History of Luzerne County Pennsylvania, H. C. Bradsby, Editor, S. B. Nelson & Co., 1893 - Chapter 21 - Ashley Borough - Frankstown Township Contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by Ed McClelland Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/luzerne/ HTML file: http://www.usgwarchives.net/pa/luzerne/1893hist/ _______________________________________________ History of Luzerne County Pennsylvania H. C. Bradsby, Editor S. B. Nelson & Co., Publishers, 1893 CHAPTER XXI. ASHLEY BOROUGH. WHEN a mere "Corners," or in the beginnings of this as a business place, it was known, far and wide, as "Scrabbletown," especially after Daniel Kriedler built his forge, a stone building, six or eight rods below the Back road, on Solomon's creek. The old sawmill stood on this Back road, about thirty rods from the forge; it was a water mill, and was one of the early day important improvements, when people began to get off of dirt or split puncheon floors, and how happy the housewives were made as they swept and polished the real, smooth sawed-plank floors of their cabins. Indeed, then they could have real plank doors to the cabins, and no longer the old batten doors made of split boards, with a wooden pin for the fastening. The old mill stood about where is now the railroad company's house. In 1830 the mill belonged to the Huntingtons. The mill and the old stone forge both ceased operations about 1839. A little further up in Solomon's gap was Inman's tavern and a couple of cabins. This place was then called "Inman's tavern," and, no doubt, Inman and his friends intended the future borough should be there. But in 1840, when the building of the "planes" was going on, Inman's tavern went into "innocuous desuetude," and Inman sold out and went West, after Horace Greeley's advice to young men. A coal mine was sunk in 1851 at Ashley, and then the name of Scrabbletown, by general consent, was changed to "Coalville." This mine was where the Hartford breaker stood; the latter, built in 1856, burned in 1884. In 1856 a large breaker was built over the old shaft, and a "slope" was opened at the foot of the mountain on the "Baltimore vein," a seam of coal nineteen feet thick. A tunnel into the mountain was commenced near the mouth of the slope. After the first breaker was burned another was built, called the Lehigh and Wilkes-Barre No. 6 (now called [p.532] No. 8). The Dundee shaft was sunk in 1857-9, passing to and through sixteen veins of coal. Nothing has been done at this shaft since 1859; the property was purchased by the Delaware & Lackawanna railroad. Chapman says that Ross' mill at Ashley, on Solomon's creek, was built about 1830 and abandoned about 1850. One of the most important improvements consists of the "planes." In 1843 the Lehigh & Susquehanna railroad was completed from White Haven to Wilkes- Barre, to facilitate the supply of coal to the New York and Philadelphia trade, then rapidly growing. At first, light trains for freight and passengers were hauled up the mountain by horses, the entire distance between Wilkes-Barre and White Haven, but in 1846 this mode of transportation stopped. The railroad was opened for full traffic only in 1847; even then, horses were used to haul trains everywhere except at the "planes," or where gravity would do it. The trains were hauled up the mountains by stationary engines, and on the other side run by gravity. From Ashley there are three long "planes" to reach the top of Big mountain - a total rise of 1,000 feet. Originally, says Mr. Miner, verified by Mr. Plumb, "straps" of soft steel, attached to a "track," were used to pull the cars up or let them down; two sets of "straps" to each of the three "planes," and at the top of each "plane" was a stationary engine revolving a large drum to wind the "straps" on. These "straps" were discarded in 1850 for wire ropes, and then locomotives were put on instead of horses, and the "planes" became much as you can see them now, the great stationary engines hauling to the mountain top the long coal trains as they start from Ashley. The "planes" beginning at Ashley, made a necessity by the development of the coal industry, and these together have made it an important, busy and enterprising place. Our chronicler insists that Ashley has had a plethora of names; one time, even way back in the other century it was irreverently styled "Skunktown," then "Peestone," "Hightown," "Newton," "Hendricksburg," "Scrabbletown," "Coalville," "Nanticoke Junction" and "Alberts." All these before it became officially Ashley. Tradition gives no excuse for its never being called Wadetown, after its first settler - Abner Wade. Fritz Deitrick opened the first tavern, on the site of Payne & Conyngham's store. Samuel Pees (or probably Pease) then had a tavern, and this gave it the name of "Peesville." The present hotel is on the site. These two were log hotels, in the days when two rooms and the "loft" with a ladder, constituted an average hostelry. Samuel Black opened and ran the first frame tavern, situated on West Main street, where his widow resided many years after it had ceased to entertain guests; then Lewis Landmesser opened his hotel. Alexander Gray opened the first general country store in the place. Railroad Shops of the New Jersey Central are located at Ashley, and are the most important institution of the place. The day these located here it made the place fairly jump out of its "Hardscrabble" clothes and put on the full regalia of an important, thriving borough. The postoffice name of Hendricksburg was changed to Ashley, and the office and center of the hamlet moved to about its present place. The works were thought to be great affairs at the first, but time and the growing enterprise of the road has shown itself as distinctly in their shops here as anywhere else. Additional buildings, and additions to the first ones, and increased capacity in every shop as well as numbers of employes have marked every department. Seven hundred men now find employment in the different shops. These skilled mechanics are of the best class of permanent residents of the place. The roar of the forges, the whir of the wheels, the pounding of many hammers, and the turning of the great lathes, are some of the songs of busy, happy and the well-paid and well-kept industrial world to be seen here. [p.533] Here is the foot of the "plane" - one of the remarkable concerns of the kind in the world. Here is seen the ingenuity of the mechanics in construction; the automatic movement of the "push truck" and the long ropes that pull great coal trains up the mountain side. At this foot are two tracks, and the way this "truck" runs under trains, and is automatically changed from the front to the rear; the way it and its great steel wire rope seem to jump from track to track; the general movement of the whole machinery, with the stationary engine way off out of sight on the mountain side, are marvelous to the raw and uninitiated, as they were to the writer and his friend, as they stood on the old wooden bridge and watching, tried to comprehend it all, and could not. [By the way, at that very moment men were at work replacing the old wooden bridge with a new iron structure, and in a few days the old will be gone and the people will be proud of the bridge over the track of the plane - July 30, 1892]. The "Planes" were a necessity, and are one of the most valuable improvements in the county. The question will arise to the reader as it did to the writer, and as it has no doubt to nearly every one, "Why didn't they tunnel the mountain?" For the best reason in the world, the tunnel, commencing, say, at the foot of the plain, would have to go to White Haven to find an outlet - fifteen miles, and all that long distance would have been from 1,000 to 1,700 feet below the surface. So, you see the "planes" were the only practical solution of the question. The charter of Ashley borough bears date December 5, 1870. The principal petitioners for its organization were J. C. Wells, E. L. Deifenderfer, C. T. Lohr, William J. Day, George Dunn, J. K. P. Fenner, Samuel Crow, A. T. Joslyn, E. C. Cole, J. W. Cole, William Powder, A. Le Bar and John White. First borough offices: Burgess, Jeremiah N. Gette; council: J. C. Wells, M. A. McCarty, E. L. Diefenderfer, John Campbell and A. D. Le Bar. Present officials: James K. P. Fenner, burgess; council: E. Lindermuth, president; John H. Eyer, treasurer; Peter Murphy, secretary; R. J. Carey, John Bowden, John Brenner and L. L. Newhart. The foreman of Rescue Hose and Engine No. 1, Thomas McDonald. A street car (horse) has rendered efficient service, but its capacity had long been insufficient for the enormous demand upon it, and in November, 1892, it was changed to an electric line, and became a part of the great traction company's system of roads. The place has ample railroad, telegraph and telephone facilities. But a short time ago Ashley was a small place, said to be three miles from Wilkes-Barre, and a generation ago the people would ride along the dusty road, through the heavy old forests to town to do a little shopping or some other small errand. Now you may ride on the railroad, or street cars from the remotest part of Ashley to the courthouse, and you can not tell there is a break in the city on any foot of the way. It is purely an imaginary line that divides Wilkes- Barre and Ashley. It is certainly one of the flourishing suburbs of the city. Its industries outside of its railroad and coal may be enumerated as: 5 bakers, 3 barbers, 1 shoemaker, 3 druggists, 1 furniture store, 9 general stores, 10 grocers, 3 hardware, 3 hotels, 1 livery, 3 meat markets, 1 merchant tailor and 2 jewelers. AVOCA BOROUGH, Formerly Pleasant Valley, is in the northern part of Pittston township, and is a flourishing borough. Settlement commenced here in 1871 and grew with the development of the collieries, and at this time has a population estimated at over 3,000. The name Avoca was adopted in 1889 - changed from the old name of Pleasant Valley, under which it was incorporated to agree with the post-office name. It has in the way of facilities for transportation four lines of railroads. There are four churches in the place, a board of trade and an excellent fire department. The town is well supplied with excellent water by the Spring Brook Water company; has telegraph and telephone communications with all the outside world. It has 1 clothing house, [p.534] 5 breakers, 3 confectioners, 2 druggists, 1 dry goods store, 2 furniture dealers, 5 general stores, 3 grocery stores, 2 hotels, 5 meat markets. BEAR CREEK TOWNSHIP Is in territory the largest township in the county, that is just now principally celebrating its winding up of the sawmill industry of the great lumber king of Luzerne county - Albert Lewis. It was carved from the territory taken from Wilkes- Barre, Pittston, Bucks, Plains and Jenkins, in 1856. About the first thing ever known of this section of the country was in 1779, when Gen. Sullivan cut a highway for his army and marched from Easton to Wilkes-Barre. That is the unused wagon road to-day substantially from Wilkes-Barre to Easton, that was a turnpike and now used as neighborhood roads along its length. The first log cabin was built in 1786 on the Sullivan military road, about nine miles from Wilkes-Barre. The second one by Arnold Colt, on the site of the Jonathan Pursel tavern stand. Mr. Colt was engaged building the Easton & Wilkes-Barre turnpike. The first sawmill was on Bear creek, built in 1800 by Oliver Helme. The township contains sixty- seven square miles, and but a very small fraction of it is arable. Dense forests of hemlock and pine and much game constituted its natural resources. A store, tavern and many sawmills were its earthly possessions. The timber gone, its surface is a rugged mountain waste, that is inviting only to the immigrant farmers from the old world, who come in the pursuit of that high ambition to become land owners. A branch railroad was run from the Lehigh Valley road to the Meadow Run mills, and this has been the transportation to the immense quantities of lumber cut in the township, by the many mills it had at one time. The branch road is about seven miles in length. Bear creek rises in its northeast corner and turns south and runs south to the Lehigh river. Crystal Springs reservoir is a valuable body of pure crystal water, and here are several summer cottages, and Mr. Lewis has made a beautiful driveway from Summit Glen to his summer place. Bald mountain is 1,825 feet above tide water, and the Wyoming and the Lehigh mountains are very nearly as high. The only hamlet in the township was where the turnpike road crossed Bear creek, near the center of the township. Here were along the creek several sawmills, and the amount of this trade can be understood when it tempted the railroad to build a branch of its line to it. It had in 1890 a population of 343, but this is on the slowly sliding scale, and 1892 would show a small decline from that figure. Looking at a map of Luzerne county, Bear Creek township arrests the eye at once; for two reasons, it is the largest in area and except the creeks and mountains it appears as the white virgin paper. BLACK CREEK TOWNSHIP Was taken from Sugarloaf August 8, 1848, and gets its name from the creek that runs through it, which enters on the eastsouth line, flows west to Gowen and then turns north and falls into Nescopeck creek, near the north line of the township at a point where is a hotel and Shellhammer's residence. Across the range near the south line is Tomhicken creek that passes into Schuylkill county southeast of Gowen. The Nescopeck runs across the northeast corner of the township. As stated this was all a part of Sugarloaf township down to 1848. By examining the list of early setters of Sugarloaf will be found the names of all the early settlers of Black creek. East and West Buck mountains are divided by Black creek that cuts its way from the south to the north. The Buck mountains are rich in coal bearing. These lands are a part of the Tench Coxe purchase in 1795. The Danville, Hazleton & Wilkes-Barre railroad taps the collieries of Black creek and the Coxe road, the Delaware, Schuylkill & Susquehanna, also is now running regular trains to this place. [p.537] Barney Huntsinger came here as a surveyor in 1806, and for his services took land that in time became the Christian Benninger place. D. and J. Huntsinger lands are west of Old Falls run, now Rock Glen station. The Benninger farm is a short distance east of Mountain grove. The Huntsingers, Rittenhouses, Shelhammers, Shorts and Smoyers were of the pioneer settlers. Martin Rittenhouse and William Rittenhouse came in 1810, built the first saw and gristmill. It is near the center of the township, where the east and west wagon road crosses Black creek. A small hamlet grew up here, and a store and near it a tannery. Another sawmill was a short distance north of Rittenhouse. When the township was formed nearly all the settlers lived along the east and west wagon road. The three schoolhouses were on this road. The only other one being the Shelhammer schoolhouse in the northeastern portion of the township. The first schoolhouse was Rittonhouse's old log cabin residence; he had built a frame soon after the sawmill was started; the first teacher was a man named Tripp. David Shelhammer and Stephen Turnbach both built brick houses in 1850. The first postoffice was kept by Rittenhouse in 1856 - mails once a week arrived from Conyngham, and Joseph Rittenhouse was the first mail carrier. The postoffice was removed to Rock Glen station in 1872. This place was called Falls Run city until a postoffice was established, when it was changed to Rock Glen. Huntsinger in 1820 built a distillery on the Benninger farm. It was run successfully, but, like country carding mills, had its time and fell into "innocuous desuetude." John Barnes was an important early settler - because he was a blacksmith. His place and shop were east of the Rittenhouse mill, on the wagon road. The place became J. I. Pegg's. Daniel Stiles opened the first store. This was quite a little settlement, on the road some two miles east of the Rittenhouse mill. Another store was north of the Nescopeck, near D. Shelhammer's place. Here also was a church and schoolhouse, and southeast of this was a sawmill. There was but a slow growth to the township during these early years; the farmers were clearing up their places, and the sawmills and lumbermen were busy cutting the forests of pine and hemlock. At the Rittenhouse hamlet was the first tavern, by George Klinger. The place became the property of the heirs of Michael Smith. The first death in the township occurred in 1818 - Mrs. John Kittner, daughter of Huntsinger. Mountain Grove (formerly Wolfton) is an important station just on the west line of the township. Here are the noted campmeeting grounds, a railroad station, postoffice, a few dwellings and the permanent "camps" of the people who flock there in the hot summer. It is a notable religious resort, and is under the German Reformed church. Fern Glen is a railroad station. Here the Coxes have their elegant summer-resort residence. This is known as Deringer, which is one of the company's mining towns. Gowen is another of their mining towns, and is a station on the railroad. The principal population of the township are at the mining places. BUCK TOWNSHIP Was formed from Covington in 1833, and derived its name from George Buck, who was one of its early settlers, and who kept the first tavern, afterward known as Terwiliger's. John Nagle was the first settler in Buck. He built his log cabin on the old Sullivan road, near the Lehigh, in 1782, fourteen miles from any human habitation. Conrad Sox, Justice Simonson, Samuel Wildrick and Thomas Tattershall settled here soon after. Mr. Simonson lived to be nearly one hundred years of age, and when far in the nineties had often walked to Wilkes-Barre, a distance of fifteen miles. The first sawmill was erected in 1806 by Hugh Conner on the site of Stoddartsville, and in 1816 the first church was built there by John Stoddart. [p.538] In 1810 the Great swamp, which extends over a considerable portion of Buck, was purchased by a company of Philadelphia speculators. A president and eighteen councilmen were elected; and the "City of Rome" was laid out, 100 miles from the seaboard, in a dark, gloomy swamp, called the "Shades of Death" by those who fled through it from Wyoming after the massacre in 1778. Three or four shipbuilders and a number of artisans of various trades were actually induced to purchase lots and remove to the "city," where reptiles and wild beasts should alone have habitation. A respectable merchant of Philadelphia, meeting a citizen of Wilkes-Barre, seriously inquired, "Will not the new and flourishing city of Rome become a dangerous rival to your town?" Hon. Charles Miner had considerable trouble, through his paper the Gleaner, to expose the fraud. The township originally contained fifty square miles and is in the southeast corner of the county; its east line is Lackawanna county and its south line is the Lehigh river. It once had an important population in the way of sawmills. The township was cut in two by the formation of Lackawanna county in August, 1878. The east and west sides are rough and mountainous and all between these mountains is swamp. This was the "Shades of Death" to the Yankees as the poor fugitives often fled in terror toward the Delaware. As sparse as is and has always been its population, yet it has never been able to raise enough farm products for its own supply. Stoddartsville is its only hamlet. In the heyday of its prosperity it had forty houses, beside its mills, and a population, largely transient, of 200. The county line divides the place, so that a portion of the town lies in Carbon county. It was laid out by John Stoddart in 1815, when he erected the large stone grist and sawmill, the ruins of which to this day show that it was built to defy the tooth of time. It was a great improvement at that time, perhaps the most expensive in southern Luzerne county, costing over $20,000. In addition to his mill he kept the first store and tavern, the first blacksmith wagon and cooper-shop. The town site was the property of Mr. Stoddart and Thomas Arnott. The era of prosperity of the place was from 1835-65. Here was the place of the crossing of the Lehigh river and the Wilkes-Barre Eastern turnpike, where Sullivan and his army crossed on their way to Wilkes-Barre. The great freshet in the Lehigh river of 1865 swept away the old canal works along the river and with them went the hopes and prosperity of Stoddartsville. It now is very nearly the existing type of the "Deserted Village." BUTLER TOWNSHIP Bears the name of the immortal Col. Zebulon Butler, always the first historical and cherished name connected with that of Luzerne county. It has a superficial area of thirty-one square miles, and the larger part of, in fact nearly the entire section, is arable land - the land of plenty and the quiet of the prosperous farmer's life. It is principally a part of the Sugarloaf valley, once the name of the entire valley along the Nescopeck. Here for more than a century the farmer has gone afield and tilled the soil. Originally it was all upland and valley, covered with a dense forest, and was a prolific hunting ground; then the woodsman came and felled the trees, and the numerous early sawmills along the creek cut the timber and it was carried away to market. Butler township was made from territory of Sugarloaf in 1839. A part of the south of the township was taken off and added to Hazle township in 1861. The belief of Stewart Pearce, who was a careful historian, and he is confirmed by Moses Compeer and others of Northampton county's Revolutionary authorities, is that John Balliett was the "solitary and alone" first comer to make a home in this beautiful valley. Pearce says he had been one of the burial party who came to bury the victims of the Sugarloaf massacre, and, seeing that place so soon after the troubles and dangers were over, came and located. But the truth is now known [p.539] that Balliett had intended to be one of the party, but was prevented by sickness from coming, that he was deeply interested in the expedition, and when the party returned he spent much time with different members thereof and made close inquiries as to what they had seen on the trip. These described to him the valley in which they had buried the dead, the beautiful Nescopeck, flowing nearly through its center, the fish, the game and the broad, smooth, level acres of land on each side, and this fired Balliett's imagination, and very wisely he determined that he would seek it out and here make a home for himself and his posterity. The results of this determination, after more than a century, are with us to-day in the numerous descendants of John Balliett in this section of the county, who are and have always been among the prominent people of Luzerne county. Balliett, with wife and two children, came here from the south or Northampton county in 1784. His possessions were packed on the one horse he possessed, and the two small children, one of whom was probably Stephen Balliett, were in beegums strapped across the horse's back, while the husband and wife trudged afoot. In another place is given an account of the memorable voyage of this avant courier of the coming hordes of men, and the writer was shown by Mr. C. F. Hill the probable spot on the side of Buck mountain where the strap broke and the children in their respective "gums" went rolling about the mountain side. John Balliett, the first day after his arrival, built, put up, erected or constructed, as you please, the first residence, home, castle or dwelling in the valley. The architecture was "simple and sublime poles leaned against a big tree and covered with brush and leaves - and here the family slept, the boys, no doubt, too tired to even have nightmare dreams that they were still fast in the "gums" and rolling and tossing about the steep mountain side. John Balliett and wife dreamed in sweet content of their future home and its abundance and happy content - brave, as were all the pioneers, as to their ability to meet and overcome the obstructions that lay in their way, the years of toil and loneliness and the inevitable deprivations and of the distance from the world's older settlements. John Balliett settled here in 1784. It has been asserted, and has so found its way into print, that G. H. Reip (sometimes written Reab) came here as a settler in 1782, two years before Balliett; that he located on the Joseph Woodring place, and that he died in 1794 and was buried in the old German church cemetery. Those that followed Balliett, whether the same or the next year, is not certain, were Benner (Harry), Shobers, Dolphs, Hill, Bachelor and Spaides. There are now numerous descendants of these pioneers still here and in other parts of the county. The name of Spaide has been and is still spelled different ways. The early chroniclers generally spelled it S-p-a-d-e, but Spaide, Spaid, Spayd and Spayde are some of the many variations. Among the early settlers were Philip Woodring, Henry Davis, Andrew Mowery and George Drum. The latter's son, Abraham Drum, was high sheriff of Luzerne county at one time. His son, George, was father of Hon. G. W. Drum, of Conyngham. This was so long a part of Sugarloaf township that the reader is referred to the list of early settlers, as given in the account of that township, for the particulars of who were here up to 1835. Pearce says that Samuel Woodring as early as 1788 built the first saw and gristmill on Nescopeck creek. Both were very small in their way; the gristmill had one set of stones, which were "home made." Other authorities say that Woodring put up his mill on the Big Nescopeck, on the mill site of Straw & Sons, in 1813. The latter is the more reasonable story, as Mr. Stephen Balliett remembers, when he was ten years old, of going to mill many miles, over to Lizard creek, to Sultz's mill. Some time after 1800 the ancient mill story might have been repeated of the settlers of Butler, where the man and ox team went to mill, and in the long way and long wait had eaten every grain of corn, the load that the cattle could haul, and had to return home for more to grind. In the meantime the wife and children, waiting and looking for the man's return, were living along by calling "the fat part meat and the lean part bread." [p.540] There were no "roller process" mills here in the other century, no more than was there a prevalence of gout or other diseases of the rich and fashionable Four Hundred. John Balliett located on the present John Beisel farm, about one mile from the village of Drums, west. For an account of the Indians that lived at the mouth of the Nescopeck from 1742 to 1763, and also a reference to the Scotch and Friends who settled in the lower end of the valley, see account of "Sugarloaf massacre." Two years after John Balliett had built the first log cabin in the valley, the house and contents were burned. He rebuilt, and he was so energetic and prosperous that in a little time he built the first frame house put up in the valley. Little Nescopeck creek runs in the southwestern part of the township. Here Redmond Conyngham - perhaps the most prominent man of the early settlers - in 1809 built his sawmill on the M. Beishline land. In 1814 he built at the same place, on the opposite side of the creek, his gristmill. In 1820 Redmond Conyngham built a small gristmill on the Big Nescopeck, on the site of Straw's sawmill. Sawmills were one of the early necessities. The valley, in order to be made, farms had to be cleared of its heavy growth of timber, and it took many sawmills to do the work. John Cowley was one of the enterprising citizens in this line, as he had several mills along the creek. The necessary first carding-mill was built in 1810, on the Little Nescopeck, a short distance from where is now the "Mountain Scenery" house; the neighborhood was then called Ashville. The name is now unknown. The locality of the old carding-mill may be fixed in the mind by the information that it was on the Linderman land. The first woolen-mill was put up in 1835, by Philip Drum, a short distance from the carding-mill. The pioneer schoolhouse, built of logs, stood near what is known as the German church, and went to decay many years ago. John Balliett was the pioneer tavern keeper. The first merchant in this township was Henry B. Yost, in 1832, on the place now owned by D. W. Jenkins, Sr. Mr. Yost was also the pioneer postmaster. The mails were received once a week, and the name of the office was East Sugarloaf. This was previous to the formation of the township of Butler. George Hughes' sawmill, above Straw's, was built in 1833, and is still standing. The house where William B. Doud lives, owned by Mr. Straw, was built in 1812. The first weavers here were Michael Klouse, Elias Balliett and Jacob Schauber. They all lived a little southwest of Hughesville. The oldest graveyard in this township is the one in the corner of the lot opposite the Methodist Episcopal church. At St. John's (Hughesville), called the latter name for George Hughes, Henry Benner built his sawmill in 1836, and in 1853 George Hughes built a gristmill, and in the spring of the year commenced to turn out a superior article of flour. It was for a long time known by no other name than Hughesville, situated about three miles north of Drums. Sheide & Werner opened soon after the first store in the place, and Henry Bermer a blacksmith shop; in 1868 J. W. Woodring opened a boot and shoe shop; in 1870 Stephen Krehns opened his tavern. The Germans built their St. John's church here, and when it came to naming a postoffice, necessity compelled a change of the name from Hughesville, and so it became St. John's - quite a little trading point for the surrounding farmers. The St. John's church was organized in December, 1799. Drums is the principal village in Butler township. It is in the heart of a rich agricultural section and is on the old State road leading from Hazleton to Wilkes- Barre, about six miles from the former, its natural trading point, and between Big and Little Nescopeck. Honey Hole is the name of a hamlet in the east part of the township on the Nescopeck, where is quite a pond near the junction of the forks of the creek. Quite a collection of houses here and a sawmill that was one of the mills of A. Pardee & [p.541] Co. The road from Upper Lehigh passes northwest through Hell Kitchen on to Honey Hole, and from there to St. Johns (Hughesville). The noted mine tunnel, described elsewhere, is dug through the valley to empty into the creek. It looks like a young canal, except there is a brisk current to its waters. The "Mountain Scenery" house is built on the mountain side, and from the upper portico is presented an entrancing view of the valley and the opposite hills. A view from this point richly repays the visitor. CONYNGHAM TOWNSHIP Is one of the young and small townships in the way of population. It was formed in 1875, taken from Hollenback township, is thinly settled, and quite rough and hilly, less than one-third being arable land. The first settler was Martin Harter, who came in 1795 and made his improvement near the mouth of Little Wapwallopen creek. His immediate followers were James McNeil, James Santee, Philip Fenstermacher, John Andreas, Michael Weiss, John Fenstermacher and Jeremiah Hess. These came up from Northampton county; were nearly all Germans, whose descendants are now the leading men in the township. The first white child born in the township was John Fenstermacher, Jr., a grandson of the first settler, Martin Harter; birth, 1804. The first settlers cut a road along the river, and this was the one common outlet for all. In 1797 Martin Harter built the first frame house; his old homestead went by descent to the heirs of Absalom Heller. In 1822 Philip Fenstermacher built the first brick house, which in modern times became the property of A. K. Harter. This descent of properties gives a correct idea of the intermarrying of the descendants of the early settlers. In 1829 George Fenstermacher built the first stone house on the old homestead of Martin Harter; afterward a frame addition was added and a hotel opened in it, and was successfully run for several years. The first store was opened in 1805 by Philip Fenstermacher. It was not run a great while. In 1836 John Heller was the merchant. Jacob Romick, the first blacksmith, had his shop where was built the stone house. Romick's successor was Peter Mauer, who had learned his trade with him. A widow, Mrs. Frances Lewis, built the first gristmill; it stood a short distance above the present Samuel Heller mill on Wapwallopen creek. Her title to the land is dated in l806. When this was worn out and decayed a three-story stone mill took its place, built in 1825 by the McPherson brothers. Philip Fenstermacher built the first sawmill in 1811 on the small spring stream near A. Boyd's farm and residence. John Fenstermacher built an early-day distillery near by Romick's blacksmith shop. The first School was German, 1808, taught by a man named Kroll, in a building belonging to Martin Harter. In the course of time this temple of learning became the pigsty of A. K. Harter. An English school was opened in 1811 in a house belonging to Michael Weiss. A schoolhouse was erected in 1813. Wapwallopen village is in the extreme south corner of the township. Its various names indicate much of the place's history; as, the "Glen," "Powder Glen," "Hellertown," "Powder Hole," etc. The Dupont powder mills constitute pretty much all there is of the place. There are three different collections of houses, but all combined are Wapwallopen. The powder mills, as said, with a store and a merchant mill and a small cluster of houses, have been known as Hellertown. The railroad station is the main business center. About 300 hands are working in the powder mills, and this gives quite a population. Altogether there are 3 general stores, 1 hotel, 1 saddler shop and a blacksmith shop. G. P. Parish & Co. came here and built the powder mills near the mouth of the creek and operated the same until 1857, and sold to the Duponts - the largest powder manufacturers in the world. DALLAS BOROUGH. [p.542] The enterprising and liberal men of the township had built and organized a most excellent high school at the village of Dallas, and in the unfolding of events it became apparent that it would be necessary to incorporate the place into a borough in order to protect the interests of the school. Therefore the court was petitioned and a charter granted April 21, 1879. The boundary lines are surrounded by Dallas township from which it was taken entire, being a little south of the center of the township. Dwight Wolcott was chosen first burgess; council: Jacob Rice, Ira D. Shover, William Snyder, Theodore Fryman, Charles Henderson, and Philip T. Raub. Present officers: Parkerson Perrego, burgess; council: William Snyder, Jacob Rice (deceased), and his son, William Rice, is filling the vacancy; William P. Kirkland, H. H. Shover, George Heitsman and John Furgerson. The one continuous clerk since the organization is and has been Charles H. Cooke. The borough is beautifully located; is a station on the Harvey's lake branch of the Lehigh Valley railroad and noted as a good business point. On every hand are evidences of a healthy growth in building and business. The population now is estimated at 500. The business and thrift are indicated by the organization here by the leading citizens of the Dallas Union Agricultural society, April 24, 1884, leasing grounds of William J. Honeywell. In 1890, at a meeting of the directors at Raub's hotel in the borough to purchase the grounds, eighty acres were purchased, the consideration being $5,000. The first officers of the fair were Chester White, president; Philip Raub, W. J. Honeywell, Leonard Matchell, Levi Howell, Jacob Rice, James Morrigan, A. D. Hay, I. D. Shaver, with Charles H. Cooke as first secretary. This has, especially in the past three years, given excellent agricultural exhibitions, said by competent judges to be the best ever in the county. While it partakes a little of the agricultural "hoss trot" yet there is only enough of this to give zest to the real agricultural and stock displays that have marked its annual meetings of 1890-1. Their eighty acres of ground have all the needed improvements - stables, stalls, shelters, and an amphitheater seating 1,500 persons. The I. O. O. F.'s have here an elegant hall. The Oneida, No. 327, was instituted in 1849, and has at present a membership of thirty-five. Other societies meet in their hall. Albert Lewis, lumber king of this region, has here a saw and planing mill. Another large similar establishment is owned by A. Ryman & Co. There are in the place 3 general stores, 1 hardware store, an elegant hotel that is much patronized as a summer resort. Gregory & Heitsman's merchant mill is quite an institution of the place. In 1889 J. J. Ryman became the prime mover in establishing here the broom factory; he is now president and general manager - a stock company known as the Dallas Broom company. This gives employment the year round to about thirty hands, with a capacity of seventy-five dozen brooms a day, in addition to a foot-mat made that has a popular sale all over the country. This factory offers strong inducements and pays the farmers of the surrounding country well for raising broom-corn. DALLAS TOWNSHIP Was formed in 1817 of territory taken from Kingston township, and embraces a portion of one of the "certified townships." Stewart Pearce says that Ephraim McCoy, a Revolutionary soldier, built the first log cabin in 1797 near the site of old McClellandsville (Dallas borough). Some unknown party had years before built a small floorless cabin near the same spot, it is supposed for the purpose of camping and hunting, but it had long been deserted before McCoy came. William Briggs was the next settler. The next settlers in the order of coming as is supposed were Daniel Spencer, John Wort and John Kelley (Revolutionary soldiers), and Elam Spencer, J. Mears, John Honeywell, Sr., and Jr., William Honeywell, Isaac Montague [p.543] and two Ayers brothers. William Honeywell came in 1808 and purchased 500 acres of land and built a log house and the next year a frame addition - the first frame in the township. R. M. Duffy was the first house carpenter. Judge Baldwin built on Tobey creek, in 1813, his sawmill. In 1818 Christian Rice built his sawmill on the same creek. The place descended to his son, Capt. Jacob Rice. This mill was in use until 1875. The area of the township (less Dallas borough) is twenty-one square miles and is mostly cleared farm lands - the hill farms proving productive. Stewart Pearce says, in 1866 improved farms here were valued at $30 to $45 per acre; that there were eight sawmills and two stores at that time in the township. At that time he says many farmers were turning their attention to dairying and the township was noted for the excellence of its butter. It is a tradition that the first clearing in the township with the intention of settling was made in 1777 or 1778, by Charles Harris and his father. They lived in the adjoining section of the country; started out prospecting and found a place that suited them and spent a day chopping and clearing; returned home, and, as soon after was the Wyoming massacre, their return was thus delayed a considerable time and they never were able to again find the spot, although they hunted faithfully for it. The township as stated is purely agricultural since the sawmills have cut most of the once heavy timber that prevailed all over it. But two mills now remain. An account of them will more fully appear in that of the borough. Kunkle Village has its origin and name from J. Wesley Kunkle, was thus designated when it was made a postoffice and he was appointed postmaster. The place has a tannery and a grange hall. It is in the north part of the township and a mile from the railroad. DENISON TOWNSHIP Is a comparatively old township, yet it was taken from one much older, being carved out of the territory of the original Hanover township, in 1839. It at that time embraced a large area as it included what is now Foster and Bear Creek townships; the former taken off in 1855 and the latter in 1856. At one time this region was rich in its giant forest trees, that cast their deep shade upon the mountain tops, and their still darker shadows in the deepest gorges. The busy axmen have cut away the forests and made merchandise of their products, and with these gone there is precious little left to either bring immigrants or keep those who were lured here to engage in lumbering. There is but little arable land in the township; that is, it is poor when compared to even the poor districts in other and newer portions of the country. A quiet change in the population is going on. The timber men and the sparse farm improvements occupied by the trucksters are taking advantage of the arrivals of the foreign immigrants and who are tempted by the low prices, are investing in these waste lands and filling their long deferred fondest hope by becoming land owners - they are thus their own landlords and perhaps such has been their severe training in economy that more or less prosperity will crown their efforts. In the decade ending 1890 there had been a loss of three in the population of Denison township, or 976 in 1880, 973 in 1890. The lumber business has just been closed out and as this class go away it seems their places are taken generally by fresh arrivals from the old world. Perhaps at least one-half of the 973 people of the township are in the corner formed by the borough of White Haven and the Lehigh river - the most of them the overflow of the north borough line. This settlement is popularly called Jerusalem - for a long time it was called Middleburg. The first settler in the township was Israel Inman, who came up Nescopeck creek from its mouth in 1833. Inman was no ordinary wandering nomad, or silent game stalker led by hunger to track the game through the lonely forests. He was a man of broad ideas and brave enterprise - able to lay the foundations for permanent [p.544] and prosperous settlements. He started on his voyage into the unknown at Nescopeck and followed the creek of that name in its eastward course to its head waters, and was no doubt pleased with the increase and density of the forests. He had passed over all its long and beautiful valley and only halted when he reached its end and the great forests of the hills. The spot he selected as his permanent stopping place, where he built his rude log house and in time his sawmill, is about a half mile below where the Lehigh and Susquehanna railroad crosses the Nescopeck, west of the tunnel. The first house and the first sawmill did not fill the ambition of this man in the wilderness. He, in a few years, built a forge, and "Inman's Works" were soon known of far and wide. He owned a large tract of land surrounding his improvements. He was master of the situation - "king of Denison" until White Haven sprung suddenly into existence, and by its "boomns," its logging and rafting facilities and then its canal, slack water, bear-trap dams, and to crown all, its railroads, sapped the vitality of Inman's "diggings" and now desolation broods over the spot where he drove it away sixty years ago; twelve lustrums and the three short steps of birth, life and death have made the circle as forever circles matter in all creation. Thus we all - everything in the universe, reach the starting point, and it is but a tick of the watch in the difference in time and size of the circles, whether of adamant or flesh and grass. Such a man as Inman would draw his followers and in a short time he had caused quite a settlement about him. Through him the outside world came to know and covet the great forest trees that covered the township. John Linespand A. P. Childs settled in the southeast corner of the township, on the Lehigh river, in 1835, and in 1838 there was enough of a settlement here to call the place Middleburg and a postoffice established there. This place was just above the upper dam. The postoffice was abolished and all went to White Haven as soon as an office was opened there. John and Frank Lynch kept the first tavern in Middleburg, and before the place was swallowed up by White Haven, there were several stores and trading places. These too went with the tide to White Haven. Perhaps it was the knowledge that "Jerusalem is fallen" that changed the name of Middlebury to that of Jerusalem. The next party after Inman to cut any figure in Denison township was the Lehigh Navigation & Coal company. They "cut" a road through the entire township in order to get to Wilkes-Barre, in 1837. It ran diagonally across the township in a northwestern direction from the southeast corner of the township, just above White Haven; crossed the Nescopeck about a mile below "Inman's Works." This was the traveled route between Mauch Chunk and Wilkes-Barre. Starting from Wilkes- Barre in the morning and pushing rapidly to White Haven, where you could board the elegant and swift-sailing passenger packet "Washington" you could proceed in state to Mauch Chunk. This went on in much grandeur until 1863, when was commenced building the railroad from Mauch Chunk north to Wilkes-Barre and in 1865 the beginning of passenger coaches over the road was the knell of the staging days through Denison township. The two splendid lines of railroad now parallel and crisscross each other as they leave the Lehigh river and start across the mountains. The last steam sawmill in the township was Braden & Brown's on the Nescopeck. Moosehead is a station on the railroad - a hamlet and a postoffice. The Luzerne Ochre works are now about the chief industry in the township. A branch railroad runs to the mill. The mills and quarry of this growing industry are in Denison township, but the most of the company's land lies in Bear Creek township. About two miles above White Haven is a branch of the Lehigh Valley railroad built to the rock quarry opened by John Dunaker in 1888, in a very small way, but has now grown to the extent that the concern ships daily five or six car loads of stone to market. It is a species of gray granite and flagstone, found valuable in building and street improvement. The supply of this valuable material seems to be inexhaustible and promises to grow with the public demand. DORRACE TOWNSHIP. [p.547] In 1850 it had a population of 420; 1860, 553; 1880, 639; 1890, 742, a very moderate growth in forty years, and still it is not jealous of Chicago, nor even Wright township. It lies between the coal-bearing lands of the north and of the south; is rough and mountainous, and but little adapted to agriculture. Its lirst attraction must have been its game and fish, and the hunters and fishermen were followed by the sawmill men, looking for mill sites on the streams with an eye to converting into lumber the grand old trees that had faced the storms of centuries and bided the coming of the utilitarian white raan. White and yellow pine, oak and hemlock were its abundant forest trees, and when these are gone it is estimated that agriculture is barely possible on about one-fifth of its twenty-eight square miles of territory. It bears the immortal name of Col. George Dorrance, who fell in the Wyoming battle July 3, 1778. The first settlers were from Northampton county and came from the southeast, piloted by the little army, which, under Capt. Klader were so cruelly massacred in Sugarloaf township. Just why they should cross Sugarloaf valley and continue on to this point is now not apparent. The first came in 1785, one year after John Balliett arrived, and settled in what is now Butler valley. A number of people came to the Sugarloaf in 1785; and the few who pushed across that valley and on to this place must have been of the character of the old pioneer who left the new country in disgust when he heard a neighbor had settled within fifty miles of his cabin - because he "would not be crowded." In 1865 it had four sawmills, one gristmill and a tavern; the latter was at the only hamlet in the township Dorrance, but there was not a store or church in the township. Pelts, whisky and lumber were the active lists on its board of trade. Then F. K. Miller built a tannery in the southeast corner of the township, on a branch of Wapwallopen creek. In the township is the drainage Wapwallopen creek and Little Wapwallopen creek; the former running nearly along the north line of the township and the other in the south part of Dorrance. It has been suggested that this part of the county was handicapped with these names - ruthlessly saddled on two little streams. It is further said that the pioneer Irishman school-teacher in this section never could spell the creek's name exactly right, but contented himself with the idem sonans rule and wrote it "Whackwallopem." The word is a hybrid, a cross between Indian, Portuguese, Dutch-Irish and Pigeon English, and the natives have long since ignored it wholly and simply say "up on the crick." It is a tradition that the original flax-breaker name means black water, because the water is so awfully black from the coal washings. As there are no coal mines along the streams and as the name is much older than the discovery of coal in the county, the tradition is therefore reasonably well verified by the water being blackened in some of the other streams in the county where coal is actively mined. In time after Miller built his sawmill there was a gristmill built south of the village of Dorrance, and another in the north part of the township. Each of these gristmills was on one of the two Wapwallopen creeks, possibly tempted to thus build in the hope of utilizing the names for mill stones. One thing is certain, all the game and the saw logs have disappeared. The first settlers along the creek in the south part of the township were: the Woodrings, Eishenbrout, Reinheimers, Wener, Heller, Whitebread and Eroh. Along the creek in the north part of the township were Myers, Bleim, Vandermarle, Engler, Lutz and Stuart. Dorrance township was taken from Newport in 1840. Dorrance village (must not be confounded with Dorranceton borough) is the only hamlet in it, and is located near the center of its territory. The two roads crossed there and for a long time it was Dorrance corners. Two of the above pioneers settled there and then the roads crossed each other and in time a blacksmith, [p.548] wagon maker and tavern keeper were domiciled in the place, and a schoolhouse - combination "meeting-house" - was in the course of time the addition to the place. When this was Hanover township among some of the prominent families were John Arnold's, George Stair's, John Hawk's and Stephen Lee's. DORRANCETON BOROUGH. Of the many beautiful suburban residence boroughs that so surround Wilkes- Barre, and are practically a part of the city by the intimate connection of electric and steam railways, there are none more beautiful and inviting than this. Its broad and elegant avenues and ornamental shade trees, the spacious lawns and the modern built mansions, and the healthy, clear, unvexed air that sings through the great old trees, as well as the quiet and orderly movements of the people, to one transported in a few moments from the thronging city, with its slums and odorous alleys, is a magical and refreshing change. At all hours you can go and come from Dorranceton to the city almost as you travel in dreams, where time and space are never reckoned. The lots and grounds about the handsome residences are trim and as well kept as on the proudest avenues of the great cities. And of the people, there are so many evidences here of refinement and a high order of culture as makes the stranger want to get out of the car and shake hands with every one. It is hardly worth while to say the place gets its name from the Dorrance family - a name standing out as prominent as any of the first families that came and fought the long and desperate battles for the possession of these rich and beautiful lands. Col. Charles Dorrance, who died January 18, 1892, at an advanced age, was the worthy representative of an illustrious ancestor. The borough was incorporated June 20, 1887. First officers: burgess, George H. Butler; council, Col. Charles Dorrance, president; Noah Pettebone, secretary; Jacob S. Pettebone, treasurer; Thomas Eley, B. F. Dorrance, J. F. Welton; high constable, A. Van Campen. There are about 1,200 acres within the borough lines. Present officers: burgess, Henry M. Gordon; council, Robert Bye, president; D. P. R. Arner, secretary; J. S. Pettebone, treasurer; Benjamin Dorrance, Thomas H. Eley, Noah Pettebone, G. L. Marcy and S. B. Vaughan; assessor, Joseph F. Walter; collector, John King; constable, John Finney. In the place are a planing mill, 2 general stores, 1 meat market. EDWARDSVILLE BOROUGH. This place laps so closely on to Kingston that it is very difficult for the stranger to know when he is in one or the other place; the line is simply one of the prominent streets. The town is the product of the collieries that are within its lines and closely adjacent. Its people are mostly miners and their families, and these mines were developed and are now operated by the Kingston Coal company. The population is estimated at nearly 4,000. The borough has both steam and electric railway service. The postoffice name is Edwardsdale. The place was incorporated June 16, 1884. The first burgess and justice of the peace was Fred Williams. Council: James Curry, president; Herbert S. Jones, secretary; John Vahley, treasurer; Jacob Linn, John Lohman, David Baird; constable, Walter E. Davis. Present officers: Rees M. Davis, burgess; council: H. C. Howells, president; John R. Price, secretary; William P. Evans, treasurer: John Lohman, John Armstrong, Gwylym P. Evans, George W. Edwards, William Cook; assessor, Hugh Jones; collector, James Armstrong. Business: Two blacksmiths, one carpet weaver, one cigar factory, four confectioners, nine dressmakers, two druggists, seven general stores, fifteen grocers, one hardware, one hotel, two meat markets, one stove and tinware store, two undertakers. EXETER BOROUGH [p.549] Is in many respects the most remarkable, and even historical, of any spot in the county. "Remember the Hardings," was the battle cry with which the leaders of the patriotic forces entered upon the fatal battle of Wyoming, July 3, 1778. It is remarkable in extent of territory, being nearly four and a half miles long north and south and two miles wide; remarkable in the further fact that it surrounds on three sides another borough-West Pittston; remarkable again that in its council and school board it always elects three Democrats and three Republicans. And, while this is not of record, yet it is said that it was made one long borough to accommodate a couple of prominent and rather contentious citizen's - one at each end - so that they, while in the same borough, could each be a kind of czar at the respective ends. It is said that all this has worked most admirably, and by turns the two "emperors" have had pretty much everything their own way. The experiment has worked smoothly and Exeter is the borough of peace and prosperity - full of great men, the descendants of great men and of Revolutionary relics, and every foot of it has some special history of interest. Exeter borough was incorporated February 8, 1884. The law requires that a plat be made of a borough and put on record. Attracted by the general outlines, with no resident exactly able to give correctly the boundary at every point, and some who could not tell whether they lived in the borough or not, the scribe made a faithful search of the records, but failed to find any trace of them, however. In general terms Exeter borough is situated on the northwestern bank of the Susquehanna river, its northern line (including Scoville's island) extending along down the river to the north borough line of West Pittston, then following the borough line west, south and east to the river, and then along the river to the Kingston township line, following that west 300 rods and then turns north and turns east to the place of beginning. It is all within Exeter township. It has within it the former hamlet of Sturmerville, the camping ground, or Indian park, where the Indians camped the night before they engaged in battle, July 3, 1778; a part of the battleground where the fight commenced on the bloody day, that is, where the Indians and British were drawn up in line and where the patriots went out, met them and first drew their fire, and where the heavy mortality occurred. All this is within the boundary lines of Exeter borough. The patriot forces fell back across the township line into Kingston township and in the direction to where now stands the memorial monument. Their slow and stubborn retreat marked the ground with blood, and there lay the dead and the dying. The sad story of that day has been written and re-written now for more than a century; horrible enough in its literal details, but here imagination has woven still more a nightmare of horrors that have found their way to the school books. From that bloody day to this, excepting the long cruel contention with the Pennsylvania proprietaries, the men of peace and pastoral pursuits have been engaged in binding up the bruises of war and creating the present domain of peace and bounteous plenty. There is a population of 850 souls in the borough, but it is just now on the threshold of additions and improvements that will send it forward in the next decade at a tremendous pace. The Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroad and the Harvey's Lake branch of the Lehigh Valley railroad pass through the place, both having depots. The electric street line from Wilkes-Barre to Pittston is now just opened to the public. There are three colleries, the Schooley, the Mount Lookout and the John Hutchins; the Forest Castle brewery, built in 1874, employing fifty men. Vast coal deposits are under nearly the entire borough; a large portion of this is the property of the railroads. A few years ago there was a pistol factory. This was operated some time, then converted into a silk mill in 1889, and after two years, 1891, was closed. It has 5 stores, 2 hotels, 1 brickyard, 8 gardening farms that are conducted on a large scale, 2 school buildings, 150 enrolled pupils. [p.550] James S. Slocum was elected first burgess and served by re-elections eight years; succeeded in 1892 by the present burgess, J. J. McCalley. First council: Mathew Dougher, Abraham Hoover, Col. A. D. Mason, Isaac Carpenter, J. B. Carpenter, J. J. McCalley. In 1885 A. O. Farnham was elected secretary and has continued in office to the present. In 1890 he was elected treasurer, and in 1891 assessor, and continues to hold the three offices. Present council: J. B. Carpenter, Mathew Dougher, William Pocknell, James McCabe, Thomas Mackin and Robert Ferguson. First school board: William Slocum, president; A. O. Farnham, J. T. Kern, Arthur Roberts, Bernard O'Brien, Philip James. Even here were the strict rules of three Democrats and three Republicans. EXETER TOWNSHIP Is one of the original "certified" townships that retained its name in the division of the county in 1790; it was named for Exeter, R. I. and it is suggestive of the bloodiest chapter concerning the Wyoming valley and northern Pennsylvania. Its area has been much changed since its first formation under Connecticut, by taking off other townships and by carving out West Pittston and Exeter boroughs. Here the Hardings were murdered by some of the Indians of the British invader, Col. Butler, July 1, 1778. A full account of this is given in a preceding general chapter. In the account of West Pittston borough is found where the recent digging of a post hole for the electric car wires was exhumed the bones of one of the brave Hardings, who died with the others not far from where his bones had lain for more than a century. A part of the first graveyard had become a part of the street and no one knew where the first graves were until this recent find. The field where these men were at work when they were ambushed and so cruelly murdered and scalped is still a part of Exeter township. A portion of Col. Zebulon Butler's patriots came to the scene of the murder the day after its occurrence, and then the next day occurred the Wyoming massacre. All this occurred in what was once Exeter township, but the battle ground, or a part of it, is now within the lines of Exeter borough, and will therefore he again referred to in the account of that place. The township extends along the west bank of the Susquehanna river, whereas originally it extended across the river and included Ransom township in the adjoining county. When Franklin township was taken from the west side it left the township a long strip, commencing at the extreme northeast of the county and following down the river to the Kingston township line, containing an area of about twenty- three square miles, less the boroughs of West Pittston and Exeter. It has much agricultural land in it - the valleys being rich and the hills proving fertile. In 1880 there were over 100 farms in the township, and since the rapid growth of the adjacent boroughs that furnish excellent markets, the increase of gardening and truck planting has been marked. This industry has succeeded the once all-important one of lumbering. One of the curious incidents of the early settlements of this and many other parts of the valley was that the first settlers were in the heart of the rich and level valleys to make homes and farms on, and these lands were the first sought for. The flood that came down the river in 1785 caused many to seek the hills and abandon their valley land or sell at a low price. Then again the heavy growth of timber on the back hills was taken as an evidence by many that the soil must be rich and productive, and in not a few cases this decided many to pass over the valleys that had been denuded of much of its timber by the Indians. They would kill the trees by girdling, wait for them to rot down and in the meantime plant here and there their few vegetables. And then, too, in this condition a heavy growth of grass would come on the ground and furnish food for their ponies. [p.551] The north limit of the Wyoming coal field along the Susquehanna is near the crossing of the center of the township. One of the noted spots in the township is the old Harding cemetery, and by some believed to be the oldest or first burying place in the township. This, however, is a mistake, as there were burials where is now West Pittson at an earlier date than here. It was at the latter place the victims of the massacre of the Hardings in 1778 were interred. Capt. Stephen Harding was the first burial here in 1816. It was then a cultivated field, and for some time was used solely as a family burying ground. In this township - the southern part, were Forts Jenkins and Wintermoot, but more of this in the account of the borough of Exeter. The ancient township records are lost. The oldest official document giving some idea of the settlers at the close of the last century is the following list of taxables for 1796: Joel Atherton, Joseph Black, Moses Bennett, Timothy Beebe, Roswell Beach, Peleg Comstock, Joseph Dailey, David Dailey, Jacob Drake, William Foster, Isaac Finch, Richard Gardner, John Gardner, Thomas Gardner, Abraham Goodwin, Richard Halsted, William Harding, Samuel Hadley, James Hadley, Stephen Harding, David Harding, Edward Hadsall, John Hadsall, Joseph Hadsall, William Hadsall, Peter Harris, Micajah Harding, Thomas Harding, Artimedorus Ingersol, Benjamin Jones, Sr., Nathaniel Jones, Sr., Majah Jones, Justus Jones, Benjamin Jones Jr., Thomas Joslin, Sr., Palmer Jenkins, Thomas Joslin, Jr., John Jenkins, Thomas Jenkins, John Knapp, Comfort Kinyan, Andrew Montanye, John McMillen, Benjamin McAfee, Benjamin Newbury, William Ogden, Jacob Wright, William Slocum, William Stage, James Sutton, Moses Scovell, Elisha Scovell, James Scovell, David Shauntz, David Smith, David Skeel, William Tripp, Abner Tuttle, David Smith, Jr., Gilbert Townsend, Lazarus Townsend, William Thompson, Thomas Williams, Ebenezer Williams, Allen Whitman, Zebediah Whitman, Nathan Whitlock, Joseph Whitlock and John Scott. Two years later Capt. Stephen Harding, John Jenkins, Peter Harris, David Smith, S. Dailey and J. Phillips were made commissioners to lay out additional public roads in the township. It should be remembered that this was the old township before any territory was taken off. In 1776 James Sutton, with James Hadsall as partner, built the first gristmill and sawmill on Sutton's creek (now called at that place Coray creek). There the first grist was ground and the first board sawed. Hadsall was murdered and the mill destroyed during the invasion of 1778, and all that remains of the old mill is a crank preserved by the Wyoming Historical and Geological society as a relic of the oldest mill in the Wyoming valley. Several years later Samuel Sutton, a son of James Sutton, built a second gristmill on the same site, and in 1846 E. A. Coray, having become owner of this site, erected the present gristmill. Subsequently another sawmill was built farther up the creek. Loyd Jones operated a plaster and clover-mill on Lewis creek in 1845. The farmers brought their clover seed in the chaff to the mill to be separated and cleaned. The introduction of horse-power threshers put an end to this enterprise. The Indian trail through Exeter was along the old turnpike, now the public road along the river. One of the first taverns here was built by Lewis Jones in 1806, near the present residence of George Miller. The old "Red tavern" on Peter Sharpe's place was built the same year, and was kept by John Harding. Mr. Sharpe's house was formerly kept as a stage house by Isaac Harding. There was also another tavern, kept by the Scovells, down the river near Squire Slocum's. It was used for years as headquarters for the raftsmen on the river. [p.552] Mr. Jones had near his inn a stillhouse, which did a business of fair proportions and constituted a valuable auxiliary to his tavern. He also opened a store in 1806, and kept it two years, when the principal stock in trade was salt, which was then worth $4 per bushel, used to cure the shad taken from the river in great abundance. It was hardly worth while to bring hogs here in the early times until the hunters had cleared out to a considerable extent the bears. James Hadsall, a descendant of the famous Hadsall family, and who was a small boy at the time of the massacre, lived in the township to be nearly one hundred years old, and who could well remember when all the goods, including salt, was carted all the way over the mountains from Philadelphia. The biographical sketches of the Jenkinses, Hardings and Hadsalls, and others of the first leading men here are given in another chapter. One of the notable spots is called Indian park. This is where the savages camped the night before the battle of the 3d. It is owned by James S. Slocum, who is a descendant of Johnson Scovell, who purchased the land in 1776, and it is now Mr. Slocum's farm and home. This gentleman bears a name that will live as long as that of the Wyoming valley, is a pleasant bachelor, and seems set in the notion of allowing, so far as he is concerned, the name to perish with him. His public spirit, however, in other respects is very fine. At his own expense he built the Slocum chapel and donated it to the public as a place of worship. Exeter postoffice was one of the earliest established in the northern part of the township. In 1866 Stewart Pearce gave the following names and ages of the then living oldest settlers of the township: William Lane, seventy-seven; John Shales, seventy- five; Mrs. Hoover, seventy-five. In 1795 a subscription paper to raise funds to erect a "meeting house" was signed by John Jenkins, £5; James Scoville, £5; and Benjamin Smith, Elisha Scoville and Thomas Jenkins, £1 each. The township line crosses "The plains" (so often mentioned in accounts of the battle), a short distance below the historic Old Jenkins house. Harding is the only postoffice now in the township since the formation of Exeter and West Pittston boroughs. FAIRMOUNT TOWNSHIP Was formed from Huntington township in 1834; lies north of the latter, and its west line is the county line, as is its north line. The mountains are in the north end of the township, and Red Rock is at the south foot of the mountains. Among the earliest improvements was that of the old Berwick turnpike, built through this section in 1810. All the township except the mountainous northern part, the North mountain, is fair arable land, and is well settled by a most excellent class of farmers, noted for their good morals and general intelligence - especially their universal sobriety, there being but one licensed hotel in the township. Of the nature of the land in the famed Huntington valley, see the account of "Huntington." Speaking of the township in 1866, Stewart Pearce in his Annals says: The first saw-mills in Fairmount, were erected about the year 1837, on Huntington creek and Maple run, by Shadrach Laycock and Peter Boston. This township contains forty-four square miles, of which one-tenth is cleared and cultivated. The surface is undulating, and the soil yields wheat, rye, corn, buckwheat and oats. The timber is principally pine, hemlock and oak. It has fifteen sawmills and one tavern, but no gristmill and no church. Its population in 1840 was 594, and in 1850 it was 958; in 1880, 1,085 and in 1890, 1,090. In 1838 the governor appointed Jacob Ogden and Levi Seward as justices of the peace; 1840, Levi Seward and Silas Callender; 1845, Jonathan Pennington and James Laycock; 1850, J. C. Pennington and James F. Laycock; 1875, Nathan Kleintob and Thomas Ogden. [p.553] The summit of North mountain is some 2,000 feet above the Susquehanna at Beach Haven, and from it can be seen ten of the counties in this State, also the celebrated Water Gap on the Delaware. In the summer of 1878 Col. Rickets built an observatory on the top of this mountain, and made it easy of access by a winding road. This tower, fifty feet high, with a sixteen-foot base, was destroyed by a gale in the latter part of 1878. He built a second one. One of the most important industries of this township is the manufacture of maple sugar and syrup. The harvest is usually abundant, and lasts about six weeks each year. Most of the timber in the township is sugar maple. There are several large sugar orchards containing from 500 to 5,000 trees each. Jacob Long is supposed to have been one of the first settlers, if not the first. Some of his descendants are still on the old homestead in the south part of the township. He came here in 1792, journeying from the Delaware river with an ox team, and brought with him quite a large family and a stock of provisions, which was expected to last until more could be raised. As often happens in a new country the provisions would not last unless served out in rations. The old mortar and pestle constituted the only gristmill until one was built at Wapwallopen, and then there was no road to it, and the old pioneer had to take his grist on his shoulder and his rifle in hand and march, marking the route as he went through the woods that he might not go astray as he returned. Joseph Potter, a soldier of the Revolutionary war, was the first settler at Fairmount Springs. He located here long before the old Tioga turnpike was built. Charles Fritz is one of the early settlers in the south part of the township. He was a soldier of the War of 1812, and lived to a great age. George Gearhart, another pioneer and also a soldier of the War of 1812, located in the southwest part of the township. He lived to bestow his blessing upon twelve children, eighty-two grandchildren and fifty-three great-grandchildren. Peter Boston, another early settler, located on Maple run, near the center of the south half of the township. He owned and operated a saw-mill, doing most of the work himself. He came here in 1820, and was one of the most successful hunters of his day. Joseph Moss located at what is now known as Maple run, south of Boston's, in the Maple run valley. At this crossing are the Moss Methodist church and the Moss schoohouse. The pioneer tavern was kept by Gad Seward, in 1818, at Fairmount Springs. It was a favorite resort for all inclined to mirth, as Gad was always ready with a sharp repartee or a side-splitting story, and for a mug of hot "flip" he could not be beaten. His larder was always supplied with the best game and fish of the season, and the traveler, wearied with stage coaching on the Tioga turnpike, was sure to leave Gad's hostlery refreshed as with old wine. About the same time Andrew Horn opened a popular tavern at Red Rock, at the foot of North mountain. The pioneer foundry of Fairmount was built by Shadrach Lacock in 1830, in the southeast corner of the township, on Huntington creek. The Lacock plow, quite celebrated in its day, was made here. In 1874 D. E. Rittenhouse built his foundry. The first postoffice was established in 1835, with J. C. Pennington as postmaster. He was succeeded by Jeremiah Britton. The office was that now called Fairmount Springs. It was first named "Fairmount Township" postoffice. The next office was established at Red Rock, and the first postmaster there was Truman D. Taylor. As in other newly settled portions of our country, the pioneer of Fairmount traveled from place to place guided only by marked trees. Next would come the underbrushing and cutting out, to make room for the ox team and sled, and then other improvements followed until roads were made. The first of these were in the [p.554] southeast part of the township, and from there they ran westerly and northwesterly along Maple run. The Susquehanna and Tioga turnpike runs along and nearly parallel with the west border of the township, from its south line near S. White's place, northerly through Fairmount Springs and Red Rock, to a point south of Dodson's pond, where it turns into Sullivan county. It was commenced in 1811; work was suspended during the War of 1812, but resumed in 1816, and the road was completed through this township in 1818. It was built by a stock company, and paid a good dividend till travel was diverted to the steam channel. In 1845 it was abandoned by the company and surrendered to the township. The first stage-drivers and mail-carriers over this line were Joshua Dodson, Timothy H. Tubbs and S. F. Headley. Red Rock is near the foot of North mountain, and was once a popular hunter's resort. There is a store, blacksmith shop, and the place is served with a mail three times a week that comes up from Harveyville. Patterson's Grove is one of the well-known places in the county. This is the great Methodist camp-ground. On an island near the junction of the two creeks is a maple grove of about twenty-seven acres, and is a most inviting place. Their annual meetings here are notable events, and from all over the county the people come. To many a pious soul it is a retreat, a religious feast, and an annual outing that renews both soul and body. It was first prepared and opened as a camp-ground in 1867. Just across the creek from the "camp" is quite a little hamlet that has sprung up partly in connection with the grove; has a mill and store. Maple Run (old Mossville) is a postoffice and one of the best business places in the township, being immediately surrounded with well-to-do farmers. Here is Grange hall, a lumber mill, store, church and school. Rittenhouse is a postoffice. Kyttle is a postoffice north of Rittenhouse. Fairmount Springs is also surrounded with a rich farming country, and keeps up a considerable trade - a postoffice, store and blacksmith shop. The old stone house was once a licensed tavern, but is not now. FAIRVIEW TOWNSHIP, The youngest and fairest (in name at least) of the sisterhood of townships of Luzerne county. September 24, 1888, the court appointed Ira Hartwell, S. B. Sturdevant and Anning Dilley commissioners to examine and report the advisability of dividing Wright township. W. H. Sturdevant was substituted for Ira Hartwell as commissioner. The commissioners reported in favor of the division on the line dividing the school districts. The court, February 9, 1889, approved the report, and an election was ordered to be held March 26 following for a vote on the question, and May 6 the court in accordance with the affirmative vote ordered the division, and that the new township be called fairview. Immediately after the boundary line was changed so as to include in the new township the properties of L. C. Constantine and H. Weiss; these properties being a part of a tract of land in the warrantee name of Benjamin Mifflin, containing forty acres. The boundary line, without the change just mentioned, is as follows: Beginning on the Denison township line at the corner of lands in the warrantees' names of Kearny, Wharton and Richard Gardner on the line of the Rosanna Van Camp tract; thence north 307 perches to a stone corner of land in the warrantee's name of Daniel Van Camp; thence along the same west 140 perches to a stone corner in line of land in warrantee's name of John Brink, thence along the same north 36 perches to stone; thence by another line of said Brink tract west 336 perches to stone corner; thence by another line of said tract west 120 perches to a stone corner on land on E. Lowensteine and L. C. Paine; thence along said line and line of B. Mifflin and Roland [p.557] Perry warrants north 35 perches to a maple corner; thence by another line of Benjamin Mifflin warrant west 60 perches to a stone corner; thence by a line of land in warrantees' names of Susanna Heller, Roland Perry and Eleanor Hollenback north 223 perches to a stone corner on line of the certified township of Hanover; thence along said certified line, north sixty-eight degrees, forty-five minutes, east 105 perches, to a stone corner; thence along line between lots twenty and twenty-one in the second division of certified Hanover township, north twenty-two and a half degrees, west about 165 perches to the Hanover township line. The part of the township lying easterly of the described line and adjoining the townships of Hanover, Bear Creek and Denison, be erected, etc. This is certainly description enough to bound Alaska, applied to the lines of Fairview. Going south from Wilkes-Barre, on reaching the top of the mountain after the long going over the ox-bow that winds up the mountain side, then you can look to the right out of the car window and your eyes will tell you how this came to be called Fairview. For miles and miles the flat mountain top is spread before you and in the blue distance the hazy hills again rise above the wide depression. The two main lines of railroad parallel each other all the way from Mauch Chunk, going north to Mountain Top - Fairview - the head of the "planes," where the coal is hauled up the mountain by stationary power, and then the long trains descend toward the south. These coal roads up the mountain sides, ending at the top of the mountain at Fairview, and the converging of the two lines of the railroads in their long respective ox-bows, make of this quite a noted point. By either road in going south as your train winds along the mountain side, the greater part of the time you may look out upon as beautiful scenery as the eye can rest upon. The deep gorge on either hand often gives the car, in looking out of the train, the semblance of rushing along in mid air, and in the distance is the valley, Wilkes- Barre, Ashley, Plymouth, Kingston, Dorrance, Bennett, Luzerne, Wyoming, Forty Fort and the great coal breakers and their ever ascending columns of steam and the villages, hamlets, farms and residences and shade trees, wide roads and winding avenues and walks that are as beautiful as a dream. Fairview is certainly properly named. It is the centering point of as lovely scenery as can be found in the world. The township name of Fairview is but an extension to the new township of the name of Fairview station on the Lehigh Valley railroad. Conrad Wickeiser was the pioneer settler. He cut out his road for his ox team to this place at the close of the last century, 1798. He was followed by James Wright, who built the first tavern stand, also the first sawmill in 1820. When this was Wright township the place became a noted lumbering point, and many sawmills dotted its length and breadth. James Wright built three sawmills, long since gone to decay. The next settler was Harvey Holcomb, from Connecticut. He located a short distance down the creek from Wright's. Samuel B. Stivers and William Vandermark soon afterward located in the northwest part of the township, a little south of Triangle pond. They were natives of this county, and their families still live where they first located. John Hoffman, about the same time as the last two named, located near Stivers' place. Elias Carey, from the Wyoming valley, in 1833 bought the Holcomb improvements. The first road was the Wilkes-Barre & Hazleton turnpike, running diagonally across the township from Solomon's gap to N. Hildebrand's; the surveyor was Harry Colt, of Wilkes-Barre. The first schoolhouse was built of logs, in 1840, and stood near S. B. Stivers', in the northwest part of the township. The first teacher was Charles Fine. The first store was kept by Stephen Lee, near S. B. Stivers'. James Wright kept the first tavern, where he first located. Another was kept by a Mr. Willis, where R. Conedy lived. Almost every one kept liquors to stimulate the weary traveler. The pioneer blacksmith, Stephen Lee, worked in connection with his store, near Samuel B. Stivers' place. [p.558] Fairview is quite a railroad point, Bear Creek Junction is the point where branches off from the Lehigh Valley road their line to Meadow run, about sixteen miles. In addition to the already mentioned incline coal road from Wyoming valley to the Mountain Top, the converging at this point of the two main lines of railroad, the New Jersey Central railroad, commencing at that point, have built a coal road to Pittston, the cut-off. By this line they carry their coal and freight up the mountain. Thus, the trains, and they are many, from either direction here stop their extra engines that are used in the steep hauls up the mountain, every loaded train requiring two of these monster engines, and many three of them. This makes the stations of Mountain Top, Fairview and Penobscot all practically one, strung along the different tracks, quite a railroad rendezvous, and engine houses and small shops are numerous, and railroad employes have homes in the vicinity. Fairview is on the Lehigh Valley railroad, and Penobscot is on the New Jersey Central - practically all one. Glen Summit is quite an institution in the way of a summer hotel and resort. It is an immense hostlery, and the hot weather drives people from the close cities to this place for the refreshing mountain air. It was built in its present form in l887. The place commenced by Mr. Patterson building, some years ago, a summer cottage there; then the people of Wilkes-Barre joined and built a small hotel, and finally, the railroad, realizing its importance as a summer resort, replaced it with the present improvement. A number of summer cottages have been built near by, and more are in contemplation. Fairview township has 1,008 inhabitants, and of these 961 are in Mountain Top village. FORTY FORT BOROUGH Was carved from the territory of Kingston township. It is one of the beautiful suburban towns supplied by two railroads, having each a station, and, by electric street cars, passing entirely through the place and on to Pittston and Scranton. But a few years ago this was all a rich and prosperous farming section. Forty fort, built by the first "forty" of the Connecticut settlers, was their place of safety and defence from the marauds of the savages and the invasions of the more terrible white enemies. Here was the central hub, around which revolved tremendous events of the colonial days. From this old historic fort the patriots went out to the slaughter upon the fatal field of Wyoming. There is nothing now to mark the spot of the old historic fort; the ground has been plowed and now it is a part of a street in the borough. Forty Fort was organized a borough in 1887; bounded by the Delaware, Lackawanna & Western railroad on the west, by Wyoming borough on the north, the Susquehanna river on the east and Dorranceton on the south. First officers: Burgess, Abram Live; council: George Shoemaker, president; Crandall Major, secretary; L. A. Barber, treasurer; J. Shook, Adam Heisz and A. C. Stout; second burgess, David Culver; third, W. T. Stroh. the present incumbent. Present officers: W. J. Stroh, burgess; council: George Shoemaker, president; Fred L. Space, secretary; Culver Perrin, Joseph C. Tyrrel, John Clark and John Donachie; treasurer, A. D. Thomas; superintendent of streets, John S. Pettebone. The borough is supplied with elegant water, brought from Spring brook, above Pittston, by the Spring Brook Water company. The mains were extended to this place in 1891. The result is no town in this section is more fortunate in its water supply. There are no coal breakers within the borough, while there are many in the near vicinity, but little of the coal has been mined under the town. It has a population of 1,000 and is rapidly increasing. The elegant suburban residences are being added to by others still more expensive. One of the first merchants, if not the first in what is now the borough, was Robert Shoemaker. His store building stood where is now the corner of River and [p.559] Wyoming streets. The old building was taken away and the ground is now the newly added part of the cemetery grounds. The next merchant following Shoemaker was Samuel Pugh, whose store and trading place was on the river bank, a little below the cemetery. Here the river-men made a stopping point, tied up their floating crafts and received freight and took in supplies. The little old house he used is still standing and is the residence of his son. The next was Crandall Major, who was a successful merchant many years. In the borough at this time are five general stores and one drug store. No licensed tavern in the place and no liquor sold. Henry Stroh was an early settler in Luzerne borough. Years ago he removed to Forty Fort and bought and ran the old Forty Fort tavern, the noted old hotel of the place that stood on the river bank. It was a familiar place to the old-time river men. Burgess, W. J. Stroh is his descendant. Tuttlestown was a settlement made by a family of that name. An old schoolhouse was known for years by that name. Among the old settlers who were farmers here is recalled: R. McD. Shoemaker, Isaac Tripp, Col. Denison, Jr., James Hughes, Hiram Boothe, Adam Heisz, Berdon Shook and Noah Pettebone, Jr. Soon after the first settlers built Forty fort the fort at Wilkes-Barre was built. In time this became Montgomery county, Conn., and then sprang up a terrible rivalry between the two places for the county seat. The people on the two sides of the river carried on the rivalry sometimes with considerable spirit, notwithstanding that for years there was hardly a day that all were not expecting an attack from the common outside enemy, when all division would instantly vanish and all would huddle in the fort for mutual protection. When the alarm gun would fire then every one fled to the nearest fort. Had there been in the days of settling the county question only the piping times of peace, what a county-seat contention there would have been. The people had no time for serious controversy with each other over minor matters, and, judging from recent experiences in the West, this had its advantages and the question was decided in favor of Wilkes-Barre, and if there was ill blood generated in the rivalry it soon had gone and left no trace behind. The Forty Fort Foundry. - The Cauldwell Iron works that are being moved from Owego, N. Y., to this place will be a great addition to this part of the country. The work on the buildings was commenced in July, 1892. The main building is to be 40xl80 feet with an L 20x60 feet. The surrounding shops will be one-story - all of brick and all modern improvements in machinery. The works will start running about the 1st of December, 1892. And now the iron industry has a foothold here and such are the advantages in fuel and water and in cheapness in living of employes that there is every probability that in a few years the iron and coal industries of Luzerne county may be running in parallel lines. The officers of the Forty Fort Iron works were elected in July, 1892, as follows: George Shoemaker, president; H. A. Jacoby, secretary and treasurer; J. A. Cauldwell, manager; George Shoemaker, Dr. D. A. Thomas, Calvin Perrin, Liddon Flick, H. A. Jacoby, J. A. Cauldwell and H. H. Welles, Jr., directors. The new works will manufacture engines, boilers, castings and mill work generally, but they make a specialty of steel and boiler-iron jail cells. Several county jails have been built by them already, among them being the following in New York state: Tioga county, Grange county, Delaware county, Cayuga county, Livingstone county, and Pike county in this state. They will also manufacture Cauldwell's patent iron boot and shoe lasts, which are already marketable all over the world, over ten tons of them having been shipped to Brazil last year. Mr. Cauldwell, who is to have charge of the works, is a practical worker in iron and steel and an inventor of no mean ability. He will live with his family on Maple street in Kingston. FOSTER TOWNSHIP [p.560] Is named for Asa L. Foster, one of a company consisting of himself, Richard Sharp, George Belford, Francis Weiss, William Reed and John Leisenring, who came here in 1854 on an exploring expedition for coal on the lands of the estate of Tench Coxe, with a view of opening mines. Their examination was entirely satisfactory and they opened the place that is now Eckley - at first called Fillmore, where they erected, at a cost of 7,000, a sawmill and mining works, and opened a mine and the next year shipped 2,000 tons of coal to market. When they came this was an unbroken mountainous wilderness. The township contains fifty square miles of territory, and was erected into a township in 1855, of territory taken from the original Denison township. It has so little arable land that outside of its timber and coal, it would never have been able to support even a sparse population. But of these two articles it was immeasureably rich; the timber is now mostly cut away but new coal developments will go on for many years. Standing on any of the prominent points you can see the great towering black breakers or the white steam rising therefrom on nearly every hillside. Sandy Run creek flows east to the Lehigh river through the township and its narrow valley has about all the good farming land it possesses. John Lines was the pioneer settler, at what is now White Haven, in 1824. He cleared a "patch" near Terrapin pond. All the evidence shows that this was the oldest settled point off the river in the township. Terrapin pond is in Pond creek, the other stream besides Sandy run that rises near Upper Lehigh village, and is joined by Sandy run in the southeast part of the township. The nearest neighbors Lines had for a long time were at Lawreytown, now Rockport, seven miles down the River Lehigh. About 1840 Thomas Morrison came and located on Pond creek about three miles southeast of White Haven. Since White Haven is a separated borough this would make Morrison the first settler of the township in its present form. Morrison was a man of great enterprise and considerable means. He built two sawmills and a gristmill and to operate these mills and cut and haul the logs and then the lumber required quite a force of men and the place was soon a noted spot in the wilderness and roads were made over the hills to the river. So important was the Morrison settlement that it was granted a postoffice and Mr. Morrison kept it. Mrs. William Johnson (a Birkbeck), who lived with the Morrisons when she was young, thinks they settled at their place in 1838. She says Thomas Morrison was an Irish gentleman, a widower with two children-Sarah and James. A Mrs. Lytle was his housekeeper. She had two daughters - Mary and Catharine. Mr. Morrison married one of the girls and his son married the other. Mr. Morrison's valuable mills were burned and this crippled him financially, but after some time he rebuilt further up the pond. A schoolhouse was built and there were probably a hundred souls in the Morrison settlement. The next pioneer in Foster was Joseph Birkbeck, who came in 1844 and settled at what was for a long time called South Heberton, in the valley between Freeland and Upper Lehigh. He purchased a large tract of land of Edward Lynch, a part of which is now in the borough of Freeland. He built first a log house, and then a frame which stands a short distance north of the Freeland north borough line. The next settler was Nathan Howes (Howey), who purchased the west part of the Birkbeck tract and built his house to the west a short distance from Birkbeck's. Mr. Birkbeck, after the opening of the collieries at Upper Lehigh, laid off a village and called it South Heberton. Mr. Birkbeck's was the first clearing in this then forest; in it were raised the first crops, and here the first orchard was set out. The first child born at South Heberton was Elizabeth, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Birkbeck, born in 1845. The first death at this place was that of William, son of Joseph and Elizabeth Birkbeck, which occurred February 11, 1846, aged four years. [p.561] In 1845 and 1846 Mr. Joseph Birkbeck cut the road through the woods from South Heberton through Eckley to Buck monutain. Eckley was then known as Shingletown, as no business was done there except by two or three parties whose occupation was making shingles, carting them to either White Haven or Hazleton and trading them for the necessaries of life, such as whisky, pork and tobacco. The first store at South Heberton was kept by a man named Feist, a little west of Birkbeck's. Soon afterward a Mr. Minig kept a little store near Feist's. The first tavern was kept by N. Howes, where Joseph Jamison now lives a little west of Birkbeck's. Previous, however, to the opening of Howes' tavern, Mr. Birkbeck accommodated parties who were prospecting in this region for anthracite deposits, with the best the house afforded. The first schoolhouse at this place was built in 1878, and is a frame building. When Mr. and Mrs. Birkbeck moved into this then wilderness they were far from any settlement. At Morrison, near White Haven, was the nearest store, and Straw's, over in Butler, was the nearest gristmill. South Heberton has long since lost its identity and is now simply a cluster of houses midway between Freeland and Upper Lehigh along the wagon road. Birkbeck's sawmill is at the turn of the road just east of Upper Lehigh, and what was mainly South Heberton is now known as Upper Lehigh, an important mining town owned by the Upper Lehigh company. It was platted in 1865 and has nice regular streets and blocks, and is well built and noted among mining towns for its orderly neatness and superior miners' dwellings, of which there are over 200, all double tenements. The mansions of the proprietors and superintendents, chief clerk, foreman and others are elegant and modern in all improvements. The Nescopeck branch of the New Jersey Central approaches the place from the east. In 1867 a postoffice was established and the mails came from Eckley. The company has first-class machine shops here, and expert machinists are employed in large numbers. The company store was opened in 1866. The Upper Lehigh hotel (built by the company) was opened for guests January 28, 1869, by Conrad Seiple. The village is supplied with pure spring water from the reservoir on the north hills. The mines at this important village were opened in 1866. Jeddo - named for Jed Ireland. A part of the borough extends into Foster, and in this portion is the railroad depot. A short distance below this is Foundryville, where Merrick had his foundry; it is now a station and mining town. The old, important mining town of Eckley, the place where first was developed the coal of this township in 1854, and is a part of the Coxe Bros. & Co. property, is east and a little south of Jeddo, a little more than a mile, on the north side of East Pismire hill; a branch road runs to it from the Lehigh and is on Coxe's belt line road. Highland, another mining town of the Markle mines, is northeast of Jeddo, about two miles, and is connected with the main line of the Lehigh Valley road by the Highland Branch road. On the wagon road east of Highland is a steam sawmill. In the extreme southeast corner of the township is the J. H. Neiss powder mill and a short distance east of it is the Pardee sawmill. The east line of the township is the Lehigh river until you approach the north line and reach White Haven. The old Woodside slope was once an active colliery but is not worked at this time. It is a short distance west of Freeland borough and toward Drifton. Drifton is the headquarters of Coxe Bros. & Co.; about a mile southeast of Freeland and at the junction of the two lines of that road. It is the end of the double track of the Lehigh as you go east. Operations of this firm commenced here in 1864. It is the headquarters of the Susquehanna & Lehigh railroad - the private property of Coxe Bros. & Co. For a better idea of the place see chapter "Coal" in the paragraph " Hon. Eckley B. Coxe. Sandy Run is another mining village on the Lehigh Valley road southeast of Freeland. FRANKLIN TOWNSHIP [p.562] Was formed in 1843, of territory taken from Kingston, Exeter and Dallas townships, and named in honor of Col. John Franklin, who was not only one of the heroes of the Revolution, but of the long and cruel Pennamite-Yankee wars that raged with such vigor over the beautiful valley. It is supposed that Gideon Bebee was probably the first settler on land belonging to the heirs of the late Rev. Oliver Lewis. The Bebee family did not remain long here, and when they moved away the place soon grew up with weeds and brambles. About this time Mr. Pease, of Hanover, walked twelve miles to his work, and made his clearing adjoining Bebee. Both improvements were abandoned; but the clearing was long known as Pease's field. The spot was in the northeastern part of the township. It is surmised that these attempts at settlement were made during the early seventies of the eighteenth century. The township contains sixteen square miles, and fully one-half is excellent farm land. The oak and pine and hemlock forests were in an early day cleared away, and farms took their place. On the side hills are lands that produce well. Ezra Olds and Michael Munson, from Connecticut, came in 1782. Munson's son, Salmon Munson, occupied his father's place in recent years, though the original settler did not tarry long when he came, but removed to the West. Walter Munson came from the East in 1807, and built near where his son long lived, near the Old's place. Rev. George W. Munson married Sally Ann Lewis, and resided on his father's old homestead many years. Walter Munson, Sr., was living with his family on the opposite side of the river from Wyoming when the massacre occurred; he was but five years of age at the time, but with his older brother Wilmot made the trip back Connecticut. The old Revolutionary soldier, Capt. Artemadorus Ingersoll, made his improvement just below the Munsons. He entered the patriot army when fourteen years of age, and served throughout the war; married Miss Newberry just before he came to this county, where six of their children grew to maturity. He was an excellent farmer, and operated his sawmill. The last of the Ingersoll family descendants in this part of the country was a Mr. Holmes, who died several years ago. Capt. Ingersoll died fifty-two years ago. Another patriotic veteran who came to Franklin township in 1809 was Alexander Lord, born in Boston, June 19, 1777; when the War of 1812 broke out he volunteered, and was a drummer in the company of Wyoming volunteers. He died September 7, 1859, aged eighty-two years. Abel Hall came about the same time as the Munsons, settled just below the Flat Rock schoolhouse, where the family resided many years. Another family named Rogers were early settlers; one of them, Elisha Rogers, it is said built the first frame in the village of Orange. Elisha and his wife Rhoda lived to an advanced age; their son Alamanza married Mrs. Tyrrell. Her grave and that of Sylvia (Mrs. Cyrus Mann), were the first in the township marked by marble slabs. Mr. Munson built the first sawmill in the township; it was on Sutton creek, in 1808. About the same time Elijah Brace built the first and only gristmill on the same stream. This mill was rebuilt in 1828 by Conrad Kunkle. William Brace, Benjamin Chandler and James Hadersel, we are told by Stewart Pearce, were among the early settlers. Thomas Mann was an early settler, and improved the place where lived Charles Franz. A little later, but still old settlers, were Josephus Cone, Amos Jackson, Robert Moore, Jacob Halstead, Benjamin Decker and Jona Wood; David O. Culver came about 1790 and settled in the northeast part of the township, where he lived and died at an advanced age. The Culvers came of two brothers who were on board the "Mayflower." This Culver's father was David Culver. [p.563] Rev. Oliver Lewis came about the time of the Culvers and possessed the Bebee land. He lived here and preached until his death, aged seventy-seven. A long-time resident of the township was Samuel Snell, from New York; succeeded by his oldest son, Abram V. Snell. The later of the prominent families were the Winters, Badles, Corwins, Sewards, Hallocks, Durlands, Casterlins, Longwells, Dewitts, and a German family named Wintz. The only village in the township is Orange, situated near its center, where Jacob Drake was the first settler, and for a long time it was called Draketown; when it became a postoffice it was called Unison. When the township was established A. C. Thompson kept store there, and he called it Franklin Center. This caused some confusion, and a new name had to be provided, and as many of the families had come from Orange, N. Y., that name was adopted. Before this name was the permanent one, it, like many other places, had all kinds of whimsical callings. When Almanza Rodgers kept the store, he, in order to keep the shingle-makers from cheating him, procured pinchers to pull out some of the inside shingles, and then the place was called "Pinchersville." The nucleus of the place has always been the store, and some of the keepers were Harley Green, James Lawrence Brown, Abel C. Thompson, Benjamin Saylor, James Holcomb and Henry Bodle. The first hotel in the place was by Peter Hallock, succeeded by John Worden. Jacob Shales, Dennis Alsop, - Felton, Hiram Brace, Harvey Brace, Maj. Warring, Mrs. Warring, - Housenick, - Robinson, Thomas Totten, Albert Smith, Chauncey Calkins, D. A. La Barre. Dr. Skeels was the first physician; then Dr. Brace, Dr. Parker, Dr. William Thompson, Dr. McKee and Dr. John C. Morris. Orange is a very nice village, the trading and business point for the surrounding farming country. There is a store, hotel, harness shop, blacksmith shop and two churches in the hamlet. Ketcham postoffice, in Franklin, is a farmhouse. The first road passed from Wyoming over Olds hill to Tunhannock; a road starting at the river and following up Sutton creek intersected the other road on Olds hill. The population of Franklin township in 1850 was 833; reduced in 1880 to 593; again in 1890 to 521.