The Treaty with Chief King Beaver: A Historic Land of Friendship and Nature

1. Miller Nature Tract friendship with the Delaware Chief, King Beaver, in 1758. Before this time the Indians were allied with the French. Had it not been for this treaty, which brought the powerful Delaware Tribe to the side of the British, the results of the French and Indian War might have changed and the continent may have fallen to the Gallic instead of the Anglo-Saxon race. This forty-two acre tract of wooded land which extends one-half mile along Wolf Creek was deeded by Mrs. Emma Guffy Miller to the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania for use by Slippery Rock University with the request that it be preserved for future generations. The bill authorizing the transfer of land to the University was signed by Governor Scranton on June 13, 1963. On this property occur a stand of several hundred fine old hard maples which have yielded sap and provided syrup and sugar since the days of the American Indian. In this wooded area was located one of the four Delaware Camps called Kuskuski. Records of early travelers and of Indian captives have left very accurate descriptions of the sugar making process in this camp. Trillium erectum- wake Robin) Mertensiavirginiana– Virginia bluebell Although the Natives remained on the land until after the Revolutionary War former soldiers were given land grants under the form of a government bonus. Among these grants in the northern part of Butler County, the Kuskuski Sugar Camp, became part of the first white settlement in Slippery Rock Township with Zebulon Cooper its first white settler. When the first settlers arrived the remains of the Indian Village and Indian relics were plentiful. Among those still in existence is a black powder horn upon which is etched the insignia and motto of the Black Watch Regiment which fought with Braddock at the time his defeat. Arrow heads, tomahawks, and other implements were also plentiful and are found to this day. Many of these are of the earliest varieties Dicentracucullaria– Dutchman’s Breeches RULES of USE Please enjoy but don’t destroy what nature has provided Take all the pictures you want but leave the plants and animals undisturbed If you carry it in don’t forget to carry it out – garbage receptacles are at the entrance Please, no hunting or motorized vehicles Leaves of the sugar maple Acer saccharum The 18th report of the National Bureau of Ethnology of the “Indian Cessions to the United Sates” and the Pennsylvania Historical Society Map of 1875 locate the Kuskuski Camp on Wolf creek two miles west of the present town of Slippery Rock. This is the site where Christian Frederick Post, a Moravian missionary , made a treaty of peace and