USA > Pennsylvania > Lycoming County > Picture of Lycoming County, Vol. 2 > Part 3
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Several of the industries were persuaded to locate in Ly- coming County because of the availability of skilled labor. John McAneny, general manager of M. W. Kellogg Company (now Pullman-Kellogg Company), reported in 1961 that it had cho- sen Williamsport as a site for its headquarters and manu- facturing facilities because "we have found in Williamsport a reservoir of skilled workmen who have met the extremely high standards required for this type of work (manufacture of intricate piping systems). Many of these men have im- proved their natural skills by taking courses at the Wil- liamsport Technical Institute (predecessor to Williamsport
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Glyco Chemical Company
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1
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Forge at Williamsport Training School
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Aviation shop at Williamsport Training School
Area Community College) which has a history of turning out graduates skilled in all the arts and crafts required by all types of Central Pennsylvania industry."
Other industries find the county attractive because of space available for expansion, less congested shipping facilities, and proximity to sources of raw materials. Williamsport has much to offer industry. It is centrally located to the largest retail market in the United States. Twenty percent of the U. S. population, or over 40 million people, live within a 200-mile radius of Williamsport, reaching to Philadelphia, New York City, Albany, Syracuse, Rochester, Buffalo, Erie, Pittsburgh, Baltimore, and Washington, D. C. The Industrial Park in Williamsport offers easy access to Interstate 80 and the Susquehanna Beltway, and the level land, railroads, and airports make shipping of large quanti- ties of goods possible.
THE WILLIAMSPORT PLAN
Like other cities in 1930, Williamsport found itself in the midst of the Depression and facing rising unemployment. To add to its difficulties, the U. S. Rubber Company closed its plant in Williamsport in 1932, putting an additional 2,500 people out of work, swelling the already overburdened relief rolls and leaving most of the workers without marketable skills. Faced with rising relief bills, businessmen worked through the Chamber of Commerce to collect data to deter- mine what type of worker was unemployed. The results showed that 75 percent of the unemployed were unskilled, 85 percent of whom had adequate backgrounds to become skilled or semi- skilled workers. A shop-to-shop survey made the surprising disclosure that while unemployment was rising, many shops reported an increasing shortage of workers with particular skills. Dr. George H. Parkes, director of the vocational department of the Williamsport High School, was appointed to design a program that would equip the unemployed with needed skills.
A plan, which became known as the Williamsport Plan, was de- signed to screen, train, and place the unemployed through the coordinated efforts of the Williamsport Retraining School -- also directed by Dr. Parkes -- the state employment office, the YWCA, the YMCA, and numerous other agencies. The Williamsport Retraining School was to serve also as a training center for the WPA, PWA, NYA and CCC.
In the Williamsport High School at the corner of Third and Susquehanna Streets, the staff of the Williamsport Retrain- ing School set up an electrical shop in a coal bin, re- claimed a locker room for the automotive department, and set up a machine shop under the new school bleachers. With only a $1000 grant from the Williamsport School District, the Williamsport Retraining School could afford little in the
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way of manpower. About $10,000 in equipment was salvaged from area junk yards and reconditioned. Another $10,000 worth of equipment was borrowed from area industries. By 1933 Parkes decided a separate building for the Williamsport Retraining School was needed. The Williamsport School Dist- rict could offer no funds and did not agree that a separate building was necessary. So the staff of the Williamsport Retraining School chose a site on school property, designed a blueprint of the building, and tapped the County Relief Board for a work force. Every day a different crew of twenty workers was sent to the school with materials bought on credit and borrowed tools, the crew dug out a foundation and constructed a one-story, saw-tooth building with walls of glass to admit a maximum of natural light. By 1934 the three-unit building at the corner of West Third and Park Streets was ready for use.
/When surveys projected a need for truck drivers, the staff of the school borrowed trucks, dug a regulation-sized me- chanics pit in the yard of the school and started one of the first trucking schools in the country. When there was a shortage of men skilled in the use of the acetylene torch, the staff rounded up several second-hand and dis- carded torches and borrowed a skilled worker as an instruc- tor.
The single objective of the Williamsport Plan was to place the unemployed in jobs for which they were trained. Toward that end, eight industry-experienced coordinators were em- ployed by the Williamsport Retraining School to determine what skills local industries would be needing in the near future and what student was best suited for training in that area. Follow-up training was offered until the employee was settled in his job.
Most employers were unable to predict their future needs, but interviews with shop foremen and supervisors uncovered specifically needed skills. Applicants to the program were interviewed to determine their aptitude as well as their in- terest. Unless an applicant showed no aptitude for a skill needed by industry, he received this skill with the near certainty of placement. The strength of the program rested in the ability of Parkes and his staff to determine the applicant's ability and to equip him with a marketable skill. Coordinators kept close contact with area employers to be certain applicants would be trained in skills that would be needed.
Between 1930 and 1940, about 4,000 unemployed workers were placed, each at a cost of only $100. More than half of them had been on Williamsport relief rolls. The program was so successful that in 1940, 3,100 people were enrolled, 600 of whom were placed in that year. Lycoming County had been
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the first county in the state to initiate a program to pay relief recipients as they trained for employment. The staff of the Williamsport Retraining School was far superior to any in the country in its job placement record and its ability to predict the job market. Educators, state and federal groups, and businessmen visited the Williamsport Retraining School, a predecessor to the Williamsport Techni- cal Institute and the Williamsport Area Community College, to study its organization. The Williamsport Plan was ap- plauded by the federal government, by numerous newpapers, and in 1940 by Nation's Business, Woman's Day, and The Saturday Evening Post.
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QUESTIONS CHAPTER 2
1. Name the companies (and their products) whose Lycoming County workers participated in the World War II effort.
2. What advantages are offered by the Williamsport area for the location of industry?
3. What was the main objective of the Williamsport Plan?
4. What eventually happened to the Retraining School?
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Chapter 3
AGRICULTURE, CONSERVATION, AND LUMBERING
AGRICULTURE
During World War II agriculture was a vital industry and strict conservation methods were practiced. County farm agents assisted farmers in obtaining needed supplies made scarce by war and issued daily bulletins in newspapers tell- ing them how to conserve. Farmers were urged to reuse barbed wire and burlap bags and to substitue wood for steel fence posts and grain storage bins. Shortages of nitrogen needed in fertilizer developed as production of explosives ate away supplies. Cotton thread was substituted for the stronger silk thread in sewing burlap bags when silk was needed for sewing parachutes and powder bags. It was neces- sary for farmers to sign acquisition forms to obtain binder twine after sisal and manila hemp imports from the East Indies and East Africa were cut off by the war. Farmers pooled their orders for wheat and feed in order to obtain bulk prices. As fuel oil and coal became scarce for heating, farmers were resigned to carefully manage their timber sup- plies and to cut out only dead and mature growths. Many farmers could not buy tractors, while those who had trac- tors often found the gasoline to run them scarce. Teams of horses and mules were often seen plowing fields and har- vesting crops. There were long waiting lists for replace- ment parts for farm machinery, and in 1943 there was not a single pound of rubber allocated for civilian use.
Unused to the discipline of rationing, people complained and turned to the inventor to come up with a synthetic rubber. The rubber coordinator for the War Production Board impa- tiently chided, "Combat tanks with steel tracks are 20 per- cent less efficient. If you want your sons to fight in a tank only 80 percent efficient so you can joy ride, the rubber shortage can be solved." Although not a major prob- lem locally, the loss of manpower to the war effort de- veloped a farm labor shortage. The Pennsylvania Federation of Sportsmen's Club, 660,000 strong, pledged their help in the 1942 harvest.
Since 1940, better weed control and more modern fertiliza- tion practices greatly reduced the number of acres needed to produce the same yield. For example, although the total county acreage devoted to corn decreased from 27,251 in 1944 to 14,480 in 1969, the yield increased from 40.4 bushels per acre to 95.6 bushels in the same period. Production levels of every product have followed the same trend. Milk pro- duction per cow has more than doubled; wheat farmers have increased their yield by 40 percent per acre. Increases in production levels have increased the self-sufficiency of the Greater Williamsport area to 70 percent of the food distributed. In the future, environmental laws controlling
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-. 4
Williamsport Growers' Market
Little Pine Creek Dam
soil erosion, pesticides, animal waste, and air pollu- tion will dictate farming methods.
Although the number of farms has decreased from 1,218 in 1940 to 1,086 in 1969, the average size of farms has increased from 86.3 acres to 149.7 acres in the same period. The trend to- ward larger farms began as skyrocketing prices made farming as a livelihood forbidding to all but the commercial farmer. Productive farmers bought up potentially good farmland from part-time and retired farmers. . Many part-time farmers found it too costly to maintain their land as a small farm and were forced to make a living elsewhere.
Although there is no shortage of rich farm soil in Lycoming County much of the richest soil has been occupied by ex- panding communities and businesses. Since the 1800's Jersey Shore, Williamsport, Montoursville, Muncy, and Mont- gomery have grown up along the Susquehanna River and now occupy much of the richest farmland in the Commonwealth. As communities expanded, the airport, industrial park, gra- vel quarries, and commercial building also were constructed on this land. At the time of this construction, concern over flooding made farming prohibitive. Soil maps have since ranked this land as prime farming soil. Since the Agnes flood of 1972, flood-plain zoning programs have re- stricted building along the river and lowlands.
Agriculture in Lycoming County has become a major industry producing nearly $13.1 million worth of products annually. The dairy industry has always been the top income producer with field crops and meat-animal products ranking second and third. Agriculture-related industries are also impor- tant to the economy of the county as an employer. Twenty- one industries are engaged in the production of food and kindred products. Approximately 1,150 persons are em- ployed in these industries, and they collect more than $7.9 million in annual payrolls.
CONSERVATION AND NATURAL RESOURCES
Lycoming County is rich in natural resources. The most economically important resources are limestone and sand and gravel. Bituminous coal, bluestone, slate, and tri- poli -- a limestone-slate used as paint filler and abrasive -- are also of some economic value. Stripped of its lumber resources by the turn of the century, the land was clear for farming and outdoor recreation. Today about 70 percent of the county has returned to forest. Conservation is practiced with an eye toward agriculture and outdoor re- creation.
Hunting is one of the major recreational activities in the county and has created a large market in sales of hunting
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equipment and services such as food and lodging. Strong emphasis has been placed on conservation of wildlife. Deer and bear hunting are popular among county sportsmen. The only other large game animal in the county is the Pennsyl- vania elk which has come dangerously close to extinction. Since 1932, the elk has been protected from hunters, and grazing lands have been set aside to encourage the growth of the elk herd.
Small game animals in the county include rabbits, snowshoe hares, squirrels, raccoons, woodchucks, ringneck pheasants, bobwhite quail, ruffed grouse, turkey, woodcocks, shore- birds, doves, Hungarian partridges, and waterfowl. Earlier in the century the wild turkey was hunted nearly to extinc- tion. In 1945, a turkey farm was established at Barbours to raise wild turkeys for hunting. Ringneck pheasants, which live on the new growth not found in abundance in the county's mature woods, are raised on a game farm established at Loyalsockville in 1934. The heavily hunted pheasants have relieved some pressure from the disappearing quail and grouse.
Many non-hunted birds are disappearing as their habitats are destroyed. The whooping crane, trumpeter swan, waxy- billed woodpecker, California condor and bald eagle are all endangered. The osprey and peregrin falcon, both waterfowl, suffered heavily from post World War II spraying of DDT which contaminated the water. The insecticide caused the eggs to be thin-shelled so that few eggs survived to hatch. Now these birds and the bald eagle, once nesters in this county, are seen only during migration. The bobwhite quail, ring- neck pheasant, and ruffed grouse have moved to more southern counties in search of new growth.
The list of extinct animals that had lived in the county as recently as 1917 is long despite the efforts of conserva- tionists. Some of the vanished animals are the California paroquet, the great auk, the Labrador duck, the heath hen, the Eskimo curlew, and the passenger pigeon. The latter was so populous in the mid-1800's that a single net could snare hundreds of them from the blackened sky.
Many plants and trees which are not protected have also be- come endangered by disease and destruction of their fragile habitat. Many wildflowers such as lady's slipper, trailing arbutis, and trillium require a particular habitat and should be protected for their future value as a food source or potential cure for disease. Foxglove, from which digi- talis is derived, is an example of a wildflower's value as medicine.
Though efforts to combat the chestnut blight have been fu- tile, the hardy tree has managed to attain a six-inch
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diameter before succumbing to the fungus. This blight was imported on a Japanese chestnut tree in 1904 and nearly era- dicated the American chestnut from Pennsylvania and New Eng- land. The Dutch elm disease, another imported blight, now threatens the elms of the county. The historic Tiadaghton Elm, over 500 years old, was killed by the fungus in 1974.
CONSERVATION OF RIVERS AND STREAMS
Once a sewer for communities and mines along the river, the West Branch of the Susquehanna River provided a poor habi- tat for fish. Despite the Clean Streams Act of 1937, raw sewage from Williamsport and surrounding communities was regularly discharged into the Susquehanna River until 1953 when the primary treatment of Williamsport's sewage began. Mine acid pollution ended when the mines in Clearfield, Cambria, and other counties were sealed. Escaping mine acids were neutralized by sewage treatment.
In 1973 the Department of Environmental Resources required the more thorough secondary treatment of sewage. The 1970 amendment to the Clean Streams Act of 1937 brought the con- trol of water quality under the Department of Environmental Resources' Environmental Quality Board, whose duty it is to issue or deny permits to discharge waste into the waters of the county. From 1952 to 1970, the control of water quality had been the responsibility of the Sanitary Water Board and the quality of the waters of the county steadily improved. At least fifteen species of fish are caught in the Lycoming County waters today including muskie, walleye, pickerel, large mouth bass, and panfish. There are numerous fishing areas in the county: the 396-acre Rose Valley Lake, the 90- acre Little Pine Dam, Upper Pine Bottom, the Susquehanna River, and numerous feeder streams. Most of the waterways have been improved to permit boating, water skiing, and swimming.
LUMBERING
Lumbering made a strong comeback in the late 1930's as defense contracts were filled for England, France, and the Soviet Union who were now fully engaged in war with Germany. Even though the United States was not yet involved in war, U. S. defense contracts were placed with many county lumber mills in anticipation of war.
The number of mills grew until in 1954, there were an esti- mated 50 sawmills operating in the Tiadaghton district and several more in the Pine Creek area. The boom created through defense contracts raised hopes that lumbering would again become a thriving industry. There was reason for hope. Reforestation programs of 40 to 50 years before were now showing profits. Slow-growing hardwoods were maturing,
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replacing the soft yellow pine and fir. Most mills of the early 1950's cut oak in large quantities as well as hemlock, pine, poplar, and basswood.
Although the volume of lumber was down from the last cen- tury, the quality was so high that area building suppliers dealt almost exclusively in local lumber. Only wood such as West Coast soft woods, Douglas fir, Ponderosa pine, and West Virginia oak -- none of which were grown in this region -- were imported. Some areas of Michigan, the South, and Northwest United States imported lumber from Lycoming County as their own supply became depleted.
But hope of rebuilding the lumber industry died as the orders slowed in the late 1950's. Defense contracts had stopped. Coal mining, one of the larger consumers, had declined, and lumber wholesalers suffered a severe financial loss. Rail- roads continued to buy ties from local mills, but the vol- ume was not high enough to sustain the industry. The Wil- liamsport Planing Mill, the last sawmill in the city, clos- ed in 1952.
The reduced demand for lumber was partly due to changes in building materials and lumber substitutes. Since the 1930's buildings were being constructed of steel, brick, and ce- ment. Steel office furniture became more popular than wood. About 4,000 new uses for wood were developed. Among them, wood was used in the production of rayon, cellophane, wall boards, insulating materials, and artificial stone.
Today there are few reminders that Williamsport was once the lumbering capital of the world. Millionaire's Row on Fourth Street stands somewhat neglected and only came under the protection of the city's Historic District Ordinance in 1975. A few mills still run throughout the county. Skeletal re- mains of lumbering cribs, built by James Perkins in 1846, still lie beneath the Susquehanna River. The now broken cribs had extended from the 14-acre island at Locust Street to seven miles upriver. The crib had broken in April of 1972 when the river was dredged. Some of the cribs had survived the Agnes flood of that year.
More than 80 years separates this generation from the lum- ber era, which makes the period seem complex. To close the gap between generations, a lumber gallery has been set up at the Lycoming County Historical Society and Museum in Williamsport. In the gallery, a large diorama of the Sus- quehanna Boom on the Susquehanna River displays the lumber canal next to the boom, the boom cribs, and sorting bins where the Susquehanna Boom Company sorted the lumber ac- cording to the owner's mark hammered into the log. Un- marked logs were sold by the Susquehanna Boom Company which netted them $50,000 to $100,000 annually. The sorted logs
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were sent by lumber raft to the log pond outside of the own- er's mill.
Five other dioramas in the lumber gallery display a lumber mill, shingle making, bark stripping, a log railroad, and a log slide. Another diorama, built by Christ Haist, the last superintendent of the Susquehanna Boom Company, shows the positions of the company's workmen at the mill. Numer- ous photographs and lumbering tools are on permanent dis- play at the Lycoming County Historical Society and Museum.
An entire life-size lumber camp has been authentically re- created at the Pennsylvania State Lumber Museum in Potter County near Cherry Springs State Park. A walk down the dirt streets takes you past a work house, a mess hall, a laundry, a country store, a smithy, and a carpenter shop. The working camp includes water wheels, shingle mills, and early up and down saw mills. A Shay locomotive (a heavy duty uphill hauler) and a Barnhart steam log loader dis- play the heavy powerful movers of lumber a century ago.
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QUESTIONS CHAPTER 3
1. List the three leading types of agriculture in the county.
2. Describe trends in farm size and productivity. Explain reasons for these changes.
3. What threats to agriculture have emerged in Lycoming County?
4. List some of the county's mineral resources.
5. What were some of the major activities in conservation?
6. What measures have been taken to improve streams and fishing?
7. Give reasons why the lumber industry failed to be re- vived on a large scale.
8. What kinds of trees were most common?
9. How has the Lycoming County Historical Society commemorated the lumber era?
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Chapter 4
TRANSITIONS IN POPULATION AND RETAIL TRADE
POPULATION
Although the population of the county has continued to grow since 1930, the population of Williamsport has decreased from its peak of 45,729 in 1930, to 37,918 in 1970. Ly- coming County's population was 93,421 in 1930 and has grown to 113,296. Nearly half of the county's population lived in Williamsport in 1930. Today, Williamsport comprises only one-third of the county's population. When the depression of the 1930's forced the closing of many of the city's in- dustries, unemployed workers were compelled to move else- where to find work. The closing of the U. S. Rubber Com- pany in 1932, left 2,500 workers unemployed. Though the county population increased by 0.2 percent between 1930 and 1940, Williamsport's dropped by 3.0 percent. The growth of defense industries during World War II helped to increase the population of the county but only slightly increased Williamsport's population. Since the 1950's, Williamsport along with cities across the nation, faced a dramatic loss of population.
While the population of the city has declined, the growth of the county has continued. Williamsport has lost its popu- lation to its perimeter. The Greater Williamsport area comprises almost two-thirds of the county's 113,296 in- habitants. The population density of Williamsport is more than 4,100 persons per square mile. Duboistown, South Williamsport, Montoursville, Montgomery, Muncy, Hughesville, and Jersey Shore stand at 1,000 to 4,100 per square mile. There are 300 to 1,000 persons per square mile in Picture Rocks, Salladasburg, Old Lycoming, and Loyalsock townships. There are at least 60 inhabitants per square mile in the townships of Porter, Piatt, Susquehanna, Woodward, Lycom- ing, Hepburn, Eldred, Upper Fairfield, Clinton, Muncy Creek, and Wolf. Fewer than 60 persons per square mile are regis- tered in other townships.
RETAIL TRADE
The trend toward suburbanization has also affected the re- tail industry. Center-city Williamsport met with strong competition from malls at the Golden Strip in Loyalsock and the Lycoming Mall at Hall's Station. Once the largest shopping center in the county, Williamsport needed to change in order to compete with suburban shopping complexes.
In 1975, a group of downtown businessmen organized the Downtown Design Review Committee which was to plan a down- town Williamsport mall. Laurence A. Alexander & Company was engaged to do a study of the downtown and to make pro- posals for improvements which would make the downtown more
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competitive with the shopping malls. A proposal was accept- ed to close Pine Street to traffic from Fourth Street to Church Street and to construct an outdoor mall in this area. The Williamsport Redevelopment Authority acted as the city's agent in the project. On June 18, 1976, construction of the mall began. The sidewalks and street were replaced by bricks and trees were planted. An outdoor cafe, children's play area, and benches were placed in the mall.
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