shamokin

Shamokin

city, Northumberland county, east-central Pennsylvania, U.S. It lies along Shamokin Creek. Founded in 1835 by the coal speculators John C. Boyd and Ziba Bird, it was early known as Boyd's Stone-coal Quarry, Boydtown, and New Town. The present name, selected by Boyd, is a derivation of one of two Delaware Indian words, one meaning "place of eels" and the other "where horns are plentiful." Shamokin developed as an anthracite coal-mining centre, reaching its peak after the 1840s. It suffered extensive fire damage in 1872.

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