Nebraska, Pennsylvania settlement - Remains of Settlements on Waymarking.com

The town of Nebraska, Pennsylvania came into being in 1827, and in 1848 the town was named as Ford and Lacy Mills or Lacytown. In 1855 a post office was established and the town was named Nebraska. The town had stores, lumbering mills, black smiths, churches, hotels, and other homesteads. All which were torn down in 1940 when the Tionesta dam was built and the valley was flooded. This site is in the flood plan and is usually not under water. The picture showing the foundation is at flood stage from Tionesta lake. Normal levels are about 30 feet lower. By foot it can be reached from the Nebraska Bridge.
A few homes in Nebraska had bathrooms, the lyman Cooks house did. Lyman built his own. The concrete wall addition for the bathroom in Lyman's house is still standing at this printing. Lyman had five Children: Bessie, Ruth, Augusta, lew and Ralph.
Lyman was a Civil War veteran. After returning from the war, he spent several years in and around Forest County. In the 1870's, he rafted for Cobb and Sons, Wheeler and Dusenbury and Lacy's. In 1888, he contracted to run all the lumber output down the river for Collins and
Watson. In 1893, Darrah & Co. was added to his list of customers.
Lyman, having become one of the most experienced rivermen in this section of the country, was contracted by the United States Government and put in charge of keeping the river clear of obstructions from Warren to Pittsburgh, in the 1900's. In addition, to his busy schedule of rafting and boating, he served some years as Associate Judge of Forest County. He also owned and operated three sawmills. The first was operated in Grunderville, followed by one in Lamentation Creek, below Kellettville, and a third at Lincolnville.

Lyman built several gasoline engines for firms in Pittsburgh to be used on their river boats. In 1889, he built two special gasoline engines and power boats for a company in Pittsburgh. He named the boats Harriet, after his wife and Bertha, probably in honor of a friend or relative.
Lyman was an advent bicycle rider. He owned two of the best bikes in town--a tandem and a single-seater. Shown in the picture. He and his daughter, Ruth, rode the tandem from Nebraska to Randolph, N.Y. where Ruth had registered to train for teaching. They completed the journey in great shape. Ruth went on to become a fine teacher.
Lyman was a great church-goer. He sang in the choir and was a soloist. At age 82, the last year of his life, he still sang in a strong and clear voice.

When Harriet was a young girl, her father and mother, the Lewis Arners, bought a hotel in Wilcox, PA., around 1863. One morning, two hundred Civil War (Union) soldiers stopped by for breakfast. Harriet and her sisters served them. After the war, General Grant and some notables were on a trout fishing trip to the Wilcox area and were entertained by the Arner family, at the hotel. In 1876, Harriet and some friends were at the 1876 Centennial and once again met General Grant, but this time, he was President Grant.
Lew Cook, Lymans son, was a noted river pilot himself, making scores of trips to Pittsburgh. Ralph, the other son, operated a Model 'T' Ford dealership in Tionesta in the 1920's. Lyman's son-in-law, George W. Matha, was born in Nebraska in 1875. He ran hundreds of boats down the river. Twice he took six loaded boats with 500,000 feet of lumber to Pittsburgh without mishap. This was something considering the bottoms of the boats were constructed with 1 ½ inch hemlock. Each boat weighed between 300 and 500 tons. One time, George left Nebraska on Monday morning and arrived in Pittsburgh on Saturday morning of the same week. Before finally settling in Nebraska, in the 1870's.
The second occupants were Wesley and Maggie Hinderer. They had four Children: Mary, Ruth, Martha and Milton. Wesley was a traveling blacksmith. He would shoe anything that had a hoof, mostly horses and mules.
The third was Vitto "Vic" Praino. "Vic" came to the USA in the early 1900's, served in WWI with the US forces overseas. He worked on the S & T Railroad as track foremen for many years. Vic had a family in Italy and returned to them shortly before WWII.
The fourth occupant was Ray "Bud" Blauser. Bud lived here until he had a house built below the Log Cabin Inn, in the late 1930's.
Bud played football for Clarion College. He worked at the Mayburg Chemical Plant, and the Nebraska sawmill in the late 1930's, He also worked for the state highway department, as an inspector after WWII. He served stateside during the war.
The fifth was James and Betty Preston. They had four Children: James, John, Dickey and Larry. John and Larry were born in Foxburg, PA. Jim worked on the S & T Railroad for a few years. He moved to Foxburg and hired out as a brakeman on the B & 0 Railroad. During slack times, in the early 1930's, he returned to Nebraska and worked on construction of the Hunter Station Bridge. After the bridge was completed, Jim and his family returned to Foxburg and the B
& 0 Railroad. Jim was one of the best baseball pitchers in this part of the country. He was on par with Bob Shawkey, who played for Mayburg and the NY Yankees. Jim pitched for local teams and the Sterling Oil Company. With sterling, he received $75.00 a game on weekends. He had a quick, sneaky fast ball, and a slow sweeping curve, or roundhouse, that started curving out about halfway to the plate. A pitch few batters figured would ever cross the plate.

Terrain: Parking: N 41° 28.376 W 079° 22.938 Recommended access: Not Listed

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.