DRAKE MONUMENT WITH STATUE OF THE DRILLER, TITUSVILLE
Charles H. Niehaus, Sculptor
XXX
ERIE COUNTY
FORMED March 12, 1800; named for Lake Erie, the name Erie from a tribe of Indians, Eries, conquered by the Iroquois Confederacy in 1653, their identity and language is lost; curious mounds and circular embankments, still found in several places, show traces of a race superior to the Indians; human bones in large quantities have been unearthed on line of the Pennsylvania and Erie Railroad, indicating huge physical development, one was nine feet in height. The triangle north of Pennsylvania and west of New York was purchased, by authority of Governor Mifflin, in 1791, from the United States, to obtain a lake port for the state; conveyance being signed by President Washington and Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State; afterwards the Indian title was purchased from the Six Nations, through the diplomacy of Cornplanter (Gyantwachia), the Seneca chief, for which the state gave him a reservation in Warren County; later the Indians resolved to prevent the settlement of Presque Isle by Americans, but General Wayne gained a decisive and final victory against them in the battle of “Fallen Timbers” on Maumee Road in 1794.
The Shore belt, for ten miles in width, is noted for grape and fruit raising; back of this is a productive agricultural section. Iron and steel industries predominate. Principal roads are along the south shore of Lake Erie, called the East and West Lake Roads,
Erie County
[Map of Erie County showing: City of ERIE; Towns of EDINBORO, WATERFORD, and LE BOEUF; Railroad lines of the Pennsylvania Railroad, New York Central, and New York Chicago & St. Louis; LAKE ERIE; PRESQUE ISLE; and WALNUT, ELK, CONNEAUT, and FRENCH Creeks]