USA > Pennsylvania > Susquehanna County > History of Susquehanna County, Pennsylvania. from a period preceding its settlement to recent times, including the annals and geography of each townshipAlso a sketch of woman's work in the county for the United States sanitary commission, and a list of the soldiers of the national army furnished by many of the townships > Part 59
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During this year, and while president of the society, S. F. Car- malt died, and Benjamin Parke (V. P.) filled the vacancy until his own election in 1865. From his address before the society October 5, 1865, at the nineteenth annual fair the following para- graph is taken :-
" Having attended the State Agricultural Fair at Williamsport last week, I can say that, with the exception of a very few fine horses there exhibited, the stock now upon this ground exceeds in number, and is superior in quality to that exhibited at the State fair; and setting aside the agricultural imple- ments and machinery, the manufactures and specimens of merchandise- much of which was from other States and exhibited as an advertisement to
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the public-with the expensively prepared and very elegant floral tent, with its fountain and walks, our fair as an agricultural exhibition is fully its equal.
"Susquehanna is probably THE butter county of our State. No better quality of butter is made any where than is here made. The increased price and the facility of sending it to New York and Philadelphia has not only stimulated but largely increased its production within the past few years.
" The establishment of cheese factories, and their great success wherever established, will gradually work a change in the dairy business ; which, with- out lessening the profits, will greatly lessen the labor and care, and add much to the health and comfort of dairy women and their children."
HON. BENJAMIN PARKE, LL.D.
BENJAMIN PARKE, LL.D., is a son of Col. Thomas Parke, the first settler of Dimock. He left home at the age of twenty-three to study his profes- sion, and afterwards settled at Harrisburg as an attorney-at-law. While there Mr. P., in company with Wm. F. Packer (afterwards governor), edited and published the ' Keystone,' then the central and leading organ of the Demo- cratic party of Pennsylvania. After disposing of that paper he for a time edited the 'Harrisburg Argus,' and commenced the publication of the ' Pennsylvania Farmer and Common-School Intelligencer.'
In 1834 he was appointed by Governor Wolf to be the prothonotary of the Middle District of the Supreme Court, consisting of sixteen counties. He also held the office of commissioner in bankruptcy, and was the principal compiler of Parke and Johnson's 'Digest of the Laws of Pennsylvania,' published in 1837.
After thirty years of professional toil he returned to Susquehanna County, and now glories in being numbered among her farmers.
1866. The Agricultural Society had a balance of $1019 79 in the treasury. The land from the I. Post estate was deeded to the society-eight acres and three and a half perches, and addi- tional land was procured from General D. D. Warner.
1867. Premiums on native cattle abolished. Premiums to boys under nineteen years of age for plowing to be the same as to men.
1868. Article XV. added to constitution, making only citi- zens of Pennsylvania and of Susquehanna County eligible to office in the society.
Resolution to make trial of mowers and reapers in June and July.
1869. Amendment of Article VI .. relative to meetings of society, making them the first Tuesday evening of each quarter sessions of court.
Three days to be given to the fair, the first for plowing, as usual.
1870. Among the premiums offered were one year's subscrip- tion to the 'Scientific American,' ' American Agriculturist,' and ' Horticultural Journal.'
Proposed sale of stock at the fair, and to dig a well upon Fair Ground. Boys must be sixteen years of age to compete in plowing.
1871. Plans of new buildings. Change in mode of electing
Benjamin Parke
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officers to be more democratic. At the twenty-fifth fair, in the fall of 1871, when there were one-third more entries than on any previous year, over $1000 were taken in.
Fairs to be between the 10th September and the 20th October, and time to be fixed by executive committee.
1872. There have been eighty life members.
There are three cheese factories in the county, one on the farm of Sayre brothers in Silver Lake, one in South Bridgewater, and the third on the Asa Packer farm in Springville. The last is more extensive than the others, having capacity for the daily use of the milk of five hundred cows.
The Jackson Agricultural Society was organized in 1856; R. Harris, president, Wm. H. Bartlett, secretary and treasurer. It suspended on the breaking out of the war.
Glenwood Agricultural Fair was held in 1861-62-63, and then removed to Nicholson. F. P. Grow was president, and Asa Eaton, treasurer.
Harford Agricultural Society was established in 1866-the fifteenth annual fair taking place in the fall of 1872. The present president is H. M. Jones; secretary, E. C. Carpenter. Ira H. Parrish, D. L. Hine, Jackson Tingley, executive committee.
The Friendsville Fair, of several years' standing, is for the sale of stock, rather than its exhibition, no premiums being given.
The Canawacta Agricultural Society, now inactive, has a driv- ing park in Oakland, which was graded at a cost of $1000.
CHAPTER XXXVII.
ROADS, POST-OFFICES, ETC.
IF the surmise respecting " Ellicott's Road"-a road sometimes referred to in the earliest court records-is correct, it was the passage cut, in 1786, for the transportation of supplies during the running of the State line between New York and Pennsyl- vania, Andrew Ellicott1 being the commissioner on the part of the latter in this business. On the 16th June, 1786-
" The General Assembly of Pennsylvania appointed Andrew Ellicott com- missioner, to run and mark the northern boundary of the Commonwealth, and the State of New York appointed Samuel Holland and David Ritten- house. They ascertained and fixed the beginning of the forty-third degree of north latitude on the Mohawk, or western branch of the Delaware- planted a stone marked NEW YORK, 1774, cut on the north side; and on
1 Can it be that he was employed to survey the road once planned by the State to stretch across this section to Tioga Point ? Such a route will be seen on map of old Luzerne.
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the west side of said branch of the Delaware placed a heap of stones at water-mark, and, proceeding further west four perches, planted another stone with the words PENNSYLVANIA cut on the south side thereof."
" And the said Andrew Ellicott, on the part of this Commonwealth, and James Clinton and Simeon Dewitt, on the part of the State of New York, did, in the year of our Lord 1786-7, in pursuance of the powers vested in them, run, fix, and ascertain the said boundary line, beginning at the first mentioned stone, and extending due west by a line of mile-stones to the bank of Lake Erie, etc."
The road terminating, in 1789, at the mouth of Cascade Creek, was the first in the county for general travel. In 1791 a road was cut through from the Delaware to Great Bend ; the general course of it being since followed by the Newburgh turnpike. The early township roads have been mentioned in the Annals, with the road in 1798 from Tunkhannock to Great Bend, and another (1799-1801) from the forks of the Wyalusing to join the latter.
THE NEWBURGH TURNPIKE.
The first turnpike in the county connected Great Bend with Newburgh on the Hudson. It was begun in 1806 and finished in 1811. In the fall of 1872, a final meeting of the directors of the old Newburgh and Cochecton turnpike com- pany was held at Newburgh. At Cochecton, on the Delaware River, the road referred to connected with the Cochecton and Great Bend turnpike, and together they were familiarly styled the Newburgh turnpike. This was among the first great highways constructed. Leading west from the Hudson River only one other preceded it-that leading from Albany westward. As the old landmark is no longer of any value to the stockholders, they are about giving it over to the several towns through which it runs. The length of the road from Cochecton to Great Bend is fifty miles. Beginning at the Delaware River, it passes through the towns of Damascus, Lebanon, and Mount Pleasant, in Wayne County ; and Gibson, New Milford, and Great Bend in Susque- hanna County. The act incorporating this pike was passed 29th March, 1804. Henry Drinker, Ed. Tilghman, Thos. Harrison, and Wm. Poyntell, of Philadelphia ; John Conklin, Jason Torry, and Samuel Stanton, of Wayne County ; Asahel Gregory, John Tyler, and Minna Du Bois of Luzerne (now Susquehanna) County, were appointed commissioners of the road. The road received no assistance from the State.
"It was built by individual enterprise ; most of the stock was taken on the line of the road. It was constructed twenty feet wide, at a cost of $1620 per mile. The materials are earth, stone, lime, and timber. Its form was convex, being about four inches higher in the centre than at the sides. During the first three years it paid a debt of $11,000, besides keeping itself in repair. Some portions of this part of the State owe their early existence and growth to this road. It gave a decided impulse to the increase of popu- lation and improvements to the surrounding country."
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
THE MILFORD AND OWEGO TURNPIKE.
Passed 26th of January, 1807, an act to authorize the Governor to incorporate a company for making an artificial road by the nearest and best route, through the counties of Wayne and Lu- zerne, beginning at the river Delaware, where the proposed bridge is to be built, near the town of Milford, thence through the said town and the counties aforesaid to or near the forty-third mile-stone in the north line of the State. Time for completing the road extended to December 1, 1826.
By the act of 24th of March, 1817, the Governor was authori- zed to subscribe $16,000 to the stock of the company, and as soon as five miles of the road is completed between Montrose and the Philadelphia and Great Bend turnpike, he is required to draw his warrant for a sum in proportion to the whole dis- tance, and a like sum for every five miles, until the whole sum shall be drawn. It cost $1300 per mile.
The president and managers of the Milford and Owego turn- pike were authorized, by act of 20th of March, 1830, “to con- struct a branch or lateral turnpike road, beginning at or near Dundaff, thence to Carbondale, in Luzerne County, and thence to intersect the said Milford and Ohio turnpike road at the most convenient point east of the Lackawanna Creek."
STATE ROAD.
In 1808 an act was passed authorizing commissioners to explore and mark out a road from where the Cochecton turnpike passes through Moosic Mountain to the west line of the State. This road is probably the one that left the turnpike at Robert Chand- ler's in Gibson, and running westward reached the Wyalusing at Grangerville.
BRIDGEWATER AND WILKES-BARRE TURNPIKE.
An act was passed 30th March, 1811, to incorporate a company for making a road from the northern boundary line of this State at the most suitable place, near the 28th mile-stone, to the place where the seat of justice is established for the county of Susque- hanna, thence by best and nearest route to borough of Wilkes- Barre. The road was begun in 1813. The Clifford and Wilkes- Barre turnpike was also begun that year, and cost $1200 per mile.
In 1818 books were opened for subscription to stock in the New Milford and Montrose turnpike; but it appears there never has been a turnpike between these two points, though more than twenty years later the subject was again engaging the attention of some of our most enterprising men.
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
PHILADELPHIA AND GREAT BEND TURNPIKE.
In 1818 the legislature passed "an act to authorize the gov- ernor to incorporate the President, Managers, and Company of the Philadelphia and Great Bend Turnpike Road," which should " commence at or near the 30th mile-stone on the Easton and Wilkes-Barre turnpike road, pass over the nearest and best ground through Leggett's Gap in Lackawannock Mountain, and terminate on the Cochecton and Great Bend turnpike road, at or near the tavern of Ithamer Mott, in the county of Susquehanna." Work upon the road was begun in 1821. It followed the Nine Partners' Creek through Harford to Lenox post-office and Lenox- ville, thence to the southern boundary of our county and below, as ordered by the act of legislature. Messrs. Thomas Meredith, William Ward, and Henry W. Drinker appear to have had charge of the contracts on this road-much of the business, at least, was in their hands. This great thoroughfare has ceased to be a toll road, and the travel over it is limited almost entirely to local business; but, in its day, it served to open a most desirable com- munication with Philadelphia, and contributed greatly to the ad- vantage of the county.
The Belmont and Ochquaga turnpike was begun in 1821 and finished in 1825. The following turnpikes were incorporated as follows :-
Abington and Waterford, January, 1823; Dundaff and Tunk- hannock, April, 1828; Dundaff and Honesdale, March, 1831; Lenox and Harmony, April, 1835; Lenox and Carbondale (past Clifford Corners), March, 1842, extended to South Gibson by act March, 1847; Brooklyn and Lenox, March, 1848; Tunkhannock Creek Company, March, 1849.
RAILROADS.
Among the earliest items respecting railroads in Susquehanna County we find the description of a route considered feasible as early as 1832. The immediate object then was to connect Owego with the Lackawanna coal-field, and a railroad was proposed-
"From the mouth of the Choconut Creek to its headwaters, thence to Forest Lake, thence by the valley of Pond Creek to near its mouth, thence across by the headwaters of the east branch of the Wyalusing, and thence by the best route to the headwaters of Horton's Creek, following said creek till it falls into the Tunkhannock."
The same year, at a meeting held in Friendsville the 7th of March, of which Samuel Milligan was president, Parley Coburn, vice- president, and George Walker and Ira Brister, secretaries, another route was proposed : from Owego, by the valleys of the Apola- con and the north branch of the Wyalusing, thence by the east branch to the vicinity of Montrose, and thence striking Horton's Creek, to follow it as above. It was claimed that the distance by this route from the Tunkhannock to Owego would be six miles
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shorter than down the Salt Lick and via Great Bend to the same place, a survey of which was even then being made.
Mr. Milligan's speech, at the meeting referred to, was a very able one. After a review of the different routes proposed, he argued in favor of Montrose, stating the advantages of having a road run somewhat diagonally through the county.
A route similar to the last mentioned was proposed early in 1833 :-
"From Tunkhannock up the Hopbottom Creek to its head, thence by a moderate rise to the headwaters of the Snake Creek, down the Snake to its junction with the Silver Creek, thence up the Silver Creek, and thence by the Mud Creek to its forks ; up the middle branch of Mud Creek to its head, thence by easy ground to a small creek emptying into Choconut Creek, and along Choconut Valley to the boundary of the State, where it could be taken up and continued by the people of Owego."
Still another was " from the mouth of Snake Creek to the head of the east branch of it, thence by the waters of Wolf Creek by Kingsley's mills to its intersection with the Hopbottom, and thence by said creek till it shall intersect Martin's Creek on James Seymour's route," etc .; for a little before this time, the late James Seymour had been appointed to make the survey of a road from some point on the Lackawanna, passing through Leg- gett's Gap, and by the way of the Tunkhannock and Martin's Creek to Great Bend on the Susquehanna.
All these projects were lost sight of apparently for some years upon the construction of a road westward from New York through Owego.
NEW YORK AND ERIE RAILROAD .- Extended reference to this road having been already made in the Annals, little need be added here. The following is an item from the 'Register' of February, 1841 : " We are glad to see that our representative, F. Lusk, Esq., has procured the passage of a bill through the House to allow the New York and Erie Railroad to be laid through a portion of this county if required."
" ERIE'S GREAT RIVAL."-The Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad proper extends from Great Bend, near the northern boundary of Pennsylvania, to the Delaware River, at a point about seven miles south of the Delaware Water Gap, through which it passes.
Exclusive of its recent extensions and roads acquired by lease, the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Company comprises two divisions-the Northern and Southern-the former extending from Great Bend to Scranton (49 miles), and the latter from Scranton to the Delaware River (64 miles). The Northern Divi- sion was the first opened, October, 1851. The original organization was the Leggett's Gap Railroad Company. During the same year
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the title was changed to the Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company.
The Southern Division was organized as the Delaware and Cobb's Gap Railroad Company, and finished in May, 1856. The two divisions were consolidated in April, 1853, under the style of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad Company.
The object in constructing this railroad was to find an outlet north and east for the vast deposits of coal in the Lackawanna and Wyoming Valleys, as well as to build up a large manufac- turing interest midway at a point where both coal and iron ore could be supplied with little or no cost of transportation.
Shortly after leaving Nicholson, the road reaches Martin's Creek, finds the summit at New Milford, and goes down Salt Lick to Great Bend, where it joins the New York and Erie.
The Valley Railroad is of great importance to the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Company. It completes their line of 325 miles from New York to Oswego, leading to the greatest coal markets in the State. The divisions are as follows: Morris and Essex, from New York to Scranton, 149 miles; Delaware, Lacka- wanna, and Western, from Scranton to Great Bend, 47 miles; Valley, from Great Bend to Binghamton, 14 miles; Syracuse and Binghamton, 80 miles ; Oswego and Syracuse, 35 miles.
The Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Company formerly paid about $400,000 a year for the privilege of running their coal and freight trains over fourteen miles of Erie track.
The Lackawanna and Susquehanna Railroad is a branch of the Albany and Susquehanna, connecting with the latter at Nineveh, New York, and with the Jefferson Railroad near Starucca Via- duct, at Lanesboro, Susquehanna County. It is twenty-two miles in length.
" A charter was obtained at an early day, we believe as early as the year 1828, for a railroad from the Lackawanna Valley to Lanesboro. Other charters were also obtained at later dates, but nothing was effected toward building a railroad until Col. C. Freeman, member of assembly from Wayne County, at the ses- sion of 1851, secured a charter for the Jefferson Railroad Com- pany, with Earl Wheeler, Charles S. Minor, Francis B. Penni- man, and Benjamin B. Smith as corporators. This company was authorized to build a railroad from any point on the Dela- ware River, in Pike County, to the Susquehanna River, in Sus- quehanna County, through the county of Wayne. Under it a railroad has been built from the mouth of the Lackawanna, in Pike County, up said stream to Honesdale, under the auspices of the New York and Erie Railroad Company. Also the same company (the N. Y. and Erie), have under it built a railroad from Carbondale, north, through the eastern border of Susquehanna County, to Lanesboro. This latter road has been built under an
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HISTORY OF SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY.
arrangement with the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, they furnishing the money, it is stated, by guaranteeing bonds of the Boston, Hartford, and Erie Railroad to a certain amount, and receiving payment in tolls upon coal, on the Jefferson Rail- road, and other lines of the New York and Erie Railroad Com- pany. A third rail has been laid upon this Jefferson Road to accommodate cars of different gauges. It is proposed to connect the two sections of the Jefferson Railroad, which will probably be done by a road extending up the Dyberry branch of the Lacka- wanna, from Honesdale either to the Ararat Summit, or through Griswold's Gap to Forest City station. [Hon. S. S. Benedict.]
THE MONTROSE RAILROAD .- The public began to be interested in this enterprise during the summer of 1868.
At a large and enthusiastic meeting in Montrose, January 20, 1869-
"B. S. Bentley gave it as his opinion that a railroad would be built through Montrose within five years, or never. Here were the two interests that must and would be brought together-the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad and the consumers of coal in the region through which it passes, on the one hand, and the Lehigh Valley Railroad and the coal fields of which it is an outlet, on the other. The railroad by which these two inter- ests are to be connected must pass through Susquehanna County, either by the proposed Montrose route or by another further west.
" If the people of Montrose show a determination to build it, then Judge Packer and the Albany and Susquehanna Road will no doubt lend their aid. W. H. Jessup spoke much to the same effect, urging the importance of im- mediate action, and the procuring of proper legislation to forward the object. W. J. Turrell stated that Judge Packer had said it was quite important to the mining region to have access to the agricultural products of Susque- hanna County.
" George Walker stated some facts with regard to the two routes-the Tunkhannock and that from Meshoppen. The Meshoppen route is some- what shorter, being only 20 miles, and has a grade of about 60 feet to the mile. The Tunkhannock route has a grade of 100 feet to the mile for the first four miles, and after that only 40 feet.
"On motion, Messrs. Abner Griffis, F. B. Chandler, and S. H. Sayre were appointed a committee on permanent organization, to report at the next meeting. On motion, W. H. Jessup and W. J. Turrell were appointed to prepare a charter and obtain an act of incorporation by the legislature for a railroad from some point on the Lehigh Valley Road at or near Tunkhan- nock or Meshoppen, to the State line of New York, with a view to connect- ing with the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad at Binghamton."
We gather the following from the annual report of the Mon- trose Railroad Company, January 8th, 1872 :-
" In pursuance of the charter granted by the legislature of Pennsylvania incorporating the Montrose Railway Company, a meeting was held at the public school-house in Springville, on the 27th day of April, A. D. 1871, when the following gentlemen were duly elected :-
" President-James I. Blakeslee.
" Directors-Wm. H. Cooper, Samuel H. Sayre, H. K. Sherman, Samue Stark, C. L. Brown, C. M. Gere, D. Thomas, G. E. Palen, W. H. Jessup, S. Tyler, B. F. Blakeslee, Felix Ansart.
" At the first meeting of the board, held at Springville, on the 27th of May
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following, it was directed that a corps of engineers be at once employed under the supervision of Mr. F. Ansart, Jr., to survey and locate a cheap route for a narrow gauge railroad, extending from Tunkhannock to Mon- trose. It is believed that a narrow gauge road will be sufficient for all the business likely to be offered, and the cost of construction being so much less than a wide, or a four feet eight and a half inch gauge, it is expected that handsome dividends will be earned, which would hardly result from a first-class wide gauge road.
"The Lehigh Valley Railroad Company has agreed to furnish the rails, ties, spikes, and splices necessary for the superstructure, as soon as the grading has been completed and paid for, by receipts from stock subscriptions ; they agreeing, also, to receive the payment due them in stock at par. That com- pany has contracted for the greater number of the ties to be furnished from along the route of the proposed road, and they will thus distribute some ten thousand dollars to parties who may have taken more stock than they could otherwise conveniently provide for.
"The survey was commenced on the 15th of May, 1871. The work is now under contract and progressing favorably.
" The line runs from the depot of the Pennsylvania and New York Canal and Railroad Company, at Tunkhannock, to Marcy's Pond, thence along the west bank of the pond to a summit between the waters of Marcy's Pond and the Meshoppen Creek ; crossing the same. it runs in nearly a direct line to the village of Springville ; thence by the village of Dimock, into the borough of Montrose.
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