Trees of Harbor Creek

Erie County (PA) Genealogy

This article, written by Beth Simmons in 1999, has been submitted to the Erie County (PA) Genealogy Web site for use on the Harbor Creek Township page. It is not genealogy related in the strictest sense, but can be used as corollary material to help us understand how the early residents of the area lived. Please contact Beth directly if you have comments on the article.

TREES OF HARBOR CREEK

While researching the history of the roads in Harbor Creek using the Township Road Book, I noticed that the roads often went from this tree to that tree, described by species and by age. Saplings, stumps or dead trees often formed turning points in the roads measured in perches. A perch or rod equals 16.5 feet Seizing this as an opportunity to make a rough census of the virgin forest, I recorded all of the trees registered in the road book in Harbor Creek Township.

Listed in order of abundance, the count showed 15 beech (Fagus grandifolia), 7 Hemlock (Tsuga canadensis), 5 Chestnut (Castanea dentata), 5 Sugar [tree] (Maple)(Acer saccharum), 4 Black Oak (Quercus velutina), 3 Poplar (Populus sp.), 2 Birch (Betula sp.), 2 Ironwood (Ostrya virginica), 2 Walnut (Juglans nigra), 1 White Oak (Quercus alba), 1 Ash (Fraxinus sp.), 1 Elm (Ulmus americana), 1 White Walnut (Butternut)(Juglans cinerea), 1 Hickory (Carya ovata), and 1 Sycamore (Plantanus occidentalis). There were references to eleven dead trees and four stumps. These were generally identified to species so are included in the population count above.

There was a reference to James B. Wilson’s Orchard. This orchard would be along Buffalo Road, near the intersection of Davison Road. This tells us that as early as 1800, the settlers planted trees and cultivated fruit. Someone needs to find this old orchard, which would have been on the Davison farm, and core an apple tree or two!

What inferences can we make from this count? How can this count help us when dating houses, barns, and other buildings in the township? When and where did deforesting occur in the township? Where would the oldest stands of trees have survived?

Ecologists would call this forest a Beech/Hemlock/Maple hardwood forest because of the dominant trees. Today’s forest is described as a Beech/Maple community. Most of the early roads followed streams. The number of Hemlocks will be high because Hemlocks grow in secluded damp areas in the gorges and on the tops of some moraines. The Hemlocks are considered to be relic populations, left over from the ice age, because they don’t seem to be reproducing. Hemlock boards were commonly used for barn siding and fence boards. Other stream species include ironwood, elm, popular, white walnut, ash, and sycamore.

Beech is the dominant natural tree today growing on the moraines. The distinctive gray bark of a major stand lines the thruway near the Six-Mile Creek Bridge. Beech was not a favored building lumber tree, so may have survived the clear cutting.

The low count of Sugar Maples may surprise the present day inhabitants who can look out their windows and count two or three in their yard, alone. Sugar Maples were often planted, cultivated, pruned, and tapped for syrup. Since then, their winged seeds have spread throughout the region propagating by the thousands into sugar maples almost everywhere.

Black oaks and walnuts were used as early timbers. The first Chambers house was framed with black walnut. Black walnut is a valuable, very hard wood, prized by cabinetmakers and woodworkers. There are natural stands of it throughout the township today.

Sometimes what is NOT present in an inventory tells a better story than what is present. The American Chestnut is no longer in the township having been killed by blight in the 1930’s. The last chestnut tree I saw was on the moraine along the riding trail from Behrend to Tuttle’s, behind the Miller Farm on Station Road, within walking distance of the new historical society headquarter building. Someone needs to walk that area to see if it is still there. Bert Hofius came upon chestnut that had been used in building a chicken coop and created unique picture frames from the wood.! Chestnut must have been a common tree in the early days of the township.

There were no Cucumber trees (Magnolia acuminata) and no Yellow Poplar (Tulip)(Liriodendron tulipifera) .in the count. These two types of trees grow in the township today. The Tulip is a straight tall timber tree that grows in swampland areas. Perhaps early roads avoided such areas. Cucumber trees produce a greenish, lightweight but strong wood that was used for barn beams. Because it resists rot, carpenters often used cucumber for clapboards. Early houses would not have had siding of cucumber if it had to be imported from points to the south, east, or west. The wooden siding on the house and barn beams at Evan-Acres and at Knippers are cucumber wood. Cucumber wood was used by W. Lewis for log pumps at "East Mill Creek" in 1844. The pumps were shipped to the south before the Civil War. According to Miller, the "cucumber timber" was exhausted by 1884. So probably the cucumbers lived in Harbor Creek, but not along the roadways! A tree of the lower canopy, Basswood (Tilia americana) is missing from the list. Basswood is common in overgrown fence rows and forest hedges; perhaps it is a secondary species which has come into these ecotonal areas since clearing occurred.

Most early sawmills used waterpower at waterfalls in the streams to power the saws. Four-Mile Creek had dams and flumes from the mouth all the way to Kane Hill before the 1840’s. On Six-Mile mills lined the stream from the waterfalls at Cowell’s Beach to Factory Gulf and Boscobell. There were mills along Seven-Mile (Elliott’s Run) south to Cass’s Corners where Davison Road crosses that creek. Along Twelve-Mile Creek, mills were abundant south to Moorheadville.

Chances are most of the lumbering occurred along the banks of the streams, where logs could be slid down to the mill by horses or oxen. Today’s researcher probably would not find any virgin growth in the gorges, although those are the "wildest" regions of today’s township.

Long constant, conservationist ownership will provide the most protected woodlots in the township. Such is the case at Cowell’s Beach. Another may be the forest at Behrend Center, which borders the northeast slope of Four-Mile Creek. The ‘back" road, which is now a hiking and riding trail from the top of the gorge down through the beautiful woods to the bottom of Cooper Road, was originally a logging road. Remains of mills can be found in the bottom of the gorge, so perhaps that is all second growth. Even the Rees farm (Raeder’s farm) has been logged, in some areas, twice.

Where might there be virgin timber in Harbor Creek? Dick Cowell told me that there are virgin trees on his property. Other places to look might be in the early cemeteries, like Gospel Hill and Clark’s Cemeteries. Because swamp trees are not usually good for timbering, they might have survived the woodsman’s ax. Two swamps, which are described in the road book and still survive today, are on the west side of Hannon Road north of the golf course and the wetlands between routes 5 and 20 on Troupe and Walbridge Roads. Another swamp worth investigating would be the wetlands east of the High School.

My initial simple inventory of trees obviously needs expansion. Reviewing the road book for accuracy, reading old deeds, mapping the timbering patterns in the township, and studying the development of Hammermill and old lumber purchase records would provide more details about the original forest of Harbor Creek Township. It would be fun to measure the roads and search for the named, old trees. It might be interesting to compare this tree count to others throughout the county. A modern census of woodlots in the township would contribute information about the present population and any introduced species. A tree ring study of trees in Harbor Creek would be of historical significance and would verify climate changes over the 200 years since settlement.

The place to start any of this research is the Township Road Book, which records all official changes to roads in the township and sometimes across the county. To know more about our ancestors "read the trees". Pay attention to the forest. It tells a history of settlement, climate, and natural resource development. Even more importantly, it tells the current condition of the environment in Harbor Creek Township.

In Township Road book, 1914 – Along Buffalo Road –east and back from Parker crossing East of OLD Catholic Boy’s Home 8 old apple trees, 2 pear trees. H. Bartlett’s barn, 5 pear trees, 4 old apple trees BIG dwelling, Gray, barn. Tracy Heirs – dwelling 1barn , 7 old apple trees. (High School ball field) – Depot Road called Clough Road – split the Tracy property. This is the proposal for the subway….

But that means – look along Buffalo Road from Boyd’s east to the Log Cabin for old fruit trees. They were old in 1914 which means they would probably date back into the early 1800’s.

[Change History: Originally posted early 2001; updated 12/05/2001; contact email updated 10/4/03]

This page was last updated on Saturday, October 4, 2003 .

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