point between Middletown and Northumberland. If the project to build it on the west side of the river had been carried out some point below Harrisburg must have been selected; or if above, Perry or Snyder counties would now be enjoying the honor of having the great city. Last Great Attempt at Navigation. Among the last great meetings-if not the very last-to consider plans for making the Susquehanna navigable be low Wrightsville, was held in Harrisburg August 12, 1795. Representatives from Lancaster, York, Dauphin, Cumberland, Mifflin, Huntingdon and Northumberland Counties in Pennsylvania and Cecil and Harford Counties in Maryland, were present. Ephraim Blaine was made chairman of the meeting, and issued a circular in the form of an appeal to the people to subscribe money to aid in carrying out the proposed improvement. Considerable money was raised and spent at one time or another, but after the lapse of a century the Susquehann still remains unnavigable. In other words, the "crooked river" is still masser of the situation. Canals came and flourished for a time as great waterways, and then disappeared, but the rocks, falls and ripples of the river still remain. It now remains to be seen whether history will repeat itself during the next hundred years by the restoration of the canal system on a larger scale as a competitor with steam and electricity. One thing is certain, however, if something is not done soon by the legislature to prevent the increasing contamination of the water, the Susquehanna will become the great sewerage canal of Central Pennsylvania. With the destruction of the forests, the clearing of the land, the steady increase of population in cities, towns and hamlets along the shores, it requires no prophetic mind to tell what the result will be, unless science and restrictive laws shall devise something for the preservation of the purity of its waters. VALUABLE HISTORICAL PUBLICATION. Heretofore the historical publication issued by the Harrisburg Telegraph, styled "Notes and Queries," Dr. W. H. Egle, editor, has appeared quarterly, but announcement is now made that it will be issued in entire volumes rather than in parts. It is expected that these volumes will be issued twice a year, bound in cloth, at $3 per volume of about 250 pages. The Record has been favored with the last volume, which is accompanied by an index, though the average reader will wish the index were made a little more full by cross references. Several matters of interest in Luzerne County are given. The first is a document (p. 1), which the editor says throws some light on the "secret intrigues" of the people of Connecticut to possess themselves of Wyoming Valley. "Intrigues" is a pretty strong word, and "efforts" would probably have served every purpose, but let that pass. The document referred to is a deposition of William, Earl of Stirling, a major general in the U. S. Army, Dec. 19, 1782, in the matter of the land controversy between Pennsylvania and Connecticut. It was evidently intended for use by the Trenton commissioners. In the deposition the earl charges the Connecticut people with a dishonest deal in connection with the treaty of Albany in 1754. On page 95 in a biographical sketch of Lord Butler. A lengthy letter from Capt. Andrew Lee to Col. Timothy Pickering, from Wilkes-Barre, in 1807, is on page 109. It relates his revolutionary service and asks for an appointment in the army. An interesting article is given on page 189. It is an address and petition to the assembly of Pennsylvania in 1787, asking for a confirmation of titles to their Wyoming lands. It is signed by more than 100 settlers. Dr. Egle accompanies the document with this note: "It does not appear in the volume of archives devoted especially to the Connecticut controversy with Pennsylvania. It is a paper of real value, and we believe will be highly appreciated by the descendants of the original signers now residing in the County of Luzerne." On page 49 in a biographical sketch of Martha Espy Stewart, wife of Capt. Lazarus Stewart, who fell in the battle of Wyoming. Dr. Egle defends Capt. Stewart in strong words from the calumnies which have been heaped on his memory by Quaker historians. GRANDSON OF JOSEPH ELLIOTT. The only living grandson of Joseph Elliott, one of the few prisoners who escaped from Queen Esther's Rock after the massacre of Wyoming, is A. D. Elliott of Bradford County. He is 69 years of age and once visited the rock with his grandfather. 13. MUSIC-Three Quotations-"I, too, was born in Arcadia " Sousa Members of the Society. The only condition of membership is the annual payment of at least One Dollar. The following persons have paid from $1 to $10 for 1896 or 1897 or both: Abbott, Miss Lucy W., Wilkes-Barre Alexander, W. Murray, Wilkes-Barre Bennett, Mrs. Priscilla L., Wilkes-Barre Bennett, F. C., Pittston Beaumont, Col. & Mrs. E. B., Wilkes-Barre Boies, Col. and Mrs. H. M., Scranton Butler, Pierce, Carbondale Butler, Harry C., Carbondale *Bailey, Milton, Jamestown, N. Y. Bailey, Mr. and Mrs. W. F., Wilkes-Barre Beaver, Judge James A., Bellefonte Cooper, B. G., Pittston Conyngham, Mr. and Mrs. W. L., WilkesBarre Conyngham, W. H., Wilkes-Barre Conyngham, J. N., Wilkes-Barre Corss, Dr. F., Kingston Coons, Joseph D., Wilkes-Barre Dougherty, Col. C. Bow., Wilkes-Barre Davenport, Edwin, Plymouth Deitrick, Harry R., Wilkes-Barre Dorrance, Benj., Dorranceton Fancourt, Geo. E., Durranceton Flanagan, Geo. H., Wilkes-Barre Farnham, John D., Wilkes-Barre Gay, M. B., Wyoming Graeme, Mr. and Mrs. Thos., Wilkes-Barre Green, James D., Wyoming Gore, Dr. Joel R., Chicago Gorman, Mrs. Annette, Pittston Harrower, C. D. S., Wilkes-Barre Hayden, Rev. Horace Edwin, Wilkes-Barre Heath, Mrs. W. H., Scranton Hoyt, Abram G., Wilkes-Barre Hunt, Mr. and Mrs. C. P., Wilkes-Barre Hollenback, Mr. and Mrs. J. W., Wilkes Barre Johnson, Mrs. Grace D., Wilkes-Barre Kulp, Mr. and Mrs. Geo. B., Wilkes-Barre Lazarus, George, Wilkes-Barre Lees, Rush O., Plymouth Loveland, Miss Elizabeth S., Kingston Miner, Hon. Chas, A., Wilkes-Barre Miner, Col. Asher, Wilkes-Barre Miller, Mrs. Helen Reynolds, Wilkes-Barre Parsons, Mrs. Sarah C., Parsons Parsons, Mary M., Parsons Plumb, Henry B., Peely Pringle, N. G., Kingston Pfouts, Mrs. Mary F., Wilkes-Barre Pfouts, Miss Fannie L., Wilkes-Barre Phelps, Mr. and Mrs. F. A., Wilkes-Barre Parrish, Mrs. Charles, Wilkes-Barre Parrish, Miss Anna C., Wilkes-Barre Parrish, Miss E. M., Wilkes-Barre Parrish, Miss Kittie C., Wilkes-Barre Patterson, Roswell H., Scranton Ricketts, Jean, Wilkes-Barre Reynolds, Col. G. M., Wilkes-Barre Reynolds, Mrs. Stella D., Wilkes-Barre Rice, Judge and Mrs. C. E., Wilkes-Barre Ross, Mr. and Mrs. K. J., Pittston Schooley, J. J., Pittston Sharpe, Richard Jr., Wilkes-Barre Smith, Hon. John B., Forty Fort Shoemaker, Dr. L. I., Wilkes-Barre Stark, Mr. and Mrs. D. Scott, Jr., Plains Strong, Theodore, Pittston Stone, Mr. and Mrs. W. H., Binghamton Stites, Rev. W. Scott, Wyoming Stites, Mrs. W. S., Wyoming Stites, T. H. A., Wyoming *Sisson, A. Clark, La Plume Seesholtz, Mrs. Martha P., Catawissa Shotten, Thomas, Scranton Taylor, Dr. and Mrs. L. H., Wilkes-Barre Tubbs, Benj. R., Kingston Urquhart, Milbourne, Pittston VonStorch, T. C., Scranton Wright, Geo. R., Wilkes-Barre Wright, Major J. Ridgway, Wilkes-Barre Wright, Harrison, Wilkes-Barre Wood, John G., Wilkes-Barre Woodward, Mrs. Stanley, Wilkes-Barre Woodward, J. B., Wilkes-Barre Woodward, Mrs. J. B., Wilkes-Barre Wadhams, Ralph H., Wilkes-Barre Wilcox, William A., Scranton Wilcox, Mrs. Catherine Jenkins, Scranton Williams, C. M., Plains Williams, Mrs. Robert J., Scranton Welles, Rev. H. H., D. D., Kingston Welles, Mr. & Mrs. Edward, Wilkes-Barre Welles, Geo. H., Wyalusing Welles, Lincoln, Wyalusing Welles, Fisher, Wyalusing Welles, Miss Virginia, Wyalusing Welles, Jason II., Scranton Welles, H. H., Jr., Wilkes-Barre *Deceased. |