and said no treaty should be held outside of Philadelphia. The Governor
finally yielded and under escort of a heavy guard proceeded to Easton.
This treaty was formally opened on Monday, November 8, with a great
display of militia and ceremonial pomp. Tedyuskung was again the
principal speaker for the Indians and he assured the Governor that the
Delaware were glad to meet again their old friends, the English. The
council continued nine days, during which Governor Denny appears to have
conducted himself with much tact and good judgment.
Early in December accounts were received that some of the Indians who
had been at the Easton treaty had, on their way home, murdered certain
white settlers on the frontiers—thus making it appear that Tedyuskung’s
authority over these Indians was very doubtful.
About the middle of January George Croghan, next to Sir William Johnson
the most prominent figure among British Indian agents, sent Joe Peepy,
son of the deceased Shikellamy, and Lewis Montour, son of the celebrated
Madame Montour, with a message to the Susquehanna Indians, inviting them
to attend a council, or treaty, at Lancaster. Peepy and Montour
delivered the message to the Indians assembled in council at Tioga when
they went to the Ohio to inform the Delaware and Shawnee there of the
proposed Lancaster meeting.
Upon their return Peepy and Montour reported to Croghan that all the
Susquehanna Indians were disposed for peace except the Munsee, or
Minisink Indians, although the messengers believe that these Indians
would come down to the treaty with King Tedyuskung.
On February 18, 1757, Zaccheus, a Delaware Indian, formerly of
Gnadenhuetten, arrived at Fort Allen and on the following day seven
Indian women and three children arrived there, all sent from Tioga by
Tedyuskung to announce to Governor Denny that they intended to come in
March to Easton to hold a treaty.
Early in March Tedyuskung with two of his sons, his half-brothers,
Captain Harris and Sam Evans, squaws and children, in all numbering
about fifty, arrived at Fort Allen. Captain Arndt, commandant of the
fort, advised Major Parsons that these Indians had “built cabins about
sixty perches from the fort, where they live and intend to stay till the
King comes.”
About the time these Indians had departed from Wyoming for Fort Allen
all the Six Nations, Nanticoke and Delaware, who had accompanied
Tedyuskung there from the Council at Tioga, proceeded down the river to
Fort Augusta at Shamokin.
Major James Burd, then in command of the garrison, wrote, March 21,
advising Governor Denny that 150 Six Nations had arrived there. “Sent by
Sir William Johnson to oblige the Delawares to lay down the hatchet, and
to be present at the treaty proposed between the Government and the
Delawares.” These Indians did not tarry long at Fort Augusta, for they
arrived at John Harris’ March 29, where they were met by George Croghan,
who reported there were “about 160 of them—men, women and children—part
of eight tribes.” A day later they were joined by some Conestoga
Indians.
April 1 a formal conference between Croghan and the Indians was begun at
Harris’ Ferry. Thus this much-discussed council was opened at neither
Lancaster, where Croghan had suggested it be held, nor at Easton, where
Tedyuskung said it would be held, but at John Harris’ Ferry, now
Harrisburg.
Among the white men present were the Reverend John Elder, of the Paxton
Presbyterian Church, known as the “Fighting Parson,” Captain Thomas
McKee, John Harris and Hugh Crawford. Scarouady was the principal
speaker for the Indians.
On April 6 it was decided to remove the council-fire to Lancaster, and
the next day the entire company marched thither, being met on the
outskirts of Lancaster by a number of the principal inhabitants.
The conference at Lancaster was delayed by the failure of Governor Denny
to attend. Smallpox had broken out among the Indians, and they were
uneasy. At length the Governor reached Lancaster, attended by members of
the Provincial Council, the Assembly, the Indian Commissioners, Colonel
Stanwix of the “Royal Americans,” and a number of citizens.
Three days later, May 12, 1757, the conference was formally opened in
the Lancaster Courthouse. “Little Abe” and Thomas King were the chief
speakers for the Indians. The former told of the declaration of the
Delaware at a council where they denied the allegation they were women,
and further said they acknowledged no authority over them among the Six
Nations, but would listen to the Seneca.
Little Abe then advised that the Seneca be invited to a meeting with the
Delaware and Shawnee at Lancaster or elsewhere. Messengers were
accordingly sent, who were also instructed to see Tedyuskung and inquire
as to the reasons for his absence from the Lancaster conference, which
was that day brought to a close.
On the 23d all the Indians, in charge of Captain McKee, departed from
Lancaster and arrived at Fort Augusta June 1. They tarried four days,
and on the 5th all, except the Delaware, left the fort “in canoes, with
plenty of flour, rum, etc., sufficient to carry them home.” The Delaware
started a few days later across the country to Bethlehem.
Edward Shippen, of Lancaster, in a letter to his son-in-law, Major James
Burd, at Fort Augusta, dated May 22, 1757, among other interesting
things wrote: “We have had many meetings of the Indians here, to whom
valuable presents have been given by the Governor and the Quakers; but
as Tedyuskung and the Indians who were expected along with him were not
come, a very handsome part is reserved for them.
“It appears to me that unless the Militia Act be passed we of this
borough shall in less than a month become the frontiers.”
On June 16, 1757, Sir William Johnson held a conference with the
Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca, of the Six Nations, and made an earnest and
successful appeal for them to remain loyal to the English. Tedyuskung
was severely censured for his conduct, and Sir William charged the
Seneca to bring him around to a sensible understanding.
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First Mint Established in Philadelphia by Act
of April 2, 1792
The project of a national mint for the United States was first
introduced by Robert Morris, of Philadelphia, the patriot and financier
of the Revolution.
As the head of the Finance Department, Mr. Morris was instructed by
Congress to prepare a report on the foreign coins then in circulation in
the United States. On January 15, 1782, he laid before Congress an
exposition of the whole subject, and accompanying this report, was a
plan for American coinage.
Robert Morris was assisted in his effort to establish a mint by Thomas
Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.
On April 15, 1790, Congress instructed the Secretary of the Treasury,
Alexander Hamilton, to prepare and report a proper plan for the
establishment of a national mint. This was done at the ensuing session
of Congress. The act was framed and passed finally March 26, 1792, and
received the approval of President George Washington April 2, 1792.
A lot of ground was purchased on Seventh Street near Arch, and
appropriations were made for erecting the necessary buildings. An old
stillhouse, which stood on the lot, had first to be removed. In an
account book of that time we find an entry on July 31, 1792, of the sale
of some old material from the stillhouse for seven shillings and
sixpence, which Mr. Rittenhouse directed “should be laid out for punch
in laying the foundation stone.”
David Rittenhouse was the first Director of the Mint, April 14, 1792,
until his health compelled him to resign in June, 1795.
This building for the United States Mint in Philadelphia was the first
structure erected in America for public use under authority of the
Federal Government. It was a brick building, the cornerstone of which
was laid by David Rittenhouse July 31, 1792.
In the following October operations were commenced by the coinage of the
silver half dimes. President Washington mentions this first coinage in
his address to Congress, November 6, 1792, as follows: “There has been a
small beginning in the coinage of half dimes, the want of small coins in
circulation calling the first attention to them.”
The original purchase of metal for coinage was six pounds of old copper
at one shilling and three pence per pound, which was coined and
delivered to the Treasurer in 1793. The first deposit of silver bullion
was made July 18, 1794, by the Bank of Maryland. This consisted of coins
of France amounting to $80,715.73½. The first return of silver coins to
the Treasurer was made on October 15, 1794. The first deposit of gold
bullion was made by Moses Brown, a Boston merchant, on February 12,
1795, and paid for in silver coins. The first gold coins turned into the
Treasury were 744 half eagles, on July 31, 1795. Eagles were first
delivered September 22, when 400 were delivered.
There were four different currencies or rates, in different parts of the
Union, and a consequent perplexity, until the passage of the law which
regulated the coins of the United States. The present system of coins is
formed upon the principles laid down in the resolution of 1786, by which
Congress determined the denominations should be dollars (the dollar
being the unit), dimes or tenths, cents or hundredths, and mills or
thousandths of a dollar.
Nothing could be more simple or convenient than this decimal
sub-division. The terms are proper because they express the proportions
which they are intended to designate. The dollar was wisely chosen, as
it corresponded with the Spanish coin, with which the colonists had long
been familiar.
The mills were imaginary and never coined. The first cents were made of
copper, round and about an inch in diameter and one-sixth of an inch in
thickness.
It is an interesting fact that silver was first coined in money 869
years before the Christian era.
Previous to the coinage of silver dollars at the Philadelphia mint, in
1794, there occurred an amusing incident in Congress, when a member from
the South bitterly opposed the choice of the eagle, on the ground of its
being the “king of birds,” and hence neither proper nor suitable to
represent a nation whose institutions were inimical to monarchial forms
of government.
Judge Thatcher playfully in reply suggested that perhaps a goose might
suit the gentleman, as it was a rather humble and republican bird, and
would also be serviceable in other respects, as the goslings would
answer to place on the dimes.
This answer created considerable merriment, and the irate Southerner,
conceiving the humorous rejoinder as an insult, sent a challenge to the
Judge who promptly declined it. The bearer, rather astonished, asked,
“Will you be branded as a coward?” “Certainly, if he pleases,” replied
Thatcher; “I always was one and he knew it, or he would never have
risked a challenge.”
The affair occasioned much mirth, and, in due time, former existing
cordial relations were restored; the irritable Southerner concluding
there was nothing to gain fighting one who fired nothing but jokes.
March 2, 1829, provisions were made by Congress, for extending the Mint
establishment, the supply of bullion for coinage having increased beyond
the capacity of the existing accommodations.
The Mint edifice under this provision was erected at the northwest
corner of Chestnut and Juniper Streets. The corner-stone was laid July
4, 1829, by Samuel Moore, then Director of the Mint. The building was
occupied in 1833.
This was among the finest of Philadelphia’s classic structures, and it
was admired by every resident and visitor. The building was of marble
and of the Grecian style of architecture, the roof being covered with
copper. Each front on Chestnut Street and Penn Square was ornamented
with a portico of sixty feet, containing six Ionic columns.
The present structure on Spring Garden Street is huge and an impressive
building, but a disappointment when compared with the beautiful edifice
that it supplanted. It was first occupied October 1, 1901, and was about
three years in building.
Nearly two-thirds of our coinage comes from the mint at Philadelphia,
which is the largest and most completely equipped mint in the world. The
coins for nearly all the South American countries are also made in this
mint.
A wonderful collection of coins and medals of all lands can be seen by
the public in this building.
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Act for Purchase of Erie Triangle Passed
April 3, 1792
For many years after William Penn received the charter for Pennsylvania
he was engaged in controversies over the boundary line of his Province,
and long after his death the several proprietaries were concerned with
the question. It was not until 1774 that the controversy with Maryland
was concluded, and it was after the Revolution that the armed conflict
with Connecticut was finally determined by Congress, and the imminent
conflict with Virginia over the territory west of the Alleghenies was
satisfactorily settled.
It was not until 1786, after many difficulties between the States of
Pennsylvania and Virginia, that the western boundary of our State was
surveyed by extending the Mason and Dixon line to the end of the five
degrees west from the Delaware River and a meridian drawn from the
western extremity to the northern limit.
In 1785 commissioners were appointed on the part of Pennsylvania and New
York to ascertain the northern boundary of the former from the Delaware
River westward to the northwest corner. The commissioners were David
Rittenhouse on the part of Pennsylvania, and Samuel Holland on the part
of New York. They proceeded to act in pursuance of that appointment, and
in December, 1786, ascertained and fixed the beginning of the
forty-third degree of north latitude, erected suitable monuments there
and near the Delaware River, but were prevented by inclement weather
from proceeding further in the survey.
The next year Andrew Ellicott was appointed a commissioner, on the part
of Pennsylvania, and James Clinton and Simeon Dewitt on the part of New
York. In 1787 they completed the running and marking of this northern
boundary 259 miles and 88 perches from its commencement at the Delaware
River, to its termination in Lake Erie, five or six miles east of the
Ohio State line and marked the whole distance throughout by milestones,
each one indicating the distance from the Delaware River. In 1789 an act
of Assembly confirmed the acts of the commissioners.
The Indians being recognized as owners of the soil, the whole was
purchased from them by different treaties. One at Fort Stanwix
extinguished their title to the lands of Western Pennsylvania and New
York, excepting the Triangle or Presqu’ Isle lands, which were
accidentally left out of Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts,
Connecticut and Virginia and were supposed at different times to belong
to each.
General William Irvine discovered while surveying the Donation Lands
that Pennsylvania had but a few miles of lake coast and not any harbor,
and in consequence of his representations the State of Pennsylvania made
propositions for its purchase from Philips and Gorham, the reputed
owners, in the year 1788. Surveyor General Andrew Ellicott surveyed and
established lines at the request of the Federal Government, but Frederic
Saxton accompanied him on behalf of the owners.
It was finally determined by comparison with the charters of New York,
Massachusetts and Connecticut just what was the western limit of New
York. This was found to be twenty miles east of Presqu’ Isle.
On June 6, 1788, the Board of Treasury was induced to make a contract
for the sale of this tract described as bounded “on the east by New
York, on the south by Pennsylvania and on the north and west by Lake
Erie.”
On September 4 it was resolved by Congress “that the United States do
relinquish and transfer to Pennsylvania all their right, title and claim
to the Government and jurisdiction of the said land forever, and it is
declared and made known that the laws and public acts of Pennsylvania
shall extend over every part of said tract as if the said tract had
originally been within the charter bounds of the State.”
By an act of October 2, 1788, the sum of £1200 was appropriated to
purchase the Indian title to the tract, in fulfillment of the contract
to sell it to Pennsylvania.
At the treaty of Fort McIntosh, January 9, 1789, Chief Cornplanter and
other chiefs of the Six Nations signed a deed in consideration of the
sum of £1200, ceding the Presqu’ Isle lands to the United States. It was
then, by a deed dated March 3, 1792, ceded by the United States to
Pennsylvania. This deed is signed by George Washington, President, and
Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State.
In 1790 Surveyor-General Andrew Ellicott made a survey of the triangle
and found it to contain 202,287 acres. The purchase-money paid to the
United States, at seventy-five cents an acre, was $151,640.25.
This purchase having been completed before the passage of the act of
April 3, 1792, the lands within it except the reservations were sold
under the provisions of this act. The first settlements in Erie County
were made under the provisions of that law, and many instances of
personal violence occurred between the contending claimants. The
squatters would league together to prevent the legal claimants from
depriving them of their improvements.
The settlement of the lands northwest of the Allegheny River, and
especially the Presqu’ Isle lands, was never cordially acquiesced in by
the Six Nations, and Cornplanter became very unpopular among his own
people. It was charged upon him that he and Little Billy had received
the purchase price both at Fort McIntosh and Philadelphia. Cornplanter
himself protested to the United States at Buffalo Creek in June, 1794,
against the garrison established by General Anthony Wayne at Presqu’
Isle, when he went out against the Miami Indians.
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Reading Railroad Incorporated by Act
Passed April 4, 1833
The Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company was incorporated by special
act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, approved April 4, 1833.
The charter granted to the company, December 5, 1833, authorized it to
construct a railroad from Reading to Philadelphia. At Reading it was
proposed to connect with the Little Schuylkill Navigation and Railroad,
which had been incorporated in 1827, to build a railroad from Tamaqua to
Reading. By a latter statute the company was authorized to extend its
road from Reading to Port Clinton, where connection was made with the
Little Schuylkill and Navigation and Railroad.
The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad was planned primarily to transport
anthracite from the Schuylkill region to Philadelphia and intermediate
points, especially where a number of blast furnaces were then operating.
Anthracite was known to exist in the Schuylkill Valley as early as 1800,
since which time the iron industry had become one of much importance,
the first furnace being established on Manatawney Creek, near Pottstown,
in 1716. Wood and charcoal were first used in smelting the ore, but the
increasing scarcity of these fuels led to experiments, which, in 1808,
proved that anthracite could be used advantageously as furnace fuel.
Anthracite was first transported by the Schuylkill Canal from the
vicinity of Pottsville to Philadelphia, and the furnaces in the
Schuylkill Valley. The growing need for this new fuel in domestic and
furnace use and the limitations of canal transportation led to the era
of railroad construction between the anthracite regions and tidewater
ports.
On December 5, 1839, the railroad was opened to traffic from Reading to
Philadelphia, and on January 1, 1842, the first locomotive and train
passed over the entire line between Mount Carbon in Schuylkill County,
and Philadelphia. On May 17, 1842, the Richmond Branch, from the Falls
of the Schuylkill to the terminal at Port Richmond, on the Delaware, was
opened, from which time the Reading has been an important railroad.
In 1853 the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company began the
construction of the Lebanon Valley Railroad, extending from Reading to
Harrisburg. The line was completed in 1858, and merged into the Reading
Railroad.
May 8, 1871, the parent company bought the Northern Liberties and Penn
Township Railroad, in Philadelphia, control of which had been obtained
in 1857.
In the period between 1859 and 1870, the Philadelphia and Reading
Railroad Company commenced the systematic extension which has resulted
in the development of the present Reading System. In that period the
company acquired through purchase or lease twenty-six railroads. Between
1870 and 1880, thirteen more were acquired; in the next decade nine were
added; from 1890 to 1900 eight were acquired and since 1900, four more
were added, until, at the present time the Reading Company, with its
affiliated lines operates 1619.15 miles of railroad, exclusive of the
Central Railroad of New Jersey, and 3.63 miles of road leased jointly by
the Reading Company and the Central Railroad of New Jersey.
Forming quite a contrast with the huge high-speed Pacific type
locomotives used today, are the locomotives used in the early days. At
first these locomotives in appearance were somewhat grotesque. Their
loud puffing was alarming, and the twenty-mile speed was terrifying.
One of these early engines, the Rocket, has been preserved for posterity
and is on exhibition in the Columbia Avenue Station in Philadelphia.
The Rocket never ran when it rained. On clear days it was capable of
taking a train at nearly thirty miles per hour. It burned wood as fuel
but later adopted coal.
The engineer of the Rocket was also the fireman. When his steam was
running low he reached over, grabbed a log from the pile along the
platform, thrust it into the fire box, then again became an engineer.
There was only one lever, and that was the throttle. All the way ahead
there was one speed, same in reverse. There were only four wheels and no
driving rods. There were no brakes on the Rocket. It had a kerosene
bull’s eye and a pop whistle, and at night when it came crashing along
at its twenty-mile clip, its bull’s-eye quivering, its stack emitting
sparks, its whistle popping, it was the marvel of the countryside.
Of almost equal interest are the stories of the first day coaches and
the Pullman cars. In the early days the coaches were very narrow, built
to meet the conditions of the narrow-gauge tracks, as there was a row of
double seats in one side of the aisle and a row of single seats on the
other.
There were first and second class coaches, designated by the figure 1
and 2 on the sides of the car. Those of the first class were upholstered
with black hair cloth, while the second-class had only plain wooden
seats and backs. The windows were small and placed near the roof.
In the winter the cars were heated with wood stoves. The cars were
lighted with candles. When a change from one line to another was made
each passenger picked out his own baggage and attended to its loading on
the new train.
At the dining stations the menu consisted of coffee and ham sandwiches
and sometimes beef stew.
The first sleeping cars were the ordinary day coaches changed by adding
sleeping requirements. They were usually divided into four compartments,
in each of which three bunks were built against one side of the car,
while in a corner of the rear end of the car were provided water, a
towel and a basin. No bedclothes were furnished, and the passengers,
fully dressed, retired upon rough mattresses with their overcoats pulled
over them for covering.
Continued patronage by the public of the day coaches, parlor, sleeping
and dining cars led, step by step to the facilities for comfortable and
luxurious travel offered today, where there is nothing left to be
desired and modern American railroad comfort is supreme.
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Mary Jemison, White Woman of Genesee,
Captured April 5, 1758
The thrilling narrative of the life of Mary Jemison, who was captured by
the Indians April 5, 1758, when only twelve years old, and who continued
to live among them during her long and eventful life, marrying two
chiefs of renown, continues to this day to be a wondrous story of one of
the most remarkable captivities suffered at the hands of the Indians by
the pioneer settlers of this country.