discovered by Philip Ginter in 1791, on top of Sharp Mountain, now town
of Summit Hill, nine miles southwest of Mauch Chunk. In 1818 the Lehigh
Navigation Company and the Lehigh Coal Company were formed; under
skilful management the almost insuperable obstacles in the way of
transportation were overcome; boats 18 feet wide by 25 feet long, two or
more hinged together, were floated by artificial freshets on the Lehigh;
owing to the great fall in the river and consequent rapidity of its
motion, dams were constructed near Mauch Chunk, with sluice gates,
invented by Josiah White, a manager of the Navigation Company; they were
the first on record used permanently; Lehigh coal is the hardest known
anthracite in the world. Other mineral productions are iron, slate, and
mineral paint. Wire rope was first invented in Mauch Chunk.
The first settlers were Moravian missionaries who, in 1746, purchased
200 acres on the north side of Mahoning Creek above its mouth, for
converted Mohican Indians; each Indian family possessed their own lot of
ground and Gnadenhütten became a town; the church stood in the valley,
with the Indian houses forming a crescent on one side, on the other side
was the missionary’s house and burial ground. The road to Wyoming lay
through the settlement, being the
[Illustration: CARBON COUNTY]
famous Warrior’s Path over Nescopec Mountain. In August all partook of
their own first fruits in a love feast. Christian Ranch and Martin Mack
were the first missionaries residing here; several parts of Scripture
had been translated into the Mohican language; the Holy Communion was
administered every month, the Indians calling that “The Great Day.” In
1749 Bishop (Baron) John de Watterville went to Gnadenhütten and laid
the foundation of a large church; Indian congregation 500 persons. After
Braddock’s defeat in 1755 the whole frontier was open to the savage foe;
suddenly in 1757, the mission house on the Mahoning was attacked and
burnt by French and Indians, and many inhabitants were murdered; a broad
marble slab, placed there in 1788, near LEHIGHTON, marks the grave of
those massacred.
In 1756 Benjamin Franklin was authorized by the Provincial Government to
erect forts on the Lehigh; one opposite Gnadenhütten was named Fort
Allen, for William Allen, the Chief Justice. At WEISSPORT, in the rear
of the “Fort Allen House” may be seen the well dug under Franklin’s
supervision; it was within the inclosure of the fort and supplied the
soldiers with water. Weissport was settled by Colonel Jacob Weiss,
Quartermaster General in the Revolutionary Army, on site of Fort Allen.
Municipal parks are at Lehighton and Weissport, given by Jacob Weiss.
Also at Lehighton is All Saints’ Chapel, early English Gothic.
In 1780 Andrew Montour, leader of an Indian party, captured the Gilbert
family, twelve persons, and took them over Mauch Chunk and Broad
Mountains into the Nescopec path, across Quakake Creek to Mahoning
Mountain and over wild and rugged country to Canada; eventually they
were all redeemed at Montreal, in 1782, and returned to Byberry. A view
of great scenic beauty is from Prospect Rock, over the Nescopec Valley;
Cloud Point, frequently covered by vapor, may be seen; near is Glen
Thomas with a picturesque Amber Cascade, named for David Thomas, pioneer
in the iron trade. GLEN ONOKO, two miles above Mauch Chunk, with its
wild beauty, total ascent over 900 feet, forms the channel for the clear
stream which flows over innumerable cascades to the Lehigh; the most
noticeable are “Chameleon Falls,” fifty feet high, and “Onoko Falls,”
ninety feet high, with overhanging rocks, covered with moss and ferns.
MAUCH CHUNK, county seat, population 3666; Indian name means Bear
Mountain; first settled in 1815; has one principal street, following the
tortuous course of Mauch Chunk Creek as it winds through a narrow gorge
between three high, steep, and rocky mountains, averaging 850 feet above
the town. The important buildings are directly on this street.
Courthouse, Norman, brownstone, quarried at Rockport, Carbon County;
built in 1894. Jail, where some of the Molly Maguires were executed. The
Dimmick Memorial Library, built in 1890, brick. Churches here and in
East Mauch Chunk are unusually handsome. St. Mark’s Protestant
Episcopal, Gothic, stone, has memorial windows by J. & R. Lamb; the
reredos is very beautiful. First Presbyterian, colonial, brick, has a
memorial window by John LaFarge, and one by Tiffany. The Immaculate
Conception, Roman
[Illustration: ST. MARK’S P. E. CHURCH, MAUCH CHUNK
This church is built on solid rock]
Catholic, also has fine stained-glass windows. St. Paul’s Methodist
Episcopal is the oldest church in the town.
The Woman’s Clubs are seeking to improve conditions, sanitary and
scenic; to widen the life of the town and in every way make it more in
unison with its natural surroundings. In the limited space of the narrow
valley, land is too precious to be used except for buildings, but the
hills are so magnificent that they look to them for the necessary
beauty; Flagstaff Park has natural effect. The first railroad in Carbon
County and one of the oldest in the United States, is the famous
SWITCHBACK, a gravity road, extending from Mauch Chunk to SUMMIT HILL,
opened in 1832, for bringing coal from the mines to the canal; used now
only for pleasure; a double track is laid to the summit of Mount Pisgah,
2322 feet distant from the foot, at an angle of twenty degrees, with
elevation about 900 feet above the river. Scene from the top is superb,
with a succession of mountain ridges rising, range after range, with
distant view of Lehigh Water Gap, and farther to Schooley’s Mountain in
New Jersey. The principal attraction at Summit Hill is the burning mine,
discovered to be on fire in 1859. General Craig of Revolutionary fame
resided here.
[Illustration: ELK COUNTY]
LVIII
ELK COUNTY
Formed April 18, 1843; possesses everywhere great scenic beauty; a large
herd of elk, last-known herd of the Black Forest, still existed, for
which the county was named; the last elk was killed in 1857. The Black
Forest formerly covered a vast area of northwest Pennsylvania, the deep
green of the hemlock giving a mystery of blackness; here many varieties
of large and small animals abounded. Climate and geological formation
differ from surrounding counties in ratio of altitude; the growing
season is usually two or three weeks later on account of late frosts;
agriculture is now chief industry. Bituminous coal was discovered by
“Blind Mike” on Priest’s Land at St. Mary’s in 1853, and is continuously
worked. Natural gas, oil, high-grade clays, and shale are other mineral
resources. Jimanandy Park, 3600 acres of almost virgin forest, stocked
with deer; through which a trout run flows, is the property of heirs of
Senator James K. P. Hall, and Honorable Andrew Kaul; permission to
inspect the park may be obtained at office of J. R. P. Hall at St.
Mary’s.
RIDGWAY, county seat, laid out in 1843 and named for Jacob Ridgway,
Philadelphia, who was United States Consul at Antwerp; population 6037.
Courthouse, center of town, built in 1872, brick, with clock tower,
surmounted by a large statue of Justice; stands in a well-kept park with
jail in the rear. Main Street, very wide, paved with brick, has many
fine residences. Forest Lawn Cemetery contains the Hall and Hyde family
mausoleums and a large community mausoleum built in 1912. ST. MARY’S,
ten miles from Ridgway, along the state road through beautiful scenery,
is largest town in the county, population 6967; known as the Summit
City, on a high plateau, altitude 1660 to 1950 feet. Has wide streets
paved with brick, and is surrounded by a fertile farming country. The
Charles A. Luke Memorial Park, four acres, acquired by gift in 1873 for
the public, was laid out by George C. Miller, landscape gardener of
Boston, Massachusetts, in 1914, through St. Mary’s Village Association.
St. Mary’s Roman Catholic Church, oldest and largest in the county,
built in the fifties by the German Catholic colonists, from plans made
by the late Ignatius Garner, native undressed sandstone, recently
dressed with cement, spoiling its rusticity. In St. Mary’s Cemetery are
buried Baron Van Essel and many war veterans. Large German Benedictine
College and Convent conducted by the Sisters of St. Benedict,
established, 1862, is one of the three schools in America which teach
the Della Sade system of voice culture, introduced by the venerable
Sister Marie who learned the system of the great Italian master. In the
Convent is said to be an original Van Dyke painting. Sacred Heart
Church, native sandstone, Gothic. The Shiloh Presbyterian Church is an
ecclesiastical building of native sandstone. At St. Mary’s and Kersey
Road is a small chapel, wood, old German design, built in 1870 by the
late George Decker, in fulfillment of a vow; prayer service is held here
at stated times.
Going east from Kersey, road leads through “The Barrens,” a sandy rocky
stretch of land denuded of vegetation by forest fires, on the old
Bellefonte Pike. Scenery is wonderful toward MOUNT ZION, where there is
a typical country church and burial ground. At Mount Zion corner, the
road takes three courses; left leads to BYRNEDALE with its fifty coke
ovens, coal tipples, and washer plant. WILCOX, in northern part of
county, lying in the famous gas belt of Elk County, has large glass
factory. A few miles back is TAMBINE; near here President Grant, guest
of General Thomas Kane, spent a day fishing for trout. From Wilcox,
along the Big Level Road, is Rasselas; here Captain (later General) Kane
pinned a buck’s tail on the hat of Hiram Woodruff, first member
recruited for the Bucktail Regiment. On the old Milesburg and Clermont
Pike, William C. Walsh carried the first mail through this section in
1828.
[Illustration: BLAIR COUNTY]
LIX
BLAIR COUNTY
Formed February 26, 1846; named for Honorable John Blair, native of this
county, and public-spirited citizen; in 1820, he laid out, and was
President of the Huntingdon, Cambria and Indiana Turnpike, first in this
section. Blair County lies in the beautiful Juniata Valley, settled by
Scotch-Irish, English, and Germans; much of the soil is very fertile.
Chief industries, agriculture, coal mining, and manufacturing. It is the
center of a network of roads, mostly built as turnpikes from 1830-50;
now state roads.
TYRONE, altitude 692 feet above sea level, population 9084; outlet for
important bituminous coal products; lies in a basin formed by the base
line of old Tussey, a famous mountain, and the bold ridge known as Bald
Eagle. The home of Captain John Logan, eldest son of Shikellamy, was at
mouth of Bald Eagle Creek; second son, James Logan, the Mingo chief,
named for Secretary Logan of Germantown, went west to the Ohio; his son
(Tod-kahdohs) married a daughter of Chief Cornplanter. About three miles
east from Tyrone is the Sinking Valley, named from the Sinking Creek, an
underground watercourse; near is BIRMINGHAM, with a pleasure ground,
where there are one hundred springs and a large cave; a school for girls
is here.
ALTOONA, population 60,331; altitude 1171 feet above sea level; founded
by the Pennsylvania Railroad in 1850, consists almost entirely of their
shops and workmen’s houses. St. Luke’s Protestant Episcopal Church,
native stone, first built in 1858; second building in 1881, using the
same stone; Gothic, F. C. Withers, New York, architect; has an English
window, also one by Tiffany, “The Resurrection,” exhibited in Paris in
1900; memorial to Almet E. Read, Esq.; brick rectory and school, gift of
General John Watts De Peyster, as memorial to his daughter, first school
for advanced education in Altoona.
In the Logan House, built, 1854, by the Pennsylvania Railroad, was held
the conference of the loyal war governors in 1862, namely, A. G. Curtin,
Pennsylvania; John A. Andrew, Massachusetts; Richard Yates, Illinois;
Israel Washburn, Jr., Maine; Edward Solomon, Wisconsin; Samuel J.
Kirkwood, Iowa; O. P. Morton (by D. G. Ross, his representative),
Indiana; William Sprague, Rhode Island; F. H. Pierpont, Virginia; David
Tod, Ohio; N. S. Berry, New Hampshire; Austin Blair, Michigan; to devise
ways and means for coöperating with President Lincoln in suppressing the
Rebellion. King Edward VII, as Prince of Wales, stopped here. On the
William Penn Highway, formerly an old portage road, is site of an early
historic hotel, “Fountain Inn,” mentioned by Dickens in “American
Notes”; here William Henry Harrison stopped overnight on his way to
Washington in 1841, to be inaugurated President of the United States;
Henry Clay and Jenny Lind also stopped here.
Near junction of Sugar Run with Burgoon’s Run, three miles south of
Altoona, in 1781, Indians killed a number of militiamen from Fetter’s
Fort, built in 1775, by firing on them from ambush. A monument
dedicated in 1909, marks the place where the wife of Matthew Dean and
three of their children were killed by Indians in 1788, while he and the
other children were working in the fields. In Blair County are also
sites of Fort Roberdeau, built, 1778, and Fort Lowry, 1779, unmarked.
Magnificent views from Nopsononock, at summit of the Alleghenies,
Prospect Hill, and Kittanning Point, where the Pennsylvania Railroad is
carried around the famous Horseshoe Curve. A little farther, the
Pennsylvania Railroad passes through a tunnel two-thirds of a mile long,
2160 feet above sea level.
Lakemont Park is a noted place of scenic beauty near HOLLIDAYSBURG,
population 4071, county seat, laid out in 1820; named for James Adam
Holliday, who lived here prior to the Revolution. Courthouse,
Romanesque; built 1876-77; remodeled and enlarged in 1906; on grounds
are jail, feudal style, architect, John Haviland, and a Soldiers’
Monument. Highland Hall, stone, colonial doorway, with beautiful
grounds, is now Miss Cowles’ school for girls. Entrance to old
Presbyterian Cemetery is a Norman gate, designed by Price J. McLanahan,
Philadelphia, hewn timbers, held in place by bolts of wood, supporting a
red tiled roof. Main street is part of the old turnpike between
Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, shaded by beautiful old trees; here in days
of the canal, in 1834, boats met the Portage Railroad at foot of the
Alleghenies; freight and passengers were carried over the mountain by
inclined planes and stationary engines; by this means travel from
eastern Pennsylvania was continued through the Ohio River to the
Mississippi. Charles Dickens took the trip over the mountain in 1842;
the Allegheny Portage Railroad in boldness of design and difficulty of
execution compared well with the passes of the Simplon and Mont Cenis.
“Ant Hill” woods, almost within town limits, were said to be the only
hills of the kind in this country; they were written up in the _Century_
magazine by Dr. McCook; a hill was taken to the Academy of Natural
Sciences, Philadelphia; they are now level with the ground, through
vibration of the trolley. Less than a mile from town are “Chimney
Rocks,” famous council chamber of the Indians; with view of unsurpassed
beauty of the Juniata Valley, old Portage Road, and Allegheny Mountains.
On western slope, much of the Portage Road is used for the highway; the
Monumental Arch is still standing.
LX
SULLIVAN COUNTY
Formed March 15, 1847, named for General John Sullivan; is noted for
picturesque scenery, mountains, valleys, lakes, streams and waterfalls,
forests, and distant views. Either the scenic Williamsport and North
Branch Railroad or the state highway, that parallel each other and enter
the county near Muncy Valley, lead to beautiful Eaglesmere, 1900 feet
above sea; on Lewis Lake, one and a half miles long, one-half mile wide;
depth never definitely determined, fed by subterranean waters. About the
shore, tree bound, with luxuriant growth of rhododendron and laurel, and
rock faced to deep water, there are lovely nooks, and a bathing beach of
white sand at the northern end. Passing from Eaglesmere through
“Celestia,” where the lands were deeded in 1864, by Peter E. Armstrong
and wife, to “Almighty God”--the deed may be seen at the county
courthouse--one comes to LAPORTE, population 175; highest and smallest
county seat in Pennsylvania, 2000 feet above sea level, with its natural
beauties, including “Lake Mokoma,” is also an attractive summer resort.
It was laid out in 1850, by Michael Meylert, who owned the land and
built the first courthouse; present building, facing the park, is
Romanesque; brick; beautiful Lombardy poplar trees are in the yard.
Within the last twelve years advanced civilization has penetrated into
Sullivan County in good state highways, rural mail
[Illustration: SULLIVAN COUNTY]
routes, telephones, and several borough and township high schools. The
streets of LaPorte are wide and well kept, and the park is in care of
the Ladies’ Village Improvement Society.
At the top of the mountain, on the road toward Sonestown, is “Fiester’s
View,” where the deep valley of Muncy Creek, walled on the east by the
towering North Mountain, 3000 feet above tide, near Nordmont, is
beautiful beyond description. At the junction of the Big and Little
Loyalsock Creeks is the pretty little town of FORKSVILLE. Dr. Priestly
purchased a large tract of land about here, laid out roads, and made
many improvements. Four miles distant, on the state highway toward
Hillsgrove, on Kings Creek, is Lincoln Falls, a waterfall about 30 feet
in height at the head of a gorge with perpendicular walls of rock,
varying from 50 to 80 feet in height. A few deer, quite a number of
bear, foxes, rabbits, and squirrels are in this county; a state game
preserve is in the southeast near Jamison City. There are some good
trout streams, and the lakes are well stocked with fish. The most
valuable industry is coal from the Bernice coal fields in the east. The
production of hemlock tanned sole leather is important. Farm products
and dairying are general.
[Illustration: FOREST COUNTY]
LXI
FOREST COUNTY
Formed April 11, 1848; named for its great variety of timber; hemlock
and pine, east; dense forests of deciduous trees west along the
Allegheny River. Game large and small abounds; streams are full of brook
trout. Atmosphere is fragrant with health-giving ozone, strengthening
the weak and restoring those affected with lung trouble. Chief industry
is lumbering; in western part agriculture, and the growing of fine
apples.
David Zeisberger, first white man in Forest County, came in 1767,
Moravian missionary to the Monseys, a wild and warlike tribe; he stayed
two years in their three villages, Goshgoshunk (Holeman’s Flats),
Sa-quelin-get, Place of Council (Tionesta) and La-hun-ichannock, Meeting
of the Waters (East Hickory), and migrated with them to Fort Pitt. After
Monseys, came the Senecas under Cornplanter, in 1770. First settler
Cyrus Blood, surveyor, who cleared land for Marienville, first county
seat, and improved it. “The Big Level,” name of old state road, 1728
feet above sea, follows northeast from Marienville to Mount Jewett,
McKean County, roadbed compact and solid, 100 feet wide, was first made
in Cyrus Blood’s time. On this road is Beaver Meadows, formerly a dam
built by beavers, which backed water over an area one and one-quarter
miles long by one-eighth mile wide; dam four and one-half feet high.
Along the Guitonville road toward Marienville, on a high plateau with
two miles of straight, natural, firm roadbed, is Job’s Pinnacle, from
which is a fine distant view of Tionesta Valley; a mile farther, Pisgah,
also a pinnacle, is on Salmon Creek Hill; the whole hill is composed of
magnetic iron ore, on a sandstone foundation, above shale and slate
stratification; in surveying, the magnetic attraction is so great the
needle is paralyzed; it is a mass of rocks; another magnetic iron ore
hill is Bald Bluff, where lightning strikes freely. Stony Point, back of
Salmon Creek Hill, near Newtown Mills, is the highest land; scenery
about here is so beautiful at the mouth of Salmon Creek, that Erion
Williams, the early surveyor, called it Eden revived. Beautiful scenery
is along the State road parallel with the Sheffield & Tionesta Railroad,
crossing a large iron bridge over Tionesta Creek at Nebraska, two miles
farther, over another iron bridge, and three miles to Ross Run. This
land produces oil and gas in good quantities.
At Kellettville, on the Tionesta, pieces of ancient pottery have been
exhumed, showing that this was the home of a race older than the
Indians, who had not made pottery in this section; three miles above
Kellettville is a long sloping rock in the bed of Tionesta Creek,
“Panther Rock,” where Ebenezer Kingsley, a pioneer hunter, shot many
cougars; state paid twenty dollars bounty for a panther, twelve dollars
for a wolf. Picturesque falls are on Blue Jay Creek; near its mouth is
Rocky City, on Tionesta Creek, a vast aggregation of rocks like tall
towers, with grand scenery, nearly opposite is a prehistoric square hole
forty feet deep, no record of its formation.
TIONESTA, population 642, county seat, incorporated, 1852. Principal
buildings, Courthouse on high ground in public square of two acres,
brick, built 1870, architect, Keene Vaughn, contains proof copy of
“Zeisberger preaching to the Indians in Forest County in 1677,” engraved
by John Sartain, with a volume of Zeisberger’s Life and Notes, a gift
from the Pennsylvania Historical Society, Philadelphia; and a receipt
signed by David Zeisberger, framed in wood of the wild cherry tree under
which, legend says, he originally preached; also portraits of prominent
men of Forest County. Jail, brick and stone, in courthouse ground, built
by Van Dorn Prison Company, Cleveland, Ohio, in 1895. The Forest County
National Bank, native stone, Romanesque, built, 1899, architect, C.M.
Robinson, Altoona. Presbyterian Church, brick, 1910, on site of old
wooden church, built, 1851; and Methodist Church, brownstone, built,
1909; both contain memorial windows.
[Illustration: LAWRENCE COUNTY]
LXII
LAWRENCE COUNTY
Formed March 20, 1849; named for Perry’s flagship, in the Battle of Lake
Erie, which was named in honor of Captain James Lawrence, United States
Navy. Lawrence was mortally wounded in the War of 1812, on the frigate
_Chesapeake_, against the British ship _Shannon_; as he was carried
below he said: “Don’t give up the ship.” Chiefly settled by
Scotch-Irish. The old canal to Lake Erie, built in 1833, went through
center of the county, and did much to develop the resources--bituminous
coal, iron ore, and limestone. Chief industries, manufactories and
agriculture. Many beautiful drives are all through the county in every
direction.
The Moravian missionaries, David Zeisberger and Gottlob Senseman, were
the first white men who dwelt here, long before the county was formed;
they migrated with the Indians from Bradford County, through Forest
County, and were the greatest missionary power to them. They were
visited by Glikkikin, a renowned warrior of great eloquence, who with
his escort, purposely tried to refute the doctrines of Christianity;
they were received by Anthony, a native convert, who treated them
courteously and made such an impressive speech on Christian doctrine
that he astonished the visitors; Zeisberger, coming in then, confirmed
his words, and Glikkikin, instead of delivering his speech, replied: “I
have nothing to say. I believe your words.”