The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1907-11-28
THE COLUMBIAN.
A GOLDEN OPPORTUNITY

The COLUMBIAN announced that
for the weeks before Christmas,
that the COLUMBIAN will go into
every home in Bloomsbury. This
is all excellent opportunity to have
little chat with every family of
that town. | am not personally
acquainted with many of the peo-
pie, but have many warm and
valued friends in your town.
will not talk politics. This
would be offensive to many and not
pleasant before Christmas. ! will
talk about some prominent family
of the neighborhood and their his
torical connections, or perhaps Of
some other incidents of general in
terest. | will speak of Henry Bit
tenbender's family, and his career,
while a resident in Fishingcreek
township. and other places His
wife's maiden name, | think, was
Keim. This union was blest with
tour children-two sons and two
daughters, Hiram, Evan, Mary,
and the youngest daughters name
| either forget or never knew.
When first arried, l believe,
Henry, as he was familiarly called,
kept the upper Orangeville hotel,
and dwarf named Johnson kept
the lower hotel At this time, the
annual spring yankee run was all
the go. or principal custom, that
the hotel keepers had along the
route of the yearly return of yam
KEGS who lined the road for weeks,
OH their return trips, when home
ward bound. But you may ask
what is meant by the annual yam
kee run?" At this time, there
were no railroads to facilitate travel,
or transportation, and the lumber
men along the upper Susquehanna
river and tributaries, had no means
of getting their lumber to market at
Haverdegrace, Baltimore and other
places than by rafting. Hence every
spring freshet the liver and streams
were lined with lumber RATS, float
ing TO market, and piloted to their
destination by the so called yam
KEGS. There are people living in
Bloomsbury and along every stream
who remember the scenes here de
scribed. The yankees homeward
course lay along the river line un-
til they reached Bloomsbury, and
thence by Lightstreet, Orangeville,
Cambria, Ganoga Lake, DuShore
and thence northward until they
reached home. Now to return to
the Bittenbenders, and Orangeville.
Johnson was a dwarf and was locat-
ed in the lower hotel and had the
whole yankee custom. Henry
Bittenbender was in the upper ho-
tel, and the yankees did not stop
with him. 1t so happened how
ever, that these two hotel men
changed location, Bittenbender go
ing to the lower and Johnson to
the upper hotel. The next run of
yankees all stopped in the lower
hotel, q relate it now as Henry
himself told it) and seeing
new man at the helm, cried out,
Where is Johnson3 Henry told
them, I'm the upper hotel. " Out
they went, and up to Johnson.
Henry found that he would get no
custom in this manner hence he
changed his tactics, When they
cried, "Where is Johnson?" he said,
Sin the upper hotel" and when
starting to go there he told them
have something to drink before
you CO." Thus he said, he gave
away more than a barrel of whisk-
ey to the leaving yankees. But
the following spring he said the
yankees nearly all stopped with
him. Later he moved to the Cam
bra hotel and had no opposition in
the yankee traffic.
Later still he purchased the
farm on which is located the Zaner
station on the B. & S. X. K.
Henry was commissioner OF Col.
umbia County during the year OF
1858 and 50 but whether he had a
second term / do not remember
He was a candidate tor County
treasurer about the year 1864 but
was defeated by Daniel McHenry
of Saltwater. His son Hiram
married daughter of the late
Michael Lemons, and Evan married