History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 3

Author: Prowell, George R.
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1372

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The southern Indians also made many of the specimens found along the water courses of York County, particularly in the south and west parts. The names of our streams are nearly all Seneca, Mohawk, or Iroquois words, as Conewago, Conowingo, Conestoga and Codorus, which the writer believes to be a corruption of Kydaross, a Mohawk stream, flowing into Lake Saratoga.

The solitudes of York County, during the years. Indian period, are set forth in the map ac-

In describing the collection, since the companying " Early developments west of aborigines were of necessity early in life the Susquehanna." facing page 26. The and always hunters and warriors, it is ap- map mentioned was designed by Robert C. propriate to place first those specimens used Bair, who has also written the introduction in war and the chase.

to this article.

ABORIGINAL OCCUPATION.

Prof. Atreus Wanner of York in a lecture before the Historical Society of York shapes.

In order to arrive at some conclusion based upon indisputable evidence, I col- lected from the fields themselves, in a se- lected locality, whatever remains of pre- historic occupation could yet be found. The search was systematic and covered an area extending about three miles, in all di- rections, from York as a centre. The yield has been a surprise both in the number and variety of specimens. All were col- lected on the surface since 1882, no burial places having been discovered. The absence of unique and large specimens, as well as the fragmentary condition of much that was found, is fully accounted for by the fact that many of the fields have been cultivated for more than a hundred

Enough whole and broken spec-

Projectile imens of lanceheads, spearheads

Points. and arrowheads were found to represent the ordinary sizes and They range from five inches to

INTRODUCTION

less than one inch in length, and, generally ent drill. The primitive form described by speaking, are not very symmetrically flaked. Dr. W. H. Holmes, in " Anthropological This, however, is partially if not wholly ac- Studies in California," doubtless illustrates counted for by the properties of the miner- the drill used here. als out of which they were fashioned. In all drills having stone ends, the ex- treme point, rather than the sides, did the cutting. Enlargement followed the use of a larger drill point. The six specimens in the collection, with the exception of one of agate, are made out of rhyolite. These are, in the order of occurrence, rhyo- lite, white quartz, calcareous argillite and a local fine grained quartzite. Flint, jasper and chert, so generally selected wherever available because of excellent flaking prop- erties, are together represented by only a fraction of one per cent of the entire collec- Axes. tion. Quartzite is sparingly in evidence, being a difficult mineral to flake; argillite constitutes about eight and white quartz thirty per cent. These three minerals are local. Rhyolite, a volcanic product, was the preferred rock out of which was made sixty per cent of the collection numbering over seven hundred projectile points. These minerals will be referred to again 1111- der the head of rejectage.

Stone axes are conspicuous and easily recognized objects. For that reason it is an unusual piece of good luck now, in this thickly settled and long cultivated section, to find one. It is the common practice in this part of the country, about once a year, to gather from the fields the larger stones and fill up waste places, or more frequently to haul them out and throw them into the " chuck " holes of the public road. I have found more than one axe in a stone pile, and in one instance recov- ered a beautiful specimen from a roadside mud-hole into which it had been thrown with other stones from a neighboring

Cutting and

It is difficult to identify stones fashioned for cutting pur- poses since they conformed

Perforating Implements.

to no special shape. Most of field. the projectile points and some of the larger flakes hav- ing good cutting edges, mounted at the end of short handles, as was the practice, would have made typical knives. A few large specimens bearing cutting edges, the result of flaking, easily grasped in the hand, were probably unhafted knives improvised for the occasion and then discarded. Whilst, inferentially, a number of the specimens were cutting implements, proof of sich nise is difficult to furnish.

Often axes found along the Susquehanna river, particularly the larger ones, have grooves extending around only three sides of the stone ; one of the two narrower sides presenting an unchannelled surface. More- over these grooves frequently extend obliquely across the specimen, so that when hafted one side of the axe formed an obtiise angle with the handle.

In the limited area under discussion, five axes were found; six others from the same territory were located. One specimen, weighing but one and one-half pounds, is encircled by two grooves one inch apart. All are comparatively small and wholly en- circled by straight grooves. They are, with one exception, made out of trap and its associated baked and indurated shales, ma- terials found in situ in the immediate vicin- ity.

Another class of artifacts, at first sight taken to be finished arrowheads, or rejects, of various shapes, both roughly worked out and finely finished, have points that were worn smooth by rotation in some hard sub- stance. Of these six specimens were found. All are abraded but a short distance above the extreme point and were evidently applied to drilling holes in stone. These Mullers are more in evidence than Mill pestles. They are somewhat ir- Stones. regular water worn stones, gener- ally quartzites, from one to three pounds in weight. Held in the hand they were rubbed over the larger flat stone be- neath, on which was spread the substance to be reduced to meal. Some of these mull- and other stone drill heads that I have col- lected elsewhere in York and adjoining counties, were it not for their worn points, would be classified as arrowheads. There seems to have been no specialized form for drill heads. Possibly an arrow taken from the quiver, twirled in the hand, or rotated by a cord, occasionally furnished a conveni- ers have their edges battered and one side

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

slightly indented by a pit mark, results of use as hammers or nut crackers. The side worn smooth by rubbing over the under mill stone-mealing stone-is usually convex. No under mill stones were found. The rea- son is apparent. Because of their large size and flat shape they were long ago broken up, or carried away to be laid in foundation walls. Mullers were found in eight different places.

A number of fields yielded ham- at each end, is probably a bird totem; a Hammers. merstones, mostly quartzites, very rare find for any part of Pennsylva-

with unmistakably battered nia. edges. Occasionally one bears a single

Winged stones containing a perforated shallow pit-mark, and very rarely two in- body, found throughout the entire region of dentations, opposite each other, as though the United States and called "banner intended for thumb and forefinger. Some of them containing shallow pit-marks were probably used in cracking nuts. The nut was placed in the cavity and then cracked. Such use of these stones at the present time amongst the Indians is described by Dr. W. H. Holmes.

Pots and Eight localities have yielded fragments of steatite pots. These Pottery. specimens bear the usual tool marks and are identical in com- position with the steatite vein exposed just below the state line in Harford County, Maryland.

Six different localities have produced pot- sherds made of clay, sand and pounded quartz. The original vessels represented by these pieces were evidently shaped in containing grass or other basket work as proven by the closely placed symmetrical indentations on the fragments.

A few celts, of the normal triangu- Celts. lar shape, with sharpened edges, were found. Whilst there is some doubt as to the exact use' to which they were put, as stated by Morgan, their world- wide range and remarkable similarity es- tablish their utility. They were often hafted in a sheath of bark, or skin, and em- ployed for a variety of purposes for which now axes, hatchets, chisels, knives and scrapers are better tools.

Certain specimens of like shapes. usually bearing similarly placed

were worn over the breast, or at least were so placed at the time of interment. Their exact significance is conjectural, but be- cause of the resemblance between speci- mens from widely separated localities they are interesting. Three very fragmentary specimens made out of slate are all that this locality produced.

A triangular prism of slate, four inches long, containing two conjoined perforations

stones " by the late S. S. Haldeman, are now better classified as ceremonial imple- ments. The type form, very little deviated from in numerous specimens, rarely made of any mineral but slate, beautifully wrought, by its very persistence proves that it was one of the most significant and val- ued possessions. Its unknown use is sup- posed to have been closely identified with some important ceremony.

Five localities have yielded fragmentary specimens of these ceremonial stones.

Without further description, it may be stated, in a general way, that the collection presents an almost unbroken series of ar- tifacts. A few of the specimens are unique and very interesting, notably the double grooved axe and the bird totem, but, as a whole, their chief value centers in their tes- timony to the prehistoric occupation of this immediate section.

The materials of which the specimens are fashioned, with the exception of rhyolite, jasper, flint and steatite are found within the limited area methodically searched. White quartz outcrops in projecting veins in the country rocks and also occurs in loose pieces that have weathered out. It is com- mon throughout the southern half of the county. Trap is found in dikes and in de- tached and rounded fragments. It forms a large part of the upper half of York County. Rhyolite is obtained not far distant. Dr. W. H. Holmes discovered and has described extensive aboriginal quarries of rhyolite in the South mountain, some forty miles west- ward. Jasper, identical in composition and structure, outcrops near Reading where

Gorgets and perforations, are supposed to Totems. have been decorative stones, in- signia of office in some secret or- der. When found in graves they are often in such a position as to prove that they prehistoric quarries have been located.

INTRODUCTION

But all this does not prove that any of the specimens described, or others made out of local minerals, were fashioned here. Mere presence of, or nearness of, material will not establish the fact of manufacture of implements at the place where found. But I have other evidence to submit, convincing proof, upon which to locate places of manu- facture and settlement. Associated with the finished specimens in many localities, are flakes and rejectage, waste materials, resulting from the manufacture of articles. As might have been expected the per cents representing minerals composing this waste agree with those given under projectile points. The rejectage is almost wholly rhy- olite and white quartz; about seventy per cent of the former and twenty-nine of the latter, the remaining one. per cent represent- ing all other materials. Argillite is not in- cluded because flakes of that mineral are not found owing to decomposition under at- mospheric conditions ; even the larger forms of argillite, as projectile points, usually have all flake marks obliterated through weather- ing.

The preponderance of rhyolite is easily accounted for. It can be better flaked than any other local mineral. White quartz, be- sides being much less easily worked, is often weakened by cross fractures. Failures of white quartz, partially wrought into projec- tile points, but thrown aside because of ap- parent defects, are more numerous than those of rhyolite.

Occasionally, over a small space, flakes of white quartz, or of some other mineral, will be found exclusively, as though the ancient stone-worker, for a time at least, confined himself to one material.

Flint nodules are sparingly mixed with most everywhere along the principal water other water worn pebbles in the bed of the courses, proving more or less permanent oc- Susquehanna river, having been brought down from the glacial drift mantle covering the northern half of the state. A belt of steatite crosses the Susquehanna just below the state line and extends across the south- eastern corner of Pennsylvania. cupancy at some time. The fields about the mouths of runs tributary to larger streams are most productive. The more elevated land and hills are practically barren. Of course the valley of the Susquehanna and the river islands are richer in remains than other places in this region. But the differ- ence is one only of quantity and not of kind ; artifacts and rejects are identical.

In reaching conclusions as to character and duration of occupation, based upon col- lections such as made here, allowance must be made for agencies that have exposed or buried aboriginal remains. Streams have been greatly changed by the erection of numerous dams. The entire absence of specimens along such a changed water course is misleading. They may have been deeply buried under accumulating sediment.

Sometimes an overflow, washing the sur- face of a newly ploughed area, may carry away the soil to the depth of cultivation. Over the hard sub-soil will be scattered the stones, artifacts and rejectage that other- wise would have been imbedded in a foot or more of soil. In that event such a place is popularly assumed to have been an ancient battle ground and the presence of so many projectile points thus accounted for. The conclusion is unwarranted. In my investi- gations. I have specially studied a number of supposed battle fields in this locality and invariably find the presence of other arti- facts than projectile points in proportionate abundance, particularly stoneworkers'chips, thus establishing the existence there, in the remote past, of a settlement.

One is not able from a study of prehis- toric remains collected in York and adjoin- ing counties to separate occupancy into pe- riods or to recognize different tribes. In fact the remarkable similarity in implements, weapons and rejectage from the middle part of the Atlantic coastal plain strikingly sug- gests close contact. And yet very interest- ing evidence to the contrary seems to be found in the composition of the pottery from the Conoy village-sites. Within the historic period the "Ganewese " Indians, later known as the Conoy Indians, were per- mitted to occupy several places on the left bank of the Susquehanna river, within the

The limited area selected was used as a base, a starting point, for investigations car- ried on throughout the county and other parts of southeastern Pennsylvania. Other valleys in our county show that very much the same conditions prevailed there. Re- jectage, in varying quantities, is found al- adjoining county of Lancaster. From 1705

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

to 1708 their village-site was located about four miles below Columbia on or near the land now occupied by Little Washington. Subsequently from 1708 to 1743 they settled on the Conoy creek near its mouth just be- low Bainbridge.

Fragments of Conoy pottery, from both sites, contain pounded unio shells. That characteristic alone enables one to locate the sites of their villages for the other and older pottery from this section is made of clay, sand and broken stone, usually quartz, but contains no shell fragments.

The addition of pounded shells very much improved the pottery and if there was close contact, as there seems to have been, along the coastal plain, it is difficult to account for the absence of shell pottery throughout this part of the Susquehanna river region.

Communication with tribes west of the Appalachians seems to have been very slight. The almost exclusive use of local materials and the absence of chert and flint, favored flaking minerals, far superior to anything found here, and so widely distrib- uted throughout the Mississippi valley, are significant. It shows almost complete sep- aration.

Taking all the evidence into consideration, the unmistakable conclusion is reached that the valleys of York County were per- manently occupied by the aborigines. Stic- cessively, doubtless, different places were selected as the abundance or scarcity of game and fish made a change of location de- sirable. There may not have been any very large settlements except along the Susque- hanna, in which contingency the period of occupation of this section must have ex- tended over a very long time.

Here they quarried the stone, rudely chipped it into blanks, so-called leaf shaped implements, suitable for the flaker's art. When a sufficient quantity had been fash- ioned, they returned to the village-site. bringing back the blocked out material to be specialized into the future supply of knives and projectile points.

From the quantity of rejectage found along our streams, throughout the county, the conclusion is inevitable that this part of America was longer inhabited by the abo- rigines than is generally supposed.

INDIAN TRADERS.

The eastern bank of the Susquehanna from the site of Harrisburg to the head of Chesapeake Bay contained many Indian trading stations, established there early in the history of Pennsylvania. These sta- tions formed a picket line along the frontier of the province. They were moved west- ward with the tide of civilization. During the colonial period of our history, Indian traders exerted a strong influence in mould- ing public sentiment. In the main they acted fairly with the Indians, and carried on a prosperous business with the Red men occupying the present area of York County, and the region farther to the westward. The provincial assembly enacted numerous laws regulating trade with the Indians.

The pioneer Indian traders along the lower Susquehanna were French Canadians. They first located on the banks of the Schuylkill and the Brandywine, and later took position along the Susquehanna. The first of these interesting personages in the colonial history of Pennsylvania was Mar- tin Chartier, who moved from the eastern part of Chester County, and built a trading post at the site of Washington Borough, a few miles below Columbia. He married an Indian squaw, and thus gained friendship with tribes who lived along the Susque- hanna River, and as far west as the Poto- mac. At this time the fur bearing animals were quite numerous along the streams. Chartier bought furs from the Indians and sent them to Philadelphia where he got high prices for them. He died at his Susque- hanna trading station in 1708, and left his property to his son, Peter Chartier, who married a Shawanese squaw, of a tribe that

The Susquehanna river was evidently the great highway from which came those who ascended its tributary streams to find suit- able village-sites along the lesser water ways. Rudely fashioned shelters, covered for the most part with matted grasses and bark, were erected. A small part of the forest was burnt over, trees were barked with stone axes and killed and in this par- tially open space their primitive crop of maize was grown. A journey of a few days brought them to the soapstone quarries where they made their soapstone pots. An equally short trip to the South mountain took them to the outcrops of rhyolite. had recently settled nearby. Peter Char-

INTRODUCTION

tier sold his trading station and the land Windsor Township. This fertile region was then called the Conojohela Valley, a

that he had acquired to Stephen Atkinson in 1727, and moved to the mouth of the Yel- beautiful name which should be restored. low Breeches Creek, at the northwestern end of York County. Later he moved to Cumberland County, and during the French and Indian War went over to the French with the Shawanese Indians.

dian, first settled as a trader on the Schuyl- kill. He then moved to East Caln Town- ship in Chester County and resided near St. John's Episcopal Church, which was built by his wife, Martha. Although his resi- dence was in Chester County, he maintained a trading post at Paxtang, below the site of Harrisburg. In 1719, a patent was granted to his wife for seven hundred acres of land in Donegal Township, a short dis- tance below the Conoy Creek, and adjoin- ing the Conoy Indian town. Peter Bazail- lon died at a great age in 1740, and was buried at St. John's Church, as was also his wife, who survived him several years.

adian, settled at the mouth of the Conoy Creek, opposite York Haven. He moved to the spring near Carlisle which bears his name, and he is said to have been the first settler within the Cumberland Valley. From there he moved up the Susquehanna to Northumberland, where the north and west branches unite, and there established a store.

Edmund Cartlidge, a Quaker, opened a trading station with the Indians at the mouth of the Conestoga Creek about 1710. Several Indian conferences were held at his house.

But the Indian trade was far too profit- able to be left in the control of a few French- men. The Scotch-Irish now began to work their way to the frontier, and they also be- came Indian traders.

James Patterson, an enterprising

James Scotch-Irishman took up lands

Patterson. and opened a trading station in 1717, along the northern bound- ary of Conestoga Manor, a short distance east of Washington Borough, in Lancaster County. Soon after he established his trad- ing station, Patterson obtained a license to take up several hundred acres of land on the west side of the river, on and around the site of East Prospect Borough in Lower

Patterson carried on an extensive trading business with the Indians as far west as the Potomac River. He kept his pack horses on a large tract of cleared land in the present area of Lower Windsor Township.

Peter Bazaillon, another French Cana- During the border troubles with Maryland settlers, he was among the first to be af- fected. Colonel Thomas Cresap and his followers came up the river in 1730, and built a log fort on the west side of the river, four miles south of Wrightsville, and killed some of Patterson's horses. Patter- son obtained a warrant from Justice John Wright and secured the arrest of a man by the name of Lowe, a leader of the Cresap party. Lowe was arrested and taken to the Lancaster jail, where he was afterward res- cued by a party of Marylanders. These troubles between the Marylanders and Pennsylvanians increased and entirely broke up Patterson's Indian trade on the west

James LeTort, another early French Can- side of the river, and caused great loss to him. His son James was taken a prisoner and confined in Cresap's block house for a short time.

In 1735, before the termination of these troubles, James Patterson, died at his home, on the east side of the Susquehanna. To his son, James, he gave three hundred acres of land along the Conecocheague in Cumberland Valley. He was the father of Colonel William Patterson, who settled on the Juniata at Lewistown, and became a prominent officer in the French and Indian WVar and the Revolution. William's son, Robert, married Sarah Shippen, daughter of Robert Shippen. James Patterson left an- other son, Thomas, and three daughters, one of whom married Captain Benjamin Chambers, of the Revolution, who founded Chambersburg.

Peter Allen, an Indian trader, settled at the site of Marietta in 1718. He continued to trade with the Indians for several years, and then sold his land to Rev. James Ander- son, who about 1740, started what is known as Anderson's Ferry, across the Susque- hanna at Marietta. Anderson sold his prop- erty to William Wilkins, who with his brother, Robert Wilkins, became prominent Indian traders. William Wilkins moved to Cumberland County, where he died, leaving

HISTORY OF YORK COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

three sons, James, Robert and William. The descendants of William and Robert Wilkins, after the Revolution, moved to Harris. Pittsburg, where one of them, William Wilkins, became a president judge of the courts. The town of Wilkinsburg was named in his honor.

Lazarus Lowry was a prominent

Lazarus Indian trader. He came from

Lowry. the north of Ireland and settled at Donegal near Marietta, in 1729. He opened his trading post in 1730, and ob- tained a license to trade and sell liquor by retail. Owing to the fact that intoxicating drinks had a fascination for the Indians, a law was passed by the province a few years later, prohibiting their sale to these people. Lazarus Lowry made trips as far west as the Ohio River and traded with the Indians on an extensive scale, exchanging goods from his store for valuable skins and furs, which he sent to Philadelphia. He accumu- lated considerable property at Donegal and died in Philadelphia in 1755. His four sons, James, John, Daniel and Alexander Lowry, succeeded him as Indian traders.

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History of York County Pennsylvania, Volume I, Part 3

Author: Prowell, George R. Publication date: 1907 Publisher: J. H. Beers Number of Pages: 1372

Author: Prowell, George R.
Publication date: 1907
Publisher: J. H. Beers
Number of Pages: 1372