Montour county was erected by act of Assembly of May 3,1850, and comprised the townships of Franklin, Mahoning Valley, Liberty, Limestone, Derry, Anthony, and the borough of Danville, together with portions of the townships of Montour, Hemlock, and Madison. In 1853 the division line of the counties was readjusted, and a new township, called Roaring Creek, in Montour county, and parts of Franklin, Madison, and West Hamburg, were annexed to Columbia county.
The Muncy hills lie along its northwestern border, and Montour's ridge passes through the county, furnishing to its industry immense quantities of iron ore of the best quality. It has, also, large bodies of the finest limestone, and although broken, has a good deal of level and fertile land. The Susquehanna river lies along its southeastern border, and the county is watered and drained by Mahoning creek, which breaks through Montour's ridge at Mausdale, and empties into the North Branch of the Susquehanna at Danville. The two branches of the Chillisquaque, rising in the Muncy hills, join at the borough of Washingtonville, and flow off into the West Branch of the Susquehanna, along the base of Montour's ridge. Big Roaring creek is the boundary line of Mayberry township, lying east of the river.
The North Branch canal runs through the county. The Catawissa railroad, and the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg intersect it, and on the opposite side of the river from Danville, the Danville, Hazleton, and Wilkes-Barre railroad passes. All these improvements give to the borough of Danville easy access, and a convenient market with all parts of the country for its large iron product, which, unfortunately, is its sole important factory.
Danville borough is at the mouth of Mahoning creek, on the North Branch of the Susquehanna. It is built on a part of a tract of land surveyed on a warrant of John Penn to John Lukens, Surveyor-General, dated 31st January, I769, and the survey was made on the 22d February following. Subsequently the land came into the hands of Messrs. Francis & Peters, of Philadelphia. It passed through several ownerships previous to the war, but I have not been able to fix the time or place of the first actual settlement.
During the Revolutionary war, but subsequent to the hottest period of the contest, Captain Montgomery, of Philadelphia the father and Colonel, afterward General William Montgomery, the uncle of the late Judge Montgomery, resolved to come out and settle on the Susquehanna, then a wild and dangerous frontier, still occasionally disturbed by Indians. They purchased their farms at the mouth of Mahoning from one John Simpson. They had but just entered upon the hardships of frontier life, when the storm of savage warfare descended upon Wyoming. The Montgomerys, just retired from the campaigns of the Revolution, were no strangers to the alarms of Indian warfare; but Mrs. Montgomery had been reared amid the security and luxury of Philadelphia, and became so terrified in anticipation of being murdered by savages, that her husband was prevailed upon to remove with her and her little son, after wards the judge, to Northumberland, where the settlements were protected by a fort. Previously, however, to their removal, they were often annoyed by the lurking foe, and frequent murders were committed in the vicinity. Their fears, too, were quite as often excited by merely imaginary dangers. Captain Daniel Montgomery, looking out one evening, about dusk, upon the river, saw a fine canoe drifting down the stream, and immediately pushed out with his own canoe to secure the prize. On coming up to it, and drawing it towards him with his hand, he was thunderstruck at seeing a very large muscular Indian lying fiat on his back in the canoe, with his eyes wildly glaring upon him. He let go his hold and prepared for defense, but in a moment, reflecting that he had seen water in the bottom of the strange canoe, he again approached it, and found the Indian was dead. A paper on his breast set forth that he had been shot near Wyoming, and set adrift by some of the Yankees. The captain towed his prize to the shore with a lighter heart, and after a hearty laugh with his neighbors, sent the Indian on his mission. The following from the "Hazleton Travelers," by Mr. Miner, of Luzerne county, is the counterpart to the story: "Among the Indians who formerly lived at Wyoming was one known by the name of Anthony Turkey. When the savages removed from Wyoming he went with them, and returned as an enemy at the time of the invasion. With him and the people there had been before a good understanding, and it created some surprise when known that he was with the bloody band who had come on the errand of destruction. It was Turkey who commanded the party that came to Mr. Weeks the Sunday after the battle (of 1778), and taking the old gentleman's hat, shoved his rocking chair into the street and sat down and rocked himself. In the invasion of March following, Turkey was here again, and in an engagement on the Kingston flats was shot through the thigh and surrounded by our people. 'Surrender, Turkey,' said they, 'we won't hurt you.' Probably conscious of his own cruelties, he defied them, and fought like a tiger cat to the last. Some of our boys, in malicious sport, took his body, put it into an old canoe, fixed a dead rooster in the bow, fastened a bow and arrow in the dead Indian's hands, as if in the act just to fire, put a written ' pass' on his breast to 'let the bearer go to his master King George or the d—P, and launched the canoe into the river, amid the cheers of men and boys."
After the expedition of General Sullivan had quieted the frontier and expelled the Indians, the Montgomerys returned to Danville, where Daniel Montgomery, son of William, established a store, and laid off a few lots on a piece of land given him by his father. A few other settlers came in, and about the year 1806 we find Danville described in Scott's geography as "a small post town on the East Branch of the Susquehanna, at the mouth of Mahoning." Judge Montgomery was at that time the postmaster, the first in the place who enjoyed that dignity. When it was proposed to erect Columbia county, and establish Danville as the county seat, the elder General Montgomery was opposed to the scheme, fearing annoyance in his farming operations by the proximity of the town; but his son, on the contrary, was eager for the success of the project, anticipating large gains from the sale of lots. After the county was fairly established, General Montgomery not only acquiesced, but entered with his whole heart into the enterprise for its improvement. He and his relatives endowed and erected an academy, and gave thirty lots as a fund for the support of the ministry here. He after wards took a leading part in getting a charter for the Bear gap road, which opened the place to the Pottsville travel; and also had great influence in inducing Stephen Girard to embark in the enterprise of the Danville and Pottsville railroad. A part of the road was made near Pottsville, and is now rotting in the sun without use. Girard and General Montgomery died nearly at the same time, other interests interfered, and the Danville and Pottsville railroad, with the bright visions of augmented wealth associated with it, existed only on paper.
Mr. Wickersham, of Philadelphia, who owned a farm adjoining Danville, made a donation to the Presbyterian church of the beautiful knoll where the church and cemetery are now situated.
The borough of Danville is a place of very considerable importance, owing to its iron production. Some idea of that can be gathered from the following summary: There are six iron foundries, owned respectively by Messrs. Huber, Biddle, Cruikshank, Moyer & Co., National iron company, and Waterman & Beaver. There are seven blast furnaces three of them owned by Waterman & Beaver, with an annual capacity of 24,000 tons; two of them owned by John Roach, capacity 14,000 tons; and two by Grove Brothers, capacity 14,000 tons. There are five rolling mills, owned as follows: Pennsylvania works, Waterman & Beaver, annual capacity, 40,000 tons of rails; John Roach, two mills, annual capacity, 30,000 tons of rails; Danville iron works, Wm. Faix, annual capacity, 11,000 tons; Cooperative iron and steel works, capacity annually, 11,000 tons. It contains fourteen churches belonging to the leading denominations. The Grove Brothers have erected a magnificent residence near the Catawissa railroad, at a cost of over $300,000, which for architectural beauty is nob surpassed in the country. There are a number of other fine private dwellings which have been built within the last few years. The population of the borough is claimed to be about ten thousand.
About one mile southeast of Danville is located the State Hospital for the Insane, established by the act of Assembly of 13th April, 1868. The cornerstone of the main building was laid by Governor Geary, 26th August, 1869, and on the 6th day of November, 1872, the building was so far completed as to admit patients. It is constructed of hard blue stone from the neighborhood. When completed, there will be one center building, with a wing on each side, consisting of three longitudinal sections, three stories in height, and three transverse, four stories in height. The heating, lighting, and ventilation are excellent, and in all its various compartments and arrangements it is unequaled by any similar institution in the country. The successful construction and efficient management have been superintended by S. S. Schultz, M.D., and the State hospital at Danville is one of those great charities of our good old Commonwealth of which we may all be proud.
The borough of Washingtonville is situate at the forks of the Chillisquaque, in Derry township. It contains several churches, a grist mill, tannery, etc. It is on the public road from Danville to Muncy, and about eight miles from the former place, and very pleasantly located in the midst of a beautiful and fertile neighborhood. It is the site of the military post of Bosley's Mills in frontier times. Mooresburg, in Liberty township, is on the public road from Danville to Milton. The Catawissa railroad runs within a few hundred yards of it, and has a depot there. Mausdale, in Valley township, on Mahoning creek, at Montour's ridge, lies on the Catawissa railroad, but has no depot. It is two miles from Danville. White Hall, situated in Anthony township, contains about fifty dwellings and a church building. Exchange, in the same township, has a grist mill and an Episcopal church. It is situate on a branch of the Chillisquaque. Limestoneville, in township of the same name, is in the midst of the finest agricultural district in the county, and there are few finer in the State. The place itself is unimportant.
(Source: An Illustrated History Of The Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania, By William H. Egle, Harrisburg, De Witt C. Goodrich & Co., 1876, Page 961 - 966. See individual counties for further records.)
The Muncy hills lie along its northwestern border, and Montour's ridge passes through the county, furnishing to its industry immense quantities of iron ore of the best quality. It has, also, large bodies of the finest limestone, and although broken, has a good deal of level and fertile land. The Susquehanna river lies along its southeastern border, and the county is watered and drained by Mahoning creek, which breaks through Montour's ridge at Mausdale, and empties into the North Branch of the Susquehanna at Danville. The two branches of the Chillisquaque, rising in the Muncy hills, join at the borough of Washingtonville, and flow off into the West Branch of the Susquehanna, along the base of Montour's ridge. Big Roaring creek is the boundary line of Mayberry township, lying east of the river.
The North Branch canal runs through the county. The Catawissa railroad, and the Lackawanna and Bloomsburg intersect it, and on the opposite side of the river from Danville, the Danville, Hazleton, and Wilkes-Barre railroad passes. All these improvements give to the borough of Danville easy access, and a convenient market with all parts of the country for its large iron product, which, unfortunately, is its sole important factory.
Danville borough is at the mouth of Mahoning creek, on the North Branch of the Susquehanna. It is built on a part of a tract of land surveyed on a warrant of John Penn to John Lukens, Surveyor-General, dated 31st January, I769, and the survey was made on the 22d February following. Subsequently the land came into the hands of Messrs. Francis & Peters, of Philadelphia. It passed through several ownerships previous to the war, but I have not been able to fix the time or place of the first actual settlement.
During the Revolutionary war, but subsequent to the hottest period of the contest, Captain Montgomery, of Philadelphia the father and Colonel, afterward General William Montgomery, the uncle of the late Judge Montgomery, resolved to come out and settle on the Susquehanna, then a wild and dangerous frontier, still occasionally disturbed by Indians. They purchased their farms at the mouth of Mahoning from one John Simpson. They had but just entered upon the hardships of frontier life, when the storm of savage warfare descended upon Wyoming. The Montgomerys, just retired from the campaigns of the Revolution, were no strangers to the alarms of Indian warfare; but Mrs. Montgomery had been reared amid the security and luxury of Philadelphia, and became so terrified in anticipation of being murdered by savages, that her husband was prevailed upon to remove with her and her little son, after wards the judge, to Northumberland, where the settlements were protected by a fort. Previously, however, to their removal, they were often annoyed by the lurking foe, and frequent murders were committed in the vicinity. Their fears, too, were quite as often excited by merely imaginary dangers. Captain Daniel Montgomery, looking out one evening, about dusk, upon the river, saw a fine canoe drifting down the stream, and immediately pushed out with his own canoe to secure the prize. On coming up to it, and drawing it towards him with his hand, he was thunderstruck at seeing a very large muscular Indian lying fiat on his back in the canoe, with his eyes wildly glaring upon him. He let go his hold and prepared for defense, but in a moment, reflecting that he had seen water in the bottom of the strange canoe, he again approached it, and found the Indian was dead. A paper on his breast set forth that he had been shot near Wyoming, and set adrift by some of the Yankees. The captain towed his prize to the shore with a lighter heart, and after a hearty laugh with his neighbors, sent the Indian on his mission. The following from the "Hazleton Travelers," by Mr. Miner, of Luzerne county, is the counterpart to the story: "Among the Indians who formerly lived at Wyoming was one known by the name of Anthony Turkey. When the savages removed from Wyoming he went with them, and returned as an enemy at the time of the invasion. With him and the people there had been before a good understanding, and it created some surprise when known that he was with the bloody band who had come on the errand of destruction. It was Turkey who commanded the party that came to Mr. Weeks the Sunday after the battle (of 1778), and taking the old gentleman's hat, shoved his rocking chair into the street and sat down and rocked himself. In the invasion of March following, Turkey was here again, and in an engagement on the Kingston flats was shot through the thigh and surrounded by our people. 'Surrender, Turkey,' said they, 'we won't hurt you.' Probably conscious of his own cruelties, he defied them, and fought like a tiger cat to the last. Some of our boys, in malicious sport, took his body, put it into an old canoe, fixed a dead rooster in the bow, fastened a bow and arrow in the dead Indian's hands, as if in the act just to fire, put a written ' pass' on his breast to 'let the bearer go to his master King George or the d—P, and launched the canoe into the river, amid the cheers of men and boys."
After the expedition of General Sullivan had quieted the frontier and expelled the Indians, the Montgomerys returned to Danville, where Daniel Montgomery, son of William, established a store, and laid off a few lots on a piece of land given him by his father. A few other settlers came in, and about the year 1806 we find Danville described in Scott's geography as "a small post town on the East Branch of the Susquehanna, at the mouth of Mahoning." Judge Montgomery was at that time the postmaster, the first in the place who enjoyed that dignity. When it was proposed to erect Columbia county, and establish Danville as the county seat, the elder General Montgomery was opposed to the scheme, fearing annoyance in his farming operations by the proximity of the town; but his son, on the contrary, was eager for the success of the project, anticipating large gains from the sale of lots. After the county was fairly established, General Montgomery not only acquiesced, but entered with his whole heart into the enterprise for its improvement. He and his relatives endowed and erected an academy, and gave thirty lots as a fund for the support of the ministry here. He after wards took a leading part in getting a charter for the Bear gap road, which opened the place to the Pottsville travel; and also had great influence in inducing Stephen Girard to embark in the enterprise of the Danville and Pottsville railroad. A part of the road was made near Pottsville, and is now rotting in the sun without use. Girard and General Montgomery died nearly at the same time, other interests interfered, and the Danville and Pottsville railroad, with the bright visions of augmented wealth associated with it, existed only on paper.
Mr. Wickersham, of Philadelphia, who owned a farm adjoining Danville, made a donation to the Presbyterian church of the beautiful knoll where the church and cemetery are now situated.
The borough of Danville is a place of very considerable importance, owing to its iron production. Some idea of that can be gathered from the following summary: There are six iron foundries, owned respectively by Messrs. Huber, Biddle, Cruikshank, Moyer & Co., National iron company, and Waterman & Beaver. There are seven blast furnaces three of them owned by Waterman & Beaver, with an annual capacity of 24,000 tons; two of them owned by John Roach, capacity 14,000 tons; and two by Grove Brothers, capacity 14,000 tons. There are five rolling mills, owned as follows: Pennsylvania works, Waterman & Beaver, annual capacity, 40,000 tons of rails; John Roach, two mills, annual capacity, 30,000 tons of rails; Danville iron works, Wm. Faix, annual capacity, 11,000 tons; Cooperative iron and steel works, capacity annually, 11,000 tons. It contains fourteen churches belonging to the leading denominations. The Grove Brothers have erected a magnificent residence near the Catawissa railroad, at a cost of over $300,000, which for architectural beauty is nob surpassed in the country. There are a number of other fine private dwellings which have been built within the last few years. The population of the borough is claimed to be about ten thousand.
About one mile southeast of Danville is located the State Hospital for the Insane, established by the act of Assembly of 13th April, 1868. The cornerstone of the main building was laid by Governor Geary, 26th August, 1869, and on the 6th day of November, 1872, the building was so far completed as to admit patients. It is constructed of hard blue stone from the neighborhood. When completed, there will be one center building, with a wing on each side, consisting of three longitudinal sections, three stories in height, and three transverse, four stories in height. The heating, lighting, and ventilation are excellent, and in all its various compartments and arrangements it is unequaled by any similar institution in the country. The successful construction and efficient management have been superintended by S. S. Schultz, M.D., and the State hospital at Danville is one of those great charities of our good old Commonwealth of which we may all be proud.
The borough of Washingtonville is situate at the forks of the Chillisquaque, in Derry township. It contains several churches, a grist mill, tannery, etc. It is on the public road from Danville to Muncy, and about eight miles from the former place, and very pleasantly located in the midst of a beautiful and fertile neighborhood. It is the site of the military post of Bosley's Mills in frontier times. Mooresburg, in Liberty township, is on the public road from Danville to Milton. The Catawissa railroad runs within a few hundred yards of it, and has a depot there. Mausdale, in Valley township, on Mahoning creek, at Montour's ridge, lies on the Catawissa railroad, but has no depot. It is two miles from Danville. White Hall, situated in Anthony township, contains about fifty dwellings and a church building. Exchange, in the same township, has a grist mill and an Episcopal church. It is situate on a branch of the Chillisquaque. Limestoneville, in township of the same name, is in the midst of the finest agricultural district in the county, and there are few finer in the State. The place itself is unimportant.
(Source: An Illustrated History Of The Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania, By William H. Egle, Harrisburg, De Witt C. Goodrich & Co., 1876, Page 961 - 966. See individual counties for further records.)
