A Garden Spot

Between the broad, curbing end of the Bald Eagle and the stately bend of the river there may be nearly 600 acres of the best farm land, only a narrow fringe of which along the river – perhaps a hundred acres-was inundated by the extraordinary freshets of 1889 and 1894. Between the south side of the mountain and the gap in the Muncy Hill, through which the river and the railroads pass, there may be more than two thousand acres of the same rich alluvium. For productiveness [sic] this might in fact be termed the garden spot of the Muncy Valley. It is conceded that vegetation in the Spring is usually from a week to ten days earlier than on the east side of the river. This favored part of the vale of Muncy is usually designated as the Black Hole Valley. There is nothing, however, that is black or gloomy in it, or about it; and no section of the West Branch Valley presents a brighter, richer, cleaner, and more cheerful and fertile aspect. Several traditions have been advanced to explain the inapplicable title, but not one is satisfactory enough to apply now. Such a forbidding name for such a beaming garden spot is a misnomer. It was perhaps no less than the east side of the river for many generations a favorite camping ground and garden spot for the Indians; and has in consequence also for years, from the river gap to the end of the Bald Eagle, been a veritable "garden spot" for Indian relic hunters.

• Gernerd, J. M. M., The Muncy Valley: Snap-Shots of Scenery, Geology and History, 1909, Press of the Gazette and Bulletin, Williamsport PA