Connoquenessing Creek Watershed Conservation Plan - Western ...

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Connoquenessing Creek Watershed Conservation PlanChapter 5. Cultural ResourcesThe earliest inhabitants in Pennsylvania were known as the Paleo Indians. They resided here duringthe Paleo Indian Period, or final glacial period, approximately 10,000 to 20,000 years ago. Artifacts,such as tools and arrowhead points, are rare and scattered, suggesting a nomadic lifestyle. They arebelieved to have lived in small communities of 20 to 30 individuals within natural rock shelters and werefrequently moving. They hunted game species common within the area including elk, turkey, andwhitetail deer (Burkett).As the climate warmed during the Archaic Period coniferous forests covered the region. Thepresence of humans was rare until edible plants, nuts, and modern game species became evident around6500 B.C. Native Americans that inhabited the area during this period were much like their predecessors,functioning as hunters and gatherers (Burkett).During the Woodland Period, 1000 B.C. to 1500 A.D., the Native Americans lifestyle had changedconsiderably. They were learning to cultivate crops, and for the first time were able to produce a surplusof food. They began following an annual cycle of planting, hunting, and fishing that sometimes requiredthem to commute between villages and seasonal encampments. This new lifestyle led to the developmentof work patterns and a division of labor between genders. While the men were out hunting and fishing,the women tended to the crop s. In order to store excess food pottery was developed (Burkett).European Settlemen tEuropeans arrived in Pennsylvania during the 1600s to find that Native Americans already inhabitedthe region; evident by their villages, fields, camps, and paths, they had been here for some time. TheIroquois Confederacy controlled the land in 1753, when the French came to the western Pennsylvaniaregion. From 1784-1785, the commonwealth of Pennsylvania purchased the region from the Iroquoisthrough the Treaty of Fort Stanwick. The area remained largely unsettled until 1795 when the Treaty ofGreenville was signed.Early European settlements within western Pennsylvania were established for transportationpurposes along the larger watercourses, such as the Allegheny and Beaver rivers. Smaller streams andtributaries, like those within the Connoquenessing valley, did not meet the needs of early settlers, andremained relatively undisturbed.The earliest known settlers within the area were James Glover and Peter Kinney, or McKinney.James Glover is credited as the earliest settler in Butler County. Glover was a blacksmith, Revolutionarysoldier, and an avid hunter who was living in Pittsburgh. During one of his hunting trips through theregionhe discovered a deer lick in what is now known as Adams Township. That fall, a few years prior tothe settlement of the country, he built a cabin near the site where he later established his primaryresidence.Peter McKinney, who also had been a Revolutionary soldier, always claimed that he and his familylocated in Butler County in 1792. His “squatter” improvement was located within what is now ForwardTownship. He became a noted hunter and the founder of Petersville, later to become Connoquenessing.There were a number of other hunters, explorers, and squatters in the region since 1790. But it wasnot until 1796, and the assurance of safety from the Native Americans, that settlement of the region beganin earnest.The majority of pioneer settlers were of Irish, Scotch, or Scotch-Irish decent (History of ButlerCounty, 1883a). There were also some settlers of German and other descents. For the most part, thesettlers were scattered about, with a few stronghold communities. As the name suggests, the area aroundDonegal was an Irish community. The Scotch decedents concentrated in the area between Little5-13
Connoquenessing Creek Watershed Conservation PlanChapter 5. Cultural ResourcesConnoquenessing Creek and Connoquenessing Creek. Germans, following the influence of DetmarBasse, came into the region around what is now Jackson Township in 1802. He founded Zelienople in1803 and named it after his daughter, Zelie.Another German settler, George Rapp, entered the region in 1804. He and his religious followersestablished Harmony. Within 10 years, they developed a prosperous community. By 1814, the society hadbuilt 130 buildings including factories and mills. Exhausting their markets and resources, the groupknow n as the Harmonie Society, sold the land to a Mennonite blacksmith and moved to the Wabash Riverin southwest Indiana. Mennonites led the area’s resettlement.IndustrialAgriculture was the earliest industry in the region. The abundance of available land and the desire foruntilled land expanded the Pennsylvania frontier westward. The golden age for farming in thecommonwealth, between 1770 and 1840, saw millions of acres of forestland converted to farmland. By1820, more than 90 percent of the working population was involved in the agricultural industry.Mining within the watershed began in the early 1800s with the opening of the Murtz and Kearnsmines during the 1810s. The Harmonie Society operated mines through the region beginning in 1815.Mines within the region started as small mines and as demand increased they expanded into the bigproducers common in western Pennsylvania today.Coal was in demand before, during, and after the oil and gas boom. The establishment of therailroads increased its demand. Coal was used for industry, businesses, and homes and became a basiccommodity. Majority of the mining remaining in the region today is not for coal but other commoditiessuch as limestone.By the 1860s the industrial revolution was in full swing, making it harder for Pennsylvania farms tocompete with out-of-state farms. The small family operations had transformed from manual operations toa highly specialized, mechanized, and scientific industry. New technologies and equipment decreasedworkloads and increased productivity and yields. After the 1840s, Pennsylvania farmers had lost theirpolitical advantage, and the booming industries of oil, steel, coal, railroads, and manufacturing took over.The Harmonie Society played an important role in the commerce and industry of westernPennsylvania. Their products were sold as far away as New Orleans, and their investments into therailroad, canals, oil fields, lumber industry, and banks were a catalyst for the region’s economy. In 1824,the Society returned to Pennsylvania establishing the town of Economy in Beaver County, later renamedAmbridge.From 1860 to 1869, there were many attempts in drilling for oil. On February 11, 1860, the ButlerOil Company was organized, and it focused its drilling near Butler. Several people had made claims ofsuccessfully drilling for oil, but the first serious success story occurred on September 7, 1860. It occurredon the land of Archibald McMillen, approximately four miles southwest of Portersville. The well drilledto a depth of eight feet below creek level (History of Butler County, 1895b).More companies were founded after the success on the McMillen property, such as Butler PioneerOil Company. On February 5, 1861 it made its first attempt drilling 800 feet at a location southwest ofButler. It was unsuccessful.In 1865 the Butler Oil Company was dissolved. However, in 1868, many of the original Butler OilCompany founders reunited to form Jacob’s Oil Company. The group found success in February 1869.After drilling 100 feet below the producing sand, the drill was slowly lifted until a flow of three barrels5-14
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