Tredway Trail placards to chronicle lives of Native Americans, pioneers such as Massey Harbison
Native Americans have been in the Valley from perhaps as far back as 16,000 years ago during the tail end of the last ice age, when the area was an open tundra with patches of spruce and fir trees. They remained through the 18th century, when the area was a hotbed of “rapidly shifting political alliances, violent conflict, outbreaks of deadly European diseases and forced migrations,” according to a draft of the placard.
The placard-in-progress also profiles Seneca Chief Cornplanter, a man familiar with tough balancing acts. Cornplanter didn’t live in the Allegheny Valley, but the area was claimed and controlled by the Seneca Nation of the Iroquois League. He fought in both the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War when the Seneca sided with the British. Later, Cornplanter helped broker peace between the Iroquois and new American government. The government gave Cornplanter 1,500 acres of land along the Upper Allegheny for his latter efforts, according to the draft placard.
Another placard focuses on the history of the Allegheny Valley Railroad, while a third deals with how pioneers traveled on, over and through the Allegheny River.
For as long as people lived in the area, the Allegheny River and its tributary, the Kiskiminetas (Kiski) River, served as major transportation arteries that attracted Native American and European settlers alike.
https://triblive.com/local/valley-news-dispatch/tredway-trail-placards-to-chronicle-lives-of-native-americans-pioneers-such-as-massey-harbison/
