Historical evidence of the presence of the Black Moose in Pennsylvania,
though not plentiful, is convincing. Dr. J. D. Schoepf, the
distinguished German army surgeon and naturalist, who travelled
through Pennsylvania in 1783-1784, has this to say in his "Travels in
the Confederation," Vol. I, Page 161, in speaking of the vicinity of
Heller's Tavern, one mile south of the Wind Gap in Northampton County:
"The farmers were not well content with their lands. The nearness of
the mountains brings them in Winter unpleasant visits from wolves and
now and then, bears. And there is no lack of other sort of game; deer
and foxes are numerous: elks wander hither at times. From several
descriptions furnished by people hereabouts, it seems that they give
the name Elk to the Moose as well as to the Canadian stag, and so give
rise to errors. Both animals come down from the North, where one is
known as Moose, Black Moose or Original, and the other (the Canadian
stag) as Grey Moose to distinguish it from the first." On page 243 of
the same volume, the talented author, in speaking of the Allegheny
Mountains between Carlisle and Fort Pitt (Pittsburg) remarks: "The
commonest wild animal is the Virginia deer: the Grey Moose, very
similar to the European stag has also been seen in these woods, but it
is more numerous in Canada.
[Illustration: C. W. DICKINSON,
A Living Pennsylvania Hunter Whose Memory Retains Many Interesting
Reminiscences of the Moose.]
The Black Moose or elk, is seen here but rarely." H. Hollister, in
his inimitable "History of the Lackawanna Valley," published in
1857, in speaking of Tripp's Meadow, near Scranton, a hunting and
camping-ground highly thought of by Indians and early white settlers,
says: "Around this camp game was abundant. The elk and the fleeter
moose stood among their native pines, or thundered onward like the
tread of cavalry, the deer in fearless mood browsed on the juicy
leaf, while the mountain sides, though stern with wilderness offered
to the panther or the bear little shield from the well-poised arrow
of the Indian." On Page 210, the same author says: "The Moose, from
which the mountain range bordering the Lackawanna--The Moosic--derived
its name, were found here in great abundance. Deer and elk, at that
period thronged along the mountains in such numbers that droves often
could be seen browsing upon the budding saplings or lazily basking
in the noonday sun." In Doughty's "Cabinet of American History,"
Volume I, Page 281, a Philadelphia correspondent tells of the finding
of a fresh-appearing set of Moose antlers in a salt lick near the
New York State line. Investigation of this account showed that the
antlers in question were unearthed in 1819 by Jim Jacobs, "The Seneca
Bear Hunter," a noted Indian hunter at a swamp which was situated
in Bradford, McKean County, in the center of what is now the City
Park. This would show conclusively that the Moose, in post-Columbian
times ranged into Northwestern Pennsylvania. If at one time they
"ranged all over New York State" it would be natural that they would
frequent the headwaters of the Allegheny River just across the line in
Pennsylvania. But as Western New York was opened to civilization they
withdrew to their hiding places in the North Woods, only venturing
South when driven by severe winters and then through the last unbroken
stretch of forest from the Adirondacks to the Catskills, and thence
into the wilds of Northeastern Pennsylvania--keeping close to the
Catskill-Allegheny Mountain backbone. Tales of the presence of the
Moose in the Keystone State will also be found in "More Pennsylvania
Mountain Stories," Chapter I (Reading, 1912), "The Indian Steps,"
Chapter I (Reading, 1912), and "Juniata Memories," Chapters IX, XXIV
and XXVI (Philadelphia, 1916), by the author of these pages. Other
mention of the Black Moose in Pennsylvania is occasionally made in
county histories, romances and poems of the Northern and Eastern parts
of the State. Careful research will undoubtedly bring further valuable
references to light. The Black Moose has left his name indelibly along
the entire route of his latterly migrations through Pennsylvania. There
is a Moose's Wood Pond in Kidder Township, Carbon County. There were
said to be Moose Ponds in Susquehanna, Wayne and Pike Counties. There
is a Moosehead (in Foster Township) and Moosic Mountain--"The Imperial
Moosic" of the Poet Caleb Earl Wright, in Luzerne County. In Lackawanna
County, in addition to the Moosic Mountain there are two Moosics, one
a town of four thousand inhabitants in Old Forge Township, the other
a hamlet in Newton Township, and a Moosic Lake in Jefferson Township.
There is a Moose Run in Centre County in Boggs Township; the Moshannon,
i. e., _Moose-hanne or Moose-stream_, forms the western boundary of
Centre County, dividing it from Clearfield County. The Black Moshannon,
or _Black Moose-stream_ is a creek in Centre County. In Clearfield
County is found a Moose Run in Huston Township, and Moose Run Station,
also Upper Moose Creek, (Lawrence Township), and Moose Creek (Girard
Township). Clearfield town, the seat of justice, was formerly called
Chickalacamoose. The Moshannon rises near the northern border of
Blair County, at the Three Springs. In the extreme southern limit of
the range there is said to be a Moose Creek in Somerset County. On
account of so many small lakes in Pennsylvania having been renamed with
fanciful names by influential summer colonists within the past twenty
years, the historic names have been discarded, but old settlers in
the neighborhoods can give the real names in every instance; in this
way it is thought that eventually some of the "moose" names will be
restored. In Sullivan County the beautiful and romantic Lewis' Lake was
rechristened "Eagles Mere" by summer boarding-house keepers. It is held
by some that Elk Lick, Somerset County, was named for the Moose, which
was called "Elk" by many German pioneers, as well as for the true Elk
or Wapiti. At any rate Black Moose were seen in the vicinity of this
swale shortly before the Revolutionary War. Dr. C. Hart Merriman in his
splendid report of the animals of the Adirondack Mountains, published
by the Linnean Society in New York in 1884 states that the last moose
in the "North Woods" of New York was killed on Raquette Lake, Hamilton
County, in August, 1861. The height of this last specimen, which was
a female, was seven feet at the hump and weighed 800 pounds. Samuel
Merrill in his authoritative and fascinating "Moose Book" published in
New York, in 1916, thus describes the slaughter: "A party of four men
from Philadelphia, including a lawyer and a physician with two guides,
were on a fishing trip in two boats. One sportsman fired a charge of
buckshot into her shoulder at 50 yards' distance; another fired a
charge of number 6 shot, and the guides each added a rifle ball." Among
the last men in New York to kill a moose was Hon. Horatio Seymour,
Governor of the State, the antlers of which were admired for many years
at his home at Deerfield, Oneida County. The Governor killed his moose
at Jock's Lake, Herkimer County, in 1859. Alva Dunning, a well-known
hunter, killed several moose on West Canada Creek in 1860. Verplanck
Colvin, State Engineer of New York, in his report on the "Adirondack
Wilderness" transmitted to the Legislature at Albany in April, 1874,
says: "As a matter of Zoological and general interest, I may mention
that in a few of the most remote portions of the wilderness, we have
met with indications of the Moose, which to some of the guides seemed
unmistakable.
[Illustration: LEWIS DORMAN (1820-1905).
Friend and Protege of Josiah Roush, "The Terrible Hunter."]
This gigantic deer is, however, almost extinct in the Adirondacks, and
I would suggest that it be made, in future, unlawful to kill or destroy
the animal at any season." From the above it will be noted that the
Black Moose held on in its Northern fastnesses for three quarters of a
century after its extirpation in Pennsylvania. Moose have since been
re-introduced in New York, but it is not known for certain whether the
experiment will prove a success. In the Catskills, situated midway
between the Adirondacks and the Alleghenies of Pennsylvania, Black
Moose were noticed during the first decade of the Nineteenth Century.
At one time, at least, Moose were found in Connecticut, and a cow moose
was killed within two miles of Boston, Massachusetts, in 1721. Jim
Jacobs, the discoverer of the Moose horns in the swamp in Littleton,
now called Bradford, McKean County, was one of the most interesting
figures in the sporting annals of Pennsylvania. He was a grandson of
Captain Jacobs, the brave defender of Fort Kittanning, and his mother
was a daughter of the Seneca chieftain, Cornplanter. He was therefore
of the Indian aristocracy. "The Seneca Bear Hunter," as the great
Nimrod was generally called, was born near Gawango, on Cornplanter's
Reservation in Warren County (the house, the oldest in the Reservation,
is still standing) in 1790. From the time he was old enough to "tote
a gun" he was noted as a slayer of big game. Innumerable were the
elks, deer and bears that fell before his unerring rifle. On June 25,
1814, with Captain John Titus and other Senecas, he participated in
the famous march, 80 miles, between sunrise and sunset, between Cold
Spring on the Seneca Reservation and Lundy's Lane, on the Niagara
River, participating in the battle of that name and helping to win
the victory for the American forces. In 1867 he killed an elk in Flag
Swamp, Elk County, that by some authorities is held to be the last
native wild elk killed in Pennsylvania. He was several times married.
By his first wife, according to C. W. Dickinson, he had one daughter,
who died of consumption while still in her teens. By other wives he
had two sons. John C. French says that probably Jim Jacobson (also a
noted elk hunter) and "Dan" Gleason, the wolf hunter, were his sons. On
the night of February 24, 1880, there was a great blizzard in Northern
Pennsylvania. Jacobs, then in his 90th year, happened on the tracks of
the Erie Railroad, near Bradford, when he was hit by a freight train
and killed. P. L. Webster, an aged citizen of Littleton or Bradford,
who died recently, is authority for this account of the "Bear Hunter's"
taking off. John C. French of Roulette, Potter County, historian and
litterateur, states that in Indian summer, 1881, while in the Seneca
Reservation near Carrolltown, he met Jim Jacobs in the forest, carrying
his long rifle, and that he engaged in an interesting conversation with
him. He was seen by others in the Reservation up to that time and
later. "But," adds Mr. French, "my seeing 'The Seneca Bear Hunter' does
not prove that he was alive. The Indians were firm believers in ghosts,
and if he was actually killed a year or two previously, they would
have said that I merely saw his shade revisiting the favorite hunting
grounds."
[Illustration of weasel]