VENANGO was erected into a county by act of March 12, 1800, from parts of Allegheny and Lycoming. That portion of Venango county lying west of the Allegheny river was, by act of Assembly of April 8, 1785, declared to be within the limits of Westmoreland county. By act of September 24, 1788, it fell within the new county of Allegheny. The portion east of the river belonged to Northumberland county, afterward it fell into the new county of Lycoming. The name is taken from the former name of French creek, that was anciently called by the French Venango river. It is a corruption of the Indian name, In-nan-ga-eh, from the Seneca language, having reference to the rude figure cut on a tree when first discovered by this tribe. In 1839 its limits were much reduced by the establishment of Clarion county, the Clarion river having originally been the southeastern boundary. In 1866 it was farther reduced by attaching a portion of its northeastern territory to Forest county. It now forms an irregular figure, and contains about six hundred and forty square miles.
The Allegheny river runs through the county near its center, but such is the structure of the land, that in its progress it runs toward every point of the compass. The valley of the Allegheny is narrow, and the hills that flank it high and precipitous, making the scenery beautiful and varied, with many a bold outline and many a richly wooded slope. In the ancient history of this region, this river is often called the Ohio. Both the Indians and the French considered the Allegheny and the Ohio as one and the same river. In fact, in the Indian dialects, their names signified the same thing. Allegheny is from the Delaware language, and O-he-o from the Seneca, both meaning "Beautiful water." Hence, too, the French term "La Belle Riviere," is Beautiful river. In his celebrated map of 1755, Lewis Evans calls it the Allegan. He also gives the Shawanese name as "Palawa Thoriki."
The next important stream in the county is French creek. It too has received various names. The Indians seem to have known it as To-ra-da-koin. By the English as Venango river. By the French it was called "Riviere aux Boeufs," or Buffalo river. By George Washington it was re-christened French creek, at the time of his visit in 1753. The beautiful and romantic then gave way to the practical, and the stream is known as French creek unto this day.
The great source of wealth has been and still is petroleum. This county seems to have been its native home, for although it has been found in large quantities in some of the neighboring counties, yet it was first gathered here, both in small and in large quantities, and has been a valuable product since the organization of the county. Oil springs have been known, and the product gathered here since the first discovery of the county by the present inhabitants. They were found chiefly along Oil creek, and on the banks of the Allegheny. The oil was used for medicinal purposes. It was well known all over the country as Seneca oil," "British oil," and other names. It was collected by digging out the place where it oozed from the ground, and when oil and water had accumulated, blankets were thrown in, taking up the oil, when it was wrung out, and the process repeated. Half a century ago, the product of the Oil Creek valley amounted to a dozen barrels a year. The first shipment in bulk was by Mr. Cary. Two five-gallon kegs were filled, and lashed on each side of a horse, with Mr. Cary between. The market was Pittsburgh, and this supply for a time stocked the market.
In 1865, Venango county was shipping of the same product thirteen thousand barrels per day. This was when the entire production was confined to this county. Petroleum began to be sought as an illuminator, but the small quantity produced rendered it too expensive. Some of the heavy crude oil that was collected from the surface springs was taken to New England for examination. Enterprise was stimulated. In 1853, it came to the notice of George H. Bissell, who proceeded to investigate its claims. He was joined by J. G. Eveleth. The firm purchased some territory containing numerous oil springs, and commenced operations by pumping the oil and water into vats by water power. This was a slow process, but it stimulated enterprise. A joint stock company was organized, and the resolution formed to bore into the rock in quest of oil.
Colonel E. L. Drake was selected to carry out this resolution. After many discouragements, under the direction and responsibility of a part of the company, oil was at last struck at the depth of seventy feet. This was on the 28th day of August, 1859. This small hole drilled through the rock so peacefully, opened the way to wealth hitherto unknown. It yielded about forty barrels per day, but it has the prophecy of better things to come. This first well was in Cherry Tree township, on the bank of Oil creek, and about two miles below Titusville. The second well was on the McClintock farm, farther down the creek ,and about three miles from Oil City. The third was in Franklin, and known as "the celebrated Evans well." For a time these wells were operated by pumps driven by steam; but in 1861 a new T feature was developed.
Wells began to flow spontaneously, under the expansive power of the confined gas. The first flowing well was on the McElhenny farm, and known as the Funk well. In June, 1861, it suddenly commenced flowing at the rate of two hundred and fifty barrels per day. In the autumn of the same year, the Phelps well, on the Tarr farm, commenced flowing at the rate of two thousand barrels per day. This was followed by the Empire well, on the lower McElhenny farm, at the rate of three thousand barrels per day. This was the largest daily production of any one well. The Noble and Delamater yielded twenty-four hundred barrels daily; the Coquette fifteen hundred; the Maple Shade one thousand; the Jersey five hundred; the Reed one thousand. This latter was on Cherry run, near Rouseville. The Maple Shade, Jersey, Coquette, and Keystone wells were on the Egbert farm, near Petroleum Centre. The Sherman was on the Foster, and the Delamater on the Farrel farm.
Sometimes these wells would produce gas to such an extent as to take fire and produce the most disastrous results. Such an accident occurred at Rouseville in 1861. A well was bored on the Buchanan farm to the depth of three hundred feet, when a column of gas rushed up and took fire from a neighboring engine. Immediately there was a shock like that of an earthquake, when the mingled oil and gas rushed from the well and took fire as it emerged from the orifice. It seemed as though the earth was pouring forth smoke and fire, carrying death and destruction in their path. At the time of the explosion, from eighty to one hundred persons were standing around. Many of these had their clothing at once saturated with the oil and instantly took fire, and were helpless in the folds of the destroyer. There were thirty-eight persons burned more or less, and of these nineteen died. Amongst the latter was H. R. Rouse, an energetic persevering young man, who had done much to develop the business on the creek. The well burned three days before the fire could be extinguished. This was accomplished by heaping earth upon it. Another well on the Allegheny river, below Franklin, took fire before reaching oil. It was located at the mouth of Mag's run. It burned for more than a year, keeping vegetation green around it, even in the winter time. The column of flame that shot up from the gas was about ten feet in diameter at the base, the length varying from fifty to an hundred feet. As there was no oil to take fire, and the workmen absent at the time, there were no accidents connected with this well.
The business extended up the Allegheny, and down the same to the extreme limits of the county. It was pursued with advantage up the valley of French creek. The heavy oil district is confined to the neighborhood of Franklin. This is used chiefly for lubricating purposes. It is found in the high hill overlooking Franklin, but chiefly on the Galloway, McCalmont, Fee, Lamberton, Smith, Bleakey, and Kunkle farms. The gravity of the lighter oils of the county is from forty to forty-eight degrees; that of the heavy Franklin oil is from twenty-eight to thirty-two degrees. The total product of some of the largest wells along Oil creek has been from a half million to a million barrels each. Generally they have been short lived.
There is one well, perhaps the oldest in the oil region, that has produced constantly for some fifteen years. Since 1865 the production of the county has fallen off greatly, as the territory on the level below has been developed.
Several railroads are now in active operation in the county. The first constructed was the Franklin branch of the Atlantic and Great Western. This runs from Meadville to Oil City, along the banks of French creek and the Allegheny river. It was finished as far as Franklin, in June, 1863, and extended to Oil City in 1866. The next railroad in the county was the Jamestown and Franklin railroad, intersecting the Erie and Pittsburgh road at Jamestown, Mercer county. It was completed to Franklin in 1861, and the next season extended to Oil City. Following then were the Allegheny Valley railroad, from Pittsburgh to Oil City; the Oil Creek and Allegheny River railroad, extending from Oil City, up Oil Creek, to Titusville and beyond, with its river division, extending up the Allegheny river to Warren. The Cranberry railroad extends from South Oil City to the Cranberry coal mines.
There is a noted land mark in Indian history on the eastern bank of the Allegheny, about six miles below Franklin and nine by the course of the river. It is known to the present inhabitants as the Indian God. At times of high water it is entirely submerged. Indeed the wear of time and the friction of floating ice and timber have sadly mutilated its face. It is an immense boulder in a deflection of the river, standing on an inclination of about 50° to the horizon, and is about twenty-two feet in length by fourteen in breadth. The inscription is in hieroglyphics on its inclined face, that has originally been drawn with great distinctness.
The view presented is from Schoolcraft's work on the Indian tribes, and was drawn by Captain Eastman, United States Army. The following is Schoolcraft's description: The inscription itself appears distinctly to record in symbols the triumphs of hunting and war. The bent bow and arrow are twice distinctly repeated. The arrow by itself is repeated several times, which denotes a date before the introduction of firearms. The animals captured, to which attention is called by the Indian pictographist, are not deer or common game, but objects of higher triumph. There are two large panthers or cougars, variously depicted; the lower one in the inscription denoting the influence, agreeably to pictographs heretofore published, of medical magic. The figure of a female denotes without doubt a captive; various circles representing human heads denote deaths. One of the subordinate figures depicts by his gorgets a chief. The symbolic sign of a raised hand, drawn before a person represented with a bird's head, denotes apparently the name of an individual or tribe." At the foot of this inscription rock is a smaller one, having on it a single figure.
This territory was originally included in the French claim. The lilies of France waved over it for years. The claim was based on the discoveries of the Jesuits, Marquette and La Salle, together with their construction of the treaties of Utrecht and Aix la Chapelle. They had possessions in Canada and at the mouth of the Mississippi, and their intention was to unite these two claims, and hold the entire country west of the Allegheny mountains. This grand project shows the boldness and energy of the time in which it was inaugurated. In the year 1749, Gallissoniere, then Governor of Canada, sent Louis Celeron with a party to bury leaden plates along the whole line from Presqu'Isle, or even to the Mississippi, as evidences of the French claim and possession. These plates were all similar in form and design, differing only in date, in the name of the place where they were to be deposited. They were fourteen inches in length, by nine inches in breadth, and one-eighth of an inch in thickness. The inscription was in capital letters, and the margin ornamented with the lilies of France. On the reverse were the words " Paul Labrasse, fecit." The plate buried at Franklin bore the following inscription: Lan 1749 Dv
REGNE DE L0V1S XV ROY DE FRANCE N0VS CEL0R0N COMMANDANT DVN DETACHEMENT ENVOIE PAR M0NS1EVR LE MIS DE LA GALLISSONIERE COMMANDANT GENERAL DE LA NOVVELLE FRANCE POVR RETABLIR LA TRANQVILLITE DANS QVELQVES VILLAGES SAUVAGES DE CES CANTONS AVONS ENTERRE CETTE PLAQVE AV CONFVTENT DE L'OHYO ET DE TORADAKOIN CE 29 JVILLET PRES DE LA RIVIERE OYO AUTREMENT BELLE RIVIERE POVR MONVMENT DV RENOVVELLEMENT DE POSSESSION QVE NOVS AVONS PRIS DE LA DITTE RIVIERE OYO ET DE TOVTES CELLES QVI Y TOMBNT ET DE TOVES LES TERRES DES DEVX COTES JVSQVE AVX SOVRCES DES D1TTES RIVIERES VINSI QVE ONT JOVY OV DV JOVIR LES PRECEDENTS ROYS DE FRANCE ET QVILS INDIAN GOD EOCK. SISONT MAINTENVS PAR LES ARMES ET PAR LES TRAITTES SPECIALEMENT PAR CEVX DE RISVVIOK DVTROHT ET DAIX LA OHPELLE."*
The following translation is sufficiently literal: "In the year l749, reign of Louis XV., King of France, M. Celoron, commandant of a detachment by Monsieur the Marquis of Gallissonier, Commander in Chief of New France, to establish tranquility in certain savage villages of their cantons, has buried this plate at the confluence of the Ohio and Toradakoin, this 29th of July, near the Ohio, otherwise Beautiful River, as a monument of renewal of possession, which we have taken of said river, and all its tributaries, and of all lands on both sides, as far as the sources of said river, inasmuch as the preceding kings of France have enjoyed it by their arms and by treaties, especially by those of Ryswick, Utrecht, and Aix la Chapelle." By the Ohio we are to understand the Allegheny, and by Toradakoin, French creek.
This plate was stolen from Joncaire by the Senecas the following year, and brought to Colonel Johnson to be read, who made good use of it to exasperate them against the French. To make good the French claim, a line of forts was erected: one at Erie, one at Waterford, on French creek, and one at Franklin, at the mouth of the same. The works at Franklin were commenced in the autumn of 1753, and completed in April, 1754. In the sketch of Erie county, is given the deposition of Stephen Coffin, an English prisoner, which furnishes the particulars of the building of these forts, and the objection of the Indians to their erection. The Indians, however, were propitiated, and the fort commenced in 1753 and completed early in the spring of I754. All along French creek, troops were gathering. The Indians were supplied with whiskey and became friends to the new project. Scouts were sent out, and every effort made to learn the movements of the British. Canoes were prepared and cannon dragged slowly and heavily through the forest. Everything in the way of armament and provisions was brought from Lake Erie across the country to Le Boeuf, and thence down French creek by canoes and rafts. This work was called Fort Machault.
These French forts from Lake Erie to the Ohio were not remarkable either for strength or for engineering skill. Neither Presqu'Isle, Le Boeuf, nor Machault, had any earth works of importance. They were all probably on the same plan, although Machault at Venango was the smallest of the three. Fortunately the plan of this latter fort has survived the changes of one hundred and twenty years, and has recently been verified beyond a question as the identical plan of Fort Machault and the surrounding territory, with the bearing of the hills and the distances to them. The fort was located on the western bank of the Allegheny, or Ohio, as it was originally called, sixty yards from the edge of the water, and about sixty rods below the mouth of French creek. On the present plan of the town, Elk street runs through the site of the fort, while its southern side reached nearly to Sixth street. The body of the work was in the form of a parallelogram, seventy-five by one hundred and five feet in size, with bastions at the four angles. These bastions were in the form of polygons, the two western ones having a perimeter of one hundred and thirty-five feet, and the eastern ones of one hundred and eleven feet, each. A portion of the curtains was of hewn timbers laid lengthwise upon each other, that served at the same time as the sides of the barracks. The remainder of the walls, with the bastions, were formed of timbers eight inches in diameter, and thirteen feet in height, set up after the manner of a stockade. The gate fronted the river. In the interior were the magazine, fifteen by eighteen feet, protected by a thickness of three feet of earth, and several buildings for barracks. Two of these were eighteen by fifty-five feet in size, with three others that were much smaller. The barracks were two stories high, and furnished with stone chimneys. A door in the northeastern bastion led to a large cellar. The soldiers barracks consisted of thirty-seven separate buildings, disposed around the fort, chiefly on the northern side. A saw mill was erected on the little stream forty rods above and near to the site where the English fort was subsequently built. It was supplied with power by the stream. The dam was constructed of heavy timbers, that are, many of them, found in their places at the present day. This dam was just along the eastern line of Elk street where it crosses the ravine. Here was prepared the lumber used for barracks, and perhaps for building boats and barges to be used in conveying supplies for the camp. Along the northern side of the fort, and within fifty feet of it, there was a small stream of water that flowed from the neighboring hills, which supplied the camp with water.
This work is invariably spoken of by the French as Fort Machault. It was named in honor of Jean Baptiste Machault, born at Amonville, France, December 10th, 1701. In 1745 he was controller of the finances; in 1750, keeper of the seals, and succeeded to the colonial department in 1750. In 1794 he was imprisoned "by the Revolutionary government, and died the same year at ninety-three. By the English, this post was spoken of as the French fort at Venango. Monsieur Pouchot, in his memoirs,, speaks of it rather contemptuously: "At its mouth (Riviere aux Boeuf), called in English, Venango, the French had a very poor, mean fort called Fort Machault, which is also an entrep6t for that which is going down to Fort Duquesne."
It seems generally to have been poorly garrisoned, often short of provisions, and in mortal fear of assault by the English. Except in special cases, when marshaling their forces for an attack on Fort Pitt, the garrison numbered only from twenty to fifty men. They seem to have secured the friendship of the Indians, not so much by the strong arm of power, as by presents of whiskey and gewgaws.
We have a partial description of the work in the deposition of a French prisoner: "Fort Machault is a fort of wood, filled up with earth. It has bastions and six wall pieces or swivel guns, and the whole works take up about two acres of ground. No Indians are there, but pass and repass to and from a little town they have about seven leagues west from Fort Machault, called Ticastoroga. They are of the tribe of the Wolf." Henry De Courcy, on the authority of an old map preserved at Quebec, affirms that Fort Machault was situated on the eastern side of the river, on French creek. Monsieur Duquesne speaks of it as on both the rivers Ohio and Venango. With these statements we must compare the ground and later authorities.
The plan of the fort before alluded to settles the question of location so thoroughly that there is no longer room for doubt concerning it. There was but one French fort. Not the slightest allusion is in any place made to two, in that region, in the voluminous records that are now accessible in relation to the French occupation there. With the very limited knowledge of the geography of the country, it is easy to account for the mention of Fort Machault on the opposite side of French creek, by mistake. Monsieur Duquesne probably meant, by saying that it was one half on the Ohio river and the other on River au Boeuf, that it was designed to command the approaches of both those rivers. On the upper side of French creek there is neither sign nor tradition of military work. Although the first settlers arrived here within less than thirty years after the evacuation by the French, there was never known to them the slightest trace of earthworks or military work of any kind. It is, therefore, incredible that there should have been such works there. On the ground of the fort have been found bullets, knives, scissors, beads, melted glass, burned stone, and other relics, showing that it had passed through the fire at its destruction.
The first interruption in this chain of French forts was the forced abandonment of Fort Duquesne, now Pittsburgh. This was on the 24th day of November, 1758, on the approach of General Forbes' expedition. That officer, in his report, says: "They have blown up and destroyed all their fortifications, houses, ovens, and magazines all their Indian goods burned in the stores, that seem to have been considerable." Of the garrison, four hundred men, with the Governor, M. De Lignery, went up the river to Venango. This rendered it necessary to bring all supplies to this fort by the way of Presqu'Isle and Le Boeuf. In the meantime they were making every effort to strengthen their position "platforms were erected in the bastions, and swivel guns mounted on them. The stockades were lined to render them more secure. A large force of laborers were at work with the avowed object of rendering Machault as strong as Fort Duquesne. Monsieur La Marie was in command at this time. This was in April, 1759. Colonel Mercer writes that he had learned from a spy that at that date there were one hundred and fifty men at the fort, and others on the way. "They have eleven batteaux at Venango, and one great gun of the size of a quart pot, which they fire off by a train by powder.”
We hear from the fort again on July 17, 1759. Colonel Mercer, commandant at Fort Pitt, had sent six Indian scouts up to Fort Venango, who reported that the place was strong and. well manned. They said that there was then at the place seven hundred French and a thousand Indians, and that preparations were making to attack Fort Pitt. They were to set out on the 11th of that month. Three pieces of cannon had arrived from Le Boeuf, the others were expected every hour, with many batteaux loaded with provisions. Soon after a messenger arrived and handed a packet to the commandant. This contained bad news. At length he said to the Indians: "Children, I have received bad news, the English are gone against Niagara." Orders were immediately given for the evacuation of the fort. It was the month of July. The river was too low to go up by boat, and a great sacrifice must be made of their effects. The Indians were tucked out in laced coats and hats, the squaws were gorgeous in reel blankets and French calico, and all their stores were either given away or burned. The batteaux and canoes that were to have conveyed them in the assault upon Fort Pitt were likewise burned. Even their artillery must have been buried, as it would be impossible to carry it with them. An old gun found an hundred years afterward is evidence of this, and no doubt others are still slumbering in the neighborhood.
The spies sent up from Fort Pitt witnessed this grand breaking up of the camp, the burning of the fort, and the departure for Le Boeuf, and on to the relief of Fort Niagara. They reported that there were upwards of a thousand Indians, collected from twelve different nations, at Venango." Here was an end to their expectation of retaking Fort Pitt. They had made a great effort towards the accomplishment of this object. The fort had been recently reinforced for this purpose. Monsieur D'Aubray, commandant at Kaskaskia, Illinois, had brought there 400 men and 200,000 pounds of flour from Kaskaskia to Venango. "Cut off from the route of the Ohio (or Allegheny) by the abandonment of Fort Duquesne, he proceeded with his force down the Mississippi and up the Ohio to the Wabash; thence up that river to the portage at Fort Miami, or Fort Wayne, and carried his stores over to the Maumee, passed down that river and along the shore of Lake Erie to Presqu'Isle, and carried again his stores to the portage to Le Boeuf; thence descended French creek to Venango." This was followed by the surrender of Fort Niagara and the fall of Quebec, and the final withdrawal of all claims to the territory.
After the abandonment of the country by the French, the English authorities took possession. This was in 1760. Major Rodgers was sent to repair and garrison the forts along the lake. At this place an entirely new site was selected, and a new fort erected. Fort Machault was so thoroughly dismantled that there was nothing valuable left. The site for the new work was about forty rods higher up the river, and nearer the mouth of French creek. In the present plan of the town, Elk street runs nearly through the center of it, and the northern bastion extends out into Eighth street. It was a much more permanent and substantial work than that of the French. The original plan has been lost, but from the earthworks, yet in good condition at the early settlement of the country, a very good idea can be formed of its general features. The general outline was square, with bastions projecting from the curtains, as shown in the sketch. The enclosed area was eighty-eight feet square, with a blockhouse in the center. This was surrounded by a ditch twenty-four feet in width. Outside of this was the embankment, about eight feet in width, with bastions of earth on each side, and completely commanding all the angles of the fort.
This fort was probably called Fort Venango, and like its predecessor, Fort Machault, was destined to be short lived. The garrison was probably small, and the same difficulties attended communication with it that had hampered and annoyed the French. Still it had its importance, particularly as long as there were fears remaining of further difficulties with the French. But new dangers arose. In 1763, only three years after the construction of this fort, the formidable conspiracy of that mighty Sagamore, Pontiac, was organized. It was bold in its conception, and carried oat with wonderful vigor and promptitude. It aimed at nothing less than the destruction of all the military posts and settlements of the English from Fort Pitt and Lake Erie to Detroit. The shock came in the month of June, and resulted in the destruction of all but three of the posts along the entire line.
Presqu'Isle and Le Boeuf were taken by assaults, Venango by stratagem. The Indians had been in the habit of playing at football on the grounds around the fort. Occasionally the ball would fall within the pickets, when they would be allowed to go within to procure it. On this occasion the ball was sent intentionally into the fort. The gate was opened, when the savages rushed in a body, massacred the garrison, and tortured Lieutenant Gordon, the commander, over a slow fire for two or three days, burned the fort, taking with them a woman as prisoner. This prisoner was afterward recovered from the Indians at Fort Erie, and related the circumstances of the capture and destruction of the Fort.
An expedition was fitted out after the reported capture of the forts, to explore. At Venango they found but the ruins of the works, with the remains of the murdered garrison half consumed by the flames. Whether this fort was rebuilt and garrisoned by the English after this time is extremely doubtful. There is a gap in the history that we have not the means of filling up. The probabilities are that the country was abandoned until after the Revolutionary war, and the possession of the United States authorities.
In the spring of 1787, the United States government began to take possession of this region. A company of United States soldiers, under the command of Captain Hart, came up from Fort Pitt to erect a fort for the protection of probable settlers against the Indians. The company numbered eighty-seven men, including officers, with perhaps a dozen persons who accompanied them on their own account. They at once commenced the erection of a fortification that they called Fort Franklin. The site selected was a strange one. Instead of locating near the mouth of the creek, so as to command both streams, they selected a site on the southern bank of French creek, about half a mile from its mouth. It was just above what is now the upper French creek bridge. It was built in the form of a parallelogram, the outworks including about one hundred feet square. These outworks consisted of high embankments of earth, outside of which pine pickets, about sixteen feet in height, were planted. Small cannon were mounted on its four bastions. Within the area formed by the ditches was the block-house, with a huge stack of chimneys in the center. The blockhouse contained the magazine. The soldiers were quartered within the pickets. A ditch extended along the bank of the creek for some distance, that was no doubt used after the manner of modern rifle-pits.
In 1790, a committee, consisting of Timothy Matlack, Samuel Maclay, and John Adlum, was appointed to examine the western waters of the State. Among others they were to examine French creek from its mouth to Le Boeuf, also the Allegheny from French creek to the Kiskiminetas. The following year, as the result of this examination, the Legislature made an appropriation of one hundred pounds to improve the navigation of French creek, from its mouth to Le Boeuf. At this time the Indians were troublesome. On the 2d day of April, 1791, all the women and children at Meadville, in the adjoining county of Crawford, were brought down French creek in canoes for protection in the fort.
In 1793 the Pennsylvania Population company was formed to promote the settlement of the country. It offered, with other inducements, "to the first twenty families that should settle on French creek, one hundred and fifty acres of land each.'' But difficulties were increasing with the Indians. In a deposition made at Fort Pitt, June 11th, 1794, D. Hansom, who had been a trader at Fort Franklin, said that "he had been advised to leave; that the times would soon be bad; that the British and Indians would soon land at Presqu'Isle, and there form a junction with Cornplanter, on French creek; and were then to clear it by killing all the people, and taking all the forts on it."
Captain Denny, writing from Fort Franklin, June 14, 1794, seems to have had the same opinion in regard to the intentions of the British and Indians. But these difficulties were all amicably settled, and a treaty of peace was signed by fifty-nine sachems. They had all been mollified by presents of land and money, and the influence was good upon their people.
The garrison was kept at Fort Franklin until 1796, when the place was abandoned,, and a now site selected on the flat near the mouth of the creek that was long known as the old garrison. It was a strong building, a story and one half high, and about thirty by thirty-six feet square. There were pickets planted around it, but no cannon mounted.
In 1803 the garrison was withdrawn, and military protection ceased. The garrison was afterward used as a jail from 1805 to 1819. It remained standing until 1824, when it was overthrown. The shifting current of French creek washes its site, so that its exact location is now unknown.
In the war of 1812 this county was well represented. A call was issued for all the able bodied men to go to Erie, to protect the frontier from an anticipated attack at that point. All who could be spared from their homes repaired to the scene of expected action. Of the regiment that was formed from this and some of the neighboring counties, Samuel Dale was elected lieutenant colonel. He was a native of Union county, but had resided in Franklin for many years. About this time the Seneca chief, Cornplanter, came to see Colonel Dale, to inquire into the cause of the war. When this was explained to him, he declared his willingness to accompany him with two hundred warriors. He insisted on the propriety of his going. The corn was planted, and the young men could go as well as not to assist in the war with their white neighbors. Colonel Dale could satisfy him only by agreeing to call upon him should it be actually necessary. During the war, Franklin presented quite a busy aspect. All the military and naval stores were brought up from Pittsburgh in keel boats, thence up French creek to Waterford, and thence by teams to Erie. It was matter of surprise to the British, how Perry's fleet was equipped under the circumstances, as they were ignorant of this inland communication with Pittsburgh. All these boats were pushed up by hand, with the assistance of the capstan, in places where the water was specially rapid.
In the civil war of 1861-65, this county was largely represented. The soldiers monument, standing in South park, Franklin, contains the names of over four hundred soldiers who fell in battle or died in prisons and hospitals. From the organization of the county, in 1800, to 1805, it was associated for judicial purposes with the neighboring counties of Warren, Butler, Mercer, Erie, and Crawford, with the seat of justice at Meadville. The first court held there was presided over by Judge Alexander Addion. By act of April 1, 1805, Venango was fully organized for judicial purposes, with Franklin as the county seat. The first court was held in a log house on Liberty street, facing West park. Jesse Moore was the first judge. He was succeeded by N. B. Eldred, in 1839. After these were Alexander McCalmont, Gaylord Church, Joseph Buffington, John C. Knox, James Campbell, Isaac G. Gordon, and John Trunkey. The first courthouse was erected in 1811. It was of stone, on West park, and facing what is now Plumer's Block. A second courthouse was built of brick in 1848, on South park, and facing up Liberty street. This was succeeded by a third building of brick, in 1867. It was located a little to the north of its predecessor. The old garrison was used as a jail from 1805 to 1819, when a small stone building was erected for the purpose, on the South park. There was a yard attached to one end of it, surrounded by a stone wall about twelve feet in height with a well in the enclosure. The cells were lined with oak plank, about five inches in thickness. This was the receptacle for prisoners until 1853; when a new stone jail, with sheriff's house of brick, in front, was erected on Elk street. The prison was rebuilt in 1868, on the same foundation, and with the same material.
Franklin, the county seat, is the oldest town in the county. It was located on lands belonging to the State. On the 24th day of March, 1789, it was resolved by the General Assembly, "that not exceeding three thousand acres be surveyed for the use of the Commonwealth, at the Fort of Venango." By act of April 18, 1795, commissioners were appointed to survey one thousand acres of the reservation at the mouth of French creek, and lay off thereon the town of Franklin. The commissioners designated for this purpose were General William Irvine and Andrew Ellicott. Mr. Ellicott had charge of the surveying, and General Irvine of the military escort of fifty men. The name was probably suggested by the name of the fort. The plot selected lies along the south branch of French creek and the west bank of the Allegheny river. The valley in which it is situated is about two miles in length and about half a mile in breadth, surrounded on every side by bold, precipitous hills, rising to the height of about five hundred feet. The town is beautifully laid out with wide streets, crossing each other at right angles, with the exception of Twelfth street, where there is an acute angle to accommodate a flexure in the creek. Franklin was incorporated into a borough, April 14, 1828, and honored by the Legislature with a city charter in 1868. T. Anderson Dodd was the first mayor.
Oil City is comparatively a modern town, and is based on the rise and progress of the petroleum business. It is now a grand railroad center, and a place of great commercial importance. It is situated on both sides of Oil creek, and at the same time on both sides of the Allegheny river, seven miles above Franklin. The land on the western side of Oil creek was purchased from the State in 1803, by Francis Holliday, descending to his son James Holliday. He sold it to Dr. John Nevins, and by him it was sold to the Michigan Rock Oil company, about 1859 or 1860, and by them laid out in lots. Previous to 1859 there were but two or three houses on that side of the creek. Two of these were hotels. One kept by Thomas Moran was an old landmark. They were designed for the accommodation of rafts men. The eddy above and below was often lined with rafts for miles in extent. East of the creek, or about it, the land belonged to the old Indian chief Cornplanter. The United States government had presented him with three hundred acres of land in return for services rendered the country during the Revolutionary war. By him it was given to his son, and by him sold for a small consideration.
In 1861 the town began to grow rapidly, and in 1862 it was incorporated into a borough. In 1863, Cottage Hill was laid out in lots by J. H. Marston and Charles Haines. In 1863, William L. Lay purchased the Bastian farm on the south side of the river, and laid out a town by the name of Laytonia. Afterward James Bleakley, of Franklin, purchased the Downing farm, and laid out a town adjoining this by the name of Imperial City. In January, 1866, these two towns were consolidated by an act of court, under the name of Venango City. On March 11, 1871, the two towns, Oil City and Venango City, were consolidated with a city charter by the Legislature.
Reno is on the Allegheny river, four miles above Franklin. The land was settled first by Martin Clifford, afterward by Mr. Bowles. In 1850 it belonged to Joseph Shafer and J. W. Howe. Soon after the oil business commenced, it was purchased by C. V. Culver, a town laid out, and a company organized for the production of oil. A railroad was built from Reno to Rouseville, on Oil creek, that has since been discontinued. It takes its name from General J. L. Reno, formerly a citizen of Franklin, who fell in the late war. It has produced a large quantity of oil within its limits. It has the advantages of the Atlantic and Great Western, and also the Jamestown and Franklin railroads.
Rouseville is on the Oil creek valley, at the mouth of Cherry run, and about three miles above Oil City. It was at one time a great shipping point for oil. It owes its importance to the oil development. The second well in the county was discovered in its neighborhood. It is called after H. R. Rouse, one of its proprietors, who perished in the burning of the well alluded to.
Petroleum Centre was one of the remarkable places in the oil region. In many of its features it has never been equaled by any town in the whole country. It sprung into notice with the oil production, and declined with it, until its vices, as well as its glories, have departed. It is on Oil creek, midway between Oil City and Titusville, and located on the lands of the Central Petroleum company. A peculiarity of this town is, that though laid out in lots, these lots were never sold, but leased. There was no borough organization, although at one time it contained a population of some three thousand. The result was that vice and dissipation reigned within little Central, until the town became a fearful plague spot to the regions around. The Hyde and Egbert, McCray, Wood, and other farms adjoined the town, and were productive in oil. There were Presbyterian, Methodist, and Catholic churches in the town.
Pleasantville is about twenty-four miles northeast from Franklin, in the northern part of the county. It was settled by Aaron Benedict, about the year 1820. The pottery business was an early enterprise. It was incorporated as a borough in 1849, with two hundred and fifty inhabitants. It has been the scene of a wonderful oil development. The first well was the Nettleton, struck in 1855. Little, however, was accomplished until 1868, when the matter assumed a wonderful importance. There were at one time over two hundred wells, with a daily production of some two thousand barrels. The entire region round presented the appearance of a forest of derricks, with the prospect of unlimited wealth. But the supply was soon exhausted, and business declined.
Siverleyville is two miles above Oil City, on the Allegheny. It was settled by Mr. Siverley about the year 1821. The largest refining business in the county is carried on here. It is known as the Imperial oil refinery.
Emlenton is a flourishing town on the Allegheny river, in the southern part of the county. It is about thirty miles below Franklin. It derives its name from Emlen, the maiden name of Mrs. Hannah Fox, wife of Joseph M. Fox, who were the original owners of a large part of the land on which the town is located. The first improvement was made by John Kerr in 1802-03. He was followed by John Cochran, in 1820. Andrew McCaslin started a small store. After him came P. G. Hollister, in the same business; then came John Keating, William Karnes, and others. It was incorporated as a borough some years since.
Cooperstown is on Big Sugar creek, nine miles from Franklin. It was commenced about 1827, by William Cooper, on land received from his father, who had been an ensign in the army. A flourishing woolen factory has been operated here. It has also flour and sawmills, with a thriving trade from the country round. The first improvements were mills. It is an incorporated borough.
Plumer is on Cherry run, about seven miles above Oil City. The neighborhood was first settled by Henry McCalmont. At the advent of the oil business quite a flourishing village sprung up. The Humbolt refinery was located here, which for a time carried on quite a large business. One of the oldest United Presbyterian churches in the county was planted in its neighborhood.
Pit Hole City.—The history of this place seems like a dream of romance. In rapidity of growth and excitement during its short career, it exceeded that of any other town in America. From a single farm house, in May, 1865, it suddenly expanded until, in September of the same year, a period of only five months, it had a population of fifteen thousand. It had its hotels, theaters, lecture halls, churches, and other public buildings, on a grand scale. It is situated on Pitt Hole creek, from which it derives its name, about eight miles from its mouth, in Cornplanter township. In January, 1865, the first well was put down, on the Thomas Holmden farm. It was called the United States, and soon produced eight hundred barrels per day. This was far out from other wells. In June the Grant well was struck, flowing at the rate of twelve hundred barrels per day.
This incited the country at fever heat. Capitalists rushed in; money flowed as freely as oil itself; and for three months, anything like a correct description of things would seem like fiction. The Holmden farm had been bought by Prather & Duncan, who laid it out in lots. These lots brought large prices; one of them $15,000. At the height of the fever the Holmden farm was sold for $1,300,000, and resold for $1,600,000. But business began to decline. The oil belt was found to be merely a small basin amid the rocks, and was soon drained. The town was deserted, property declined in value; the buildings that had been erected at great expense were removed to Pleasantville, Oil City, and Franklin; until the proud city became but an humble hamlet, sitting down to dream of its former glory.
INSCRIPTIONS ON INDIAN GOD ROCK.
*For a facsimile representation of one of these leaden plates, see History of Allegheny county, page 318.
(Source: An Illustrated History Of The Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania, By William H. Egle, Harrisburg, De Witt C. Goodrich & Co., 1876, Page 1117 - 1131. See individual counties for further records.)
The Allegheny river runs through the county near its center, but such is the structure of the land, that in its progress it runs toward every point of the compass. The valley of the Allegheny is narrow, and the hills that flank it high and precipitous, making the scenery beautiful and varied, with many a bold outline and many a richly wooded slope. In the ancient history of this region, this river is often called the Ohio. Both the Indians and the French considered the Allegheny and the Ohio as one and the same river. In fact, in the Indian dialects, their names signified the same thing. Allegheny is from the Delaware language, and O-he-o from the Seneca, both meaning "Beautiful water." Hence, too, the French term "La Belle Riviere," is Beautiful river. In his celebrated map of 1755, Lewis Evans calls it the Allegan. He also gives the Shawanese name as "Palawa Thoriki."
The next important stream in the county is French creek. It too has received various names. The Indians seem to have known it as To-ra-da-koin. By the English as Venango river. By the French it was called "Riviere aux Boeufs," or Buffalo river. By George Washington it was re-christened French creek, at the time of his visit in 1753. The beautiful and romantic then gave way to the practical, and the stream is known as French creek unto this day.
The great source of wealth has been and still is petroleum. This county seems to have been its native home, for although it has been found in large quantities in some of the neighboring counties, yet it was first gathered here, both in small and in large quantities, and has been a valuable product since the organization of the county. Oil springs have been known, and the product gathered here since the first discovery of the county by the present inhabitants. They were found chiefly along Oil creek, and on the banks of the Allegheny. The oil was used for medicinal purposes. It was well known all over the country as Seneca oil," "British oil," and other names. It was collected by digging out the place where it oozed from the ground, and when oil and water had accumulated, blankets were thrown in, taking up the oil, when it was wrung out, and the process repeated. Half a century ago, the product of the Oil Creek valley amounted to a dozen barrels a year. The first shipment in bulk was by Mr. Cary. Two five-gallon kegs were filled, and lashed on each side of a horse, with Mr. Cary between. The market was Pittsburgh, and this supply for a time stocked the market.
In 1865, Venango county was shipping of the same product thirteen thousand barrels per day. This was when the entire production was confined to this county. Petroleum began to be sought as an illuminator, but the small quantity produced rendered it too expensive. Some of the heavy crude oil that was collected from the surface springs was taken to New England for examination. Enterprise was stimulated. In 1853, it came to the notice of George H. Bissell, who proceeded to investigate its claims. He was joined by J. G. Eveleth. The firm purchased some territory containing numerous oil springs, and commenced operations by pumping the oil and water into vats by water power. This was a slow process, but it stimulated enterprise. A joint stock company was organized, and the resolution formed to bore into the rock in quest of oil.
Colonel E. L. Drake was selected to carry out this resolution. After many discouragements, under the direction and responsibility of a part of the company, oil was at last struck at the depth of seventy feet. This was on the 28th day of August, 1859. This small hole drilled through the rock so peacefully, opened the way to wealth hitherto unknown. It yielded about forty barrels per day, but it has the prophecy of better things to come. This first well was in Cherry Tree township, on the bank of Oil creek, and about two miles below Titusville. The second well was on the McClintock farm, farther down the creek ,and about three miles from Oil City. The third was in Franklin, and known as "the celebrated Evans well." For a time these wells were operated by pumps driven by steam; but in 1861 a new T feature was developed.
Wells began to flow spontaneously, under the expansive power of the confined gas. The first flowing well was on the McElhenny farm, and known as the Funk well. In June, 1861, it suddenly commenced flowing at the rate of two hundred and fifty barrels per day. In the autumn of the same year, the Phelps well, on the Tarr farm, commenced flowing at the rate of two thousand barrels per day. This was followed by the Empire well, on the lower McElhenny farm, at the rate of three thousand barrels per day. This was the largest daily production of any one well. The Noble and Delamater yielded twenty-four hundred barrels daily; the Coquette fifteen hundred; the Maple Shade one thousand; the Jersey five hundred; the Reed one thousand. This latter was on Cherry run, near Rouseville. The Maple Shade, Jersey, Coquette, and Keystone wells were on the Egbert farm, near Petroleum Centre. The Sherman was on the Foster, and the Delamater on the Farrel farm.
Sometimes these wells would produce gas to such an extent as to take fire and produce the most disastrous results. Such an accident occurred at Rouseville in 1861. A well was bored on the Buchanan farm to the depth of three hundred feet, when a column of gas rushed up and took fire from a neighboring engine. Immediately there was a shock like that of an earthquake, when the mingled oil and gas rushed from the well and took fire as it emerged from the orifice. It seemed as though the earth was pouring forth smoke and fire, carrying death and destruction in their path. At the time of the explosion, from eighty to one hundred persons were standing around. Many of these had their clothing at once saturated with the oil and instantly took fire, and were helpless in the folds of the destroyer. There were thirty-eight persons burned more or less, and of these nineteen died. Amongst the latter was H. R. Rouse, an energetic persevering young man, who had done much to develop the business on the creek. The well burned three days before the fire could be extinguished. This was accomplished by heaping earth upon it. Another well on the Allegheny river, below Franklin, took fire before reaching oil. It was located at the mouth of Mag's run. It burned for more than a year, keeping vegetation green around it, even in the winter time. The column of flame that shot up from the gas was about ten feet in diameter at the base, the length varying from fifty to an hundred feet. As there was no oil to take fire, and the workmen absent at the time, there were no accidents connected with this well.
The business extended up the Allegheny, and down the same to the extreme limits of the county. It was pursued with advantage up the valley of French creek. The heavy oil district is confined to the neighborhood of Franklin. This is used chiefly for lubricating purposes. It is found in the high hill overlooking Franklin, but chiefly on the Galloway, McCalmont, Fee, Lamberton, Smith, Bleakey, and Kunkle farms. The gravity of the lighter oils of the county is from forty to forty-eight degrees; that of the heavy Franklin oil is from twenty-eight to thirty-two degrees. The total product of some of the largest wells along Oil creek has been from a half million to a million barrels each. Generally they have been short lived.
There is one well, perhaps the oldest in the oil region, that has produced constantly for some fifteen years. Since 1865 the production of the county has fallen off greatly, as the territory on the level below has been developed.
Several railroads are now in active operation in the county. The first constructed was the Franklin branch of the Atlantic and Great Western. This runs from Meadville to Oil City, along the banks of French creek and the Allegheny river. It was finished as far as Franklin, in June, 1863, and extended to Oil City in 1866. The next railroad in the county was the Jamestown and Franklin railroad, intersecting the Erie and Pittsburgh road at Jamestown, Mercer county. It was completed to Franklin in 1861, and the next season extended to Oil City. Following then were the Allegheny Valley railroad, from Pittsburgh to Oil City; the Oil Creek and Allegheny River railroad, extending from Oil City, up Oil Creek, to Titusville and beyond, with its river division, extending up the Allegheny river to Warren. The Cranberry railroad extends from South Oil City to the Cranberry coal mines.
There is a noted land mark in Indian history on the eastern bank of the Allegheny, about six miles below Franklin and nine by the course of the river. It is known to the present inhabitants as the Indian God. At times of high water it is entirely submerged. Indeed the wear of time and the friction of floating ice and timber have sadly mutilated its face. It is an immense boulder in a deflection of the river, standing on an inclination of about 50° to the horizon, and is about twenty-two feet in length by fourteen in breadth. The inscription is in hieroglyphics on its inclined face, that has originally been drawn with great distinctness.
The view presented is from Schoolcraft's work on the Indian tribes, and was drawn by Captain Eastman, United States Army. The following is Schoolcraft's description: The inscription itself appears distinctly to record in symbols the triumphs of hunting and war. The bent bow and arrow are twice distinctly repeated. The arrow by itself is repeated several times, which denotes a date before the introduction of firearms. The animals captured, to which attention is called by the Indian pictographist, are not deer or common game, but objects of higher triumph. There are two large panthers or cougars, variously depicted; the lower one in the inscription denoting the influence, agreeably to pictographs heretofore published, of medical magic. The figure of a female denotes without doubt a captive; various circles representing human heads denote deaths. One of the subordinate figures depicts by his gorgets a chief. The symbolic sign of a raised hand, drawn before a person represented with a bird's head, denotes apparently the name of an individual or tribe." At the foot of this inscription rock is a smaller one, having on it a single figure.
This territory was originally included in the French claim. The lilies of France waved over it for years. The claim was based on the discoveries of the Jesuits, Marquette and La Salle, together with their construction of the treaties of Utrecht and Aix la Chapelle. They had possessions in Canada and at the mouth of the Mississippi, and their intention was to unite these two claims, and hold the entire country west of the Allegheny mountains. This grand project shows the boldness and energy of the time in which it was inaugurated. In the year 1749, Gallissoniere, then Governor of Canada, sent Louis Celeron with a party to bury leaden plates along the whole line from Presqu'Isle, or even to the Mississippi, as evidences of the French claim and possession. These plates were all similar in form and design, differing only in date, in the name of the place where they were to be deposited. They were fourteen inches in length, by nine inches in breadth, and one-eighth of an inch in thickness. The inscription was in capital letters, and the margin ornamented with the lilies of France. On the reverse were the words " Paul Labrasse, fecit." The plate buried at Franklin bore the following inscription: Lan 1749 Dv
REGNE DE L0V1S XV ROY DE FRANCE N0VS CEL0R0N COMMANDANT DVN DETACHEMENT ENVOIE PAR M0NS1EVR LE MIS DE LA GALLISSONIERE COMMANDANT GENERAL DE LA NOVVELLE FRANCE POVR RETABLIR LA TRANQVILLITE DANS QVELQVES VILLAGES SAUVAGES DE CES CANTONS AVONS ENTERRE CETTE PLAQVE AV CONFVTENT DE L'OHYO ET DE TORADAKOIN CE 29 JVILLET PRES DE LA RIVIERE OYO AUTREMENT BELLE RIVIERE POVR MONVMENT DV RENOVVELLEMENT DE POSSESSION QVE NOVS AVONS PRIS DE LA DITTE RIVIERE OYO ET DE TOVTES CELLES QVI Y TOMBNT ET DE TOVES LES TERRES DES DEVX COTES JVSQVE AVX SOVRCES DES D1TTES RIVIERES VINSI QVE ONT JOVY OV DV JOVIR LES PRECEDENTS ROYS DE FRANCE ET QVILS INDIAN GOD EOCK. SISONT MAINTENVS PAR LES ARMES ET PAR LES TRAITTES SPECIALEMENT PAR CEVX DE RISVVIOK DVTROHT ET DAIX LA OHPELLE."*
The following translation is sufficiently literal: "In the year l749, reign of Louis XV., King of France, M. Celoron, commandant of a detachment by Monsieur the Marquis of Gallissonier, Commander in Chief of New France, to establish tranquility in certain savage villages of their cantons, has buried this plate at the confluence of the Ohio and Toradakoin, this 29th of July, near the Ohio, otherwise Beautiful River, as a monument of renewal of possession, which we have taken of said river, and all its tributaries, and of all lands on both sides, as far as the sources of said river, inasmuch as the preceding kings of France have enjoyed it by their arms and by treaties, especially by those of Ryswick, Utrecht, and Aix la Chapelle." By the Ohio we are to understand the Allegheny, and by Toradakoin, French creek.
This plate was stolen from Joncaire by the Senecas the following year, and brought to Colonel Johnson to be read, who made good use of it to exasperate them against the French. To make good the French claim, a line of forts was erected: one at Erie, one at Waterford, on French creek, and one at Franklin, at the mouth of the same. The works at Franklin were commenced in the autumn of 1753, and completed in April, 1754. In the sketch of Erie county, is given the deposition of Stephen Coffin, an English prisoner, which furnishes the particulars of the building of these forts, and the objection of the Indians to their erection. The Indians, however, were propitiated, and the fort commenced in 1753 and completed early in the spring of I754. All along French creek, troops were gathering. The Indians were supplied with whiskey and became friends to the new project. Scouts were sent out, and every effort made to learn the movements of the British. Canoes were prepared and cannon dragged slowly and heavily through the forest. Everything in the way of armament and provisions was brought from Lake Erie across the country to Le Boeuf, and thence down French creek by canoes and rafts. This work was called Fort Machault.
These French forts from Lake Erie to the Ohio were not remarkable either for strength or for engineering skill. Neither Presqu'Isle, Le Boeuf, nor Machault, had any earth works of importance. They were all probably on the same plan, although Machault at Venango was the smallest of the three. Fortunately the plan of this latter fort has survived the changes of one hundred and twenty years, and has recently been verified beyond a question as the identical plan of Fort Machault and the surrounding territory, with the bearing of the hills and the distances to them. The fort was located on the western bank of the Allegheny, or Ohio, as it was originally called, sixty yards from the edge of the water, and about sixty rods below the mouth of French creek. On the present plan of the town, Elk street runs through the site of the fort, while its southern side reached nearly to Sixth street. The body of the work was in the form of a parallelogram, seventy-five by one hundred and five feet in size, with bastions at the four angles. These bastions were in the form of polygons, the two western ones having a perimeter of one hundred and thirty-five feet, and the eastern ones of one hundred and eleven feet, each. A portion of the curtains was of hewn timbers laid lengthwise upon each other, that served at the same time as the sides of the barracks. The remainder of the walls, with the bastions, were formed of timbers eight inches in diameter, and thirteen feet in height, set up after the manner of a stockade. The gate fronted the river. In the interior were the magazine, fifteen by eighteen feet, protected by a thickness of three feet of earth, and several buildings for barracks. Two of these were eighteen by fifty-five feet in size, with three others that were much smaller. The barracks were two stories high, and furnished with stone chimneys. A door in the northeastern bastion led to a large cellar. The soldiers barracks consisted of thirty-seven separate buildings, disposed around the fort, chiefly on the northern side. A saw mill was erected on the little stream forty rods above and near to the site where the English fort was subsequently built. It was supplied with power by the stream. The dam was constructed of heavy timbers, that are, many of them, found in their places at the present day. This dam was just along the eastern line of Elk street where it crosses the ravine. Here was prepared the lumber used for barracks, and perhaps for building boats and barges to be used in conveying supplies for the camp. Along the northern side of the fort, and within fifty feet of it, there was a small stream of water that flowed from the neighboring hills, which supplied the camp with water.
This work is invariably spoken of by the French as Fort Machault. It was named in honor of Jean Baptiste Machault, born at Amonville, France, December 10th, 1701. In 1745 he was controller of the finances; in 1750, keeper of the seals, and succeeded to the colonial department in 1750. In 1794 he was imprisoned "by the Revolutionary government, and died the same year at ninety-three. By the English, this post was spoken of as the French fort at Venango. Monsieur Pouchot, in his memoirs,, speaks of it rather contemptuously: "At its mouth (Riviere aux Boeuf), called in English, Venango, the French had a very poor, mean fort called Fort Machault, which is also an entrep6t for that which is going down to Fort Duquesne."
It seems generally to have been poorly garrisoned, often short of provisions, and in mortal fear of assault by the English. Except in special cases, when marshaling their forces for an attack on Fort Pitt, the garrison numbered only from twenty to fifty men. They seem to have secured the friendship of the Indians, not so much by the strong arm of power, as by presents of whiskey and gewgaws.
We have a partial description of the work in the deposition of a French prisoner: "Fort Machault is a fort of wood, filled up with earth. It has bastions and six wall pieces or swivel guns, and the whole works take up about two acres of ground. No Indians are there, but pass and repass to and from a little town they have about seven leagues west from Fort Machault, called Ticastoroga. They are of the tribe of the Wolf." Henry De Courcy, on the authority of an old map preserved at Quebec, affirms that Fort Machault was situated on the eastern side of the river, on French creek. Monsieur Duquesne speaks of it as on both the rivers Ohio and Venango. With these statements we must compare the ground and later authorities.
The plan of the fort before alluded to settles the question of location so thoroughly that there is no longer room for doubt concerning it. There was but one French fort. Not the slightest allusion is in any place made to two, in that region, in the voluminous records that are now accessible in relation to the French occupation there. With the very limited knowledge of the geography of the country, it is easy to account for the mention of Fort Machault on the opposite side of French creek, by mistake. Monsieur Duquesne probably meant, by saying that it was one half on the Ohio river and the other on River au Boeuf, that it was designed to command the approaches of both those rivers. On the upper side of French creek there is neither sign nor tradition of military work. Although the first settlers arrived here within less than thirty years after the evacuation by the French, there was never known to them the slightest trace of earthworks or military work of any kind. It is, therefore, incredible that there should have been such works there. On the ground of the fort have been found bullets, knives, scissors, beads, melted glass, burned stone, and other relics, showing that it had passed through the fire at its destruction.
The first interruption in this chain of French forts was the forced abandonment of Fort Duquesne, now Pittsburgh. This was on the 24th day of November, 1758, on the approach of General Forbes' expedition. That officer, in his report, says: "They have blown up and destroyed all their fortifications, houses, ovens, and magazines all their Indian goods burned in the stores, that seem to have been considerable." Of the garrison, four hundred men, with the Governor, M. De Lignery, went up the river to Venango. This rendered it necessary to bring all supplies to this fort by the way of Presqu'Isle and Le Boeuf. In the meantime they were making every effort to strengthen their position "platforms were erected in the bastions, and swivel guns mounted on them. The stockades were lined to render them more secure. A large force of laborers were at work with the avowed object of rendering Machault as strong as Fort Duquesne. Monsieur La Marie was in command at this time. This was in April, 1759. Colonel Mercer writes that he had learned from a spy that at that date there were one hundred and fifty men at the fort, and others on the way. "They have eleven batteaux at Venango, and one great gun of the size of a quart pot, which they fire off by a train by powder.”
We hear from the fort again on July 17, 1759. Colonel Mercer, commandant at Fort Pitt, had sent six Indian scouts up to Fort Venango, who reported that the place was strong and. well manned. They said that there was then at the place seven hundred French and a thousand Indians, and that preparations were making to attack Fort Pitt. They were to set out on the 11th of that month. Three pieces of cannon had arrived from Le Boeuf, the others were expected every hour, with many batteaux loaded with provisions. Soon after a messenger arrived and handed a packet to the commandant. This contained bad news. At length he said to the Indians: "Children, I have received bad news, the English are gone against Niagara." Orders were immediately given for the evacuation of the fort. It was the month of July. The river was too low to go up by boat, and a great sacrifice must be made of their effects. The Indians were tucked out in laced coats and hats, the squaws were gorgeous in reel blankets and French calico, and all their stores were either given away or burned. The batteaux and canoes that were to have conveyed them in the assault upon Fort Pitt were likewise burned. Even their artillery must have been buried, as it would be impossible to carry it with them. An old gun found an hundred years afterward is evidence of this, and no doubt others are still slumbering in the neighborhood.
The spies sent up from Fort Pitt witnessed this grand breaking up of the camp, the burning of the fort, and the departure for Le Boeuf, and on to the relief of Fort Niagara. They reported that there were upwards of a thousand Indians, collected from twelve different nations, at Venango." Here was an end to their expectation of retaking Fort Pitt. They had made a great effort towards the accomplishment of this object. The fort had been recently reinforced for this purpose. Monsieur D'Aubray, commandant at Kaskaskia, Illinois, had brought there 400 men and 200,000 pounds of flour from Kaskaskia to Venango. "Cut off from the route of the Ohio (or Allegheny) by the abandonment of Fort Duquesne, he proceeded with his force down the Mississippi and up the Ohio to the Wabash; thence up that river to the portage at Fort Miami, or Fort Wayne, and carried his stores over to the Maumee, passed down that river and along the shore of Lake Erie to Presqu'Isle, and carried again his stores to the portage to Le Boeuf; thence descended French creek to Venango." This was followed by the surrender of Fort Niagara and the fall of Quebec, and the final withdrawal of all claims to the territory.
After the abandonment of the country by the French, the English authorities took possession. This was in 1760. Major Rodgers was sent to repair and garrison the forts along the lake. At this place an entirely new site was selected, and a new fort erected. Fort Machault was so thoroughly dismantled that there was nothing valuable left. The site for the new work was about forty rods higher up the river, and nearer the mouth of French creek. In the present plan of the town, Elk street runs nearly through the center of it, and the northern bastion extends out into Eighth street. It was a much more permanent and substantial work than that of the French. The original plan has been lost, but from the earthworks, yet in good condition at the early settlement of the country, a very good idea can be formed of its general features. The general outline was square, with bastions projecting from the curtains, as shown in the sketch. The enclosed area was eighty-eight feet square, with a blockhouse in the center. This was surrounded by a ditch twenty-four feet in width. Outside of this was the embankment, about eight feet in width, with bastions of earth on each side, and completely commanding all the angles of the fort.
This fort was probably called Fort Venango, and like its predecessor, Fort Machault, was destined to be short lived. The garrison was probably small, and the same difficulties attended communication with it that had hampered and annoyed the French. Still it had its importance, particularly as long as there were fears remaining of further difficulties with the French. But new dangers arose. In 1763, only three years after the construction of this fort, the formidable conspiracy of that mighty Sagamore, Pontiac, was organized. It was bold in its conception, and carried oat with wonderful vigor and promptitude. It aimed at nothing less than the destruction of all the military posts and settlements of the English from Fort Pitt and Lake Erie to Detroit. The shock came in the month of June, and resulted in the destruction of all but three of the posts along the entire line.
Presqu'Isle and Le Boeuf were taken by assaults, Venango by stratagem. The Indians had been in the habit of playing at football on the grounds around the fort. Occasionally the ball would fall within the pickets, when they would be allowed to go within to procure it. On this occasion the ball was sent intentionally into the fort. The gate was opened, when the savages rushed in a body, massacred the garrison, and tortured Lieutenant Gordon, the commander, over a slow fire for two or three days, burned the fort, taking with them a woman as prisoner. This prisoner was afterward recovered from the Indians at Fort Erie, and related the circumstances of the capture and destruction of the Fort.
An expedition was fitted out after the reported capture of the forts, to explore. At Venango they found but the ruins of the works, with the remains of the murdered garrison half consumed by the flames. Whether this fort was rebuilt and garrisoned by the English after this time is extremely doubtful. There is a gap in the history that we have not the means of filling up. The probabilities are that the country was abandoned until after the Revolutionary war, and the possession of the United States authorities.
In the spring of 1787, the United States government began to take possession of this region. A company of United States soldiers, under the command of Captain Hart, came up from Fort Pitt to erect a fort for the protection of probable settlers against the Indians. The company numbered eighty-seven men, including officers, with perhaps a dozen persons who accompanied them on their own account. They at once commenced the erection of a fortification that they called Fort Franklin. The site selected was a strange one. Instead of locating near the mouth of the creek, so as to command both streams, they selected a site on the southern bank of French creek, about half a mile from its mouth. It was just above what is now the upper French creek bridge. It was built in the form of a parallelogram, the outworks including about one hundred feet square. These outworks consisted of high embankments of earth, outside of which pine pickets, about sixteen feet in height, were planted. Small cannon were mounted on its four bastions. Within the area formed by the ditches was the block-house, with a huge stack of chimneys in the center. The blockhouse contained the magazine. The soldiers were quartered within the pickets. A ditch extended along the bank of the creek for some distance, that was no doubt used after the manner of modern rifle-pits.
In 1790, a committee, consisting of Timothy Matlack, Samuel Maclay, and John Adlum, was appointed to examine the western waters of the State. Among others they were to examine French creek from its mouth to Le Boeuf, also the Allegheny from French creek to the Kiskiminetas. The following year, as the result of this examination, the Legislature made an appropriation of one hundred pounds to improve the navigation of French creek, from its mouth to Le Boeuf. At this time the Indians were troublesome. On the 2d day of April, 1791, all the women and children at Meadville, in the adjoining county of Crawford, were brought down French creek in canoes for protection in the fort.
In 1793 the Pennsylvania Population company was formed to promote the settlement of the country. It offered, with other inducements, "to the first twenty families that should settle on French creek, one hundred and fifty acres of land each.'' But difficulties were increasing with the Indians. In a deposition made at Fort Pitt, June 11th, 1794, D. Hansom, who had been a trader at Fort Franklin, said that "he had been advised to leave; that the times would soon be bad; that the British and Indians would soon land at Presqu'Isle, and there form a junction with Cornplanter, on French creek; and were then to clear it by killing all the people, and taking all the forts on it."
Captain Denny, writing from Fort Franklin, June 14, 1794, seems to have had the same opinion in regard to the intentions of the British and Indians. But these difficulties were all amicably settled, and a treaty of peace was signed by fifty-nine sachems. They had all been mollified by presents of land and money, and the influence was good upon their people.
The garrison was kept at Fort Franklin until 1796, when the place was abandoned,, and a now site selected on the flat near the mouth of the creek that was long known as the old garrison. It was a strong building, a story and one half high, and about thirty by thirty-six feet square. There were pickets planted around it, but no cannon mounted.
In 1803 the garrison was withdrawn, and military protection ceased. The garrison was afterward used as a jail from 1805 to 1819. It remained standing until 1824, when it was overthrown. The shifting current of French creek washes its site, so that its exact location is now unknown.
In the war of 1812 this county was well represented. A call was issued for all the able bodied men to go to Erie, to protect the frontier from an anticipated attack at that point. All who could be spared from their homes repaired to the scene of expected action. Of the regiment that was formed from this and some of the neighboring counties, Samuel Dale was elected lieutenant colonel. He was a native of Union county, but had resided in Franklin for many years. About this time the Seneca chief, Cornplanter, came to see Colonel Dale, to inquire into the cause of the war. When this was explained to him, he declared his willingness to accompany him with two hundred warriors. He insisted on the propriety of his going. The corn was planted, and the young men could go as well as not to assist in the war with their white neighbors. Colonel Dale could satisfy him only by agreeing to call upon him should it be actually necessary. During the war, Franklin presented quite a busy aspect. All the military and naval stores were brought up from Pittsburgh in keel boats, thence up French creek to Waterford, and thence by teams to Erie. It was matter of surprise to the British, how Perry's fleet was equipped under the circumstances, as they were ignorant of this inland communication with Pittsburgh. All these boats were pushed up by hand, with the assistance of the capstan, in places where the water was specially rapid.
In the civil war of 1861-65, this county was largely represented. The soldiers monument, standing in South park, Franklin, contains the names of over four hundred soldiers who fell in battle or died in prisons and hospitals. From the organization of the county, in 1800, to 1805, it was associated for judicial purposes with the neighboring counties of Warren, Butler, Mercer, Erie, and Crawford, with the seat of justice at Meadville. The first court held there was presided over by Judge Alexander Addion. By act of April 1, 1805, Venango was fully organized for judicial purposes, with Franklin as the county seat. The first court was held in a log house on Liberty street, facing West park. Jesse Moore was the first judge. He was succeeded by N. B. Eldred, in 1839. After these were Alexander McCalmont, Gaylord Church, Joseph Buffington, John C. Knox, James Campbell, Isaac G. Gordon, and John Trunkey. The first courthouse was erected in 1811. It was of stone, on West park, and facing what is now Plumer's Block. A second courthouse was built of brick in 1848, on South park, and facing up Liberty street. This was succeeded by a third building of brick, in 1867. It was located a little to the north of its predecessor. The old garrison was used as a jail from 1805 to 1819, when a small stone building was erected for the purpose, on the South park. There was a yard attached to one end of it, surrounded by a stone wall about twelve feet in height with a well in the enclosure. The cells were lined with oak plank, about five inches in thickness. This was the receptacle for prisoners until 1853; when a new stone jail, with sheriff's house of brick, in front, was erected on Elk street. The prison was rebuilt in 1868, on the same foundation, and with the same material.
Franklin, the county seat, is the oldest town in the county. It was located on lands belonging to the State. On the 24th day of March, 1789, it was resolved by the General Assembly, "that not exceeding three thousand acres be surveyed for the use of the Commonwealth, at the Fort of Venango." By act of April 18, 1795, commissioners were appointed to survey one thousand acres of the reservation at the mouth of French creek, and lay off thereon the town of Franklin. The commissioners designated for this purpose were General William Irvine and Andrew Ellicott. Mr. Ellicott had charge of the surveying, and General Irvine of the military escort of fifty men. The name was probably suggested by the name of the fort. The plot selected lies along the south branch of French creek and the west bank of the Allegheny river. The valley in which it is situated is about two miles in length and about half a mile in breadth, surrounded on every side by bold, precipitous hills, rising to the height of about five hundred feet. The town is beautifully laid out with wide streets, crossing each other at right angles, with the exception of Twelfth street, where there is an acute angle to accommodate a flexure in the creek. Franklin was incorporated into a borough, April 14, 1828, and honored by the Legislature with a city charter in 1868. T. Anderson Dodd was the first mayor.
Oil City is comparatively a modern town, and is based on the rise and progress of the petroleum business. It is now a grand railroad center, and a place of great commercial importance. It is situated on both sides of Oil creek, and at the same time on both sides of the Allegheny river, seven miles above Franklin. The land on the western side of Oil creek was purchased from the State in 1803, by Francis Holliday, descending to his son James Holliday. He sold it to Dr. John Nevins, and by him it was sold to the Michigan Rock Oil company, about 1859 or 1860, and by them laid out in lots. Previous to 1859 there were but two or three houses on that side of the creek. Two of these were hotels. One kept by Thomas Moran was an old landmark. They were designed for the accommodation of rafts men. The eddy above and below was often lined with rafts for miles in extent. East of the creek, or about it, the land belonged to the old Indian chief Cornplanter. The United States government had presented him with three hundred acres of land in return for services rendered the country during the Revolutionary war. By him it was given to his son, and by him sold for a small consideration.
In 1861 the town began to grow rapidly, and in 1862 it was incorporated into a borough. In 1863, Cottage Hill was laid out in lots by J. H. Marston and Charles Haines. In 1863, William L. Lay purchased the Bastian farm on the south side of the river, and laid out a town by the name of Laytonia. Afterward James Bleakley, of Franklin, purchased the Downing farm, and laid out a town adjoining this by the name of Imperial City. In January, 1866, these two towns were consolidated by an act of court, under the name of Venango City. On March 11, 1871, the two towns, Oil City and Venango City, were consolidated with a city charter by the Legislature.
Reno is on the Allegheny river, four miles above Franklin. The land was settled first by Martin Clifford, afterward by Mr. Bowles. In 1850 it belonged to Joseph Shafer and J. W. Howe. Soon after the oil business commenced, it was purchased by C. V. Culver, a town laid out, and a company organized for the production of oil. A railroad was built from Reno to Rouseville, on Oil creek, that has since been discontinued. It takes its name from General J. L. Reno, formerly a citizen of Franklin, who fell in the late war. It has produced a large quantity of oil within its limits. It has the advantages of the Atlantic and Great Western, and also the Jamestown and Franklin railroads.
Rouseville is on the Oil creek valley, at the mouth of Cherry run, and about three miles above Oil City. It was at one time a great shipping point for oil. It owes its importance to the oil development. The second well in the county was discovered in its neighborhood. It is called after H. R. Rouse, one of its proprietors, who perished in the burning of the well alluded to.
Petroleum Centre was one of the remarkable places in the oil region. In many of its features it has never been equaled by any town in the whole country. It sprung into notice with the oil production, and declined with it, until its vices, as well as its glories, have departed. It is on Oil creek, midway between Oil City and Titusville, and located on the lands of the Central Petroleum company. A peculiarity of this town is, that though laid out in lots, these lots were never sold, but leased. There was no borough organization, although at one time it contained a population of some three thousand. The result was that vice and dissipation reigned within little Central, until the town became a fearful plague spot to the regions around. The Hyde and Egbert, McCray, Wood, and other farms adjoined the town, and were productive in oil. There were Presbyterian, Methodist, and Catholic churches in the town.
Pleasantville is about twenty-four miles northeast from Franklin, in the northern part of the county. It was settled by Aaron Benedict, about the year 1820. The pottery business was an early enterprise. It was incorporated as a borough in 1849, with two hundred and fifty inhabitants. It has been the scene of a wonderful oil development. The first well was the Nettleton, struck in 1855. Little, however, was accomplished until 1868, when the matter assumed a wonderful importance. There were at one time over two hundred wells, with a daily production of some two thousand barrels. The entire region round presented the appearance of a forest of derricks, with the prospect of unlimited wealth. But the supply was soon exhausted, and business declined.
Siverleyville is two miles above Oil City, on the Allegheny. It was settled by Mr. Siverley about the year 1821. The largest refining business in the county is carried on here. It is known as the Imperial oil refinery.
Emlenton is a flourishing town on the Allegheny river, in the southern part of the county. It is about thirty miles below Franklin. It derives its name from Emlen, the maiden name of Mrs. Hannah Fox, wife of Joseph M. Fox, who were the original owners of a large part of the land on which the town is located. The first improvement was made by John Kerr in 1802-03. He was followed by John Cochran, in 1820. Andrew McCaslin started a small store. After him came P. G. Hollister, in the same business; then came John Keating, William Karnes, and others. It was incorporated as a borough some years since.
Cooperstown is on Big Sugar creek, nine miles from Franklin. It was commenced about 1827, by William Cooper, on land received from his father, who had been an ensign in the army. A flourishing woolen factory has been operated here. It has also flour and sawmills, with a thriving trade from the country round. The first improvements were mills. It is an incorporated borough.
Plumer is on Cherry run, about seven miles above Oil City. The neighborhood was first settled by Henry McCalmont. At the advent of the oil business quite a flourishing village sprung up. The Humbolt refinery was located here, which for a time carried on quite a large business. One of the oldest United Presbyterian churches in the county was planted in its neighborhood.
Pit Hole City.—The history of this place seems like a dream of romance. In rapidity of growth and excitement during its short career, it exceeded that of any other town in America. From a single farm house, in May, 1865, it suddenly expanded until, in September of the same year, a period of only five months, it had a population of fifteen thousand. It had its hotels, theaters, lecture halls, churches, and other public buildings, on a grand scale. It is situated on Pitt Hole creek, from which it derives its name, about eight miles from its mouth, in Cornplanter township. In January, 1865, the first well was put down, on the Thomas Holmden farm. It was called the United States, and soon produced eight hundred barrels per day. This was far out from other wells. In June the Grant well was struck, flowing at the rate of twelve hundred barrels per day.
This incited the country at fever heat. Capitalists rushed in; money flowed as freely as oil itself; and for three months, anything like a correct description of things would seem like fiction. The Holmden farm had been bought by Prather & Duncan, who laid it out in lots. These lots brought large prices; one of them $15,000. At the height of the fever the Holmden farm was sold for $1,300,000, and resold for $1,600,000. But business began to decline. The oil belt was found to be merely a small basin amid the rocks, and was soon drained. The town was deserted, property declined in value; the buildings that had been erected at great expense were removed to Pleasantville, Oil City, and Franklin; until the proud city became but an humble hamlet, sitting down to dream of its former glory.
INSCRIPTIONS ON INDIAN GOD ROCK.
*For a facsimile representation of one of these leaden plates, see History of Allegheny county, page 318.
(Source: An Illustrated History Of The Commonwealth Of Pennsylvania, By William H. Egle, Harrisburg, De Witt C. Goodrich & Co., 1876, Page 1117 - 1131. See individual counties for further records.)