Description:

Pennsylvania Frontier - A 3 page journal of a journey through the Lumber Heritage Region of Pennsylvania on horse from Lycoming Creek in Williamsport, PA to the border of the New York state line and back to Lycoming Creek for 44 days from July 29, 1792 to Sept. 14, 1792.


Manuscript, unsigned, 3 pages conjoined, 13" x 8", dated July 29 - September 14, 1792, depicts a journey through Lycoming, Pennsylvania region. Document shows heavy folds with some tearing and chipping along folds, overall very good condition. A full translation with heavy notations original spelling of the writer and adding additional research.

Broken down by the day's travel, it is headed "Memorandum / viz" beginning on July 29th, 1792, with an entry for each day, no point of origin. In part the journal entry reads, "July 29, I set from Mr. Winters near the mouth of Lycoming Creek [near Williamsport, PA] on my way to Tyoga [near Trout Run PA]. Up said creek to Kyles about 15 miles where I got some necessaries. 30th - Left Kyles with an intention to go to Tyoga N.N.E. Course about five or six miles came to the place where the late storm fell the timber so as to be most impossible to travel with a horse. I attempted to go through till night. Struck fire and lain in amongst the timber . . . August 3 - Travers'd the same and examined the Soil Timber, Etc. for the Course of the 4th 5th 6. the land has many small streams running into Lycoming & the head of the first & second forks of Pine Creek. The timber in this land I suppose of 15,000 acres chiefly of Beech, Sugar, Trees, Maypole, Black Oak, Spruce and some White Pine." It is believe this area is Buttonwood, Liberty, English Center, PA. "14th . . . I fell in with about 9,000 or 10,000 acres of execellent land . . . 20 - Rain'd built a hut and kept close all day. 21st- Examin'd the said land and suppose there to be about 12,000 acres. The land is superior to the rest that I have seen. The timber chiefly is of black and white walnut , white and black ash and black and white oak . . . 28th - I took the Course from Cononsaw Creek nearly N.E. Course to the York Line . . . 31st -Up to the river to the head of each branch where there is very large body of land. Rich soil & well timbered found by examining that Mr. Brodhead had suveyed on Eastermost branch to the Head but had not surveyed on the West Branch . . September 1st - took a N.E. Course till I came near the York (New York) line to Mr. Strawbridges, where seed Mr. Adlum's party . . . 7th Went out to where Mr. Chapman was. Delivered him the warrants & 175 and returned Tyoga Point . . . The journal makes mention of various parts of PA including Cedar Run, Harrison St. Park, Ansonia, Watrous, the Allegheny River, Ellisburg, Genesee, Ramsey, Raymond, Tunkhannock, Rome, Athens, Camptown and more. Moravian missionaries began trickling into the Lumber

Heritage Region as early as the 1740s setting up missions along the West Branch of the Susquehanna River and subsequently following the upper Allegheny River. The arrival of the Europeans immediately changed the landscape and fostered conflicts with Native Americans. However, following the Native American land cessions of 1754 and 1768, dispersed European family farms quickly surfaced mostly within the West Branch valley. The new European arrivals sustained themselves agriculturally, clearing land for family farms on the southeastern fringes of the LHR. Soon, a handful of industrial operations began to emerge, evidenced by a Williamsport sawmill dated to 1773. For these earliest farmers, the massive trees around them were a hindrance, an obstacle to be cleared and burned. These initial operations signaled the beginning of an industry soon to define the history and culture of the Lumber Heritage Region.

The Land Sales Act of 1792 dramatically decreased the price of land and opened over 4,000,000 acres for purchase. These early mills fulfilled local needs for building materials, but lumbermen soon uncovered a niche downstream where additional settlers peppered the landscape. As a result, crudely built lumber rafts conveyed the first lumber on its adventuresome ride down the Allegheny River to Pittsburgh. All types of lumber, including dimension and square timber, journeyed down the West Branch and Allegheny during this Pioneer Era. Rafting became pivotal in the development of the early lumber industry, with early LHR rafting streams deemed public highways by state legislation in 1798. Small-scale mills and rafting marked the beginning of an economic base for the LHR, planting the seeds for a burgeoning industry.

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