History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 173

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 173
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 173
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 173

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).

Peter Zimmerman says : "John V. Bush's was the next place after passing Michael Wal- ters' to the south, and near it was the old De Puy place. George Bush also lived at Shawnee, where Hiram La Bar now resides. There was no one living between Shawnee and my father's, at Branchville, in 1812. Adam Smith was the first blacksmith that I recall. He lived about one-half mile east of East Stroudsburg, where Philip Smith now is located. I knew Captain Turn. He and Captain Dietrick were captains of two companies of drafted men in the War of 1812.

" Philip Schrader was a captain in the Revo- lutionary War. He led a company of militia

from Smithfield against the Connecticut settlers at Wyoming in 1784. He was the first store- keeper in Shawnee, from 1797 to 1816. He was also a land speculator, had a good educa- tion and, it was said, was master of several lan- guages. A Presbyterian by the name of Deal, who preached in New Jersey, occasionally offi- ciated in Shawnee. Old Captain Schrader, who was shrewd in an argument, would keep the preachers and draw them into discussions and arguments.

" Jacob, Elias and John Transue, brothers, all lived in Smithfield. Jacob Transue, Esq., was on the hills, about two and one-half miles from Shawnee. He was the only justice of the peace for a great distance when the territory was Northampton County. His son Isaac was justice of the peace after him. Elias Transue lived about one mile northeast of Shawnee, on Mo- sier or Transue Knob. It is one of the high- est points in the county, and affords a very ex- tended view. He raised a large family, and many of his descendants are still in this region. John Transue lived north of the home of Elias. His sons were Abram, who was in Pocono township; Jacob, who lived near Buttermilk Falls; and John, who retained the homestead and attained his eighty-fourth year. Frank Transue, a school-teacher, has the homestead, and Isaac R. Transue keeps a boarding-house at Shawnee." Mr. Zimmerman remembers the Fishies, who were an old family. "John Fish was a farmer and tanner, and weighed two hun- dred and fifty pounds. Abner and Eleazer were laborers on farms. They had large fami- lies." Peter Landers was a tavern-keeper, farmer and justice of the peace. His son John went to Phillipsburg and has become rich.

Old Captain Schrader built a stone store- house at Shawnee in 1810, and engaged in the mercantile business for a number of years. After his death there was for some time no store in Shawnee. In 1840 Charles R. and Joseph V. Wilson bought the Schrader estate, in what was then called Bushtown, and began store- keeping in the same building that Schrader had occupied. Soon after a post-office was estab- lished, which they called Shawnee, with a week- ly mail from Stroudsburg to Bushkill, the

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other offices being at Peter Treible's and John Turn's. They purchased and refitted the old De Puy grist-mill at Shawnee. After the death of Joseph V. Wilson, in 1856, Charles R. Wil- son continued the business for a short tinie, when Stokes & Dreher managed it for two years, after which store-keeping was discon- tinued in the stone building. Meanwhile Sam uel Dietrick built a store-house directly opposite Wilson's and Heller & Walker placed in it a stock of goods. J. D. La Bar bought Walker's interest and with Heller established the store where La Bar is now located. In 1859 A. D. Freece purchased the Dietrick building and en- gaged in mercantile business for twenty-two years. The Wilson brothers were energetic business men, having also a store in Strouds- burg. Joseph V. Wilson was one of the first elders and founders of the Presbyterian Church in Stroudsburg.

THE DELAWARE RIVER .- The Delaware River takes its rise about one hundred and nine- ty miles nearly directly north of the Delaware Water Gap. In a depression on the west side of the Catskill Mountain lies a secluded little sheet of transparent water, retaining its euphonic Indian name, " Utsayantha." The lake is ele- vated eighteen hundred and eighty-eight feet above tide-water, and from its outlet the Mo- hock, or main branch of the Delaware River, takes its departure to the ocean. The surround- ings of Lake Utsayantha are said to be very wild and pieturesque, and in itself is a mirror of beauty in a wilderness of woods, so secluded that it would seem that few, save the red men, have ever gazed upon it in its solitary serenity.

From its source the stream flows in a west- wardly direction to Deposit, a distance of forty miles, where it receives a tributary from the north, called "Oquago," from thence south till it unites with the " Popaeton " branch, which has its rise also in the Catskill and flows nearly parallel with the Mohock. Opposite the junc- tion of these two rivers, forming the Delaware, enters the " Shahokin " braneh from the west. The waters of the three streams, with several tributaries, make at this place a strong, beauti- ful river, the general direction of which for the next ninety miles by the course of the

stream is southeast till reaching Port Jervis. The Great and Little Equinunk, both flowing from the west, are the next tributaries of im- portance. (On the latter stream, at " Cushu- tunk Falls," a settlement was made, in 1757, by people from Connecticut, to the evident concern of the " Pennamites " in the Minisink.)

The Lackawaxen (Lechawacsein) enters the Delaware from the west also, and with its two extensive branches, Middle Creek and the Wal- lenpaupack (Wallinkpapeek), adds largely to the volume of the main stream. (Near the mouth of the Lackawaxen was fought the unfortunate battle of the Minisink, in 1779.)

Five miles farther on enters another beauti- ful stream, with also another pretty Indian name, " Shohola," or, more correctly and prettier still, " Sholocta." (It is near the mouth of this river where the northern boundary line of the " Walking Purchase " terminated, embracing more than a thousand square miles of territory beyond what the poor Indians supposed they were selling, and including all of their beloved Minisink.)

The Naversink, or Mammakatonk, enters the Delaware from the east at Port Jervis ; the Bushkill from the west at the town of that name, thirty miles south of Port Jervis. This stream is the dividing line between Monroe and Pike Counties. (Fort Hyndshaw was erected here in 1756, and, according to James Young " the commissioner general of ye Musters," who visited it in July, 1756, it stood "on the bank of a-large creek and about a quarter of a mile from the river Delaware." It is thought now by some to have stood on the high grounds south of the road, near Maple Grove, and about three-fourths of a mile from the river. Com- missioner Young describes the journey from Depui's at Shawnee as " over a good plain road, many plantations, but all deserted, and the houses chiefly burnt. Found at the Fort Lieut. James Hyndshaw with 25 men. The Capt. (Jno. Van Etten) with five men went up the river yesterday ; they had been informed from the Jerseys that 6 Indians had been seen and fired at the night before, etc.) "

Brodhead Creek, a large tributary, and Cherry Creek empty into the Delaware near

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

each other and two miles to the north of the " Gap."

There are scores of smaller streams along the entire course of this river, for the extent named. Upon many of these are found the numerous water-falls, for which the tributaries of the Upper Delaware are justly celebrated. The line of cliffs extending through Monroe and Pike Counties, running northeast and south- west, are for thirty miles up the Delaware especially noted for the number and beauty of its water-falls. This range of hills is composed of Hamilton sandstone, a dark shale rock, over which the streams have cut their way, forming picturesque glens and cascades. The carriage road from Bushkill to Milford passes along the river at the base. The exposed portions of the rocks are rendered frangible by the action of the elements, and break in their angular fragments, which are deposited in large quantities, and afford abundant material for building and keep- ing in repair a road that is remembered with pleasure by all who pass over it.

The timber of the Delaware region has been floated down the river to build up towns and cities ; the land cleared and under cultivation where was once the abode of the wolf and pan- ther, and where lierds of deer roamed unmo- lested now dwell prosperous farmers. The areas of swamp are now green meadows, and on its once heavy-timbered bottoms and hill-sides the wheat and corn grow, and domestic animals feed. But the Delaware has become changed and fitful in its altered surroundings ; its former flood tides, lasting for weeks, now disappear in as many days. The swamps and forests that once retarded the flow of water and furnished a reservoir, have now by cultivation become a vast water- shed, whose surplus is hurried on to flood the swollen river.

There is a history in every stream aside from that of the human beings who inhabit its borders. A personal history, so to speak, dating from the time when its waters were first gathered and sent forth on their united journey to the ocean ; flowing on unheard by human ear, before the red men knew it, or the wild animals came to hide in the forest where it ran, flowed on per- haps in the silent ages, when no living thing

inhabited its waters, nor trees grew upon its banks.

The Delaware has been called by a variety of names. It was the favorite river of the well-known confederated nation of Indians, the " Lenni Lenape," and was honored by the be- stowal upon it of the name of this ancient people " Lenapewihittuck," Lenape River, or the river of the Lenape.

The Swedes on the Lower Delaware, in the early part of the seventeenth century, heard the river called by the Indians, " Pautaxet." In a deed to William Penn, in 1682, it is named "Mackeriskickon," and in another paper, " Zunikoway ; " it has also been called by In- dians living on the Delaware " Kithanne " and " Gitchanne," signifying the main streamn. The Indians near the head of the Delaware, it is said, called it " Lamasepose," signifying Fish River. The Hollanders named it " Zuydt " or South River, in contradistinction to North or Hudson ; also Fish River. As is well known, it derives its present name from Lord De la Ware, who visited the bay in 1610.

THE DELAWARE WATER GAP .- The Dela- ware Water Gap is an opening in the Blue Mountains admitting the passage of the Dela- ware River on its journey to the ocean.

The mountain has been rent asunder, or sep- arated at the time of the upheaval, which, if but a crevice at first, has, by the crosion of ages, widened the passage to allow the easy flow of the river, and to a depth below the general sur- face-level of the surrounding country. The mountain is composed of Oneida conglomerate and Medina sandstone, among the oldest and most enduring of rock structure ; yet Professor Lewis and other geologists tell us that some thousands of feet of strata, including the coal- beds, once lay on top of this region, and have all been gradually eroded and washed into the sea by the wear of the elements.

It is interesting as well as important for every one to know something of the character of the rocks that define the topographical features of the country he inhabits ; for it is to the en- during quality of one class of rocks that the mountains stand forth from age to age, to human observation unchanged, and to the yielding

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properties of others, that the lesser liills are clothed in verdure, and the valleys made to yield their abundant increase, while adding diversity and beauty to the landscape. The country between the Blue Ridge and the Pocono presents a varied and interesting class of rock exposure for geological investigation. Passing rapidly over the series northward, after leaving the Medina sandstone of the Blue Ridge, we find in Cherry Valley, and on the side approaching the mountain, the Clinton red shale; in the latter position it is striated and grooved by tlie glacial movement, the largest glacial groove in the State being formed on Table Rock, near the Delaware Water Gap. The next formation in the order of geologi- cal age is the Oriskany sandstone on Godfrey's Hill, overlying the Lower Helderberg limestone, of which, in part, this long, irregular and beauti- ful range of hills is composed, known besides the general name of "Godfrey's," as Crystal Hill, in Cherry Valley ; Fox Hill, between Water Gap and Stroudsburg ; Mount Lewis, just east of Brodhead's Creek ; Shawnee Hill, east of Marshall's Creek ; and Walpack Ridge, at its northeastern extremity, near Bushkill. Next following in order is the Cauda-galli grit, a dark gray slaty rock, finely exposed near Pipher's Mill, on Marshall's Creek. This is overlaid in many places by the corniferous ( Upper Helderberg) limestone, in which are found nodules of chert or hornstone, the finer qualities of which were used by the Indians in making arrow-points and spear-heads. Following the Helderberg limestone appears the Marcellus black shale, an exposure of which is passed be- fore reaching Marshall's Falls.

It is seen in various portions of the county, and is the deceptive material in which so much moncy has been spent in the vain search for coal. At Marshall's Falls we find the Hamil- ton sandstone, a dark shale roek, extending far up the Delaware. Next in geological order is the Genesce black slate, the Chemung gray sand- stone and the Catskill red sandstone. In the last two arc found the valuable flagstone quarries of this county. The last of this series is the Pocono gray sandstone, the rugged material of which that mountain is composed.

A number of theories liave been advanced in reference to the formation of the Water Gap, perhaps the most satisfactory and comprehen- sive of which is the one by Professor Lewis, of Philadelphia, and which is published in this connection.

It is an interesting subject for geological inquiry. All theories admit at least the partial barrier to the passage of the stream at some period of its history. To the geological evi- dence in proof of this, and the submergence of the valley north of the mountain, and the sub- sequent subsidence of the waters, revealing the lesser hills and extensive plains, can only be added the dim traditions of a people, who, like the traditional lake, has forever passed away. It is not necessary, however, to solve the origin of the existence of the Water Gap to enjoy its beautiful surroundings. Views are obtained from many points of great extent-from the higher elevations, as far as the eye can reach, comprehending mountains and hills, villages, cultivated fields and primitive forests, the river in its sinuous journey, filling up the picture. The escarpment at the point of dislodgment is more bold on the New Jersey portion of the mountain, the mean of the angle of the entire elevation being about fifty degrees, while the cliffs, as seen from the gorge, exhibit sections of perpendicular descent. On the Pennsylvania mountain the general slope from the summit to the river is less precipitous, a mass of talus having been detached from the crest by the action of the elements, and, pouring lava-like down its sides, has covered the surface to the depth of many feet, concealing the ragged pro- jections that characterize the face of the oppo- site mountain.

The whole scene is very impressive when viewed from a boat on the river. The serpen- tine course of the stream around the base of a spur of the main mountain retards the force of the current before it reaches the defile, and it has here the calm, placid beauty of a lake.

" Kittatinny" is the name by which the Blue Mountains or Blue Ridge was known by the Indians, and meant in their language " End- less Hills."

The Water Gap was known by them as

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" Pohoqualin," meaning in their language "a river between two mountains." There was an Indian town of that name on the old Van Campen property, known later as the Ribble farm.

THE ORIGIN OF THE DELAWARE WATER GAP.'

" One of the first questions arising in the mind of an intelligent traveler looking upon that great gate- way in the mountains known as the Delaware Water Gap is as to its origin. How did Nature produce this gap? Are there other gaps like this one ? Was it made by some great 'convulsion of Nature' or is it the result of the slow wearing away of countless ages ? Many answers have been given to these questions but it is only after patient observation of thic methods of Nature's operation and a careful comparison of phe- nomena at many localities that an answer approach- ing the truth may be hazarded.

" The Delaware Water Gap is one of a series of similar gaps which cut through almost every moun- tain range in Pennsylvania. While probably none of them equal the Delaware Water Gap in beauty, most of them are formed after the same general plan and are due to the same causes ; the harder the rock, the more picturesque are the walls of the gap, while a soft rock on either side of the gap permits the river to wind about among more gentle slopes.

" One of the first lessons that a student of geology must clearly impress upon his mind is that Nature has worked in past ages as she works now, slowly and uniformly ; this doctrine of uniformitarianism is one of the best established maxims of modern geologists. Mountains were formed by the slow motion of the earth's crust, precisely as they are being formed now ; just as we now know that the New Jersey coast is sinking, while the California and the Norwegian coasts are rising, so in ancient times slow upheaval and depression has made mountains or depressions. This movement of the crust is due to the gradual contraction of the earth as it cools from its former fluid condition ; just as the skin of an apple forms into wrinkles as the apple shrinks, so the crust of the earth forms into ridges and mountains as its interior con- tracts.

" The Kittatinny Mountains, like the other moun- tains of the State, was pushed up by lateral pressure, due to this contraction ; the strata were originally laid horizontally at the bottom of a great inland ocean which extended from here to the Rocky Mountains, and in which, as proved by their fossil remains, there swarmed myriads of living creatures, all long since extinct. The sands of that ocean were in the course of time hardened into sandstone, and long afterwards pushed up slowly and gradually into the form of a great wave, a portion of which is now called the Kit-

tatinny Mountain. As this great wave was being formed, it chanced that here and there the massive strata gave way under the pressure and instead of bending into huge arches, cracked transversely, form- ing what geologists call faults. These cracks or faults were lines of weakness, and when the rains and winds and frosts began their work of removal, known as erosion, these cracks were naturally worn down more rapidly than the unbroken rock on either side, and a gap began to be formed. While these great forces of erosion, slowly but surely were eating down the great mountain wave, so that, only one side of it re- mains, at the same time the gap was just as slowly being deepened, streams began to run across it and finally the Delaware itself found its way through the natural chasm and its waters continued enlarging it to this day.

" The origin of the Delaware Water Gap was a small crack, made when the mountain was being upraised, which crack has been gradually enlarged by atmos- pheric agencies till it became a gap.

" There was no catastrophe, no convulsion, no flood bursting its way through. All was done slowly through the work of countless ages ; ever since the period when the coal-beds were laid down, millions of years ago, the gap has been gradually deepened.

"The proofs of the foregoing statement are many. Careful observations in the gap itself will show the presence of the crack or fault referred to. On the Pennsylvania side the rocks are inclined to the hori- zon at a less angle than they are on the New Jersey side. At the same time the whole mountain on the New Jersey side is thrown 700 feet farther North than on the Pennsylvania side, and its crest rises 105 feet higher ; there is evidently a fault, whereby the strata on the northeast side are thrown farther up and far- ther back than those on the southeast. The fault ran across the mountain in a southeast direction. That the fault not only cut through the Kittatinny Moun- tain, but also extended for some miles in a northwest direction, is clearly shown by the structure of the gap in Godfrey's Ridge at Experiment Mills ; on the south- west side of Brodhead's Creek, at this place, the strata (Oriskany sandstone) are nearly horizontal, while just opposite the same strata are perpendicular, and the axis of the hill is at the same time displaced farther north. It is the same fault which runs through the Delaware Water Gap, but it is even more clearly marked.

" At a number of other gaps in the State there is evidence of a fault, although it is nowhere more clear than at the Water Gap ; all theories that gaps are due to glacial action, ocean action, floods or earthquakes, though often urged, are without foundation in fact.

" It may be repeated that the primary cause is a crack, which crack has been widened and deepened by the same slow causes that have removed all the coal-beds from this region. Some 10,000 feet of strata, including the coal-beds, once lay on top of this region,

' By Professor H. Carvill . Lewis.

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and have all been gradually eroded and washed into the sea by the wear of the elements through the lapse of the ages; of this there is the strongest proof. The power of erosion is so enormous that until one has grasped it by his own observation in the field, it is be- yond belief; a gap is a small matter for it to form, compared with the mountains it has removed, and the valleys it has transformed into mountains. The prophecy of the great Isaiah, that 'every valley shall be exalted and every mountain and hill shall be made low ' was literally fulfilled long before the time of Adam."

INDIAN TRAILS .- One of the many subjects that afford interest in connection with the habitation of this region of country by the de- parted' race is the study of their lines of travel- routes chosen by them to facilitate intercourse with each other and with distant tribes, and also to places affording means for the supply of their simple wants; indeed, for just such pur- poses as civilization requires in modern lines of travel, but, of course, to a very limited extent.

It is erroneous to suppose that the Indians roamed about and through the wild woods with undefined purpose or destination ; the directions of these trails were well chosen for ease of travel, and they probably rarely departed from them except in pursuit of game. More of our highways than we imagine are laid upon lines surveyed to us, and well defined long before the country was invaded by us, and before the original possessors were despoiled and driven away.

It must become apparent to those who give attention to the subject, that the Indians lived almost exclusively in the valleys and on the borders of lakes and streams, because here were obtained that upon which they subsisted, -- game, fish, berries, fruits and Indian corn. They could do very little, indeed, with their stone implements in felling trees and clearing forests, and the land cultivated for maize was such as the generous hand of nature furnished them, in the drift and alluvial deposits, made by successive, but irregular, periods of inunda- tion. Along the course of the river, where there is a margin of level land of any extent, we find almost invariably evidenec of the existence of camp-fires in the chiarred wood and heat-dis- colored stoues and clay, disclosed by the crumb- ling earth along the river-bank, and in the

plowed fields adjacent; in such localities are found almost exclusively the Indians' imple- ments of warfare, and those for domestic utility -the stone age, in fact, in all its variety, in- cluding numberless fragmentary specimens of the fictile art; while to find even an arrow- point or spear-head on the mountain is noticeably a rare occurrence. The appearance of some of the newly-plowed fields along the Delaware, in Smithfield, often bring forcibly to mind the beautiful reflections of Thoreau : "I have no desire to go to California or Pike's Peak, but I often think at night, with inexpressible satis- faction and yearning, of the arrow-headiferous sands of Concord. I have often spent whole afternoons, especially in the spring, pacing back and forth over a sandy field looking for these relics of a by-gone race. This is the gold which our sands yield. The soil of that rocky spot of Simon Brown's land is quite ash-colored (now that the sod is turned up) from Indian fires, with numerous pieces of coal in it. There is a great deal of this ash-colored soil in the country : we do literally plow up the hearts of a people, and plant in their ashes."

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 173

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