Omas, Alice, and Linna

Now, since some of my young friends may not be acquainted with this
place, you will allow me to tell you that the Wyoming Valley lies
between the Blue Ridge and the Alleghany Mountains, and that the
beautiful Susquehanna River runs through it.

The valley runs northeast and southwest, and is twenty-one miles
long, with an average breadth of three miles. The bottom lands--
that is, those in the lowest portion--are sometimes overflowed
when there is an unusual quantity of water in the river. In some
places the plains are level, and in others, rolling. The soil is
very fertile.

Two mountain ranges hem in the valley. The one on the east has an
average height of a thousand feet, and the other two hundred feet
less. The eastern range is steep, mostly barren, and abounds with
caverns, clefts, ravines, and forests. The western is not nearly
so wild, and is mostly cultivated.

The meaning of the Indian word for Wyoming is "Large Plains," which,
like most of the Indian names, fits very well indeed.

The first white man who visited Wyoming was a good Moravian missionary,
Count Zinzendorf--in 1742. He toiled among the Delaware Indians
who lived there, and those of his faith who followed him were the
means of the conversion of a great many red men.

The fierce warriors became humble Christians, who set the best
example to wild brethren, and often to the wicked white men.

More than twenty years before the Revolution settlers began making
their way into the Wyoming Valley. You would think their only
trouble would be with the Indians, who always look with anger upon
intruders of that kind, but really their chief difficulty was with
white people.