Cornplanter's Wager
BY HAROLD THOMAS BECK
The War of 1812 just ended. The Indians of the
Six Nations remained neutral, even though Cornplanter himself had sympathies and ties to
the British just across the border in Canada. Though battles raged on Lake Erie and all
along the Niagara frontier, the area immediately east of the supply route from Pittsburgh
to Erie remained at peace. The garrison in Warren was manned by two officers and 17
regulars, all of whom either owned or worked at farming from May to October.
Phillip Tome came to live on Kenzua Flats in 1814. Kenzua Flats was the old farming
area just above the town of Kinzua. In recent times it was below the Ely Farm, where Sugar
Run and North Branch met before joining the Allegheny River. It is now under the Allegheny
Reservoir.
Tome met the stately Cornplanter, then 78, and soon was accepted by the chief and the
other Seneca Indians. He was a frequent visitor that year to Cornplanter’s town which
was located in present day Corydon Township, probably on the site of the now-submerged
town of Corydon. During these visits, they discussed hunting and farming.
Tome was new to farming, but was known as more than an average hunter. Tome’s
specialty was the capturing of elk, alive. As he recounted his adventures to a skeptical
Cornplanter, it soon became apparent that he would have to back up what he had said.
Cornplanter told him that no Indian of the Six Nations had done it or any white man who
he knew. He told him that young elk, three or four months old, had been caught, but no
live full-grown elk could ever be caught. Cornplanter called them the "Lords of the
Forest."
In that day the forest was dense with giant hemlock trees hundreds of years old. Few
white men lived far from the rivers. What we know today as the Allegheny National Forest
was unexplored by both Indian and white man. The forest was inhabited by large herds of
deer that banded together for protection from packs of wolves that roamed at large, as
well as the native panther that grew to be six feet long from the tip of its nose to the
end of its tail. Bears roamed their territories and, other than Man, had no enemies.
The discussion between Cornplanter and Tome continued. Tome told Cornplanter about
capturing elk along the Susquehanna River, but the chief rebuked him, saying the elk along
the Allegheny were by far much larger and wilder. Tome insisted that he could capture elk,
saying the larger the better. If the chief would show him the track of an elk, he would
capture it. To make things more interesting, Tome and Cornplanter wagered $100 on whether
or not he would be successful.
On the third day of January, 1816, Phillip Tome, John Campbell, Joshua Knapp, George
Wilson and an Indian named Billy Fox, who was hired for one dollar a day, started up
Kinzua Creek. As Tome left, Cornplanter shook hands, saying he never expected to see him
alive again if he attempted to catch an elk alive.
Billy Fox was paid for his services, and the other men were all given equal shares in
the hunt as well as in the wager. They had four of Tome’s best dogs and in the first
day they covered 12 miles before stopping for the night. They were very close to present
day Westline (probably a mile or so west). The next morning they began northward,
following a running stream which probably was Thundershower Run. After climbing a hill all
day, covering nearly six miles, the party halted.
The Indian said they would find elk within the next four or five miles. Tome proposed
they divide the party. It was snowing hard, and he had Knapp and Wilson remain behind and
build a camp. At the same time he, Campbell and Fox would divide, taking separate courses
to look for elk. They would return at night and report what they found. They hunted
eastward that day and found nothing.
The next day Tome went directly north while the others flanked him in a northeasterly
and northwesterly course. That night, he and Campbell, already back at camp, saw the
Indian returning followed by what appeared to be a dog. Realizing all the dogs were in, a
closer look found it to be a panther. Fox was unaware of his plight, and a ball from
Campbell’s rifle dropped the cat only yards behind him.
The snow continued, and the next day they were unable to hunt. Tome paid Fox and sent
him home. In the meantime Knapp had killed a large doe and brought it back to camp. The
killing of the doe attracted wolves, and they shot four of them, taking their fur for
future sale.
As the snows ended Knapp and Wilson set out to bait more wolves. Campbell and Tome went
northeast looking for elk signs. About three miles from camp they came upon the track of
eight elk going west. They followed through the deep snows about four miles before camping
for the night.
Early the next morning they found where the elk had lain the previous night. They
continued on and less than an hour later, Tome reported Campbell saying, "There he
stands, the largest elk I ever saw." Tome let the dogs go. They attacked the elk, and
it ran back the way they had come with the dogs in hot pursuit.
Campbell and Tome followed for two hours before they could hear the dogs. They followed
for another hour and just before dark they caught up with the dogs and the elk who was
halted on a rock. The dogs were trying to go directly at the elk, but his sharp hooves and
large horns kept them at bay.
Immediately Campbell made ready the ropes while Tome cut poles about fifteen feet long.
Campbell went to the low side of the rock with the dogs to draw the animal’s
attention. Tome mounted the rock from the opposite side and tried to put the rope over the
elk’s horns with the pole. The elk wheeled and went at Tome who jumped away, landing
below the rock. With Tome gone, the elk turned his attention once more to the dogs.
Tome tried to climb a nearby hemlock tree. Only by removing his frozen moccasins and
coat was he able to do so. Campbell then passed him the rope.
As Campbell called off the dogs, the elk turned back towards Tome. He slipped the noose
over the horns and with a jerk, drew it tight. He then descended the tree and drew the
rope around a second tree about forty feet from the elk. The men then pulled him from the
rock, tied him to the tree and left him for the night.
It was half past eleven and they were forced to camp under some large hemlocks. Tome
was nearly frozen and had a nervous headache attack. Campbell made Tome as comfortable as
possible and then at sunrise set out for the assistance of Knapp and Wilson.
In fleeing from the dogs the elk had taken them to within two miles of their camp. By
noon the three men had returned. Tome was feeling stronger, and the four approached the
elk who was laying down. Exhausted from struggling to free itself, the elk proved to be no
problem for the men.
The snows had stopped but the clear skies brought bitter cold with them. The four
returned to their camp and waited another day before back-tracking down the hill to Kinzua
Creek and then to the Allegheny and Cornplanter’s town.
Word spread through the Indians and over the following months they came and paid to see
the elk. That summer they took the elk to Pittsburgh where they sold it for $600.
Phillip Tome was 34 years old when he set out to catch a live elk and win his wager
with Cornplanter. In 1854 at the age of 72, he published Pioneer Life, or Thirty Years
a Hunter.
The story you have just read was based on his book. He died the following year and is
survived by the "Tome" and "Tomb" families in our area. His writings
give us insight into early life in our forest as well as people like Cornplanter and
Governor Blacksnake, Chiefs of the Allegheny River.
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