USA > Pennsylvania > Lycoming County > Picture of Lycoming County, Vol. 2 > Part 15
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
Skeletal remains of Paleo Indians suggest that they were an average height of 5 feet 5} inches tall, with thin bones and a muscular physique. One scholar has described them as "wiry, stong, and extremely tough," and, no doubt, they had to be. They were susceptible to many dangers and dis- eases. Few of them lived past the age of 35 and many died of diseases affecting the teeth. Others died due to ex- posure, hunger or accidents. The tools they used were delicately chipped flints, never battered or ground stone tools as in later periods.
The Paleo Indians seem, then, to have been as far removed from the historic Indians in their way of life as the his- toric Indians are from us. The Paleo Indians did not lead an easy existence; it consisted of what to us are less than the bare essentials. But they survived, however pre- cariously, and managed to propagate the Indian race up to the coming of the white man, probably the greatest threat of all to the Indians' existence.
THE ARCHAIC ERA
By around 5,000 or 4,000 B.C. a strong warming trend oc- curred in the county and the climatic and other environ- mental conditions changed dramatically. The tundra and conifers gave way to hardwood forests comprised mostly of trees known today, such as oak, hickory, and chestnut. The large land-roving animals disappeared, and smaller herbivores took their place. Deer, bear, and elk became new hunting targets for the people of this second era, the Archaic Era.
The Archaic Indians began the practice of collecting nuts and berries for eating, items not available to their ances- tors of a colder and wilder age. To aid them in hunting, the Archaic Indians invented a spear thrower called the atlat1, which was a wooden rod with a hook at one end. A notch at the end of the spear fitted into the hook, thereby affording the person throwing more thrust and greater maneuverability in landing game.
213
-1
Prehistoric artifacts (from Man, Land and Time, p. 225
4
Atlat1 or spear thrower
HISTORIC
1600
LATE WOODLAND
WOODLAND
1000
ERA
MIDDLE
WOODLAND
O
500
EARLY WOODLAND
1000
TERMINAL ARCHAIC
1700
ERA
LATE ARCHAIC
ARCHAIC
4000
EARLY ARCHAIC
7000
LATE PALEO
8000
PALEO ERA
EARLY PALEO
11,500
Chart of prehistoric epochs (from Man, Land and Time, p. 19)
Other tools invented by the Archaic Indians were notched and grooved axes, adzes for woodworking, bone awls or needles, flint drills, and a wide variety of delicately chipped stone spearpoints. And the very latest Archaic Indians developed the use of river resources for the first time by collecting shell fish and making nets for fishing from the fibers of Indian hemp plants.
It is interesting that from 75 to 80 percent of all stone tools found in Lycoming County are from the Late Archaic period (4,000-2,000 B.C. ). This indicates significant use of the county by Archaic Indians for hunting, fishing and collecting. There are no finds of pots or cooking vessels from this era because Archaic Indians still roasted all their food over an open fire. The Archaic Era saw steady progress in the life and conditions of Indian existence in the county, though much of this was effected by dramatic change in climate and environment from the Paleo Era. As we shall see, greater changes were still to come in Indian culture.
THE "TRANSITIONAL PHASE"
The next important period of Indian prehistory is known as the "Transitional Phase." "Transitional" refers to the period from 2,000 B.C. to 1,000 B.C. Three major changes took place: 1) the use of the river as a highway for dug- out canoes and hollowed logs; 2) the use of stone bowls; and 3) the beginning of farming along river flats. These three changes altered radically the living pattern and life- style of prehistoric Indians. They meant a more sedentary life which, in turn, meant larger communities of people living in one place.
The stone used in bowls was quarried in other places and transported by the Indians in dugout canoes. The dugout canoes were made with newly invented tools such as stone gouges. Other new tools included quarry picks for digging stone, and hoe blades for farming. Net sinkers were made by chipping notches into small river pebbles. These were attached to the bottoms of nets to hold them against the current while floats on top held the net upright. Modern gill nets serve a similar purpose.
The use of stone bowls was a revolutionary development. Prior to their invention, the Indians cooked either by roasting their food or by placing hot stones in bark ves- sels to boil up a kind of soup. The stone bowls were made by simply carving them out of a block of soapstone. Some of the very earliest clay pottery was made during the Transitional Phase, some finds of which have been made at Bull Run in Lycoming County. The first clay pottery was shaped in identical fashion to the stoneware. Though
216
highly primitive compared with later clay pottery, these ini- tial clay vessels made by the Indians were a milestone in the advancement of Indian culture.
Another milestone was the utilization of farming. The very first crop of the Indians was the sunflower which was in- digenous to North America. Sunflower seeds were ground into flour along with acorns, hickory nuts and walnuts, and from this they made their first bread. In view of the advent of farming, the Indians were required to stay in one place for greater periods. This encouraged the growth of popula- tions, and made villages possible for the first time. We can see, then, how important water travel, the use of stone and clay bowls, agriculture, and village life were to the transition from the Archaic to the fourth and final pre- historic period, the Woodland Era.
THE WOODLAND ERA
The Woodland Era lasted roughly 2,000 years from about 1,000 B.C. to the coming of the white settlers in the 1600's A.D. The primary characteristics of the Woodland included farming, village life, and especially, clay pottery. By this time all Indians in Lycoming County made and used clay pottery. The Woodland Era is itself divided into three periods: the Early Woodland (1000-500 B.C. ), the Middle Woodland (500 B.C. - 1000 A.D. ) and the Late Woodland (1000-1600 A.D. ).
It is significant that by Early Woodland times, there is evidence of the "cult of the dead." This shows that the Indians had developed a religious sense which pointed be- yond themselves. At the Bull Run archaeological site in Lycoming County, six graves were found doused with red ochre. Apparently the Indians believed that the red sub- stance would provide the deceased with blood for the next life.
The red pigment was made by grinding hematite into dust. It was also a practice of the Indians by Early Woodland times to place burial goods in graves with the dead. This, too, indicates a religious sentiment. As with the Egyptian mummies, the Indians provided burial goods for the use of the dead person in the after-life.
One contribution of Middle Woodland times which was to benefit the Indians of future periods was the bow and arrow. This weapon aided them in hunting game and made available more leisure to do other things, such as the making of or- naments and more decorative clothing.
.
The Middle Woodland period was a time when agriculture and village life became well established. A deterrant
217
to the development of large Indian settlements, however, was the lack of firewood. There were plenty of trees, but Indian technology had not yet advanced to the point that heavy axes could be made. Rather, the Indians had to de- pend on smaller tree limbs and branches which were quickly depleted. Thus, even in Woodland times, Indian settlements could not be permanent due to a very ancient form of energy crisis.
The Indians made fires by means of the "strike-a-light, " a flint against which a piece of iron pyrite was struck to produce a spark. Another fire-building method employed the "fire-drill." This was a vertical stick of wood with a point at the bottom which fitted into a small hole in a wooden block. Fine bits of wood shavings or dried weeds were placed around the bottom of the shaft. Friction was created by looping a string and bow around the stick so that the stick could be turned quickly back and forth to induce heat, thereby igniting the tinder material at the bottom. Once lit, fires were kept going for long periods.
In the Middle Woodland period corn was grown for the first time in the Northeast, having been brought in from the southwestern United States. The corn and other crops were tended by the women, as were the children. The men continued to roam, hunting for animals to be brought back and added to the larder.
Other types of crops gradually introduced included beans and squash. The diet of the Indians became more varied as new and improved crops came along. Diet was also better served by the larger and improved pottery vessels which were being made, thus enhancing cooking methods. Soups and stews were popular, as was corn bread made from ground corn- meal.
The first clay pots were of thin construction and were wrap- ped with cords to support their sides. Eventually, larger and stronger vessels were made, and the Indian potters be- gan to experiment with new shapes and sizes.
As village life expanded and less time was expended on the bare necessities of hunting, farming and cooking, many In- dians spent their leisure time making ornaments, such as beads and pendants. The first use of tobacco is attributed to the Woodland Era. The Indians discovered that tobacco smoked well in a stone tube, and later realized the ad- vantages of an elbow pipe. Many carved stone pipes have been found from the Woodland Era, some of them in the shape of animal heads.
While Lycoming County can boast few archaeological finds from the Woodland Era, one interesting Late Woodland
218
feature was the Brock Mound near Muncy. This was a large burial mound wherein were found thirty Indian burials in twenty-eight graves. This was the only such burial mound found in the West Branch Valley, Burial mounds were an ancient form of cemetery in which the graves were mounded up rather than placed flat as in a modern cemetery. Un- fortunately, few artifacts were associated with the Brock Mound apart from several clay pipes, a chipped slate blade, a slab mortar, several netsinkers, and a few smaller items.
Many of the other archaeological sites in Lycoming County are associated with the Lycoming Creek region where there was a major Indian trail dating back to the very earliest Paleo times. This trail, known as the Sheshequin Trail, was a primary route from New York and the North and was used extensively up to the disappearance of the Indians from Pennsylvania. There may still be many unknown Indian sites in that region which have yet to be discovered and investigated by archaeologists, unlocking still more knowledge about our county's original citizens. So far, archaeologists have mapped over 200 Indian sites in the county.
THE "BULL RUN" EXCAVATION
The archaeological site in Lycoming County yielding the most important discoveries to date is the Bull Run site in Loyalsock Township. The Bull Run excavation -- along with the current Canfield Island excavation nearby -- was co-spon- sored by the North Central Chapter, No. 8 of the Society for Pennsylvania Archaeology, and the Lycoming County Historical Society. Local archaeologist James P. Bressler served as director of the dig.
It is believed that Indians inhabited the Bull Run site as far back as 7000 B.C. Some of the residents of this site were probably descendents of the Clemsons Island people, who were among the earliest Indians to live in Lycoming County. Other inhabitants of the Bull Run site were the so-called "Orient people" who made the earliest pottery known in Lycoming County dating back to 1220 B.C. It was also the Orient people who utilized red ochre in their cult of the dead.
The latest and most significant inhabitants of the Bull Run site were the "Shenks Ferry people" who lived there over a period of several hundred years and were probably driven out by the Cayuga Indians at the opening of the colonial period. Though Lycoming County was probably their homeland, the Shenks Ferry people were named after Shenks Ferry, Lan- caster County, where they were first studied around 1930.
-
219
The Shenks Ferry people were farmers who maintained a nearly permanent settlement at Bull Run. Their houses were of post- and-lintel construction and were covered with bark. Their settlement was surrounded by a fort dating from 1230 A.D. The fort was oval-shaped and measured roughly 250 feet in length and 150 feet in width. Recent studies of seeds found at Bull Run indicate that common weeds were used as part of the diet. Unfortunately, next to nothing is known of the Shenks Ferry people after their defeat by the Cayugas. Further, with the disappearance of the Shenks Ferry people, permanent Indian habitation of Lycoming County ceased for- ever. From then on, Indians lived in Lycoming County only intermittently and for relatively short periods.
THE COLONIAL PERIOD
We leave behind the prehistoric period at the appearance of the first white colonizers in Pennsylvania. By this time Indian society in North America had evolved into groupings known as tribes. Different tribes often spoke different languages and maintained different forms of social organi- zation. Quite often intense rivalries developed between tribes, and wars were an all too common feature of life.
During the colonial period Lycoming County was used as a corridor for travel, and in very latest times, served as a buffer between the Iroquois tribes to the North and the white settlers to the South. The most prominent of Penn- sylvania's tribes in this period were the Susquehannocks.
It is possible that the Susquehannocks had originally be- longed to the Iroquois group and separated sometime around 1400 A.D., settling first along the North Branch of the Susquehanna River. They made a gradual migration south- ward coming to rest in southern Pennsylvania near what is now Lancaster.
The Susquehannocks apparently made excursions into the West Branch Valley, as some of their artifacts have been found here, mainly in Clinton County near Lock Haven and across Pine Creek from Jersey Shore. The Susquehannocks were an advanced people and lived in large fortified villages. Many of the hostilities between the Susquehannocks and the Iroquois were so violent that the Susquehannocks surrounded their villages with strong palisades as a means of defense.
THE INFLUENCE OF THE WHITE SETTLERS
The coming of white settlers to North America spelled doom for Indian life as it had been known. The first peril to the Indians which the white men brought were European dis- eases to which they had no immunity. Typhoid, diptheria, influenza, measles, chicken pox, whooping cough, tuberculosis,
220
yellow and scarlet fevers, and smallpox swept through Indian communities, often mercilessly wiping them out completely. These epidemics contributed significantly to the demise of the Susquehannocks.
Another diminishing factor upon Indian life was the effect of the white men themselves. The earliest Swedish and Dutch settlers along the East coast deprived such tribes as the Algonquins, Delawares, and Shawnees of their lands, forcing them to move westward. Occasionally, the Indians benefited from the white man's presence in terms of economy and trade. The Susquehannocks, for example, assumed the role of major middlemen in the fur trade between the white men and Indians to the west and the north; but trading rivalry between the Susquehannocks and Iroquois developed and sparked bloody conflicts between them.
The Indians also suffered from adopting white ways and practices without fully adapting themselves to a white life style. Such items as metal axes and pots improved the Indians' daily existence, but rifles and liquor were not always treated with the caution and respect they deserved.
The stability of the Indian civilization was weakened inter- nally by the warring between tribes and nations, and exter- nally by the aggressive onslaught of the technologically and socially more complex white culture.
The Susquehannocks were the primary Indian tribe in Pennsyl- vania at the time of the white man's coming. They control- led the central Susquehanna region and probably dominated the West Branch Valley, even if they had no standing settle- ments here. By the early eighteenth century the Susquehan- nocks were gone from Pennsylvania, except for a small group near Conestoga in the Southeast.
The vacuum was filled by smaller tribes of Delaware Indians who were allowed to move into the Susquehanna region by the Iroquois, who claimed ownership of the area. Once the Iro- quois had defeated the Susquehannocks in 1675, the West Branch Valley shifted to their control and served as a buffer zone between themselves and the white men.
LAST INDIAN SETTLEMENTS
The most important Indian settlement in our area at this time was known as Ostuagy, or Madame Montour's village, situated at the mouth of Loyalsock Creek. Its residents were mainly of mixed Delaware Indian and white blood. It apparently lasted eight or nine years and was a prominent stop-over for Moravian travelers who frequented the area. -
Other sites of Indian habitation in this period were known
221
to exist at Muncy, at the mouth of Lycoming Creek, and on Big Island near Jersey Shore. Archaeological excavations at these sites have revealed a number of artifacts, both Indian and European in origin, suggesting a mixed culture.
The Indian presence in our county lasted well into the eighteenth century, though after 1755 no Indian settlement existed here. The Iroquois had sold the land out from under the Delaware to the white men in the Walking Purchase of 1737. The Delaware, joined by the Shawnee, then moved west to the Ohio region and returned here briefly during the French and Indian War (1755-62) as raiders for the French, and in retaliation for the earlier white encroachment. The French and Indian War marked the end to Indian presence in Lycoming County.
Some Indian intrusions into the county were recorded in the several massacres of white settlers which occurred, such as the "Plum Thicket Massacre" of June 10, 1778, at the present corner of West Fourth and Cemetery streets in Williamsport. Also, during the Revolutionary War the British led Seneca raids on the county. But apart from these few instances, the Indians had left Lycoming County forever. Still, the white man will have to reside another 11,000 years in Ly- coming County before he can claim to have lived here longer than the Indians.
222
QUESTIONS INDIANS IN PREHISTORIC LYCOMING COUNTY
1. Describe the methods of an archaeologist.
2. Construct a time-line showing the various peoples to inhabit Lycoming County before the coming of white settlers.
3. Describe climatic changes in the prehistoric period of Lycoming County and explain the effect upon living things.
4. What do you think were some of the most important de- velopments in the story of prehistoric inhabitants of Lycoming County?
5. Locate and describe the importance of some of the im- portant archaeological sites in Lycoming County.
6. How did the coming of white settlers to Lycoming County affect the Indians?
7. With what Indian group( s) did the white man come into contact in Lycoming County?
8. Where were some of the localities where these Indians lived?
223
APPENDIX B
BLACK HISTORY IN LYCOMING COUNTY
THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD AND THE CIVIL WAR
Slavery never became widespread in Lycoming County because, like the rest of the North, the need for skilled and semi- skilled workers made the slave work force impractical and uneconomical. As in the rest of the North, slaves in Ly- coming County were used almost exclusively as domestic servants.
Because the economy of the North did not depend on slave labor as it did in the South, abolitionists were able to stand on widespread anti-slavery sentiments to push through legislation ending slavery in Pennsylvania as early as 1780. The Act of 1780, a seeming abolitionist victory, was a vic- tory in principle only, for the last slave was not freed until 68 years later in 1848. The Act of 1780 provided that all slaves 28 years of age or older were to be freed on July 4, 1827, and the rest as they reached their 28th birthday. In 1820, there were only three slaves in Ly- coming County so their freedom created hardly a ripple locally.
The effect of the law on the county, however, was more far- reaching than first realized. Slaves in the bordering states soon learned that if they reached the free soil of Pennsylvania they too would be free. Slave holders in these states, either cringing under the heat of abolition- ist wrath or finding slavery uneconomical, set their slaves free in Pennsylvania.
As the immigration continued, people in the county became fearful that they would be outnumbered by blacks. In 1827, the Lycoming Gazette expressed that fear and verbally thrashed slaveholders who found Pennsylvania a "Liberia, where they could, with less expense than to Africa, co- lonize their redundant colored population .... At no distant day the colored would not only vastly outnumber, but to- tally supplant the white population."
Hundreds of slaves passed through the county on their way to Canada but many made their home in the county, taking jobs as laborers, tanners, hackmen, laundresses, and seam- stresses. Many fugitive blacks remained in Lycoming County until the passage of the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 required law men to return fugitives to their owners. Slave owners and slave catchers seeking rewards forced fugi- tives to move further North into Canada for freedom.
During the turbulent decades before the Civil War, aboli- tionists conspired to smuggle fugitive slaves from house to house over a network that came to be called the
224
Underground Railroad. The network ran from the deep South through Indiana, Ohio and Pennsylvania and on to Canada where Queen Victoria had declared the slaves free. Hun- dreds of slaves risked their lives to escape along the Underground Railroad while others were executed in the South following aborted attempts to escape.
Over the half century prior to the Civil War, more than a thousand slaves passed through Lycoming County. Before the development of the Underground Railroad, slaves escaped along the Allegheny Mountains with nothing but the North Star to guide them. Free blacks living at Kaiser's Springs (Duboistown) regularly scanned the old Indian paths leading out of the mountains and hid the fugitive slaves in their homes. Under cover of night the fugitives were brought across the Susquehanna River to Nigger Hollow ( Freedom Road since 1935), another settlement of free blacks a mile north of Market Square. This settlement was protected by 200-foot ravines and dense underbrush. The only access to the area was by old Indian trails and one narrow dirt road.
Rumors of slave catchers who disappeared at the hands of abolitionists hidden in the dense underbrush frightened slave catchers who seldom ventured to the area alone. Many slaves were hidden there in the homes of David and Philip Roderick. Daniel Hughes, whose home still stands near the Freedom Road Cemetery, hid many slaves in his home. When slave catchers made the home unsafe for fugi- tives, Hughes hid the runaways in one of the three iron ore mines, or superficial caves, that he had dug on his pro- perty. Sometimes Hughes picked up runaways on his lumber raft on the Susquehanna River as he returned from Sparrow's Point, Maryland.
At night one of the free blacks guided the runaways to Horseheads, N. Y., or Trout Run where they were hidden in the baggage compartment of the Williamsport-Elmira train by Robert Faries, president of the railroad, and Reason But- ler, a fugitive slave. Sometimes the runaways were led along old Indian trails that led up Miller's Run and across hills to Lycoming Creek then to Trout Run. Many times it was necessary for them to walk midstream up Grafius Run to avoid making tracks. Many slaves arrived by canal boat from Columbia at the Exchange Hotel at the foot of Market Street in Williamsport. There they were met by abolition- ists who hid them in the Updegraff barn in Black Horse / Alley and then smuggled them north to Nigger Hollow.
Montoursville was so heavily populated by abloitionists that runaways felt safe to sleep in open fields. Numerous runaways arrived by canal boat at Hall's Landing (Hall's Station) and were hidden by abolitionist Quakers. Some slaves were hidden at the Friend's Meeting House at
225
BRADFORD
POTTER
Roaring Branch
Ralston
SULLIVAN
English
Bodines
Trout Run
L
C
O
N
.waterville
williamsport's
Montours ville G
Pennsdale
Picture Rocks
Jersey Shore
Hughesville
Susquehanna River
Hall's Landing
Muncy
Montgome
CLINTON
UNION
NORTHUMBERLAND
COLUMBIA
MONTOUR
CENTRE
Map of Underground Railroad in county (courtesy of E. L. Pierce)
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.