THE ALLEGHENY RIVER
Probably no river in the world, rolls for the same distance, such a
clear and pure current; hence it received its name, "Allegheny," from
the Seneca Indians, meaning "Fair Water." For the same cause, it was
called by the French, "La Belle Riviere." It rises in the northern part
of Pennsylvania, passes through a small portion of New York, and
winding its way back into Pennsylvania again, runs with its
meanderings, not less than fifty miles within the county of Warren. It
also flows through the centre of Venango county, in a direction so very
curvical, that there is not a point of the compass to which it does not
direct its course. The country along its banks is exceedingly wild and
rugged; the river hills being high and precipitous, rising into bluffs
and cliffs, sometimes to the height of 300 feet. These bluffs exhibit a
wild and picturesque grandeur, well calculated to call forth from the
reflecting lover of nature, "Oh! Lord how stupendous are thy Works."
The country on the headwaters of the Allegheny yet contains almost
inexhaustible supplies of first rate pine lumber. It is supposed that
from fifty to seventy million shingles, descend the river annually.
Further down, the hills are rich with Iron ore of an excellent quality,
and Bituminous coal, by which Iron is manufactured in immense
quantities. There is not hardly a point on the river, below Franklin,
that the sound of the steam whistle of the furnace engine, cannot be
heard.
The
country along the Allegheny, from Warren to Pittsburgh, is now
inhabited by an intelligent, industrious, hospitable and friendly
people. Roll back a century! What a contrast! Instead of the present
enlightened people, this whole region was occupied by the Seneca
Indians. The untutored Indian and his rude wigwam is substituted for
the sacred Preacher and the house of God; the scalp yell for the steam
whistle; the bark canoe for the steamboat. Traces are to be found, in
almost every direction, of a numerous Indian population once inhabiting
this region; and a more appropriate one could hardly be found for their
residence. The rugged hills clothed with forest, furnished them
excellent fishing grounds, bordered here and there with bottom land, as
sites for their villages and cornfields.
The Senecas, of which
Cornplanter was Chief, was far the most numerous and warlike of the Six
Nations. The peculiar organization of that confederacy, and the rank
which the Senecas held in it, were as follows: This confederacy was
originally known in the annals of New York as the Five Nations; and
subsequently, being joined by the Tuscaroras, as the Six Nations. As
confederates, they called themselves Aquanuschroni, or "United People."
They were called by the French, Iroquois. The original Five Nations
were the Onondagas, the Cayugas, the Oneidas, the Senecas and the
Mohawks. In 1712 the Tuscaroras being expelled from the interior of
North Carolina and Virginia, were adopted as the sixth tribe. The
language of all the tribes of the confederacy, except the Tuscaroras
was radically the same. Their domain stretched from the borders of
Vermont to Lake Erie and from Lake Ontario to the headwaters of the
Allegheny, Susquehanna and Delaware rivers. This territory they styled
their Long House. The Grand council fire was held in Onondaga valley.
The
Senecas guarded the western door of the house, the Mohawks the eastern,
and the Cayugas the southern or that which opened upon the Susquehanna.
The Mohawk nation was the first in rank, and to it appertained the
office of principal war chief. To the Onondagas, who guarded the
council-fire, appertained in like manner the office of principal chief
or sachem. The Senecas in numbers and military energy were the most
powerful. The peculiar location of the Iroquois on the great channels
of water conveyance to which their territories were contiguous, gave
them a great advantage. And by an early alliance with the Dutch on the
Hudson, they secured the use of firearms, and were thus enabled not
only to repel the encroachment of the French, but in all directions to
carry war and devastation, and reduce to a state of vasselage many
Indian nations. But on them, like everything else, is written, "Passing
away." If the future whispers what the past will justify us in
believing, the general bury ground of their whole race is at no very
remote period. The history of their wrongs at the hands of land
speculators would fill a larger book than this. By various treaties
they have been deprived of one piece of their fair domain after
another, until this once powerful nation are now crowded upon four
small reservations, one at Tonawanda, eight miles N.W. of Batavia, one
three miles east of Buffalo, one at Cattaraugas Creek twenty-eight
miles south of Buffalo, and the fourth on the Allegheny seventeen miles
above Warren. This reservation was the late residence of Cornplanter,
the distinguished Seneca chief. At each of these reservations except
Tonawanda, the American Board have a Mission station with a Church and
schools.
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