Municipalities of Alchemical Interest

The mainstream version of how Carbondale, Pennsylvania‘s 4th oldest city and home to first deep underground anthracite mine in North America came to be. The War of 1812 caused a fuel shortage in America with the blockade of bituminous coal being imported from England. This spurred an interest for Philadelphia Quakers, businessmen and brothers, William and Maurice Wurts, to find a solution.

Mr. Wilbur guided William Wurts in 1812 to explore the Lackawanna Valley, which led to uncovering more coal deposits. This induced William and Maurice to buy lands there, where earnest prospecting took place in 1814.

The Scranton, Pennsylvania, of today is a proud city born from the hard work and ingenuity of its first settlers. Scranton is affectionately referred to as the "Electric City" because it was the first city in the country to establish a successful pioneer electric trolley line back in 1886. However, in order to properly encompass the rich history of this city, we must regress back to a time even before this "electric" era and prior to any colonial settlement.

The Lackawanna Valley of the early 1700s consisted of a lush and dark wilderness populated by many species of large game animals, including deer, elk and even moose. Bear and mountain lion (cougar) stalked the forests and preyed on these animals, as did Native Americans. At this time, settlements of the Lenape, an Algonquin-speaking tribe, inhabited the valley, which provided them with rich soil for crops, good hunting and the waters of the Lackawanna River for drinking, bathing, fishing and transportation. In fact, Lackawanna is derived from Lech-uh-wanna, an old Lenni-Lenape word meaning "stream that forks." The specific area of the valley that encompassed today's city of Scranton was occupied in the mid-1700s by the Munsee tribe of Native Americans and was then called Capoose Meadows after the chief of the tribe, Capoose, who was noted for his knowledge of agriculture and peaceful ways.Eventually, this fertile and flourishing valley was settled in the late 1700s by Europeans, who were drawn to the area for much the same reasons as the natives. These people were of English descent and migrated into northeastern Pennsylvania from parts of New England to harvest timber and farm the fertile virgin land of the Lackawanna Valley. For a time, the settlers lived in peace with the Munsee tribe, who gradually migrated westward into the Ohio Valley after granting their claimed lands to be sold to the white settlers in 1743, the majority of which were later purchased by Governor Penn in 1758. In the 1770s, the Tripp and Slocum families were among the first of the white settlers to the region. Isaac Tripp built a home in 1771 in what is now the Providence section of the city, and the Slocums established a farm near the location of today's Scranton south side area, which later became a small village named Slocum Hollow.

During that period, there were many heated disputes regarding land acquisitions for the area between the colonial Connecticut claims of land granted by the king of England and the newer claims of the colonial government of Pennsylvania. Daily life for the settlers became a dangerous fight for survival during the American Revolution because the British army often controlled and provoked attacks on their settlements with groups of Native Americans. At the direction of the British, Isaac Tripp himself was shot and killed in 1779 by natives in the area of nearby Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The settlers of the Lackawanna Valley and neighboring Wyoming Valley had to be on guard at all times for attacks and kept weapons close at hand while tending to their crops. On July 3, 1778, a contingent of approximately

300 American militiamen faced an onslaught of a much larger force of British soldiers, Tories and natives near modern-day Exeter, which lies approximately twelve miles south of Scranton. A frenzy and massacre ensued when thousands of settlers fled in panic for their lives as the invaders killed many civilians and destroyed their homes, crops and livestock. The American forts in the area were surrendered or abandoned as the British army's wake of destruction extended up into the Lackawanna Valley. This attack will be forever known in the annals of history as the "Battle of Wyoming" and the "Wyoming a

Wayne County has a surpringly older history than many would think as Samuel Meredith moved there in the late 1700s . Other relevant people are Lemnitzer (Honesdale), BF Skinner (Susquehanna). 

Courtesy of Mike Grayson

Until that happened, it was very difficult to cross the waters. Snowdrifts were always very high during winter months, and it was as if the area on the east side of the river was cut off from civilization. Amongst the weeping willows, moss, ferns, tree-covered hills, and mountainous areas roamed wild geese and ducks. It was common to see wolves, foxes, bears, deer, and other wild game.

Local hunters were never at a loss for food as the area was plentiful in turkeys, pheasants, wild pigeons, and songbirds. It is easy to see why the early natives chose to settle in this beautiful region.

Many years before Olyphant had even been named, it was part of what is now known as Providence Township, which was in the Westmoreland Colony of Connecticut It later became Northumberland County, as the result of King Charles II of England issuing overlapping land grants in which both states had claimed the territory.

Queen esther and the Bloody Rock 

Wyoming Massacre

Location of popular hermetic School (where Madonna studied with Stavish  and likely caused her to choose name of Esther as her kabbalah name). 

Home of ”The Quiet Don” kingpin Russell Bufalino. He was made famous by Martin Scorcese‘s The Irishman. Local businessman Louis Denaples is rumored to have taken over this wing of the casa nostra when Bufalino passed. 

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