Lackawaxen township, between Shoholy and Lackawaxen creeks, northeast of the Milford and Owego turnpike. Great benefits are anticipated by this colony from the principle of association, that is, from owning and cultivating their "domain" in common, and dwelling together in one or more immense mansions called phalanxteries,-whereby the expenses of separate house-building and house-keeping shall be avoided, and the distinction of master and servant be abolished. The following facts are derived from a pamphlet containing the constitution and byelaws, with some additional information from an officer of the association

The association was formed early in 1843, by a few citizens of New York and Albany, mainly mechanics. In April, about 2500 acres of land, in three large tracts, was purchased, and a pioneer division of some 40 persons entered upon the possession and improvement of the land. The number has been increased (in Oct. 1843) to about 130 or 140, including about 25 whole families of men, women, and children, and some single persons. These colonists are generally young, or in the vigor of life, and "all recognizing labor as the true and noble destiny of man on earth." The soil of the domain is a deep loam, well calculated for tillage and grazing. About 80 acres had been cleared before the association purchased the tract; and they found upon it a saw-mill, an unfinished grist-mill, and two or three dwellings, &c., which have served for the temporary accommodation of the colonists. They have now about 160 acres cleared. It is intended to erect a spacious edifice for a dwelling, with workshop, &c. The land lies in gentle sloping ridges, with valleys between and wide level table-lands at the top. Much of it can be cleared at $6 per acre. A small stream, or branch of the Shoholy, passes through it, affording abundant waterpower for all purposes. The domain is three to five miles from the Delaware and Hudson canal, 14 miles northwest from Milford, and 94 from New York city by the Milford turnpike, or 110 by way of Port Jervis, Middletown, and the N. Y. and Erie railroad.

Any person of good character may become a member of the association, by owning a share, ($25,) and laboring on the domain under the rules of the association.

A capital of $10,000 has been raised by subscription, upon which legal interest is paid by the association. This capital is to be increased, when practicable, to $100,000. Labor is paid for on a graduated scale of compensation, according as it is considered more or less repulsive, necessary, useful, or agreeable. Members are at liberty to pursue any branch of employment they may select; but all labor performed must be for the benefit of the association, and must be prosecuted on the domain, or under the direction of the association. Disputes must be settled by arbitration, with privilege of appeal to a supreme court of the colony; but any member who seeks legal redress out of the colony shall be expelled. Women receive five-eighths the wages of a man; children from ten to fifteen one-third-from fifteen to eighteen one-half. Profits are divided annually, and all balances due individuals, above their board, clothing, and other items of expenditure, are to be credited as stock. A library, and suitable apartments for public exercises and amusements, are to be provided. The great edifice is to be leased according to an assessment of the various apartments, at an annual rent of ten per cent. on its cost. Members who wish to take their meals separately may do so by paying extra, and may use any extra furniture which they choose to have at their individual cost. Children under ten, and the aged and infirm, are at the charge of the association. Young women may vote at the age of eighteen, and young men at twenty. The association may not hire a minister of religion, but provides a room, in which any one invited and paid by individuals may preach. The association may not suppress any public amusement, nor "exclude wine or ardent spirits from the tables of the association, but shall furnish the same to any member desirous of using them, according to the plan adopted with reference to wearing apparel, or other articles." "Drunkenness subjects the guilty party to public rebuke, fine, or expulsion." If too many select any one occupation, the supernumeraries are detached by lot Thomas W. Whiteley, president; J. D. Pierson, vice-president; J. T. S. Smith, secretary; Horace Greeley, treasurer-all of whom at present reside in New York city, except the vice-president.

Another colony of individuals, principally from Brooklyn, N. Y., under the title of the "Social Reform Unity," have recently made a settlement in the southwestern part of the county, adjoining the Monroe co. line.

POTTER COUNTY.

POTTER COUNTY was separated from Lycoming, by the act of 26th March, 1804. Length 37 miles, breadth 30; area 1,106 sq. miles. Population in 1810, 29; in 1820, 186; in 1830, 1,265; in 1840, 3,371.

The county comprises the high, rolling, and table-land, adjacent to the northern boundary of the state, lying on the outskirts of the great bituminous coal formation. Its streams are the sources of the Allegheny, the Genesee, and the West branch of the Susquehanna; and a resident of

the county says that all these streams head so near together, that a man in three hours may drink from waters that flow into the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Chesapeake bay, respectively. The names of these sources are the Allegheny, the Genesee, the East branch of Sinnemahoning, Kettle cr., Pine cr., and Cowanesque cr. The soil is a chocolate-colored loam, of fair quality, covered with a heavy growth of beech, maple, elm, basswood, pine, oak, chestnut, and hemlock; and along the streams, hickory, butternut, and thorn. The land is well adapted for grazing. In the south part of the county, bituminous coal and iron-ore are found; and a bed of coal has been recently discovered within three miles of Coudersport. The leading roads of the county are as good as could be expected in a new county.

COULERSPORT the county seat, is a small but thriving town, situated on the right bank of the Allegheny, at the crossing of the great east and west state road. Another road leads to Jersey Shore, on the West Branch. The place contains a stone courthouse and jail, an academy, three stores, two taverns, a carding-machine, mills, and dwellings. Stated preaching, by ministers of different denominations, is regularly enjoyed on the sabbath. John Keating, Esq., of Philadelphia, who owns immense tracts of wild lands in this region, presented one half of the town-plot for the use of the county, and $500 for the academy. He also gave 50 acres of land to each of the first 50 families that settled on his land; and many other benevolent acts of that gentleman are gratefully remembered by the early settlers.

It is evident, from a comparison of the population with the area, that the greater part of the county is still a wilderness; and although enterprising settlers are fast coming in, there is still a vast quantity of “unseated" farming land, that may be purchased at a low rate. The history of the early pioneers is one of extreme toil and hardship, yet health and competence have been their reward; and where they found nought but a howling wilderness, traversed only by the Indian, the bear, the wolf, the panther, the elk, and the deer, they now see cultivated fields, abounding with cattle and sheep, and an industrious population, furnished with mills, schools, and manufactories. The following extracts are from the correspondence of respectable citizens of the county. An early settler, Benjamin Birt, Esq., says―

In the year 1808 an east and west road was opened through Potter co., Messrs. John Keating & Co., of Philadelphia, owning large tracts of land in the northwest part of the county, agreed with Isaac Lyman, Esq., to undertake the opening of the road. In the fall of 1809 Mr. Lyman came in, with several hands, and erected a rude cabin, into which he moved in March, 1810. He then had but one neighbor in the county, who was four miles distant. I moved in on the 4th May, 1811, and had to follow the fashion of the country for building and other domestic concerns, -which was rather tough, there being not a bushel of grain or potatoes, nor a pound of meat, except wild, to be had in the county; but there were leeks and nettles in abundance, which, with venison and bear's meat, seasoned with hard work and a keen appetite, made a most delicious dish. The friendly Indians of different tribes frequently visited us on their hunting excursions. Among other vexations were the gnats, a very minute but poisonous insect, that annoyed us far more than musquitoes, or even than hunger and cold; and in summer we could not work without raising a smoke around us.

Our roads were so bad that we had to fetch our provisions 50 to 70 miles on pack-horses. In this way we lived until we could raise our own grain and meat. By the time we had grain to grind, Mr. Lyman had built a small grist-mill; but the roads still being bad, and the mill at some distance from me, I fixed an Indian samp-mortar to pound my corn, and afterwards I contrived a small hand-mill, by which I have ground any a bushel,-but it was hard work. When we went out after provisions with a team, we were compelled to camp out in the woods; and, if in

the winter, to chop down a maple-tree for our cattle to browse on all night,-and on this kind of long fodder we had to keep our cattle a good part of the winter.

When I came here I had a horse that I called "Main dependence," on account of his being a good steady old fellow. He used to carry my whole family on his back whenever we went to a wedding, a raising, a logging-bee, or to visit our neighbors, for several years,—until the increasing load comprised myself, my wife, and three children-five in all.

We had often to pack our provisions 80 miles from Jersey Shore. 60 miles of the road was without a house; and in the winter, when deep snows came on and caught us on the road without fire, we should have perished if several of us had not been in company to assist each other. The want of leather, after our first shoes were worn out, was severely felt. Neither tanner nor shoemaker lived in the county. But "necessity is the mother of invention." I made me a trough out of a big pine-tree, into which I put the hides of any cattle that died among us. I used ashes for tanning them instead of lime, and bear's grease for oil. The thickest served for sole leather, and the thinner ones, dressed with a drawing-knife, for upper leather; and thus I made shoes for myself and neighbors.

I had 14 miles to go in winter to mill with an ox team. The weather was cold, and the snow deep; no roads were broken, and no bridges built across the streams. I had to wade the streams, and carry the bags on my back. The ice was frozen to my coat as heavy as a bushel of corn. I worked hard all day and got only seven miles the first night, when I chained my team to a tree, and walked three miles to house myself. At the second night I reached the mill. My courage often failed, and I had almost resolved to return; but when I thought of my children crying for bread, I took new courage.

Mr. John Peat, another old pioneer, in a communication in the Forester in 1834, says:

It will be 23 years the 23d day of May, 1834, since I moved into Potter county. Old Mr. Ayres was in the county at that time, and had been in the county about five years alone. In the fall before I came, three families-(Benjamin Birt, Major Lyman, and a Mr. Sherman)moved to the county. The East and West State Road was cut out the year before I moved in. It was very lonesome for several years. People would move in, and stay a short time, and move away again. It has been but a few years since settlers began to stick. I made some little clearing, and planted some garden seeds, &c., the first spring. We brought a small stock of provisions with us. On the 3d day of July I started, with my two yoke of oxen, to go to Jersey Shore, to mill, to procure flour. I crossed Pine creek eighty times going to, and eighty times coming from mill, was gone eighteen days, broke two axletrees to my wagon, upset twice, and one wheel came off in crossing the creek.

Jersey Shore was the nearest place to procure provisions, and the road was dreadful. The few seeds that I was able to plant the first year, yielded but little produce. We however raised some half-grown potatoes, some turnips, and soft corn, with which we made out to live, without suffer. ing, till the next spring, at planting time, when I planted all the seeds that I had left; and when I finished planting, we had nothing to eat but leeks, cow-cabbage, and milk. We lived on leeks and cow-cabbage as long as they kept green-about six weeks. My family consisted of my wife and two children; and I was obliged to work, though faint for want of food.

The first winter, the snow fell very deep. The first winter month, it snowed 25 days out of 30; and during the three winter months it snowed 70 days. I sold one yoke of my oxen in the fall, the other yoke I wintered on browse; but in the spring one ox died, and the other I sold to procure food for my family, and was now destitute of a team, and had nothing but my own hands to depend upon to clear my lands and raise provisions. We wore out all our shoes the first year. We had no way to get more,-no money, nothing to sell, and but little to eat,-and were in dreadful distress for the want of the necessaries of life. I was obliged to work and travel in the woods barefooted. After a while, our clothes were worn out. Our family increased, and the children were nearly naked. I had a broken slate that I brought from Jersey Shore. I sold that to Harry Lyman, and bought two fawn-skins, of which my wife made a petticoat for Mary; and Mary wore the petticoat until she outgrew it; then Rhoda took it, till she outgrew it; then Susan had it, till she outgrew it; then it fell to Abigail, and she wore it out.

SCHUYLKILL COUNTY.

SCHUYLKILL COUNTY was separated from Berks and Northampton, by the act of 1st March, 1811. Length 30 miles, breadth 20; area 745 sq. miles. Population in 1820, 11,339; in 1830, 20,744; in 1840, 29,053.

The surface of the county is very mountainous and rugged. A pleasant and fertile red-shale valley lies between the Kittatinny and Second mountains; but the region beyond, with the exception of the narrow valleys of the streams, is of little value, comparatively, for agricultural purposes-the great wealth of that region consisting in its coal-mines. There are farms there, it is true, and more will be opened, stimulated by the excellent market in the immediate vicinity; but, as a general rule, the coal-region of Schuylkill county must look below the Second mountain, or even below the Blue mountain, for its agricultural supplies. The mountain ranges run from southwest to northeast: the leading chains are the Kittatinny, or Blue mountain, which forms the southeastern boundary of the county; the Second mountain; Sharp mountain, which is the southeastern limit of the coal measures; Mine hill, and Broad mountain, which contain the principal veins of coal; and the Mahantango and Mahanoy mountain, the northwestern boundary of the county.

The Schuylkill, with its branches, Little Schuylkill, Norwegian, and Mill cr., is the principal stream of the county. The Swatara, the Mahantango, and Mahanoy creeks drain the southwestern end; and the sources of Catawissa cr., Lizard, and Mahoning creeks are also within the county.

The great southern anthracite coal-field is about 65 miles long, extending from the Summit-mine of Mauch Chunk to the neighborhood of Pine Grove, where it divides into two branches: the northern one, under the name of Wiconisco mountain, extending westwardly beyond the county line to Lyken's valley, in Dauphin county; and the other embraced between the Stony mountain and a continuation of the Sharp mountain, reaching nearly to the Susquehanna. This coal-field is about five miles in width, between the northern slope of Sharp mountain and the southern slope of Broad mountain; and is divided by low ridges, or anticlinal axes, caused by subterranean forces, into the minor basins of Broad mountain, Mine hill, and Pottsville. Professor Rogers, the state geologist, remarks: "From geological evidences, too numerous and striking to be