History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 145

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 1438

USA > Pennsylvania > Monroe County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 145
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 145
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 145

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

Is there nought left, when in the narrow cell We've laid our hallowed dead and o'er them weep, But for a mourning season in our hearts to tell To our own selves their past, and let them sleep ?

An angel to th' poor and erring, To soothe their cares and dry their tears,

Joy we then to hope and labor On, while life and strength may last, Striving ever to make better. Those with whom our lot is cast. And when toils and cares are ended, With our dear ones may we sleep Side by side, until th' Archangel Wakes us never more to weep. Chicago, January 2, 1873. W. B.

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How doubly dark, how fearful would seem death, If we, who living, look beyond life's end, Were doomed to chain unto our parting breath All that in love, to life its beauties lend.

Such love as that which in a mother dwells,

When weeping o'er the pillow of her child ; Or from the wife's devoted bosom swells,

When her dear ones are toss'd by tempests wild.

The memory of a gentle sister's thought,

The fond regard that lights the lover's eye ; If with the loss of these the tomb were fraught, Our graves were all left of us when we die.

We've met to-day to consecrate the spot Where some of us must find our future home ; Where each of us may choose the little lot, Wherein to rest when death shall come.

Here, where yon mountain lends its grateful shade ; Here, by the side of yonder gentle river ; Where Nature's self a resting-place hath made ; Here let our loved ones rest in peace forever.

Here, through the pines the summer showers will weep,

And through their branches birds will chirp and sing ;

These hills as sentinels their vigils keep ;

And from the ground will sweetest violets spring.

With all that's cheerful here a solemn grandeur blends ;

The stillness of the scene, yon rocks of sombre grey ;

And through the winding paths the funeral cortege lends

A sadness fitting to the burial day.

When once loved forms are mouldering to dust, Let ties of love that made their lives so sweet All centre here, and, faithful to our trust, Let us keep tenderly their last retreat.

'Tis meet that wand'ring spirits here should dwell, And through these trees the wind in sadness wail ; The gentle dove her mournful story tell,

And with soft music fill the echoing vale.

How better far, to feel that we and ours May sometime slumber in this lovely place,

Than in the crowded churchyard where no flowers Or trees or birds our final couch can grace.

There are buried in the cemetery the follow- ing soldiers, viz. :

Col. Jolin Nyce, 174th Regt. Pa. Vols. Seth Williamson, War of 1812. John Westfall, 4th Regt. N. J. Artillery. Gen. Dan Brodhead, Revolutionary War. 87

Capt. O. H. Mott, Co. B, 151st Regt. Pa. Vols. George Royce, private, Co. C, 67th Regt. Pa. Vols. Major Richard Eldred, War of 1812.

Capt. J. Everett Eldred, Co. C, 67th Pa. Vols. Jacob Scott, private in a colored regiment.

MILFORD BOROUGH - CIVIL ORGANIZA- TION .- The first election, under the borough charter was held February 16, 1875, when the following officers were chosen :

Chief Burgess .- John C. Wallace.

Town Council .- John Gaillard, Henry B. Wells Jacob Klaer, Peter A. L. Quick, Desire Bournique.

School Directors .- Charles D. Loreaux, Vincent Emerson, John Nyce, F. H. Palmer, David A. Wells, Frederick C. Almer.

Overseers for the Poor .- Emanuel B. Quick, John B Newman.

High Constable .- Thomas J. Newman.

Assessor .- Chauncy W. Dimmick.

Auditors .- Abram D. Brown, Benjamin F. Bennett, Edward Quick.

Judge of Elections .- James H. Doney.

Inspectors of Elections .- Oscar M. Brink, George Slawson.

February 23, 1875, the first meeting of the Town Council was held in the house of John C. Wallace, burgess, who presided. Harry T. Baker was elected secretary of the Council and Samuel Dietrick was appointed treasurer. The following persons have held the office of chief burgess since that time :

1876. Desiré Bournique. 1881. J. R. Julius Kline.

1877. W. K. Ridgway. 1882. C. W. Bull.

1878. H. B. Wells. 1883. M. D. Mott.

1879. John Nyce. 1884. Geo. E. Horton.

1880. John Nyce.1 1885-86. J. Hutchison.

SCENERY AND SURROUNDINGS .- The rich and varied scenery in the region round about Milford has made the town famous and brought it into favor among artists, lovers of nature, tourists and summer sojourners in general. Pike County is a district in which nature is still fresh, wild, untrammeled, unbroken by the works of man, which, often endeavoring to increase beauty, only mar it. Large portions of the county are in as rude and rough a wilderness state as they were a hundred years ago, and this wildness forms one of the chief charms of

1 John Nyce was elected and died, and Walter Newman filled the vacancy.

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the county. Yet some portions of Pike are highly cultivated and afford a marked contrast with the wild-wood, mountainous, rocky and ravine-cleft regions.

There are refreshing elements of beauty al- most everywhere in the county, from the level well-titled Delaware bottom lands to the wilderness-clad mountains in the interior. Per- haps the boldest and most picturesque scenery in the vicinity of Milford is formed by the cliffs which sharply mark the valley of the river, and form, in fact, a wall for many miles along the bottom lands. The cliff is most rugged and reaches its greatest height at a point about three miles below Milford, known as " Utter's Point." 1 The road leads along its base, and the sight-seer cannot, without leaving it and going toward the river, obtain a satis- factory view of this towering rock wall. A very fine view is to be had from the farm-house of Mr. Warner.

Of all the varied scenes of loveliness in mountain, stream and lake, there is perhaps no single feature so remarkable and popularly pleasing as the waterfalls. Of these there are many in the county (elsewhere spoken of ), but those of chief importance in the vicinity of Milford are the Sawkill and Raymondskill, the former only a mile and a half distant and the latter about three miles. It is not too much to say of these that they are among the most picturesque in the United States. Of the Sawkill Falls further mention is made, under the head of "Geology." Of the " incomparable Raymondskill," Edmund C. Stedman has written a highly poetical account, which we here abridge,-

"The cockney tourist, whose first inquiry on land- ing at New York is, 'Have you any cataracts near by ?' is guided to Trenton Falls, or Watkins Glen, when he might so easily reach Milford, just off the line of travel, and satisfy to the full his

' hunger for the living wood,

The laureled crags, the hemlocks hanging wide,

1 It was in this vicinity that Squire Brink, who, as a boy, was brought up by Judge John Brink, fell a distance of one hundred and sixty-nine and one-half feet and rolled sixty-three feet farther, almost incredibly sustaining only slight injuries. He was fourteen years of age at the time, and lived to be an old man. His portrait hangs in the Sawkill House.

The rushing stream that will not be withstood,

Bound forward to wed him with the river's tide.'

" Close against the mountain wall is built the val- ley turnpike, a natural 'Macadam,' for the shale thrown upon it from the roadside packs down as hard and even as a mosaic floor. Far above rise the oak, maple and chestnut, birch and pine, and at intervals of every league, I say, dark gaps open like doorways in the hillside, through which the trout streams are plunging, as yet unstained and free. A land of streams,-

' Some, like a downward smoke ;

Slow, drooping veils of thinnest lawn did go;

And some through wavering lights and shadows broke, Rolling a slumbrous sheet of foam below.'

"But here is no swooning of the languid air, and no seeming always afternoon. It is a Morning Land, with every cliff facing the rising sun. The mist and languor are in grain-fields far below ; the hills them- selves are of the richest, darkest green ; the skies are blue and fiery ; the air crisp, transparent, oxygenated, American; it is no place for lotus-eating, but for drinking water of the fountain of youth, till one feels the zest and thrill of a new life that is not unrestful, yet as far as may be from the lethargy of mere re- pose.

"The speckled trout of this region, though not so large as their Long Island kindred, are more in num- ber; growing in weight as the fisher wanders down the current, and leaping at his fly with a lusty moun- tain vigor-a spring like the quiver of a sword-blade.

"The Vandermark and Sawkill flow through the village of Milford ; lower down, and at intervals of a league, are the Raymondskill, Adams', Dingman's and the Bushkill, each with attractions peculiar to itself. The Sawkill Falls are somewhat widely known; their grace is the despair of the painter and delight of young and old. Sawkill Glen is another beauty-spot, in the heart of Milford.

" But the Raymondskill is the acknowledged mon- arch of our Milford fluviarchy. It rises miles above them all, in a vast wilderness, where the springs out- last the summer drouth and winter cold, and yield a constant torrent for its craggy bed. I have never fished upward to its source, choosing rather to think of the wild wood as perpetual, stretching into trackless westering regions, the cover of mysteries and snares. I am told that venison and bear's meat repay the hunters who strike boldly out from Blooming Grove Park at fall-tide of the year. But let my reader make his first acquaintance with the Raymondskill, where it is a swift, full stream, coursing through farmers' meadows on the upper plateau. Drive thither at sun- rise of a bright, June morning, and spend a golden day, angling, if you like, along its banks. In an hour you reach the cataract and ruined dam at 'Goosey's,' below which a series of the loveliest swift-waters and miniature cascades will tempt you, by another hour's

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journey, within sight of the spray and sound of the roar of the greater Raymondskill Falls.

" Here is a cleft in the mountain, wide and deep, where the brook takes its grandest leaps from the higher to the lower world. The upper fall is a double cataract, higher than the broad, magnificent fall. The two are so near each other as to form one picture to the eye. I do not know the exact height of the upper or lower fall, but it is not the dimensions of a cataract that make it poetical and inspiring. All these mat- ters are relative, and, for one, I have had more pleas- ure in gazing at the Raymondskill Falls than at Ni- agara itself.

" From the cliff, on the left of the dark pool below, is shaken down the filmy transparent 'Bridal Veil.' Every waterfall has a Bridal Veil, but this is the Laureate's veritable " slow-dropping veil of the thinnest lawn.' Here I will leave my angler to meditate awhile, and drink his fill of that beauty in which Weir and Beard Whittrege have loved to dip their pencils. He has still before him a mile of devious windings-filled with witching nooks-ere he can gain the river-side, and set his feet toward Milford."

GEOLOGY OF THE LOCALITY-MILFORD AND DING- MAN TOWNSHIPS.1

Milford township lies directly west from Westfall, and, like it, is bordered by the Delaware River on the south. It drains into the Delaware through Sawkill and Vandemark Creeks.

Between the mouths of these streams at Milford there is a wide and beautiful terrace, whose top comes one hundred to one hundred and twenty feet above the level of the Delaware River, and makes the site of Milford the county-seat. It is a great bed of rehandled morainic débris, and is seen along the river in an almost vertical mass one hundred feet high, in which occur boulders of Oneida conglomerate, Cor- niferous limestone, Hamilton sandstone, Chemung and Catskill rocks, together with much fine sand and gravel.

The Drift has exerted a not inconsiderable influ- ence on the topography of this area, since a great dam of moraine thrown across the ancient channel of the Sawkill near Mr. G. Hamilton's, two and a half- miles above its mouth, caused it to seek a new outlet to the Delaware over the cliffs of the Hamilton sand- stone, and thus resulted in producing the "Sawkill Falls," where the stream passes over the high escarp- ment ofthe Delaware hills.

In pre-glacial times the Sawkill waters, instead of going over the present falls, passed by a channel now buried with Drift, which runs from where the Milford and Owego pike crosses that stream, southeastward to the old valley in which the Milford water-works are situated, and then continuing along this old valley it received the Raymondskill near Milford, the com-

bined streams finally emptying into the Delaware di- rectly under the present site of that town.

This is known to be true, because the " divide" of Drift which now separates the Sawkill from the old valley is only twenty-five feet high, and because the only water carried in the old valley comes from two or three springs, and yet this valley is cut down more than one hundred feet below the level of the top of Sawkill Falls, through the same series of rocks, while the bed-rock is still concealed by an unknown thick- ness of Drift. It is simply impossible that a feeble stream, such as now flows in it, could ever have cut out such a deep, wide, valley ; and, on the other hand, it is equally improbable that the large volume of water carried by the Sawkill could rush over its steep descent for untold ages without cutting its channel down to the depth at least as great as that of small streams like Vandemark and Quick Creeks, just above.

In passing up the present channel of the Sawkill, from the Delaware River, three hundred and eighty feet, A. T., there occurs a succession of cascades. The first one is one-quarter mile above the mouth of the stream, and begins at four hundred and ten feet, A. T. The rock is a dark, sandy slate ( Marcellus), and a dam thrown across its centre gives a fall of 20 feet for the mills situated just below.

On above this the stream meanders through a dense grove bounded on either side by steep banks of Drift. This part of the Sawkill channel is known as the " Glen," and it forms a delightful retreat for the sum- mer borders who throng Milford every year. At the head of the Glen, and directly opposite the main street of Milford, the Sawkill makes a second plunge of eighteen feet over a dam, and the dark-bluish, sandy slates of the Marcellus, dipping N. 25° W. 13º. The channel below the dam is a gorge only 30 feet wide, with vertical walls of slate, but on above this the chan- nel widens out into a considerable valley, the ancient course of the Sawkill.

About one mile above the mouth of the Sawkill, and just below where the road crosses it, a gray, coarse and somewhat massive-looking sandy rock comes down, dipping 12º-14º N. 20° W. Its bedding planes exhibit numerous irregular layers with curly or twisted structure, and it belongs to the Hamilton proper, since, just above, many bold, massive beds dip under water at an angle of 15° N. 25° W.

One mile and a quarter above the mouth of the Sawkill the base of the third fall is reached at an elevation of five hundred and ten feet, A. T., or one hundred and thirty feet above the Delaware. This is a constant succession of cascades one to twenty feet high, through a vertical distance of fifty feet ; and, seen from below, is one of the most fascinating views on the stream. At the top of this " Bridal Veil " fall, as it is called, the stream has cut a narrow channel through the rock 10 feet deep, but only 5 feet wide at top, so that one can easily step across the channel, even when it is much swollen.

1 From the Second Geological Survey of Pennsylvania.

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

About one and three-quarter miles from the Dela- ware one comes to the Sawkill Falls proper, the level of the water in the pool at the base being six hundred feet, A. T.

The structure of this fall is sufficient evidence to any one that the Sawkill has not always flowed over its walls.

Beginning one-quarter mile up the stream from the main falls, we find the Sawkill flowing between banks of Drift, which it here cuts through, and rapid- ly excavates a long, narrow canon out of the Genesee shale. This trench is 110 feet deep where the falls begin, only about fifty feet wide at top and ten to fifteen feet at the bottom.

The first descent is a fall of twenty feet in two cas- cades over the fossil coral bed at the base of the Gene- see; then the stream spreads out on a broad, gently- sloping platform of gray Hamilton rock, to fall into the great abyss below in a vertical plunge of sixty feet. Leaving the pool at the base of the huge am- phitheatre here excavated, the water passes through a channel only two and one-half feet wide, with a fall of fifteen feet down into a chasm only two feet ten inches wide, but overhung with rocky walls seventy- five feet high.

The fossil coral bed at the top of the large fall is a dark-blue slaty rock filled with corals, and also many fossil shells.

In Dingman township the effects of the Glacial moraine in changing the course of streams is also plainly marked in for the evidence proving that the Raymondskill once emptied into the Sawkill above Milford is complete.

The Raymondskill Creek now empties into the Delaware three miles below Milford, but in pre-glacial times it left its present channel 23 miles west from the Delaware, and going northeastward, descended the present valley of Mott's Run, uniting with the ancient Sawkill somewhere under the present site of Milford. That the Raymondskill once took this course is cer- tain, because an old drift-buried valley leads across from the Raymondskill near J. Brink's to the Sawkill at Milford, and at no point does it rise higher than 20 feet above the bed of the Raymondskill at Brink's. The character of the present Raymondskill channel below Brink's, is also proof of its recent origin, for it descends about 450 feet in two miles, being a constant succession of rapids and falls, with one grand leap (at Raymondskill Falls) of 125 feet.

In ascending the Raymondskill from its mouth to the foot of the Raymondskill Falls, one mile above, the ascent of the stream is only one hundred feet above the Delaware. The stream, however, has cut a deep, narrow canon out of the soft Marcellus slate all the way from the foot of the falls until its chan- nel debouches into the Delaware valley.

The Raymondskill Falls is a spot of surpassing scenic beauty. The stream has there cut a deep, narrow gorge through the Hamilton ridge, and at the

bottom of this it descends through a vertical distance of one hundred and twenty-five feet in two succes- sive leaps, excavating a beautiful glen, overhung with vertical walls of pine-clad rock two hundred feet high, into whose depths the sun never shines. The upper is known as " High Falls " and the lower as " Bridal Veil." The water first makes a plunge of eighty feet over the "High Falls " into a deep pool, and passing out of this in a narrow channel worn into the rock, descends forty-five feet vertically over the " Bridal Veil."

The bed rock is hard, bluish-gray Hamilton sand- stone, and dips N. 25° W. 15°-17º. Owing to its de- licious coolness in the hottest weather, this locality is a favorite resort of pleasure parties, and many thousands visit it during the heated term.

From the top of the Raymondskill Falls up to where the road crosses it the descent of the stream is quite rapid, and cascades are frequent, the eleva- tion at the bridge being six hundred and seventy- five feet (A. T.) a fall of three hundred and ten feet in the one mile and a quarter from this point to the Delaware.

BIOGRAPHICAL.

HENRY SPERING MOTT.

Henry Spering Mott was born at Easton, Pa., September 23, 1811, and died in Milford June 1, 1877. His father was Edward Mott, and his mother a daughter of General Spering, who was a general of militia in the War of 1812, and was prothonotary of Northampton County for twenty-five years.

The Motts removed to Pike County when Henry was a young man, and he became jus- tice of the peace in Lehman township in 1834. In 1838 he was elected sheriff of the coun- ty, but the Governor (Ritner) issued the commission to John W. Heller. In 1839 he was appointed prothonotary by Gov- ernor Porter, and was elected to this office in 1842, but declined a re-election in favor of John C. Westbrook. In 1852 he was elected to the Lower House of the General Assembly, and again in 1853. In 1854 he was nomi- nated by the Democrats as land commissioner, against George Darsie, one of the most respect- ed and popular Whigs in the State, and was elected by an unprecedented majority-190,- 743-the whole poll being less than 375,000

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votes. James Pollock, the Whig candidate for Governor at the same time, was elected by a majority of 37,007. Mott received more than three times as many votes as were given to his opponent, the whole vote being,-for Mott, 274,074; for Darsie, 83,331. Darsie being a foreigner, the Know-Nothings prefer- . red Mott, a fact which subjected the latter to the unjust suspicion that he was secretly affili- ated with the Know-Nothing organization.

Mr. Mott was twice married, his first wife being Hannah Bull, whom he married Janu- ary 31, 1832 ; and his second, Delinda Peters, daughter of the late Henry Peters, of Bush- kill, and sister of Samuel G., Charles and Wil- liam N. Peters, and of Mrs. Henry M. La Bar, who still survive. By his first marriage he had four children, only one of whom survives, - Mrs. Jacob Kleinhans, of Milford. By his second wife he also had four children, two of

smoth

This suspicion, however, was not entertained by the Democrats of his own county, who elect- ed him to the State Senate in 1860, and to the Constitutional Convention of 1873. In both branches of the Legislature Mr. Mott was con- spicuous and effective, by reason of his strong common sense and native force of character. During the sessions of the Constitutional Con- vention he was in feeble health, physically, and unable to exert himself to the extent of his na- tural inclination and intellectual ability.

whom survive,-Charles Peters and Samuel Dimmick Mott. Among the nephews of Mr. (usually called Colonel) Mott are Milton Dim- mick Mott, publisher of the Milford Dispatch, and Edward H. Mott, at present connected, editorially, with the New York Sun,-the author of "Pike County Folks," and of a great number of amusing hunting, fishing and " old settler " stories connected with the Pike County region.

Colonel Mott was, in many respects, a re-

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA

markable man. Without early advantages of education, such as are now enjoyed by young men of his class, he was able, by reason of his natural ability, force of character, pleasing presence and winning address, to outstrip many of his compeers, whose circumstances of fortune in early life were far more favorable than his. He was a man of imposing appearance, person- ally,-botlı tall and broad, of pleasing counte- nance, suave manner and graceful action. He was jolly and generous, grave and gay, as oc- casion required ; kind to the distressed ; soci- ally agreeable to all classes, and, of course, un- enviably popular. He was Pike County's fa- vorite citizen, and his merits eventually became known throughout the State, in which but few men were more widely or more favorably known than was Colonel Mott during most of the second half of his life. At Harrisburg, when he was a member of the Legislature, and ever after, he was held in the highest respect, and had a host of warm friends and admirers in Philadelphia. His great vote in 1854 made him a marked man ; but it was soon learned that he was not a mere creature of accident, but a man of naturally broad gauge and genuine merit, who well deserved his " big majority." His official conduct as canal commissioner fully justified that majority ; and in every office he held he performed his duties with the utmost integrity, as well as intelligence and efficiency. In his private business and affairs he was both generous and just, though perliaps not always just to himself, his generosity often prevailing over prudence or proper regard for his own ill- terest. He was noted for kindness of heart, and his politeness was more than " skin deep," being naturally prompted by good feeling for all.

Colonel Mott was a natural gentleman, and all who knew him instinctively recognized this fact. He was utterly free from hypocrisy, in every respect, and heartily despised it in others. He did not profess Christianity, but practiced it in all his dealings with his fellow-men. He was a manly man and a true man, and, conse- quently, a Christian man. He fulfilled his duty in both private life and public life, and never betrayed a trust, great or small.

Colonel Mott was an honor to Pike County, and it is but proper that he should be pro- nounced and set down as such in this history.

JOHN C. WESTBROOK.

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 145

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co. Number of Pages: 1438

Author: Mathews, Alfred, 1852-1904. 4n
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : R.T. Peck & Co.
Number of Pages: 1438