he
West Branch of the Susquehanna River, and to those who interacted with
them, during the period 1769-1784, when that area was outside of the
Provincial limits. The appellation stems from the annual designation by
the settlers of "Fair Play Men," a tribunal of three with
quasi-executive, legislative, and judicial authority over the residents.

The relevance of the first Stanwix Treaty to the geographic area of this
study is a matter of the utmost importance. The western boundary of that
treaty in the West Branch Valley of the Susquehanna has been a source of
some confusion because of the employment of the name "Tiadaghton" in the
treaty to designate that boundary. The question, quite simply, is
whether Pine Creek or Lycoming is the Tiadaghton. If Pine Creek is the
Tiadaghton, an extra-legal political organization would have been
unnecessary, for the so-called Fair Play settlers of this book would
have been under Provincial jurisdiction.[7] The designation of Lycoming
Creek as the Tiadaghton tends to give geographic corroboration for the
Fair Play system.

First and foremost among the Pine Creek supporters is John Meginness,
the nineteenth-century historian of the West Branch Valley. His work is
undoubtedly the most often quoted source of information on the West
Branch Valley of the Susquehanna, and rightfully so. Although he wrote
when standards of documentation were lax and relied to an extent upon
local legendry as related by aged residents, Meginness' views have a
general validity. However, there is some question regarding his judgment
concerning the boundary issue.

Quoting directly from the journal of Moravian Bishop Augustus
Spangenburg, who visited the West Branch Valley in 1745 in the company
of Conrad Weiser, David Zeisberger, and John Schebosh, Meginness
describes the Bishop's travel from Montoursville, or Ostonwaken as the
Indians called it, to the "Limping Messenger," or "Diadachton Creek,"
where the party camped for the night.[8] It is interesting to note that
the Moravian journalist refers here to Lycoming Creek as the Tiadaghton,
some twenty-three years prior to the purchase at Fort Stanwix, which
made the question a local issue. Yet Meginness, in a footnote written
better than a hundred years later, says that "It afterwards turned out
that the true _Diadachton_ or _Tiadachton_, was what is now known as
Pine Creek."[9]

Perhaps Meginness was influenced by the aged sources of some of his
accounts. It