Page:Historical and Biographical Annals of Columbia and Montour Counties, Pennsylvania, Containing a Concise History of the Two Counties and a Genealogical and Biographical Record of Representative Families.pdf/32

 COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES Susquehanna the S ix Nations, composed of the M ohawks, Oneidas, C a w g a s, Onondagas and Scnccas, and later the Tuscarora Indians, claimed the right o f conquerors and reigned supreme, and with them all of the treaties between the whites and red men were nego­ tiated. T o these savages we owe the musical and romantic names bume by the different streams and sections of these two counties. Here w as the home of the famous chief, Tamenund. wliose name is perpetuated in the Society o f Tam m any in New Vork and by a county in the State o f Louisiana. The nam es o f Indian origin in Columbia and M ontour counties are Susquehanna, mean­ ing river of the winding shore; Chillisquaque, derived from "C hilisuagi," an Indian word meaning a place frequented by snowbirds (Conrad W ciscr crossed il M arch 8, 17 3 7; he called it “ Z illy Squacbe" in his d ia r y ); Muncy, from the Monscy trib e; Wyoming, M aughw auwanu— large plains; Catawese, pure w ate r; L oyalsocL middle fo r k; Mahonmg. T h e Indian name for B riar crcck w as Kawanishoning, for Pine creek, Tiadaghton and fo r R oaring creek, Popemetung. William Penn w as called Miquon by the Indians with whom he had dealings. INDIAN PATH S OR TRAILS

The valley of the Susquehanna was at one time thickly populated by the Indians and the remains o f many villages and burying grounds have been uncovered in the last century. The most important I i ^ c y from these savage predecessors is the foundation they laid for subsequent exploration and development by means of the numerous trails or paths they made through an otherwise trackless wilder­ ness. Through the dense forest, over the hills and amid.<vt the morasses ran these trails, scarcely fifteen inches wide, but worn to the depth o f a foot by their constant use from the feet o f generations o f savages and savage beasts, and patted to the density o f rock by this so ft yet resistless pressure. Tlic .^hamokin path began at Sunbury and continued up the W est Branch to the mouth of W arrior run, where an Indian town was located, and thence through the gap to the town o f Muncy, the home of the Mon.seys. The W yoming path left Muncy on the West Branch, ran up Glade run, thence through a gap in the hills to Pishing creek and across the creek, passing into Luzerne county through the Ncscopeck gap, and up the North Branch to Wyoming.

T he W yalusing path w as traced up Muncy crcck to near where the Berwick road crosses, then to Dushore, thence to the W yalusing flats. T he Sheshequin path ran up Bow ser's nui, thence to Lycom ing crcck, near the mouth of Milt crcck, thcncc up the Lycoming to the Beaver dams, thence down Towanda creek to the Susquehanna river, thence up the river to the Sheshequin flats. The Fishing Creek path started on the fl.its near Bloomsburg, ran up Fishing crcck through Roscmont cemetery to Orangeville, on lo or near Long pond, thence across to Tunkhannock creek. It was on this path that Moses VanCampen w as captured. One of the most frequently traveled trails passing through the county was that leading from W yoming to Muncy. It followed the river from W ilkes-Barre to Shickshinny; thcncc through the notch at the eastern end o f Knob mountain and along the northern base o f that ridge, entering Columbia county near Jonestown, in Fishingereek township, following thence down Huntington creek to the Forks and down Fishing crock to near the mouth o f Green creek; thence up that creek to a point below R ohrsbutg; thence along the northern base of the M t. Pleasant hills to Little Fishing creek at a point between M ill­ ville and E y c r's G ro v e; thcncc over the divide between the waters o f Fishing creek and the Chillisquaque, and thence northwestward un­ til it joined the path up Glade run from Muncy. It mu.st have been a prominent path or trait, as frequent mention is made o f it in the old sur-eys o f 1769 which cover the west­ ern part o f Columbia and the northern part o f Montour county. It made a short and direct route from the North Branch to (he W est Branch and w as ■free from any steep hills, in fact, the grades were so easy that when the time came to locate the WilkesBarre & Western railroad, from near W ashingtonville to Shickshinny, there was no place in a distance o f nearly twenty-five miles where this railroad was more than a h alf mile from this old trail over which the Indian traveled ages before. N ear the mouth of Green crcck above Orangeville this trail joined the trail from Ncscopcck to the G reat Island, which w as at what is now Je rse y Shore, in Lycoming county. A ll these trails found their outlet towards the settlements by w ay o f Shamokin and the river, and when first seen by the whites bore evidence o f constant use. There w as only one important trail to the southeastern settlements