Watershed Conservation Plan - Destination Erie

of $800 for the purchase of The Triangle. However, the area of Erie County was still not secured against
attack by the Six Nations until August 1794, when General Anthony Wayne defeated the western
confederation of Wyandots, Ottawas, Chippewas, and Potawatomis at the Battle of Fallen Timbers (Lechner
1984:27–28). This defeat, in turn, caused the Iroquois to settle their differences with the United States and
sign the Treaty of Canandaigua in November 1794.
In 1792, the General Assembly of Pennsylvania passed an act for the laying out of the town of Presque
Isle, otherwise known as Erie (Nelson 1987:387–389). In June 1795, Generals William Irvine and Andrew
Ellicott arrived to lay out the town, accompanied by surveyors and a company of state militia. Originally part
of Millcreek Township, Erie was incorporated as a borough and the county seat in 1805 (Nelson 1987:389).
The growth of Erie was integrally tied to its position on Lake Erie and its connection to other important
manufacturing and shipping towns (e.g., Pittsburgh, Buffalo, and Cleveland).
Supplying local needs, economic development in Erie County began with the establishment of saw and
grist mills. In 1795, Captain Russell Bissell erected the first sawmill in Erie county at the mouth of Mill
Creek, from which it derived its name, and in 1798 Thomas Forster built a grist mill at the mouth of Walnut
Creek ( Reed 1925:320; Spencer 1962:229). The settlers' need for lumber spurred the sawmill industry, and
by 1820 sawmills were established on almost all of the streams in Erie county (Spencer 1962:229). Walnut
Creek alone supplied the water power for four gristmills and 13 sawmills in 1835. Tanneries, brick kilns,
woolen mills, dairy and cheese factories, and breweries soon followed. Farm animals (i.e., cattle, hogs, sheep,
and turkeys) were driven to markets in Buffalo and Cleveland before slaughter houses were established in
Erie. As mentioned above, the transport of salt was a major industry in early Erie.
3.2.3 Brief History of Crawford County
Crawford County was formed from Allegheny County in 1800 and named in honor of famed
frontiersman Colonel William Crawford, who had been captured, tortured, and executed by Indians in 1782
at present-day Sandusky, Ohio, during the retreat of the ill-fated Crawford Expedition, one of the final battles
on the western front of the Revolutionary War. Located in western Pennsylvania, Crawford County is
bordered by Erie County to the north, Warren County to the east, Mercer and Venango Counties to the south,
and the State of Ohio to the west. French Creek, the county