"Back at the Gap" BACK AT THE GAP Major General Frank H. Smoker, Jr. (USAF, Retired) Precious stones remain mystery This is the third of a series of articles about Fort Indiantown Gap, sponsored by the Military Affairs Committee of the Lebanon County Chamber of Commerce, in cooperation with the editorial staff of the Lebanon Daily News as a public information series. Continuing the history, I’ll start with the period during the mid-1700’s, when Dutter Mill was erected near the place where Indiantown Creek crosses the road which is parallel to Blue Mountain. This mill was located just west of what is now the West End Fire Station on Clement Avenue. An interesting fact is that the first temporary water supply for the first camp of the field artillery in the 1930’s was taken from the mill race established many years before. Also, the original house still stands and is identified as Quarters 18. The Lenape always had an abundant supply of corn which they raised. The women would cure it in the sun and then bury it in the ground in large earthen bowls or jars, where they could remove it as they would need it. They ground this corn with a stone pestle and mortar. As this mill was being established during the early colonial days, the Indians watched the construction of the mill, dam, and race, and then with greater astonishment, the mechanism for grinding the grain. They went back to their village and told their people how the white man ground corn. The Indians wondered how they could get the white man to grind their corn. They wanted him to do it and they wanted to pay him for his work. At last an idea struck one of the older Indian men. He knew of a precious stone found in the mountain. Tradition says the place was back of Beelzebub which was a log cabin village west of the mill. The Indians secured some of the stones and took them to the mill with some corn which they wanted the miller to grind. After the corn was ground they gave the miller the stones as his pay. The miller, thinking them ordinary stones, chucked them into a corner. The Indians repeated their trips to the mill with corn to grind and stones which the miller considered to be worthless as pay. When the miller failed to pay his rent, the owner came up from Philadelphia. On entering the mill, he saw the heap of stones and asked the miller what he wanted with those shapeless, worthless things. He stated that they were given to him by the Indians for grinding their corn. This aroused the Philadelphian's interest and he picked up several of the stones, examined them and found them full of sparkling specks, and placed a few of them in a small sack and took them to Philadelphia where he had them assayed and found them rich in gold. The owner at once came back to the mill, cancelled the back rent bill and asked the miller if he would accept a deed for the property for the remainder of the stones. The miller took the deed and on it may be found in writing "received stones as pay." These Lenape Indians were friends of the white man. Before they left their beloved homes they asked their white friends to go along to the mountain, at which time they would show them where they found the precious stones and then their families would not have to work thereafter. The Indians wished to blindfold the white men but the white men would not submit to this and the place from which the stones were obtained has never since been found. I found this story during my research in the writings of Mr. Nevin W. Moyer, a history teacher to whom I referred in my previous column. While I cannot attest to its authenticity, this story makes interesting reading! Perhaps it helps explain the name Goldmine, a village that once lay just north of what is now the Gap. The village is gone, but Goldmine Road still exists. One could ponder, “Is there really gold in them there hills Back at the Gap?” In the early 1700’s, Blue Mountain, part of the Appalachian chain, served as a boundary for the early settlers. This area was rich in game and the Swatara was a most excellent fishing ground. As late as 1807 there were five hundred shad caught in this creek. Swatara in the Indian language (Schahadawa) signifies "where we feed on eels." Indeed, the fertile land of the Lebanon Valley, and the abundance of wildlife had the same attraction for the settlers as it did for the early Indians. With the fair treatment the Indians received under William Penn, the settlers and Indians co-existed peacefully at first. These settlers built substantial homes and some were used later, as forts. Places for school, worship and burial were established. Some of these places are still standing or have stood until recently and are worth preserving. St. Paul’s cemetery is still located in what is now the impact area. The Moonshine log church burned to the ground in the 1960’s, but the graveyard is still intact. Part of the Fort’s artillery firing range is in Dauphin county while the remainder is in Lebanon county, although the entire area was still known as Chester County in 1682. During the years between 1732 and 1754, the Indian natives of this area were God-fearing people, and there is some evidence that many were Christians and lived in peace and harmony with the white settlers until the time of the French and Indian War. However, the Indians' resentment at the intruders grew steadily stronger. Part of the problem was caused in the Lebanon Valley because settlers didn't wait for the colonial government to buy the land from the Indians. In my next column, I’ll be describing the problems caused by the settlers as they pushed the Indians farther and farther from their traditional hunting grounds, and the resulting the French and Indian War and its severe impact upon the settlers in Lebanon County. -- 30 -- Published in the Lebanon Daily News, Wednesday, 17 December 2003 © 2003  Frank H. Smoker, Jr. All rights reserved. Reproduced by permission of the author. Go "Back at the Gap" Index