Valley Girl Views: October 2019

Saturday, October 26, 2019

When Edison Came to Danville

In 1922, Thomas Edison was headed from New York to Sunbury PA, for the Sunbury Sesquicentennial. Edison and his son stopped in Danville PA at the invitation of W.C. Frick.

The Edison's spent the night at the Montour House in Danville, and "took in the movies in one of the local theatres".

The Montour House, Danville Pa

An article in the Sunbury Daily Item in 2009 tells us
"The Montour House had many notable guests, such as Carrie Nation, P.T. Barnum, Gen. Winfield Scott and William Jennings Bryan.

Standing across from the Montour County Courthouse, this gracious hotel, part of Danville history since 1790, was razed for a parking lot owned by Sovereign Bank."

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For More Local History & Stories In Danville

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/2020/08/danville-pennsylvania.html

For More Local History & Stories from other local towns:

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/p/history.html

How A Motor From A Sunbury High School Classroom Came To Be Exhibited In The Smithsonian

This Edison Motor at the Smithsonian Museum came from a classroom in Sunbury Pa.

A young man when Edison ran his electric lights in Sunbury, Harry Keefer collaborated with his brother, Samuel , to write about Edison's time in Sunbury. The brothers submitted the paper to Edison's laboratory for verification, and were in return invited to visit. This began a life long friendship between Harry Keefer and Thomas Edison.

In 1919, when Mr. Keefer began his teaching career at Sunbury, he organized the Thomas A. Edison Science Club, the first of it's kind in the world. It was Mr, Keefer who, on behalf of the town, invited Mr. Edison to return to Sunbury for the Sesquicentennial event in 1922.

In the above photo, Harry Keefer stands to the right of Edison

James Weber was a student at Sunbury high school, and he assisted Keefer in science class demonstrations. He remembered that Keeper used the motor as a model in his classroom. Weber and Keefer stayed in touch after graduation, and later in life Mr. Keefer gifted the motor to Weber. "because I know you are interested in these things". Weber later donated the motor to the Smithsonian Institute.

A cardboard label accompanying the motor states : "Electric motor. Used in early experimenting at Edison's Sunbury Plant E. Vine St. near N. Fourth St."

Hal Wallace, Assistant Curator of Electricity Collections at the National Museum Of American History states that this motor was very rudimentary for Edison in 1883. He theorizes that this engine may have been used to teach the very basics to the locals who needed to run the plant, but who had no experience with the machines needed to run them.

Louis Carlat editor of the Edison Papers Staff at Rutgers, wrote, “concerns about the capability of local skilled and semiskilled labor to operate the machinery with only a few weeks of training would haunt [Edison’s] experience not only at Sunbury but in a number of other plants.” (p. 312)

Salvaged from the junk heap- the dynamos used by Thomas Edison

In Sunbury Pa.

But the motor at the Smithsonian is not the only Edison creation Keefer has preserved. He is also credited with "saving from the junk heap the crude original dynamo built by Edison in connection with his Sunbury experiments. The cumbersome 'heart' of his Sunbury experiments has been stored for years in the car barn of the S and N Transit Co. on Railroad, now Edison Avenue.

It's value was unknown, with the result that it was earmarked for sale to a scrap dealer, but the Messrs Keefer were responsible for it's preservation and removal to the Ford Museum in Dearborn Michigan."

(An earlier newspaper article states that the dynamo was briefly at the Ford Museum, but it now resides at the Franklin Institute in Philadelphia)

March 1929

Allentown Morning Call

Keefer also owned one of the 6 electric light globes first made by Edison.

The Obituary of Former Sunbury Science Teacher,

and Close Friend Of Thomas Edison,

Harry L. Keefer

The Edison Papers, on The rutgers website, note two separate letters, in 1916, from Harry to Edison, but images are not available for either correspondence.

http://edison.rutgers.edu/digital/document/E1633AA1

The Sunbury Daily Item

May 2 1953

"During his last two years in high school, Mr. Keefer and his brother Samuel collaborated to write a paper about Edison, dealing specifically with the period the inventor spent in Sunbury perfecting the incandescent electric lamp for commercial use. Later the Keefers send the paper to Edison for verification and soon after that Harry was invited to visit the Edison laboratories.

When Mr. Keefer resumed teaching here in 1919, he organized the Thomas A. Edison Science Club, the first of it's kind in the world. The club was made up of boys eager to broaden their knowledge of sciences and willing to devote much time to this extra curricular activity. The membership never exceeded 15 and the meetings, devoted to experimentation and research, were held a the homes of different members.

Edison became and honorary member of the local club, and during an anniversary of the organization came to Sunbury and spent two and one-half hours with the boys. Similar organizations cropped up throughout the country." The article above goes on to list many of the Science Club members and the careers they went on to obtain.

(Same photo as above, but from a different paper, with a different caption)

March 14 1922

Read More:

https://susquehannavalley.blogspot.com/p/history.html

When Edison Came To Our Valley - Shamokin, Sunbury, Turbotville & Mount Carmel

Thomas Edison came to Shamokin in the fall of 1882 to begin construction of his Electric Illuminating Company. In the midst of that construction, he left Shamokin and went to Sunbury. There he had this [photo above] small central station built. Edison ran his new three wire electric technology from Vine street to Market Street. On July 3rd, the line was tested, and it failed. But on July 4th 1883, the very first electric 3 wire light was turned on at the City Hotel in Sunbury. [The City Hotel was destroyed in a fire in 1914, rebuilt, and in 1922 when Edison came back for Sunbury's Sesquicentennial, the City Hotel was renamed The Hotel Edison.]

The Lewisburg Journal, January 1900

Edison then returned to Shamokin, where the kitchen in the mansion of Katherine McConnel, one of the investors in Edison's company, was illuminated - the first home to have electricity in the Susquehanna Valley. For context, in 1925, more than 40 years later, still only less than half the homes in America had electricity.

An 1895 Photo Of Thomas Edison

Edison Comes To Shamokin Pa

According to the history of Shamokin Pa, In the fall of 1882, with the anthracite coal industry thriving in Pennsylvania, a group of investors in Shamokin contacted Thomas Edison to express their confidence in his new carbon filament lamp, and offered to finance construction of a power station in their hometown.

The Harrisburg Telegraph Nov 30 1882

Edison and his secretary arrived in Shamokin the fall of 1882, and with the investors, organized the "Edison Electrical Illuminated Company Of Shamokin". Edison then took up residence in Shamokin to supervise the construction of a brick power plant located "on a swampy piece of ground near the spur of the Pennsylvania railroad."

This contract between Edison & Shamokin can be found here.

https://www.gilderlehrman.org/collection/glc05971

Summary of Content:
Also signed by members of the Edison Electric Illuminating Co., William H. Dougherty, President; John Mullen, Treasurer; and William Beury, Secretary. Signed as a witness by A. Robertson. Agreement to electrify the town of Shamokin, Pennsylvania. Edison agrees to furnish the town with a central station plant and a system of pole lines for $19,209.

From Shamokin To Sunbury PA

Soon after his arrival in Shamokin, Edison also licensed an electric company with investors in nearby Sunbury. The Sunbury Company, using the City Hotel (the present day Hotel Edison) as their base of operations, built a coal-fired power plant on the vacant lot at the corner of Vine and Fourth Streets, completing it in just three weeks time. On the evening of July 4 1883, a three wire line that was strung from the power plant to a 100 candle power light over the City Hotel entrance, was switched on by Edison. Local residents cheered and marches were played by a local brass band.

Located on the corner of Vine & 4th Streets, Edison's Sunbury Station was built in just three weeks time. Power ran from here to the City Hotel, where the first three wire electric light was first switched on on July 4 1883

"The Edison Electric Illuminating Company at Sunbury was incorporated on April 30, 1883. A lot 30 x 75 feet with a small house was secured at a cost of $300, and a small building about twenty-five square feet was erected. The labor and material used and electrical wiring installed cost $90, which at the time was considered "extravagant expenditure." After the three wires were strung between poles along Spring Run down as far as Woodlawn Avenue and then west to Fourth Street, they were then strung to the hotel. A first test was made on July 3, 1883, but this failed due to the improperly lubricated babbit bearings in the dynamo. However, after repairs were made the following night, Edison flipped the switch to a 100-candle power light over the hotel entrance. The current was turned on and the tests were successful. On July 4, 1883, the City Hotel was illuminated, making it the first building in the city, and the world, to be lighted using incandescent carbon-filament light bulbs, very much like those used today. Edison supervised the operations at the Sunbury plant periodically for one year. His longest stay in town after the start of the July 4th operations was about three weeks." https://pabook.libraries.psu.edu/literary-cultural-heritage-map-pa/feature-articles/edison-hotel-bright-and-colorful-history

Sunbury Pa

Four of Edison's original electrical poles can be seen on the right, in this photo.

Frank Neff, in this 1958 newspaper article, recalls that the lighting almost failed again, due to crossed wires, on July 4th - but the problem was quickly resolved.

Back To Shamokin

Saint Edwards Catholic Church, Shamokin Pa

The First Church to Have Electricity

(The original building was lost in a 1971 fire)

In September of 1883, Edison was back in Shamokin. One of his investors was Katherine McConnell, and she had consented to have the kitchen of her mansion on East Independence Street in Shamokin wired. Although an enthusiastic supporter of Edison's work, she still feared fire and insisted the wiring only be in the kitchen, and that it run on the surface of the wall. On September 22, Edison lead a crowd through Shamokin to see the light first turned on in Kitty McConnells kitchen, then on to Abe Strouse's store on the corner of Rock and Sunbury Streets to turn the light on there, before walking on to Shamokin Street, to turn on the lights in the first church in the world to have electricity, Saint Edwards Catholic Church.

"Shamokin was the site of the second three-wire electric light station in the world in 1883 (Sunbury, Pennsylvania, was the first). Edison's plant, for those of you visiting Shamokin, is now the site of Jones Hardware on Independence Street. St. Edward's Church (built in 1873) became the first church in the America to be lit by electricity." http://www.shamokincity.org/history.htm

Expanding to Other Coal Towns

Notices like this appeared in papers all over PA in 1883

From there, working with P.B. Shaw of Williamsport, Edison quickly licensed electric companies with other Pennsylvania towns near Anthracite fields. These included Mount Carmel, Ashland, Catasauqua (a suburb of Allentown), Harrisburg, Tamaqua, Hazelton, Lancaster, Pottsville, Easton, Williamsport and Bellfonte. We know that he visited Turbotville in the fall of 1883 with his display, but according to historian Rick Wolf, Edison "arrived during harvest season, when everyone in the area was too busy to come see his display."

Which Was The First Home With Electricity?

An article in the Daily Item in 1938 states "some historians claim the first private residence in the world to be wired for electrical lighting was that of the late Doctor R. W. Montelius in the borough of Mount Carmel." The history of Shamokin makes a similar claim, on the house of Kitty McConnell. However, both claims may be accurate, as McConnels home only had a light added in one room, the kitchen, and the Montelius home was lit throughout.

The same article tells us that the first home wired in Sunbury was the home of Mrs. William L. Dewart. The home had electric lights suspended in each room from the ceilings, with switches only at the lights. As Mrs. Dewart was not tall enough to reach the light switches without standing on a chair, Sidney Bateman, and employee of the Edison plant, devised a rude wall switch to enable her to turn the lights on and off easily. Later, this idea of wall switches was improved on by Edison.

Edison Visits Turbotville PA

Frank E. Billhyme, a new resident of Turbotville, wrote the following account of visit to Turbotville:

"On an October evening in 1883, Thomas A. Edison and his assistants gave a demonstration of the electric light. The equipment consisted of a steam engine, a generator, and some long stakes driven into the ground to support the wires carrying the current to the light. The demonstration had not been generally advertised, so that only a few people were present. The next morning the inventor and his equipment left for a what we later learned was a town called Sunbury."
3+

According to an article in the Turbotville Centennial booklet, Edison was attempting to create an interest in the new technology he had installed in Sunbury earlier that year, and he performed similar demonstrations in Milton, Lewisburg, and Northumberland Pa.

Electricity did not come to Turbotville until 1914.

"Very few industrialists saw merit in electricity. The big money was in railroads, factories, mining, etc. So Edison set out to promote his idea of small electric generators for towns. He was world-famous when he arrived in Turbotville but made one mistake-he arrived during harvest season and everybody was too busy to come see his display. "

- Local historian Rick Wolf, the owner of Watsontown Glass. Wolf makes a local history themed Christmas ornament each year, one of which commemorated Edison's visit to our area.

The Central Susquehanna Valley Pioneered the Use Of This Type Of Electricity, And This Type Of Billing For Electricity

Sunbury and Shamokin were not the first towns to have electrical lighting, but they were the first to have this type of lighting - a three wire commercial direct current incandescent lighting system. They were the first to string wires above their streets, and they were the first to generate electric using coal.

Sunbury's electrical system was also the first to use electro-chemical metering. Until then, electricity providers charged a flat rate fee. With the new system, customers were charged based on the exact amount of electricity they used.

The Sunbury Weekly News

July 6 1883

In the fall of 1883, Mount Carmel became the "First Isolated electrical plant in the world".

On November 17, 1883, the Edison Electric Illuminating Company of Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania was founded. This was the first isolated electrical plant in the world, meaning that the entirety of Mount Carmel was powered by electricity. 38 arc lamps and 50 incandescent light bulbs were erected in the downtown business district..
http://www.bfchistory.org/mtcarmel.htm

The War Of The Currents
Edison's electric system had it's limits. Power stations needed to be situated in the population centers, and electricity could only run a mile from the station. The AC electric, or Arc Lighting, that was being used in many larger cities was sometimes dangerous, mostly due to slipshod installations. For several years there was a "War Of The Currents", with Edison's electric

Edisons electric was direct current, DC, as opposed to Alternating Current (AC) which was also being used at this time. In 1886, George Westinghouse's company transformed AC systems, using transformers, so that it too could be be used for indoor lighting. A "War Of The Currents" ensued. Pole mounted high voltage AC lines caused several fatalities, and a Harold Brown, a New York engineer, staged horrific demonstrations of the risk of AC systems, killing live animals in his demonstrations. Brown and Edison's company colluded with Thomas-Houstan electric company to assure the first electric chair was powered by a Westinghouse AC generator, adding to the poor perception of the safety of AC Current.

But by the early 1890's the War Of The Currents was winding down. Safety problems with AC lines were fixed, and electric companies began to merge. Edison's company merged with Thomas-Houstan, forming General Electric in 1892. General Electric and Westinghouse together won the contract to build the Niagra Falls Hyroelectric Project.

DC commercial power distribution declined rapidly in the 20th century, with Alternating Current (AC) winning the battle. The last DC system however, was not shut down until 2007, in New York City.

News Coverage Of Edison's Sunbury Light
The Sunbury weekly news ran a 3 sentence statement about the lighting, noting that Thomas Edison was in attendance. The Lewisburg Chronicle included it as a footnote a the bottom of an article about the Sunbury Regatta. Only the Sun Gazette appears to have written at length about Edison's visit.

2019

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Thursday, October 24, 2019

The Last Treaty Of Fort Stanwix, Signed October 23 1784

The 1784 Treaty Of Fort Stanwix

Sometimes my posts here are stories and research I find interesting. Other times, they are just research to help me gain context for the stories. This post is the latter. There's a story here, I am just not yet equipped to tell it. Rather than leave this in my drafts folder, I will publish the post so that other researchers can find the information all in one place, and those more knowledgeable than I can comment.

Signed in the wake of America’s victory in the Revolutionary War, this treaty punished four of the six Iroquois Nations for supporting the British. Viewing the Seneca, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Mohawk as conquered enemies, U.S. treaty commissioners Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee dictated harsh terms, even holding six Iroquois delegates hostage after the proceedings concluded at Fort Stanwix, near present-day Rome, New York. In exchange for peace and trade goods, the Iroquois were ordered to return all prisoners of war and to give up their claims to lands in Pennsylvania, Ohio, and western New York.

Iroquois leaders quickly disavowed the 1784 treaty, claiming they had been forced to sign it. Under the Treaty of Canandaigua in 1794, the Six Nations regained some 1,600 square miles of the land they had relinquished 10 years earlier

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The last treaty with the Indians held at Fort Stanwix October 1784 was a very important one.

Since the year 1768 the northwestern boundary of Indian purchases in the State ran from:

the Susquehanna on the New York line to Towanda Creek
thence to the head of Pine Creek thence to its mouth and up the Branch to its source
thence over to Kittanning and down the Ohio to the west line of the State

The principal feature of this last treaty was in relation to the boundary line embraced by Tiadaghton Pine Creek.

It had been contended by the that Lycoming Creek was the true line but the whites claimed that it was Tiadaghton

This dispute had given rise to much contention out of which grew the Fair Play system.

Settlers in the territory lying between Lycoming and Pine creeks were recognized by the Proprietary Government and therefore were compelled to shift for themselves Burnett s Hills, so frequently alluded to were called by the Indians the Long Mountains and they knew them by no other name.

At this treaty a purchase was made of the residue of the Indian lands within the limits of Pennsylvania and the deed was signed by the chiefs of the Six Nations October 23 1784

The boundaries were carefully noted in the deed

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"We are the only persons adequate to treat of, and conclude a peace, not only on the part of the Six Nations, but also on that of the Ottawas, Chippiwas, Hurons, Potowatamas, Messasagas, Miamis, Delawares, Cherokees, Chicasas, Coctas, and Creeks, and establish peace in the name of them all. Whatever Conclusion is made at this treaty will be strong, and whatever passes will be communicated throughout the various tribes."
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This belt was presented by the Six Nations at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix on October 22, 1784. It shows six diagonal purple bars, and two vertical bars woven on a white background. It is strung with buckskin thongs. This belt recorded the peace “between the Hodinöhsön:ni´ and obtain a cession of certain Hodinöhsön:ni´ territory, as recognized in former treaties. The United States informed New York Governor, George Clinton, that it had appointed two commissioners to negotiate treaties with the Indians. It asked Clinton to provide the necessary armed forces to protect the commissioners during the negotiations. Clinton replied to the commissioners, in part: “I shall have no objections to your improving this incident to the advantage of the untied States, expecting, however, and positively stipulating that no agreement be entered into with the Indians residing with the jurisdiction of this State, (an with whom only I mean to treat) prejudicial to its rights.”

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Fort Stanwix is a National Park

https://www.nps.gov/fost/learn/historyculture/1768-boundary-line-treaty.htm

Signed one year after the end of the War of Independence, the 1784 Treaty of Fort Stanwix was one of the first treaties between the newly independent U.S. and a Native nation. It punished four of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Six Nations—the Senecas, Onondagas, Cayugas and Mohawks—for supporting the British during the American Revolution and required them to give up tribal territories in western New York and the Ohio Valley. And although the treaty recognized the land rights of the Oneidas and Tuscaroras, who had allied themselves with the Americans during the war, New York state soon pressured these two nations into ceding their treaty-guaranteed homelands.

On loan from the National Archives, the treaty will be on view in the exhibition “Nation to Nation: Treaties Between the United States and American Indian Nations” though early 2020. Media are invited to an open house with Kevin Gover, director of the National Museum of the American Indian, and representatives of the Iroquois (Haudenosaunee) Six Nations Oct. 17 at
9 a.m.

New York state officials, led by Gov. George Clinton, attempted to negotiate a separate treaty with the Haudenosaunee before the U.S. treaty commissioners arrived at Fort Stanwix, which is located near present-day Rome, New York. The officials hoped to assert New York’s authority over Indian affairs within its borders and pre-empt the federal government, which claimed the sole right to negotiate treaties with Indian nations. Iroquois leaders, however, would not consider any proposals from the state until they had met with the Congressional treaty representatives.

The U.S. sent three treaty commissioners to the Fort Stanwix treaty council—Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler and Arthur Lee—along with 100 armed militiamen. Also attending the council were approximately 613 Iroquois, including tribal leaders such as Captain Aaron Hill (Mohawk) and Cornplanter (Seneca).

When the treaty council began Oct. 12, 1784, the American treaty commissioners presented the Iroquois with tough terms: To have peace, they would have to recognize that the U.S. had a legitimate claim to sovereignty over Indian lands, return all prisoners of war and agree to land cessions.

The Iroquois were insulted and refused to accept the demands, a posture that angered U.S. treaty officials who considered the Iroquois a “conquered people.” Rejecting all Iroquois counterproposals, the Americans outlined the conditions under which the nations would “be received into the peace and protection of the United States”: the U.S. would retain six Iroquois hostages, to be held until all American prisoners were returned; the Oneidas and Tuscaroras would be secured in the possession of their lands; the Iroquois would cede lands to the U.S.; and trade goods would be distributed to the Iroquois upon signing the treaty.

With limited bargaining power, Iroquois leaders had little alternative but to sign the Fort Stanwix Treaty Oct. 22, 1784, exactly as it was presented to them.

The Iroquois continued to protest the treaty’s legitimacy—opposition that continued until the 1794 Treaty of Canandaigua, which returned to the Seneca territory ceded in the 1784 treaty. Yet Iroquois territory would never be safe. In 1783, Iroquois lands encompassed half of New York state; by the 1840s, New York state had stripped the Iroquois of most of their lands through illegal treaties.

Displaying original treaties in “Nation to Nation” is made possible by the National Archives, an exhibition partner. Several of the treaties received extensive conservation treatment by the National Archives’ conservator prior to loan. There are a total of over 370 ratified Indian treaties in the National Archives. For more information about these treaties, see https://www.archives.gov/research/native-americans/treaties.

Valley Girl Views

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Saturday, October 26, 2019

When Edison Came to Danville

How A Motor From A Sunbury High School Classroom Came To Be Exhibited In The Smithsonian

When Edison Came To Our Valley - Shamokin, Sunbury, Turbotville & Mount Carmel

Thursday, October 24, 2019

The Last Treaty Of Fort Stanwix, Signed October 23 1784

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