ENNSYLVANIA ;ht$ CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Cornell University Library F 152 L49 Settlement of Pennsylvania / by Walter L olin 3 1924 028 830 657 The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://archive.org/details/cu31924028830657 Places Noteworthy in the Settlement and Growth of Pennsylvania The Settlement of Pennsylvania BY WALTER LEFFERTS, Ph. D. 'Act well thy part, There all the honor lies." Illustrations by MARTHA FLECK BROWN FRANKLIN PUBLISHING AND SUPPLY COMPANY PHILADELPHIA qiU inftffi Copyright, 1922, by FRANKLIN PUBLISHING AND SUPPLY COMPANY Preface "In the beginning" are the first words of the Bible nar- rative, and fascinating indeed is the story of the beginning of any worthy achievement. The main facts concerning the founding of Pennsylvania have become treasured in our national history, and are known, at least in outline, to most Americans; yet it is well for all citizens, and particu- larly all Pennsylvanians, to renew their knowledge of the birth and growth of a great commonwealth, the second among our many states in wealth and population. The figure of Perm, the beloved Founder of the colony, a great and good man, who saw his golden dreams blossom into reality, is one which should never be forgotten. From the melting-pot of his Pennsylvania settlement such value came forth that we look with better heart at the mixture of races in the national life of today. Many other worth- while characters are met in this short chronicle. This book is designed to give a survey, brief, yet more detailed than the accounts found in general American histories, of our state's early development up to the time of the Revolution. The style is adapted to the compre- hension of any pupil of the upper elementary grades or the ) junior high school. By word and by picture the narrative ■j has been made as clear and as interesting as the space > would allow. Walter Lefferts. Philadelphia, October i, 1922. Table of Contents PAGE I. The Dutch Explorers and Settlers 7 Henry Hudson — The Dutch Companies — Zwaanendal and Bevers- rede — De Vries. II. The Dutch Conflict with the Swedes 12 Peter Minuit — Governor Printz — Peter Stuyvesant — The Old Swedes' Church. III. English Possession and Penn's Grant 16 English Conquest — Penn's Bargain with Charles II — The Quakers — The Grant — The Three Lower Counties. IV. Founding the Province 23 Markham — Thomas Holme — Penn's First Visit — The "Welcome" — Philadelphia — Government. V. Indian Relations and Boundary Disputes 31 Treaties — The Lenape — Penn's Second Visit — Logan — Rittenhouse, Mason and Dixon — The Walking Purchase — Connecticut. VI. The Early Settlers 46 The German Settlers — The Welsh — The Scotch-Irish. VII. Education S3 Beginnings of Education — The Penn Charter School — Franklin's Academy — Pastorius — "The Log College." VIII. The Industrial Growth of Pennsylvania 57 Agriculture — Manufacturing — Printing — Ship-building — Com- merce. The Settlement and Growth of Pennsylvania I. THE DUTCH EXPLORERS AND SETTLERS Hudson Discovers Delaware Bay. — On a hot August day of 1609, nearly one hundred and seventeen years after Columbus discovered the New World, Henry Hudson's little vessel, the "Half-Moon," sailed into Delaware Bay, but soon grounded on one of the many shoals. As soon as the rising tide lifted her from the sand, Hudson made haste to leave such shallow waters. He was sure that in this direction did not he the passage to the Pacific which he sought. That summer afternoon's exploration, short though it was, gave to the Dutch a claim on the land which we call Pennsylvania. Hudson, though an Englishman, was in the Dutch service, as were many of his countrymen at the time. Holland therefore announced that the country along the South River, as the combined Delaware bay and river were called, belonged to her. When he returned to Holland, Hudson reported that the land along the North or Hudson River was rich in furs; and this news soon brought other Dutch vessels to that part of America. Cornelius Mey, about 1614, sailed 8 THE DUTCH EXPLORERS AND SETTLERS into the South River and named the capes at the entrance. Cape May records the captain's name, and Cape Henlopen or Hindlopen takes its name from a Dutch town. The Dutch West India Company. — Holland at this time had just risen victorious from her long and deadly struggle with Spain. Her ships and her seamen had enabled The "Half-Moon" Aground in Delaware Bay. her to maintain the contest; and now she planned to use these ships and these men in securing new commerce from far-off lands. The great Dutch East India Company had already been formed to trade with the isles of spice which the hardy navigators of Holland had visited. It was for this com- THE DUTCH EXPLORERS AND SETTLERS 9 pany that Hudson made the voyage during which he discovered the river which we call by his name. The pow- erful East India Company proved so profitable that a similar combination of merchants, the Dutch West India Com- pany, came into being (1621). One of the many privileges of this new company was the power to plant colonies in America. Holland Colonizes in America. — At this time all the strong nations of Europe were stretching out their hands to grasp portions of the New World. Spain, France, and England made enormous claims. St. Augustine, Quebec, and Jamestown, tiny settlements in a vast wilderness, stood as signs of these claims. In the same summer in which Hudson sailed past the Palisades of the North River, Champlain was shooting down the chiefs of an Iroquois war- party and John Smith was peaceably buying from the savages the Virginia ground upon which Richmond now stands. Holland now entered the field. Captain Mey, under the direction of the West India Company, returned to America as "director-general" or governor of the new Dutch colonies. Leaving at Manhattan most of the settlers whom he brought with him, Mey continued his voyage to South River. As- cending this, he planted a colony ninety miles from the sea at Gloucester Point, opposite the present site of Philadelphia. There he built a stockade and called it Fort Nassau (1623). A few young couples and a handful of sailors remained and established the first European settlement on the banks of the Delaware. Zwaanendal and Beversrede. — The Dutch, however, did not push far into the wilderness. Fort Nassau did not prosper. Eight years passed before another Dutch settle- 10 THE DUTCH EXPLORERS AND SETTLERS merit was made on the South River, and this time it was near Cape Henlopen, on Lewes Creek. The colonists brought over many cattle to grow fat on the salt marshes. Perhaps De Vries Looks at the Ruins of His Colony. because the leader, De Vries, saw great flocks of wild geese, he called the new colony Zwaanendal, the valley of swans. When De Vries revisited Zwaanendal the next year he found nothing but destruction and death. In a quarrel over THE DUTCH EXPLORERS AND SETTLERS II a theft, an Indian had been killed. His tribe then fell upon the settlers and left only their bones. Murdered settlers* burned houses, and slaughtered cattle might well have de- pressed De Vries. He continued his voyage, however, up the river to the future site of Philadelphia, and was delighted with the products of land and water — wild turkeys and deer that swarmed in the woods, and the fish, so numerous that one haul of a seine fed thirty men. The junction of two rivers is always a favorable point for fighting or trading, so the Dutch governor of New Netherland sent Arent Corsen from New Amsterdam to occupy the point between the Delaware River and the Schuylkill. The Schuylkill or "hidden river" was so called by the Dutch because its mouth was hard to see from the main channel of the Delaware. Corssen bought the desired land from the Indians, and here, at Passyunk, was later erected the Dutch fort of Beversrede or Beversrode, meaning Beaver Road, the track by which beaver-skins were brought from the interior of the country. II. THE DUTCH CONFLICT WITH THE SWEDES Sweden Enters Upon the Scene. — Sweden now aimed to be a great power and was taking a prominent place in European affairs. One of the steps toward realizing her ambition was to imitate the other powers of Europe by gain- ing land and planting colonies in America. Only six years after the beginning of the Dutch West India Company, a Swedish trading company was formed (1627) on the same plan. On account of the death in battle of the great Swedish king, Gustavus Adolphus, no American expedition was made by the Swedes until ten years had passed. At last a former governor of New Netherland, dissatisfied with his treatment by the Dutch, brought out the first Swedish colony. This leader, Peter Minuit, tried to avoid landing near the actual Dutch posts, and therefore settled his colony (1638) on the bank of a creek at the place where Wilmington, Delaware, now stands. He named the creek Christina or Christiana, in honor of Gustavus' daughter, the young queen of Sweden. The fort which he erected was called Fort Christina. Minuit became governor of "New Sweden," which the Swedes expected would become "the brightest jewel of the kingdom." The Activities of Governor Printz. — For a time the Dutch and the Swedes lived in harmony along the South River and Dutch stockholders held shares in the Swedish company. There were lands and beaver-skins enough for THE DUTCH CONFLICT WITH THE SWEDES 13 all settlers and traders; but it was clear that this happy state of affairs could not long continue. Five years after Minuit had landed, a new governor, John Printz, arrived. The Swedish government had in- structed him to oppose the Dutch and secure a firm hold upon the region. With a soldier's eye, Printz recognized that Fort Christina, two miles inland, could not command the Printz's Settlement at Tinicum Island. river. He therefore established himself at Tinicum (now Essington), a little below the mouth of the Schuylkill. Within a strong palisade, and guarded by a fort, were the little church and Printz's wonderful log mansion, which was actually two stories high! 1 On the eastern shore near the mouth of Salem Creek he built another fort, which stopped hostile vessels from coming up the river. By a blockhouse at the mouth of the Schuylkill, Printz closed that 1 The site of Printz's orchard at Essington is still called "The Orchard." 14 THE DUTCH CONFLICT WITH THE SWEDES stream also to Dutch trade. He tried to drive away the Dutch when they built Beversrede. Peter Stuyvesant Replies. — For a short time the Dutch of New Amsterdam were so busy fighting Indians that they could pay but little attention to the proceedings of Printz. Finally, however, "Old Silverleg," Peter Stuyvesant, ap- peared upon the South River, bringing a body of troops. Now it was soldier against soldier. Stuyvesant made new treaties with the Indians, and warned the Swedes that they were trespassers. As this produced no effect, Stuyvesant abandoned Fort Nassau and built Fort Casimir in the enemy's territory, near the spot where now stands the town of New Castle. The Swedes in Fort Christina and the Dutch in Fort Casimir were only five miles apart. As long as Printz re- mained governor, their mutual dread of the English kept the two nationalities peaceful. But when, after three years, a new Swedish governor appeared, he at once celebrated his arrival by capturing Fort Casimir with its powderless garri- son of twelve. New Sweden Passes Away. — The Swedish capture of the little Dutch fort was a great mistake. A few months later seven Dutch ships, carrying six hundred men, anchored before Fort Casimir. The force was too large to be resisted. Stuyvesant took bloodless possession of all the Swedish posts and forever ended Swedish rule in America (1655). Sweden had been a dangerous rival of the Dutch power, but now Holland was supreme along the Delaware and claimed the land on both sides of the bay and river as far as the Falls where Trenton now stands. As for the three or four hundred Swedes in the region, for the most part they THE DUTCH CONFLICT WITH THE SWEDES 15 peacefully accepted Dutch government. They were quiet, industrious farmers, with plenty of cattle, grain and fruit. To them it did not greatly matter who ruled; their mill on Cobb's Creek would grind Dutch wheat as merrily as Swedish. The little town of Upland, now Chester, became the center of the Swedish settlements. The quaint old Swedes' Church, Gloria Dei (built 1700), still stands to remind us of the Swedish settlement at Wicaco The Old Swedes' Church at Wicaco. or Weccacoe, in the southern part of Philadelphia. Many of the descendants of the Swedes have been numbered among the best citizens of Pennsylvania. So far as developing the country was concerned, the Swedes were better inhabitants than the Dutch. III. ENGLISH POSSESSION AND PENN'S GRANT The English Conquest of New Netherland. — The Dutch were left in triumphant possession of the South River for only nine years. England was determined to control North America. In 1664 King Charles the Second granted to his brother James, the Duke of York, most of New England, beside "all the land from the west side of the Connecticut River to the east side of Delaware Bay." This grant was intended to include all the lands occupied by the Dutch Accordingly, the Duke fitted out an ex- pedition to take possession of his grant. When the English frigates arrived at Manhattan Island, fiery Stuyvesant wished to resist, but the Dutch burghers would not support him, and without any bloodshed New Amsterdam passed under the rule of the Duke and became New York. An English force then sailed for the Delaware, but the Dutch Fort Casimir, or New Amstel, did not so tamely sur- render. The first actual battle along the Delaware took place; several of the Dutch were killed or wounded, and the English conquerors, enraged at meeting opposition, sold many of the settlers into slavery in Virginia. The Duke of York received a special grant of the land on the west side of Delaware Bay. This included New Amstel, which was re- named New Castle. Penn's Bargain with Charles II. — English settlers began to people the lands thus seized. Salem and Burlington grew up in New Jersey, as the region east of the Delaware was 16 ENGLISH POSSESSION AND PENN'S GRANT *7 called. Among the settlers of New Jersey were many Friends or Quakers, who came because they were not allowed to practice their religious principles in England without being persecuted. The followers of this religion liked to call themselves by the peaceful name of Friends; but they were usually known as Quakers, and often, in fact, spoke thus of themselves. Quaker Arrested in Meeting. The name Quaker originated in 1650. George Fox, their founder, having been arrested, boldly exhorted the magis- trate to "tremble at the word of the Lord." Thereafter Fox's followers, in mockery, were called "Quakers." The Friends held principles which, many persons con- sidered, struck at the foundations of government. They refused to pay taxes to support the Church of England ; they would take no oath to support the government; they paid 1 8 ENGLISH POSSESSION AND PENN'S GRANT no especial reverence to officer, nobleman, or king ; and they set their faces against all violence or warfare. All these peculiarities were founded upon spiritual ideas which the Quakers believed were for the betterment of the world; but the people of authority in England detested the Quaker practices. The Quaker, with his democratic manner of worship, his peculiar way of speech, and his apparent con- tempt for form and ceremony either in law or religion, was an object of persecution. Many of the Quakers courted punishment. They were fined, imprisoned, whipped, and sold into slavery; but nothing could quench their zeal. Penn and His Debt. — When Stuyvesant surrendered New Amsterdam, a lad of twenty, named William Penn, was taking much interest in the Quaker doctrines. The lad's father, rich Admiral Penn, friend of the king, opposed his son's leanings ; nevertheless, at the age of twenty-four, Penn became a thorough Quaker. Three times he was thrown into prison, once for six months, but he continued to speak and write in defense of his faith. Upon the death of the Admiral, William Penn became a wealthy man. He was already a leader among the Quakers. For many years, ever since he was a boy in college, Penn had been interested in America as a place of refuge for the people of his faith. About this time New Jersey was divided into two portions, and Penn, favored by the king in spite of his religious beliefs, became a trustee or manager of West Jersey and part owner of East Jersey. Hundreds of Quakers emi- grated to "the Jerseys," although that portion of America seemed barren to the farmers coming from the fertile fields of old England. From his father Penn had inherited a large claim against ENGLISH POSSESSION AND PENN'S GRANT 19 the Crown. 1 Admiral Perm had never received his full salary as admiral, and, in addition, had lent money to the government. King Charles the Second, although in some ways a good man of business, was called the "Merry Mon- arch," because he squandered so much borrowed money upon foolish pleasures. William Perm let the debt run for ten years after his father's death. By that time, with in- terest, it amounted to sixteen thousand pounds, equal in our day to perhaps a half-million dollars. Perm did not expect that the money would ever be repaid, so he conceived the idea of taking land in America as pay- ment of the great debt, and of making this land a Quaker refuge. 2 Some of the New Jersey settlers wrote Perm, saying: "The Indian country on the west side of the Dela- ware is most beautiful to look upon, and only wanteth a wise people to render it the glory of the earth." King Charles and his councillors readily agreed to give this land to Penn in payment of the debt — a bargain which seemed profitable for the Crown. In 1681 Penn received the grant, which was a great tract of unexplored land, lying west of the Delaware and north of Maryland. "My God, that has given it to me through many difficulties," wrote Penn, "will, I believe, bless it and make it the seed of a nation." 1 Although "the Crown" means the government of England, it betokens a peculiar kind of government. The king is considered the head of all gov- ernment, and everything done by government authority is supposed to be done by him personally. Our President is not supposed to hold supreme power in our government, but in Penn's time the King was supposed to be the "fountain of power." His personality and the government are legally one and the same. 2 George Fox had already made long journeys through the Jerseys and Maryland and no doubt had discussed his travels with Penn. 20 ENGLISH POSSESSION AND PENN'S GRANT The Extent and the Name of the Colony. — Penn himself was allowed to write much of the charter, and he copied many parts from that charter by which Maryland had been granted to Lord Baltimore fifty years before. He was lord of the land, but to show that England still had authority he King Charles Signs the Grant to Penn. was required to deliver two beaver-skins to Windsor Castle each New Year's Day, and to give the Crown a fifth part of all gold and silver which might be discovered. The province was supposed to extend three degrees in latitude and five in longitude; but on account of the poor ENGLISH POSSESSION AND PENN'S GRANT 21 maps of those days, the king's councillors failed to see that their three degrees of latitude conflicted with the claims of both Maryland and Connecticut. It is said that this charter gave rise to more boundary disputes than did any other in American history. Eventually, however, Perm's province included about 40,000 square miles, an area as large as Ire- land and Wales combined. Being of Welsh descent, Perm wished to name his colony New Wales, especially as America had already contained New Sweden, New Netherland, New Jersey, and New England. When that title was rejected, Perm proposed "Sylvania" or "Woodland." King Charles adopted this designation, but declared it should be "Penn-sylvania." To Penn's sober mind the addition of his own name savored of pride, and he offered the clerk who "engrossed" the charter twenty guineas to change the title. The "Merry Monarch," however, with a twinkle in his eye, vowed that he was not honoring William, but the Admiral. Perm was forced to submit, and Pennsylvania or "Penn's Woods" remains the name to this day. The Counties on the Delaware. — The new colony, great as was its extent, lacked one important advantage — a front- age on the sea. Penn soon recognized this fact and besought the Duke of York to give him "the lower counties on the Delaware" which the Duke had gained from the Dutch. So powerful was Penn's influence at court that five months after Penn had received his Pennsylvania charter, the Duke granted him this "Delaware Colony" without question. These three counties have remained three to the present time. They were called "the Delaware counties" or "the lower counties." For twenty years they were governed as 22 ENGLISH POSSESSION AND PENN'S GRANT part of Pennsylvania; then they secured a legislature of their own, which met at New Castle. From "the Delaware colony" to "the colony of Delaware" and finally to the state of Delaware, the steps were easy. The "Holy Experiment." — The founding of his colony Penn considered a "holy experiment." In it he saw the hand of God. Ever since he was a youth of eighteen he had joyfully dreamed of such a religious refuge for those who were persecuted. Now his colony was to have liberty of religion. The people were to make their own laws, which were to be taught to the school-children. At a time when liberty in religion and in government was only a name, Penn proposed to establish real religious and political freedom. Although Penn thought that the presence of the Indians should not prevent the whites from settling the region, he declared that the whites should pay the natives for their land and should treat them with perfect fairness. A number of merchants wished to organize a company to monopolize trade with the Indians of Pennsylvania; but though they offered Penn a large sum, he would not grant them the privilege lest they abuse it. Penn determined that his colony should be "an example and a standard to the nations." IV. FOUNDING THE PROVINCE Markham Arrives. — A month after Perm had received his charter for the colony, he dispatched his cousin, Colonel William Markham, to take possession in Penn's name. Markham proceeded to the banks of the Delaware, and showed the settlers his legal documents together with a letter from Perm. He took up his residence at Upland, and called a council of nine men who set up a court and so started Penn's government. We must not think of Pennsylvania as a totally wild region at that time. For many years there had been scat- tered settlements along the river. About a thousand Swedes were living between New Castle and the present site of Philadelphia, and mingled with these were some Dutch and many English. On the Jersey side of the river, Salem had been established six years and Burlington four. The shores of the Delaware up to the Falls (where Trenton now stands) were well known, and were ready for occupation, as the Indians gave no trouble. The New City. — In the letter which Markham carried, Perm had written to his colonists that he expected to see them that fall, but business prevented him from carrying out his plans. The "proprietor" found himself extremely busy with the affairs of old settlers and of new emigrants. He wrote pamphlets showing the advantages of Pennsyl- vania. These were translated into several foreign languages, and were spread broadcast in Germany, Holland, and the 23 24 FOUNDING THE PROVINCE British Isles. So successful was Perm's advertising that three emigrant ships sailed to the Delaware that year (1681). Meanwhile Perm had sent out three commissioners to find the proper site for a city and to buy land from the Indians. He instructed the commissioners to find a spot along the river which would be high and healthful, where large ships could come up to the bank, and where a navigable Thomas Holme Surveying the Site of Philadelphia. stream joined the Delaware. "There," Perm said, "I will settle a great town." Markham and the commissioners examined all the Pennsylvania shore between Upland and the Falls of the Delaware in order to find such a place as Penn desired. They discovered, not far above the mouth of the Schuylkill, a steep, high bank, bordered by such deep water that the vessels could come close to shore, so close indeed that the boughs of the trees touched the rigging. Two miles west of FOUNDING THE PROVINCE 25 this spot flowed the navigable Schuylkill, a highway for trade with the "back-country." This desirable site was occupied by the farms and dwell- ings of a few Swedes, who called the place Wicaco. Below the settlement stood a blockhouse to which the settlers journeyed through the woods to attend church service. Gloria Dei or Old Swedes Church stands today on the site of the old blockhouse. Colonel Markham bought the land from the Swedes and directed Thomas Holme, 1 the surveyor, to lay out the town. The town had already been planned in Penn's fertile brain. It was to be laid out in checker-board fashion, with most of the streets fifty feet wide — a generous allowance for that day. In the center of the city, where two one-hundred- foot streets were to intersect, a square of ten acres was to be placed to accommodate public buildings. In each quarter of the city Perm designated another square of eight acres for the pleasure of the citizens. Each city house was to stand in the center of a large lot, surrounded by trees and gardens. Perm visioned "a green country town, which shall never be burnt, and always be wholesome." There is little of the green country town now in Penn's portion of Philadelphia. Penn's Visit to His Colony. — At last, nearly eighteen months after he had received his charter, William Perm was ready to visit his colony. It was the final day of summer when he bade farewell to his wife and children and em- barked on the "Welcome." The ship carried a hundred other passengers, mostly Quakers who had been neighbors 1 Holmesburg, in the northern part of Philadelphia, takes its name from Thomas Holme, as does also the branch of the Free Library located in Holmesburg. Newcastle Settlers Bring Turf, Twig, and Water. 26 FOUNDING THE PROVINCE 27 of Penn. On the voyage of eight weeks, small-pox, a com- mon disease then, broke out among the emigrants. Penn, with other compassionate men, tended the sick night and day, but before they sighted land thirty of the hundred died. When the "Welcome" reached New Castle, Penn called the people together in the court-house built by the Dutch. After he had exhibited his deeds to the Delaware Country, two of the settlers, in token of his right to the waters, the land, and the forests, brought to him a porringer of river- iimiiiii|imiixi:iiiHi|ijoi[io]]go:aiOiOl.iintgi iNMWeuiiii. 1 . j oiKnmoiiaj.inci' ii:iiiigmii nmiiiiiimimiiii 1 1 ;aiiiuutga«i} msibi .19 ■ j ■ nuiou mMKtiuixuiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii u; iiiiioii , '' .. «nminimiit.i--.:iuii«iiDiiKi«niitC)(Wjn:i!Biiii!! Tiohiimori hniiiiiiii KK f '. iViKi !' ! ! "'""»':" ••; i« « «x 11 • 'illinium 1 . iiiiuiiiiiiiiiniiiiEtiii IIMilllllT J'llllllHIIHlllllllllH I ' IIII.JIIII ,i'.'lirilllllllllll i oiillllulllllliOlUlillr I HHtU|ir;i'jiUiiiiiiiiiiliiig|giiilii;i]lii iiisoiit.'rjiiilllHliiiilliciuiliiiMrviHIllHIILi'.ligilllHllili.'lilimillililllllHniJi:!]]]! irni rotM HtiWiMw H WtiKaffl tt MBa t WwtfW ffi f MM Mfttttfm MM in 1 1 j 1 iiiiii»iJiiiiiiiiiiiii;iiii'i)iii«ili:jji»gilll|iiliiiiilllliHlliiil ,i- iji'Ui».'iificii iiJiWBHMijysgjjoj Penn's Wampum Belt trees for firewood he placed around the elm a guard. 2 The colossal statue of Penn which surmounts the City Hall of Philadelphia looks toward the site of the elm, to remind the inhabitants that their city was founded on truth and justice. As a result of kindly relations with the Indians, the colony never suffered either famine or massacre, as did Massachusetts and Virginia. The savages supplied the Philadelphia settlers with game and corn. There are stories of the red men bringing home strayed children. Because such peace and confidence existed, settlers poured into Pennsylvania. The Lenape. — The Indians met by the first settlers called themselves the Lenni Lenape, or simply the Lenape. 2 The Treaty Elm fell in a storm in 1810. Its site is marked by a modest monument, built in 1827, which stands in the little Penn Treaty Park, on the Delaware, near the foot of Columbia Avenue. 34 INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES They were of the same great Algonquin nation as Samoset and Massasoit at Plymouth or Powhatan and Pocahontas at Jamestown. By the white men the Lenape of Pennsyl- vania were called the Delawares. In days not long before the coming of Perm the grim Iroquois of central New York had made bitter war upon the Lenape. Finally the Delawares, being vanquished, were forced to promise never again to fight. An Iroquois chief was always posted near their lands to see that the Delawares kept their agreement. Among the Delawares, here and there, lay settlements of a fiercer tribe, the Shawnees, a restless and wandering people, whose name often occurs in the annals of our state. 1 It has been said that the peace of Pennsylvania was not due to Penn's upright treatment of the Indians, but that it was preserved by the Iroquois overlords, who were friendly to the English, and who allowed no Delaware to raise his hand against the whites. While this is true in part, never- theless, if Perm and his settlers had illtreated the savages, no power could have prevented individual outbreaks. For nearly seventy-five years, indeed, no serious Indian trouble occurred in the colony. Penn's Second Visit. — Penn returned to England in 1684, expecting soon to revisit his beloved colony; but so many affairs pressed upon his attention that fifteen years passed away before he saw the province once more. When, in 1699, bringing his family with him, Penn again reached Philadelphia, he scarcely knew the town. Instead of a few hundred houses, as there were at Penn's 1 Shawnee, a summer resort some miles above the Delaware Water Gap, preserves the name of the tribe. INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES 35 departure, Philadelphia and its immediate neighborhood contained two thousand dwellings, inhabited by ten thou- sand people. As many more settlers lived in the remainder of Pennsylvania. Penn soon decided that the great city of Philadelphia needed a police force of one night-watchman to call the hours and to frighten away thieves. The people of Pennsylvania were glad to see their pro- prietor, and he was delighted to be with them. The province had been a great expense instead of a profit, and many political disputes had arisen; but now that Penn had come among his settlers, all, he hoped, would be well. On the Delaware, above Bristol, stood Penn's great brick mansion of Pennsbury. The tract upon which it was built is still called Penn's Manor, though no trace of the fine house remains. As the creeks between Pennsbury and Philadelphia were not bridged, Penn could not use his coach in traveling to the city; but in pleasant weather he forsook his horse for a six-oared barge. In the midst of this outdoor life, so delightful to Penn, rumors arose that King William intended to take the pro- prietary colonies, such as Maryland and Pennsylvania, away from their owners and rule them directly by the Crown. Although Penn had once recommended that all the colonies should be under a common government, he did not fancy giving up his province just then. "All I have in the world is here," said he. With much regret he embarked again for England to counteract this movement. Penn's second visit to Pennsylvania had lasted less than two years; though he hoped soon to return, fate disappointed his dream. During Penn's stay in the colony, his well-educated young Scotch-Irish secretary, James Logan, had become more 36 INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES 37 than a helper — a close friend. Before Perm sailed away, he appointed Logan his financial agent and secretary of the province. "I have left thee in an uncommon trust," said Perm; and well did Logan keep that trust. Governors came and governors went, but Logan remained, more powerful and more faithful than they. For fifty years he was one of Pennsylvania's most prominent men. Logan collected or tried to collect the rents due to Penn. When money was not forthcoming he accepted grain, furs, or anything else which could easily be sold. Without Logan's aid, the last years of Perm's life, clouded as they were by men- tal failure, would have been still more oppressed by the weight of poverty. In political affairs so earnestly did Logan main- tain Penn's rights as proprietor that his opponents impeached him on false charges and sought to put him into prison. After living in Philadelphia more than twenty-five years, Logan decided to build a country home. On a beautiful spot at the southern end of Germantown he erected a hand- some mansion, which he called Stenton. 1 There he collected a fine library of volumes. Logan assisted Franklin's little new library, which be- came the Philadelphia Library, 2 the first circulating library in the colonies. He also erected a special library building for the use of the public and placed in it a collection from his own Stenton books. At his death Logan willed the col- lection to the city, and forty years later this "Loganian Library" was united with the Philadelphia Library. The 1 Stenton still stands in excellent preservation near the Wayne Junction station of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad. It is owned and main- tained by the Pennsylvania Society of Colonial Dames. 2 The Philadelphia Library still nourishes. Over the door of its building at Locust and Juniper Streets, Philadelphia, is a statue of Franklin. Penn's writing-desk is on exhibition in the Library. 38 INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES books, more than three thousand in number, are still kept at the Ridgway Library branch of the Philadelphia Library, at Broad and Christian Streets. At various times Logan held all the chief offices of the city and colony. Governor, Mayor, Chief Justice, President of the council — in every post he rendered good service. Numerous transactions with the Indians were also entrusted to Logan. Many a time they camped on the grounds of Stenton and slept, rolled in their blankets, in its brick- paved hall. A hundred Iroquois once stayed for three days as Logan's guests. Logan carried on in provincial affairs the kind and just Indian policy which Perm had instituted. During his long life Logan represented as successive proprietors William Perm, his wife Hannah Perm, and their three sons. Penn himself died in 1718, after six years of mental incapacity, and Hannah Perm became owner of the province. At her death in 1733, her three sons, John, Thomas, and Richard, assumed the government. John had been born in Philadelphia and was therefore called "the American," but he left most of the American affairs to Thomas, who built a mansion and lived in Philadelphia nine years. At the beginning of the Revolution it was Perm's grandsons who held the power over Pennsylvania which they lost when the colonies gained their independence. The Boundary Dispute. — One of the first affairs of Penn in America was a meeting with Lord Baltimore to settle the boundary between their provinces. Maps of America were not then very exact, and when at last careful observations were taken, it was found that the parallel of 40°, which Lord Baltimore claimed as his northern line, was situated fifteen miles north of the place where it was at first supposed to be. INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES 39 According to Lord Baltimore, Philadelphia lay within Mary- land. Penn, on the other hand, claimed that the language of his charter entitled Pennsylvania to extend as far south as 39°, taking in most of Maryland. The dispute was not settled in Perm's time; it dragged along for nearly eighty years; then in 1760 the line was fixed just where it originally had been intended to run. By the maps of Perm's day it appeared that the fortieth parallel was twelve miles north of New Castle and fifteen miles south of Philadelphia. When the boundary line was actually surveyed, it was necessary to carry out the intention of King Charles II, the royal giver of the colony, in accordance with this former mistaken idea. Accordingly a portion of a circle was drawn with the New Castle court-house as a center. That point of circumference which touched the shore of Delaware Bay was twelve miles northeast of the court- house. The remainder of the southern boundary of Penn- sylvania was to extend west from this circle along a line fifteen miles south of the most southern street of Philadelphia. 1 Rittenhouse, Mason and Dixon. — David Rittenhouse, the famous Philadelphia astronomer and mathematician, laid out the New Castle circle and did it so well that later surveys could not find any fault in his work. In 1763 two expert English surveyors, Charles Mason and Jeremiah Dixon, came to Pennsylvania to check up and complete the work. Mason had been an assistant in the Royal Obser- vatory at Greenwich, near London. For four years Mason and Dixon worked to mark out the long line toward the west. As their party proceeded, 1 A few technical details of the boundary have been omitted for the sake of simplicity. 40 INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES Mason and Dixon Warned by the Indians. they opened a twenty-foot lane through the trees, in the middle of which ran the boundary line. At every fifth mile they set up a stone pillar with the Penn coat of arms on one INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES 41 side and that of Lord Baltimore on the other. The stones at the intermediate miles bore only "P" and "M" on the opposite faces. The Indians became suspicious of these people who stared at the stars with "big guns" and made a road through the forest. In spite of the savage threatenings, which made a number of their party desert, Mason and Dixon pressed on over the Allegheny Front and past the Monongahela River, until they came to a great Indian trail, used for cen- turies. Here the Indians at last compelled them to return. Two hundred and thirty miles of the line had been laid down, and only thirty-six remained to be surveyed. The names of the bold surveyors have become household words. "Mason and Dixon's Line" came to signify the boundary between the North and South, between free- states and slave-states. It separated the opposing ideas of our country, and was the parting between two differing types of civilization. No boundary line in our history has been more famous. In Civil War days the land lying south of that line was referred to as "Dixie." The Walking Purchase. — When Penn died, the Delaware Indians felt that they had lost their best friend. The colony was growing so fast that many settlers pushed out into the wilderness and built cabins on land which had not been bought from the natives. Although the governor of Pennsyl- vania tried hard to prevent this, and sometimes burned the cabins of the trespassers, the settlers continued to crowd upon the Indian lands. The Delawares realized that they were being pushed farther and farther away from their old hunting-grounds, and they became sullen and threatening. About twenty years after Perm's death, the whites 42 INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES fixed their eyes upon the land north of the Lehigh River. This tract had never been purchased from the Indians, but the settlers rushed into it and began to clear away the forest. When the Delawares complained, the officials of Pennsylvania decided to get the land away from the Indians. According to tradition, William Penn had bought from the Indians a tract of land along the Delaware extending northward three days' walk. With some of his friends and a few Indian chiefs, Penn set out one morning from the mouth of the Neshaminy Creek and the party walked in a leisurely way from sunrise to sunset. They sat down to eat lunch and now and then paused to smoke a pipe. At noon of the next day they reached the spot where Wrightstown now stands, near the Neshaminy, and here Penn stopped, saying that he would complete the walk at another time. A Fraud on the Indians. — The three days' walk had never been finished; therefore the governor announced that his men would now carry it on. Secretly he marked the way in advance. He selected the three most active woodsmen that could be found. At sunrise the three men sprang away from the big tree at Wrightstown which marked the end of Penn's walk. The sheriff, with men carry- ing food, liquor, and blankets, followed them on horseback, and three Indians accompanied the party to see fair play. The Indians expected that the whites would walk as Penn had done; when they saw the woodsmen running along a blazed trail, they complained bitterly. "No sit down to smoke," they said; "no stop to shoot squirrel; just run, run, all day." Before sunset the Indians, tired out and disgusted, turned back, leaving the Pennsylvanians to their own devices. INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES 43 The Indians thought that this "Walking Purchase" would surely extend no farther than the lower part of the Lehigh River where it flows directly east; but at the end of twelve hours the woodsmen had walked, or rather run, beyond that line. One man had become exhausted, but next day the other walkers took up the trail once more, following the Lehigh. At noon Edward Marshall, the only walker remaining, reached the spot near the present site of Mauch Chunk. Instead of drawing a line eastward from that point to the Delaware, Thomas Perm slanted it northeast, up to the mouth of Lackawaxen Creek, far above the Water Gap. The settlers thought that the "Walking Purchase" was a great joke on the Indians, but it was a joke that brought blood and fire in its train. Result of the Purchase. — When the Indians refused to leave the lands north of the Lehigh, the governor called their masters, the Iroquois, to remove them. Pleased with the valuable presents given by the whites, the Iroquois ordered the Delawares to move to the Wyoming Valley. The Delawares could not resist both the white men and the Iroquois; they left their old hunting-grounds and went westward; but they did not forget their wrongs. In a few years England and France declared war against each other, and the conflict extended to America. The Delawares seized the opportunity; they returned to their former lands, bearing tomahawk and scalping-knife. One of the Moravian settlements in the Lehigh Valley was entirely wiped out, the colonists were massacred by hundreds, and some of the war-parties came within thirty miles of Philadelphia. Edward Marshall did not escape 44 INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES their vengeance. His cabin on an island in the Delaware was burned, his wife and children were butchered. Penn- sylvania paid dearly for her trickery toward the Indians. The Quarrel with Connecticut. — Just as Maryland claimed the southern part of Pennsylvania, so Connecticut laid claim to the northern portion. The Connecticut charter Connecticut Settlers Discover the Wyoming Valley. (1662) made that colony extend to the Pacific Ocean. Such grants were usual in those days, and were not intended to prevent other colonies being located later on wild land to the westward. Pennsylvania was thus established. Connecticut, however, held to the original language of her charter. By looking at the map we can see that such a westward stretch of Connecticut would slice off the whole northern part of Pennsylvania above the Delaware Water Gap and the forks of the Susquehanna. INDIAN RELATIONS AND BOUNDARY DISPUTES 45 The claim was not pressed until near the time of the settlement of the southern boundary of Pennsylvania. Then, in 1750, some Connecticut explorers looked down upon the North Branch of the Susquehanna as it flowed through the beautiful valley of Wyoming, unsettled except by Indians. The people of Connecticut became wildly enthusiastic concerning this "earthly paradise," and formed a Susquehanna Company which bought the valley from the Iroquois. Connecticut settlers came in crowds to the Wyoming Valley. The descendants of Penn attempted to expel them, and there began the "Pennamite Wars." Five times the expeditions sent by the Penns drove out the Connecticut arrivals and destroyed their homes, but at last the persistence of the New Englanders won the day. The Penns gave up their attempts, and the Wyoming region, embracing the present site of Wilkes-Barre and its neighborhood as far as Scranton, was filled with people from the "Nutmeg State." At the beginning of the Revolution, the Penns ceased to be proprietors and their colony became a State. During the war, the dispute with Connecticut was laid aside, but as soon as Cornwallis surrendered Pennsylvania brought the matter before Congress, and Congress decided that Connecticut had no right to the land in question. This was the first serious controversy between States which Congress had been compelled to decide. The fact that the decision was quietly accepted gave new strength to the American Union. Pennsylvania could now develop in peace with her boundaries established. 1 1 In 1799 the settlers from Connecticut paid a small price for their land and were given clear title by Pennsylvania. VI. THE EARLY SETTLERS The German Settlers. — In the year when Philadelphia was begun, Francis Daniel Pastorius, a learned German, with nine friends and servants, arrived at the little wood- land settlement. Pastorius and his companions were the scouts of the great army of German emigrants who were about to come to Pennsylvania. There had been wars along the Rhine, and much religious persecution. William Perm had traveled, preaching, through western Germany, and had sent into various parts of northern Europe agents who described the advantages of life in the New World. Those who suffered by war or persecution eagerly turned toward Perm's peaceful colony. Joining forces with other Germans who arrived, Pastorius led his group of colonists to the high land near the Wissa- hickon, "two hours' journey" from Philadelphia. Here grew up a pretty village, straggling for two miles along a wide main street which we still call Germantown Road. The village itself received no special name, so the Phila- delphians called it the German town or Germantown. Most of the Germans who came to Pennsylvania at this time were Mennonites, whose beliefs resembled those of the Quakers, so that they made good and friendly fellow- citizens for Perm's English colonists. The Great German Immigration. — For the first quarter- century of Pennsylvania's life the Germans did not arrive in large numbers; but after that time the English govern- 4 6 THE EARLY SETTLERS 47 ment encouraged them in going to America. From 1705 up to the Revolution, multitudes flocked to the colony which offered them cheap land and good treatment. Among these were many different sects — Mennonites, Tunkers or Dunkers (Seventh Day Baptists), Schwenkf elders, Mora- vians, Lutherans, and Reformed. Regardless of sect, the Germans delighted in farming. They knew the best land, and pushed out into the wilder- ness in search of fertile tracts, especially in the limestone The Straggling Village of Germantown. valleys. In these farming districts grew up towns with such German names as Manheim, Lititz, Hamburg and Womelsdorf. By the time of the Revolution, Franklin estimated that one-third of the people of Pennsylvania were Germans. Although the Germans clung to their old ways and speech, and were in general opposed to education, every one admitted that they were industrious, honest, and 48 THE EARLY SETTLERS economical. These quiet, conservative people formed a firm foundation for the prosperity of the colony. Some notable men were found among them. One of the most influential Germans was Christopher Sauer, whom we sometimes call the German Franklin. Sauer set up a printing establishment in Germantown. All his publications were in German. From his office German Settlers Farming. came a popular yearly al- manac, and a newspaper which was eagerly read from New York to Georgia. Al- though he had to make his own type and ink and bind his own books, Sauer published the first German Bible printed in America. Count Zinzendorf, rich and well educated, was the leader of the Moravians, who settled Lititz, Nazareth, and Bethlehem. The settlement of Bethlehem lay on the road from New England to the Southern colonies, and its Mora- vian inns hospitably entertained most of the great men of early days. As their leader was a man of education as well as of noble mind, the Moravians established academies which even today have high reputations. THE EARLY SETTLERS 49 The great Moravian work, however, was the conver- sion of the Indians. Fearlessly Count Zinzendorf went among the savages. His life was spared as if by miracle, and he was followed by scores of fellow-missionaries. Al- though the results of their labors were almost wiped out by the French and Indian War, the zealous Moravians did wonderful work in peacefully protecting the borders of Pennsylvania. At Womelsdorf, near Reading, lived Conrad Weiser, the son of a German emigrant to New York. Weiser learned the Mohawk language, and became Pennsylvania's official agent in dealing with the Iroquois. He served Maryland and Virginia as well. After Braddock's defeat Weiser kept the Indians of eastern Pennsylvania true to the whites and with a volunteer force protected the border. One of our historians has said: "Had all white men been as just and friendly to the Indians as was this Pennsylvania German, the history of our westward advance might have been spared some bloody chapters." Finally, we must not forget that from the Pennsylvania Germans came the first protest in our country against slavery. Pastorius and his Mennonite friends were ahead of their times. In 1688 they sent to the yearly meeting of the Quakers a petition saying that it was not Christian- like to keep slaves. Nothing was done by the Friends at this time, but in later times it was the Friends who were foremost in urging that slavery be abolished. The Welsh Settlers. — Many Quakers from Wales came over among the first settlers, and the Welsh emigration to Pennsylvania continued until 1700. The Welsh spoke a tongue very different from English, and as few had mastered 5° THE EARLY SETTLERS the English language, they desired a separate tract where they could keep their own speech and customs. Perm, therefore, gave them forty thousand acres in the region now traversed by the Lancaster pike and the main line of the Pennsylvania Railroad. The Welsh created three prosperous townships, Merion, Haverford, and Radnor, Welsh Fox-hunters. and their land came to be called the Welsh Tract. Perm preached at the Haverford meeting-house in 1701, but few of his hearers could understand him. Unlike the German emigrants, many of the Welsh were well-to-do, and led the life of gentlemen farmers. They loved dress and social life, and delighted in fox-hunting. As more Welsh arrived, they spread out into townships THE EARLY SETTLERS Si to the west and north, such as Newton, Goshen, and Uwchlan. The Montgomery County 1 towns of Penllyn, Gwynedd, and North Wales remind us of these early settlers. Bryn Mawr, Berwyn, Bala, Cynwyd, and Cain are all Welsh names, and St. David's is named after the patron saint of Wales. Wales has great slate quarries and coal mines. A num- ber of the Welsh who came to Pennsylvania during the nine- teenth century were miners. We note their settlements at Bangor and Pen Argyl, slate-quarrying towns on the south- ern side of the Blue Mountains. In the coal regions, par- ticularly the Wyoming Valley, the Welsh became numerous and form one of the best elements of the population. The Scotch=Irish. — During the seventeenth century, many of the people of Scotland were encouraged to emigrate to the North of Ireland and settle in the Province of Ulster. These Scotch people were intelligent and industrious Low- landers of English stock and Presbyterian sect. They suc- ceeded well in their new home. To distinguish them from the native Irish, they became known as the Scotch-Irish. These Scotch-Irish became pioneers in America. Prob- ably a majority of all the Scotch-Irish who crossed the At- lantic came to Pennsylvania. They swarmed into Chester, Bucks, and Lehigh counties. As they did not mix well with the Germans, they gladly sought the frontier lands, where their race would be alone. In the central and western parts of Pennsylvania sprang up many Scotch-Irish com- munities. The mountain valleys west of the Susquehanna, however, particularly the Cumberland Valley, became 1 Montgomery, Radnor, and Merioneth are three of the shires or counties of Wales. 52 the early settlers -■■ ' : t, ■J5i fife peculiarly their home, as the limestone valleys among the hills of eastern Pennsylvania had drawn the Germans. The names of Derry, Donegal, Newry, Tyrone, Nisbet, Carlisle, Scotland, and McConnellsburg commemorate the . Scotch-Irish settle- ' ( ' " ' ments. The Scotch-Irish were just the people for the frontier, al- though it must be said that they some- times caused the very troubles which they had to face. The rifle was ever in their hands, and they gave Indians no quarter. The life which they lived was wild and rough, but it gave the strength and vigor needed for success. The savage met his match when he encountered the Scotch-Irish fighters. Independence, intelligence, and hardihood were their outstanding virtues, and when peaceful times dawned, these qualities produced many of the best men of Pennsylvania. 1 1 The only President whom Pennsylvania has produced was James Buchanan, of Scotch-Irish blood. Scotch- Irish Pioneers. VII. EDUCATION The Beginnings of Education. — The education of chil- dren was duly provided for in Penn's laws. Whether rich or poor, they were to enjoy both book-learning and industrial training. Parents, under penalty, were directed to see that their children should be "able to read the Scripture and to write by the time they attain to twelve years of age, and that then they be taught some useful trade or skill, that the poor may work to live and the rich, if they become poor, may not want." This was the beginning of compul- sory and vocational education in Pennsylvania. As soon as Philadelphia had been founded, the Gov- ernor and Council formally asked Enoch Flower to become the town "School Master." They agreed that learning to read should cost four shillings per quarter; learning to read and write, six shillings; and learning to read, write, and cast accounts, eight shillings. Flower died the next year, and there were almost no school facilities until a public grammar school was founded by the Quakers in 1689. Twelve years later Penn granted a charter to the institution which flourishes today as the Penn Charter School. It still bears on its seal the arms of Penn. George Keith, a Scotchman, became its first master. During the fifty years after the establishment of the Penn Charter School the colony grew and prospered amaz- ingly, but suffered from a lack of more institutions for S3 54 EDUCATION higher education. It was said that the sons of the best men of Pennsylvania were notably inferior to their fathers. Benjamin Franklin, with his usual good sense, perceived the need for an academy or college, but several years passed before steps were taken to meet that need. In 1749 Franklin at last brought about the establish- ment of an academy, which was soon chartered as a college. The Penns gave liberally to its support and the young provost, William Smith, collected great sums in England. The college continued with great success until the Revolu- tion began. As its trustees supported the English cause, the college properties were handed over to a "University of the State of Pennsylvania" in charge of new heads with patriot sympathies. In 1789 the rights and the property of the College were restored. Two years later the College and the University united under the name of "The University of Pennsylvania." The honorable career of the University since that time is known to all. Education Among the German Settlers. — It is note- worthy that Francis Daniel Pastorius, the leader of the first Germans in Pennsylvania, was a man of education, though he often lamented that he had not taken up practical studies like engineering or printing. When the Friends set up a free public school in Germantown they chose Pastorius as one of its two teachers. School lasted eight hours every week-day except Saturday, when the lessons were confined to the morning. For this school Pastorius wrote a text-book — the first school book published in Penn- sylvania — which was printed by Christopher Sauer. Pas- torius continued teaching up to the last years of his long life. EDUCATION 55 During colonial times, Schlatter and Muhlenberg, the leaders of the Reformed and Lutheran Germans, made great efforts to further education among their people, but with little success. Now, however, a number of small colleges have been fostered by German influence. Among The "Log College." these are Franklin and Marshall College at Lancaster, Ursinus College at Collegeville on the Perkiomen, Muhlen- berg College at Allentown, and Pennsylvania College at Gettysburg. Education Among the Scotch=Irish. — The Scotch-Irish 56 EDUCATION had a strong bent for education. Each of their settlements possessed both a church and a school, and even on the frontier they tried to set up institutions of learning. The biographies of many of the prominent Scotch-Irish men in our history plainly show the efforts which they made, under great difficulties, to gain an education. One of the most famous schools of our early history was set up by William Tennent, a Presbyterian minister who was a remarkable man. On the banks of the Neshaminy, in Bucks County, stood his little log building with its single room, twenty feet square. In this "Log College" Tennent educated not only his own four sons, all of whom became notable preachers, but also many other young men. Several of Tennent's pupils set up similar institutions, and the title "Log College" came to mean excellence in mental development. From the influence of the "Log College" in time grew Princeton University, Washington and Jefferson College in Washington County, and Dickinson College at Carlisle. VIII. THE INDUSTRIAL GROWTH OF PENNSYLVANIA Agriculture. — Pennsylvania had a more rapid growth than any other colony in America. The settlers found a fertile soil, a pleasant climate and a variety of natural products. Agriculture was the basis of the colony. When Philadelphia had only one hundred and fifty houses (1684) Penn estimated that five hundred farms were in operation nearby. "The country," he said, "is like the best vales of England watered by brooks." It was indeed a fine land for grain growing. Vegetables and fruits were produced in great variety. In the open woods and along the many clear streams fed cattle and sheep by thousands. The farming implements then in use were extremely clumsy. Hand-rakes, heavy hoes, rude scythes or small sickles, and wooden plows, taxed the strength of the workers in the field. In spite of these primi- tive tools, however, the crops produced were abundant. Wheat, beef, pork, butter, cheese, and apples were soon available for export. Manufacturing. — Flour and grist mills were needed to grind the grain. The Swedes had already established a mill on Cobb's Creek and one on Frankford Creek, and many others sprang up on various streams. The first paper mill in Pennsylvania was built in 1690, near the Wissahickon, by William Ryttinghuisen or Rittenhouse, 57 S3 THE INDUSTRIAL GROWTH OF PENNSYLVANIA from Holland. We still call the stream on which it stood Paper Mill Rim. This paper was made from linen rags, and the linen came from the weavers of Germantown. As no cotton was then available, clothing had to be made from linen, wool or leather. A popular mixture of linen and wool was called linsey-woolsey. The looms of the settlers kept busily whirring. Shoes, breeches, belts, saddle-bags, saddles, and harness demanded much leather. Fortunate- ly, hides and skins were abundant. The tanning liquor came from the bark of the hemlocks which grew on every rocky slope. The same trees furnished part of the lumber which the settlers needed, but better than hemlock timber was that of pine, oak, hickory, and chest- nut, all found in plenty. Iron at first was a scarce commodity. A hundred pounds of iron were worth a good cow, and all the iron used had to be imported from England. As the colony developed, iron ore was discovered in many places. In 1718 iron was The Rittenhouse Home on Paper Mill Run. THE INDUSTRIAL GROWTH OF PENNSYLVANIA 59 made at Coventry Forge on French Creek in Chester County, and at Pool Forge on Manatawny Creek near the present site of Pottstown. Colebrookdale Furnace, in Berks County, and Reading and Warwick Furnaces, in Chester County, followed. Soon there were numerous iron-works, using for fuel the charcoal manufactured nearby. The forges supplied tough wrought iron to the black- smiths of the various settlements. Many a farmer, however, was his own blacksmith, shoeing his own horses, putting hinges and latches on his own doors, and in winter hammer- ing out long nails. The blast which increased the heat of the furnace was operated by water power. All these primi- tive iron-works, therefore, were situated upon creeks. They put Pennsylvania into first place as iron-maker in America, and in this she has remained chief. Printing. — When Philadelphia was but two years old, William Bradford, a Londoner, set up "the great art and mystery of printing," as he called it in the almanacs which he printed. Bradford's was the only press between Boston and Mexico City. When he published the proprietor's name as "Lord Perm," the Council strongly objected, and he finally left the colony in anger. It was Bradford who encouraged Rittenhouse to erect his paper-mill near Ger- mantown. Bradford's son Andrew established (1719) the first newspaper published in the colonies south of Boston, and the third newspaper of all the colonies in point of time. This paper, the "American Weekly Mercury," was pub- lished weekly at the "Sign of the Bible" in Second Street, for houses then had no numbers. There was no local news, for most people had learned this by word of mouth before 60 THE INDUSTRIAL GROWTH OF PENNSYLVANIA At the "Sign of the Bible." THE INDUSTRIAL GROWTH OF PENNSYLVANIA 6 1 the paper appeared. There was little news from other colonies, for it was hard to get such word, so most of the reading concerned European occurrences. It was not until Franklin set up his printing shop in Philadelphia that a truly readable paper, the "Gazette,',' was published. Instead of a daily newspaper the colonists consulted a yearly almanac. Franklin's "Poor Richard's Almanac," though it was the most popular, had been preceded by many other such Philadelphia publications. These were the beginnings of Philadelphia's great printing and publishing business. In the early part of the nineteenth century it was known as the "Athens of America,'' with Poe, Whittier, Longfellow and Lowell taking part in its literary life. It is still noteworthy for its authors and publishers. Shipbuilding. — As early as 1683, a ship-yard was estab- lished at Philadelphia. The supply of oak timber seemed inexhaustible, and there was steady construction of vessels on the Delaware. Many of these craft were sold to foreign countries. The city became famous in this line, and during the Revolution produced fleets of patriot vessels. The first United States navy yard was placed here in 1798, and one of the finest government yards — League Island — is the pride of our present city. Commerce. — The chief articles of the first commerce of Pennsylvania were furs and skins, which the Indians eagerly brought in exchange for trinkets and tools. Soon ; however, the food supplies of Pennsylvania found a good market in England. The salted beef and smoked ham and bacon of the colony made cargoes in company with Pennsylvania wheat and flour. Thus the colonists were 62 THE INDUSTRIAL GROWTH OF PENNSYLVANIA enabled to pay for the English glass, cutlery, silverware, fans, lace and ribbons, fine clothing and fine furniture which they needed. Our grain was marketed in many seaports of western Europe beside those of England. Loading Vessels with Flour at Philadelphia. There was a profitable coasting trade. Ships from the Delaware competed with those of Boston in all the ports from New Hampshire to South Carolina. "But after all," said Peter Kalm, the Swedish traveler, "Philadelphia reaps the greatest profits from its trade to the West Indies, for thither the inhabitants ship almost every day a quantity THE INDUSTRIAL GROWTH OF PENNSYLVANIA 63 of flour, butter, flesh, and other victuals, timber and plank." In return for these goods, the Philadelphia merchants brought back sugar, molasses, and rum, all three commodi- ties much desired; or, instead of these, bags of Spanish dollars. The money, however, soon found its way to England to help pay the many debts of the colonists, and hard cash remained a scarce article. Restrictions on Trade and Industry. — England looked upon her colonies as children who must support their mother and must not interfere with her in business. It was intended that the mother-country should do the manu- facturing and that the colonies should furnish her with raw materials and with food. All their trade should be with England. The Navigation Acts tried to confine the commerce of the colonies to English vessels manned by English crews. The colonists of Pennsylvania and the other provinces, being intelligent as well as industrious, soon turned their attention to manufacturing. Much beaver fur and some wool were used in making hats. As this was an important English industry, the mother-country forbade hats to be exported from the colonies and tried to prevent them from being manufactured at all. Parliament endeavored to stop food-stuffs being sent to foreign ports and to prohibit any trade with the French West Indies. "No matter what the price, you must deal with us," said England. No doubt the colonists would have rebelled early against such interference with their trade if they had found no way to evade the regulations. Smuggling, however, was the way of escape. England was far away, and England's officers in America were not always watchful. Even the 64 THE INDUSTRIAL GROWTH OF PENNSYLVANIA most vigilant officers could not guard every bay and river in the long coast-line. Although the colonists thus managed to carry on a certain amount of unlawful trade despite regulations, such laws greatly interfered with commerce and almost crushed manufacturing. When the Revolution came, Pennsylvania trade and industry sprang up like a giant released from fetters. The Revolution itself was largely caused by the commercial interference which drove colonists to scorn and evade the laws of England. The Development of Pennsylvania. — Though founded late in colonial history, by the time the Revolution began Pennsylvania had surpassed all the other colonies except Massachusetts and Virginia, and Philadelphia was the chief city of America. The commerce of the colony was great. Hundreds of vessels visited the Delaware each year and imports doubled in a decade. Although large numbers of laborers emigrated to Pennsylvania, the chances for success were so great that the "hired hand" soon "set up for himself" in farming or trade. In less than a hundred years the commonwealth which Penn founded had become, as he wished, "an example and a standard."