COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES — the one from W yoming to the fo rk s of the D elaw are, at Easton. T o all other points the trail along the Susquehanna w as not only the great Indian thoroughfare fo r the natives of the valley, but fo r the whole Iroquois con federacy. MAOAMC UO NTO Uil
From authentic sources the story o f Madame M ontour is a s fo llo w s: She w as the daughter o f a French gentleman named M ontour and an Indian woman of the tribe at that time inhabiting Canada. H e r first m arriage w as to an Indian of the Seneca tribe. She was at A lbany in 1 7 1 1 and acted as interpreter. Ill 1744 she again acted as interpreter, in a treaty held at Lancaster, P a. H er second hus band w as Carondawana, a chief of the Oncidas, and she had altogether four sons and two daughters, but by which union they were born is not positively known. Sh e seems to have been a friend of the proprietaries, for la ^ e grants were given to her sons, A ndrew, H enry, Robert and L ew is, on the Chillisquaque, near M ontoursvillc and at Shade Gap, in Hunting don county. In 17 4 5 she resided at Shamokin, w here she died, but the date is not known. M adam e Montour's d.aughtcr M argaret had several children, three of them daughters. She it w as who w as termed “ French M argaret.” One o f her daughters, Esther, m arried F.chgohund, a ch ief of the M onscy clan. Sh e w as accused o f complicity in the W yom ing m as sacre, although no direct evidence could be gathered lo prove the fact. Tratliiion ascribes to another daughter o f M argaret the founding of the fam ous Cathcrincstown, the home and temple of the sorcerers of the Cat D a n of the Senecas, who w ere the enemies alike of the whites and the other tribes o f Indians. I.S n iA N VILtJVCES AND SKTTI.KMENTS
A n y attempt to locate the sites o f Indian villages in this part o f Pennsylvania must de pend entirely upon tradition. It is .accepted as fact that the sites o f Bloomsburg, Berw ick. C ataw issa and Danville were at one time oc cupied by large Indian settlements, as the remains and relics conliiiually found at these points indicate the presence in the remote past o f large and thriving communities. Most of the first settlers encountered these natives on their arrival and w ere fo r some time a fte r w ards frequently terrorized by the return o f occasional bands o f Indians who camped on the sites which ha«l from time immemorial beep their favorite stopping places.
T he nearest large village o f which accurate record has been left us, in this portion of the State, is that o f Sham okin, now the site o f S u n bury, Northumberland county. In 17 2 8 Shikellamy, a prominent Cayuga ch icfu tn, was governor of the village, which w as populated principally by the Delawares. H e governed in a wise and judicial manner until his death in 1749. T h e natives a fte r that date were g rad u ally forced out by the whites, who in 17 56 built the fort called A ugusta at this point. From this nucleus grew up the present town o f S u n bury. ^ M ore than a century and a lia lf has passed since the withdrawal of the Indians from the territory o f Columbia and Montour counties, and the history of the Indian customs and habits would soon be lost if not revived by the historian o f each decade. It is well, therefore, to review in b rief the manner o f life o f our aboriginal predecessors a s a reminder of the contrasts between those days and the present age o f wonders and achievement. T he towns and villages of the Indians in habiting the valley of the Susquehanna and its tributaries were Iqcatcd immediately upon the banks of the streams, on ground high enough to be out o f reach o f floods. B u t little atten tion w as paid to location fo r defensive pur poses, except that a s|» t free o f timber and usually on a point jutting out into the stream was selected, in order that canoes could be easily landed and the squaw s have ready access to the water. W igw am s were constructed in a substantial manner to resist wind and storm, and to keep the innutcs com fortable during the winter. Som e were nearly twenty feet in diam eter, large and roomy, while others w ere sm aller; most of them either oval or round in sh ap e; o f bark or matting laid o ver a fram ew ork o f poles stuck ill the ground, bunched together at the top and tied with thongs. T h e w inter w igw am s w ere covered with skins, w ith an opening at the top to allow the escape o f sm oke, and flaps at different points arranged to be used fo r entrance, according to the direction of the wind. Even in -these modern d a y s it is quite an art to erect a “ tcpcc” that w ill be w cathcqiroof and at the same time not s u f focate the occupants with the smoke of the fire. In winter these wig%s-ams were lined with matting, woven o f rushes, grasses and re e d s; bunks were built o f jw les, with skins and fu rs for bedding. T h e clay cooking pots were hung from the center o ver the ever-burning fire. In the larger settlements the Indians built log cabins, roofed with bark and sod, a hole
