COLUMBIA AND MONTOUR COUNTIES town o f Bloomsburg, on the Bloomsburg & Sullivan railroad, in Scott township, near the site of the Paper M ill. It w as built o f logs and surrounded by a stockade sufficiently large to accommodate the families of the neighbor hood. T hey had hardly completed the fort before the Indians arrived and attacked it, but the defenders soon put them to flight. V an Campcn made this fort his headquarters when not engaged in scouting. CMe of the attractions to him was the daughter o f Wheeler, for whose hand Van Campcn and Col. Tosqih Salmon, another scout, were rivals. Salmon finally married the girl. Van Campen's father also for a time lived near the fort. F o rt Wheeler w as the only one of the long line o f defenses in this section of the State that w as never abandoned or destroyed by hostile hands. Tim e alone did the work of disintcgratior,. Peter Mclick, one of the com mittee o f safety for W yoming township, lived near here. T he old graveyard where the soldiers were buried is still recognizable, and the spring that supplied the fort with w ater is still running. T he land is now owned by the CrcvcJing family. John Craw ford, gran dfather of Joseph C raw ford, an old citi zen o f Orangeville, was the second child bom in this section, his birth taking place inside the stockade of the fort soon after its com pletion. in 1778. No vestiges of the fort are now to be seen, but the site is known to most of the residents o f that section. PORT MCCLL'RK
A t the time of the destruction o f Fort Je n kins there was a line o f forts reaching from the W est Branch to the North Branch of the Susquehanna, comprising Forts Muncy, Free land. Montgomery. Bosley's M ills, Wheeler
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and Jenkins. T he loss of the latter fo rt left the right flank exposed to the marauders, so on Van Campen’s return from captivity he stockaded the home o f M rs. Jam es M cClure, on Uie bank of the Susquehanna, one mile above the mouth o f Fishing creek, and on the later site of the house o f D ot^las Hughes, be low Bloomsburg. I'h is fortitication took Ute name o f F o rt M cClure, and became the head quarters for stores and expeditions as long as the defense of the frontier w as necessary. T h is fort was never seriously attacked, though the near residents often fled to it for security, it was never more than a stockade and further fortificatioiis were not bu ilt A residence now stands on the site. A m arker has been placed here by the Fort M cClure Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, Bloomsburg. FORT BOSLEY
T his only fortified work in Montour county w as really the stockaded stone mill o f a M r. Bosley, in the forks of the Chillisquaque, at Washiiigtonville. D erry township. The mill w as built in 1773, stockaded in 1777. When the Indians became troublesome it w as gar risoned by about twenty men and became a place o f importance in the lines o f defense. Captain Kempkm was in command here in 1 7 ^, and assisted in repelling many attacks of the savages. The site of the old mill is easily re c c ^ iz a bic by the race and dam at the lower end of the town o f to-day. The headrace has been con tinued across the road, and the old dam site has been used as a location for the more mod em mill o f Snyder Brothers. The land on wnich the fort or mill stood was the property in past years o f Jacob Hartman and Jesse Umstead.
iitized by
