Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1888-03-24

Pennsylvania, may have many reasons for
being interesting that we know not of. 1t
is sufficient, that it has its site in the his
toric valley Of the Wyoming. The
Wyoming valley was regarded by the In
dians of the Six Nations as the gateway
to New York, and its possession was
jealousy guarded The policy of Penn,
so warmly praised by historians, was to
retire them by degrees. They had re-
treated further and further north, but this
valley they endeavored to hold Becom-
ing convinced of its impossibility, they hit
upon an expedient. They would part
with it, with mental reservation. After
events eliminated their idea, which was to
sell it, and amuse themselves by driving
out or DISCRIMINATING the purchasers
They sold it first to a Connecticut land
company-a plucky company who had no
end Of trouble to maintain ownership
The families they sent out to settle it were
promotly dispersed by the Indians.
Nothing daunted, in 1869 they sent out
second detachment, brave band of
forty, destined to go down in history as the
martyrs of the Wyoming massacre, which
| occurred nine years later in the battle of
Forty Fort, fought July 3, l77S. The
atrocities of this massacre, as narrated,
are unexampled in Indian warfare, and
for the British under Brandt to have
shared or countenanced it is too barbarious
| to believe The white man has given our
modern historians a difficult task to wash
out those dark stains in our early history.
The site of Forty Fort is bat three or four
miles out Of Wilkesbarre, and some years
ago monument was erected to preserve
the memory of those brave pioneers, and
mark the spot where they fell
Wyoming is the corruption Of an In
dian word meaning fair, large plains"
and this meaning must surely have crossed
| the waters and reached the ear of Camp
bell. OF the scores of poems of which the
savage, noble or otherwise, is the theme,
the best known are Gertrude of Wyo-
ming" and that of our own time, "The
Song Of Hiawatha." Although there can
be no comparison between them, Ger
trude of Wyoming" was much admired in
its day. 1t was commenced in 1S06-and
| Campbell drew his material from the atl-
thoritative history of travels in America
by such men as Ashe, Lewis, Clarke and
others. But he followed his fancy, as well
as his authority, quite willingly, as he
must have known he was romancing at a
fearful rate when he wrote this stanza:
Delightful Wyomingl Beneath thy skies
| The happy shepherd SWANS had naught to do
| But feed their tocks on green declivities,
| or skim perchance thy lake with light canoe
| With timbral, when beneath the forest brown
| Thy lovely madens would the dance renew;
| And, aye, those sunny mountains half way
| down
Would echo flsgeolet from some romantic town
AS an idyl, peaceful and pretty; but as a
picture of early American life, worse than
worthless. The treasure of Campbelps
"Sunny Mountains has made this valley
to smile with prosperity far beyond what
its unpoetic discoveries could have di-
vined. Among the Connecticut colonists
were two brothers by the name of Gore, to
whom is ascribed the lucky find of anthra-
cite in the Wyoming valley. They were
blacksmiths by trade, and having tested
its properties in their forge, they took
| pains to proclaim its existence. Although
regarded as an inferior coal, it was utilized
by the blacksmith and gunsmith during
the revolutionary war Many years were
to elapse, however, before its worth was
sufficiently recognized to lead to its devel-
opment.
| The Carbonate District was first opened
by the Delaware and Hudson Company's
Canal and Railroad, in 1928; Pittston by
the Susquehanna Canal, in 1913; Scranton
by the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western
Railroad, in 1854. The other coal fields
were developed at about the same rate 1t
seems very proper that The Oldest coal field
should be known as the Wyoming.
| This valley has never been more pros
porous than during the season Just gone,
and at the present time. Double work is
double pay. Idle mines for six months in
the Lehigh, for two months in the Schuyl-
kill, has put the Wyoming upon its mettle
to meet the demands. The miners thou
sands, in weekly pay, quickly change
hands, and the merchants chief concern is
to keep himself in stock If the maxim,
"What is one mans veal is another mans
woe" were reversed, it would apply adj
mirably here-the woe of their striking
comrades in the other fields has become
their veal. A. L. B.