HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY. 151
CHAPTER III.
GEOLOGY.
THE geological formations are comprised within the Devonian period, and include in the nomenclature of the State geological report, in descending order, Corry and Cussewago Sandstone, Venango Oil Sand Group, Chemung formation, Girard shales and Portage flags. The age of the upper strata has not been definitely determined. The Corry and Cussewago beds belong either to the Pocono, No. X, or Catskill, No. IX, formation, and the Venango Group is by different geologists ascribed to both Catskill and Chemung ages.
Topography. -- The mean level of Lake Erie above the ocean in New York Harbor is 573-7/10 feet. Facing the lake, a steep terrace of sand and clay, from 50 to 100 feet high rises, and through this terrace break three or four fair sized streams and numerous smaller ones, descending a slope which extends upward from the lake terrace to a line which may be drawn from the northeast corner of Greenfield Township, through Greenfield, Greene, Summit, McKean and Franklin. The slope is high and short at the New York line, hence the lake streams in the east part of the county are short and rapid. Along the Ohio line, the slope is long and low, and the streams here are larger. Walnut Creek heads only eight miles from the lake shore, but is fifteen miles in length. Elk Creek is thirty miles long, yet its head is only ten miles back from the shore. Conneaut Creek runs twenty-six miles in Pennsylvania, then crosses into Ohio. The course of all these streams is the same, first down the upper part of the slope toward the lake, then westward in a deep gully parallel to the lake, then out through a ravine straight to the lake shore.
South of the divide, French Creek is the largest stream in Erie County. The valleys are flat, one or two miles wide, and are bordered by low and gently rounded hill slopes, separated by low, flat table-lands. Swamps occur along the South Branch of French Creek, and Tamarack Swamp stretches across the water-shed of the divide, on the highest land of the Waterford (McKean) Township line; elsewhere in Erie County, swamps are rare. Several lakes are found in the low valleys.
Drift Period. -- There is little land in the county that has not been affected by the great ice-sheet which in glacial times moved southeastward over the entire county; except possibly the hilltops which rise 1,200 feet above the level of the lake; in them no erratic boulders have been observed. While the ice was smoothing down the lower flat country of the western townships, it was operating through the deep and narrow vales of the eastern ones, leaving the high hill-tops comparatively untouched. The character of drift deposits can be studied along the shore of Lake Erie toward the Ohio line, where they constitute a terrace bluff fifty to eighty feet high, out of which the waves are constantly removing the clay and fine sand, leaving the coarse sand, pebbles and boulders to be daily rounded and polished on the beach. The matrix is a bluish-white tough clay, imbedding fragments, mostly angular, of all kinds of crystalline rocks, with sandstone, shale, black slate and limestone, and occasionally a large boulder of granite or gneiss. Quicksand is abundant in the drift deposits of the townships back from the lake.
Buried Valleys. -- Scarcely a stream of any considerable size in Erie
152 HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
County flows over a rock bed except those which cut deep ravines in the lake slope. The present water-courses meander along the upper surfaces of drift deposits, which fill up the ancient valleys to various heights above the old rock beds, even in some places where not living stream now flows. Bed rocks are seen along French Creek at Union, Mill Village, Le Boeuf and elsewhere, but the flood plain being two miles wide, there is ample space for a buried valley between the two wall slopes.
The most remarkable of these buried valleys are those through which two streams now flow in opposite directions from a common divide scarcely more elevated than other parts of the flood plain.
These ancient valleys were excavated, first, either by ancient rivers flowing from 100 to 400 feet below the present floors; or, second, by the great southward moving Canadian ice sheet, which as it retreated filled them up again with debris; or, third, they were first excavated by pre-glacial rivers, then deepened and widened by the moving ice and filled with its moraine to the present level. J. C. White, who make the geological survey of Erie County, ascribes the buried water ways to the plowing power of ice. The State Geologist, Prof. J. P. Lesley, takes exceptions to this view, and assigns the valleys to ancient rivers draining Northwestern Pennsylvania toward Lake Erie. Recent discoveries confirm this latter opinion. Prof. Spencer, of King's College, Windsor, Nova Scotia, has shown that a submerged valley bed crosses Lake Erie transversely, entering the present lake basin from the north, and by a bend northward and extending beneath the present drift filled water bed of Grand River, Upper Canada, then passing eastward into the head of Lake Ontario. Into this river channel, before the basin of the lake was filled, the Allegheny, French Creek, Mahoning and other streams doubtless poured their waters. Then came the glacial winter, and a thousand feet of snow and ice from the Laurentian Mountains moved slowly southward, filled the channel of this ancient river, damming back its waters and converting the forest-covered plain into an inland sea, banking itself against the Pennsylvania upland, and sending long glaciers across the country. By the melting of these glaciers, the valleys were filled with debris and a new topography formed. Lake Erie and the upper lakes were formed; the direction of Pennsylvania and Ohio rivers were reversed to the south. The pent-up waters of the inland sea found new outlets. The waters were lowered from terrace to terrace, and Niagara River was rapidly cut back till the present lake level was reached.
Terraces. -- Along Lake Erie, there are many fragmentary remains of old terraces, marking ancient higher levels of the lake surface. From the top of the bluff east of the Ohio line the land slopes up regularly and very gently, covered with a continuous beach sand and shore shingle to 225 feet above the present lake level. This sloping plain east of Erie, near Belle Valley, becomes a continuous flat at an elevation of 425 feet above the lake, covered in places with beach sand, etc. On the irregular escarpment of higher land, which rises from this flat on the south, no shore deposits were found. In Harbor Creek and western northwest townships, is the nearest approach to a series of terraces; three miles back from the lake, at 577 feet elevation, is a wide level, destitute of beach deposits; an abrupt descent to about 500 feet elevation reaches to the remnant of a terrace, covered with beach sand and shingle; then follows a rapid descent, wholly destitute of beach deposits to 300 feet elevation, to a broad sloping plain, covered with beach sand, etc. At the northern edge of this plain, 220 feet above the lake, is a genuine terrace of beach sand forty feet high, from the foot of which a plain one mile wide extends to the top of the bluff, 170 feet high, which descends steeply to the water's edge.
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY. 153
Dip of the Rocks. -- Everywhere throughout Erie County, the strate appear to be horizontal, but in reality they possess a slight dip southward and westward. Along the Corry meridian it is twenty-five feet per mile; from Erie to the Ohio River, it is twenty feet per mile, and farther west it is slighter. The dip westward along the parallel of Wattsburg is eleven feet per mile, and along the southern line of the county seven feet per mile. Two miles south of Middleboro, there is a slight northward fall of the rocks. Many other slight variations and undulations may exist, but if so they have not been detected.
The Shenango Group. -- This group probably representing the Pocono formation, No. X, is the highest geological strata found in Erie County, The Shenango Shale deposit generally consists of blue, gray and brown clay-shales and in Crawford County varies from thirty-six to sixty feet in thickness; if found in Erie County at all, its bottom layers are left on the highest hill-tops. The Shenango sandstone, immediately below the shale, is from fifteen to thirty-five feet thick in Crawford County, and in Erie County caps two or three isolated knobs in Concord Township.
The Meadville Group, immediately below, and with the Shenango corresponding to the Cuyahoga Shales of Ohio, in Crawford County, consists of Meadville Upper Shales, Meadville Upper Limestone, Meadville Lower Shales, Sharpsville Upper Sandstone, Meadville Lower Limestone, Sharpsville Lower Sandstone and Orangeville Shales. In Erie County they have scarcely an existence. The Sharpsville Upper Sandstone crops out in the eat end of the county in a few isolated knobs.
The Oil Lake Group, a part of Pocono Sandstone, No. X, and supposed by Mr. White to be identical with the Berea grit of Ohio, includes the Corry and the Cussewago Sandstones and the Cussewago Limestone and Shale. The Corry Sandstone is found in a few of the highest hills in the southern parts of Concord, Union and Le Boeuf Townships. One mile south of Corry, about 300 feet above the city, and 1,160 feet above Lake Erie, are two quarries. Only eight feet of the sandstone have escaped erosion, and four feet are so shattered that the lower four feet only can be used. The Cussewago Limestone is exposed in D. Matterson's ravine, near the center of Concord Township, where it is a foot thick.
Beneath the Cussewago sandstone and down to the Venango group, a distance of about eighty feet, occurs a series of very fossiliferous drab, bluish and gray sandy shales, sometimes shaly sandstone, called the Riceville Shale.
The Venango Oil Sand Group includes the most important strata of Erie County. It varies in thickness from 250 to 350 feet, and crops out over most of the surface south of the great divide. In the counties further south, it is this group buried far beneath the surface that yields petroleum. The First, Second and Third Oil Sands there correspond with the Venango Upper, Middle and Lower Sandstones.
Venango Upper Sandstone. -- A coarse sandstone is the only reservoir of free petroleum, and a loose gravelly sandstone the only kind from which an oil producer expects a free flow in large quantities. The Upper and Middle Venango sands of Erie County are in the form of compact, fine grained, muddy flagstones, and consequently contain little or no oil. The Venango Upper Sandstone lies high up the hills and the flags are often grayish-white. Two miles west of Edinboro, at Anderson's quarry, they are bluish-white, smelling of petroleum. At Russell's quarry, just north of Corry, a bluish-white sandstone lies at 1,070 feet elevation above the lake, the seams and crevices of which hold petroleum. Underlying the Upper sand are pale blue shales, 90 to 100 feet thick, containing fossil shells of the Chemung type.
154 HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
The Venango Middle Sandstone makes little show in Erie County, being merely marked by a greater number of sandy shales or flagstone layers in the mass of softer shales. At Harry Comer's quarry. however, in Washington Township, are exposed twelve feet of bluish-white sandstone, smelling strongly of petroleum. In the Maynard's Run bluffs, Amity Township, the same flags crop out 125 feet above the Le Boeuf Conglomerate. (Venango Lower Sandstone.) In the interval of from 100 to 125 feet between the Venango Middle and Lower Sandstones lie blue, gray and brown shales, very fossiliferous.
Venango Lower Sandstone. -- This famous "Third Sand" of the old oil regions outcrops on the great divide, and may also be seen in French and Le Boeuf Creek Valleys at the head of Elk Creek and Black Run and along Conneaut Creek, four miles above and below Spring Post Office. Its exposures always show it charged with petroleum, even where it is a sand and not a gravel rock. Its lower layers yield excellent building stone nearly everywhere, and it is the principal quarry rock of Erie County. There is often a division into an upper gravel or pebble rock and a lower sandstone. Petroleum pervades both, but there is more in the gravel rock. Among the quarries where it is taken out for building purposes are the Carroll quarries, Le Boeuf Township; Doolittle's quarry, Amity Township; Allen's quarry, two and one-half miles from Doolittle's; Reynolds' quarry, Summit Township; Howard's quarry, Franklin Township, and Goodman's, northeast from Howard's.
Its frequent exhibitions of petroleum with the numerous oil springs along its outcrop through Erie County have been a fruitful source of vain hope to explorers. Little supposing that the show came from the outcrop itself, and had nothing to do with the under rocks, explorers have drilled in almost every township to depths varying from 100 to 1,800 feet. Probably a half million dollars have been thus wasted in Erie County, sunk through measures underlying the exposed third oil sand, which the drillers were seeking far below. The whole petroleum deposit in Erie seems now to be practically voided, but a residuum of oil, lowered in gravity and partly oxidized, still remains, sufficient in places to unfit the stone for building purposes.
Below the Venango group are found 325 feet of typical Chemung strats, alternate groups of shale and sandstone, fossiliferous, with a thin limestone layer at the bottom. Some tolerably massive sandstone layers occur in the upper pat of the series, but no pebbles, nothing coarser than sand grains, have been noticed. It outcrops along the Lake Erie slope, and the top layers are exposed also in the valley of French Creek.
Beneath this is the Girard shale, a transition series between Chemung and Portage, a succession of ashen gray and bluish shales, with only an occasional sandy stratum. It is without fossils, except fucoids, and has a thickness of about 225 feet. It forms the drift-covered rock surface of Western Erie County facing the lake, and is finely exposed in every ravine which descends northward from the great divide, but especially along Elk Creek, above Girard. Seen from a distance, its blufs slopes look remarkably like the bowlder clay of the drift and sometime like vast banks of gray coal ashes. Its base or lowest laye is at lake level at Raccoon Creek, near the Ohio line, and 475 feet above lake level at the New York line.
The Portage Flags, the lowest strata of Erie County, consist of alternate layers of gray shale and thin layers of hard sandstone with no fossils except fucoids. The top layers rise from the water's edge two miles from the Ohio line, and slope up along the lake front until at the New York line they reach an elevation of 475 feet. Petroleum and gas issue from some of the thin sand layers. Collections of condensed gas undoubtedly exist, and in quarries not infrequently
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY. 155
cause explosions. The gas and oil wells of Erie vary in depth from 450 to 1,200 feet.
The following is a list of barometric elevations above Lake Erie of various points throughout the county:
Corry (depot) 854 Feet
Union City (P. & E. depot) 728
North East (L. S. & M. R. R.) 231
Moorheads (L. S. & M. R. R.) 195
Harbor Creek (L. S. & M. R. R.) 157
Wesleyville (L. S. & M. R. R.) 124
Erie (L. S. & M. R. R.) 113
Swanville (L. S. & M. R. R.) 152
Fairview (L. S. & M. R. R.) 162
Girard (L. S. & M. R. R.) 144
Springfield (L. S. & M. R. R.) 90
Concord Station (N.Y., P. & O. R. R.) 788
Union City (N.Y., P. & O. R. R.) 788
Mill Village Station (N.Y., P. & O. R. R.) 643
Beaver Dam 862
Eagle Hotel, Waterford 612
Cross Roads at Cranesville 882
Girard Junction (E. & P. R. R.) 124
Crosses (E. & P. R. R.) 192
Albion (E. & P. R. R.) 284
Belle Valley (Phila. & E. R. R.) 434
Langdon's (Phila. & E. R. R.) 562
Jackson's (Phila. & E. R. R.) 657
Waterford (Phila. & E. R. R.) 620
Le Boeuf (Phila. & E. R. R.) 644
Lovell's (Phila. & E. R. R.) 791
Cedar Ridge, Concord Township 1,285
Greenfield P. O. 852
Wattsburg 752
Cross Roads at Middleboro 497
Franklin P. O. 667
CHAPTER IV.
STREAMS, LAKES, BAYS, BRIDGES AND CULVERTS.<
THOUGH one of the best-watered sections of the State, Erie County has no rivers and few streams of importance. A large number of creeks and runs have their origin on the dividing ridges, and course through the county in all directions, so that almost every farm has its running water, but only three or four are of sufficient size to be given a place on the general map of the commonwealth. The dividing ridges separate the water system of the county into two distinct divisions, which may be classed for the present purpose into the Northern and Southern. All of the streams which form on the north side of the main ridge flow into Lake Erie, and thence, through Niagara River, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence, to the Atlantic Ocean. Those on the south side invariably unite with the Allegheny River, which in turn pours its waters into the Ohio, the Mississippi, and the Gulf of Mexico. Of the southern streams the most important is French Creek, the common receptacle of all the rest, with the exception of the Brokenstraw, which flows through a corner of Wayne Township, and the head-waters of Spring Creek and Oil Creek, which have their sources, the former in Concord and the latter in that and Union Township. The principal tributaries of French Creek, within the county, are the South Branch, the Outlet of Lake Pleasant and Le Boeuf Creek. The Conneauttee, which rises in Franklin Township, and the Cussewago, the sources of which are both in that township and Elk Creek, join the same stream in Crawford County.
Of the lake shore streams, the leading ones are as follows: Conneaut, Crooked, Elk, Trout, Walnut, Mill, Four Mile, Six Mile, Twelve Mile, Sixteen Mile and Twenty Mile, the five last mentioned being named according to their distance from Erie city. The smaller streams which empty directly into Lake Erie, are Raccoon and Turkey Runs, in Springfield Township; Fort Run, in Fairview Township; Danford Run, the Head Run, and One, Two and Three
156 HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
Mile Creeks, in Mill Creek Township; Cascade and Garrison Runs in Erie City; Five Mile Creek, Elliott's Run and Scott's Run, in Harbor Creek Township; Spring, Spafford and Averill Runs, in North East Township; and several rivulets, the titles of which are variously given.
TRIBUTARIES OF THE ABOVE.
The tributaries of the above streams are as follows, the terminus of each being in the township indicated:
French Creek -- In Greenfield Township, a number of creeks and runs; in Venango Township, Middlebrook Alder Run and Fritts Run of the West Branch, and Spafford Run of the East Branch; in Amity Township (East and West Branches unite), the Outlet of Lake Pleasant, Jones' Brook, Henry Brook, the Hubbell Alder Run, Deerlick Run, the Hatch Hollow Alder Run and Duncombe Run; in Waterford Township, Davis Run; in Le Boeuf Township, the South Branch, Le Boeuf Creek, Trout Brook, Colt Run, Mill Run, Moravian Run, Gill Brook and Mallory Run.
Le Boeuf Creek -- In Waterford Township, the West Branch, Boyd Run, Trout Run and Benson Run. (Boyd and Trout Runs empty into Lake Le Boeuf, which is really no more than an expansion of the creek).
The South Branch of French Creek -- In Concord Township, Scotch Run, Spring Brook, Lilly Run, Beaver Dam Run, Spencer Run, Baskin Run and Slaughter Run; in Union Township, Scotchman's, Wilson, Mulvin, Carroll, Pine, Tolbert and Benson Runs.
Conneaut Creek -- In Conneaut Township, the East Branch, the West Branch and Marsh Run. The tributaries of the East Branch are Frazier's Run in Elk Creek Township, and Crane and Jackson Runs in Conneaut Township.
Elk Creek -- In McKean Township, the South Branch; in Fairview Township, Fall Run and Little Elk; in Girard Township, the West Branch, Hall's Run, Brandy Run and Spring Run.
Walnut Creek -- In Mill Creek Township, McNair and Nece Runs; in Fairview Township, Bear and Beaver Dam Runs.
Mill Creek -- In Mill Creek Township, Bladen's Run.
Four Mile Creek -- In Harbor Creek Township, McConnell Run.
Sixteen Mile Creek -- In Northeast Township, the Borough Branch.
Hare Creek, the only tributary of the Brokenstraw flowing from the county, joins that stream in Warren County, below Corry. Its chief inlets are Bear Creek and Scioto Run.
The Conneauttee is joined by the Little Conneauttee a short distance across the line, in Crawford County, and by Pratt and Herbert Creeks in Washington Township.
PRINCIPAL SETTLEMENTS, RAILROADS, ETC.
Most of the cities, towns, villages and important settlements are located upon these streams, having originated in numerous cases in consequence of the early establishment of mills. Mill Creek, Cascade and Garrison Runs flow through the city of Erie, and Hare Creek with two of its branches, through the city of Corry. Belle Valley is located along the banks of Mill Creek; Wesleyville on Four Mile Creek; Harbor Creek Village on Elliott's Run; Mooreheadville on Twelve Mile Creek; North East and Freeport on Sixteen Mile Creek; East Springfield on a branch of Crooked Creek; West Springfield on Turkey Run; Greenfield Village and Lowville on the West Branch of French Creek; Wattsburg at the junction of the East and West Branches of the latter
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HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY. 159
stream; Mill Town on the outlet of Lake Pleasant; Beaver Dam on the run after which it was named; Elgin and Union City on the South Branch of French Creek; Mill Village on Mill Run branch of French Creek; Waterford on Le Boeuf Creek and Lake; Branchville on the South Branch of Elk Creek; Middleboro at the union of the South Branch with the main stream; Edinboro on Conneauttee Lake and Big Conneauttee Creek; McLallen's Corners and Draketown on the Little Conneauttee; Albion and Wellsburg on the East Branch of the Conneaut, and Keepville on the main stream; Cranesville on Crane Run; Sterrettania and West Girard on Elk Creek and Girard Borough on the eastern bluff overlooking its valley; Lockport on Hall's Run; Kearsage and Manchester on Walnut Creek; and Fairview and Avonia on Trout Run.
The Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad, after leaving the lake shore, crosses Crooked Creek, into the Conneaut Valley, and follows it into Crawford County; the Philadelphia & Erie rises from the level of Lake Erie to the Walnut Creek Valley, pursues the same to the Le Boeuf Valley, continues down the latter, crosses French Creek in Le Boeuf Township, and then runs up the South Branch to Corry; the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio follows the route of the South Branch to a point near its junction with French Creek, and from there keeps close to the banks of the main stream to a point below Meadville; the route of the Buffalo, Pittsburgh & Western road is along the head-waters of the South Branch in Concord Township. The abandoned Erie Canal entered the Elk Creek Valley in Girard Township, passed over the stream by a lofty aqueduct, and then followed Hall's Run and Crane Run to Conneaut Valley, which formed its route into Crawford County.
FEATURES OF THE STREAMS.
The most striking feature of the lake shore streams is the deep channels they have cut in their passage from the high ground where they originate to the level of Lake Erie. These ravines or "gulfs" attend them all, to some extent, but are deepest and most picturesque along Elk Creek, in Girard and Fairview Townships, Walnut Creek in Fairview, Four Mile Creek in Harbor Creek, Six Mile Creek in the same township, and Sixteen and Twenty Mile Creeks in North East. The "Gulfs" of Four and Six Mile Creeks, where they have worn a course through the First and Second Ridges, are from 100 to 150 feet deep, and are well worth a visit by those who enjoy novel scenery. In Girard Township, at the union of the West Branch with Elk Creek, is the natural curiosity known as the "Devil's Backbone," which is yearly visited by many seekers after the picturesque. Another feature of the lake shore streams deserving of mention is the fact that, while those eastward from Erie City flow directly to the lake in a general northwesterly course, those in and west of the city, run almost exactly westward until within a short distance of the lake, when they suddenly turn to the north and soon after untie with the great current which pours over Niagara. This is the more noticeable of Mill Creek, which rises in Greene and empties into the lake at Erie; Walnut Creek which also rises in Greene, flows across Summit, Mill Creek and Fairview Townships, and terminates at Manchester; and Elk Creek, which rises in Waterford, crosses McKean, Fairview and Girard Townships, and enters the lake below Miles Grove. Conneaut Creek is to some extent an exception to the rule, rising as it does in Crawford County, flowing nearly due north through Conneaut Township to within a short distance of the Girard line, and then bending abruptly westward, forming the boundary between that and Springfield Townships, finally entering Ohio, and, after a devious course, becoming the harbor of Conneaut in that State. The peculiarity here noted is due to the successive hills, making
160 HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
up what is known as the Dividing Ridges, each one of which forms a separate valley in which it is claimed the water was originally confined until a break or gulf was created through which a passage was found to the lake. The streams of the northern division have a rapid current and abound in tiny water falls, while the flow of those in the southern division is comparatively gentle. The latter are usually bordered by narrow strips of flat land, and the scenery, though of a pleasing pastoral character, affords little that is novel or inspiring. French Creek, all three of its branches -- the East, West and South -- and Le Boeuf Creek, were at one period navigable for rafts and flat-boats, and before the building of good roads were the chief avenues for bringing goods and provisions into the county. There has been no rafting to speak of on the branches of French Creek for forty years, while the business on the main stream may be said to have suspended about the time of the outbreak of the last war. All of the streams in the county were formerly much larger and more reliable. The cutting off of the timber has had an alarming effect in drying up the streams, and the seasons of high water which were once of two or three weeks' duration now last only a few days. There being no forests to retain the rain, the water runs off very rapidly, causing floods that sometime do considerable damage in the southern part of the county. All of the streams were at one time full of trout and other fish.
FRENCH CREEK AND ITS PRINCIPAL TRIBUTARIES.
It is not the purpose of this chapter to describe any of the minor streams, an account of which will be given in the township sketches, to which the reader who wishes to know more about them is directed. Only those streams will be referred to here which possess something of a general interest by reason of their relation to two or more townships, or in consequence of their historical associations:
French Creek. -- This stream -- the most important in the county -- was variously known to the Indians as the Toranadakin and Innungah, the latter word having some reference to "a rude and indecent figure carved upon a tree," which the Seneca tribe found when they came to this region after having conquered the Eriez. The French at first gave it the name of the River Aux Boeufs, but changed it to the River Venango, being a corruption of the Indian word Innungah. When the Americans occupied the country, they dropped both the Indian and French names, and gave the stream the plain appellation of French Creek. The main stream is created by the junction of the East and West Branches in Amity Township, just south of the borough limits of Wattsburg. The East Branch takes its rise in Chautauqua County, N. Y., near the village of Sherman, and the head of the West Branch is usually said to be in Findley's Lake, about two miles over the New York line, in the same county. The former has a length of more than twenty miles, and flows through a corner of Venango Township. The length of the latter is about the same, crossing in its course the whole width of Greenfield and Venango. Both streams were navigable in the beginning of the century for canoes and rafts as far north as the New York line, but the erection of dams and the drying up of the water made Wattsburg in later years the practical head of navigation. After the junction of the East and West Branches, the creek traverses Amity, Waterford and Le Boeuf Townships, leaving the county to enter Crawford in the last named. It passes through the whole width of Crawford County from north to south, nearly in the center of the county, and after watering half of Venango County unites with the Allegheny at Franklin. Its length from Wattsburg to Franklin cannot be less than a hundred miles, or a hundred and
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY. 161
twenty or twenty-five, measuring from the mouth to the source of either of the branches. By the time French Creek joins the Allegheny, it has become a good-sized stream, which deserves the title of river better than many that figure more prominently upon the maps. It was along the valley of this creek that Washington traveled on his visit to the French at Fort Le Boeuf, and he descended the stream in a canoe on his return journey. The last rafting from the mouth of Le Boeuf Creek was done in 1862.
Outlet of Lake Pleasant. -- This stream, as its name indicates, carries off the excess of water in Lake Pleasant. It issues from the foot of the lake, in Venango Township, and empties into French Creek in Amity, after a course of some three miles.
The South Branch. -- The South Branch of French Creek rises in Concord Township, flows through that and Union, and unites with the main stream in Le Boeuf, a short distance below the Philadelphia & Erie Railroad bridge. It has a course of perhaps twenty miles. The valley of the South Branch forms the route in part of no less than three railroads, the Philadelphia & Erie, the Buffalo, Pittsburgh & Western, and the New York, Pennsylvania & Ohio.
Le Boeuf Creek was known to the French as the river Aux Boeufs and was at first supposed to be the main stream. It was so named from the number of cattle discovered by them on the flats near its mouth. The creek is formed by two stems, the eastern one of which rises on the Venango Township line, and flows across Greene Township, while the western has its source in Summit Township, the two coming together on the northern boundary of Waterford Township. On the edge of Waterford Borough the creek enters Lake Le Boeuf, from which it issues somewhat increased in size. It joins French Creek in Le Boeuf Township. From the head of the East Branch to the mouth of the creek, the distance is about twenty miles. The head of navigation was at Waterford Borough, just above the lake.
LAKE SHORE STREAMS.
Conneaut Creek, the second largest in the county, rises south of Conneautville, Crawford County, flows in a general northerly direction through Conneaut Township, nearly to the Springfield line, then turns abruptly westward and continues into Ohio. After changing its course it forms the boundary line between Conneaut and Springfield. In Ohio it flows nine miles westward to Kingsville, then makes another sudden bend to the east, and comes back eight mile to Conneaut, where it turns again to the north, and, after a further course of about a mile, empties into Lake Erie not far from the Pennsylvania line, forming Conneaut Harbor. It is a very crooked stream, the length from head to mouth being fully seventy miles, while the distance by an air line is not more than twenty-five. More costly bridges cross this creek than any other in ERie County. The East Branch of Conneaut Creek rises on the northern edge of Crawford County, flows through Elk Creek Township, and unites with the main stream a mile or so northeast of Albion. In the latter borough it is joined by Jackson Creek, which rises on the Elk Creek and Conneaut line, near Crawford County. The East Branch is about ten miles long and Jackson Creek some five miles.
Elk Creek rises in Waterford Township and flows in a general westerly course through McKean, Fairview and Girard Townships to Lake Erie, north of Mile Grove. The length of Elk Creek is between twenty-five and thirty miles. An effort was made to have the mouth of this stream made the terminus of the canal, and various projects have been advocated for establishing a harbor there. The name of Elk Creek was given from the number of elk found in its
162 HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
valley. Falls Run starts in Franklin Township and joins Elk Creek in Fairview. Brandy Run rises in Fairview Township and unites with Elk Creek in Girard. The West Branch, which also joins the same stream in the latter township, rises in Elk Creek Township. They are all small.
Walnut Creek, so named because its banks were lined with walnut trees, rises on the western edge of Greene Township, and flows through Summit, Mill Creek and Fairview, entering the lake at Manchester. Its length is about fifteen miles.
Crook Creek rises in Lockport Borough, and flows through Girard and Springfield to Lake Erie, a short distance from North Springfield. It is about ten miles long.
The Head run is the small stream that enters Presque Isle bay just above the Massassauga pleasure ground.
Cascade Run is historical because a portion of Perry's fleet was built at its mouth. It falls into the pay at the Pittsburgh docks, in Erie City.
Mill Creek is formed by two branches, the one rising in the extreme southeastern section of Mill Creek Township, and the other in the northwestern part of Greene. They unite near the southeastern line of the first-named township, and the stream enters the bay within the city limits of Erie. Mill Creek cannot be less than eight miles long.
Four Mile Creek rises in Greene, runs through the western edge of Harbor Creek, and enters the lake in the northeastern corner of Mill Creek Township, after a course of about eight miles.
Twelve Mile Creek heads on the line of North East and Greenfield Townships, and joins the lake in Harbor Creek. Its length is about seven miles.
Twenty Mile Creek rises in Chautauqua County, N. Y., and empties into the lake in North East Township, near the State line. It is from sixteen to eighteen miles long.
LAKES AND BAYS.
Lake Erie. -- The whole northern front of the county is bordered by Lake Erie and Presque Isle Bay, giving a shore line, with the various indentations, of fully forty-five miles. Lake Erie is one of the chain of "Great Lake," consisting, besides itself, of Lakes Superior, Huron, Michigan, St. Clair and Ontario. No one of these, except St. Clair, is excelled or equaled in size by any body of fresh water elsewhere in the world. The name Erie has been "held to mean 'cat,' thus giving the title of Cat to the tribe of Eries, and Cat Lake to the body of water." This, however, is disputed by one writer, who claims that the word "means raccoon in the original, and that the error as to meaning came into vogue by the confounding by the early French explorers of the wild cat with the raccoon, both of which animals abounded, but the latter being the most numerous." Recent measurements give the following results:
"The greatest length of Lake Superior is 335 miles; the greatest breadth, 160 miles; mean depth, 688 feet; elevation above the ocean, 602 feet; area, 82,000 square miles.
"The greatest length of Lake Michigan is 300 miles; its greatest breadth, 108 miles; mean depth, 600 feet; elevation, 581 1/4 feet; area, 23,000 square miles.
"The greatest length of Lake Huron is 200 miles; its greatest breadth, 169 m; mean depth, 600 feet; elevation, 581 1/4 feet; area, 23,000 square miles.
"The greatest length of Lake Erie is 250 miles; its greatest breadth is 80 miles; its mean depth is 84 feet; elevation, 578 7/16 feet; area, 6,000 square miles.
"The greatest length of Lake Ontario is 180 miles; its greatest breadth,
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY. 163
65 miles; its mean depth is 500 feet; elevation, 246 1/2 feet; area, 6,000 square miles.
"The length of all five is 1,265 miles, covering an area of upward of 135,000 square miles."
Lake Erie receives the outflow of Lake Huron through the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair and the Detroit River, and empties itself through the Niagara River into Lake Ontario. The outlet of the latter is the St. Lawrence River, which, after a course of some five hundred miles, falls into the Atlantic Ocean within the Dominion of Canada, the volume of water which it carries down begin greater than that of the Mississippi. By some geographers, the lakes are regarded as expansions of the St. Lawrence, which would give that river a length, from the source of the St. Louis, the most remote tributary of Superior, of about twenty-one hundred miles. Lake Erie is the fifth and most southerly of the chain. Its breadth varies from thirty to eighty miles. The narrowest part of the lake is between Long Point, Canada, and Presque Isle, and the widest is between Ashtabula, Ohio, and Port Stanley, Canada. The average depth of Lake Erie is less than that of any other of the chain, except St. Clair, which renders its navigation the most dangerous. It has few natural harbors, that of Erie being the best, but the mouths of a number of the larger streams have been dredged and protected by breakwaters, offering good facilities for shipping.
In commercial importance, Lake Erie excels any other of the chain. The Falls of Niagara, twenty miles below its foot, forbid direct navigation between Erie and Ontario. This has been remedied by the construction of the Welland Ship Canal. Vessels pass through this artificial channel to and from Lake Ontario, the St. Lawrence River and the Atlantic Ocean. The lake seldom freezer over more than a few miles from shore, but instances have been known of the ice being clogged between Long Point and Presque Isle so that teams and wagons have crossed. Navigation usually closes about the 1st of December and opens early in April, though it has sometimes begun much sooner. Several winters are recorded when vessels have sailed every month of the year. The streams that flow into Lake Erie are small, scarcely adding as much to its supply as it loses by evaporation. The body of water that flows over Niagara Falls is estimated not to exceed that received by the lake through the Detroit River. The lake abounds in fish, the most common varieties being white fish, pickerel, bass, perch, herring, sturgeon and mutton-heads.
It is subject to fluctuations of several feet in the height of the water, according to the direction of the wind. The general surface is also higher in some seasons than in others, depending on the winter and spring weather along the upper lakes.
Some unaccountable phenomena are reported by old settlers along the shores of the lake. Just after sunset on the 30th of May, 1823, several swells were observed at the mouths of Otter and Kettle Creeks, Canada, being twenty miles apart, and the water suddenly dashed to a height of nine feet at the former point and of seven at the latter. The weather was fine and the lake had previously been calm. A similar incident was witnessed at the mouth of Sixteen Mile Creek, in 1820, at that of Cunningham Creek, Ohio, in 1826, and again at that of Grand River, Ohio, in 1830. At the second point named, the water rose fifteen and at the third eight feet. Water-spouts are of frequent occurrence, and as many as three have been seen at one time. A whirlwind was experienced at Conneaut, Ohio, in September, 1839, which lifted the water of the lake to a height of thirty feet. Three monster waves are reported
164 HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
as having dashed upon the dock at Madison, Lake County, Ohio, the first of which was fifteen or twenty feet high. "In 1844 or 1845, a wave came into Euclid Creek fifteen feet in height, carrying everything before it. On November 18, 1845, the water at Cleveland suddenly fell two and eight-tenths feet during a high wind from the southwest. The Toledo Blade records a change of ten feet on December 5, 1856."
A remarkable phenomenon occurred at Cleveland in July, 1881, which is thus described by the Signal Service officer at that port: "At 5:30 in the morning there was a slight breeze from off land in a southerly direction, and at 6 o'clock there was almost a calm, while to the northward a dark cloud appeared like a curtain, and at the same time was heard a rumbling sound. At 6:20 there came up a large green colored wave, with no crest, which approached from the northwest with great rapidity, and soon after the passage of the wave the wind returned to its original quarter. The cloud, wave and wind seemed to travel together. The wave was about nine feet above the present level of the lake. The highest barometer in the country occurred in the city yesterday morning, viz., 30.15. The recoil of the wave along the line of the shore caused two smaller receding waves, parallel to the shore, and from fifty to seventy-five feet apart."
Similar occurrences are reported as having happened on the other lakes. Col. Charles Whittlesey, of Cleveland, has kept a record of some of the most prominent of these events, from which we learn that "on Lake Superior, in 1879, opposite Isle Royal, there was a sudden fall of four feet in the waters. When they returned, they did so with a rush, the vibration continuing for several hours. In 1834, the waters above the Sault Rapids suddenly receded, and in half an hour returned with great velocity. In August, 1845, Dr. Foster states that while in an open boat between Copper Harbor and Eagle River, an enormous surge, twenty feet in height and crested with foam, rolled toward the shore, succeeded by two or three swells. Dr. Foster observed repeated flows and reflux of the waters in 1847, 1848 and 1849, which preceded or followed storms on the lake. In 1858, D. D. Brockway reported, in a perfect calm, a sudden rise of one foot and three inches, and in another two and one-half feet. The Lake Superior News of July 17, 1855, reports extreme fluctuations between the hours of nine in the morning and four in the evening. Father Andre, in 1670, while on Green Bay, reported a three-feet rise, but this was accompanied by a northwester. On April 14, 1858, the Milwaukee Sentinel reported a change of level in Lake Michigan of six feet."
Bay of Presque Isle. -- The Bay of Presque Isle, forming the harbor of Erie -- the only one in the county -- is a quiet and beautiful body of water, about five miles long, with a breadth ranging from a mile and a quarter to nearly two miles. The long and narrow sand bank which divides it from the lake is known as the Peninsula, or in French as Presque Isle, meaning "nearly an island." Within a hundred years, the bay extended by a narrow channel half a mile further westward than it does now, the action of the sands and the earth brought down by the two little streams at the head having caused the restriction of its limits. The entrance to the bay is at its eastern end, between two long piers which create an artificial channel 200 feet wide. Before the Government improvements were made, the mouth of the bay was nearly a mile in width, and obstructed by a bar which afforded only six to eight feet of water. Now the largest vessels upon the lake can enter easily, and when within the bay are secure against the worst storms. Two noble lighthouses direct mariners to the entrance, while the course of the channel is made clear by a series of range lights. At the head of the bay, the peninsula is only a few
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rods in width, and so low that the water sometimes washes over during winter gales. Within a few years, this neck has been protected by a barrier of piles and heavy timbers, at the cost of the General Government. A channel was opened across this portion of the peninsula many years ago, and several vessels passed through, but the experiment was unsatisfactory, and the passage was allowed to close up. The greatest depth of water in the bay is nearly opposite the Pittsburgh docks, where the lead touches bottom at twenty-seven feet.
Misery Bay is a small subdivision of the bay proper at its northeastern extremity. Its name was suggested by Lieut. Holdup during the war of 1814, when the vessels of the Lake Erie squadron were anchored there. The gloomy weather that prevailed, and the uncomfortable condition of the crews made the title eminently appropriate. Within this little bay were sunk two of the vessels of Perry's fleet, the Lawrence and Niagara. The former was raised and taken to the Centennial Exhibition in 1876; the latter still lies at the bottom of the bay on the side next to the lighthouse. Both of the bays freeze over in winter, and usually continue closed until about the 1st of April. They abound in fish, and are a famous resort for anglers. A number of pleasure yachts ply upon the quiet waters of the bays, and sail boats and row boats are always to be had at the best houses along the public pier. (For a further account of the bay and harbor, see Erie City.)
THE INTERIOR LAKESS.
In the interior of the county are three small lakes -- LeBoeuf, Pleasant and Conneauttee -- all of which lie on the south side of the dividing ridge, and empty into French Creek.
Lake LeBoeuf -- This lake is in Waterford Township, on the southwestern edge of Waterford Borough. It is about two-thirds of a mile long, by half a mile wide. The lake is fed by LeBoeuf Creek and Boyd and Trout Runs. Its outlet falls into French Creek In LeBoeuf Township.
Lake Pleasant, in the southwestern corner of Venango Township, is about two-thirds of a mile long by a third of a mile wide, with a depth of five to fifty feet. It has no tributary streams except two tine rivulets, and is apparently fed by springs in the bottom. The outlet joins French Creek in Amity Township.
Lake Conneauttee lies on the northern side of Edinboro, and is partly in that borough and partly in Washington Township. Its length is about a mile, and its width a little over a half mile. The deepest water is about fifty feet. Big Conneauttee Creek enters at its northern extremity, and leaves at the southern, continuing on to Crawford County, where it unites with French Creek.
BRIDGES, CULVERTS, ETC.
Where there are so many streams, it follows as a consequence that there must be a great number of bridges. None of these are very extensive or costly compared with the immense structures that are found in other parts of the Union. The most important public bridges are those which span French Creek in Amity, Waterford and LeBoeuf Townships; Conneaut Creek in Conneaut Township, and upon the line between that township and Springfield; the South Branch of French Creek in Union City and Township; Elk Creek in Fairview and Girard Townships; Walnut Creek in Fairview and Mill Creek Townships; the Big Conneauttee at Edinboro; and LeBoeuf Creek in Waterford Township.
166 HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
The iron bridges of the "Nickle Plate" railroad over Crooked, Elk, Walnut and Twenty Mile Creeks, are the longest and costliest in the county. This company have made use of iron almost entirely in crossing the numerous streams along the lake shore. State street in Erie is spanned by three good iron bridges belonging to the railroad companies. The Philadelphia & Erie Railroad has a lofty trestle work over Mill Creek, near Belle Valley, and fine wooden bridges over LeBoeuf Creek, in Waterford Township; French Creek in LeBoeuf; and the South Branch in Union and Concord.
On the line of the Erie & Pittsburgh road, Crooked Creek is spanned by a formidable bridge and trestle work in Girard Township, while other bridges of importance cross Conneaut Creek in the township of the same name. The townships which are subjected to the most expense on account of bridges are LeBoeuf, conneaut and Springfield.
The Lake Shore Railroad formerly overcame the gullies of Twenty Mile Creek, Sixteen Mile Creek, Walnut Creek, Elk Creek and Crooked Creek by extensive trestle works, which have been replaced by substantial culverts and embankments that cost many thousands of dollars. Most of the streams upon the line of this road are now spanned by stone culverts or iron bridges. It is not to be doubted that wherever culverts are practicable the example of the Lake Shore Company will eventually imitated by the other railroad corporations.
Within the limits of Erie almost all the city bridges over Mill Creek have given way to durable stone culverts. An elegant culvert was thrown across the East Branch of Conneaut Creek, in Conneaut Township, for the use of the canal, which still remains, and is used for a public road.
The aqueducts of the canal over Walnut Creek, in Fairview Township, and Elk Creek in Girard, were at one time looked upon as wonders of engineering and mechanical skill.
CHAPTER V.
PRE-HISTORIC REMAINS AND NATURAL CURIOSITIES.
MANY indications have been found in the county proving conclusively that it was once peopled by a different race from the Indians who were found here when it was first visited by white men. When the link of the Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad from the Lake Shore road to the dock at Erie was in process of construction, the laborers dug into a great mass of bones at the crossing of the public road which runs by the rolling mill. From the promiscuous way in which they were thrown together, it is surmised that a terrible battle must have taken place in the vicinity at some day so far distant that not even a tradition of the event has been preserved. The skulls were flattened, and the foreheads were seldom more than an inch in width. The bodies were in a sitting posture, and there were no traces that garments, weapons or ornaments had been buried with them. On account of the superstitious notions that prevailed among the workmen, none of the skeletons were preserved, the entire collection as far as it was exposed being thrown into the embankment further down the road. At a later date, when the roadway of the Philadelphia & Erie road, where it passes through the Warfel farm, was being widened, another deposit of bones was dug up and summarily disposed of as before. Among the skeletons was one of a giant, side by side with a smaller
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[p. 167 graphic; p. 168 blank]
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY. 169
one, probably that of his wife. The arm and leg bones of this native American Goliath were about one-half longer than those of the tallest man among the laborers; the skull was immensely large, the lower jawbone easily slipped over the face and whiskers of a full-faced man, and the teeth were in a perfect state of preservation. Another skeleton was dug up in Conneaut Township some years ago which was quite remarkable in its dimensions. As in the other instance, a comparison was made with the largest man in the neighborhood, and the jawbone readily covered his face, while the lower bone of the leg was nearly a foot longer than the one with which it was measured, indicating that the man must have been eight to ten feet in height. The bones of a flat head were turned up in the same township some two years ago with a skull of unusual size. Relics of a former time have been gathered in that section by the pailful, and among other curiosities a brass watch was found that was as big as a common saucer.
An ancient graveyard was discovered in 1820, on the land now known as the Drs. Carter and Dickinson places in Erie, which created quite a sensation at the time. Dr. Albert Thayer dug up some of the bones, and all indicated a race of beings of immense size.
ANCIENT EMBANKMENTS.
Equally curious are the pre-historic mounds and circles found in Wayne, Harbor Creek, Conneaut, Girard, Springfield, LeBoeuf, Venango and Fairview Townships. The principal one in Wayne Township, which is still in a fair state of preservation, is in the valley of the South Branch of French Creek, near the road from Corry to Elgin, and but a short distance east of the large springs which furnish water for the State fish-hatching establishment. It consists of a vast circle of raised earth, surrounded by a trench, from which the earth was unquestionably dug, the whole enclosing about three acres of unbroken ground. The embankment has been much flattened and reduced by the elements, but is still from one to two feet high and from three to four feet wide at the base. When the first settlers discovered it, the interior of the circle was covered with forest trees, and stumps are still to be seen on the embankment, the rings of which represent an age of several hundred years. Half a mile west, a little to the north of the road, on a slight eminence, was another and smaller circle, which has been plowed down, leaving no vestige behind.
The circles in other portions of the county are or were similar in their general features, with one exception, to the above. Those in Harbor Creek Township were situated on each side of Four Mile Creek, slightly southeast of the big curve of the Philadelphia & Erie road, on points overlooking and commanding the deep gulf of that stream. The one on the west side of the creek is still in a good state of preservation, but the other has been obliterated. The two Conneaut circles were near together, while those in Girard and Springfield, four in number, extended in a direct line from the western part of the former township to the southwestern part of the latter. One of the circles partially occupied the site of the cemetery at East Springfield. In Fairview Township, there was both a circle and a mound, the first at the mouth of Fort Run and the second at Manchester. The latter, at the close of the last century, was about six feet high and fifteen feet in diameter. Somebody had the curiosity to open it, in the hope of finding treasure, but was rewarded with nothing more than a small quantity of decomposed bones. A tree was cut on one of the embankments in Conneaut that had attained the age of 500 years. The circles in LeBoeuf and Venango were very much like those above described.
170 HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
The position of some of these embankments would seem to favor the idea that they were provided for warlike purposes, while no speculation of that character is warranted by the location of others. That they were not the work of the Indians, as our fathers knew them, is the only thing of which we can be positively certain. The knowledge we possess of the red men assures us that they had neither the will nor the skill to provide such inclosures, either for defense or as places of worship. Every instinct of the mind impels us to the belief that they are the remains of a superior race to the Indians, who disappeared so completely and mysteriously that no trace of their numbers, their habits, their character, their origin, or their destiny exists in history or in tradition.
MORE STRANGE DISCOVERIES.
Other evidences of a different population from the red men, as well as of an utterly distinct animal kingdom, have been found in the county. In the year 1825, while one Francis Carnahan was plowing along the lake shore in Harbor Creek Township, he turned up a strange looking bead, which he cleaned and carefully preserved. It fell in to the hands of L. G. Olmstead, LL. D., a traveler and archaeologist of some reputation, formerly a resident of Erie City, but later of Fort Edward, N. Y., who unhesitatingly pronounced it to be one of the celebrated "Chorean beads" of ancient Egypt, and kept it until his death as a relic of rare interest and value. Similar beads taken from tombs near the Nile are in the Egyptian collection in New York City, one other is in a like collection in Boston, and altogether, there are some thirty in the great museums of antiquity in Europe. They were employed in worship and worn as amulets, and were among the most cherished possessions of the ancient people of Pharaoh. Presuming the Harbor Creek bead to be genuine, of which Mr. Olmstead was thoroughly convinced, how came it there and what is its history? To say the least, it adds additional testimony to the proof furnished us by the mounds and circles that a race of people inhabited this section anterior to the red men, who were far in advance of them in progress and intelligence. Who they were, where they came from, and what became of them remains an unsolved problem.
The skeletons of extinct species of animals have frequently been found in the county, but perhaps the most extraordinary discovery of that nature was made near Girard Borough in the early part of May, 1880. A man in the employ of Mr. W. H. Palmer, while plowing, turned up some bones of a mammoth, which, upon investigation by scientific persons, were thought to indicate an animal fifteen feet long and from twelve to thirteen feet high. One of the teeth weighed three and a half pounds, having a grinding surface of three and a half by four inches, and pieces of the tusks led to the opinion that they must have been eight or ten feet long. The most curious feature of the case is that the animals of this class at the present day are natives of the tropics and require the equatorial heat and vegetation of the same region to enable them to reach maturity.
An equally puzzling revelation occurred some twenty-five years ago in digging a ditch on the Strong place, in Girard Township, near the Springfield line. During the work, a basswood stump was removed, and the men employed at the task were surprised to find beneath it a black ash pole nearly fourteen feet long, sharpened and burned at one end, and smoothed and rounded at the other. The pole lay in a horizontal position, four feet below the surface of the ground, where it could not have possibly placed at a recent day with out some mark remaining of its method of burial. Nothing of the sort was
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visible, the earth being clay, as firmly compacted as if it has been deposited on the spot at the creation of the world.
NATURAL CURIOSITIES.
While the county is bare of objects of striking natural interest, such as are usually to be met with in districts of a mountainous character, it still contains some curiosities that are worthy of notice. Among these are the immense "gulfs" or gullies through which the lake shore streams descend from dividing ridges in the south to the level of the lake. The gulf of Four-Mile Creek, which is partially seen from the cars of the Philadelphia & Erie road at the sharp curve a little east of Erie City, extends from near the crossing of the Station road, about half a mile south of Wesleyville, to Ripley's mill, in Greene Township, a distance in a direct line of about four miles, and by the course of the stream of about one-half more. Its depth varies from fifty to a hundred and fifty feet, with sides that are almost perpendicular at some points, and its width is from one to two hundred feet. It is very crooked and irregular, and so dark and gloomy at certain points that the rays of the sun seldom penetrate it, and the grass and leaves are covered with almost perpetual dew. The deepest part is at a spot locally known as Wintergreen Gulf, some four and a half miles southeast of Erie, which has become a popular resort, and richly repays a visit from those who delight in the sublime and curious freaks of nature's handiwork. As the creek makes its way down the "gulf" it is varied by numberless pools and waterfalls, some of which are as pretty as the imagination can conceive. The "gulf," however, is very difficult to explore, and it will only be when some enterprising person or firm establishes more convenient means of ingress and exit that its interesting features will become generally known.
The "gulf" of Six-Mile Creek, which is wholly in Harbor Creek Township, is very similar to the other, and equally deserving of a visit. It commences about half a mile south of the Buffalo road and terminates a little north of the Station road, being about the same length as the gully of Four Mile Creek. Its deepest and most picturesque point is at the Clark settlement, where the banks are not far from a hundred and fifty feet high. Gulfs of a like nature attend every one of the lake shore streams, but are less picturesque, generally speaking, than the two above named. The most interesting are those of Twelve Mile Creek, near the lake; of Sixteen Mile Creek, on the southern part of North East Township; of Twenty-Mile Creek, near the New York line; of Walnut Creek where it was crossed by the old aqueduct; of Crooked Creek, in Springfield Township, and of Elk Creek, in the southern part of Fairview Township. In the vicinity of Girard Borough, the gulf of Elk Creek broadens out into a very respectable little valley, which, with its abrupt banks, sparkling streams, richly cultivated farms, and numerous buildings, forms one of the neatest bits of scenery in the county.
On Falls Run, a small stream that flows into Elk Creek from Franklin Township, is a cascade, some fifty feet in height, which is said to be quite attractive at certain seasons. In Girard Township, south of the borough, is the "Devil's Backbone," which owes its novelty, as in the other cases mentioned, mainly to the long continued action of water. The West Branch of Elk Creek winds around the base of a ridge for about one-fourth of a mile until it reaches its point. This it suddenly turns, and then runs in the opposite direction along the same ridge. The constant washing of the base has reduced the ridge to very slender limits, so that it has a width on top, in some parts, of barely two feet. The summit being about a hundred feet above the bed of the
172 HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
creek, and the sides of the ridge nearly perpendicular, few persons have the courage to risk life and limb by venturing along the narrow footway.
A beautiful waterfall formerly existed on the bank of the bay at the mouth of Cascade Run, was destroyed in the building of the Erie & Pittsburgh Railroad and dock, to the inexpressible regret of many admiring citizens. The mineral spring in Elk Creek Township should not be forgotten in a recital of the natural objects of interest in the county. It is situated a mile or more up Frazier's Run, a tiny stream that empties into the East Branch of Conneaut Creek at Wellsburg, and is reached through a deep, wide and peculiar gorge, which is a favorite spot in that section for picnics and camp meetings. The water is strongly impregnated with iron, and beneficial in several kinds of disease.
Neither should the glorious sunsets along the lake shore be omitted in this connection. A gentleman who has traveled over the most attractive sections of Europe informed the writer that he never saw, not even at the most renowned places along the Mediterranean, more charming and inspiring sunsets than he witnessed from the ridges back of Erie during the summer and autumn. The best elevation from which to view the setting of the sun, as well as the lake shore country in general, is from the top of Gospel Hill, south of Wesleyville, but the views may also be had from Russell Hill, between Erie and Belle Valley, from Nicholson's Hill on the road to Edinboro, and from a point on the Ridge road between Fairview and Girard.
CHAPTER VI.
INDIAN HISTORY.
IN the State Library of Pennsylvania at Harrisburg, are two old French maps, one printed in 1763 and the other in 1768, in which rude attempts are made to show the leading geographical features of portions of the United States and Canada. Both represent the south shore of Lake Erie as having been peopled by a tribe or nation of Indians known as the "Eriez." A note on the margin of each reads as follows: "The ancient Eriez were exterminated by the Iroquois upwards of 100 years ago, ever since which time they have been in possession of Lake Erie," On the earliest of the maps the following is printed at a point along the lake between Cleveland and Sandusky: "The seat of war, the mart of trade, and chief hunting grounds of the Six Nations on the lakes and the Ohio."
The information above given in regard to the Eriez is corroborated in a French book printed in 1703, describing the voyages of Le Baron de Lahonton, an adventurous Frenchman, who spent ten years among the Indians, commencing in 1683. "The shores of Lake Erie," he says, "are frequented by the Iroquois, the Illinois, the Oumanies, etc., who are so savage that it is a risk to stop with them. The Errieronens and the Andestiguerons, who formerly inhabited the borders of the lake, were exterminated by the Iroquois." Incidentally it may be added, he refers to the Massassaugues as a tribe living somewhere near the western end of the lake. The latter are also alluded to in a memoir on the Western Indians, prepared by M. DuChisneau, at Quebec, in 1681. Their principal village, according to this author, was upon a beautiful island twelve leagues above Detroit, where they numbered sixty to eighty
HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY. 173
men. Frequent reference is also made in the letters and memoirs of Frenchmen who visited this section, to the Flatheads, who would seem to have been settled somewhere south or west of the lake. All of the authorities agree that the date of the extermination of the Eriez was somewhere about 1650. It is claimed by most historians, that the word Eriez was the Indian expression for wild cat, but a recent writer contends that "this is a mistake, that it does not mean wild cat, but raccoon. The latter were abundant upon the lake shore, while the former were rarely seen." A French memoir, written in 1718, relates that one island in the upper part of the lake was infested to so great an extent by wild cats, that "the Indians killed as many as 900 of them in a very short time." It is possible that the French explorers, from whom the supposed meaning of the word has descended to us, mistook raccoons for wild cats. Records are in existence which show that the Eriez were visited by French missionaries as early as 1626. They were found to be living on terms of amity with the surrounding warlike tribes, and hence they were designated by the French, "The Neutral Nation." They were governed by a queen, called in the own language, Yagowania, and in the Seneca tongue, Geogosasa, who was regarded as "the mother of nations," and whose office was that of "keeper of the symbolic house of peace." The chief warrior of the tribe was Ragnotha, who had his principal location at Tu-shu-way, now Buffalo.
EXTERMINATION OF THE ERIEZ.
The Eriez were able to preserve their neutral character until 1634, when a bloody dissension broke out between the several branches of the Iroquois family. During its progress two Seneca warriors appeared at Gegosasa's lodge and were hospitably received. They were preparing to smoke the pipe of peach when a deputation of Massassaugues was announced, who demanded vengeance for the murder of their chief's son at the hands of the Seneca tribe. This the queen, in her mediatorial capacity, was prompt to grant. She even set out with a large body of warriors to enforce her decree, and dispatched messengers to Ragnotha to command his assistance. The visiting Senecas flew to their friends to notify them of the queen's course, and a body of fighting men was hastily gathered in ambush on the road which her army was obliged to travel. The Eriez had no anticipation of trouble at that point, and the first they knew of the presence of the Senecas was when they heard their dreadful war-whop. The contest that ensued was one of desperation. At first the queen's forces gained the advantage, but the Senecas rallied and compelled the Eriez to flee, leaving 600 dead upon the field of battle. No accounts have been preserved of any further hostilities at that time, and it is probably that peace was effected upon the Queen's agreement not to enforce her plan of revenging the grievance of the Massassaugues.
The war of extermination between the Eriez and the Iroquois occurred about 1650, and was one of the most cruel in aboriginal history, From the opening it was understood by both sides to mean the utter ruin of one tribe or the other. The Eriez organized a powerful body of warriors and sought to surprise their enemies in their own country. Their plans were thwarted by a faithless woman who secretly gave the Iroquois warning. The latter raised a force and marched out to meet the invaders. The engagement resulted in a complete victory for the Iroquois. Seven times the Eriez crossed the stream dividing the hostile lines and they were as often driven back with terrible loss. On another occasion several hundred Iroquois attacked nearly three times their number of Eriez, encamped near the mouth of French Creek, dispersed them, took many prisoners, and compelled the balance to fly to remote regions.
174 HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY.
In a battle near the site of the Cattauraugus Indian mission house, on the Allegheny River, the loss of the Eriez was enormous. Finally a pestilence broke out among the Eriez, which swept away greater numbers even than the club and arrow." The Iroquois took advantage of their opportunity to end all fear of future trouble from the ill-fated Eriez. Those who had been taken captive were, with rare exceptions, remorselessly butchered, and their wives and children were distributed among the Iroquois villages, never again to be restored to their husbands and brothers. The few survivors "fled to distant regions in the West and South, and were followed by the undying hatred of the Iroquois. * * * Their council fire was put out, and their name and language as a tribe lost." Sculptures and embankments on Kelly's Island, in the upper end of the lake, lead to the impression that it may have been the last stronghold of the Eriez.
Traces of the tribe were occasionally found by the French Jesuits in their wanderings through the eastern wilderness. A number were living as helots among the Onondagas of New York. They appealed to the missionaries to aid them in securing their freedom, but abandoned all hope when the request was refused. An early French writer, describing the Christian village of La Prairie, says a portion of the settlement was made up of fugitive Eriez. Students of Indian history are generally of the belief that the tribe was at one time considerably ahead of the other aborigines of North America in progress and intelligence.
THE SIX NATIONS.
After the extermination of the Eriez, the country on the south side of the lake was possessed by the Iroquois, as they were called by the French, or the Six Nations, as they were known to the English. The Six Nations were originally a confederacy of five tribes -- the Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas, Oneidas and Mohawks -- and were then styled the Five Nations. In 1712, the Tuscaroras, being expelled from the interior of North Carolina and Virginia, were adopted as a sixth tribe. Their territory stretched from Vermont nearly to the upper end of Lake Erie, embracing the head-waters of the Allegheny, Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers, and the seat of their "great council fire" was in the Onondaga Valley. The Senecas, who were the most powerful tribe, occupied the western part of the domain, having their headquarters on the Allegheny River, near the line between New York and Pennsylvania. The Indians in the northwestern part of this State were Senecas, intermixed with stray members from each of the other tribes. "The Historical Collections of Pennsylvania," a very reliable and valuable work, published in 1843, contains the following:
"The peculiar location of the Iroquois gave them an immense advantage. On the great channels of water communication to which their territories were contiguous, they were enabled in all directions to carry war and devastation to the neighboring or to the more distant nations. Nature had endowed them with height, strength and symmetry of person which distinguished them at a glance among the individuals of other tribes. They were brave as they were strong; but ferocious and cruel when excited in savage warfare; crafty, treacherous and overreaching, when these qualities best suited their purposes. The proceedings of their grand council were marked with great decorum and solemnity. In eloquence, in dignity and profound polity, their speakers might well bear comparison with the statesmen of civilized assemblies. By an early alliance with the Dutch on the Hudson they secured the use of firearms, and were thus enabled, not only to repel the encroachments of the French, but also to exterminate, or reduce to a state of vassalage, many Indian nations. From these
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they exacted an annual tribute, or acknowledgment of fealty, permitting them however, in that condition, to occupy their former hunting grounds. The humiliation of tributary nations was, however, tempered with a paternal regard for their interests in all negotiations with the whites, and care was taken that no trespass should be committed on their rights, and that they should be justly dealt with."
Jean de Lambertbille, a French officer in the Indian territory, writing under date of January 10, 1684, said: "Presents, conjoined with kindness, are arms which the Iroquois scarcely ever resist; on the other hand, threats, or even war, would have been equally fatal to the colony. * * * The Iroquois is daring, well armed, and makes war like a thief." M. Denonville, writing a year later, said of the various Indian tribes: "The Iroquois are the most formidable; they daily make prisoners among their neighbors, whose children they carry off at an early age and adopt."
FRENCH AND INDIAN INTRIGUES.
French and English Intrigues When the French and English began to extend their settlements westward, the lake region was under the full dominion of the Iroquois, with the Senecas as the immediate possessors of the soil. Both nations appreciated the importance of having the good will of the Indians, but the adroit French were more successful in winning their friendship than their blunt and less politic competitors. As far back as 1730, the French Indian agent, Joncaire, penetrated this section, adopted the habits of the natives, became on of their number, and "won them over to the French interest." The French built up a considerable trade with the Indians, which yielded an immense profit. It consisted largely of beads, knives, trinkets and other articles of small value which were exchanged for skins, and the latter sent to Europe. The English viewed the projects of the French with mingled jealousy and alarm, sent out numerous agents, and succeeded in some quarters in estranging the Indians from their rivals, but not to any extended degree. Some of their traders were located at LeBoeuf (Waterford) when the advance troops of the French reached that point in 1753.
Friendly as the Six Nations were toward the French in a commercial sense, they did not take kindly at first to the occupation of their country by armed bodies of the latter. The expedition of Sieur Marin (or Morang), in 1753, and the erection of forts at Presque Isle and LeBoeuf, worked them up to a spirit of bitter resentment. A delegation of Senecas waited upon that officer at LeBoeuf to inquire of him "by a belt" whether he "was marching with a banner uplifted or to establish tranquility." He answered that his purpose was to support and assist them in their necessities, and to drive away the evil spirits that encompessed them and disturbed the earth, meaning the English. His manner and conduct appeased them, so that the Allegheny River Senecas zealously assisted the French with horses and provisions. During the fall of the year, the chiefs of the several tribes bordering on the lake and the Allegheny River were called together at LeBoeuf, told by the French commander that he could advance no further on account of the winter, but would be on hand in the spring with a strong force, and threatened with vengeance if they took sides with the English. On Washington's visit to LeBoe |
