| |
Wyoming County, PA
|
Created on April 4, 1842, from part of Luzerne County
and named for the Wyoming Valley. “Wyoming” is derived
from an Indian word meaning “extensive meadows.”
Tunkhannock, the county seat was incorporated as a
borough on August 8, 1841, and was named for Tunkhannock
Creek. The creek’s name means “small stream.”
 Wyoming
shares with its mother county, Luzerne, the Wyoming
Valley tradition of the Connecticut claims, which began
in 1754, and the Yankee-Pennamite wars. The Trenton
Decree (1782), its acceptance by Connecticut (1786), and
the land claimants’ compensation statute (1807) ended
the dispute. Although not part of the geologically
defined Wyoming Valley, which is in Luzerne County,
Wyoming it is one of four counties regarded as making up
the historic Wyoming Valley. Connecticut Yankees made up
a large percentage of the early settlers. The area
experienced the settler exodus known as the Great
Runaway following the Wyoming Massacre (a Tory and
Indian victory) in 1778. Lacking significant coal beds,
the county had primarily a lumber economy until 1900,
which gave rise to a leather tanning industry using
hemlock bark. Leather manufacture continued after the
stands of hemlock were gone. The North Branch Canal
passed through the area, and Tunkhannock was on the
Lehigh Valley and Nicholson on the D. L. & W. Railroads.
Grain and dairy farming gradually increased, and about
1900 dairying replaced lumber as the major product.
Also, quarrying, especially of Pennsylvania bluestone,
has been profitable. Tanneries used cattle hides and
hemlock. The Cyrus Avery Foundry made farm equipment.
The absorbent papers unit of Procter and Gamble,
established at Mehoopany in 1966, is the county’s
biggest employer. Presently, lumber and wood products,
women’s apparels, and shoes are other products of this
country. Farms cover 29 percent of the land, and dairy
products dominate agricultural production. |
|
|
|
|
