COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES
Susquehanna the Six Nations, composed of
the Mohawks, Oneidas, Cawgas, Onondagas
and Scnccas, and later the Tuscarora Indians,
claimed the right of conquerors and reigned
supreme, and with them all of the treaties
between the whites and red men were negotiated. To these savages we owe the musical
and romantic names borne by the different
streams and sections of these two counties.
Here was the home of the famous chief,
Tamenund, whose name is perpetuated in the
Society of Tammany in New York and by a
county in the State of Louisiana.
The names of Indian origin in Columbia
and Montour counties are Susquehanna, meaning river of the winding shore; Chillisquaque,
derived from "Chilisuagi," an Indian word
meaning a place frequented by snowbirds
(Conrad Wieser crossed it March 8, 1737;
he called it “Zilly Squacbe" in his diary);
Muncy, from the Monscy tribe; Wyoming,
Maughwauwanu—large plains; Catawese,
pure water; Loyalsock, middle fork; Mahonning. The Indian name for Briar creek was
Kawanishoning, for Pine creek, Tiadaghton
and for Roaring creek, Popemetung. William
Penn was called Miquon by the Indians with
whom he had dealings.
INDIAN PATHS OR TRAILS
The valley of the Susquehanna was at one time thickly populated by the Indians and the remains of many villages and burying grounds have been uncovered in the last century. The most important legacy from these savage predecessors is the foundation they laid for subsequent exploration and development by means of the numerous trails or paths they made through an otherwise trackless wilderness. Through the dense forest, over the hills and amidst the morasses ran these trails, scarcely fifteen inches wide, but worn to the depth of a foot by their constant use from the feet of generations of savages and savage beasts, and patted to the density of rock by this soft yet resistless pressure.
The Shamokin path began at Sunbury and continued up the West Branch to the mouth of Warrior run, where an Indian town was located, and thence through the gap to the town of Muncy, the home of the Monseys. The Wyoming path left Muncy on the West Branch, ran up Glade run, thence through a gap in the hills to Fishing creek and across the creek, passing into Luzerne county through the Nescopeck gap, and up the North Branch to Wyoming.
The Wyalusing path was traced up Muncy creek to near where the Berwick road crosses, then to Dushore, thence to the Wyalusing flats.
The Sheshequin path ran up Bowser's run, thence to Lycoming creek, near the mouth of Mill creek, thence up the Lycoming to the Beaver dams, thence down Towanda creek to the Susquehanna river, thence up the river to the Sheshequin flats.
The Fishing Creek path started on the flats near Bloomsburg, ran up Fishing creek through Rosemont cemetery to Orangeville, on to or near Long pond, thence across to Tunkhannock creek. It was on this path that Moses VanCampen was captured.
One of the most frequently traveled trails passing through the county was that leading from Wyoming to Muncy. It followed the river from Wilkes-Barre to Shickshinny; thence through the notch at the eastern end of Knob mountain and along the northern base of that ridge, entering Columbia county near Jonestown, in Fishingcreek township, following thence down Huntington creek to the Forks and down Fishing crock to near the mouth of Green creek; thence up that creek to a point below Rohrsburg; thence along the northern base of the Mt. Pleasant hills to Little Fishing creek at a point between Mill¬ ville and Eyer's Grove; thence over the divide between the waters of Fishing creek and the Chillisquaque, and thence northwestward until it joined the path up Glade run from Muncy. It must have been a prominent path or trait, as frequent mention is made of it in the old surveys of 1769 which cover the western part of Columbia and the northern part of Montour county. It made a short and direct route from the North Branch to the West Branch and was free from any steep hills, in fact, the grades were so easy that when the time came to locate the Wilkes- Barre & Western railroad, from near Washingtonville to Shickshinny, there was no place in a distance of nearly twenty-five miles where this railroad was more than a half mile from this old trail over which the Indian traveled ages before. Near the mouth of Green creek above Orangeville this trail joined the trail from Ncscopeck to the Great Island, which was at what is now Jersey Shore, in Lycoming county.
All these trails found their outlet towards the settlements by way of Shamokin and the river, and when first seen by the whites bore evidence of constant use. There was only one important trail to the southeastern settlements
