30 August: At six o’clock, while it was still cool, we continued our journey through the wooded mountain range. Our host’s brother, John Wright, lived 3 miles from here in a wild little valley in a large wilderness. We wanted to go there to have breakfast. We crossed over the Wapwallopen on a plank bridge and went deeply into the forest, which had been ruined by fire and now reveals only underwood of native forest trees with occasional taller trunks of pines and deciduous trees. The dew had thoroughly moistened the plants, and the coolness was pleasant. Frogs and toads were all moving about. We caught three tiger frogs (Rana halecina) and also some common toads, mostly young ones, a few of which were put into the vascula, from which some of them later escaped in our carriage, where they hopped about with large leaps. No other live animals appeared, except for the red-eyed finch (Fringilla erythrophthalma), the black-capped chickadee (Parus atricapillus), and several flycatchers and woodpeckers.

After we had pursued our course gently uphill and downhill through the thicket for a good hour, we met several men who, their shotguns or rifles over their shoulders, were leaving with their dogs to go haying. Whenever these forest-dwellers go to work in the forest, they always take their hunting gear along, because the opportunity for shooting a large animal often arises. They have powerful dogs, which resemble our German bloodhounds or hunting dogs: brown, black with red markings or wolflike stripes, with the shape of slender mastiffs, sometimes, though seldom, with cropped ears. One finds dogs like these on all the farmsteads here, and they are often very useful in hunting animals, because they are trained just for hunting big game, especially bear.

Scarcely had the men left us when we reached John Wright's house,M32An isolated inn in Hanover Township. where we immediately stopped to eat breakfast. His wife was at home alone with their small boy. She made us excellent coffee and breakfast. In this remote area everything [Page 1:82] was very clean and neat. Through conversation with her, we learned that she was of German descent and born in Tamaqua.M33Tamaqua is part of the coal region and is situated at the end of the Little Schuylkill Valley, not far from Tuscarora. Agriculture has been neglected in this region because of the discovery of coal, and thousands suffered misfortune from unsound speculation. She lives in a rather roomy log house, where there were a fireplace and an iron stove, yet she said it is sometimes very cold in the house during winter, since it was still not finished properly on the inside, something which was still to be done. In quite a few homes in these mountains, we found two iron stoves.

From these isolated dwellings of Hanover Township, we reached the Nescopeck Valley, 11 miles distant from our overnight quarters, in five hours. The approach to this valley is a poor, partly stony, seldom traveled road that leads gradually up and down through dense, mostly ruined forest, exactly in the manner described earlier.M34There were several small plank bridges over small runs, and some were very dilapidated and dangerous for the horses. In several places [the forest] is denser, in others the mountain walls have been somewhat cleared and are overgrown with nothing but shoots and individual, rather tall trees. Small streams (runs) flow in the gorges and valleys. We did not encounter human beings or habitations. We looked for animals but caught sight of only a few birds and several frogs. Gerardia quercifolia and pedicularia grew here abundantly, as did the forest plants common to the area. Several varieties of Rhus, Vaccinium,M35[Also] Rhodora canadensis. etc., the latter with their berries fruits. Since we could travel only slowly in these wooded mountains, the journey in this monotonous region lacked variety and was boring.

We finally descended into the Nescopeck Valley and found ourselves at the mill of the miller Bug, who was of German descent. Here we were refreshed with milk and brandy. Nescopeck Creek, which is powerful and drives the mills, flows through this beautiful wooded valley. This region is part of Sugarloaf Township. We watered the horses and conversed somewhat with the miller. Then we traveled straight across the valley, over the bridge of the creek and, on the other side, up a wooded mountain, where, up on the top, we reached an inn that is 18 miles from Wilkes-Barre. From there one crosses a gentle valley and Little Nescopeck Creek, surrounded by tall forest trees, and later Little Black Creek. Then one climbs a tall mountain wall, along which the road runs at an angle through beautiful woods where oaks, chestnuts, hornbeams, beeches, and birches form a dense thicket.

In the gentle valley on the other side, one reaches a sawmill on Black Creek, which, because of its strong current, is called Big Black Creek, to distinguish it from the previous one. Near this mill the stream forms a pond in which numerous dead trees remained standing upright: a strange sight. The region is rather wooded, except for some fields near the dwellings. Buckwheat was blooming. The high mountain we had passed bears the name Bocksberg. German is spoken everywhere here. From the sawmill the road leads through a dense understory of scrub oak (Quercus banisteri), in which there are individual tall trunks. In this way one soon reaches the highway (turnpike road), which our road joined at a right angle. It leads from Berwick in the Susquehanna Valley to Mauch Chunk and is traveled daily by two stages.

Scarcely a quarter of an hourM36Through the woods, which are called Hazle Swamp. [later] we found ourselves at the inn of a certain Anders, likewise of German descent. Here, too, there is a sawmill. Here we had lunch and the horses received fodder. It was here that someone recently owned a live young bear, which had been sold to a traveler only a short time ago. We had [Page 1:83] hoped in vain to find it still [there]. The innkeeper had caught the old bear in an iron trap and then, on three successive days, had caught the she-bear’s three cubs. The man also owned a female white-tailed deer but could not show us this doe, since it was kept distant. The skull of the old she-bear was sought in vain.

From here the road leads straight through dense woodland, passes the so-called Pismire Hill (Ant Hill). Farther on we noticed, too late, a beautiful rattlesnake lying in the middle of the road, but too late since one of our wagon wheels had already crushed its head. It had, to be sure, already been killed but still would have provided an interesting head for our collections, if our wheel had not accidentally destroyed just this part of it. Dr. Saynisch placed the snake in a natural position, coiled up on the side of the road. Now it could certainly fool a passerby, and presumably it has been killed again. After we had passed a dwelling, we reached a swampy region, overgrown with shrubs, which bears the name Beaver Meadow; Beaver Creek traverses it. Once there were probably many beavers in this region; the locality seemed perfectly suited for this kind of animal, which has long since been exterminated, just like the primitive indigenous people of these regions. There presently follows a sizable elevation of the so-called Spring Mountain, which we passed and then continued down again, always through dense forest in which, along the edges of the road, we noticed samples of the graywacke formation, on which we now found ourselves.

As soon as one has descended from the Spring Mountain, one enters an extensive, gentle wooded valley that contains dark forest not only on its sides but also on its floor; it has been somewhat cleared only around the dwellings. In the center, directly before us, about seven buildings, joined to form one broad street, make up the village of Lausanne, below which Quakake Creek flows downward a few hundred 500 to 600 paces away. The first building of the town was an inn and store that was owned by a very intelligent Jew. Here one found newspapers. But the geographers seem to have made a mistake, for one searches in vain for Lac de Léman.

After a short stay we traveled down the gradual slope, through the town, and soon crossed Quakake Creek and immediately ascended the Breiten Berg (Broad Mountain), the highest and most continuous of the area’s mountains. The road leads at an angle upward, and one must climb for a long time. Beautiful trees and shrubs all around make up the dense, mostly ruined forest. Having arrived at the top, the road continues on the ridge of the mountain until one again descends to just as great a depth into the Nesquehoning Valley. While ascending Broad Mountain, one has a remarkably interesting view backwards of the wild, extensive wooded valley of Lausanne. Everywhere the extensive, gently trough-shaped valley, enclosed by high walls, has woods on its elevations as well as in its depths; in the total dark-green cover, little Lausanne is scarcely noticeable. On Broad Mountain one again comes upon the conglomerate formation, proof that the coal deposits are already near.

On the slope that we followed down the mountain, we met several carriages and a stage, drawn, as always, by four horses that were bathed in sweat because of the intense heat and the height of the mountain. These stages always travel very fast and do not spare their horses. The forest on the mountain slope is denser and more beautiful than on the top; the beautiful oaks, chestnuts, and the like grow very luxuriantly here. Individual farmers have settled along the road; among them there is an Irishman who was accused of manslaughter and arrested but set free again.

The Nesquehoning Valley, into which we descend, is broad, surrounded by very high, long mountain walls and covered with dark forests everywhere on the floor of the valley, except for small cultivated patches. On the right, or southwestrn, [Page 1:84] wall, a railroad descends from one of the collieries of the Mauch Chunk Company, 4 1/2 miles distant, into the valley of the Lecha and then turns to the right, toward Mauch Chunk. It comes from Rumrun Creek, where the colliery is located. This view of the valley is very picturesque; on the other side a series of wagons with horses were descending on the railroad. As one approaches the floor and end of the valley, one passes the Nesquehoning near a sawmill and looks now into the turns left into the picturesque Lecha (Lehigh) Valley, into which the Nesquehoning empties. The Lecha emerges on the left from an extremely wild, deep mountain valley with dark forests; one might call it a recess, since high mountains densely overgrown with lofty forests completely conceal its entrance. One sees the surface gleaming, hidden beneath tall picturesque oaks, beeches, and chestnuts; this view is one of the most attractive wild forest scenes in Pennsylvania.

In the Lecha Valley we turn to the right down along the river and follow a pleasant road on the bank beneath tall timber. To the right is the high mountain wall, along which the railroad continues, and along the road below, individual dwellings, among which are several taverns. After a quarter of an hour, one reaches the town Mauch Chunk on the Lecha, built right on the bank between tall, partly bare, rocky and wooded mountains. Here are the well-known anthracite collieries, and all the buildings of the town belong almost exclusively and only to the company that has these mines worked. The entire Lecha is filled with small rafts and boats, all of them intended for the use of the colliery. On the bank one sees large supplies of beams, boards, etc., all of it material for the mines. Buildings of various kinds, such as warehouses, stores, stables, an inn, and the like, have been erected here. Barges are being built here to carry away the coal on the Mauch Chunk Canal, which begins directly here near the town and also flows past Bethlehem. The river is filled with them. In short, the production of coal brings to this hidden, lonely, wild nook of the wild valley an interesting, noteworthy activity that provides a most interesting drama for travelers. It was already dark when we arrived in the town. We rode below the end building of the railroad, through a tall arch, and took lodging at the inn, which the coal company had also had built.