LIXBLAIR COUNTY

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 isBirmingham, 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 in1775, 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 nearHollidaysburg, 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 theCenturymagazine 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.

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 toLaporte, 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

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 ofForksville. 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.

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.

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 frigateChesapeake, against the British shipShannon; 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.”

On return to his town, he advised the savages to go hear the Gospel; he made them another visit, informed them that he had determined to embrace Christianity, and invited them, in the name of his chief, Packauke, to settle on land on Beaver River, near his town Kaskaskünk, now New Castle; this land was to be for the exclusive use of the mission. The offer was accepted, and on April 17, 1770, they left Oil Creek in fifteen canoes; in three days they reached Fort Pitt, proceeded down the Ohio to Beaver River, and ascended that river to the locality given, now Moravia, passing an Indian village, near present Newport, of women, all single and pledged never to marry.

When encamped, they sent an embassy, Zeisberger, and Abraham, a native, to Packauke, who were received by the chief at his own house; he gave them welcome and pledged protection; they built houses, cleared land, planted, and prepared for winter. The Indians began to visit them, the Monseys from Goshgoshünk were the first to cast their lot with the Christian Indians; Glikkikin soon came and became a Christian force. Finally the Monseys adopted Zeisberger into their tribe; the ceremony took place at Kaskaskünk; they invested him with all the rights and privileges of a Monsey; this proved a complete triumph and was the source of much good influence among Indians. White settlers began to come after Wayne’s Treaty of Greenville, in 1795.

New Castle, county seat, incorporated as a city in 1869, population 44,938, was laid out, at the junction of the Shenango, Neshannock, and Mahoning Rivers, where they form the Beaver River, in 1798, by JohnC. Stewart from New Castle, Delaware. It has natural gas, fine churches, schools, public buildings, bridges, and many beautiful residences, including that of Ex-Lieutenant Governor William M. Brown, on the North Hill. Courthouse, colonial, built in 1852, in spacious grounds, on a hill in east part of the city. The first Methodist Episcopal Church has a memorial window to Ira D. Sankey, the singing evangelist, who was born and lived here; subject, “Ninety and Nine”; maker, Sellars, New York; also Hofmann’s “Christ” in stained glass. High school, brick, of best school construction, well lighted; has reproductions on the walls of fine works of art. The Oak Park Cemetery has some beautiful memorials.

This is one of the manufacturing communities of western Pennsylvania, which form the greatest industrial district in the world; within a radius of sixty miles of New Castle, the annual tonnage is over 200,000,000, while the combined annual tonnage in and out of Liverpool, London, Hamburg, Suez Canal, and New York is 116,000,000. The American Sheet and Tin Plate Mill is said to be the largest in the world; they constructed a miniature playground for the only exhibit sent from New Castle to the Panama-Pacific Exposition in 1915; it showed the kind of humanitarian work done by the company, and was representative of this city, where the playground has done a vast amount of good among the foreign population employed in the immense furnaces; engineering works; and the great cement plants making 5000 barrels of Portland cement daily. The United States Steel Corporation, Carnegie Steel Company, maintains children’s playgrounds, with amoving picture theatre, average attendance 1800 children daily; The “Rosena” blast furnace yard is kept like a park in grass, flower beds, and neatness.

Cascade Park has great natural beauty. A part of the beautiful Slippery Rock is in the southeast of this county. At Mount Jackson is Battery B Monument in honor of the Round Head Regiment.New Wilmington, population 8861, has Westminster College, under United Presbyterian administration; near here was the McKinley blast furnace, owned and operated by President McKinley’s father. His son worked here as a boy.

FORMED April 19, 1850, named for Robert Fulton. The Tuscarora Mountains rise like a huge barrier on the eastern boundary, with numerous other ridges and peaks. Streams that flow into the Potomac River are largely fed by splendid limestone springs. From the Susquehanna to the Ohio River the scenery cannot be surpassed for picturesque beauty; far sweeping valleys, rugged mountains, grand forests, form a constantly changing panorama. It is both beautiful and historic. The Chambersburg and Pittsburgh Turnpike, built in 1814-15, now the Lincoln Highway, was first an old Indian trail from Harrisburg, through Fort Louden, Clinton County, and westward to Bedford, crossing the center of the county.

In the days following Braddock’s defeat in 1755, this region became the arena in which the red warrior of the forests and the white frontiersman fought to the death. Not a valley, creek, nor mountain range, site of modern city or town, but what was the scene of thrilling events, some of which influence the world for all time. Early settlers were Scotch-Irish, on the Aughwick, and in the great cove. Chief industries, iron ore, bituminous coal, and agriculture. Dickey’s Mountain, in the southeast, is rich in hematite and fossil ores.

McConnellsburg, county seat; population 689; land granted to William and Daniel McConnell by

Fulton County

warrant in 1762, is in the heart of the great cove; it was laid out in 1786, and in 1830 was one of the most important stopping places on the old turnpike. Here, from 1827-47 were the Hanover Iron Works, two furnaces, and two forges, that used hematite ore, mined from Lowry’s Knob, one mile distant. It is said that no territory of equal extent in this state is so rich in iron ore as is Fulton County. Fort Littleton in the north was one of a chain of government forts from the east to Fort Pitt.Burnt Cabins, on the old state road, was named because of the burning of the cabins of early settlers near here by the provincial authorities. It is said that Fulton County contributed more men to the Civil War, in proportion, than any other county in Pennsylvania.

Montour County

FORMED May 3, 1850; named for Catharine Montour; surface hilly; traversed by several barren ridges. Muncy Hills lie along the northwest border, while down the river for miles stretches the Montour Ridge, furnishing quantities of best iron ore; there is also finest limestone; and much fertile land, drained by the Chillisquaque and Mahoning creeks. Chief industries are iron and steel production, and manufactories. Here, it is said, the first “T” rail was made, in 1844, and the first cannon in the United States, made of anthracite iron, was cast at the foundry in 1842.

Danville, county seat; population 6952; was settled in 1790; beautifully located, it nestles between Bald Top and Blue Hill. Mahoning Creek, named after a tribe of Indians who peopled this part of the country, flows through the town, which is built on part of the tract of land surveyed on warrant of John Penn to John Lukens, Surveyor General of the United States, dated, January 31, 1769. A bridge built by the state in 1904 is one-quarter mile long and connects Montour with Northumberland County; at its entrance is River Front Park, laid out in 1912, with concrete walks, flower beds, and fountain. Market Street Park, center of town, has an electrically lighted fountain. Memorial Park, a beautiful knoll, was formerly the burial ground of the Presbyterian Church; in 1908 it was laidout as a park with flower beds, and is kept up by the council and public-spirited citizens; the Soldiers’ Monument is here, with two cannon of the Civil War near.

Courthouse, Georgian, built in 1871. Jail built, 1892, architect, J. H. Brugler, has modern equipment, and for months at a time is empty. Among the fifteen churches, the most notable in architecture is Christ Memorial, Protestant Episcopal, fourteenth century, English Gothic; massive architecture, native limestone of varied tints, with Ohio stone for the traceried windows. The Thomas Beaver Free Library. Young Men’s Christian Association with gymnasium and swimming pool; George F. Geisinger Memorial Hospital; and State Hospital for the Insane, constructed by S. S. Schultz, M.D., corner-stone laid by Governor Geary in 1869, are all important buildings, among the best equipped and most modern in the state.Washingtonvilleis site of Fort Bossley, on the Chillisquaque Creek.

FORMED March 2, 1855, named for Hon. Simon Snyder, Governor of Pennsylvania, 1808-17; three terms; noted as the first governor to urge legislation for free public schools; he was the great war governor of 1812; served in the Assembly from 1789-1808, and was speaker of the House from 1802-08; he lived at Selinsgrove. From end of Northumberland Bridge, built by Theodore Burr in 1814, on West Branch of the Susquehanna; the road leading south to Selinsgrove passes Blue Hill, noted for beautiful scenery. On top was formerly Hotel Shikellimy, burned in 1895; on one of the rocks overhanging is a natural profile named for Shikellimy, who sauntered about here. Farther on is a single arch stone bridge; for half a mile, beginning at this bridge, is a state road built by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Governor Pennypacker handled the first shovel of dirt in 1904; it was laid out first by James F. Linn in 1829, has since been extended.

Selinsgrove, first settlers, in 1755, were all killed by Indians, laid out by and named for Anthony Selin in 1827, population 1937; Governor Snyder mansion, built by himself in 1816, is near center of town, colonial, massive stone walls, with arched door ten feet high and large side porch, in well kept grounds. Due west from Selinsgrove, towards Middleburg, is Susquehanna University, formerly Missionary Institute;

Snyder County

collegiate and theological courses, six large and several small buildings; main building, Selinsgrove Hall, was built in 1859, Gustavus Adolphus Hall in 1895, contains collection of forty-two pictures of Gustavus Adolphus, also brass memorial tablet to the men appointed in 1856, by the Evangelical Lutheran Synod of Maryland, to organize the Missionary Institute; the buildings contain portraits of Governor Simon Snyder, members of the faculty, and other Lutheran clergymen; on the campus is a granite Celtic cross, marking grave of the founder, Benjamin Kurtz, D.D., LL.D.; in the old Lutheran Cemetery is grave of Governor Snyder, Quincy granite monument, surmounted with his bust, life size, erected by the state in 1885.

Two miles west isSalem; Row’s Church, log, built, 1780, modernized in 1897. InKreameris the old brick hotel used for special sessions of court before 1855, for cases in immediate neighborhood; a short distance in the field stands the old block house, erected before 1781, where white settlers gathered in defense against Indians. One mile farther west, in 1781, Indians killed five members of the Stock family. Ten miles west from Selinsgrove isMiddleburg, county seat; 498 feet above sea level; population 984; laid out in 1800. In Glendale Cemetery is grave of Hon. George Kreamer, nephew of Governor Snyder, and member of the Legislature, 1812-13; member of Congress, 1823-27; also grave of Captain Frederick Evans, member of State Legislature, 1810-11, a defender of Fort McHenry, Baltimore, where, in 1814, the “Star-Spangled Banner” was written by Francis Scott Key.

On the banks of Stump’s Run is shaft monument to soldiers and sailors of this country who fought in the different wars; erected in 1904, by county commissioners; Soldiers’ Memorial Building, open to the public, is near the Lutheran Church; it was dedicated 1908; interior lined with marble, names of all soldiers and sailors of Snyder County are preserved within its walls, John F. Stetler, architect. Wooden bridge across Middle Creek, in good repair, is said to have been built in 1808 by John Aurand. Two miles west of town are the Hassinger Lutheran Churches, General Council east, present building erected in 1871, third on original site, first building in 1785; a split occurred, and the General Synod members built, in 1782, a quarter mile west; present church, in 1915.

Almost due south isPaxtonville, 510 feet above sea level; has wooden bridge over Middle Creek, built in 1851, John Bilger, builder; and ruins of Beaver blast furnace, once busiest industry in Middle Creek Valley, erected by Hon. Ner Middleswarth, the Kern Brothers and John C. Wilson, 1848-56; it was operated until 1866, power secured from a 200-foot head of water, running over two overshot wheels, one over the other. Westward is farm of Ner Feese on which gold and silver were discovered.Beavertown; population 525; 651 feet; originally Swifttown, named for John Swift, who had the land patented in 1760; was residence of Hon. Ner Middleswarth from 1792; he was reëlected thirteen times member of Legislature, twice speaker of the House—in 1828 and 1836; member of Congress, 1853-55; his last public service was that of associate judge.Beaver Springs, elevation 591 feet, laid out in 1806, early chief industry, ore mines. Scenic beauty from Shade Mountain, a long ridge, summit near Beaver Springs, 1672 feet above sea level.McClure, six miles west, is where folding houses are manufactured; the largest ever made was produced here, and shipped to South America.

Cameron County

FORMED March 29, 1860; named in honor of Hon. Simon Cameron, state senator at that time. Situated among the spurs of the Alleghenies, altitude varies from 794 feet to 2100 feet above sea level. The Sinnemahoning Creek and its tributaries drain three quarters of the county into the Susquehanna; along these waters, roads were cut and towns built for the extensive early lumbering and tanning operations; primeval forests of hemlock, oak, cherry, elm, and some of the finest white pine in the state. Beds of coal and fire clay still await development. Salt spring and a mineral spring of rare medicinal value are nearSizerville. The county is now largely given up to the manufacture of high explosives, nitro-gelatine, smokeless powder, gun cotton, picric acid; in 1915 there was a merger of four powder companies who created a plant of vast proportions, over one hundred buildings, extending from the edge of Emporium, for over a mile, along the banks of Driftwood Creek.

Emporium, county seat; population 3036; incorporated 1861; altitude 1031 feet above sea level; first settled in 1811, as Shippen, name changed through deference to an old tradition; in 1785, an agent of the Holland Land Company, owning large territories in Pennsylvania and New York, removed the bark from a tree where the town now stands, and carved the word, “Emporium.” A typical mountain town,the streets follow the winding way of Driftwood Stream, or climb the mountain side where magnificent views of scenic grandeur await the beholder. Best architecture, the Episcopal Church, brown stone, English chapel design, Cram & Ferguson, of Boston, architects, built in 1901; other denominations have modern brick buildings. The large brick courthouse, built, 1890, is in a park on the hillside, overlooking the town; in the grounds is monument to soldiers of the Civil War.

Cameron, in 1889, one hundred coke ovens, “beehive” design, were built here to coke the coal in the near-by hills, for the blast furnace at Emporium; now abandoned, and today mountain wild flowers blossom along the row of silent hearths.Sterling Run; in this quaint village belongs the honor of the first church in the county, Presbyterian, “The Pine Street Church,” erected in 1826, so-called in consequence of the old Pine Street Church, Philadelphia, contributing funds to pay the workmen and buy the windows; the lumber and much of the construction being donated by the pioneers; built of hewn pine logs, chinked with plaster of moss and mud, and fastened with hand-wrought nails, this little chapel endures, while those who shaped it sleep in the little churchyard at its threshold.

Driftwood, near the “Crescent,” a half moon shaped mountain forming sides of the valley for nearly three points of the compass; claims the first settlement by white man within the county, in 1804; in the center of the village, facing the Sinnemahoning Creek, is the “Bucktail” Monument, in memory of Cameron’s sons who fought for the Union, erected by the state in1908, inscription, “From this town, on April 27, 1861, the Cameron, Elk and McKean County Rifles, under leadership of Thomas L. Kane, afterwards Commanding Officer of the Regiment, later a Major-General, embarked on four rafts for Harrisburg, where they were mustered into the service of the State, and formed the nucleus, about which the Bucktail Regiment of the Pennsylvania Reserve Corps was organized; which during its time of service, was almost continuously attached to the army of the Potomac.”

Sinnemahoning(Stony-lick), site of an Indian village called “The Lodge,” the battle ground of Peter Grove, famous Indian fighter, a picturesquely beautiful spot. Here were born the beautiful Clafflin sisters, Lady Cook (Tennesee Clafflin), and Mrs. Martin Woodhull (Victoria Clafflin), now a wealthy philanthropist in England; their father, Buckman Clafflin, a pioneer, opened the first store in the county in 1829.

Lackawanna County

FORMED August 13, 1878; named for the great Lackawanna coal basin; an Indian word, signifying “The Forks of a Stream.” Chief industry, anthracite coal mining, confined to the long-depressed trough forming the Lackawanna Valley and to the mountains bordering it on both sides, with Bald Mountain, in Lackawanna Range, 2250 feet high, and Big Stoney among the Moosic Mountains, 2230 feet. Originally settled by Connecticut people who disputed the right of Pennsylvania to jurisdiction; life and growth have been the result of the coal-mining industry, which brought into it large numbers of Welsh, Irish, German, English, and Scotch, whose descendants dominate the region; latterly have come Polish, Slavs, Italians, and Lithuanians, a heterogeneous but rapidly assimilating mining population.

The mining of anthracite coal began at Carbondale in the early twenties; the old No. 1 plane is marked with monument and tablets; coal was taken over the Moosic Mountains to Honesdale, Wayne County, by steep inclined planes, up which the loaded cars were drawn by ropes or cables, and the empty cars let down; thence by canal to Roundout, on the Hudson; on the levels, between planes, cars were drawn by horses; later a descending grade was given to the tracks over which the cars ran by gravity; a similar gravity railroad near Scranton, carried coal to the Delaware& Hudson Canal at Hawley, below Honesdale, both now abandoned for steam roads.

The country northwest has well-cultivated farm lands; that, southeast, blends with the Pocono Highlands, is wild and picturesque; an almost unbroken wilderness for thirty miles, excepting along the line of the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western Railroad; on both sides of this road are good highways; the main road, the whole length of the valley, is exceptionally fine. The road from Gouldsboro Station was built by Jay Gould, 1855, when he was interested with Mr. Pratt in a tannery at Gouldsboro (now Thornhurst).

At Carbondale, crossing Moosic Mountains, is road to Honesdale, following the line of the old Delaware & Hudson gravity road; at Dundaff, about five miles north of Carbondale, this road runs along the edge of Crystal Lake, near are the Twin Knobs of Elk Hill, about 2500 feet high. A point of geologic interest is the Archbald Pot Hole, said to be largest of the kind in this country; a cylindrical hole twenty feet deep, by thirty feet wide, eroded in the ice age through the overlying rocks down to the coal measures.

Scranton, county seat, population 137,783; laid out on site of an Indian village, Muncy Tribe; began as an iron town; iron in large quantities was found in the hills three miles south of the city, and a suitable quality of limestone was also supposed to exist there; but the coal business superseded; the old ore mine, and abandoned road to furnaces at Scranton, are of historic and picturesque interest.

The courthouse, on Washington Avenue near center of town, stands in a square of ground, Romanesque,West Mountain stone, built 1881-84, architect, S. G. Perry. St. Luke’s Protestant Episcopal Church. Wyoming Avenue near Linden Street, Gothic, West Mountain stone, built 1866-71, architect, R. M. Upjohn, New York; contains Tiffany mosaic panel, back of font, “Baptism of Christ,” also Tiffany window in chancel, “The Ascension.” St. Peter’s Cathedral, at corner of Wyoming Avenue and Linden, Italian Renaissance, brick, built, 1866, architect, Joel Amsden; remodeled 1883 by Durand, Philadelphia. Administration Building of the International Correspondence Schools, Wyoming Avenue between Vine and Mulberry Streets, Gothic, West Mountain stone, built in 1898; architect, W. Scott Collins; window by Kenyon Cox, made in 1898, “Science Instructing Industry.”

The Scranton Public Library (Albright Memorial) is placed as an accent of beauty, corner of Washington Avenue and Vine Street, French chateau style, fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, after Cluny Museum, Paris; gray Indiana limestone and brown Madina stone laid in coursed ashlar, built in 1893; architects, Green & Wicks, Buffalo, New York; contains portraits of Joseph J. Albright, painted in 1902, artist, Bayard Henry Tyler; and of John J. Albright, artist, Chartrain, France; stained glass windows are illustrative of celebrated book bindings in the past; a marble mosaic floor is in the entrance hall.

Second Presbyterian Church, Jefferson Avenue between Vine and Mulberry Streets, Romanesque; West, Mountain stone, built 1885; has Tiffany windows, “Charity” and “Hope.” Madison Avenue Synagogue, near Vine Street; Byzantine, West Mountain stone,built 1902, architect, George W. Kramer, New York. First Presbyterian Church, corner of Madison Avenue and Olive Street, perpendicular Gothic, Indiana limestone; built 1903, architect, Holden, New York; windows by John La Farge, “The Woman at the Well”; and by Tiffany, “The Ascension”; Tiffany mosaic, “Pentecost.” Immanuel Baptist Church, corner of Jefferson Avenue and Mulberry Street, Gothic, Hummelstown redstone, built 1909, architect, Edward Langley, Scranton. Elm Park Church, corner of Linden and Jefferson Streets, Romanesque, West Mountain stone, built 1892, architect, George W. Kramer.

Lackawanna Railroad Station, Lackawanna and Jefferson Avenues, Renaissance, Indiana limestone, granite base, built 1909, architects, Kenneth Murchison, New York, and Edward Langley; has interior finishings of Grueby tiles; and mosaic mural panels of views along the Lackawanna Railroad. The Everhart Museum of Natural History, Science and Art, in Nay Aug Park, south end of Milberry Street, given by the late Dr. I. F. Everhart, and sustained by generous endowment; Renaissance, terra-cotta, built 1908, architects, Blackwood & Nelson; contains also the Hollister collection of Indian curios. Much natural beauty centers about the water supply system of the Scranton Gas and Water Company, which has over ten miles of fine driveways, including the road to top of Mount Anonymous, overlooking the lake; and Long Swamp Drive and roads up about Scrub Oak Mountain.

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