Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1889-12-07
ROCKS In THE RIVER.
NAMES FOR THEN NOW FAMILIAR GIVEN
by THE 0LD.TIME PILOTS.
Tragedies ana Comedies Along tho
susqaehanna when Raftsmcn Were
Busy and Receivcd Big Wages.
From the Columbia independent.


highway of the rollicking navigator of
rifles and falls that 1t used to be. The
Susquehanna is still there and some old
raftsmen are still about, but they and the
river parted company when tho forests
about the headwaters had been slashed to
notbingness by tho rapacious lumberman.
Tho man and the stream are facts, but
their intimate relationship Is only n
rcminiscence.
In the good old days over the departure
OF which the greybeards wag their heads
in solemn sorrow, Columbia was the be-
ginning of a patch of pilotage which ended
ut Peach Bottom. In the score or more of
miles which constituted the Columbia
pilots journey, there were as n.any wet
perils as the sea navigator meets tray ersing
The ocean blue for life time, and the Col
umba pilot ran his risks once day for
seven months IN the year. But he got bet
ter paid than pilots now-a-days, and 1t was
"a poor year that didn't bring his earnings
up to from 81, 500 to 81 800 The pilot was
a nervy man and industrious in the season
for industry, but In the dull months many
of them lived like fighting cocks This
| gaudy sort Of winter lie saw many of them
| go aboard their first ratt in the spring with
| both hands In empty pockets.
| When the Columbia pilot went early in
| the morning TO the quarter deck of his raft
the agglomcration of timber was loosened
| from its moorings and IL swung out into
| the stream and moved with the current
toward the shute. Down through that tor
| rent and the raft swan along toward the
first peril, the Goat, rock ON this side Of
| the river which was a serious obstacle to
| navigation. 1t got its name from the re-
mark made by one raftsman when he saw
another get his raft jammed on it. I" A
goat has bucked him. said tho sympa-
thotc chap, AS he saw his friends timbers
shivered, and The Goat II has been ever
since
Passing The Goat the pilot next looked
| out for the Hogs Back, rock shaped like
the back Of hog. BY tho depth of tho
water over this the pilot knew the condi-
ton of the river further down and could
| determine what channels presented the
least danger. A little further down the
pilot came to The Flints, two white, Ninty
rocks IN the river between which the
channel lay. Next came Stahrs rifles.
Mr.. Stahl didn't make tho rifles nor own
them, but he lived in a little house on hill
near by, and that was enough in those days
of crude nomenclature to identify Stahl
and the rifles Blue Rock and Deor Rock
came next In order, but so far the pilot had
had tolorably fair sailing compared 10 what
was before him.
The Deer Rocks are in Turkey Hill and
so is Turning Rock, and in passing them
the pilot, II no had passenger, scratched
his head and told legonds--mostly lies, but
still they are legends The beers. he
would tell his conhding passenger, were so
| called because hunter once saw deer
standing on one of tho rocks. He shot at
it and secured the carcass, and on going TO
tho other rock found another dead deer.
fhoy both had been standing in his line
of fire. Blue Rock, the pilot would tell
his friend, was the scene OF Indian festivi-
ties. In great bowls ground In the rock,
the water liar would AFFIRM tho savages
used to brow punch and make stews. No
Indian would ever lot drop remain in a
punch bowl, but when the rod boys were
filled up to tho chin with punch there was
generally plenty of stew left. They always
laid down between courses to freshen up
for another go at the cuisine, and some.
Hne> an Indian would roll into n stew
haNl. Nhcn such an episode occurred all
those VINO wore awake screamed He's
IN tho soup and ran to extricate Their
friend before he could splash around and
waste tho dinner This Is supposed to be
the origin of tho colloquial phrase of to
day.
Further down the river il Connelly's
Break, where IA boy lost his life helping tC
windlass q boat up the river. Then come
tho Upper and Lower Wheelings, or Whirl-
ing Waters, or Bulls Eyes. These arc
dangerous points, and the pilot found him.
self ashore unless he stcered right over tn,
Bulls Eyes. Wossinger's and Eshleman's
came in order, two dangerous points
Pine Falls was another dangerous place
There were two courses to take. The Lane
long, narrow channel To tho left, or by
Hangman's Rock, to tho right. Hang
mans Rock got its name from the wreck
OF a raft or boat by pilot who once hanged
a man. Cuffs Rock got its name because
the water swept RATS in against 1t, and tht
logs were cuffed around numerically
After Cuffs Rock the Indian Steps Are
reached. These are standing places which
the Indians cut in the cliffs TO give them
a good foot grip while they dipped fol
| shad or anything else. White men dip fol
shad there now, and II is one of tho best
fishing places on the river. Not az good
however, as when the Indians did the fish.
ing. The untutored savage had sense
enough to catch what fish nature sent him
and too much sense to put In bass TO eat up
everything else and docline to be caught
| themselves
Afler passing the Keys, where two
courses unite, the pilot steerod down to-
ward Ellis Rock. The obstruction is
called after one Ellis Hughes and is noted
for two tragedies. Years ago Peartree, q
raftsman, was carried on the rock. The
current piled the logs on end, tumblea
them over and ground them together. Pear
tree was caught in the jam, and, while his
limbs were being twisted and torn, while
the bones were being crushed to splinters
and the flesh was being shredded from
them and macorated in this savage MILL he
shrieked in mortal agony and begged his
comrades TO knock him in the head with
an axe and end the torture. Two men,
| Bitner and Zook, were drowned here.
They had gone down the river to see the
rock. They saw it and never saw any
| thing else in this world. lHe .:a-e'y hap
pened ON Sunday twenty years or SO ago.
Traditions attach Ia other interesting
| points beyond, but none so sombre as that.
Below McCalPs Ferry and the Sliding
rock is the Finger Stone,a huge chunk said
by tradition to have been cast into the
river by giant of such strength that he
left his finger marks on tho stone. Still
further down is Sighs Rock. The legend
runs that navigator ran his boat on this
point and when he saw the wreck sat and
sighed so lamentably that the hills still
Keep echoing his lamentations.
Mr.. Bennett ran his ark on the next rock
and II Is known rs Benuetts Rock to this
day. Gully Falls, or the Buttermilk and
whore the water whirls over Jagged points
and foams and curdles into colors that gave
it its alternative name. Pudding Rock is
dangerous point and the old time pilots
were very cautious oft, though there is a
spice of humor in the origin Of its queer
name. A man wrecked his ark there once.
| The navigator who should have steered
clear of the rock had dined too heartily
and know nothing of his danger until his
cargo and boat were lost. Then he exclaimed
in self condemnation, ut was that darned
puddin' that did ii, b'gosh."
Fites' Eddy was the end of the Columbia
pilots journey. Alter that came Peach
Bottom, peaceful water through which the
ordinary steersman took the raft or boat
until the next lot of pilots began their work
| hNe miles further on. These last pilots
| had piece of river 10 steer down which
was smooth compared with the stretch
from Fites Eddy 10 Columbia, and there
| were few points on IL ma nal n n or rapahi es