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Digital file copyright by Cornell University
Library 1994.EARLY TRADE ROUTES.
ADVENTURES AND RECOLLECTIONS OF
A PIONEER TRADER,
WITH AN ACCOUNT OF HIS SHARE IN THE BUILDING OF
BUFFALO HARBOR.
BY CAPTAIN JAMES SLOAN.*
Previous to Gen. Wayne’s treaty the navigation of the
Allegheny River was much interrupted by Indian raids,
especially between Fort Franklin and Fort Pitt, a distance
of about 70 miles by land, but 130 by the meanders of the
river. East of the river, the Indians soon were confronted
by the settlements, between the river and the mountains.
* Captain James Sloan came to Black Rock—then a settlement distinct
from Buffalo—in 1810, and died there March 5, 1868, in his 80th year. He
was born in the State of Pennsylvania, was at an early day a boatman on the :
Allegheny River and on Chautauqua Lake, and on coming to Black Rock en- .
gaged in boating on the Niagara River and in coasting Lake Erie. He was in
the Government employ during the War of 1812. During the siege of Fort’
Erie Captain Sloan daily passed from Buffalo Creek with supplies of ammuni-.
tion and provisions for the garrison, and always under the batteries on the .
Canada side. When he died the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser said of him:
“An honester man never lived.” The reader has seen, in the preceding paper,
how highly Capt. Sloan was esteemed by Judge Wilkeson. A few years before
his death, Capt. Sloan wrote his reminiscences, apparently at the request of the
Hon. Louis F. Allen and Charles D. Norton, to whom he addressed his com-
munications. These papers, deposited many years ago writh the Buffalo His-
torical Society, are fragmentary, disconnected and so grotesquely illiterate that
to read them is like translating from a newly-discovered foreign tongue, con -216
A PIONEER TRADER.
Previous to 1795, little trade was attempted on the river;
but after the treaty, signed in that year, Northwestern
Pennsylvania commenced settling rapidly, and soon after,
Northern Ohio and Western New York. As there were but
few roads into all this region, and those new and near im-
passable, the early settlers were obliged to get their supplies
from Pittsburgh, by the river, and so were our northern
forts that had been surrendered by the British.
It would be impossible to make a correct estimate of the
amount of property shipped by this river route, even for a
single year. No record of it was kept. Some days two or
three boats might be seen ascending; scarcely a day passed
when there was no boat, in the season of navigation. Spring
navigation ended about the last of June, continuing longer
if the season was wet. It was not resumed in summer
freshets; for the river being rapid the rise passed off too
soon. Lumbermen, however, descended the river with their
lumber, keeping with the flood. The ordinary navigation
was by boats carrying from 10 to 16 tons, when loaded so
as to draw from 18 inches to two feet. There was quite a
brisk trade carried on in canoes and pirogues, a kind of half
boat, half canoe. All the boatmen were in a way river ped-
dlers as well as common carriers, vending their wares along
the river, at all the landing places and wherever they stopped
to cook, etc.
Goods and produce were shipped in this way, to some
structed on a phonetic basis. Capt. Sloan was a man of deeds, not at all a
man of the spelling-book; yet the period of his activities was so important,
and his share in them so full of interest, that it is well worth while to retell
his story in the present volume, though the obligation of literalness, supposed
to be incumbent on the transcriber of old documents, must be disregarded. The
narrative here presented follows as closely as possible Capt. Sloan’s own state-
ments, though abridgment and condensation have been practiced throughout. A
portion of his reminiscences—that relating to Buffalo harbor work—was pub-
lished in the Buffalo Morning Express, Nov. 20, 1862. So far as known to the
editor of this volume, no other part of Capt. Sloan’s papers has been printed.
His recollections of early boating on the, Allegheny, Chautauqua Cake, Lake
Erie and the Niagara, as set down by himself are often disconnected and full of
repetitions. His own caption for these aquatic adventures is Footprints Fifty
Years Ago! The story of his sojourn among the Indians is written by a dif-
ferent hand, evidently having been copied many years ago from his own well-
nigh illegible manuscript.A PIONEER TRADER.
217
extent, to Olean Point and King’s Settlement*, and I pre-
sume sent still further East. Produce and Old Mononga-
hela whiskey were brought to’Erie, Pa., and Portland, Chau-
tauqua County, and shipped as far east as Oswego and Salt
Point, in exchange for salt and cash.
Quite a stream of emigrants from the Eastern States
commenced descending the river in the return boats, in small
boats and on rafts. This continued till I left the river in
1810, and I am informed still continues to some extent. The
shipping place was principally Olean Point, but Waterford
and Mayville were also points of embarkation.
Boating on the Allegheny was the severest test the hu-
man frame could endure, and hardy men in a few years
broke down under its strain. The boatman’s diet was bread,
bacon, chocolate and whiskey, with but few vegetables. Vast
quantities of whiskey were swallowed, but did not seem to
have any bad effect. Boats were manned with from seven to
nine men, who propelled the craft with setting-poles, heavily
ironed, and having a head or button to put the shoulder
against. In ascending rapids tow-men were sent out to the
head of the run to hold the boat while the rest hurried from
stern to bow to set their poles, and by walking astern again
thus making the boat gain her own length by every repeated
operation. The spring season averaged about 90 d^ys, the
fall about 60; deducting 21 Sundays as no good, would
leave say 130 days of up-navigation in the year. The up-
freight would average, I think, 30 tons a day, making dur-
ing the navigation season 3,900 tons. The down-freight
was lumber, shipped in arks and rafts., The emigrants com-
menced coming about 1802 or 1803.
In 1808 I left home intending to ship at Pittsburgh for
New Orleans, but could make no engagement. Instead I
engaged to help collect fruit on the Monongahela for the
Chautauqua market. This we obtained mostly along the
line of Virginia and Pennsylvania, and on the Cheat River;
fruit, both green and dry, being abundant in that part of
* The only King’s Settlement the editor finds trace of is in Chenango County ;
that in the text was probably on the upper Allegheny. Olean Point became Olean
in 1808.218
A PIONEER TRADER.
country. The Cheat is all in Virginia* and ioo miles above
Pittsburgh by river. There are no islands in the Mononga-
hela.
This [? season] numerous Indian raids were made, but
the river was guarded by a kind of United States police or
forest rangers. Had it not been for this military force the
frontier settlements near the east side of the river; would
have been broken up. The men, from long experience in the
forest, were more active and intelligent than the Indians,
small bands of whom were often destroyed by them. These
rangers would pursue Indian stragglers for hundreds of
miles. The Indian trail was followed by knowing their sig-
nals. It was by a kind of cipher or hieroglyphics that this
forest record was made by bands of Indians, for the infor-
mation of their Indian friends. Thus a band separating,
will break twigs pointing out the course they are going, and
showing how many are in each band. Figures were marks
in the trees. Our men had obtained a key to these and could
decipher them. This was their only guide; they were not
tracked as many suppose, by footprints in the trail. These
rangers had the art of simulating the calls of deer and wild
turkey and other animals, and would call them up and shoot
them as well as Indians sometimes, the latter thinking it was
game that called. Many of the settlements between the Al-
legheny River and Allegheny Mountains would have been
broken up but for these rangers.
In one of these raids I had two companions captured.
They were carried to the Maumee River, near Fort Maumee,
and adopted into the family of a chief of the name of Rain-
cat. John, at the time of his capture, was 14, and Nancy
was younger. They were with the Indians during the wars
of St. Clair and Wayne, a little over four years. [?John]
Sloan stated that the Indians were in despair at their re-
verses in battle, the loss of their friends, the consumption
of their crops and the destruction of their towns by Wayne’s
army, and the conduct of the fort and the Indian traders
who had promised them aid in this war as usual but had
suffered their town and crops to be destroyed under the very
* West Virginia since 1863.	.A PIONEER TRADER.
219
guns of the fort. The very gates of the fort were shut
against the fugitives.
I first came to Buffalo in 1810. I left Portland in
August in a small boat, with two barrels of whiskey and
two of flour as a kind of venture. The liquor I sold to
Sheldon Thompson at Lewiston for six shillings per gallon.
He shipped it to Oswego by the Charles & Ann on her first
trip. She belonged to Townsend, Bronson & Co. Mr.
Thompson was one of the firm and had come to Lewiston to
superintend their business.
I had left Pittsburgh in March, 1810, with a canoe carry-
ing 13 barrels of flour and whiskey, and a few articles besides
for Mayville. I sold out and returned again with two loaded
canoes carrying 31 barrels, mostly flour. These cargoes I
sold out alongThe river and at Mayville, my flour bringing
$7 a barrel and the whiskey six shillings a gallon. I then
bought a boat and left Pittsburgh about the middle of June
with a full freight for myself and merchants at Mayville
and crossroads, being now a common carrier as well as a
river peddler. This trip was most disastrous to me, the
river falling earlier than usual. I had to canoe a portion of
my freight over the shallow rapids between Franklin and
Mayville, and in some instances scraping and removing
stone out of the channel to pass. At the Chautauqua rapids
I had to canoe a large portion of my freight to the head of
the rapids and leave it in the woods to be reshipped again in
my boat at that point. There were about 14 miles of forest
without any inhabitants. Every pound of my freight was
delivered and in good order except one potash kettle I left
at Pithole Creek. There was a heavy fall of snow when we
were near where Jamestown is now.* This was an important
channel of communication between the Lakes and the South,
supplying all our northwestern forts and posts with mu-
nitions of war and provisions, as well as the early settlers in
Northern Pennsylvania and Western New York. The lake
country could not have been settled at so early a day had it
not been for the facilities afforded by this river.
* This evidently refers to a different trip. This portion of Capt. Sloan’s
MS. is much confused, with no dates to guide the editor.220
A PIONEER TRADER.
The French Creek navigation commenced several years
prior to that of the Conewango. The posts along French
Creek must have been of importance to New York, as they
covered the western part of the state from Indian excur-
sions. The navigation of the Allegheny was in active opera-
tion a few years prior to 1800. Soon after the occupation
of Detroit by United States forces munitions of war and
provisions were sent up the Allegheny and French Creek
to Forts Franklin, Casawaga, now Meadville, LeBoeuf, now
Waterford, Presqu’ He, now Erie, and Detroit. The early
settlers of Chautauqua were partially supplied with their
provisions from Pittsburgh. The country being generally
heavily timbered, it was a hard section for settlement. Mr.
Ellicott ought to have let the settlers have lands for a hun-
dred per cent, less than he did. The first settlers were worn
out with toil in clearing the land.
In 1810,. having visited Niagara Falls and Lewiston, I
crossed over to Queenston. At this time it was a business
place, being the head of navigation for the northeastern
lakes and rivers, and the foot of navigation for the upper
lakes, and the portage between those channels of commerce.
Its commanding position made it an important point for the
Northwest Company, also for the Government goods for the
Indians, and for merchants, mostly fur traders, who supplied
their people with goods by this route.
I returned to Buffalo by way of Chippewa, taking dinner
there. The innkeeper was an American by the name of
Jamison. We took passage in a nondescript vehicle, for
which we were charged five shillings apiece, and came to
Fort Erie, and paid two shillings apiece ferriage. There
were four passengers, all Americans, viz., Samuel Parker,
Patrick Jack, William Sloan and myself. At this time there
was a bad [ ? feeling] between a large portion of the Canada
people and citizens of the United States, who were received
with a kind of uncivil contempt, which was reciprocated by
the people of the United States. It was evident, after the
attack of the Leopard on the Chesapeake* that only an ap-
peal to the sword would settle the controversy.
June 22, 1807.A PIONEER TRADER.
221
In the fall of 1811, being engaged in the Detroit fisheries
and not succeeding well, I transferred my operations with a
few goods to the rapids at the outlet of Lake Huron and
passed the winter there. The fisheries at this time were an
important branch of commerce. They and the fur trade
were the principal support of Detroit and Michigan. As
the balance of the trade was against the people there they
adopted an ingenious device to retain money in the city.
This was to cut silvef coin into small change, commencing
at the outer rim and cutting to the center, making io shil-
lings out of a dollar. Smaller pieces went through the same
process. As this left a rough edg$ and a sharp point they
soon cut the pocket and no one would attempt to carry this
light money out of the territory. Their penal code was
rather a severe one. Offenders were sold and sometimes
whipped in the public street; the culprits brought very little
and generally soon left for parts unknown, thus ridding the
city of their presence.
At the rapids at this time there was a band of Chippewa
Indians that.claimed jurisdiction and ownership in the lands
there, under two chiefs. They were of a roving disposition
and mostly scattered in the forest till after hunting and
sugar-making. They then generally drew home to the
rapids for fishing purposes and pitched their lodges for a
time. They had a peculiar way of curing sturgeon. This
was by cutting them in thin, wide slices, and drying them in
the sun; then they would pack them away in bundles for
future consumption. In this way they saved them without
salt. They were rather good eating. This bapd was poor
and owned no animals but dogs. They were hostile to the
United States, with the exception of the Rileys and one or
two families of their Indian friends. This hostility was
principally caused by British and Canadian influence. There
were three brothers and one sister of the Rileys; James,
John, Peter and Mary were their names. Their mother was
a Chippewa woman and they belonged to the band. Their
father lived in the city of Schenectady and was, postmaster
of that city for a time.
I now, with the aid of James Riley, commenced learning222
A PIONEER TRADER.
1 .
the Chippewa language. He also spoke the French language
fluently and tolerable English. I committed the English arid
Indian words to writing; the Indians themselves were sur-
prised at my learning their language so fast. The Chip-
pewa language is a beautiful one and flows smoothly from
the tongue. The two chiefs were aged men. The head chief
was a stupid man, who inherited his position from his an-
cestors, who had been great chiefs and warriors. Puck-
wanosh, the other chief, though not possessing so much au-
thority, was truly a great man. He was the most majestic
and graceful man I ever saw; truly a magnificent speaker.
His family was interesting and beautiful—for Indians:
four sons and two daughters; the chief was a widower.
The head chief s family was rather ordinary and of. a low
caste, with the .exception of the youngest daughter who was
a fine girl. Puckwanosh must have attracted the notice of
the officials .of our Government as he had a beautiful Ameri-
can flag and a heavy American silver medal. When he
wished to pay his respects to me or ask a small favor he
would always first hoist the flag and it was doubtless the
first American flag hoisted over where Fort Gratiot now
stands.	*
The collection of furs in the wilds of Michigan, at this
time, was principally by Frenchmen and they were admir-
ably adapted for that work. They would scour the woods
for weeks with goods and peltry on their backs, their prin-
cipal generally establishing himself in some Indian town or
settlement, and then sending runners into the forest in all
directions. This mode of life was not without its dangers.
The traders and couriers were sometimes killed by the In-
dians.
I visited an Indian camp with a young Indian who in-
formed me where there was a camp where I could get two
bear skins with my goods. We left after dinner on snow-
shoes, the snow being fully three feet deep. Not being used
to travelling on snowshoes I lost my balance and pitched
into the snow, the shoes holding my feet up and my head
down. I was not able to extricate myself until my Indian
friend helped me out. About sunset we entered a dense andA PIONEER TRADER.	228
dismal forest and thicket. Here we found the Indians at
two lodges. They seemed pleased to see us, and I was in-
stalled in the best lodge with bear's meat and honey for
supper. They now offered me a skin for whiskey. I then
opened my pack, in one corner of the lodge. They made
an offering of a little of the liquor on the fire commending
themselves to the protection of the Great Spirit and asking
his blessing on the “Nishaunaba” Indian. They did not
drink until a late hour and were very quiet.
Being fatigued with travelling on snowshoes I soon fell
asleep and had a good night's rest. It is surprising how
warm a few dry branches will keep one of these lodges. The
fire is always placed in the center, and the smoke escapes at
the top where the lodge comes to a point. The covering of
the lodge is rush matting and the lodge, is of a cone shape.
In the morning we bid good-bye to our Indian friends and
returned home. I procured several small skins, but saw no
bear skins.
Spring now came and with it the Indians. Their hunt-
ing and sugar operations had closed and they emerged out
of the wilderness; their fishing harvest had arrived. I em-
ployed some of them to catch fish for me. There was a
small village of lodges around me; we were encamped at
the extreme point where the River Huron intersects the
Saint Clair.* Huron was then called by the French and In-
dians Wolf River. I spent some pleasant afternoons on the
green lawn between the two rivers with the Indian boys and
girls. Their social kindness to me was surprising and there
never was but one incident to interrupt our friendship, dur-
ing the seven or eight months that I remained with them.
This unfortunately was with the young Indian who accom-
panied me to the Indian camp. I am of the opinion that my
safety was owing to the interposition of the chiefs who had
forbid him injuring me. He had, however, challenged me to
fight him with arms which, from necessity, I instantly ac-
cepted, giving him the choice of the arms, with the exception
of the arrow. This mode he chose, which I refused, as I
* The Black River appears to be meant, not the Huron, which empties into
Take Erie below the Detroit.224
A PIONEER TRADER.
knew nothing about the bow and arrow. Things remained
in this position for a few days, when, sitting in my fishing
hut, I noticed him leaping, seeming in a rage, cleaving the
air and other objects that came within range of his hatchet.
At last he ran swiftly for my hut, which was open in front.
In turning the corner my gun was within a few feet of his
breast. He stood for a few moments, dropped his hatchet
and came and sat down beside me. He said, we would be
friends, and we continued so afterwards. Had he advanced
a step farther with his hatchet I would have shot him. If I
had done so I do not think I would have been punished as
many of the Indians saw that I was acting on the defensive.
His quarrel with me grew out of a very insignificant
affair. In our outdoor exercise I was more than a match for
him and he became offended. During my absence at Detroit
he married an Indian girl named Ti-au-wash, but no one
mentioned this on my return. I talked and joked with her
and the old chiefs daughter as usual when I returned. His
mother noticing this informed me that her son had married
Ti-au-wash during my absence, mentioning the amount of
“cins-qua-quif ’ (sugar) and trinkets paid to the girls
parents for her.
It was now late in May, and the Indians began to grow
uneasy expecting a war. One in a grave manner said to me :
“We and the Saga-nosh (English) are going to war with
the Che-mo-ka-man (Americans). We will then have to
take your scalp.”
I told him I had no fear of that but we would be friends
until war did take place, then we would settle all scalping
matters. To this he assented with an exclamation or rather
a grunt of satisfaction. As this was subsequent, however, to
the battle of Tippecanoe and one of the band was then in
Detroit jail for killing a Frenchman, his remarks were any-
thing but flattering. Riley and the Frenchman were coming
up the river with a cutter in a boat. The Indian was sitting
in the cutter when he was pitched into the river by the
branch of a tree. The Frenchman could not refrain from
laughing, though Riley cautioned him against it. The In-A PIONEER TRADER.
225
dian entered the boat again, took up his gun and shot the
Frenchman through the head, killing him instantly.
This band was poor, but honest, and they held the ties
of marriage strictly. In religious matters they seemed sin-
cere. Puck-wa-nosh, the chief, acted as high priest; he
performed the ceremonies inside a kind of tabernacle of
matting. The audience sat or stood around in deep and
devout meditation. Never did I see anything more solemn.
His voice was more than human in impressiveness.
It was about the last of May and they were preparing to
leave for Amherstburgh. . Their effects were shipped in a
fleet of canoes. They spread their blankets to the breeze
and stood down the river. I sat down on the bank and
watched them until they faded from my sight. A desolate
sadness filled my heart. I thought of home and the green
hills of Pennsylvania and my kind neighbors who had just
left me* forever—and I wept.
I saw one of the band in Michigan after the war. He
informed me that my opponent and many of the band were
dead or dispersed. His own family was dead. Poor old
man, he seemed heart-broken and I pitied him much.
It was now the first of June. I got my effects down to
Detroit and shipped them on the sloop Contractor, Captain
James Beard. We came to anchor in Buffalo bay about the
20th of June, 1812. The Captain went ashore and when he
returned he said it was reported that war had been declared.
The official declaration came on a few days after. The
sloop was laid up in Scajaquada Creek and was one of Com-
modore Perry’s vessels in the action on Lake Erie.
A great change has taken place with the red man in the
last 60 years. His appearance at the commencement of this
century was wild, warlike and independent, but, alas! now
he is docile, melancholy and subdued. A great change has
also taken place in his dress. Then it was of the most gro-
tesque appearance; the hair generally shaved close off the
head, except a tuft on the crown. This was often adorned
with paint and feathers. Others of mature age, slit the rim
of the ear, and wore pieces of lead inserted to distend the
rim. Their wardrobe was of the most scanty patterns; in226
A PIONEER TRADER.
the summer generally a calico shirt, leggins or bare legs. In
the winter a capoe [? capote] coat, leggins and moccasins,
with a strip of blue cloth running up the back and front and
fastened around the waist with a belt or girdle. I have no
recollections, for several years after 1800, of seeing any In-
dian with pantaloons or hat on. Those who could afford it
had a great passion for silver ornaments; their garments
were adorned with broaches, rings and half-moons down the
breast in great profusion.
In the early part of this century the Cornplanter band
and other, northern Indians had quite a trade at Pittsburgh.
Although this was a great way to go to trade there was no
inconveniency in it to the Indian. From the source of the
river to near its mouth were the Indians’ elysium fields, the
hills and mountains being stocked with vast herds of deer
and other game. They generally had to winter on the way
down to Pittsburgh in the hills and mountains to kill game
to make their purchases with. In 1799 an Indian called by
the whites Hayes, during the hunting season killed 60 deer
and other game, only 47 miles north of Pittsburgh. The
brook he encamped on still bears his name. This will give
some idea of the game on the mountains of that river. The
white hunters sometimes obj ected to the Indians hunting as
they had sold their lands. The Indians, however, alleged
they had made no transfer of the game on their land, and
while it lay wild they had rights as good as, if not better
than, the white man. They also alleged that when white
men sold their land they did not let their cattle go with the
land without pay. As'this was a kind of knock-down argu-
ment, they were not molested. Naturally there was a hostile
feeling against the Indians at this time, for many had lost
their friends in the Indian wars and raids. The Cornplanter
band was, however, an exception. They were generally
treated with kindness in consequence of the excellent repu-
tation of their chief.
Cornplanter was a household word when I was a lad.
He always bore the reputation of a moral and an honest
man, and his name is held in grateful remembrance from theA PIONEER TRADER.
227
source to the mouth of that river, and there are steamboats
on the Allegheny and Ohio rivers bearing his name.
Red Jacket, as seen in the streets of Buffalo with his
blanket over his shoulders and otherwise indifferently
clothed, appeared like a very common kind of an Indian
until you caught his eye. This was sharp and intelligent and
when he spoke in council his eyes flashed with great bril-
liancy and fire. I attended two councils where Red Jacket
addressed the Indian audience in a set speech. Although
the Indians are grave in council, they were moved with his
oration as their native forests are with a mighty wind.
These councils were held early in July under an elm tree
east of Washington Street, near the intersection of North
Division Street. Judge Granger, as Indian agent, addressed
the Indians through Messrs. Parrish and Jones, as inter-
preters. His speech was a kind of history of the past and
friendly advice for guidance in the future. It appeared to
be well received by the Indians. One,object of the council
was to have our Indians call a council in Canada to prevail
on the Canada Indians to lay neutral during the war. Our
Indians were willing to do so. The council was held in
Canada, but the Canada Indians refused to lay down the
hatchet. Judge Granger was an able and pleasant speaker
and a good patriot; would to heaven we were all so now.
But, alas! we have public journals, journalists and others
who assail our Government and say a great deal more
against it than against Jeff Davis’s government.*
Farmer’s Brother deserves a passing notice. He was a
splendid looking old chief, when I knew him, and was said
to be 80 years old in 1813. At this great age he bore arms
and was seriously injured by the wind of a cannon ball in the
rear of Fort George in 1813. He was prostrated by its force
and a good deal of swelling took place. The Farmer was
more social in his intercourse with the whites than Red
Jacket. I recollect staying over night at Pomeroy’s Buffalo
tavern late in the fall of 1813, when the Farmer and Sally,
his wife, passed the night there. He had come up to cele-
Written in 1862.228
A PIONEER TRADER.
brate the anniversary of his friend, Tawway, who had
escaped from a drunken mob to the house of the chief.
The Farmer, although a gentle Indian, committed a rash
act in killing an Indian spy from the Grand River. This
took place between Swan and Seneca streets, on Main Street.
The Farmer had been threatened and insulted by the Indian.
He wore a large and splendid medal said to have been pre-
sented to him by General Washington, with the remark that
he was the noblest and best looking Indian that he had ever
seen. Sally, his wife, was a noble-looking woman, ap-
parently a good deal younger than her husband. The
Farmer died in 1814 and was buried with the honors of war
in the old cemetery on Franklin Street.*
John Brant was the most remarkable Indian I ever saw.
Though rather dark, his person and appearance were splen-
did and his features faultless and beaming with intelligence
—open, frank and polite, with great conversational powers,
and always a gentleman. He was elected to parliament, but
in consequence of the votes polled by those having title from
his father, he was not returned as member, although the title
had been confirmed by Government. He died with the
cholera in 1834. His death was truly affecting. In an in-
terval of pain before he expired he made some reflections
on his past life, saying he ought to have been a better and
a greater man from the opportunity he had. He then asked
to be carried to the door to see the light before darkness
closed on him forever. This was done and poor Brant then
passed away.f
I spent the month of December, 1813, in visiting my
friends in Pennsylvania, not having been home in nearly
four years. It was peaceable times along the lines when I
* Farmer’s Brother died March 2, 1815. His remains were removed from
the Franklin Street burying-ground (site of the present City and County Hall)
to Forest Lawn, Oct. 15, 1851.
t It was John Brant, a son of Joseph, who, while in England in 1823,
called the attention of the poet Campbell to the injustice which' the latter had
done to the character of Joseph Brant, in the poem, Gertrude of Wyoming.
Documents were shown to the poet which convinced him of his error; this he
acknowledged in a note to a subsequent edition, but the text of the poem re-
mained unchanged and is probably in no small degree responsible for the er-
roneous ideas that have prevailed regarding Joseph Brant.A PIONEER TRADER.
229
left. On my return in January, 1814, I was shocked to find
Buffalo in ashes.. Of all the inhabitants of that village and
Black Rock the only ones I saw were Seth Grosvenor and
Reuben B. Heacock, for a few minutes at Cold Spring, and
a woman named Daly. They had all been scattered to the
four winds, like Noah’s dove finding no rest. Sitting in my
saddle I took a sorrowful survey of the ruin and desolation
around me, without seeing man, beast or fowl, or anything
that had the breath of life in it.
In my younger days I had had a great passion for boat-
ing, and my anxious desire was to go boating on the Ohio
and Mississippi, but my destiny bound me to Buffalo. I
now bade the place a sorrowful farewell. My intention was
to build one or more boats for the Ohio River trade, but as
they were now building steamboats at Pittsburgh every man
that knew anything of the art was employed, and I could
procure no ship-carpenters. I returned to Buffalo again, in
the spring of 1814. I now found things greatly changed.
Gen. Scott was now established here with quite a forge.
Many traders had established themselves in shanties and
temporary buildings. Some of the inhabitants had returned,
and strains of martial music enlivened the scene. I now
actively engaged in boating for the army.
In March, 1815, I passed through a dangerous firing
ordeal. In looking over some old papers I find a note I
gave, under date of Willoughby [©.], March 8, 1815, prom-
ising to pay John Warren or order, 10 days after date, the
sum of $134.50. This note was given for the duties on
about $2,000 worth of goods bought of Judge Wilkeson,
with the exception of a few goods bought from Grosvenor &
Heacock to complete the assortment, and a lot of boots from
P. P. Pratt.* Such goods sell rapidly after war, though pro-
visions do not. It was proper to sell as soon as possible;
but to run the goods myself into the midst of the British
army, and of the desperate fellows who always hang on the
skirts of an army for plunder, was another thing. I left
[Buffalo] on the morning of the 8th March and swept
close along the north shore. The first sign of life I saw was
* So in the MS. Samuel Pratt is probably meant.230	A PIONEER TRADER.
six and a half miles below Waterloo [Fort Erie village] at
Everts's. Here I landed, as it so happened at the same time
that Col. Warren was passing. He said I was in his district
and must settle the duty. This was a stunner. I had only a
small sum with me for current expenses. He, however, took
my note as above stated, and endorsed $63 on it as paid.
That was for goods I sold Everts, and handed him [the
money] before he'mounted.
Ten miles below Waterloo I was brought to by the ad-
vance picket guard. I infer this was a strong guard, as three
or four commissioned officers came on board, one with the
title of major. They made some purchases and I was allowed
to pass on. Landing at Chippewa we were assailed with ter-
rible language by army vagabonds. So terrified was a
young man whom I had taken along for assistant, that he
fled instantly, back to Buffalo, leaving me with the prospect
that I would lose my goods if not my life. The ruffians
threatened to send me, my boat and goods over the falls if
I offered to vend any of my goods there. They were, they
said, afraid of being .	.	. *
Boating on the Niagara becoming dull, the 1st of June,
1815, I applied to my old friend Major Camp for business on
the lake. Having done hazardous boating for him during
the war, he did not hesitate to ship two companies of United
States soldiers,. baggage, provisions and all, on board my
two boats, Capts. Fowl and Fisher. I afterwards carried
Lt. Armstrong's company, making three trips through the
lake during the summer between Buffalo and Detroit.
These boats were not adapted to lake navigation, being long,
shallow, open boats, perfectly flat in the bottom. My mode
of navigating them was to keep close in shore, noting the
mouths of the creeks and rivers so as to make a harbor in
case of necessity. There were no other harbors in those
* The narrative aggravatingly is discontinued at this point, in the original
manuscript, and in the middle of a page, indicating that Capt. Sloan did not
finish it. As he calls it above “a dangerous firing ordeal,” the inference is that
he escaped from the “ruffins” (as his manuscript has it) only after an exchange
of something more dangerous than the “terable langage” with which they had
greeted him. Incomplete as it is, the incident has its value as illustrating the
difficulties attending what was probably the first attempt at international trade
on the Niagara after the cessation of hostilities.A PIONEER TRADER.
281
days, and the rivers were sometimes barred over. Such
superfluities as an anchor or compass I never carried, but
once; and this was the cause of my losing my cargo.*
Nothing worthy of note took place during the season.
The last trip was a fishing excursion. To save distance I
went up the Canada shore. That fall I put up 119 barrels of
whitefish at Windmill Point, at the outlet of Lake St. Clair,
and shipped them to Black Rock by Capt. Levi Johnson in
the schooner Pilot. I cannot now recollect any vessels as
belonging to Buffalo in 1815. The sloop Commodore Perry
and the Pilot belonged to Cleveland. The General Jackson
was built this year at Ashtabula. There were one or two
poor vessels belonging to Detroit; the public (i. e., Govern-
ment) vessels lay at Erie. Maj. Camp, Miller and Beard
owned the brig Hunter for a short time in 1815 and then
sold her to the United States.
In the spring of 1816 there were several fine vessels; the
schooners Michigan, Erie, and sloop Hanna. The brig
Union was about 94 tons, the Michigan a little more and the
Erie a little less. The schooner Neptune was brought out
this year and some others of less note. The brig Union
appeared to be the base of [Jonathan] Sidway’s great for-
tune. Capt. James Beard, who sailed her in 1816, told me
she cleared $6,000 that year. This amount in those days was
a vast sum to invest in real estate.!
Up to 1817 I supposed that no other agency than the
winds caused the waters of Lake Erie to ebb and flow.
From that date to the present time I am positive there are
other causes, to me unknown. In the spring of 1817, being
on a voyage to Grand River, I put in at Point Abino. Soon
after landing I noticed the water was falling fast. We
hastened to move the boat into deep water, but did not suc-
ceed, and in a few minutes walked round the boat on bare
ground, the water having fallen about two feet. The people
on the Point said I need not be alarmed, as there were
always tides flowing in the bay, and that the tide would soon
* But he doesn’t tell us how.
t Referring to profitable investments in Main Street property, made in the
Sidway interest.232
A PIONEER TRADER.
be in again. In about an hour I resumed my voyage. The
tides still flow in Point Abino bay, but are not often so high.
A very heavy ebbing of the lake took place about the
last of May, 1825, the water falling three feet. I had just
entered Buffalo Creek with a heavy load of goods in the boat
Sally, my men propelling her with setting-poles. The day
was calm and warm. In an instant we were checked by a
flow of water out of the creek, giving us sternway into the
lake. We, however, got lines over the spiles and checked
her up. The Abagail, a large open river boat belonging to
Sheldon Thompson and myself was undergoing repairs at
the intersection of Main Street and the creek. He had all
the caulkers he could procure at work on her, and a number
of barrels of salt on the outer rim to careen her. So rapid
was the fall of water that the boat was partly capsized and
all the salt was lost in the creek A
In 1818 I again bade Buffalo farewell, but after nearly
two years of sickness and misfortune, for self and family, I
returned again to Buffalo.
All the preliminary arrangements to commence work on
the harbor at the mouth of Buffalo Creek were completed
early in May, 1820. I was called upon by Judge Wilkeson
to assist in its construction. I was at a loss to know what I
could do. I had just returned from a sojourn of nearly two
years in the swamps of Michigan and the Maumee River,
broken down in health and fortune. I, however, obtained
an old boat from Sill, Thompson & Co., patched her up and
commenced boating stone, from the Canada shore. The
Black Rock quarries had not yet been opened, and had they
been it would have been difficult to obtain stone on account
of the current of the river and surf of the lake.
The Buffalo Harbor Company consisted of Townsend &
Coit, Samuel Wilkeson and Oliver Forward. These men
mortgaged their property to the State of New York for
$12,000, to construct the harbor. This was a vast sum of
* Capt. Sloan gives other instances of sudden changes in Lake Erie’s level,
and theorizes as to the cause, at a length to which it is hardly profitable to fol-
low him. His historical recollections are more valuable than his deductions in
the realm of natural phenomena.233
A PIONEER TRADER.
money in those days for three houses to raise, when times
were hard and property at a low figure in the village of Buf-
falo. They, however, with a commendable zeal commenced
the harbor, though its stability was much questioned. It
was held that no harbor would stand on a bed of sand, and
the company had much to discourage them; still the Super-
intendent with unceasing energy and judgment pressed the
work forward through the summer of 1820. And when
after this long lapse of time* I look back to what was done
in 1820 with the men and means employed on this work, I
am astonished at what was performed.
I deem it proper to notice the marine of the port of Buf-
falo Creek in May, 1820. Winthrop Fox owned two boats
that could have carried a cord of stone each. Jonathan
Umpstead [Olmstead] owned one that carried a cord and a
half. These three boats, Skate's skiff and Meadows's canoe
constituted on the 1st of May, 1820, the whole marine of
the port of Buffalo Creek. A yawl boat and a scow that
carried a cord of stone were added soon after by the Harbor
Company, for harbor purposes. Some of our citizens owned
vessel stock on the lake, but hailing from other ports. The
humble craft' of Meadows I give a place in the list, as he was
one of the first settlers of the village of Buffalo, and has a
kind of posthumous fame in the annals of our courts.
I was actively engaged until about the 20th of June, in
boating stone from the Canada shore. Up 'to this time my
boat and a few stones from the Plains had been sufficient to
sink the piers in shallow waters. The agent was now anxious
that I should secure another boat. Fox, on whom they re-
lied for stone, never delivered any, or his boats. Umpstead
had a contract with the Walk-in-the-Water, and was boat-
ing wood for that steamboat from the Indian reservation to
Black Rock. I applied to my old friend James Cummings,
Esq., of Chippewa, who kindly lent me a boat. Although
this was done as a favor to myself, it was at this critical mo-
ment of more consequence to the company. With these two
boats I was able to deliver nine cords of stone per day in
calm weather. My plan was to man strong and load light,
Written in 1862.234
A PIONEER TRADER.
so that we could heave the stone overboard if we were struck
with a squall. The summer of 1820 was one of calms and
light winds. The lake was said to be lower by the old set-
tlers on the Canada shore than it had been since the Revolu-
tionary War.
The construction of Buffalo harbor being the* first at-
tempt to build a harbor on the lakes,* was attended with much,
difficulty and hazard. The means of the company were in-
adequate for the construction of the work, and its strength
was severely tested. In the fall of 1820 the sea washed the
stone out of sections of the cribs as low as the surface of the
water, yet the work and the trundling were so strong and
faithfully done that the empty space stood the gales and the
shock of the sea. But little iron was used in the harbor—
only a few spike. The cribs were refilled and capped over
with flattened ties to keep the sea from washing the stone
out of the cribs. In opening a new channel, the present one,
the harbor was again threatened with ruin by the creek un-
dermining and making excavations under long sections of
the cribs and partially capsizing them. Still they stood this
severe test without breaking up. The wisdom of putting-
large quantities of brush in the cribs was now apparent, as it
prevented the stone from falling into the excavations made
by the creek.
Buffalo Creek previous to the construction of the harbor
was exceedingly difficult to enter, a long outer bar confining
its channel in shore, and causing its entrance into the lake
nearly parallel with the shore. When the action of the sea,
as was often the case, would confine the creek by shifting-
the bar in shore, the creek would then break through the
bar, washing a better entrance into the harbor. It was al-
ways, however, unsafe to enter when there was a sea on the
outer bar, even when there was sufficient water to do so.
The channels made by the creek across the bar would
gradually fill up again, thus causing a continual shifting of
* This is not strictly accurate, for in the spring of 1819 harbor improve-
ments were attempted at the mouth of Grand River, Ohio. The work at Buffalo'
was the second attempt, and \he first success. See Capt. Augustus Walker’s,
paper, in this volume.A PIONEER TRADER.
235
the channel of the creek by the action of the sea and current
of the stream. Other streams of the lake entered at about
right angles with the lake shore, making their entrance more
direct and safe.
In justice to the Superintendent of the harbor, the late
Judge Wilkeson, much is due from the citizens of Buffalo,
to his memory and family, for his energy and judgment in
its construction. Having had much experience in harbor
building since 1820 I am satisfied that no other plan than
the one adopted could have resisted the fall gales of 1820.
Had this work failed in 1820, the results would have been
most disastrous to the village of Buffalo. Doubtless no
other work of the kind would have been attempted for years
after, if ever. And the city of Buffalo, its commercial in-
terests, business and population would have been removed
to the Niagara River. What vast results are produced by
the wisdom and genius of a single individual.
This noble river, with its clear running waters and fine
high banks, its commercial marine, both steam and sail, bid
fair to rival Buffalo and carry off the palm. Powerful com-
petitors and opponents of the Buffalo harbor were now in
the field, sustained by the villages from Oswego to Black
Rock, pressing their claims for a harbor at the latter place.
A failure in 1820 would have sealed the fate and fortunes of
Buffalo. Buffalo flats and creek at this period were any-
thing but inviting. From Little Buffalo Creek northerly to
near the Niagara River, with the exception of a few ridges
of timber and ponds of water, it was a marsh. Some of the
ponds were stocked with fish. In a large one a little south-
easterly of where the workhouse now stands* the soldiers
assured me they had caught sturgeon. There were two out-
lets to this swamp, one into Buffalo Creek near its mouth,
the other into the Niagara River, where the old canal in-
tersects the harbor. Previous to the war there was a rim or
bank from near Buffalo Creek to the Niagara River higher
than the land inside. This ridge or bank became elevated
into sandhills, at a point between Buffalo Creek and Niag-
* The older part of the present Erie County Penitentiary, on Fifth Street,
erected 1847.236
A PIONEER TRADER.
ara River, some 40 feet high, and more than half a mile in
length, the whole rim or bank covered with forest. The
timber on it and the ridges was taken mostly by the United
States troops for the construction of barracks and for fuel.
There was a wide and beautiful sand beach between the bank
and the lake. There had apparently no change taken place
either in the beach or the bank for a long time previous to
the cutting of the timber off the banks, apparently not for
centuries.
The procuring of stone from the Canada shore was a
dangerous and slavish operation in our old inefficient boats.
Our mode was to run up close in shore and commence load-
ing, and as the boat settled keep shoving out farther until
loaded, lifting the stone all out of the water. None were
quarried. We were often obliged to do our cooking and dry
ourselves by driftwood fires, in the evening, and sleep in
open boats. The labor of the harbor men was also uncom-
fortable and heavy. They were, however, better fed and
lodged than the boatmen. It would naturally be presumed
men would break down under such drudgery. This was not,
however, the case. They were cheerful and healthy. I do
not recollect of a single man being sick on. the works during
the summer. My own health improved rapidly. Umpstead
and myself made two trips daily to the Canada shore in good
weather, delivering with our boats two loads of stone each
per day; and when the wants were pressing, we made three
trips a day by working in the evening. The other boats gen-
erally made but one trip a day.
About the 20th of June I was joined by Umpstead and
three boats from up the lake. This enabled the Harbor
Company to reduce the price of stone from $3.50 to $3 per
cord. The timber for the work was obtained in Hamburg,
and delivered on the bank near the works for $30 a thou-
sand, cubic measure. The harbor ties were obtained for
$9 a hundred. I had several load of stone delivered on
the beach at a point where the work was to commence.
About six eighths of all the stone used in 1820, was ob-
tained on the Canada shore, the balance from Bird Island,
Light House Reef and the Plains. The citizens of FortA PIONEER TRADER.
237
Erie in the after part of the season were opposed to our
taking stone, and one of my boats was seized and con-
demned. Col. Warren, a friend of mine, would have given
her up, as she had committed no breach of revenue law, but
was overruled by his deputy and others. This misfortune
reduced me again to poverty and distress. This boat the
company ought to have paid me for, as I pioneered the other
boats across, when the necessities of the company were
pressing for stone. Two more of the boats were seized
afterwards, but were retaken again by the owners at night
from Fort Erie without consulting the collector. This
threw the deputy into a towering rage, arid the first time I
ventured into his presence, he abused the whole Yankee
nation and myself in particular. But after considerable
palaver it was agreed that the balance of the boats might
continue getting stone by paying a small entrance fee, and
that he would hold me accountable for the payment. I as-
sured him I would do all in my power to collect or compel
the other boats to pay the fee. We were to pay two shil-
lings a load entrance, and pay up once a week. This was
but partially complied with, the boats neglecting or refusing
to pay the fee. The deputy, though a passionate man, was
not a bad man to deal with, and the boats had no further
trouble, although I was annoyed in keeping matters straight,
but gained the deputy’s friendship.