The first inhabitants of the area were the Fork Indians of the Delaware Nation.  They made their headquarters at a place on the south slope of Buck Mountain in the general direction of Nescopeck on the Susquehanna River and began making repeated attacks on settlements in that area.  The first white settlers to see Freeland were a detachment of the colonial militia in the fall of 1780 under the command of Captain Klader.  Klader's mission was to meet Colonel Hunter of Northumberland County in an attack on the Indians. 

 

Captain Klader and his company left Stroudsburg and crossed the mountains to the Lehigh River which they forded near the present site of the village of Rockport.  From there they followed the old Indian trail that led up over Buck Mountain and across the top of the hill to the southeast of where Freeland now stands.  They descended on a trail into the Conygham Valley and stopped to rest when they were ambushed by the Indians.  A few men survived the attack but the first white man to set foot in the Freeland area died without being able to tell what they had seen.  Captain Klader and the majority of his detachment is now buried about a half mile from the town of Conygham. 

 

The beginning of anthracite discovery in this area did not occur until 1791 when Phillip Ginter of Carbon County found what he believed to be coal near Mauch Chunk.  He took the sample to Colonel Jacob Weiss of Mauch Chunk who had the sample analyzed and it was confirmed that they had found coal.  Mr. Weiss formed the Lehigh Coal Mine Company in 1792 with a group of associates, which was one of the first mining companies in the United States.  The first real boom to the anthracite trade of this region came with the organization of the Lehigh Coal & Navigation Company on February 13, 1822.  The purupose of this new company was to make the Lehigh River navigable to permit the transportation of coal from Mauch Chunk down the river. 

 

By this time anthracite activity had begun near the Freeland area, for in 1826, John Charles had found coal while digging for a ground hog in what is now the city of Hazleton.  From this discovery was formed the Hazleton Coal Company, and it immediately begin to explore the vicinity in search of coal beds.  In 1836 this company commenced the construction of a railroad from Hazleton to Weatherly where it connected with the Beaver Meadows Railroad.