Ill THE PENNSYLVANIA LION OR PANTHER. 



minx, muskrat, etc." This shows that the s; gacious 

 Quaker wa.s awake to the commercial possibilities of 

 the panther and other animals. On a number of occa- 

 sions he expresses himself in favor of the protection 

 of fur-bearing- animals, except when their coats were 

 in prime condition. Certain of the Mingo Indians 

 iiated the panther, classing it with the wolf and wild 

 cat, as one of the few animals which were at perpetual 

 war with their God of the chase, Kanistagia. By the 

 Ijeginning of the eighteenth century the panther was 

 driven back as far as the western limits of the'j)resenr 

 Chester County. By 17'iO it was rarely found' .East of 

 the Blue Mountains. Here it made its stand f^.r more 

 tlian three-quarters of a century. By 1840-:yt was 

 dri\cn further West, its limits being approxiiiiately a 

 line drawn across the State in a Northeaster!- direc- 

 tion, beginning at the Eastern border of Fulton Coun- 

 ty, through Perry County, thence along the North 

 Branch to AA'ilkes-Barre, and from thence a'"'"'-^ '■ 

 Honesdale. l'>y ISU) the range was closed ii .» .c 

 following counties: Clearfield, Centre, Miffli Clin- 

 ton, Potter, Lycoming and Susquehanna. \i\ LSSO 

 Clearfield, Centre and Alifflin contained the o'hly na- 

 ti\e panthers, though wanderers from West Virginia 

 continued tra\eling through some of the Western and 

 Northern counties. In 1805 the range was liiuited to 

 two valleys only, viz : Havice and Treaster, in Mifflin 

 County, when the last native race of panthers disap- 

 peared. Dr. J. T. Rothrock, former Forestry Commis- 

 sioner of Pennsylvania, heard the weird cry in Treas- 



