History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 58

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 58
USA > Pennsylvania > Pike County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 58
USA > Pennsylvania > Wayne County > History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania > Part 58

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).

"No valuable minerals or metals will ever be found in these rocks, and the pretended discov- ery of gold and silver by the ' practical miners ' in several portions of the district is only a pre- tence by which impostors have managed to sc- cure free board and pocket money at the expense of their deluded victims. The only mineral in quantities of any value in the county is the coal found in the edge of Clinton.

" With the exception of a few acres in eastern Clinton, there are not and could not be any workable coal-beds in any portion of the county. The reason is that from the Carbondale region the rocks that hold the coal rise toward the east, north and west at a very rapid rate, varying from five hundred to one thousand fect to the mile for about three miles, so that this shoots

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

all the coal-beds far above the tops of the higliest hills and mountains, and when such peaks as Elk Mountain, Ararat and Sugar Loaf would have to be a thousand feet higher than now to catch any valuable beds of coal in their summits, it can very readily be seen by any one that there is no prospect for new coal dis- coveries in Wayne, since the summits' of these mountains are even now nearly one thousand feet higher than the general level. It is possi- ble and extremely probable that the greater por- tion of the county was once covered with the same coal-beds that occur in the vicinity of Scranton and Carbondale, but have been worn away and lost through the tremendous erosion of the Glacial epoch, and that of all previous and subsequent ages. The Scranton Valley coals were saved from this wasting process be- cause they were folded downward far below the general level in the shape of an inverted arch, and have thus escaped destruction in part.

" The Bradford and Oil Creek oil horizons un- derly all of Wayne County, but it is extremely doubtful whether any number of drillings would reveal the oil itself. The few that have been made resulted in failure."

Of the soils of the county Mr. White gives the following account, with some practical sug- gestions concerning their improvement, and for the dissemination of this knowledge we can better afford space than we can for a long tech- nical description of the geology of the country :

" The soils of the county," says he, " have been largely derived from the decomposition of roeks in situ, sinee the hill-slopes are generally so steep that the Drift is seldom found remain- ing on them except in scattered patches. The Catskill system furnishes almost all of the sur- face rocks. in this district, and the soils have been largely derived either from their gradual decay or trituration by glacial action.

" The red shales of the Catskill have proba- bly contributed more to the formation of the soil than any other part of it, and it is the uni- versal testimony of the farmers that the 'red shale soils' are generally stronger and richer than any others. The amount of alkalies in the shale doubtless accounts for the fertility of its soil, since the quantity of lime and phosphoric

acid is not sufficient to have any marked influ- ence for good. But while the red shale soils are usually the best in the district, it is equally true that only in isolated patches and in favorable localities are there any really first-class soils within the county. The great body of the sur- face is covered by a thin sandy soil of very little natural fertility, and except in the vicinity of swamps, where a great thickness of decayed vegetable material has accumulated, and along some of the larger streams, where the Drift de- posits are extensive, there is not much land within the district that will produce abundant crops until it has been fertilized artificially. The hill-slopes are steep and the surface gener- ally rugged. Excellent crops of grass grow on almost any of the soils.

" The great need of the soils is lime, and the more sandy soils are furnishing it. There are no pure limestone strata in the Catskill series, but there are a great many layers of impure calca- reous conglomerate or breccia interstratified with the shales and sandstone of this series. Huge fragments of this kind of rock lie scattered about over a large portion of the district, blaek- ened by exposure to the air.

" These 'Nigger-heads' contain from ten to sixty-five per cent. of lime, and might often be burned to great advantage for lime manure. Many of the farmers have noticed the fact that the grass grows greener and richer near them, their lime being dissolved out by every shower to enrich the surrounding soil. But very few farmers have the least idea that these rocks contain enough lime to be of any service for burning. Mr. Schenk, of Cherry Ridge, is per- haps the only resident of the district who has tried a kiln, and he reports that the good effect upon his crops has been more marked than when he used the best stable manure.

" These boulders are so thickly strewn over some portions of Wayne County as to be a se- rious nuisance. Two birds could be killed with one stone-the land cleaned and the soil manurcd-by breaking up and burning them into lime. Even those of them least rich in lime might be turned to account, if farmers in clearing their lands would only build and burn their log-lieaps over and around these rocks. By

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WAYNE COUNTY.

this means they would get such a roasting that the smaller ones would slack down, while a large coating of lime would fall away from the larger ones after every such operation."

STREAMS, LAKES AND PONDS .- The drain- age of the whole county may be, in general terms, described as eastern,-that is, into the Delaware,-for the territory lies wholly on the eastern slope of the great water-shed, which is divided by the Moosic. This water-shed is, however, split into northern and southern slopes, and so it happens that very few of the streams have an actual eastward course. The subordinate divide or ridge from which these minor slopes descend curves toward the south- east, running in a direction rudely parallel with the course of the Delaware, and, six to ten miles west of it, finally terminates in a nar- row ridge at the river, near Lackawaxen.

The streanis which flow from the northern and eastern slopes of this subordinate water- shed are small. Beginning at the north, they are Strawder's, Chehocton, Big Equinunk, Lit- tle Equinunk, Hollister's, Cashe's and Calkin's Creeks. Mast Hope Creek drains a portion of Berlin township through a corner of Pike County into the Delaware.

The Lackawaxen, the main stream of the county, drains the eastern slope of the Moosic water-shed, and the southern and western slopes of the curving subordinate divide, of which mention has been made. Its drainage basin constitutes about two-thirds of the area of Wayne County. It has been extremely useful as .an outlet for lumber and other pro- ducts, and by its banks have been built a canal and railroad which have superseded it as car- riers. It is not only the most important but the most historic stream in the county.1 Long

1 The Lackawaxen is very frequently mentioned in this work, especially in the general history and Chapter IV. of Wayne County (on Internal Improvements). Hon. George H. Rowland, who lives upon the banks of the stream, has summed up as follows the legislative enactments concern- ing it :

"In 1771 the Lechawaxen (as it was then called) was declared a public highway by the General Assembly up to the falls thereof (wherever that might have been) ; I think it must have had reference to the falls near Hawley. In 1791 the General Assembly appropriated two hundred and

a public highway, it has recently been by law released from serving in that capacity and it is probable that in a few years its waters will be largely used as a motive-power for great manu- factories.

The principal affluents of the Lackawaxen are the Dyberry, which empties into it at Hones- dale; the Middle Branch, which comes in at Hawley ; and the Wallenpaupack, which flows from the southwest, and reaching it just below Middle Creek, pours a considerable torrent into it over the cliffs of Paupack Falls. This is the most picturesque stream of the county, and has many falls and dashing rapids, varied by darkling, quiet pools. It flows a tortuous course, often between precipitous banks, along a rock-fretted channel, and again placidly through broad bot- tom lands.

The lakes of Wayne County form one of its most remarkable physical features and chief beauties. There are no less than seventy-six lakes and ponds within the limits of the county, some clustered about the heads of the streams and others having no visible inlet-in fact, immense springs. These lakelets vary in size

fifty pounds for the improvement of the navigation of the Lechawaxen, and authorized the Governor to appoint com- missioners to contract with parties to do the work.

" Again, by act of February 1, 1808, the Lackawaxen (in this act it is first spelled as we now spell it) is declared a public highway from the falls thereof to Dybery Forks and thence up the Dybery and West Branch to the great falls of its respective branches.

" By act of March 26, 1814, the west branch of the Lackawaxen from Colonel Seely's mills to Silas Kellogg's, in Mt. Pleasant township, was declared a public highway.

" By act of the 13th of March, 1823, Maurice Wurts was authorized to built a slack-water navigation from Wagner's Gap, in the county of Luzerne, to Rix, Gap in the county of Wayne, and thence to mouth of Lackawaxen, in such a manner that boats and rafts might descend at least one day in seven, unless impeded by ice or high water, with channel not less than twenty feet in width, and boats of not less than ten tons' burden.

" In 1825 an act was passed authorizing the above corpora_ tion to connect with the Delaware and Hudson Canal Company, that had been incorporated by the State of New York.

" By act of 1826 the slack-water navigation was changed to the Delaware and Hudson Canal Campany, and the Company authorized, if they preferred it, to build a canal and to take water from the Lackawaxen and other streams, but required to discharge it into the Delaware River at or ncar the mouth of the Lackawaxeu River.

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

from one to one hundred and fifty acres. Prof. White says : " Many of them are surrounded by dry banks of gravel extending down to the water's edge, with no streams draining into them and ouly a narrow channel cut down through the gravel heap for the outlet. Of course such ponds ean only be fed by springs rising from the bottom. Others again have small feeding streams, and are often surrounded by a great expanse of swamp or marshy lands, thus indi- cating the probable greater expanse of the water in the past.

" The Delaware and Hudson Canal Company has taken advantage of these aneient drained lake basins to seeure a constant supply of water for their eanal from Honesdale to the Delaware River, during the dry seasons of summer and fall. By throwing high dams aeross the narrow outlets of several lakelets tributary to the Laek- awaxen, the surplus rainfall of winter and spring is eaught and stored up to be grad- ually let out through wiekets in the dams when needed in the summer."

These lakes and ponds are most numerous in Preston township, where there are no less than eighteen. The following interesting faets eon- eerning the location, depth and height above tide of these lakes is given by Hon. N. F. Un- derwood, a resident of the township :

Como Lake (1475 feet A. T.) at village of Lake Como; depth, 24 feet ; has two considerable inlets ; outlet into Equinunk waters.

Upper Twin, one-half mile north of Como ; no in- let ; outlet into Lower Twin ; depth, 68 feet.

Lower Twin, one-fourth milc southeast of Upper Twin ; outlet into Equinunk ; depth, 62 feet.

Eastern Spruce, one mile south of Como; no inlet ; outlet into Como; area, 30 to 35 acres; marshy on side next to Como Lake, with large swamp extending to within one-fourth mile of the latter.

Sly, one-fourth mile southeast of Spruce ; no inlet ; outlet into Equinunk ; depth, 59 feet; area, 60 to 70 acres.

Long, one and a half miles south-southwest from Como; no inlet; outlet into Equinunk ; depth, 52 feet.

Seven- Mile, one mile south-southwest from Como; one considerable inlet ; outlet into Equinunk ; depth, 22 feet ; area, about 75 acres.

Coxtown (A. T. 1950 feet), one and a half miles northwest front Preston Centre; no inlet ; outlet into Starrucca Creek ; depth, 47 feet ; area, 80 to 90 acres.

Western Spruce (A. T. 1960 feet), one-half mile south- west from Preston Centre ; small inlet; outlet into Starrucca Creek; depth, 21 feet; area, about 75 acres. Both this and Coxtown have comparatively low sur- roundings.

The shallow ones have comparatively level floors, sometimes exhibiting only a foot or two of variation in two hundred or three hundred yards. The water in the deeper ones is very clear, while in the shallow ones it is eolored like swamp water, their bottoms consisting of soft, vegetable mud to an unknown depth. Without doubt the filling-up process now going on in them has converted many former lakes into the present swamps, and greatly re- dueed the size of others.

Those not previously mentioned in Preston are:

Feet.

Big Hickory Pond

1950

Little Hickory Pond 2000

Bone. 2000

Independent Pond 1950

Pointed Pond. 1975

Five-Mile Pond. 1975

Belmont Lake 1950

Chehocton Pond 1775

Beaver Pond.

In the other townships of Wayne County are the following :

Elevation. Feet.

Four-Mile Pond, Scott

Island 66

1800

Lizard Lake, Buckingham 1250

Preston Lake,

Dillon's 66

Adams

1300

Carr's

1425

High 60

Belmont .6 Mt. Pleasant 1950

Bigelow

Mud Pond 66

Rock Lake

1600

Miller's Pond

Upper Woods Pond, Lebanon 1500

Lower "

1450

Duck Harbor

1350

Rose

Niles

Cline

Damascus

Galilee

Swag

Laurel Lake

1265

Gorham

Pond

Spruce

Oregon

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WAYNE COUNTY.

Elevation, Feet.

Lovelace

Pond, Oregon

Mud

Lower Wilcox

Upper

Day

. .

Cranmer

" in Dyberry tp

First Pond (Glass Factory) " 1460

Second "

1475

Third

Jenning's Pond

White Oak " in Clinton tp

1375

Elk

Mud

Martwick's

Perron's 66

Stanton

in Canaan tp 1400

Keen's

1320

Hoadley's

Curtis' 66 in S. Canaan tp

Kizer's

Cadjaw

in Cherry Ridge tp. 1295

Clark's 66

1395

Sand

1350

Bunnell's ' in Texas tp. 1100

Dorflinger's Pond 16

1250

Beech

in Berlin tp 1320

Williams'

1285

Ridge

in Palmyra tp 1300

Swamp Brook " 66 1100

Purdy's 66

in Paupack tp. 1350

Long

1400

Jones'

in Salem tp.

1425

Marsh

1400

Bidwell 60

1430

FISH .- What has been said of the lakes and streams of the county leads, naturally, to a few remarks upon the fish which are so plentiful in them. First of all is that aristoerat of the water,-the handsomest and gamest of all the speeies, -the trout. Formerly, they were very numerous. Thirty or forty years ago a man was not thought mueh of an angler who could not go out and fill his ereel-or, more probably, as ereels were not then mueh used, get a string so long that it dragged the ground- in a few hours. In 1840 they abounded in the Wallenpaupack, Middle Creek, Dyberry and Laekawaxen, ranging from nine to sixteen inches in length ; but a few years later the liquor from the tanneries and the saw-dust from the mills so polluted the water, and the pickerel beeame so numerous, that the trout vanished from all of these streams, excepting their head-waters.

Many of the small streams have yet a few trout. The Wangum, Five-Mile, the head-waters of the Dyberry and the creeks in the northern part of the county are now the principal trout- producing streams ; but they are fast diminish- ing, even in these waters, and unless they are restoeked will soon entirely disappear.

The most common among the highly-prized fish at present are the black bass and pickerel, both strangers to the waters of the county until brought in by enthusiastie fishermen.

The black bass were first introduced in 1868 by A. W. McGown. The pickerel were brought to the county about 1836, when the principal ponds in the county were stoeked. Sand Poud was stocked in 1836 by Aaron Curtis and his father, of Canaan township. It was stocked with bass in 1868 by A. W. McGown. It also has perch, catfish and eels. They are the native fish, and excepting the eels, are in all of the principal ponds in the county. These are not in the lakes that empty into the Paupaek, as they cannot ascend the falls ; the young fry are below the falls in countless numbers, but none above.

Elk Pond was stocked with bass in 1868 by A. W. McGown. It also has pickerel and pereh in its waters. Upper Woods has bass, piekerel and perch. It was stocked with bass in 1868 by A. W. McGown. In 1840 trout were quite plenty in it. Mr. P. G. Goodriclı says that he caught one there that weighed tliree pounds and six ounces, but the pickerel soon ex- terminated them. White Oak Pond has bass, piekerel, perchi and trout in its waters. This is the only pond in the county that has trout in it, and their time is short, as it has been stoeked with bass and piekerel within the last few years. Keen's Pond has bass, pickerel and perch, the bass running in from Elk Pond. Beech Pond contains bass, pickerel and perch. Mr. Merrill said the bass were put in the summer of 1885. The pickerel were introduced many years ago. Jones' Pond was stocked with pickerel, in 1836, by a number of the old settlers who re- sided near the pond. It was stocked with bass, in 1875, by James A. Bigart.

It was stocked with land-locked salmon, in 1877, by S. L. Dart. He also put in five

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WAYNE, PIKE AND MONROE COUNTIES, PENNSYLVANIA.

hundred lake trout the same year. He says there has never been one caught or seen since, to his knowledge. It is the opinion of some that they are in the deep water and have never been fished for properly, but they probably were destroyed in a short time by the pickerel, as they were very plenty in the pond at that time. In seems incredible that they could remain there these eight years and not one of them be seen or caught. Biddell Pond contains bass, pickerel and perch. Trout were quite plenty in it about 1836, but it was stocked with pickerel at that time by some of the old settlers, and the trout could not hold their own against the pickerel, and were exterminated. Bass were put in this pond about 1875 by A. W. Mc- Gown. Stanton Pond is well supplied with pickerel and perch, and so also are many of the lesser ponds of the county. 1

A special law enacted in 1870 protects the black bass of Wayne County from the angler except during specified seasons. It provides that :

"From and after the passage of this act it shall not be lawful for any person or persons to take, catch or kill, by any means or device whatsoever, fish commonly known by the name of black bass in any of the waters, lakes, ponds or creeks of Wayne County during the months of March, April, May and June in each and every year ; nor shall it be lawful for any per- son or persons to fish in said waters at any time with any kind of nets, seines, baskets or bags, nor to use in any way what is commonly known as 'Cocculus Indicus' or any other vegetable or mineral substance in said waters, for the purpose of stupefying or poisoning fish in order to catch or destroy them."

It was provided " that any person offending against this law shonld, upon conviction, be liable to a fine of not less than twenty-five dollars, nor

more than fifty dollars, with costs of prosecu- tion for every such offense, one-half of said fine to go to the prosecutor and the other half to be paid to the treasurer of the township in which such offense shall have been committed, for school purposes only ; and in default of the payment of said fine, undergo an imprisonment in the county jail of said connty for a term of twenty days. Provided the prosecution shall be commenced within sixty days after the of- fense is committed."

CHAPTER X.

THE BOROUGH OF HONESDALE.

TITLE OF THE SITE OF HONESDALE-THE " INDIAN ORCHARD" AND SCHOONOVER TRACTS .- Honesdale is built upon portions of two tracts of land, which were known as the Indian Orchard and Schoonover patents, the former passing from the proprietaries of Penn- sylvania to Colonel Jonas Seely in 1765 and the latter from the State to William Schoonover in 1803. The former, a prominent citizen of Reading, Berks County, and an officer in the provincial service during the French and In- dian War (sometimes called in Eastern Penn- sylvania Teedyuscung's War), on being relieved of his command near the close of the struggle, petitioned the proprietaries for a large tract of land, pledging its early settlement as an indnee- ment for the issuance of the grant. His ap- plication was favorably received, but it was not nntil the 30the day of July, 1795, that a war- rant was issued to him, or rather to the survey- or-general, James Senll, giving him anthority to survey the lands for Seely. The conditions, briefly stated, were that ten thousand acres of land were to be surveyed to and for Jonas Seely, iu one or two tracts, on or near the north branch of the " Lackawaksin " Creek, in North- ampton Connty, " beginning about a mile above the forks of that creek and going on or near to a Tract there of eight hundred acres," which had been surveyed for the proprietaries' use ; that there should be surveyed and set off for the proprietaries ten acres for every hundred

1 The facts concerning fish were supplied by R. C. Leon- ard, of Middle Valley. It is a fact not well known, even .in Wayne County, where he resides, that Mr. Leonard is the champion fly-caster in the United States He was a winner at the tournaments in New York in 1882, 1883, 1884 and 1885, in the latter year casting one hundred and twenty- five feet (with a salmon rod) and ninety-two feet single- handed. In previous years he made nearly as good re- cords.

337

WAYNE COUNTY.

acres of the tract, " at least of equal value and Goodness with the Rest;" that the grantee should pay for every hundred acres thereof five pounds " sterling money of Great Britain," one- half within six mouths and the other within eighteen months after the return of the survey ; that the grantee should settle the tract within three years ensuing after the date of the war- rant, unless there should be "rupture or war with or interruption by the Indians," in which case the condition should be complied with in a reasonable time not exeeeding three years after the termination, and it was further provided and agreed if the latter stipulation should not be fully complied with, the residue of the lands not settled should revert to the proprietaries and remain " for their use as fully and effectually as if the warrant had not been granted."

It was not until February, 1769, that James Scull made return of the survey executed under the authority of the warrant just synopsized. In his return all the land surrounding the tract was described as " vacant," with the exception of the proprietaries' manor, which adjoined it upon the east. The northwestern corner of the tract was a birch tree on the hillside a little sonth of the old burial-place in the present bor- ough of Honcsdale, and the northern boundary extended from this point in a northeasterly di- rection for a distance of a little more than four miles, into what is now Berlin township. The bulk of the tract as surveyed lay in the form of a square, with its southern limit a little below Indian Orchard, and the remainder was includ- ed in a strip about three-fourths of a mile broad and nearly three miles long, extending down the Lackawaxen on each side of the stream to a point some distance below White Mills. The tract was returned as comprising eight thousand three hundred and seventy-three and one-half acres, with an allowance of six per cent. for roads. The name of the tract, "Indian Orchard," by which it was known in all subsequent con- veyances, was given to it owing to the fact that within its bounds was included the famous ap- ple orchard below Honesdale on the Lackawax- en, originally planted by the Indians.

The obligation which Colonel Seely entered into to cause the settlement of the traet by thirty

families was not fulfilled, nor does it appear even to have been undertaken, and yet the tract did not revert to the proprietaries. Ill fortune overtook the enterprising first owner of the site of Honesdale and of the Indian Orchard tract, aud he was obliged to part with it. In March, 1779, he conveyed thic tract, reserving one thou- sand acres at the north end, to Colonel Mark Bird and James Wilson (a lawyer of Philadel- phia and one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence) in fee as tenants in common. Colonel Bird, who was a conspicuous character in Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary pe- riod, soon after released and conveyed his share to Wilson, who, eventually, also secured the thousand acres reserved by Colonel Seely. Mr. Wilson not long afterwards paid into the receiv- er-general's office £1207 38. 4d., the amount of the purchase, and on the 16th of November, 1781, a patent for the tract was issued to him under the scal and anthority of the Supreme Ex- ecutive Council of the province, being signed by William Moore, president of that body, and at- tested by T. Matlack, secretary.

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History of Wayne, Pike, and Monroe counties, Pennsylvania, Part 58

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