As early as 1731 traders had left written records of the Shawnee Indian village of Ohesson, ruled over by Chief Kishacoquillas in an area that is now Lewistown, Mifflin County. The Scotch-Irish, who first settled in the area, were undaunted by the burning of Fort Granville in August of 1754, and returned to establish new communities.
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In 1771, the Susquehanna River was declared a public highway by the provincial assembly, and a sum of money appropriated to render it navigable. But a fateful steamboat explosion near Berwick in May of 1826, ended efforts to navigate its shallow currents and rapids.
Eking out a living on the Pennsylvania frontier in northern Pennsylvania was both arduous and dangerous. Treat Shoemaker was part of a large family that settled in Bradford County in the early 1820's. Escaping a stalking panther is a story retold in a Towanda newspaper in 1902.
