Part 25

SMETHPORT, county seat; was incorporated in 1807; population, 1568. In the courthouse grounds is a granite monument to the Civil War soldiers of this county; it was shown in the Centennial Exposition, Philadelphia. St. Luke’s Protestant Episcopal Church, a gift from Hon. Henry Hamlin; consecrated 1892; is pure fourteenth century English Gothic; architect, Halsey Wood. Altar and reredos of Caen stone, surmounted by a very beautiful, delicately carved canopy; memorial font, Caen stone; all memorials were designed by the architect; organ from Johnson & Sons, Westfield, Massachusetts. In the public school grounds is a tablet marking the route of General Brodhead’s expedition. On the highway, near Lafayette, is a tablet marking place where General Brodhead passed across the county from Allegheny River, when he came from Pittsburgh against the Indians; placed by Smethport Daughters of the American Revolution.

BRADFORD, chief city; population, 15,525; is said to contain the only plant in America for the manufacture

of oxalic acid, it produces 10,000 pounds daily. The City Hall, Post Office, and Carnegie Library are fine buildings. The McKean County Historical Society has rooms in the Carnegie Library; among their collections are valuable historical papers and autographs, photographs, and samples of products relating to the oil industry, portraits of distinguished Pennsylvanians, and busts of General Kane and of Abraham Lincoln; the latter, by Theophilus Mills, is said to be one of the only two living masks ever made of Lincoln; it was made six weeks before the assassination, and after many years it was purchased from the son of the sculptor by Mr. R. B. Stone, and placed in the Bradford Library. The Museum and Art Gallery, owned by Lewis Emery, Jr., Esq., is at times open to the public. On the public square is a boulder, in honor of Governor McKean, from a tract of land in Annin Township, deeded to Thomas McKean by John Bull, a patriot of the Revolution. A tablet commemorating the Spanish War soldiers was erected by Spanish War veterans.

KANE, a beautiful mountain resort, has Evergreen Park, a native forest, given to the town by the Erie Railroad, through their agent, General Thomas L. Kane; a path through the forest is named for General Grant, who frequently enjoyed trout fishing here with General Kane. Facing this park is the high school; classic style, architects, Davis & Davis, Philadelphia; contains good collection of photographic reproductions of famous paintings and architecture. The Presbyterian Church is memorial to General Kane, commander of the Bucktail Regiment, erected by his family. At LEWIS RUN the great Indian hunter, Jim Jacobs, lived.

XLI

POTTER COUNTY

Formed March 26, 1804; named for General James Potter, an officer of the Revolution, is an almost trackless wilderness covered with dense growth of pine and hemlock, the haunt of bear, deer, wolf, panther, fox, and other wild game. Mean elevation is about 1900 feet above sea. At head waters of the West Branch, Genesee and Allegheny rivers, in the north, the ground is rolling, with beautiful farms; the southern part is broken by deep valleys and lofty mountains, with most picturesque scenery, especially in the Kettle Creek and Sinnemahoning valleys. Probably the first white man to cross the county was David Zeisberger, who passed down the Allegheny River to mouth of the Tionesta, Forest County, in 1767; his journal, now on file in the Moravian Library at Bethlehem, tells of the wild beauty of the county. Farming and stock raising are gaining, but the main industry is still lumbering, with second growth of hardwoods, maple, beech, and birch, which will in time be a great nucleus of wealth.

Earliest important road is the Jersey Shore Turnpike, running from Jersey Shore at the mouth of Pine Creek, Lycoming County, through most wonderful scenery to Coudersport and on to Buffalo; an effort is being made to have this historic highway improved, as it is the most direct way from the West Branch Valley to Buffalo. On this road is the site of Oleona. Ole Bull, the famous violinist, attempted the settlement of a colony of Norwegians; in 1852, he purchased 11,144 acres on Kettle Creek, in the then almost unbroken forests; and laid out four villages, New Norway, New Bergen, Oleona, and Walhalla; this proved a sad failure, and the land is now included in the State Forest Reserve. Ole Bull’s Castle, with a great stone wall, still partly standing, was built about a mile below Oleona, on the crest of a bluff. Travel is generally good in summer, during the winter the heavy snowdrifts are often too deep for passage, temperature often falling to 40° below zero.

COUDERSPORT, county seat, settled in 1807; population 2836; courthouse, substantial, colonial building in the square, on the main street; in the grounds is the Soldiers’ Monument, a granite shaft, pedestal has names of Potter County men who fell in war for the Union. The famous Bucktail Regiment was recruited largely from Potter County, noted marksmen, many had been famous hunters, and because of their wonderful skill with the rifle were made sharpshooters in the Civil War. Christ Protestant Episcopal Church, incorporated, 1833, present stone building, Gothic, built in 1885, on ground given by Miss Katharine Dent. The beautiful little church, “All Saints,” at Brookland, near the old Dent Homestead, memorial to Henry Hatch Dent, by his children, maintained by endowment, is native stone, with stained glass windows, marble memorial altar, and other artistic furnishings, open by appointments of the Bishop, it stands, as old “St. Martins-in-the-Field,” a solitary witness for Christianity and the Church.

First Presbyterian, oldest church organization in

Coudersport, established 1832, first building made in 1849, on ground given by John Keating, Esq., present building, Fourth and Main Streets, dedicated in 1903, Italian Renaissance; other denominations have good church buildings. The Pennsylvania Historical Commission has made an appropriation for the placing of a monument to David Ziesberger at Coudersport; they will also place tablets at site of Ole Bull’s Castle and near the Austin disaster; the Austin flood, in 1911, when the town was almost blotted out, and many lives were lost and property destroyed, was perhaps the worst calamity which has ever visited the county. Three miles east of Coudersport is “The Sweden Valley Ice Mine,” in a shaft about six feet square and twelve feet deep; during the hot summer weather ice is formed here in large quantities; the Smithsonian Institution has published a number of articles concerning these ice caves.

XLII

JEFFERSON COUNTY

Formed March 26, 1804; named for Thomas Jefferson; steep and rugged hills line the watercourses of every stream, alternating with fine valley land, traversed by good roads through most picturesque scenery; the views are a continual delight. In early days large tracts of this land were held by rich proprietors who would neither improve nor sell at a fair price. The pioneer hewed his canoes out of pine trees, large enough to receive a barrel of flour crosswise; a homemade rope of flax was attached to the front to pull them over the ripples. The county is wonderfully rich in coal and an abundance of natural gas, and has developed more along commercial than it has along artistic lines. Chief industries: stock raising, coal, iron, glass, and silk.

County seat, BROOKVILLE, laid out in 1830; population 3272. Hunts Point, now Carrier’s addition of Brookville, was once an Indian village. Main Street runs east and west. Pickering Street crosses at right angles. Courthouse, at the corner of Main and Pickering Streets; Renaissance, brick; contains portraits. The Brookville Park Association is making great civic improvements; a park of ten acres is in the center of the town and a fine new park building or auditorium is being erected; the organization being truly altruistic, to the intent that no dividends shall be paid to the subscribers, but all profits applied to municipal improvements. There are several churches, among them may be mentioned the Presbyterian and Methodist for architecture; both Romanesque; stone. The Presbyterian has good stained glass windows. The Daughters of the American Revolution have placed a small monument to Joseph Barnett in the old cemetery. Fort Barnett was one mile east of Brookville, on the old turnpike (Mead’s Trail); his cabin in 1799 is said to have been the only one within seventy-five miles.

PUNXSUTAWNEY, population 10,311, was an Indian village; during the eighteenth century, Moravian missionaries labored here among the Delaware tribes of the Algonquin Indians; Brother Ettewein kept a faithful record of his travels and work, describing his journey along Mahoning Creek, then named by the Indians “Mohulbucteetam,” or place where canoes are abandoned. Rev. David Barkley and his son-in-law, Dr. John W. Jenks, from Newtown, Bucks County, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania in 1816, later made an associate judge, owned the land and laid out the town in 1820 in squares, including one for the public, which in this century has been made into a beautiful park by Frederick Olmstead, landscape gardener, of Brookline, Massachusetts; on each corner are old cannon from the Civil War. A fine brick post office with Ionic portico is here, built by the United States Government, and many beautiful churches. Christ Episcopal Church is built with stone taken from the creek bed and laid without any cutting; the soft brown color was caused by the mineral in the water, and is permanent.

XLIII

SUSQUEHANNA COUNTY

Formed February 21, 1810; named for situation, at head waters of the Susquehanna River, which completely drains the county, every stream flowing into it as it flows around a spur of the Alleghenies with the highest outline of two mountains; original Indian names, Onaquaga and Miantinomah. The scenery is beautifully diversified; there are numerous lakes, the largest, Crystal Lake, is over a mile long; from Elk Mountain, with its three peaks, sixteen lakes are visible, and the Water Gap is plainly seen on a clear day; from Ararat, 2040 feet above the sea level, is also an extended view. A panorama of great beauty is seen from the heights of Gibson Township; the slopes furnish unsurpassed grazing and abound in orchards and gardens; named for Chief Justice Gibson, the town was first settled in 1792 by Joseph Potter.

The most beautiful auto ride through the county is from Montrose to SUSQUEHANNA, incorporated in 1853, called the City of Stairs; Erie Railroad shops are here, the buildings, covering eight acres, include a Library and Lecture Hall. Martin’s Creek Viaduct, 1600 feet long with eleven spans, on the Lackawanna Railroad, is said to be, next to the Tunkhannock Viaduct on same road, the largest concrete bridge in the world; this road is known as the shortest route between New York and Buffalo; owing to its high elevation through this county, the views are of extraordinary

beauty. Earliest white settlement was at Great Bend; General James Clinton, with 1600 men, encamped here in 1799, _en route_ to join General Sullivan at Chemung against the Indians. Chief industry, agriculture and butter making.

MONTROSE, population 1661; made county seat in 1811, first settled by Stephen Wilson of Vermont in 1799, is a notable health resort because of its altitude; it was developed through the liberality of Dr. R. H. Rose and Isaac Post, the latter was first postmaster in 1808. Dr. Rose purchased 100,000 acres in 1807, partly in Silver Lake Township, and developed the resources of the county. Public buildings face the square, in which is the monument to Civil War soldiers. Courthouse, a fine structure, colonial architecture, built in 1842, contains a portrait of Honorable Galusha A. Grow, who was sent to Congress from this county. The conference building seats 3000; here The Bible Institute is held each summer. At SPRINGVILLE was farm of Zophar Blakeslee, whose daughter, Sarah, was married to Honorable Asa Packer. BROOKLYN was early residence of George Catlin, who became noted as a painter of Indians. JACKSON started as a beaver meadow. When THOMSON was first settled, in 1820, an unbroken forest of beech wood stretched eastward for fifty miles.

XLIV

BRADFORD COUNTY

Formed February 21, 1810, as Ontario; on March 24, 1812, named in honor of William Bradford, an attorney general in the cabinet of Washington; surface hilly or rolling. Chief industries are dairying and breeding of fine cattle and thoroughbred horses. Said to be first place on record visited by a white man in Pennsylvania; in 1615 Stephen Bruhle, explorer and interpreter for Samuel Champlain, with twelve Huron Indians, came to Carouantian, a palisaded village of the Carouantiannais, on Spanish Hill, just above present towns of Sayre and Athens; he found here 800 warriors, 500 of whom went with him to aid Champlain against the Onondaga stronghold in New York. Bruhle returned to Carouantian, remained during the winter of 1615-16, and explored the Susquehanna River to the sea, making report to Champlain.

First road was the great Indian warpath along the Susquehanna, used by General Sullivan and his Continental Army in expedition against the Indians in 1779; the state road, from Wilkes-Barre, up the river, through Wyoming and Bradford counties, is substantially on this old trail; historic places along the road are well marked, a monument thirteen feet high, native stone, from Campbell’s Ledge above Pittston; erected by the Moravian Historical Society in 1871 near Wyalusing, marks location of the Moravian mission, inscription, “To mark site of Friedenshutten (Machwilusing), a settlement of Moravian Indians between 1765-1772”; this mission was removed to Beaver County in 1772. Farther west, near the Presbyterian church, is a large boulder with bronze tablet, inscription, “Near this site from August 5-8, 1779, camped the army of Maj. Gen’l Sullivan, on their expedition against the Six Nations, erected by Machwilusing Chapter, D. A. R. 1914”; this road after leaving Wyalusing, leads over the hill a distance from the river, to which it returns again at Rummerfield, near where Mrs. Roswell Franklin was killed by Indians; her family was rescued.

Farther up the river is the county’s oldest historic landmark on west bank of the Susquehanna, “Standing Stone,” 25 feet high, 21 feet at base, tapers from 4 to 3 feet in thickness, rising out of the water; a landmark even in early Indian history; plainly visible from the road; General Sullivan’s army of 3500 men camped on the plain opposite; three miles east of Towanda is Wysox village and creek, in front of an old brick church is where Major Henry van Campen, with two other captives, succeeded in releasing themselves, under guard by twice their number of Indians, killing all except one. Near is a large boulder of Barclay sandstone, with bronze tablet; inscription: “This stone commemorates the passing through Wesauking, Aug. 9 and Oct. 4, 1779, of Maj. Gen’l John Sullivan and his troops against the Six Nations. Erected, 1908, by the George Clymer Chapter, D. A. R., Towanda, Pennsylvania”; on the level plain between this creek and the river General Sullivan’s army camped.

From Wysox the road diverges west from the old trail, continues over a modern steel bridge, built in 1915, replacing an old covered wooden one made in 1834, to Towanda. Eight miles northwest is Ulster; passing on the way: near mouth of Sugar Creek is site of an important palisaded Indian village called “Ogehage,” later “Oscalui,” still later, in 1779, “Newtychanning,” marked; at junction of this great warpath along the Susquehanna, with one leading from this point to head waters of Towanda Creek near Canton; thence to head waters of Lycoming Creek, down that stream to West Branch of the Susquehanna near Williamsport. At Ulster (old Sheshequin) was a Moravian mission, removed at time of migration to Beaver in 1772; a steel bridge crosses the river here. Next is Milan village, near which was Indian Queen Esther’s Town, destroyed by Colonel Hartley in 1778.

Proceeding on General Sullivan’s road, one crosses the Chemung (Tioga) River on a modern steel bridge and enters Athens, formerly Tioga Point; here was Fort Sullivan, base of supplies for the army; destroyed by themselves in October, 1779, on their departure for Wyoming; marked by boulder with bronze tablet, inscription: “In Sullivan’s expedition, the march that destroyed savagery and opened the Keystone and Empire States to civilization, four brigades, furnished by the States of Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, and New Hampshire, with Proctor’s Artillery, and Farr’s Riflemen took part; at Tioga Point, long the southern door of the Indian Confederacy, 5000 troops encamped; here stood Fort Sullivan, with four blockhouses, from August 11 to October 3, 1779; tablet erected by Tioga Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution.” Below the plate is embedded a ball from one of General Sullivan’s guns; the road separates here, one following the Susquehanna to Owego, the other following the Chemung to Elmira (Newtown), New York; near the latter road is the “Battlefield of Newtown,” where General Sullivan fought the Tories and Indians in 1779.

A soldiers’ monument is on the campus in front of the old ATHENS Academy, designed by McKim, Mead & White, New York; ground foundation twenty-five feet square, inclosed in granite curbing with polished globes at each corner; pedestal, eleven feet high, rising from the center, polished granite, on unpolished granite coping, surmounted by a bronze group, “The Protection of the Flag,” a barefoot drummer boy with a flag over his shoulder and a tall, fearless soldier, holding a musket which points to the ground, sculptor, George T. Brewster; inscription, in bronze letters, fitted to the face of the granite: “_Pro patria et gloria_. Erected to the memory of our soldiers who fought in defense of the flag”; presented by Joseph Whipple and Charlotte Snell Stickler. Spaulding Library and Museum, classic Renaissance with Ionic porch, open to the public, contains paintings, portraits, and relics. In 1688 a Spanish fort was near the present borough of Athens; population 4384.

TOWANDA, county seat, laid out in 1812; population 4269; courthouse native sandstone, classic Renaissance, built in 1897; in front is the soldiers’ monument, at base are bronze tablets inscribed with names of battles of Bradford County men in war for the Union;

Pickett’s charge at Gettysburg; and the battle scene at Antietam; dedicated in 1901. Towanda Free Library, French Renaissance, brick, built, 1897, was given and endowed by Francis R. Welles of Paris, France; architects, Barney & Chapman, New York; contains a special set of art books, “L’Art.”

In Christ Protestant Episcopal Church, native sandstone, is memorial window to William Ulysses Mercur, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania, 1882-87; makers, Cox Sons & Buckley, London. The Methodist Episcopal Church, also, has memorial windows. Historical Society of Bradford County, fireproof building open to the public; contains Indian and Civil War relics, curios, and portraits of pioneer men and women, a reproduction of a pioneer log house, and specimens of all native woods in the county. In Riverside Cemetery is the grave of David Wilmot, who made the famous proviso, engraved on his monument, against slavery. There are many borough and township high schools in Bradford County.

XLV

SCHUYLKILL COUNTY

Formed March 1, 1811, named for the Schuylkill River; was purchased from the Six Nations in 1749. George Godfried Orwig, first settler, in 1747, lived at Sculp Hill; he was followed by other Germans. ORWIGSBURG, first county seat, in 1811, was founded in 1796, by Peter Orwig, son of George; old courthouse still standing, is used as a factory; extensive views from here of mountains and agricultural valleys. In chain of frontier forts, were Franklin, built, 1756, by order of Benjamin Franklin; Fort Henry, south of Pinegrove; and Fort Lebanon, later known as Fort William, the most important, its site near Auburn, is marked by boulder with bronze tablet, inscription, “On this site stood Fort Lebanon, built, 1775, by Colonel Jacob Morgan, for protection of early settlers against Indians, erected in 1913 by Mahantongo Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, Pottsville, Pa.” Indian warriors came down from the mountains and made savage forays on the peaceful farms, in which many people were massacred, and mills and houses were burned; the old oak tree is standing near, from which sentinels took observations; in this fort the first religious services in the county were held.

One mile from Fort Lebanon is the old Red Church, built in 1755, destroyed by Indians, 1756, rebuilt, 1776, celebrated its sesquicentennial in 1905. This county revels in picturesque scenery; excellent roads curve through valleys of surpassing richness and fertility, or wander along a ridge with glorious views on either side; in the north, the sky line of a mountain range is often broken by a weird coal breaker; in every direction there is beauty and interest. Laurel may be seen by the acre, and much rhododendron. Great cliffs of various colored conglomerate rock are found throughout the county.

This is the southern limit of the ANTHRACITE COAL fields in east central Pennsylvania, the only ones of importance in the United States; divided into three well-known trade regions, Wyoming; Lehigh; and Schuylkill; comprising an area of 480 square miles, in the counties of Carbon, Columbia, Lackawanna, Northumberland, Luzerne, Susquehanna, and Schuylkill. Discovered in Schuylkill County by Nicho Allen in 1790; while camping out overnight, he built a fire among some rocks, under shelter of the trees; during the night, being awakened by unusual heat he saw the rocks a mass of glowing fire, he having ignited the outcrop of a bed of coal. The birth of this great productive industry may be dated from 1820, when 365 tons were sent to Philadelphia from the head waters of the Lehigh River. 80,000,000 tons per annum are now produced; location of coal was shown in William Scull’s map of Pennsylvania published in 1770; three places marked.

In 1795 it was used successfully for smithing by a blacksmith named Whitestone, but not generally for this purpose until 1806. In 1812, Colonel George Shoemaker produced coal from a shaft on land he owned, now known as the Centreville Tract; loaded nine wagons and drove to Philadelphia, where he was accused of being an impostor, attempting to sell stone for coal; he sold two loads for cost of transportation, and gave the rest away to those who promised to try to use it; he induced Messrs. Mellon & Bishop to try it in their rolling mill in Delaware County, where it was found to be a complete success; iron was heated in much less time than usual, and the workmen said, “It passed through the rolls like lead.”