During the course of the conference, Cammerhoff presented to the Council a petition from the Nanticoke Indians at Wyoming, to the effect that they might have a blacksmith shop, under Moravian auspices, set up in their village. This request was denied by the Council, and the Nanticokes informed that they could avail themselves of the services of the blacksmith at Shamokin. This smith was Anthony Schmidt, who was sent to Shamokin from the Moravian Mission at Bethlehem. He arrived there August 3, 1747, accompanied by his wife. He remained there many years and performed his task to the general satisfaction of the Indians who traveled 100 or more miles to have a gun barrel straightened or the firelock repaired. Their business at Onondaga being finished, Cammerhoff and Zeisberger journeyed overland to the Susquehanna, where they embarked in a canoe and floated down the river as far as the village of the Nanticoke, which they reached Sunday, August 2, 1750. They tarried only a day and then proceeded to Shamokin, where they arrived August 6, having traveled more than 600 miles on horseback, afoot and in canoes. ---------- Bank of North America, First Incorporated Bank in the United States, Commenced Business January 7, 1782 The first incorporated bank in America was the Bank of North America, and its operations commenced January 7, 1782, in the commodious store belonging to its cashier, Tench Francis, on the north side of Chestnut Street, west of Third. In 1780 the Assembly of Pennsylvania made a strong effort to relieve the people from the withering blight of the Continental money. It tried to redeem it by taxation at the rate of 1 to 40. But neither this nor any other measure prevented the coinage of the phrase, “It is not worth a Continental.” To assist Congress in providing for the army, Robert Morris and other financiers of the State established the Bank of Pennsylvania, the first bank in America. The last attempt to prolong the life of the “Continentals” was made by the Supreme Executive Council in May, 1781; but the remedy proved fatal. Pelatiah Webster said of the proceedings: “Thus fell, ended and died the Continental currency, aged six years.” During the Revolutionary War the country was extremely poor, with few industries but agriculture, and was quite denuded of the precious metals, owing to a heavy and long continued adverse foreign trade, so that the Congress of the United States experienced great difficulties in providing the requisite means for carrying on the hostilities. On May 10, 1775, soon after the battle of Lexington, Congress made preparation to issue Continental paper, $2,000,000 of which were put in circulation on June 22 following.