exceedingly danger- ous. The mountains being without a name, Conrad Weiser called them 'The Thiirnstein,' in honor of Zinzendorf. They were the parallel chains of the Blue Ridge, now known as the Second, Third, and Peters' Moun- tains."
The western end of the Tuscarora Mountain, Conococheague Mountain, Round Top, Little Round Top, Rising Mountain, Amberson Ridge, Bower Mountain, and Middle or Sherman Mountain, named in order from north- west to southeast, across the western end of the county, are all in a way zigzags of different lengths of one range. The following description from Claypole is given verbatim :
"A woodsman can enter Perry County from Franklin County on the rocks at the top of the West Tuscarora Mountain, and walk along the rocky crest of this range, alternately towards the northeast and towards the southwest, for a total distance of thirty-five miles, reentering Franklin County from the crest of Bower Mountain, only three miles across from
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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
the place where he left it. In all this distance he will keep at nearly the same elevation, say 1,600 feet above ocean level, except at three points, where the wall on the top of which he is traveling is broken down to its base by small streams. One of these water gaps is cut through the West Tuscarora Mountain ; a second is made by the head of Sherman's Creek, which cuts through Rising Mountain ; the third is made by Houston's Run through the north leg of Bower Mountain. Everywhere else along the line he will find the sharp crested mountain unbroken by gaps, with steep rock-covered slopes or even cliffs always on his right hand, and a gentler. smoother, but still quite steep slope on his left hand. When he turns the east end of a zigzag he will see the mountain crest make a long stope downward into the valleys of Perry County; and when he turns the west ends of the zigzag, he will be on boldly scarped knobs overlooking the shale and limestone valleys of Franklin County. On these knobs he will always reach a somewhat higher elevation above tide. Round Top and Little Round Top are simply the southwestward looking ends of two of the zigzags rather more strongly pronounced than the others."
The district enclosed by these mountains is peculiarly isolated from travel, except along the river. While the extreme western part of the county is bound by this series of mountain ranges, yet the traveler can go through to Amberson Valley, Franklin County, by utilizing the second narrows and the break through Bower's Mountain.
Tuscarora Mountain. The eastern end of the Tuscarora Mountain forms a range alone, along its erest for a distance of twenty-one miles runs the boundary line which separates Perry from Juniata County. Almost straight and continuous, it is broken by a ravine opposite Iekes- burg. A small stream flows through this ravine, draining a small glen in the heart of the mountain, three miles in length and a half-inile in width. At this point the mountain has two crests, the county line following the southern. This mountain slopes gently at both ends. In Gordon's His- tory of Pennsylvania and Belknap's Gazetteer of Pennsylvania, both of which were published in 1832, the Tuscarora is referred to as Tussey's Mountain, in these words, "The Juniata River enters Perry County through Tussey's Mountain." There is a mountain by that name farther up the state, but as these two historians called the Tuscarora "Tussey's Moun- tain" it may have been known to many others by that name and hence the resultant confusion of pioneer and Indian history and legend.
THE HILL RANGES WITHIN.
Surrounded by mountains and the Susquehanna River and penetrated from the east to a small extent by other mountains the interior of Perry County is an extensive wedge-shaped area of open country, traversed by many ranges of hills, which vary from two hundred to five hundred feet above the levels of the streams which drain them. Some of these hills are cultivated in common with the lower soil, a prominent and extensive example being the Middle Ridge, which extends ten miles west from Newport.
Raccoon Ridge. A ridge in Tuscarora Township, starting some dis- tance from the river. At Donally's Mills it is broken by a gap through which flows the south branch of Raccoon Creek.
Ore Ridge. A ridge paralleling the Tuscarora Mountain at its base, comparatively low and located within Tuscarora Township.
Hominy Ridge. The southern boundary of the western half of Tusea- rora Township. It is of Chemung shale, which Claypole says is among the poorest, adding "of all the Chemung districts that on Hominy Ridge
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LOCATION, PHYSICAL FEATURES, GEOLOGY, ETC.
is the most uninviting. High, steep and rough, it presents little to attract the farmer and the wonder arises why so much of it is cleared."
Limestone Ridge. A wooded ridge starting at the Juniata River below Bailey's Station, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, in Miller Township, and extending westward through the county to the Madison Township line, forming the boundary between Miller and Oliver Townships and sepa- rating Spring and Tyrone from Saville. Even west of that its formation exists, to the western end of the county, but it is more broad and is cul- tivated. North of Andersonburg and Centre it is two and a half miles broad. From New Bloomfield to the Juniata it has double and at some places triple crests. Limestone generally follows its southern surface. The U. S. Geological Survey names this ridge, Hickory Ridge, and the northern crest, Buffalo Ridge.
Mahanoy Ridge. Mahanoy Ridge starts near the Juniata River, in Mil- ler Township, at a point between Iroquois and Losh's Run stations, on the Pennsylvania Railroad, and traverses Miller, Centre, and Spring Town- ships. At four points in Miller and Centre Townships it is broken by water gaps. Between Green Park and Landisburg it zigzags, coming to an abrupt incline at the latter place in a promontory known as Bell's Hill.
Dick's Hill. This ridge starts in Miller Township, almost five miles west of the Juniata River, and becomes from that point the boundary line between Miller and Wheatfield Townships. It separates Wheatfield and Carroll Townships from Centre and continues into Spring Township, ter- minating at a point east of a line between Landisburg and Bridgeport, be- ing known as Pisgah Ridge after leaving the Wheatfield Township line. Its central portion is shown in old maps as Iron Ridge, and is sometimes locally known as Rattlesnake Hill. This ridge was probably known as Dick's Hill for its entire length originally, as it is mentioned as being crossed by the old Indian trail to the West as early as 1803, by a woman then 100 years old, as will be noted in our chapter devoted to "Trails, Roads, and Highways." From its eastern gap, through which flows Little Juniata Creek, one of the three earliest churches took its name-the Dick's Gap Church, long since gone to decay. This church was not located along Dick's Hill however, but along Mahanoy Ridge, a short distance north. Dick's Hill was also the site of two pioneer industries, Perry Furnace and Montebello Furnace. Claypole says, "Curving round sharply it sweeps for almost twenty miles under the name of 'Little Mountain' to the Susque- hanna River at Marysville."
Pisgah Ridge. See Dick's Hill, immediately preceding.
Pine Hill. This ridge starts in Carroll Township and runs east, forming the dividing line between Rye and Wheatfield. It is, in fact, an extension of the Cove Mountain.
Buck Hills. South of New Germantown, in Toboyne Township, a low range called Buck Hills rises gradually, but irregularly, until it merges into Rising Mountain.
Chestnut Hills. The Chestnut Hills rise in Madison Township, west of Centre, run through Jackson and Toboyne, merge into Amberson Ridge, their ascension being gradual.
Round Top. Right after leaving the county the Conococheague Moun- tain turns sharply and reënters the county, forming Round Top, which commands the head of Sherman's Valley and is a conspicuous object for many miles. Its course is short, however, and zigzaging again, it passes over the county line to the southwest, with a southeast dip, and continues for about twelve miles as a range known as Dividing Mountain, as it di- vidles Path Valley and Amberson Valley, in Franklin County.
Dividing Mountain. See Round Top.
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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
Little Rount Top. Located in Toboyne Township, south of Round Top.
Rising Mountain. Returning from its long lap into Franklin County the mountain again reënters Perry County and forms the high, broad, stony ridge known as Rising Mountain, lying southwest of New Germantown. To the east lie Buck Hills, which rise gradually into a mountain, hence the name, Rising Mountain.
Amberson Ridge. After Rising Mountain crosses into Franklin it laps and again crosses the line into Perry, being then known as Amberson Ridge. It meets the great fold of Bower Mountain and forms a high knob overlooking Amberson Valley, Franklin County.
Bower Mountain. Bower Mountain is a great level-crested ridge rising near Loysville, passing through Madison Township, gently sloping upward through Jackson Township, and on entering Toboyne it forms a small zigzag and separates into two parts which are unnamed. Named after Nathaniel Bower, whose 200-acre farm saddled its crest.
Mount Pisgah. The highest elevation of the little range of Pisgah Mountains is in Carroll Township. Opposite these mountains, near where Sherman's Creek breaks through at Gibson's Rock, was born John Ban- nister Gibson, once Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania. It is also known locally as Pisgah Hill.
Little Mountain. A small ridge lying north of the Blue Mountain, in Rye and Carroll Townships and a short distance into Spring Township.
Slaughterbeck Hill. Sometimes called Michael's Ridge. A conspicuous promontory in Pfoutz Valley, Greenwood Township. It blocks entrance from the west, rising above every other range in the township. Claypole says of it: "It is really a fragment of the great Tuscarora anticlinal which has been cut off by the Juniata River from the main body and constitutes an outlier. In truth the whole of the valley is a continuation eastward of the anticlinal ridge of the Tuscarora, eroded by long ages of frost, rain and sunshine."
Michael's Ridge. See Slaughterbeck's Hill, immediately preceding.
Il'ildcat Ridge. A high and rugged ridge separating Perry and Pfontz Valleys, in Greenwood township. It enters Liverpool Township for a short distance, but dies down, the two valleys here being less distinct than farther west. Rough and rocky at places, where wildcats once had a ren- dezvous, hence the name.
Turkey Ridge. This high ridge, at places farmed to its very top, but mostly wooded, is the dividing line between Perry and Juniata Counties at Liverpool Township. Like Wildcat Ridge it loses much of its steepness as it approaches the Susquehanna River. In pioneer years noted as a great wild turkey territory, from which comes the name, Turkey Ridge.
Half Fall Mountain. In provincial and colonial records, frequently re- ferred to as Half Fall Hills. It lies between Buffalo and Watts Town- ships, its crest being the township line. It is an extension, across the Juniata, of the converging Mahanoy and Limestone Ridges, the limestone rocks forming almost a complete dam across the river, producing a "half- falls" from which the mountain takes its name. It spans the territory completely between the Juniata and Susquehanna Rivers, being crossed by a public highway. Below Montgomery's Ferry it ends in a conspicuous bluff, near the top of which is a cave supposed to have once been the hiding place of Simon Girty, the renegade, but which records practically confute. (See chapter on Simon Girty.) On a promontory of the moun- tain here is a protruding rock, which viewed coming from the north over the Susquehanna Trail, presents the profile of an Indian as perfect as can be found, and one which only the Creator, that greatest of artists, could produce.
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LOCATION, PHYSICAL FEATURES, GEOLOGY, ETC.
Mount Patrick. A name sometimes applied to the end of Berry's Moun- tain at the village of that name.
North Mountain. See Kittatinny Mountain.
First Mountain. See Kittatinny Mountain.
Second Mountain. See Kittatinny Mountain.
Third Mountain. See Kittatinny Mountain.
Fourth Mountain. See Kittatinny Mountain. This is also known as Peters' Mountain and is located opposite to Duncannon, the Cove Moun- tain being in reality an extension thereof, the Susquehanna water gap cutting through.
Peters' Mountain. See preceding paragraph.
Mount Dempsey. A high promontory of the Blue or Kittatinny Moun- tain, where it laps, located opposite Landisburg, in Tyrone Township. One of the most picturesque spots in the county. An Indian trail, later used as a bridle path, passes its base.
Buck Ridge. A "breaking down" of Rising Mountain, in Toboyne Town- ship.
Big Knob. A mountain ridge north of Blain.
Little Knob. Twin sister to Big Knob, north of Blain.
"The Crossbar." A wooded ridge running from Big Knob, north of Blain, to the Tuscarora Mountain.
Berry's Mountain and Buffalo Mountain. These two mountains are lo- cated in the northeast section of the county, are broken by water gaps by the Susquehanna at Mt. Patrick and Liverpool, are seven and eight miles long, respectively, and unite in a single elevated knob on the east bank of the Juniata River a mile above Newport, known as Round Top, which can be plainly seen from east of the Susquehanna. Both of them have per- fectly straight sharp crests, long gentle slopes towards the cove which they form, and outer terraces, that of Berry's facing south and that of Buffalo facing northwest. Unlike the sharp ellipse of Cove Mountain, that of Berry's Mountain is broken by a gap nearly to its base at its western end on the southern side, by a small stream extending into the Juniata. But a high divide behind the gap virtually closes the upper end of the cove. Berry's Mountain runs on through Dauphin County and returns as Peters' Mountain, then Cove Mountain. Buffalo Mountain also reappears on the east side of the Susquehanna under the name Mahantango Mountain, and along its crest runs the north county line of Dauphin to the northwest corner of Schuylkill County. Buffalo Mountain separates Buffalo Town- ship from Greenwood and Liverpool Townships.
As the Dauphin County anthracite coal basin is enclosed at its west end by the Cove Mountain in Perry County, so is the Wiconisco anthracite coal basin enclosed by Berry's and Buffalo Mountains in Perry County. The two coves resemble each other closely in shape, size and position. Within the cove formed by Buffalo and Berry Mountains is located Hun- ter's Valley, the northern half of Buffalo Township. Berry Mountain, it is said, was named after a family by the name of Berry which resided at its base, below Mt. Patrick, but as it bears the same name east of the Susquehanna it probably derived its name from the fact that immense quantities of berries have always grown along its sides.
Cove Mountain. The Cove Mountain, lying between Duncannon and Marysville, is a sharply recurved ridge, one thousand feet higher than the water level of the water gap below, like the cut-off prow of a canoe- shaped basin-the Dauphin County anthracite coal basin, being the west end of a long-pointed ellipse, the east end of which is Carbon County, be- yond the Lehigh River. The Susquehanna River crosses it diagonally at the east, the northern crest being only five miles in length and the southern
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HISTORY OF PERRY COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA
ten miles. The crest at the extreme west is known as "the horseshoe" to sportsmen and overlooks the fertile Sherman's Valley to the west.
Conococheague Mountain. A beautiful mountain is the Conococheague. It forms a long, straight, even-crested ridge from Madison Township, where it starts, to its termination at Round Top, in Toboyne Township, without break or gap of any character. Over it pass two roads, one lead- ing north from New Germantown to Horse Valley and Juniata County, and the other west over the bend in the range to Concord, Franklin County. At its east end it is a perfect arch, but to the west it becomes a south- dipping range. The Indian word, Conococheaguc, is recorded as meaning "it is indeed a long way."
Buffalo Ridge. The name applied to the ridge south of the Little Buf- falo Creek. Also known as Furnace Hills.
Furnace Hills. See preceding paragraph.
Bell's Hill. The promontory ending of Mahanoy Ridge in Spring Town- ship.
Quaker ITill. An outlying hill of the Pisgah Ridge in Spring Township.
Gallows Hill. In "Little Germany," John Faus (Foose), known as the "King of Germany" on account of his large land holdings, took up 300 acres on June 12, 1794, with which he was assessed in 1820, the date of the county's birth, and on which he had erected a sawmill and a distillery. A tavern was kept on the old mansion farm until 1827. The sign of this tavern, was an iron ring suspended from an arm attached to a high post, so suggestive of a gallows that the place came to be known as "Gallows Hill."
Welsh Hill. The point of the Blue Mountain separating Kennedy's Val- ley from Green Valley, in Tyrone Township.
Pilot Knob. Pilot Knob is the highest spur of the Kittatinny or Blue Mountain, and is located not far from Landisburg.
Middle Ridge. The ridge running west from Newport, through Oliver and Juniata Townships, once wooded, but now a fertile section of farm lands.
Crawley Hill. A high hill in Spring Township, an outlying knoll of the Dick's Hill range, which derived its name from a man named Crawley, who, it is said, was murdered upon it long years ago for his money. His remains were buried near the road which crosses the hill. But a few rods from this road, on the south side of the hill, stood a very small stone school- house in the shadow of a thicket, and tradition tells of the teacher raising a window sash to get a rod without leaving the building, for it appears that at one time the rod was a necessary accessory to every schoolhouse. Tradition may be right, but the writer cannot conceive of any Perry County boy allowing them to remain so handy longer than twenty-four hours. A frame structure later took its place, but it was abandoned. Be- tween Crawley Hill and Mahanoy Hill nestles the famous settlement known as "Little Germany."
Iron Ridge. The name once applied to the ridge just south of Crawley Hill, in Spring Township.
THE KITTATINNY MOUNTAIN GAPS.
Across the crest of the Kittatinny Mountain, where it drops, often slightly, are a number of famous gaps or passes, some of which were the locations of old Indian trails and are mentioned in provincial and colonial records. Starting from the Susquehanna River these gaps in the order named are Lamb's, Miller's, Myer's, Croghan's (now called Sterrett's), Crane's, Sharon's, Long's,
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LOCATION, PHYSICAL, FEATURES, GEOLOGY, ETC.
Waggoner's, and McClure's. A concise description of each fol- lows:
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