Nessmuk and Leonard Harrison

Nessmuk and Leonard Harrison

George W. Sears (1821–1890), also known as Nessmuk

George Washington Sears, an early conservationist who wrote under the pen name "Nessmuk", was one of the first to criticize Pennsylvania lumbering and its destruction of forests and creeks.[16] In his 1884 book Woodcraft he wrote of the Pine Creek watershed where "A huge tannery ... poisons and blackens the stream with chemicals, bark and ooze. ... The once fine covers and thickets are converted into fields thickly dotted with blackened stumps. And, to crown the desolation, heavy laden trains of 'The Pine Creek and Jersey Shore R.R.' go thundering [by] almost hourly ... Of course, this is progress; but, whether backward or forward, had better be decided sixty years hence."[17] Nessmuk's words went mostly unheeded in his lifetime and did not prevent the clearcutting of almost all of the virgin forests in Pennsylvania.[16]

Sears lived in Wellsboro from 1844 until his death in 1890, and was the first to describe the Pine Creek Gorge.[18] He also described a trip to what became Leonard Harrison State Park: after a 6-mile (9.7 km) buggy ride, he then had to hike 7 miles (11 km) through tangles of fallen trees and branches, down ravines, and over banks for five hours. At least he reached "The Point", which he wrote was "the jutting terminus of a high ridge which not only commands a capital view of the opposite mountain, but also of the Pine Creek Valley, up and down for miles".[19] A Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission (PHMC) state historical marker commemorating Nessmuk was dedicated in the park in 1972.[18]




dream interpretation
bathroom remodel orange county