USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > Jefferson County, Pennsylvania : her pioneers and people, 1800-1915, Volume I > Part 23
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SOME INTERESTING DATA
The first instance of the use of wooden rails and a car for the removal of coal from a mine
was at Newcastle upon Tyne, England, in 1075. Jacob Meinweiser first introduced that method of removal of coal in Jefferson county, on the Haugh farm. Union township, in 1852. All miners previous to that date in this county used wheelbarrows.
With some pride I state that the first trip across the ocean in six days and fifteen hours was made by steam from Beechtree coal.
Coke was first used in Pennsylvania in 1835 in lluntingdon county ; it was then used in a furnace. The first coke works of any im- portance in the State were erected in 1860.
The pioneer coal strike in Jefferson county commenced September 1, 1883. The men were out about six weeks. To maintain order forty or fifty Pinkerton men were imported and kept on the ground.
As a nation we have millions of square miles covered with forest trees and empires underlaid with coal.
Coal is found in twenty-seven of our States and Territories. The bituminous coalfield in Pennsylvania has an area of fifteen thousand square miles.
The first shipment of coal from Pittsburgh was made in 1803. The first shipment from Clearfield was made in 1804, in barges to Columbia, l'a. The first outlet for shipment from Jefferson county was afforded by the completion of the Allegheny Valley railroad. in the year 1873.
From 1854 to 1866 coal was on the free list. The imports of coal from Canada increased during that period from one hundred and twenty thousand tons a year to four hundred and sixty-five thousand tons. . \ duty of one dollar and twenty-five cents a ton was put on coal in 1866, which was lowered to seventy- five cents a ton in 1872. The imports dropped to seventy-nine thousand tons in 1879 and have since remained at about that figure.
The bituminous coal output of the country has quadrupled since 1885, and it will only require a few years more until the demand of the United States will be a million tons for each day of the year. One half of the nation's output is now used up by the railroads and steamships.
CHAPTER VIII
PIONEER ANIMALS
CIRCULAR HUNTS-BEAVERS, BUFFALOES, PANTHERS, WOLVES, WILDCATS, BEARS, AMERICAN ELK, OTHER ANIMALS-PENS AND TRAPS-HABITS OF OUR WILD ANIMALS-FAMOUS HUNTERS IN THIS REGION-SNAKES AND REPTILES-BIRDS-BEES
Nature is a story book That God has written for you.
There were originally in this State over fifty species of wild, four-footed animals. We had three hundred and twenty-five species and sub-species of birds, and our waters, includ- ing Lake Erie, had one hundred and fifty species of fish. It may not be amiss to state here that all of our wild animals were possessed of intelligence, courage, fear, hate and affec- tion. They reasoned, had memory, and a de- sire for revenge. A wolf could be tamed and trained to hunt like a dog. A dog dreams. It is recorded in history that a pet snake has been known to travel one hundred miles home. It is undeniable that they could compute time, course and distances. Elks, bears and deer had their own paths. Bears blazed theirs by biting a hemlock tree occasionally.
Our animals had their feuds, determined to exterminate one another. The bear and the panther, the beaver and the otter, the red squir- rel and the black, etc., each carnivorous ani- mal killed and ate those weaker than himself. Before 1800 our wolves devoured many buf- falo calves. Is it any wonder that what with the Indians, and the white man's assistance, our big animals have been killed or driven from the State? The buffalo, beaver, elk, panther, wolf, wolverine, otter and marten are now extinct. It is hardly credible that less than one hundred and fifty years ago the State was alive with droves of buffalo, elk, deer, etc., and full of beaver dams. To substantiate the fact, I will here mention a circular hunt of 1760 in the center of the State. These circular hunts were of very fre- quent occurrence, very offensive to the Indians, and poor records of them were kept. The mode of conducting one of these hunts was as follows: Forming a circle of territory with a cleared patch in the center, with or
without captains, the animals were driven into the center by all manner of noise, fires, guns, boys and men. When the animals reached the center the killing commenced. The people thus exterminated the animals and exasper- ated the Indians. In the hunt of 1760 the record of killing is as follows : Panthers, forty-one ; wolves, one hundred and nine : foxes, one hundred and twelve; wildcats, one hundred and fourteen ; bears, eighteen, one white; elks, two; deer, eighty-three; martens, three; otter, one; gluttons, twelve; beavers, three ; and more than five hundred small ani- mals. In addition, one hundred and eleven buffaloes were killed, while a large herd of these animals broke the circle. These circular hunts continued all over the State until about 1860. There were six such drives in Arm- strong county in 1828, and we reprint an ac- count of one from the Kittanning Gasette:
GRAND CIRCULAR HUNT (CLARION TOWNSIIIP) ( March 22 and 29, 1828)
At a large and highly respectable meeting of the citizens of Clarion township, held at the house of Henry Riley in said township, on Friday the 14th inst. for the purpose of con- sulting on preparatory measures for a Grand Circular Hunt to be hell in Clarion township. The meeting was organized by calling WIL- LIAM CURLL, Esq. to the Chair, and appointing John Sloan, jr. Secretary.
On motion of Capt. James Sloan, the fol- lowing persons were appointed a committee to draft resolutions to be offered to the consid- eration of the meeting: Col. James Hasson, Captain James Sloan, Wm. Henry,' sen. John Cochran, Col. John Sloan, Lieut. John M. Fleming, Wm. B. Fetzer, Henry Benn, Philip Heck, Robert Henry, Thomas Riley. The
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committee retired, and after some time re- turned and reported the following, which were unanimously adopted :
1 Resolved, That the citizens of Clarion. Redbank and Toby townships be invited to turn out on Tuesday the ist day of April, at 8 o'clock .A. M. and to form a line or circle for the purpose of encompassing the bounds herein determined on, viz :- The line to com- mence at Reid's mill, on Pine creek, and con- tinue up said creek to Samuel and John Sloan's mill, to be under the superintendance of John Sloan, jr. Christian Smethers, jr. Capt. John R. Clover, Jacob Miller, Capt. Geo. Rynerd. Wm. Kirkpatrick, Charles Sawyers, Marshal, Capt. James Sloan .- Thence to continue in a direct line to Wm. Carnahan's, on the Water- son road, to be under the superintendance of John Moorhead, William Maxwell, John B. M'Comb, Robert Lawson, Francis Hilliard. John Benn, marshal, Matthew Hosey. Thence along the Waterson road to the place of begin- ning, to be under the superintendance of James P. Reynolds, George Means, Esq. John Rich- ard, Joseph Armstrong. Thomas Magee. John Magee, Marshal William B. Fetzer.
2 Resolved, That a general invitation be given to all who may wish to participate in the hunt ; and they are requested to be punctual in attending at the extreme line at 8 o'clock, and not to move off until ordered by the offi- cers. No horns to be blown until the line is directed to move, which will be precisely at half past 8, the signal to be given at the four points by a sound of the horn, when all the horns in the line are to be sounded ; the line will then take a direct course to the centre, or a piece of ground staked off on Michael Trainer's farm, when it will be halted and formed into solid body by the general officers. & marched by them to the inner circle, when it will be again halted, kept in solid body, and remain unbroken until all the game is killed or taken, counted by the general officers, and to be taken into custody and sold by them to any person or persons who will give the high- est price in cash.
3 Resolved, That the money arising from the sale of the game be appropriated to the building of a bridge on Redbank creek, where the Olean road crosses said creek: The gen- eral officers will appoint some person to re- ceive the same and to be held by him until called on by the county commissioners, when the bridge is completed.
4 Resolved, That all persons bringing dogs must have them tied and led, until the lines arrive at the inner circle. No dog to be let
loose until they receive orders to that effect from the general officers. All persons resid- ing within the boundary lines are requested to confine all dogs that are not taken to the lines. at home. All who can procure horns will be careful to take them along.
5 Resolved, That Henry Benn, Wm. Curll, Esq. Moses Kirkpatrick, Robert Travis, Isaac Fetzer, Samuel C. Orr, Esq. Capt. John Guthrie, John Mohney, John Ardery, Lewis Switzer, John C. Corbett, Esq. John Cribbs, David Lawson, Esq. & Michael Trainer, be the general officers, and they are hereby re- quested to attend at an early hour on the morning of the hunt, to stake off the lines : the outer line to be one fourth of a mile from the centre, the inner line wherever the general officers may think best.
6 Resolved, That the superintendants take their posts in the order in which their names are arranged in the ist resolution; the first named to take his post at the place of start- ing at the beginning of the line; the next named to join him, and so on in succession until the end of the line. The superintendants and marshals to appoint as many aids as they may think proper ; the marshals to be mounted to ride the lines. No person to carry fire arms.
7 Resolved, That all spiritous liquors be prohibited from being brought into the lines.
8 .Resolved, That the proceedings of this meeting be signed by the chairman and sec- retary, and published in the Kittanning papers.
WILLIAM CURLL, Ch'n.
JOIN SLOAN JR. Secretary.
The mountainous character of Jefferson county and the dense forests that covered al- most its whole area made the region a favor- ite haunt of over fifty wild beasts. Many of them have disappeared, and it is difficult to believe that animals now extinct on the con- tinent at large were once numerous within the boundaries of our territory. Of the six hun- dred thousand wild animals in the world, only twenty-eight have been domesticated, includ- ing the elephant. llama, yak, camel and rein- (leer.
BEAVER
The beaver, the buffalo, the elk and the deer were probably the most numerous of our ani- mals. "Beavers will not live near man, and at an early period after the settlement of this State these animals withdrew into the secluded regions and ultimately entirely disappeared." The last of them known in this State made
T YORK
BEAVER
SQUIRREL
BUFFALO
BEAR TRAP-COMMON BROWN BEAR
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their homes in the great "Flag Swamp," or Beaver Meadows, of Clearfield county, on Salmon creek, now about and above DuBois city, in the early thirties. These meadows covered about six hundred acres. Furs were occasionally brought to Brookville from these meadows by trappers.
Those who have made them a study assert that, with the exception of man, no other ani- mal now upon the earth has undergone so lit- tle change in size and structure as the beaver. Fossil deposits show that in its present form it is at least contemporaneous with and prob- ably antedates the mammoth and the other monsters that once roamed the great forests of the earth. The skeletons of beavers found in this country are the same as those of the same species found in the fossil beds of Eu- rope. Man is the only other mammal of which this is true. How the beaver came to traverse the ocean has never been explained.
Coarse-fibred. cautious in its habits, warmly protected by nature against climatic influences. simple and hearty in its diet, wise beyond all other forms of lower animal life, prolific and heedful of its young, the beaver has seen changes in the whole function of the world and the total disappearance of countless species of animal and vegetable life.
"The beaver mates but once, and then for a lifetime. There are no divorces, and, so far as has been observed, no matings of beavers who have lost their mates by death. Young beavers are given a place in the family lodge until they are two years old, and are then turned out to find mates and homes for them- selves.
"Originally a mere burrower in the earthi. like his cousin the hedgehog and the poreu- pine, he has so improved upon natural condi- tions that only man is able to reach him in his abiding places. . . . The principal engineering and structural works of the beaver are the dani. the canal, the meadow, the lodge, the burrow, and the slide. These are not always found together and some of them are rare."
Beaver dams have been found which have been kept in repair by beavers for centuries. It is not unusual to find them more than fifty feet long and so solid that they will support horses and wagons. Fallen trees that have been cut down by the sharp teeth of the beav- ers are sometimes the foundation. More often branches and a great heap of small stones make the beginning. The side toward the water is of mud and pebbles smoothly set by the use of the feet and the broad, paddle-like tail of the animal. Interlaced branches cap
the whole. The dam is built for two reasons -to afford a retreat where the home-loving beaver may rest safe from his enemies of the forest, particularly wolverines, and to give a depth of water that will not freeze to the bot- tom. A total freeze would effectually lock him in his home and be the cause of death by starvation. The dam is always located on a small stream.
The beaver's sense of sight is deficient, but those of scent and hearing are abnormally de- veloped. The work of construction and re- pair upon the dams is always done at night, the workers occasionally stopping to listen for suspicious sounds. The one who hears any- thing to excite alarm dives instantly, and as he disappears gives warning to his comrades by striking his broad, flat tail upon the surface of the water. The sound rivals a pistol shot in its alarming loudness.
"The beaver is really a sort of portable pulp- mill, grinding up most any kind of wood that comes in his way. A single beaver generally, if not always, fells the tree, and when it comes down the whole family fall to and have a regular frolic with the bark and branches. A big beaver will bring down a fair sized sapling, say three inches through, in about two minutes, and a large tree in about an hour.
"One of the queerest facts about the beaver is the rapidity with which his long. chisel-like teeth will recover from an injury."
William Dixon killed a beaver in 1840. near what is now called Sabula, or Summit Tun- nel. Clearfield county. This was perhaps the last one killed in the State. A beaver was re- ported killed in 1884 on Pine creek, in Clinton county. It was said to have been chased there from Potter county.
Beavers have four to eight young at a litter, in May, and they are born with their eyes open.
AMERICAN BISON, OR BUFFMO
Centuries ago great herds of wild buffaloes fed in our valleys and on our hills. Yes, more, the "buffalo, or American bison, roamed in countless numbers from the Susquehanna to Lake Erie," but none north of Lake Erie.
The peculiar distinction of our buffalo was a hump over his shoulders. He was much larger than the Western buffalo. His eye was black, his horns black and thick near the head. tapering rapidly to a point. His face looked ferocious, yet he was not so dangerous as an elk or deer. The sexual season of the bison was from July to September ; after this month
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the cows ranged in herds by themselves, calved in April, and the calves followed the mother from one to three years. The males fought terrible battles among themselves. The At- lantic seaboards were exceptionally free from them. The flesh of the cow was delicious food, and the hump especially was considered a great delicacy.
Twenty-five or thirty years ago these ani- mals, whose flesh was an important and much- prized article of food, the tail especially, and whose pelts were in great demand for robes, buffalo overshoes, and garments to protect both the civilized and uncivilized races from the winter's piercing blasts, were found on our Western prairies in countless thousands. According to a recently published report, be- tween the years 1860 and 1882 more than fifteen million buffaloes were killed within the limits of the United States. Buffaloes and elks used the same trails and feeding grounds. The last buffalo robes were brought to Brook- ville in 1882.
There are now (1915) but one thousand, six hundred wild and domesticated buffaloes in the United States. The last buffalo killed in Pennsylvania of which there is a record was dispatched in January, 1801, by Col. John Kelly, of Union county. A whole herd had been wiped out in the winter of 1800, in Sny- der county.
PANTHER
The largest carnivorous beast was the panther. In the early days there were enough of them in the forest to keep the settler or the hunter ever on his guard. They haunted the wildest glens and made their presence known by occasional raids on the flocks and herds.
The puma, popularly called panther by our pioneers, is a large animal with a cat head. The length of a panther from nose to tip of tail is about six to twelve feet, the tail being over two feet long, tip black. The color of the puma is tawny, dun, or reddish along the back and sides, and sometimes grayish-white underneath or over the abdomen and chest. with a little black patch behind each car. The panther is a powerful animal, as well as dan- gerous, but when captured as a cub can be easily domesticated and will be good until he is about two years old. The pioneers shot and captured many in panther and bear traps. The pelts sold for from one to twelve dollars. The catamount, or bey lynx, was a species of the cat, had tufts on the cars, a cat head, was
long-bodied, three or four feet long, short- legged, big-footed, and mottled in color. The fur was valuable. The lynx is sometimes mistaken for the panther.
The Longs, Vastbinders, and other noted hunters in Jefferson county killed many a panther. A law was enacted in 1806 giving a bounty of eight dollars for the "head" of cach grown wolf or panther killed, and the "pelts," bringing a good price for fur, stimu- lated these hunters greatly to do their best in trapping. hunting, and watching the dens of these dangerous animals. The bounty on the head of a panther whelp was four dollars. The county commissioners would cut the ears off these heads and give an order on the county treasurer for the bounty money. A panther's pelt sold for about four dollars. In 1850 a son of Bill Long, Jackson by name, boldly entered a full grown panther's den, creeping through the rocks sixty feet, and shot the animal by the light of his glowing eyes. In 1833 Jacob and Peter Vastbinder found a panther's den on Boon's mountain, now Elk county. They killed one, the dogs killed two, and these hunters caught a cub, which they kept a year and then sold to a showman. In 1819 the Legislature enacted a law giving twelve dollars for a full-grown panther's head and five dollars for the head of a cub. During the thirties, when Jefferson county still em- braced what is now Forest and Elk counties, the bounties paid for panther, wolf and wild- cat scalps fell a little short of four hundred dollars a year. The last bounties were paid for panthers and wolves killed in Jefferson county in 1856. The record is as follows : March 18, 1856, Jacob Stahlman, one wolf ; March 24, 1856, Mike Long, five wolves : May 17, 1856. Andrew Bowers, Gaskill township, one wolf ; November 19, 1856, Adam Hetrick, one panther, killed on Maxwell run, in Polk township. Jack Long killed the last panther in the State, in 1872.
WOLF
Nothing among the wild beasts strikes such terror to the heart of the settlers as the cry of the wolf at a lonely spot at night. The pioneer knew very well that on a lonely forest trail at any hour of the day or night the other animals could be frightened by a bluff. No other animals go in packs. The wolf would not attack were he alone. It is when rein- forced that he is a terror, and then the howl of the wolf is the most blood-curdling of all the noises of the night in the woods.
WER -NEW YORK- CLINIC LIBRARY
1 A.TOT, LENOX TILDEN FOUNDATIONS --
WOLF Pennsylvania had black, brown and gray of timber wolves
FEMALE PANTHER (PENNSYLVANIA, TWO YEARS OLD, NOT FULL GROWN
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MALE PANTHER (PENNSYLVANIA) THREE YEARS OLD, FULL GROWN ( Eleven feet from tip of nose to tip of tail)
1
: YORK
AARY
TILC:\ IT A IONS
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When he is bent upon attacking a traveler he announces it by a howl from one quarter. The signal is answered from another direction. Another piercing howl comes from somewhere else. The cry of the wolf echoes and rolls from hill to hill in marvelous multiplication of sounds. A small pack of half a dozen wolves will make the mountain seem alive for miles. The cry is anything but reassuring to the timid soul who is shut in safely by the fire of his forest cabin. It is enough to chill the marrow of the man who for the first time hears it when he is in the unprotected open. The wolf is vicious and savage. Hunger gives him any courage that he possesses, and that sort of courage drives him to desperation. That is why the wolf is such a ferocious enemy when once he is aroused to attack man. Death by starvation is no more alluring to him than death by the hand of his possible prey. I have listened in my bed to the dismal howl of the wolf, and for the benefit of those who never heard a wolf's soiree I will state here that one wolf leads off in a long tenor, and then the whole pack joins in the chorus.
Wolves were so numerous that, in the mem- ory of persons still living in Brookville in 1898, it was unsafe or dangerous to permit a girl of ten or twelve years to go a mile in the country unaccompanied. In those days the Longs have shot as many as five and six with- out moving in their tracks. In 1816 Ludwig Long and his son William shot five wolves without changing position with single-barreled, muzzle-loading rifles. The sure aim and steady and courageous hearts of noted hunt- ers, made it barely possible for the early set- tlers to live in these woods, and even then they had to exercise "eternal vigilance." In 1835 Bill Long, John and Jack Kahle captured eight wolves in a den near the present town of Sigel. Wolf pelts sold for three dollars.
Pennsylvania had originally black, brown and gray wolves. Each had its own habita- tion. The black and brown were exterminated about 1840, the gray about 1880.
BEAR
The black bear was always common in Pennsylvania, and especially was this so in Jefferson county. He was a great roadmaker and king of the beasts. The early settlers killed every year in the aggregate hundreds of these hears. Bearskins were worth from three to five dollars apiece. Reuben Hickox. as late as 1822, killed over fifty bears in three months. Captain Hunt, a Muncy Indian, liv-
ing in what is now Brookville, killed sixty- eight in one winter. In 1831 Mrs. McGhee, living in what is now Washington township, heard her pigs squealing, and exclaimed, "The bears are at the hogs!" A hired man, Philip McCafferty, and herself each picked up an ax and drove the bears away. Bears are very fond of hogs, which they eat alive, in this way: They throw the hog, hold him down with their paws, tear out his bowels at his flank and eat him at leisure. Every fall and winter bears are still killed in our forests.
Peter Vastbinder when a boy shot a bear through the window of his father's house, and this, too, by moonlight. This bear had a scap of bees in his arms, and was walking away with them.
The flesh of the bear was prized by the pioneer. He was fond of bear meat. Bears weighing four or five hundred pounds ren- dered a large amount of oil, which the pioneer housewife used in cooking.
WOLVERINES
Glutton or sloth wolverines were very rare in Jefferson county. Wolverines are about the size of a bull dog, fierce, cunning and strong. One peculiarity of the wolverine was this. when gazing at a man he would shade his eyes with his paws. The last one killed in the State was shot by Seth I. Nelson in Potter county in 1863.
PENS AND TRAPS
Trapping and pens were resorted to by the pioneer hunters to catch the panther, the bear. the wolf, and other game. The bear pen was built in a triangular shape of heavy logs. It was in shape and built to work just like a wooden box rabbit trap. The bear steel trap weighed about twenty-five pounds. It had double springs and spikes sharpened in the jaws. A chain was also attached. This was used as a panther trap, too. "The bear was always hard to trap. The cautious brute would never put his paw into visible danger, even when allured by the most tempting bait. If the animal was caught, it had to be accom- plished by means of the most cunning strata- gem. One successful method of catching this cautious beast was to conceal a strong trap in the ground covered with leaves or earth, and suspend a quarter of a sheep or deer from a tree above the hidden steel. The bait being just beyond the reach of the hear, would cause the animal to stand on his hind feet
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