Wyoming Valley
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A lesser-known Wyoming Valley exists in western New York in Wyoming County, where the valley of Oatka Creek is commonly known as the Wyoming Valley and includes the villages of Wyoming and Warsaw.
Wyoming Valley is a region of northeastern Pennsylvania. The valley is a crescent-shaped depression, a part of the ridge-and-valley or folded Appalachians. The valley includes the metropolitan areas of Scranton, Pennsylvania and Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The Susquehanna River interestingly does not occupy the entire valley, but drops into it from the Allegheny Plateau on the northwest, then turns 90 degrees and flows southwesterly through about half the valley, then turning southeast and exiting (before reaching the end of the valley) through a water gap in a mountain ridge.
About half the valley (the southwestern end) is notable for its deposits of anthracite which have been extensively mined. Deep mining has declined, however, following the Knox Mine Disaster when the roof of a mine under the river collapsed and the Susquehanna flowed into the mine, flooding it and drowning miners.
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[edit] History
Pennsylvania and Connecticut's conflicting claims to the territory in the 18th century led to military skirmishes known as the Pennamite Wars. The conflict arose from the fact that King Charles II of England had granted the land to Connecticut in 1663, and also to William Penn in 1681. Yankee settlers from Connecticut arrived in the area and founded the town of Wilkes-Barre in 1769. Armed bands of Pennsylvanians (Pennamites) tried without success to expel them in 1769-70, and again in 1775.
During the American Revolution the area was the site of the Wyoming Valley Massacre on July 3, 1778, in which more than three hundred Americans died at the hands of Loyalist and Iroquois raiders. The incident was famously depicted by the Scottish poet Thomas Campbell in his 1809 poem Gertrude of Wyoming. At the time, it was widely believed that the attack was led by Joseph Brant; in the poem, Brant is described as the "Monster Brant" because of the atrocities committed, although it was later determined that Brant had not actually been present. The popularity of the poem may have led to the state of Wyoming being named after the valley.
Another theory holds that the territory which would come to be known as 'Wyoming' was founded by emigrants from Pennsylvannia's Wyoming Valley.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- Connecticut's "Susquehannah Settlers"
- History of the Wilkes-Barre area
- Sullivanclinton.com - the full historical context
- Sullivanclinton.com - Wyoming Valley today
[edit] References
The following printed resources are in the collection of the Connecticut State Library (CSL)
- Boyd, J. P. The Susquehannah Company, 1753-1803. [CSL call number: F157 .W9 B69 1931]
- Henry, William (ed.). Documents Relating to the Connecticut Settlement in the Wyoming Valley. Bowie, MD: Heritage Books, Inc., 1990 [CSL call number: F157 .W9 D63 1990 v1, 2].
- Joyce, Mary Hinchcliffe. Pioneer Days in the Wyoming Valley. Philadelphia: 1928 [CSL call number: F157 .W9 J89].
- Smith, William. An Examination of the Connecticut Claim to Lands in Pennsylvania: With an Appendix, Containing Extracts and Copies Taken from Original Papers. Philadelphia: Joseph Crukshank, 1774 [CSL call number: Wells Collection F157 .W9 S55].
- Stark, S. Judson. The Wyoming Valley: Probate Records... Wilkes-Barre, PA: Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, 1923 [CSL call number: F157 .W9 S72].
- Warfle, Richard Thomas. Connecticut's Western Colony; the Susquehannah Affair. (Connecticut Bicentennial Series, #32). Hartford, CT: American Revolutionary Bicentennial Commission of Connecticut, 1979 [CSL call number: Conn Doc Am35 cb num 32].
- Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. Wilkes-Barre (the "Diamond City"), Luzerne County, Pennsylvania. Wilkes-Barre, PA: The Committee on Souvenir and Program, 1906 [CSL call number: F159 .W6 W65 1906].
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