USA > Pennsylvania > Lycoming County > Picture of Lycoming County, 1st ed > Part 7
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In the wake of the ax and saw came that wasteful demon- fire. The dead and dried limbs and tree tops, the stumps and abandoned logs provided excellent food for the flames. There were no fire roads to assist fighters. Fires were considered un- preventable, and were expected each spring and fall. For days they raged up the mountain sides and across the broad tops with such terrific heat that stones cracked and crumbled. In many instances only a welcome rain put an end to the destruc- tion. Wild life, seedlings, saplings, and promising young trees
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A PICTURE OF LYCOMING COUNTY
Band saw cutting out a piece of furniture
all fell victim to the fiery scourge which left barren, desolated areas in its wake.
With the destruction of the forests, the reservoir that ab- sorbed heavy rains was demolished. Devastating floods became common. Regions that had never before been flooded were regularly affected. Inestimable damage was done to valuable lowland farms, villages, and cities. Springs, wells, and streams dried up. Game fish perished in dry or stagnant pools.
The wholesale removal of the forests also worked wide- spread harm among the permanent residents of the mountains. These people were primarily dependent upon lumber for their sustenance. When lumbering ceased, their small fields and gar-
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den patches were no longer able to support them. The impov- erished inhabitants were forced to abandon their homes and seek employment in the towns and cities. Their unproductive fields reverted to a wild state and so remain today. To illustrate the exodus from typical lumbering counties let two examples be given. Forest County, in 1900, had a population of 11,039; in 1910, 9,435; in 1920, 7,477; and in 1930, 5,180. Potter County for the 'same periods declined as follows: 30,621 to 29,729 to 21,089 to 17,489. This was the tragic aftermath of the war on the forests.
REHABILITATION
After the ruthless lumbermen had denuded the forests of timber, they gathered up their tools and set out for new forest lands. They headed North, West, and South, to the Adiron- dacks, Michigan, Georgia, and Louisiana. They had no further use for thousands of acres of timberless land upon which they were obliged to pay annual taxes. The owners naturally wished to sell, and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania bought the land, much of it for back taxes. The State Government de- cided that these boundless acres of treeless land must be refor- ested and set out to do the job.
Today, almost half of the land area of Pennsylvania is forested. If the 13,200,000 acres of forest land were equally divided, each man, woman and child resident in the state would have one and one-third acres. There are about 110 different varieties of trees in the State forests, more than half of them of the timber variety.
On March 1, 1936, the state forests embraced an area of 1,964,439 acres, purchased at an average cost of $2.43 an acre. This land was acquired in the short period of 38 years. A con- servative estimate of the value of this land is in excess of $20,000,000. The state forests have already yielded approxi-
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A PICTURE OF LYCOMING COUNTY
mately $1,000,000 in income, most of which has been placed in the State School Fund.
To preserve and protect this vast domain approximately 3,000 miles of forest roads and 4,000 miles of trails have been constructed and are being maintained. In conjunction with the roads and trails, the State owns and maintains about 425 build- ings valued at $700,000. To guard against devastation 144 forest fire observation stations have been set up, 57 of which are located upon State-owned lands. Of the 127 primary State game refuges and 65 auxiliary refuges, 44 of the former and 24 of the latter are situated in the State Forests.
For the purpose of reforestation the Commonwealth in 1904 established its first tree nursery at Mt. Alto. Today there are four large nurseries with an annual capacity of 15,000,000 trees. Nearly 50,000,000 trees have been planted in the state forests. Private owners of woodland in Pennsylvania have pur- chased from the department and planted more than 150,000,000 trees.
Forests are grown for other purposes than timber produc- tion. As agents in modifying the surface of the earth, as places of recreation, as moderators of floods and droughts, as sources of health-giving properties, and as hunting preserves, these forest lands are of incalculable value to the present generation and to posterity.
The above figures were furnished by the Department of Forests and Waters and the Pennsylvania Game Commission.
QUESTIONS CHAPTER VIII
1. For what two purposes was the first timber cut?
2. Who built the first sawmills in Lycoming County?
3. How did men become "land poor"?
4. How were the logs transported from the forest to the lumber mills?
5. Why were sleds used in the lumber business?
6. Write a short letter to a friend explaining the camp life and recreation of a lumberjack.
7. What were the hours of labor and wages of saw mill workers? ?
8. Who was Major James H. Perkins?
9. What was meant by a log boom?
10. What is the State of Pennsylvania doing today to preserve its forest land?
CHAPTER IX
Civil War Days
N Lycoming County, as elsewhere throughout the country I
the events leading up to the Civil War provided topics for endless discussions. Since the newspapers of the district were usually affiliated with and interested in the success of a political party, the partisanship of their editorials and the coloring of their news columns intensified the prejudices of the readers.
In the presidential election of 1860 Lincoln carried Ly- coming County, receiving 3,494 votes to Douglas' 2,541. But local newspapers were far from unanimous in their endorsement of Lincoln's victory. Shortly after his election he was attacked bitterly by The Lycoming Gazette, February 20, 1861. Lin- coln's speeches, on his way from Springfield to Washington were said to contain "neither statesmanship, tact, nor talent in them-only twaddle that the merest pettifogger in several coun- ties around would be ashamed to have set down as coming from him, and which the whole nation should blush to know came from one who is soon to be its chief magistrate."
The firing on Fort Sumter in 1861 shocked Lincoln's editorial critic, and he immediately began to support the admin- istration's military policies and leadership. Throughout the Civil War the people of Lycoming County supported the Union cause with virtual unanimity. The spirit of '76 again quick- ened the hearts of descendants of Revolutionary families, and the more recent immigrants were also prompt in aligning them- selves on the side of the North.
In Lycoming County little trouble was experienced in en- listing men. Party lines were erased. Republicans and Demo-
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A PICTURE OF LYCOMING COUNTY
crats lined up shoulder to shoulder in answer to the call. Mili- tary enthusiasm was at such a high pitch that only twelve days after Fort Sumter had been fired upon the county had sent three companies to the front. The "Woodward Guards," which were organized on August 23, 1856 and named for Judge Apollos Woodward, was honored by being made company A of the Eleventh Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. Com- pany D was mustered in Williamsport, and Company G was re- cruited in Muncy.
These three companies were mustered into service on April 23, 1861, at Harrisburg, and were attached to the Eleventh Regiment. These companies not only served their first term of three months, but at the expiration of that period their regiment became the first to enlist for three years, a period everyone con- sidered "the duration of the war." The Eleventh Regiment Volunteers achieved an enviable record in service during the war, participating in almost all the engagements of the Army of the Potomac.
The companies from Lycoming County attracted the ap- proving attention of all' who reviewed the regiment. A corre- spondent of the Philadelphia Evening Bulletin assigned to the regiment was so impressed that he wrote his paper, "The 11th Regiment was reported at Harrisburg to be the best drilled regi- ment in the camp. It is not uniformed and the men are armed with very diversified and wonderful weapons. Some firelocks that I have observed with them might have done service in the old Colonial wars. A few have no guns at all, but are provided with carving and sheath knives, veterans horse-pistols, rusty bayonets and swords that seem to have been beaten into shape in some village forge. What they lack in martial means they make up in physical excellence, as all are broad chested, huge limbed men with countenances already indurated and scarred by a lifetime battle with the elements. . They have ponderous
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CIVIL WAR DAYS
feet, if boots are testimonies, and might answer for grenadiers for Frederick the Great."
The pay of soldiers in the Union Army as published in The Lycoming Gazette ranged from $218 a month for colonels to $22 for corporals, $21 for musicians, and $20 for privates. From this pay officers were required to furnish "their own uni- forms and supplies," but privates were provided with these necessities by the Government.
The first Lycoming County soldiers to leave for military service were compelled to endure unexpected hardships. Despite the good intentions of the Federal Government it was several months after their arrival in camp before they were provided with more than the bare necessities. Frequently the soldiers were dependent upon the people residing in communities adjoin- ing the camps for food.
More than a month after their departure from Lycoming County, one soldier, in a letter to a county paper, wrote, "Thus far no uniforms have been furnished us-no shoes, no caps, or clothing of any kind-except perhaps in a few instances; some of the officers have supplied the wants of the most needy of their men from their own private purses; others cannot appear on parade in consequence of a want of clothing. Our rations have been tolerably good until quite recently, when we were served the other morning with hard crackers instead of bread, and salt meat, with half-browned coffee. The crackers were soon flying in every direction and shouts of disapprobation rent the air." The reason for the abject appearance of the men from Lycoming was due to the fact that they had been informed that upon their arrival at Harrisburg they would be supplied with army uniforms. They had worn their oldest clothes, which could be discarded, rather than sent home when they re- ceived government clothing. As the uniforms were not forth-
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coming the men were compelled to continue wearing the shabby outfits taken from home.
The rations for soldiers, as published in the Williamsport Press of May 10, 1861, consisted of "Breakfast-one quart of good coffee, eight ounces of bread, and three-eights pound of beef; Noon, five-eighth pound of beef or mutton, well cooked with potatoes, one quart of baked beans, rice, bean or vegetable soup at the rate of one pint per man. Supper, eight ounces of bread, three pints of coffee and one-fourth pound of cold beef or mutton. Coffee to be furnished properly sweetened, and milk in due proportion to be provided."
An indispensable part of each soldier's equipment was the "work bag." Most of these were made by patriotic women of the community who desired to be of direct aid to the departing soldiers. The bags were made of "dark calico, double with compartments for each article, so as to be readily got at." Each usually contained "one pair of round pointed scissors, one pair coarse needles, one hank grey patent thread, two hanks black patent thread, one spool coarse white thread, three dozen por- celain shirt buttons, five dozen suspender buttons, one pair hose, one piece grey twilled tape, two pieces of white tape, half paper of strong pins, and woolen yarn to darn stockings, and darning needles." In addition to the "work bags," boxes containing bandages and other first-aid articles were made up and for- warded to the soldiers in camp.
Persons exempt from military service tried in other ways to contribute to the comfort of the soldiers and to relieve them of worry concerning their families. Typical of this attitude was the action of one property owner in releasing all his tenants from paying rent while they were serving in the army. A well known physician of Williamsport offered free medical service to the families of volunteers in the Woodward Guards and Wil- liamsport Rifle Company.
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Troop trains passed through Williamsport almost daily. Invariably the trains were met by the ladies of the county, who fed and entertained the soldiers. Thousands of dollars in con- tributions were raised in the vicinity to assist dependent fam- ilies. One small borough raised almost $1,500 in several "bene- fits," and the borough of Williamsport borrowed money to aid its fatherless families.
Many of the men from Lycoming and neighboring coun- ties were from pioneer farms. This background proved to be a decided asset to the hastily recruited, largely volunteer army. If their regiment needed log cabins or larger buildings, men from Lycoming County were usually asked to build them. One soldier wrote as follows, "It is rather amusing to see them build cabins without having nails or any kind of tools except an axe ... Company D ... is composed of men from Bradford, Tioga and Lycoming Counties. If our General or Colonel wants a cabin built, or wants any men to do any kind of work, it seems Company D has to do it."
At the beginning of the war troops were obtained by en- listment. The results of this method were disappointing. Con- gress therefore passed a selective draft act, which, in its original version, contained inequalities. In order to secure a sufficient number of soldiers, all manner of inducements and rewards were offered. So numerous and complicated did these become that the filing of claims on behalf of veterans was a lucrative business. A little more than a year after the beginning of the Civil War several so-called "agents" were advertising in Lycoming County, offering to aid veterans in securing "soldiers pay, pensions, extra pay, bounty and bounty lands."
For the Fourth Reserves, Thirty-third Regiment, Lycom- ing County recruited Company E. To the Fifth Reserves, Thirty-fourth Regiment, the county contributed one full com- pany, Company A. Many Lycoming men were in the ranks of
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A PICTURE OF LYCOMING COUNTY
Company K of the Forty-fifth Regiment. Several residents were in the Fifty-first Regiment which distinguished itself at Antie- tam. The Eighty-fourth Regiment, numbering 109 men from the county, made an enviable record for itself. While with this regiment Colonel Milton Opp, pioneer settler, lost his life in the battle of the Wilderness. To the Eightieth Regiment the county contributed fifteen men; to the Sixty-fifth, eighty; and to the Sixtieth, seventeen.
Lycoming County was represented in the One Hundred and Sixth Regiment by several men, among whom was Captain W. N. Jones, later a Mayor of Williamsport.
To the One Hundred and Thirty-first Regiment the county contributed three companies: Company G from Williamsport, Company H from Muncy and Company I from Jersey Shore. In the One Hundred and Seventy-seventh Regiment the county helped to man Company A. In the One Hundred and Ninety- fourth Regiment, Company A was wholly from Lycoming, and in the One Hundred and Ninety-fifth, Company F was re- cruited at Jersey Shore.
When the state was invaded by the Confederates in June 1863, emergency regiments were organized. One of these regi- ments was the Twenty-sixth, to which Lycoming contributed Company G. Other regiments and companies of the emergency troops having Lycoming residents in their ranks were: Company K of the Twenty-eighth; the Thirty-seventh Regiment; the Forty-third, with Henry W. Petrikin of Muncy as Major; the Forty-seventh, with part Company B and all of Company G recruited in the county.
The One Hundred and Forty-third Regiment, part of the famous Bucktail Brigade, included a number of Lycoming men. Lieutenant Colonel John D. Musser lost his life in the Wilder- ness, and W. F. Keys of Williamsport was taken prisoner in the same battle.
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Lycoming County contributed also to the cavalry. The Eighty-ninth Regiment, Eighth Cavalry, included Company G. This regiment gained fame by its charge on "Stonewall" Jack- son's infantry at Chancellorsville. The county also contributed men to the Sixtieth Regiment, Third Cavalry; the Sixty-fifth Regiment, Fifth Cavalry; the Eightieth Regiment, Seventh Cav- alry; the One Hundred and Seventeenth Regiment, Thirteenth Cavalry; and to the One Hundred and Sixty-third Regiment, Eighteenth Cavalry.
An independent cavalry company was organized in Wil- liamsport in September 1862, but it served for less than a month and its men drifted into other companies and regiments. On July 10, 1863, an independent cavalry battalion was organized. Lycoming furnished Company C. This unit was disbanded on August 18, 1863, and its members went to other regiments or returned home.
The county was represented by musical organizations in the war. The Repasz Band of Williamsport, the oldest brass band in continuous existence in the country, served with the Eleventh Regiment Volunteers, and later with the Twenty- ninth Pennsylvania Volunteers. The Stopper Silver Cornet Band, with Fridoline Stopper as leader, was a part of the One Hundred Sixth Regiment, Pennsylvania Volunteers. The band was composed of seventeen men, most of whom were from Lycoming County.
On May 12, 1863, Williamsport was chosen as headquar- ters of the Board of Enrollment for the Congressional district composed of Lycoming, Centre, Clinton, Tioga, and Potter counties. It operated until April 14, 1865, furnishing 8,311 men to the colors. Of this number Lycoming contributed 2,471.
The demands made upon local communities by the Federal Government as a result of the war were generally well received in Lycoming County. Difficulty was seldom encountered in
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filling county, township, and borough quotas. Moreover, the local authorities applied the "draft act" in a fair and impartial manner.
When draft call was issued in the early months of 1864, thousands of men had already enlisted, but hundreds more hastened to volunteer. The borough "Town Meeting" adopted a resolution requesting "all persons enrolled and subject to the draft within the Borough of Williamsport" to pay twenty-five dollars to the borough authorities. Council acted as custodian of the money thus raised. In a short period of time, 481 from Williamsport paid the amount into the fund. When a man who had subscribed was drafted, a substitute was hired for three hundred dollars and the fee paid from the fund. Such substitu- tion was permitted under the draft law and the subscription plan was entirely voluntary. This method of hiring substitutes held complaints to a minimum. It also allowed men a measure of choice and sometimes prevented needless hardships to their fam- ilies. Other townships and boroughs adopted the same pro- cedure to soften the effects of the compulsory draft.
QUESTIONS CHAPTER IX
1. What were the names of the first companies from Lycoming County to be mustered into Civil War service?
2. What was a "work bag"?
3. How were the families of soldiers assisted?
4. What method was used to hire substitutes for military service?
5. Make a list of the various companies and regiments in which men from Lycoming County served.
CHAPTER X Industry, Agriculture, and Labor
INDUSTRY
IN the early days of Lycoming County, when roads were little 1
more than trails cut through the wilderness and there were numerous turbulent unbridged streams to be forded, wagons and river craft were the only means of communication with the outside world. From the early settlement of the territory to the construction of the West Branch Canal in 1834, virtually all of the necessities of life were produced in the home, the field, the grist mill, and the blacksmith shop. While men toiled in field, forest, mill, and shop, the women worked at home to pro- vide the family with wearing apparel. Wool was carded, spun, woven into cloth, and made into garments. From surplus fats and homemade lye, soap was made. A generous supply of roots and herbs was kept on hand for the treatment of infection and disease.
Until the rise of the lumber business, most of the com- mercial enterprises in Lycoming County were personally owned and operated. The wild state of the territory and the difficulty of transporting supplies were not favorable to large scale manu- facturing like that which existed in New England and along the Atlantic seaboard. In 1838 the first large sawmill in the county was constructed. Its operation proved so profitable that others were soon built. Lumbering became a gigantic industry, and completely dominated the commercial life of the county.
The first forward step in transportation was the comple- tion of the West Branch Canal from Northumberland to Lock
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Haven in 1834. The canal for many years played a significant role in the country's industrial development, particularly during the lumber era, when millions of feet of lumber were shipped. Although the canal was a great improvement over the horse- drawn wagon and the crude river craft, it still was a slow means of transportation.
The first railroad in the county was from Williamsport to Ralston, constructed in 1839, but it was not until 1855, however, that the county was given easy access to the large eastern markets. Lumber, coal and iron-ore were responsible for attracting many of the early industries. Later, the development of modern transportation facilities, its nearness to the great an- thracite and bituminous coal fields and a quick means of reach- ing the eastern markets caused industries to locate in this section. The advent of improved marketing facilities brought an influx of tradesmen and craftsmen, not only to sell goods, but also to manufacture them. Shops sprang up in all sections of the county. In a comparatively short time, grist mills and sawmills operated by overshot water wheels were supplanted by larger ones pow- ered by steam. Woolen mills, with power-driven machinery, re- placed the hand-card (an instrument for combing wool), the spinning wheel, and the hand loom. Tanneries, foundries, ma- chine shops, steel mills, furniture factories, and various indus- tries of other types produced a varied list of products, comparable to those made in any other county of the state.
In 1860 there were 430 manufacturing establishments with a capital investment of nearly two and a half million dollars. Ten years later, there were 608 factories and the amount of the capital investment had more than trebled. During the next ten-year period, because of a financial depression, the advance was halted, but near the close of the century there were 645 in- dustries with invested capital totaling nearly seven million dol- lars. From that time to present there has been a marked de-
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INDUSTRY, AGRICULTURE, AND LABOR
Spraying varnish on furniture in a furniture factory at Williamsport
crease in the number of manufacturing establishments, due largely to the consolidation of related interests and the elimina- tion of smaller ones. Athough the number of industries has steadily decreased since the 80's, capital investment has steadily increased. In 1938, the number of manufacturing establish- ments had shrunken to approximately two hundred, but the capital investment had grown to more than twenty-seven million dollars. The value of the manufactured products closely ap- proached the thirty million dollar mark, with an annual pay- roll of more than seven and one-half millions. The total num- ber of persons engaged in manufacturing industries was 9,598,
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of whom 7,167 were males and 2,431 females. More than 500 different items were produced by the 192 industries and many products necessary to human existence were found in the list. Metal and metal products led the list, with lumber and its re- manufacture a close second. Textiles and textile products were a close third in the number of articles processed or manufactured in the county.
Among the items produced by the metal and metal product industries are: gas, automotive and marine engines; generator plants; airplane propellors; steam boilers; smoke stacks; grates; metal and sheet-iron products; emergency light plants; air con- ditioners; gas boilers and humidifiers; foundry castings; iron; brass; bronze and aluminum; radiator shields; metal cabinets; grilles and boiler jackets; metal stampings and furniture hard- ware; cutting dies for leather, paper and rubber; metal stamp- ing dies for blanking and forming metal parts and leather spe- cialties; wood-working machinery, gate valves and fire hydrants; steel reenforcement bars; steel rails, saws, and cutting knives; fire escapes and steel stairs; automatic magazine feed heaters for steam, vapor, hot water and warm air furnaces; steel oil boilers; steel stoker boilers, heavy duty tank heaters and rotary ash re- ceivers; oil well packing; valve caps; wire rope and steel cables.
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