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Our Indians of Pennsylvania
Address of M.I.McCreight, of DuBois, PA, given before the DuBois Chapter Daughters of the American Revolution, September, 1952. I had prepared a talk on Indians--with some of my experiences in the Far West; but when read by Mrs. McCreight it was criticized--with the remark: "Why don't you deliver one about Indians in this region? Something that the ladies will understand and appreciate?" Thinking it over, I wondered too; for the Indians of Pennsylvania made of it, the most historic battleground in all the United States of America. However, this section of the State was never an Indian living ground--it was a grand and seemingly endless forest. The greatest trapping ground in the whole state. The west slope of the eastern continental divide in which is the City of DuBois, a great watershed, furnished the Indians a paradise of large and small game animals; they came from the north, camping in the environs of present-day DuBois, collecting beaver, otter, mink, skunk and muskrat furs, then, at the close of the season, packed on their backs the bales of dry hides, over the trail of the Senecas, to Niagara, where they loaded them on canoes and paddled down the St. Lawrence to Montreal, the main fur depot; there to be baled, sorted and graded for shipment to Paris. It must be remembered that this region was then New France. So for near two centuries what we call Beaver Meadow was then prime trapping ground. The wonderfully intelligent little animals, built this mudpack on the little stream we call Beaver Run, a branch of Sandy Creek--in prehistoric times--ages past. That little mud-barrier caused the upper reaches to fill with silt--each year a new flood of mountain wash spread over a vast area. It was a wet and soggy level, covered with a growth of swamp grass, weeds, shrubs and both pine and hardwoods, a tangle beyond understanding by the present generation. It first became known to Americans as the Buffalo Swamp! It was easy to overcome the buffaloes when found or driven in this swamp area. I have remarked heretofore, and now repeat, that the furs that warmed the neck of Marie Antoinette came from this very region! And of her: We have lost high regard for the French people, who tied her hands behind her back, forced her to the table and pulled the key, to drop the awful knife across her neck; to watch the heart spurt her blood in a torrent over her beautiful face as it lay in the basket, as they cheered. Of Indians here Dr. McKnight told of five Senecas having camped here as late as 1815. Nearby on my own property, the Indian path led from the Susquehanna to the Allegheny at Franklin and along it, the first state road was built by Thomas Mifflin, the first governor to serve under the Constitution of 1790. It was over this road that the troops passed on their way to Erie to aid Perry, in the War of 1812. They camped over night at the old Indian spring now known as Thunderbird spring. The Indian path and the soldier camp here is one of the most historic spots on the state trunk line highway. It should be parked(sic-made into a park?) and a suitable marker placed there; I have held this plot from sale for thirty years, hoping that the state or some patriotic society would be sponsor for it. Colonial records tell of a body of 100 French with 600 Indians that passed over this trail on a campaign against Ft. Augusta, but details are lacking as to results, except to know that they failed to damage the fort. We can mentally visualize that army camped at the old Indian spring. With incorporating the Susquehanna & Waterford Turnpike, in after years, the path was changed to run from West Liberty over the hills to Sandy Creek. It was a toll-road and soon became the greatest Cattle Trail in all the East. I recall seeing droves of cattle crowding each other during all day long. It was also the stage and Conestoga freight line. Now, with some modifications, it is the Lakes to Sea Highway. This region has no Indian legends! The bloody wars were at Lycoming and Juniata Counties--and they were really bloody. I recently wrote an article for the S.A.R. Susquehanna Chapter insisting that the road from Clearfield to Penfield be dedicated as the Christian Frederick Post Road--and that our chapter sponsor the plan. Nothing has come of it yet. This section of state roads is one of the most historic as well as beautiful drives in the state. Post made his first trip to the Indians on Beaver, in great distress in August, 1758: he said it was the worst piece of travel he ever encountered--had with him two Indians and two pack horses. That lone expedition was to sway the tribes of the west from the French influence--saved this region to the English; a great historic deed! This is a public duty--for the S.A.R. and the D.A.R.--but seems to be needful for the D.A.R. to lead and wake up the lazy brotherhood. Mrs. McCreight is fully qualified to be a D.A.R. but she could not find her grandmother's tomb, somewhere in the Spruce Creek section of Blair and Huntingdon Counties. She refused to go on with the matter. But, she is just as good a member as if she had papers. And so, to meet her mind, I made up this tale, and hold the real Indian talk for the next session. Note: Of all despicable tortures chargeable to the Indians none compares with the devilish acts of white men! Pizzaro, when he had robbed them of all their gold, imprisoned the chief Atahualpa--and because he did not find enough by stripping their places of worship to fill a room to the ceiling, this white fiend tied the Indian chief to a post, built dry wood around him to the neck, set fire to it, and watched him burn to a crisp---and Cortez, to overcome the Mexicans, stole the daughter of a chief, forced her to his designs, for capture of Montezuma--and the slaughter of his loyal people, and the destruction of a civilization superior to their own. This girl, Mariba, not Cortez, won the Conquest of Mexico. So, Custer, applauded to the sky for the conquering of the Indian at Washita, captured 52 women and girls, took to himself the best one as mistress and secretary, who later was mother of a half-breed son whom she named Yellow Swallow, but that was kept secret from Mrs. Custer--and Pocahontas was exploited--to hold onto the Jamestown region, stolen and held by robbery and forceful manipulation. Saving the life of Smith a pure make-up--all bunk. And---Sac-a-ja-wea---the prisoner girl who guided Lewis & Clark Expedition to the Pacific and back again. To she alone the credit is due, for saving most of the northwest to the United States; she, the squaw, unnoted, unknown to the people was, and should be recognized as the real heroine of USA. And, so we follow down through history, to find that, the North American continent owes as much to women as to men, for pioneering that made it the greatest country of them all. |
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