Hayward’s United States Gazetteer (1853) page 628

Wilkesbarre, Pa. Shire town of Luzerne co., in
the Wyoming valley. 114 miles N. E. of Harris-
burg, and about 120 N. N. W. from Philadelphia.
This town was laid out in 1773, by Colonel
Durkee, who gave it the compound name it bears
in honor of two eminent and zealous advocates of
the American cause in the British Parliament —
Wilkes and Barre. It is situated on a high bank
of the Susqjiehanna River, which is here spanned
by a fine bridge, and occupies one of the most
splendid sites in the state. The town is regularly
laid out, but upon a plan, perhaps, entirely unique.
There are four streets forming a parallelogram
of equal sides, enclosed by which are four others
running diagonally to these, and forming a dia-
mond within the outer square, containing about 4
acres. This diagonal square is the public green,
in which are the churches, the court house, and
other buildings. At the angles it is cut by the
sides of the parallelogram which surrounds it.
The western angle is opposite the bridge, with
the width of Main Street intervening. The
bridge connects Wilkesbarre with the village of
Kingston.

This is now a place of considerable business.
There is here one of the most extensive rolling-
mills in the country. The iron for these works is
brought by canal from Danville. The Pennsyl-
vania North Branch Canal passes E. of the town;
and a railroad runs over the mountains 20 miles
to the Lehigh at White Haven. The rich coal
mine of the Baltimore Company is about 2 miles
N. E. of the village.

The first settlers of this town, and of the beauti-
ful valley in which it is situated, were principally
from Connecticut. The inhabitants are still a
highly-intelligent and moral people, retaining, in
a good degree, the manners, habits, and enterprise
of their New England fathers.

The valley of Wyoming, it is well known, is
one of the most enchanting spots in its natural
features, and one of the richest in historical asso-
ciations, among the localities of our country. We
cannot indulge in any extended description here,
or enter into the minute incidents of its thrilling
history. The site of Fort Wyoming was where
the court house now stands. There was another
fort a little below the bridge. Fort Durgee was
half a mile below, and on the hill, N. of the vil-
lage, the remains of the old redoubts are still
visible.

“ The severe and long-continued struggle for
the possession of this country,'' says Professor
Silliman, who visited this valley in 1829, “ which
was sustained by the original Connecticut settlers
from 50 to 80 years since, and the repeated at-
tempts which were made to disposses them by
arms, sufficiently evince the high estimation in
which it was held by all parties. . . No one
who now surveys this charming valley can wonder
that they would not quietly relinquish their claims.
. . Few landscapes that I have seen,'' he adds,

“ can vie with the valley of Wyoming. The first
glance of a stranger, entering at either end, or
crossing the mountain ridges which divide it
(like the Happy Valley of Abyssinia) from the rest
of the world, fills him with the peculiar pleasure
produced by a fine landscape, combining richness,
beauty, variety, and grandeur.''

The visitor to this beautiful valley will not fail
to inquire for the battle ground, which was the
scene of such a desperate conflict, and bloody
massacre during the war of the revolution. The
site of Forty Fort, the place where the little force
of Wyoming was chiefly concentrated, to defend
their settlement against an invading army of about
three times their number, composed of British-
American loyalists and Indians, is two or three
miles N. of Wilkesbarre, on the Kingston side of
the river, and about as much farther still to the
N. is the plain, on and near which most of the
men of Wyoming were slain, in and after the
battle, — chiefly in their flight, and after sur-