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' ( PE4CH fO. -^70 * _ • -> Q Peach Bottom < ,0.^ / \ V#d*FORT CHRISTINA Ne w por t V-j-r'-E! w ' 1 m 1 n 9 1 0 n 1 New CostleV 0 t Scale of Miles 6 12 18 24 30 II I I 1 STATE LIBRARY T.q RiTHTTOM iqS7 Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2016 with funding from This project is made possible by a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services as administered by the Pennsylvania Department of Education through the Office of Commonwealth Libraries https://archive.org/details/indianpathsofpenOOwall Indian Paths of Pennsylvania BY Paul A. W. Wallace Commonwealth of Pennsylvania THE PENNSYLVANIA HISTORICAL AND MUSEUM COMMISSION Harrisburg, 1965 T H E P E N N S Y L V A N I A HISTORICAL AND MUSEUM COMMISSION (amis B. Stf.vf.nson, Chairman Herman Blum Mrs. Henry P. Hoffstot, Jr. Edwin B. Coddington Maurice A. Moor Ralph Hazeltine Charles G. Webb Mrs. Ferne Smith Hetrick Thomas Elliott Wynne John Ralph Rackley, ex officio Superintendent of Public Instruction Members from the General Assembly James Kepi er Davis, Representative J. Dean Polen, Representative Paul W. Mahady, Senator John H. Ware, III, Senator Trustees Ex Officio William W. Scranton, Governor of the Commonwealth Grace M. Sloan, Auditor General Thomas Z. Minehart, State Treasurer Administative Staff Sylvester K. Stevens, Executive Director William J. Wewer, Executive Assistant William N. Richards, Director Bureau of Museums, Historic Sites, and Properties Donald H. Kent, Director Bureau of Research, Publications, and Records Acknowledgments Though the author of this book has traveled many thousands of miles, first and last, on his own researches, he acknowledges a profound debt to such persons as the late William J. Laughner who have helped him trace Pennsylvania’s In- dian paths. It would be invidious to name a few and impossible to name all those— young and old, Indian and white; in Pennsylvania, New York, Ohio, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, and Tennessee— who during the past sixteen years have in one way or another guided the writer's steps. Whether on the coun- tryside, in the library, through the mails, at the Bureau of Land Records, or in the offices of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, their hos- pitality has always been of the Indian kind, instant and ungrudging. To all these the writer extends his warmest thanks. May their moccasins always be dry, their path free from logs and briars, and may the sun shine long in their lodges. In turning these labors into book form, the writer is particularly indebted to the members of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission who authorized the publication, and to the Executive Director, Dr. S. K. Stevens, who initiated the study and gave it the encouragement without which its completion would have been impossible. To Mr. Donald H. Kent, Director of the Bureau of Research, Publications, and Records, to Mr. William A. Hunter, Chief of the Division of Research and Publications, and to Mr. Harold L. Myers, Associate Historian, special thanks are due for the final editing of the manuscript and its metamorphosis into a printed book. Mrs. Gail M. Gibson, Assistant Historian, had the arduous task of preparing the index. Harrisburg, July 21, 1965 Paul A. W. Wallace Contents Page 1. Acknowledgments iii II. Introduction 1 III. Indian Paths 17 1. Allegheny Path 19 Armstrong Path 21 2. Bald Eagle Creek Path 22 3. Bald Eagle’s Path 23 4. Blue Rock Path 24 5. Bottom Path 25 6. Brokenstraw Path 25 Bullock Path 26 Bverly’s Path 26 7. Catawba Path 27 8. Catawissa Path 31 9. Catfish Path 32 10. Cattaraugus Path 33 11. Cayahaga Path 33 12. Chillisquaque Path 34 13. Conemaugh Path 35 Conestoga Path 36 14. Conestoga-Newport Path 36 15. Conewago Path 36 16. Conneaut Path 37 17. Conoy Path 38 18. Cornplanter’s Path 39 19. Cornplanter-Venango Path 41 20. Culbertson’s Path 42 Cumberland Path, Cumberland Road 42 21. Cussewago Path 43 David’s Path 43 22. Delaware River Path 44 Dunlap’s Path 45 23. Falls Path 45 24. Forbidden Path 46 25. Fort Hill Path 49 26. Frankstown Path 49 27. Frankstown-Burnt Cabins Path 55 28. Frankstown A'enango Path 56 29. French Creek Path 57 30. Georgetown Road 57 31. Glades Path 59 32. Goschgoschink Path 61 33. Great Path 62 v Page 34. Great Island Path 63 35. Great Minquas Path 64 36. Great Shamokin Path 66 37. Great Warriors Path 72 38. Hays Mill Path 74 39. Horseheads Path 75 40. Ichsua Path 76 41. Juniata Path 77 42. Kersey Road 78 43. Kishacoquillas Path 78 44. Kiskiminetas Path 79 Kittanning Path 79 45. Kuskusky-Char tier’s Town Path 81 46. Kuskusky-Cussewago Path 81 47. Kuskusky-Kittanning Path 82 48. Kuskusky-Ohio Forks Path 82 49. Kuskusky-Venango Path 83 50. Lackawanna Path 83 51. Lackawaxen Path 84 52. Lake Shore Path 85 53. Lehigh Path 88 54. Lenni Lenape Path (The Old York Road) 90 55. Logan’s Path 91 56. Logstown Path 93 57. Loyalhanna Path 94 58. Loyalhanna-Goschgoschink Path 94 59. Loyalsock Path 95 Lycoming Path 95 McKee’s Path 95 60. Mahanoy Path 96 61. Mahoning Path 96 62. Masthope Path 97 63. Maxatawny Path 98 Mead’s Path 99 Mcniolagomeka Path 99 64. Mingo Path 100 65. Minisink Path 101 66. Minsi Path 102 67. Monocacy Path 105 68. Morrison Cove Path 106 69. Muncy-Mahoning Path 106 70. Nanticoke Path 107 71. Nemacolin's Path (The Braddock Road) 109 72. Nescopeck Path 113 73. New Path 115 74. New Castle Path 116 75. Nippenose Paths 116 76. Ohio Path 116 77. Oil Creek Path 117 78. Okehocking Path 117 79. Old Peter’s Road 118 vt Page 80. Old Swedes Path 120 81. Oley Path 121 82. Oswayo Path 121 The Painted Line 122 83. Paxtang Path 122 84. Peach Bottom Path 123 85. Pechoquealin Path 124 86. Peholand’s Path 125 87. Penns Creek Path 126 88. Perkiomen Path 127 89. Perkiomen Lehigh Path 128 90. Pigeon Paths 129 91. Pine Creek Path 130 92. Pohopoco Path 132 93. Point Pleasant Path 133 94. Portage Paths 135 A. Allegheny Portage: Big Portage Path 135 B. Allegheny Portage: Little Portage Path 136 C. Chautauqua Portage 136 D. Cherry Tree Portage 137 E. Conestoga Portage 138 F. Conococheague Portage 139 G. Great Bend Portage 139 H. Presque Isle Portage 140 I. Tioga Portage 141 95. Punxsutawney-Venango Path 141 96. Raystown Path 142 97. Raystown-Chinklacamoose Path 147 98. Red Hole Path 148 99. Redstone Path 148 100. St. Joseph’s Path 149 101. Salt Lick Path 150 102. Sewickley Old Town Path 151 103. Sheshequin Path 152 104. Sinnemahoning Path 155 105. Standing Stone Path 156 106. Standing Stone-Fort Littleton Path 156 107. Sullivan’s Road 157 108. Susquehanna Path 158 109. Three Springs Path 159 110. Tioga Path 159 111. Tory Path 160 112. Towanda Path (The Genesee Road) 160 113. Tulpehocken Path 162 114. Tunkhannock Path 164 115. Turkeyfoot Path 165 116. Tuscarora Path 168 117. Venango Path 170 118. Venango-Chinklacamoose Path 174 119. Venango-Conewango Path 175 120. Venango-Kittanning Path 176 vii Page 121. Virginia Path 177 122. Walnut Bottom Path 178 1 23. Wapwallopen Path 178 121. Warm Spring Path 179 125. Warriors Paths to the Potomac 180 A. Through Bloody Run 181 B. Through Manns Choice 182 C. Through Raystown 184 126. Warriors Branch 184 127. Warriors Mark Path 186 128. Weehquetank Path 187 129. Wyalusing Path 188 130. Wyoming Paths 191 131. Wysaukin Path 192 IV. Appendices 193 1. The Kittanning Path 194 2. Hart’s Sleeping Place 195 3. I he Two Licks 196 I. The Forbes Road 198 5. George Washington’s Path to Fort LcBoeuf, 1753 200 V. Bibliographical Note 213 VI. Indices 215 Index of Names 217 List of Paths by County 227 viii Introduction THAT the road “controls all history,” as Hilaire Belloc wrote in 1924, 1 was as true of Indian paths of the eighteenth century as it is today of our transcontinental railroads and airways. A further truth expressed by that author and fully exemplified in Pennsylvania, is that the road “controls the development of strategics and fixes the site of battles.” Nemacolin’s Path and the Raystown Path set the course of Pennsyl- vania’s military history under Braddock, Forbes, and Bouquet. The Iroquois Path known as “the Ambassadors Road” (through upstate New York) held the Five Nations— the Iroquois Con- federacy-together, while their “warriors paths” extended the pax Iroquoia through Pennsyl- vania into territories far beyond. Indian paths were channels of trade and cul- tural diffusion. They explain the presence in Canada of shells from the Gulf of Mexico,2 and in New England of stone implements from the Jasper Quarries near Macungie, Pennsylvania.3 Yet, despite their undoubted historical im- portance, it is difficult to study and write about Indian paths today, since they have left few visible remains to catch the eye and submit to measurement and appraisal. The Indians of Pennsylvania have left no monuments in stone like the palaces and temples of the Mayas and Aztecs, which today make their ruined cities look amazing even in an age of engineering marvels. Our northern Indians con- structed no mountain-piercing aqueducts. They built no roads like those of the Incas, whose wide stone highways spanned gorges with suspension bridges, traversed high mountains, and ran through galleries cut out of solid rock to fend off avalanches. An authoritarian government could do things on a gigantic scale because it could commandeer the labor of the masses. But such autocratic methods were unthinkable to the In- dians in this part of the Western World. The Lenni Lenape or Delawares, who were the most populous nation of Indians in Penn’s Woods, were a fiercely independent people. They had little national cohesion and no con- ception at all of labor organized on the scale necessary for the construction of public works of any size. Their society was “atomistic,”4 broken up into many small, autonomous com- munities, each family possessing its own fields and its own hunting territory— this latter a tract of land, it might be, extending as far back into the woods “as one walks in a day and a half.” The Five Nations or Iroquois of New York State, who by the end of the seventeenth century were recognized to have authority of a kind over the Indians in Pennsylvania, possessed greater po- litical unity and had leaders of high caliber, but their numbers were too small— twelve or fifteen thousand men, women, and children— 5 to permit anything like the material achievements of the Mayas, Incas, or Aztecs. The genius of the Five Nations was shown in their political concepts. Their so-called “empire” was no tyranny. They exercised authority over their wards with tolerance and restraint. While they denied their “nephews’ ” right to declare war independently, they allowed them home rule and full freedom to enjoy their own language, re- ligion, and whatever else contributed to their distinctive way of life. The Five Nations had no thought of drafting the manpower of subject peoples to produce monuments for future ages to marvel at. There were, in consequence, no roads in their territory comparable to those which bound Cuzco, the Inca capital, to its outlying provinces. Yet it is unfair to Pennsylvania’s Indians and false to history to belittle their achievements as road makers. To compare their highways with those of the Incas, whose population was meas- ured in millions, or with our modern superhigh- ways, is pointless. It would be more profitable to compare Pennsylvania’s Indian paths of three or four hundred years ago with European roads of the same time. The difference would not be found excessive. Scotland, in the time of John Knox and Mary Queen of Scots, had no carriages and very few carts. Most of the roads were no 1 9 more than cattle paths. Travel was on horse- back, in horse-litters, or afoot. From this com- parison it may be seen that the footpaths of Pennsylvania’s early Indians, who lacked the horse or any other draft animal (the llama not being found so far north as this) , were as well adapted to the needs of the people they served as were the roads of Mary Queen of Scots when she made a "progress.” Our Indian highways were good of their kind, good for the uses to which they were put and for which they were intended: the moving about of moccasined men and women. That they were well laid out is attested by the fact that, even in the broken mountain country of this Common- wealth, where the road problem is complicated by countless springs from the hills, the Indian paths served the white man’s needs for a hun- dred or more years after his arrival— and, indeed, in some places are still serving them. It is worth remembering that most of Penn- sylvania’s early travel was by land, not water. Her rivers, breaking through their mountain "gaps,” are glorious; but they have always been —from the day of the Indian canoe to that of the steamship Susquehanna and Baltimore , which blew up in the Xescopeck Rapids—0 a disappoint- ment to travelers. For one thing, the eastern rivers, Delaware and Susquehanna, were shallow and swift, dangerous to descend and difficult to ascend. For another, none of her rivers broke through the Allegheny Mountains, which inter- posed a barrier between east and west. Still more important, the canoe birch did not grow in Pennsylvania, and the dugout (no mat- ter what it was made of, poplar, tulip tree, syca- more, or walnut) was heavy and clumsy. Even the elmbark canoe, which was much used in Pennsylvania, was awkward in the water and deadweight on the portage. Fortunately Pennsylvania was blessed with a climate that encouraged travel in the woods. The rainfall was moderate and in most places the underbrush was light. The Rev. David Mc- Clure in his diary for September 7, 1772, describ- ing the path from the Mingo Town (Rochester, Pennsylvania) at the mouth of the Beaver Rivet to Kuskuskies (New Castle) at its head, observed: "for a wilderness the traveling was pleasant as there was no underbrush and the trees do not grow very closely together."7 Johann D. Schoepf in his Journey' Through Some of the Middle and Southern United States of Xorth America (Erlangen, 1788) made the same observation: "The woods are for the most part entirely free from undergrowth which is very convenient for both the hunter and the traveler.”8 The evolution of the Indian trail into the bridle path, wagon road, and motor highway has been a slow, continuous process, which began early. General John Forbes in a letter to William Pitt of July 10, 1758, acknowledged indebted- ness to the Indians “who,” he said, "have foot paths . . . through these desearts, by the help of which we make our roads.”9 Most Indian paths were so well planned that, until the invention of the internal combustion engine, there was little occasion for any but minor changes in the route. Today the discom- fort caused by driving over frost-broken roads which had diverged from the Indian’s dry ridge routes, is a reminder of how good a road engineer the Indian was. Motorists using the Horseshoe Pike know what the South Mountain springs, freezing in January and thawing in February or March, can do to the subsoil. Undoubtedly the Pike was a convenience to settlers in the Swatara region behind Paxtang, but for grade and drain- age it was not to be compared with Peter Bczail- lon's bridle path, which ran without a serious obstacle from Downingtown to Bainbridge on the Susquehanna. Old Peter’s Road, as it was called, was dry, level, and direct. Those words, dry. level. and direct, give the key to Indian path making. Indian paths were dry, for the most part because they followed rivei terraces above flood level, or because they followed— especially in the soft-coal country— well-drained ridges. It must be understood, how- ever, that these ridges were not usually mountain spines like the Kittatinny or Blue Mountain where the Appalachian Trail (a white man’s imitation) takes its way. On the contrary, they were more olten modest elevations in the midst of wide valleys overlooked by the mountains. These “valley ridges,” as they might be called, are often followed today by modern roads: as, for instance, Pennsylvania Highivay 25 in the Lvkens Valley between Hegins and Sacramento, flanked by the Broad and Mahantango moun- 3 tains; Pa. 23 in the Conestoga Valley between Churchtown and Morgantown, flanked by the Welsh Mountains and Turkey Hill; and U. S. 422 (the Benjamin Franklin Highway) in Leba- non Valley between Lebanon and Hummels- town, as also on the Chambers Hill Road between Hummelstown and Harrisburg. In Western Pennsylvania, where much of the coun- try is cut up into a jumble of hills and glens, the Indian paths followed the highest ridges be- cause they alone offered a level course. Such were the Big Level in McKean and Elk counties, and the ridge followed by the Great Warriors Path between Brant Summit and Nettle Hill in Greene County. It was not everywhere possible for the traveler to keep his moccasins dry. Rivers and creeks had to be forded. Here and there were marshy places, as at Edmund’s Swamp on the Raystown Path in Somerset County and on the Venango Path in Crawford and Erie counties. In spring time, with the frost coming out of the ground, the trails were all soggy. Conrad Weiser warned against travel in the spring before the ground was dry and the rivulets were shallow. Here a word of caution is needed. Old jour- nals refer so frequently to swamps that one is tempted to picture Pennsylvania in its primitive state as a low, spongy desert. Nothing could be further from the fact. The “Great Swamp” to which John Ettwein refers in his journal of 1772. 10 comprised the greater part of Sullivan County’s mountains. The English word swamp , as used by our travelers, like the German word Schwaynm, did not necessarily indicate the stag- nant waters which the word today calls to mind. The old swamplands were often fat and produc- tive like “the very rich Bottoms, commonly called Swamps” mentioned in Hutchins’ journal of 1760. 11 Sometimes they were mountain lands— on the Pocono plateau, for example— where the ground was saturated with subsurface water, and so heavily overgrown with laurel, hemlock, and white pine that it was the blackness above rather than the moisture below that troubled the trav- eler. Such places were often called the “Shades of Death.” That name is found on a tract twenty miles long on the Pechoquealin Path to Wyo- ming in Monroe County and another on the Frankstown Path at Shade Gap. Edmund’s Swamp was on the headwaters of what is still called Shade Creek. Bishop John Ettwein, lead- ing a party of Moravian Indians from Wyalus- ing west over the mountains of Bradford and Sullivan counties in 1772, described “the Great Swamp, where the undergrowth was so dense that ofttimes it was impossible to see one an- other at the distance of six feet.”12 There were, it must be said, some swamps watery enough to satisfy the worst connotations of the word. On the Venango Path in 1800, John Heckewelder and his party found plenty of trouble in the swamp northeast of Meadville. “. . . we got into a beech swamp,” he wrote, “where not only was there a deep marsh but the many roots of these trees, roots which, as is well known, lie for the most part on or above the ground, made it dangerous for the horses, which often got a leg stuck.”13 Windfall could be the worst of the traveler’s worries. It is reported that the horses during a bad storm, when they heard the thunder of fall- ing green-tops, stood stock still and would not budge until the wind had gone down. The wreckage left by such a storm might remain a hazard to travelers for years afterwards. John Sharpless, a Quaker, on his way from Warren to Cornplanter's Town, noted in his journal for September 17, 1798, that “There was great abundance of windfall timber to cross, we thought on an average, one or more for every two perch. Some we could get around, and others we Jumped our horses over.”14 The Battle of Fallen Timbers was named for the wreckage left by just such a storm. Bishop Ettwein on the famous Hegira of 1772 from Wyalusing to Friedensstadt, City of Peace, on the Beaver River, approached the Allegheny in the wake of a similar storm. “We travelled over plains and highlands where the wind and fires had wrecked all the timber confusedly together, so that our progress was a difficult thing.”15 It was in this same place that Johannes Roth, Bishop Ettwein’s companion, confided to his diary that the windfall was so bad that if you fell over one log you cracked your nose on the next one.16 The traditional Indian greeting ex- tended to travelers, as reported by John Hecke- welder, was metaphorically (with a string of wampum) to draw “the thorns and briars out of their legs and feet,” and to heal “the sores and 4 bruises they had received by hitting against logs. . . .”17 How Pennsylvania's Indian paths managed so well to “keep their level” among the mountains is an engineering curiosity. They seized every' advantage offered by the terrain. Some moun- tains, ol course, could not be avoided and had to be climbed, especially those on the east-west paths which met the worst ridges of the Alle- gheny divide head-on. Some of these "Endless Mountains,” as the Indians called the Alle- ghenies, were circled around, the ridges being not actually interminable. River gorges cutting Pennsylvania’s mountains transversely — best known of which was the Delaware Water Gap— gave easy passage at water level through certain ot the ridges. At the Double Eagle (Klingers- town) in Schuylkill Gounty, the Tulpehocken Path took advantage of the cut made by Pine Greek through Mahantango Mountain. I here were also “dry gaps” (mountain passes such as the Wind Gap north of Bethlehem and Cowan Gap north of Fort London) which, though higher than the water gaps, helped the trails tf) keep their level. Cowan Gap, on the Raystown Path between Fort Loudon and Burnt Cabins, is nearly nine hundred feet lower than Tuscarora Summit, where the Lincoln High- way, U. S. 30, goes over to McConnellsburg. I he I ulpchocken Path, which ran from Sha- mokin (Sunbury) to Weiser’s (Womelsdorf) , was confronted by no less than six major moun- tain ridges, but it climbed only two of them, the Kittatinny (Blue Mountain) and the Broad Mountain. I he others— Second, Mahantango, Hooflandcr, and Mahanov — it cut through or circumvented with the aid of creek or river. Some paths climbed boldly to enable war parties to achieve surprise or shake off pursuit. Logans Path (from Lock Haven to Lew is town) , though innocent enough in purpose, was well known for the mountains it climbed, especially the Seven Mile Mountain. The Seven Mile Mountain (now more romantically but less accurately called the Seven Mountains) was once a formidable obstacle to the traveler. The Rev. Philip Fithian in 1775 was astonished at the heights he had to surmount: “On the Top of this-O Another 1— Another, & still higher!” He reveled in “the rough romantic Prospect” from the summit, where "the highest Tops of very Tall Trees are, apparently, two or three hun- dred Feet below us, fc within Gunshot of us. I was indeed afraid my Horse would miss a Step, (which would be of more Consequence than miswalking a Minuet).”18 Some of the paths— the Frankstown Path west of Me Mlister’s (Roxbury) Gap, for example, turned on themselves to avoid steep and rocky c limbs. I he surprising thing, however, is that most paths managed to keep so nearly direct a course. I hey were actually less winding, and therefore shorter, than most of the newer roads built by white men. The Indians had through- ways that kept an eye on ultimate objectives and went as straight as topography would allow: for example from Paxtang (Harrisburg) to the Forks of the Ohio (Pittsburgh), or from Muncy to Towanda. The white man’s roads, on the other hand, starting out with the same objec- tives, turned aside to avoid farms or to pick up traffic in small towns in the valleys. To go from Muncy on t fie West Branch of the Susquehanna to Towanda on the North Branch by modern roads is about eight or nine miles longer than by the old Indian path. The Pennsylvania Turn- pike marks, in this respect, a return to the In- dian’s way: keeping an eye on the distant ter- minus and allowing local feeders to take care of the side traffic. To go from Harrisburg to Pitts- burgh today by the Pennsylvania Turnpike is to cover about the same distance as by the Raystown Path two hundred years ago. That the modern road is no shorter than the trail, despite the ad- vantage of mountain tunnels, is largely due to the fact that, while the Indian was not afraid of making an occasional sharp ascent in order to keep his course true, the turnpike is graded for high-geared machines and top speeds, to which end it loops south through the Glades of Somerset County. I he most astonishing thing about Pennsyl- vania’s Indian paths is the complexity of the system they comprised and their adaptability to changing seasons and conditions of travel. Whether the State as a whole is examined, or a small district like the Cornplanter vicinity on the upper Allegheny River, the same convenient variety of paths is found. Replying to a request for information con- cerning the Indian path from Gonewango 0 (Warren) to Cornplanter’s Town, Merle H. Deardorff of Warren wrote: “Stnely it can come as no surprise to you that I don’t believe in this business of ‘the Indian trail.’ Maybe in some situations and some parts; but certainly not up here, generally. I know of seven early ways In- dians used to get overland between the River about Cornplanter and the River-Creek about Warren. Hatch Run was one. ... A path went up Indian Hollow. There were probably dozens of paths.”19 The best way to grasp the complexity of the system is to consider some of the problems that confronted early travelers when choosing their routes. The first is a hypothetical case. An In- dian traveler setting out from Shamokin (Sun- bury) at the Forks of the Susquehanna for Tioga (Athens) on the North Branch had a choice of three main paths: the Great Warriors Path, the Towanda Path, and the Sheshequin Path. Per- haps a fourth should be added, the Wyalusing Path; but, since on the testimony of John Ett- wein, this involved thirty-six crossings of Muncy Creek, it could be recommended only in the summer months. The Great Warriors Path was in some ways the best of the three. It ran up the north bank of the Susquehanna to the Wyoming Valley, site of Wilkes-Barre, Kingston, and their neighbor- ing towns. It crossed the Susquehanna at the mouth of the Lackawanna, passed under Camp- bell's Ledge, followTed the east bank past Tunk- hannock and Wyalusing, recrossed the river to Queen Esther’s Flats, and entered Tioga at the junction of the Chemung and Susquehanna rivers. Along this route there were no high mountains to climb. If the traveler were in need of provisions or companionship, this was cer- tainly the way for him to go. He would pass many settlements, a succession (during the eight- eenth century) , of Delaware, Shawnee, Ma- hican, and Nanticoke villages, besides a good scattering of individual Indian fields and cabins. Food and shelter were everywhere. It was a lei- surely route, being many miles longer than either of the other twro. Perhaps that is wyhy Conrad Weiser, on his ambassadorial journeys to Onon- daga, the Iroquois capital, did not go this way. Perhaps, also, it was the certainty of too much company that put him off. He may not have desired to spend time “sharing his message” with the chief men of every village, as Indian etiquette prescribed. Another way to Tioga was up the West Branch of the Susquehanna as far as Muncy, and from there by the Towanda Path over Allegheny Mountain to Hillsgrove, up Elk Creek, and over the Burnet Hills to Powell, Monroe, Towanda, and Tioga. This was by far the shortest path. In the days when the Susquehannocks flourished, it may have been used by runners between com- munities at Muncy and Tioga. Why Conrad Weiser never used it is a question. Perhaps be- cause of the hills, perhaps also because of the dangerous ford of the Loyalsock at Hillsgrove, where, some years afterwards, Baron Charles Boulogne, land agent for the Asylum colony, was drowned.20 The Sheshequin Path was the one Conrad Weiser always took. At Otstonwakin (Montours- vi lie) in his day, one could count on finding a canoe and an easy crossing of Loyalsock Creek. Avoiding the low ground around Williamsport, the Sheshequin Path, as he found it, ran north- west from Montoursville to a point on Lycoming Creek just below Hepburnville. It followed that creek to its source, and ran some distance down Towanda Creek, cutting north from this valley by one of several paths that crossed Sugar Creek to the Indian town of Sheshequin (Ulster) a few miles below Tioga. There was (except in flood- time) little climbing to be feared on this route. The giades were easy, and, since the path ran most of the way in a narrow valley, there was little danger of getting lost. The difficulties were of another kind. The Lycoming Valley (being flat and narrow, with sides steep and abrupt) flooded easily, submerged the path, and forced travelers to attempt the cliffs. Bohemia Moun- tain at the head of the creek had so bad a repu- tation for gathering storms into its bosom that the Indians said an Otkan or evil spirit had resi- dence there. Near the head of Towanda Creek, moreover, and on the cross-path to Sugar Creek, there was swampland. The soil was thin, the trees were weakly rooted, and frequent wind- storms littered the ground with fallen timber. Modern maps still note a place in the area called Windfall. The ground, wrote Bishop Spangenberg of his journey through this “Dismal Wilderness” in 6 1745, was “so full of wood and trees which the wind has piled up sometimes three to four loo-s upon one another that often one does not know how one may get through.”21 Even more oppres- sive than windfall on the Sheshequin Path was the darkness: "This is a wilderness,” wrote Spangenberg, "where one does not see the sun all day long. The woods are so thickly grown that sometimes one can hardly see twenty paces ahead.”22 I he second case chosen to illustrate the com- plexity of Indian paths is an actual one: Colonel Bouquet s dilemma at Fort Loudon during the Forbes campaign. Bouquet has won well-merited praise for prospecting an all-Pennsylvania route to Fort Duquesne. It should be remembered, however, that his achievement was not in dis- covering a new route through the forest but in selecting the best one from among many— best for an army with artillery during an unusually wet season, and in need of finding fodder along the way for its horses and cattle. A prime reason for taking the Pennsylvania route instead of the road Braddock had already hewn out of the forest, was that such places as Edmund’s Swamp and the Clear Fields offered better forage than the scanty meadows Braddock had found on the southern route. "I am told,” wrote Bouquet to I'orbes, June 11, “that Braddock’s army went 3 days without finding grass for the horses, which made them unfit to carry provisions; and he would have been likely to die of hunger, if he had beaten the enemy.”23 At fort Loudon Bouquet noted three routes from which he had to take his pick before setting his seven hundred axmen to work. He now wished, as he wrote to Forbes, lie had taken an- other route altogether, one bv way of Sherman Creek.-1 In the end he chose— as Burd had done before him in 1755— to go bv wav of Cowan Gap to Burnt Cabins. At Ligonier, some weeks later, the arms was again confronted with a bewildering choice of Indian paths. West of Ligonier, still another choice had to be made. At this last Parting of the Roads, it was decided to take the northern and much longer route, by way of the present Murrysville and Universal. I he reasons lor the choice were sound enough despite the lateness of the season which called for speed. Forbes desired to avoid possible ambush in the defiles of Turtle Creek, through which the southern path ran. No doubt, also, he wished to avoid the two crossings of the Monongahela which, although they had not caused Braddock’s defeat, had cer- tainly not softened the disaster. Another impor- tant consideration was the necessity of keeping army transport wagons on a well-drained ridge road, such as the northern fork offered, during the exceptionally wet month of November, 1758. Five years later, Colonel Bouquet was back again at the Parting of the Roads. This time he took the southern fork, again for good reason. It was during Pontiac's War, and Pittsburgh was in danger. Bouquet, accordingly, sacrificed safety for speed and took the more direct path by way of Bushy Run. I he Indians were waiting for him— not at Turtle Creek, as he may have ex- pected, but at Bushy Run, their forces not un- likely having been disposed near the Parting of the Roads in order to catch him whichever fork he took. After a long fight in as close and absorb- ing a contest as ever was waged between white men and Indians in Pennsylvania, Bouquet broke through and reached Pittsburgh in time. Accustomed as men are now to foam-rubber seats when they venture into Pennsylvania’s mountains, they have developed exaggerated no- tions of the discomforts and perils endured by those who entered them on foot. Life on the trail was neither as dangerous nor as monotonous as those who get their anthropology from Feni- more Cooper and other purveyors of fiction about “the unbroken solitude” of “the trackless forest” would have us believe. The forest was a busy place. The traveler fre- quently met Indians on the trail. Whether thtq were engaged in hunting, trade, war, diplomacy, visiting relatives across the mountains, or going as onlookers to some treaty, these encounters proved them not to be the fiends nineteenth century novelists collected dimes for persuading the public they were. Few people on earth have had as good a record as our Indians for courtesy and friendship to strangers. When white men met a party of Indians, it was good form to sit down with them under a tree and smoke a friendly pipe, meanwhile exchanging the news of the day. If the young men of the Indian party had been hunting, it was likely they would press / upon the strangers a haunch of venison or a gam- mon of bear’s meat. Hospitality was a prime virtue among these people, whether in their homes or on the trail. Even without such courtesies, food was seldom a problem to the traveler. If he did not carry a supply with him, he could probably find what he needed at habitations along the way. Failing that, if he had any weapon with him there were wild creatures in plenty to satisfy his appetite. David McClure on the banks of Little Beaver Creek in 1772 tells of “a wonderful prospect of game. In the middle of the Creek, a small flock of wild geese were swimming, on the bank sat a large flock of Turkies, 8c the wild pigeons covered one or two trees; & all being within musket shot, we had our choice for a supper. My Interpreter chose the Turkies, & killed three at one shot.”25 In season were grapes and red plums, huckle- berries and wild cherries. Travelers carried with them “parched meal,” which John Bartram in 1743 found to be “some of the best Indians travel- ing provision. We had of it 2 bags, each a gallon, from the Indians at Onondago, the preparation of it is thus. They take the corn and parch it in hot ashes, till it becomes brown, then clean it, pound it in a mortar and sift it; this powder is mixt with sugar. About 1 qr. of a pint, diluted in a pint of rvater, is a hearty traveling dinner, when 100 miles from any inhabitants.”26 Boiled rattlesnake was °;ood fare. Turhand Kirtland, a surveyor who accompanied General Moses Cleaveland to the Western Reserve in 1796, records the killing and eating of a large rattler with fifteen rattles: “I can say with the greatest Candor I never ate better Meat.”27 Finding accommodation for the night was no great problem. Count Zinzendorf might bring along a tent, and Conrad Weiser (in his later years) might carry a hammock, but for most travelers such luxuries were unnecessary. They were content to sleep on the gound beside a spring under the open sky. Boughs of hemlock and balsam made a soft mattress. In rainy weather there were Indian cabins to resort to. On Lycoming Creek Bishop Spangenberg entered in his journal for July 5, 1745: “Towards night we found two old Indian lodges, which we en- tered, as it was raining hard.”28 The Indians of Pennsylvania had no system of caravanseries such as those established at short intervals along the great highways of the Incas, but every ten or twelve miles on the more im- portant trails in Pennsylvania were shelters of one sort or another, places indicated on maps, journals, and surveys by such designations as “Cock Eye’s Cabin,” “Toby’s Cabins,” the “War- riors Spring,” or “Old King Nutimus,” to say nothing of deserted Indian villages such as “Kickenapaulin’s Old Town,” “Chartier’s Old Town,” “Kiskiminetas Old Town,” and many others that were nameless. Where there was an “Indian Field,” as so often noted on land war- rants, one would find good water, grass for the horse, and a cabin. If darkness approached or rain fell before a party of travelers reached one of these shelters, they could easily run up some cabins for them- selves. “Their construction is very simple,” wrote Ben- jamin Mortimer, who sawT many of them on his way to Niagara in 1798, “as their object is merely to afford a shelter against the rain, and to guard against the dampness of the ground. They are of an oblong form, generally about 9 feet by 6. In front they are about 5 feet high, and behind about 3 1/2 feet, that the roof may have a descent. The four corners are supported by as many stakes, which are joined together at top by cross pieces. The roof is made of the bark of trees, which is laid across in strips of equal length. The ground below is also covered with strips of bark, as large as can be procured. The sides are generally left open. In case of rain, they are sometimes enclosed with branches of trees. . . . The places chosen to encamp on are, open spots, where there is no danger from the fall of trees, or branches of them, in case of storm; where there is grass for the horses, dry wood to make a fire of, and a creek or spring not far distant. The first thing to be attended to in taking possession of a hut (if one does not build one for oneself) is to turn over all the pieces of bark which lie on the ground, to see if there be any snakes undei them. Then a large fire is made in front; after which preparation is made to go to rest.”29 In Penn’s Woods during the eighteenth cen- tury, these shelters were a common sight. Some- times the passing traveler found bear’s meat 8 hanging over the ashes in front of a hunter’s cabin, left as a gift to anyone in need. The best time to travel was in the spring and fall: in spring after the ice had broken up and floated out of the streams, but before the flies and heat of summer had set in; in fall when the mosquitoes had disappeared and the nights were crisp, but before the snow came. If one traveled out of season, it was the better part of wisdom to expect adventures. Ice and snow, especially on the northern slopes of the hills, was treacherous. During the spring break-up, some fords were im- passable. There is today at Doughertys Mills on I’n. 173 a bridge overlooking a ford of Slippery Rock Creek. There in summer you may sec boss in bathing trunks slide, knee-deep in the water, down a slippery rock chute (could the creek have been named for it?) and plunge off at the end into a deep pool. In summer it is beautiful to see, but how must this ford have looked to travelers when the ice was coming down? The most innocent ford could turn bad. A flash flood might change a rivulet into a torrent. On the larger streams, a slip sometimes plunged a man into swift water over his head. When John Harris and his party, escaping from the ambush at Penns Creek in 1755, retreated across the Sus- quehanna to Shamokin, four or five of his men were drowned at the ford. Martin Mack ran into trouble crossing the Le- high on foot early in April, 1745. “It was so extreamely cold,” he wrote, “that at first we tho’t it impossible for us to endure it. When we got about the middle, it was so deep & the Stream so strong, that I tho‘ every Minute it wo'1 bear me down, & my feet stuck between 2 great Rocks.”30 He got out at last by taking hold of a com- panion’s coat. forest fires provided an occasional exciting in- terlude. I here is no record in Pennsylvania of any escape so heart warming as that of Fenimore Cooper’s Pawnee, “Hard Heart," who wrapped himself in a fresh buffalo hide and sat a prairie fire out; but two Moravian missionaries, Martin Mack and Christian frolic k, provide out of their own experience on the path from Wapwallopen a memorable scene: The Woods were on Fire all round us [wrote Mack, April 19, 1745], so that in many Places it look’d very Terrible, X: many Times we scarce knew how to get thro’. The Trees fell down all about, because the Fire burnt so strong. One can’t easily get out of the Way, because there are such exceeding high Mountains on each Side of one. After Dinner we came between 2 great Mountains full of Rocks & the Fire burnt all round us, & made a prodigious Crackling. Before us, where we were to go, there was such a great Flame that we were a little afraid to go thro’ it & we co'1 find no other Way, to escape it. Br. Xtian went first thro’, The Flames went quite over his Head, it look’d a little dismal. He got thro’ but I did not know it, because I co'1 not see any more for the Fire. I call’d to him, he answered me immediately, & said: He got safe thro’. I thought I wod wait a little longer till it was burnt away a little more, but the Fire grew still greater. He call’d again & pray’d me to come thro’, say- ing Our Dr Savr had promised: “When thou walkcst thro’ the Fire, thou shall not be burnt; neither shall the Flame kindle upon I hee.” I ventured & went chearfully in X: thro’ the flame X: got safe thro’.31 White men traveling on horseback and in season were seldom endangered by bad fordings, and to encounter a forest fire was rare. A more common hazard was getting lost. If in this con- nection “the trackless wilderness” springs to mind, forget it. When an Indian lost his way in the woods, as he sometimes did, it was as likely as not because there were too many tracks and he had taken the wrong one. Fenimore Cooper’s feathered creations had, of course, no need of such refinements as footpaths. As long as there was moss on the trees (to distinguish south from north) their wants were satisfied: they “traveled by moss, as he expressed it. But real Indians, despite their undoubted skill in woodcraft, had the same reason for keeping to the beaten path that motorists have for preferring paved high- ways to plowed fields. Storm was the greatest of all trail wreckers. After a bad windstorm, travelers often found it easier to go round than over the fallen timber— if the wreckage allowed any choice. As the years passed and the fir giants by the trail laid them- selves down one by one, the path slowly adjusted itself, moving now to the right and now to the left. If a graph could be made of a trail, decade by decade, it would show a broad, blurred band, perhaps (as in the portage area between Presque Isle and French Creek) a mile or more in breadth. 9 There were times when travelers in the wake of a hurricane were forced by the tangled wind- fall to make so wide a detour that they became lost. That happened to John Heckewelder and Benjamin Mortimer on their journey from Beth- lehem to Fairfield in 1798. Even their Indian guide had lost his bearings. It is easy to under- stand why Indian war parties ( pace Fenimore Cooper) did not care to venture into new coun- try or off the main paths anywhere unless they had with them someone who knew the way. It is a popular belief that the wild animals, which were undoubtedly here before the Indians, deserve chief credit for the laying out of the Indian paths. When the Indians arrived, as a schoolgirl has put it, “they, spying the animals’ tracks, followed them when they wished to go anywhere, and in this manner the trails grew into paths.” That is a pleasant doctrine for animal lovers, but not the soundest anthropology. It is true, of course, that in tight places animals fre- quently pioneered the way. In a report to the Pennsylvania Assembly made in 1815 by “the Commissoners appointed to view the western waters,” it is said “that the path on which the elks and bears pass over the mountains, is uni- formly the best ground.”32 But wild animals do not harbor the same thoughts nor pursue the same objectives as men. As a boy, the present writer explored untraveled woods on the shores of the Georgian Bay. It often delighted him to find a deer track conveni- ently going his way. Just as often it disappointed him to find, when the path veered off— as it al- ways did in a few yards— that the deer and he had different concerns. So it was with David Zeisberger, as he records in his journal for October 8, 1767, in passing through the Pine Barrens on the Forbidden Path: “Occasionally, we came upon elk tracks . . . which have the appearance of a trail. We were misled by them into a terrible wilderness, so that it was necessary to retrace our steps and stop until John had had an opportunity to go through the woods and find the right trail.”33 That the buffalo (bison) in some parts of America was a pioneer in road engineering is beyond question. John Heckewelder and his party in 1792, returning from Vincennes by way of "the so-called Buffalo Salt Lick” (French Lick, Indiana) , where he saw the remains of a multi- tude of buffalo, wrote in his journal under date of November 9: A great many buffalo paths lead out from here, & we had the misfortune to take one of these instead of the right one. When, however, our guides, who were not with us at the time, returned, they led us back on to the right path and then went ahead again to hunt. After we had gone about 5 miles, a herd of buffaloes came directly towards us, as if they meant to run us down. We fired into them, killed one, & wounded another. We took all the meat of the former, which was very fat, with us on our horses.34 It is doubtful, however, if buffalo road-making amounted to much, if anything, in Pennsylvania. It is even questionable if the buffalo were ever at home in these parts, though some isolated bands may have wandered in at times. Archeologists to date have found no unmistakable trace of buffalo bones here. Documentary evidence is as negative as arche- ological. Early travelers in Pennsylvania (whether Jesuit and Moravian missionaries or English traders and soldiers) make no mention of seeing buffalo or their bones in Pennsylvania, though they tell eagerly enough about meeting these creatures outside the province. Reuben Gold Thwaites, in a note on the buf- falo in his edition of the Jesuit Relations , quotes Father Pierre Boucher's Histoire Veritable et Naturelle des Moeurs et Productions du Pays de la Nouvelle France (1663) : “As for for the ani- mals called Bufles, they are only found in the country of the Outaouais, some four or five hun- dred leagues from Quebec, towards the West and North.”35 Pierre de Bonnecamp, who accompanied Ce- loron on his expedition in 1749 down the Alle- gheny and Ohio rivers, wrote in his journal: “It was in the neighborhood of this river [Chino- daichta, which Thwaites identifies as the Great Kanawha] that we began to see the Illinois cattle [i.e., bison].”36 Reliable authorities on the distribution of the bison in North America— men such as J. A. Allen, Samuel N. Rhoads, John W. Griffin, John E. Guilday— agree in discounting traditions about 10 the slaughter of buffalo in Pennsylvania. Yet these same scholars, taking into consideration the early prevalence of buffalo place names west of the Susquehanna and the known presence of buf- falo in neighboring states (West Virginia, Ohio New York) agree that small bands of buffalo, breaking off from the main herds as was not un- common, very likely wandered into parts of Pennsylvania in search of food. In this connec- tion an interesting hypothesis has recently been advanced: that after 1600 a period of drought on the prairies drove small bands of buffalo east of the Mississippi, some of them perhaps crossing the hills into Pennsylvania’s river valleys.37 Whether or not such a migration is sufficient to account for the grooving out (in a few places) of the mountain path known as the Warriors Branch in Greene County, will have to await further evidence for decision. There remains an item in the traveler’s experi- ence of two hundred years ago that should not be neglected: the painted trees. A section of the Towanda Path, where it came down off the Bur- net Hills along Millstone Creek, was known among the early settlers— and still is known among their descendants — as “the Painted I>ine.”3S It received this curious name from the many examples found along the path of Indian picture writing. It was an Indian custom to strip a ring of bark from a tree and paint on the ex- posed surface, with red ochre and charcoal, the news of the day. These tree paintings remained visible sometimes for as long as fifty years.30 All Indians of Pennsylvania, whatever their spoken language, could read these pictures, which usually told about the exploits of hunters or a war party, although they were also used for other purposes. During the Braddock campaign, the French Indians painted trees (where the British were bound to see them) with "many threats and bravados.”10 In the vicinity of some Moravian Indian towns, trees were painted in Delaware with Scripture texts.'1 An excellent description of a warrior’s tree painting is given by Abraham Steiner in his jour nal for June 1, 1780, on his return by the Mahon- ing Path from Pettquotting to the Salt Spring, kuskuskies, and Pittsburgh: Here was a peeled tree on which some great warrior during the last war had in- scribed his exploits with charcoal & redstone. We got the Indians to interpret it for us. On one side 7 muskets had been painted, one on top of the other. This means that 7 warriors had gone to war from there. On the other side was a turkey to indicate that their leader was of the turkey tribe. Beside it were 8 thick diagonal lines one above another. This means that the chief had gone out on so mans raids. In the lowest line were 4 arrow's, in the 2nd two, in the 7th two. This means, each time the arrows were shown, that as many of them had been killed as there were arrows through the line. The first & seventh lines each had another arrow, which, how- ever, did not go through the line. These indicate as many wounded as there are ar- rows. The 6th &: 7th lines wrere connected at the ends with a mark. This means that the warrior after he had been out 6 times turned back from here & went out the 7th time without going home. Besides it lay 6 men one on top of another with their feet higher than their heads. This means that his party had killed so manv white people.42 Indian paths differed much in width and dis- tinctness. Main paths were broad and well trod- den. Mrs. Jane Whittaker, in the narrative of her captivity, described the path she traveled w'ith her Seneca captors in 1779 (from Tioga on the North Branch of the Susquehanna by w'ay of Painted Post to Irondequoit Bay on Lake On- tario) as “a foot path wrell beaten and quite wide enough in many places for twro abreast.”43 There wrere also wdiat wrere called "blind paths,” which had gone out of common use and were so overgrown as to be difficult to follow. Certain well-used paths were so narrow (for ex- ample, the Tulpehocken Path at the gap in the Second Mountain) that not more than eighteen inches separated the cliff that rubbed one’s shoulder on the one side from the bank that dropped to the creek on the other. A few paths were properly maintained, that is, kept free of underbrush and windfall. The metaphor used in diplomatic parlance to express international friendship, "keeping the road clear between us,” was not a mere poetical conceit. Hiawatha, among his legendary labors on man’s behalf, is said to have cleared the rocks and trees from the Mohawk River. The ideal, personified in this Iroquois culture hero, of forwarding civilization by keeping communications clear, was not lim- ited to the waterways. 11 The centers of Indian population in Pennsyl- vania, under pressure from the white man, moved westward from the Delaware River to the Susque- hanna River, and later from the Susquehanna to the Allegheny and Ohio rivers. During these changes some Indian paths dropped out of use and others were obliterated by the ruts of wagon wheels and the diversions incident to the white man’s traffic. As might be expected, it was the area around Philadelphia that first lost its Indian paths. Then, as the white population spread west and north from that center, the trails between the Delaware and the Susquehanna gave way be- fore the pack horse and the Conestoga wagon. Throughout the eighteenth century the westward movement continued, traders, missionaries, sol- diers, and settlers following the retreating Indian to his last Pennsylvania refuge in the Ohio- Allegheny Valley. Trails were widened into bridle paths for the traders’ pack trains. By the time of the Revolu- tion, bridle paths had been converted into wagon roads as far west as Pittsburgh. After the Revolu- tion the movement continued, converting wagon roads into railroads west “to the setting sun” and the Western Sea. A peculiar difficulty attending the study of Pennsylvania’s Indian paths derives from the fact, already noted, that these paths were so im- permanent. No stone, no “road metal,” was used on them, and only a few have survived. Our knowledge of them is, for the most part, gathered from records made by white men in historic times. In Pennsylvania today it is seldom possible to walk an old Indian path. Most traces have been obliterated by farming, lumbering, road making (whether wagon road or railroad) , house-build- ing, and strip mining. In mountain regions for- tunate enough to have escaped the plow or the bulldozer, evidence of Indian paths is so confused by the presence of animal tracks and lumber roads (where heavy timbers have been dragged along the ground) that it is not often one can be sure of treading in the footsteps of, say, a Logan or “Shingas the Terrible.” Nevertheless it is possible to map the old paths with a fair approach to precision. There are many sources of information available, many kinds of evidence which can be used as guides. Among these are early maps, travelers’ journals, land warrants and warrantee surveys, road view- ers’ reports, archeologists’ findings, reminiscences of oldtimers, place names, contour maps, the painstaking researches of local historians, and of course the researcher’s own field work. The early map makers of Pennsylvania— men such as Lewis Evans, Nicholas and William Scull, Reading Howell, John Adlum, and John Wallis— are useful in showing what to look for, but they are not of much help in detail. That is not sur- prising, because, for one thing, they were often mapping trails from hearsay; and because, for an- other, they concerned themselves chiefly with traders’ paths, disregarding those used only by Indians. What knowledge we have of these “warriors paths” comes for the most part from warrantee surveys and the narratives of white captives such as Moses Van Campen and Mrs. Jane Whittaker. Travelers’ journals often give closer detail on individual points: where mountains were climbed, gaps entered, streams forded. The swamps, springs, and salt licks mentioned by travelers are often identifiable, and so are the Indian villages. The Bureau of Land Records at Harrisburg is the pathfinder’s paradise. Applications, warrants for survey, and the surveys themselves are replete with Indian paths. In early days, before the land was cleared and settled, one of the best ways to identify a desired tract of land was for the appli- cant to mention the Indian path on which it lay. Surveyors often showed these paths on their drafts. Warrantee surveys cannot be counted on for one-hundred-percent accuracy in the delineation of trails, these being only incidental to the sur- veyor’s purpose; but the margin of error was not often very high. To correct it, it is usually suffi- cient to study a contour map or make a field trip. One learns to recognize good trail country: where, for instance, a path would choose the neu- tral around between stream heads, where it would prefer to keep to the stream level, what course it would take to avoid small bits of marsh not shown on the map, and where a crack in a cliff (unnoticed on the contour map) made room for a path to descend. 12 Early road viewers’ reports are sometimes of value, and so are advertisements for contractors to open roads — especially where, as with the I urkeyfoot Road of 1751, it meant no more than cutting the brush and removing the logs from an Indian path. Local tradition is not to he despised, though it calls lor some skepticism on the part of the in- quirer—as when the “Iroquois Fort” in Elk County is reported to have been where Lafayette wintered his army during the Revolutionary War. On die other hand, when a ninety-year- oldster takes you to the place where his grand- father showed him an Indian path crossing a corner of the ancestral farm, he may have given you a clue to a useful chain of evidence you might otherwise have missed. I here is some- thing in the field worker’s maxim, "Ask the oldest inhabitant.” The archeologist is the pathfinder’s natural ally. Both are Indian hunters, though one takes the high road and the other the low road. W’hen a good ‘dig” discloses a former Indian townsite, it may be presumed that this was at one time a trail terminal. The pattern of camp sites in a given area may sometimes give a clue to the course of a trail through it. River fords are often identifiable by flint chips and even pottery found at both ends. Archeological evidence, like every other kind ol evidence, must of course be used with caution. I he discovery, for instance, of an archaic site does not mean that a trail must have tun that way in historic times, for communica- tion routes changed with the centuries; and the fact that no arrowheads or pottery have been found in a certain neighborhood is not proof that no Indians went by that way. Pathfinding ol the kind described in this book is not, except in rare instances, primarily an ath- letic adventure. It is a matter of patient library i esearch, with field work (on foot or by motor car) in support. Every path has its own peculiar problems which the researcher must solve. To find a clue to any one ol these is his immediate task. He must settle down to a study of relevant data from an\ number of available sources. Authorities, written or oral, must be checked and rechcckec! .New facts must be gathered and explanations at tempted of what at first sight appears to be con- flicting evidence. Collecting facts, rejecting the irrelevant, making hypotheses, and testing these out— such is the engrossing, exasperating, never- ending process of trail hunting today, surely the nearest thing to the labors of Sisyphus known to man. Yet it has its compensations. It is an exhilirat- ing experience when, after chasing into limbo a dozen hvpothcses (as in the search for George Washington's path to Venango and Fort Le Boeuf) the hunter at last finds one that stands firm, supported by a large bodv of good evidence. The danger in this tantalizing game is that the player will too soon despair. The temptation to give up is great. It is difficult for anyone not to take panic when he surveys a vast accumulation of evidence in which the individual pieces all seem to point in different directions— each sepa- rate item, it may be, facing a variety of ways, and being capable of several contrary interpretations. At such a time trail hunting seems like chasing the Lost Chord through the Tower of Babel. But even under these circumstances, a har- mony can often be detected by the researcher if defeatism (the scholar’s death wish— and who can blame him?) has not stopped his ears. If his nerve holds, he may discover that, while each piece of evidence when taken alone is subject to interpretations out of key with the others, each piece has nevertheless one interpretation which is possible to every other piece. That, in all prob- ability, is the solution he has been looking for, and reason tells him to accept it. Reasoning from probabilities is, of course, not to be undertaken lightly. It is dangerous, and conclusions so arrived at call for further and most rigorous testing. But, if used with caution and judgment, it is a method of logic not despised by modern science, which often finds conclusions drawn from tested probabilities to be steps in the advancement of knowledge. THE MAPS This is an outdoor book, designed for quick use on the road as well as in the library or study. For that reason, in describing old paths modern place names are used without the apologetic word “present” prefixed to them in the text; and, on the maps, the names of today’s towns are freely scattered along the paths in order to help 13 travelers get their bearings. Modern towns are, however, distinguished from Indian towns by the symbols used: an open circle for the one and a black teepee for the other. Naming the trails brings out some awkward problems. Since the map maker has to work with- out the aid of a trail gazetteer, he finds it neces- sary now and then to make an arbitrary choice of name. That is because— although he recognizes that usage is the best authority— usage varies from place to place. The Great Shamokin Path, for example, was (and still is) commonly known along certain sections of its route as the Chink- lacamoose Path and along others as the Kittan- ning Path. All paths bore two-way traffic, and in consequence their names, when taken as was usual from their termini, were reversible. If one man took the Kittanning Path from Chinklaca- moose and another the Chinklacamoose Path from Kittanning, they would meet on the way. What was the Tulpehocken Path to Indians at Shamokin was the Shamokin Path to those at Tulpehocken. Sometimes paths were named for intermediate junction points, such as the Frankstown Path or the Raystown Path, both of which ran all the way from the Susquehanna to the Allegheny. But these same paths might also be named for any other stopping points along the way. It will readily be seen into what dangers this haphazard system of nomenclature leads the geog- rapher. He finds as many Kittanning, Venango, and Wyoming paths as there were travelers going from any direction to Kittanning, Venango, and Wyoming. The Mahoning Path west of Kuskus- kies was also known as the Salt Lick Path, the Tuscarawas Path, the Sandusky Path, the Detroit Path— or by the name cf any other place it may have led to. As time went on, certain trails settled down to possession of distinctive and permanent titles. There is today only one Towanda Path, one Pine Creek Path, one Sinnemahoning Path. Their names are established, accepted. They give the map maker no trouble. But it is different for him when, for instance, he has to decide which among the many paths to Wyoming (Wilkes-Barre) should be given sole title to the name Wyoming. In this particular case, the present writer has thought best to drop the name Wyoming alto- gether, and to call the paths radiating into Wyo- ming by the names of points on the outside rim: the Pechoquealin Path, the Wechquetank Path, the Wapwallopen Path, and the Lackawanna Path. When the writer has had to coin a new name, he has avoided the fanciful and used the names of the path’s two termini, such as Venango- Chinklacamoose Path (from Clearfield to Frank- lin) , which is so named to distinguish it from other paths headed for Franklin. To record all the names given each path at one time or an- other would certainly have made an unwieldy and confusing map. It is hoped that the present attempt to simplify the nomenclature has not compounded the confusion. The maps here printed are maps of Indian days. They do not, however, represent a single point in time. They show where, at any time after the coming of the white men, the main Indian paths are known to have run. Those around Philadelphia were already beginning to drop out of Indian use in William Penn’s day. By the end of the French and Indian War, most of the paths east of the Susquehanna had become white men’s roads. Toward the end of the eighteenth century, even Western Pennsylvania was losing its Indian paths. The present maps, however, make no attempt to date these changes. All the maps are limited to the contact period. Ancient Indian sites, unless they survived into the seventeenth century as Indian habitations or at least as objects of special note to travelers, are not here indicated. An occasional fort, Indian or white, has been shown when it helps to explain the course of a path. Little attention has been paid to settlers’ plantations unless, like Christo- pher Gist’s on Nemacolin’s Path, they were key points on important highways. A few “sleeping places” named after white traders have been in- cluded, such as Hart’s Log and Owen’s Stamping Ground, since they were as integral to the life of the trail as Tohogus’s Cabins or Fish Basket Old Town. For convenient reference, Indian names are as a rule given the spelling that English usage has made familiar: Buckaloons, for example, rather than Bough-Helloons, Paks-Kalunska, or Pequi- hillieu. If Indian town-, jump about on old maps as if the cartographers enjoyed repeating their names ad lib., do not be impatient: The early map makers of Pennsylvania were only recording the facts. Communities of Indians often migrated under pressure from the white men, as they did after the Walking Purchase. Towns named after chiefs such as Nutimus, Neolcgan ( Mewallika) , and Kickenapaulin arc in consequence found in a variety of places. Many communities moved for another reason, the exhaustion of the soil. Under such condition, the villagers would move to fresh cornfields a few miles away, build themselves houses, and apply the old town name to the new premises. This last custom helps to explain a curious ambivalence in Indian place names. They some- times represented not only the site of a particular town at a particular time, but also the whole area for main miles about. At Easton, for in- stance, in the Forks of the Delaware where the Lehigh and Delaware join, there was a town known as Lechawekink, the Forks. But the term “Forks of the Delaware” meant also a wide terri- toiv that included ihe sites of Na/areth, Bethle- hem, Allentown, and a good deal more besides. These perambulating villages are an embar- rassment to the historical geographer. If he does not put in all the Goschgosc thinks, someone will be disappointed. It would be useful if on the accompanying maps the dates could be given of each town’s tenure of its site, but this has not been found practicable. Some famous Indian towns have been omitted from the maps, Playwicky, lor example. The existence of such a town is well authenticated, but its exact site is in dispute. Only a few of the many “Indian fields,” which appear so frequently in warrantee surveys, have been introduced, and very few Indian cabins. Of these, just a sufficient number have been shown to remind the reader of what was once a common sight along Indian paths. One or two hunting cabins have been marked, a reminder that seasonal change of habitat was as well-established an institution among our early Indians as it is today among the inhabitants of suburbia. Some of the paths here described appear for the first time in print. But the present work makes no pretense to be definitive. Of the multi- tude of Indian paths in Pennsylvania, only a few have been introduced. Even of the main high- wavs, the through ways with which this study chiefly concerns itself, there were no doubt many variants which have not here been discussed. The writer can onlv .av that, after sifting a vast com- plexity of evidence gathered in the field, in li- braries, county court houses, the Bureau of Land Records and the State Archives in Harrisburg, he has given his best judgment on the location of some of the more important Indian paths. He hopes that other students of outdoor history may find this work helpful in building a still closer knowledge of our Indian heritage. FOR THE MOTORIST For those who use the suggested motor tours in connection with the paths, a word of explana- tion mav be in place. The Legislative Route numbers so frequently mentioned (e.g., L. R. 36130) refer to State roads other than the main highways such as f\ S. 30 or Pa. 23. Legislative Route numbers do not appear on the ordinary State road maps. They are, however, shown on county maps which may be procured from the Department of Highways, Harrisburg. When out on the road, the motorist will find the Legislative Route numbers on small, rec- tangular, white signs at terminal points and in- tersections. Motor roads mentioned in directions FOR THE MOTORIST are given the official num- bers issued b\ the State Department of Highways in 1961. Since the route numbers are still in process of revision because of the new Interstate Highwavs, motorists are advised to supply them- selves with the latest highway maps and to be alert for changes. 1 Quoted in Highways in Our National Life, Jean Labatut and Wheaton J. Lane, eds. (Princeton, 1950), P- v. ■ Herhcrt J. Spinder, ‘'The Indian Trail from the Time of the Mayas to the Colonial Period," Highways in Our National Life, 57. 1 Stone objects from the Jasper Quarries near Macungie and \ era Cruz, Pennsylvania, have been identified by John Witthoft in places a s far north as Cape Anne, Massachu- setts, as far south as Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, and as far west as Licking County in central Ohio. ‘Anthony F. C. Wallace, "Woman, Land, and Society: Three Aspects of Aboriginal Delaware Life," Pennsylvania Archaeologist, XVII (19-17), 1-35. 5 George T. Hunt, in The Wars of the Iroquois (Madi- son, Wis., 1940) , 8, puts their number at twelve thousand: “Yet after only thirty years of intermittent warfare the Iroquois proper [the Five Nations as distinct from their language kin, the Hurons, Susquehannocks, etc.], probably the least numerous of the tribes, never numbering more than twelve thousand, were in sole possession of the region east of Lake Michigan. . . See Frederick W. Hodge's Handbook of American Indians North of Mexico (Wash- ington, D. C., 1907) , 619: “About the middle of the 17th century the Five Nations were supposed to have reached their highest point, and in 1677 and 1685 they were estimated at about 16,000. In 1689 they were estimated at about 12,850; but in the next 9 years they lost more than half by war and by desertions to Canada, The most accurate estimates for the 18th century gave the Six Nations and their colonies about 10,000 or 12,000 souls. In 1774 they were estimated at 10,000 to 12,500.” See also William N. Fenton, “Problems Arising from the Historic Northeastern Position of the Iroquois,” Smithsonian Mis- cellaneous Collections, Vol. 100, p. 231: “Mooney (1928) credits the whole Iroquois with only 5,500 in 1600, which Kroeber (1939, p. 140) accepts, but considers too low (p. 133).” 6 Carl Carmer, The Susquehanna (New York, 1955) , 291. 7 Diary of David McClure, Franklin B. Dexter, ed. (New York, 1889) , 49-50. 8 Quoted by Joseph H. Bailsman, History of Beaver County Pennsylvania (New York, 1904), I, 23, n. 2. 9 Alfred Procter James, ed., Writings of General John Forbes Relating to His Service in North America (Menasha, Wis., 1938) , 141. 10 “Rev. John Ettwein’s Notes of Travel from the North Branch of the Susquehanna to the Beaver River, Penn- sylvania, 1772,” John W. Jordan, ed., The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XXV (1901) , 208-209. 11 "Journal of a March from Fort Pitt to Venango— And from thence to Presqu’Isle”: Thomas Hutchins Papers, II, 4, Historical Society of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia. 12 "Rev. John Ettwein’s Notes of Travel . . . 1772,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XXV, 208-209. 13 “A Journey from Pittsburgh to Le Beauff on the far Side of French Creek, in which all Roads, Tracts, and Places are Truthfully described,” Thirty Thousand Miles with John Heckewelder, Paul A. W. Wallace, ed (Pitts- burgh, 1958) , 376-77. 14 "A Visit to Cornplanter in 1798,” diary of Joshua Shaipless, repiinted from the Warren Times-Mirror, Cornplanter Volume, C-5, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission. w Ettwein, op. cit., 217. August C. Mahr, “Diary of a Moravian Indian Mission Migration Across Pennsylvania in 1772,” Ohio State Archaeological and Historical Quarterly, LXII No 3 (July, 1953) , 268. 11 Narrative of the Mission of the United Brethren among the Delaware and Mohegan Indians . fPhila- delphia, 1820) , 198-99. 18 Philip Vickers Fithian: Journal, 1775-1776, Written on the Vi rgi n ia -Pennsylvania Frontier and in the Army Around New York (August 8, 1775), Robert Greenhalgh Albion and Leonidas Dodson, eds. (Princeton, 1934) , 70. 19 Letter of January 25, 1952. 20 T. Kenneth Wood, “French Asylum,” Now and Then, IV (1933-1934) , 255. 24 Spangenberg’s Journal, June 10, 1745, contained in the "Bethlehem Diary,” Archives of the Moravian Church, Bethlehem, Pa. This passage is quoted as translated by Dr. William N. Schwarze, late President of Moravian College. 22 Ibid. “June 11, 1758: The Papers of Henry Bouquet, S. K. Stevens, Donald H. Kent, Autumn L. Leonard, eds. (Harrisburg, 1951) , II, 69, 73. 24 Ibid., 336. 25 David McClure's Journal, 1772, quoted by Joseph H. Bailsman, History of Beaver County (New York, 1904) , I, 23, n. 2. 29 Observations Made by Mr. John Bartram, In His Journey from Pensilvania to Onondago ire. (London, 1751) , 71. 27 Harlan Hatcher, The Western Reserve (Indianapolis, 1949) , 40, n. 4. 28 Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography , III (1879) , 63. 29 “Diary of the Brethren John Heckewelder and Benjamin Mortimer on their journey from Bethlehem in Pennsylvania to Fairfield in Upper Canada . . . 1798,” Thirty Thousand Miles with John Heckewelder, Paul A. W. Wallace, ed. (Pittsburgh, 1958), 351. 30 “A Short Account of Br John Martin Mack’s & Xtian Frolick's Journey to Wayomick & Hallobank,” April 20, 1745, Archives of the Moravian Church, Bethlehem, Pa. 31 Ibid. These extracts are printed by permission of the Archives Committee of the Moravian Church, and may not be reprinted without express permission from them. 32 Journal of the 26th House of Representatives (Har- risburg, 1815) , Appendix, 34-35. 33 “Diary of David Zeisberger’s Journey to the Ohio . . . 1767,” Archer Butler Hulbert and William Nathaniel Schwarze, eds., Ohio Archaeological and Historical Quar- terly, XXI, No. 1 (January, 1912) , 13. 34 Thirty Thousand Miles with John Heckewelder, 285; Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XII (1888) , 174. 33 Jesuit Relations, IX, 310, n. 33. 30 Ibid., LXIX, 177. 37 See John W. Griffin and Donald E. Wray, “Bison in Illinois Archaeology,” Illinois Academy of Science Trans- actions, XXXVIII (1945) . 38 T. Kenneth Wood, “On the Genesee Road,” Now and Then, V (1934-1935), 131: "There is another such stretch of wholly abandoned road, perhaps 5 or 6 miles long. . . . It is in Bradford County, perhaps exceeding this in wild and desolate beauty, for it has a mountain torrent accompanying it down through dark and gloomy North- rup’s Hollow. People are still living in there of the fourth generation who speak of this section as ‘The Painted in Line. I hey refer to the 1 owanda Indian Path.' which preceded our white man s road and which was found hy t Me early whites to be marked by a succession of painted trees." ’“George Henry l.oskiel, History of the Mission of the l rated Brethren Among the Italians in Xorth America ( London, 1 794) , 115. ‘"Robert Orinc's Journal, June 24. 1755. in VV'inthrop Sargent, I he History of an Expedition Against Fort Du Ouesne, in 175 5 (Philadelphia, 1855), 311. Vbraham Steiner's Account of His Journey with Johann Heckewelder from Bethlehem to Pettquotting on the Huron River near Lake Erie, and Return, 1789," Thirty Thousand Miles u-ith John Heckewelder, 248. ‘-Ibid., 254. Hits extract is printed by permission of the \ i chives Committee of the Moravian Church, and may not be reprinted without express permission from them. ‘ Narrative of the Captivity of Mrs. Whittaker, Daughter of Sebastian Strope, a Revolutionary Soldier," The quarterly Journal of the X ew York State Historical Association, XI, No. 3 (July, 1930), 239. INDIAN PATHS 1. Allegheny Path From Philadelphia to Pittsburgh and Kittanning The Allegheny Path ran from the Delaware River at Philadelphia, through Morgantown and Paxtang (Harrisburg) , to various points on the Allegheny River. The name, Allegheny Path, was sometimes used also of paths approaching the Allegheny from other places on the Susquehanna River. The section of the path between Philadelphia and Harrisburg was used by Indians and white men in the earliest colonial days. John T. Faris in Old Trails and Roads in Penn’s Land calls it “the oldest road in Pennsylvania which passed between the Delaware and the Susquehanna.” It appears to have originated on the high ground south of Frankford Creek in Philadelphia, and to have taken approximately the same course as the present Allegheny Avenue. It is interesting to notice that the name “Allegheny” turns up today at other places along this route. Approach- ing the Schuylkill River, the Allegheny Path heads— as does Allegheny Avenue, one of a series of avenues named for Pennsylvania counties— for Robin Hood’s (or Garrett’s) Ford below the Falls of the Schuylkill. Today Allegheny Avenue, before reaching the river, enters Ridge Avenue and is absorbed by it. From the point of junc- tion, however, the ford lies only a few hundred yards to the west, at the foot of what is still called Ferry Street. The suggestion that Allegheny Avenue may have taken its name from the Allegheny Path finds some corroboration in a survey dated “13 of May 1684” and entitled “Mapp of Swan Swanson and his two Brothers land near [east of] ye ffalls of Skeolkill on ye S E side there- of ” It shows, as approaching the river through “Vacant Indian Feilds,” “One Inden Road to Netopcomb or ye ffalls of Shoolkill.”1 West of the Schuylkill, the course of the Alle- gheny Path has been described by Margaret B. Harvey: “From the ford the road continued, as it still does, through the now existing [Fairmount] Park and to the present City Avenue, crossing it but a few rods distant from the new station, Bala, on the Schuylkill Valley R. R. . . . The road, with only a slight change in its direction, proceeds past the place once marked by cone-like cedars, and at a village formerly called Bowman’s Bridge, now Merionville, joins the old Lancaster road. The Ford road, with its continuation, the old Lancaster road, is thus the oldest highway in the state, founded upon the prehistoric Indian trail from the Delaware to the Susquehanna.”2 On the coming of William Penn, the first few miles of this Indian highway were turned into a bridle path. There is a tradition, reported by Margaret Harvey, “that William Penn him- self personally superintended the laying out of this road from Merion Meeting-house to Paoli, riding on horseback its entire length.” There is some evidence that the Allegheny Path crossed the Welsh Mountains not far from where the Pennsylvania Turnpike crosses them today, in the vicinity of Loag. About a mile be- yond the modern village of Conestoga, it joined what is now Pa. 23 (the Blue Rock Path) , and turning west in another two miles came to Mor- gantown. North of Morgantown the path is less difficult to trace. The terrain with its gentle ridges is a fair guide much of the way, and so is the pres- ence of some very old roads. Local tradition points to a solution of certain problems, and the names of two landmarks, Alleghenyville and Allegheny Creek, lend support to other evidence. For some miles the path, passing the site of the mysterious “Fingal Castle,” kept to a ridge, heading northwest for die Kluft in the South Mountain behind Conrad Weiser’s home at Womelsclorf. On its way, after passing what is now known as Hummels Store, the Allegheny Path crossed Allegheny Creek at Alleghenyville, an old town with a church dated 1767. At Knauers, a mile northwest of Alleghenyville, the modern road, still presumably following the Indian path, turns west, crossing Muddy Creek and continuing west to Reinholds. There it crosses Little Cocalico Creek and runs on to Blainsport, which lies between Kline Mill and Laurel Ridge at the toot of the South Mountain. 19 20 INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 1 It mav seem strange that the path should have crossed the South Mountain instead of going round it to Newmanstown, as the modern road does. But there is a strong tradition that die Kluft was on the path. Evidence that this is no romantic fancy is pro- vided by the terrain hereabouts. The southern slopes of the South Mountain are wet, full of springs and marshy patches. I he region is known as the Upper and Lower Swamp. The old Union church (Reformed and Lutheran) at Blainsport is still called the Swamp Church. To traverse this valley, in the days before culverts and road metal had been introduced, as something to be avoided by Indians, who liked, as the saying went, to “keep the moccasins dry.” The north side of the mountain was drv. So travelers went over the top of it and came down through the ravine known as die Kluft (the cleft) . There was a spring in it from which a stream descended, but the banks were dry and comfortably graded. On emerging from die Kluft the path came to a fork. On the right hand was the Tulpehocken Path, which ran north to meet the Great War- riors Path at Shamokin (Sunburv) . On the left, the Allegheny Path continued its northwest course to “The Indian Old Town” (Tulpe- hocken) in the eastern outskirts of Myerstown.3 I here it turned west and in about two miles crossed I ulpehocken Creek. In another four miles, following approximately the course now taken by U. S'. 122. it reached the city of Lebanon on Quittapahilla (.reek. I here is a local tradition that the Indian town of Quittapahilla (shown on Nicholas Scull’s “rough draught of ye Land purchased of Sassoonan 1732") 4 was beside two springs on one of the head branches of Quitta- pahilla Creek about a mile south of Avon. West of Lebanon the course of the path was pretty much determined, as is that of the modern load, by the natural drainage. It kept near the north bank of Quittapahilla Creek as far as the west end of Annville. There it forded the "Quit tie” and in another mile and a half crossed Kill ingei Creek. At Llershey it passed close by the never-failing Derry Spring— never-failing, that is, until tecently an unlucky blast from a nearby quarry changed the underground water channels and cut off Dern Spring's supply. Mere, where the modern town of Hershey now rises, the Alle- gheny Path intersected another Indan path run- ning south from Manada Gap to Conewago Creek. At the west end of Hummelstown, it forded Swatara Creek and climbed Chambers Hill to the west. On the summit, U. S. -122 breaks away, de- scending into a moist valley at Rutherford, while the Allegheny Path continued along the crest of Chambers Hill. Passing about half a mile north of Oberlin, and leaving on one side a steep path descending to Steelton, it went on to Paxtane and the well-known ford, a connecting link on what was described in 1784 as "the main road through the Continent.”5 West of Harrisburg, travelers to the Allegheny used any one of a number of Indian highways that are usually referred to under local names, such as the Frankstown Path, the New Path, the Raystown Path, and the Kittanning Path. The one most favored by earl) Indian traders was the Frankstown Path. Today at Hollidaysburg the street entering from Frankstown (a few miles to the east) is known as Allegheny Street. FOR THE MOTORIST From Allegheny Avenue in Philadelphia, turn north on Ridge Avenue. In about \/2 mile north of that road junction, turn left (west) to cross the Falls Bridge into Fairmount Park. From Fairmount Park the simplest way to follow the path, or at least some approximation to its course, is to pick up Pa. 23, follow it to City Line Avenue, there turn west to meet U. S. 30. and follow this latter (the Lincoln Highway ) through Paoli to Exton. There turn right (north) on Pa. 100, follow it to the Downing- town Exchange on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and take the Turnpike over the Welsh Moun- tains to Morgantown. Leaving the Turnpike at Morgantown, go north on L. II. 06089 toward Plowville and there take L. R. 06082. Follow this road across Allegheny Creek and through Alleghenyville and Knauers to the Lancaster County line and a junction with U. S. 222. Turn left and follow 222 for about 2 miles to Swartsville. There turn right (north) on Pa. 897 and follow it through Reinholds to Blainsport. At the west end of Blainsport, leave 897 (which follows Cocalico Creek to its head) , turn right (north) on L. R. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 1 21 36130, and follow it to the Lebanon County line. Continue with this road (which becomes L. R. 38014 in Lebanon County) across the summit of South Mountain and down through die Kluft to a junction with L. R. 38011 at Sheridon. Con- tinue on 38011 for about 4i/2 miles to Pa. 501. Turn right and stay on 501 for about 3 miles to its junction with U. S. 422. Take 422 left into Myerstown. From Myerstown west, U. S. 422 on its way through Lebanon, Annville, Palmyra, and Hershey to Hummelstown is never very far from the Allegheny Path. At the west end of Hum- melstown, now following 322, cross Swatara Creek and ascend the long hill beyond (keeping an eye left to see the mountains known as the Three Sisters) . On reaching the summit, make a sharp turn left onto L. R. 22018, and follow it for about 7 miles to its junction again with 322, which you will now follow into Harrisburg. The home of John Harris, founder of Harris- burg (219 South Front Street, now headquarters of the Dauphin County Historical Society) , over- looks the old ford. For the continuation of the Allegheny Path west of Harrisburg, see the Frankstown Path, the Raystown Path, and the New Path. 1 Warrantee Surveys, B 23-208 (1723): Bureau of Land Records, Harrisburg. 2 “Something about Lower Merion,” Historical Sketches . . . Historical Society of Montgomery County, I (1895) , 152. 3 See survey of 1731, B 23-96: Bureau of Land Records, Harrisburg. 4 Logan Papers, XI, 18: Historical Society of Pennsyl- vania, Philadelphia. 5Notes and Queries, Reprint, I (1894), 441. Armstrong Path From Carlisle to Kittanning Named for Colonel John Armstrong, who in 1756, during the French and Indian War, led the raid that destroyed the Delaware Indian town and military headquarters of Kittanning on the Allegheny River.1 See Kittanning Path. 1 See William A. Hunter, “Victory at Kittanning,” Penn- sylvania History, XXIII, No. 3 (July, 1956), 376-407. ALLEGHENY PATH 99 INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 2 2. Bald Eagle Creek Path o From Lock Ilaven to Frankstown The path from the Great Island (Lock Ilaven) on the West Branch of the Susquehanna, to Frankstown (near Hollidaysburg) on the Franks- town Branch of the Juniata, was part of a war- riors path from the Six Nations country south through Bedford and Wills Creek (Cumberland, Md.) into Virginia and the Carolinas. It was named for the creek on which the Mu nsec Dela- ware chief, Bald Faglc, had his village, Bald Eagle’s Nest (Milesburg) . The path ran southwest along the west side of Bald Fagle Creek from the Great Island to a point opposite the Nest. There it turned south, crossed the creek, and went up through the gap in Bald Eagle Mountain. Resuming its southwest course, it skirted the eastern slope of the moun- tain,1 passing the Warriors Mark, and came to the Little Juniata at what is now Tyrone. It crossed the Little Juniata at the Warriors Sleep- ing Place (about two miles northeast of Bell- O Philipsburg wood) , passed the site of Altoona and Hollidays- burg, and came to Frankstown at the junction of the Frankstown Branch and the Beaver Dam Branch of the Juniata. I he Bald Eagle Path was a link between two important trail complexes, north and south. At the Great Island, paths converged from different parts of the Six Nations country, the Sinne- To C 1 c or f i eld ^ C Tyrone / •/f O lV e \ "P A FRANKSTOWN To Royifown mahoning Path, the Pine Creek Path, and the Sheshequin Path; while at Frankstown paths converged from the Catawba and Cherokee country to the south, and from Kittanning, Chartier’s Landing, and the Forks of the Ohio to the west. FOR THE MOTORIST A good way to follow this path, with not much more inexactness than to be sometimes on the wrong side of a stream, is to take U . S. 220 from Lock Haven to Milesburg, Pa. 53 from Milesburg to Bellefonte, Pa. 550 from Bellefonte to Tyrone, U. S. 220 again from Tyrone to Hollidaysburg, and U. S. 22 from Hollidaysburg to modern Frankstown. This is at the old Frankstown Sleep- ing Place on the north bank of the Juniata nearly opposite the site of Frank Stevens orig- inal trading post. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 2-3 23 For a closer following of the path, leave U . S. 220 about 12 or 13 miles from Lock Haven, just before the highway crosses Bald Eagle Creek, and follow local roads along the west bank to Miles- burg. Take Pa. 53 as before to Bellefonte and there turn southeast on L. R. 13017 , which runs more or less as the path did between Buffalo Run and the slopes of Bald Eagle Mountain, Follow it for about 5 miles to L. R. 14036 and continue with the latter in the same direction for a little over a mile. Then turn left and run to Pillmore, where you will turn right on Pa. 550. From that point follow 550, 220, and 22 as already indicated. 1 See Warrantee Surveys A 19-27, B-ll, B-30. 3. Bald Eagle’s Path From Milesburg to Clearfield This path was named for the Munsee Delaware chief, Bald Eagle, who lived for a time on Bald Eagle Creek. There were several ways of negotiating the formidable Allegheny Front between Bald Eagle’s Nest and Chinklacamoose. They are described in a letter of May 11, 1953, to the present writer from Mr. Vernoy Davis of Philadelphia, who formerly lived at Philipsburg and was a friend of the late J. A. Bilger, a local hunter. Mr. Bilger, having been over these paths in his youth, mapped them for Mr. Davis in 1948. The identi- fication points noted are from quadrangles of the old U. S. Geological Survey Maps (scale 1/62500 or approximately an inch to the mile) . The descriptions are Mr. Davis’s. 1. Up Wallace Run One path came up the Bald Eagle Valley from Milesburg (Bellefonte Quadrangle) to Snow Shoe Intersection, Wingate Post Office, turned right up Wallace Run, taking the right-hand branch and following the railroad to Rhodes (Snow Shoe Quadrangle), then down Jonathan Run, con- necting with the Great Shamokin Path. 2. Up Dicks Run A second path from Snow Shoe Intersection (Bellefonte Quadrangle) continued southwest up Bald Eagle Creek to Dicks Run, south of Union- ville, Fleming Post Office. It turned right up Dicks Run, following the left-hand branch to its head. Here the path branched at the intersection of the peak of Houston and Rush Township lines. The right-hand path went north along the ridge, passing the letter “B” in the word "Bear Rocks” (Bellefonte Quadrangle), along the ridge to the right of Beech Creek, and on north to Snow Shoe, where it connected with the Great Shamokin Path. Coming back to where this second path branched at the top of the Allegheny Ridge, the left-hand branch turned southwest, following the dotted road along the township line (Plv.lipsburg Quadrangle). The path followed the general di- rection of this road to the elevation mark 2081, then turned west, connecting with another dotted road below the letter “h" in “Rush,” crossing Black Moshannon Creek where the road does, then west, crossing Six Mile Run at Shields’ Dam, and on west to the branches of Black Bear Run, north of Pine Hill. Here Mr. Bilger said the path branched again. The right-hand branch followed the ridge northwest between the State Road on the left and Onemile Run on the right, to the road leading west into Philipsburg. It crossed Cold Stream where the bridge does now, into the outskirts of Philipsburg, then turned northwest, crossing the Moshannon Creek. From here on, Mr. Bilger was not sure of its direction except that it ended at Clearfield. Back to the branch at the head of Black Bear Run (Philipsburg Quadrangle): At the Y north of Pine Hill, he said, the left-hand branch went southwest to Klondike School (about a mile and a quarter north-northeast of Osceola) . crossing the Moshannon Creek here when the crossing at Philipsburg was flooded. 3. Up Laurel Run Mr. Davis has heard it said that the present road from Port Matilda (Philipsburg Quadrangle) up Laurel Run to Philipsburg was also an Indian path. From Philipsburg north the Bald Eagle Path followed the Warriors Mark Path through INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 3-4 21 present Wallaceton to the headwaters of Roaring Run, where it joined the Great Shamokin Path and followed it to Clearfield. FOR rill MOTORIST Up Wallace Run. From Milesburg take U. S. 220 to Wingate at the mouth of Wallace Run. Furn right on Pa. 53 and follow it through Rhodes, Snow Shoe, and Moshannon to its junc- tion with U . S. 322. Furn right on 322 and follow it to Clearfield. A closer tracing of the highlands across which Bald Eagle’s Path ran (U. S. 322 descends into the narrow valley of Roaring Run) will be found under the Great Shamokin Path. Up Dicks Run. From Milesburg follow U. S. 220 up the Bald Eagle Valley to the mouth of Dicks Run, about If/, miles beyond Unionville. There turn right (west) on L. R. 14008 and follow it to its junction with Pa. 868. It is impos- sible in this mountain area to follow the Indian path at all closely by modern roads. It will be best, therefore, to continue on 86S to its junction with Pa. 50-1 and follow the latter to Philipsburg, where it runs into U. S. 322. Follow 322 to Clearfield. Up Laurel Run. From Milesburg follow U. S. 220 to Port Matilda. There turn right on U. S. 322 and follow it to Clearfield. 4. Blue Rock Path From Phoenixville to Washington Boro The name “Blue Rock" is a comparatively modern one, derived from a rot k painted blue at a Susquehanna River ferry-landing south of Washington Boro. But the ford nearby (usable in low water) had been known from ancient times by the Indians. It connected paths from the Schuylkill Valley with the well-known Monocacy Path, which took of! for Maryland anti Virginia from a point on the opposite shore of the Susquehanna River. There is little explicit evidence of Indian use of what came to be known as the Blue Rock Road; but a tradition is recorded by Martin 1 1. Brackbill1 that it was once an Indian path, running from Phoenixville along the ridge route taken now by Pa. 23 through Seven Stars, Bucktown, knauertown, Warwick, Elverson, Morgantown, Churchtown, Blue Ball, and New Holland to Lancaster. From there, according to Mr. Brack- bill. it followed the Millersville Pike to Millers- ville, crossed the Little Conestoga about where Pa. 999 does, and reached the Susquehanna about halt a mile south of Washington Boro. “The Blue Rock Road," he adds, “which is still in existence and still very much in use, was one of the most important thoroughfares in Pennsylvania in colonial times.”2 INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 4-6 The Blue Rock Ferry, it should be added, “was the most prominent along the Susquehanna before Wright’s Ferry was established, being the one used by the Cartleges, James Patterson, Peter Chartier, and other Indian traders.”3 The Blue Rock itself is now submerged by the waters of the Safe Harbor Dam. See also the French Creek Path. FOR THE MOTORIST From Phoenixville, follow Pa. 23 to Lancaster. There take Pa. 999 (the Millersville Pike) through Millersville. About 4 miles beyond Millersville, cross L. R. 36005. In about another 1/2 mile you will come to a Y. Take the left fork, a township road, and follow it to the river. 1 “The Manor of Conestoga,” Lancaster County His- torical Society, Papers, XLII (1938), 30. 2 Ibid., 23. 3 D. H. Landis, “Why Was Postlethwaite’s Chosen and then Abandoned as the County Seat of Lancaster County?,” Lancaster County Historical Society, Papers, XII (1908) , 161. 5. Bottom Path Opposite Sunbury and Northumberland The Bottom Path lay at the base of the cliff bearing what is known locally as Shickellamy’s Face, overlooking the Susquehanna from the west, opposite Sunbury and Northumberland. When the river was high, travelers from Shanro- kin (Sunbury) ascended the mountain, followed the Penns Creek Path along the summit for about two miles, then turned north (about where U. S. 15 crosses) , and went down to meet the river at Winfield. The Bottom Path, while sub- ject to occasional flooding, was shorter and kept its level. For evidence, see Application No. 3503 (New Purchase, 1769) and the ensuing survey (C 74- 119) showing a narrow tract extending along the bank of the Susquehanna for over a mile. The warrant reads: “On the West side of Sus- quehanna opposite to Fort Augusta to include the Bottom Path & Run of water & part of the Mountain from one Narrows to the other.” FOR THE MOTORIST U. S. 11 from Selinsgrove follows the Bottom 25 Path under the cliff as far north as the bridge to Northumberland. From that point, no road except the railroad continues under the cliff. To get through to Lewisburg, the motorist who has come this far will have to cross the river to Northumberland, turn around, and come back to the traffic circle at the end of the bridge from Sunbury. There he will pick up U. S. 15 and follow it over the mountain to Lewisburg. 6. Brokenstraw Path From Irvine to Waterford The Brokenstraw Path was named for its east- ern terminus, Buckaloons (Irvine) . The name is a corruption, according to Merle S. Deardorff of Warren, of a Delaware word, Paks-kalunska, meaning broken straw, the Faille Coupee of French records. Buckaloons was an important Indian center at which paths converged from Cornplanter’s Town, from Goschgoschink (West Hickory) , from Venango (Franklin) , and from Fort Le Boeuf (Waterford) . The existence of this path is well documented, but its exact course in the western reaches is not known. From Buckaloons it ran up Broken- straw Creek past Youngsville and Pittsfield to Corry, Union City, and Waterford. West of Waterford the country was marshy and difficult. The path, accordingly, was not much used and its course has not been mapped. Walter Jacks in the Erie Motorist of August, 1945, page 2, sug- gests that it went to Edinboro on Edinboro Lake, thence to Albion, Pa., and terminated “at the mouth of the Cuyahoga River at Cleveland.” John Hockstattler, a Swiss settler, was cap- tured in 1755 by a party of Delawares and Shaw- nees, who took him from Berks County to Fort Le Boeuf and from there to Buckaloons. He escaped in the spring of 1758 and on examina- tion gave this brief description of the Broken- straw Path: “After 3 Days travel [from Fort Le Boeuf] Est south Est, I was brought to Buxotons [Bucka- loons] Cr[eek] where it emptys in the Ohio [Allegheny] whe came to an Indian Castle wich lys upon the Corner of it, then I was keept Prisoner all that time.”1 26 INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 6 FOR THE MOTORIST lake U. S'. f> at Irvine (Buckaloons) and fol- low it through Youngsville, Pittsfield, Corry, and Union City to Waterford (Fort Le Boeuf) . 1 Wilderness Chronicles of Xorlhwestern Pennsylvania, Sylvester K. Stevens and Donald H. Kent, eds. (Harris- burg, 19-11) , 120. Bullock Path A name sometimes given to the Goschgoschink (Cushcheating) Path, north from the forks of the Big and Little Mahoning creeks. See the History of Indiana County, Pennsylvania (New- ark, Ohio, 1880) , 250. Byerly’s Path From West Newton to New Kensington I he name Byerly’s Path was sometimes given to the Sewit kley Old Town Path because it passed Andrew Byerly’s hu m and trading post on Bushy Run at the intersection of the Raystown Path, where Harrison City is today. During Pontiac’s War, Byerly was driven from his home. On August 1, 1763, he was with the advance guard of the army moving west under Colonel Henry Bouquet to relieve Pittsburgh. As they approached Bushy Run, the guard was almost wiped out by the Indians, but Byerly and six others escaped and reached the main army. I hat was the beginning of the Battle of Bushy Run. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 7 27 7. Catawba Path From Olean, N. Y., to the Carolinas The Catawba Path, which ran from Ichsua (Olean) , N. Y., on the upper Allegheny, through Indiana and Uniontown, Pa., to Morgan- town, W. Va., and so on to the Carolinas, Ken- tucky, and Tennessee, was one of the most im- portant Indian highways in North America. It was known by many names as it passed through Pennsylvania: the Great Catawba War Path, the Iroquois Path, the Iroquois Main Road, the Cherokee Path, the Tennessee Path. With the connections it had at each end, it extended from Canada to Florida and west into the Mississippi Valley. It was used by Iroquois agents keeping an eye on the international scene. It was used also at times by war parties of the Iroquois and of the Catawbas or Cherokees, each striking at its hereditary enemies, north or south. The exact course of this path is not every- where easy to trace, because in early days it was not much used by white men. Travelers usually noted its presence only where it intersected the better-known east-west traders paths. The out- line that follows is based on evidence from many sources and of different kinds: early maps, war- rants and surveys, travelers’ reports, local tradi- tion, etc. After crossing the Allegheny River at Ichsua (Olean) , the Catawba Path wound a way south- west over high ridges past the present towns of Fourmile, Rock City, and Knapp Creek, into Pennsylvania. Following a course that took it about six miles east of Bradford, it crossed Kinzua Creek at Tallyho and went on to Cartwrights Crossing and East Kane. Passing near Highland Corners in Highland Township, it crossed the Clarion River at the mouth of Millstone Creek, ran south to Clear Creek, Sigel (where a branch to Kittanning turned west) , and Brookville. Fording Redbank Creek at Brookville, it con- tinued south for a few miles (probably through Stanton and Worthville) , and then veered a trifle east to cross Mahoning Creek at what is now Hamilton. Turning south again to Trade City, Georgeville, and Kellysburg, it crossed Crooked Creek at or near Gaibleton, intersected 28 INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA : No. 7 the Kittanning-Frankstown Path at Shavers Spring (now McElhaney Spring near the In- diana State College campus in the town of Indiana) , passed through Peholand’s Town (Horner) , crossed Black Lick Creek at what is now Palmerton, veered east to ford the Cone- maugh River near Squirrel Hill1 (at New Florence) , and resumed its southwestern course. It climbed the ridge overlooking the present Tubmill Reservoir, passed the site of Old Fort Palmer (three-quarters of a mile north of Fort Palmer Presbyterian Church on Pa. 711) , which is not to be confused with the town of Fort Palmer a mile west of the church, and came to the Indian town of Loyalhanna (Ligonier) , where it intersected the Raystown Path. Fording Loyalhanna Creek, it ran southwest by way of Pleasant Grove to Stahlstown, and changed to a full west course by present Acme and Laurelvillc. Keeping on the highlands that border Jacobs Creek, it went on by Prittstown to Stewart’s Crossing of the Youghiogheny at the mouth of Mounts Creek in the outskirts of Con- nellsville. It passed through present Uniontown (approximately by way of Morgantown Street, U. S. 119) , forded Georges Creek a mile north of Outcrop, crossed Grassy Run at Gans, and at the mouth of Grassy Run (below Point Marion) forded the Cheat River. Entering West Virginia, it proceeded along the ridge through Stewarts- town to Morgantown. The Kittanning Branch of the Catawba Path, as already noted, broke off at what is now Sigel in Eldred Township, Jefferson County. It passed through Corsica, Frogtown, and Rockville, crossed Redbank Creek near Leatherwood Sta- tion, crossed Mahoning Creek above its mouth, came to the Indian town of Mahoning on the Allegheny River south of the creek mouth, and passed on down to Kittanning. Another branch of the path crossed the Monongahela River in Redstone Township, probably at Arcnsburg or East Riverside. 1 hen, running south, it forded Dunkard Creek about two miles northeast of Mount Morris in Greene County. This branch of the Iroquois war path marked the western limit of survey authorized by the Iroquois Indians who in 1767 accom- panied Mason and Dixon. CATAWBA PATH, CENTER INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 7 29 FOR THE MOTORIST To trace the Catawba Path at all closely on modern roads is, except in a few places, impos- sible. But if you are content to have a general view of the mountain terrain crossed by this path, a quick and easy trip may be had by fol- lowing these first directions: (1) From Olean take Ar. Y. 16A, Pn. 646, and Pa. 346 to Bradford. At Bradford take U. S. 219 to Lantz Corners, U. S. 6 to Kane, Pa. 68 to Marienville, Pa. 899 to Sigel, Pa. 36 through Brookville to Punxsutawney, U. S. 119 to Homer City, Pa. 56 to Seward, Pa. 711 to Donegal, Pa. 31 to Laurelville, Pa. 982 to Connellsville, and U. S. 119 from Connellsville to the crossing of the Cheat River at Point Marion and so on to Morgantown. (2) A closer following of the Catawba Path, frequently crossing it and occasionally tracing it exactly for a few miles, may be had on this more detailed route: At Olean cross the Allegheny River, take N. Y. 16A, and follow it south over Flatiron Rock to its junction with Pa. 646. Follow 646 through Rew and Aiken. The road zigzags widely, but crosses the path here and there. About li/2 miles beyond Aiken, bear right, cross the railroad tracks, and follow them to meet L. R. 42008. Turn left (south) on 42008, follow it to Lafayette, and continue south on a Forestry Road to meet L. R. 42005. Turn right, follow 42005 to U. S. 219 and stay with the latter to Lantz Corners. There turn right on U. S. 6 for East Kane. Turn left in East Kane on a township road for the Seneca Spring, an old landmark on the Ca- tawba Path. Follow the township road for about li/2 miles all told to its junction with L. R. 42001, which, on crossing from McKean County into Elk County becomes L. R. 24006. Follow it to Highland Corners, turn right on Pa. 948 and then left on a township road running southwest to Sackett. There take the right fork, a Federal Forest Road, through Owls Nest to meet L. R. 24002. Follow the latter through Hallton to Bell- town. There cross the Clarion River and imme- diately turn right (west) on Pa. 949. After about 3 miles, Pa. 949 picks up the Catawba Path and follows it to Sigel. There the motorist will leave 949, which follows the Kittanning branch. CATAWBA PATH, SOUTH INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 7 30 From Sigel take Pa. 36 through Brookville to Stanton and McGarey. About half a mile south of McGarey, fork right on L. R. 33010 and in about a mile fork left on a township road headed for Worthvillc. In Worthville take L. R. 33016, follow it for over I miles, and then fork right on L. R. 33076. Gross Pa. 536 and head south for Hamilton. South of Hamilton, cross the Indiana County line, pick up /.. R. 32151, and follow it to Trade City, where the Catawba Path intersected the Great Shamokin Path. There cross Pa. 95-f and take Pa. 210 south to Georgeville. At Georgeville take L. li. 32081 and follow it to its junction with U. S. 119. Turn right on 119 and follow it through the town of Indiana to Homer City. At Homer City turn left (east) on Pa. 56 and follow' it, first east and then south (the trail cut across this angle) , to Seward on the Conemaugh River. From New Florence, follow Pa. 711 through Stahlstown to Donegal. There turn right on Pa. 31 for Acme and Laurelville. From Laurelville a succession of legislative routes— 26132, 26051, 26051 (along beside Green Lick Run), 26176, and 26151— will bring you to U. S. 119 again. Follow 119 through Connellsville, where the Youghiogheny is crossed, and Uniontown. About 1 1 miles south of Uniontown, leave Pa. 119, bear left on L. R. 26076. and follow it for about 2j/o miles through Outcrop to Cans. There cross Grassy Run, continue south on a township road for over a mile, and turn right (southwest) for Cheat Haven on the Maryland border. 'According to Ralph Wagner of New Florence, Squirrel Hill was named after an Indian called Squirrel, who had been killed by white men on the suspicion that he had committed a murder. He was buried on top of Squirrel Hill. That this name for the hill was an early one is seen in Warrantee Survey C 100-185, dated 1771: “Situate on the old Indian path leading from Squarrel [sic] Hill to Ligonier. . . .” INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 8 31 8. Catawissa, Path From Catawissa to Sunbury The Catawissa Path was named for the Indian town of Catawissa (Lapachpeton’s Town, for- merly Oskohary) situated at the mouth of Cata- wissa Creek and beside a ford across the Susque- hanna River. From Catawissa the path went over the hills in a southwesterly direction to Roaring Creek, which it forded. Turning west, it crossed first the South Branch of Roaring Creek and then Little Roaring Creek, and ascended a hill to what is now Union Corner. It crossed Logan Run (named for Shickellamy’s lame son, James Lo- gan, whose cabin was not for away) 1 to Rush- town, ran a little south of west to Kline Grove where it crossed Gravel Run, and thence followed a long ridge to the Indian town of Shamokin (Sunbury) . The Catawissa Path was sometimes used as a short cut from the Wyoming Valley (in the vicin- ity of Wilkes-Barre and Kingston) to Shamokin. Indian travelers from the north and west turned south off the Great Warriors Path at the crossing of Fishing Creek, forded the Susquehanna at the mouth of Catawissa Creek, and so entered the Catawissa Path. It was used also by settlers entering this area from the east: a Presbyterian migration into Rush Township and a Methodist migration into the Augusta area south of Kline Grove.2 FOR THE MOTORIST From Catawissa take Pa. 42 south across Cata- wissa Creek. About y4 mile beyond the creek, two roads fan out to the west. Take the second and follow it for over li/2 miles to its junc- tion with L. R. 19012. Follow 19012 south to Pa. 242. Turn right on 242 and follow it west until, in less than 2 miles, it turns sharply south. There leave it and zigzag your way west as best you can over passable but criss-cross roads for about 3 miles to Union Corner. At Union Corner take a township road west to L. R. 49045, and follow the latter north across Logan Run (the bridge is about where the Cata- wissa Path probably crossed it) to Rushtown. From Rushtown take L. R. 49040, which for about 5 miles is never far from the path. Near Kline Grove turn left (south) on L. R. 49041 and follow it to Sunbury. 1 Northumberland County Warrants, B-96 (June 8, 1773), Bureau of Land Records, Harrisburg: To George Ballard, “situate on the East side of the North East Branch of Susquehanna about 3 or 4 Miles back of where James Logan now lives and about 12 or 14 Miles from Sunbury. ...” According to Dr. G. Paul Moser of Bloomsburg, who owns a farm south of Danville, Logan’s cabin stood beside the Susquehanna about half a mile west of the mouth of Logan’s Run. 2 Charles G. Mettler, "The Catawissa Trail,” Northum- berland County Historical Society, Proceedings, XXIII (1960) , 25. CATAWISSA PATH INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 9 32 From Washington, Pa., to Pittsburgh The Catfish Path was named for an influential Delaware Indian, Catfish (Tingoocque) . For- merly from Kuskusky, he had by 1769 or earlier established a camp at present Washington. This was at an important crossroad. North from Catfish, the path led through the present Canonsburg, Bridgeville, and Carnegie to the Forks of the Ohio (Pittsburgh) . South from Cat- fish, a path ran through present Braddock (vil- lage) , Amity, Ruff Creek, and Wavnesburg to meet the Warriors Branch at Brandt Summit on the border between Franklin and Wayne town- ships in Greene County. The Mingo Path, a western extension ot Nemacolin's Path (now fol- lowed by the National Turnpike, U. S. JO) , passed through Catfish on its way to the Ohio River. Rev. David Jones traveled the Catfish Path in 1772 when he came east from Grave Creek and Wheeling. He wrote in his diary:1 Monday, July 20, "Set out for Fort Pitt. We had a small path called Catfish's road which led through the middle of the land between Ohio and Mononga- hela. . . . Wednesday, July 22d, came to fort Pitt.” FOR I HE MOTORIST From Pittsburgh take U. S. 22 west across the Monogahela River. Follow it lor about 5 miles beyond the river to the point where Pa. 50 turns off. Go south on 50 to Bridgeville, Pa. 519 through Canonsburg to U. S. 19, and 19 to Wash- ington. From Washington take L. R. 02131 south through Braddock to meet U. S. 19. I urn right on 19 and follow it through Amity to Waynes- burg. ‘Wm. Hayden English, Conquest of the Country Worth- nest of the River Ohio 1778-1783 and Life of George Rogers Clark (Indianapolis, 1896) , 62. CATFISH PATH INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 10-11 33 10. Cattaraugus Path o From Buffalo, N. Y., to Salamanca, N. y. The Cattaraugus Path ran from Buffalo Creek through Cattaraugus to Salamanca. There it made connections with several Pennsylvania paths: west to Cornplanter’s Town, Conewango (Warren) , and Venango (Franklin) ; east to Ichsua (Olean) , where connections were made with the Catawba Path, the Sinnemahoning Path, and the Forbidden Path. See letter from Jacob Taylor to Thomas Stew- ardson, February 3, 1 807 : 1 “Nicholas Rosegrantz some time in last m"2 was found Dead towards the head of the Little Valley Creek, supposed to have perished on his way from Cattaraugus, his Horse was also found Dead some distance back on the Indian path—” It is possible that Etienne Brule used the Cattaraugus Path in 1615 as a roundabout route to Tioga Point (Athens, Pa.) in order to escape observation by the Iroquois, whom Champlain was about to attack. FOR THE MOTORIST From Buffalo, take N. Y. 18 through Cat- taraugus and Little Valley to Salamanca. ‘Indian Comm. Rees., Box 2, 67, American Philosophical Society. 2 I. e., in December. The letter is a short journal, this item dating apparently from January 16. Note by Donald H. Kent. 11. Cayahaga Path From Franklin, Pa., to Akron, Ohio The Cayahaga Path was named for the Caya- haga region, which included the mouth of the Cuyahoga River (Cleveland) and several In- dian settlements above it. From Venango (Franklin) the path ran past Pymatuning Indian Town and the Salt Spring (Niles, Ohio) to Mahoning Indian Town (New- ton Falls) . Thence it followed the same route as the Mahoning Path ( q.v .) to Cayahaga and on to Lower Sandusky and Detroit. There may have been several ways of getting from the Salt Spring to Venango. Thomas Hutchins1 described a path running about nine- teen miles from the Salt Spring to Shenango In- dian Town (in the vicinity of West Middlesex) and from there six miles to “the partings of the Venango Road.” Three more miles brought the one fork to Pymatuning Town. The other no doubt ran directly to Venango. John Heckewelder,2 in his Map of the Ohio Country, showed the path as taking a more di- rect course from the Salt Spring to an unnamed Indian town on the “Shenango Branch” and thence to Venango. None of these routes has been identified in close detail. Cayahaga was at one time an important Wy- andot and Delaware center. In 1774 Wyandot chiefs from Cayahaga visited the Moravian set- tlement on the Tuscarawas River. Cayahaga was represented in 1777 at the Delawares’ Great Council at Coshocton. The name Cayahaga Path was sometimes given to a section of the Mahoning Path (q.v.) from the Kuskuskies (New Castle and vicinity) to Cayahaga. FOR THE MOTORIST From Franklin take U. S. 62 west to the town of Sandy Lake. From there follow Pa. 358 for INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 11-12 3 1 nearh a mile west, and then leave it for a town- ship road continuing along the north shore of Sand) Lake. There is no single road running from the west end of Sandy Lake to the site of the Indian town of Pymatuning; but, if the motorist after rounding the end of the lake heads for Fairview, Fredonia, Big Bend, and C Hark, he will not pass far from Pymatuning, which is now flooded by the Shenango Reservoir about h/a miles west of Big Bend. I rom Clark take Pa. IS south to West Middle- sex. 1 urn tight on Pa. IIS and follow it to the Ohio line and Ohio 30/. Follow this to Girard 12. Chillisquaque Path From Northumberland to Comly Only a few miles long, the Chillisquaque Path ran from the town ol Northumberland over Montour Ridge to the County Line Branch of Chillisquaque Creek in the vicinity of Comly. Evidence for this path is found in local tradi- tion and in the presence of a very early road, as shown on Reading Howell’s map of Pennsyl- vania, 1792. I hat this highway had long been a familiar landmark is seen in the fact that on Melish's map of Pennsylvania, 1822, it is shown as marking the boundary between Northumber- land and Columbia counties. It now marks the boundary between Northumberland and Mon- and go on to pick up the course of the Indian path at Niles. From Niles go west on unim- proved roads through Lordstown and Newton Falls to meet Ohio 5. Follow this last through Kent to Akron. : A diagrammatic representation of this path as far west as the Salt Spring is in the? Hutchins Papers, I. 45, Histori- cal Society of Pennsylvania. Connections are shown with Kusknskics b\ way of the valley of the Shenango River. The mileages in Hutchins' itinerary (ibid.), which is printed in Charles Hanna's The Wilderness Trail (N. Y., 1911), indicate a crossing of the Shenango River at present Greenville. His map, on the other hand, shows a regular crossing just east of Pymatuning Indian Town. Paul A. \V Wallace. Thirty Thousand Miles with John Heckewelder (Pittsburgh, 1958) , end map. tour counties. A modern highway, following the same course, joins what used to be the Muncy- Mahoning Path near the village of Comly in An- thonv Township, Montour County. Charles Fisher Snyder of Sunbury, in his excellent catalogue of local Indian paths, calls this “The Hunter’s Path,” notes that it was re- ferred to in early records as the “Strawbridge Road,” and adds: “Nothing of importance is associated with this path, as far as I can learn, except that by horse, or afoot, it was a short cut into that region lying between the forks of the North and West branches of the Susquehanna.”1 The name Chillisquaque Path was also used for the Muncy-Mahoning Path, which crossed the valley of Chillisquaque Creek in the vicinity of INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 12-13 35 Washingtonville, north of Danville, Montour County. FOR THE MOTORIST From Northumberland (opposite Sunbury) follow L. R. 49031 north over Montour Moun- tain. As the road approaches Chillisquaque Creek, it breaks off and you must make a half- mile detour to the east. Rearing left as soon as possible, you will in another mile or so cross the creek and immediately turn north. After cross- ing Limestone Ridge, continue in a north-north- east direction along the county line to Schuyler and north again to Comly. 1 "The Great Shamokin Path and Other Indian Trails Which Radiated from the Forks of the Susquehanna,” Northumberland County Historical Society, Proceedings, XIV (1944) , 33-34. CHILLISQUAQUE PATH 13. Conemaugh Path From Bedford to Johnstown The Conemaugh Path was named for the Dela- ware Indian town of Conemaugh, sometimes known as Kickey Husten’s Town, situated at the junction of the Conemaugh River with Stony Creek. From Raystown the path ran north on the east side of the Juniata. Passing Cessna and Reynoldsville (at the Big Fork of Dunning Creek) , it surmounted the Allegheny Front by approximately the same route as that taken by the old road described below. Then it ran through present Elton and Geistown to Cone- maugh (Johnstown) . See also the Franlistown-Conemaugh Path. FOR THE MOTORIST For a quick view of the mountain problem the Indian path had before it, take U. S. 220 north from Bedford to the outskirts ol Cessna, fork left on Pa. 36, and follow it to Johnstown. This mod- ern highway, however, avoiding the steep grades by which the Conemaugh Path ascended the mountain, takes instead a roundabout course, longer by several miles, through Windber. There is an old road that follows the Indian path more closely. It is still passable in dry weather. To follow it, cross Dunning Creek at Cessna, turn left, and take L. R. 03060 to Reyn- INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 13-15 3f> oldsdalc. There turn left on L. R. 222A and fol- low it for about 3/t mile. Then bear right (north- west) on a township road that runs along the bank of Georges Creek. In about 1 1/2 miles this road begins to climb a hogback coming down o(f the Allegheny Mountain which provides a steady, dry ascent for about 6 miles to the summit at an elevation of 2711 feet. Continuing north to El- ton, the motorist will there turn left on L. II. 11009 and follow it through Geistown and Dale to Johnstown. Conestom Path O The name, Conestoga Path, was often given to two Indian paths which met at the Indian settle- ment of Conestoga, near Washington Boro in Lancaster County. One was the Great Minquas Path ( q.v .) , which came from Philadelphia bs way of the Gap and Strasburg. The other was the Monocacy Path {q.v.) , which came from the Monocacy Valley by way of Frederick, Md., and York, Pa. Both paths were much used by early settlers and traders moving west or returning to the cast. See William B. Marye, “The Old Indian Road,” Maryland Historical Magazine, XV, 364, 381-82. See also Anna Dill Gamble, “Indians of the Lower Susquehanna in the Conewago I ri- angle," pages 20-21: manuscript in the Historical Society of York County. 14. Conestoga -Newport Path From Washington Boro to Newport, Del. According to tradition, this path followed the Great Minquas Path horn Indian settlements at Conestoga, near Washington Boro, to Gap. Thence it took a southeasterly course now fol- lowed by the Gap and Newport Turnpike: through Cochranvi I le, Chatham, Wondale, Kao- lin, Hockessin. and Brandywine Springs, to Christina Creek at Newport. FOR THE MOTORIST From Columbia take Pa. 441 to Washington Boro. There take L. R. 56008 and follow it through Cresswell, Lctort, and Slackwater (the old path taking a short cut between these two points) and on to a junction with U. S. 222. Follow 222 east for about 1 l/2 miles and then con- tinue east on Pa. 741 through Lampeter and Strasburg to Gap.' From Gap Pa. 41 will take you south through Atglen to Hockessin and Newport. 15. Conewago Path C A From Manada Gap to Conewago Creek There is a tradition that an Indian path, known as the Conewago Path, ran from Manada Gap (northeast of Harrisburg) south to the headwaters of Conewago Creek. It is said to have passed James Galbraith's plantation (Hershey) and the spring beside which Derry Presbyterian Church (organized in 1724) now stands. The same name is also sometimes given to the Conov Path (q.v.). INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 16 37 16. Conneaut Path From Conneaut , Ohio, to Meadville, Pa. There were several ways of getting front the Indian village of Conneaut near Lake Erie to French Creek. The most direct one was by way of Albion and Harmonsburg. A map of the northern portion of the Porter-McClellan survey of Pennsylvania’s western boundary in 1786’ shows an Indian path crossing the line a mile and five-eighths south of Lake Erie. This was no doubt the path that ran from old Conneaut to present Albion and thence south along an easy ridge to the vicinity of Harmonsburg (north of Conneaut Lake) , where it came into the Cusse- wago Path from Sandusky. It was probably by communication over this path that the settlers around Meadville, as Gen- eral David Mead wrote, “kept up a friendly inter- course . . . with the Indian Village at the mouth of big Coniott Creek on Lake Erie. . . ,”2 This may have been the route taken by the Indian war party that in 1791 captured Cornelius Van Horn and Thomas Ray. On the other hand according to a tradition in the Van Horn family the prison- ers were taken “towards Conneaut” by way of Conneaut Lake Outlet (now the town of Conne- aut Lake) which was south of the lake. Cornelius Van Horn escaped from the camp at Conneaut Lake and recrossed the Outlet.3 There is some evidence that a branch of this path left it at Albion and took a southeasterly direction to Crossingville, which is said to owe its name to an old Indian path that forded Cussewago Creek here and went on to French Creek opposite Saegerstown. This whole region was so plagued with marshes that some travelers preferred to take a more roundabout route between Cussewago (Mead- ville) and Conneaut. When in May and June, 1794, Jacob Eyerly4 and a party of Moravians went from Meadville to Conneaut in order to view their land on Lake Erie, they avoided the direct path and took instead the well-beaten Venango Path to Presque Isle and from there the Lake Shore Path to Conneaut. The fact that they had with them a pack horse loaded with supplies may explain why they avoided the soft ground of the Conneaut Path. FOR THE MOTORIST No modern roads follow this path or its vari- ants with any exactitude. But a fair view may be had of its terrain if you take U. S. 20 east from Conneaut and, about 1 i/4 miles past the Penn- sylvania line, veer right for West Springfield. From West Springfield bear right on U. S. 6 N and follow it through Cherry Elill and Runyons Corners to Albion. There turn right (south) on Pa. 18 and follow it through Springboro and Conneaut ville to Harmonsburg. Turn left (east) on L. R. 20046 and follow it through Beatty Cor- ners to its junction with Pa. 102. Follow 102 through Fredericksburg and across French Creek into Meadville. 1 Division of Public Records, Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg. 2 John Earle Reynolds, In French Creek Valley (Mead- ville, 1938) , 32. 3 The full story of the capture and escape of Cornelius Van Horn is told in the History of Crawford County (Chicago, 1885) , 182 ff. See also W. J. McKnight, Pioneer Outline History of Northwestern Pennsylvania (Phila- delphia, 1905) , 463. 4 Paul A. W. Wallace, ed., “Jacob Eyerly’s Journal, 1794,’’ Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, XIV, No. 1 (March, 1962) , 5-23. :;8 INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 17 CONOY PATH 17. Conoy Path From Bainbridge to Carlisle The Conoy Path was named for a band of Conoy Indians who lived from about 1718 to 17431 at Conoy Town at the mouth of Conoy Creek. Peter Bezaillon, Indian trader, was granted seven hundred acres of land here in 1719. His trading post at Conoy Town (Bainbridge) became the western terminus of his pack trail, Old Peter’s Road. From Conoy Town the path ran up the east bank of the Susquehanna to a lord below Cone- wago Falls. After crossing the river to York Haven, the path ran west through what is now Newberrvtown to Yellow Breeches Creek, which it forded about halt a mile west of the turn in the creek at Lisburn. Proceeding via present Bowmansdale and Salem Church, it came to Le- tort's Spring (Carlisle). There it joined the Alle- gheny Path horn Paxtang (Harris's Ferry) and followed it to the Forks of the Ohio (Pitts- burgh) . It was sometimes called the Conewago Path because it forded the Susquehanna at Conewago Falls (Conewago meaning “at the rapids’”) oppo- site the mouth of Conewago Creek. FOR THE MOTORIST Since there is no bridge over the Susquehanna anywhere near Conoy Town, it will be well to enter the path on the west side of the river at York Haven. There take Pa. 24 and follow it through Newberrvtown to a junction with Pa. 1 14 about a mile beyond Xavoo. Go left on 114 through Lisburn to Bowmansdale. From there continue westward on L. R. 21013 past Salem Church, and make as straight a course as you can over these criss-cross modern roads to Carlisle. 1 Charles A. Hanna, The Wilderness Trail (New York, 1911), I. 111. 170; Pennsylvania Colonial Records (Harris- burg. 1851), IV, 657. Beside the road a little east of Conoy Creek, a bronze marker has been erected by the Lancaster Counts Historical Society. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 18 39 18. Cornplanter’s Path From Cornplanter’s Town to Warren Between Cornplanter’s Town (Jenuchshadego or Burnt House) on the Upper Allegheny and Conewango (Warren) at the mouth of Cone- wango Creek, there were many paths. Merle H. Deardorff of Warren has informed the present writer: “I know of seven early ways the Indians used to get overland between the River about Cornplanter and the River-Creek about Warren. . . . There were probably dozens of paths.”1 The path most frequently used, according to Mr. Deardorff, ran from Cornplanter’s Town down the Allegheny River to the mouth of Hodge Run. Following Hodge Run ( Dyainh - don, “where the road comes down”) to what is now Scandia, the path turned southwest and ran along the summit of Quaker Ridge to Smith Cor- ners. At that point the traveler had a choice of at least three routes: down Glade Run to meet the Allegheny a mile or two above Conewango Indian Town, down Indian Hollow to a point on Conewango Creek opposite the town, or down Hatch Run by comparatively easy grades to the flats beside Conewango Creek, where at one time during the eighteenth century stood a Delaware Indian village. A little below the mouth of Hatch Run travelers forded the creek, and in about two miles came to the town of Conewango in the loop of land formed by the junction of Conewango Creek with the Allegheny River. There was also a feasible route up the hog- back from the mouth of Cornplanter Run, keep- ing south of the run, to Mack’s Corners. It is not unlikely that Daniel Brodhead, when in August, 1779, he led his army from Conewango to Jenuchshadego (which had received its name, Burnt House, before Brodhead surprised and burned it) , he took the route by Hatch Run, Smith Corners, and Hodge Run. On the other CORNPLANTER'S PATH in INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 18 hand, T. A. Me Kerren of Salamanca, \. V., writes, "Brodhead’s Army is said to have fol- lowed Conewango Creek to where now stands Russell, Pa., and gone ‘over the hill’ into Corn- planter village. . . On May I/, 1798, a party of six Quakers travel- ing from Conewango to Cornplanter’s Town took the Matc h Run path, traversing what Joshua Sharpless described in lus diar\ as “a rough mountainous country.” for a detailed description of this part of the Seneca country, see William \. Fenton’s "Place .Names and Related Activities ol the Cornplanter -Senecas,” Pennsylvania Archaeologist, XVI, No. 2 (April, 1916), pages 42-58. FOR THE MOTORIST The best way to approach the site of Corn- planter’s I'own (now under the waters of the Kin/ua Dam) is trom Warren. Take U. S. 6 east across Conewango Creek and turn immediately left (north) on /.. R. 61031. Follow this road along the creek lor about -1 miles. Turn right on L. R. 61049, which follows Hatch Run to its head and there meets /.. R. 61037 on Quaker Ridge. Turn left on 61037 and follow it to Scandia and (in another 2\\ miles) Mack’s Corners. You are now at the head of Cornplanter Run, looking down toward the site ol Cornplanter’s Town and the sacred spring beside which Handsome Lake, the Iroquois prophet, received his visions. ‘Letter to the present writer, August 24, 1954. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 19 •11 19. Cornplanter- Venango Path From Cornplantefs Town to Franklin For the first section of this path (crossing the mountain to Warren) , see Cornplanter’ s Path. From Warren the Cornplanter-Venango Path ran down the north bank of the Allegheny River to Buckaloons (Irvine) . Thence it followed the north bank of Brokenstraw Creek past Youngs- ville and Pittsfield. About two or three miles beyond Pittsfield it turned southwest, crossed Brokenstraw Creek, and followed a ridge to the oil spring (now Drake Well Park) near Titus- ville. Another ridge carried it to the crossing of French Creek at Venango (Franklin) . FOR THE MOTORIST The section of the road between Quaker Ridge and Warren is described under Cornplanter’s Path. From Warren take U. S. 6 through Irvine and Youngs- ville to Pittsfield. There cross Broken- straw creek and take L. R. 61013 west for 2\/o miles along the south bank. Turn left (south) on L. R. 61010, and follow it for about 4 miles. Then cross L. R. 61011 and continue on a town- ship road for another 2i/2 miles. Here this road ends. Turn right (north) on Pa. 127 . In a little over a mile, turn left (southwest) on Pa. 21 and stay with it to Titusville. The old path saved time by cutting across the base of the triangle made by Pa. 21 in passing CORNPLANTER-VENANGO PATH south from Grand Valley to Pleasantville and northwest to East Titusville; but, from East Titusville on, the old and new roads are together. In Titusville take Pa. 8 south to Cherrytree. About i/2 mile beyond Cherrytree, veer right on Pa. Ill (the Dempsey town Road) and follow it to Franklin. 12 INDIAN PATHS OI- PENNSYLVANIA: No. 20 20. Culbertson's Path Prom Duboistown to Allenwood Culbertson's Path was named for Andrew Cul- bertson, who settled on the south side of the West Branch of the Susquehanna opposite the mouth of Lycoming Creek. This was an impor- tant extension of the Sheshequin Indian Path, making connections with the Penns Creek Path, the Mahanoy Path, and the Virginia Road, all on the way to the south. It crossed the West Branch by Culbertson's Ripples to Duboistown, ran up the valley of Mosquito Creek for about a mile and a half, ascended White Deer Ridge, and came down through the valley of Spring Creek to the Susquehanna at Allenwood. Captain James Thompson, who was captured by Indians near Lewisburg in 1781, was taken north over the Culbertson Path. The party reached the West Branch opposite Lycoming Creek, crossed the river in canoes, and “passed up the creek on the Sheshequin path, bound for Tioga Point.’’1 Eugene P. Bertin in “Mosquito Valley Chron- icles 1750-1950, ”2 described the path as “follow- ing Mosquito Creek. . . . Phis trail later became the main road through the Valley. . . .’’ Its course through Armstrong Township, Lyco m i n g County, is shown on page 102 of his article. Charles Fisher Snyder, in “The Great Shamokin Path,’3 reproduces J. H. McMinn’s "Sketch Map’" of the West Branch Valley showing Cul- bertson’s Path. FOR THE MOTORIST No modern highway crosses North White Deer Ridge where Culbertson’s Path (tossed it. But the problem the old path surmounted will be understood if the motorist takes either one of the following two ways over the mountain: 1. Cross the bridge to South Williamsport and take Pa. 554 up Ilageman Run and over the ridge. About 2i/2 miles below the crest on the south side, turn left on L. R. 41007 and follow it for a little over a mile to its junction with L. R. 41004. Follow 41004 to its junction with Pa. 44 and take 77 east to Allenwood. 2. Cross the bridge to South Williamsport, turn right for Duboistown, and there turn left up Mosquito Creek, following L. R. 41015 for about 7 miles to its junction with Pa. 654. Follow 654 south for 2 miles to meet Pa. 77. Turn left (east) on 77 and follow it over the ridge and down the valley of Spring Creek into Allenwood. 1 J. F Mcginness, Otzinachson Williamsport, 1889) . 632. - Xow and Then. XIII, No. 5 (April, 1962), 99. 3 Northumberland County Historical Society, Proceed- ings. XIV (1944) . 8-9. Cumberland Path CUMBERLAND ROAD The name Cumberland Path was used of sev- eral highways radiating from Cumberland, Md. The best known of these was Nemacolin’s Path ( q.v .) , which ran from Will’s Creek (Cumber- land) to Redstone (Brownsville), \fter Fort Cumberland had been established at Will’s Creek, Nemacolin’s Path became known over most of its course as the Cumberland Road or Braddock's Road. It is notv the National Pike, U. S. 40. The name Cumberland Path was also used of that section of the Warriors Path {q.v.) which ran from Raystown (Bedford) to Will’s Creek. The name was sometimes given to “the old Pack Horse path,"1 i.e., the Hays Mill Path [q.v.) between Fort Cumberland and the Glades of Stony Creek. 1 Bedford County Warrants, 0-33 (to John Olinger) , and Survey C 184-41, Bureau of Land Records, Harrisburg. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 21 43 21. Cussewago Path From Pennline to Meadville Coming east from the Sandusky and Cayahaga region, the Cussewago Path entered Pennsylvania about a mile south of the town of Pennline in Conneaut Township, Crawford County. From this point it took much the same course as that now followed by the road through Linesville (where the memory of Indians passing by is still strong in family tradition) and Harmonsburg to the Indian town of Cussewago situated on both banks of French Creek at present Fredericksburg and Meadville. East of Meadville, the path took a course later followed by the Old State Road (now Pa. 77) through Little Cooley, Riceville, and Blakeslee Corners to the mouth of Spring Creek on Brokenstraw Creek. Here it joined the Brokenstraw Path for Buckaloons, Conewango, and the upper Allegheny. In early colonial days, this was one of two main routes (the other being the Lake Shore Path) by which communication was maintained between the Iroquois Confederacy and the west- ern Indians. “On the 6th of June, 1808, a delegation ot thirteen Wyandots and Senecas from Sandusky River passed through Meadville, going to a coun- cil with the Seneca nation. They were bringing a friendly message from the Ohio tribes, to allay any fears of an Indian outbreak in that locality. During the summer some twenty or thirty Sen- ecas, from their reservation on the Allegheny, went to Sandusky where a council was held with the western tribes. They passed through Mead- ville going and returning. . . ,”1 FOR THE MOTORIST From Pennline take U. S. 6 to Linesville on the Pymatuning Reservoir. At the east end of town, fork left on L. R. 20046 and follow it through Harmonsburg and Beatty Corners to its junction with Pa. 102. Turn right on 102 for Fredericks- burg and Meadville. From Meadville take Pa. 77 east through Little Cooley and Riceville to Merchant Corners. There leave 77, which detours through Spartansburg, and continue east-northeast on township roads through Garreys Corners to rejoin 77 in about 4 miles. Take 77 through West Spring Creek and across Brokenstraw Creek. Follow the creek on 77, picking up Pa. 27 near Garland and U. S. 6 again at Pittsfield, to Irvine and Warren on the Allegheny River. 1 History of Crawford County, Pennsylvania (Chicago, 1885) . 152. David's Path The name “David’s Path” was given by the Moravian missionaries to a section of the Wyo- ming Path that traversed the Great Swamp south- east of Wilkes-Barre. David, one of their ad- herents, in 1765 piloted a body of Christian In- dians on their way to establish a mission town, Friedensluitten, on the North Branch of the Sus- quehanna River. John Heckewelder in his His- tory, Manners, and Customs of the Indians . . ., wrote in 18 IS, “This difficult part of the road, in the swamp, has been since called David’s path, and the state road passes through it.” Its course may be seen on John Melish’s Map of Pennsyl- vania, 1822, from Bethlehem and the Wind Gap through Stoddartsville to Old Wyoming. For further detail, see the Wechquetank Path. INDIAN PATHS OI' PENNSYLVANIA: No. 22 22. Delaware River Path From Ph ila del ph ia \ continuous path, often called the Minsi Path, ran north lrom the vicinity of Philadelphia by way of Bethlehem, the Wind Chip, Depuis’ (five miles east of Stroudsburg) , and Minisink Island (near Milford) , to Matamoras, where it crossed the river to Port Jervis. On the New York side. DELAWARE RIVER PATH to Fort Hunter, N . Y. the Delaware River Path ran north to Cushetunk (Cochecton) , Shehawken (Hancock), Cookose (Deposit), and on up the Mohawk Branch (West Branch) of the Delaware to present Stamford. From there it passed over into the valley of Scho- harie Creek, which it descended to Ossernenon, the Lower Mohawk Castle,1 where Fort Hunter came to be built, at the junction of that creek with the Mohawk River. I he late Frank E. Lichtenthaelcr presented evidence that this may have been the route over which the Schoharie Palatines in 1723 drove their cattle while their goods were sent down the Sus- quehanna on rafts. “From Cookose,” he wrote, “the cattle section followed down the Delaware along the beaten trail used by the Mohawks as their war path to the southeastern seaboard until ‘pale face’ encroachment forced them westward to the Susquehanna route.”2 When in 1762 John Williamson traveled from Philadelphia to Cushetunk, he crossed the Dela- ware River (at a point about fifteen miles, as he said, above Depuis’) to Wallpack. From there he apparently used the old Dutch Mine Road as far as what is now Port Jervis, and "from Keikendalls travelled in an Indian path to Cushetunk, wch is 40 miles, a miserable rocky Country.”3 See also the Minsi Path. FOR THE MOTORIST From Bethlehem take Pa. 12 through Nazareth, the Wind Gap, Saylorsburg, and Sciota to Sny- dersville. There keep right on U. S. 209 and fol- low it to Stroudsburg and thence along the Delaware River through Bushkill, Egypt Mills, and Dingmans Ferry'. About 5 miles beyond Dingmans Ferry, at the crossing of Raymond Kill (where the Minisink Path begins its ascent of the Poconos) is the promontory known as Indian Head overlooking the road and Minisink Island. Continue through Milford and Matamoras, and cross the Delaware River to Port Jervis, N. Y. In Port Jervis turn left on N. Y. 92 and follow it through Sparrow Bush, Pond Eddy, Minisink INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 22-23 45 Ford (opposite Lackawaxen) , to Cochecton, Long Eddy, Hancock, and Deposit. At Deposit turn right (east) on N. Y. 10 and follow it up the West Branch through Walton and Delhi to Stamford. At Stamford turn right on N. Y. 23. Follow it for about 3 miles along the base of Mount Utsayantha, and then turn left for South Gilboa and Gilboa on Schoharie Creek. Turn left at Gilboa on TV. Y. 30, which runs down Schoharie Creek through Middleburg (home of Pennsylvania’s Conrad Weiser in his youth) to Mineville. There bear left for Fort Hunter, site ■of the Lower Mohawk Castle. 1 William N. Fenton, "Problems Arising from the His- toric Northeastern Position of the Iroquois," Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, No. 100 (Washington, D. C., 1940) , 203. 2 “They Drove Their Cattle Overland,” Historical Re- view of Berks County, V, No. 4 (July, 1940) , 118. 8 Pa. Archives, First Series, IV, 84. Dunlap’s Path Nemacolin’s Path was sometimes called Dun- lap’s Path. Dunlap was the trader after whom Dunlap Creek (which empties into the Monon- gahela at Brownsville) was named. His identity is uncertain. He may have been William Dunlap, who was in 1730 described as “an old Trader” and is known to have been at Allegheny in 1734. See Charles A. Hanna, The Wilderness Trail, II, 331. 23. Falls Path From Philadelphia through Bristol to Trenton, TV. J. The Falls Path, named for its terminus at Sanckhican or the Falls of the Delaware, ran by way of Frankford, Holmesburg, Andalusia (there crossing Poquessing Creek, as the modern road does, just south of the mouth of Byberry Creek) ,1 Bridgewater, Bristol, Tullytown, and the out- skirts of Levittown. This became the earliest of the white man’s roads in Bucks County, known as the King’s Path and the King’s Road.2 The course it took is now followed fairly closely by U . S. 13. East of Trenton, the path— here known as the Assanpink Path— continued through New Jersey to Newark Bay. According to Wheaton j. Lane and Thomas J. Wertenbaker in From Indian Trail to Iron Horse,3 it “led from the Falls of the Delaware, roughly paralleling the valleys of As- sanpink Creek and the Millstone River, and . . . ended near Elizabeth, where it connected with a path going up the Hudson.” It “was in a con- siderable degree the predecessor of the modern Route 27, the former Lincoln Highway.” A branch of the Falls Path, sometimes known as the Burlington Path, crossed the Delaware at Burlington and ran east across New Jersey by way of Crosswicks Creek and Freehold to Shrewsbury and Monmouth. William Edmunson traveled the Falls Path in about 1677. He came from the New Jersey side “by a small path that led to Delaware-Falls, and crossed the river in a canoe lent by an Indian.”4 FOR THE MOTORIST Take U. S. 13 from Philadelphia to Trenton. 1 Warrantee Survey D 113-118, Bureau of Land Records, Harrisburg. 2 George MacReynolds, Place Names in Bucks County, Pennsylvania (Doylestown, 1942) , 346. See also Old York Road Historical Society Bulletin, I, 3. 8 (Princeton, 1936) , 16-17. 4 Journal of William Edmunson (Dublin, 1880), 118. FALLS PATH IN D I AX PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 2-1 If. 24. Forbidden Path From Athens through Canisteo to Olean 1 he path whic h led from Tioga i Athens, Pa.) through Passigac hkunk (or Secaughcung, now Canisteo, V Y.) , to the Upper Allegheny, was forbidden by the Seneca Indians to white men for reasons of security. It traversed the southern border of, and therefore opened a back door upon, the country of the Senecas, who were known officially as the Keepers of the Western Door of the Iroquois Confederacy. The For- bidden Path was also sometimes known as the 1’ioga Path because its eastern terminus was at Tioga, the Forks, and because it ran from Tioga west up the Tioga River (now the Chemung) as far as Painted Post. From Tioga, following the north bank of the Chemung, the Forbidden Path went past Spanish Hill, whose bold and square-set form had been molded by glacial action. It is a morainal de- posit, though legend has been busy with stories of its human origin. The path crossed the New York Stale line, thencelorth to remain in New York for the greater part oi its way, although it came back to Pennsylvania on reaching the waters of Oswavo Creek, a tributary erf the Allegheny. It passed through the outskirts of Sayre and Waverly and ran along the bank of the Chemung River, where in 1/79 General Sullivan's officers were astonished at the "almost incredible" fields of corn, beans, and pumpkins they saw.1 Ap- proaching Elmira, the path ran through the de- file where Brant and Butler laid the Chemung ambuscade for Sullivan’s army. Beyond Elmira the Forbidden Path came to Cobustown (east of the Fitch Bridge in West Elmira) ,- and ran on through Assinisink (Corn- ing) to Painted Post, where the path forked. The branch to the north led up the Cohocton River to the Indian town of Conewago (Avon, N. Y.) ; that to the south bore travelers to the Allegheny. It ran up the Tioga River for about four miles, then turned west up the Canisteo River past Addison at the mouth ol Tuscarora Creek, and went through Rathbone and Cameron Mills to Passigachkunk (Canisteo) . At Canisteo, which was the head of canoe navigation, it left the river, climbed the hills, and took a generally southwest course, keeping most ol the time on the high, broad, swampy ridges beyond Harisville. Passing a little east of Andover and crossing I)\ke Creek, it followed the ridge south to Beech Hill and southwest to a crossing of the Genesee River, probably in the vicinity of Shongo, which is about three miles northwest of Genesee, Pa. Two miles southwest of Shongo, it crossed into Pennsylvania. At Kinney Corners it swung west. I here is a local tradition that a branch of the path ran through Genesee and thence west up Irish Settlement Brook to its head at what was once known as Dogtown, a mile and a half directly south of Kinney Corners. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 24 •17 From Kinney Corners the path ran west to Eleven Mile Spring at the head of Eleven Mile Creek, which no doubt received its name because the spring is eleven miles by footway from the head of canoe navigation on Oswayo Creek. This is the height of land. On McGee’s Farm, where the spring lies, they will tell you that “in the old days” there were two springs which sent their waters in opposite directions: the one into Eleven Mile Creek and so to the Allegheny, Ohio, and Mississippi rivers; the other into Redwater Creek and so to the Genesee River, Lake Ontario, and the St. Lawrence. From Eleven Mile Spring the path ran almost due w;est through a heavy forest of white pine. “Here, to my great delight,” wrote David Zeis- berger, the first white man to record his passage over the Forbidden Path, “I saw' for the first time a pine forest in America . . . the wildest and densest woods imaginable.”3 The region is still known as the Pine Barrens. At Shinglehouse, where the path came down off the hills to Osw'ayo Creek at the mouth of Honeoye Creek, Zeisberger wrote, “It seems that here . . . the Indians are accustomed to make canoes to go down stream, for there w'as evidence that both bark canoes and w?ood canoes had been made.” From Shinglehouse the path continued down the north bank of Osw'ayo Creek past Ceres, a former Indian camping place, to the Allegheny River. Down the river bank it went to Ichsua (Olean) and the extensive Indian settlements on the great bend of the Allegheny, some of them still surviving on the Seneca Reservation, which embraces both banks of the river in the vicinity of Salamanca and Red House. HISTORY OF THE PATH There is some question wdro was the first white man to break the rules and traverse the For- bidden Path. It is possible, as the late Dr Arthur Parker has suggested, that it wras Cham plain’s emissary, Etienne Brule. When Brule in 1615 made his journey to enlist Indian allies, possibly a Susquehannock community still resi- dent in the vicinity of Tioga, for an attack on the Iroquois, he may have come from Lake Erie by the Portage Path or the Cattaraugus Path to the Allegheny River at Salamanca and there picked up the Forbidden Path. But there is no unmistakable record of its use by a w'hite man before the Moravian, David Zeisberger, made his journey in 1767. Fhe Moravians had previously met failure on this attempt. When Christian Frederick Post in 1760 tried to accompany Teedyuscung to the Allegheny by this northern path, he w'as stopped at Canisteo (Passigachkunk) and forbidden, on pain of death, to proceed.4 But seven years later David Zeisberger, intent on establishing a mis- sion among the Delawares w'ho had recently migrated to the Upper Allegheny at Goschgo- schink (West Hickory) , broke protocol, defied Iroquois protest, and went through. Meeting a Seneca chief at the western end of the path, he was challenged thus: “. . . how comes it that you travel such an unfrequented road, which is no road for whites and on which no white man has ever come?” •18 INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 24 Missionary zeal had moved Zeisberger to break the code and go the forbidden way. It is not surprising that soon afterwards he wrote in his diary that the .Senecas were “not at all friendly to the cause ol the Gospel,”5 and he found it expedient to move the mission to more distant parts, in particular to the Muskingum country in Ohio. In 177!) General John Sullivan took an armv to Tioga on a punitive expedition (following the Hattie of Wvoming) against the Senecas. Guided by an Oneida Indian (the Oneidas having sided with the colonies) , he took the Forbidden Path up the Chemung Valley, eluded ambush at the Narrows, and marched north from the site ol Flmira to ravage the Seneca country. FOR IMF. MOTORIST From Athens, go northwest on L. R. 08066. When, in about 2 miles, it comes to a fork, take L. /{. 08114 north past Spanish Hill and across the state line into New York. At Waverly, turn left on A. ). 17 and follow it to Flmira. There leave 17 (which makes a wide detour through Plorseheads) and follow 17F. along the river. About 3 miles beyond Big Flats, pick up 17 again and follow it through Corning, Painted Post, (rang Mills, and Erwins, to Addison. There leave 17 and turn right up the valley of Ganisteo Creek, on the road headed tor Hornell. Follow it through Rathbone, Cameron Mills, and Adrian to Canisteo. Fiom this point to Eleven Mile Spring and Shinglehouse, it is not possible to follow the path continuously, but the directions here given will enable one to see its general course. Take the road west from Canisteo to Flartsville and south- west to Andover— by-passing the latter, however, a short distance to the east and there crossing A. ). 17. Continue south to Independence, west tf> York Corners (where you will cross A'. Y. 10) , and southwest across the Pennsylvania border to Eleven Mile. From there the old path may be followed closely for about 1 miles, but, in the absence of a modern road on the ridge which the path fol- lowed all the way to Shinglehouse, the motorist is advised to continue west on the same country toad he has been following since leaving Eleven Mile. Take it to Kibbeville and down Butler Creek to Honeoye, where he will turn left on L. R. 52014 for Shinglehouse. At Shinglehouse turn right on Pa. 44 and at Ceres beai left on A. }. //. Follow 17 through Portville at the mouth of Oswayo Creek and through Olean to Salamanca, a white man's town on land rented from the Seneca Nation. 1 See Journal of Major John Burrowcs," Journals of the Military Expedition of Major Cicneral John Sullivan 1779 (Auburn, X. Y . 1887) , I I. “Harry B. Kelsey, "Squash-Cutter and the Wolves of West Elmira," Chemung Historical Journal. VI, Xo. 2 (December, 1960), 78-1. Journal. July 8, 1767, Ohio Archaeological and His- torical Quarterly. XXI, Xo. 1 (January. 1912) 12-13. See William A Hunter. John Hass Diary and Journal of 1760,” Pennsylvania Archaeologist . XXIV. Xo. 2 (August, 1964) . 78 ff. Zeisberger s Journal. Ohio Archaeological and His- torical Quarterly, XXI, Xo. 1 (January, 1912), 47. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 25-26 49 FORT HILL PATH 25. Fort Hill Path From Fort Hill to Winding Ridge What is now known as the Old Fort Hill Road, which crosses Negro Mountain near its highest point, Mount Davis, is thought to have been at one time a branch of the Turkeyfoot Path. Fort Hill, dramatically poised on the south side of the Casselman River, was once the site of palisaded Indian settlements. Its natural bat- tlements overlook the present station of Fort Hill on the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. This is four and one-half miles as the bird flies east of Confluence and three and one-half miles north- west of Winding Ridge. FOR THE MOTORIST Fort Hill may be reached directly from the summit of Winding Ridge (see the Turkeyfoot Path) , or more conveniently by L. R. 55016. The latter road provides a short cut, by way ol Fort Hill, from Pa. 53 near Dumas on Whites Creek (3 miles southeast of Confluence) to the same highway at Paddytown. 26. Frankstown Path From Harrisburg to Kittanning I he Frankstown Path, which was often called the Allegheny Path or the Ohio Path, “was by far the most important and most frequently tra- velled"1 road across Pennsylvania’s mountains. It ran from Paxtang (Harrisburg) on the Sus- quehanna through Frankstown on the Juniata to Kittanning on the Allegheny. A branch led to Chartier’s Town (Tarentum) and so to the Porks ol the Ohio (Pittsburgh) . In early colonial days, this was the preferred route of Pennsylvania’s Indian traders taking pack trains to the Allegheny country. It was used by Conrad Weiser in 1748 on his journey to Logstown. During the French and Indian War, it was used by Colonel John Armstrong for his attack on the Delaware Indian base at Kittan- ning. The Frankstown Path was somewhat longer than the Raystown Path, progenitor of the Pennsylvania Road, but the grades were easier and that was a help to the pack horse. Its western branches— to Chartier’s Town and Kit- tanning—were commonly known as the Kiski minetas Path and the Kittanning Path respec- tively. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 26 50 The Frankstown Path was named for the trader, Frank Stevens, who had a trading post at Frankstown, near I lollidaysburg, in Blair Counts. See Cumberland County Warrants, L-40 (February 3, 1755): "fames Lowry .... Three Hundred Acres . . . including a meadow on the Spring Branch to the old Indian Town of the Shawonese and Delawares called Franks Town from Frank Stevens on the Branches of Juni- ata. . . .” There were many variants of this path, and the particular route used by any given party of travelers depended on the season and on the load carried. It is impossible to give all the variants. I he attempt here is only to trace the best-known route, with an occasional glance at alternatives. From Paxtang, once across the river by ford or ferry, travelers made their way to Letort’s Spring either by what is now known as the Trindle Spring Road through Mechanicsburg and Hick- ory I’own, or west from Camp Hill and then by U . S. II. I he latter was the more usual route. Adjoining it, about six miles west of the Susciue- hanna, was George Croghan’s plantation beside Conodoguinet Creek, \long this path the mod- ern Hogestown and New Kingston have sprung up Crossing I.ctort Spring Run at Middlesex, the path followed up (he run, at a distance of a few hundred yards, to Carlisle. 1 he alternate route (the 1 ) indie Spring Road, Pn. 611 ) left the main path at Camp Hill and ran through Mechanicsburg to Trindle Spring, Locust Point, and Hickory I own to join the main [rath again at Carlisle. As lar as Carlisle and lor a few miles beyond it, the Frankstown Path was identical with the Raystown Path. But at Mount Rock (or a little northeast of it, il the roads arc shown correctly on William Scull’s map of Pennsylvania pub- lished in 1/70) they separated. From Mount Rock the Frankstown Path ran west to cross Big Spring Creek at Newville and Green Spring Creek at the village ol Green Spring. Continuing xvc’s t , it forded Conodoguinet Creek about two and a lourth miles east of Newburg, where Pa. 61/ crosses, and took the same route as 641 past Otterbcin to Roxburs (b\ "fames McCallisters Mill on the Old trading Path").2 From the gap in the Blue Mountain west of Roxbury— earls known as Trading Gap, later as Me Callister’s Gap, and now as Roxbury Gap- several courses were open to the traveler. Pa. 641 runs west over Timmons Mountain by a spec tac- ular but stony sidehill that would have been difficult for horses. I he path shown on William Scull’s map of 1770 went another wav: north- northwest through the valiev between Kittatinny Mountain and Timmons Mountain to Amber- son. At Amberson there was again a choice of routes. Scull’s map of 1770 shows the path as rounding the end of Timmons Mountain and running southwest down the valley of the West Branch of Conococheague Creek, past Laurel Grove and Newbridge, to round Knob Mountain and swing north again to Spring Run. From there a short cut ran west and north over the Tuscarora Mountain to Shade Gap, while the main path ran north to Concord and Waterloo, where it joined a branc h of the New Path (q. v.) . The latter had found a way that avoided these double twists in the mountains. I he other path Irom Amberson was shorter. It crossed Rising Mountain from Amberson to Doylesburg, and thence ran north to join the other branch at Concord. The climb was steep, but it saved about nine miles. This appears to have been the route taken b\ Conrad Weiser on his journey to Logs town in 1718, for it fits his estimate of the miles as the other route does not. From Robert Dunnings (Mount Rock) , to the Tuscarora Path the distance, according to Weiser, was thirty miles. That is about the dis- tance from Mount Rock by the route just de- scribed to Doylesburg in Path Valley. He trav- eled twetm miles from the Tuscarora Path at Doylesburg to the Black Log Sleeping Place. That is the distance by the roundabout route from Doylesburg through Concord, Richvale, and Shade Gap to the Narrows cut by Blacklog Creek through Blacklog Mountain. To retrace steps a little, from Concord the path ran through Concord Narrows, turned west up the Trough Spring Branch of Tuscarora Creek to Richvale, and there again offered the traveler a choice of routes. There was a short, steep way over Shade and Blacklog mountains to Augh- wick Creek at Shirleysburg. A longer (by about twelve miles) but much easier way was the one already described: through Shade Gap, the Nar- INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 26 FRANKSTOWN PATH, EAST rows in Blacklog Mountain, Orbisonia, and down the valley of Aughwick Creek. At Shirleysburg, according to William Scull’s map of 1770, a northern branch of the New Path came in. A southern branch had joined the Old Frankstown Path in the vicinity of Blair’s Mills. The reunited Frankstown Path, alter crossing Aughwick Creek at Shirleysburg, ran north along the bank for two and a half miles and then left it to pursue a course, still north, to the Juniata, the south bank of which it followed to Mount Union. There it crossed and ran along the north side of the river through Jack’s Narrows (named for Jack Armstrong, who was killed here in 1744), past Kishacoquillas to Standing Stone (Hunting- don) . At Huntingdon the path forded the Juniata River and ran northwest along a good ridge to another ford about a mile and a half southeast of Hart’s Log (Alexandria) . Thence it ran west through Alfarata to Water Street (so named be- cause pack trains used the creek bed for passage through the narrow, steep-sided gap in Tussey Mountain) . Turning southwest at the village of Water Street, the path (now followed closely by U. S. 22) passed Yellow Spring to reach Canoe Mountain, a shoulder of which it crossed, and came down to near the mouth of Canoe Creek. From there it ran along a ridge to meet the Juniata again at the mouth of Brush Creek (mod- ern Frankstown) , past Frankstown Sleeping Place, and across the Juniata to the original Frankstown, which was on the south side ot the Frankstown Branch at the mouth of Oldtown Run and opposite the mouth ol the Beaverdam Branch. From Frankstown west, the path is known locally as the Kittanning Path. There is a tradi- tion that it touched Hollidaysburg where Alle- gheny Street enters the town, and that it there turned north tor Eldorado. On the other hand, Mr. Floyd Hoenstine of Hollidaysburg believes the path did not touch the town at all, but let l the Beaverdam Branch to follow Brush Run for hall a mile north, and then turn north-northeast to forks in the road halt a mile south ol what is now Lakemont. In time of high water, according to Mr. Floen- stine, the path lelt the Juniata at, or just before, Frankstown Sleeping Place and cut over a high pass in the hills to reach Brush Creek half a mile above its mouth. From the forks south of Lakemont, one branch ran north to Tyrone and the Great Island. The other (the Kittanning Path) ran through El- dorado, near which it joined the traditional route from present Hollidaysburg. Beyond Eldorado the Kittanning Path bent INDIAN PATHS OP PENNSYLVANIA: No. 26 D 9 west along the south bank of Burgoon Run, and crossed it at about where the present Altoona Reservoirs stand. Passing under the Pennsyl- vania Railroad where it begins the Horseshoe Curve at Kittanning Point (the name being a memento of the old traders’ path) , it went up the valley of Kittanning Run for a mile and a half. Then it (limbed the ridge between Kittan- ning Run and Burgoon Run, and crossed from Blair into Cambria County in the vicinity of I)clo/ier Spring. From its entrance to Cambria County to its exit into Indiana County, the Kittanning Path has been traced meticulously by Mr. Henry M. Gooderham of Eckenrode Mills (near Patton) and mapped by him for the Cambria County His- torical Society. His description of the path, a model of ( lose 1 oca 1 study fortified bv State Land Office records, is reproduced in \ppcndix No. 1. Passing through Burgoons Gap, the path de- scended to a camping place known as "the Clear Fields” (an Indian clearing three quarters of a mile southwest of Ashfield) at the junction of Bcaverdam Run with Clearfield Creek. Thence it ran west for a mile and a half, after which it took a northwest course past Chest Springs to Eckenrode Mills. There traces of the path may still be seen, just beyond Chest Creek, on a small plot of rising ground which the Cambria County Historical Society preserves as a memorial of old trading days. A succession of gentle ridges brought the Kitt- anning Path past Hart's Sleeping Place (two and a half miles directly west of Patton and about a mile east of Benedict) to the village ol Plattsville. There it swung west past the cross- road to Sha/en and forded the Susquehanna at the Salt Wells (about a quarter of a mile north of Emeigh Run and a mile and a half south ol Cherry Tree). It continued west to the Sleeping Place, probably at modern Beringer. A mile and a half west of the latter it came to Owen’s Stamp- ing Ground and went on to the Forks of the Path. Here, on "the dividing ridge between the waters of the Atlantic and the Mississippi,”3 the path to Venango branched off to the northwest while the path to Kittanning turned southwest. Between the West Branch of the Susquehanna and Two Lick Creek, the Kittanning Path passed through a thick forest ol white pine. Passing through (or slightly east ol) Cookport, the Kittanning Path folded the South Branch of Two Li(k Creek at the “old Shawanese Cabins”'1 (now Shawnee Bottom) , about half a mile above the forks of Two Lick, and ran a mile over the hills to Mitchells Mills (Diamondville) . Hold- ing to approximately the same southwest course, it came to Penn Run (formerly Greenville) . Ac- (ording to local tradition, it was near here, in Chen vhill Township, that Conrad Weiser on his journev to Logstown in 171H “Found a Dead Man [John Quen] on the Road who had killed himself by Drinking too much Whiskey; the Place being very stony we cou’d not dig a Grave— He smelling very strong we covered him with Stones fc Wood”— only to find on their return that “the bears had pulled him out and left nothing INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 26 53 of him but a few naked bones and some old rags.”5 From Penn Rnn the path went nearly west, and in about two and a half miles passed “ninety rods south of the old Samuel Ralston house.”6 In about six miles from Penn Run, the Kittanning Path came to the Two Licks, situated on the north bank of the creek to which they gave their name. Warrantee Survey D 58-279 (see Appen- dix No. 3) shows them as being about a quarter of a mile east of the mouth of Ramsey Run.7 The Two Licks were well-known as a camping place, having been, according to the same warrantee survey, “the encamping ground of Gen1 Arm- strong in his expedition against Kittanning.” There is a local tradition that the Indians in crossing Two lack Creek had the choice of two fords. According to Mr. A. P. Hill,8 in dry weather they forded the creek where Colonel Armstrong did, at the Two Licks. But in rainy weather, when the creek was flooded, they found it better to cross about two miles farther down- stream. There was a shallow all-weather ford about 200 yards below (west of) the bridge on L. R. 32036. From that ford the path ran north- west, by-passing Indiana, to the spring at Moor- head’s Cabin and Moorhead’s Fort, the latter said to have been a house stockaded by Fergus Moorhead in 1781. It was on MacCarthy Run, two miles east of Indiana. The path that forded the creek at the Two Licks crossed Ramsey Run near its mouth, ran beside it tor a mile, and then turned northwest to Shaver’s Spring (now McElhaney Spring) , with its circle of trees stripped and painted with “warriors marks.” All around it is now the flourishing town of Indiana. The “Indian Oak,” which is said to have been a trail marker, stood until recently at the corner of Washington and Sixth streets, directly across from the Memorial Park. Leaving the spring, and passing what is now the campus of Indiana State College, the Kittanning Path ran about two miles west to join the path from the lower ford of Two Lick Creek. Prom this junction at “Forgy Moorhead’s,”9 the path ran west-northwest into the hills, com- ing down again in about three miles to cross the “Canoe Branch of Crooked Creek”10 (now Curry Run) . Ascending the hill west of Curry Run, it came to a fork, the path co the left running to Kiskiminetas (now Vandergrift) and Chartier’s Town, that to the right— the Kittanning Path- following the ridge that runs north to the “Oak- chahanak Crossing”11 of Crooked Creek, half a mile east of Shelocta. Passing by “Tohogos Cabins” (Shelocta) ,12 the path ran a mile and a half to LeTort’s Town13 and there crossed Plumb Creek at a point a mile and a quarter southeast of Elderton. From Elder- ton it pursued a northwest course over winding ridges by Whitesburg and Blanket Hill. It passed on the high ground a quarter of a mile south of the present Robert Watterson’s house and a third of a mile north of Ulysses Hobaugh’s house on Rupp Run, and so on into Kittanning. The Allegheny River was fordable at several places in the vicinity of Kittanning, which was an important Delaware settlement as early as 1724. 14 An extension of the Kittanning-Franks- town Path crossed the Allegheny River here and ran west through Butler, Prospect, and Porters- ville to Kuskusky (New Castle) . Colonel John Armstrong, on the expedition of August and September, 1756, against the Dela- ware war post at Kittanning, took his 300 men over the Frankstown-Kittanning Path. His route west from Carlisle is identifiable at Fort Shirley (Shirleysburg) , “Beaver Dams” (Hollidaysburg), the Two Licks, “Shaffer’s Spring” (Indiana) , and Blanket Hill. He brought his men back by the same route, but from Fort Shirley marched south to Fort Littleton. For a detailed account of the Armstrong expedition, see “Victory at Kittan- ning,” by William A. Hunter.15 FOR THE MOTORIST It is not possible to follow the Frankstown Path all the way on modern roads, and there is no single road that even approximates its full course, as the National Turnpike does with Nemacolin’s Path. It is true that for the first 25 miles U . S. 11 follows it closely, that for 40 miles— Mount Union to Hollidaysburg— it is followed by U. S. 22, and that for the last 35 miles U . S. 422 is never far from it; but, in between, the at- tendance of modern roads on this ancient path is decidedly fickle. One can, however, obtain a close and reward- ing view of the path and the mountain barriers it faced and overcame by following (with the aid of a little patience and some good maps) the route here proposed. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 26 54 From Harrisburg take U . S. II through Carlisle to Mount Rot k. There fork right on L. II. 21003 for Newvillc. At Newville take Pa. 611 and fol- low it through (ween Spring and Newbury to Roxbury. I here take Pa. HI and proceed with it through the mountain gaps and valleys to Am- berson. Since there is no good road across Rising Mountain to Doylcsburg, it will be necessary to follow the doubling course of the path as marked on Scull’s map of 1770. From Amberson continue on Pa. 133 down Conor oc hcague Creek and round the base of Knob Mountain to Spring Run. There take Pa. 73 through Doylcsburg and Concord to the Con- cord Narrows. I luce quarters of a mile beyond the Narrows, fork left on I.. R. 3/031 for Blairs Mills. I here turn south on Pa. 193 for Richvale. At Richvale turn left (south) on Pa. 33 and fol- low it lor a little over 8 miles to the junction with U. S'. 3 22. Turn right on 522 and follow it through Shade Gap, Blacking Gap, Orbisonia, and Shirlcysburg to Mount Union. There cross the Juniata Rise r and turn left on U. S'. 22. From Mount l nion follow U. S. 22 through Whiter Street and Canoe Creek to Frankstown. Continue on l . S. 22 to f lollidaysburg. Ovea the Mlegheny Mountain, between Holli- duysburg and Chest Springs, there are no modern mads that follow the old path at all closely. The motorist is advised to continue on U . S. 22 through 1 lollidaysburg to Duncansville, there turn north to Wtoona. and in the outskirts of the city turn west on /.. II. 0/023 for Kittanning Point. Follow 07023 up under the Pennsylvania Railroads Horseshoe Curve and ascend the mountain to a junction with I.. R. 1 1035 on the top. I urn right on 1103 5, follow it for about a mile, fork left on /.. II. 110,2. and follow it for a little over 2 miles to Asheville. There turn left on Pa. 36 and follow it to Chest Springs, where you are bat k on the Kittanning Path. From Chest Springs take /.. R. 11011 west. Immediately after crossing Chest Creek at Eckcn- rode Mills, you will see on your right a small flight of steps climbing the second bank. From the top of it you will see visible traces of the old Kittanning Path. Continue on I, R. IIOII for another mile, turn r ight on I.. R. HOIS, and al- most immediately turn left (northwest) on L. R. 110,5. follow 1 10,5 to its junction with L. R. llOR) and take the latter for about 3 miles to its junction with L. R. 1105S. Turn right on 11058, go 2 miles to Plattsville, and continue on an un- improved road northwest to Sha/en. There turn left and go west to meet I.. R. 11062 at Emeigh. Turn right on 11062 and right again on U. S. 219. In half a mile turn left (west) on L. R. 11069 tea c ross the Susquehanna, near the former head of lumber rafting on the West Branch. In Indiana County, 11069 becomes 32026. Follow it for a mile west of the county line to Uniontown. At Uniontown, Indiana County, take Pa. 631 and follow it to Cook port. There turn left (southwest) on /.. R. 32065. Follow it for about a mile and a quarter, then turn right (west) on L. R. 32169. Follow 32160 about 3 miles to meet Pa. 22 3. Follow this for about a mile through Diamonclville. Half a mile beyond Diamond- ville, take R. 32052 south to Penn Run and a junction with Pa. 5 5 3. Follow 5 5 3 about 2t/> miles to its junction with U. S. (22. Turn right on 722, lollow it about 2 miles, and turn left (south and then west) on a country road that traces the old path lor about 5 miles to its junc- tion with L. R. 32036. Turn right, cross Two Lick Creek, and follow this road into Indiana. In Indiana turn left (west) on U. S. 122 and follow it (though this road beside Curry Run is a mile or so east of the old path) to the crossing of Crooked Creek and through Shelocta (where it is back on the trail again) , Elderton, Whites- burg, and Blanket Hill to Kittanning. Hanna. The Wilderness Trail (New York. 1911), 1.249. " West Side Vpplicatinns. \<>. 2.345 H7fi7): Warrantee Survev, O 209-87. 11 I.cuis (,. Walkinshaw, Annals of South Western Penn- sylvania, I. 8. * Ibirl. ■Journal entrv. \ugust 21. See Paul V. W. Wallace, Conrad Wriset . . . (Philadelphia. 19-la) . 266, 269. Walkinshaw, <>/>. eit., I. 8. 7 Written on the hack of this survev is John Taylor's illuminating account of the manner in which he located the tract. See Appendix No. 3. ' R I). I. Indiana, Pa. "Warrantee Survey C 16-246. Warrantee Survev C 7-93. Warrantee Survev \ 13-282: "Oakchahanak Crossing.” 13 Application No. 1511. New Purchase (1769), and Warrantee Survev \ 85-229 for John I.atta. 11 Application No. 1994. New Purchase (1769) for George Campbell. 300 acres: “Upon Plumb Creek known by the name of Jas. LeTarts Town an Indian"; and the accom- panving survey. D 46-82. "Charles A. Hanna, The lli/derness Trail, I, 182. 15 Pennsylvania History, XXIII, No. 3 (July, 1956), 376-407. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA : No. 27 55 27. Frankstown-Burnt Cabins Path From Burnt Cabins to Frankstown Travelers from Paxtang (Harrisburg) used the Raystown Path to reach Burnt Cabins. From there the path to Frankstown went by Fort Lit- tleton, Three Springs, Saltillo, and across the Barrens to reach the Raystown Branch of the Juniata near the mouth of Trough Creek. Pass- ing a mile and a half north of Marklesville, it crossed Tussey Mountain, ran west through Shel- leytown on Clover Creek, crossed Lock Mountain west of Royer, and ran down to Frank Stevens’ Trading Post on the Frankstown Branch of the Juniata at the mouth of Oldtown Creek. Evidence for that part of the path which lies between the Raystown Branch and the Franks- town Branch is found in a strong local tradition at Marklesburg. According to Frank Brum- baugh, the Stone Church, about a mile and a half northeast of Marklesburg, is at the approximate point where the Frankstown Path crossed the Warriors Path running from Oldtown, Md., to Standing Stone (Huntingdon, Pa.) . Said Mr. Brumbaugh: ‘The Ganner boys of Marklesburg were engaged to two Sorrick girls at Shelleytown, and used the old Indian path to visit there. This trail to Frankstown has always been known as an Indian trail in this neighborhood.” FRANKSTOWN-BURNT CABINS PATH Evidence for the section from Burnt Cabins to the Raystown Branch of the Juniata is found in William Scull’s map of Pennsylvania, 1770. It shows a path running north from Fort Littleton to Three Springs, thence northwest across the Barrens to the fording of the Raystown Branch and, a few miles beyond that, merging with the Warriors Path for Standing Stone. Frank Brumbaugh was under the impression that the path on its way east from Three Springs did not got to Fort Littleton but to Aughwick ( or Orbisonia?) and thence south through Shade Gap to Burnt Cabins. This would make a longer journey, but there would be fewer hills to climb. FOR THE MOTORIST No road follows the Frankstown-Burnt Cab- ins path all the way, but a view of its terrain may be had by following these directions. From Burnt Cabins take U. S. 522 to Fort Lit- tleton. There turn north and follow a succession of township and county roads by way of Mad- densville and Mt. Carmel Church to Three Springs. From Three Springs follow Pa. 994 west for about a mile, turn right on Pa. 655 , and then in a few yards turn left on L. R. 31008. Follow it over Sideling Hill to meet L. R. 31081, continu- ing west on the latter to its junction with Pa. 994. By this time the Indian path has been left far to the east. Take 964 to Newburg. There turn right for the State Forest Road and follow the latter (still west of the path, which keeps to the hills) down the valley of Trough Creek. At its mouth, the modern road is near the Indian path again. Cross the Raystown Branch of the Juniata and take L. R. 31059 and 31079 to Marklesburg. There is no direct road from Marklesburg to Shelleytown. The best the motorist can do is to take the road running north over Tussey Moun- tain and double back to Shelleytown. After that, zigzag across country by way of Oreminea Mines and Royer, there picking up L. R. 07022. Follow it for about 5 miles to a fork. There, bearing left, take L. R. 07070 and follow it to the creek near the site of old Frankstown at the mouth of Oldtown Run. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 28 76 28. Franks town- Venanro Path o From Frankstoum to Franklin From Frankstovvn on the Juniata to a little be- yond the crossing ol the West Branch of the Sus- quehanna a mile and a half south of Cherry Tree, the path to Venango was identical with the path to Kittanning. But at a spring on a hill about four miles as the bird flies beyond the West Branch crossing, the paths separated. Two war- to their junction," and another along the bank of the Little Mahoning to its mouth. At the mouth of the Little Mahoning, the path crossed the Big Mahoning. It continued in a north-northwesterly direction to Redbank Creek, fording it (according to a strong local tradition) from the present town of Oak Ridge to the In- dian town of Fish Basket at the mouth of Town Run. Continuing its north-northwest course, the path crossed Middle Run about a mile and a quarter from its mouth and (tossed Leisure Run in another mile and a quarter. Passing through Brinkerton, it came to Reidsburg. There it veered west to Shamburg and then turned north to cross the Clarion River at or near Pinev (six miles as the crow f 1 ie^ southwest of Clarion) . Passing through Edenburg to Kossuth, it con- tinued a little north ol west through Van, Maple Shade, and Cranberry to the present village of FRANKSTOWN-VENANGO PATH I 2 =) ^Sutgjthonno R > i z ran tee surveys show the forks: C 36-117 shows a tract “. . . Situate on Muddy Run & on the Fork of the Paths leading to Kittaning & Winan- go about four Miles from Owens Stamping Ground." C 167-12 shows one "... on the Road from Frankstovvn to Kittaning about three or lout Miles from Owens Stamping Ground." I here were probably several variants of this path to Venango as it made its way over and through the tangle of hills hereabouts. One branch may have gone through the present Mat ion Center while another skirted it to the north. At Rossmoyne the path came down off the ridge to cross Little Mahoning Creek at an Indian town near Frantz.1 From that point there were probably alternate routes again: one ‘along the ridge between the Mahoning Creeks canoe place (Cherry Tree) •/• %% # Owen* Stompinjj.Ground To CheM •' t To*»r To Fronhttowp Chest Springs o»i' e Venango at the mouth of Twomile Run, and then followed the bank of the Allegheny River to a ford opposite the site of the French Fort Machault at the Indian town of Venango. FOR THE MOTORIST No modern roads trace this path for any dis- tance. It is useless to trv to follow it bv motor INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 28-30 car, except for the last 16 miles or so. From Kossuth U. S. 322 follows it west through Van, Maple Shade, and Cranberry to Franklin. 1 See C. W. W. Elkin, “The Indian Trails of Southwestern Pennsylvania,” Pennsylvania Archaeologist, X (1940), 36. 29. French Creek Path From Conestoga Indian Town to Phoenixville Martin H. Brackbill, in a paper entitled “Peter Bezaillon’s Road,”1 describes an Indian path running from Conestoga (near Washington Boro) to the mouth of French Creek at Phoenix- ville. The course he charts for it, “after a careful study of a map of the region,” ran “in a general northeast direction west of the Conestoga Creek to a point near Eden, then across the creek in an easterly direction, following the present course of the New Holland Pike and Morgantown road, and so on to the Schuylkill. As it happens, this was one of the earliest roads laid out by the courts, after Lancaster County was created out of the western end of Chester County.” At one time there was a considerable Indian population in the Phoenixville area, and there may have been traffic from Conestoga directly to these settlements, which were concentrated on the Schuylkill chiefly between the mouth of French Creek and the mouth of Valley Creek. But in colonial days the weight of Indian travel was toward the lower Schuylkill, where the trad- ing posts had been established by the Dutch and the Swedes. To reach them, shorter routes were found than the one described above. The two best known were the Great Minquas Path and Old Peter’s Road (Peter Bezaillon’s) . FOR THE MOTORIST From Washington Boro, south of Columbia, take Pa. 999 to Lancaster and then take Pa. 23 through New Holland, Blue Ball, Goodville, Churchtown, Morgantown, Elverson, Warwick, Knauertown, St. Peters, and Buck Town to Phoenixville. 1 Lancaster County Historical Society, Papers, XLIII (1939) , 42. 30. Georgetown Road o From Washington , D. C., to the Raystown Path Packers’ paths, believed to be based on Indian trails, came up from Georgetown and Baltimore over Cartledge’s Old Road (1722). Entering Pennsylvania through Nichols Gap (at Monterey near Waynesboro) , where a number of trails con- verged, these packers’ paths crossed Franklin County by several different routes. One ran to Fort Loudon, Cowan Gap, and Burnt Cabins; a second, to the vicinity of McConnellsburg in the Big Cove; and a third, to Horse Valley on the far side of the North Mountain. The first ol these (through Fort Loudon and Cowan Gap) was, according to the researches ol Mr. Hart M. Dymond of Chambersburg, the earliest and tor many years the principal one. From Monterey it passed about three miles north FRENCH CREEK PATH IX MAX PATHS OF PEXXSYLVAXIA: Xo. SO 58 of Waynesboro ;md proceeded by way of Ouinev, Fort Stouffer (near Five Forks) , Clay Hill, Browns Mills, the junction ol Back Creek with the Conococheague near Williamson, M< Dowell’s Mill (Markes), Fort Loudon, and Cowan Gap to Burnt Cabins in Fulton Countv. Cowan Gap was a hidden break in the Fuscarora Mountain which saved the traveler the steep ascent en- countered on the Cove Gap route. One branch ol the Raystown Path also went through Cowan Gap. I he second path ran through Waynesboro, Grcencastle, Mercersburg, and over Cove Moun- tain In way ol Cove Chip to McConnellsburg. In 17fi8 it was cut as a bridle path and became, as Mr. Dyuiond writes, "the main pack trail from Baltimore to the west.” The third path crossed the Conococheague at Social Island about five miles south of Chambers- burg. It is said to have entered one of the gaps near F.denville and so climbed over the North Mountain into Horse Valley. FOR IMF MOTORIST The most interesting part of the first path (through Cowan Gap) lies between Fori Loudon and Burnt Cabins. T his the motorist can easily follow by taking Pa. 75 north from Fort Loudon up Path Valley (named for the Fuscarora Indian Path ol two centuries and more ago) for about I miles to Richmond Furnace, fust beyond the Furnace, turn left on /.. R. 75 Spur and L. R. 290ft, which wind through Cowan Gap and down the South Branch of Little Aughwick Creek to meet U. S'. 522 in the outskirts of Burnt ( labins. To follow the full course of this path, take the road from Monterey toward Beartown, cross the State Forest Road, and a mile beyond it enter / R. 23021. Follow this northwest to Quincy. From Quincy continue west, crossing Pa. 116 to Greendale. I hen take /.. R. 23032 through Clay Hill and Browns Mills to meet L. R. 28033 on the banks of Conococheague Creek. Between that point and Markes (3 miles as the bird flies) no modern road follows the old bridle path, but the motorist will have no difficulty in /ig/aging across country in a west-northwest direction. At Markes he will pick up L. R. 2S002 and proceed with it to Fort Loudon, thence taking the road to Cowan Gap as described above. The second path (through Cove Gap) may be followed fairly closely all the wav from Monterey to McConnellsburg on Pa. 16. The course of the third path (over the North Mountain into Horse Valley) may be approxi- mated by driving north from Fdenville (which is 3 miles north of St. Thomas on the Lincoln Highway, U. S. 30) on L. R. 23005 for about 1 1/2 miles, and then turning left on the State Forest Road for the mountain. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 31 59 31. Glades Path From Bedford to Washington, Pa. There is a tradition that the Glades Road ot 1772 followed an Indian path from Bedford through the Glades of Stony Greek to West New- ton on the Youghiogheny, and thence across the Monongahela and on to Catfish (Washington) . That is the route now followed most of the way by Pa. 31. According to the Reverend E. Austin Cooper, formerly of Brotherton, “Highway 31 is known locally as the Middle Indian 1 rail [inter- mediate between the Raystown Path and Nema- colin’s Path]. It is the same as the Glades Trail. The Glades Path ran from Raystown (Bed- ford) by way of Manns Choice, the Dry Ridge, West End, Brotherton, Somerset, Donegal, Cherry’s Mill (Laurelville) , and Mount Pleasant —where the Braddock Road crossed it— to West Newton. There it forded the Youghiogheny. It crossed the Monongahela at Parkinson’s Ferry (now Monongahela City) , came to Catfish, and went on to the Ohio River at Wheeling. This was a favorite route, in certain seasons, for settlers headed for the west.1 General Rufus Putnam in 1788 led a body of New England settlers (the first “to establish American govern- ment in the Northwest Territory”) 2 to West Newton. There they built boats and embarked, April 2, for the journey on which they founded Marietta, Ohio. In wet weather the ground traversed by the Glades Path was too soft. John Heckewelder commented in his Journal of 1797: “This road is said to be best in summer during dry weather, when both Mountains are also easy of ascent.”3 The tradition that this was originally an In- dian trail finds support in the terrain, which affords a natural highway between Raystown and Indian settlements in the Monongahela and Ohio valleys. It finds further support in the early roads built along the route, such as the Glades Road of 1772. 4 The commissioners (James Bind, George Cro- ghan, and others) who made the survey in 1755 for what came to be known as Bind’s Road, took GLADES PATH 60 INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 31 only fourteen days to go from Carlisle to the summit of the Allegheny Mountain. They ex- plained their great speed in these words: “We were very fortunate in finding a good road all the way &: particularly thro the Alleghany Hills Considering how Mountainous that Country is.”5 According to Thomas Pownall's map (1755) of “ I'he New laied out Road . . . from Shippens- burg”6 and the careful researches of Dr. John V. Miller, Sr., of Dillsburg, Pa., Hurd’s Road west of Raystown forded the Raystown Branch of the Juniata to the north bank at Wolfsburg, and in about three and a half miles crossed back to the south side. At Manns Choice it crossed Buffalo Run. Just west of the mouth of the Shawnee Branch, it crossed again to the north side of the Raystown Branch. It ran through New Buena Vista (where the main street is said to be approxi- mately on the Indian path) , and crossed the Raystown Branch once more about five miles be- yond the town. It crossed Three Lick Run about a mile and a quarter south of New Baltimore, and climbed the Allegheny Mountain to its sum- mit. Receiving news of Braddock’s defeat and the approach of hostile Indians, the men laid down their tools and retired. It is thought that the Indian path, from that point, ran southwest (in about two miles cross- ing the Raystown Branch for the last time) to join the other branch of the Glades Path at Deeter’s Gap. Nicholas Scull’s map of Pennsylvania, 1759, shows the Burd Road from Bedford to the Alle- gheny Mountain. The map attributed to Her- man Husband shows the road continued to Cherry’s (Laurelville, west of Donegal) . Read- ing Howell’s map of 1792 takes the road all the way through from Husband’s (Somerset) to C berry’s, Parkinson’s (Monongahcla) . and Washington. The name Glades Path was sometimes given also to other paths that passed through the Glades of Stony Creek in the vicinity of Somerset. One of these wras a packers’ path, more usually known as the Hays Mill Path (q.v.), which ran from Wills Creek (Cumberland, Md.) to the Glades. FOR THE MOTORIST The whole route, from Bedford to Washing- ton, is now followed fairly closely by Pa. 31. 1 See Solon J. Buck and Elizabeth Hawthorn Buck, The Planting of Civilization in Western Pennsylvania (Pittsburgh, 1939) , 233. - State highway marker on Pa. 31 tvest of West Newton. 'Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, X, 131. ‘William II. Welflv. History of 'somerset County (New York, 1906), 193. Shippen Papers, I, 127. Historical Society of Penn- sy Ivania. " Loudoun Papers, Huntington Library, Pasadena, Cal. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 32 61 32. Goschgoschink Path From West Hickory through At the Delaware town of Goschgoschink1 (West Hickory) the Goschgoschink Path forded the Allegheny River. It ran south to a crossing of Tionesta Creek, probably in the vicinity of the present Nebraska. Continuing south by way of Tylersburg and Helen Furnace (where it joined the Venango-Chinklacamoose Path) , it crossed the Clarion River at Clew’s Riffle, about two miles east of Clarion. Turning east, it ran through Corsica and Brookville to Luthersburg. There it met the Great Shamokin Path and fol- lowed it to Chinklacamoose. A branch ran south Luthersburg to Clearfield from Clew’s Riffle to meet the Olean-Kittanning Path in the vicinity of present Frogtown. FOR THE MOTORIST Before the construction of the Tionesta Creek Reservoir, it was possible to go from West Hick- ory across the Allegheny River, turn south on U. S. 62 for better than a mile, turn left on L. R. 27008, and follow it to a crossing of Tionesta Creek at Nebraska. Now, however, since the con- struction of the Reservoir, it has become neces- sary to get on to the path another way. Take Pa. 62 south to its junction with Pa. 36 and follow the latter southeast to Newmansville. There leave 36 and continue southeast on L. R. 16102 to Tylersburg. From Tylersburg, take Pa. 36 again and follow it southeast to Leeper. Turn right on Pa. 68 and almost immediately left on a township road which in about a mile and a half enters L. R. 16053 at Gabler’s Corner. Follow 1605 3 for over 3 miles to its junction with Pa. 966, and take the latter through Helen Furnace (where the path from Venango comes in) to Clarion. Between Gabler’s Corner and Clarion, it will be interest- ing to stop at Miola and take the road south, which Merle Eberlin of the Clarion County His- GOSCHGOSCHINK PATH N A I 2 *• Shamo* Ki.tonninj. £ra„kst(mn * ^ z 'O •••• LUTHERSBURG Great Shamokin Path— » • — > 62 INDIAN PATHS Ol PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 32-33 torical Society believes follows the old path closely to the ford of the Clarion River at Clew's Riffle. Since there is no bridge there, however, the motorist will have to return id Miola and cross the river at Clarion. In the town of Clarion, turn left (east) on U. S. 322 and follow it to Strattanville, where the Indian path is picked up again. Continue on 322 through Corsica, Brookville, and Reynoldsvillc to Luthersburg, which is the junction point with the Great Shamokin Path (q.v.). 1 The spelling adopted for this name (English, C.nxhgoshink) is one used by the German Moravians. It is chosen because the Moravian records provide our principal source of information about the place. GREAT PATH 33. Great Path From Pittsburgh to Detroit The Great Path crossed the Allegheny Rivei at Pittsburgh, ran along the west side of the Ohio River through Avalon, Sewickley, Logs town (I.egionville, two miles north of Ambridge) , and Crow's Iown (Conway) to Logan's Town (Rochester) and Beaver’s Town at the mouth of the Beaver River. In the western outskirts of Beaver, the path turned away from the Ohio River and ran through Blackhawk and Clarkson to the Ohio line. In Ohio it ran through Dun- gannon, Kensington, Minerva, and Malvern to the Indian town of Tuscarawas (Bolivar) on the Muskingum (now the Tuscarawas) River. Ii crossed the river about a mile above the town. This eastern section was sometimes called the Tuscarawas Path. Thomas Hutchins, the surveyor, in his "De- scription of part of the Countn Westward of the River Ohio, 1765,” tells what he had seen of the Pennsylvania end of this path: From Fort Pitt to big Beaver Creek by land is 28 Miles the Path is mostly along the River side and crosses a Number ol small Ridges that Border on the River - Little Beaver Creek is 16 Miles lurther, for the first two Miles the Woods is very Levell at the End which is a Run [Twomile Run] and a very Steep 8c Diffi- cult Ridge which may be Avoided by in- clining about half a Mile to the Right of the Path, the Country then is made up of small broken Hills all (lie way to Little Beaver Creek, the Descent to which is Steep, this Creek is 60 yards wide and has a very good Fording. . . T From Tuscarawas, according to [ohn Hecke- welder’s map of the Ohio Country (1796), the main branch of the path went on “to Sandusky and Detroit,” while another branch went south “to the Shawnee Towns on Sciota and Miami.” Colonel Henry Bouquet, when he led his ex- peditionary force in 1764 to Coshocton for the treaty that ended Pontiac’s War, followed the INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 33-34 Great Path as far as Tuscarawas. Our best knowl- edge of the route comes from a map of the Ohio Country made in the same year by Hutchins, who traced it from his own surveys. Edward G. Williams, editor of Bouquet’s Orderly Book,2 has transferred it to a modern map. During the latter half of the eighteenth cen- tury, the Great Path was, as its name suggests, a much-traveled highway. Archer Butler Hulbert in his Red-Men’s Roads: The Indian Thorough- fares of the Central West, calls it “the most im- portant trail of the central west, the main thoroughfare from Fort Pitt to Fort Detroit. It was the western extension,” he continues, “of the continental route from the seaboard to the north- west, meeting Nemacolin’s Path, which came from Fort Cumberland, at Fort Pitt.”3 The name Great Path was sometimes given also to the Frankstown Path from the Susque- hanna to the Forks of the Ohio. At the Forks, it fi.H made connection with the path to Detroit de- scribed above. FOR THE MOTORIST From Pittsburgh, take Pa. 65 to Beaver. From Beaver follow L. R. 278 for about 6 miles and then turn right on L. R. 04002, which runs to Blackhawk and the Ohio border. There is no through road from there to Boli- var, but U. S. 30 (the Lincoln Highway) follows the path fairly closely from Kensington to Mi- nerva. From there Ohio 80 will take you through Malvern to Waynesburg and Magnolia, all close to the Great Path. Thence Bouquet’s road cut across to the vicinity of East Sparks and so went to Bolivar (Tuscarawas) . 1 Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 2 “The Orderly Book of Colonel Henry Bouquet’s Ex- pedition Against the Ohio Indians, 1764,” Western Penn- sylvania Historical Magazine, XLII (1959) , 16-17. 2 (Cleveland, Ohio, 1900) , 10. 34. Great Island Path From Sunhury to Lock Haven The Great Island Path, according to J. P. Meginness,1 crossed the Susquehanna River at Shamokin (Sunhury) and ascended the ravine on the west side from a point about a quarter of a mile south of the present bridge across the West Branch to Northumberland. For about three miles it followed the ridge which forms the boundary between Snyder and Union counties; “. . . then turning towards the river,” as Megin- ness writes, “it passed over the hill upon the Merrill place; thence followed the river bank through Winfield and Lewisburg; thence to Buffalo Creek, where the iron bridge now spans it. It then curved to the river and passed through Shikellimy’s Town [three-quarters of a mile south of West Milton] . . . and along the river road, around the rocks”2 north of the village of White Deer, into White Deer Hole Valley; thence to the vicinity of Elimsport and over North White Deer Ridge into Nippenose Valley, up which it ran to its head. It then passed through the gap in Bald Eagle Mountain to Lock Haven Reservoir on McElhattan Creek, Shoemaker Park, and Young- dale. There turning southwest, it followed the West Branch of the Susquehanna to the Great Island (Lock Haven) . FOR THE MOTORIST From White Deer to Allenwood, take U . S. 15. At Allenwood turn left on Pa. 44 through Elims- port and over North White Deer Ridge to Col- lomsville and Oval. Veer left at Oval on L. R. 41013 and follow it to Oriole. From there no road follows the course of the Great Island Path over Bald Eagle Mountain to the Lock Haven Reser- voir; but the motorist will get a good idea of the obstacles before the path if he continues from Oriole as directly west as he can go, crosses Pa. 880, which in about a mile runs into L. R. 18019 at the head of Nippenose Valley, and follows 18019 over Bald Eagle Mountain and down a Forestry Road through the gorge of Love Run. At Pine, turn left (west) on L. li. 18013 for Young- dale. From Youngdale an excursion may be made up McElhattan Creek to the Lock Haven Reservoir in order to see the cleft through which the Great Island Path came down ofl Bald Eagle Mountain. From Youngdale continue on 18013 INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 3-1-35 64 to Castanea and there cross the river to Lock Haven. The Great Island is at the east end of town on U. S'. 220. 1 Otzinachson: -i History of the West Branch Valley of the Susquehanna (Williamsport, 1889) , 89. : Ibid. 35. Great Minquas Path From Philadelphia to Washington Boro The Great Minquas Path was named by the Dutch for the Minquas Indians (the Susquehan- nocks) , from whose territory on the Susquehanna near Washington Boro this path ran to the Philaclelphia-Chester area. It was used by the Susquehannocks in historic times as an alternate to their canoe route (see the French Greek Path) for the bringing of furs to Dutch and Swedish trading posts on the Schuylkill and Delaware rivers. There were many branches at the eastern end, running down to Chester and other points on the Delaware. The eastern terminus of the main path at one time was at Fort Manayunk, which had been established by Governor Johan Print/ on the west bank of the Schuylkill near the later Penrose Perry Bridge. Moving west from Fort Manayunk, the path ran through Darby, Lima, Gradyville, the Porks of the Brandywine, Morton- ville, Parkesburg, Gap, Strasburg, Willow Street, Rockhill (where it crossed Conestoga Creek) , to populous Susquehannock settlements by the Sus- quehanna River. Over this path the Susquehannock Indians yearly brought great wealth in beaver skins to the eastern trading posts. The Minquas Path not only laid foundations for Pennsylvania’s commercial development. It also provides a key to much of the Commonwealth's early history. “The struggle by Holland, Sweden and Great Britain for the possession of the Delaware River,” writes George P. Donehoo, “was in order to con- trol the trade with the Minquas living on the Susquehanna.” 1 INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 35 65 FOR THE MOTORIST From the site of Fort Manayunk on the Schuyl- kill (just south of the new bridge over the Delaware on Pa. 291), take the Penrose Ferry Road southwest to Island Avenue, and follow the latter northwest to Blue Ball Tavern and the Old Swedes Mill in Darby. Cross Darby Creek, take L. R. 23065 to Aldan, and there turn left on L. R. 23068. Make the best way you can west through Swarthmore to Rose Valley and Long Point on Ridley Creek. At Long Point there was once a ford, but the motorist will find no bridge here now. He is advised to go the best way he can to Pa. 352 and take it to Black Horse and Lima. Beyond Lima continue on 332, which is very close to the path, into Gradyville. It is not possible to follow the path closely by road from Gradyville through the southern outskirts of West Chester to the Brandywine. But there is a road along the West Branch of the Brandywine which keeps pretty close to the trail as far as Mortonville. From there go as nearly west as you can to Briarton, which is on L. R. 15067 , and Stottsville. There take Pa. 372 through Parkesburg to Atglen. Turn right on Pa. 41 to Gap, then left on Pa. 741 (which fol- lows the path closely) through Strasburg to Lampeter. From Lampeter continue straight west to meet U. S. 222, follow it west for about H/2 miles, and as it turns north leave it for L. R. 36008. At this point you are about i/2 mile north of Willow Street, through which the path ran. Follow 36008 for about 4 miles, and then turn left (south) past Postlethwaite’s house for Rock- hill, where the Great Minquas Path forded Con- estoga Creek. Cross the Conestoga and the Little Conestoga and go on as straight west as you can along a ridge overlooking Indian Run from the south, rounding the head of the run to Cress- well. The historic Conestoga Indian Town was about a mile east of Cresswell. From Cresswell, continue on L. R. 36008 into Washington Boro. 1 “The Indians of the Past and of the Present,” Penn- sylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XLVI (1922), 185. GREAT MINQUAS PATH INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 36 66 36. Great Shamokin Path From Sunbury to Kittanning The Great Shamokin Path ran from the Forks of the Susquehanna to Kittanning ("At the Great River”) on the Allegheny. From about 1718 until the French and Indian War, Shamokin was, as William C. Reichel has described it, "the most important Indian town in the Province of Pennsylvania.”1 Because of its position, commanding important canoe routes and Indian highways, the Iroquois made it the headquarters of their “half king” or viceroy who supervised the Delawares and various refugee groups of Indians (Shawnees, Tuscaroras, Conoys, N antic okes, etc.) coming up from the south through Pennsylvania to take shelter under the Iroquois "Tree of Peace.” Kittanning, from about 1780 to its destruction by Colonel John Armstrong in 1756, was "the largest Indian settlement in Pennsylvania, west of Shamokin.”2 At Shamokin the path forded the North Branch of the Susquehanna by way of Shamokin Island to Northumberland. It ran up the east side of the West Branch by a route Pa. 14 now follows closely as far as Milton, passing on the way the Shawnee town of Chillisquaque, situated on the north bank of Chillisquaque Creek near its mouth. For four miles beyond the creek, the path probably kept closer to where the railroad now runs (through the village of Montandon) than to Pa. It. Passing through Milton, the great Shamokin Path continued up the east bank of the Susque hanna, leaving Pa. 14 and following the course taken by Pa. 403 to Watsontown. At Watson- town the path forked. One branch continued to follow the river to a point opposite Montgomery, where it turned east to get onto the ridge that forms the boundary between Lycoming and Northumberland counties. The other and better- known branch ran almost straight north for three miles from Watsontown to St. John's Church, where it bore right (northeast) and followed Delaware Run to its head at West Point School. Heie, near the Fllis farm, was fought the battle of Muncy Hills in September, 1763, dur- ing Pontiac’s War, when a body of a hundred or more men from Paxton and vicinity was defeated by the Indians.3 Descending from the summit of Muncy Hill, the path came in about a mile to the "Mine"* on Mine Run, where the Indians are said to have quarried the soft, shaly "black slate" which they used for paint. Today a factors at Muncy still quarries the stone, grinding it down to make a filler for black paint. A mile north of the "paint mine” and on the very bank of the Susquehanna River, the path ran close b\ the never-failing Warrior Spring. From the Warrior Spring the path veered east to run through the Indian town at Muncy- named for the Munsee Delawares who settled here for a time on their way west after the Walk- ing Purchase. It forded Muncy Creek about three quarters of a mile above its mouth, crossed Wolf Creek (formerly known as Mingo Run) 5 within sight of an old Indian fort. Hoc lay [wrote Conrad Weiser. March '22, 1737, on his way to Onondaga] we passed a place where the Indians, in lor- mer times, had a strong fortification on a height. It was surrounded bv a deep ditch; the earth was thrown up in the shape of a wall, about nine or ten feet, and as many broad. But it is now in decay, as from appearance it had been deserted be- yond the memory of man.1’ From the crossing of Mingo Run, the path ran west (still following the Susquehanna River, though at a little distance) to Oistonwakin— now named Montoursville after the famous Madame Montour who was visited here by Conrad Weiser in 1737 and by Count Zinzendorf in 1712. One could ford the Loyalsock here when the water was low, but when the mountain snows melted it was necessary, as Conrad Weiser found, to borrow a canoe. I he ford was by way of Mon- tour’s Island. West of here, the path ran through what is now Williamsport. In passing over the ground on which Williamsport stands [writes J. F. Megin- nessj the path was doubtless located where East Third Street and West Fourth Street are laid clown. The course from Third INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 36 07 and Penn streets is said to have been a little north of the present Third Street, following an elevated piece of ground near the line of Willow Street and as fat north as Edwin Street, until a point was reached near Park Avenue, when the present Fourth Street was followed to Lycoming Creek and French Margaret’s Town, near the mouth.7 From French Margaret’s Town (which is shown on Nicholas Scull’s Map of the Improved Part of the Province of Pennsylvania, 1759, as on the west bank of the Lycoming) , the path pro- ceeded directly west at a little distance from the river to the Indian town of Quenashawakee at the mouth of what is now known as Quenshu- keny Run. It forded Larry’s Creek near its mouth, passed Jersey Shore and the Indian clear- ings by Pine Creek, and forded the creek about two miles above its mouth. Then, skirting the old Indian settlement of Taquamingy, it came to the Great Island (Lock Haven) . Here, at the junction point of several impor- tant Indian paths, it forded the Susquehanna and went up Bald Eagle Creek (named for a Munsee Indian, Bald Eagle, who lived at Bald Eagle’s Nest [Milesburg]) following a course much the same as that now taken by U. S. 220, through Flemington. It forded Beech Creek and ran west for about a mile and a half to Marsh Creek, where it turned and ran up its north bank as far as Romola. Thence it followed Little Marsh Creek for about nine miles to Yarned and began the ascent of the Allegheny Front. Turning west-northwest at Yarned, it took a nearly direct course— 60 degrees west of north— up the crest of a long ridge beginning about half a mile east of the late Elmer Powned’s house, and passed a little west of a deer lick two miles from Yarned. A mile farther on, it bore west and fol lowed a course close to that of Pa. 53. It passed the place where Baptiste Lucas (according to his descendant, R. H. Lucas of Clearfield, R. D.) laid out a farm in 1801, and where may be seen the dead trunks of apple trees whose ancestors are said by Mr. Lucas to have been grown from seed supplied by Johnny Appleseed, who passed this way en route to the West. In about three miles it came to “Snow Shoe Camp about a Mile west from the sleeping Place of that name,”8 which was probably where Bishop Ettwein and GREAT SHAMOKIN PATH, EAST To Fronhstown if \ To Standing Ston« F>8 INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 36 his party "saw the hold peaks between the West Branch and the Juniata.”9 At Moshannon, the path forked, the two branches leading to different fords of Moshannon Creek. According to R. 11. Lucas, "the trail going west passed exactly where the church in the southern outskirts of Moshannon is. Thence it descended to the valley, where the modern road. Pa. 53, follows it. It crossed the Black Moshan- non at a point where this stream swings round the bend of the mountain to Post’s Island,10 where it crossed the Moshannon.” Thence it is said to have gone up Crawford Run to Cooper Settlement and so, as Pa. 5 3 now goes, to Kyler- town. The other path crossed the Black Moshannon a mile and a quarter from its mouth,11 and ran southwest to cross the Big Moshannon about a mile and a quarter (as the bird flies) south of Post’s Island and a mile and a half south of Pa. 53. It ascended the hill beyond the Moshannon, and ran through the village of Grass Flat to join the other path at Kylertown. I he Moshannon and its smaller brother, the Black Moshannon (formerly known as the Little Moshannon) , 1 - were awkward streams to cross when the water was high. Bishop Ettwein wrote in his diary for July 8, 1772: “Advanced six miles (from a camp about a mile west ol Snow Shoe] to the West Moshannek over precipitous and ugly mountains, and through two nasty rocky streams. In fording the second, I fell neck deep into the water. Had it been at any other season of the year, we could not have endured so much wading in streams.”13 Travelers by the Great Shamokin Path, in order to save themselves from these diffi- cult crossings, sometimes avoided the Marsh Creek and Snow Shoe route altogether bv making a wide detour up Bald Eagle Creek to the mouth of Dicks Run (a mile and a quarter above IJnionville) , taking Bald Eagle's Path west, and (tossing the Moshannon about three miles south ol Philipsburg. from Kylertown (where the two branches from Snow Shoe and Moshannon came together again) the Great Shamokin Path ran west by what is now an old township road past Black Oak School. About a mile west of Moravian Run (ac- cording to Harold D. Woolridge of Clearfield, who has plotted the route from Post’s Island to Clearfield Creek) , there was a “sleeping place” at the Big Sand Spring. From this point the path ran north along a ridge to Dale Church and west on the same ridge past Jackson School. It crossed Valley Fork Run, followed another ridge west past Bradford Church, and ran on down the tongue of the ridge past the Orvis Woolridge farm and the Golden Rod development to a camp near Clearfield Creek. The creek was forded about half way between Owens Run and Roaring Run,14 nearly half a mile south of the bridge on U. S. 322. Thence it bore slightly north of west as it ascended the hill and ran down into Chinklacamoose (Clearfield) by way of the present Fifth Street. An alternate route15 crossed Clearfield Creek about where U. S'. 322 crosses, and came over the hill to Clear- field by way of Pine Street. Between Chinklacamoose and the mouth of An- derson Creek (Gurwensville) , several crossings of the Susquehanna were made necessary, as Harold Woolridge has noted, in order to escape the high laurel bushes, which were a nightmare to travel- ers. Christian Frederick Post in 1758 recorded crossing the river six times in this seven-mile stretch; Bishop Ettwein in 1772 ( rossed it three times in the first four miles. From Curwensville the path ran three miles up Anderson Creek, then ascended the hill to the west, and continued in a northwesterly direction along the summit of a ridge which is now fol- lowed by Pa. 861 through Chestnut Grove to Coal Hill School. Here the modern highway parts from the old path, the latter running paral- lel with the road but about a quarter of a mile south of it as far as the Big Spring in the vicinity of Luthersburg. The spring is about a third of a mile southwest of the junction of Pa. 410 with U. S. 322 in Luthersburg. There was a “Parting of the Ways” at the Big Spring. Mead’s Path to Venango ran northwest, while the Great Shamokin Path ran southwest. The latter crossed Stump Creek in about a mile, and then ran south to meet the East Branch of Mahoning Creek, which it followed to its junc- tion with Beaver Run. Crossing Beaver Run, it appears to have left the East Branch, run south- west to Stump Creek, and followed this to where INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 36 69 its junction with the East Branch formed the Big Mahoning. The Shamokin Path followed the lat- ter to Bells Mills and Punxsutawney. The best way to follow the path from Clear- held through Punxsutawney as far west as Smicks- burg is to trace the route taken by Bishop John Ettwein16 and his two hundred Indians with their cows, on removal from Friedenshiitten (Wyalusing) on the North Branch of the Susque- hanna to Friedensstadt (Moravia) on the Beaver River. On the evening of July 17, Ettwein and his party camped in “a narrow and stony spot” at the mouth of Anderson Creek (Curwensville) . Next morning they left the West Branch and traveled “three miles to the north-west up the creek, crossing it five times. Efere the path went precipitately up the mountain. . . .” Ettwein did not give the miles traveled that day, but noted that they camped at a spring. This was probably at Chestnut Grove, which was as far as the cows could have traveled that day. The rivulet here he mistakenly called “the first waters of the Ohio”— no doubt because it was running west where he saw it, and he could not know that it soon turned south to enter the Susquehanna at Bells Run. After spending Sunday, July 19th, here-in quiet but not in peace, because of the “punkies” which gave the region an evil name— they trav- eled five miles “through the swamp” to where their path, as he said, “crossed” the path to Goschgoschink and the upper Allegheny. Five miles from Chestnut Grove would bring them to the Big Spring, where the path to Venango and Goschgoschink forks from the path to Kittan- ning. It is probable that Ettwein mistook the separation of the two paths for a crossroad. Two miles beyond this “parting of the ways” at the Big Spring, they camped at a small run at the head of the East Branch of Mahoning Creek. Next day, July 21, they “proceeded six miles to the first creek”: i.e., in a southwesterly direction past the old East Branch School and Schlimmer School to Stump Creek, which they forded about a mile beyond the latter school. On July 22, they “journeyed on four miles [via Stump Creek and Mahoning Creek], to the first fork, where a small creek comes down from the north.” This would probably be Big Run. On July 23, they traveled another “four miles to the second fork— to a creek coming in from the south-east.” This would be Canoe Creek, which enters Mahoning Creek at Cloe. Here, on July 24, they left Mahoning Creek and went “over valleys and heights to a spring," thankful to have at last got rid of the “ponkis.” The spring at which they camped after a stint of five miles was probably in the vicinity of Dutch Run, about a mile and a half south of Fordham. On July 25 they advanced another five miles and camped at a salt lick, probably about two miles west of Trade City, on Pa. 934. Sunday the 26th they lay by, fishing and exploring the country round them. On the 27th they proceeded four miles “over a long mountain to Tschachkat” (Smicksburg?) , “where the path from Ligonier [to Goschgoschink] passes north, then four miles over a mountain to a creek coming from the 70 INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 36 south-west [Glade Run at Dayton] and then one mile to a small run.” Bishop Ettwein's party had before this left the direct route from Shamokin to Kittanning. After climbing a hill (where the modern road runs) west of Smicksburg, they had come to a parting of the ways. They took the northern fork, thus leaving the main branch of the Great Shamokin Path, no doubt in order to save themselves some miles on the long journey to the Kuskuskies (New Castle and vicinity) . They found a good ford of the Allcghenv River not far above the In- dian town of "Kawunt.se honnink.” Ettwein tells us that his party struck the river about eight miles above Kittanning. It is not unlikely that there was a path from that point south to Kittanning. But there must have been a more direct path from Punxsutawney and Smicksburg. During the French and Indian Wai Kittanning was an important Delaware settle- ment and warriors used the path to Punxsu- tawney and Shamokin, surely without such a detour as that to Cowanshannock on the Alle- gheny. The white man early made a road (shown on Melish’s map of Pennsylvania, 1822) running- east from Kittanning, which crossed Cowanshan- nock Greek in about a mile and a half, continued east on the ridge between the Cowanshannock and the South Fork of Pine Creek, and ran through the hamlet ol West Valley to the head waters of both creeks. It crossed Little Mahoning Greek in the vicinity of Smicksburg and reached Canoe Creek a trifle south of Punxsutawney at or near Cloe. This would have made a good dr\ Indian path. Another likely route— one that was used in stage-coach days— ran west from the “parting of the ways” (three quarters of a mile west of Smicksburg), tame through Barnards and Rural Valiev, and followed Cowanshannock Creek. Barnards on the old coach road is replete with Indian tradition. Vccorcling to John M. Kirk- patrick17 there was an Indian settlement back of Barnards as late as the 1820's. His father (born in 182.'i) while still a small boy was once taken by the Indians to visit an old woman in their village up in the hollow. The Cowanshannock Creek branch of the Great Shamokin Path kept to the north side ol the stream to the crossing, which was about two miles east of Kittanning. Thence it ran almost straight west, probably, according to Perry King of Kittanning, coming down the dry valley of Truby Run and passing just north of the present courthouse to Jacobs’ cabin. Jacobs’ cabin was in 1756, at the time of Arm- strong’s attack, the focus of the Indian town. Harry Flemming of West Kittanning is authority for the tradition that “Jacobs’ cabin was on the site of the present Alexandra Hotel, on the north side of Market Street about a block and a half west of (below) the courthouse.” “The ford at Kittanning,” continues Mr. Flem- ming, “was about a hundred yards north of the Market Street Bridge. We kids used to lock arms and cross. At places you had to go on tiptoes. In slack water the river could be forded almost any place.” An Indian path ran west from Kittanning through Butler to the Kuskuskies. The Cowanshannock branch gave the traveler the advantage of easy grades, but it would be difficult in wet weather, because the valley is flat and the path is crossed by many small streams coming down off the hills. The early settlers, who used both routes, may have inherited from the Indians a choice of roads for the changing seasons. I he Shamokin Path as a thoroughfare between the Susquehanna and the Allegheny rivers was better known among the Indians than among the white people. Charles A. Hanna tvas of the opin- ion that the Great Shamokin Path was probably “the earliest path used by the Pennsylvania In- dians in their journeys from the Susquehanna to the Ohio.”18 But after 1745 it dropped out of use— until, that is, the French and Indian War brought Delaware and Shawnee warriors back over it in an attempt to recover the eastern lands they had lost. This was the path over whic h Barbara Leinin- ger and Marie Le Roy, captured near Shamokin (Sunbury) cm October 6, 1755, were taken to Kittanning.19 They stopped lor ten days at “Jen- kiklamuhs, a Delaware town,” and for five days at “Puncksotonay.” On reaching Kittanning, the girls received the customary “welcome” accorded INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 36 71 to prisoners. “It consisted of three blows each on the back. They were, however, administered with great mercy. Indeed, we concluded that we were beaten merely in order to keep up an ancient usage and not with the intention of injuring us.” FOR THE MOTORIST From Sunbury take Pa. 14 north through Mil- ton. Three quarters of a mile beyond Milton, leave 14 and continue north on Pa. 405 to Wat- sontown. There turn right on L. R. 49061. Fol- low it for about a mile to where it forks. Take the left branch (straight ahead) and follow this township road for about 1 1/2 miles to its junction with L. R. 49062. Follow the latter for a little over 4 miles to the summit of Muncy Hill and the Lycoming County line, where the road changes its number to L. R. 41062. Follow 41062 (which for several miles lies a few hundred yards west of the path) into Muncy. There turn left on Pa. 14, which soon merges with U. S. 220. Continue on 220 through Mon- toursville, Williamsport, Linden, and Jersey Shore to Lock Haven (the Great Island) and on up Bald Eagle Creek to Blanchard. There turn right on L. R. 14009 and follow it up Marsh Creek to Romola and up Little Marsh Creek to Yarnell. It is not possible for the motorist to follow the Great Shamokin Path as it climbed the Allegheny Front. But, if you care for an exciting mountain drive, you will enjoy the winding road which keeps in the general proximity of the path from Yarnell to Rhodes. A simpler plan, however, would be to continue on L. R. 14009 from Yar- nell to its junction with Pa. 53, there turn right, and run west to Rhodes. From Rhodes continue on Pa. 53 (which is never very far from the old path) through Snow Shoe and Moshannon. The highway crosses Moshannon Creek about half a mile north of Post's Island. Road and path are almost identical lor a distance of about 1 \/2 miles between Drift- ing and Drain Lick. Then the path leaves 53 and runs for 9 miles along the ridge north of it. Beyond Kylertown, as you approach the valley of Moravian Run leave Pa. 53, which here turns sharply south, and continue west on Pa. 153 to its junction with U. S. 322. Turn right on 322 and follow it to Clearfield. At the crossing of Clearfield Creek, 322 breaks away from the old path. Instead of going over the hill behind the town as the path did, the modern highway fol- lows Clearfield Creek around the base of the hill. There are roads over the hill, but none of them follows the old path very closely. From Clearfield continue on U . S. 322 through Curwensville and Chestnut Grove to Luthers- burg. There leave 322 and turn left (southwest) on Pa. 410. From the Parting of the Ways at the Big Spring, Pa. 410 follows the old path closely for about 2 miles, but by the time the modern road reaches Troutville it is i/2 mile or more west of the path. About 2 miles beyond Troutville, road and path come together again. In another II/2 miles, 410 merges with U. S. 119, which you will follow for the next dozen miles. At Bells Mills, U. S. 119 leaves the Shamokin Path (which ran through Cloe) and passes through Punxsutawney, there turning south to pick up the Indian path again about 2 miles be- yond the town and follow it for 1 1/2 miles. About t/2 mile after 119 passes the junction with Pa. 210, turn right on a township road. This follows the path for about 1 1/2 miles to Dutch Run, and there comes into Pa. 210. Go west on 210 to Trade City. There take Pa. 954 west, and follow it to Smicksburg. From Smicksburg it is impossible to tollow Bishop Ettwein’s route by motor car. The motor- ist is advised to take the shortest route to Kittan- ning. That is by L. li. 32097 , which becomes L. R. 03074 on crossing from Jefferson into Arm- strong County. At Barnards (about \i/2 miles west of the county line) 03074 turns into Pa. 839, and this latter road in about 2i/2 miles runs into Pa. 85. Follow 85 to Kittanning. 1 Memorials of the Moravian Church, William C. Reichel, ed. (Philadelphia, 1870) , I, 66. 2 George P. Donehoo, Indian Villages and Place Names in Pennsylvania (Harrisburg, 1928) , 82. ’For the exact location, see Warrantee Survey C 234 135: to Samuel Titmus, 318 acres "Situate on the old Indian Path [which is here shown] Leading over Muncy Hill and joining the Battle ground." For a history of the encounter, see T. Kenneth Wood, “The Battle of Muncy Hills." Now and Then, IV, 105-111. 1 Survey dated 1768, Draft of Old Manors, p. 20. Bureau of Land Records, Harrisburg. ’See Warrantee Survey D 62-19, which shows "Wolf Run or Mingo.” INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 36-37 * Paul Wallace, Conrad W riser, Friend of Colonist and Mohawk Philadelphia, 1945) . 80. J I Meginncs.s, Otzinachson: ,4 History of the ll’est Branch Pulley of the Susquehanna Williamsport. 1889) . 90. "Warrantee Survey G ill. ’Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Iliogra f>hy, XXV (1901) . 212. ' "Christian Frederick Post is said to have forded the M •shannon here on his journey in 1758 to Venango Warrantee Survey \ 77 101. •See Reading Howells Map of the State of Pennsyl- vania. I7'>2. and also Warrantee Survey \ 77-101. "Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XXV (1901) . 213. “ Warrantee Survey D 17-152. i; Suggested he Warrantee Survey D 17-152. Rev John Ettwcin s Notes of Travel from the North Branch of the Susquehanna to the Beaver River, Penn- sylvania. 17/2. John W. Jordan, ed., Pennsylvania Maga- zine of History and Biography , XXV (1901), 208-219. Interviewed by the writer, in company with Mr. Perry king of Kittanning, September 27, 1962. "The Wilderness Trail (New York, 1911), I. 247. "The Narrative of Marie Lc Roy and Barbara I.eininger" appears in an English translation in Penn- sylvania Archives. Second Series. VII (Harrisburg, 1878), ‘101-412. It is quoted at length by W. J. McKnight, in I Pioneer History of Jefferson County. Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1898), 33-40. 37. (heat Warriors Path From Athens to Sun bury At Tioga (Athens) the Great Warriors Path was fed by Indian highways from all parts of the Six Nations home country, which at one time extended from the Hudson River to Niagara. At Shamokin (Sunbury) there were several off- shoots: the Great Shamokin Path to Kittannintj, the Penns Greek Path to Frankstown, the Tusca- rora Path to North Carolina, the Paxtang Path to Harrisburg, and the Tulpchockcn Path to Philadelphia. I he Great Warriors Path was used not only in war but also in peace. It was the designated road for Iroquois ambassadors travel- ing south to “brighten the chain of friendship" with brother Onas at Philadelphia or with Mary- land and Virginia at Lancaster. From Tioga the Great Warriors Path crossed the Chemung River, ran south past Queen Esther's 1 own (between Greene’s Landing and Milan), and about a mile below Milan crossed 'he Susquehanna to the east bank. Running south through Old Shcshequin Flats (opposite the Indian town of Sheshequin, now Ulster) , it went on for another six miles before ascending Breakneck Hill opposite Towanda. It continued on the east bank, here and there str, tightening its course, however, in order to avoid some of the deep loops which the river makes between To- wanda and the big bend at Lackawanna. \ few miles below Wysox, it climbed the Wva- lusing Rocks and in a mile and a half came to the Indian town of \\ yalusing, near which the Moravians built in 176a the model Indian town of Friedenshutten. After passing Tunkhannock, Buttermilk Falls, and Wyalutimunk (Old Man's Town) , the path reached Lackawanna at the mouth of the Lackawanna Rivet. It crossed the creek to Pittston, forded the Susquehanna River, and followed the west bank the rest of the way. It passed Forty Fort and the site of the Battle of Wyoming. Opposite Wyoming Indian Town (\\ ilkes-Barre) it passed a Mahican settlement and below it, at Plymouth, a Shawnee settlement, sometimes known as Paxinosa’s Town. A few miles below this, travelers by the Great Warriors Path may have seen remains of the town of Nan- ticoke, which was occupied by the Nanticoke Indians from 17-18 to 1753. Hemmed in between the river and Shickshinny Mountain, the path ran on to a Munsee settle- ment, Neolegan's (Newallika’s) Town at the mouth of Shickshinny Creek. Continuing down the west side opposite the Indian town of Mocan- aqua, the path came In Indian fields and cabins to a point opposite Wapwallopen and so on to what is now Berwick, opposite the Indian town of Nescopeck. At the mouth of Briar Creek it came to several villages, each one of which was known .it some time as Nutimus’ Town.1 Running on through a Shawnee town at Bloomsburg and crossing Fishing Creek, the Great Warriors Path kept inland to avoid a wide river curve. It came to the mouth of Mahoning Creek at Danville. From there it followed the river to Northumberland. Crossing the East INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 37 GREAT WARRIORS PATH 74 INDIA X PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 37-38 Branch by way of Shamokin Island, it came to Shamokin Indian Town. FOR THE MOTORIST From Athens take /.. R. 08077 south along the east bank of the Susquehanna to North Towanda, where the road crosses to the west bank. There take U . S. 0. In about 2 miles 0 crosses from Towanda to the east bank. Follow it through Wysox, over Wyalusing Rocks, and through the towns of Wyalusing and Meshoppen to Tunk- hannock. At Tunkhannock, take Pn. 92 and follow it to Falls, site of the exquisite Buttermilk Falls. There leave Pa. 92, which crosses to the west side, and take the country road running south along the east bank as the Great Warriors Path did. Follow the road down the east bank through Ransom and at the loot of Campbell Ledge to cross the Lackawanna River into Pittston. At Pittston pick up U. S. 11, cross the river, and tollow II through Kingston, West Nanti- coke, Shickshinnv. Berwick, Bloomsburg and Danville to Northumberland. There take Pa. 14 across the East Branch to Sunbury. A quicker but less close following of the Great Warriors Path would be to take U. S. 220 and 6 from Athens through Towanda to Tunkhan- nock, there take Pa. 92, follow it to West Pitts- ton, and from that point follow U. S. 11 as be- fore. 'See \pplication No. II i New Purchase), to John Hoofnaglc: "On the West side of the North East Branch of Susquehanna, Beginning about half a Mile below the place where the Old Nutimess lived (about 4 miles below Niscopcck falls) and extending up the Riser about ■ , Of a mile including the said place.” See also Survey A (i-284: ". . . including the Old fields on the South West side of Rahawanishoning or Briar (reek.” See further Nicholas Scull's map of Pennsylvania, 1759. 38. Hays Mill Path From Somerset to Cumberland, Md. I he Hays Mill Path was the common name of a packer s path, said to have been an Indian path, which ran from the Glades of Cox’s Creek near Somerset to Fort Cumberland. On warrantee sur- veys it was called “the path leading from Simon Hays Mill to Fort Cumberland” (C 229-68) or ‘‘the Old Path leading from the Glades to Fort C annbcrland (( 1 20 1 1 19) . Vccording to William II. Welfley, in his his- tory of Somerset County, it left the Glades near where Ankeny's Mill was built (just south of Somerset) and went out “by way of the locality known as Break Neck.”1 South of Berlin it took a course roughly parallel with that of the Plank Road (still so designated) crossing Blue Lick Creek at Hays Mill and joining the Plank Road on the Allegheny Mountain. Immediately after the junction, it is shown in the vicinity of Pleas- ant Union.2 There is some question about its course from that point. About a mile below the summit of the Allegheny Mountain, there was a fork. One branch went south, very nearly as Pa. 160 does, to Wellersburg and Barrelsville. then turned east to Corriganville. There it met the Warriors Path from Raystown and turned south with it for Wills Creek (Cumberland) . Welfley thinks the I lavs Mill Path crossed the Maryland border in the neighborhood of Korn’s Mill, which is not far from Wellersburg. The so-called Cumberland Road, on the other hand, which is often confused with the Hays Mill Path, took the other branch of the fork, running east and descending the deep valley of Gladdens Run to meet the Warriors Path (Pa. 96) at Palo Alto. FOR I HE MOTORIST A general view of the terrain traversed by this path may be had if one takes the Plank Road, U. S. 219, to Berlin and Pa. 160 from Berlin south. Pa. 160 passes a mile east of Hays Mill. A detour may easily be made to Hays Mill by tak- ing the right fork (about 4 miles south of Berlin) on L. R. 35137, which in a little over a mile will bring you to the place. From there take a town- INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 38-39 ship road south to rejoin Pa. 160 in about 2yz miles on the summit of the Allegheny Mountain. About 7 or 8 miles farther on, 160 crosses Little Savage Mountain to Pleasant Union. A mile or so east of the Little Savage crest, 160 makes an acute angle, almost reversing itself. Here are the forks. For the Wellersburg route, turn sharply right (south) and continue on 160 into Mary- land. For the Palo Alto route, go east and descend into the valley of Gladdens Run. Follow the valley road past Gladdens and through the gap in Little Allegheny Mountain to meet Pa. 96 at Palo Alto. Turn right (south) on 96 for the Maryland line, Corriganville, the Narrows of Wills Creek, and Cumberland. 1 History of Bedford and Somerset Counties, Pennsyl- va n :a , William H. Koontz, ed. (New York, 1906) , II, 195. ? See Bedford County Warrants, S 4S1 (John Stoner), “on both sides of the road from Simon Hays Mill to Cum- berland on a head of Jennings’s Run.” See also the ensuing Warrantee Survey D 5-158, on which this high- way is marked “Plank Road.” 39. Horseheads Path From Grover to Elmira and Horseheads, N. Y. North of Williamsport and Montoursville, the Horseheads Path branched off the Sheshequin Path at Grover, at the head of Lycoming Creek, where the Sheshequin Path turned east. From Grover it ran north to Canton and Troy, crossed Sugar Creek, and ran up the valley of Wolf Creek through Columbia Cross Roads. It forded the Chemung River at the Indian town of Kanawohalla (Elmira, N. Y.) , and went on to Horseheads, five miles north of Elmira. From Horseheads the main path ran north to Seneca Lake, while a branch ran northeast to Cayuga Lake. The path is described in the first issue of the Chemung County Historical Journal A “. . . a branch of the Lycoming [Sheshequin] trail . . . came up from Pennsylvania along Route 14 through Canton and Troy and down South Creek to Seely Creek, thence north along Pennsylvania Avenue and Sly Street to the Chemung River. After crossing the river, the trail continued northward along Sullivan Street, thence along the Lake Road to Horseheads. Here one trail went northeastward along Route 13 to Ithaca, HORSEHEADS PATH I.XDIAX PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Xus. 39-40 76 while the other continued northward along Route I I to Montour Falls. At this place the trail divided, one branch going down the east side of Seneca Lake along present Route 414, the other, down the west side of the lake along Route 11.” FOR FHF MOTORIST From Williamsport, follow Pa. II all the way through: to Grover, Canton, Alba, Troy, Colum- bia Cross Roads, Klmira, and Horseheads. ' Yol. I. So. I (September, 1955). 40. Ichsua Path From Port Allegany to Olean I he Ichsua Rath was a continuation ol the Sinnemahoning Path (from the Lock Haven to Emporium) and the Portage Path (from Em- porium to the Canoe Place at or near Port Alle- gany) . 1 he Adlum Wallis map of 1793 or '94 shows a path from the Canoe Place following the east side of the Allegheny River to the vicinity of Elclred. Fording the river, it crossed Indian Creek at what is still known as Indian Crossing, and went over the hills to ford the Allegheny again just above the mouth of Ichsua Creek and so enter the town of Ichsua (Olean) . FOR 1111 MOTOR 1 Si From Port Mlegam take Pa. 1 55 to the north end of Eldred Koto. I here turn left on Pa. 116. cross the Allegheny Rivet, and in less than a mile turn sharp right for the New York border and Olean ( 1 1 listia) . ICHSUA PATH INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 41 41. Juniata Path From Dalmatia to Lewistown From McKee’s Upper Trading Post (Dalma- tia) the Juniata Path (often known as McKee’s Path) forded the Susquehanna to what is still known as McKee’s Half Falls. From there the path ran west to Delaware Creek and Thompson- town on the Juniata, then followed the river to Kishacoquillas (Lewistown) . Continuing along the Juniata past Mount Union, it joined the Frankstown Path at Jack’s Narrows. Bishop Cammerhoff in 1748, traveling north by the Paxtang Path, stopped at a house (prob- ably McKee’s) a short distance beyond the mouth of Wiconisco Creek and was informed that across the river “began the Great Path to the Allegheny country.”1 Among traders heading west during the early eighteenth century and before the Forbes Road had improved the Raystown Path, McKee’s Path was popular because it avoided the heavy mountain climbing encountered south of the Juniata on the Frankstown and Raystown paths. The Mahonoy Path and the Frankstown Path, each of which followed the Juniata for some dis- tance, were also sometimes called the Juniata Path. FOR THE MOTORIST From McKee’s Half Falls (opposite Dalmatia and about 7 miles north of Liverpool) take U . S. 11 and U. S. 15 south. Cross Mahantango Creek, and in about li/2 miles turn west on L. R. 34060. Follow this road for about 3 miles, turn left (south) on L. R. 34012, and stay with it to its junction with Pa. 235. In about 2 miles bear left on a township road for Dimmsville. There take L. R. 34009, follow it for about a mile, and then turn right on L. R. 34017 for Goodville. At Goodville turn left on a township road which in a little over 2 miles meets L. R. 275. Turn left on this road down Delaware Creek for Thompson- town. At Thompsontown turn right on U. S. 22 and follow it through Lewistown to Jack’s Nar- rows and Huntingdon. JUNIATA PATH IX WAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 42—43 78 42. Kersey Road y From nr nr I.uthersburg to the head of Elk Creek The Kerse\ Road— which, according to George C. Kirk,1 followed an Indian path— branched off the Great Shamokin Path some fifteen miles west of Clearfield and lour and one-half miles east of Luthcrsburg. It ran north to the headwaters of Elk Creek. YV J Me Knight writes: "The road [laid out about 1812! . . . passed through the woods over Boon’s Mountain, crossed Little Toby’s Creek, without a bridge, where I It lien Mills now stand, followed up the creek seven miles to the point of Hogback Hill, up which it went, though steep and difficult, continued over the high and un- dulating grounds to the spot which had been selected for a mill site on a stream which was afterwards called Elk Creek, where the mill was built, about two miles from the present Centre- v i 1 1 e . ” 2 ' Pioneer History of Bradv Township, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania,” DuBois Courier and Daily Ex- [n v.sn. August, 1929. I Pioneer Outline • History of Xortliwestern Pcnnsyl- vanin Philadelphia. IhO.a) , 498. 43. KishacocpuUas Path From Milesburg to Lew is town This path was named for a Shawnee chief, Kishacoqttillas, who was known to be living in 17:51 at what is now Lewistown. Philip Fithian1 in August, 177.7, traveled this path from Bald Eagle’s Nest (Milesburg) to KishacocpuUas (Lewistown) . The first day he followed what he called a “blind, unfrequented" path. To describe it in modern terms, he passed Bellefonte, Pleasani Gap, Old Fort, Centre Hall, and came to Potters Mills where Logan's Path entered from the north. On the last day he traveled a better road over the Seven Mountains and by Logan’s Spring (a little north ol Reeds- vi He) . Passing through the Narrows where Kishacoquillas Creek breaks through Jacks Mountain, he proceeded down the creek vallev to Kishacoquillas (Lewistown) . FOR THE MOTORIST From Milesburg take Pa. 53 through Belle- fonte, Pleasant Gap, and Old Fort to Potters Mills. There 53 runs into U. S. 322. Continue on 322 over the Seven Mountains past Milroy and Logan’s Spring (where Captain John Logan, son of Shickellamy, had his cabin in 1765), to Kish- acoquillas on the Juniata. Sec his Journal, \ugust 1-8, 177"), edited by Robert Grecnfialgh Mbion and Leonidas Dodson (Princeton, 1931) . INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 44 79 44. Kiskiminetas Path From Indiana to T arentum The Kiskiminetas Path branched off the Kit- tanning Path at a point about six miles west of Indiana. It passed the Round Holes (near Spring Church) and the Indian Town of Kiski- minetas on its way to Chartier’s Town (Taren- tum) and the Forks of the Ohio. The town of Kiskiminetas was on the south side of the Kiskiminetas River, opposite the mouth of Carnahan Run and about a mile north of Vandergrift Heights. From there “the old path leading from Kiskimanetes old Town to Shartee’s old Town”1 ran almost due west to Chartier’s Landing (Edgecliff) at the mouth of the present Chartier Run. Chartier’s Town, which Charles Hanna describes as “the principal village of the Shawnees during the decade from 1735 to 1745,” was opposite the Landing.2 FOR THE MOTORIST A quick way to follow the general route of this path is to take U. S. 422 from Indiana to Watts, just west of Watts, bend left on L. R. 32048 and follow its windings to the junction with Pa. 56. Follow 56 through West Lebanon and on to its crossing of the Kiskiminetas River at Apollo. West of the Kiskiminetas, continue on 56 to Shearersburg. Here 56 leaves the path. Inquire your way to Braeburn, which is just north of Edgecliff, or continue on 56 to New Kensington. 1 Warrantee Survey C 143-94. 2 See Westmoreland Warrants, W 55: “. . . Shirtees Landing Creek which Creek empties into Allegainey River opposite Chartiers old Town.” Kittanning Path From Frankstoivn to Kittanning A local name for the western section of the Frankstown Path (q.v.). KISKIMINETAS PATH 80 INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 45-49 KUSKUSKY PATHS INDIAN PATHS OP PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 15-16 81 45. Kuskusky -Chartier’s Town Path From Tarentum to New Castle In 1758 Christian Frederick Post and his party took from the 13th to the 16th of November making their way from Chartier’s Town (Taren- tum) to Kuskusky (New Castle) . His descrip- tion of this path begins at Chartier’s Landing on the east bank of the Allegheny River. 13th.— We got up early, and boiled some chocolate for breakfast, and then be- gan to finish our rafts; we cloathed our- selves as well as we could in Indian dress; it was about two o’clock in the afternoon, before we all got over to the other side, near an old Indian town [Chartier’s Town]. . . . 15th.— We arose early, and had a good day’s journey: we passed these two days through thick bushes of briars and thorns; so that it was very difficult to get through. ... At twelve o’clock we crossed the road from Venango to fort Duquesne. We went west towards Kushkushking, about sixteen miles from the fort. . . . We concluded to go within three miles of Kushkushking, to their sugar cabbins, and to call their chiefs there.”1 Post’s journal does not give sufficient detail to make clear which of several possible paths he took. On November 16 he and his party “Went down a long valley,” traversed the flats north of West Pittsburg, and passed through Old Kus- kusky (abandoned since about 1756) to New Kuskusky (New Castle) at the junction of Neshannock Creek with the Shenango River.2 1 Post's second journal to the Allegheny, 1758: Reuben Gold rhwaites, Early Western Travels, 1748-1846 (Cleve- land, 1904), I, 247-49. = Ibid., 249. 46. Kuskusky - Cussewago Path From Meadville to New Castle From Cussewago (Meadville) the path ran down the French Creek Valley to the mouth of Conneaut Outlet. Thence it ran west to the head of Sandy Creek (in the southwest corner of Greenwood Township, Crawford County) , and southwest to present Greenville and Clark, or by an alternate route south to New Hamburg and Pymatuning Town. Passing a little east of Sharpsville, it reached the Shenango River at West Middlesex and followed it through Pulaski to New Castle. The Rev. Robert R. Roberts (later Bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church) passed that way in 1796. 1 In “The Venango Trail,” Dr. S. K. Stevens and Donald H. Kent suggest that this was the path George Washington referred to in his journal, November 25, 1753: “He [the Half King] told me that the nearest way [from Logstown to Fort Le Boeuf] was now impassable, by reason of many large miry savannas.” Stevens and Kent comment: “The route referred to . . ., over which fall rains had evidently made travel impossible, would lie almost straight north to Shenango, in Mercer County; from there north to Hartstown. in Crawford County; and taking a northeasterly course, skirt the southern edge ol Conneaut Lake to arrive at Cussewago (Meadville) .”2 Pymatuning Swamp stretches for many miles down the Shenango Valley above and below Hartstown, and Conneaut Marsh runs south from Conneaut Lake; but there is a patch of dry ground at Hartstown, and the Old State Road (said to have been built on an Indian path) skirted the south shore of Conneaut Lake and crossed Pymatuning Swamp at Hartstown. Bishop Roberts, however, went another way: . . . Alter spending a few days at Casse- wago, they went down French Creek again as far as the mouth of Coneaut Creek, which emptied itself into French Creek, about eight miles below Meadville, on the 82 INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. -16-48 west side. From the mouth of Coneaut, they proceeded westwardlv to the heads of Sandy Creek, following an old Indian path, called the Kuskuskia Path, and lead- ing from Cassewago to Kuskuskia, a place on the Beaver River. When they had passed over Sandy Creek, they stopped for the night. 1 hey peeled some bark from chesnut trees, and made a camp. The lo- cation of this ramp was about four miles northwest of Georgetown fSheakleyville], and about two miles and a half from where Robert R. a short time after made his location.3 There would have been difficulty, even in summer, in crossing on foot the southern outlet of Conneaut Lake. A passage in Elliott’s biog- raphy of Bishop Roberts makes that clear: In their travels to and from Cassewago, they heard that there was a small lake at the head ol Coneaut Creek, and were de- sirous to see it. Accordingly they started one day, and traveled in a northerly direc- tion until thev got into the swamp at the outlet of the lake, and of course were obliged to return without accomplishing the object of their journey.4 FOR THE MOTORIST The most convenient route to follow is the one suggested by Stevens and Kent. Take Pa. 18 from Mew Castle to Hartstown, turn right on L . S. 322, and follow it to Meadville. The other suggested paths ate shorter and apparently drier, but no modern roads follow them. 1 Sec Charles Klliott. I if,- of the Rev. Robert R. Roberts i New York. I H i t) , 12. i Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, Harrisburg. 1940). 42. •' Klliott. of), cit.. 37-.3H. 1 Ibid.. 13-44. 47. Kuskusky- y Kittanmng Path From Kittanning to New Castle I he Kuskusky- K i t tan n mg Path was a projec- tion of the Great Shamokin Path. It is said to have run past what is now the courthouse in the city ol Butler. On its way, it merged with paths from Charter's Town and Pittsburgh to Kuskusky (New Castle) . FOR THE MOTORIST I he course of this path has not been fully de- termined. but the motorist may get a general view of the country it crossed by following U. S. 422 from Kittanning through Butler to New Castle. Ohio Forks Path From Pittsburgh to New Castle After crossing the Alleghenv River at the Forks of the Ohio (Pittsburgh) , the path to Kuskusky followed the Venango Path through West View and Perrvsville to the head of Girty Run, where it left the other path and took a north-northwest course to cross Brush Creek a mile southwest of Ogle in southern Cranberry Township, Butler County. It crossed Connoquenessing Creek prob- ably a few miles west of Zelienople, crossed Slip- pery Rock Creek in the vicinity of Wurtemberg, and reached the Beaver River at Chewton. Thence it proceeded up the river to Old Kus- kuskv (West Pittsburg) and New Kuskusky (New Castle) . FOR THE MOTORIST For a general view of the country traversed by the Kuskusky-Ohio Forks Path, take U. S. 19 from Pittsburgh to Zelienople. There turn left on Pa. 288 and follow it to Ellwood City and Chewton. Minor roads follow the east bank as the trail did to East Moravia (named for the Indian settlement, Friedensstadt, established by Moravian missionaries across the river) . From East Moravia take Pa. 168 to New Castle. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 49-50 49. Kuskusky- Venango Path From New Castle to Franklin From New Castle (Kuskusky) the path to Venango (Franklin) ran east, following much the same course as that taken by U. S. 422. It passed about a mile southeast of Rose Point and a quarter of a mile north of McConnells Mills. It crossed Slippery Rock Creek at Allens Mill and Muddy Creek at Portersville Station. From that point it followed the path taken by George Washington in 1753 on his journey from Logs- town to Fort Le Boeuf, passing through West Liberty and Redmond to Harrisville, where it S3 joined the better-known Venango Path (q.v.) and proceeded with it to Franklin. FOR THE MOTORIST From New Castle take U . S. 422 east from New Castle to Rose Point (w’hence a side trip to Mc- Connells Mills is recommended) , and in a little over a mile turn right on U. .S'. 19. In about a mile and a half (approaching Portersville) turn sharp left on Pa. 488 and follow it to the cross- ing of Muddy Creek. Just beyond the crossing, turn right on a township road and follow it to West Liberty. From there your best plan is either to take L. R. 10101 north to the town of Slippery Rock and from there Pa. 108 east to meet Pa. 8 at Adams Corners, or to take the township road east to meet 8 at Stone House. Follow 8 into Franklin. 50. Lackawanna Path From Pittston to Windsor, N. Y. The Lackawanna Path ran from the Indian town of Lackawanna at the mouth of the Lacka- wanna River (just north of Pittston) through Capoose Meadows (Scranton) to Oquaga (Wind- sor, N. Y.) on the North Branch of the Susque- hanna above the Great Bend. It was sometimes known as the Oquaga or Onaquaga Path. Paths on both sides of the Lackawanna River —one from Lackawanna (Assarughney) on the north side of the river at its mouth, and another from Adjouquay (Pittston) on the south side- converged at Old Forge, about three miles up- stream. Continuing through Taylor to Capoose Meadows in Scranton, the path ran north through Leggetts Gap in the Bald Mountains. From the Gap it probably proceeded almost directly north to the Tuscarora Indian Town (Lanesboro) at the mouth of Starrucca Creek in the Great Bend of the Susquehanna. A branch led to Apple Tree Town. Its course has not been exactly determined, but the old Indian path from Onanghguga to Laha- wanock” (Warrantee Survey A 64-90, dated 1774) is believed to have passed Sickler Pond. Branches fanned out northeastward to Schohary, eastward to Shehawken Lake, westward to Che- nango (near Binghamton, N. Y.) and Tioga (Athens, Pa.) . The Lackawanna Path was followed by a body of Tuscarora Indians coming north, late in 1766, from North Carolina to the Oneida country. While the sick and infirm traveled in canoes by way of Wyalusing, Tioga, and Owego to the Great Bend, their young people took the short cut over the Lackawanna Path.1 When the last Indian residents left Capoose Meadows (Scranton) about 177 1,2 the Lacka- wanna Path offered a convenient way to their destination at Chenango and Oquaga. After the Battle of Wyoming, the Iroquois withdrew by the Lackawanna Path.3 FOR THE MOTORIST From Pittston take U. S. 11 . Turn left on L. R. 35063 and cross the Lackawanna River for Old Forge. There turn right on L. R. 35055 along the river into Scranton. Turn left on U. S. 11 through Leggetts Gap, and then fork right on - /XMAS’ PATHS OF PEXXSYL VANIA: Nos. 50-51 Interstate 81, which follows the path fairly closely for at least a few miles. Leave 81 at Lenox. Go north on Pa. 92, which picks up the path again and follows its general course through Gelatt to Lanesboro (Tuscarora Indian I own) . Continue on 92 to the New York border and thence on .V Y. 79 to Windsor (Oquaga) . 'Sec "The Bethlehem Diary,” November 18, 1766, ft sfif. \rctmes of the Moravian Church. Bethlehem, Pa. 3 Benjamin 1! I'hroop, .1 Half Crntury of Scranton Scranton. 1 H95) . 23. 3 ( harles Miner, History of Wyoming in a Series of tetter, (Philadelphia, 1 845) , 239-40. LACKAWANNA PATH 57. Lackawaxen Path From Indian Orchard to Lackawaxen The Lackawaxen Path ran from Indian Or- chard on the Lackawaxen River, two miles south- east of East Honesdale, to the Indian town of Lackawaxen at the junction of its namesake river with the Delaware. From the Orchard (said to have been named for a hundred apple trees planted there by the Indians) the path ran southeast to Butcher Pond and then in an almost straight line east-southeast. It passed between Tedyuskung Lake and Little Tedyuskung Lake, skirted the southern tip of Westcolang Pond,1 continued on the highlands for another two miles, and then descended sharply to a ford of the Lackawaxen opposite the Indian town, which stood on the south side. A popular tradition (reported to this writer by Allie James, whose father once tended the canal lock at Glen Eyre) is to the effect that “the path ran up over the hills” instead of following the windings of the Lackawaxen as the modern road does. The tradition is amply corroborated by a set of warrantee surveys oi 178-1 showing a continuous four miles ol the “path from the Or- chard to Delaware.”2 The Lackawaxen path serves as an interesting example of the directness of Indian paths. Whereas the white man's former road, which followed the windings of the Lackawaxen River, took twenty-three miles to reach the Orchard, and the straightened, modern road of today (Pa. 590 and U. S. 6) still takes about twenty, the Indian path took thirteen. FOR THE MOTORIST To get a general view of the country crossed by this path (there are very few modern roads in the area) , take U. S. 6 from Honesdale to Hawley, and from there follow Pa. 590 to Lackawaxen. 1 One section of the path was described on Warrantee Survey C 173-154 in the year 1781 as the "Bath from Orchard to Wcskeline.” 3 W arrantee Surveys C 173 151, 155; A 55-11; D 39-64. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 51-52 85 52. Lake Shore Path From Erie west to Sandusky and east to Buffalo The Lake Shore Path more or less closely fol- lowed the south shore of Lake Erie from San- dusky and Conneaut, Ohio, through Erie and North East, Pa., to Westfield and Buffalo, N. Y. The character of the path changed at Erie. Whereas west of that city the path remained close to the water, east of Erie it kept about a mile and a half back, running along a curious ridge said to have been, in an earlier age, the shore of Lake Warren. This route is now followed by U. S. 20. Before the day of good bridges, it was an awk- ward road to travel, for the ridge is perforated by a number of deep, narrow creek gorges which must have caused something of a scramble to get across. Going west from Presque Isle (Erie) , there were alternate routes to choose from: one along the sandy beach, the other through the woods on top of the cliffs that lined the shore. When the water was low, travelers preferred to walk on the sand, which provided a firm, level, and almost uninterrupted passage. Except for a marshy spot at the base of the Erie Peninsula and a bad promontory at Cleveland, one could comfortably follow the beach from Erie to Sandusky. It was only when the water was high and the beach was covered that one had to take the more difficult path through the woods. East of Erie, the trav- eler had no choice. The shore there was rocky and dangerous, and there was no continuous beach to walk on. The Lake Shore Path is little known. It has even been questioned that there ever was such a path. William Lucas who, having been a prisoner of the French in that area, might have been expected to know what he was talking about, was of opinion that no such path existed. Reporting to a British Council of War at Pitts- burgh, October 7, 1759, he said that . . there is no Marching a Body of Men, from Presque Isle to Niagara, no Road having ever been dis- cover’d that way.”1 Against Lucas’s opinion, however, must be set a quantity of contrary evidence. On February 1 1, 86 INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 52 1753, the Marquis Duquesne addressed a letter to Claude-Pierre Pecaudy de Contrecoeur, Com- mandant at Niagara, who knew this region well. “I noticed,” wrote Duquesne, "that in your letter you considered it an easy matter to send this de- tachment by land to Catacoin [Chautauqua].”2 It would not have been “an easy matter” to send by land the intended detachment of four hun- dred men with equipment to work on the Chau- tauqua Portage unless there had been a path to guide them. John Hcckewelder's map of the Ohio country, 1796, shows an “Indian Path along the Lake,” hugging the Erie shore till the way from Presque Isle to the Huron River and beyond.3 His map does not show its continuation east of Erie. But there is other evidence that fills this gap. When, on July 1 of the same year, Oeneral Moses Cleave- land with a party of fifty men reached the western border ol Pennsylvania, “They had been travel- ing,” writes Harlan Hatcher, “. . . for the last eight days through the woods and along the Lake Erie shore from Buffalo.”4 Evidence of the importance of the Lake Shore Path is found in a letter of February 13, 1792, written by Isaac Craig at Fort Franklin to Lieu- tenant Jeffers, proposing that to “Cut the Com- munications between the bad Indians [Little Furtle and his victorious Miami Confederates] and the Six Nations,” it was more important to build a tort at Conneaut than at Cussawago, since “the bad Indians pass through Cunniat, whenever they go to the Six Nations. . . ,”H From Conneaut, as he indicates, they went through Presque Isle (Erie) . In other words, the Lake Shore Path (not the Cussewago Path nor any Other) was nt that time the main route of commu- nication between the Iroquois and the western Indians. But was it a new path? To white men, yes. As Beverly Bond writes in Foundations of Ohio,6 the Lake Shore Path did not come into general use by white men “until just before the close of the eighteenth century.” It had, however, been used by Indians long before that time. Joseph Ellicott reported, Janu- ary 1, 1802: "The New Connecticut Company have . . . opened the old Indian Path from New Amsterdam [Buffalo] to the Triangle [Erie]. '7 Further evidence of the age of this path is found in the archeological remains of ancient Indian settlements near the shore of Lake Erie, settlements which must have had communica- tions with one another by this natural highway. Granted that there was a path of some sort between Buffalo and Conneaut, the question still remains: IFcu the beach (the beach west of Erie) used as an Indian path? Jacob Eyerly, a Moravian who in 1791 traveled from Pittsburgh to Presque Isle and thence to Conneaut, gives an authorita- tive answer. He and his party, with a pack horse carrying provisions, walked on the beach and made the twenty-six-mile journev from Presque Isle to the Pennsylvania line near Conneaut in one day. From their tenting ground on the lake shore at what is now Erie, as Eyerly records, they walked several miles beside the lake to the base of the peninsula. There they had a little diffi- culty getting round a marshy spot, but, as he writes, “Once back at the lake, we had a wide sandy beach all the way. . . . "From this point,” he goes on, "we walked all day on the sand under a clear sky. It was quite calm and the lake was very still. We had an English ship in sight almost all day long. At one time it was so close we could plainly see the people walking the deck."8 He learned from the Indians he met that an- other path followed the shore, but farther back from the lake. It was used only when the water was high and covered the beach. “Then,” he wrote, “the only way to travel along the lakeshore is through the woods, which makes very heavy going.”9 That the beach path continued west beyond Conneaut is shown by an entry made at Con- neaut in General Moses Cleaveland’s journal for July 10, 1796: “Went with Capt. Buckland about eight miles up the beach; wind ahead. Stopped at Jay creek, then went about three miles farther . . .; the surf high, making very hard walking on my return. . . ."10 At Erie in 1951 the present writer met a Great Lakes skipper, the late Captain William Morri- son, who was familiar with every foot of the Lake Erie shore. “When the water is low,” he said, INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 52 87 “it is easy to walk on the beach from Erie to Conneaut and even farther.” One further question remains to be asked: Is there, as popular tradition would have it, a seven- year cycle of high and loiu water on Lake Erie ? Jacob Eyerly first recorded the tradition in his journal of 1794: . . we had a wide sandy beach all the way. That was because the lake has been receding for 3 years. The lake rises and falls regularly every 7 years. When it is at its lowest, the beaches are 3 or 4 rods wide. On the other, hand, when the water is high, the beaches are quite covered.”11 Captain Morrison questioned the seven-year cycle. Boatmen and fishermen still believe in it, he said; but, in his own opinion, “the cycle of high and low water commonly is completed in eleven and a half years. That is to say, the high water of 1917 would be repeated in 1929.” The variation between high and low water he esti- mated at about five feet. The cycle theory, whether of seven or eleven years duration, has been challenged. Harold Titus, in “The Great Lakes go on a Rampage,”12 has this to say: “Old-timers of the region declare that levels change every seven or eleven years, but official records going back to I860 yield no evidence of such cycles.” Whether or not the fluctuations in the lake level have been regular enough to be called cycles, it is certain that the water level has undergone slow, recurrent changes, and that, during those years when the water was low, the long beach ol Lake Erie’s southern shore served as a good In- dian path, firm enough for both man and beast. FOR THE MOTORIST From Conneaut, Ohio, cross the Pennsylvania line and take Pa. 5, which follows the Lake Erie shore, at a little distance, to the city of Erie. At the east end of Erie, take Pa. 955 to its junction with U. S. 20. Follow the latter to the New York border anti Buffalo. To have a glimpse of the sandy beach along which the path at some seasons ran, lake any one of a number of side roads running north. IX DIAX PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 52-53 88 1 \mhcrst Papers, WO 3 1 35. p. 108: Public Records Office, England. Papiers C.onlrecoeur, Fernand Grenier, ed. (Quebec, 1952), 22. 3 End map in Thirty Thousand Miles with John II eckewelder , Paul \ W. Wallace, ed. (Pittsburgh, 1958) . ‘Harlan Matcher, The Western Reserve (New York, 19-19). 22. (.roup II \. letter Rook. 1791 1793, Craig Collection, P nnsvlvania Room, Carnegie l ibrary, Pittsburgh, i Columbus, Ohio, 1941). 20. Reports of Joseph lillicott. Robert Warwick Bingham, etl. Holland Land Company's Papers. Buffalo, 1937). "Paul \. W. Wallace, "Jacob Eyerly’s Journal, 1794,” The Western Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, XL.V, No. I (March, 1962). 18. " Ibid, 'Quoted l>\ Harlan Hatcher in The Western Reserve New York . 1949), 37. "Op. cit.. 18. '■Saturday livening Post. July 20. 1952. 53. Lehigh Path O From Bethlehem to Wilkes-Barre The Lehigh Path ran from the Forks of the Delaware (an area that included Bethlehem as well as Easton) by way of Fort Allen (Weiss- port) , to Wyoming (Wilkes-Barre) and its vicin- ity. From Bethlehem to Fort Allen and a little be- yond, the Lehigh Path was identical with the Nescopeck Path (q.v.) . After a diffic ult fording of the Lehigh River at Lehighton (the Moravian Gnadenhiitten) , the path proceeded w'est for about three miles and then turned north through a gap in the hills to climb Mauch Chunk Ridge. Branching from the Nescopeck Path, the Lehigh Path crossed Mauch Chunk Creek, climbed the Pisgah Mountains, and came down to Nesque- honing Creek, which it forded about half a mile from its mouth. It ascended the Broad Mountain by a steep spur overlooking the Lehigh River opposite Coalport, crossed Black Creek (formerly Quakake Creek) about a mile and three-quarters east of Weatherly, and rounded a western shoul- der of Bald Mountain to the head of Indian Run. Crossing Laurel Run and rounding an eastern projection of Sugar Loaf, it turned northward, forded Pond Creek (formerly Terrapin, or Ter- rapin Pond, Creek) , ascended Green Mountain in the vicinity of Zeliner, and climbed Yeager Mountain. I rom the summit of Yeager Mountain it took an almost straight course for the Warrior Gap in Hanover Township, Luzerne County. It forded Nescopeck Greek, climbed Nescopeck Mountain, forded Wapwallopen and Little Wapwallopen creeks, ascended Penobscot Mountain, and tackled a shoulder of Wilkes-Barre Mountain overlooking Nanticoke Creek and the Warrior Gap. In the vicinity of Peely it turned northeast to Wyoming. It was a short but difficult way to Wyoming, difficult because of the mountains it climbed: Mauch Chunk, Pisgah, Broad, Yeager, Nesco- peck, Penobscot, and Wilkesbarre. There were easier ways. General Sullivan in 1779 took his army through the Wind Gap and over a more roundabout but less hilly course, better for his wagons and artillery. For all that, the Lehigh Path had advantages for unencumbered trav- elers. It was drier and more direct. The veteran traveler, Christian Frederick Post, though he often came this way, found it hard going. In his journal for May 10, 1760, he wrote: When we ascended the great Mountain [Broad Mountain] . . ., all my Limbs trem- bled as if I had a fit of the Ague, & in de- scending the same it made both Man X: Beast tremble. At the foot of the I fill we cross’d a Creek, called Quakake [now Black Creek], with Steep Banks. My Horse being formerly a Gentleman s X: not used to such hardships X: to climb such craggy Hills & steep mountains, laid himself twice flat on the ground with me, yet I came happily off without much hurt, save bruis- ing my Leggs against the Stones.1 Isaac Zane, who passed this way in 1758, was impressed with the "great hills and Dales and the forests of white pine: “I have not before seen the Like, for higth Bigness and streatness.”2 T he Indians made frequent use of the path. On the Nescopeck Mountain in June. 1758, Post INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 53 89 and Charles Thomson “met 9 Indians travelling down to Bethlehem.”3 At Quakake Creek in the fall of the same year, Moses Tatamy, Isaac Still (the Delaware interpreter) , and Alamewhehum (Jonathan) on their way to Wyoming met “Teedyuscung and his Company” on their way to Bethlehem.4 Captain Lazarus Stewart with a company of men from Lancaster County is said to have taken this same route into the Wyoming Valley when he captured Fort Durkee at Wilkes-Barre in Feb- ruary, 1770. 5 Detailed information on this path comes from warrantee surveys showing the “Old War Path” to Wyoming.6 FOR THE MOTORIST In Bethlehem take Pa. 512, which runs north from the Lehigh River along the east side of Monocacy Creek. About a mile from the river, fork left on L. R. 48049, cross Monocacy Creek, 7* To Lockow and continue on 48049 through Weaverville and across Pa. 329 to the outskirts of Kreidersville. There cross L. R. 48061 and continue northwest on L. R. 48068 through Kreidersville to a junc- tion with Pa. 45. Follow 45 through Lehigh Gap (where 45 is joined by Pa. 29) and Palmerton to Weissport. There cross the Lehigh River (still on 45) to Lehighton. At this point the path set out on a course no modern road fol- lows, crossing the mountains by routes much shorter than those of today. The motorist will touch the path here and there if he goes north from Lehighton on Pa. 45 and 29 through Jim Thorpe (Mauch Chunk) . About 2 miles north of Mauch Chunk the road crosses the Lehigh Path, which here ascends the Broad Mountain. In another mile or so, leave 45 and turn right on 29. The best way to see the difficult country over which the Indian path takes its almost straight course is to continue on 29 to Hazleton. There take U. S. 309 over the Nescopeck Pass, the Lehigh Path being now about 3 1/2 miles to the east. In another 4 miles or so you will cross the Lehigh Path, which here ran a trifle west of north, heading for the War- rior Gap. U. S. 309 runs to Mountaintop and through Solomon Gap to Wilkes-Barre. 1 "Journal of Christian Frederick Post, April 21-June 30, 1960.” Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 2 “Journal of Isaac Zane to Wyoming, 1758.” Pennsyl- vania Magazine of History and Biography, XXX (1906) , ■420. 3 Pennsylvania Archives, First Series, III, 412. 4 Ibid., 504. 5 Harry Blackman Plumb, History of Hanover Town- ship . . . and also a History of Wyoming Valley (Wilkes- Barre, 1885), 144. 6 A 7-144; B-335, 336. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 5-1 ',)() 54. Lentil Lenape Path (The Old York Road) From Philadelphia to New Hope The Lenni Lenape Path ran from Philadel- phia to New Hope on the Delaware River, and thence across New Jersey from Lambertville to salt water at Elizabeth. This was one of the many Indian paths lead- ing out of the Philadelphia area— "so numerous,’’ as Emogene Van Sickle writes in The Old York Road and Its Stage Coach Days,1 “that one his- torian has likened them ‘to the sticks of a lady’s fan.’ " The much-traveled Lenni Lenape Path was so well routed that when in 1711 a road was followed very closely by U. S. 61 1 (the Old York Road) past Stenton, across Wingohocking Creek, and through Jenkintown, Abington, Willow Grove, Hatboro, Hartsville, Jamison, Furlong, Buckingham, and Lahaska to New Hope. From Lambertville on the New Jersey side of the Delaware River, it passed through Ringoes, Larison’s Corner, Reaville, Somerville, Bound Brook, Dunellen, Plainfield, Scotch Plains, and Westfield to Elizabeth and Newark. Of its stagecoach days, Horace Mather Lippin- cott writes: The old road ran [from New Hope west] to Buckingham Meeting House where it continued as at present toward the city thirty-three miles through a tim- bered wilderness thinly populated. Wat- son’s Hill near Buckingham, Kerr's Hill beyond Neshaminy, Sampson’s Hill be- yond Willow Grove and Shoemaker’s Hill above that village were formidable pulls for the horses. The first bridge was built at Willow Grove in 1722. Ibis was evi- dently an important stopping point for in 17:78 John Paul’s Tavern there had sta- bling for 100 horses.4 FOR THE MOTORIST LENNI LENAPE PATH laid out from Philadelphia to New Hope it was not surveyed "but was superimposed directly upon the old route.”2 According to Emogene Van Sickle, the path began at Front and V ine streets. For three miles its course was identical with that of Germantown Avenue.3 Then it branched off, taking a route This path, which became the Old York Road, may be followed fairly closely on good modern roads. From Philadelphia take U. S. 611 through Jenkintown to Willow Grove. I here fork right on Pa. 263 and follow' it through Hatboro, Hartsville, Jamison, Furlong, and Buckingham. About 2 miles beyond Bucking- ham, fork right (east) on U. S. 202. Follow it INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 54-55 91 to New Hope and across the Delaware River to Lanrbertville. East of the Delaware, continue on U. S. 202 to Ringoes. Just beyond it, bear right on N. Y. 514 through Reaville to meet 202 again at Three Bridges. Follow 202 to Somerville, and there take N. Y. 28 for Bound Brook, Plainfield, West- field, and Elizabeth. 1 Flemington, N. [., 1937. 2 Wheaton J. Lane and Thomas J. Wertenbaker, From Indian Trail to Iron Horse (Princeton, 1939) , 18. 3 See John F. Watson, Annals of Philadelphia and Penn- sylvania in the Olden Time . . . (Philadelphia, 1898) , II, 67: "The present aged Jacob Keyser was told by A. Cook, a primitive inhabitant, that he could well remember Germantown street as being an Indian foot- path. going through laurel bushes.” 4 Old York Road Historical Society, Bulletin, I, 5. 55. Logan’s Path A. From McElhattan to Lewistown Logan’s Path ran from the vicinity of Tish- irningo (Tiquamingy) on the West Branch of the Susquehanna near the mouth of Chatham Run (between Lock Haven and Jersey Shore) to Logan’s Spring near Reedsville and on to Kishacoquillas (Lewistown) . The path was named for Shickellanty’s son, John Logan (not to be confused with his brother, James Logan) 5 who lived for a few years after 1765 in the Kishacoquillas Valley. Logan’s Path ran south through McElhattan, and cut through the gap in Bald Eagle Moun- tain by way of Shoemaker Park and Lock Haven Reservoir. Crossing Chestnut Flat to Rosecrans, it continued south through the gap in Sugar Valley Mountain to Loganton, turned west to Booneville and south again through Logan’s Gap (now Kahl Gap) . Thence it angled south- west over Nittany Mountain, Brush Mountain, and Shriner Mountain to meet the Karondinhah or Penn’s Creek Path at Aaronsburg. From Aaronsburg Logan’s Path followed the Penn’s Creek Path through Millheim and Penn Hall to join the path from Bald Eagle’s Nest and travel with it over the Seven Mountains to Milroy, Logan’s Spring (half a mile north of Reedsville) , and Kishacoquillas. A continuation of this path forded the Juniata River near Lewistown, went over the moun- tains to Letort’s Spring (Carlisle) , crossed the Monocacy Path at Hanover, and continued south through Hampstead, Md., to salt water in the vicinity of Baltimore. FOR THE MOTORIST To reach this path, take U . 5. 220 from Wil- liamsport west through Jersey Shore to Charlton. Cross Chatham Run and turn left (south) on Pa. 664. This will take you across the Susque- hanna River to McElhattan. 92 IXD1AX PATHS OF PEXXSYLVAXIA: Xu. 55 II is not possible to follow the path over Raid Eagle Mountain from McElhattan and the Lock Haven Reservoir to I.oganton. A quick way to reach Logan ton on good roads is to take L. R. 13013 from McElhattan to Lock Haven and from there take Pa. 61 through Mill Hall and the gap in Bald Eagle Mountain to Salona. There turn left on Pa. 330 and follow it through Rote to Rosecrans, where you are back on Logan's Path again. There is, however, a picturesque route that keeps a little closer to Logan’s Path over this wild stretch of country. From Lock Haven cross the bridge to Castanea and drive south and east over township roads: first through the gap in Raid Eagle Mountain made by Kammerdine Run, then down into Xittany Valley and up again to the mountain summit at Chestnut Elat. Here you are on the path again, about 2 miles south of the Lock Haven Reservoir. From Rosecrans go south on Pa. 830 to Logan- ton. There take Pa. 780 to Rooneville, then /.. R. 18027 to Greenburr, after that a town- ship road to Logan Mills and (leaving the path, since no modern roads follow it for the next few miles) Tylersville. From Tylersville head south for Millheim. Turn right (west) on Pa. 75 and follow it to Spring Mills. There turn left on /.. R. 1/013, follow it for about a mile to a junction with I.. R. 1/030, and follow this latter to a junction first with Pa. 53 and then with U. 8. 322 at Potters Mills. Follow U. S. 322 over the Seven Mountains (formerly known as the Seven Mile Mountain) to Milroy, Logan’s Spring, and Lewistown. B. From Lock Haven to Lewistown A second path named for Shickellamy’s son, John Logan, ran from the Great Island (Lock Haven) to Mill Hall, there entering the gap in Raid Eagle Mountain. Emerging, it followed Fishing Creek to Cedar Springs and then took a good ridge, midway between Fishing Creek and Cedar Creek, to Lamar. Thence it followed Little Fishing Creek to Mingoville, crossed the Nittany Mountain, and came down through Logan’s Gap. From there it very probably ran directly south to Potters Mills, although there was another better-known route down Penns Creek to Spring Mills. From Potters Mills it followed the other branch over the Seven Mountains to Logan’s Spring and Kishacoquillas’ Town (Lewistown) . FOR THE MOTORIST Take U. 8. 220 to Mill Hall, and there take Pa. 67 south through Cedar Springs and Lamar to Hecla Park (Mingoville). There fork left on L. R. 1-/027 , and follow it for about 5 miles to a T at Pa. 192. From this point it is impossible to follow the old path on modern roads. It will be best to turn left on 192 and follow it for about a mile. Then turn right on I.. R. 14031 and follow it past Penn’s Cave and Farmers Mills to Spring Mills. There take L. R. 14030 and follow it to its junction first with Pa. 53 and then with U. S. 322 at Potters Mills. Follow 322 to Lewistown. ' For an explanation of the confusion in the names, see the author's "Logan, the Mingo: A Problem in Identifi- cation." Pennsylvania Archaeologist, XXXII. Nos. 3-4 (December. 1962) . 91-96. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 56 93 56. Logstown Path From Ambridge to Franklin The Logstown Path ran from the Indian settlement at Logstown (Legionville, about two and a half miles north of Ambridge) on the Ohio River to Venango (Franklin) at the junc- tion of the Allegheny River with French Creek. Before white men occupied the Forks of the Ohio and built Fort Duquesne and Fort Pitt, the preferred Indian route from that general vicinity to Venango and Lake Erie was by way of Logstown, eighteen miles down the Ohio from Pittsburgh. The Logstown Path offered an all-weather highway with an excellent ford of Muddy Creek (in Butler County) , provided by remains of the terminal moraine of the Wis- consin Glacier. It was the path that George Washington, on Indian advice, took in 1753 when on his way to Fort Le Boeuf. See Ap- pendix No. 5. The Logstown Path followed the Great Path down the Ohio to Crow’s Town (Conway) . There it left the river, turning northeast past Big Knob to “Washington’s Spring’’ in the out- skirts of Zelienople. It forded Connoquenessing Creek at Harmony or in that vicinity and, after continuing northeast for a mile to get on to a convenient ridge, turned and ran slightly west of north to Portersville. Crossing: Muddy Creek where Pa. 488 does, at the former Porterville Station, it angled northeast to Hogue Run and West Liberty, and crossed Slippery Rock Creek at one of several possible fords: Crolls Mills, Dougherty’s Mill, the Pines, or what is known today as “Washington’s Crossing’’ in Slippery Rock Park. There is debate whether after crossing Slip- pery Rock Creek the path ran along beside the creek to join the path from Pittsburgh (the Franklin Road) south of Forestville, or whether it continued to ride the terminal moraine from Croll’s Mill to Harrisville and there joined the Franklin Road. In either case, from Harrisville it followed the same route as that taken by the better-known Venango Path ( q.v .) from Pitts- burgh. FOR THE MOTORIST From Pittsburgh take Pa. 65 through Am- bridge and Old Economy to Legionville (Logs- town) and so on to Conway. It is difficult to fol- LOGSTOWN PATH INDIAN PATHS OP PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 56-55 94 low this path from Conway to Zelienople, but a convenient way to cross the same tract of country is to turn right at Conway on L. R. 992 and follow it to Pa. 989. Turn left (north) on 989 and follow it to Zelienople. From Zelienople, U. S. 19 (by-passing Har- mony) follows the same ridge as that used by the Indian path as far as Portersville. Imme- diately after leaving Portersville, bear right on Pa. 755. Keep on 755 for about 2s/ miles to the crossing of Muddy Creek. In one-tenth of a mile north of the crossing, bear right on a small road angling through the woods, up over a hill, and down into the valley of Hogue Run. find your way to West Liberty (through which the path passed) and take other small roads to meet Pa. 8, which will take you to Harris- v i 11 c and from that point to Franklin over the same general route as the old trail. If you have time, stop at Dougherty’s Mill, where Pa. 173 crosses Slippery Rock Creek, and see the slippery rocks (just under the water) which provide a good slide for bathers about to plunge in the pool below, and which it seems to this writer may have given the creek its name. 57. Loyalhanna Path y Prom Ligonier to Vandergrift From the Indian town of Loyalhanna (Ligonier) the Loyalhanna Path followed the Raystown Path to a point about a mile and a half northwest of Latrobe. There it broke away, bearing north and remaining on the west side of Loyalhanna Creek to its mouth. It crossed the Kiskiminetas River to Blackleg’s Town (Saltsburg) , and ran northwest to meet the Kiskiminetas Path in the vicinity of Vander- grift. This was the path taken by Christian Irederick Post on his second journey in 1758 to the Allegheny. FOR THE MOTORIST follow U. S. 30 (the Lincoln Highway) , al- though it is at first on the wrong side of Loyal- hanna Creek. At its junction with Pa. 9S1, turn right and follow 981 through Latrobe to Saltsburg. It soon crosses the creek to the east side, while the Indian path kept on the west side; but, as there is no modern road that fol- lows the old way, it will be best to take this short cut. From Saltsburg, follow' Pa. 981. A mile or so west of Salina, turn right on Pa. 819 and follow it to Vandergrift. 58. Loyalhanna - Gosch zosch ink Path o Prom Ligonier to West Plickory From Loyalhanna (Ligonier) as far as to Rayne Township in Indiana County, the path to Goschgoschink (West Hickory) followed the Catawba Path. From there to Redbank Town- ship in Jefferson County, it follow'ed the Venango-Frankstown Path; and after that it followed the Goschgoschink Path to the Indian settlement at Goschgoschink on the upper Allegheny. FOR THE MOTORIST No adequate tracing of this path by modern roads is possible. See, however, some sugges- tions for motorists under Catawba Path, Venango-Irankstown Path, and Goschgoschink Path. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 59 95 59. Loyalsock Path From Dushore to Montoursville It has been suggested by }. Andrew Wilt1 that an Indian path beginning opposite Wyalusing on the North Branch of the Susquehanna “led up the Sugar Run creek and thence over the divide to the headwaters of the Little Loyal Sock to Dushore, Sullivan County, thence down said creek and the Big Loyalsock to its mouth at Montoursville on the West Branch of the Susquehanna.” It is unquestioned that an important path ran from the mouth of Sugar Run Creek over the divide to the West Branch of the Susque- hanna. Its western descent, however, was not by the valley of the Loyalsock but by that of Muncy Creek. See the Wyalusing Path. There were undoubtedly bits of paths along the Loyal- sock Valley, connecting individual small camp sites, of which there were a number between Montoursville and Hillsgrove. But it is unlikely that Indians going any distance used the inter- minable windings of the Loyalsock route. By water, the distance between Forksville (at the junction of the Big and Little Loyalsock) and Montoursville is over thirty-six miles. The crow’s flight is about twenty-four. John S. Koch of Allen wood (some ten or twelve miles south of Montoursville) writes: . . . my reason for believing there was never a prominent Indian trail in the Loyalsock is due to its many deep pools and dozens and dozens of swift riffles which make crossing and recrossing a diffi- cult task, especially during cold weather. I have read where the Indians forded streams that were chest deep during very cold weather, but I’m afraid on the Loyal- sock chest deep would not get them across, and to ford the riffles, it would take a mighty good man to stay on his feet. I’ll bet today that nine out of ten riffles can not be waded with hip boots, owing to their swiftness and depth. In going from Montoursville to Hills- grove (I believe they call it twenty eight miles) one hits all points of the compass, since the creek is so crooked, yet the road follows it reasonably close except for a few places. . . ,2 FOR TFIE MOTORIST From Dushore to Montoursville Pa. 87 offers a most delightful tour along the banks of the Little and Big Loyalsock. It demands the at- tention of the discriminating motorist, who must believe that Indian hunters, at least, followed the Loyalsock Valley here and there. 1 Bradford County Historical Society, Annual, I, 30. 2 Letter to the present writer. May 5. 1962. Lycoming Path T he Sheshequin Path was sometimes called the Lycoming Path, its southern terminus being at the mouth of Lycoming Creek. See the letter written by Colonel Thomas Hartley to Colonel Zebulon Butler, September 10, 1778, a few weeks after the Battle of Wyoming: That it is absolutely necessary that the Troops at Wyoming, those on the West Branch, & in this Department should effect a Junction before they proceed against Chemung, where I understand great part of the Plunder taken from our unhappy Brethren at Wyoming, & a Body of Indians, 8c Tories are collected— I mean that this Town should be approached by the Lycawming Path to the Mouth of Tawanclie; 8c that the Town should be attacked 8c if possible Destroyed, 8c that the Troops should Sweep the Country, down the River to Wyoming—1 1 Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, Proceed- ings. VII (1901) , 140. McKee’s Path The name McKee’s Path was sometimes given to each of two eastern branches of the Franks- town Path. One, which began at Thomas McKee’s Upper Trading Post on the Susque- hanna at present Dalmatia, probably followed the West Mahantango. The other is said to have run west from Liverpool. Charles H. Snyder of Sunbury is of the opinion that these were two branches of the same path. They “intersected,” INDIAN PATHS OP PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 60-61 96 he writes, "along the headwaters of the Cocola- mus, and continued southwest along Delaware Run, joining the Juniata Path at present Thompson town."1 For map and directions see Juniata Path. 1 I Ik- Great Shamokin Path and Other Trails Which Radiated from the Forks of Susquehanna," Northumber- land Counts Historical Society, Proceedings, XIV (19-14), II 17. See also Charles V. Hanna, The Wilderness Trail, I. 248. 60. Mahanoy Path y Prom Lew is town to Selinsgrove The course of the Mahanoy Path has not been closely defined, but its existence as a “Warriors Path” and as a "Trading Path” is attested by records in the Land Office: “Gottfret Clyne . . . Between the Warriors Path and Jacks Moun- tain”;1 Hugh Brown “. . . under jatks Mountain on the South side and lying above the Trading Path about a mile from the head of the Long Hollow-.”2 According to Charles Fisher Snvdcr,3 the Mahanoy Path ran northeast from Kishaco- quillas' Town (Lewistown) on the Juniata up Jacks Creek to the vicinity of Maitland and Wagner, at both of which places he has found warrants that mention it. It passed through Middlcburg, where a tract surveyed in 1766 was described as “on the old trading path,”'1 and reached the Susquehanna in the vicinity of Selinsgrove. The Mahanoy Path received its name from Mahanoy Creek (the former name of what is now Middle Creek, Snyder County)/’ the valley of which it followed for about ten miles. FOR IMF MO LORIS I P . S. 5 22 follows the general course of the path from Lewistown to Selinsgrove. 'West Side \pplications (1707), No. 4616, bureau of 1 and Records. ’Cumberland County Warrants, B 87. '" I lie (treat Shamokin Path and Other Indian Frails Which Radiated from the Forks of the Susquehanna," Northumberland County Historical Society, Proceedings, XIV (1944), 46-47. 1 West Side \pplicat ions. No. 162: Survey D 16-29, to Mexander Clay. John Martin Stroup and Raymond Martin Bell, The Genesis of Mifflin County. Pennsylvania (Lewistown, Pa., 1 9.77) , 67. 61. Mahoning Path O Prom Beaver, Pa., to Akron, Ohio There were several paths called the Mahon- ing Path, just as there were several Mahoning creeks, Mahoning runs, and Mahoning towns. The Delaware word tnahoni means "lick” (deer lick) . When the locative -ing, -ink, or -unk is added, the word Mahoning means “at the deer lick.” 1. Fhe Mahoning Path from Beaver to Akron was a short cut on the Great Path. Beverly Bond, in The foundations of Ohio,1 writes, “The Mahoning Frail, as the shortest route, was es- peiiallv popular with couriers on foot between Detroit and the Pennsylvania frontier.” Leaving the Great Path at Beaver's Town (Beaver) , the Mahoning Path ran up the west side ol the Beaver River to Kuskuskies (New Castle) , and continued up the east side of the Mahoning Valley to Youngstown, Ohio. From Youngstown one branch of the path led west through the Ohio towns of Milton, Palmyra, Edinburg, and Ravenna, “crossing the Cuyahoga at Standing Rock about a mile above the present town of Kent,” as the Rev. F. V. Collins writes.2 From the Indian town of Cayahaga (Akron) , this branch ran west to join the Great Path on the headwaters of the Sandusky River. An alternate branch from Youngstown ran northwest to a crossing of the Mahoning River near Girard. From there it struck west between Mineral Ridge and Niles to the Salt Spring3 (about a mile southwest of Niles) , where it was joined by the Cayahaga Path from Venango (Franklin) and Pymatuning. 2. The name, Mahoning Path, was sometimes given to that section of the Nescopeck Path which the Moravians used when they traveled from Bethlehem to their mission town of Gnadenhiitten (1746-1755) at the mouth of Mahoning Creek at Lehighton. See Nescopeck Path. 3. Another Mahoning Path ran from Muncy on the West Branch of the Susquehanna to the mouth of Mahoning Creek at Danville on the North Branch. See Muncy-Mahoning Path. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 61-62 97 MAHONING^"" ( Newton Fa 1 1 s') • A CAYAHAGA ( Akron) * FOR THE MOTORIST To follow the first Mahoning Path (Beaver to Akron) as closely as possible on good motor roads, take Pa. 18 north from Rochester (op- posite Beaver at the mouth of the Beaver River) . This road crosses the Beaver River at Beaver Falls and from there follows the old path through Moravia (site of the Moravian Indian mission town of Friedensstadt, 1765- 1772) to New Castle. No modern highway ex- cept the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad follows the east bank of the Mahoning River as the Mahoning Path did; but the general course of the old highway may be seen if one takes U . S. ■122 west from New Castle to Youngstown, Ohio, and there turns left on Ohio 18 for Akron; or if one continues on 422 from Youngstown past Niles to Warren and there turns left on Ohio 5, which picks up the old path and follows it through Ravenna and Kent to Cayahaga Indian Town at Akron. 1 (Columbia, Ohio, 1941), 26. 2 “Capt. Samuel Brady,” Kittochtinny Historical So- ciety, Papers, V (1905-1908) , 103. 3 Frank N. Wilcox, Ohio Indian Trails (Cleveland, 1933) , 70. MAHONING PATH 62. Masthope Path From Indian Orchard to Masthope Evidence for the Masthope Path is found in Warrantee Survey D 109-205, dated 1775: . . about five mile Tom the old Indian Orchard in Lehiwaxin o the path Leading from sd Orchard to a place known by the name of Mast- hope on Delloware River.” The Masthope Path probably ran east from Indian Orchard past the old Rock Branch School, crossed Swamp Brook and Wolf Pond Run, and followed the valley of Rattlesnake Creek to Masthope on the Delaware River. FOR THE MOTORIST From Indian Orchard (3 miles south of Honesdale) take U. S. 6 south lor about i/2 mile and turn left (east) on L. R. 958. Follow 958 to Masthope. INDIA N PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 63 OH 63. Maxatawny Path y From Easton to Reading The Maxatawny Path ran from Lechawekink (the Forks of the Delaware, including Easton, Rethlehem, and Allentown) , through the Indian settlement at Maxatawny (Kutztown and vi- cinity) to Maiden Creek and Reading. The area now comprised in Maxatawny Township was formerly much loved by the Delaware Indians, who remained here for some time after white settlers surrounded them, main- taining friendly relations with the newcomers. In 1729 Daniel Levan, a Huguenot, took up land hereabouts. At the foot of the hill on the east side of Kutztown, he built a stone house which, under his son-in-law George Kemp, be- came a famous tavern, said to be the earliest in eastern Berks County. It is still known at Kemp’s Hotel. There is a lack of explicit evidence for this traditional Indian path. But the known pres- ence of so main Indians in Maxatawny Town- ship presupposes highway connections with the Forks of the Delaware and the Indian paths radiating from it, as also with Reading, where the Allegheny Path from Philadelphia to Harris- burg and Pittsburgh crossed the Schuylkill River. The white man’s road following this same route (orders for the construction of which were issued in 1754) ran along a gentle ridge in the middle of the wide valley bounded bv the Lehigh (or South) Mountain and on the north by the Blue Mountain. The terrain is so well suited to moccasined travel that one can be sure the Maxatawny Delawares used it. It is, however, probable that Indians, when they passed directly from the Forks erf the Delaware to the vicinity erf Reading, took the shorter though more difficult way through Oley which maxatawny path INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 63 99 Count Zinzendorf described in 1742. See the Oley Path. The Easton-Reading Road, which provides the principal evidence for the Maxatawny Indian Path, forded the Lehigh River and Jordan Creek, crossed the site of Allentown, passed Trexler’s (Trexlertown) , Haas Hill, the present village of Maxatawny, Hottenstein’s (Hottenstein School about a mile beyond Mon- terey) , Kemp’s Tavern (Kutztown) , Kempville (where Daniel Kemp’s brother Jacob settled) , Moselem Spring, Kirbyville, Maiden Creek, Ontelaunee, Tuckerton, Muhlenberg Station, and entered Reading by way of the Charles Evans Cemetery. An eastern extension of the Maxatawny Path ran from Philipsburg (on the Delaware River opposite Easton) over the New Jersey moun- tains to Somerville, where it joined the Lenni Lenape Path (from Philadelphia to Elizabeth, N. ].). Two early roads approaching the Maxatawny region from the south were known as the “Maxa- tawny Road” (or the “Albany Road,” Albany being on Maiden Creek some miles northwest of Kutztown) and the “New Maxatawny Road.” They intersected the Easton-Reading Road: the Maxatawny Road near the Hottenstein School, the New Maxatawny Road at Kutztown. EOR THE MOTORIST U. S. 222 follows the Maxatawny Path closely between Reading and Allentown; then U . S. 22 less closely between Allentown and Somerville. Mead’s Path From Clearfield to Meadville In 1788 David and John Mead of Shamokin (Sunbury) drove four horses with goods over Indian paths to Meadville on French Creek. They took the Great Shamokin Path through Chinklacamoose Old Town (Clearfield) to the vicinity of present Luthersburg. There, at the forks, they took the branch to the right, and followed it to Venango (Franklin) . From Frank- lin they took the well-known Venango Path up French Creek to Meadville.1 They are said to have widened the path from the mouth of Anderson Creek near Curwens- vi lie to Venango. In consequence, this part of the path to Venango is often known as “Mead’s Trail.” See the Venango Path and the Venango- Chinklacamoose Path. 1 W. J. McKnight, A Pioneer Outline History of North- western Pennsylvania (Philadelphia, 1905) , 459. Meniolazomeka Path o From Bethlehem to Wilkes-Barre See Wechquetank Path. 100 INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 64 MINGO PATH 64. Minzo Path o From Brownsville , Pa. to Wheeling, W. Va. 1 he Mingo Path was a western continuation ol Nemacolm's Path. Its course from Redstone (Brownsville) through Catfish (Washington) to Wheeling was closely followed by the old Na- tional Pike and is still for the most part followed by the new National Road, U. S. 40. Crossing the Monongahela River at Browns- ville, it ascended a shoulder of Indian Mill through Indian Peter's Land, a little north of Krepp Knob. The National Pike, which kept south ol the Knob, rejoined the path about two miles west ol the Monongahela crossing. Road and trail together ran past what is now Taylor Church, through Centerville (formerly l ast Bethlehem) , near Beallsville (the path by- passed the actual site, using the higher ground to the south) , and by way of Scenery Hill, Odell, Little Summit, Strabane, and Pancake (now Laboratory) to Catfish. At Catfish it veered southwest on a course that is still closely followed by the National Pike, past Sugar Mill and Clavsville. At Vienna it left the valley of Dutch Fork, which now carries the National Road, and went up over the hills on a dry but zigzag course through West Alexander and across the West Virginia line to Valles Grove, where the National Road rejoins it. From that [joint the Mingo Path followed the valley of Wheeling Creek to the Ohio River at Wheeling. Earle R. Forrest, in his History of II 'ashing- ton County, Pennsylvania, notes the important part played by the Mingo Path in the develop- ment of the American West: “The main line of travel for red men and white in early times, it later was the principal route for emigrants go- ing west." 1 Across the Ohio, the Mingo Path— widened in 1796 by Ebenezer Zane and since known as Zane’s Trace— ran west to the fording ol the Muskingum River at Zanesville, where trail and trace sepa- rated. The trail continued west, while the trace bent southward to Chillicothe on the Scioto Riser and Limestone (Maysville, Ky.) across the Ohio River from Aberdeen, Ohio. That section of the Mingo Path running from Brownsville to Catfish (Washington) was some- times known as the Catfish Path. FOR THE MOTORIST Eollow U. S. 40 from Brownsville through Washington to Wheeling. 1 (Chicago, 1926), 1. 36. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 65 101 65. Minisink Path From Minisink Island to Wilkes-Barre From Minisink Island (in the Delaware River three miles below Milford) the Minisink Path ascended Indian Point near the month of Ray- mond Kill and followed the height of land be- tween the kill and Conashaugh Creek. After about two miles, the path was joined by what is now the Blooming Grove Road, and they ran together for another two and a half miles. About a mile west of the bridge over Dwarf’s Kill, path and road parted company, the path striking off northwest on a course that kept it south of the Log Tavern Ponds. On Cranberry Ridge, two and three-fourths miles beyond the southern tip of the second and larger of the Ponds, the Minisink Path was joined by the old Wyoming Road from Milford. From that point the road followed the path closely most of the way. From Cranberry Ridge the Minisink Path ran five and a half miles to the Sand Spring, an interesting landmark about a third of a mile west of the crossroads at Lords Valley and within 150 yards of the modern road. From the Sand Spring, after passing Lake Giles, the path came in about two and a half miles to Blooming Grove House at the junction of the Wilderness Road with the Blooming Grove Road. Continuing west for another two miles to the present Blooming Grove (on Kleinhans Lake) , the path took a nearly straight course over the hills to Paupack Church, which overlooks the artificial Wallenpaupack Lake.1 West of Pau- pack Church the path crossed Wallenpaupack Creek. Beyond the creek, its course has not been well authenticated, but it would appear to have passed south of Goose Pond and to have continued west by St. Mary’s Church and Cen- terville School. Pa. 3-18 joins the Indian path at Cooks Pond, about a mile and a half west of Hamlin, and follows it to Mount Cobb. Path and road part company again about a mile west of Mount Cobb. The path crossc ’ Moosic Mountain by way of Indian Spring, which, according to H. Hollister in his 1885 History of the Lackawanna Valley ,2 “forms one of the lesser tributaries of Roaring Brook.’’ The same author notes that “Near the mountain spring, . . . this old Indian path for several hundred yards to the east of it, was so deeply indented as to show its depth and general out- line even today.”3 The path descended Moosic Mountain by com- paratively easy grades, keeping well above the gorge of Roaring Brook. It crossed Little Roar- ing Creek near its mouth, passed through Dun- more and Scranton, and forded the Lackawanna River to Capoose Meadows, where it picked up the Lackawanna Path. This it followed to Lackawanna and Adjouquay (Pittston) . The Minisink Path continued thence along the east MINISINK PATH 1 1)2 INDIA N PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 65-66 side of the Susquehanna to Wyoming (Wilkes- Barre) . Mast of the Delaware, the path ran through New Jersey to tidewater. Its course has been described by Wheaton j. I.ane and Thomas J. Wertenbaker in From Indian Frail to Iron Horse: . . . From Minisink Island ... it led in a general southeasterly direction to Lake Hopatcong, passing through the present towns ol Mainesville, Brant hville, and Newton. At Lake Hopatcong it turned east, following the glacial terminal mo- raine to the Rockaway River and Den- ville. At this point there appears to have been a division, the main path continu- ing on to Springfield by way of Parsippany and Hanover, while the other rejoined it after pursuing a more southerly course to Springfield through Morristown, Madi- son. and Chatham. This second route closely followed the line of the terminal moraine. From Springfield, the trail led south tt> Metuchen, crossed the Raritan, and then turned east, ending at the Shrewsbury and Navesink Rivers.'1 I he New Jersey part of the Minisink Path was a well-beaten highway, from two to three feet wide. Over it the Indians, especially the Munsee (Minsi) branch of the Delawares, traveled throughout the year. Its main func- tion was to provide an easy way to the shell fisheries on the seacoast. The many shell heaps discovered by archeologists about the mouths ol the Raritan and Shrewsbury rivers attest the extensive use of sea food by these Indians. The meat was dried and strung, to be carried up to Minisink. I he shells supplied the raw mate- rial for wampum. In later times the path was used for trade with the white men. FOR THE MOTORIST From Minisink Island (3 miles south of Mil- ford on U. .S'. 209) take L. R. 51008 , follow it for I1/2 miles, turn left on L. R. 51001 for about i/2 mile, and then turn right on L. R. 51007. Follow 5/007 for about (i miles to /.. R. 950. Turn right and follow 950 to Lords Valley. There turn left (west) on I.. R. 51019 and continue with it through Blooming Grove. Since it is impossible to follow the path through the new Lake Wallen- paupack, the motorist will have to make a wide detour round the lake head. Continue on 51019 to meet Pa. 507 , follow 507 till it runs into U. S. 6, and follow the latter to Wilsonville. There turn southwest on Pa. 590 to Hamlin. Beyond Ham- lin take Pa. 3/S. follow it to its junction with Pa. 611 , and take 611 to Scranton. From Scranton follow U. S. 11 to Wilkes-Barre. 1 I he Wyoming Road appears to have left the Minisink Path several miles east of Paupack Church and made a detour to find easier grades. It ran northwest from Blooming (.rose to Cates Hill, no doubt following another Indian path headed for Indian Orchard near Honcsdale. I.eaving this Indian path near I'afton. it swung west round the north end of Blooming Grove Bond (now Fairview lake), and picked up the Minisink Path again about a mile and a quarter east of Paupack Church. - i Philadelphia, 1885), 51. 3 I hid., 50. ' (Princeton, 1930) , 1(5. 66. Minsi Path From Philadelphia to Minisink Island and Kingston, N. Y. File Minsi Path was named for the Munsee (Minsi) Indians, a branch of the Lenni Lenape or Delawares, who lived on the upper Delaware River in the vicinity of Minisink Island, the general area above and below being known as the Minisinks. The Minsi Path was the principal means of communication these Indians had with the lower Delaware River on the one hand and with the Hudson River on the other. From Philadelphia (chosen here as a conven- ient starting point) the Minsi Path followed the Lenni Lenape Path (the Old York Road) as far north as the village of Rising Sun, which is about three-quarters of a mile south of Nice- town. At Rising Sun there was a fork. Taking the left branch, the Minsi Path passed Stenton (James Logan’s estate, where Indians frequently congregated) , and followed what is now Ger- mantown Avenue to Mount Airy and Chestnut Hill. From Chestnut Hill the Minsi Path is followed fairly closely by the Old Bethlehem Pike (U. S. 309) by way of Flourtown, Whitemarsh, Fort Washington, Ambler, Springhouse, Mont- gomery Square, Montgomeryville, and Colmar to Line Lexington. There it turned right (as INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 66 103 also did the original Bethlehem stagecoach road which was built on this Indian path, while the later Bethlehem Pike ran through Quakertown) and went by way of Leidystown, Mount Pleasant, Blooming Glen, Hagersville, Keelersville, Apple- bachville, Amity School, Pleasant Valley, Spring- field School, Leithsville, and Hellertown to Iron Hill. There it turned west to ford the Lehigh River near the present Minsi Trail Bridge, some distance east of the mouth of Monocacy Creek. After crossing the Lehigh, the traveler went north about a mile to a point (now the junction of Elizabeth Avenue and Linden Street) where the Minsi Path forked, the left branch, Pa. 191 , running north to Nazareth, while the right branch, U. S. 22, ran to Easton. At Nazareth again the path forked. One branch ran east to Tatamy (where it picked up the branch going through Easton) , then north- west to Martins Greek, and from there north to Totts (Tatamy’s) Gap, across the hills flanking the Delaware Water Gap, and so on to Shawnee on Delaware. The other route ran north from Nazareth through Schoneck to Wind Gap and Saylorsburg. There the Minsi Path took the right fork (the other led to Wyoming) , passing present Sciota and Sandhill, and going on to Snydersville. There again the path forked, the path to the left being the one taken by General Sullivan in 1779, while the Minsi Path kept to the right. From Snydersville the Minsi Path passed through present Stroudsburg to Pechoquealing (Shawnee on Delaware) . Thence it followed the Delaware River past Bushkill, Egypt Mills, Dingmans Ferry, to Minisink Island, the princi- pal Munsee town, situated opposite Indian Point at the mouth of Raymond Kill. The Minsi Path gave the Munsees communi- cation with their kin on the Hudson River. From Minisink Island it ran up along the Delaware through Milford. Crossing the river at a ford just below Carpenter's Point (near Tristate) , it came to Port Jervis. From Port fervis the path ran east up the valley of the Neversink River and down Rondout Creek to Esopus (Kingston, N.Y.) on the Hudson River. Between Esopus and Port Jervis, the Old Mine Road of the Dutch followed the Minsi Path. West of Port Jervis, 104 IX DIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 66 the Mine Road ran down the New Jersey side of the Delaware to a copper mine in the vicinity of Shawnee. Early settlers, such as Nicholas Depui and Daniel Brodhead, who were already here in 1727, used the Mine Road from Esopus to reach their lands in the Minisink region. Leroy Jen- nings Koehler in The History of Monroe County, Pennsylvania, During the Civil War } notes the claim by some authors that there were seven- teenth-century Dutch settlements in the Minisink region of Pennsylvania before the Swedes arrived in Chester County. FOR THE MOTORIST It is not difficult to follow the Minsi Path, most of the way, on modern roads. In Philadel- phia, follow Germantown Avenue to Chestnut Hill. There turn right on U. S. 309 and (keep- ing to the old Bethlehem Pike through White- marsh and Ambler) go on to Line Lexington, which is 1 14 miles north of Colmar. At Line Lexington turn right on L. R. 616 through Mount Pleasant. Take L. R. 09088 to Hagers- ville, 09068 to Applebachville and Pleasant Val- ley, L. R. 09071 and Pa. 412 to Leithsville, Hel- lertown, and Bethlehem. In Bethlehem, take Pa. 191 and follow it to Nazareth. From there a succession of legislative routes (48043, 48040, 48071 , and 166) follow the old path to the Wind Gap. North of the Wind Gap, take U. S'. 209 and follow it to Stroudsburg, from there take the river road to Shawnee, and follow the river road (L. R. 45012) till you reach U. S'. 209 again near Bushkill. Follow 209 through Port Jervis to Kingston, N. Y. /Stroudsburg, I!).">0) , 10. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 67 105 67. Monocacy Path From Wrightsville to Frederick, Md. From Wrightsville, one branch of the Mono- cacy Path ran to York by way of Hallam and Spring Plains (U. S. 30), while another ap- proached York from the Susquehannock Castle, which was known during the eighteenth century (after the refugee Conoys had been living here) as Conejohela. This palisaded town was situated just north of the mouth of Canadochly Creek and opposite Washington Boro. From Conejohela the Monocacy Path ran by East Prospect, Canadochly Church, and Plank Road to York. From York the path ran southwest to Hanover by way of Nashville, Spring Grove, and York Road. From Hanover it continued its south- westerly course by Mount Pleasant, Littlestown, and Oakgrove School. It crossed the State line into Maryland about a mile south of Oakgrove School and ran on to Taney town. A mile and a half below Taneytown the path forked, one branch continuing south to cross the Monocacy River near Frederick, Md., the other turning west to cross the Monocacy at Mumma Ford west of Keysville. The Monocacy Path was one of the routes that carried a How of population from Pennsylvania through Maryland, Virginia, and a corner of North Carolina to Cumberland Gap and so into Kentucky. The old rhyme goes: Me and my wife and my wife’s pap, We walked all the way to Cumberland Gap. ton. It passed the Natural Bridge, the vicinity of Salem and Roanoke, Radford, Pulaski, Wyeth- vi lie, Marion, and Abingdon (Washington Court House) . The Wilderness Road, over which Daniel Boone took a party of settlers in 1775 to Boonesborough, crossed Clinch and Powell mountains, climbed through Cumberland Gap, and so entered the fabled Kentucky. Another emigrants’ route led from York, Pa., over the Black Gap Road (Cartledge’s Road) to Gettysburg, Hagerstown, Md., and Winches- ter, Va., near which latter place it was joined by the route from Hanover.1 The late Dr. Arthur G. Tracey of Hampstead, Md., has closely mapped the Monocacy Path in Maryland. By Marylanders, the Monocacy Path was some- times called the Susquehanna Path. FOR THE MOTORIST The Monocacy Path can be followed without too much difficulty. From Wrightsville, take U. S. 30 through York. About 4i/2 miles west of York, veer left on Pa. 116 to Hanover. Out of Hanover, take Pa. 194 to Taneytown and Freder- ick, Md. 1 For a description of this route, see William Allen Pusey, The Wilderness Road to Kentucky (New York, 1921), 51-55; Robert L. Kincaid, The Wilderness Road (Indianapolis, 1947) ; and John Bakeless, Daniel Boone (New York, 1939). From Frederick, Md., the path ran southwest to cross the Potomac at Harpers Ferry. It ran up the Shenandoah Valley through Strasburg, Woodstock, Harrisonburg, Staunton, and Lexing- I SI)/ AX PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 6S-69 loti 68. Morrison Cove Path From near King to Martinsburg According to a local tradition reported to the writer on U. S'. 220 near the boundary between Bedford and Blair counties, several Indian paths climbed over Dunning Mountain into Morrison Cove. One left the Raystown-Frankstown Path (U. .S'. 220) in Kimmell Township, Bedford County, about two and one-half miles south of King (that is, a little more than three miles south of the Blair County line). It climbed south-southwest over Dunning Mountain into the Cove. A second path left the Raystown-Frankstown Path about a mile north of King, at a point two or three hundred yards north of the Blair County line. It ( limbed northeast to the gap in Dunning Mountain and from there descended, as the modern road does, to the vicinity of Martinsburg. FOR THE MOTORIST I he nearest approach to these paths by modern roads is from Sproul, about a mile north of the Blair-Bedford line. lake the township road east over Dunning Mountain past Indian Spring and so down into the Cove, where /.. R. 07050 will take you to Martinsburg. 6,9. M n ncy - Mahon / u g Path From Muncy to Danville Leaving Muncy and ascending the hill over- looking Glade Run from the north, the Muncy- Mahoning Path crossed the mountains in a south- easterly direction and then turned south to the valley of Chillisquaque Creek in the vicinity of Washingtonville. Thence it crossed a range of hills to the valley of Mahoning Creek, following the east bank to the creek's mouth at Danville on the North Branch of the Susquehanna River. FOR THE MOTORIST koi the fust few miles south of Muncy, it is difficult to follow the Indian path on modern roads. The motorist is advised to take L. R. -1106-f southeast from Muncy, follow it for about 3 miles, and continue southeast on country roads to meet Pa. 5-f. Follow 5-/ through Comly and Washing- tonville to Danville. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 70 107 70. Nanticoke Path From Calvert , Mel., to Nanticoke, Pa. The exact route of this path has not been closely traced except in certain sections; but it is known to have been used throughout its length by the Nanticoke Indians during the five years when they were settled at Nanticoke, east of Wilkes-Barre on the North Branch of the Sus- quehanna. The southern part of the path is the best known. From Calvert, Md., and Oxford, Pa., where paths from North East, Elkton, and other places on the Eastern Shore converged, the path ran north along the height of land. Dr. }. Alden Mason writes: “There seems to be general con- sensus that this [path] followed the ridge between the Susquehanna and the Delaware (Brandywine Creek) watersheds, and seldom crossed streams. Much of it was later incorporated in what is called the ‘Limestone Road’ [ U . S. 122] . . -”1 From Oxford the Nanticoke Path ran through present Hayesville, Russellville, to Cochranville. At this point there appears to have been a fork, the branch to the left running northeast through Atglen and Gap to merge with paths heading for the west; the other (U. S. 122) continuing north for Nanticoke by way of Parkesburg, Com- pass, Honeybrook, Morgantown, and Reading. Beyond Reading the path ran to what was once a large Indian settlement on the Dreibilbis farm on Maiden Creek at Virginville. From Virginville the path crossed the Blue Mountain by a route not precisely known. Pass- ing through Tamaqua, it went on through the gap between Locust and Nesquehoning moun- tains to Hazleton. North of Hazleton it must have crossed Sugar Mountain, Buck Mountain, Nescopeck Mountain, and Penobscot Mountain before it reached the Warrior Gap in Wilkes- barre Mountain. Here it was joined by the Lehigh Path from Bethlehem. From the Warrior Gap a short, easy run took it to Nanticoke. 1 he northern section ol this path was difficult especially in that part ol it lying between Hazle- ton and Nanticoke, where it had to cross four steep mountains without the aid of a gap to ease NANTICOKE PATH, SOUTH 108 INDIAN PATHS OF PF.XXSYL VAX I A : No. 70 the grade. It is understandable that it was not much used by white men. When in July, 1778, after the Battle of Wyoming, settlers fled the Wyoming Valley, thev avoided this path. Most of them came by wav of Nescopeck or Wyoming. A few t ame by way of Wapwallopen or Pittston. None are recorded to have taken the Nanticoke Path. It is not impossible that the Nanticokes themselves, when they brought children or old people north with them, preferred a roundabout w'ay through Shamokin (Sunbury). Coming north by this latter route, they would leave the Nanti- coke Path a mile or two north of Morgantown and take the Allegheny Path through Allegheny- villc and dir Kluft, thence proceed by the Tulpe- hocken Path through Womelsclorf and Bethel to Sunbury. There they would turn east up the Great Warriors Path for the Wyoming Valley and their settlement at Nanticoke. The Nanticokes, after they had settled on the North Branch of the Susquehanna, used to re- turn seasonally to their old haunts on the Eastern Shore to fish and feast on shellfish. Hamil Kenny, in The Origin and Meaning of the Indian Place Names of Maryland ,2 notes that the meaning of the word Chesapeake is probably "Great shell-fish bay.” On the Limestone Road and elsewhere on this path the tradition is preserved of Nanticoke In- dians being seen passing on their way from north to south and back again. Harry Wilson, in a paper read before the Chester County Historical Society in 1925, asserted that the Nanticokes went south twice a year: in spring to fish in Chesa- peake Bay and the Choptank River, in the fall to feast on oysters. He reported having been told by Augustus Duer, Colonel of the 97th Regiment of Pennsylvania Volunteers in the Civil War, that when he was a small boy, “an old lady, Hannah Glendenning, had told him in one of her reminiscent talks that she often saw the In- dians passing her father’s log cabin when she was a child . . . bands of the Nanticoke tribe, who never disturbed any of the settlers or their prop- erty." The Lancaster County Historical Society has erected a marker three and three-fourths miles east of Clay on Indian Run (which enters Cocali- co Creek half a mile north of Ephrata, Lancaster County) to commemorate a "Nanticoke” Indian village situated there "between the years 1721 and 17-18.” In 1951 Monroe Haney of nearby Indian Lake told the present writer the following tradition, INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 70-71 ]()lJ which had been reported to him by Amos Eberly: “That one night an ancestor of his [Amos Eb- erly’s] was awakened by some Indians who in- vited him to come out with them and watch them bury the body of a chief they had brought with them from Sunbury [formerly the Indian town of Shamokin].” It is well known that the Nanticokes, when they moved, carried the bones of their ancestors with them, even to distant places— though it was more usually to a new home than back to an old one. Even after they had left the settlement at Nan- ticoke for Otseningo (Zeninge or Chenango, near Binghamton) , which was the Southern Door of the Iroquois Longhouse, they returned in season to Chesapeake Bay. The Moravians at Frieden- shiitten (Wyalusing) recorded in the mission diary for May 31, 1765, that “Some Nanticokes from Zeninge arrived en route for the southward to hunt.” FOR THE MOTORIST The motorist can follow the general route of this path easily on Pa. 10 from Oxford through Parkesburg and Morgantown to Reading. North of Reading, the Nanticoke Path followed Maiden Creek to Virginville and Lenhartsville. The motorist can get through easily enough, though there is no direct road to Virginville. From Lenhartsville, country roads will take him over the Blue Mountain to Kepner, West Penn, and Tamaqua. From Tamaqua, U. S. 309 will take him to Hazleton. Beyond Hazleton, 309 prob- ably follows the general route of the Indian path for a few miles. No motor road, however, fol- lows the path closely as it crossed the last moun- tains to the Susquehanna River at Nanticoke. The motorist at this end of his journey has a choice of two picturesque routes: (1) leaving U. S. 309 at a point about i/2 mile north of Nes- copeck Pass (in other words, about 10 or 11 miles beyond Hazleton) , there turning left on L. R. 40022 (a good road) through Dorrance to Slocum Corners, and from there by L. R. 40034 and L. R. 40033 (also good roads) to Nanticoke; (2) following U. S. 309 through Solomon Gap to the outskirts of Wilkes-Barre, there turning left on a good road to Nanticoke. 1 Pennsylvania Archaeologist, XI, No. 2 (April, 1941) ,30. 2 (Baltimore, 1961), 57. 71. JVemacolin’s Path (The Braddock Road) From Cumberland, Md., to Brownsville and Pittsburgh Nemacolin’s Path was named for an Indian who is said to have been employed in 1752 “by Christopher Gist and Colonel Thomas Cresap, acting for the Ohio Company, in blazing the most direct trail between Will’s Creek (Cumberland, Md.) , and the mouth of Redstone Creek on the Monongahela River.”1 West of Chestnut Ridge the name has come to be applied also to those sections of the Catawba Path and other Indian paths which General Braddock used in his ap- proach to Fort Duquesne. From Will’s Creek to the Half King’s Rock east of Uniontown, Nemacolin’s Path was fol- lowed closely by the Braddock Road, except tor the first few miles over Will’s Mountain. Brad- dock, finding he could not get his wagons and artillery over that mountain, went round by the Narrows of Wills Creek; but his road rejoined Nemacolin’s Path in the vicinity of Allegany Grove. West of Wills Mountain, Nemacolin’s Path fol- lowed the general course now taken by the Na- tional Road, U. S. 40. In Maryland it crossed Big Savage Mountain and Negro Mountain. At Oakton (Braddock’s Bear Camp) it passed into Pennsylvania. On the way up Winding Ridge, it kept a few hundred yards northeast of the present highway. It ran parallel with the main street of Addison at a distance of less than a quarter of a mile to the north, and crossed the National Road about a mile west of that town. Turning down into the valley of Braddock Run, it crossed the Youghiogheny River a few hundred yards north of the run’s mouth. On the west side of the river it turned north, wound about the shoulder of the opposing moun- JXD/AX PATHS OF PEXXSY I .V AX I A : Xo. 71 1 !0 tain, then turned southwest up Jockey Valley, and in about a mile swung west and northwest, widening the distance south of the National Road to about a mile. It crossed Little Sandy Creek, wound around the southwest base of Hager Hill, and came down to the Great Mead- ows, site of George Washington’s Fort Necessity. Skirting the Meadows (a little to the south of them in order to keep on dry ground) , in about two miles the path crossed the National Road at Rraddock’s Grave. Passing Braddock Run and Chalkhiil, it began the ascent of Chestnut Ridge. It rounded Peddlers Rocks (keeping them on the left) and swung west again to the Half King’s Rock where at dawn on May 28, 175-1. Washing- ton interviewed the Half King, Tanacharison, before attacking the French party concealed in Jumonville Glen. At the Half King's Rock, Nemacolin’s path forked. One branch led to Brownsville, which is situated between the mouth of Nemacolin Creek (now Dunlap Greek, on which Nemacolin had a cabin) and the mouth of Redstone Creek. The other branch led to Christopher Gist’s plantation and there forked again: the one path leading to Redstone (Brownsville); the other, to Pittsburgh. The pH tli from the Half King’s Rock to Netna- colin’s camp and Brownsville ran west along a spur of Chestnut Ridge and descended to Hop- wood. It ran through Uniontown, passed near Haddenville and Dearth, Brier Hill and Davis- town, and came to the Old Indian Fort- ‘the Remains ol an Indian Retrenchment of a circu- lar Form”— 2 on the hill above Brownsville. I he branch ol Nemacolin’s Path which Brad- dock followed turned north at the Half King’s Rock and the adjacent Washington’s Spring. Pass- ing close by what after 1754 was known as Jumon- ville Rocks or Jumonville Glen and by the mod- ern village of Jumonville, it kept to the ridge (which becomes very narrow), and passed Honey- comb Rock and Mount Independence. In about mx miles from the Half King’s Rock, it descended to the plantation Christopher Gist prospected in 17)1, established in 1752, and lost to the French in 177} during the Fort Necessity Campaign and again in 17:).) alter Braddock s defeat. It is now the site of Mount Braddock. At Gist s again the path forked, one branch running to the Forks of the Ohio, the other to the Monongahela at the mouth of Redstone Creek. The latter, known locally as the "true" Nemacolin’s Path, ran west from Gist’s, past West Leisenring, following approximately the present township line separating North Union Town- ship from Dunbar and Franklin. fames Veech, in The Monongahela of Old. traced the path closely in describing the course of a road made in 1759 by Colonel James Burd on orders from Colonel Henry Bouquet: . . . The road followed the Indian trail, passing through the Rankin and Henshaw lands; thence nearly parallel with Bute’s run, through the Carter lands, crossing the run and the creek near the run’s mouth, and near Luckv’s now Vance's mill, into Jacob Gaddis’ land. It crossed Jennings’ run near John Gaddis, or B. Courtney’s, thence, in a pretty direct line, on through the old Hugh Crawford and Adams tracts, now Jacob B. Graham, Wm. Hatfield and others, until it came to a point a little north-west of where the Johnson or Hatfield stone tavern house stands. Here the old trail bore too much to the right, going through the o'd Grable place, the old Fulton place (now William Colvin’s) , bv the old Colvin house, the school-house, Ayres Linn’s and Isaac Linn’s, to the mouth of Redstone. But Col. Burd left this trail at the point indi- cated, and took along the high ridges, through the Colley and Hastings lands, near Brashears’ and Eli Cope’s, until he reached the site of his fort, “a hill in the fork of the river Monongahela and Nema- colin’s Creek”; being on the south side of Front street, opposite where the fort- like mansion of N. B. Bowman, Esq., now stands. When completed, the road was found to be sixteen miles one quarter and sixteen perches, from the beginning, near Gist’s, to the centre of the fort. 3 From Gist’s the branch of the path that went to the Forks of the Ohio swung sharply northeast at a point just east of the present Meason House. The spot is marked on a warrantee survey (B 14- 162) as "Thomas Gist’s House," Thomas being a son of Christopher Gist. For a couple of miles the modern road, U. S. 11 9, follows the windings of the path, which kept to the height of land between Gist Run (which flows into Dunbar Creek) and Opossum Run. Then, striking north past what is said to be the site of an old stockaded Indian village, the path reached Opossum Run a INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 71 1 1 1 trifle north of the village of Trotter. It followed the east bank of the run, where the road still goes, passed Robinson Falls, crossed the run where the present bridge lies, and came in a few hundred yards to the Youghiogheny River. There were two fords in this vicinity. One was the Broad Ford, a mile and a half farther down- stream. The other, “Stewardt’s Crossing,” which Braddock used, forded the river from below the mouth of Opossum Run to a point just above the mouth of Mounts Creek in the northwest out- skirts of Connellsville. This ford was above (i.e., south of) the island formed by the outwash from Mounts Creek. Stewart’s Cabin was near Craw- ford’s Cabin, Crawford’s Spring and Cabin being where the Western Maryland Railroad crosses U. S. 119, three hundred yards southwest of the present Lower Bridge. From the mouth of Mounts Creek, the path kept to the height of land between that creek and Jacobs Creek. It ran north-northeast (here following a stretch of the Catawba Path) to a crossing of Green Lick Run at about the spot where the modern road crosses it, a quarter of a mile from the run’s mouth. At the north end ol the long marsh (which in the neighborhood of Green Lick Run had given Braddock’s engineers so much trouble) , the path forded Jacobs Creek, the ford lying between the present towns of Pershing and Stauffer.4 From Jacobs Creek the path ran northwest for three-quarters of a mile, then turned straight north, ran up what is now' Eagle Street in Mount Pleasant to the summit of the ridge on the north- ern edge of the town, and followed the same ridge as it curved north for about two miles to Jacobs’ Cabin, which stood above the southeast corner of Jacobs’ Swamp.5 Half a mile north of Jacobs’ Cabin, the path turned west and ran for nearly four miles to the crossing of Sewickley Creek. The ford, later known as “Gowdy’s Ford- ing,” was about a quarter of a mile south of where the modern road from Stanton bridges the creek into Hunkers. From the ford at John Gowdy’s, the path ran about half a mile to the Salt Lick (across the creek from the Delmont Fuel Company’s No. 10 Mine, where they drilled recently for water and drew up brine) . Then it ascended the ridge in a northwest direction to Madison. Following the boundary line between Sewickley and Hemp- stead townships, it crossed Little Sewickley Creek about a mile east of Hermione, passed the site of the handsome Howell House (which was built facing the Braddock Road, here still in use) , crossed what was later to be the Chambers Farm (now owned by H. Glenn Gongaware) , and went straight on to Circleville. There is evidence that from this point General Braddock in 1755 had intended to continue north for another nine or ten miles, taking (from near Trafford) the Sewickley Old Town Path, which later became known in part as the Haymaker Road and in part as the Logan’s Ferry Road. His purpose was presumably to get to the ridge path which in 1758 General Forbes was to follow on his successful approach to Fort Duquesne. Braddock planned to avoid the more vulnerable, though shorter, route through the “defiles” of Turtle Creek. But, having lost a day over a blunder made by his guides, and seeing engineer- ing difficulties ahead of him on his chosen path, he changed plans. Descending by the valley of LX MAX PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 71 ! 12 Long Run to McKeesport, he crossed the Monon- gahela twice to avoid the dangerous path through that river's narrows, and was marching down a road without apparent obstacles when disaster overtook him. Braddock's Field is in the town of North Braddock. For further information alxmt the Braddock Road, see John Kennedy Lacock, "Braddock Road,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography, XXXVIII (1914) , 1-38, which has a good map showing the camp sites; and the pres- ent writer's “ ‘Blunder Camp’: A Note on the Braddock Road,” Pennsylvania Magazine of His- tory and Biography , LXXXVII, No. 1 (January, 1963) . See also Winthrop Sargent’s History of ay: Expedition Against Fort Duquesne; Archer But- ler Hulbert’s Historic Highways of America, IV, 83-87; and Franklin Thayer Nichols’ 'T he Brad- dock Expedition” (a doctoral dissertation, Har- vard University, 1946). FOR THE MOTORIST From Cumberland, take Md. 19 over Wills Mountain to meet the National Road, U . S. 40 about 5 miles to the west. If you prefer to follow Braddock’s Road, take U . S'. 40 out of Cumber- land. It goes round by the picturesque Narrows of Wills Creek, which provided easy grades for the army but was always in danger of flood. From Wills Mountain, follow the National Road all the way to Brownsville. Whether your primary interest is in the Indian path or in the Braddock Road, the National Road is still your best guide. From Cumber- land to the summit of Chestnut Ridge it is never very lar I tom the early path and road, and it shows very death the mountain obstacles that Crucial Braddock had to overcome. But at ■Summit (at the top of Chestnut Ridge, about >i ■> miles west ol Fort Necessity and 5i/o miles east ol l niontown) you must leave U. S. 40 and turn north on I . R. 201 Is. In about a mile you ate at the Hall Kings Rock. I here is a marker here beside the road. What remains ol the Rock may be seen above the bank on the west side of the road. \ ou are now back on Braddock’s Road. Con- tinue to follow /.. R. 261H past Washington’s Spring and Jumonville Glen (which is well worth turning aside a few hundred yards to see) to the village of Jumonville. Here the road you are following leaves the Indian path and runs down into the valley. To get back on to the summit of the ridge, where Nemacolin's Path and Braddock’s Road ran, take the country road that runs off to the right from 2611 5 about l/, mile south of the village of Jumonville. Follow this road downhill for a little over 3/ mile, when you will come to a small crossroad. Turn left (north) on it and follow it back onto the ridge. Stay with it, running north along the narrow crest of Chestnut Ridge for another 2i/2 miles, and then descend to the site of Christopher Gist’s plantation at Mount Braddock. From Mount Braddock, make your way for about a mile by whatever road is convenient to U. S. 119, and follow the latter north into Con- nellsville. Or, if you wish to follow the Brad- dock Road more closely, cut left across the hills to Trotter and follow Opossum Run. For the first few miles after Connellsville, it is not possible to follow the old path and the Braddock Road exactly; but you will never be far from it if you continue on U. S. 1/9 north lor about 3 |/o miles and then fork right on L. R. 261 si. After 3 miles on the latter, branch right again (east and then northeast) on L. R. 26176. Follow this road straight on over the hill to the crossing of Green Lick Run, where you are very close ter the Braddock Road. Cross Jacobs Creek into Stauffer, turn left, and in about \/> mile turn right (northeast) on a country road that in about a mile runs into L. R. 64126. Follow this (it is very close to the Braddock Road) into Mount Pleasant, and there go up Eagle Street (the Braddock Road) to its junction with Pa. 31 . It is possible, but difficult, to follow the Braddock Road from Mount Pleas- ant round what was formerly known as Jacobs’ Swamp to Hunkers. An impatient motorist is advised to take Pa. 31 west out of Mount Pleas- ant, follow it for nearly a mile, turn right (north) on /.. R. 64125, and follow it to Hunkers, where the Braddock Road crossed Sewickley Creek. Northwest from the crossing of Sewickley Creek, the Braddock Road ran almost straight northeast to Circlevillc. The motorist can touch it at onh a few places, such as Madison, the INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 71-/2 Howell house (three-quarters of a mile east of Rillton) , Margaret Gongaware’s house (a mile beyond Howell’s) , and Circleville. At Circleville Braddock’s guides made a blun- der which Christopher Gist, who was with Brad- dock, commemorates on his map of the expedi- tion by the name “Blunder Camp.” The delay, as already noted, caused Braddock to change his plans. If you wish to follow where he probably had intended to go, take the road to Trafford, there cross Turtle Creek by the bridge west of town, and work right up the Haymaker Road. Follow it as straight north as possible (in this rapidly changing area it is useless to give road directions) for about 6 miles to meet Pa. 380. The point of junction is near "Bouquet’s Breast- 113 works,” the last strong point erected by General Forbes before he reached Fort Duquesne. If, on the other hand, you wish to follow the route Braddock actually took, turn left (west) at Circleville, go down the valley of Long Run, take the road to McKeesport, and work your way north down the Monongahela to North Braddock, where markers (off the main road) identify the battle site. 1 Charles A. Hanna, The Wilderness Trail (New York, 1911), 1, 105. 2 The Papers of Col. Henry Bouquet, S. K. Stevens and Donald H. Rent, eds. (Harrisburg, 1941) , Series 21644, Part I. 181. 3 (Pittsburgh, 1858-92) , 30. 4 See Warrantee Survey D 99-132. 5 D 46-100. 72. JVescopeck Path From Bethlehem to Nescopeck From the Forks of the Delaware (which in- cluded the modern towns of Bethlehem, Allen- town, and Easton) , the Nescopeck Patli ran to the Moravian Indian town of Gnadenhiitten (Lehighton) on the Lehigh and so on to the North Branch of the Susquehanna at Nescopeck and Berwick. It was used by traders and mission- aries, by Delaware war parties during the French and Indian War, and by settlers driven from the Wyoming Valley after the Battle of Wyoming. The best known section is that between Bethle- hem and Lehighton, where the Moravians estab- lished a model town, Gnadenhiitten, for their Indian converts, on the Lehigh at the mouth of Mahoning Creek. The Nescopeck Path was sometimes known also as the Fort Allen Path, Fort Allen having been built in 1756 at Weissport, across the river from Lehighton. Its course from Bethlehem was through present Weaversville to Cherryville— an alternate route lying through Catasauqua and Hockendaqua (Northampton) . From Cherryville the path went by way of “Indian Land,” Berlinsville, and Weiders Crossing to the Lehigh Gap. Emerging from the Cap, it passed through present Palmer- ton and over the hills behind it by way of the Line School (lire Line being a name given to the early road, which was based on the Indian path) to the Indian town of Pochapuchkug (Parryville) at the mouth of Pohopoco Creek. At Weissport, in 1756, Benjamin Franklin built Fort Allen in order to deny the use of this path to enemy war parties. After fording the Lehigh River from Weissport to Lehighton, the path ran almost straight west for about two and a half miles, then turned north to cross Mauch Chunk Ridge, Mauch Chunk Creek, and Pisgah Mountains. Fording Nesque- honing Creek at the present town of Nesquehon- ing, it crossed the Broad Mountain to Hud- sondale, crossed Spring Mountain to Beaver Meadow, ran through the site of Hazleton, crossed Buck Mountain by a route lying be- tween a quarter and half a mile east of the present road through Conyngham, forded Nes- copeck Creek, and crossed Nescopeck Mountain to Briggsville. Here the path forked. The branch to the right went north to Wapwallopen and thence east over the hills to Wyoming (Wilkes-Barre) . The branch to the left proceeded almost due west to Nescopeck. The turnpike, about two miles west of Briggsville, turns north toward the Susque- hanna, while the Indian path continued its di- rect course across the hills for another mile and a half before descending. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 12 From Nescopeck, a ford just above the mouth of Xescopeck Creek took the Indian path across the Susquehanna to Berwick, where old-time travelers met the Great Warriors Path from Wy- oming or Shamokin (Sunbury) . A continuation of the Xescopeck Path ran north and west over the hills to Muncy. I he name Nescopeck Path was sometimes given to the path from Catawissa to Xescopeck. It followed the height of land between the Sus- quehanna River and the branches of Catawissa Creek as far as XI ifTlinvi lie. From there it kept near the river bank to Nescopeck. I he same name, Nescopeck Path, was some- times given to its continuation from Nescopeck to Muncy. FOR TI1M MOTORIST While it is not possible for the motorist to follow the Nescopeck Path closely all the way, he will find good roads to take him over the gen- eral route. From Bethlehem, take the road to Northampton, either by way of Weaversville (the usual Moravian route, over which the King’s Road to Fort Allen was laid) or of Catasauqua. From Northampton go north to Cherryville. There take Pa. 45 and follow it through the Lehigh Gap and past Palmerton, Weissport, Lehighton, and Jim Thorpe (Mauch Chunk) to the junction with Pa. 29 a mile or so east of Nesquehoning. The route just noted avoids the hills over which the path ran between Palmerton and Parryville and between Lehighton and Nes- quehoning (no modern road follows the path between these last two places) , but it is pictur- esque and rewarding. Follow Pa. 29 over the Broad Mountain to Hudsondale and continue on it to Briggsville. 'T here leave it (29 runs north to Wapwallopen, Mocanaqua, and Shickshinny) and take Pa. 93 west to Nescopeck. As for the path from Catawissa to Nescopeck, the following roads will take you over it: L. R. 19089, Pa. 242 (a few yards only), and L. R. 19020. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 73 11: 73. New Path From Middlesex The New Path— actually a very old one— was a short cut on the Frankstown Path between Paxtang (Harrisburg) and Aughwick (Shirleys- burg) . It was much used by traders after about 1749. Instead of going round by way of Roxbury Gap (from which there were alternate routes through Amberson, Doylesburg, and Concord, or through Spring Run and Shade Gap) , the New Path ran north from Letort’s Spring in the vicin- ity of Middlesex and Carlisle to Croghan’s (Ster- rett’s) Gap, and so on to Aughwick (Shirleysburg). The main branch of the New Path forded the Conodoguinet at Middlesex, that is, at the mouth of Letort Spring Run.1 Probably there were other feeders. Almost certainly there was one from Croghan’s settlement on the Conodoguinet about six miles west of Harrisburg. John Harris called it nine miles from Croghan’s to the Kitta- tinny Mountain, which is the distance by direct route from Croghan’s to Sterrett Gap.2 There may have been another feeder from James Silvers’ place, a mile or more west of Croghan’s. After descending from Croghan’s Gap to Sher- man Creek, the path followed the valley west for a few miles, passed Andrew Montour’s (in to Shirleysburg the vicinity of Landisburg) , Loysville, and Fort Robinson. Continuing west, it crossed Tuscarora Mountain at Bigham’s Gap (now East Waterford Narrows) to the vicinity of East Waterford. There it joined the Tuscarora Path, following it southwest to Waterloo. Turning west, it crossed Tuscarora Creek, and at Blairs Mills met the branch of the path coming up from Amberson. From Blairs Mills the New Path ran up the valley of Trough Spring Branch to Richvale. Thence it crossed Shade Mountain and Black Log Mountain to Aughwick, where it met the main branch of the Frankstown Path coming up from Shade Gap. FOR THE MOTORIST The general course of the New Path may be followed from Carlisle by taking Pa. 34 to Drom- gold, Pa. S50 through Landisburg and Loysville to Honey Grove, and Pa. 75 up Path Valley to Waterloo. From Waterloo take the country road west to Blairs Mills and Shade Valley. There is no modern road from that point across Shade Mountain and Tuscarora Mountain to Shirleys- burg. The motorist, accordingly, is advised to take Pa. 35 at Shade Valley and follow it south to Shade Gap, where the path via Spring Run NEW PATH INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 73-76 1 16 came in from the east. At Shade Gap take U. S. 522 and follow it west and north to Orbisonia and Shirleysburg. 1 See Cumberland County Warrant C 216. and Warrantee ■Surveys A 19-54 and B 2-64. 1 See "An Acct. of the Road to logs Town on Allegehcncy River, taken by John Harris, 1754," Pennsylvania Archives, first Series, II, 137. See also Charles A. Hanna, The IVilderness Trail i\cw York, 1911), I, 253. 74. New Castle Path From Nexu Castle, Del., to Peach Bottom, Pa. I he New Castle Path was sometimes called the Susquehanna Path. It offered a short but wet route from New Castle on the lower Dela- ware River to Indian settlements on the Susque- hanna River at Peach Bottom, Pequea, Shenks Ferry, and Cones too a. James Logan, the Provincial Secretary, took this route when in 1705 he made his first visit to Conestoga. Governor John Evans came the same way when he visited Pequea and Conestoga. See I). II. Landis, "Postlethwaites,” Lancaster County Historical Society, Papers, XII (1908), MO-47. 75. JV 'ippeno.se Paths From the West Branch to Nippenose Valley From different points on the West Branch of the Susquehanna, there arc said to have been Indian paths into Nippenose Valley. One came into the valley from the east by the Great Island Path (q.v), which crossed North White Deer Ridge into the valley near Collomsville. A north- ern approach was from Nippenose Old Town (a little below the Long Island opposite Jersey Shore). It (Ut through a gap in Bald Eagle Mountain made by what was known formerly as Nippenose Creek and is now known as Antes Cicek. A third came in from the west by way of Love’s Gap. Nippenose Valley was named for an Indian who, according to the "Indian Commissioners Day Book at Shamokin [Sunbury],” was in 1760 and 1761 a familiar figure there. Nippenose Old I own, Nippenose Bottom, Nippenose Creek (Antes Creek) were also named for him. NIPPENOSE VALLEY 76. Ohio Path From Bethlehem to Pittsburgh Ohio Path was a name sometimes given to several paths that crossed Pennsylvania from the Forks of the Delaware to the Forks of the Ohio. On Main Street in Bethlehem, about 100 yards south of Hotel Bethlehem, is a stone marker with the inscription: SITE OF THE OLD FINGER BOARD POINTING OU T THE MAIN ROAD TO OHIO ROAD LAID OUT 1745 The marker stands at the top ol a lane winding down to an old stone bridge across Monocacy Creek. The Moravians, whose headquarters were at Bethlehem, used different routes at different times to the Forks of the Ohio. John Heckewelder and Christian Frederick Post in 1762 went from Bethlehem (probably by way of Oley) to Lititz, Lancaster, Middletown, Harris’s Ferry (Harris- INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 76-78 117 burg) , Carlisle, and Shippensburg. From there they struck out into what he calls a “howling wilderness” over the Raystown Path, taking the short cut over three mountains to Burnt Cabins. They went through Bedford, Edmund’s Swamp, Bushy Run, and Braddock’s Field— where “Skulls and bones of the unfortunate men slain here on the 9th of July, 1755, lay scattered all around; and the sound of our horses’ hoofs continually striking against them, made dismal music. . . The name Ohio Path was also sometimes ap- plied to paths leading from the east to Kittanning on the Allegheny— “the Great River,” i.e., Ohio in the Iroquois tongue. FOR THE MOTORIST See under Oley Path , Allegheny Path, and Raystown Path. 1 Thirty Thousand Miles with John Heckewelder, Paul A. W. Wallace, ed. (Pittsburgh, 1958) , 40. 77. Oil Creek Path From Waterford to Oil City According to Walter Jacks, writing in the Erie Motorist / there was an Indian path “from the vicinity of the Show Boat at Lake Le Boeuf southeast to the mouth of Oil Creek.” John Reynolds,2 on the other hand, contends that this was a white man’s path made in 1797. Undoubtedly the Indians knew Oil Creek and used the “Seneca Oil” found on its banks. But it is a question whether they found the Oil Creek watershed a satisfactory throughway from the head of French Creek to the Allegheny River. The soil was not good for moccasined feet. B. F. Congdon of Salamanca, N. Y., in a school essay written in 1862 describing a walking trip from Meadville on French Creek to Rouseville on Oil Creek explains why; On French Creek the soil is sandy and the roads dry up almost immediately after the heaviest rain, but as we approach Oil Creek the soil becomes clayey and the weary traveler settles often ankle deep into the old detestable Oil Creek mud which no one who has ever seen it will ever forget. 1 August, 1945, 2. 2 See his manuscript, “One Hundred Years Ago,” in the Crawford County Historical Society at Meadville. 78. Okehocking Pa th From Valley Forge to Gradyville According to a tradition well fortified by geog- raphy and common sense, a southerly extension of the Perkiomen-Lehigh Path led from the Schuylkill River at Pawling Ford (near Valley Forge) to the Delaware Indian village of Oke- hocking. From the ford, which is three-quarters of a mile below the mouth of Perkiomen Creek and the same distance above Valley Forge, there is a good ridge to Paoli, Whitehorse, and the site of Okehocking. No doubt the path continued south from Okehocking— still, after crossing Rid- ley Creek, with the aid of a good ridge— to meet the Great Minquas Path at Gradyville. Okehocking, a tract of five hundred acres on the east branch of upper Ridley Creek, was set apart in 1701 by William Penn as a reservation for certain Delaware Indians from lower Ridley and Crum creeks who had been dispossessed by his purchase of land. They were moved to the new location in 1703. It extended north from what is now the West Chester Pike (Pa. 3), and is about four miles west of Newtown Square, seventeen miles west of Philadelphia. FOR THE MOTORIST From Pa. 23, at a point about 1 1/2 miles west of Valley Forge, turn south on L. R. 15018, which closely follows the Indian path as far as Paoli. From there continue on 15018 for another 2 miles. Then turn right on a township road and follow it for nearly a mile to meet L. R. 15228. Turn left (south) on 15228 and follow it for about 2 miles. Then turn right on L. R. 15098, follow it for mile, and turn left on L. R. 15226, which in a mile will bring you to the site of Okehocking. (See map on next page.) INDIAN PATHS OP PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 78-79 I 18 7.9. Old PetrOs Road From Downingtown to Bain bridge Old Peter’s Road, which ran from Downing- town to Conoy Indian Town at the mouth of Conoy Creek, was laid out in 1718 on Peter Bezaillon’s bridle path, which in turn had fol- lowed an old Indian path. At Downingtown several paths from Philadel- phia and the mouth of the Schuylkill River con- verged. From that point, what came to be known as Old Peter’s Road ran west through Gallagher- villc and Thorndale to ford Brandvwine Creek at Siousca. Thence it went by way of Wagon- town, Compass (where Peter Bezaillon lies bur- ied) , White Horse, and Salisbury to Center Square. It forded Conestoga Creek a few yards south of the confluence of Cocalico Creek and Conestoga Creek. I hence it passed along the dividing line between these townships: West Earl and Upper Leacock, Warwick and Manheim, and Penn and East Hemphill. The importance of Old Peter’s Road is seen in the fact that these boundaries were based on it. Fording Chickies Creek halt a mile south of Lancaster function, it continued west by way of Mount [oy and Donegal Spring to Conoy Indian Town about a mile southeast of Bainbridge. In this vicinity Peter Be/aillon was in 171!) granted seven hun- dred acres.1 From Conoy Town the Indian path ran north to ford the Susquehanna River below Conewago Falls. Before this crossing, the path forked. One branch continued north through Falmouth and Middletown to Paxtang (Harrisburg) . The other crossed the river to York Haven. From this point it is usually known as the Conoy Path. It ran by way of Newberrvtown, Yellow Breec hes Creek (which it forded half a mile west of Lisburn) , Bowmansdale, and Salem Church to Letort’s Spring (Carlisle) . According to Martin Hervin Brackbill,2 Old Peter’s Road came to a fork at Mount Joy, the left branch running as described above, while the right branch went through Elizabethtown and Middletown— the general course now' fol- lowed by U. S. 230— to Harrisburg. INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. 79 119 It is said that Peter Bezaillon was grieved when the Paxtang Road (now better known as the Horseshoe Pike) 3 was laid out in 1737 to provide a shorter way between Downingtown and Pax- tang (Harrisburg) .4 The new road made a diffi- cult ascent of the South Mountain, over ground made wet by mountain springs. Peter Bezaillon’s road, on the other hand, followed a first-class Indian path, climbing no mountains, avoiding spongy ground, making use of good fords to cross the creeks (modern bridges attest the sound- ness of these crossings) , and running a straighter course than modern roads take between Down- ingtown, Bainbridge, and Carlisle. When Logan’s (later Galbraith’s) Ferry was established at Bain- bridge, Old Peter’s Road and its continuation beyond the Susquehanna was for many years what David L. Landis calls “the main artery between Philadelphia and the west.” FOR THE MOTORIST Sections of Old Peter’s Road near its eastern and western termini can be followed closely by the motorist; but, from the point where it leaves Pa. 23 in the outskirts of Bareville to within about 3 miles of Mount Joy, it is followed by no modern highway. The route traced below, how- ever, will keep the motorist either on the old road or at least in touch with it. From Downingtown take U. S. 30 (the Lincoln Highway) through 7 horndale. Since no modern road follows the old bridle path out of Thorn- dale, drive about 2 miles farther west on 30 to Cain. There turn right on L. R. 15121. Go north about a mile and turn left on Pa. 340. You are now back on Old Peter’s Road. Follow 340 through Siousca, Compass, and White Horse until you reach L. R. 36012, turn right— you are still on the old road— and continue to Springville (formerly Salisbury) . There turn left on L. R. 36013 and follow it for about 8 miles to Pa. 23 at Grotfdale. Turn left on 23 for about a mile to the outskirts of Bareville. Here for a time the motorist loses Old Peter’s Road, being unable to follow it along the town- ship lines. He will do well to continue on Pa. 23 for a little over 3 miles from Bareville, and then turn right on Pa. 772, which in about 1 1/2 miles crosses Old Peter’s Road. Continue on 772 to Brownstown, and just beyond it turn left on U. S. 222, which in less than 2 miles crosses Old Peter’s Road again. Follow 222 to its junction with U. S. 230 (the Lancaster Pike) . Turn right on the latter to Mount Joy. There turn left on L. R. 36002, which follows Old Peter’s Road from a point 3^4 miles east and continue to follow it west from Mount Joy through Donegal Spring to its junction with Pa. 241. There turn right to cross Conoy Creek and enter Bainbridge. For a continuation of the path across the Sus- quehanna River from York Haven to Carlisle, see Conoy Path. 1 See endorsement of Warrantee Survey D 66-207. See also Samuel Evans, “Some Early Indian Traders,” Lan- caster County Historical Society, Papers, IX (1905) , 297- 300. 2 “Peter Bezaillon’s Road,” Lancaster County Historical Society, Papers, XLIII (1939) , 5. 3 The name “Horse Shoe Road” was used as early as 1753. See Warrantee Survey B 5-212. The Horse Shoe Road is there shown as diverging from the “Paxtang Road” (to Harrisburg) in East Earl Township, probably at Blue Ball. Did the Horse Shoe Road receive its name because it made a horseshoe: Downingtown to Blue Ball by the Paxtang Road, then to Lancaster, and back to Downingtown by the Conestoga Road? ‘Frank Eshleman, "History of Lancaster County's High- way System,” Lancaster County Historical Society, Papers, XXVI (1922) , 52. 120 INDIA N PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. SO SO. Old Swedes Path From Philadelphia to New Castle, Del. There is a tradition, which the terrain along by the Delaware River strongly supports, that the King’s Road running from Philadelphia through Darby to New Castle was based on the Old Swedes Path which in turn was based on an Indian path. The King's Road forded creeks at the head of tide, as an Indian path would have done. The King's Road, indeed, when first laid out (that was before 1681), even by-passed Chester, the former Swedish settlement of Upland. It forded Chester Creek a little above Caleb Pusey’s house and mill (now preserved for the public by the friends of the Caleb Puses House) in the north- ern outskirts ot Chester, about a mile and a quar- ter from the Delaware River. At Darby the Old Swedes Path or King’s Road running east joined the Great Minquas Path, and presumably followed it to the crossing of the Schuylkill at Fort Manayunk. Evidence of the junction is found in a rough chart of the land of William Wood,1 who died in 1685. The chart shows a portion of the “King’s Roade” a few hundred yards east of Darby Creek, running into a path which, though here unnamed, is unmis- takably the Great Minquas Path. The two are shown heading together a trifle south of east towards what is here called “Swedes Mill Creek” (Cobbs Creek) . “The King’s road,” wrote George Smith in his History of Delaieare County, Pennsylvania, “run- ning from Philadelphia to the lower Counties, was located higher up than at present. It crossed Ridley Creek near Shoemakerville, and Chester Creek above Upland. It was laid out (if laid out at all) so as to head the tide in several of the creeks.’’2 The accompanying map is based in part on the end map in George Smith’s History of Delaware County. 1 I aylor Papers. Historical Society of Pennsylvania. 3 (Philadelphia, 1862), 167. OLD SWEDES PATH INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 81-82 81. Oley Path From Bethlehem to Rending The Oley Path ran from Bethlehem, through Emmaus and Macungie, to Oley and Reading, where it joined the Allegheny Path. Count Zinzendorf traveled the Oley Path on September 2, 1742: ... we set out [from Bethlehem] and took the road to Tulpehocken, keeping between Long Swamp and the Oley Hills.1 We rode on until late at night. Before we reached our place of destina- tion it grew dark as pitch, and riding became very difficult. I was struck on the cheek and on the left eye by the limb of a tree, and several of the Sisters fell from their horses. No one, however, was seriously injured. At last we entered the borders of Oley, and reached Brother Biirstler’s house.”2 The name “Oley” was probably a corruption of the Delaware word olink, meaning “hole” or “cove.” According to John Heckewelder, “Oley- Walo, a hole” meant a “place surrounded with hills.”3 It was applied by the Indians to a fertile cove under the Oley Hills northeast of Reading, in the vicinity of Friedensburg (Oley Post Office). FOR THE MOTORIST To follow the approximate course of this path, cross the Lehigh River at Bethlehem on Pa. 191, fork right on L. R. 187 , follow this road for about 1 1/2 miles, and then fork left on L. R. 39013. Fol- low it to a junction with Pa. 29 at Emmaus, and follow 29 south to Shimerville. Turn right (west) on L. R. 39017 beside Indian Creek. Fol- low 39017 into Berks County, where the road number changes to L. li. 06014, and continue on it to Huff Church. There turn right onto L. R. 06140, and in a lew yards turn left on L. R. 06157. Follow this southwest to Landis Store, and continue thence on L. R. 06094 to its junction with Pa. 73 at Pleasantville. From Pleasantville follow 73 to Oley and L. R. 197 to Reading. 1 An extension of the South Mountain northeast of Reading. 1 Memorials of the Moravian Church, William C. Reichel, ed. (Philadelphia, 1870) , I, 75-76. 3 Notes and Queries, William Henry Egle, ed., Ill (1896), OLEY PATH 82. Oswayo Path From Genesee to Shingtehouse According to W. W. Thompson,1 an Indian path ran from Genesee, Pa., up Rose Lake Run to Rose Lake, and down Oswayo Creek past the towns of Oswayo, Coneville, and Millport to Shinglehouse. At Shinglehouse it joined the For- bidden Path, following it through Ceres, Port- ville, Ichsua (Olean) , and other Seneca towns on the upper Allegheny. FOR THE MOTORIST From Genesee, take Pa. 244 to Rose Lake and on down Oswayo Creek to Coneville. Turn right on Pa. 44 and follow it through Millport and Shinglehouse to Ceres. There take N. Y. 17 to Portville, Olean, and Salamanca. 1 "Legend of White Lily (Rose) Lake,” Historical Sketches of Potter County, Pennsylvania (Coudersport, 1927). OSWAYO PATH IN MAX PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: No. S3 I Ti The Painted Line The Valley o/ Millstone Creek "The Painted Line” was formerly a popular name for a section of the Towanda Path ap- proaching Powell from the south. When white settlers arrived in this area, there were still many vestiges of Indian artistry: trees stripped of bands of bark, the inner surface painted with emblems done in charcoal and redstone. The late Dr. T. Kenneth Wood writes: Living on Millstone Run, I found a man named Lester Camp who told me that he was of the fourth generation liv- ing there. That his great-grandfather had married an Indian woman and that all of the Camps were as swarthy as he. lie had heard his grandfather call the line of the Genesee Road through Mill- stone Run Valley and Northrup Hol- low, the "Old Painted Line” and ex- plained that when great grandfather Camp first came, he found the path marked by a succession of painted trees, hither these trees were marked by the Indians to indicate the path, or which is more likely, they had exercised their skill with colors in depicting the details ol their victories in hunting and war. . . . I'he Tioga Point Museum at Athens, Pa., has many specimens of this tree- painting, showing symbols of various kinds, grotesque faces and figures.1 ' Xnw nnil Thru. V (1934-3.5), 141-42. 83. Paxtons; Path o From Washington Boro to Sunbury I he Paxtang Path ran north from Indian set- tlements at Paxtang (where the Allcghem Path crossed the Susquehanna) up the east bank of the river to Shamokin (Sunbury) . It ran south Irom Paxtang to Indian settlements in the vicin- ity of Columbia and Washington Boro. Iaking the full length of the path from south to north, it began at Conestoga and other Sus- quehannock settlements in the vicinitv, which lay at the western terminus of the Great Minquas Path from Philadelphia. It ran through Wash- ington Boro and Columbia, over Chickies Ridge, and then b\ Marietta, Bainbridge, Falmouth, Middletown, Highspire, and Steelton to Paxtang. From Paxtang it continued north along the river, through the narrows made by the Blue Mountain and the Second Mountain, to Dau- phin. There it left the river (which here sweeps in a wide arc to the west) and went straight up over Peters Mountain, returning to the river at Armstrong’s (Halifax). Thence it passed through the Berry Mountain Narrows to Millersburg and McKee’s (Dalmatia) . Keeping between the river PAXTANG PATH INDIAN PATHS OF PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 83-84 1 23 and Hooflander Mountain, it passed through Herndon to the crossing of Mahanoy Creek. Near the crossing it merged with the Tulpehocken Path and continued with it to Sunbury. North of Herndon the merged paths passed through the narrows made by the Little Mahanoy Mountain and then, at a point about a mile south of Fishers Ferry, they swung away from the river and ran for a distance of eight or nine miles over a nest of mountains, keeping parallel with the river but about two miles back from it. After a sharp de- scent of Shamokin Mountain to a ford across Shamokin Creek, they reached the Indian town of Shamokin (Sunbury) at the Forks of the Sus- quehanna. For a vivid account of this path and the diffi- culties encountered on it in winter, see Bishop J. C. F. Cammerhof's “Narrative of a Journey to Shamokin, Penna., in the Winter of 1748.”1 Nicholas Scull’s map of Pennsylvania, 1759, shows very clearly the Indian path from Harris’s Ferry to Fort Augusta (Sunbury) . FOR THE MOTORIST At Washington Boro, take Pa. 441 and follow it up the Susquehanna through Columbia and over Chickies Riclge, where a short detour to the left brings one out to the edge of Chickies Rock and one of the finest views to be had of the Susquehanna. Continue on 441 through Mari- etta, Bainbridge, and Falmouth to Middletown. From there take U. S. 230 (the Lancaster Pike) to Harrisburg. At Harrisburg pick up U. S. 322 and follow it to Dauphin. There take Pa. 223 over Peters Mountain. At the summit, another great view awaits one. Before reaching Halilax, 223 merges into Pa. 147, which the motorist will then follow to Sunbury. No road traces the old Indian path across the hills east of Fishers Ferry, but 147 takes a course that is never very far off the path, and certainly gives a fair impression of the terrain. 1 Translated by John W. Jordan, The Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography , XXIX (1905) , 160-79. 84. Peach Bottom Path From Hayesville to Peach Bottom The Peach Bottom Path was an offshoot of the Nanticoke Path. It ran west from Hayesville in Chester County to Peach Bottom on the Susque- hanna at the southwest corner of Lancaster County. The course of this path, as described by the late Harry Wilson, was from Hayesville (on Pa. 10, two and a half miles north of Oxford) through Tweedale, across Octoraro Creek at Pine Grove, through Tayloria, Oak Hill, Little Brit- ain, Oakryn, and Wakefield to Puddle Duck Creek and Peach Bottom on the Susquehanna at the mouth of Peters Creek. FOR THE MOTORIST From Hayesville take L. R. 13024 west to the bridge across Octoraro Creek at Pine Grove. From there continue west on L. R. 36018 for about 1 1/2 miles to Tayloria. Turn left on L. R. 36019 and follow it for a little over a mile to Oak Hill. There turn right on Pa. 272 for about 5 miles to Wakefield. Continue from there on L. R. 36083 and 36010 to Peach Bottom. PEACH BOTTOM PATH 1 24 IXD1AX PATHS OP PEX XSY LVAX 1 A : Xo. 85 85. Pechoquealin Path From Shawnee to Wilkes-Barre The Pechoquealin Path ran from Shawnee on Delaware (where it made connections with paths from Philadelphia, Bethlehem, and the Mini- sinks) through Stroudsburg and over the Pocono Mountains to Wyoming (Wilkes-Barre) . Leaving the Minsi Path (from Minisink Island and Esopus) at North Water Gap, the path from Pechoquealin ran through East Stroudsburg on Brodhead Greek and Stroudsburg on Pocono Greek. It followed a ridge overlooking the latter creek to Bartonsville, where it was joined by Sullivan’s Roatl fq. v.) . At Bartonsville it veered a little west of north, by a route now taken by U. S. 611, and ran on to Tannersvi lie. Thence it took a northwest course past the village of Crescent Lake, round the southern shoulder of Bear Mountain, to Little Summit and Pocono Pines. It skirted the south- ern end of Lake Naomi, and crossed Tobyhanna Creek at what is now an extension of Pocono Lake. Passing through what was once known as the Great Swamp, it skirted the southern slope of Locust Ridge (where once was an Indian vil- lage) 1 and forded the Lehigh River. Keeping to a gentle ridge between Choke Creek and Ken- dall Creek, it passed through the densely wooded Shades ol Death and crossed what is still called Shades Creek at Pocono Spring. \t Pocono Spring the path swung a trifle south of west for about three and a half miles— Pa. 11 5 joining it within three-quarters of a mile of the spring— to the crossing of Bear Creek. 1 hence it ran northwest by the route still followed by Pa. 115. From Ten Mile Run it crossed Wyom- ing Mountain and Wilkesbarre Mountain to Georgetown and Wyoming (Wilkes-Barre) . A traveler who wished to save himself the hard pull over Wilkesbarre Mountain might take the “Lower Road," which skirted the base of the mountain and turned north in two or three miles to follow Solomon Greek through Solomon s Gap. General Sullivan, on the other hand, took the Upper Road as being safer for the army. Oscar Jewell Harvey in his History of Wilkes- Barre says that after the Battle of Wyoming on July 3, 1778, “By far the largest number of fugi- tives left Wyoming by way of the ‘Lower Road —which passed up through Solomon’s Gap, then ran in a north-easterly direction along the eastern base of Wilkes-Barre Mountain for about two miles, and then took a course for the most part south-easterly.’’2 INDIAN PATHS OP PENNSYLVANIA: Nos. 85-86 1 25 FOR THE MOTORIST From Shawnee (about 5 miles east of East Stroudsburg) , L. R. 45061 will take you west to U. S. 611. Follow 611 through Stroudsburg to Rartonsville and Tannersville. From Tannersville take L. R. 45024 left, and follow it northwest for about 9 miles to Pocono Pines. There turn left (west) on Pa. 940. Since the path can be followed only a little farther by modern road, it will be well to continue on 940 to its junction with Pa. 115 and follow the latter to Wilkes-Barre. But if one wishes to follow' the path as closely as possible, leave Pa. 940 where it changes its course to southwest (li/2 miles west of Pocono Lake) and take L. R. 45039 northwest about a mile to Locust Ridge. Beyond the Ridge this road soon leaves Sullivan’s. The best plan is to take the first left turn after Locust Ridge and follow a township road to Stoddarts- ville. There turn right on Pa. 115 (the “New Road” to Wyoming) and stay with it past Shades Creek (where it is again on Sullivan’s Road) , Bear Creek, Wyoming Mountain, and Wilkes- barre Mountain to Wilkes-Barre. If you are in a hurry, continue on U. S. 611 from Tannersville to Swiftwater. There take Pa. 940 to Blakeslee Corners, and from that point follow Pa. 115 (the “New Road”) to Wilkes- Jiarre. 1 See "Journal of Rev. William Rogers, D.D.. Chaplain of Gen. Hand’s Bridgade in the Sullivan Expedition.” June 21, 1779, Pennsylvania Archives, Second Series, XV, 258. 2 (Wilkes-Barre, 1909), IT, 1054. 86. Peholand’s Path The name Peholand’s Path was sometimes given to a section of the Catawba Path approach- ing Peholand’s Camp or Town, which was situ- ated on the west side of Two Lick Creek oppo- site the present Homer City in Indiana County. The name was given also to the Goschgoschink Path, the Ligonier Path (from Kittanning) , or any other path headed for Peholand’s. See the History of Indiana County, Pennsylvania, 1745- 1880 (Newark, Ohio, 1880), page 250. Early Westmoreland County warrants contain many references to Peholand’s Path: e.g., C 21, to Moses Cummins, July 23, 1773: “. . . on the North West side of a path, leading from the two Licks to Pecholand’s Camp.” Richard Bard, cap