JOURNEY TO THE POKONO, AND THROUGH THE BLUE MOUNTAINS TO MAUCH CHUNK,
IN THE COAL DISTRICT, FROM THE 23RD TO THE 30TH OF AUGUST
Easton on the Delaware--Morris Canal--View of the Blue
Mountains--Delaware Gap--Dutotsburg--Chestnut Hill--Sach's
Public house on the Pokono--Height of the Pokono--Long
Pond--Tonkhanna Creek--Tobihanna Creek--Inn of the Widow
Sachs--Saw-mill on the Tobihanna, with the Bear-trap--Stoddart's
Ville on the Lehigh--Shade Creek--Bear Creek--Extensive View of
the Mountains--Wilkesbarre in the Valley of Wyoming, or
Susquehannah Valley--Falls of Solomon Creek--Hanover
Township--Neskopeck Valley--German Settlers--Lausanne--Neskihone
or Neskihoning Valley--Picturesque Scenery on the Lehigh--Mauch
Chunk.
In order to make ourselves acquainted with the interior of
Pennsylvania, and the Alleghany mountains, which are the most
interesting part of that state, we left Bethlehem early in the
morning, on the 23rd of August, in a light, covered carriage, driven
by our landlord, Woehler, who was well known in all this country. Dr.
Saynisch and Mr. Bodmer accompanied me. I left my huntsman behind to
look after our affairs at home. The country was enveloped in fog, as
had been generally the case for some time past, till the sun dispelled
it. We took the road to Easton, where the fields were partly cleared,
and covered with stubble, partly planted with clover, maize, potatoes,
and buckwheat, which was just in flower. The ground was gently
undulating, with an alternation of fields, and woods of walnut and
oak. This country belongs to the secondary limestone formation;
where-ever the ground was broken up, limestone was seen, and in the
woods were several limekilns, the produce of which was lying on the
fields in large heaps, to be spread over them for manure. Isolated
farm-houses are scattered along the road. They are slightly built of
wood, many of them very small; but there are a great number of wealthy
planters in this State. The little gardens of these houses were
generally planted with European flowers, and on the road-side in the
hedges, the kermes-oak and juniper abounded, and their berries
attracted numbers of thrushes. Horses and horned cattle are very
numerous, and the first, which are often of a very good breed, are
left, day and night, at liberty in the meadow, and little trouble is
taken about them. [pg. 31] The peasants are very bold in riding and
driving, never use drags to their wheels, but drive down the hills
full trot. In the hot and dry season, this country is often in want of
water, and even the cisterns made by the farmers then become dry, so
that the cattle must frequently be driven five or six miles to water.
This arid tract is called by the inhabitants, in their German
language, "das Trockene land," the dry land.
We now saw, on our right hand, the heights on the banks of the Lehigh,
covered with verdant forests, which we were again approaching. The
double call of the _Perdix Virginiana et Marylandica_, called, by the
Americans, quail or partridge, sounded in the clover fields; the
ground squirrel ran along the fences; the red-headed woodpecker flew
from tree to tree; and plants of various kinds, _Verbascum thapsus_
(great mullein), _Antirrhinum linaria_ (the common toadflax),
_Phytolacea_, _Rhus typhinum_ (Virginian sumach), _Eupatorium
purpureum_, golden rod, &c., grew by the road-side; the dwelling
houses were surrounded with large orchards, and the apple trees were
loaded with small yellow apples of an indifferent kind, and immense
caterpillars' nests covered many of the branches. A great deal of
cider is made, but the culture of fruit seems to be, in general, in
rather a backward state. The cherry trees, too, were covered at this
time with their small, bad fruit, which, as in Europe, was eagerly
sought after by numbers of birds. After travelling twelve miles, we
arrived at Easton, a small town with a population of 2,000
inhabitants, the capital of Northampton county, situated at the
conflux of the Delaware and the Lehigh. We alighted at the inn with
many country people, and immediately set out to take a walk in the
town, while breakfast was preparing. The streets of Easton cross each
other at right angles; they are not paved, excepting a footway on the
sides, paved with bricks; the largest of them runs with a gentle
declivity to the Delaware. In a square in the highest part stands the
Court-house. The buildings in the place are, in general, only two
stories high; and the most interesting spot is the terrace, near the
bridge over the Delaware. This bridge is 600 English feet long, has
three arches, is quite closed, covered with a strong roof, and has
fifteen glass windows on each side; it is painted yellow, and the
building of it, like all similar undertakings in the United States,
was a private speculation, and brings in thirty per cent., a toll
being paid.
We crossed this bridge, and walked down the river, till we came
opposite to the spot, immediately below the town, where the Lehigh,
issuing from its picturesque valley, between the rocky hills covered
with pines and other trees, falls into the Delaware. Near to the
former, on the same side, is the mouth of the Mauch Chunk canal; and
on the other side of the Delaware begins the Morris canal, leading to
New York.[38] A great number of men were busily employed at this spot.
On the banks of the Delaware grew _Datura Tatula_, with its purple
flowers, tall Virginian junipers, a verbena, and other plants; and the
three-striped viper darted through the low bushes.
[pg. 32] Returning to the inn, we loaded our guns and proceeded on our
journey. As soon as we were out of the town, we went up the Delaware
on the right bank, and crossed a bridge to Bushkill, a picturesque
stream, flowing between lofty shady trees, on banks richly covered
with a variety of plants. From this spot the way becomes extremely
romantic and agreeable. It leads close by the bright mirror of the
river, which may be full 200 paces broad, in the shade of the dark
forest of plane, oak, tulip, walnut, chestnut, and other trees; and on
the left hand rises the steep rocky wall, covered with many
interesting plants, which are protected by the shade of the trees. The
river soon becomes broader, and we came to isolated habitations
situated in shady groves. We stopped at one of them to send a
messenger, on horseback, back to Bethlehem, where the drawing
materials, of which we had so much need, had been forgotten.
The rocks often came so close to the bank of the river, that there was
scarcely room for two carriages to pass each other: lofty forest trees
afforded a welcome shade. In many places the rock stood out. Dr.
Saynisch struck off with his hammer some fine pieces of saussurite
(_Hornstone_), and talc, with mica; but a slate formation soon
succeeded, and we were glad that we had taken good specimens of the
preceding. Continuing our way, in the shade, by the banks of the
river, we frequently came to other steep rocks, till the wilderness
again gave way to human habitations, where we stopped at the White
House to water our horses and take some refreshment. From this place
the country was more diversified. The road still runs by the side of
the river, which was animated by boats, and by numbers of ducks and
geese. The Mudrun creek here issues in a very picturesque manner,
between high trees, from a small side valley. A little farther on, we
left the Delaware to ascend some pretty high hills. We proceeded along
the side valley of Martin's creek, in which there are some spots of
marshy meadow, where the splendid _Lobelia cardinalis_, which is
usually found on the banks of all these rivers, attracted the eye by
its deep red flowers. We then passed a naked lateral defile, where
stubble, and clover fields, and woods, which we saw at a distance,
reminded us of some parts of our own country. The road led over the
heights, alternately gently ascending and descending till we came to
the little village of Richmont, where we watered our horses, which
suffered from the great heat, and ascended a considerable eminence, on
which there is a mean looking church, called Upper Mount Bethel. We
then proceeded through a more elevated plain, where, on the left hand,
in a north-west direction, is a near prospect of the Blue Mountains,
which form the first chain of the Alleghany.
This first chain is said to be only 2,000 feet above the level of the
sea; but it extends here further than the eye can reach, and is
uniformly covered with verdant, primeval forests. It runs in the
direction from north to south, and has no characteristically shaped
peaks, or remarkable forms, so that there is nothing picturesque in
the total effect. With the exception of some parts, especially the
beautiful Catskill mountains, most of the landscapes of North America
are characterized by this want of striking outlines, and this
constitutes the great difference between them and [pg. 33] the views in
Brazil, where the mountains and the outlines of the horizon are
almost always marked by the most striking forms, as is usual in
primitive mountains.
In the chain before us, we remarked an opening in a northerly
direction, where the Delaware breaks through; this is called the
Delaware Water Gap, or the Delaware Gap. It is twenty-three miles from
Bethlehem, and was the place of our destination to-day. We were now
two miles from it. After passing the little town of Williamsburg, we
saw before us, almost in all directions, luxuriant verdant woods, and
eminences rising behind each other. As our horses hastened to the
valley, the height of the mountains seemed to increase. At length the
bright Delaware appeared before us, and we soon reached its banks. The
river here forms the boundary of Warren County in New Jersey. On the
opposite side we perceived a large glasshouse, managed by Germans,
called Columbia Glasshouse, where many who have possessed it have
already become bankrupts.
As we approached this defile, we observed a water-snake swimming in
the river, which suffered itself to be carried down with the stream,
but disappeared as soon as we approached. We procured one on the
following day, as they are not uncommon here.
We had now reached the mountain chain, which rose bold and steep on
both sides, and at every step became more and more contracted. Just
before the defile, or gap, is an inn, behind which, at the distance of
hardly a couple of hundred paces, runs the steep rocky wall of
grauwacke and clay slate, here the predominant kind of rock. This high
wall is crowned on the summit with pines, and covered at the base with
various other trees, while the middle part is naked and rugged. At the
foot of the mountains are luxuriant fields and meadows, in which the
fine cattle were grazing. From this spot the rocky wall approaches
nearer and nearer to the river, the banks of which, rude and desolate,
are covered with many broken trunks of trees confusedly thrown
together, many of which were still lying in the water. This is the
effect of the rising of the river, and the breaking-up of the ice in
spring, which had caused more extensive damages in the spring of 1832
than on any former occasion within the memory of man. Where the banks
of the river are flat and sandy, thickets of young planes often supply
the place of the willows on the banks of our European rivers. The
plane--called by the German inhabitants water maple, or water beech;
by the Anglo-Americans, buttonwood, or sycamore--flourishes
particularly near the water, or in low, moist situations, where it
attains its colossal growth in perfection. These young planes, on the
bank, were almost entirely stripped of their bark by the action of the
water.
The inn, Delaware Gap, is supposed to be 600 feet higher than
Philadelphia, and the steep wall of rock behind it is elevated 600 or
700 feet above it. We might have stopped here for the night, but, as
it was early, we preferred passing the Gap. The road now led
immediately along the bank of the river, and then obliquely upwards on
the steep wooded western rocky wall. The savage grandeur of the
scenery is very striking. The forest has underwood of [pg. 34] various
kinds, where numbers of interesting plants attracted our attention.
Picturesque rocks, over which water trickles, covered with various
coloured mosses, lichens, and beautiful ferns, stand between the
trunks of the trees, and form shady nooks, caverns, seats; while all
the forest trees of this country, mixed with pines, particularly the
hemlock spruce fir, and the Weymouth pine, make a dark wilderness that
inspires a feeling of awe.
The valley of the Gap leaves the river just room enough to force its
way between the steep walls of rock; and, if you turn and look back in
this interesting ravine, you see against a steep-wooded height what is
called the Indian ladder. There are several islands in this part of
the river, which are partially stripped of their wood by the action of
the current, but some of them have pretty lofty trees on them. At the
distance of about a mile from the narrowest part of the Gap, we
reached a lonely house, where a man, six feet high, and very
corpulent, came to meet us; he was of German descent, and his name was
Dietrich. He would willingly have received us for the night in his
small public-house, but there was no accommodation for our horses, and
we therefore proceeded on our journey. In a short time we reached an
eminence, at the turn of the rocky wall, where the solitary dwelling
of a Frenchman, named Dutot, is built on a steep rock, high above the
river. From this place the valley becomes more open, and the mountains
less steep as you recede from the Delaware. A bad road leads over some
eminences to a large open place in the woods, forming a hollow, where
the poor little village, Dutotsburg, consisting of twelve or thirteen
scattered dwellings, is situated. Here we took up our night's lodging
in a tolerable public-house, which is also the post-office for the
stages, and is kept by a farmer named Broadhead.
We had scarcely taken a little rest, when a poor old man entered, who
was the first person that had settled in this part of the country; his
name was Dutot, and the village was called after him. He was formerly
a wealthy planter in St. Domingo, and possessed 150 slaves; but, being
obliged to fly during the revolution, had purchased a considerable
piece of land here on the Delaware, and commenced building Dutotsburg.
He had previously lost part of his property by the capture of ships,
and his speculations here too seem to have failed. The property melted
away, and the last remnant of his possessions was sold. He had built
houses and sold them, so that he might be called the founder of the
whole of Dutotsburg; yet, after all this, he is reduced to a state of
great poverty, and his situation excites the compassion of travellers
who pass that way.
As the country about Delaware Gap was highly interesting to me, we
remained here on the following day, the 24th of August. We were early
in motion, when the rising sun beautifully illumined the mountains.
Our guide, Woehler, had accompanied young Broadhead on a shooting
excursion in the woods; the rest of us went different ways, each with
his gun, till breakfast time. Near the village, a small stream, the
Cherry Creek, meandered through the thickets and meadows, where
numbers of birds came to drink, while the report of the fowling-pieces
of our sportsmen [pg. 35] echoed from the neighbouring wood. After our
return, I accompanied old Dutot to see his house and his family. He
himself had nearly forgotten his native language, and his family knew
nothing of it. We found in this house a delightful view into the
ravine of the Delaware below, and afterwards took the way to the
romantic wild tract which we passed through on the preceding evening.
Several plants were here pointed out to me, to the roots of which the
inhabitants of the country ascribe great medicinal virtues; for
instance, the snake root, perhaps _Aristolochia serpentaria_, which is
said immediately to stanch the most violent bleeding of any wound;
and, above all, the lion's heart (_Prenanthes rubicunda_), which is
commended as a sovereign remedy against the bite of serpents. Old
Dutot related a number of successful cures which he had performed with
this root. This plant has a tall flower stem with many flowers, and
large arrow-shaped leaves; its root is partly tuberous, partly long,
pretty large, and branching, of a reddish yellow colour, and contains
a milky juice. It is boiled with milk, and two table-spoonfuls are
taken as a dose. The swelling, caused by the bite of the reptile, is
said speedily to disappear, after chewing the root. The Delaware
Indians,[39] who formerly inhabited all Pennsylvania, made this remedy
known to an old man, from whom it was inherited by the family of
Dutot. The latter had himself been among the Indians, and gave me some
information respecting them. They, as well as the river, were called
after an English nobleman, but they named themselves _Leni Lenape_,
that is, the aboriginal, or chief race of mankind, and they called the
river _Lenapewi-hittuck_ (river of the Lenape). They are the _Loups_,
or _Abenaquis_ of the French, inhabited Pennsylvania, New Jersey, &c.,
and were formerly a powerful tribe. A great part of them dwelt,
subsequently, on the White River, in Indiana, after they had been much
reduced by the whites; but, in 1818, they were compelled to sell the
whole of this tract of country also, to the Government of the United
States, and lands have been allotted to them beyond the Mississippi,
where some half-degenerate remnants of them still live. They are said
to have previously dwelt between fifty and sixty years in the
territory of the present state of Ohio. They buried their dead in the
islands of the Delaware, which are now partly in possession of old
Dutot, but wholly uncultivated, and of little importance. It is said
that human bones are still constantly met with on turning up the
ground, and that, formerly, Indian corpses were found buried in an
upright position, which, however, seems to be uncertain, and with them
a quantity of arrow-heads and axes of flint; but all these things
were disregarded and thrown away, nor had Dutot anything remaining but
a thin, smoothly polished stone cylinder, with which those Indians
used to pound their maize. I was filled with melancholy by the
reflection that, in the whole of the extensive state of Pennsylvania,
there is not a trace remaining of the aboriginal population. O! land
of liberty!
Our excursion was extended to the public-house situated on the other
side of the Delaware Gap, where we found a live specimen of the red
fox of this country (_Canis fulvus_, Desm.), which we had not before
met with. Loaded with plants, and other interesting objects, we
returned to [pg. 36] Broadhead's house, where all the persons of our
party successively arrived, each with something interesting. Some boys
brought me the beautiful water-snake which we had seen on the
preceding day. Mr. Bodmer had taken a faithful view of the Gap, near
Dietrich's public-house.
We left Broadhead's on the 25th of August, early in the morning. The
place which we wished to reach on this day is called the Pokono, and
is the most elevated point of the first chain of the Alleghanys or
Blue Mountains. Our road led in a south-westerly direction, along
Cherry Creek, through a pleasant valley diversified with meadows,
thickets, and woods, and gradually ascending.
As we rose higher and higher over gentle hills, we met a disagreeable,
raw, cold wind, and reached, on the elevated plain, an isolated
church, with a few habitations round it. On our asking the name of the
place, a person, pretty well dressed, said, "he did not himself know
the name of the place; the clergyman, a German, came, about once in a
month, from Mount Bethel, to preach here."
On reaching the top, we saw before us the highest ridge of the Blue
Mountains, the summit of which, as I have said, is called Pokono,
where an unbroken tract of dark forests covers the whole wilderness.
We gradually advanced towards a more bleak and elevated region, where
pines and firs more and more predominated. On an elevated plain we
were surrounded, as far as the eye could reach, with woods or thickets
of low oaks, from which numbers of slender, half-dried, short-branched
pines (_Pinus rigida_) shot up. These pines originally formed the
forest--the oaks, only the underwood; but the former have, for the
most part, perished in the fires, with which the settlers have, in the
most unwarrantable manner, without any necessity whatever, destroyed
these primeval forests. On a part of the highland, cleared of wood,
through which the road passes, we saw a row of new wooden houses, and
at once perceived that timber is the source of the subsistence of the
inhabitants. Boards, planks, shingles, everywhere lay about, and large
quantities are exported. Shops, where most of the common necessaries
of life were sold, had already been established in this new
settlement.
From this place, called Chestnut Hill, from the abundance of chestnut
trees in the forests, the road declines a little, and you see, on all
sides, numerous saw mills, which prepare for use the chief product of
the country. The outside cuts of the pine and firs were piled up in
large stacks; scarcely any use is made of them, and they may be bought
for a trifle. We had to pass five or six times the windings of
Pokonbochko Creek, the banks of which are agreeably bordered with
thickets of alder, birch, willow-leaved spiraea, and the _Lobelia
cardinalis_. A great number of skins of different animals were hung up
at the house of a tanner, such as grey and red foxes, racoons, lynxes,
&c., which led us to ask what beasts of the chase were to be met with,
and we learned that deer and other large animals are still numerous.
Rattlesnakes abound in these parts; they showed us many of their skins
stuffed, and one very large one was hung up on the [pg. 37] gable end
of a house. Some persons eat these dangerous serpents from a notion
that, when dressed in a certain manner, they are an effectual remedy
against many diseases.
We had here a foretaste of the wild scenery of North America, which we
might expect to find in perfection, in uninterrupted primeval forests
on the Pokono; we, therefore, did not stop here, but hastened to the
less inhabited, more elevated, and wilder region, where the mixture of
firs in the forest already began to preponderate. We halted, and took
our dinner at an isolated public-house, kept by a man of German
origin, whose name is Meerwein. Forests surrounded the verdant meadows
about the house, in which woodcocks were numerous. In a little
excursion in the forest I saw splendid bushes of _Rhododendron
maximum_, kalmia, Andromeda, _Rhodora canadensis_, _Ceanothus
vaccinum_; and in the shade of the first, _Orchis ciliata_, with its
beautiful orange-coloured flowers, which is found also nearer to
Bethlehem.
The entertainment in this solitary house was pretty good and
reasonable; all the inmates, except one man, were Germans. If we had
stopped for the night, they would have gone out for us with their
guns, as deer and pheasants abound in the forests. Having taken the
opportunity of forwarding our collections to Bethlehem by the stage
which passed the house, we proceeded on our journey. From this place
the road continues to ascend, traversing a fine thick wood, frequently
crossing the stream. An undergrowth of scrub oak and chestnut is
spread uniformly, and without interruption, over the whole country,
the pines, as already mentioned, rising above it, most of which have
suffered by fire; for in the dry season these woods have often been
destroyed by extensive conflagrations, which have generally been
caused by the negligence of the wood-cutters and hunters. Even now,
clouds of smoke rose at a distance, and announced a fire in this
great lonely wilderness. The high road is here carried directly
through the forest; it is, for the most part, laid with wood, covered
with earth, which requires carriages with good springs.
When you have nearly reached the most elevated part of this
wilderness, and look back, you have a grand prospect. Lofty ridges
rise one above another in a narrow valley, all covered with dark
forests, and, on the right and left, high walls of rock close the
valley. We soon reached the highest summit of the Pokono, or second
chain of the Blue Mountains, which, as I have said, forms the most
easterly of the Alleghanys.
Mr. Moser, a young botanist, had accompanied us from Bethlehem, and I
undertook with him an excursion to a neighbouring lake on the top of
the Pokono, while Dr. Saynisch prepared the birds that had been
killed, and our other hunters went out to look for stags and woodhens.
We proceeded about half an hour along the high road, when we perceived
the summit of the Pokono, and then turned to the right towards an old
decayed cottage, where oxen were grazing among the thick bushes, and
followed a scarcely perceptible path through the wilderness. We
crossed a valley, with thickets and scorched pines rising above them,
where the ground was covered with various kinds of plants. An old path
led us half a league over an eminence; after which we [pg. 38] found a
valley, where the lake, called Long Pond, is situated, surrounded by
low reeds and rushes, among pine woods and various interesting shrubs.
On the narrow lake we found a small boat, in which Mr. Moser pushed
about to botanize. He procured in this manner the pretty blue
flowering _Pontederia lanceolata_, a red flowering _utricularia_,
_nymphaea_, &c. Though this wilderness was perfectly lonely, we did not
see any water-fowl, and, in fact, very little animal life, so that the
botanist finds much more employment than the zoologist. The lake is
about a mile long, has but little open or clear water, and receives
its supply from the Tonkhanna Brook. When Mr. Moser reached the bank
again, he called to me that he was very near a rattlesnake, the rattle
of which he had distinctly heard; but, though we looked diligently, we
could not find the animal which we had long wished to possess, because
the ground was so thickly overgrown with plants. One of the sons of
Mr. Sachs, our landlord, had been lately bitten by a rattlesnake while
fishing, and they affirmed that he was soon cured by tea made of the
bark of the white ash, which is said to be an infallible antidote to
the bite of serpents.
At noon, while we were all taking some repose, we were suddenly
alarmed. A mink, or minx (_Mustela vison_), a small beast of prey,
resembling the European lesser otter, had had the boldness to attack,
in broad daylight, the poultry that were about the house, and was
shot. Our hunters had had no success, a single pheasant being all they
had procured.
In the afternoon Mr. Bodmer joined us, having been driven hither by
Broadhead. We immediately went out to look in the neighbourhood of the
Sand springs[40] for a bear-trap, with an iron plate fastened to a
chain, which was carefully covered up and concealed. Mr. Moser, who
thought he could find the place, led us astray, but we amused
ourselves with the interesting vegetation.
We made but little addition to our ornithological collections,
scarcely anything having been killed but the whip-poor-will
(_Caprimulgus Virginianus_), which is very numerous in all these
forests. Day had scarcely dawned on the 17th of August, when our whole
company was in motion to go seven miles to the house of another Sachs
(a near relation of our host), whose widow lived there. For about a
mile the wood retains the same character, the firs then attain a
greater height, and are closer together. The wood had been cleared
around some houses, and _Phytolacea_, _Verbascum_, and _Rhus
typhinum_, which occupy all the uncultivated spots in Pennsylvania,
immediately sprang up. The small habitations were built entirely of
wood, and generally painted a reddish brown. In some places we
observed traces of fire: the low scrub oaks were scorched and black,
and were putting forth shoots from the stumps and roots. At times we
had an extensive view of the mountains, uniformly clothed with dark
pine forests, everywhere high tops and ridges, and all around black
woods. The Canadian and the Virginian pine were high and close
together, especially in the valleys. The soil in this part is not very
fertile, and requires to be well manured. All is forest and
wilderness, and bears, deer, and other wild animals abound. [pg. 39] The
Tonkhanna meanders picturesquely between thickets, and the _Lobelia
cardinalis_ was in blossom on its banks. Bull-frogs appeared here, as
on the banks of the Lehigh at Bethlehem, and the same species of
butterflies as are found there. Not far from this place we came to a
second very romantic brook, the Tobihanna, over which a short, covered
bridge is thrown, and about 300 paces further, reached the lonely
habitation of the Widow Sachs, in a desert spot without wood, where we
were to pass the night.
Mrs. Sachs gave us tolerable quarters, and I immediately sent for the
most expert hunters of the neighbourhood, in order, if possible, to
procure a bear or a stag. Three or four men came who were ready to go
for a remuneration. One of them had but a few days before, met with
two bears and their young, among the bilberry bushes, and shot two of
them. I obtained from him a fine large skin of one of them, and
several interesting stags' horns.
The part of the country in which we now were was so lonely, wild, and
grand, that we immediately took our fowling-pieces to ramble about.
The Tobihanna,[41] over which is the above-mentioned bridge, thirty or
forty paces in length,[42] is a pretty considerable stream, and the
surrounding scenery is extremely picturesque. It is enclosed in rather
high banks, overhung with fine, dark, primeval forests of Canadian
pine trees, here called spruce fir, mixed with isolated trees of
various kinds, and with a very close underwood of colossal
_Rhododendron maximum_, thicker than a man's arm,[43] whose dense
masses of foliage, with their dark green, laurel-like leaves hang down
over the water, and are often mixed with the beautiful _Kalmia
latifolia_. Even now, the appearance of this dark thicket on the bank
was magnificent; how much more beautiful must it be when in blossom!
The black forest of gigantic firs, crowded together, rises in awful
gloom, here and there relieved by the light green foliage of other
trees. These majestic pine forests have hitherto been visited by only
a few settlers, and have escaped the great conflagrations which have
deprived the skirts of these wooded mountains of part of their lofty
stems. We were charmed with this North American wilderness, where
Nature is, indeed, less vigorous, and poorer than in the hot climates,
but still has a striking, though very different character of solemn
and sublime grandeur. Mr. Bodmer immediately chose a place to sketch
the above-mentioned beautiful brook, while the rest of our party
strolled through the forest. Old decayed trees, often singularly
hollowed, and roots of firs covered with moss, spreading over the
surface in all directions, hindered us from penetrating far into this
wilderness. A dark, damp shade received us here in the heat of the
day, and the three-striped viper, of which there are [pg. 40] numbers
under the old, decayed trunks, frequently fled as we advanced.
Rattlesnakes are said to be less common than in the parts which we had
before visited. Birds were not numerous in the deep recesses of these
forests; only the hammering of the woodpeckers resounded in the awful
wilderness. In places where there was much underwood, very thick stems
of _rhododendron_, often from ten to twenty feet high, formed an
intricate, impenetrable thicket. It was now perfectly dark, and we
found the most beautiful natural arbours. The _Kalmia latifolia_, too,
grew to the height of eight or ten feet. This country was so wild and
attractive that I resolved to stop another day. To the north-east of
the solitary dwelling of the Widow Sachs, was a fine beech forest,
among the underwood of which pheasants were pretty numerous. We
procured some of them, but I could not yet succeed in obtaining a stag
or a bear.
On the 28th of August we undertook an excursion to see the bear-trap,
in which one of those animals had been caught two or three days
before. The man who owned this trap lived on the road between
Tonkhanna and the Tobihanna, both of which flow into the Lehigh. He
had appointed his house for our rendezvous, where we saw the skin of
the bear, lately taken, nailed up against the gable end to dry. The
saw-mill of our bear-catcher lay in a rude valley, to the south-west
of the road. We came to this saw-mill, in a solitary valley, on the
Tonkhanna, which rushes, roaring and foaming over rocks covered with
black moss, between old broken pines, in a true primeval wilderness.
In this retreat for bears, prickly smilax, brambles, and other thorny
plants, tear the strongest hunting dress, and leather alone resists
these enemies. At every step we had to clamber over fallen trunks of
trees, to the injury of our shins, which were almost always bleeding.
We found our guide, who, though it poured of rain, took his rifle, and
went before, to lead us to the bear-trap.
The trap was in a place rather bare of thick stems, between young
pines, and made of large logs, in such a manner that a young bear
might be taken alive in it. It consisted of two round stems lying flat
on the ground, between which two others, which are supported by a
prop, are made to fit, and fall down when the prop is touched.[44] _a_
is the base on which the two logs, _b_, rest; _c_, the two suspended
logs, which fall as soon as the bear touches the bait, fixed in _e_,
at the lower end of the rack _f_. The pole A, A, which is set in the
rack _f_, rests in front on the prop _g_, and supports in _h_, by
means of a withe, the logs _c_, _c_, _c_, _c_. When the bear touches
the bait, the rack _f_ moves, the pole A, A, becomes free, and lets
the logs _c_, _c_, _c_, _c_, fall, which catch or kill the animal. The
whole is covered with green fir boughs when the trap is set, and all
the parts must have their bark on. The bear caught here, some days
before, was about a year old, so that there was room for him between
the logs; and as he was not large, and had entered the trap in front
and not from the side, his life was prolonged a little. He was shot in
the trap, and his head used as a bait; we took the head away with us,
and the owner of the trap substituted a piece of the animal's lungs in
its stead.
[Illustration: Bear-trap]
After a hasty sketch had been made of the bear-trap, we set out on our
return; I very much regretted leaving the magnificent wilderness. On
the way we found a fine viburnum, with large reddish leaves, and the
_Oxalis acetosella_, which grew in abundance among the moss and
decaying trunks of trees. The loud hammering of the woodpeckers
resounded in this forest, and we shot the great spotted woodpecker of
this country, which very much resembles our _Picus major_; for dinner
we had bear's flesh, which we thought resembled mutton.
When I returned to the house of Sachs, I found the hunters, whom I had
hired, in no little confusion. One of them, in particular, after
receiving his wages for the first day, had remained in the
public-house the whole night and the following morning. Stretched at
length on a table, he had slept off the effects of his drunken fit,
talked big, and found here a willing audience, a number of drinkers of
whisky being collected in this place. Brandy drinking is far more
common among the lower classes in America than with us; and here, on
the Pokono, this bad habit was peculiarly prevalent among the country
people. Not far from Tobihanna Creek there was a small wooden house,
ten or twelve feet square, with a little iron stove (see the view of
the Tobihanna Bridge), in which a school was kept. The stalls for
cattle, swine, and sheep, are, for the most part, cages, the bars of
which being pretty wide apart, the cold winter wind blows freely
through them; nay, many of them had half fallen to pieces. The swine,
which ran about in great numbers, had a triangular yoke round their
necks to hinder them from getting through the fences. In all this part
of the country, garden vegetables are raised in beds, or rather boxes,
filled with mould, elevated on four posts. The seeds are sown in these
boxes, and the young plants not transplanted till they have acquired a
certain growth, otherwise they would be destroyed by the insects.
Maple sugar is not made here, because the tree does not grow in
sufficient abundance. The [pg. 42] chief occupation of the settlers, in
this part, is the making of shingles, which are manufactured from the
Weymouth pine. We were assured, that these peasants steal the greater
part of the wood for their shingles, in the forests belonging to
greater landowners, who live at a distance, and have no keepers to
protect their property. One workman can make in a day 300 or 400
shingles, which are sold on the spot for half-a-dollar per 100. They
are sent to all the neighbouring country, in large wagons drawn by
four horses. At Bethlehem, forty-two miles from Pokono, the best
shingles were sold, at that time, for eleven dollars per 1,000. These
shingles are of two kinds; the German, made by Germans, who first
manufactured them in this way, which are considered to be the best,
and the English; the former are equally thick at both edges, the
latter thicker at one side than the other. Many persons, whose horses
are not otherwise employed, come here and fetch shingles.
On the 29th of August we continued our journey through forests that
extended, without interruption, on all sides. After crossing a bridge
over the little brook called Two-miles-run, we came to an open spot in
the forest, where the great village of Stoddartsville is built on the
Lehigh, which at this place is still an inconsiderable stream. The
environs of the place are still wild. Stumps of trees, cut or sawed
off two or three feet from the ground, were everywhere seen, and this
newly-cleared spot was still covered with wild plants. As you come
down the hill, you look directly into the street of the place, to
which some neat and pretty houses give a very striking effect in this
wilderness. We continued our journey over wooded eminences, where
bears and stags are said to be still numerous. Having passed Bear
Creek and Ten-miles-run Creek, we soon reached the Pokono, or highest
summit of the Blue Mountains, and began gradually to descend. In the
forests through which we now passed, the firs began to give way to
other timber trees, and the woods are again more burnt and ruined,
frequently consisting only of shoots from the stumps of oaks,
chestnuts, maples, and sassafras trees, with single pines everywhere
rising above them, as the palms in Brazil do, above the lower
_Dicotyledones_.
On one of the next eminences, we came to another lofty point, whence
we had the most extensive view, backwards and forwards, that we had
yet enjoyed in these mountains. Towards the north-west lies the
beautiful valley of Wyoming, through which the Susquehannah flows; and
backwards, in the opposite direction, a rude prospect of wood and
mountain, where peak rises above peak, and the eye ranges over an
uninterrupted extent of immense forests. It is said to have been
ascertained, by actual measurement, that this spot is 1,050 feet above
the level of the Atlantic. Unfortunately, our time would not allow us
to take a drawing of this grand prospect. From this place we began to
descend into the valley of the Susquehannah, where the woods assume a
more cheerful character, the firs being soon entirely succeeded by the
oak, chestnut, and other timber trees. The road resembles an avenue,
overshadowed by lofty oaks, tulip, chestnut, walnut, beech, hornbeam,
birch, maple, elm, nyssa, and other trees, growing very close [pg. 43]
together. Here we already see the formation of the conglomerate--the
precursor of the coal district, which we now enter. When we had
descended rather more than half way down the declivity of the
mountain, we were taken about 200 paces to the right of the road, to
be surprised by the beautiful prospect of the valley of Wyoming, or
the Susquehannah. A group of rocks of conglomerate rises, isolated in
the forest, and, on ascending it, you have a magnificent view. The
broad and extensive valley, covered with towns and detached houses,
alternates agreeably with forests and fields; the river flows through
its whole length, and at our feet lay the pretty town of Wilkesbarre,
the streets of which we could overlook. It is manifest, at a glance,
that the whole of the valley was formerly covered with a thick
primeval forest, for strips of wood everywhere traverse the fields.
Proceeding on our journey we came to a solitary public-house, where we
met with a rattlesnake. I bought it, and it was put into brandy, as a
live creature of this kind is not the most agreeable travelling
companion. This snake had been kept three weeks in a box, and had not
taken any nourishment whatever, so that it moved its rattle but
faintly when it was irritated. As it was a very large and handsome
specimen, I paid two dollars and a half for it. The landlady, a very
corpulent personage, was in a very light morning dress when she
concluded the bargain with me, and not being able to give me change,
she immediately threw on her Sunday clothes, to follow our carriage on
foot, and settle the account at Wilkesbarre. Her head was adorned with
a large fashionable straw hat; she had a silk gown, and a silk
parasol, which she might very well have spared, protected her tanned
face from the sun. It was remarkable that, heavy as she was, she
reached the town as soon as we did, though we had half a league to go.
Wilkesbarre, in Lucerne county, is a place with about 1,200
inhabitants, with three churches, a court-house, a bank, &c.[45] The
streets are pretty regular, and the buildings separated by gardens and
intermediate spaces. The place has its singular name from the first
settlers, who were called Wilkes and Barre. The population consists of
handicraftsmen, field labourers, storekeepers, and merchants; and
several of the inhabitants are interested in the important coal mines,
situated to the west of the road which we had taken. This bed of coals
is said to extend fourteen miles along the slope of the valley of the
Susquehannah, and then to continue over other eminences, of which
there will be occasion to speak in the sequel. For the purpose of
conveying the coals by water, a canal has been dug, which was not
quite completed, and which is to form a communication between the coal
mines and the Susquehannah. On the other side of the river the great
Pennsylvania canal is already finished, which connects Pennsylvania
with Maryland by means of the Susquehannah.[46] This last canal, which
is divided into several parts, will be continued to Baltimore, the
chief seaport, but it is not yet quite completed. Pennsylvania is
already intersected by numerous canals, which connect the rivers, and
are of the highest importance by the facilities they afford to inland
trade.
[pg. 44] The inn at which we put up at Wilkesbarre was kept by a German,
named Christ, who recommended to our notice some interesting points in
the environs; and we, therefore, did not take the usual road at the
bottom of the valley, but soon turned aside from the Susquehannah,
into a wild, lateral valley, in which there are fine waterfalls. At
less than a league from Wilkesbarre, we reached, at the foot of the
mountain, a wild, thickly-wooded ravine, where we soon heard the
roaring of Solomon Creek. Near a mill, the owner of which is General
Ross,[47] this stream forms some highly picturesque cascades over
smooth, perpendicular black rocks, covered with moss, forming a basin
below, in a thick forest of pine and other timber. There are two
cascades, one above the other, of which the second is the largest;
then comes the last and highest, where the water, conducted from the
mill directly across the ravine, falls perpendicularly, about the
height of a house, over a steep rock. It was, unfortunately, too late,
when we arrived, to make a drawing of this interesting scene. We asked
for accommodation for the night in the mill, which is a roomy house;
but our countryman (this man's mother was born in Germany) could not,
or would not, receive us. They gave us some of the water of the stream
to drink, which had a strong taste of iron and sulphur. As it was not
possible to find a lodging in the neighbourhood, we were advised to
proceed three miles to the top of the mountain, which we, indeed,
accomplished, but had nearly had reason to repent of our resolution.
The road ascends on the left rocky bank of Solomon Creek, in a thick
forest, over rough ground, so that we constantly had the steep
precipice on the right hand. There was no room for two carriages to
pass; luckily, carriages are rare in this remote wilderness. As we had
been told that there was abundance of wild animals, we loaded our
fowling-pieces with ball. We now turned to ascend in a wooded defile,
where a couple of solitary miserable dwellings, built of trunks of
trees, scarcely left room for a small field or a little garden
overgrown with weeds. While the road became more and more rude, and
obstructed by the vegetation, twilight set in, and it was only with
the greatest efforts that our horses could draw the carriages among
rocks and fallen trunks of trees, and nothing but the greatest care
prevented them from being overturned. We met several peasants, with
their axes and guns, returning from their work in the woods: they
were robust, savage-looking, powerful men, whose sudden appearance in
such a lonely spot might elsewhere have excited suspicion. There are
no robbers in these parts; at least, I never heard of any, but it must
be owned that the place is extremely well suited to them. The
beautiful cardinal flower (_Lobelia cardinalis_) grew in such
abundance in the swampy parts of the wood, as to form a fine red
carpet. The _Chelone obliqua_, with its white flowers, was likewise
very common.
At length the moon rose bright and clear to relieve us from our
unpleasant situation, and cheered by her friendly beams the gloomy
path of the wanderer. When we reached the summit the road divided into
two branches, of which we were so lucky as to choose the right one. At
[pg. 45] length, about nine in the evening, we had the pleasure of
seeing a light; and a lonely house, in an open spot, lay before us. On
our knocking, the door was slowly opened. We entered a poor hut, where
two women--one an elderly person, the other younger--were sitting by
the fireside. The master of the house, whose name was Wright, was not
at home. The two women were very tall, and were smoking, quite at
their ease, small clay pipes. They were not a little surprised at so
late a visit, but soon stirred up the fire, and set on water. Our
frugal supper, consisting of coffee and potatoes, was soon finished,
and we lay down in our clothes on tolerable beds, placed in a large
unfurnished room, which in this country are almost always made for two
persons. This house belongs to Hanover township; the settlement itself
had not yet any name. Only English was spoken here. Not far from the
house the Wapalpi Creek ran through the thickets towards the ravine.
The night was soon passed, and at six in the morning we proceeded on
our journey. In order to take a view of the Falls of Solomon Creek,
Mr. Bodmer left us, and returned to the mill, with the intention of
joining us again at Bethlehem, by taking another road. John Wright,
brother to our host, lived three miles off, in a little rude valley,
where we intended to breakfast. Some men, who were going to
hay-making, with their guns and dogs, met us. The inhabitants of these
woods generally take their guns when they go to their work, as they
frequently have opportunities of killing some large game. They have
powerful dogs, resembling our German bloodhounds, brown or black, with
red marks; or striped like the wolf, and sometimes, but seldom, their
ears are cropped. These dogs are used in chasing the bear or the stag.
In a romantic wooded valley we reached the solitary dwelling of John
Wright, where we halted. The mistress of the house, who, with a little
boy, was alone at home, gave us a very friendly reception, and
prepared us a breakfast with coffee; all very clean and good for this
retired spot. In the course of conversation we learned that she was of
German descent, and born at Tomaqua.[48] She lived here in a pretty
roomy log-house, with a chimney and iron stove; yet she said that in
winter it was often very cold in the room, the walls of which were,
indeed, not quite air-tight. In many rooms in these mountains we found
two iron stoves. Leaving these scattered dwellings of Hanover
township, we reached, in five hours, the Nescopeck Valley, eleven
miles from our last night's quarters, the road to which is bad, little
frequented, and in part stony, gently ascending and descending, and
passing through ruined forests, such as have already been described.
In some places the wood is thicker, in others the sides of the
mountains had been quite cleared, and were covered with young shoots
and some higher trees; small streams, here called runs, flow in the
defiles and valleys; the bridges of beams over which were, for the
most part, so rotten, [pg. 46] and in such bad condition, that horses
and carriages could not pass without danger. We saw no human beings or
dwellings on this road, nor any animals except some small birds and
frogs. After this rather monotonous journey, we were glad to descend
into the Nescopeck Valley, and reached it, at the mill of one Bug, of
German descent, where we refreshed ourselves with milk and brandy. The
Nescopeck Creek, a pretty considerable stream, which turns several
mills, flows through this beautiful wooded valley. This district
belongs to Sugarloaf township, in Lucerne county.
After we had watered our horses, and the miller had questioned us
about his native Germany, we crossed the bridge over the stream,
ascended the mountain on the other side, and reached an inn on the
summit, from which it is eighteen miles to Wilkesbarre. Proceeding
from this place, we crossed the valley of the little Nescopeck Creek,
which is covered with lofty trees, then passed the little Black Creek,
and afterwards came to a high mountain wall, with a beautiful wood of
various forest trees, which the inhabitants, who are mostly of German
origin, call the Bocksberg. German is everywhere spoken here.
From the mill, the way leads through a thick underwood of shrub-like
oaks, with a few higher trees, and we soon reached the high road from
Berwick, in the Susquehannah Valley, along which we proceeded to Mauch
Chunk, where two stage-coaches pass daily.
We took this road, and soon came to an inn, kept by a German named
Anders, who likewise had a saw-mill. The host had, a short time
before, caught an old she-bear in a trap, and in the three following
days her three cubs, which he sold to travellers passing that way. The
point where we now were is called the Hasel Swamp; and, proceeding
onwards, we passed Pismire Hill, where rattlesnakes are said to
abound. We observed, too late, a very large animal of this kind dead
in the road, one of the wheels of our carriage having crushed the head
of the snake, which was otherwise in a good state of preservation. My
driver laid it in a natural position by the road-side, and I have no
doubt that it was again knocked on the head by some other traveller.
The marshy tract through which the Beaver Creek flows, is called
Beaver Meadow, and is covered with willow bushes. It is probable that
beavers may have formerly been numerous here, at least the place is
quite suited to them; but those harmless animals have been long since
extirpated. We came next to a considerable eminence, called Spring
Mountain, which we ascended, and then rapidly descended, always
through a thick forest, where we observed, on both sides of the way,
the Grauwacke formation. On reaching the bottom of Spring Mountain we
entered a wide valley, both the steep sides and bottom of which are
covered with thick woods, only thinned a little round the habitations.
In the middle of the valley, directly before us, six or seven
buildings, in a broad street, formed the village of Lausanne, five or
six hundred paces below which the Quackack Brook flows through the
valley. A Jew keeps here a public-house and shop, where we met
likewise with newspapers.
[pg. 47] Beyond Lausanne is a high mountain, called Broad Mountain, up
which the road is carried in an oblique direction. Trees and shrubs
form everywhere a very thick but ruined forest, in which there is
scarcely any serviceable timber. The view back over the extensive and
wild valley of Lausanne was extremely interesting. One can hardly
fancy this sublime and rude country without its aboriginal red
inhabitants. The wide and hollow valley is everywhere covered with
dense forests; and the little village of Lausanne is scarcely to be
seen amidst the dark green foliage. On the Broad Mountain we find
again the same formation of conglomerate, which I have before
mentioned; the beds of coal are at a small distance. On the side which
we descended the wood is more beautiful, the trees taller than on the
edge of the mountain; oaks, chestnuts, and other trees, were very
vigorous and luxuriant. Several planters have formed detached
settlements here, among whom an Irishman was pointed out to us, who
had lately been arrested on an accusation of murder, but had been
since set at liberty.
The Neskihone or Neskihoning Valley, into which we now descended, is
wide, and enclosed by very high, far-extending walls of rock,
everywhere covered with thick woods, in which some small cultivated
patches are here and there seen. Along the right, or southern wall, an
iron railroad has been laid down, which forms a communication between
one of the coal mines of the Mauch Chunk Company, on the Rumrun Creek,
and Mauch Chunk. It runs down into the valley of the Lehigh, which it
follows to the last-named place. The appearance of the valley is very
wild and picturesque; the Neskihone, which you pass at a saw-mill,
flows at the bottom of it, and then turns to the left into the
beautiful valley of the Lehigh, into which the Neskihone empties
itself. The Lehigh comes on the left hand, out of a deep, extremely
wild mountain valley, or dark glen, the entrance to which is entirely
concealed by lofty, steep wooded mountains. Its glassy surface shines,
half hid by tall shady oaks, beeches, and chestnuts; and the whole is
one of the most interesting scenes that I met with in Pennsylvania.
The road from this place to the Lehigh Valley is agreeably shaded by
high trees, and on the banks of the river there are several
dwelling-houses and inns. In a quarter of an hour we reached Mauch
Chunk, now celebrated as the central point of the Lehigh coal
district.
FOOTNOTES:
[38] The Lehigh Navigation Company, chartered August 10, 1818, was
consolidated in 1820 with the Lehigh Coal Company, and since 1821 has
been known as the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. Temporary
navigation of the Lehigh River being opened by 1820, coal was floated
down to the Delaware and thence to Philadelphia, where the scows were
broken up. In 1827 the company began the construction of a canal which
by 1829 was completed between Mauch Chunk and Easton. A line to White
Haven was opened (1835), and to Stoddartsville (1838). In 1827 there
was opened the Mauch Chunk (gravity) Railroad, the second of its kind
in the United States, being in 1828 extended to Room Run and the
Beaver Meadow region; in 1840 the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad was
completed by the same company. In July, 1825, the Morris Canal and
Banking Company, under a charter of the preceding year, commenced work
on a twenty-mile canal between the Delaware and Newark, New Jersey,
and completed it in 1831. Later the canal was extended to Jersey City,
a distance of eleven miles.--ED.
[39] When found by Europeans, the Delaware Indians were living in
detached bands along the Delaware River. A tribe of the Algonquian
family, they comprised three powerful clans--the Turtle, Turkey, and
Wolf--see Post's _Journals_ in our volume i, p. 220, note 57. By 1753
a portion of the tribe had migrated to the Ohio, and by 1786 all had
settled west of the Allegheny Mountains. They had aided Pontiac in his
attack upon Fort Pitt, and allied themselves with the English during
the Revolutionary War. Defeated, they established themselves along the
banks of the Huron River in Ohio and in Canada. Neutral during the War
of 1812-15, they sold their lands to the United States and occupied a
reservation along White River, in Indiana. By subsequent treaties the
Delaware were removed to Missouri, Kansas, and Texas; and in 1867 they
were incorporated among the Cherokee, and stationed with the latter in
Indian Territory.--ED.
[40] Copious springs issuing from the white sand.--MAXIMILIAN.
[41] The names of all these rivers, streams, and many places, are, for
the most part, harmonious with many vowels, and are derived from the
ancient Delaware or Lenni-lappe language. _Tobihanna_ means alder
brook. See Duponceau, in the Transactions of the American
Philosophical Society, vol. iv. part iii. page 351, on the names from
the Delaware languages still current in Pennsylvania, Maryland, New
Jersey, and Virginia.--MAXIMILIAN.
[42] See Plate 4, in the accompanying atlas, our volume xxv.--ED.
[43] The wood of this shrub is extremely solid and hard.--MAXIMILIAN.
[44] See p. 107, for illustration of bear-trap.--ED.
[45] Wilkes-Barre, seat of Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, and eighteen
miles southwest of Scranton, was laid out in 1769 and named jointly
for John Wilkes and Colonel Barre, members of the British parliament.
The town is near the famous "mammoth vein," of anthracite coal,
nineteen million tons of which were mined in the vicinity of
Wilkes-Barre in 1900. The census report for that year exhibited a
population of 51,721.--ED.
[46] The Susquehanna and Tide Water Canal Company was a consolidation
of the Susquehanna Canal Company of Pennsylvania, and the Tide Water
Canal Company of Maryland. It was encouraged by both states, Maryland
lending it credit to the amount of a million dollars. It was opened in
1840. See Henry V. Poor, _History of the Railroads and Canals of the
United States_ (New York, 1860), p. 552.
In 1840 the total mileage of canals in Pennsylvania was twelve hundred
and eighty; of which four hundred and thirty-two were owned by private
companies; the total mileage of railroads in the same year was seven
hundred and ninety-five. See Henry F. Walling and O. W. Gray, _New
Topographical Atlas of the State of Pennsylvania_ (Philadelphia,
1872), p. 30.--ED.
[47] The executive council of Philadelphia presented General William
Ross with a costly sword for his "gallant services of July 4, 1788,"
in rescuing Colonel Pickering from kidnappers. Ross was later made
general of the militia, and in 1812 elected to the state senate from
the district of Northumberland and Luzerne; he died (1842) at the age
of eighty-two.--ED.
[48] Tomaqua lies in the coal district at the end of the little
Schuylkill Valley, near Tuscarora. In this country the discovery of the
coal has caused agriculture to be neglected, and thousands of people
are said to have been ruined by unsuccessful speculations.--MAXIMILIAN.