The Townships

By Christopher Miller

172 years ago next month Beech Creek Township was born. Well, separated, but in a good way.

“Beech Creek Township was separated from Bald Eagle in May, 1850,” is what the headline said in an old article published in 1976 for the United States bicentennial.

And in those 172 years much of the township remains the same as it is today – wild and free.

The entire western portion of the township, constituting nearly 4/5 of its territory and containing thousands of acres, is a vast unbroken forest, where today the wild deer browses undisturbed save by an occasional hunter,” said the book Historical View of Clinton County. Pure poetry, that was.

When it comes to mineral wealth, though the book undermines the total amount of coal that was extracted from the hills above Beech Creek Borough, this area was home to many abandoned villages and ways of life. These villages, known locally by legends and lore, were Revelton, Rock Cabin, Peacock, Peacock II, Bear Swamp, and Eagleton.

Probably the most well known of these was Revelton, named for John Reaville, an Englishman who owned the mines and land, and once made his home the interior of a mine over the threat of losing his claim.

Now a deserted village, which is really a generous name for it considering the only thing that exists there now is an iron furnace, legends abound that Reaville hid a fortune in gold on the property of his home and that it never was recovered.

settlers to the area included the DeHaas, Hollenback, Herron, Whitefield, McDonald, Cryder, Devling, Hayes, and Fearon families. Back in those days, around the year 1800, squatters who remained peaceably on land they did not own were able to receive valid titles to it.

“The first settlers who prepare the way, lay the foundation for a more advanced civilization, always have to endure toils, undergo trials and submit to perplexing inconveniences from which their more favored successors would scornfully shrink.”

1849 a great “excitement” as it was called occurred in the form of a Ring Hunt. In essence, this was the culmination of the planning of 300 men, gathered in a circle, and walking miles into the mountains to spread out along the ridges to drive the wildlife into an open area surrounded by the circle of men two miles in diameter.

“As the line closed in, the men yelled and shouted and flourished their pitchforks and pike-poles enough to frighten every wild animal in Tangascootac Valley…many deer and other kinds of game were in the circle.” Here something out of a Monty Python sketch happened. The men, very excited about the large haul awaiting them, let their guards down and animals were seen escaping through a single opening! “The whole party returned to their homes fully convinced that they did not understand ring hunting.”

the area was not solely reliant on hunting for business as lumbering was one of the principal businesses of the area. The first mill was built in 1818 and many others were constructed after that.

the time of the Civil War, it was very well known that Beech Creek Township was a dry area. “It is said that except during the exciting time of the late war, no alcoholic liquors have ever been illegally sold within the limits of Beech Creek Township, and now it is difficult, if not impossible, to get twelve respectable citizens to sign a petition for license.”

you think that sounds crazy, then fast forward to 1967 and a government project known as Ketch.
After World War II, there was a search for peacetime uses for atomic energy. This included the possibility of a “controlled” underground blast, nearly one mile beneath the western Clinton County area, for the creation of a natural gas storage cavern.

The safety measures which have been worked out can prevent any dangers from radiation or other leakage from a deep underground nuclear blast to create a deep cavern for gas storage,” a local newspaper reported.
From all accounts this nuclear blast never happened and was abandoned, most likely because of conflict with Vietnam diverting government attention elsewhere.

Today about 1,000 people call Beech Creek Township home. That could have been potentially less, you know, if a nuclear blast would have occurred more than 50 years ago.