USA > Pennsylvania > Mifflin County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 5
USA > Pennsylvania > Perry County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 5
USA > Pennsylvania > Union County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 5
USA > Pennsylvania > Juniata County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 5
USA > Pennsylvania > Snyder County > History of that part of the Susquehanna and Juniata valleys, embraced in the counties of Mifflin, Juniata, Perry, Union and Snyder, in the commonwealth of Pennsylvania. V. 1, Pt. 1 > Part 5
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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81
1
--
:
1
.
21
PHYSICAL FEATURES.
FEET.
Schoharie (?) dark shale
53
Caudi-galli (?) clay.
40
Oriskany sandstone. 110
Oriskany shale .. 205
Lewistown shale ... 140
Lewistown limestone. 185
Water-line shale. 470
Salina variegated shale.
358
Niagara (?) limestone ..
4
Niagara shale.
70
. Clinton upper red shale.
305
Lower red shale.
260
Lower lime and upper olive shale. 250
Fossil ore-beds.
120
Middle olive shale. 820
Iron sandstone
7
Lower olive shale. 571
Medina white sandstone 820
Red sandstone and shale.
1280
Oneida red conglomerate., 309
Gray sandstone .. 313
Hudson River gray sandstone 425
Gray shale. 190
Hard, fine sandstone. 140
Dark, ferruginous shale 182
Utica upper gray slate. 210
Middle black shale. 302
Lower gray slate. 855
Trenton limestone
320
Total,. ... 4409
All of this county, except the extreme north- eastern portion, which Penn's Creek drains into the Susquehanna River, is drained by the Ju- niata River. Besides the river, the principal streams are Kishacoquillas Creek, draining Kishacoquillas Valley ; Licking Creek, draining Sugar Valley ; Jack's, Standing and Meadow Creeks. The valleys are Lewistown, Kishaco- quillas, Ferguson's, Sugar, Long Hollow and " The Narrows."
There is considerable limestone in this county, and, hence, good and productive soil. In the valleys generally the soil is fair. The sand- stones produce thin soil, the shales various. There is much iron-ore in many parts of the - county.
PERRY COUNTY .- " Area, four hundred and righty square miles. The construction of the underground world of this flag-shaped county is so beautifully simple as a whole, and so cu- riously complicated in details, that it will ever stand the typical district of the Appalachian
mountain belt of the Atlantic seaboard : two grand basins, cut across by the Susquehanna and Juniata Rivers, sinking eastward to re- ceive the two lobes of the fish-tail of the southern anthracite coal-field, in Schuylkill County, and rising westward so as to bring to the surface in concentric ellipses the successively lower formations from No. XI. down to No. IV., the mountain outcrops of which form the southern, western and northern borders of the county. Between the two great basins rises the great antielinal which makes, by the corruga- tions of its arch, the two loops in the Cumber- land County line, and the long, projecting spurs of Bower's Mountain, Amberson's Mountain and the Great and Little Round Tops, with a much larger number of close crimples in the middle of its course, producing a system of zig- zags on the colored map like the grain of wood cut bias for ornamental furniture-work; with at least three notable downthrow faults, one of which, running along the foot of Dick's Hill, brings into contact the middle beds of the Chemung and the Lower Helderberg limestone beds, with a maximum throw of four thousand and seventy-five feet. The Clinton fossil ore is mined in front of Tuscarora Mountain, near Millerstown; the Marcellus iron-ore in little basins of Oriskany sandstone south of Newport ; on Iron Ridge, at the Old Perry fur- nace; on Mahony Ridge at and west of New Bloomfield ; in Bell's Hill, north and west of Little Germany ; in Pisgah Hill, at Oak Grove furnace ; the Hamilton fossil ore near Manors- ville; at old Juniata furnace, south of Newport; at Girty's Notch, on the Susquehanna, and at various points along the south side of Mahanoy, Crawley's, Dick's and Pisgah Hills, and back of the Susquehanna River, at Marysville. Small coal-beds have been opened near Dun- cannon and near Mt. Patrick, in the Pocono sandstone rocks (X.) of Berry's and Buffalo Mountains, but they are, of course, worthless. The great length of the zigzag outerop of the Lower Helderberg limestone (No. VI.), amount- ing in all to one hundred and fifty miles or more, has filled the county with quarries, and a large trade in lime to other counties is carried on in Liverpool township. Four remarkable
1
1
1
1.
JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA VALLEYS IN PENNSYLVANIA.
trap-dykes cross the cove in Rye and Penn townships ; the largest, Ironstone Ridge, is the north end, in Perry County, of the remarkable dyke which crosses Cumberland County. It makes a water-shed across the valley of Fishing Creek, nine miles west of Marysville. It must be two hundred feet wide, for its blocks cover a width of five hundred. Another much smaller one runs five hundred yards east of it, also N. 10° E. Two others cross the cove in a diree- tion N. 20° E., one of which, passing Duncan- non, runs across Wheatfield and Watts town- ships. Here have been found the first speci- mens of Onchus Clintoni and of Palcaspis bifurcata, Palaaspis Americanus and Onchus Pennsylvanicus, the oldest fish as yet known."
The Juniata River runs through the north- eastern part of this county, and towards this river and the Susquehanna nearly all the land in the county slopes. Into the Juniata River flow Buffalo, Little Buffalo, Wild Cat, Cocola- mus and Raccoon Creeks, and into the Susque- hanna, West Fisher's, Sherman's, Juniata and Hunter's Creeks. The main valleys of the county are Sherman's, Horse, Liberty, Raccoon, Buffalo, Wild Cat, Pfoutz's and Kennedy's.
The soil of Perry County is largely sterile, formed to a great extent, as it is of Chemung shales. In Pfoutz's Valley there is some very excellent soil. There is much iron-ore in the county, for which at present there is little demand.
SNYDER .- " Area, three hundred and twenty square miles. Its border on the west bank of the Susquehanna, from Northumberland down, is (in a straight line) eighteen miles. Through its centre runs the Shade Mountain's antieline of Medina sandstone, No. IV., gradually bury- ing itself under Onondaga and Clinton rocks No. V., which passes across the river at Selin's Grove, and splitting into two crests on the Juniata County line, between which lies a high and narrow little vale of Hudson River slate, No. ITT. Outerops of No. VI. limestone and No. VIT. sandstone follow the south foot. of the mountain past Freemount, Freeburg, and Kantz post-office. Another outerop of VI. and VII., twenty-eight miles long, follows the north foot of the mountain past, MeClure
City, Adamsburg, Beaverton, Paxtonville, Middleburg, and Kreamer post-office, where it forms the hilly north bank of Middle Creek, to the Susquehanna, just above Selin's Grove and the mouth of Penn's Creek. The northern county line follows the top of Jack's Mountain to its end, at Centreville, and along the foot of Jack's Mountain (composed of Clinton and Onondaga No. V.) runs a third outerop of VI. and VII., eighteen miles long, from Bannerville, on the Mifflin County line, past Troxelville, to Centreville and New Berlin, on Penn's Creek. The three townships south of the first VI. and VII. outerop, and the space between the two other outcrops (i. e., the middle of the great valley between Stone Mountain and Jack's Mountain), are occupied by. rocks of the Hamilton, Portage and Chemung, No. VIII., and the lower beds of Catskill, No. IX. The well-known fossil iron-ore banks of the Clin- ton group, No. V. have been opened at a great number of points along the foot of Jack's Mountain, along the north foot of Shade Mountain, especially at Paxtonville, Adams- burg and Middleburg, and along the south foot of Shade Mountain, at Freeport and Free- mount. The sand-vein ore-bed, the highest in the series, and resting on the ore sandstone, is a fossiliferous limestone; often nearly des- titute of iron, but in places rich enough to yield twenty and even forty per cent. ; usually soft along the outerop, and always hard below drainage level; less than two feet thick along Jack's Mountain, and dipping 25° at Centre- ville, 38° at Ulsh's Gap, 40° at Bannerville ; south, along Shade Mountain, at Smith's Grove, one foot thick, dip 30° north ; from Middleburg to Paxtonville, too small to work, dip 45° north ; at and west of Beavertown, soft fossil ore, twenty inches to twenty-six inches. The Danville ore-beds, underlying the ore sand- stone, are three fossil limestone beds, impreg- nated with iron, close together, one or other of them very rarely becoming three feet thick, and all softening for a variable number of yards from the surface down the dip and in propor- tion to its gentleness. The black ore-bed or the iron sandstone (one to twelve inches thick) un- derlies the Danville ore-bed by one hundred
1
1
+
٠١٠
1
·
23
PHYSICAL FEATURES.
and fifty fect. In the five hundred feet of olive shales beneath it the highly esteemed bird's eye fossil ore, one hundred to one hun- dred and fifty feet above the top of the Medina, No. IV., lies at Paxtonville, six to fourteen inches thick, on a gentle north dip, and soft where the covering of shale is thin." There is little demand for these ores at present.
Snyder County is an extension of the Lewis- town Valley to the east, broken into two parts by Shade Mountain. The slope is wholly to the east and into the Susquehanna River, except a very small portion of the extreme western portion of the county, which is drained west- ward by Jack's Creek. The streams falling into the Susquehanna within this county are West Mahantango, North Mahantango, Middle and Penn's Creeks. In quality the soil is in- termediate, neither very rich, nor yet sterile. Some of the bottom lands are very fertile.
UNION COUNTY .- Union County is wild and broken by mountain ranges in the west, while along the river, to which the land all slopes, it is a country of broad, fertile valleys. In the western part are the " Seven Mountains," which gradually sink into the earth as they approach the river on the cast. The valleys of the eastern part of the county, commencing at the south, are Dry, Buffalo, White Deer and White Deer Hole. In the western part of the county the valleys run into the mountain spurs, and terminate in numerous small valleys, hav- ing but one outlet, and called "coves." The streams which drain Union County, commene- ing on the south, are Penn's, Turtle, Buffalo, White Deer and White Deer Hole Creeks. All empty into the West Branch, except Penn's ('reek, which breaks through the ranges of Jack's Mountain and falls into the Susquehanna, below the junction of the two branches at Northumberland.
While the amount of limestone soil in this county is not large, there is a large amount of very fertile soil, which is cultivated with great care.
The area of Union County is three hundred and ten square miles. "The western part of the county is occupied by seven antielinal mountain spurs of Medina sandstone, No. IV., lying
eastward bencath a low country of Clinton and Onondaga No. V., across which the river flows, exhibiting the rock-arches in succession. A triple synelinal runs up west between Jack's Mountain and the Buffalo Mountains, and along the deepest central line has been pre- served a low ridge of Lower Helderberg lime-
stone, No. VI., for five miles west and three miles east of Mifflinburg. A loop of No. VI., supporting Oriskany sandstone, No. VII., runs west of Lewisburgh, south of Buffalo Creek five miles and returns to the river north of the creek. A small area of Marcellus shale lies between the loop and the river. A third out- crop of VI. and VII., four miles long, crosses Gregg township, and a small area of Marcellus lies north of it. The zigzag red line on the map represents the Bloomsburg red shale di- vision of the Onondaga, No. V .; and between this red line and the edge of the Medina runs a similarly zigzagged outerop of the Clinton fossil iron-ore beds. The mines have been wrought for Union furnace, on the banks of the river, four miles below Lewisburgh, in 1853. Here, at the end of Longstown Ridge, was first mined the lowest of the Danville beds, twenty inches to three feet thick. In the slope, a mile west, the soft ore goes deeper at the notch, but in the hill, on each side, turns to hard ore. Half a mile further west ore lean, four to six inches. In Chapel Hollow, four miles west of the river, bed varies rapidly four to eighteen inches. Two miles further west, ravine ; lower levels, hard ore; upper levels, soft; three beds close enough to be worked together ; in all, ten to twelve inches ore. West of the ravine the two upper beds, each six to ten inches, are worked together ; the other is four inches. The Price mine is six miles from the river, worked by tunnel; two lower beds, eight to twelve inches, have yielded forty thousand tons of superior ore. At the Maize bank they yield ten inches ; at the Moyer bank six to twelve inches. The Kelkner mine is less than a mile from New Berlin; north of which the Colton mine is on a three to six-inch bed, and a mile west of it Seabold's mine has four to six inches of soft ore; but further towards Centreville are no mines." Ore is found in various other
-
--------
1.
. 1
5
21
JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA VALLEYS IN PENNSYLVANIA.
points in the central, northern and western portions of the county, but there is little de- mand for it at the present time (1885). .
BOTANICAL.
The following lists are known to be incom- plete. The plants named have been observed.1
LIST OF TREES.
Abies Excelsa .Norway spruce.
Abies nigra. Black spruce.
Abies Canadensis. Hemlock spruce.
Acer saccharinut Sugar maple.
Aver dasycarpum. White maple.
Aver rubrum .. Red maple.
Acer platanoides, Norway maple.
Acer spicatum Mountain maple.
Acer Pennsylvanium Striped maple.
ZEsculus glabra
Buckeye.
AEsculus Hippocastanum Horse-chestnut.
Amelanchier Canadensis. Shad-berry.
Asimina triloba. Pawpaw.
Betula cuta.
Birch cherry.
Betula nigra .Black birch.
Betula alba.
White birch.
Betula Denta
River birch.
Carpinus Americana.
Ironwood.
Carya alba .. Shellbark.
Carya microcarpa. Small fruited shell-
bark.
Carya tomentosa. Mock hickory.
Carya sulcata. .Ribbed hickory.
Carya porcina
Pignut hickory.
Carya amara. Bitter-nut hickory.
Castanea vesca .Chestnut.
Cornus florida. Dog-wood.
Cercis Canadensis. Judas tree.
Diospyrus Virginiana
Persimmon.
Euonymus atropurpureus
Burning-bush. Beech.
Cephalanthus occidentalis Button-bush.
Chimaphila umbellata. Winter-green.
Chimaphila maculata. Spotted green.
Cornus Canadensis Dwarf dogwood.
Cornus stolonifera. Red dogwood.
Cornus paniculata Panicled dogwood.
Cornus alternifolia Alternate-leaved dog-
wood.
Corylus Americana .. Hazel-nut.
Corylus rostrata ... Beaked hazel-nut.
Cratagus coccinca. .Scarlet thorn.
Cratægus crusgalli. Cockspur thorn.
Cratagus parvifolia. Dwarf thorn.
Diervilla trifida. Bush honeysuckle.
Epigra repens .. May flower.
Gaultheria procumbens. Winter-green.
Gaylussacia brachycera Box huckleberry.
Gaylussacia frondosa. Blue huckleberry.
Gaylussacia resinosa
Black huckleberry.
! The names of any omitted will be thankfully received by G. G. Groff, M.D., Lewisburgh, Pa.
Negunda aceroides. Box elder.
Nyssa multiflora .. Black gum.
Ostrya Virginica Hornbeam.
Pinus rigida. Pitch pine.
Pinus strobus White pine.
Pinus inops .. Scrub pine.
Prunus Americana Wild plum.
Prunus serotina ..
Wild black-cherry.
Prunus Pennsylvaniea Wild red-cherry.
Platanus occidentalis. Sycamore.
Populus tremuloides Aspen.
Populus monilifera. .Cotton wood.
Pyrus coronaria. Wild crab-apple.
Quercus alba. White oak.
Quercus obtusiloba. Post oak.
Quercus macrocarpa Burr oak.
Quercus ilicifolia. .Bear oak.
Quercus castanea.
Chestnut oak.
Quercus nigra. Black oak.
Quercus rubra. Red oak.
Quercus coccinea Scarlet oak.
Quercus palustris. Pin oak.
Robina pseudacacia. Black locust.
Sassafras officinale ..
Sassafras.
Salix tristis. Gray willow.
Salix alba White willow.
Tilia Americana. Basswood.
Thuja occidentalis. Arbor-vitæ.
Ulmus Americana. White elm.
Ulmus fulva
Red elm.
Ulmus racemosa Corky elm.
Viburnum lentago. Sheep-berry.
LIST OF SHRUBS.
Alnus incana Hoary alder.
Andromeda ligustrina Andromeda.
Azalea nudiflora Azalea.
Ceanothus Americanus. .New Jersey tea.
Celastrus Scandens. Bitter sweet.
Celtis occidentalis. Hackberry.
Fagus ferruginea.
Fraxinus Americana. White ash.
Fraxinus sambucifolia. Black ash.
Fraxinus pubescens. . Red ash.
Fraxinus viridis. Green ash.
Fraxinus quadrangularia Blue ash.
Gleditschia tricanthos Honey locust.
Gymnocladus Canadensis Kentucky coffee-tree.
Juglans cinerea, Butternut.
Juglans nigra .. Black walnut.
Juniperus Virginiana Red cedar.
Larix Americana. Larch.
Liriodendron tulipifera Tulip-tree.
Magnolia acuminata
Cucumber-tree.
Morus rubra. Red mulberry.
Morus alba. . White mulberry.
.
25
EARLY GLIMPSES OF THE INTERIOR.
Hamamelis Virginica. Witch-hazel.
Hydrangea arborescens Wild hydrangea.
flex verticillata.
Black alder.
flex lævigata. Smooth winter-berry.
Kalmia latifolia, Mountain laurel.
Kalmia angustifolia. Narrow-leaved laurel.
Lindera Benzoin.
Spice bush.
Lonicera parviflora.
Small honeysuckle.
Lonicera ciliata Fly honeysuckle.
Prunus pumila .. Dwarf cherry.
Pyrus angustifolia. Crab-apple.
Pyrus arbutifolia .. Choke-berry.
Rhododendron maximum, Great laurel.
Rhus typhina .. .Staghorn sumach.
Rhus copallina.
Dwarf sumach.
Rhus aromatica,
Fragrant sumach.
Ribes histellum. Smooth gooseberry.
Ribes rotundifolium Round-leaved goose- berry.
Ribes lacustre, Bristly leaved goose- berry.
Ribes prostratun
Fetid currant.
Ribes floridum Black currant.
Rosa Carolina Swamp rose.
Rosa rubiginosa. Sweetbrier.
Sumbueus Canadensis .Black elder.
Sambucus pubens. Red elder.
Spirea opulifolia. Nine bark.
Staphylea trifolia Bladder-nut.
Symphoricarpus racemosus Snowberry.
Syringa vulgaris. .Common lilac.
Viburnum prunifolium Black haw.
Viburnum acerifolium. Maple-leaved haw.
LIST OF FERNS.
Adiantum pedatum. Maiden-hair.
Aspidium thelypteris. Shield fern.
Aspidium noveboracense Shield fern.
Aspidium spinulosum Shield fern.
A-pidium marginale. Shield fern. A-pidium acrostichoides .Shield fern.
Asplenium trichomanes. Spleenwort.
Asplenium ebeneum. Spleenwort. Botrychium Virginicum .Rattlesnake fern.
Botrychium lunarioides. Common moonwort.
Camptosorus rhizophyllus. Walking leaf.
Cystopteris fragilis Bladder fern.
Dicksonia punctiloba Dicksonia.
Onoclea sensibalis.
Sensitive fern.
Osmunda regalis.
Flowering fern.
Osmunda Claytoniana Clayton's fern.
O-munda cinnamomea Cinnamon fern.
Phegopteris hexagonoptera Beech-fern.
Pteris aquilina. .Common brake.
Pleris ebeneum .. Ebony fern.
Polypodium vulgare. Common polypody.
Struthiopteris Geremanica ... .Ostrich fern.
There is one rare plant in this district thus described by Professor E. W. Claypole,-
" There is one species almost peculiar, being known, so far as I am aware, at only one other locality. The box huckleberry ( Gaylussacia trachycera) grows abundantly on a small tract of about ten acres near New Bloomfield. To this space it is, I believe, lim- ited. Outside the county it is found on the banks of the Indian River, near Millsborough, Sussex County, Del., as reported by Mr. A. Cummings. It was de- seribed many years ago by Michaux, from Virginia (Winchester and Warm Springs), but has been found there by no one since.
"It appears to be a lingering relic of the ancient flora of the county, maintaining itself on the sterile hillside of Chemung shale, but liable to be destroyed by cultivation at any time. It is exceedingly plenti- ful, forming a perfect mat over much of the ground, but its limits are sharply defined without apparent cause."
CHAPTER II.
EARLY VIEW OF THE PENNSYLVANIA INTERIOR- THE JUNIATA AND THE TUSCARORA INDIANS- EXPLORATIONS OF THE INDIAN TRADERS.
BY PROFESSOR A. L. GUSS.
EARLY GLIMPSES OF THE INTERIOR .- These volumes profess to give an account of five of the interior counties of Pennsylvania, a region that has but little very early history, for the white men went almost all around it before it was pene- trated, and the first explorations made by traders unfortunately were never written, or at least not preserved. Yet there are some early glimpses into this interior too interesting to be entirely neglected.
At an early day the Spaniards were in the Chesapeake Bay and named it St. Mary's, from which they carried a native to Mexico, where he was educated and baptized. He after- wards returned with some priests to Axacan, on a large river flowing into the bay, where they established a missionary station. After a few months he apostatized and assisted in killing the missionaries. He had related to the Span- iards that by going up a great river, flowing into the bay, for eighty leagues and crossing over the mountains there were two great water- courses, one of which led to China, as they sup- posed, and by the other furs were carried in
1
1
26
JUNIATA AND SUSQUEHANNA VALLEYS IN PENNSYLVANIA.
canoes to the mouth of the St. Lawrence and traded for Indian goods. The one route led across the Alleghenies to the Ohio, whence news had come of white men in Mexico sup- posed to be China ; the other route led up the Susquehanna to the lakes and the St. Lawrence. The story presents a pleasing picture of our rivers, which from time immemorial were thor- oughfares of Indian traffic, while the land was interwoven with a net-work of their paths. The Indians with which these Spaniards came in contact were of the nomadic Algonquins.
The French in Canada gave the name An- dastes, or Gandastogues, to all the Iroquois- speaking tribes south of the Five Nations. The "Jesuit Relations of 1659 " state a tradition that prior to 1600 these Pennsylvania tribes had almost exterminated the Mohawks in a ten years' war. The tradition is valuable in that it shows that before the New York tribes obtained fire-arms the Pennsylvania tribes were fully able to cope with them in war.
In 1608, before Captain John Smith explored the Chesapeake Bay, he was told by Powhatan of " a mighty nation, called Pocoughtaonack, a fierce nation that did eat men." This name meant "Destroyers." These were Pennsylvania Indians, and this is the first word given by any white man of anything that belongs to the ter- ritory of this State. Smith says, -- " Many kingdoms he described to me to the head of the bay, which seemed to be a mighty river issuing from mighty mountains betwixt two seas." This is the Susquehanna, extending northward among the mountains and situated between the ocean and the lakes. William Strachey, who wrote a few years later, confirms what Smith says of this tribe. "To the northward of the falls, and bending to the northeast, lieth the skirt of the highland country, from whence the aforesaid five navigable rivers take their heads, which run through the lowland into the Chesa- peake Bay. This quarter is altogether unknown to us as yet, only herein are seated, say the In- dians, those people whom Powhatan calls Bocootawwanaukes." These pioneers differ in spelling this oldest of all our Indian names, though the sound is nearly the same. It was not fashionable in old days for even the same man
to spell an Indian name twice in the same way. We next learn of this interior in 1608, when Captain Smith, in exploring the Chesapeake Bay, visited the mouth of the Susquehanna River. On the east side of the head of the bay he found a Nanticoke tribe, whom he calls Tock woghs, one of whom understood Powhatan ; another one understood the language of the Sus- quehannocks, a nation of whom they told Smith, and so-called by them because of the numerous springs in their country, as compared with the sandy eastern shores of the bay, the name mean- ing Fresh-water-Stream-Landers, or the people from the region of the springs, literally the new water. He sent these two men up the river to induce some of them to come down. After waiting three or four days, sixty. of those " gyant- like people " came down and they had a friendly talk. As Smith could only ascend the river a few miles on account of the rocks, he made dil- igent inquiry as to the upper parts of the river and the towns and tribes located upon it and its branches. He drew a pen-picture of a Susque- hanna giant and placed it in the corner of a map which he made of Virginia, as all the country was then called. It is the oldest map of any of our inland parts. He gives the river and its principal branches, and five towns with kings' houses. The lowest one is "Sasquesa- hanough," from which the delegation came, supposed to have been located near Columbia. Writers have heretofore located all these towns below the Kittatinny Mountains. The draw- ing of the stream and the location of these towns was done from descriptions given him by these Indians, imperfectly understood on account of the double interpretation necessary and his own imperfect knowledge of the Powhatan tongue. The proper view is more comprehensive. Smith was looking for an outlet into the " Back Sea " and for a near way to China, as instructed by the King's Council, and was not inquiring after the little creeks in Lancaster and York Coun- ties. We may rest assured that his map rep- resents the principal branches of the river. "Quadroque " is at the forks at Northumber- land. "Tesinigh" is on the north branch at Wyoming. "Utchowig" is on the head of the West Branch. "Attaock " is on the Juniata.
·
1 .. .
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.