The Lambertville record. [volume] (Lambertville, N.J.) 1872-1968, 1892-02-10
THE LEAD MINES OF 10.
TRADITIONS CONCERNING THEM IN
PENNSYLVANIA.

Into Bullets Ore Supplied by Indiana.
Pointers That Do Not DeveIop-Red
Mems Pipes and weapons.
Where, if anywhere, are the lead
mines of northwestern Pennsylvania? In
connection with attempts to answer this
question the writer hereof, in boyhood,
harvested many stone bruises by day
and treasure dreams by night, together
with numerous traditions of the days OF
practically unbroRen forests, bears
grease and primeval economy.
This section, comprising parts Of
northern Venango and southern Craw.
! ford counties, is about forty miles south
of Cory, sixteen miles north of Oil City
ten miles west of Titusville and eight
cen miles east of Meadyille There is ne
doubt in the minds of plenty of entirely
rational people that somewhere within
or continuously without, the region Of
country which these towns bound, there
| is a locality where an exceptionally good
| quality Of lead ore may be obtained, or,
at least, the locality where ore of such
quality was obtained formerly by the
Indians, both for their own use and to
| sell or trade to the white settlers. AS
the source of this supply was carefully
kept secret by the fundamentally Of
Chief Cornplanter's tribe--and has never
been discovered, 1t is regarded as rea-
sonable to infer that it may yet be a
source of profit as to believe that it was
exhausted.
PIONEERS EXPERIENCE.
At what is now Bradleytown, vii
lage three miles southwest of here, OF
one of the branches of Sugar Creek, 1
| pioneer named Jacob Jennings lived 10l
years ago and had near his pioneei
house small blacksmith shop. From
Mrs. Samuel Matson, of Chapmanville
and John Jennings, of Sunville, some
interesting "reminiscences were obtained
as related by their father, who was {
son of Jacob Jennings. The latter, a
his blacksmith shop, frequently smeltet
and run into bullets rich lead ore sup
piled by the Indians. They made peri
odical trips to this place for that pur
pose. Coming up from the Allegheny
river they made it point to reach hi
home in the evening, there being usually
several in the party. They would b,
allowed to stay and would sleep around
the fireplaces in the house and shop Al
daybreak they would strike northwart
up the creek and would return q few
hours later with stock of the leai
product to be melted. No amount o.
persuasion, of barter or Of purchase
price would cause them to disclose tn,
whereabouts of the lead deposits.
Fifty years ago, according to mem
Der of the family, Mrs. Robert GILLESPIE
and daughter, then little girl, wer
lost in the woods, and during their wan
behring's found along ravine an out
cropping of lead-filled rock, piece o
which they took with them. After find
ing their way home they were unable t,
find their way back with older member
of the family to the point where the,
had found the lead. Various and con
tinuous searches have been made sine,
along the ravines in that section, on,
enthusiast devoting considerable por
ton of q year to the search; but aside
from fragment weighing about foui
pounds, and found in q field in Randolph
township, Crawford county, where il
had apparently been dropped, no lead
ore has been discovered.
MATERIAL FOR PRosPECToRs.
The prospector able to develop point.
ers from Indian relics may find consid-
cradle material in that line in this sec.
ton. At Wallaceville. three miles south.
east of here, he may find whole field Of
yet well defined mounds and excava.
tions. A mile north of here, just across
the line in Crawford county, he may
find remnants of several large stone
piles constructed Of stones having notis
BILE uniformity in size and piled up by
the Indians for some unknown purpose
before the time of the earliest settlers
If he will follow the pillow for season
in the southwestern part of this town
ship--Plum township, Venango county
--or the northerly adjoining township Of
Troy, in Crawford county, his labors
will probably be rewarded with fresh
stock of pipes, weapons and other relics
Of the noble and ignoble Lo.
II he will further follow the pillow in d
field along the Sugar Creek fats. about
two miles north of the Jacob Jennings
homestead, and will fail to lift the point
of his pillow when he reaches certain
point In that field, his plow handles will
smite him hip and thigh and put him te
rout.. The cause thereof will be that thu
pillow point will strike the edge Of a circu
lar bed of burned and pounded stone Il
is about ten feet in diameter, projects tc
the top Of the ground where efforts have
not been made to get down to the bot
tom of it, and is known to have beer
there fully 100 years-how much longer
no man knows, as it was then, accord
ing to pioneer tradition, as much a mat
ter of mystery and antiquity as at pres
| ent.
| If the lead prospector chooses to con
slider it Of no value 10 him, he may re-
gard it as one Of the places where the
Norsemen, poking out this way from
Newport and the vicinity Of Boston,
paused to bake beans. II he is inclined
to be less skeptical he may do as tradi.
ton says the early settlers did-regard
it as the foundation Of q sort Of Indian
crucible or furnace which served in part
as smelter for lead previous to the in
PRODUCTION of firearms on this continent,
and for purposes unknown. Plum (Pa.)
Cor. Philadelphia Press.
He Had Change.