Part 29

warrant in 1762, is in the heart of the great cove; it was laid out in 1786, and in 1830 was one of the most important stopping places on the old turnpike. Here, from 1827-47 were the Hanover Iron Works, two furnaces, and two forges, that used hematite ore, mined from Lowry’s Knob, one mile distant. It is said that no territory of equal extent in this state is so rich in iron ore as is Fulton County. Fort Littleton in the north was one of a chain of government forts from the east to Fort Pitt. BURNT CABINS, on the old state road, was named because of the burning of the cabins of early settlers near here by the provincial authorities. It is said that Fulton County contributed more men to the Civil War, in proportion, than any other county in Pennsylvania.

LXIV

MONTOUR COUNTY

Formed May 3, 1850; named for Catharine Montour; surface hilly; traversed by several barren ridges. Muncy Hills lie along the northwest border, while down the river for miles stretches the Montour Ridge, furnishing quantities of best iron ore; there is also finest limestone; and much fertile land, drained by the Chillisquaque and Mahoning creeks. Chief industries are iron and steel production, and manufactories. Here, it is said, the first “T” rail was made, in 1844, and the first cannon in the United States, made of anthracite iron, was cast at the foundry in 1842.

DANVILLE, county seat; population 6952; was settled in 1790; beautifully located, it nestles between Bald Top and Blue Hill. Mahoning Creek, named after a tribe of Indians who peopled this part of the country, flows through the town, which is built on part of the tract of land surveyed on warrant of John Penn to John Lukens, Surveyor General of the United States, dated, January 31, 1769. A bridge built by the state in 1904 is one-quarter mile long and connects Montour with Northumberland County; at its entrance is River Front Park, laid out in 1912, with concrete walks, flower beds, and fountain. Market Street Park, center of town, has an electrically lighted fountain. Memorial Park, a beautiful knoll, was formerly the burial ground of the Presbyterian Church; in 1908 it was laid out as a park with flower beds, and is kept up by the council and public-spirited citizens; the Soldiers’ Monument is here, with two cannon of the Civil War near.

Courthouse, Georgian, built in 1871. Jail built, 1892, architect, J. H. Brugler, has modern equipment, and for months at a time is empty. Among the fifteen churches, the most notable in architecture is Christ Memorial, Protestant Episcopal, fourteenth century, English Gothic; massive architecture, native limestone of varied tints, with Ohio stone for the traceried windows. The Thomas Beaver Free Library. Young Men’s Christian Association with gymnasium and swimming pool; George F. Geisinger Memorial Hospital; and State Hospital for the Insane, constructed by S. S. Schultz, M.D., corner-stone laid by Governor Geary in 1869, are all important buildings, among the best equipped and most modern in the state. WASHINGTONVILLE is site of Fort Bossley, on the Chillisquaque Creek.

LXV

SNYDER COUNTY

Formed March 2, 1855, named for Hon. Simon Snyder, Governor of Pennsylvania, 1808-17; three terms; noted as the first governor to urge legislation for free public schools; he was the great war governor of 1812; served in the Assembly from 1789-1808, and was speaker of the House from 1802-08; he lived at Selinsgrove. From end of Northumberland Bridge, built by Theodore Burr in 1814, on West Branch of the Susquehanna; the road leading south to Selinsgrove passes Blue Hill, noted for beautiful scenery. On top was formerly Hotel Shikellimy, burned in 1895; on one of the rocks overhanging is a natural profile named for Shikellimy, who sauntered about here. Farther on is a single arch stone bridge; for half a mile, beginning at this bridge, is a state road built by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Governor Pennypacker handled the first shovel of dirt in 1904; it was laid out first by James F. Linn in 1829, has since been extended.

SELINSGROVE, first settlers, in 1755, were all killed by Indians, laid out by and named for Anthony Selin in 1827, population 1937; Governor Snyder mansion, built by himself in 1816, is near center of town, colonial, massive stone walls, with arched door ten feet high and large side porch, in well kept grounds. Due west from Selinsgrove, towards Middleburg, is Susquehanna University, formerly Missionary Institute;

collegiate and theological courses, six large and several small buildings; main building, Selinsgrove Hall, was built in 1859, Gustavus Adolphus Hall in 1895, contains collection of forty-two pictures of Gustavus Adolphus, also brass memorial tablet to the men appointed in 1856, by the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Maryland, to organize the Missionary Institute; the buildings contain portraits of Governor Simon Snyder, members of the faculty, and other Lutheran clergymen; on the campus is a granite Celtic cross, marking grave of the founder, Benjamin Kurtz, D.D., LL.D.; in the old Lutheran Cemetery is grave of Governor Snyder, Quincy granite monument, surmounted with his bust, life size, erected by the state in 1885.

Two miles west is SALEM; Row’s Church, log, built, 1780, modernized in 1897. In KREAMER is the old brick hotel used for special sessions of court before 1855, for cases in immediate neighborhood; a short distance in the field stands the old block house, erected before 1781, where white settlers gathered in defense against Indians. One mile farther west, in 1781, Indians killed five members of the Stock family. Ten miles west from Selinsgrove is MIDDLEBURG, county seat; 498 feet above sea level; population 984; laid out in 1800. In Glendale Cemetery is grave of Hon. George Kreamer, nephew of Governor Snyder, and member of the Legislature, 1812-13; member of Congress, 1823-27; also grave of Captain Frederick Evans, member of State Legislature, 1810-11, a defender of Fort McHenry, Baltimore, where, in 1814, the “Star-Spangled Banner” was written by Francis Scott Key.

On the banks of Stump’s Run is shaft monument to soldiers and sailors of this country who fought in the different wars; erected in 1904, by county commissioners; Soldiers’ Memorial Building, open to the public, is near the Lutheran Church; it was dedicated 1908; interior lined with marble, names of all soldiers and sailors of Snyder County are preserved within its walls, John F. Stetler, architect. Wooden bridge across Middle Creek, in good repair, is said to have been built in 1808 by John Aurand. Two miles west of town are the Hassinger Lutheran Churches, General Council east, present building erected in 1871, third on original site, first building in 1785; a split occurred, and the General Synod members built, in 1782, a quarter mile west; present church, in 1915.

Almost due south is PAXTONVILLE, 510 feet above sea level; has wooden bridge over Middle Creek, built in 1851, John Bilger, builder; and ruins of Beaver blast furnace, once busiest industry in Middle Creek Valley, erected by Hon. Ner Middleswarth, the Kern Brothers and John C. Wilson, 1848-56; it was operated until 1866, power secured from a 200-foot head of water, running over two overshot wheels, one over the other. Westward is farm of Ner Feese on which gold and silver were discovered. BEAVERTOWN; population 525; 651 feet; originally Swifttown, named for John Swift, who had the land patented in 1760; was residence of Hon. Ner Middleswarth from 1792; he was reëlected thirteen times member of Legislature, twice speaker of the House--in 1828 and 1836; member of Congress, 1853-55; his last public service was that of associate judge. BEAVER SPRINGS, elevation 591 feet, laid out in 1806, early chief industry, ore mines. Scenic beauty from Shade Mountain, a long ridge, summit near Beaver Springs, 1672 feet above sea level. MCCLURE, six miles west, is where folding houses are manufactured; the largest ever made was produced here, and shipped to South America.

LXVI

CAMERON COUNTY

Formed March 29, 1860; named in honor of Hon. Simon Cameron, state senator at that time. Situated among the spurs of the Alleghenies, altitude varies from 794 feet to 2100 feet above sea level. The Sinnemahoning Creek and its tributaries drain three quarters of the county into the Susquehanna; along these waters, roads were cut and towns built for the extensive early lumbering and tanning operations; primeval forests of hemlock, oak, cherry, elm, and some of the finest white pine in the state. Beds of coal and fire clay still await development. Salt spring and a mineral spring of rare medicinal value are near SIZERVILLE. The county is now largely given up to the manufacture of high explosives, nitro-gelatine, smokeless powder, gun cotton, picric acid; in 1915 there was a merger of four powder companies who created a plant of vast proportions, over one hundred buildings, extending from the edge of Emporium, for over a mile, along the banks of Driftwood Creek.

EMPORIUM, county seat; population 3036; incorporated 1861; altitude 1031 feet above sea level; first settled in 1811, as Shippen, name changed through deference to an old tradition; in 1785, an agent of the Holland Land Company, owning large territories in Pennsylvania and New York, removed the bark from a tree where the town now stands, and carved the word, “Emporium.” A typical mountain town, the streets follow the winding way of Driftwood Stream, or climb the mountain side where magnificent views of scenic grandeur await the beholder. Best architecture, the Episcopal Church, brown stone, English chapel design, Cram & Ferguson, of Boston, architects, built in 1901; other denominations have modern brick buildings. The large brick courthouse, built, 1890, is in a park on the hillside, overlooking the town; in the grounds is monument to soldiers of the Civil War.

CAMERON, in 1889, one hundred coke ovens, “beehive” design, were built here to coke the coal in the near-by hills, for the blast furnace at Emporium; now abandoned, and today mountain wild flowers blossom along the row of silent hearths. STERLING RUN; in this quaint village belongs the honor of the first church in the county, Presbyterian, “The Pine Street Church,” erected in 1826, so-called in consequence of the old Pine Street Church, Philadelphia, contributing funds to pay the workmen and buy the windows; the lumber and much of the construction being donated by the pioneers; built of hewn pine logs, chinked with plaster of moss and mud, and fastened with hand-wrought nails, this little chapel endures, while those who shaped it sleep in the little churchyard at its threshold.

DRIFTWOOD, near the “Crescent,” a half moon shaped mountain forming sides of the valley for nearly three points of the compass; claims the first settlement by white man within the county, in 1804; in the center of the village, facing the Sinnemahoning Creek, is the “Bucktail” Monument, in memory of Cameron’s sons who fought for the Union, erected by the state in 1908, inscription, “From this town, on April 27, 1861, the Cameron, Elk and McKean County Rifles, under leadership of Thomas L. Kane, afterwards Commanding Officer of the Regiment, later a Major-General, embarked on four rafts for Harrisburg, where they were mustered into the service of the State, and formed the nucleus, about which the Bucktail Regiment of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps was organized; which during its time of service, was almost continuously attached to the army of the Potomac.”

SINNEMAHONING (Stony-lick), site of an Indian village called “The Lodge,” the battle ground of Peter Grove, famous Indian fighter, a picturesquely beautiful spot. Here were born the beautiful Clafflin sisters, Lady Cook (Tennesee Clafflin), and Mrs. Martin Woodhull (Victoria Clafflin), now a wealthy philanthropist in England; their father, Buckman Clafflin, a pioneer, opened the first store in the county in 1829.

LXVII

LACKAWANNA COUNTY

Formed August 13, 1878; named for the great Lackawanna coal basin; an Indian word, signifying “The Forks of a Stream.” Chief industry, anthracite coal mining, confined to the long-depressed trough forming the Lackawanna Valley and to the mountains bordering it on both sides, with Bald Mountain, in Lackawanna Range, 2250 feet high, and Big Stoney among the Moosic Mountains, 2230 feet. Originally settled by Connecticut people who disputed the right of Pennsylvania to jurisdiction; life and growth have been the result of the coal-mining industry, which brought into it large numbers of Welsh, Irish, German, English, and Scotch, whose descendants dominate the region; latterly have come Polish, Slavs, Italians, and Lithuanians, a heterogeneous but rapidly assimilating mining population.

The mining of anthracite coal began at Carbondale in the early twenties; the old No. 1 plane is marked with monument and tablets; coal was taken over the Moosic Mountains to Honesdale, Wayne County, by steep inclined planes, up which the loaded cars were drawn by ropes or cables, and the empty cars let down; thence by canal to Roundout, on the Hudson; on the levels, between planes, cars were drawn by horses; later a descending grade was given to the tracks over which the cars ran by gravity; a similar gravity railroad near Scranton, carried coal to the Delaware & Hudson Canal at Hawley, below Honesdale, both now abandoned for steam roads.

The country northwest has well-cultivated farm lands; that, southeast, blends with the Pocono Highlands, is wild and picturesque; an almost unbroken wilderness for thirty miles, excepting along the line of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad; on both sides of this road are good highways; the main road, the whole length of the valley, is exceptionally fine. The road from Gouldsboro Station was built by Jay Gould, 1855, when he was interested with Mr. Pratt in a tannery at Gouldsboro (now Thornhurst).

At Carbondale, crossing Moosic Mountains, is road to Honesdale, following the line of the old Delaware & Hudson gravity road; at Dundaff, about five miles north of Carbondale, this road runs along the edge of Crystal Lake, near are the Twin Knobs of Elk Hill, about 2500 feet high. A point of geologic interest is the Archbald Pot Hole, said to be largest of the kind in this country; a cylindrical hole twenty feet deep, by thirty feet wide, eroded in the ice age through the overlying rocks down to the coal measures.

SCRANTON, county seat, population 137,783; laid out on site of an Indian village, Muncy Tribe; began as an iron town; iron in large quantities was found in the hills three miles south of the city, and a suitable quality of limestone was also supposed to exist there; but the coal business superseded; the old ore mine, and abandoned road to furnaces at Scranton, are of historic and picturesque interest.

The courthouse, on Washington Avenue near center of town, stands in a square of ground, Romanesque, West Mountain stone, built 1881-84, architect, S. G. Perry. St. Luke’s Protestant Episcopal Church. Wyoming Avenue near Linden Street, Gothic, West Mountain stone, built 1866-71, architect, R. M. Upjohn, New York; contains Tiffany mosaic panel, back of font, “Baptism of Christ,” also Tiffany window in chancel, “The Ascension.” St. Peter’s Cathedral, at corner of Wyoming Avenue and Linden, Italian Renaissance, brick, built, 1866, architect, Joel Amsden; remodeled 1883 by Durand, Philadelphia. Administration Building of the International Correspondence Schools, Wyoming Avenue between Vine and Mulberry Streets, Gothic, West Mountain stone, built in 1898; architect, W. Scott Collins; window by Kenyon Cox, made in 1898, “Science Instructing Industry.”

The Scranton Public Library (Albright Memorial) is placed as an accent of beauty, corner of Washington Avenue and Vine Street, French chateau style, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, after Cluny Museum, Paris; gray Indiana limestone and brown Madina stone laid in coursed ashlar, built in 1893; architects, Green & Wicks, Buffalo, New York; contains portraits of Joseph J. Albright, painted in 1902, artist, Bayard Henry Tyler; and of John J. Albright, artist, Chartrain, France; stained glass windows are illustrative of celebrated book bindings in the past; a marble mosaic floor is in the entrance hall.

Second Presbyterian Church, Jefferson Avenue between Vine and Mulberry Streets, Romanesque; West, Mountain stone, built 1885; has Tiffany windows, “Charity” and “Hope.” Madison Avenue Synagogue, near Vine Street; Byzantine, West Mountain stone, built 1902, architect, George W. Kramer, New York. First Presbyterian Church, corner of Madison Avenue and Olive Street, perpendicular Gothic, Indiana limestone; built 1903, architect, Holden, New York; windows by John La Farge, “The Woman at the Well”; and by Tiffany, “The Ascension”; Tiffany mosaic, “Pentecost.” Immanuel Baptist Church, corner of Jefferson Avenue and Mulberry Street, Gothic, Hummelstown redstone, built 1909, architect, Edward Langley, Scranton. Elm Park Church, corner of Linden and Jefferson Streets, Romanesque, West Mountain stone, built 1892, architect, George W. Kramer.

Lackawanna Railroad Station, Lackawanna and Jefferson Avenues, Renaissance, Indiana limestone, granite base, built 1909, architects, Kenneth Murchison, New York, and Edward Langley; has interior finishings of Grueby tiles; and mosaic mural panels of views along the Lackawanna Railroad. The Everhart Museum of Natural History, Science and Art, in Nay Aug Park, south end of Milberry Street, given by the late Dr. I. F. Everhart, and sustained by generous endowment; Renaissance, terra-cotta, built 1908, architects, Blackwood & Nelson; contains also the Hollister collection of Indian curios. Much natural beauty centers about the water supply system of the Scranton Gas and Water Company, which has over ten miles of fine driveways, including the road to top of Mount Anonymous, overlooking the lake; and Long Swamp Drive and roads up about Scrub Oak Mountain.

BOOKS USED AS REFERENCE, AND CONTRIBUTED ARTICLES

American Art Annual F. N. Levy.

Annals J. F. Watson

Automobile Blue Book

Colonial Doorways A. H. Wharton

Early Pietists J. Sachse

Fairmount Park C. S. Keyser

Forges and Furnaces Colonial Dames

Guide Book to Historic Germantown C. F. Jenkins

Hikes for Boy Scouts of America Charles D. Hart

Historic Excursions J. Campbell

History of Pennsylvania Egle

Indian Trails G. P. Donehoo

List of Sites William J. Campbell

Music F. I. Brock

Our Philadelphia J. and E. R. Pennell

Pennsylvania Primer Barr Ferree

Philadelphia Sharf & Westcott

Philadelphia Firsts W. I. Rutter, Jr.

Philadelphia Streets J. Jackson

Population U. S. Census for 1920

Story of Philadelphia L. J. Rhoads

The Keystone Pennypacker

United States Baedeker

Washington’s Itinerary William S. Baker

Many County Histories and Historic Reports.