On the Catawba Path
10,000 Years of History
You’re standing a stone’s throw from a path that people have walked for
more than ten thousand years. Part of an ancient trail system that connected
indigenous people of upstate New York and Canada with tribes as far south
as the Carolinas and Tennessee, the Catawba Indian Path crosses the Clarion
River just upstream from here.
Also known to settlers as the Iroquois Main Road and the Cherokee Path,
this trail once served as a warpath between the Haudenosaunee (or
Iroquois) Confederacy of New York and the Catawba and Cherokee of
North Carolina. When European settlement in eastern Pennsylvania
pushed native tribes into western Pennsylvania, the path became
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even more heavily traveled.
In signing the Conestoga treaty in 1721, the
Haudenosaunee Confederacy agreed to limit their
Seneca Chief Gyantwahia, also known as Cornplanter.
travel to the western Pennsylvania warpaths,
including the Catawba Trail, when fighting the
southern tribes. Their warfare led early French
explorers to name the Clarion River “Rivière au
Fiel,” or River of Hate. This warfare ended with
a peace agreement in 1768.
Catawba Path becomes the Olean Road
Haudenosaunee Confederacy
The Catawba Path became the first public highway in this area when the
state widened it to create the Olean Road in 1821. Completed in 1822, the
110-mile dirt road connected Kittanning, Pennsylvania, with Olean, New
York. Though settlers used it to access this region, early excitement over the
road faded as the steep inclines and rough conditions made many sections
unfit for wagon traffic. Many miles of the road were abandoned and rerouted
during the 1840s and 50s. The section of River Road just behind you follows
the original Olean Road route.
Known as the Iroquois to French explorers, the coalition of six tribal
nations who inhabited northwest Pennsylvania and upstate New York
called themselves the Haudenosaunee, or People of the Long House.
Comprising the Seneca, Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, and Cayuga nations
(the Tuscarora nation joined later, in the early 1700s), the Haudenosaunee
Confederacy formed one of our nation’s first enduring democracies. Though
based in upstate New York, the Seneca nation extended into northwestern
Pennsylvania, home of Seneca Chief Gyantwahia, or Cornplanter.
Archeological excavations in the area have
unearthed many encampments along
the river, as well as pottery and tools
made some 700-800 years ago.
Each new discovery deepens
long ago.
Wikimedia Commons
through this land so
The Catawba Trail
Wilbur F. Gordy
that lived in and passed
Eric S. Patton
our connection to the people
Through the Clarion River Archeological Field School Program, college students
The traditional Haudenosaunee long house reflects the sense of community
Though the Haudenosaunee Confederacy flag is relatively new, it draws its
excavate archeological sites along the river. They, in turn, mentor high school
valued by Haudenosaunee nations. Often as much as 200 feet long, the
symbolism from a wampum belt that dates back many centuries. The five
students, who learn about the area’s cultural and natural history.
sapling-and-bark dwelling housed extended clan families that shared a
symbols represent the five original confederacy nations, with the Onondaga,
common female ancestor.
“keepers of the central fire,” in the middle.
pennsylvania
WILDS