kimerajamm
Joined: 28 Nov 2010 Posts: 785
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Posted: Sat Mar 12, 2011 10:21 am Post subject: Cogan House Township |
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Two Clovis points found in the Salladasburg area in a "stream site" are the earliest evidence of human activity along Larrys Creek (circa 10,000 BCE).[56] The earliest recorded inhabitants of the Susquehanna River valley were the Iroquoian speaking Susquehannocks. Their name meant "people of the muddy river" in Algonquian. Decimated by diseases and warfare, they had died out, moved away, or been assimilated into other tribes by the early 18th century. The lands of the West Branch Susquehanna River Valley were then chiefly occupied by the Munsee phratry of the Lenape (or Delaware), and were under the nominal control of the Five (later Six) Nations of the Iroquois. The Great Shamokin Path crossed the creek at a ford near its mouth; however, no trails of the indigenous peoples are recorded as having followed Larrys Creek north.[57]
On November 5, 1768, the British acquired the "New Purchase" from the Iroquois in the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, opening what is now Lycoming County to settlement. However, the Line of Property (or Purchase Line) border defined by "Tiadaghton Creek" dividing colonial and Native American lands was disputed. The colonists claimed this was Pine Creek, the Iroquois and other tribes that it was Lycoming Creek. Larrys Creek was in the disputed territory between these, so the illegal settlers there were part of the "Fair Play Men" system of self-government, with their own Declaration of Independence from Britain on July 4, 1776.[6][58]
In the Revolutionary War, settlements throughout the Susquehanna valley were attacked by Loyalists and Native Americans allied with the British. After the Wyoming Valley battle and massacre in the summer of 1778 (near what is now Wilkes-Barre) and smaller local attacks, the "Big Runaway" occurred throughout the West Branch Susquehanna valley. Settlers fled feared and actual attacks by the British and their allies. Homes and fields were abandoned, with livestock driven along and a few possessions floated on rafts on the river east to Muncy, then further south to Sunbury. The abandoned property was burnt by the attackers. Some settlers soon returned, only to flee again in the summer of 1779 in the "Little Runaway". Sullivan's Expedition helped stabilize the area and encouraged resettlement, which continued after the war.[59]
On April 13, 1795, Lycoming County was formed from Northumberland County, prompting further growth. In 1800, the "State Road" was the second major road built in the county and followed part of Larrys Creek in Cogan House Township as it ran from Newberry (the western part of Williamsport today) north to the Pennsylvania-New York state line near Painted Post, New York. Larrys Creek had a bridge near the mouth by 1806, the first of the major creeks in the county for which a bridge is mentioned.[60]
[edit] Lumber
Larrys Creek in Cogan House Township, heading south through State Game Lands 114. Most such land was acquired by the state after being clear-cut.
Like all creeks in Lycoming County, Larrys Creek served as an area for settlers to establish homesteads and farms. As logging became a major industry in the mid-19th century, the creek was a source of power for sawmills and other mills. The first sawmill on the creek, in what is now Mifflin Township, was built in 1799. The relatively low flow of water in the creek did not allow rafts of logs to be floated downstream to the river and the lumber boom at Williamsport (as they were on Pine Creek to the west).[25]50 cent mixtapes
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