Appendix H - Historical Archaeological and ... - CBP.gov

Pennsylvania was one of the original thirteen states that formed the United States of America and
rebelled against Great Britain in 1776. Pennsylvania was the second state to ratify the
Constitution on December 12, 1787. At present, Pennsylvania has 67 counties, 958 boroughs,
1,547 townships, and 56 cities (Department of General Services, 2009).
Domestic, Social and Cultural
Settlement of Pennsylvania began in the mid-seventeenth century, focused along the Atlantic
coast. Gradually, settlers spread throughout the state. Early settlers erected log cabins and
cleared fields of trees in order to farm their land. As houses became more elaborate, they were
made of frame construction, and later from a variety of building materials, such as stone and
brick. In larger urban environments, residences rose to multi-story dimensions in a variety of
styles. Migration from eastern New York, eastern Pennsylvania, and New England into the
northwestern counties of the state became a torrent after 1820. These settlers erected log or
frame homes and established a variety of rural industries, including taverns, small hotels, grist
and sawmills, blacksmith shops, and distilleries (Frederick, ca. 2000; Payne, 1999-2009;
Fletcher, 1971:46).
The Allegheny National Forest was founded in 1923. In 1965, the Allegheny Reservoir was
created as a result of the construction of the Kinzua Dam (USDA Forest Service, 2004).
1.2.2.3 State of Ohio
Contact Period/Exploration/Colonial Period
The French were the first Europeans to penetrate the interior of what is now the State of Ohio
during the second half of the seventeenth century. During the late 1660s, René-Robert Cavelier,
Sieur de La Salle and a small party explored Lake Erie and what would become the Ohio
Country, the area between Lake Erie and the Ohio River on the north and south, and the
Allegheny and Maumee rivers on the east and west. La Salle’s foray were part of general
reconnoitering and trade expeditions as the French sought to establish contacts with native
groups and trading posts in the New World wilderness (Howe, 1852; Hurt, 1995; OHC, 2010;
OHO, 2010).
The next prominent European visit occurred in 1739, when Charles Le Moyne de Longeuil led
an expedition from Lake Erie through western New York and Pennsylvania down the Ohio River
to the Mississippi River, exploring the interior of the Ohio Country. His expedition provided the
earliest firsthand information about the area. A similar route was followed by a French
expedition under the direction of Captain Pierre-Joseph Céloron de Blainville in 1749 in the runup
to the French and Indian War (Scott, 1877; Graham, 1883; Smith, 2008; OHC, 2010).
During the first half of the eighteenth century, the French created a string of military and trading
installations that stretched from Lake Ontario south to Presqu’isle (present-day Erie,
Pennsylvania) into the Ohio Valley. During this time, forts on the Maumee River in northwest
Ohio, as well as the Illinois and the Mississippi rivers were established. By 1750, a fort at the
mouth of the Wabash River (in southwestern Indiana) opened a transportation route between that
river and a fort on the Maumee River (Howe, 1852; Hurt, 1995; OHC, 2010; OHO, 2010).
Northern Border Activities H-92 July 2012