The county of Wayne is separated from the county of Lackawanna by the
great Moosic Mountain range, the divide between two noted rivers, the
Lackawaxen and the Lackawanna. The former, draining its southeastern
slopes to the Delaware, was the "Lechau-weksink" of the Indians,
meaning "where the roads part," evidently referring to the parting of
the Indian trails at its confluence with the Delaware; the latter,
flowing out to the Susquehanna on its northwestern side, was the
"Lechau-hanne," or "where the streams part," signifying the forks of
two rivers. We ascend the Lackawaxen, finding the route up the gorge
along the canal towpath, once the great water way of the Delaware and
Hudson Company for bringing out coal, but now abandoned, as the
railway route is cheaper. This canal, opened in 1828, was one hundred
and seventeen miles long, and ascended from tidewater on the Hudson at
Rondout to four hundred and fifty feet elevation at Port Jervis, and
nine hundred and sixty-five feet at Honesdale. Its route throughout is
through grand river gorges and the most magnificent scenery.
It was in this beautiful region, just south of the river, that Horace
Greeley, in 1842, started what he called the "Sylvania Society,"
founded to demonstrate the wisdom of "the common ownership of property
and the equal division of labor," which Greeley was then advocating by
lectures and in his newspaper. Many eminent persons took stock in the
society at $25 per share, and the experiment of co-operative farming
was begun in a region of rough and rocky Pike County soil, where the
amateur farmers also found amusement, for it is recorded that "the
stream was alive with trout, and the surrounding hills were equally
well provided with the largest and liveliest of rattlesnakes." They
had weekly lectures and dancing parties, the colony at one time
numbering three hundred persons, Mr. Greeley, who took the deepest
interest, frequently visiting them. The society was a success socially
and intellectually, but the labor problem soon caused trouble. A Board
of Directors governed the farm and assigned the laborers their work,
the principle of equality being observed by changing them from one
branch of labor to another day by day. But trouble soon came, for
there were too many wayward sons sent out from New York to the colony
who never had worked and never intended to, but preferred going
fishing. Various of the females also decidedly objected to taking
their turns at the washtub. The abundance of rattlesnakes had
influence, and one day a venturesome colonist brought in seventeen
large rattlers, causing dire consternation. They tanned the skin of
one big fellow, and made it into a pair of slippers, which were
presented to Mr. Greeley on his next visit. As is usually the case,
the colonists had ravenous appetites, and it was impossible to raise
enough food crops to feed them, so that food had to be bought, and the
capital was thus seriously drawn upon. In 1845 they had a prospect of
a generous yield at the harvest, when suddenly, on July 4th, a deadly
frost killed all their crops; and this ended the experimental colony.
In two days everybody had left the place, and Greeley was almost
heartbroken at the failure of his cherished plans. A mortgage on the
farm was foreclosed and the land sold to strangers. A Monroe County
farmer, who had invested $1800 in the enterprise and lost it, became
so angry at the collapse that he went to New York, as he said, "to
give Horace Greeley a Monroe County Democrat's opinion of him." He
found the great editor at work in the _Tribune_ office, and began
berating him. Greeley, as soon as a chance was given, asked his
visitor how much he had lost by the failure. He replied, "Eighteen
hundred dollars;" when, without further parley, Greeley drew a check
for the amount and handed it to him. The farmer was so astonished and
impressed by this most unexpected action that he immediately became,
as he afterwards stated, "a Greeley Whig," and remained one all his
life.