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THE 
 
 TOURIST. 
 
 DESCRZFTIVZS OF THE SCSIffERV 
 
 OF THE 
 
 MOHAWK & HUDSON RIVERS. 
 
 FALLS, LAKES, MOUNTAINS, SPRINGS, 
 RAIL ROADS & CANALS. 
 
 WITH MAPS AND VIEWS. 
 
 A. T. GOODRICH, ASTOR HOUSE, 
 
 No. 2, Barclay Street. \ 
 
 GEOGRAPHICAL ESTABLISHMENT AND BOOK STORE. I 
 
 1840. 
 
• M^,*-cOk'^^f^V^ '^ 
 
 Fl: 
 
 •^ J 
 
 • Ki^l? 
 
 Entered according to the Act of Congress, 
 
 in the year 1840, by 
 
 A. T. GOODRICH, 
 
 in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United 
 
 States, for the Southern District of New York. 
 
 '7*- y>^> 
 
^i: 
 
 THE 
 
 -NORTH AMERICAN TOURIST. 
 
 PART FIRST, 
 
 ROUTES IJ\' JVBWmirOnMy 
 
 rO THE 
 
 ^^PRINGS, LAKES, FALLS, MOUNTAINS, 
 
 HUDSON RIVER. &c. 
 
 The Hudson River. 
 
 The sources of this river are in 44° N. latitude, in a se- 
 ries of lakes in Essex and Hamilton counties, that lie in 
 the mountainous and unfrequented region between Lake 
 Champlain, the Mohawk River, St. Lawrence River, and. 
 Lake Ontario. The main, or north branch, rises 30 miles 
 N. W. from Crown Point; the Sacondaga, or west branch, 
 rises 30 to 40 miles W. of Lake George, and both branches 
 unite on the eastern side of Saratoga county, in the town 
 of Hadiey, near the celebrated falls of that name. From 
 thence, the course is southerly for a few miles, and then 
 east, to Glenn's Falls, beyond which it turns south, and 
 pursues a course varying but little from N. to S. nearly all 
 the distance to the ocean, from which circumstance it de- 
 rives its usual, but incorrect appellation of the North 
 River. 
 
 In many points of view, it may be considered one of the 
 most important streams in the world for its extent, and only, 
 if at all, inferior in usefulness to the Ohio and Mississippi 
 Rivers, but superior to them for steam-boat navigation, viz 
 in the most remarkable circumstance, and exclusively cha 
 
4 Hudssn River. 
 
 racteristic of the Hudson River from every other stream in 
 this country — its penetrating through the chain of high- 
 lands, and being affected by the tides as far as Troy, IGO 
 miles north, thus carrying the oceanic influence far into 
 the interior, and yielding the greatest facilities to com- 
 merce. 
 
 The depth of water is sufficient for ship navigation as 
 far as Hudson ; and beyond that, for sloops and steam- 
 boats to Albany and Troy. It is closed by ice from the 
 10th or 20th of December'io about the lOth of March, with 
 occasional exceptions ; but the harbor and bay of New- York 
 are always open, so that vessels can enter and depart at any 
 period of the winter, while the harbors of Boston, Phila- 
 delphia, and Baltimore, are entirely closed for M'^eeks. This 
 is one of the principal causes of the preference given to 
 New- York, as a sea-port, beyond any other on this coast, 
 except Newport. Ships, with a fair wind and tide, can get 
 to sea in one hour and thirty minutes after leaving the 
 Avharf ; the distance from the city by ship channel to Sandy 
 Hook light-house being only 18 miles. 
 
 The width of the river for 25 miles N. from New- York, 
 is about one mile, bounded on the west by precipices of trap 
 or green stone, from 200, and rising gradually to 500 feet in 
 height. Beyond these, there is an expansion of the river to 
 the width of 4 miles, called Tappan and Haversiraw bays, 
 with the mountains on the western shore rising boldly to 
 700 feet in height. 
 
 The traveler then enters into the romantic region of the 
 highlands, where the river is contracted into narrower 
 limits, but is of greater depth, and the mountains rise on 
 both sides with abruptness from nine to sixteen hundred 
 feet in height. At West Point, the river turns suddenly, at 
 right angles, to its previous course, and soon displays an 
 opening between the mountains on the north, beyond 
 which the country subsides into a fertile, but hilly region, 
 which coniinues for a hundred miles, with a noble view of 
 the Catskill, or spur of the Allegany Mountains, at the dis- 
 tance of 8 or 10 miles. 
 
 Such are the attraciions possessed by this noble river, that 
 it annually allures thousands of strangers ; and this, in con- 
 nection with the canal navigation, the summer visiters to 
 the Springs, the Lakes, and to the Falls of Niagara, causes 
 the sum of one or more millions of dollars to be expended 
 
Hudsoits Voyages, SfC. 6 
 
 in this state every year, and forms a very considerable item 
 in the prosperity and resources of the city and country. 
 
 The Hudson River, in connection with LakeChamplain, 
 has always been the great highway to Canada, and the path 
 or channel of military enterprise. 
 
 There are 15 to 20 steam-boats, of various sizes, plying 
 from New- York to Albany, and other places on the river ; 
 their passage to Albany is now effected in 10 to 12 hours ! 
 
 There are several falls on the river, viz. — Baker's Falls, 
 Glenn's Falls, Hadley Falls, and others of less note. The 
 sources of the river have never been fully surveyed ; but 
 the granitic region thereabouts undoubtedly contains many 
 fine landscapes and scenes that will soon be better known. 
 Its entire length may be estimated at 300 miles. Its only 
 tributary stream of any magnitude is the Mohawk River, 
 that falls in from the west, at Waterford, which rises 120 
 miles distant, in the county of Oneida. On this are the 
 Cohoes Falls, and the Little Falls; and on West Canada 
 Creek, emptying into the Mohawk, are the celebrated Tren- 
 ton Falls, that deservedly rank high in public estimation. 
 
 As a navigable arm of the sea, and the chief cause of the 
 prosperity of this great metropolis, the Hudson River can- 
 not be too highly estimated ; and when viewed as the con- 
 necting means of our great system of inland navigation, 
 and with the Lakes, from Buffalo to Detroit, Michilimacki- 
 nac, Green Bay, Chicago, and we soon may be enabled to 
 say, through the Illinois River to St. Louis and New-Or- 
 leans, and also by a canal round the Sault St. Mary with 
 the distant shores of Lake Superior, we can hardly appre- 
 ciate the extent of inland trade that may, at no distant day, 
 visit this commercial metropolis of the United States. 
 
 Henry Hudson. 
 
 Little is known of the eventful life of the celebrated na- 
 vigator Henry Hudson, except that he was an Englishman, 
 born in 1569, of good education, and an experienced and 
 bold seaman. He early entered into a maritime life, and 
 soon attained a distinguished rank in his profession. He 
 resided in London, and had a family ; and his only son, a 
 1* 
 
6 Hudson's Voyages, S^'C 
 
 youth of great promise, shared with him in all his perils. 
 His first voyage of discovery was in 1607, when he sailed 
 from Gravesend to the coast of Greenland, and made im- 
 portant discoveries, and returned in safety. The next year 
 he made a voyage to the northern regions. Both of the 
 foregoing voyages were made by him in the employment 
 of a company of merchants at London; but they not wish- 
 ing his services any longer, Hudson went to Holland, and 
 entered into the service of the Dutch East India Company, 
 who provided him with a small ship called the Half Moon, 
 and a crew of 20 men. He left Amsterdam on the 4th of 
 April, 1609, and after sailing along the coast of America, 
 and touching in different places, he entered the bay inside 
 of Sandy Hook, on the 3d of September, and devoted one 
 month to the exploring of the coast in the vicinity, and in 
 ascending the river that bears his name. His narrative is 
 full of interest, and his voyage and adventures up the river, 
 and his intercourse with Ihe natives, are told in a faithful 
 and descriptive manner, but our limits will not admit of any 
 minute details. The reader that is desirous of farther in- 
 formation on this subject, is referred to the eloquent descrip- 
 tion in Moulton's History of this State, which does full 
 justice to it. 
 
 The island of Manhattan, at that period, presented a 
 wild and rough aspect ; a thick forest covered those parts 
 of it where vegetation could find support; its beach was 
 broken and rocky, and had several inlets; the interior was 
 hilly, with occasional rocks, swamps, and ponds. All traces 
 of this roughness have long since disappeared from the 
 southern part of the island, where the citv is now built, and 
 great inroads have been made on all sides into the waters 
 of the harbor; but to the curious, a lively idea may still be 
 given of what was formerly the appearance on the city's 
 site, by examinins: the interior of the island, 5 or 6 miles 
 north, on the middle road, or the 3d and 8ih avenues, es- 
 peciadv the latter, and also on the banks of the Hudson and 
 East Rivers, by which may be discovered the immense la- 
 bor and expense that have been bestowed by preceding 
 generations, in altering the natural appearance of this 
 island. 
 
 Hudson, on his return, was forced to put into England 
 by his crew, of whom a part were natives of that country, 
 and he subsequently perished on a voyage to the great bay 
 that bears his name, by the mutiny of some of his sailors. 
 
Hohoken and New- York. 
 
 Excursion up the Hudson River. 
 
 On leaving the city in any of the steam-boats for the 
 north, the traveler for pleasure should, if on his Jirst 
 trip, by all means prefer the morning boats, at 7 A. JM. ? 
 for the sake of enjoying the splendid scenery in perfection, 
 and select on ihe upper deck a suitable position near the 
 after part of the boat, and facing to the north, so as to 
 glance readily at objects that may attract his attention on 
 either shore. 
 
 For twenty-five miles after leaving New-York the river 
 is very near one mile in width, and then for the next twen- 
 ty expands to three or four times that width before enter- 
 ing the portals of the Highlands. 
 
 In passing by fifteen streets from Courtlandt-street, or 
 twelve from Barclay- street, we are opposite the extensive 
 steam-engine shops' of Kemble and Gouverneur, and the 
 lofty spire seen a short distance in the rear is that of St. 
 John^s Church, that faces on Hudson-square, one of the few 
 that ornament the city. 
 
 The sixth street beyond, as we proceed, is Canal-street, 
 leading into the heart of the metropolis; and opposite we 
 see, on the west side of the Hudson river, a mile above 
 Jersey city or Fowles Hook, (where the rail- road begins 
 leading: to Newark and intermediate cities to Philadelphia,) 
 the village of Hoboken, with its green lawns, shady re- 
 cesses, and embowered walks leading along the shore to 
 and beyond the seat of the Stevens family, of celebrated 
 memory in the history of American steam-boats. The fami- 
 ly mansion is seen on the summit of the rocky knoll ; and 
 the surrounding and embellished grounds have a bold front 
 of a mile on the river, carefully protected bv stone embank- 
 ment; the artificial and shaded winding walks are gratui- 
 tously thrown open to the public by the liberal and en- 
 lightened proprietor, in their whole extent of unrivalled 
 beauty. Mr. S. is also the one on whom the mantle of 
 Fulton may be said to have fallen, and his countrymen 
 have already witnessed and enjoyed the fruits of his in- 
 ventive genius. 
 
 In the rear of the low grounds that environ Mr. Stevens* 
 property on the west, is the village of West Hoboken, that, 
 
8 ' New- York and Weehaxcken. 
 
 from its elevated and prominent situation on the brow of the 
 Bergen ridge, commands a fine view of the city, harbor, 
 and surrounding couniry. The Beaco7i Race-Course is on 
 the hill to the south of the adjommg wood. The ridge rises 
 rapidly as it extends to the north, and sweeps forward in a 
 bold and graceful curve towards the Hudson at Weehawken, 
 where commences the remarkable ridge of trap-rock, the 
 Palisades. 
 
 Ten streets or blocks north of Canal-street, we pass a 
 massive-looking building with a dome or observatory, and 
 a semi-circular colonnade to the south entrance, being a 
 moiety of the old State Prison, now altered and improved, 
 and used for public or benevolent purposes, the property of 
 a wealthy citizen, Mr. L . 
 
 If far enough out towards the middle of the stream, we 
 can discern, in passing along the front of the city, the tower- 
 ing and castellated summits of the JSew-York University, 
 that is situated several blocks towards the interior of the 
 city facing on Washington-square ; and also the domes of 
 the two reservoirs of water in 13th-street, near Union- 
 square. 
 
 After passing fourteen more streets or blocks, we notice 
 the tall chimney of the Manhattan Gas Works, ninety feet 
 high, and on the third and fourth blocks beyond, the hand- 
 some gothic spire and Episcopal church of St. Peters, and 
 the Episcopal Theological Seminary, and the insulated 
 mansion of Clement Moore, Esq, together with many other 
 comfortable residences of wealthy citizens on the northern 
 confines of the city ; and in twelve more blocks we pass the 
 New- York Chemical Works, and the Asylum for the Blind 
 on the 8th and 9th Avenues, on an elevation back from the 
 river. The Timber Basin for enclosing floating logs and 
 rafts projects out awkwardly between 36ih and 45ih streets, 
 and we are now fairly beyond the outskirts of the great me- 
 tropolis, and must again glance our eye to the western 
 shore. 
 
 The spacious stone mansion that surmounts the brow of 
 the beginning of the Palisades, is the country residence of 
 James G. King, Esq. the Wall-street banker, and occupies 
 one of the most commanding sites in the vicinity of New- 
 York, looking forth on the river below, the city and 
 harbor, and through the Narrows to the Atlantic Ocean. 
 There are several neat villas of less pretension exhibited 
 
Fort Washington and Fort Lee. 9 
 
 along the summit ridge as we continue on, and others at 
 the foot, or on the slope, or curiously nestled in ravines in 
 close proximity to masses of rock that impend over or 
 surround them. Just before arriving at Bull's Ferry we see 
 on the summit the mansion of William Cooper, Esq. an 
 eminent naturalist, and one of the founders of the Ly- 
 ceum of Natural History of New-York. On the opposite 
 shore, observe the new building, the Orphan Asylum, 
 removed to this beautiful site from its former location in 
 Greenwich. 
 
 Many strikingly beautiful country seats of wealthy and 
 comfortable citizens present themselves in agreeable suc- 
 cession for ten miles on the eastern or New-York side of the 
 river. The narrowest pass on the Hudson below the High- 
 lands is the rocky and acute projection beneath Fort Wash- 
 ington, and nearly opposite to Fort Lee. A large body of 
 American troops in 1777 were embodied near the city of 
 New-York, when it was captured by the British army after 
 the battle on Long-Island, vvhen our army was withdrawn, 
 and a force of two or three thousand of American mi- 
 litia, was left to defend the weak and straggling lines that 
 had been erected on and around the brow of the hill 
 of Mount Washington, but they were incapable of a 
 prolonged defence ; the Hessians advanced from the east 
 or Harlsem side in overpowering numbers, and carried the 
 •works at the point of the bayonet ; the retreat of the Ame- 
 ricans being cut off in every direction, they were slaugh- 
 tered in cold blood by the foreign mercenaries, or held in 
 captivity during the war on board the noted prison-ship 
 in the Wallaboght, where hundreds fell victims to suffering 
 and disease. There are very slight remains to be seen of 
 these revolutionary field-works. The writer has often trod 
 upon the hallowed spot before the erection of the present 
 showy, and gay, and jaunty-looking mansions that are now 
 seen there, one of them on the side-slope, being an hotel. 
 The view from the crown of the hill extends for twenty 
 miles up, and the same down the river; and eastward to 
 Lons:-Island Sound and the Hempstead hills, the elevation 
 is 238 feet ; the height of the opposite cliffs at Fort Lee land- 
 ing i^^W feet. The latter is an admired place of resort, 
 and is fast jiaining upon the knowledge and good will of the 
 worthy citizens that venture thus far in the steam-boat, and 
 ascend to the summit of the noble bluff, and look around 
 
10 Summit of ike Palisades. 
 
 and beneath them. Perchance they stray a few miles, or 
 lounge along near the brow of this lovely terrace, that as 
 yet remains in all its pristine wildness and beauty. Long 
 may it thus continue. A path leads along the summit of 
 this noble terrace, on a smooth green sward, winding among 
 evergreens and oaks mile after mile, now approaching to 
 the edge of the precipice, and from salient angles exhibiting 
 a series of bird's eye, profile, and plunging views, down and 
 along this immense and irregular wall of trap-rock; after 
 recoiling from the startling and sudden view of the abyss, 
 we are led onward, by a succession of these wonderfully 
 line views that enchain the admiration of the artist and the 
 lover of the grand works of nature, and can follow this path 
 near the very brink for fifteen or twenty miles, and find the 
 scene perpetually changing and presenting some new and 
 striking leature of sublimity. Occasionally some rapid 
 brawling stream or slight gurgling brook will dash along 
 the path, and leap over the steep descent, but no serious 
 impediment is thus presented to the active pedestrian in 
 this prolonged ramble, but rather an additional excitement 
 and pleasure. 
 
 The face of the summit is sufficiently clothed with a va- 
 riety of forest trees, shrubbery, and flowers, to delight and 
 amuse the botanist; the rocks here and there protrude 
 through the surface of the soil, where the water courses 
 and exposure to the rough and beating storms from the 
 north-east have worn down to the hard and solid rock; yet 
 good farms and rich gardens are found spread over its sur- 
 face, on various slopes, away from the edge of the eastern 
 face, and threading our way over the hill now ascending or 
 descending, we find in a mile or two to the west, clearings 
 admitting an extensive view over the distant borders of the 
 Hackensack, and an admirable aerial perspective through 
 the blue vapor to the chain of hills in the interior of New 
 Jersey. 
 
 The Asylum for Lunatics at Manhattanville occupies a 
 commanding position a few rods from the east bank of the 
 river, and has seventy acres of ground annexed, with am- 
 ple range for the inmates about the lawns, gardens, and 
 pleasure-grounds. The leading principle of the system of 
 management being of the most improved and humane de- 
 scription, and thus far with the happiest effect. The State 
 of New- York has made liberal donations to this insiitu- 
 
Yonkers. 11 
 
 Hon. For a fall description of this and other public build- 
 ings in the metropolis, see the Picture of New- York and 
 Stranger's Guide, by Goodrich. 
 
 Beyond the ruins of Fort Washington the heights of 
 Harlaein are seen to skirt upon the river, and to trend away 
 to the south-east along the southern side of the Spuyten 
 Duyvel, or the inlet from Hurlgate to the Hudson, that in- 
 sulates the island of Manhattan from the main, and that is 
 crossed, at or near its eastern extremity, by a wooden 
 bridge, at the termination of the Third Avenue and the via- 
 duct leading from the Harlsem railroad to Albany, and 
 also by the aqueduct from the Croton River, from whence 
 the water is led down near the river road, along the height 
 of land, for forty miles, and comes out opposite Harlaem 
 heights, at 114 feet above tide water. This costly work is 
 destined to last for ages, and to be of immense importance 
 to the health and welfare of the city, and the total expense 
 ten millions of dollars. The various excavations, tunnels, 
 arches, embankments, superstructures, &c. are highly 
 worthy of the minute examination of every stranger and 
 curious visiter, and for full particulars reference may be 
 had to the Picture of New- York as before mentioned. 
 
 Pliillipsburg^h, or Yonkcrs* 
 
 Seventeen miles from New-York, at the mouth of a small 
 stream called the Sawmill River, next occurs on the east 
 shore, and as it is deeply nestled in the vale, the stranger 
 will be apt to overlook it, unless the boat should hug the 
 shore on that side. The spire of the Village church, peer- 
 ing up from amid the trees, and ruling over the quietness 
 an^d seclusion of the old Dutch settlement, with its water- 
 fall, mills, and comfortable abodes, neat lawns asd gardens, 
 is quite a picture; but if the boat keep too far out in the 
 stream, as usual, much of this elfect and feeling is lost ; but 
 if the traveler will, at this spot, direct his attention to the 
 line of the Palisades on the opposite or west shore, he will 
 behold the highest part of the range 517 to 550 feet high : 
 the summit even and regular as the cornice of a house, the 
 entire facade like the ruins of an ancient feudal castle, or- 
 
13 Facade of the Palisadea. 
 
 namenled with the moss and hue of antiquity. The next 
 hundred years will present, on the crowning ridge of the 
 majestic Palisades, one of the most imposing assemblages 
 of elegant and substantial mansions that the world can dis- 
 play, and will be a suitable finish to such a commandinjj 
 elevation. Our prophecy is already begun to be fulfilled 
 in part, twenty miles below, at Bergen, Hoboken, and 
 Weehawken. 
 
 Taking a retrospective profile view of the west shore when 
 approaching the termination where the precipice subsides 
 opposite Dobb's Ferry landing, or Hastings or Greenbush, the 
 singular effect will be noticed that is produced by the gra- 
 dual diminution of the height from north to south, adding 
 to and distorting the regular perspective effect agreeable 
 lo the laws of vision— but the vista, nevertheless, is grand 
 and unrivalled ; and when viewed in various aspects, in 
 the bright morning sun, or the coming shadows of evening,^ 
 or tipt or shrouded with mist, or in the mild effulgence of 
 the full orbed moon, new sources of beauty are noticed 
 and elicited, equally gratifying and surprising to the ob- 
 server of the picturesque in nature. 
 
 This rugged-looking mass of rock, that seems to defy the 
 thought of scaling its frowning and severe walls, may be as- 
 cended in a few places ; and at Closter landing, opposite 
 Phillipsburgh, a country road exists and extends up by 
 several zig-zag and sharp turns, and ascends to the summit 
 level and leads to the secluded valley on the western slope 
 of the English (Dutch) Neighborhood along the Hackcn- 
 sack River. 
 
 The boundary line of New-York and New Jersey strikes 
 off to the N. VV. from about the highest place of the pali- 
 sade range ; and from the first dock north, a path branches 
 to the left, or south, by which the pedestrian may, by fol- 
 lowing for a mile or two, reach the summit of the hill, pant- 
 ing with his exertion, and be fully rewarded by the panora- 
 mic scene before him. 
 
 At about 2*2 miles from New-York we enter upon the 
 first change in the usual width of the Hudson River ; the 
 shores recede on each side, and leave an expansion three 
 miles broad, known by the high sounding name of the 
 Tappan Sea, and especially commended to the notice of the 
 Traveler from historical and literary associations. The 
 fields on each border of the river, especially on the east, in 
 
Tappan—W. Irving. 13 
 
 the county of West Chester, were the neutral grouBd, or 
 scene of border operations during the American war, when 
 the enemy held possession of New-York and sent out their 
 foraging and marauding parties; and the tale ofmany a bor- 
 der story and feat of arms is associated with the hills and 
 valleys around the range of our view, this being a hazardous 
 region for both parties, and more particularly for whig and 
 tory, militia and cow-boys. Spies were employed on both 
 sides, and when caught, as Major Andre had the ill luck to 
 be, near the village here in plain sight on the east, called 
 Tarrytown, and carried over the river to Tappan, about 
 three miles up the hill west of the landing, and hung; it 
 was no more than the fortune of war, and to be expected 
 by all that ventured on such a graceless employment. 
 
 The literary reminiscences alluded to are of more re- 
 cent origin, and of a much more agreeable character, 
 being the emanations of the popular American author, 
 Washington Irving. His country seat is appropriately and 
 judiciously placed near the margin of the Hudson, and amid 
 the very scenes immortalized in portions of his most face- 
 tious Knickerbocker and his inimitable Sketch Book. His 
 villa is on the eastside of the river, about 25 miles from 
 New-York, and may be pointed out to the eager eyes 
 of the inquisitive traveler as of moderate dimensions, 
 and with queer gables in the Dutch style, with a neat 
 lawn and grounds environing it, and is within a short 
 distance of Tarrytown, and of the Dutch Church, bridge, 
 and pond in the valley of Sleepy-hollow, of Ichabod Crane 
 memory. 
 
 The great rail-road projected from the Hudson River to 
 Lake Erie, will commence at the landing at the west side 
 the Slote, a mile above the Palisades, and follow the ravine 
 up to the west and north-west, near the border line of New 
 Jersey. 
 
 IVyack, 
 
 twenty-five miles i"rom New-York, the next village north of 
 Tappan, has a landing, and a road that leads over the moun- 
 tain to the interior of Rockland county. The red sand- 
 stone was formerly quarried in abundance in this vicinity 
 
 9. 
 
14 Nyack — Sing Sing — Croton. 
 
 for the city market, until the eastern granite and the mar- 
 ble of West Chester county supplanted it in the favor of 
 the public. The large State Prison at Sing-Sing, on the 
 immediate bank of the river on the east shore, is an exten- 
 sive construction of the marble above alluded to and reared 
 by the convicts, and is capable of celling or caging one thou- 
 sand, side by side and tier on tier, like a hive of bees. The 
 system of discipline here pursued is rigid, and exacting strict 
 silence, severe labor, and solitary confinement at night. 
 
 Crotoii River 
 
 comes in about 2 miles above Sing- Sing, and supplies at 
 times a considerable volume of water to ihe Hudson in 
 the sprins: season. It rises in Putnam county, in the High- 
 lands east of the Hudson, near the Connecticut line, in Pa- 
 terson, Kent, and South East ; and has its sources in pure 
 ponds in a granite region ; and after running in a south-west- 
 ern direction for about forty miles through North Salem, 
 Somers, Bedford, Yorktown, and Cortlandt, what then re- 
 mains of the water after a portion of it being diverted and 
 taken off to supply the large reservoirs and thirsty popula- 
 tion, and to cleanse the dusty streets of the great metropo- 
 lis, forty miles below, falls into the noble Hudson at Teller's 
 Point, and has there formed a mass of earth and stones, that 
 the rapid freshets of the Croton have accumulated into a 
 respectable isthmus or prolongation of land that intrudes 
 out a mile from the east towards the western shore, and 
 thus distinctly separates the Tappan from the Haverstraw 
 bay. 
 
 Vredidicker Hook, 
 
 a bold headland that rises majestically from the wafer 
 on the west shore between the villages of Nyack and Ha- 
 verstraw, is 668 feet in height, and stretches gracefully out 
 to meet the low land from the eastern shore, and forms a 
 distinct point of demarcation between the upper and lower 
 
Vredidieker Mountain and Lake — Haver straw Bay. 15 
 
 prominent mass of rock on the western shore from the 
 southern point of Bergen ia New Jersey, where it dips be- 
 neath the waves of the Kills, as we proceed up the Hudson, 
 attains gradually a greater elevation, as will be seen as 
 we proceed in our course through the Highlands and to the 
 Cattskills, where " Alps on Alps arise," and thus prepares 
 the astonished and delighted traveler, by mild and succes- 
 sive gradations of increasing height, grandeur, and subli- 
 mity, for the more imposing and delightful scenes that will 
 now soon be disclosed. 
 
 On the Vredidiker mountain is a clear crystal lake of three 
 or four miles in circumference, that forms the source of the 
 Hackensack River, and although not more than a short mile 
 from the Hudson, is elevated above it about two hundred 
 and fifty feet; and if the traveler notices a depression of the 
 ridge above at the first landing, after passing close beneath 
 the Vredidiker mountain, with a steep road ascending the 
 hill, he will have the locality in view, as the lake is there in 
 that direction ; and the pure clear Rockland ice that is sup- 
 plied to the citizens of New- York, is produced at this spot, by 
 the unmitigated and prolonged severity of the Siberian cli- 
 mate of this exposure; and the delicious ice-creams and the 
 wicked bowls of punch that are consumed in New- York 
 owe their charms in a large degree to the reservoir of ice 
 that is here cut out in huge blocks, and slid down to the 
 level of the river below, and when the river breaks up, vast 
 stores of this commodity are transported to the city. 
 
 We now glide rapidly past the Vredidieker, into a second 
 expansion of the Hudson, the Haverstraw Bay, of about the 
 same size as the previous one that we have left behind us, 
 and our course, that, soon after leaving the city, had for 
 twenty miles been nearly due north until we past the Pali- 
 sades and the Sea of Tappan, now assumes, for the ensuing 
 ten miles, a north-west direction, and gives us leisure 
 to cast a retrospective glance towards the smooth bay we 
 have just left behind us, and the fast receding outlines of the 
 distant Palisades, fading into the dim blue haze of the hori- 
 zon, with its beautiful aerial tints ; our attention will now 
 be directed to the extensive panorama that surrounds us, 
 to the singular crest and form of the mountain-top on the 
 west shore, known as the High Torii, about eight hundred 
 feet in height, (and a remarkable and distinct landmark 
 even from as low down as Newark bay, and the hills of 
 
16 Stony Point— Verplanck' s Point. 
 
 Staten Island and New Jersey,) with the village of Ha- 
 verstraw or Warren at the base, and the fine curved line 
 of the shores and slopes of the hills on each side as we ap- 
 proach the landings of Grassy Point on the west, and Ver- 
 plancJc's on the east, and the light- house on Stony Point oppo- 
 site. This eminence is memorable for the bloody assault made 
 upon it during the revolutionary war by Gen. Wayne and 
 his brave American troops, that were detached for that pur- 
 pose by Gen. Washington, from the forces at West Point, 
 and after making a detour among the hills for twenty miles, 
 approached this pcsi (then held by the enemy, and strong- 
 ly fortified and manned) and stealthily and in the profound 
 silence and darkness of midnight, with fixed bayonets and 
 unriinted guns, surprised ihe unwary sentinels and dis- 
 tant out-posts, advanced suddenly to the attack, cut down 
 the pickets, entered and carried the works by a coup de 
 main, without firing a gun, and made prisoners of the gar- 
 rison, sparing all that threw down their arms. The ene- 
 my also at the same time held possession of the fort across 
 the river at Verplanck's Point, and the next day a warm 
 exchange of cannon balls took place, that resulted in the 
 evacuation of Stony Point by the American troops that 
 had so gallantly captured it ; as a much superior force of 
 ihe enemy M'as advancing upon ihem, and it was useless to 
 resist the combined attack that was preparing by the Brit- 
 ish force by land and water. The fort was demo'lished, and 
 the military stores taken away:— thus it had alternately 
 been taken originally from Wayne by the British, then re- 
 captured by him, and again retaken by the enemy, and held 
 during the war. 
 
 Having entered the portals, and here rapidly drawing 
 near the most interesting scenery of the Highlands, we re- 
 commend the traveler at this time, when about forty miles 
 from New- York, for the sake of having an unobstructed 
 view, to assume a position on the upper deck on the forward 
 part, and to make a diligent use of his eyes in viewing 
 the objects and leading features that pass in such rapid 
 review. 
 
 The Dunderberg, or Dunderbarrack, or Thunder moun- 
 tain on the west, is nine hundred feet high, and ranges for 
 several miles from south-west to north-east, and from its 
 rounded and comm.anding summit, is a very extensive view 
 over the county of Westchester to Long Island Sound, and 
 
Dunderberg- Mountain — Fort Clinton, Sft. 17 
 
 down the river and bays that we have passed, to the vicini- 
 ty of New- York, and across the east side of the Hudson to 
 Peekskill, and the mountains in Putnam county, and the 
 summits around West Point. The village of Caldwell, or 
 Gibraltar, as sometimes called, is at the base of the moun- 
 tain, and is usually the first ]andin,£;-place for the large Al- 
 bany boats after leaving the city of New-York, and where 
 the Peekskill passengers disembark. 
 
 One ttiat has never before ascended the Hudson River, 
 would here be at a loss to conjecture from this position, as 
 he looks around and is apparently embayed, in what direc- 
 tion to look for extrication from this ad de sac; whether 
 through the deep opening to the right, or the one in front 
 leading through the vista in the mountains; — after being 
 kept in agreeable suspense for a few minutes while near the 
 Caldwell landing, and gazing up at the stupendous eleva- 
 tion close at hand, that the steamer almost brushes or gra- 
 zes in its panting and rapid course, the boat suddenly is di- 
 rected to the left or west, round the acute point or angle 
 that opens into the race, a short reach of the river between 
 the Dunderberg on the south, and St. Anthony's, the next 
 point on the north. 
 
 After advancing for a few minutes to the west, when 
 near the Salisbury island, do not omit to observe the 
 grandeur produced by the amphitheatrical slope and ter- 
 mination of the Dunderberg mountain on the left, with 
 its hardy covering of evergreen trees, the pines or ce- 
 dars, that here fill up an angle of several degrees above 
 the horizon as we pass within shadow of the reflection in 
 the deep water at its base ; or the towering front of the Bare 
 Mountain, that here presents its majestic elevation on the 
 west, of one thousand three hundred and fifty feet. Polo- 
 per's creek, a small mill-stream, that has its origin a few 
 miles in the interior of Rockland county, finds its way 
 through the dark ravine down to the base of the mountain, 
 and forms a secluded basin or harbor for the small river 
 sloops that frequent the mills and landing to load with flour 
 and wood. 
 
 Each side of the creek on the crest of the hill, are the re- 
 mains of two field-works, forts Clinton and Montgomery, 
 erected during the war of the revolution, as a part of the 
 system planned for the defence of the Highlands. In the 
 afiair that here transpired, October, 1777, several hundred 
 2* 
 
18 ■ Anthony^ s Nose. 
 
 men fell in the attack and defence of this mountain pass on 
 the banks of the Hudson. Sir Henry Clinton led the at- 
 tack, and destroyed the large boom and chain that cost se- 
 venty thousand pounds sterling, and another of less value at 
 fort Constitution. This first massive boom and iron chain, 
 was extended across from the east to the west shore oppo- 
 site to the point of St. Anthony, and under the guns of 
 forts opposite, in the vain attempt to stop, or momenta- 
 rily impede the progress of the large armed ships of the 
 enemy, in their advance up the river with troops to aid 
 Burgoyne, and to burn the towns above. But this was 
 money wasted on both sides, for the chain did not accom- 
 plish its intention, although it cost an immense sum of 
 money, and the union with Burgoyne was not effected. 
 
 The bloody affair in this mountain fastness resulted in 
 the capture of the place by the enemy at the point of the 
 bayonet, after the garrison of only six hundred men had 
 made a gallant defence against a very superior force (three 
 thousand) that came upon them unawares. 
 
 It was upon this occasion that George Clinton, one of the 
 officers in command, Governor of New- York, and subse- 
 quently Vice-President of the United States, succeeded in 
 making his escape in the dusk of eve in a boat, and his 
 brother James also, though wounded, by plunging into the 
 Hudson and swimming to the opposite shore. 
 
 Anthoni/s Nose, on the right or east shore, that rears its 
 much admired pyramidical-shaped mass of rocks to an ele- 
 vation of eleven hundred and twenty-eight feet, at an angle 
 estimated at forty- five or fifty degrees from the level of the 
 noble river that deeply skirts its base, and terminates the 
 reach called the Race, introduces us to another of the 
 lovely changes in the scenery of this famous region, when 
 the traveler is enabled by "the progress of the steamer to 
 turn the sharp corner of the saint's prominence, vulgarly 
 called hisnose, and thus, by a shifting of the scene, to be- 
 hold another admirable vista of six or seven miles in ex- 
 tent, running nearly north and south, between mountains 
 and ranges of pleasing variety and contour, especially the 
 east or right hand shore, with the intervention of an island 
 and a low green meadow on the left, to soften and harmo- 
 nize the picture, aided by the rude log hut of the fisherman 
 or woodman, with just sufficiency of arable and grazing 
 land at his command to enable him to exhibit an abortive 
 
Buttermilk Falls — Sugar Loaf. 19 
 
 attempt perhaps to raise his indian corn, peas, and pump- 
 kins. 
 
 Beyond the island, and four miles from the race, we 
 come to the flour mills at Buttermilk Falls; but as the 
 truth of its name and Dutch cognomen depends entirely 
 upon a bountiful supply of water, wasting and spreading 
 over the smooth surface of a solid rock, and fretting 
 itself into a fury and foam in its snowy descent, and as 
 this requisite supply cannot always be spared, or allowed 
 to stray and straggle away in this manner, from the unde- 
 niable requirements of the mill during a drought or dry 
 long season of midsummer, merely to gratify the eyes of 
 ladies and gentlemen that pass it for a minute or two in ra- 
 pid review, it may be proper here to state, that though at 
 certain times and seasons of the year it exhibits much beau- 
 ty, and is a just object of admiration, yet at others the 
 stream is dwindled to a mere rill, and the searcher after 
 the picturesque and beautiful is liable to be sadly disap- 
 pointed, when nothing can be seen but the stains on the 
 naked rock, the traces of its former ephemeral beauty. 
 
 A more durable and enduring monument of nature, in 
 the size, height, and form of the sugar loaf mountain, nearly 
 opposite to Lydig's mills, or the Buttermilk Falls, is worthy 
 of our notice as we get on, — its height is eight hundred and 
 sixty feet, a little more than the famous pyramids of Egypt. 
 As the traveler changes his position, and views this object 
 on various sides and at different angles, the resemblance 
 to a sugar loaf cannot always in such cases be detected, bui 
 it resembles much some of the bluffs on the Mississippi or 
 Missouri. 
 
 The mansion opposite the falls, and in the vicinity of the 
 sugar loaf, is the property of Mr. Arden, as is also the hilly 
 and wooded tract to a considerable extent around ; and at 
 a very few rods in a southern direction, in a spot not visible 
 to the traveler in passing on the river, is the memorable 
 scene where Benedict Arnold held his secret and treason- 
 able midnight interviews with the adjutant-general of the 
 British army, to make his developements and unfold his 
 plans to deliver up West Point, the American army and 
 the nation, into the power of the enemy then our oppo- 
 nents ; the best details of these events may be found in 
 the recent publication of Spark's American Biography, in 
 the sketch of Arnold; it only remains for us to say, that 
 
20 Fort Putnam— Kosciusko' s Garden. 
 
 the tragical fate and denouement of an individual in the 
 story has elicited too much mawkish sensibility towards 
 one of the principal actors in this drama of the history of 
 America, 
 
 When at about fifty miles from New-York, we catch the 
 first glimpse of the ruins of Fori Putnam, in a north-west di- 
 rection, five hundred and ninety-eight feet above the river, 
 peering over the brow of the hill on the left, and soon afier, 
 of the outworks and buildings attached to the United States 
 military academy at West Point. The hospital, a sub- 
 stantial edifice ot" hewn stone, oi two stories, with a front 
 towards the river on the east, a piazza and wings, is the first 
 indication of our proximity to this celebrated school, and of 
 the principal edifices that soon begin to appear in part on the 
 terrace, one hundred and eighty-eight feet above the river. 
 
 On the face of the hill beneath, may be pointed out ihe 
 descent towards the garden of Kosciusko, the Polish patriot 
 of our own revolution, in whose honor the cadets of this 
 academy, in 1828, caused a neat and classical marble monu- 
 ment to be erected, as a memorial of the gratitude of a na- 
 tion for the sympathy of a foreigner of celebrity towards 
 us, that also yielded his life in support of our cause. This 
 cenotaph stands out in bold relief before us, guarded by 
 an iron railing, on the very verge of the precipitous hill, 
 and near and amidst the remains of the revolutionary field- 
 works erected by Gen. Putnam and the old continental 
 army in 1776-7. The garden referred to, and the clear 
 boiling spring near it, enclosed in a marble reservoir, with 
 durable and ornamental steps leading down from the plain 
 above, with an arrangement of benches on a projection of 
 the rock for visiters, may be seen in passing by, but to more 
 satisfaetion by those landing: at the point. 
 
 The manner and style of natural adornment that is pre- 
 sented by the face of the grounds and rocks attached to this 
 national domain, is in good taste in every respect, of art as- 
 sisting nature, and in harmony and keeping throughout, and 
 cannot fail to impress the traveler, when he observes the for- 
 mation of the fantastic rocks, wild moss covered crags, luxu- 
 riantly-aarlanded pillars and creeping shrubs, and the cotta- 
 ges and hamlets perched on the slopes, terraces, and crags, in 
 most admired confusion. The elegant mansion on the cast side 
 of the river was erected by Capt. Phillips, and is one of tho 
 choicest sites on the Hudson, and commands one of the finest 
 
West Point— Scenery. 22 
 
 panoramas in the United States, and is now owned and occu- 
 pied by Mr. Kembie. 
 
 We have now arrived at the termination of the six mile 
 reach before referred to, and must stand prepared to behold 
 another magical transformation of the bewitching scenery of 
 the river as the boat takes a sharp turn around the low rocky 
 projection or reef on the west, and unfolds one of the love- 
 liest views in the world to the enraptured gaze of the be- 
 holder. The lake-like expansion of the river, with the steep 
 front of the lofty mountain that here faces us, called the Croio^s 
 Nest^ rising to the height of one thousand four hundred and 
 eighteen feet, with a depression on its top for the nest, giving 
 a fancied resemblance to the name it bears ; together with the 
 general coup d'ceil of the mountains, and the entire panorama 
 of lesser hills and rocky eminences or projections, completes 
 the magnificent framing of this truly splendid landscape, that 
 few can behold for the first time without a feeling of the most 
 rapturous enjoyment. 
 
 The boat comes to the landing at West Point and discharges 
 and takes in passengers, and allows time enough for the pass- 
 ing traveler barely to see the capital hotel on the brow of the 
 hill, and perchance to regret his inability to tarry there for a 
 short period, and test the capabilities of the location and of 
 the landlord, both, to our knowledge, of the first order of ex- 
 cellence; the view from the observatory on the top of the hotel 
 is peculiarly fine in all its parts, but especially on the north, 
 looking down upon the Hudson and towards Newburgh, and 
 the remote chain of Shawangunk mountains in the dim blue 
 distance towards the north-west — the plain and level parade of 
 West Point, and the arrangement of the public edifices for the 
 two hundred and fifty cadets, and the private residences of the 
 commanding officers and the professors, are beneath the eye. 
 After the yearly examination in June, the cadets are en- 
 camped on the plain for a certain period, when the drills and 
 parades are worth seeing. The academy has been in exis- 
 tence since 1802, and is under congressional and executive 
 patronage. 
 
 Another of the booms and massive iron chains was also ex- 
 tended across the river, from the south side to Constitution 
 Island, that projects from the north shore; the battered sur- 
 face of the rock there is caused by the artillery or target firing 
 for ball practice, and a few casualties that have occurred in the 
 corps, are enumerated on the monumental tablet on the brow 
 
22 Highland Gusfs — Cold Spring. 
 
 of the opposite hill on the west sliore. A portion of the great 
 chain as above mentioned is still to be seen with the revolu- 
 tionary relics. The head quarters of Gen. George Washington 
 while in this neighborhood, were on the site of a building near 
 an indentation of the shore, and at the water's edge, a little 
 beyond the burying-ground of the academy. 
 
 In receding from, or advancing towards West Point, the 
 finest panoramic view is beheld of all the public buildings on 
 and around the plain, and also of (he ruins of fort Putnam, 
 still lording it over the plain and river below. 
 
 The passage through the Highlands is sometimes perilous 
 for sloop navigation, owing to ihe sudden and impetuous gusts 
 or flaws of wind that come pouring down between the lofty 
 hills and deep gorges and ravines, with hardly a moment's 
 warning, even during the calm pleasant days of summer and 
 other seasons, upsettmg the unwary mariner, and involving 
 the crew and passengers in ia watery grave. Such was the 
 fate of the sloop Neptune, of Newburgh, on tlie twenty-third of 
 P^ovember, 1824, near Cold Spring," when fifty-five persons 
 were on board, twenty-six of whom perished in four minutes, 
 and the sloop was enfiulfed in the profound abyss below. 
 The drea<l of these rapid and powerful descents of air from 
 the upper regions, down to the surface of the river, requires 
 the exertion of the utmost vigilance on the part of the navi- 
 gators of sloops and river craft, and it was only a few months 
 since that a schooner heavily laden with coal was upset near 
 West Point, and the vessel and all on board were engulfed in 
 a moment. 
 
 *• The village of Cold Spring is prettily situated in a cove or 
 recession of the east bank of the Hudson, between Constitu- 
 tion Island and Bull Hill, and has a good landing, and a road 
 that leads to the interior of Putnam county, and to the road to 
 Albany and New- York. The place is owned by the wealthy 
 Mr. Kemble and others, and contains the elegant country seat 
 of Gen. Morris, editor of the New-Yoik Mirror, also that of Mr. 
 Kemble, the proprietor of the West Point foundcry, that is 
 here situated on a stream that has a heavy wafer power, flow- 
 ing down from the hills in the vicinity, with a water- fall, im- 
 mortalized by the feat and narration of Miss Fanny Kemble, 
 eee vol. 2d, p. 164. The foundery has two blast, three air, 
 and three cupola furnaces, a boring-n)ill for heavy cannon, 
 mortars, cylinders, lathes, an iron water wheel, thirty-six feet 
 ia diameter, besides a large establishment in Beach and Wash- 
 
West Point Foundery^Btdl Hill. 23 
 
 ington-streets, in New-York, on the bank of the river, for con- 
 structing sugar mill works, steam engines, and machinery, 
 fitting the same in steamboats, repairing, &c. ; employing 
 several hundred workmen in the various branches, in both 
 places. 
 
 The boring of cannon is as follows i the solid mass of iron in 
 the shape of 18, 24, 32 and 42 pounders, when cast, are solid, 
 Hud weigh, perhaps, several ions, and are then firmly secured 
 or arranged on horizontal pivots, and made to revolve rapidly 
 like a turning lathe, by the immense water wheel connected 
 with them, and the boring augur being applied to the proper 
 end, it is surprising to see how easy and simple is the process, 
 and how smooth and regular is tiie bore. Large contracts 
 for cannon have been taken and made by this concern, wiJh 
 the United States government ; and the regular process for the 
 trial and proving of the strength of each cannon is as fol- 
 lows: the pieces are arranged at intervals, heavily loaded, 
 and double shotted, their muzzles pointed to a ridge of earth, 
 or the target on the rock at the base of the mountain across 
 fhe west side of the Hudson, and then fired in succession. 
 The echo among these mountains is truly grand on such an 
 occasion, and when a feu de joie, or salvo, is made, by dis- 
 charging all the cannon simultaneously, the effect is really 
 glorious, and seems like a mighty rushing wind or earthquake, 
 shaking the very foundations of the earth. 
 
 The writer of this was once passing by on board a sloop, 
 and floating smoothly along with the tide past this spot, 
 during a proof trial of the cannon at this foundery, when 
 the moment we had barely cleared their range, whiz-z-z 
 whistled a heavy cannon ball passing within a iew inches of 
 our stern, and of the quiet children and passengers on deck, 
 before even we heard the heavy bang of the discharge, or 
 turned around and saw the smoke passing off in curling vo- 
 lumes; this was only done in sport, to test the accuracy of 
 their aim, to see how near they could come to us without kit- 
 ting ;\hh might have been sport to them, but not so to those on 
 board at the time. If the least flaw or defect is seen in the 
 cannon, the piece is rejected, much to the loss of the proprie- 
 tors, that have to allow their manufactures to undergo this se- 
 vere ordeal, before they will be accepted and paid for by the 
 government. 
 
 Bull Hill, on the east shore, is the next in course, and 
 
34 Break Neck and Butler Hills— Putnam's Rock, 
 
 being 1,486 feet high, and containing, about midway be- 
 tween the base and summit, on a portion of the profile 
 edge towards the river, a noted mass of rock resembling 
 the human foreliead, nose, mouth, and chin, with a tree pro- 
 jecting almost like a cigar or pipe, is never passed by the 
 old voyagers and knowing ones without being pointed out 
 to their wondering and amused friends, and one must be 
 quick in observation at the time, and accurate in the di- 
 rection of their eyesight, as the glimpse is but for a minute 
 or two, and the rapid progress of a steamer soon takes you 
 beyond the only point of view, when the illusion vanishes, 
 and the famous and veritable nose of St. Anthony, the pre- 
 siding Dutch genius of the Hudson and Mohawk, is gone. 
 
 Break Neck Hill, 1,181 feet high, is the last bluff on the 
 east or right shore in passing up the river, the highest peak, 
 1,580, being a mile or so to the northeast, and seen when a 
 iew miles up nearer Newburgh to the best advantage. 
 
 Butter Hill, the last of the highland river range on 
 the west, is 1,529 feet high, and as the boats usually keep 
 nearer to the base of that mountain, it forms a more im- 
 pressive and overwhelming sight to the traveler than any 
 other, from its immense and toppling masses of craggy 
 rocks, and sweep of precipice, especially towards the south — 
 the eagle is often seen seeking his eyrie amid these inacces- 
 sible and solitary positions, and watching, from his lofty 
 post or alighting place, the tinny tribes beneath the waves. 
 
 The curious rock found so beautifully perched on the 
 summit of this mountain, and having the appearance at a 
 distance of a tent or marquee, and that was so uselessly and 
 with so much trouble displaced by Gen. Putnam in a rude 
 vandal and wanton spirit of destruction, merely to see it tum- 
 ble headlong down the mountain to the water's edge, where it 
 is said it is still to be seen, will never cease to be regretted by 
 posterity as an act of wicked frivolity and M^anton de- 
 struction totally irreparable, and only to be winked at orover- 
 looked as an indiscreet act of a brave man, and his follow- 
 ers, or fellow-soldiers, but to be frowned upon and prevented 
 at all future times, as should be all attempts to mar or dis- 
 fi?:ure the curiosities or wonderful forms and arrangements 
 of nature. Recently, the officers and crew of a British 
 man of war, on the coast of Great Britain, undertook and 
 performed very much such an useless and disgraceful act, 
 that, when known, met with such a general burst of indigna- 
 
Pollopdl Island— Neic Windsor. 25 
 
 ?iOii and disgust, that the British government instantly or- 
 dered the same crew and officers to replace the stone on the 
 same foundation, although it was like thclabors of Sisyphus, 
 
 Having finished the Highlands, we pass a mass of rock 
 near the channel called Pollopell Island, having the appear- 
 ance of the top of a sunken mountain, and without any sign 
 of human residence, or ownership, or occupation even by 
 reptiles, though snakes are said to abound, but how they got 
 there no one can tell, and few can stop to ascertain the fact. 
 Like Snakehill in Newark meadows, it has this scare-crow 
 rattle-snake celebrity, as far as we are cognizant, without 
 the least cause whatever ; if any one doubts, let him land 
 and explore. 
 
 The gorgeous scenes of the Highland passage being fin- 
 ished, the observant traveler will have a store of rich re- 
 t:olIection and resplendent imagery treasured up in his mind 
 and imagination, that will reward him in his future life 
 when brought up in review, aided by his reading and reflec- 
 tions and other associations connected with the history of 
 America. 
 
 Cornwall and Canterbury are two villages and landings 
 near the northern base of Butter Hill, and three to four miles 
 jrom Newburgh, that are the first settlements that appear on 
 the left when we leave the straits of the Highlands, and 
 glide into the expansion of the Hudson, between JN^ewburgh 
 and Fishkill and New Windsor. 
 
 Moodenen,or Murdenen, or Orange Kill, coming from the 
 interior of Orange county, near Goshen, joins the Hudson 
 between Canterbury and New AVindsor, and is a consider- 
 able mountain and mill stream. 
 
 New Windsor is a considerable landing-place, and has 
 its sloops, docks, and regular steamboats plying to Nev^- 
 York daily, or two or three times a week, similar to all the 
 towns on the river of any note, and here also is a humble- 
 looking old Dutch-like mansion near the south wharf, that^ 
 was in 1774, for a time, the temporary head-quarters of 
 Washington. 
 
 There are neat residences on the northern slope of But- 
 ter Hill, also on the hill near the landing of Nev:> Windsor. 
 The embowered abode on the opposite low shore, on a round 
 beautifully wooded verdant spot, is the country seat ofWm. 
 Denning, Esq. called by himPresque Isle. The modest-look- 
 ing country seat and extensive grounds of John P. De Winf, 
 3 
 
26 Newburgh—Peak of Fishkill Mountain. 
 
 Esq. is the next seen on the east side above Fishkill landing, 
 presenting an extensive and handsomely wooded front, to- 
 wards the river, with a complete view of the entrance of 
 the Highlands and the opposite city. 
 
 IVewbtirgli, 
 
 from its peculiar situation on a hill presenting a very steep 
 acclivity, is completely arrayed to the view of the passing 
 traveler, and makes quite a display of business, and has its 
 whale ships abroad, and its own steamboats and sloops in 
 abundance, besides being one of the principal landing and 
 stoppins-places for all the steamboats that go to and fro be- 
 tween New- York and Albany, and a great ouilet to the cen- 
 tral and western parts of the State of New- York, and having 
 roads and stages to all the inland towns and along the river; 
 and is noted also for its ale. The communication with Dut- 
 chess county is kept up by a ferry across to Fishkill landing, 
 with its long pier reaching out to the channel. The Maitea- 
 wan cotton factory (Schenck's) is at the base of the Fishkill 
 chain of hills near the mouth of the creek, and has a valua- 
 ble water-power, mill, &c. and is a well managed concern. 
 There are two highland schools, one at Cold Spring, on the 
 hill near the foundery before mentioned, and the other here. 
 
 The geology of the Highlands is primitive, but from hence 
 to Troy and Waterford it is transition, and we are now 
 entering upon and passing along its borders, as denoted by 
 the limestone and kilns along shore for several miles. The 
 interior of Orange and Dutchess counties is fertile, and 
 they are the dairies for the city, especially Goshen in 
 Orange county. 
 
 From the highest peak of the Fishkill raHge, in plain 
 sight, parties of pleasure that assemble from the vales of 
 the neighboring counties, to scale the arduous ascent, on 
 foot or in carriages, have a transcendently line bird's-eye 
 view down upon the Hudson from Newburgh up the river 
 to a great distance, altogether superior in this respect to anv 
 other place, not forgetting even the Catskill Pine Orchard, 
 that can be faintly discerned in the remotest distance, and 
 also the nearer sweep of the Shawangunk range, form- 
 
Low Point — Hamburgh — Barne^at. 27 
 
 ing the limit to the west, with all the intermediate country 
 back of Newbargh also expanded to the eye, and on the right 
 hand is seen in the far distance the prominent ranges and 
 peaks in Massachusetts and Vermont, to the utmost verge 
 of human vision. To visit this peak, land at Newburgh, 
 cross the river to Fishkill landing, and foot it up the hill in 
 two hours with ease; the road is followed and traced up 
 without the least difficulty, and the writer accomplished this 
 in the time mentioned, and was not mole?ted by or saw the 
 least appearance of snakes or reptiles, although he trudged 
 about considerably along the range towards the southwest, 
 to change his points of view. Any one having the time to 
 devote to the ascension of this mountain, will have seen 
 this part of the Hudson River valley, &c. in unequalled 
 perfection. 
 
 Proceeding on from Newburgh in a north-east course for 
 six miles, in a handsome reach of the river, we pass Low 
 Point, a small landing on the east with a few buildings, and 
 in a few minutes' time reach a bold headland or rock on the 
 west shore, Dans cemmer or Dans kamer point, and face- 
 tiously referred toby Knickerbocker, as "where Gov. Stuy- 
 vesant in his voyage up and landing on this rock, was fright- 
 ened out of his wits by a gang of merry roistering devils, 
 freaking and curveting on a huge rock projected into the 
 river, and which is called the Duyvill Dans Kam.er to 
 this day." 
 
 From the last mentioned point the river assumes, for ten 
 or fifteen miles, a due north and south course, in a reach of 
 exquisite beauty towards Poughkeepsie, that is clearly dis- 
 covered in the distant perspective. 
 
 Hamburgh, on the east shore, is at the mouth of Wappin- 
 ger Creek, a good mill stream, rising about thirty or lorty 
 miles to the north-east, and pervading the county of Dutchess, 
 and having much fine rich interval land on its margin. A 
 mile and a half north is passed a neat but unobtrusive house 
 on the east, the former residence of George Clinton, gov- 
 ernor of this State, and recently of Gen. James Tallmadge; 
 and on the west shore nearly opposite, we see a new and 
 elegant house of Mr. Armstrong, and the village or landing 
 of Hampton, and one and a half miles further is Jews^ Creek, 
 the paradise of the brickmakers, as is the shore hereabouts 
 for the lime-burners. 
 
 Barnegat is the next landing on the east» as is Milton on 
 
28 PGughkeepsie — Hyde Park. 
 
 the west, and as we approach that of Poughkecpsic on the 
 east, the traveler will please to notice the singular con- 
 formation of the rocky and distorted slaty shores that rise 
 in a threatening and dangerous manner near the landing, in 
 a bold rocky bluff, that from its summit commands an ex- 
 tensive and beautiful reach up and down the river, and of 
 the opposite shores in New Paltz. 
 
 The landing at Poug/ikecpsie is seventy-five miles from 
 New- York, and sixty-nine from Albany, and has the aspect 
 of a stirring business place ; there are several extensive 
 manufactories (a large one for making steam locomotives) 
 and warehouses along the river front, and there are several 
 ships equipped from hence on whaling voyages, that make 
 it upon the whole a good business. The city is principally 
 built on the upper part of the hill, one mile east of the Hud- 
 son, at the intersection of the old route leading to Albany 
 and New- York, and to the States of Massachusetts and Con- 
 necticut. The Dutch made their inroads upon the Indians 
 in this vicinity in 1735 ; and in 1788 the New- York conven- 
 tion here assembled that adopted the constitution of the 
 United States, and it has also at other periods, for a short 
 time, been the seat of the State Legislature. The number of 
 inhabitants at the present time is six thousand five hundred. 
 Fall Creek runs through the north part of the city, and forms 
 in its course down the ravine, cataracts and mill seats. The 
 city has its own steam and tow-boats, to take the produce of 
 this fertile county to the metropolis with speed and regular- 
 ity, and this mode is fast supplanting the old tedious system 
 of sloop navigation on this river. 
 
 There are several neat, tidy-looking villas or country 
 seats adorning the river's bank in the vicinity of the land- 
 ing, and at intervals along for several miles, as we ap- 
 proach or recede from the landing; and at the end of the 
 before-mentioned long reach or meridional north and south 
 line, we find ourselves drawing near a slight inflection, or 
 divergence in the course of the river, called Crum Elbow, 
 when, as we pass out of the long reach that the interlocking 
 of the opposite shores excludes from our view, we see, far 
 ahead, (if we occupy at this moment a favorable position 
 on the upper deck,) the first dim outline in the blue dis- 
 tance, of the Catskill mountains, towering aloft like a thun- 
 der cloud. 
 
 We are now passing the rough castellated front of Hyde 
 
Crum Elbow Creek— Scenery. 29 
 
 Park, a place so called, that for three or four miles along 
 the road, oq the table land north and south, contains the 
 elegant country seats of Mr. Girahd, Mr. Holbrook, Judge 
 Johnson, Dr. Allen, and that of the late Doctors Baid and 
 Hosack, Juds:e Pendleton, H "Wilkes, and others. The 
 avenue leading past this strikingly beautiful series of farms, 
 and the residences of the affluent and tasteful owners, is 
 not in sight of the steamboat passengers only in part; but 
 a more superb line of road, for the same distance, does 
 not exist in this State, considering the auxiliaries that 
 come into view before the traveler; the fine avenue and 
 its ornamental forest trees of the maple, locust, &c. and the 
 unrivalled back ground of the landscape, the elevated and 
 cultivated and woody slopes of the west borders of the Hud- 
 son, that from their "proximity and the easy angle of incli- 
 nation, have a most graceful appearance in contrast with 
 the more distant towering bac^ ground of the blue range 
 of the Catskills, in the north-west. 
 
 Eighty miles Irom New York, at the mouth of Crum El- 
 bow Creek, on the eaot shore, is the landing-place of Hyde 
 Park, and a few rods north, we see the splendidly-arranged 
 house and grounds of the late Dr. David Hosack, of New.- 
 York, and purchased by him of VVm. Bard, Esq. the son of 
 the late Dr Samuel Bard, one of the founders of the New- 
 York Hospital—the exient of the land purchased by Dr. H. 
 amounted in all to about eight hundred acres, and the ori- 
 ginal cost to him, including his subsequent improvements, 
 was S100,000. He had the grounds laid out in the most 
 tasteful, attractive style, with gravel walks following the 
 windings and undulations along the verge of the natural 
 terrace, overlooking the Hudson river directly beneath, 
 and the deep, abrupt, grassy and wooded lawn for a mile or 
 two, and ending in a small circular temple on the rocky mar- 
 gin of the Hudson. The waters of the Crum Elbow Creek 
 run through the grounds, and are so disposed as to add to 
 the beauty and value of the property. Since the death of 
 the late proprietor Dr, H. the very extensive collection of 
 hot-house plants has been disposed of at auction. 
 
 The next in rotation of the pleasant mansions on the east 
 shore, is that of Judge Pendleton, and in two miles that of 
 H. Wilkes. Nearly opposite a rocky island, two miles 
 beyond, on the east shore, at eighty-five miles from New- 
 York, in the township of Staatsburg, is the residence of Mor- 
 3* 
 
30 Mouth of iJte Waalkill — Delaware Sf Hudson Canal. 
 
 gan Lewis, Esq. the governor of the State in 1S03 ; and near 
 by is that of James Duane Livingston, and for the next two 
 or three miles in passing along by the Esopus Meadows or 
 flats, we see, on the east, the mansion of J. Thomson. 
 
 On the west shore, just before arriving at a bleak rock)'- 
 point, Columbus, ninety miles from New-York, the place 
 of landing for Esopus, four miles distant, we pass the ter- 
 mination or beginning of the Shawangunk range, here 
 caMed Mombackus, or Indian face, that extends in a south- 
 west direction for seventy miles, to the Delaware River. 
 
 The Waalkill River, that here comes into the Hudson from 
 the south-west, is about eighty miles long, and rises in the 
 large morass or overflown tract in Orange County, known 
 as the drowned lands, ten miles long and three wide, and 
 follows at the eastern base of the Shawangunk range for 
 many miles, and receives as branches, the Shawangunk 
 kill and the Rondout kill, and up the valley of the latter pro- 
 ceeds the Delaware and Hudson Canal from its termination 
 at Eddyville, about four miles to the south-west. Bolton 
 landing is about one mile from Columbus, and is in plain 
 view from the Hudson, in passing the point. 
 
 The Lackawana coal is brought to Eddyville from the 
 mines in Pennsylvania by rail-road sixteen miles and canal 
 one hundred and eight miles. It is a singular fact that the 
 summit level of the Delaware and Hudson Canal, at a morass 
 where the Barkers kill (running southwest to the Nevisink 
 and Delav/are) interlocks with the Sandberg kill, (that runs 
 north-east to the Rondout kill and the Hudson,^ is more than 
 four hundred feet above the Hudson, and only eighty feet 
 above the Delaware ; thus a dam across the Delaware at 
 Carpenter's Point or Port Lewis, fifty-nine miles from the 
 Hudson, at the west border of Orange County, might be 
 made to divert the entire waters of the Delaware, in a north- 
 east course towards the valley of the Hudson River, along 
 the western base of the Shawangunk mountains, and this, 
 from geological appearances, was formerly the case. There 
 are no passage-boats, but coal-boats plying on this canal as 
 it is entirely out of the usual route for pleasure travelers, 
 otherwise the scenery on the canal has some recommenda- 
 tions. Though it may be possible to get on in that way, 
 and rousih it to the head of the canal at Honesdale, and then 
 take stage for VVilkesbarre, or Montrose, or Binghamton, 
 and then branch off either to Utica, and the Mohawk, and 
 
Kingston — Country Seats, Si 
 
 the St. Lawrence ; or on the west, on the banks of the Su.s- 
 ^juehanna to Owego and up to Ithaca and down the Cayuga 
 or Seneca Lake, or from Owego farther west by the valley 
 of the Susquehannah to Tioga Point, thence north-west to 
 Newtown, Painted Post, Bath, Batavia and Niagara Falls — 
 it must be confessed, a wilder route could not be selected, 
 yet at Honesdale and Carbondale, and in passing the main 
 ridges, there would be much to gratify the eye of the poet, 
 the philosopher, and the landscape painter. 
 
 The Delaware and Hudson Canal is thirty-two to thirty-six 
 feet wide, and four deep, — ascent five hundred and ihirty-five, 
 and descent eighty feet, — sixty-two locks, and six hundred 
 and fifteen feet lockage ; — cost of canal, sixteen thousand dol- 
 lars per mile, — the elevation on the Moosic mountain is over- 
 come by five inclined planes, each from two thousand to three 
 thousand feet in length, — single track and cost six thousand 
 five hundred dollars per mile. 
 
 There are always stages on the dock at Columbus to con- 
 vey passengers to Kingston, three miles inland to the north- 
 west, on a handsome plain. This was settled by the Dutch 
 as early as 1616; it is the county town of Ulster, and was de- 
 stroyed by fire in 1777, by the British troops under Vaughan. 
 The court house is a stone building, and cost forty thousand 
 dollars. The other public and many private buildings are 
 also of stone, and the inhabitants wealthy and industrious. 
 The village has the advantage of large lots and gardens, and 
 must be an agreeable residence. The flats along the Esopus 
 creek, in front of the village, are rich and handsome. There 
 are about two thousand inhabitants. 
 
 Opposite to Columbus or Kingston, is the landing of Rhine- 
 beck, (derived from river Rhine in Germany, and Beckman, 
 the name of an original proprietor.) The village, containing 
 seventy houses, is three miles in the interior, on the Rhine- 
 beck flats, a pleasant tract, and easy soil for cultivation. For 
 several miles above Rhinebeck the soil and aspect is rather 
 uninviting, but on the west shore we are constantly regaled 
 with the scenery of the Catskillsas we rapidly advance, until 
 we re?ch the lower landing of Red Hook, ninety-eight miles 
 from New- York, with the handsome residence of Capt. Lowndes 
 Brown near the river, and of Gen. Armstrong further in the 
 rear, on the hill ; and in a short distance north of the dock is 
 that of John R. Livingston, Esq. and opposite the Magdalen 
 Island of Dr. Martin, are also successively those of the late 
 
32 Redhook—Ury—H. Barclay, Saugeriies. 
 
 Maj. Gen. Montgomery, John C. Stevens, R. S. Livingston, 
 and J. C- Mongomery, Esqrs. and of Philip Livingston, Esq- 
 on the point of Saw Kill Creek. 
 
 The wliire speck seen for several miles on the Catskill, is 
 the famous mountain house, two thousand five hundred feet in 
 elevation above llie Hud?on. 
 
 G!asf:::oiv village, in Ulster Counly, on the west, is ninety 
 nine miles from New-York, abreast of the upper of the Mag- 
 dalen Islands. 
 
 One hundred miles from New-York, and forty-four from Al- 
 bany, we arrive at the liedhook upper landing on the east, and 
 the delg-htful residences of Robert Tillotson, F.sq. John Swift 
 Livingston, Esq. and Mr. Elineodorff, together with a num- 
 ber of other h<.u«es,anda iiotol ; but the principal settlement is 
 five nu!e-5 to the east, on the main post-road (rom north to 
 south. Observe that in this near vicmity is Rfdliook post-office, 
 Rodhook landing post-office, anil Upper Kedhook post-office, 
 as this is apt to create confusion in uiailinjj letters. 
 
 Esopus Creek, as it is termed on the maps, bur richly deserv- 
 ing th(! name of river, comes into the Hudson on the west 
 shore, neatly opposite the lauding last mentioned It rises 
 in the north-west part of Ulster county, has a south-east and 
 then a north-eist course past Kingslon, and then nearly north 
 to Saugkrtiks villasie, its entire length being sixty mdes, with 
 much rich l.md on i's niar}i;iti, and has a heavy water power 
 concentrated within four miles of its moudi, principally be- 
 longing to Henn/ Barclay, F.sq. of Ury, the touutiy seat so 
 named, opposite upper Redhook. 
 
 Few minui fact u ling villages in the Northern States are 
 equal to S/ius;er(ies, or have a more solid basis of prosperity, 
 a never-failing- water power, derived from the southern slof)e 
 of tiie lofty Catskills, unile.l with ample capital, judiciously 
 direcied in the manufacture of paper, cottons, woollens, bar- 
 iron, white lead, and many others. The principal fall at this 
 village is fiOy feet in height, formed by ihe union of art and 
 nature, so directed as to back the water for three mile.'^, thus 
 creating a lovely lake to within a mile or so of the great falls 
 of Esopus, and a combination of attractive scenery, highly 
 pleasinij to the traveler of taste, and to the citizens from tho 
 south desiring a residence for the summer months. There are 
 steam boats and tow-boats belonging to this place, and every 
 facility for reaching this desirable vill.ige, and enjoying the 
 rides among the stupendous ghauts, or deep goryes of the 
 
Livingston Manor — Bristol. 33 
 
 Catskills, that within ten to fifteen miles attain their o;reatest 
 elevation and beauty, and are beheld %vith the most impressive 
 eflect. The population of Saugerties is four thousand. 
 
 The Manor of LirAngslon^ in 1684-5-6, was granted 
 by the king of England to Robert Livingston, a member of 
 his privy council, and embraced a front of ten miles and a 
 half on the Hudson, twenty and a half miles back inland, and 
 fourteen on the eastern border, making two hundred and 
 eighty-eight square miles: with baronial privileges, a tract 
 equal to a small German principality. It is at present owned 
 by several heirs of the original proprietors, (with the excep- 
 tion of Gerniantown, a tract of six thousand acres, conveyed 
 in 1710, by an arrangement with Queen Anne, to a number of 
 Palatines who had served in her armies in Germany,) and now 
 forms the townships of Clermont, Livingston, Taghkanick, 
 Ancram, and Germantov.n. 
 
 The old Livingston manor-house is situated on the east- 
 bank of the Hudson, near Rolef Jansen's, or Ancram Creek, 
 ten miles above Redhook upper landing ; but the splen- 
 did residences of Robert L. Livingston and Edward P. Li- 
 vingston, Esqrs. the sons of the late chancellor Livingston, 
 (rnu)ister to France, who made the negociation for the pur- 
 chase of Louisiana with Napoleon, for fifteen millions of dol- 
 lars,) are situated nearly opposite to Saugerties, and their diver- 
 sified grounds and lawns, that command the finest scenery 
 on the Hudson, extend for miles on the borders of the river, 
 and are in every respect princely abodes. This family are, 
 and have always been on the popular side in political mat- 
 ters, and in unison with the old republican party, and of high 
 estimation in the national and state governments. 
 
 Bristol, on the west shore, is a small village and landing for 
 sloops, two miles above Saugerties ; and opposite, in the mid- 
 dle of the river, begins a series of flats, or low mud islands, 
 that extend up for two or three miles, past Trumpores land- 
 ing, the next above Bristol. Oak Hill, the residence of Har- 
 man Livingston, Esq. next is seen on the east shore, conspicu- 
 ously on the hill south of the landing, and the convenient 
 dock and warehouse for storing country produce; and on the 
 opposite shore, as we draw near the landing, we pass a creek 
 with a very serpentine channel winding through the marsh 
 and soon after arrive at 
 
34 Calskill—Pme Orchard—Clove Road. 
 
 Catsl£ill, 
 
 on the west shore, one hundred and eleven miles from New- 
 York. This has long been an important landing-place for 
 visiters to the great liotel o-:> the tabic rock of the Catskills, 
 known as the Pine Orchard, and frequented by thousands of 
 travelers. Carriages are always in wailing on the dock to 
 accommodate tho^e that wish to ascend. Travelers cnn pro- 
 ceed by the rail road to Canajoharie, a town on the Erie Canal 
 and banks of the Mohawk Kivcr, about seventy miles in a 
 north-west dire'jtion up the valley of the Catskill river, through 
 CJreen and Schoiiarie counties, and over and along the north- 
 eastern slopes of the mounlairis, saving, perhaps, a little time 
 and distance, but losing the view of Hudson, Albany, and 
 Troy, and of the delightiul rail-road route along the Mohawk, 
 from Schenectady to the intersection of Canajoharie. 
 
 Stages tor the west leave Catskill daily for Bmghanilon, 
 Owego, and Ithaca, and thence down the Cayuga Lake for 
 forty miles, and by stage, canal, or rail road, to Geneva, Ca- 
 iiandait;ua, Rochester, Lockport, Lewislown, or Buffalo. 
 
 Besides the view from the table rock before alluded to, 
 there are other inducements for travelers disposed for a tin)e 
 to seek out gratification and amusement, to visit the falls and 
 other spots that the magic touches of Cole the artist have 
 brought to the public admiration ; and as coaches run regu- 
 larly to and from the mountain, and are so adjusted as to 
 m^et the steam-boats at various hours, and also to enable the 
 public to visit the different falls, there is every facility afforded 
 ihe traveler; the price is one dollar to ascend to the moun- 
 tain house — the time required, about four hours, distance 
 twelve miles — but half the time suffices to return. The roatl 
 for nine miles from the landing is uneven, and for the last 
 three, a steep ascent in a zigzag course, doubling on the 
 track, that soon places the traveler in a peculiar position, ra- 
 ther trying to the nerves of the timid. 
 
 The Clove road that ascends the Catskills, a mile or two 
 south of the road to the Pine Orchard, should by all means be 
 seen asoneof tlie wonders of the vicinity. It enters upon the 
 ascent where the Kauterskill emerges into the light of <lay, 
 from the deep and overshadowed ravine, where the raging 
 
Scenery up the Catskills. 35 
 
 and force of the (umulluoiis waters have thrown large masses 
 of rock into every imaginable and confused form, pile on pile, 
 among which, the tumbling- waters are sometimes seen burst- 
 ing forth from narrow channels, or crevices, or swelling and 
 boiling up from some syphon or upper source, or forming cas- 
 cades of an endless variety of forms, and giving forth sounds 
 of its raging and uncontrolled power, that, as the traveler 
 follows up tile arduous, and endless, and truly fatiguing as- 
 cent, becomes less and less audible, as the road takes the other 
 side of the gorge, by crossing a rude bridge. 
 
 Several tremendous precipices of sandstone rock, of seve- 
 ral hundred feet in perpendicular height, strike one with awe 
 and delight, — and when nearly at the end of the ascent, the 
 traveler will pause and look back to the east, through the nar- 
 row vista of the towering rocky masses of the mountain on 
 either hand, at a plunging and rapid sweep of the eye, at the 
 distant fields and farms far down in ihe vale below, and be- 
 yond the Hudson, on the east shore, well in the interior, to- 
 wards the Massachusetts and Connecticut lines, the diver- 
 sified colors of the cleared and cultivated lands, green lots 
 and tiie yellow harvest ripening for the sickle and the scythe, 
 with all the hues of the fading distance, and at the deep and 
 full green of the American forest predominating over the 
 landscape, the whole presented at such a visual angle and as 
 distinctly exhibited in its details, as a vast map, or page in 
 the sublime volume of nature. 
 
 The entire view, from the twilight dimness of objects in 
 the gorge, and the concentration of the eager gaze of the 
 beholder, and Hie l)riiliant lighting up of the remoter squares 
 and divisions of the farms, dwindled into diminutive size 
 at the end of this grand gallery of nature, seems of it- 
 self to be a perfect picture, set with a most gigantic and 
 appropriate irame, and underneath the blue canopy of the 
 o'er-arching expanse of heaven, is in admirable keeping 
 and'harmony. When resuming the advance, and attaining to 
 the summit of tiie gap^ in a short distance there is a clear 
 ing and a log-house or two, and you can begin your view 
 westward ; the extreme summit of the round top still appears 
 to be at a toilsome distance. The residents near this spot are 
 accustomed to conduct up those seeking their aid to attain 
 the crowning summit of the Catskills, three thousand eight 
 hundred and fifty six feet high. While here, get the guides to 
 conduct you to the ravine near by, where the western branch 
 
36 Scenery of the CatsJnlls. 
 
 of the Kauterskill presents a most beautiful cascade into i\\i; 
 deep and narrow ainphitheatrical walls of a secluded recep- 
 tacle, hollowed out and excavated into pools or reservoirs, 
 most admirable for a pure clear bath, where nought but a 
 small openin£[ like a sky-light admits a sufficiency of expo- 
 sure to exhibit the exquisite drapery that clothes the steep 
 sides and the encircling' rim or verge of this sanctuary 
 of nature, that must be sought and won with considerable 
 toil and muscular exertion, and that so richly repays the 
 explorer. This is one among- a number of the hitherto se- 
 cret and hidden beauties of nature, that man has seldom 
 beheld in this portion of the mountain ; others exist farther 
 to the interior. 
 
 A week or a month of the lonrj days in June, July, or 
 August, will not exhaust the resources of pleasure, but a bare 
 day or two is but seldom awarded, and that is given merely 
 to the Pine Orchard and the Kauterskill, that we shall now 
 describe, premising that the writer once visited them from 
 below, by taking a lateral road, on the north of Clove Road, 
 excavated for the red paint or pigment, the oxide of iron, 
 and clambering up the steep ravine, from crag to crag, and 
 over the dashing brook, and slippery trunks of fallen trees, or 
 moss-covered rocks, until the position was at length attained, 
 that presents the two leaps ol" the upper Kauterskill falls in 
 one upward view. 
 
 The hotel on the table rock was built by the citizens of 
 Catskill, and coat twenty-two thousand dollars; it is one hun- 
 dred and forty feet in length, four stories high, with a piazza 
 extending across the front, and a colonnade. There are about 
 six acres of naked rock surface around the hotel, with ample 
 room for outbuildings. The hotel is placed at a safe distance 
 from the verge of the sheer descent of the precipice, to al- 
 low coaches to draw or drive up in front, to deliver and re- 
 ceive passengers, and for visiters to promenade about, and 
 peer over the dizzy, toppling crags, into the deep valley un- 
 der the eye of the spectator, here at an altitude of two thou- 
 sand five hundred feet above the Hudson, and fifteen hundred 
 above the open meadow at the immediate base of the precipi- 
 tous descent. The Hudson river appears distinctly at inter- 
 vals, for forty or fifty miles, dotted over with numerous isl- 
 ands, and the whhe sails of the river craft, and the steamers, 
 with their long trains and curling volumes of smoke, that may 
 be easily distinguished by the naked eye, urging their powei'- 
 
Scenery of the Catskills. 37 
 
 fill coarse over the placid surface of the river, that in the 
 morning sun gleams brilliantly and dazzles the eye with its 
 effulgence. The cities of Catskill, Hudson, and Poughkeepsic 
 also are plainly seen, and minor towns, with their distant vil- 
 lage spires. The beholder is impressed at once with the pre- 
 dominance of the native forest trees, and the deep verdure of 
 their foliage, that yet rules over the largest extent of the sur- 
 face of old mother earth, in the entire length and breadth of 
 the land, with a scattering of farms, and cleared lands, and 
 evidences of the industry of man. The eastern bank of the 
 Hudson, and the entire sweep of the landscape, far retreating 
 into the interior, towards Vermont, Massachusetts, and Con- 
 necticut, embracing one hundred miles iVom north to south, 
 and fifty miles from east to west, is completely unfolded to 
 the view, developing a large portion of the Hudson river val- 
 ley, and presented at the least angle of inclination or slope, 
 towards us, environed with a splendid outline or frame of moun- 
 tains, with the Taughkannock peak, indicating the north-west 
 corner of Connecticut, near the New- York and Massachusetts 
 line, in the south-east, — the well recognized, elevated sierra 
 of Saddle Mountain, near VVilliamstown, in Massachusetts, to 
 1 he north-east, and some prominent peaks of the Green Moun- 
 tains in Vermont, on the extreme north or left; and on the 
 right or south, we distinguish the blue outline of the Fishkill 
 range, and of the highlands beyond Newburgh. The coup 
 d'oeil is grand, — the o'ertopping ridges behind the hotel, on. 
 the south-west, west, and north-west, bound the view to a lim- 
 ited extent, but are themselves objects of great magnificence, 
 and are yet seen in all their pristine, or native wildness, rude- 
 ness, &ic. The small peak that rises on the south, near by, 
 is about one hundred and fifty feet higher than the hotel, and 
 is a geological study of itself, composed of pudding-stone, 
 sand-stone, &c. and gives an extension to the view towards 
 Albany, and a bird's-eye view of the table rock and hotel. 
 
 The remains of the Windham turnpike, made some twenty 
 or thirty years since, across this mountain, may be followed 
 towards the west, passing the two lakes that are two thousand 
 feet above tide water, one mile long, and form the cascade of 
 the Kauterski'l Falls, that will now be described : — the lakes 
 are repulsive in their aspect, the one on the north, with broad 
 lobed-leaved aquatic plants floating on the surface, and bor- 
 dered by tangled shrubbery, — but the other has a cleaner 
 margin, and the waters of both are connected by a brook 
 4 
 
3S Bcenery of the CalskiUs, 
 
 passing under the bridge. Thie supply of water is sinail, and 
 preserved with care, and let off for hire, to increase the mass 
 of the fall when a parly of strangers arrives. Following a 
 winding, stumpy, rugged, and at times muddy road, for about 
 a mile through the woods to the south-west, we arrive at an 
 opening of six hundred feet in circumference, that yawns be- 
 fore us to a profound depth, and arrests our progress by its 
 deep semi-circular or amphitheatrical aperture or form, open 
 only towards the south or south-west, and exposing the deep 
 ravine, richly clothed round with trees, and varied with fo- 
 liage of different colors, retreating steeply down a quarter of 
 a mile or more towards the clove road, and from the foot of 
 the ravine west of the clove, rises in one majestic curtain or 
 slope, extending a mile or two heavenward, the full body of 
 the vast round top, that fills an angle of thirty or forty degrees 
 above the level of the eye of the beholder, filling him with 
 admiration at the noble grandeur of the effect. The run, or 
 outlet that discharges the water of the two small lakes, rushes 
 across the mass of sand-stone composing the precipice, and 
 leaps into the gulf", and, exhausting ilself in foam and spray, 
 falls upon the debris one hundred and seventy-five feet, t3 
 again collected on the floor of the rock, and within a short 
 distance takes another plunge of seventy-five feet, and fol- 
 lows the dark, and over-arched, and deeply-shaded depth and 
 windings of the ravine to the valley below. 
 
 After studying this grouping oi the mountains and ravine 
 from above, the traveler should by all means follow the cir- 
 cuitous path that will conduct him down about ninety feet, 
 and then take a horizontal direction, passing under the rock 
 into a semi-cave behind the waterfall, with the vast rock 
 above that supports the falling sheet of water, and impends 
 over as the stooping and groping explorer walks on the 
 crumbled debris of the red rock, v.'hile the water ig falling 
 twenty or thirty feet clear of the standing-place, and forms a 
 curtain of snowy spray in front of this deep recess, that serves 
 partly to veil the deep blue sky, and adds much to the 
 charms of this fearful and wonderfid place ; even the rain- 
 bow at certain times appears from above, floating on the bo- 
 som of the mists of the falling spray for a moment, vanishing 
 and circling away. Those that omit to view this fall from be- 
 low lose much that will cause regret. 
 
 The invigorating pure air that is inhaled at the mountain 
 house, and the exhilarating effect of the various excursions 
 
Scenery of the Catskilh— Hudson. 39 
 
 and promenades that are usually taken while there, have 
 braced up and restored to health many an invalid that no 
 other means could have recruited. 
 
 Not the least of the gratifications derived by an observant 
 person, or a lover of nature, from a visit to this mountain eyrie, 
 the most remarkable and elevated in the United States, are the 
 changes in the atmosphere, produced by clouds, fogs, thunder- 
 storms, and the charming and sublime shadows and lights 
 passing rapidly over the plain ; also the appearances pro- 
 duced by the early morning sun, or evenino; twilight, or the 
 softer radiance of full moon, or by the clearing ofTand rising 
 of the morning mist from the plains below; or what is still 
 belter, to be so fortunate as to witness the gathering of a 
 heavy thunder-storm, and to see the lowering volumes of dark 
 vapors come sweeping over the western crest of the moun- 
 tain, bringing in its train the forked lightning, the loud thun- 
 der, and the pelting hail, shaking the firm foundations and re- 
 verberating among the echoes of the everlasting hills ; and 
 then to see, as the writer has done, the surcharged clouds 
 subsiding and sinking into the valley, and then again to see 
 the bright flash, and hear the roar of the storm that is raging 
 beneath your feet, while over your zenith all is clear and 
 calm as a summer's morning, and you see beyond the range 
 of the storm, at ten, twenty, or forty miles distance, the clear 
 powerful rays of the sun pouring with unmitigated intensity 
 upon a tract parched with drought; and then to finish and 
 grace the scene, as the atmosphere is clearing away, pillars 
 of rainbow-hues are seen in the east on the face of the re- 
 treating cloud, and all is hushed, and the refreshed face of 
 nature once more assumes its wonted appearance. A traveler 
 in Europe present at the time, acknowledged that a scene 
 equal to that in sublimity had only once gratified him,— Mont 
 Blanc at sun-set. 
 
 From Catskill we find our boat shaping its course to the 
 north-east, past a large marshy island, and approaching a bend 
 of the river near tlie foot of Mount Merino on the east shore. 
 After rounding the hill, the city of Hudson appears before us, 
 at one hundred and sixteen miles from New-York, and twenty- 
 eight from Albany, with its lofty ware-houses at the landing, 
 and ships, steam-boats, and sloops, giving evidence of capital 
 and enterprize that here exist, and that has sent out many 
 ships on distant whaling voyages to the south seas. The city 
 fs principally on the summit of the hill, sixty feet above the 
 
40 Hudson— Athens— Kijiderhook Point, Ss'C. 
 
 landing, and is seen lo better advantage when the steam-boa4 
 is two or three miles out in the river. There are seven thou- 
 sand inhabitants in Hudson, and it is the capital of Columbia 
 County, and a port of entry and the head of ship navigation 
 for large vessels. A branch rail-road extends across this State 
 nnd Massachusetts lo Boston, and travelers intending to visit 
 ihe Shaktr Village at New Lebanon, thirty miles lo the north- 
 east, will land here, and proceed in the rail-road cars, at 
 seven o'clock in the inorning, or in private conveyances by 
 applying at the inns. 
 
 There is considerable water-power in the neighborhood, and 
 much of manufacturing industry near Hudson. Its settlement 
 commenced in 1784, by Thomas and Seth Jenkins, of Provi- 
 dence, and twenty-eight others, and it had a most rapid growth 
 for a time, too rapid, in fact, to last, for in two years it had 
 fifteen hundred inhabitants, and one hundred and fifty dwell- 
 ing houses. Prospect Hill is at the east of JVarren-strect, that 
 has a gentle ascent of one mile, and terminates in a public 
 square, academy, water-works, &c. Other streets are laid 
 out parallel, and the lots are fifty by one hundred twenty feet. 
 It is compact near the river. There are several churches, 
 banks, jail, court-house, &c. Lead ores have been found here. 
 
 Athens^ on the west shore opposite to Hudson, is in Greene 
 County, and has some genteel private residences, and some 
 participation in the river business and sloop navigation, &.c. 
 and communicates with its rival by a canal cut through the 
 mud flat, to avoid a circuit, and boats pass to and fro. 
 
 Four miles above Hudson on the east, Kindcrhook Creek, 
 or Abraham's Creek, alias Ciaverack Creek, comes in, and at 
 its mouth there are cotton factories, paper mills, &c. and a pe- 
 culiarity in the landscape of most striking appearance ; and 
 opposite is a prominent high rocky point, one hundred and 
 twenty miles from New-York, called Four Mile Point, and 
 paid to be the actual head of ship navigation. The retrospec- 
 tive view down the river from this towards Hudson is truly fine, 
 with Mounts Merino, Bancroft, and Prospect in the back 
 ground, or as adjuncts. The shoals and obstructions from this 
 to Albany are increasing every year, in spite of the puny efforts 
 of man to counteract, and eventually, measures will have to 
 be adopted to extend the Erie Canal thus far. 
 
 Slaats Point is next passed on the east above the Creek, 
 nnd Bennett's Point and Island, and in one mile, Little Nutter 
 Hook, and Nutter Hook ; and across lo west shore Coccackit 
 
Staafs Point — Kinderhook—New Baltimore — SfC 41 
 
 landing:, and three islands, (village one mile back,) one hun- 
 dred and twenty-three miles from New-York, and an impor- 
 tant, bustling little place, with sloops, ship-yards, or rather 
 for building steam, canal, and low-boats, and a hauling-up 
 place. Three hundred feet above the Hudson, is a boulder of 
 Hypersthene, of one hundred tons, like those in the dykes in 
 Essex County. 
 
 Stuyvesant or Kinderhook landing, is on the east. {Kinder- 
 hook five miles east,) at the mouth of Coxackie Creek, one 
 hundred and twenty- five miles from New- York. 
 
 Kinderhook was settled by the Dutch and Swedes, and the 
 name originates from Children's comer or point, so called 
 from the number of children belonging to a Swedish family 
 that anciently lived on a point of land half a mile above 
 the upper landing. This is said to have been the birth-place 
 of M. Van Buren, the President of the United States. 
 
 Many Islands occur from here to Albany and Waterford, 
 causing the channel to be very crooked and variable, but 
 adding to the beauty of the trip. 
 
 New Baltimore, one hundred and twenty-nine miles, has a 
 dock and store house, and one sloop to New-York once a 
 week. The water is eleven feet deep; to this place tide rises 
 three to four and a half feet. 
 
 Hannekai's Kill, or Cock Crowing Creek, is on the west 
 side, opposite a group of islands. 
 
 Coei/mans, and Coeymans Kill, one hundred and thirty-two 
 miles, is in Albany County, and evidently an ancient and ve- 
 nerable place, with its store-houses, mills, &c. 
 
 SrJiodack, one hundred and thirty-five miles, village and 
 landing in Rensselaer County. 
 
 Castleton,or\e hundred and thirty-six miles; shoalest water 
 from New-Baltimore to this, three and a half to seven feet, 
 and four and a half to five and a half to Albany ; tide rises 
 two to four feet high. 
 
 Vlamans Kill, west side, and Winnes pier and bar. 
 
 Papacane Creek, east side. 
 
 Hoke Bergh, or high hill, Mr. J. B, Staats, five miles from 
 Albany. Van Wies Point, west. 
 
 Prospect Hill, east, seat of late E, C. Genet, minister from 
 France in 1798. The eastern slopes of the islands facing the 
 overslaugh are paved with stone to low water, to prevent ab- 
 rasion by the current, and a dam at the north point is to force 
 the water in one channel, and increase the velocity, and re- 
 4* 
 
42 Albany. 
 
 vent the bar that detains vessels at low water. Hitherto the 
 United Siatcs have devoted large sums to counteract this evil, 
 but it recurs and fills up, even if scoured out by a machine. 
 
 Four miles above this is Albany in plain sight, and after 
 passing alonji an island that intervenes between the mouth of 
 the Normnn''s Kill, and Ctiyler^s Bur, and Van Rensselaer's 
 Mills, and Greenbush, on the east shore, we arrive at 
 
 Albany, 
 
 one hundred and forty-four miles from New- York, in N. Lat. 
 42° 39', VV. Lou^, 73° 13'. The Legislature of the State here 
 assembles in the Capitol or State Mouse, at the head of State- 
 street, one hundred and thirty feet above the river. From the 
 observatory on the top of this edifice is one of the finest views 
 in this State, and acce?>sible to ail stranf;ers. Four Ionic co- 
 lumns of marble, thirty-three feet high, ornament the portico. 
 
 The principal objects of attraction the city presents, are 
 its ancient and modern buildings, and the public works of the 
 State, the Erie and Ckaniplain Canal, and the ^reat Canal 
 Basin. The ancient Dutch buildings, of which some are ju- 
 diciously permitted to remain in good order, as relics of the 
 olden tune, by their owners, must he soujiht for in Pearl-street, 
 north of State, and in streets near the river. The residence 
 of the late Governor De Witt Clinton, ami the Female School, 
 also in Pearl-street, are pointed out to strangers. 
 
 The Albany Jicademii , of red sandstone, also fronts on the 
 square north of the Capitol, and cost one hundred tl)ousand 
 dollars, and is occupied in part by the Albany Institute or 
 Lyceum. 
 
 The Cily Hall, also fronting on the Capitol square on the 
 east side, is a showy buildmg of white marl)le, hewed out by 
 the Slate-prison convicts of Sing Sing, and is distinguished 
 above all other e<lifices in America by its gilded dome, like 
 the Invalides at Paris, and has a truly dazzling eflfect, — this 
 is the court building, and fitted for County purposes. 
 
 An Exchange is now going up at the foot of State-street, 
 and also frontmg on Market. 
 
 There are twenty-two churches for all denominations ; a 
 Theatre, but poorly sustained ; a Museum in a semi-elliptical 
 building, that is of an elegant and striking appearance, corner 
 
Albany. it 
 
 cf State and Market-streets, and is wortliy of a visit, and also 
 the terrace on ilie top. 
 
 The Law Buildings, corner of South, Market, and Beaver, 
 nnd the South Dutch Church in Beaver and Hudson-streets, 
 with its noble portico of free-stone and neatly arranged 
 g^rounds, also the Churches, the Academies, City Library and 
 Reading-room, &-c. are all objects worthy of attention to those 
 that have time to study the taste of the people. 
 
 Stanwix Hall, of the eastern granite, with its fine dome, can- 
 not but be admired. 
 
 The banking-houses, five in number, are in State-street, 
 but are plain, decent edifices. The State-House, for records, 
 and for the use of the Treasurer, Secretary of Slate, Surveyor 
 General, Register, Adjutant General, Ciiancelor, he is a plain 
 fire-proof brick building, solid and substantial. 
 
 The route by Erie Canal occupies one day and a half. Peo- 
 ple that value their time, avoid that route, though along the 
 Mohawk and Litile Falls it is not excelled by any other. Both 
 are given in full, to enable the traveler to make his selection. 
 
 Albany contains about thirty-five thousand inhabitants, was 
 founded in 1610, after H. Hudson had sailed up the river to 
 the mouth of the Mohawk and returned to Holland, when a 
 fort and lodgnient was effected on an island below, in 1G14, 
 and found to be too much exposed to floods, ice, &c. and 
 abandoned three years after, and Fort Orange erected, on or 
 near the F'ort Orange Hotel, in S;)uth Market-street, 
 
 The English captured New-York in 1664, when this place 
 then received from its new masters the present name, alter 
 the Duke of York and Albany, the proprietor. It had a royal 
 charter in 1686 under Dongau, and was anciently surrounded 
 by a stockade as a defence against Indians, and it lias always 
 been an important and central military position, both in the 
 Indian and French wars; and its connection with the Erie 
 Canal, and the rail-road leading to the west, have recently 
 given it a further impulse that must continue, as all the travel 
 from the Eastern States must pass its portals. 
 
 The dep6t of the Mohawk and Hudson Rail-road, from Al- 
 bany to Schenectady, is found at 115 State-street, opposite 
 Congress Hall, near the top of the hill and public square. 
 Seats are there secured for Utica, price three dollars and 
 seventy-five cents — through in four hours — ninety-six miles. 
 
 This Rail-road, extending fifteen miles from Albany to 
 Schenectady, across a sandy plain covered with pines and 
 
44 Albany. 
 
 shrubbery, with an inclined plane at each end, cost eight or 
 nine hundred thousand dollars, and the Saratoga and Sche- 
 nectady Railroad, a continualion of the preceding, and lead- 
 ing to Ballston and Saratoga Springs, and twenty-one miles 
 long, cost only two hundred and ninety-seven thousand two 
 hundred and thirty-seven <lollars, or not half the amount of 
 the former, and almost half as long again; began in 1831, 
 and finished in 1832, Another route to reach the Springs in 
 the shortest possible lime, is to proceed on to Troy, and take 
 the rail-road from thence leading over to the islands at the 
 mouth of the Mohawk, and over the branch of the delta of 
 the Mohawk to Waterford, and thence to Ballston, — twenty- 
 five miles, and a pleasant route. 
 
 The Packet-boals do not run as formerly on the canal be- 
 tween Albany and Schenectady, as from passing through 
 twenty-seven locks in the twenty-eight and a half miles, and 
 its consuming twelve hours, it became unpopular, and was 
 given up, but the line or freight-boats take passengers if de- 
 sired. Those wishing to take passage in the canal-boats that 
 leave Schenectady for the west in the morning or afternoon, 
 take cars or coaches at Albany on the arrival of the boats 
 from New-York, and are at Schenectady in time. 
 
 For Troy, there are stages leaving State, corner of Market- 
 street, every half hour, price one shilling, besides small 
 steam boats that leave on the arrival of the great ones from 
 JSew-York. 
 
 Stages leave daily for Ballston and Saratoga Springs, at six, 
 nine, and twelve in the forenoon, and at two, three, and five 
 in the afternoon ; and for Whitehall daily, to meet the boat on 
 Lake Champlain, that runs to St. John's, and by rail-road to 
 La Prairie, and on the St. Lawrence to Montreal. Also, for 
 New Haven in a day and a half, via Litchfield daily, one 
 o'clock afternoon. 
 
 For Hartford in a day, via Sheffield and Norfolk daily, one 
 in morning. 
 
 For Lebanon Springs, via Nassau, at nine in forenoon, 
 twenty-five miles. 
 
 For Montreal in three days, at two o'clock morning. 
 
 For Boston in two days or less, via Lebanon, Pittsfield, 
 Northampton, and Worcester. 
 
 Stage Offices corner of State and Market, under the Mu- 
 eum, and on the corner of Hamilton and Market-streets. 
 
Albany— Jesse Buel. 45 
 
 Grand Koute to the l¥est, 
 
 by rail-road from Albany to Schenectady (the Springs,) Ulica, 
 Syracuse, Auburn, Rochester, Lewistown, Batavia, Buffalo ^ 
 and Niagara Falls. 
 
 The line of the Moliawk and Hudson Rail-road at its com- 
 mencement, is in plain view, seen from the steamboat, on the 
 west bank of the Hudson, near the southern confines of the 
 city, where is the main depot for the freight-cars, that are 
 taken up the inclined plane by a stationary engine to the sum- 
 mit. Passengers for the Utica, and Ballston, and Saratoga rail- 
 roads, will purchase their tickets at the depot office, 115 
 State-street, and will be despatched punctually at eight o'clock. 
 Price through to Utica, three dollars and seventy- five cents, 
 or to Schenectady, seventy-five cents, or to the Springs, one 
 dollar and fifty cents. 
 
 Horse-power is used to drag each car, the moment passen- 
 gers arrive sufficient to fill one, out to the head of State-street, 
 where the locomotive engine is in waiting, and when the en- 
 tire train is ready, the road is soon passed in a direct line for 
 twelve miles through a sterile, sandy tract, to Schenectady, 
 nearly on a level. The iron plates rest on wooden rails bedded 
 on stone. This has no connection, by charter, with the Utica 
 road. Some deep sand excavations and embankments are pass- 
 ed, and also the farm and nursery of Jesse Buel, and Wilson and 
 Buel, three miles from Albany. The farm covers about eighty 
 acres, and the nursery twelve or fifteen. Mr. Buel is exten- 
 sively known as the editor of the Cultivator, a monthly quarto 
 paper at fifty cents a year, and for his entire devotion to the 
 interests of agriculture and horticulture. The successful re- 
 sults of his labors in these respects are here beneficially ex- 
 emplified. His catalogues and publications are to be seen in 
 the Albany book-stores. Mr. Buel has been the whig candi- 
 <late for Governor of the. State, but did not succeed. 
 
 Arriving at the inclined plane overlooking Schenectady and 
 the valley of the Mohawk, with the grand Erie Canal at the 
 foot of the hill, the traveler is three hundred and thirty-five 
 feet above tide-water at Albany, (there are twenty-seven canal 
 locks between Albany and Schenectady, rise two hundred and 
 twenty-seven feet,) one hundred and eight feet descent of the 
 plane in half a mile. The firstglance from this elevation is very 
 pleasing ; but a few moments are allowed the passengers, who 
 
46 Schenectady. 
 
 are let down in the customary manner, and pass by tlie capa- 
 cious depots and car-repositories on the plain, here in close 
 proximity to the Erie Canal, Mohawk River, &c. &c. Passing 
 through the city of Schenectady, this route unites with the 
 rail-road that extends to Ballslon, fifteen miles from Albany, 
 and Saratoga Springs, six and a half miles. (For the route 
 to the Springs via TVoy, see p. 44.) 
 
 Sclienectady, 
 
 fifteen miles from Albany, contains about five thousand five 
 hundred inhabitants, exclusive of the two hundred students 
 attached to Union College, and is well placed near the Mohawk 
 River, It was surprised and burnt by the French Canadians 
 and Indians, the eighth of Februarj, 1G90, and the inhabitants 
 perished in cold blood, or were made captives; few escaped 
 in the snow to Albany. In 1748 another massacre took place 
 of seventy inhabitants, and in 1S19 one hundred and seventy 
 houses were burnt. There is a good hotel on the main-street. 
 The dreary old sandy road, horridly paved with large stones, 
 that formerly was dreaded, and required four or five hours of 
 Btage-driving for the fifteen miles to Albany, is now a matter 
 of history with the old traveler, in contrast with existing faci- 
 lities, and the same may be said with many other routes. 
 There are two banks, six churches, a City Hal!, &c. and it is 
 an old settlement. Many mills, and sites for hydraulic works, 
 are near the town. 
 
 The Mohawk river is crossed by a bridge three hundred 
 yards long, and an embankment of one thousand three hun- 
 dred and twenty yards, when the roads diverge, that for Utica 
 to the west, and for the Springs to the north-east. 
 
 Union College may be advantageously seen while passing 
 the bridge, on the right hand or south side of the Mohawk, 
 on a gentle ascent, and displays two ranges of white build- 
 ings, each two hundred feet long, and four stories high, of 
 brick ; built from the proceeds of a State lottery in 1814. It 
 has a president, (Dr. Nott,) several professors, lecturers, and 
 tutors, a register. &.c. a library of ten thousand volumes, a 
 museum, and chemical and philosophical apparatus : two hun- 
 dred and fifty students, 
 
 Con-TiHgh-karie-gugh-harie, or a great multitude collected 
 together, was the Indian name of this place, and the tribe of 
 
Schenectady— Amsterdam. 47 
 
 Mohawks, it is well known, that had their council-fires in this 
 valley, could muster their thousands, and strike terror into 
 their enemies; (see Colden's History of Five Nations.) The 
 Indian name of Schagh-nack4aa-da, or beyond the pine plains, 
 was applied to Albany. A few of the old Dutch buildings yet 
 remain, and also a bridge over the Mohawk, nine hundred 
 and ninety-seven feet long, (erected by Burr, noted in former 
 days as a bridge builder.) There are rich and extensive flats 
 in the vicinity. 
 
 The Utica, and Sclienectady fSaii-road 
 
 was begun in 1834, and finished in 1836-7; length seventy^ 
 eight miles, cost one million six hundred thousand dollars, 
 with engines, cars, &c. It is good stock, and pays well. The 
 road is intended for a double track, and is level and favorable, 
 having l)ut one grade over sixteen feet of ascent per mile. 
 
 After leaving the branch road to the Springs, the main road 
 adheres to the north bank of the Mohawk for seventy-four 
 miles, and no line of rail- road could be more happily devised, 
 or ably and triumphantly achieved than this, in its entire 
 course. 
 
 Amsterdam, sixteen miles from Schenectady, and sixty-two 
 from Utica, is a small village, and has a run of watering and 
 manufacturing power, (Chuctanunda Creek, a fine mill-stream 
 from Saratoga County, falls one hundred and twenty feet, 
 one hundred rods from its mouth near by,) and was the resi- 
 <lence of the Johnson family befo.'-e the Revolutionary war, 
 Col. Guy, Sir William, and Sir John, all stanch and con- 
 sistent loyalists to their king. The stone house, one mile from 
 the village, on the south side of the rail-road, was built by 
 Col. Guy Johnson, and the one a mile onward was occupied 
 by Sir John, all famous in the colonial history. 
 
 A bridge extends across to the south side of the Mohawk in 
 Florida, and if the cars breathe a minute or two, or take in 
 water, the traveler can spring out and enter the restaurateurs 
 for hot coffee and refreshments, that opportunely occur at 
 intervals of about twenty miles. Four miles onward at Tribe's 
 hill, observe at the south side of the Mohawk river, and east 
 side of the Schoharie Creek, the site of old Fort Hunter, Queen 
 Anne's Chapel, and the old Mohawk Castle, famous in our 
 
48 CaiLghnawaga — Fonda— The Nose— Palatine Bridge. 
 
 early history. There also are some rude Indian paintings, or 
 daubs of human figures on the rocks forming the banks of the 
 Mohawk here. 
 
 The outlet of the Schoharie Kill, that rises on the northern 
 slopes of the Catskills, and the canal dam and bridge or tow- 
 path across, tog-ether with the entire valley and foreground, 
 is a combination of pleasing features of art and nature. 
 
 Cau2:hnaioaga, twenty-four miles from Schenectady, and 
 fifty-two from Utica, and four miles from Johnstown, thirty- 
 nine from Albany, was an Indian village, and a principal town 
 of the Mohawks, and signifies a coffin, from there being in 
 the river opposite that place a large black stone. The present 
 race of inhabitants are descende(i from Scotch, Dutch, Ger- 
 man, and eastern or Yankees. The Hall erected by Sir 
 \Villiarn Johnson in 1773, and occupied till his death, was 
 four and three-quarter miles from this to the north, and on his 
 farm was fought a battle by the Americans under Col. Wil- 
 lett, and the Indians and their allies, the twenty-fifth October, 
 1781. Most persons recollect Sir William Johnson's adroit 
 reply to an Indian dream, in allusion to the fine red cloth and 
 lace cloak that the Indian chief unluckily dreamed that Sir 
 William had presented to him, and that Sir Wiliiam gave with- 
 out hesitation ; but soon after, he had his dream, that the In- 
 dian had given him a large tract of rich land, that the Mo- 
 hawk gave up with equal liberality, but said that he should 
 not dream again with the honorable baronet, 
 
 Fonda, a short distance from the previous place, has the 
 county buildings, and a fine new court-house is erected. The 
 county-seat has recently been transferred here from Johnstown, 
 ns the county of Montgomery also extends south of the Mo- 
 hawk to Schoharie and Otsego. The church at Johnstown, built 
 by Sir William, and containing his remains, was burnt in 1836. 
 
 The Nose, thirty miles from Schenectady, is another protu- 
 berance of St. Anthony, that like its namesake on the Hud- 
 son, before described, see p. 18, here interposes an obstruction 
 from a high spur coming down from the north, or right hand, 
 that required considerable wrenching or blasting, to admit of 
 the rail-road, and give sufficient right of way for the modern 
 improvements. 
 
 Palatine Bridge, thirty-five miles from Schenectady, on the 
 south sideof thel-iver is Canajoharie and the rail-road to Cats- 
 kill, seventv miles. 
 
 A corn-rnill constructed by the Tn^'.onc: r>f a nirmlar hole in 
 
East Canada Creek -Fall Hill— Little Falls. 49 
 
 the rock, into which was fitted a large stone lo grind their 
 corn, formerly existed here above the nose, and gave the name 
 of Bread Creek to the small stream. 
 
 From Canajoharie to Cherry Valley are stages. 
 
 Three miles west of Palatine Bridge, we are near Fort Plain, 
 and Sharon Sulphur Springs on the opposite shore, where 
 Capt. Butler, from his bloody visit lo Cherry Valley, came and 
 tomahawked the settlers at this remote frontier post. 
 
 Four miles west of Palatine Bridge we cross the East 
 Canada Creek, on the line between Montgomery and Herki- 
 mer Counties, (thirty-nine I'Vom Schenectady,) and in six miles 
 arrive at Little Falls, (fifty-seven miles from Schenectady, 
 and twenty-one from Utica,) and in three miles pass Gen. Her- 
 kimer's grave on the south side of the river, near a brick 
 house on a hill. 
 
 Fall Hill is five hundred and eighteen feet above the canal, 
 and seven hundred and twelve above tide in the Hudson, and 
 is a spur that puts off to the north-west from the Catskill 
 range, and is of granite and lime-stone intermixed. Vale half 
 a mile wide. A dam of fifty feet liere would back the water 
 to Oneida Lake. The cavities and water- worn rocks indicate a 
 barrier formerly at this spot. 
 
 As we draw near to the opening in the mountains, or as we 
 approach the Liltle Falls, the contour of the scene becomes 
 more impressive ; the hills on the opposing sides converge, 
 restricting the river and the Erie Canal on the south, and the 
 rail-road and the old turnpike on the north to the narrowest 
 possible limits, and bringing them all under the eye of the 
 visiter. The excavations in the solid rock for the purposes of 
 the rail-road, almost equal those made for the canal, and 
 claim our admiration and approval, both for the remarkable 
 facilities allotted by nature in the formation of this celebrated 
 pass or GAP on the Mohawk, (itself a prolonged deep valley 
 or pass, extending exactly in the desired course for a hundred 
 miles, thus admitting, side by side, a canal and road on the 
 south side of the river, and the rail-road and turnpike on the 
 other, leaving, in fact, very little use for the river, except to 
 yield its waters to fill the canal ; thus exemplifying the reply 
 of Brindtey, the engineer, who, when asked his opinion as to 
 the use of rivers, replied, '' to feed navigable canals,") and also 
 for the boldness and originality of the heads that conceived, 
 and those that planned and executed, in an incredibly short 
 period, the various massive and enduring works of art that 
 5 
 
50 The Valley of the MokataL 
 
 are here concentrated, and brought into prominent relief be- 
 fore and around us. 
 
 The eight old locks and excavations, on a puny scale, of 
 the " Western Inland Lock Navigation Company," made forty 
 years since, to obviate the obstructions and render navigable 
 the Mohawk River through to the Oneida Lake, are here seen 
 amid the rocks and rapids, as a memorial of the earliest at- 
 tempt made in this State to introduce canal navigation ; but 
 this did not remunerate the projectors well, and when the 
 Erie Canal was effected, the State finally paid one hundred 
 thousand dollars, to satisfy the claims of the stockholders in 
 the old concern, (about one fifth part of their expenditures.) 
 There are at this village one hundred and fifty houses, a church 
 or two, a bank, and the whole has a substantial appearance. 
 
 The traveler on the rail-road cannot do justice to the im- 
 mense extent of the public works and expenditures here ex- 
 hibited to him by the State of New-York, and by the Rail- 
 road Company, in merely giving a bird's-eye view as he flies 
 rapidly along, at the general and combined effect ; for here 
 are not only locks, canals, rail-roads, and other roads, but 
 also viaducts, aqueducts, water-falls, race-ways, mills, ma- 
 chinery, and a noble stream urging its triumphant and 
 foaming path over its rugged bed in the very midst, and giv- 
 ing vast life, vigor, and animation to the assemblage of objects, 
 but the face of the hill, also, is full of memorials of the changes 
 that time and the elements have wrought out on the rocks in 
 the lapse of ages, that to a geologist, or man of science, will 
 be replete with interesting recollections. 
 
 For several miles the beetling and rocky precipices en- 
 croach very closely upon the scanty line of road, and barely 
 admit of a joint use of the space for the three-fold purpose 
 of the canal, river, and roads. The beautiful Aqueduct that 
 spans over the entire volume of the Mohawk, that is here 
 compressed into its narrowest limits, rests on two arches of 
 fifty, and one of seventy feet, and thus forms a navigable 
 feeder for the canal, one hundred and seventy ket long, and 
 a link between the north and south shore. It is also a leading 
 feature in the picture, and the curious traveler that is not sat- 
 isfied with a transient and hasty glance, can leave the car to 
 explore around for a (ew hours in this highly interesting re- 
 gion, and proceed in the next train. Cross by the railing on 
 the side of the aqueduct and descend on the stone bridge, and 
 take a view of the central arch with the basin beneath, and 
 
Gulf Bridge— Herkimer. 51 
 
 the chutes that come pouring down, and then scramble up to 
 the top of the mountain to catch a view of the Mohawk val- 
 ley for twenty or thirty miles, and examine ihe five locks, and 
 the foundations of the canal, skirted by the deep and rapid 
 river, and the huge rocks and mountain profiles. 
 
 The long level of seventy miles on the Erie Canal, without 
 a lock, commences at number fifty-three, and extends ou 
 through Utica, Whitestown, Rome, Verona, Lenox, Sullivan, 
 Manlius, Lodi, Salina, to Syracuse, Onondaga County. This 
 comprised the easiest portion of the canal, and was the first 
 finished in 1817. 
 
 There will be no more mountain scenery compared to this, 
 for the traveler to behold, for several hundred miles west, un- 
 less he quits or diverges from the beaten track ; but there 
 may be equally gratifying or varied scenes. 
 
 The Gulf Bridge is a span of one arch of one hundred and 
 sixty feet wide, and fifty above the stream, that occasionally 
 discharges a very heavy body of water collected among the 
 mountains and wild lands north of the Mohawk. In this vi- 
 cinity much labor and expense was incurred by blasting rocks 
 and forming embankments. 
 
 In the township of Herkimer we bid adieu to the rough 
 and rocky features around the Little Falls, and the road im- 
 mediately enters upon a more sylvan scene, still adhering to 
 the vicinity of the river, that is prettily skirted with dwarf 
 trees and shrubs, and is seen meandering throughout for 
 seven miles across the celebrated German Flats, a most fertile 
 tract; but during the war of 1756 between the English and 
 French, the Canadians and savages invaded this peacefid vale, 
 to kill, burn, and destroy. The road then passes over IVest 
 Canada Creek (Trenton Falls being a few miles north, see 
 p. 53) by a good bridge, and in half a mile we are at Herkimer, 
 the county town, sixty-four miles from Schenectady, and 
 fourteen from Utica, in the midst of the rich flats. It has 
 one hundred and fifty houses, and twelve hundred inhabi- 
 tants, a courthouse, a jail, and a neat church. The village 
 is pleasant to the eye, and the buildings comfortable. There 
 is an obstruction made across the West Canada Creek, that 
 forms a cascade above the bridge, and a canal is cut to the 
 Mohawk, for mills. 
 
 In five miles, the road crosses the Mohawk River to Frank- 
 fort, on the south side of the Mohawk, and continues for nine 
 miles through a series of fine farming lands, that indicates 
 
52 Utica— Celerity of Traveling. 
 
 our approach to an inland city, that soon looms up at a dis- 
 tance with prepossessing effect, and we find ourselves in the 
 capacious Utica depot buildings, having finished (me of the 
 most lovely rides possible, and a feast to the eye throughout, 
 and passed in a rapid flight of four hours, along the most 
 attractive parts of the Stale. 
 
 The Rail-road to Syracuse, sixty miles west, follows, not 
 far oir, the same monotonous level as the Erie Canal, and is 
 continued to Auburn, twenty-seven miles, and will soon be 
 made on and across the Cayug-a Lake and bridge, to Water- 
 loo, and Geneva, Canandaigua, Bloomfield, Liva, Avon, (with 
 a branch to Rochester,) Caledonia, Le Roy, Stafford, Bata- 
 via, Buffalo. 
 
 UTICA contains about ten thousand inhabitants, and is a 
 central point for turnpikes, rail-roads, and canals, that radi- 
 ate from this in all directions: the Chenango Canal to the 
 south, the Black River Canal to the north, and the Erie Canal 
 and the rail-roads to tiie east, north-west to Oswego, and west, 
 and stages in every direction. Fort Schuyler, noted in the early 
 history of this State, was on the site of a part of this city, 
 near the river, and bridge, and the dep6t, and was an im- 
 portant frontier post during the wars of 1756, and 1776-83. 
 In 1784, after the peace, the first settlement commenced, and 
 from 1789 to 1800 it went on prosperously, and has so con- 
 tinued to the present time. The internal improvements of this 
 State, from iheir concentration hereabouts, must ever make 
 this an important inland town, and eventually, perhaps, the 
 seat of the Legislature. 
 
 The Rail-road to Oswego is to be continued through the val- 
 ley of the Mohawk, near the river, and over the rich alluvial 
 plains of Whitesboro', Rome, and along Wood Creek, and 
 across Fish Creek, and by the north shore of the beautiful 
 Oneida Lake and river outlet, in a north-west direction to Os- 
 wego, at the mouth of the Oswego River, Lake Ontario, a dis- 
 tance of seventy-five miles; from whence by steam-boat 
 daily to Lewiston is one hundred and eighty-five miles ; the 
 time required, twelve to fifteen hours; that, added to the four 
 from Ulica, and four from Schenectady, one to Albany, and 
 ten to New-York, gives thirty-one hours as the time by that 
 route, or only twenty-four to twenty-seven hours via rail- 
 road from New-York, Harlaem, to Albany, Schenectady, 
 Utica. Oswego, and steam to Lewiston, (from New-Orleans 
 by rail-road to Charleston in five days, and in three to New- 
 
Salmon River Falls — Trenton Falls. 53 
 
 York, and one to Niagara, is only nine days,) amounting near 
 to annihilation of time and space! 
 
 The Salmon River Falls of one hundred and eight ieaX, in 
 the township of Orwell, sixly-four miles north-west of Utica, 
 may be visited by takins: the stage route to Sackett's Harbor, 
 and diverging at Redfield to the west, towards the spot. Par- 
 ties of pleasure may descend by water down the river from 
 Redfield, or by land by a decent road, being but six miles. 
 The current is moderate for three or four miles, then two 
 miles of rapids occur, v/hen we arrive at the falls, whore the 
 river is two hundred and fifty feet wide at some seasons, with 
 the banks of slate and granite, or gneiss, rising seventy-five 
 feet above the fjiUs on each side ; the waters are received into 
 a chasm about one hundred and twenty-five or more feet in 
 depth, making the precipice in all two hundred feet, and at 
 the foot of the cataract there is a deep pool of water replete 
 with fish of the first quality, viz. salmon, trout, &c. forming a 
 well known and capital reservoir to supply the gourmands and 
 hotels to a great distance around, that send here to replenish 
 their larders and stock of fresh-water dainties. 
 
 From Lake Ontario, the Salmon River is eight to ten rods 
 in width for twenty miles above its mouth, and may be as- 
 cended in high and favorable stages of water, even to the foot 
 of the fails; and as they are well worthy of a visit, and have 
 not hitherto been much known to the public, or minutely de- 
 scribed, travelers will have another inducement to explore 
 the hidden beauties of the recesses and waterfalls, anrl the 
 geological formations of this extensive portion of the State, 
 that yet retains much of its primitive wildness. 
 
 Trenton Falls, 
 
 fifteen miles from Utica in a north-east direction, on West 
 Canada Creek, are too much in vogue to be omitted by 
 the traveler in search of amusement, tifat has the least pre- 
 tension to correct taste, and that follows in the footsteps 
 of his predecessors in this fashionable route, though it in- 
 volves the necessity of devoting at least ten or fifteen hours, 
 and breaks ofl" from the regular routine in going east or west, 
 and abstracts so much from the time and the purse ; yet ne- 
 vertheless, those that come or go thus far to see all that is ac- 
 5* 
 
54 Trenton Falls— West Canada Creek. 
 
 tually worthy of notice, should by all means, in our opinion, 
 make Iheir pilgrimage to this shrine, by forming an agreeable 
 party, hiring a conveyance, and leaving Utica early in the 
 morning, should it be intended to return m the afternoon, and 
 devote only one day. The famous irout dinners that are 
 usually procured at the hotel near the falls, are also one of 
 the enjoyments of the place. Though it may excite surprise 
 in some, yet we are constrained to declare, that the sensa- 
 tions awakened in a lively and ardent iinaginalion, and the 
 unmingled gratification derived by the spectator when the 
 glories of this exquisite spectacle break upon his view, will 
 for a lime absorb him in silent astonishment, and leave nothing 
 more to wish for, so near is it to perfection. The traveller 
 will at first be so overpowered by what he beholds, that it is 
 pardonable if he should question if there can be on earth 
 an exhibition of falling water equal or superior; but when 
 his gust of feeling is over, he may subsequently have reason to 
 change or modify this opinion as he travels farther and sees 
 more, compares, and reflects, and discriminates, giving to all 
 the due meed of praise, but even then, when he reverts to 
 Trenton Falls in after life, the impression it first made upon 
 his mind is strong and enduring, — perhaps unrivalled. 
 
 West Canada Creek is about sixty miles long, and rises in 
 the wild tracts, and interlocks with the sources of Black River 
 in the high and bleak regions north of the Mohawk River, 
 and forms one of the principal tributaries of the latter, and 
 occasionally vomits forth its sudden and dangerous floods 
 and wears and tears its impetuous course among the limestone 
 and slaty rocks, until, near Trenton, it enters upon a series of 
 descents of near forty feet down a ravine that it has worked 
 for Ave miles into every various form of twisted and dis- 
 torted aspect, and at the bridge on the road above the Little 
 Falls begins to be remarkable, but three miles below, and 
 two east of Trenton village, it increases upon and absorbs 
 the wonder of the traveler. 
 
 Following the path from the hotel or boarding-house, we 
 arrive at the brink of a ravine, bordered by forest trees and 
 evergreens of sf)ruce, fir, hemlock, &c. The a|)pearance of 
 such a deep ravine in the general surface, that had not before 
 been noticed in the approach, is the source of some surprise, 
 and this is increased as we descend the stairway into the 
 depths and gloom of the ravine, here, perhaps, one hundred 
 and fifty or two hundred and fifty feet deep, and two hundred 
 
^iierman's Fall— High Falls— Mill Dam Fall— Cascades. 55 
 
 wide, and find ourselves upon a floor or foundation of solid 
 rock, and with a very limited extent of blue sky, or the vault 
 or arch of heaven above our heads. On glancing- the eye 
 around the walls of the immense chamber or enclosure that 
 encompasses us, we admire the drapery that covers and or- 
 naments the rocks, and the lichens of scarlet, green, and yel- 
 low, the trees that wave over the margin, or impend in threat- 
 ening attitudes, held only by a slight adhesion of their ro(»ts, 
 jutting from the loose soil above, or the shrubs and creeping 
 ivies, trailing down in graceful festoons from crevices high up 
 and midway on the face of the precipice. 
 
 As we advance slowly up, we note the regular horizontal 
 arrangement of the limestone tliat comprises the sides, and 
 the clear and massive pavement-like regularity beneath our 
 feet; the mechanical form and regularity of the circular or 
 deep cistern-shaped pools, or the square race-ways and chan- 
 nels, as though chiseled by the hand of art, and leading from 
 reservoir to cascade in endless variety, and passing through 
 with unceasing force and rapidity. 
 
 Contemplating in every aspect these wonders of the glen, 
 we proceed to the falls in succession, beginning with 
 
 Sherman's Fall, thirty-five feet, named after John Sher- 
 man, the first occupant of the hotel, and one that was exten- 
 sively known as a good lecturer to his visiters here on the 
 numerous organic remains that are contained in the rock to h 
 very remarkable extent, and that Mr. Sherman exhibited a 
 profusion of it in his museum, after giving a capital dinner to 
 his hearers and customers. Mr. Sherman formed the path, 
 and placed the chains for the security of visiters that have 
 the courage and curiosity to place themselves in these trying, 
 queer, and delicate positions for nervous persons. 
 
 The His:h Palls, one hundred and nine feet, divided into 
 three difTerent and splendid chutes, of thirty-seven, eleven, 
 and forty-eight, besides the connecting chain of irregular de- 
 scent or slope, in grand floods or overflows are all combined 
 into one descending mass of pure snowy-white foam, but in 
 a drier season it finds its way over the rocks in separate 
 channels. 
 
 The Mill Dam Fall has a uniform pitch of fourteen feet 
 only, and is one hundred and eighty feet wide. 
 
 The Cascades, and intermediate chain of rapids, have a fall 
 of eighteen feet, and are much more compressed by the jag- 
 ged projections of the ravine. 
 
56 Stage Route to the Falls of Niagara. 
 
 The Upper Fall is about twenty ieei, and is received into a 
 capacious receptacle or reservoir, that is tapped and let off by 
 a wild ravine, and the coup d'oeil from the bridge, or on the 
 west side of the river, is very pleasing, and we have arrived at 
 the head of the ravine, and beyond this, we have in a distance 
 of two miles of rapids, a descent of fifty or sixty feet. There 
 are other falls at and below Conrad's Mills, that do not require 
 specific notice. 
 
 When the writer visited these falls, the water was at that 
 stag-e when there was evidently not the slightest danger to 
 any prudent, careful person, not disposed to incur needless 
 risk ; and when the water is lower than common, there is still 
 enouohthat will please and reward the visiter, and during the 
 excitement of an overwhelming freshet, no one would venture 
 below the stairway. 
 
 From Utica an important route extends south, along the 
 banks of the Chenango River and Canal, through Oneida, 
 Madison, Chenango, and Broome Counties, to Bnighamton 
 on the Susquehannah River, about ninety-two miles, and 
 thence east to Catskill, and also south-east through Pennsyl- 
 vania and New-York to Newburgh, and also west to Oswego, 
 Athens. Tioga Point, Chemung, Elmira, Painted Post, Bath, 
 Batavia, Buffalo, or from Owego over the hills by a good 
 road to Wi'kesbarre, or Valley of Wyoming, or through New 
 Jersey by way of Milford, or Delaware, Morristovvn, and 
 Newark, to New-York. 
 
 The ride along the banks of the Susquehannah from its 
 source in the Otsego Lake, southward to the Great Bend, 
 and thence west for one hundred and fifty miles, through 
 Bino'hamton, Owego, Newtown, and near the line of the 
 New-York and Erie Rail- road, is capital, and also from Tioga 
 Point down to Wyoming, Harrisburgh, and the coal mines. 
 
 Stag^e Route froau Utica, to the Falls of 
 N saggar a. 
 
 {Until the enlnrs^ement of the Erie. Canal to seventy feet loidlh 
 and six feet depth, to admit of the vse of steam-boats, or tintil a 
 continnoim line of rail-road is effected from Auburn to Rochester 
 and Buffalo.) 
 
 New Hartford, four miles; Manchester, five; Vernon, eight; 
 Oneida Castle, five; Lenox and Canostota, three; Quality Hill, 
 
Clinton Liberal Institute— Baptist Lit. ana ju .a.*. Imt. 57 
 
 three; Chilteningo, five; (two routes from hence to Auburn 
 and Cayuga Lake; the right hand, or northern, near the ca- 
 nal, through Syracuse, Geddes, Milan, Camiilus, Eibridge, 
 Brutus, Troopsville, forty miles,) the other as follows: to 
 Manlius, seven; Jamesville, six; Onondaga Hollow and Creek, 
 four; Onondaga on the hill, two; (Syracuse, and the salt 
 works, and Onondaga Lake in sight down in the valley be- 
 low, wiih the canal leading north to Oswego on Lake Onta- 
 rio;) Marcelliis, eight; (falls two miles north, of sixty-five 
 feet ;) and Skaneateless, six; (branch rail-road of four and 
 a half miles to the north to Auburn and Syracuse rail-road:) 
 Auburn, seven ; Cayuga, seven ; Seneca Falls, four; Water \ 
 loo, four; Geneva, seven; (Canandaigua, fifteen; to Roches- 
 ter, twenty-seven miles;) East Bloomfield, nine; West Bloom- 
 field, five; Lima, four; Avon, five; Sulphur Springs, nine; 
 Potosi, two. Cross Genesee River to Caledonia Large Spring, 
 eight; Le Roy, six ; Batavia, ten ; Pembroke, fourteen ; Cla- 
 rence, eight; Williamsville, eight ; Buffalo, ten. 
 
 The ride from Utica to Neio Hartford, by the Sedaghqueda 
 Creek, and line of Chenango Canal, is delightful, and in- 
 dicates at the last place a wealthy, happy people, with their 
 handsome, comfortable mansions, fine farms, gardens, one 
 hundred and sixty buildings, three churches, and several 
 mills. At a distance of three miles, observe the edifices of 
 Hamilton College on the hill one mile and a half from the vil- 
 lage of Clinton. The annual commencement is on the second 
 Wednesday in August. There are three colleges, and a 
 church of stone, A president, professors of Ethics and Po- 
 litical Economy, Natural Philosophy and Chemistry, Lan- 
 guages, Mathematics, and Astronomy, one tutor, one hundred 
 and fifteen students. The late W. H. Maynard gave it twenty 
 thousand dollars, and S. Dexter fifteen thousand dollars. 
 
 The Clinton Liberal Institute, in the village of that name, 
 consists of a farm for such as desire to pay a portion of the 
 expenses of education by manual labor. There are two col- 
 lege buildings, one of stone, ninety-six by fifty-two feet, and 
 five stories high, with forty-four rooms for study, a lecture- 
 room, and others for the professors. ISo sectarian or theolo- 
 gical instruction admitted. 
 
 Baptist Hamillon Literary and Theological Instilution, a 
 stone house, one hundred by sixty feet, four stories, has sixty- 
 eight chambers, a lecture-room, library, and chapel, a board- 
 ing-house, a shop for work, a farm of one hundred and th|rty 
 
58 Oneida Castle — Cazenovia, SfC. 
 
 acres. Four years is the regular course, two for theological j 
 one hundred and eighty students; tuition sixteen doltars a 
 year; board, washing, and lodging, one dollar a week. 
 
 The same appearance of exuberance and fertility continues 
 to Manchester, on the Oriskana Creek, a manufacturing vil- 
 lage, and also to Vernon, with its churches, mills, and glass 
 factory. The Oneida Castle and Creek is on the old Indian 
 reservation of the Oneida and Tuscarora Indians, that but re- 
 cently removed from this to Green Bay, or rather to Winne- 
 bago Lake in Wisconsin. Lenox has one store, two taverns, 
 thirty houses, one Presbyterian Church. Canoslota has four 
 churches, four taverns, four stores, and several groceries and 
 forwarding houses, one high school, and one hundred and 
 thirty neat dwellings, and is seen a few rods north of the road 
 on the canal and Caneseraga Creek. 
 
 Chilleningo Creek and village, a branch canal of one mile 
 and a half leads to the Erie Canal, and a small settlement, ba- 
 sin, dry-dock, and boat-yard. The village contains one hun- 
 dred and fifty houses, a large Dutch Reformed Church of 
 stone, and academy of the same sect, and one Presbyterian 
 and one Methodist church, three taverns, stores, &,c. It is on 
 the outlet of Cazenovia Lake, from whence there is a descent 
 of seven hundred and forty feet, including one pitch of one 
 hundred and thirty-four feet, giving great water-power for 
 eight or ten miles. Two mineral springs in the vale one mile 
 above, of sulphur and magnesia ; hill on the east of calciferous 
 slate, with springs liolding carbonate of lime, and forming 
 petrifactions in abundance for cabinets. 
 
 Lake Cazenovia, or Hawgeno, or Canaleraga, or Linklaen, 
 is four miles long and one broad, and is a beautiful expanse, 
 environed by a gently waving country. 
 
 The town of Cazenovia is placed at the outlet of the lake, 
 and has three hundred houses, neat, substantial, of limestone 
 or brick, a bank, a land office, a ladies' seminary, and one for 
 Methodists, of large brick buildings for one hundred and 
 twenty-five boarders, and having two hundred and fifty pu- 
 pils, male and female, a Presbyterian, a Congregational, a 
 Baptist, and a Methodist church, five mills, two woollen fac- 
 tories, a wire loom, three hotels, two drug, one book, and ten 
 dry-good stores, ashery, tannery, six groceries. Col. Linklaen 
 begun this town in 1795, and it is a charming spot, and land« 
 around it are forty to fifty dollars the acre. Cannot the 
 traveler step aside for an hour or two, and examine this pretty 
 lake and town ? 
 
Manlius— Green Pond— Onondaga West Hill. 59 
 
 Manl'ms, in Onondaga County, on the east of Limestone 
 Creek, at the junction of several roads, is ten miles south-east 
 of Syracuse, and forty west of Utica; has three churches, 
 one hundred and fifty houses, two taverns, six stores, one cot- 
 ton factory, and several mills. One mile south of the village, 
 and on both branches, are falls, one of a hundred, and one of 
 fifty feet; also a sulphur spring with petrifying qualities. 
 
 Green Pond is one and a half miles long by three-quarters 
 wide, and is sunk two hundred feet below the level of the 
 rocky shores, and is two hundred feet deep. The surface is 
 a mirror of deep green. It is in the town of Jaraesville, six 
 miles from Manlius. 
 
 Onondaga Hollow and Valley is remarkable for being the 
 chief seat of the power of this tribe, one of the confederation 
 of the five nations that ruled this State. The Onondaga Creek 
 is a lively stream that runs from south to north for ten miles, 
 through a broad rich valley of the deepest soil of vegetable 
 mould, and enters the Onondaga Lake at its south-east cor- 
 ner near Salina. The old castle or council-house, the ancient 
 seat of Indian power, and the reservation and town recently 
 held by them, was three miles south of the road, in fifty log 
 houses on a long street, and perchance some of the remnant 
 of the tribe may yet be seen lingering about in the neigh- 
 borhood, or at Syracuse. The Indian name for the whole 
 confederacy was Aganuschioni, or United People, and by 
 the French, Iroquois, and consisted of the Mohawks, Onon- 
 dagas, Cayugas, Senecas, Tuscaroras; these sold out to 
 the State of New-York, for two thousand dollars annually, 
 their claim to a larse portion of the central and western 
 part of this Stale. Some reside on Grand River in Canada, 
 others at Buffalo, and some are gone farther west. The vil- 
 lage settlement in the hollow has two churches, two mills, an 
 academy, one store, three taverns, and sixty houses. The vi- 
 cinity of Syracuse, only four miles, and the great canal, have 
 drawn off the business. There is also a South Onondaga ten 
 miles from Syracuse, that has a church, a store, tavern, and 
 a few houses. There is also 
 
 Onondaga West Hill, is on the hill that looks abroad very 
 extensively over hill and valley, lake and city. Here is a 
 Presbyterian and Episcopal church, the old court-house, pri- 
 son, fire-proof clerk's office, two taverns, four stores, and fifty 
 dwellings, and some old respectable residents, or early set- 
 tlers. For a description of Syracuse, ( and of the salt works.) 
 Salina, Liverpool, Geddes, and of the lake, see canal. 
 
60 Marcellus Creek— Skaneateles— Auburn. 
 
 Marcdlus, on Nine Mile Creek, the outlet of the Otisco Lake 
 a few miles south, and that is four miles long and one wide, 
 and runs into the Onondaga Lake, has a church, and seventy- 
 five or one hundred houses. The waters hereabout possess 
 strong petrifying- qualities, and a specimen may be seen on 
 the bank, of a large tree partly imbedded in limestone, by in- 
 quiring of the village physician or minister. There is an 
 abundance of fine blue limestone of good quality, and of the 
 water lime or cement, mills, factories, &c. and two miles 
 north, falls of seventy feet. 
 
 Skaneateles, 
 
 at the outlet of the lake, is the second of those attractive 
 lake cities (Cazenovia being the first) that we encounter 
 in traveling this great western thoroughfare. It contains 
 four churches, an academy, and five grist-mills that can make 
 forty thousand barrels of flour annually, also four saw, four 
 carding and cloth-dressing mills, two woollen factories, two 
 furnaces and founderies, two machine-shops, four tanne- 
 ries, two carriage factories, two taverns, eight stores, three 
 hundred houses, and two thousand one hundred and fifty in- 
 habitants. The site of the village is unsurpassed in its com- 
 plete command of the lake, that is as transparent as air; its 
 banks romantic, picturesque, and rising into eminences of 
 several hundred feet at its southern termination; it abounds 
 with trout in its deep cool waters, that reflect like a mirror, 
 the hills and slopes, woods, meadows, and pure white farm 
 houses. Petrifactions also abound here; on the east, and on 
 a level wilh the water, are organic remains of the cornu 
 ainmonis, imbedded in slate. Three miles north of the out- 
 let, the creek sinks into the rocks below the falls of seventy 
 feet, and is lost for some distance, but (his is often the case in 
 Florida, and in limestone countries. The Indian name of 
 this lake, as preserved, means long; it is fed by springs, and 
 is fifteen miles long by one half to one and a half wide. 
 
 Auburn, 
 
 is the third of the series of elegant lake cities; contains 
 eight hundred and fifty houses, and live thousand five 
 
Auburn— State Pnson. 61 
 
 hundred and fifty-five inhabitants, a Theological Seminary, 
 eight churches, twenty-seven schools, two banks, capital four 
 hundred and fifty thousand dollars, court-house, jail, clerk's 
 office, sixty-two stores of all kinds, and factories of tools, 
 clockg, candies, combs, cabinet ware, saddles and harness, 
 looking-glasses, leather and morocco, boots and shoes, hats, 
 tobacco, bellows, burr mill-stones, coverlets, carpets, cot- 
 ton-cards, threshing machines, tea-kettles, japanned ware, 
 steam-engines, carriages. There are three bookstores and 
 binderies, five merchant tailors, eight blacksmiths, three dis- 
 tilleries, one brewery, three furnaces, four flour-mills, one 
 marble yard, two livery stables, two wool carding: and clothiers, 
 one dentist, two portrait painters, six milliners, five dress ma- 
 kers. 
 
 Auburn is two and a half miles from the lake, but on the 
 outlet that has ample water-power. The streets are wide, 
 paved or macadamized, and there are handsome ranges 
 of stone and brick stores, and in the retired parts some taste- 
 ful dwellings and embellished grounds. The public buildings 
 built in 1836-7-8 are honorable to the inhabitants, and its 
 domes, colonnades, &c. place it far ahead of many other west- 
 ern towns. Its hotels are good. 
 
 The celebrated ST.\TE-PRISON may be seen on buying a 
 ticket of the keeper, and the best time is early in the morning, 
 when they are brought out of their cells and arranged in 
 squads, close as they can squeeze, in Indian file, stepping off 
 and stamping hard with a .simultaneous lock-step, eyes to their 
 overseer, head erect, each bearing his pail on one of his folded 
 arms in perfect silence, entering their various shops, and kept 
 at constant labor during the regular hours, till four o'clock 
 P. M. when the muffled bell is struck, all labor is suspended, 
 and the convicts, eight or nine hundred, return in the same 
 manner to their cells, and are separately locked up for the 
 night. The most minute precision is required in all their move- 
 ments. The walls that form the inclosure are thirty-five feet 
 high, four thick, and two thousand feet in extent, or five hun- 
 dred feet each front. The interior yard has ample reser- 
 voirs of water, and a range of workshops of brick, lighted 
 in the sides and roof. The cost was over three hundred thou- 
 sand dollars, not including the convict labor. The Owasco 
 Creek flows alongside the prison walls on the south. 
 
 It is seven miles to the Erie Canal at Weed's Basin, and 
 stages ply constantly to and fro, and twenty-two miles by the 
 6 
 
tl Aurelius-^Ilhaca. 
 
 rail-road to Syracuse, there are great quantities of gypsum, 
 or plaster of Paris, quarried on this route, and abundance of 
 the best lime stone. 
 
 Anrelius, four miles west of Auburn, has two taverns, two 
 stores, and twenty houses. Cayuga, three miles further, at 
 the foot of the Cayuga Lake, has a church, high school, three 
 taverns, four stores, and forty houses. The longest bridge 
 in the State, it being one mile and eight rods, here extends 
 over and across the lake, and gives the traveler in passing, a 
 satisfactory vievi^ of the lake, and its highly beautiful and 
 cultivated shores, far as the eye can reach. A steamer runs 
 to and from Ithaca daily, from the bridge, to meet canal-boats 
 at certain hours. (Travelers intending to go to Ithaca or 
 Owego, should, at Utica, or Syracuse, or at Auburn, where 
 they agree to take the stage, only pay the fare to the Cayuga 
 bridge, and take the sieam-boat for Ithaca, and arrive at the 
 head of the lake, thirty-six miles, in three or four hours.) 
 Just before his arrival there he will notice on the east shore 
 a foaming cascade come pouring down the ledges of the slate- 
 rock, 
 
 A car starts on the rail-road for Owego soon after the boat 
 arrives at Ithaca, and traveling but slowly, gets in about seven 
 or eight o'clock; twenty. nine and a half miles; the most 
 defective route in the State. Good hotels are at Ithaca, and 
 fine views in the environs, especially on the summit of the 
 hill overlooking the town, and lake, and shores, with its parti- 
 colored squares of farms and woods. The efi'ect of the dis- 
 tant aerial perspective is grand. 
 
 A stage leaves Ithaca early the next morning for Bath, 
 twenty-two miles, at the head of the Seneca Lake, and arrives 
 in time for the steam-boat that goes dowia for Geneva, unless 
 the tourist inclines to remain at Bath, to breathe a few hours 
 and look around. 
 
 Ittiacsa. 
 
 is our fourth city of the lakes. In front, and between it 
 and the head of the lake, are three thousand acres of allu- 
 vial flats, from which the hills ascend on three sides, amphi- 
 theatrically, five hundred feet, with truly magnificent effect, 
 and the picturesque character of the environs is improved and 
 made eminently attractive by the Fall Creek, the Casca- 
 
Bridgeport—Seneca Falls, 63 
 
 dllla, and Six-mile Creeks, that find their way over the hills, 
 and pay tribute to the Cayuga, Fall Creek rises in Lock 
 Pond, Summer Hill, Cayuga County, fourteen hundred feet 
 above tide, and flows south and south-west thirty miles, and 
 falls, near Ilhaca, within one mile, four hundred and thirty- 
 eight feet, over rocks of dark gray wacke slate ; this is best seen 
 from the bridge or steam boat. The last fall is one hundred 
 and sixteen feet, down a steep succession of narrow ledges of 
 rock or stairway to the lake level. The rocks each side above 
 the falls, rise one hundred and ten feet, and enclose a pool for 
 the mills below, that is drawn oflf or tapped, by a tunnel 
 through the rock, thirteen feet high, twelve broad, and two 
 hundred long, and is made to be used five or six times with a 
 twenty feet head of water. tThe Cascadilla leaps down a 
 gigantic stairway one hundred feet, and Five-mile Creek is 
 still more surprising. 
 
 There are five churches, a court-house and prison, clerk's 
 office, thirteen mills, four factories, thirteen taverns, twenty- 
 eight general stores, many groceries, druggist stores, four 
 printing-offices, two book-stores, one bank, capital two hun- 
 dred thousand dollars, and one of two hundred and fifty 
 thousand dollars, eight hundred dwellings, and four thousand 
 inhabitants. 
 
 Bridgeport, at the west end of Cayuga bridge, contains a 
 store, two taverns, and thirty dwellings. 
 
 Seneca Falls 
 
 is three miles west of the Cayuga Lake and Bridge, on the 
 Seneca River, the outlet of the Seneca Lake, and where 
 there is within twelve hundred yards, a heavy waler-power 
 of forty-seven feet over four dams. In seven flour mills are 
 twenty-four runs of stones that make eighty-five thousand 
 barrels of flour. Of other mills, are one for paper, six saw, 
 four plaster, three clove, and two oil, one clothing works, 
 one clock and one cotton factory, dyeing and bleaching, ono 
 furnace, three sash and window-blind factories, one tannery, 
 one distillery, one machine shop, four taverns, six lawyers, 
 five piiysicians, twenty stores, five hundred dwellings, and 
 three thousand five hundred inhabitants; five churches, a 
 newspaper and printing-office, an academy. In 1827, only 
 two hundred and sixty-five inhabitants. Land sells fifty to 
 
64 Waterloo— Geneva. 
 
 seventy dollars the acre. The water power can drive two 
 hundred thousand spindles. At Chamberlahi's Mills, two 
 miles from the above town, and one from Waterloo, is a 
 flouring and plaster mill, and fifteen houses. The lively 
 aspect of the town of Seneca Falls strikes the stranger most 
 favorably, and denotes that from its water-power and manu- 
 facturing propensities here is destined to be a flourishing vi- 
 cinity, a wealthy and comfortable population. 
 
 Waterloo, 
 
 four miles from Seneca, is also on the river or outlet of Se 
 neca Lake, and has three grisly two oil, two sawmills, two 
 distilleries, one furnace for castings, two tanneries, three 
 clothiers, pail, tub, churn, and wooden bowl factory, one 
 ashery, one boat-yard, one newspaper, two large hotels, three 
 taverns, twelve dry-goods, and one hardware store, court- 
 house, jail, six lawyers, five physicians, three hundred and 
 fifty houses, three churches, two thousand inhabitants. This 
 is also an active, bustling place. Seven miles to the west, we 
 arrive at 
 
 Geneva, 
 
 following the northern shore, and crossing the outlet or drain 
 of the lake, where there is a strong current issuing out, of 
 clear, green, pure water. 
 
 The land between the Cayuga and Seneca Lakes rises into 
 very lofty hills, and is capital soil for wheat, but liable to 
 drought, &c. From the roads skirting each lake, and sur- 
 mounting the hills, are a series of splendid views. There are 
 eight churches. The Geneva College is under the regents of the 
 University of the State ofNew-York,and has a President, a Pro- 
 fessor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy, of the French, 
 German, and Spanish, of Chemistry and Mineralogy, and appli- 
 cation to Agriculture and Arts, of Engineering and Statistics, 
 besides two tutors. There is a Medical department, with Pro- 
 fessors of Chemistry, Anatomy, and Physiology, of [nsfruction 
 and Practice of Medicine, of Surgery, of Obstetrics and Ma- 
 teria Medica, and of Medical Jurisprudence, and Botany. Not 
 confined to classics. Students fifty-three. Buildings of stone. 
 
Geneva. 65 
 
 There is a bank with four hundred thousand dollars capital, 
 three hundred and seventy-four dwellings, and three thousand 
 inhabi'tants, twenty-three stores, twenty store-houses, seventy- 
 three workshops, sixteen steam gfrist, one saw mill, one air 
 furnace, two machine shops, one steam-engine factory, fifteen 
 dry goods, five drugs, two hardware, twelve groceries, nine 
 taverns, nine shoe makers' stores, five tailors, nine smiths, two 
 confeciionaries, one edge tool, three saddlers, four carriage 
 makers, two chair makers, four silver smiths, one plough, two 
 threshing machine factories, one burr millstone, two tin, one 
 rifle, one lead pipe and metal pump, one sash, and three hat 
 factories and stores, five cabinet makers, one artist, two print- 
 ing-offices and papers, two book stores, two binderies, one 
 museum, eleven law, and one insurance office, six milliners, 
 two hay scales, two bakers, one upholsterer, one tallow chand- 
 ler, one stocking weaver, one auction store, three barbers, a 
 young ladies' school, three grammar schools, tv/o district and 
 seven common, and six hundred pupils. 
 
 Geneva, our fitth lake city, is situated at the north-west cor- 
 ner of Seneca Lake, on a fine slope, giving the inhabitants a 
 noble view of the lake, and those residing on the east side 
 of the street have terraced gardens down to the lake, that 
 have an admirable effect. The rest of the town is on a summit 
 one hundred and twenty feet above the lake, giving a view 
 to all, as it rises in gradations, and covered with neat villas 
 and seats, court-yards, gardens, &lc. The compact part is on 
 lower ground. Fatnilies enjoying wealth and leisure firjd 
 this a desirable residence. A sleam-boat leaves this place 
 daily, at 7 A. M., for the south or head of the lake, Jefier- 
 sonville, and is back at night. During the lake trip, observe 
 on the east shore, the town of Ovid on the height of land, 
 eighteen mile?., and the capital farms occupying the hills far 
 nsthe eye can reach ; and opposite is Dresden, where the wa- 
 ters of the crooked lake come in. from the west, and where 
 that female humbug. .lemima Wilkinson, had her farm and 
 her followers, as all fanatics in this country can readily pro- 
 cure Mormons and Matthias, &c. Long, or Elephant Point, is 
 four miles south. In six miles south is Jemima's walk in or 
 on the wafer place of exhibition, and in six miles south is 
 Starkie's Point, with deep water close in shore, and in four 
 miles more, a fall of one hundred and tliirty-six feet, and in a 
 ravme still farther, is a fall of one hundred and fifty feet in 
 the town of Hector, three miles from Jeflfersonviile. The 
 6* 
 
66 Canandaigua. 
 
 lake is ict-pfoof, or so deej) that it never freezes, but stearas 
 it profusely in cold weather. 
 
 From Geneva is a branch canal of fifteen miles to the Erie 
 Canal. Wheat, barley, wool, whiskey, beef and pork, pearl 
 and potashes, butter, flour, lumber, glass, and grass seed, are 
 bought up iiere for eastern markets. Eight miles west of 
 Geneva is Flint Creek, running north into the Canandaigua 
 outlet at Vienna, eight miles north ; and in seven miles from 
 Flint Creek is 
 
 €anandaig:iia, 
 
 our sixth lake city, contains three thousand inhabitants, 
 and five hundred dwellings, some of them not exceeded 
 in style or good taste in architecture by any city or place 
 whatever. The great charm and most attractive feature 
 in this suburban villa, is the embov»'ered and rural aspect, 
 the neatness of the front yards, and of the ample gardens, 
 pleasure grounds, walks, shrubberies, shaded and paved 
 streets and side-walks, and all those agreeables denoting com- 
 fort, good society, and wealth. It is on two long parallel 
 streets, north and south, and others at right angles. Has four 
 churches, an academy for males, and one for females ; the 
 former edifice is eighty by forty, three stories high; expense 
 of tuition, board, &c. one hundred dollars per annum. School 
 teachers are educated and taught. The Ontario bank with a 
 capital of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars, a branch of 
 the Utica bank with one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, 
 oight public houses, including two large hotels, Blossoms' and 
 Pitts', three fire companies, seventeen law offices, ten physi- 
 cians, two book-stores, three printing-offices and papers, six- 
 teen stores of all trades, two hat and two tin factories, one gun 
 smith, a steam grist, and a windmill, a furnace for castings, 
 two tanneries, one brewery, two asheries. There is a fine 
 view of the lake from all parts of the town. The lake is 
 fourteen miles long, and one and a half to two broad; has 
 a steam-boat that trips it daily for the accommodation of the 
 public and of strangers. The Burning Springs are on each 
 side of the lake, three miles ofT, and in Bristol, eight miles 
 south-east from Canandaigua, and also one to two miles 
 south-west of Rushville, in a long valley, and in winter they 
 form openings in the snow, and the fire being applied, the 
 
Rochester. 67 
 
 'jvovel sight of a flame rising out of the snow is witnessed, and 
 in very cold weather, tubes of ice are formed around these 
 currents of gas to the height of two or three feet, the gas is- 
 suing from their tops, and when lighted, more brilliant than 
 the former. 
 
 Kochester, 
 
 twenty-seven miles from Canandaigua, in a north-west direc- 
 tion, can be visited by stage and the rail- road* taken for thirty- 
 two miles thence to Batavia ; or the traveler can take the canal 
 to Lockport, and see the wonders there, the huge double 
 locks, the grand natural basin, and the deep rock excavation of 
 several miles, and by rail-road thence to Niagara Falls, or con- 
 tinue on by canal through the entire route once, and take some 
 other method in returning. Whichever way may be adopted, 
 we shall perfect our stage route, however, west of Canandai- 
 gua, and after crossing two small streams running north, in 
 nine miles we arrive at East Bloomjield, with its two churches, 
 
 * Tonnawanta Rail-road was constructed in the following cheap and 
 simple manner : " Large posts of twenty-four or thirty inches in diameter 
 were placed on each side of the track opposite to each other, and to 
 enter tlie earth firm and hard, to .sustain the side timbers of the track, and 
 squared at the top. Each set of posts ten feet apart. Upon the top of 
 these posts were laid transversely, sticks of timber twelve or fifteen inches 
 in diameter, mortised on the upper side near each end, to receive the lon- 
 gitudinal timbers, that, being I'rom sixteen to twenty inches in diameter, 
 hewed only on the upper side, and intended for the support of each of 
 the rails, were let into the mortises of the transverse timbers, and sup- 
 ported by them at the posts. This, where embankments were made, gives 
 a very substantial frame-work of the proper grade. On the top of the 
 longitudinal timbers, wooden ribbons, as a substitute for iron rails, were 
 laid. Rail-road cars were procured to carry earth, with four bo.xes each, 
 turning on hinges, to drop the earth between and over the sides of the 
 rails. These cars were loaded at places of excavation, moved by horse- 
 power on the track lo make embankments. The same frame-work was 
 used and put down where excavations were made. When the road was 
 finally prepared for operations, pine scantling, three by four inches, were 
 laid on the longitudinal timbers, and ironplate rail on the scantling, and 
 all securely fastened by heavy spikes seven inches long." In a country like 
 this, aboundins in timber, this is the most economical, but not durable. 
 The whole timber work, except the scanllinp, is covered with earth to pre- 
 vent decay, and the frame-work and earth add mutual support and 
 strength. This does well, and if cars run off tho track, they are receiv«d 
 on the ground, and not on cross timbers. 
 
68 Avon Springs — Le Roy. 
 
 two taverns, two stores, thirty houses, one tannery, situated 
 on high and commanding ground, and having the most cele- 
 brated farms and choice wheat lands. Five miles beyond, we 
 reach Wtsl Bhomjield, and in a mile we cross the Honeoye 
 Creek, the combined outlet of three small lakes at eight or ten 
 miles south, that runs into the Genesee River, and in four miles 
 we arrive at Lima; the whole distance from East Bloomfield 
 being through farms in first-rale order, fence, and keeping. To 
 East Avon five, and the Post Office two miles more from Lima, 
 passing the notoriously rich valley of the Genesee Finis, and 
 ten miles south, the IVadsu'ortli Farm at Geneseo, and Mount 
 Morris, (for the falls of Genesee, also for the line of the 
 canal extending from Rochester south, up the Genesee Val- 
 ley, see index.) 
 
 The two ^von Springs rise within an eighth of a mile from 
 each other, about a mile south of ttie village. It is useful for 
 its sulphureous qualities. Here are three boarding-houses, 
 much resorted to by the country people; a remarkable pond 
 enclosing Indian works, and a root that is peculiar to the f^ats 
 hero, of gigantic size, may be worth inquiring for. 
 
 After crossing the Genesee River on a substantial bridge, 
 the road varies its course to the north-west, and in eight miles 
 we arrive at t!ie Big Spring at Culedortia, that must be seen as 
 it is near at hand, and is quite an anomaly in its way, bursting 
 out a full grown mill-tace. This is prohalily the lost water from 
 Allen's Creek at the hii;h falls in Le Roy, seven miles west, 
 and they rejoin that stream in two or three miles north in 
 Wheatland. A stage runs from this to Koehester, twenty 
 miles north-east. Here are two Presbyterian churches, four 
 taverns, four stores, one flouring and one saw mill, one 
 brewery, and sixty houses. 
 
 L.e Roy, 
 
 on an eminence on Allen's Creek, is our next agreeable^ 
 looking settlement in six miles from the Big Spring, and 
 here are the falls that supply it through apertures in the 
 lime-stone rock that prevails in this region. Here are four 
 churches, two large mill*, each with fonr runs of stones, and 
 making forty thousand barrels of flour per annum, one oil 
 and one plaster inill, a furnace for castings, a tannery, a ma- 
 chine factory, fifteen stores, three taverns, four lawyers, five 
 
Baiavia. 69 
 
 doctors, fifteen hundred inhabitants, two hnndred and fifty 
 houses of stone, with gardens and grounds on a liberal scale, 
 and very pleasing to the stranger. Tlie land office for the 
 triangular tract is here. The fall here in Allen's Creek is 
 eighteen feet, and in one mile, twenty-seven feet more, and 
 in two miles is one of eighty feet. The creek at Le Roy has 
 a stone bridge of three arches. Beyond this creek we enter 
 on the great plain of the west, throwing off streams on all 
 sides. Look for more petrifactions on the bed of the creek 
 six hundred feet north of the bridge. 
 
 Batavia, 
 
 ien miles from Le Roy, is situated on the Tonnev;anta 
 Creek; and is the first stream that we have thus far en- 
 countered that pays its tribute to the Niagara above the Falls. 
 The stream pursues a course from east to west, on an ele- 
 vated rocky plateau, about four hundred feet higher than 
 Lake Ontario, and seventy or eighty above Lake Erie. The 
 highest terrace in the southern part of Genesee County is 
 eight hundred feet above Lake Ontario, consequently rises 
 fotir hundred feet in thirty-five miles, less than twelve feet to 
 the mile, and not perceptible to the eye, being almost a dead 
 level, and having barely descent to drain the country. The 
 elevation is by ridges, as is seen by the streams cutting 
 through the rock to the north. From this elevated plateau 
 the drain to the west is to Lake Erie; on the east to the 
 Genesee River, and on the south to Cattaraugus Creek. The 
 Tonnawanta has a meandering course of forty miles in a 
 valley two to four miles wide. 
 
 Here ore three churches, a land office, a bank, capital one 
 hundred thousand dollars, a flouring mill with four runs of 
 stones, three large brick hotels and five taverns, twelve dry- 
 good, two hardware, two drug, and one bookstore and bindery, 
 two printing-offices and papers, a bell foundery and gun smith, 
 two tanneries, two batteries, three millineries, four shoe-stores, 
 one iron foundery, five phygicinas, nine law offices, three hun- 
 dred houses, one thousand six hundred and fifty inhabitants. 
 Lands within three miles of the village sell from twenty to forty 
 dollars the acre, A rail-road of thirty-two miles, called theTon- 
 nawanta, extends to Rochester, and others to Buffalo and Lock- 
 port will soon be finished. Here are many neat residences of 
 
70 Buffalo. 
 
 the wealthy land-owners of tho vicinity. The less tliat is saica 
 abont tlie masonic murder of Morgan, or of his abduction, or 
 of the miserable log or corduroy roads from this to the west, 
 the better, as, wlien the rail-road is completed, as it soon 
 will be on the entire route, all old grievances will be forgotten. 
 East Pembroke post-office is six miles west from Batavia. 
 West Pembroke pos,t-n^ce is at Richville, eight miles i'arther. 
 Clarence Hollow, or Kensent Grove, has a church, forty houses, 
 one ashery, one grist and sa\v-mi!l, one distillery, one tannery, 
 two taverns, five stores, three groceries. IVilliamsviUe, ten 
 miles noi th-east of Buffalo, has a Catholic Church, a grist, 
 saw, and water lime mill, and a quarry of the same, fifty 
 houses, four groceries, one dry goods, two taverns, one tan- 
 nery, 
 
 Buffalo, 
 
 the queen of the lake cities, is admirably situated at the 
 outlet of Lake Erie, and at the head of the Niagara river, 
 and at the western extremiiy of the Grand Erie Canal, 
 There is a rail road of eighteen miles leading to Niagara 
 Falls, and a series of rail-ioads to Batavia, Rochester, and 
 from Auburn to Syracuse, Utica, Schenectady, Albany. 
 From the terrace the land rises by a very gentle acclivity for 
 two miles to a level plain, presenting a wide and enchanting- 
 view of the lake, the Niagara Kiver, the canal, and its 
 brandies, the city and the Canada shore. The streets are 
 broad, and intersect usually at right angles. There are 
 three public squares, a bank, and some airy wide streets, with 
 neat villas, court-yards and gardens, a lyceum and library. 
 The Erie Canal is continued along the entire lake in front of 
 the city to Little Buffalo Creek, with frequent lateral cuts and 
 basins, bringing all the lower part of the city in reach of the 
 canal facilities. 
 
 A mole or pier of wood and stone, of fifteen hundred feet 
 long, extends from the south side of the creek, out into the 
 lake, so as to form a partial break-water, to protect boats 
 and shipping from the violent gales that are felt, though still- 
 wafer is made for a mile on the creek, and a ship canal 
 eighty feet wide, and thirteen deep, and seven hundred yards 
 long, is also now made. A light-bouse on the head of the 
 pier, of dressed yellowish lime-stone, forty-six feet high and 
 
Buffalo. 71 
 
 Iweniy \n diameter at the base ; is a durable structure, and or- 
 namental to the city. The cost of the pier, &c. was about 
 one hundred thousand dollars, seven-eighths being paid by 
 the United Stales. 
 
 Buffalo is the port of entry for the Jfiagara District, in- 
 cluding Silver Creek, Dunkirk, and Portland, and all above 
 the Falls. It is the dep6t of the trade for the upper lakes, 
 Michigan, Wisconsin, Iowa, and part of Illinois, Indiana, and 
 Ohio, including a lake coast of 5,719 miles. 
 
 The city has twenty-five thousand inhabitants, three thou- 
 sand houses, one hundred and fifty-two streets, fifteen 
 churches, two seminaries, many district and select schools, 
 two theatres, a court-house, jail, two hundred stores, three 
 banks, aggregate capital one million, many hotels and tav- 
 erns, sis newspapers, and a great variety of manufactories. 
 It is divided into five wards, and has a mayor and common 
 council that are elected annually. Its streets are paved, re- 
 gular, and laid out in reference to the natural slopes : a por- 
 tion of it that was formerly low and marshy near the creek 
 and lake is liable to bo submerged during violent storms. 
 
 The buildings are in general decent, some are splendid, 
 and the stores recently erected are four and five stories high. 
 Nearly two-thirds of the merchandise received at Buffalo 
 goes no farther, being for the use of the city and vicinity. 
 Sixty mails arrive and depart weekly. Postage in 1835, twenty 
 thousand eight hundred and eighty-one dollars. The amount 
 invested by her citizens in steam-boats, and lake vessels, 
 canal-boats, &c. about one million; advances on freight and 
 produce passing east and west, two millions; manufactures 
 yearly, two millions; and sales in addition, one million seven 
 hundred and forty-eight thousand seven hundred dollars ; ex- 
 pended in building in a year, one million one hundred and thirty 
 thousand dollars; arrivals and departure of vessels in 1835, in 
 two hundred and ten days was seven hundred and twenty 
 steam-boats each way ; other vessels, nine hundred and twenty 
 each way; canal clearances, five thousand one hundred and 
 Iwenty-six ; tolls received, one hundred and five thousand six 
 hundred and sixty-three dollars. The University of Westerh 
 New- York is here established on a liberal foundation, by en- 
 dowments or donations to the amountof two hundred and fifty 
 thousand dollars. The terrible revulsion and derangement 
 of the currency in 1837 prostrated for a time the energies 
 and growth of this place. 
 
72 Buffalo— Seneca Reservation. 
 
 The town was originally laid out in 1801 by the HoUarid 
 Land Company, on the hill or terrace, fifty feet above the 
 lake, and in part on Ihe low ground or marsh towards the 
 lake and creek. The draining of the inarsh has rendered 
 it fit for building, and it is now the business part of the city. 
 
 The Lake Erie boats leave at regular intervals in the morn- 
 ing and at night. Boats are despatched to the Upper Lakes 
 as often as the case requires. At each port sufficient time is 
 allowed to take in freight and provide every luxury for pas- 
 sengers. The prices are, to Cleveland, in the cabin, six dol- 
 lars ; steerage, two dollars fifty cents. Detroit, eight dollars ; 
 steerage, three dollars. 
 
 The prices of freight, charged 
 
 From Buff'alo to Chicago, Light, per 100 lbs. 87^ cents, 
 " " " Heavv, " 62^ " 
 
 " " Barrel bulk, $1 50 " 
 
 " " Silver Creek, Dunkirk, and 
 
 Barcelona^ 25 a 35 " 
 
 " " Erie, Grand River, and 
 
 Cleveland, '27 a 50 " 
 
 «' " Ports above Cleveland, 
 
 to Detroit, 30 a AQ " 
 
 During one week twenty-seven steamers and thirty eigh* 
 brigs and schooners entered the harbor of Buffalo, bringing 
 forty-four thousand two hundred and seventy-four bushelss 
 wheat ; fifteen thousand nine hundred and eight barrels flour ; 
 one thousand four hundred and twenty-five barrels pork ; two 
 thousand six hundred and fifteen bushels corn ; two hundred 
 and fifty casks ashes ; seven hundred and nineteen hides ; 
 fifty-seven bales of buffalo robes and deer skins — besides im- 
 mense quantities offish, glass, brooms, staves, &.c. The busi- 
 ness of the canal is great ; frequently thirty boats arrive in 
 one day, and sixty are cleared from the collector's office for 
 the east — all well loaded. 
 
 The Seneca Reservation has nine hundred Indians, including 
 some Onondagas and Cayugas, is from three to four miles 
 south-east of Buffalo, and is eighteen miles by seven on 
 Buffalo Creek and its branches, and amounts to forty-nine 
 thousand acres, fertile and reaching near the city bounds. 
 North of the reserve, the average price of improved farms is 
 twenty-five dollars, and south, twenty dollars the acre. With- 
 in five miles from the city, they are from one hundred to 
 three hundred dollars per acre, caused by the Indian lands 
 
Grand Island—Black Rock. 73 
 
 not coming into market, and by the vicinity of the lake re- 
 stricting the lands in that direction. 
 
 Limestone lies in deep horizontal stratified masses on the 
 banks of the Niagara, between Buffalo and Black Rock, Bird 
 Island, opposite Black Rock, is a naked rock frequently un- 
 der water. Squaw Island, at t!\e (hot of the Black Rock ra- 
 pids, contains one hundred and thirty-one acres. Strawberry 
 Island, one liundred acres. Beaver Island, thirty acres. Rat- 
 tlesnake island, forty-eight acres. Tonnawanta island, sixty- 
 nine acres. Cayuga Island, Buckhorn Island, Goat or Iris 
 Island, seventy-five acres. 
 
 Grand Island (Ovvanungah) begins five miles from the 
 lake, and measures around its edge twelve, and in width 
 three to six miles, and ends three from the Falls; contains 
 seventeen thousand three hundred and eighty-four acres 
 covered with oak of the first quality for ship building. A 
 company from Boston now own it, and have a village called 
 While Haven, of fifty families and two hundred workmen, 
 opposite the mouth of Tonnawanta Creek, and a steam, grist 
 and saw mill, one hundred and fifty feet square, and room for 
 Sfleen gangs of saws ; many workshops, a school, and 
 churchy a long wharf and timber dock. Frames of ships are 
 selected and sent to the sea-board, employing fifty canal- 
 boats and several sloops. The steam-boats from Bufialo touch 
 here to Chippewa and the Falls ; and the ferry over this 
 branch of the Niagara is one hundred rods wide. The is- 
 land is alluvial, and is a bed of blue clay forty-seven feet 
 deep, far as penetrated, in which are found water- worn stones, 
 but no water ; that frxjm the river being used. 
 
 Black Rock is three miles north of Bufi'alo, opposite Wa- 
 terloo and Fort Erie, in Canada. The river is three quar- 
 ters of a mile wide, and runs with a current of six miles an 
 hour, and is twenty feet deep. Ferriage twenty-five cents. 
 The water is of a sea-green color, pure, and clear, and 
 sprightly, almost sparkling ; and from Black Rock to the Falls 
 the banks are eight to ten feet above the river, and a plain ex- 
 tends on all sides, and the river is not much below the level of 
 the bank between Grand Island and the main, and at the Ton- 
 nawanta. The harbor of Black Rock is four thousand five 
 hundred and sixty-five yards long from south to north, and 
 from eighty-eight to two hundred and twenty yards broad, or 
 one hundred and thirty-six acres of surface. It begins in 
 the lake at Bird Island, and is continued by a mole of double 
 7 
 
74 ' Fort Schlosser — Navy hlaruL. 
 
 wooden cribs filled in with stone, eighteen feet wide, and Uvo 
 thousand nine hundred and fifteen yards to Squaw Island, 
 raised from one to four feet above the surface of the river, 
 rising gradually towards the north, and is continued across 
 the Island one thousand four hundred and thirty yards, to a 
 dam one hundred and sixty-five yards long, that connects the 
 island with the main, and raises the water in the harbor four 
 and a half feet to the lake level, and has a lock to pass ves- 
 sels out and in. The depth of water in the harbor, fifteen 
 feet; the medial distance from the shore to Squaw Island is 
 forty, and the mole uniting the islands, sixteen rods. The 
 harbor forms part of the canal that leaves it opposite Bird 
 Island, and passes into Buffalo. From the head of the wa- 
 ter at the dam, four and a half feet, great water-power is 
 available, and here are four flouring mills with twenty-five runs 
 of stones, one grist mill, two saw, a stave, carding, antl full- 
 ing mill, one iron foundery, and steam engine manufactoryj 
 a distillery, and grinding mill, a saw and shingle mill, and 
 the unemployed power here is enough to drive one hundred 
 mills. There are five stores, five taverns, and three hundred 
 and fifty dwellings, and two thousand one hundred inhabitants, 
 A team ferry-boat plies across to Waterloo. 
 
 Fort Schlosser was a stockade erected by the British in the 
 war of 1756-9, on the east bank of the Niagara River, at the 
 mouth of Gill Creek, one mile and a half above the Niagara 
 Falls village, and just above the commencement of the rapids. 
 This is the upper-landing place for the portage around the 
 Falls, to Lewiston at the foot of the mountain ridge, seven 
 miles at the lower landing in Niagara River. The ridge itself 
 is three hundred and fifty or sixty feet above the river, and 
 iwenty-fivc feet higher than the land at Schlosser, and is the 
 highest land between the Tonnawanta and Ontario. The fort 
 M'as surrendered to the United States by the British in 179G, 
 It has recently become notorious for the capture and destruc- 
 tion of the steam-boat Caroline, (that was moored at this 
 wharf,) by a detachment of British soldiers and seamen from 
 Chippewa, that cut her loose, after killing those that resisted, 
 towed her out in the current, when she was sucked into the 
 rapids, and went over the falls. 
 
 Navy Island contains three hundred acres, is of a shape 
 nearly triangular, and is the first island between the grand 
 rapids and Grand Island, and being nearest to the Canadian 
 shore, and west of the main channel of the Niagara, it is at- 
 
Niagara Falls. 75 
 
 t^chevl to Upper €aHRda, the boundary line between the Uni- 
 ted States and Canada being in the middle of the main chan- 
 nel from lake to lake. The recent mihtary occupation of 
 this island in the winter and spring of 183S, for a short period 
 during- the disturbances in Canada and along the frontier of 
 the United States, by a lawless band of outlaws and despera- 
 does, has given this small island more celebrity or notoriety 
 than it deserves from its fearful position a few hundred yards 
 above the grand cataract. Below this, and to Goat Island, and 
 from Chippewa over to Schlosser, a distance of two and a half 
 miles, any boat venturing impiously to intrude upon the green 
 and glassy surface of the alluring stream, will be drawn into 
 the rapids, and swept down to inevitable destruction. 
 
 Above the Rapids, the two branches of the Niagara River 
 that enclose Grand Island and the other small islets, come 
 sweeping down with infinite grandeur, and unite their waters 
 for the last time previous to their absorption into the angry 
 confusion of the surge and rocks that form the rapids. The mo- 
 tion of the immense ocean of waters is grand, is magnificent, 
 full of its conscious power, and profound and overwhelming 
 influence, advancing with increased impetus to the brink of 
 the first shelf of the descent, when the entire breadth of the 
 river, about thirteen thousand feet, is received into the rocky 
 glen or rapid slope, and sinks from ledge to ledge, arrayed iu 
 huge and wild masses to receive the shock of this tumbling 
 ocean in its passage over a sloping distance or inclined plane 
 of perhaps four thousand feet, and of only fifty -five of actual 
 descent, but the impregnable and immovable rocky asperities 
 of the underlying rocky foundation are such as to raise, toss, 
 scatter, and part this phalanx of waters into an infinite va- 
 riety of jetts, cascades, and forms of beauty and sublimity 
 ever new, changeable, and wonderful. To the uninitiated and 
 unreflecting traveler and spectator, that perhaps approaches 
 this scene for the first time, from the south or west, or Irom a 
 distance up the great Lakes Erie, Huron, Michigan, and 
 Superior, over such interminable oceans and inland seas of 
 freshwater; and sees the whole moving mass here concen- 
 trated, swallowed up in a sudden subsidence or opening, and 
 plunging into a tremendous abyss in the solid rock, three 
 hundred feet deep, and a mile broad, the sight is overwhelm- 
 ing and magnificent. 
 
 " I will remember the works of the Lord. Thou art the 
 God that doest wonders. The waters saw thee, God, the 
 
76 Niagara Falls. 
 
 depths also were troubled, the earth trembled and shook. 
 Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and 
 thy footsteps are not known." 
 
 The best posilions for vjewinji the rapids are near Chippe- 
 wa, on the road down from BufTrtlo, on the west from Erie and 
 Waterloo. This is preferable in some respects, and gives the 
 first bird's-eye view as the River descends, and the traveler as- 
 cends to the hill north of Cliippewa. The table rock is 
 another favorable place to get a front and complete panr)ramic 
 coup d'ceil, or in walking- along the shore on eitl)er side^ 
 or in crossing the bridges to Batli and Iris Islands; but the 
 best and most central, is from the upper extremity of Goat 
 Island at the tower, &.c. But artists may, and do differ ever* 
 in this respect; but to many travelers, the young especially, 
 the rapids are the most attractive and delightful part of the 
 enjoyments of a fev/ days at Niagara. To the older and 
 more mature, the crescent, or Horse Shoe Fall, and the one 
 on the United States side may be more gratifying. 
 
 Looking at the rapids from Goat island, directly up stream, 
 with the full angle or inclined plane of the rapids before 
 us, the endless torrent comes booming and bounding on- 
 ward in high curling and dashing waves, that would soon an- 
 nihilate all opposition, but the abrupt subsidence of one ledge 
 and plain below the preceding one, breaks the continuity of 
 the wave, and it darts onward in another wave and plunges 
 till it reaches the precipice. The water passing down, be- 
 tween the main eastern shore and Bath island, under Por- 
 ter's bridge, is clear, and not very deep, but runs with such 
 amazing rapidity and violence over the rocky bottom, that in 
 crossing the bridge, the whole structure appears to be moving 
 bodily towards the precipice with fearful effect; in fact^ 
 strong nerves are required in the traverse. 
 
 The Foils on the eastern or Avierican side of Iri.s Island, 
 are one hundred and sixty-four feet in the leap, and nine 
 hundred feet wide between the Island and the main, and de- 
 scend perpendicularly in one clear, glassy sheet, that is par- 
 tially broken into foam in its course, and is enveloped and ob- 
 scured in mist about one third or one fourth of the height 
 from the river below. The Fall between Luna and Iris Island 
 is two hundred and forty feet wide of itself, and is included 
 in the total estimate of nine hundred feet. 
 
 To appreciate the magnitude and beauty of the Fall near- 
 est to the stairs, (six hundred and sixty feet in width,) de- 
 
Iris or Goat Island. 77 
 
 scend the stairs, and at various stages or steps, pause and 
 contemplate the astounding, and terrific, and all-absorbing 
 scene; theworldof waters, that never ceases to plunge into the 
 riveron the rocky masses, and to glance off its spray and scat- 
 tered waters with extreme violence, like small shot, with a 
 force that defies all attempts to face it unmoved, or unshrink- 
 ing-, or to resist the whirls of air that issue forth with stifling 
 effect. When at the bottom of the stairs, and of the slope at 
 the edge of the river, again direct the eye upward to the falling 
 waters, that from this position are beheld with the fullest 
 effect, and also the lofty precipices of rock mantled with the 
 moss and hue of ages. 
 
 The bridge extending over the American rapids to Bath 
 Island, is four hundred and seventy-six feet long, resting on 
 piers or cribs of logs, filled in with heavy masses of stone, 
 and the bridge from Bath to Goat Island is two hundred and 
 seventy-two feet, made in a similar manner. Bath Island is 
 four hundred feet long, and has two acres of surface, and the 
 toll-house, (fee twenty-five cents,) and a large paper mill and 
 a bathing-house, and is connected by bridges with two islets, 
 the Ship and Brig, that brave the fury of the rapids, and help 
 to ward off or break its force, in impinging against the Bath 
 and mill, and thus the most is made of these mere stepping- 
 stones, bridges, and rapids, and after stepping in the toll house, 
 and examining the album kept there, and inserting name and 
 date, pass over the last bridge to 
 
 Iris, or GooA Island, that is half a mile long by a quarter wide, 
 and contains seventy-five acres of land, well timbered with 
 beech, oak, maple, &c, mantled with vines and cryptagamous 
 shrubs or plants, that have most judiciously and com- 
 mendably been preserved by the estimable and worthy pro- 
 prietor in their pristine Mildness and native beauty. A neat 
 walk covered with gravel has been made near the skirts of 
 the island, and vistas introduced to direct the stranger, and 
 to exhibit (he whole surrounding scenery to the best possible 
 effect. This enchanting little island, enthroned in the midst 
 of the furious rapids, and parting aside even the gigantic tide 
 of inland waters that presses upon it with threatening vehe- 
 mence and resistless power, is now rendered intensely inte- 
 resting to the visitant, by the facilities in approaching it over 
 the formerly impassable and virgin rapids, that had rarely be- 
 fore been attempted by the daring effort of man, but are now 
 
78 Biddle Stairs. 
 
 safely open to public curiosity and gratification, and the hither- 
 to hidden beauties and secluded recesses of this charming spot 
 satisfactonlj unfolded. There is not, there cannot be under 
 the arch of heaven a more interesting or awful place in all 
 creation than this, with its auxiliaries of surpassing glory and 
 grandeur, to irradiate, guard, ennoble, and animate the pano- 
 rama that here environs the awestruck, astonished, and de- 
 lighted traveler. 
 
 Alter making the circuit of the island, and gazing for the 
 first time upon the prominent features and wonders of the 
 place, in a transient or cursory manner, return to the northern 
 face of the precipice, and explore the Biddle Sinirs, but first 
 cross the romantic, ticklish bridge to Luna Island, on the 
 verge of this centr.d Fall, that, when viewed fiorn the Cana- 
 dian shore, at a mile's distance, is almost lost, or appears but 
 a mere ribband in comparison with its more imposing 
 neighbors, yet it is of the very reputable widtli of two hun- 
 dred and forty teet, presenting a snow-white, foaming appear- 
 ance, that if it stood alone, like the Montmorency at Quebec, 
 would of itself have numerous pilt;rims to lavish their admi- 
 ration upon it, but here it ii^, subsidiary and subordinate, yet 
 eminently graceful and pleasing. 
 
 The front of I he precipice of Iris Island is of limestone tinge, 
 with the venerable hues of time, presenting a uniform facade 
 of about a thousand feet facing to the north-west, and separa- 
 ting by its intervention the two grand divisions of (he falls, 
 the eastern and the western, and it rises to the height of one 
 hundred and eiohiy-five feet above the level of the circular 
 gulf below the falls. The visit of tiie patriotic Nicholas Bid- 
 die, Esq. of Philadelphia, to this place in 1829, resulted in his 
 causing this capital stairway to be constructed at his individual 
 expense, for the public accommodation, and we hope that it 
 will be carefully retained, and repaired, and preserved.* This 
 erection facilitated and opened up to pul)lic admiration many 
 new points of view, before unapproachable. 
 
 Tiie first flight of steps continues for forty feet, when a six- 
 sided or hexagon building, or inclosure of wood, sixty-five 
 
 * Dr. Hiingerford, of Troy, was instantly killed at the falls. In com- 
 pany wuh Linrlsey, the guide, lie had descended the Biddle stair-case on 
 the Ainericiui side, and was standing near the water, when a mass of rock, 
 wei<:hing several tons, fell fron the bnnU above, a height of one hundred 
 and fifiy feet, directly upon him. Lindsey suffered a severe contusion 
 on his left arm, but was not otherwise injured. 
 
Terrapin Bridge and Tower. 79 
 
 feet high, containing the spiral, or geometrical, or cork-screw 
 staircase of ninety steps, lands the giddy explorer upon the top 
 of the debris at the foot of the mural precipice, wiience three 
 traces or walks diverge to new points of attraction. One is 
 directed to tiie water's edge, eighty feel still farther downward. 
 Another to the left, or west, to the great Horse-Shoe or Cres^ 
 cent Fall. Another to the right, conducts to the most singular 
 novelty of all, the cave, or head quarters of JEolus, the god 
 of the winds; and no name could l)e better chosen, or more 
 literally correct, for the cavern is fifty feet wide, one iiundred 
 high, ant! one hundred and twenty deep, and is directly behind 
 the centre fall, and the visiter may safely approach to, and pass 
 through It, and emerge at the foot of Lzma Island, and won* 
 der at his temerity in risking it; and after looking around 
 from this peculiar position, he can even advance, with cautious 
 steps and slow, and perchance have a peep behind the watery 
 curiain that veils over the rock tiiat sustains the main portion 
 of the American fiill; but let him not attempt, in a fool-hardy 
 epirit, to risk any further progress towards the American 
 stairs, that are yet several hundred feel beyond him, wich a 
 crushing weight of water also eternally falling from a height 
 of one hundred and sixty-four feet, equal to an ordinary 
 church steeple. The noise both at this point and at the cav- 
 ern of the wind--*, where it is increa.-ed nnd reverberated with 
 ten-fold violence, i? ulterly astounding and overwhelming, 
 and is sui geneiif; hnd it is glory enough to any one to have 
 been thus far successful; and it' satisfied, let him retrace his 
 steps to the foot of the spiral Blddle, and try his luck in a de- 
 scent towards the western curtain or crescent fall, that some- 
 times permits thj veil of its mysteries also to be penetrated 
 lor a siiort distance with similar impunity. Let us now as- 
 cend the one hundred and eighty- five feet to the summit of 
 the Iris, and find our way westward by the gravelled walk 
 to the 
 
 Terrapin Bridge and Tower, the most daring achievement 
 to construct, reaching three hundred feet out from the 
 Iris Island, including the extension up the stream of the 
 rapids, and the Tower of slone, forty-five feet high, done in 
 1833, with steps leadmg and winding up to the tup, and from 
 the dizzy summit that is thus safely attained, the crowning 
 feat of human and almott super-human efforts, undertakings, 
 or even imaginings, the traveler that has thus far periled 
 his life to gratify his vain and unbounded curiosity, and that 
 
80 Terrapin Tewer, 
 
 says to himself, what man has done, man can do; and what 
 others have here seen, I may also behold, perhaps, in safety, 
 will not, perchance, withdraw from the bridge or the tower 
 without claiming the full fruition of his gratified curiosity as 
 the reward of his hazardous and expensive journeyings. Of 
 all appalling and terrible sites for man to place himself upon 
 to glut his insatiable, presumptuous desire to draw near to 
 the very brink of destruction, and to cast a withering, heart- 
 sickening, trembling look into a vortex where no human be- 
 ing can enter but to be instantly passed into the abyss of 
 eternity, this is the threshold to contemplate, creating hor- 
 rible sensations of mingled fear and shrinking back of the 
 mind and heart, in thus madly venturing into the presence of 
 the power that can annihilate in a moment ail that thus pro- 
 fanely intrude into the domains between time and eternity. 
 
 The site of the tower is but four or five hundred feet from 
 the deepest portion of the main channel of dark green water, 
 that occupies the crescent-shaped part of the Niagara, and is 
 also within a few feet of where the rapids are tumbled over 
 the precipice in a sea of milk-white foam and richness of 
 inimitable perfection and beauty. A very slight illustration 
 of this appearance may be cited, by comparing it in a small 
 way with the descent of a heavy mass of snow from the roof 
 of a tall house in a thawing day, when the mass comes down 
 in successive and ponderous, yet feathery-looking pure white 
 volumes, with a splash and crash that causes a rebound one 
 third of the way back towards the place from whence it came. 
 Now the wJiolt facade of the principal fall is two thousand 
 one hundred feet, and this is eternally curtained with this 
 feathery foam, as before described, except the deep crescent, 
 and is falling from a height of one hundred and sixty-four 
 and one hundred and lifty-eiglit feet on the west and east re- 
 spectively, and the pure majestic central current of the deep 
 mysterious crescent, with a width of two hundred feet, ap- 
 pears to roll onward like a gigantic wheel, clogged and mov- 
 ing with difficulty in a huge snow drift, advancing towards 
 the spectator. This grand effect is produced from the fact 
 that this ocean fresh water flood does not descend exactly 
 perpendicular, but from the angle of inclination of the rapids, 
 (above fifty-one feet in four thousand, or about three-quarters 
 of a mile,) the huge, lumbering mass of waters forms a 
 waving arch of unknown thickness, on whose pure bosom of 
 dark green may be traced white spots, or banks of foam, that 
 
The Crescent or Horse-Shoe Fall. 81 
 
 can be followed by the eye for several seconds, as they descend 
 over the snaky undulations of the deep crescent, and are lost 
 in I he spray and obscurity of the profound gulf below. 
 
 The ferry or passage over the river to and from the Ameri- 
 can stairs and Canadian shore is perfectly safe, and the wa 
 ter is much less aaitated than would be expected so near the 
 falls; but this is the only safe crossing between the falls and 
 Lewiston, six miles below, as the fury of the rapids, eddies, 
 and whirlpools below the ferry, render all attempts to cross 
 elsewhere impracticable, and madness itself. 
 
 Estimates of the quantity of water discharged vary from 
 forty to eighty-five millions of tons the hour, and the depth of 
 the pool, at two hundred and fifty feet. A carriage-way is 
 now making through the lofty banks on either side to the 
 plain above. 
 
 The Crescent or Horse-Shoe Fall, comprising in magnitude 
 and volume seven-eighths of the entire body of the Niagara 
 River, is reserved to the last in our description, and the cus- 
 tomary and nearest approach to it from this shore is by ad- 
 vancing to the edge of the celebrated table rock near enough 
 to touch the skirt of the rapids that come sweeping around on 
 the right hand ; this, however, is in t^act a most perilous stand, 
 a mere shelf or thin slab of limestone rock but two or three 
 feet in thickness at its extremity, where it overarches out forty 
 feet beyond the general line of the rock t)eneath, and fissures 
 already indicate that a speedy disruption of this part of the 
 rock will inevitably occur ; but such is the heedlessness yf 
 man, and the thoughtlessness and intrepidity of the ladies, 
 that this is always the flirting-place where visiters take their 
 initiation into the wonders of the raging and conflicting ele- 
 ments beneath. 
 
 Perhaps as good a view with a better fore-ground may be 
 obtained, combining perfect safety also, by resorting a few 
 rods north beyond the stairs, receding more from the brink. 
 The stairs near by, like the Biddle, are spiral, winding round 
 a tall pine centre that reaches to the top of the debris of rocks 
 that have fallen from the arch above, from whence a path 
 leads along to the right, at the foot of the precipice, with 
 over-hanging arch of rock forming a complete semi-vault, 
 open on the left to the panorama of the entire chasm and its 
 body of billowy ocean floods. 
 
 , To pass behind the falls to termination rock, visiters apply 
 at the museum or shanty near the stairs to the keeper, who 
 
82 The passage behind the Falls — Albany. 
 
 must have his regular fees, and will furnish suitable dresses 
 and a guide that will descend with and conduct the adven- 
 turous explorer, with many cautions as to his conduct, step by 
 step, taking hold of his hand, or holding by a narrow ledge 
 of slate rock, and with a very slimy, eel-covered, precarious, 
 slippery footing; and as the falling body of water is neared, 
 the breath is with difficulty preserved from the whirls of air 
 and spray that issue forth from the cavern, blinding and 
 drenching at the same time; but, once in for it, onward is the 
 word, groping in uncertainty and obscurity for one hundred 
 and fifty-three feet, till you can proceed no farther, a projecting 
 rock completely barring all further progress, when the guide 
 puts his mouth close to your ear, and says " look up ;" the eye 
 is cast up to see the thick vault of waters that comes like a 
 deluge, near enough to allow a play or space of a few feet 
 between the vast body of water and the solid rock, when it 
 becomes requisite to turn about on a pivot, as it were, and re- 
 turn, feeling and groping along by the same path you came, 
 and after emerging into full light and freedom, and ascending 
 the stairs and re-dressing, &c. the guide gives you the famous 
 certificate of your having gone to the termination rock, and 
 that affair is finished. 
 
 Orand Route by the Erie Canal froui 
 Albany to Biifialo. 
 
 Albany, the present seat of the state government, was first 
 settled in 1612 to 1614, after Henry Hudson had made his ex- 
 ploration in 1609, up as far as the Mohawk river, in search of a 
 passage to the East Indies, for the Dutch company at Amster- 
 dam, it was, at that period, a bold and hazardous attempt to 
 plant a colony of Europeans even on the coast of the Atlantic, 
 and still more such a distancein the interior; but the advantages 
 that it presented for trading with the aborigines for furs and 
 peltries, in this their strong hold, outbalanced and quieted all 
 objections and fears in the view of enormous gains to be rea- 
 lized by the traffic that was, for fifty years or more, carried on 
 by the company as a close monopoly ; indeed, for a long time 
 no adventurer from the city of New Amsterdam, now New- 
 Vork, was permitted to ascend the Hudson River for traffic, 
 unless licensed specially for that purpose. 
 
Albany, 83 
 
 In 1664, the transfer of the colony to the English ensued, 
 and the name of this spot was changed from New Orange to 
 Albany, after the Duke of York and Albany, and a charter 
 granted by the English Governor Dongan, defining the boun- 
 daries of the settlement, viz. one mile front on the Hudson, 
 and extending l)ack in a northwest direction, 13 to 14 miles, 
 nearly over to the Mohawk River ; a very narrow and yet libe- 
 ral grant. The city is now divided into five Wards, and has a 
 Mayor, ten Aldermen and Assistants. It is in north latitude 
 42° 39' — and from the level of the river, has a front of a mile 
 and three-quarters of compactly built spacious warehouses 
 and dwellings, and extending west several blocks to Market- 
 street, the main artery of the city from north to south, from 
 which it rises gradually to Pearl through the central State- 
 street to the termination at the public square and the Capitol, 
 at an elevation of 150 feet, and at the western bounds of the 
 summit level it attains 67 feet more, in all about 217 feet, thus 
 giving the city, on approaching it by river, or from the east 
 shore, a very enticing appearance, as it is presented on a tole- 
 rably steep acclivity that recedes from the river towards the 
 west, and discloses its prominent edifices to the utmost ad- 
 vantage. 
 
 There are 100 streets, and a population by present estimate 
 of 35,000— besides a fluctuating mass that arrive and de- 
 part daily by steam, stage, and cars, of several hundreds that 
 are concentrated here as a focus — here are 21 churches, 
 12 hotels, 6 banks, total capital .^2,150,000 — 4 Insurance Com- 
 panies, 14 charitable societies for various nations, and an Asy- 
 lum, and 2 daily, 2 half weekly, 7 weekly, and 3 monthly 
 papers — a County and the State Medical Society, Agricultural 
 and Horticultural Society — an Apprentices' Library, a very 
 superior Reading-room for young men, free to strangers, 
 with lectures twice a week, and a debating society — the Athe- 
 neum and a Library of ten thousand volumes. The Albany 
 Academy for Females in Pearl north of State-street, is a build- 
 ing that pleases the eye by its beautiful white portico, and is 
 said to be in high reputation. The Albany Academy, on the 
 north side of the public square, is an expensive edifice of the 
 reddish or brown sandstone, with a front of 90 feet, and three 
 stories high, that cost near a hundred thousand dollars — it has 
 Protessors of the Latin and Greek, and of Mathematics and 
 Natural Philosophy, &nd of Modern Languages — and there 
 are 4 tutors. 
 
S4 Public Buildings t/i Albany > 
 
 The Albany Institute has its apartments in the Academy, a 
 library of 2000 volumes, and ten thousand specimens in its 
 museum in geology, mineralogy, botany, coins, and engrav- 
 ing's. There are nine district schools, and seven thousand 
 children instructed. 
 
 Slanwix Hall, built of granite, with a dome, and the Museum 
 of white marble, at the corner of State and Market-streets, 
 and the splendid City Hall, also of white marble, and with a 
 gilded dome of unique appearance, on the east side of the 
 public square, are all fine edifices, as is the Slate House 
 jiear by. 
 
 The Capitol, where the State Legislature convene, and the 
 rooms of the Chancellor and Supreme Court are held and the 
 State Library is contained, and other places of public business, 
 occupies the most prominent situation in the city, at the head 
 of State-street, and has a portico of the ionic order. There 
 are portraits and busts in this edifice and in the City Hall, 
 The Capitol is one hundred and fifteen feet long, ninety broad, 
 and fifty high, and from its steps, or summit, is a most enchant- 
 ino;view of the Hudson River, and city, &c. 
 
 There are three Academies for females, and a classical 
 school. The Baptist Church in Pearl and the Dutch in Bea- 
 ver and Hudson-streets are entitled to notice as neat and taste- 
 ful edifices. There are Bil)le, Prayer Book, and Tract and 
 Musical Societies, and a Theatre. The public square in 
 front of the Capitol is well laid out, and has a costly iron 
 railing. 
 
 The six or eight breweries, of noted excellence, produce to 
 the value of half a million a year. Six iron works, $226,000. 
 Oil cloth, rope, cabinet, hollow and stone ware, snuff, tobacco, 
 Siats, carriages, sleighs, harness, plated and silver ware, coach 
 Jace, looking-glasses, types, niorocco, sperm candles, &c. are 
 all manufactured here. 
 
 A ride to Troy, Lansingburg, Waterford, Niskayuna, or the 
 Shaker Settlement, six miles, and to the Cahoes Falls, on the 
 Mohawk, and along the canal and double locks, and excava- 
 tions, and dams, and acqueducts, will well repay the transient 
 visiter, and occupy a day most agreeably. Stages ply to Troy 
 on the hard macadamized road every half hour, fare 12^ cents. 
 A view of the great avalanche that overwhelmed the inhabi- 
 tants at the base of the hiil, or rather to see the place it occu- 
 pied at Troy, is of itself worth a visit, as well as tho city 
 nself, and its celebrated female school. Cars ply to Schenee- 
 
Mineral Spring— the Basin— Erte Canal. 85 
 
 tady four times daily, at eight, ten, three, and five — a ferry to 
 Bath and to Greenbush — but the contemplated tunnel under 
 the Hudson is not yet made. 
 
 CoVocK's Mineral Spring, six hundred and seventeen feet 
 deep, gives, on analysis, muriate and carbonate of soda, car- 
 bonates of lime, and magnesia, and iron, and acid, similar to 
 the water of the Congress Spring at Saratoga. The spring, 
 with the garden, &c. is worth a visit. 
 
 Tlie £]ric CuBial Basln^ 
 
 containing an area of thirty-two acres in the Hudson 
 River, formed by the pier, eighty feet wide, and four thou- 
 sand three hundred feet long, extending parallel with the 
 shore to protect the entrance and exit of canal-boats at the 
 lock, and afford facilities for reception and discharge of pro- 
 duce and merchandise in safety into the adjoining warehouses 
 and sloops, is a work of great utility and of small expense, it 
 having cost but ^130,000, and is very profitable to the proprie- 
 tors. There are many steam.-boats for carrying passengers 
 between this city and New- York, that leave at seven in the 
 morning and five in the afternoon, daily — others also to Troy, 
 besides tow-boats. 
 
 In the spacious reservoir or basin, the grand portal or in- 
 troduction to the Erie and Champlain canals, may usually be 
 seen, in the business season, an assemblage of boats from the 
 numerous towns and villages that border on the canals and the 
 small interior lakes that are connected therewith, and inter- 
 mingled with the river and coasting craft ; here are motley 
 groupes of freshwater and saltwater sailors and boatmerij 
 besides the crews of the steamers that are usually ranged out- 
 side of the pier, and throngs of strangers and passengers 
 hurrying to and fro across the bridges that lead from the city 
 to the pier, amid carts and carriages, barrows and vehicles of 
 all kinds, urging onward to extricate from the confused melee 
 — this is peculiarly the case on (he departure or arrival of the 
 larger class of steamboats, v/hen crowded by their several 
 hundreds of passengers. 
 
 The tedious mode of traveling by canal between Albany, 
 
 Schenectady, and Utica, has long since been supplanted by the 
 
 rail-roads with their flying cars, as detailed at page 45 ; yet it 
 
 may still be desired by some to trace the method adopted in 
 
 8 
 
86 Erie Canal — the Pair ooti — Gibbons viHe. 
 
 1825 by travelers, and uaed for several years, to examine this 
 interesting portion of the canal, up the Hudson and brancb- 
 incr off to the west in tlie valley of the Mohawk. 
 
 By departing from Albany, at an early hour in the morning, 
 in one of the line boats bound for the west, though several 
 hours are required to pass the twenty-eight and a half miles, 
 and twenty-four locks, to Schenectady, yet to those that can 
 spare the requi«ite time, and that are fond of this quiet, easy, 
 safe mode of traveling, there is much to be seen in the distance 
 to reward the curious stranger; and it can be enjoyed without 
 fatigue, and at a trifling expense. 
 
 Passing out of the basin, by the first lock of eleven or 
 twelve feet rise, a long reach or level of seven miles, with 
 only one lock, is entered upon, that is parallel with, and but 
 a few rods from the Hudson River on the east, and the beautiful 
 garden and grounds of the Patroon, so called, (or Patron, or 
 great land owner,) a descendant of the original Dutch patentee 
 of the large manor of Rensselaerwyck, a very extensive tract 
 on both sides of the Hudson, this being near the central point 
 of the grant of twenty-four miles north and south on the 
 river, and forty-two miles east and west, (one thousand and 
 eight square miles, or six hundred and forty-six thousand one 
 hundred and twenty-eight acres,) bounded by Massachusetts 
 on the east, and by Schoharie county on the west, and by 
 Schenectady, Saratoga, and part of Rensselaer counties on 
 the north, and by Columbia and Greene counties on the south. 
 This immense landed estate, except the city of Albany and 
 other tracts owned by individuals, is the undoubted and clear- 
 ly established and recognized property of the Van Rensselaer 
 family, derived by their ancestor, Killian Van Rensselaer, 
 that by permission of the Dutch Government in 1630, 1631, 
 1637, 1648, and 1649, purchased of the Indians ; and these pur- 
 chases were fully confirmed in 1641 by the government of 
 Holland, and by that of England under Governor Dongan in 
 1685, on the 4th of March. The last of the Patroons, Ste- 
 phen Van Rensselaer, died 1839, 26th January, at 4 P. M., the 
 moment when the great hurricane was raging at New-York, 
 and on the sea-board. The estate, that has been estimated 
 at a value of several millions of dollars, will now be divided 
 among the large family and heirs of the late Patroon. 
 
 At the termination of the first reach before stated, we are 
 at or near fVest l^roy^ or Gibbonsville, opposite to the city of 
 Troit, on the east side of the Hudson. Here are five hundred 
 
U. 8. Arsenal— Erie Canal — Cahoes Falls. 87 
 
 and twenty dwellings, and three thousand five hundred inhabi- 
 tants — the"^ Bank of Watervliet, capita! $150,000 — manufacto- 
 ries of various kinds, one of India rubber — side locks lead to 
 the river, and a bridge to Tibbett's Island. The surplus 
 water from the adjoining canal yields all the power required 
 for mechanical operations, and may in some measure be con- 
 sidered as a suburb of Troy, and with that is identified in its 
 growth and prosperity. 
 
 The United States Arsenal covers a large space, with the 
 canal passing in close contiguity ; here are usually large stores 
 of arms and munitions of war, skillfully and artfully arranged 
 in neat brick or stone buildings, and some relics of the Revo- 
 lutionary war are here to be seen, in cannon taken at Saratoga 
 and Yorktown, and others of brass, of antique form, present- 
 ed by the king of France. 
 
 Two locks, of eleven feet lift each, next conduct to a level 
 of a mile or two that brings us to the junction of the Erie 
 with the Champlain Canal, (leading north to Whitehall, sixty- 
 three and a half miles; see page 44,) and to the steps, or 
 ridges, tliat are surmounted by nine locks, of eight feet lift 
 each, that are formed of the white marble of Westchester 
 county, and are ninety by fifteen feet in the chamber, as are 
 all the original locks ; the boats are five minutes in getting 
 through each lock, and the canal begins here to incline gradu- 
 ally to the north-west, and as it rises above the Hudson, there 
 is a charming panoramic view of the hills back of Troy and 
 Lansingburg, and of the low grounds and islands in the delta 
 of the Mohawk. 
 
 The next three locks, of eight feet eight each, or twenty-six 
 feet, is near the bridge that conducts, or connects, the road 
 over the Mohawk to VVaterford, — and from the bridge is a 
 glimpse of the falls above and the dam that raises the river 
 below, to enable the boats that are bound north to cross above 
 the dam in the slack water, though at considerable hazard. 
 The next two locks rise nine feet each, and in half a mile we 
 encounter, for six hundred feet, the first deep cutting, viz. 
 twenty-six feet, in transition argellite, and arrive by the side 
 of the 
 
 Cahoes Falls — a Dutch church and a farming settlement, the 
 Boght or Cove; and the manufacturing village of the Cahoes 
 company is here located, and contains a factory for cotton and 
 woolen, and one for hosiery of cotton, linen, and woolen, on 
 newly invented looms, one for edge tools, a mill for turning- 
 
88 Cahoes Falls — Wal Hoix Gap. 
 
 lathes, an iron foundery, a carpet factory, an Episcopal church, 
 two taverns, and shops, and stores, and sixty dwellings. The 
 falls are in full view of the village and of the canal, and have 
 sevenly-eight feet descent. Above the cataract, the left or 
 north bank has an elevation of one hundred feet, and below 
 it has one hundred and seventy feet of a slaty lead-colored 
 rocU, distorted and irregular in its outline. On the right or 
 south shore above the falls the bank is low, but below it, eighty 
 to ninety feet high. In some seasons, the bed of the Mohawk 
 below the Cahoes Fall can be examined and walked over close 
 to the foot of the cataract, though rough and full of holes and 
 projections of the sharp angles and points of the slaty rock ; 
 at other times the whole face of the jagged rock, and of the 
 bed below, is one tremendous torrent nine hundred feet wide, 
 white with foam, presenting a spectacle of great sublimity. 
 
 A canal near two miles long, that leads out any desirable 
 portion of the waters of the Mohawk, a half mile above the 
 falls, to the various mills below, has a head and fall of one 
 hundred and twenty kei, its channel in the first part being 
 through slate rock, between the river and the Erie Canf»J, and 
 then by a tunnel under the state canal to the west side, whence 
 it is distributed as wanted, yielding six or seven successive 
 falls of eighteen or twenty feet. The capital of the company, 
 as incorporated, is half a million of dollars. 
 
 In halt a mile onward, above the Cahoes, we meet four 
 locks, with a rise of eight feet each, and a series of mills ad- 
 jacent, and in two and a half miles onward we reach the Loiver 
 Aqueduct over the Mohawk Biver, of eleven hundred and 
 twenty-eight feet in length, resting on twenty-si.x piers and 
 abutments of stone, the trunk that contains the water being 
 of wood. This transfers the canal to the north side of the 
 Mohawk River, in the town of Half Moon, Saratoga county, 
 along the base of the JVut Hoix ridge, for over two mile.s, to 
 the famous gap of that name, that for forty rods runs through 
 high walls of grav wacke slate. 
 
 Until this passage was discovered and determined upon, 
 when the engmeers were exploring the valley of the Mohawk 
 for the best line to adopt, they were almost at a nonplus, 
 when they beheld the difficulties and asperities of this vicinity 
 on the south shore of the river, that is very forbidding in its 
 aspect, being rock-bound anfl |)recipitous, and it was then 
 that they determined to overcome and avoid all difficulties by 
 carrying the canal twice across the river. The ravine was 
 
Wat Hoi X Rapids — Union College. 89 
 
 eighty feet wide at the east and fifteen at the west, expanding 
 in the middle as if to form a natural basin, with walls of solid 
 rock. Beyond tiiis for 80 rods, the JVat Hoix rapids in the 
 Mohawk have a descent of ten feet, ruffling the surface of 
 the water, and called by the Indians the While Horse, or the 
 Evil Spirit. On the north the canal is bounded by a precipice 
 of one hundred and forty-six feet, that in many places over- 
 hangs the canal, and is quite appalling to the sight. On the 
 south is the river washino;- the bank of the canal, that is formed 
 in a solid and masterly style. 
 
 Thence it is two miles to Fort's ferry on the old road from 
 Albany to Ballston Spa, and one mile to the next lock of seven 
 feet rise, and one mile to Vischer's ferry. One and a half 
 miles bring- us to a deep rock excavation, of thirty-two feet 
 in the solid rock as before. The canal, for a considerable 
 distance in the vicinity of Wat Hoix, i, on the edge of the 
 river, and a protecting solid wall of stone, smooth and at a 
 low depressed angle, rises from the water's edge as the rapid 
 current sweeps towards the falls. 
 
 The next two miles contain two locks, of nine feet rise 
 each, and a guard lock and feeder of half a mile from the 
 Mohawk, and a hiiih bank of one hundred and thirty feet, — 
 and in two miles farther we arrive at the Upper Aqueduct 
 over the Mohawk, where the canal again recrosses to the 
 south bank, seven hundred and forty-eight feet in extent, on 
 sixteen piers of limestone, tv/enty-five feet above the river, 
 the trunk of the canal of wood, as on the other. The coup 
 d'oeil here is very ime. Here are also three locks, of seven 
 feet lift each, and in a short distance the old Alexander bridge, 
 and mills, on the old Albany and Ballston road. The rock 
 of gray wacke slate is in the county of Schenectady. Three 
 miles farther we pass in fiont of Union College, and soon are 
 in Schenectady. The view over the vale on entering is pleas- 
 ing in the highest degree. The two edifices of the college are 
 each two hundred feet long, and four stories in height, and 
 six more are requisite to complete the plan. $300,000 have 
 been bestowed by the State, or rather permitted to be raised by 
 lottery, for the i)enefit of this literary institution, but causing- 
 the most injury to society of any method that could be adopt- 
 ed to raise funds. There is a President, (Dr. Nott,) seven 
 professors, a teacher of French and Spanish, and two hundred 
 and eighty-five students. Annual expense, board in the hall, 
 $98, fuel and light $S, washing $6. There are three terms 
 
90 Schenectady— Erie Canal, 
 
 in the year, and the expenses of each are pnyahle in advance. 
 The first settlement of this town was in 1620, hy a colony of 
 Dutch, to engaije in the fur trade, in despite of the one at 
 Alhany ; and this continued peaceably until 1661, v.hen Arent 
 Van Corlaer, and others, received a grant fron) the govern- 
 ment on extinguishing the Indian title, and in 1664 surveys 
 were made, and an inroad was effected by the Canadian 
 French, but they lott their way and were near perishing from 
 fatigue and famine; but Van Corlaer generously enabled them 
 to return in peace, unmolested. In relurn for this generous 
 and kind treatment, twenty-six years subsequently, namely, 
 in 1690, the town, then composed of sixty-three houses and a 
 church, was burned by a party of French and Indians, in the 
 night of 8lh February, killing and capturing most of the 
 inhabitants; and this was repeated in 1748, and seventy 
 citizens slain. A fire in IS 19, on 17ih iNovember, destroyed 
 one hundred and seventy buddings, but within a few years 
 past the city has l)ceri prosperous, Irom the rail-road and canal 
 that pass through it. 
 
 The city is on twenty streets, has nine places of public 
 v/orship, two academies, a Lancaster and several select and 
 district schools, six newspapers, two banks, capital ;$385,000, 
 an insurance company of ^lOO.tlOO, twelve hundred houses, 
 and about six thousand inhubitajits, — an iron and a brass 
 foundery, carpet, satin, and tobacco factory, a paper mill, &c. 
 A covered bridge extemls over the river one thousand feet. 
 The rail-road bridge also runs north over the flats and cause- 
 way for three-fourths of a mile; thence the road to Ballston 
 turns northeast tour miles, thence northerly along the lake, 
 entering the village, and crossing' the Kynderossera by a 
 good bridge, and thence to Saratoga — whole distance from 
 Schenectady twenty-one and a half miles, nearly level, the 
 greatest variation being only sixteen feet to a mile, the rails 
 of wood, with iron plates, and the cost only $300,000, with 
 cars, engines &c. 
 
 The canal passenger-boats leave from this place at half past 
 seven in the morning and half past six in the evening, and 
 are eighteen to twenty hours to Utica. Price for the eighty 
 miles, four cents per mile including meals. The next four 
 miles, across the luxuriant flats of the Mohawk, takes us 
 skirting along the base of the southern ridge to Rotterdam, 
 passing two locks, of eight feet lift each. There are nine 
 islands in the river, from two to one hundred and twenty acres, 
 
Flint Hill — Schoharie Creek. 91 
 
 that the Blnnekill cuts ofT from the main. The villag'e has 
 two Dutch churches, one cotton factory of two Ihousand 
 spindles, fifty looms that make four hundred thousand yards 
 of goods and thirty thousand pounds of yarn annually, one 
 carpet factory, two carding and cloth-dressing mills, four grist 
 mills of three runs, and one iron casting furnace, and twenty- 
 five dwellings. In a mile and three-quarters we come to the 
 aqueduct over the PtuUekill, that has a waterfall of ahout eighty 
 feet in ten rods, with a perpendicular pitch of fitly feet, a vein 
 of lead ore in a gangue of slate three quarters of a mile above 
 the falls, that are a mile from the river. Thence in three and 
 a quarter miles is another lock of eight feet, and in two and 
 a quarter miles we are at the limit of the county of Schenec- 
 tady, and enter upon Montgomery, and in one mile pass Flijit 
 Hill, a branch of the Catskill that is here pierced by the 
 Mohawk, and on the north connects with the range that ex- 
 tend toward the sources of the Hudson River ; the rock here is 
 sandstone. 
 
 Three and a half miles are two locks, of eight feet rise each, 
 and an aqueduct, and in three miles we arrive at the bridge 
 over the Mohaw4c to Amsterdam, (see index and page 47.) 
 The population here is of a mixed character, being descend- 
 ants from Dutch, Germans, Irish, Scotch, &lc. Minaville, or 
 Yankee Street, four miles south of the canal on the Chucta- 
 nunda Creek, has a church of Presbyterians, a tavern, two 
 stores, and forty dwellings. Fori Jackson has three stores, 
 two taverns, and twenty dwellings. 
 
 An aqueduct passes over the Chuctanunda Creek, that rises 
 twelve miles south in the high region around Duanesburg 
 and drives twenty mills. Its name is purely Indian, and means 
 stony bottom. Another creek of the same name enters into 
 the Mohawk on the opposite side of the river. 
 
 In four miles we pass* two locks, one of eight and the other 
 of four feet lift, and on the site of the eastern guard lock former- 
 ly stood Queen Anne's chapel and the old Mohawk castle. 
 The Indians granted a tract of land for the use of the Episco- 
 pal missionary at this church, and with their beloved teacher 
 fled to Cfanada during the revolutionary war, where he be- 
 catne a bishop, and the Indians sent back for their church bell. 
 
 Schoharie Creek, fifty miles from Albany, — though called a 
 creek it is ten rods wide, and at times would pass for a respec- 
 table stream, being subject to great and sudden freshets from 
 the Catskill mountain region, where it has its origin seventy 
 
92 BalVs Cavt—^rte Canal. 
 
 miles south, — is rapid in its course, and is bordered by lofty 
 hills and precipices, and famous for its drift ox fiood wood, and 
 that is the indication of the Indian name. It is the largest 
 tributary of the iVlohawk, and there are rich flats on its bor- 
 ders, one to two rniles wide in Middleburgh, and Schoharie, ihe 
 county seat, a small village, a court-house of stone, three 
 stories high, county clerk's office, a Lutheran and a Dutch 
 church, two academies, one hundred and twenty dwellings, 
 five stores, three taverns, five mills ; the old stone church 
 served as a fortress when Brandt, and Butler, and Johnson 
 attacked in the war of the revolution; and four miles north- 
 east is BaWs cave, two hundred feet in depth, with numerous 
 apartments, a lake thirty feet deep and half a mile long, an 
 amphitheatre one hundred feet in diameter and one hundred 
 high, the floor descending on all sides to the centre, the roof 
 horizontal, its walls rich in stalactetic decoration. The en- 
 trance to this cavern is hy a perpendicular descent of seventy- 
 five feet, and is eflecled by ropes. 
 
 Fort Hunter, east side of the creek. The passage of the 
 canal boats over the surface of the river just above the dam 
 of twenty feet, is effected by means of a rope, or cable, worked 
 by horses and wound round a drum, or cylinder, on the shore. 
 If the rope should give way, the boat and passengers must go 
 over the dam — but this seldom happens. The boat then en- 
 ters a lock of six feet rise, on the west side of the Schoharie, 
 and in two miles arrives at the canal house, of singular form, 
 in Smithtown, or Glen, and to Isherkill aqueduct, and Aries- 
 kill dam and guard locks, and in two and a half miles lo 
 another lock of seven feet rise, nearly opposite Caughnawaoa 
 and Johnstown. (See index, and page 48.) 
 
 In six miles we cross the little aqueduct and basin opposite 
 the Little Nose, and in one mile to Avthom/s Nose, in the 
 township of Root, and here we first encounter the primitive 
 or gneiss rock in this valley. In the cHflfs near the river is a 
 cave that is said to penetrate several hundred feet into the 
 bowels of the mountain, with the walls encrusted in the usual 
 manner. 
 
 Sprakcr's basin, dam, and guard lock is two and ft quarter 
 miles beyond the nose, and ia two and three-quarter miles is 
 anoliier lock of six feet rise, when we are at Canajoharie on 
 the creek of that name, with a guard lock and a bndfre across 
 the Mohawk to Palatine. (See index and page 48.) 
 
 The Canajoharie, or Bowman Creek, rises in the ridge of 
 
Brie Canal, SfC. 93 
 
 land that separates the valley of the Mohawk from the extreme 
 head waters of the Susquehanna River, and in the valley south 
 of this ridge, that may perhaps be a thousand feet above the 
 river, is cradled the town of Cherry Valley and the beautiful 
 Otsego Lake, that, at its outlet at Cooperstown, empties its 
 pellucid waters into the charming- valley of the Susquehannah, 
 that meanders for several hundred miles in a southerly direc- 
 tion to reach the Chesapeake, and yet is only separated from 
 the Mohawk by a roof, or slope, of mountainous land about 
 ten miles broad. The fall of the Canajoharie Creek in its 
 course of twenty miles is eight hundred feet or more. Its 
 valley is overlooked with the greatest delight from the ridge 
 just mentioned, east of Cherry Valley, and presents one of 
 the most extensive and splendid landscapes in the State. 
 
 The rail-road from this to Catskill, seventy miles in a south- 
 east direction, will pursue the base of the north-east face of 
 the ridge. This village is a place of some trade, and has a 
 factory for making cotton and woolen goods, a Dutch church, 
 an academy, a library, two newspapers, four taverns, three 
 distilleries, two flour and two saiv-mills, seven stores, one 
 hundred dwellings. 
 
 Canajoharie Centre, on the head of Bowman's Creek, has a 
 Presbyterian church and a few dwellings, and here is the 
 Central Jisyluvi for the deaf and dumb. 
 
 In following our course for three and a half miles opposite 
 to Stone Arabia (four miles in the interior, on the north bank) 
 we meet with a lock of seven feet rise, and the guard lock on 
 the Olsquaga Creek, in the town of Minden, and Fort Plain 
 village. The Otsquaga Creek gushes from three springs, and 
 has at its source power to drive three mills, is highly charged 
 with calcareous matter, and has formed in its dell, tulfa and 
 petrifactions, and after a ra{)id descent to the north-east, 
 throuoh Minden, falls into the Mohawk at Fort Plain. 
 
 Minden townsiiip has a front of eight miles alongthe river, 
 a surface most agreeably undulated with ridges and hills of a 
 motlerate height, and pleasant and fertile valleys, and fine 
 alluvial tracts along the Mohaw k and Otsquaga. It was early 
 Settled by Germans, and abounds in local names, viz. Dutch 
 Town or the Dorf in the north. Fort Plain in the north-east, 
 Gilspnberg in the centre, and Ford's Bath in the west, and 
 the Bush in the south; there are two Dutch churches, and 
 seven sav.' mills, and a fulling mill. 
 
 In three miles onward, a feeder comes in from the river 
 
91 Valley of the Mohawk. 
 
 above the dam, and a lock of ei^ht feet rise, and the dam and 
 guard-lock opposite St. Johnsville in Oppenheim, and in two 
 miles farther at Crous' is a lock of eight feet, and one and a 
 half miles more we are opposite the mouth of East Canada 
 Creek, and the Gulf bridge, on the rail-road, of one arch of one 
 hundred and sixty feet span, elevated sixty feet above the 
 water, and in two miles we enter another lock of eight feet 
 rise, in the township of Danube. 
 
 A Mohawk castle and a church for the Indians, under the 
 patronage of the English, formerly stood at the mouth of the 
 Noivadaga Creek, that, with its dam, and guard locks, and 
 towpath of four hundred feet, is passed in a mile, and in two 
 more the grave of General Herkimer, his brick house being 
 seen on elevated ground : — he was slain in the Oriskany 
 battle. 
 
 We are now drawing near to the most interesting portion 
 of the Mohawk valley, the passage of the river through the 
 rocky gulf or barrier. The detile is two miles long with an 
 average breadth of six hundred yards, bordered by rocky and 
 •wood-clad hills of four hundred feet in height; the rocks are 
 granite gneiss and hornblend, with calciferous sand rock 
 overlaid by transition limestone. 
 
 The Little Falls of the Mohawk are so termed in contrast 
 to the greater descent of the river at the Cahoes below, and 
 this is one of those distinguished geographical positions that 
 is presented in a far less picturesque form at the Wind Gap 
 and Water Gap on the Delaware ; at various places on the 
 Susquehannah ; at the union of the Shenandoah and Potomac 
 in Virginia; and the passage of the Hudson through the 
 highlands of New-York; though the volume of water in the 
 places referred to may be vastly superior, and the natural 
 outlines on a more magnificent scale ; yet the combination of 
 natural objects, with those of artificial creation by the labor 
 and ingenuity of man, that are here brought into direct asso- 
 ciation and contrast, infinitely surpasses (hat of any otiier 
 position in the United States. Here are brought into juxta- 
 position, side by side, the Erie Canal with its i^est of locks, 
 and the much admired aqueduct and road bridge immediately 
 over the main chute of tlie Mohawk; the line of road also 
 adjoining the canal on that side; then the river and the re- 
 mains of the old flumes and locks of the original canal com- 
 pany ; then the new line of rail-road, and the expensive rock 
 excavations and embankments, and the old turnpike road on 
 
LilUe Falls— Erie Ca?ial. 95 
 
 ^he north side, hemmed in by perpendicular rocks that are 
 ahnost grazed by the cars, — these arrest the attention of the 
 admiring and wondering traveler, and if examination is made 
 into the geological signs and marks that nature has implanted 
 in indelible characters, so that he that flies may see, and he 
 that "runs may read,'' the student of natural science, and 
 others that have even slightly attended to such subjects, must 
 be impressed with the renjarkable and striking features of the 
 entire panorama. 
 
 The descent of the river in three-quarters of a mile is forty- 
 two feet, the marble aqueduct is two hundred and fourteen 
 feet long and sixteen wide, with walls fourteen feet high and 
 four broad, upheld by one arch of seventy and two others of 
 fifty feet span each, together with the abutments ; a balus- 
 trade on the parapet renders it secure for passengers that may 
 devote a s^hort time to its examination. The adjacent village 
 has a fVictory for making cotton and woolen goods, two fur- 
 naces for casting iron, two grist, two saw, two paper-mills, 
 two tanneries, two machine-shops, one trip-hammer, one card- 
 ing and dressing mill, four churches, two academies, a bank, 
 capital of {§5200,000, eleven lawyers, five physicians, two print- 
 ing offices and papers, three hundred and fifty stone dwell- 
 ings, that receive a supply of water in pipes from an elevated 
 spring three hundred feet higher than the settlement. The 
 land, or rock, formerly was held for many years by a Mr. 
 Ellis, an Englishman, disinclined to improve or sell until 
 recently. It has been purchased by a gentleman of New- 
 York, R. Ward. It is seventy-nine miles from Albany, twenty 
 from Utica. 
 
 There are five locks within a mile, of eight feet lift each, 
 and in the river and on the bank of the canal are huge rocky 
 masses and pillars of grotesque water-worn forms, and for a 
 long distance near here the canal is supported by a wall of 
 masonry that encroaches boldly on the bed of the river, and 
 the deck of the canal boat affords an excellent view, in pa^^sing 
 through the locks of this famous mountain gorge, that at 
 first was beheld by the canal contractors with dismay, from 
 the difficulties that were anticipated at this spot in (orming a 
 trench or line in such a knotty, contracted glen, and two or 
 three years were allowed by the canal commissioners, and 
 supposed to be necessary for tho excavation and construction ; 
 but it was effected in three months by some unexpected facili- 
 ties, or some new wholesale method of blasting, by which 
 
% Erie Canal — Mohawk Village— Herkimer. 
 
 masses of eighty to one hundred tons were thrown out at a 
 lime by a profuse quantity of gunpowder— the explosions 
 rent asunder the face of the mountain, and shook the country 
 for miles around like an earthquake. 
 
 After passing through the second of the locks, we leave the 
 ravine, and also the gneiss rock, and the last seen for some 
 time as we go west, then pass in two and a half miles three 
 locks, of eight feet lift each, and in four and a half miles, two 
 more locks at the German Flats, one of eight and one of nine 
 feet rise, near a stone church used as a fortress, and Fort 
 Herkimer, and in one mile we arrive opposite the mouth of 
 Wesl Canada Creek, on the north side of the Mohawk, that 
 comes down the Trenton Fall?, (see index, p. 53.) The flats 
 are celebrated for their fertility, but are not superior to many 
 regions farther west, and have lost their exclusive character, 
 since the western States of the Union have become more fa- 
 miliarly known. 
 
 A canal has been cut around the Woif rift in the Mohawk, 
 one and a half miles in length, giving water power. Mohawk, 
 a village of thirty dwellings, and a few stores, is one mile 
 south, and a post-office called Paine's Hollow. A bridge here 
 leads over to Herkimer, three-quarters of a mile north, that 
 has a neat Dutch and Methodist church, and a brick court- 
 house, and stone jail, and county clerk's office, one hundred 
 and twenty dwellings, five taverns and stores, and a hydraulic 
 company, that have, at the expense of forty thousand dollars, 
 cut a canal, and constructed extensive works. 
 
 After passing in a short distance through an extensive dug 
 way in a high hill of clay and sand, is another bridge, a lock 
 of eight feet rise, and another of the same at Fulmer's Creek 
 aqueduct, and in one and a half railes we pass Steel's Creek 
 aciueduct and feeder, and in one and a quarter miles, two locks, 
 of eight feet rise each, and in three-quarters of a mile, the 
 aqueciuct over Myer's Creek, and are at Frankfort, a village 
 of fifty dwellings, two churches, a Presbyterian and Baptist, 
 uvo taverns, seven stores, a furnace that makes iron ware to 
 the value of thirty thousand dollars a year, and a factory for 
 cotton and woollen goods and machinery. The rail-road is 
 here on the south side of the Mohawk to Utica. 
 
 The long level of sixty-nine and a half miles without a 
 lock, here commences, and extends westward through Utica, 
 Whitestown, Rome, Verona, Lenox, Sullivan, Manlius, to 
 Ij)di, near Syracuse. This portion of the canal was the 
 
Uttca— Schenectady. 97 
 
 easiest, and the first made. It is the longest canal level known, 
 and is a remarkable feature in the geography of the country, 
 as it follows a prolonged extent of table land from the upper 
 waters of the Mohawk, along the south of the Oneida Lake, 
 towards the Onondaga River and Lake Ontario. 
 
 In six miles we pass Ferguson's Creek aqueduct, and in 
 one mile Clark's Creek aqueduct on four arches, and in two 
 miles we are at Utica. This city has a population of twelve 
 thousand, sixteen places of public worship of all the sects, 
 four academies or high schools, forty-three schools, a Lyceum, 
 and Medical Society, and Mechanical Association, with lec- 
 tures, models, &c. a library, and another for apprentices, and 
 also the Young Men's Association, reading and news-room, 
 and library, with debates, and lectures on literary and scien- 
 tific subjects. Their room, &c. open to all stjTang^ers. A mu- 
 seum, three banks, capital one million five hundred thousand 
 dollars, an insurance company, capital two hundred thousand 
 dollars, three political and three religious newspapers, a thea- 
 tre, twenty-one inns, including several spacious hotels. ; 
 
 The line of rail-road is now complete from Albany to 
 Auburn. Passengers can now leave New-York at five o'clock^, 
 be in Utica at three o'clock the next afternoon, at Syracuse at 
 six, at Auburn at eight, and at Rochester at five o'clock the 
 next morning, and then to Buffalo via Batavia in twelve 
 hours— arriving there at five o'clock — forty-eight hours 
 from New-York. 
 
 The rail-road hence to Schenectady is described at p. 45 to 
 52. This is a famous point for the divergence of roads, stages, 
 and canals, to all parts of the State, Hundreds of canal 
 boats, laden with the productions of the interior, are con- 
 stantly passing to the east, and others with foreign merchan- 
 dise to the west. This is a net that catches both ways, and 
 passengers here usually leave the canal, from its tediousness 
 or monotony, and adopt some new mode of conveyance. 
 
 This city has a mayor, twelve aldermen, four justices, and 
 four wards : is distant from New-York two hundred and 
 thirty-seven miles, Albany ninety-three, Rochester one hun- 
 dred and forty, BufTaio two hundred and two, Ithaca ninety- 
 six, Oswego on Lake Ontario seventy-six, Sackett's Harbor 
 ninety four, Ogdensburg one hundred and forty-five. 
 
 The city is on the south side of the Mohawk, and occupies 
 a slope that faces to the north-west, rising in the rear of the 
 city to an eminence of considerable interest, and overlooking 
 9 
 
98 Oneida County — Chateaugaa Hills — Oneida Lake. 
 
 the valley of the Mohawk for miles towards Whitestown, 
 Rome, the Oneida Lake, fee. with the heights that lead to 
 Trenton Falls fronting the spectator on llie north and east. 
 
 Much of the exciting interest involved in the history of the 
 wars of 1756, and 1776 to 83, as to the border and partizan 
 warfare of those days, is derived from this vicinity, as in the 
 siege of Fort Schuyler, that was situated near the depot and 
 bridge at the foot of the main-street. 
 
 Oneida County, that we are now in, contains nineteen large 
 cotton f'SCtories, capital about eight hundred thousand dollars, 
 and having thirty-three thousand two hundred and thirty-four 
 spindles, and making five million six hundred and ninety-seven 
 thousand five hundred yards in a year, and use one million 
 eight hundred and sixly-three pounds of cotton. Terms of the 
 Supreme and of the Uniled States Circuit Courts are held here. 
 
 The Chateaugua hills in the north-east, in Remsen, between 
 Trenton Falls and the Black River, are eio:ht hundred and 
 forty feet high, and south of that, the Hassencleaver Moun- 
 tain in Deerfield and Marcy rises from eight hundred to one 
 thousand two hundred feet from a base of eigiit or nine miles 
 broad, and a chain twenty miles long ; and in the south, the 
 ridge that divides the waters of the Susquehannah from those 
 of the Mohawk is one thousand six hundred and twenty-nine 
 feet above tide, and the summit level of the Chenango Canal, 
 at the head of the river, is seven hundred and six feet above 
 the Erie Canal. 
 
 The central part of the county that we pass through as wn 
 leave Utica, is remarkably depressed below the country to the 
 south and north-east. The vale in its western portion, inclu- 
 ding the head of the Oneida Lake, is from ten to twelve miles 
 broad, but along the Mohawk, only two to six miles. The 
 great cedar swamp south of Rome is three miles broad, and 
 from the head of the Oneida Lake to the Rome summit east, 
 thirteen miles; the rise is sixty feet, and on the north and 
 south sides of the lake it is equally gradual in a few miles. 
 
 The Oneida Lake is twenty-one miles long, east to west, and 
 three to five wide, three hundred and seventy-six ieei above 
 tide, and one hundred and forty-five above Lake Ontario, and 
 its area is seventy or eighty square miles. It abounds with 
 palmnn, bass, pike, cat fish, duce, suckers, perch, eels, &c. 
 Fort Royal block-house stood at the entrance of Wood Creek, 
 and Fort Brewerton at the west end of the lake. 
 
 The outlet, or the Oneida River, twenty rods wide at the 
 
Oneida Lake Canal— Oneida Institute. 99 
 
 old French Fort, winds sixteen miles to attain eight of west- 
 ing, and forms, at its junction with the Seneca, the Oswego 
 River. 
 
 The Oneida Lake Canal extends from the Erie Canal in 
 Verona to Wood Creek, three and three-quarter miles, cost 
 seventy thousand dollars; has one guard and seven lift locks, 
 fall fifty-seven and a half feet, locks ninety-six hy fifteen and 
 a half. To return the water that is drawn from the Erie 
 Canal, an equivalent is provided by a feeder from the Oneida 
 Creek at the castle, three and a quarter miles long, with a lock 
 of four feet lift, and guard gate. The feeder intersects the 
 Erie Canal five miles west of the Oneida Lake Canal, 
 
 Resuming our western route on leaving Utica, the canal 
 winds along the level region above referred to, and in three 
 and a quarter miles we arrive at the Sanghdaquada or Sau- 
 quoit Creek and aqueduct, near the village of VVhitestown, the 
 nucleus of the first settlement beyond Albany, in 1788. It is 
 a half-shire or place of the courts, in part for this county with 
 Rome. Here is a Presbyterian and Baptist Church, Harvey's 
 cotton factory, a brick court-house, a prison, one hundred 
 dwellings, neat and pleasing to the eye, four stores. 
 
 The Oneida (manual labor) lastitide requires three hours' 
 labor per day from each student, as conducive to health, ou 
 the farm of one hundred and fourteen acres on the left or 
 west bank of the Sauquoit Creek, in full view. The buildings 
 are of wood, eighty-two by thirty-two, and forty-eight by 
 forty-eight, both three stories high, including in the latter edi- 
 fice a chapel, lecture-room, library, readmg-room, dining 
 hall, and family rooms. Another edifice forty by twenty-eight 
 feet, is the kitchen and steward's departments. Students of 
 fifteen to the upper class, and from ten to fifteen to the ju- 
 venile. 
 
 The Sauquoit Creek abounds with water power. It rises 
 on the high lands in Paris, and runs eighteen miles north- 
 west, and i-; bordered by rich lands. York-ville, three an da lialf 
 miles from Utica, has three large cotton factories, one machine 
 shop, three stores, one tavern, a Presbyterian and a JMethod- 
 ist church, and one hundred dwellings. 
 
 Two and three-quarter miles onward, we arrive at Oris- 
 kany Creek and village, having an Episcopal and a Presbyte- 
 rian church, two woollen factories, (the Oriskany and the Dex- 
 ter,) a grist and a saw mill, three taverns, six stores, and 
 sixty dwellings. 
 
100 Rome— Verona Centre — Oneida Sulphur Springs. 
 
 Eight miles we arrive opposite Rome, another of the half- 
 shire towns seen at a distance to the north, together with the 
 United States Arsenal on the old canal. 
 
 Rome occupies the site of Fort Stanwix, that cost in 1758 
 two hundred and sixty-six thousand four hundred <lollars, and 
 is on the summit level between the ocean and Lake Ontario, 
 (four hundred and ihiriy -five feet above tide at Albany,) having 
 the Mohawk River on the east and Wood Creek on the west, 
 near the Erie Canal, from which a branch extends through 
 the village, two miles to the Mohawk, being part of the work 
 of the old Western Navigation Company, of 1796. Rome has 
 two Presbyterian, one Episcopal, one Methodist, and one 
 Baptist church, an academy, and several select schools, a brick 
 court house, a prison, the United States Arsenal, of stone, and 
 wooden barracks going to decay, a cotton and a woollen fac- 
 tory, a bank, capital one hundred thousand dollars, flouring 
 and saw mills, and three hundred and fifty dwellings, and five 
 thousand inhabitants, and is a thriving, prosperous village. 
 Haxvley''s Basin, three miles west from Rome, on the Erie 
 Canal, has six houses. 
 
 Verona Centre, on the Erie Canal, is nine miles from Rome, 
 and two south of Wood Creek, has a warehouse, store, tavern, 
 and six dwellings. New London, also on the canal, seven 
 miles from Rome, has two taverns, four stores and forty 
 dwellings, and is the depot for lumber from Salmon River 
 and Fish Creeks. Andover has a store, tavern, and twelve 
 dwellings. 
 
 The Oneida Sulphur Springs, half a mile south-west from 
 the village, with its spacious hotel, is a fashionable resort in 
 summer. The glass factory in Verona has made twenty thou- 
 sand dollars' worth annually. Three miles beyond, we cross 
 the Oneida Creek and valley by an aqueduct of one hundred 
 and twenty feet, and embankments ; together four hundred 
 feet long, and from twenty to twenty-six feet high. The creek 
 enters the Oneida Lake at the south-east corner, and is the 
 dividing line between this and Madison county, that we now 
 enter upon. Three miles from the Oneida Creek, we pass 
 Lenox furnace, and basin, and landing, and in two miles 
 further, are at Canaslota Village, creek and basin, thirty-six 
 miles from Utica, and fourteen from Morrisville, the county 
 seat to the south-east. It has a Methodist, Presbyterian, 
 Episcopal, and a Baptist church, one hundred and twenty- 
 dwelling houses, a high school, several forwarding merchants, 
 
Manlius Landing — SpraCnse Aca^emf, 10^ 
 
 g-roceries, four stories, four taverns, and is a lively business 
 place. A small vi'ldiie is pas:=e(l in four miles, and in four 
 miles farther, we arrive at ChiUsrmigo Creek, aqueduct, ba- 
 sin, and feeder, with a side cut of one and a half miles to 
 the villae^-e of that name, four locks, of six feet rise each. The 
 Villag-e of Ckitleningo has one hundred and tifty dwelling 
 houses, three churches, a Dutch, Presl)yterian, and Metho- 
 dist, a woollen factory, that uses annually one hundred thou* 
 sand pounds of wool, made into broadcloths and cassimeres. 
 There are also flouring, gypsum, wafer lime, and saw mills, 
 a furn-ice, trip hammer, &c. In the hills near the canal in 
 this vicinity, is an abundance of limestone, water or hy- 
 draulic cement, lime, and gypsum. Iron ore is said to be in 
 the bogs. (See also p. 58, and for Cazennvia and Lake.) 
 
 Eiiiht miles more we are in Onondaga County, at Manlius 
 Landing. The village of that name, beino- fnur miles to the 
 south on Limestone Creek, has one hundred and lifry dwell- 
 ings, a cotton factory, several srist and pa>v mills, six stores. 
 Fai/etteville, on the north branch of the Seneca turnpike, and 
 by the feeder of the Erie Canal, eiphi mdes from Syracuse, 
 has three churches, seventv-five dwellings, six stores, four 
 taverns, and two nulls. Kirkville is a thriving villase on the 
 canal. Three miles beyond the last landinii is a side cut to 
 Orville, and from this is five and a quarter miles to Lodi, be- 
 ing at the wtslefn terminnlion of the long level that began at 
 Frankfort, in Herkimer County. 
 
 The Stjrncw^e Academy, a splendid brick edifice four sto- 
 ries high, with an observatory, occupies the most prominent 
 place on tlie iefl foreground as we wind around the last hill, 
 and come suddenly in sight of this fine city, with the canal 
 here beginning to be enlarged on the new plan of eighty feet 
 wide, and eight or ten deep, now locks, fcc. The academy 
 has spacious ornamental grounds and garden attached, with 
 terraces in front, facing wet^^t towards the city, that has an 
 imposing appearance as we draw near to its lofty, spacious 
 Warehouses, and ranges of brick edifices, and neat suburban 
 private dwellings. There are seven himdred houses, and four 
 thousand five hundred inhabitants; and the Syracuse House, of 
 brick, four stories, fronting on Water and Salina streets, is one 
 of the best hotels in the State, and is thronged with company ; 
 the Onondaga County bank is in the adjoining building, and 
 also the post office. 
 
 The intelligent stranger that arrives at Syracuse, and does 
 
102 Salt Springs. 
 
 not inconsiderately neglect to look about him, but spends a day 
 or two in an active examination of the localities in this city 
 and its vicinity, will derive much gratification from seeing- the 
 springs of salt water that rise in great volumes on the imme- 
 diate banli of the Onondaga (a fresh water) Lake, and in tra- 
 cing the modes and means used in boiling or evaporating this 
 strong brine, that in forty-five to fifty-five gallons produces 
 a busliel of pure salt, while the sea water on our coast takes 
 three hundred and sixty gallons to make seventy-five pounds 
 of salt! In 1835, the quantity of salt here rnade was two 
 million two hundred and twenty-two thousand six hundred 
 and ninety-four bushels; duty, six cents a bushel, amount 
 one hundred and eighteen thousand three hundred and sixty- 
 four dollars. In 1833, when the duly was twelve and a half 
 cents, and only one million eight hundred and thirty-eight 
 thousand six iiundred and forty-six bushels were made, the 
 duty was two hundred and twenty-seven thousand eight hun- 
 dred and sixty dollars. The principal springs are at Salina 
 and Geddes. At Salina the well is twenty-two feet deep, and 
 ten in diameter, and supplies the works at Salina, Liverpool, 
 and Syracuse. 
 
 Salt springs are found for an extent of a hundred and eighty 
 miles from Vernon, Oneida County, to the Niagara River, but 
 only those in Onondaga and Cayuga are profitably worked. 
 The wiiites derived their knowledge of the salt springs from 
 the Indians, and by lowering an iron vessel to the spring on 
 Mud Creek, then submerged by fresh water a few feet, the 
 salt water was obtained, and the same process was used to 
 supply the first settlers until other springs were discovered. 
 There is a difference in the supply by its diminishing in 
 drought, but with improved machmery for pumping, a more 
 rapid influx of brine has been produced, with an increase of 
 strength from twenty to twenty-five percent, standing at thir- 
 teen degrees on the hydrometer of Beaume, of which the 
 point of saturation is twenty-two degrees. 
 
 Large quantities of this salt is sent to Canada by the Os- 
 wego Canal, and to the western states. In boring for rock 
 salt two hundred and fifty feet deep here, no fossil salt or sal- 
 iferous rock was passed, but cemented gravel, and the brine 
 increased in strength as the depth continued. 
 
 The salt mines in Poland are worked at the depth of seven 
 hundred and fifty feet, and those of Eperies at nine hundred 
 and ninety feet, and here, also, no doubt, beds of it will eventu- 
 
Onondaga. 103 
 
 aiiy be penetrated, and ten times the quantity sold, to what 
 is now slowly made by boiling^ and solar evaporation. Three 
 millions of bushels of salt can be made here yearly by an 
 adequate supply of brine. During 1834, a large reservoir of 
 the brine was constructed between Liverpool and Salina, on 
 the high ground, for factories. Geddes is at the head of the 
 lake, and on its west bank, two miles from Syracuse, and has 
 fifty dwellings, two stores, &c. From the heights near, are 
 fine views of the lake in front, and of cities around the lake 
 and on the canal. Liverpool is four and a half miles north of 
 Syracuse, has sixty dwellings, stores, taverns, &c. on the bor- 
 ders of the lake and Oswego Canal. 
 
 By taking a ride by the rail-road five miles up the hill to 
 the quarries, where a thousand men are seen at work raising 
 stone from the surface, and in hewing, shaping, modelling, 
 he. for the new locks that are to be made on the Erie Canal, 
 and in entering the cave or chasm that is here found, and in 
 enjoying the extensive prospect from the summit, we can 
 promise the explorer and geologist a rich treat. The lime- 
 stone is excellent for building, and is used for the masonry on 
 the canal, and is easily sent to Oswego, Rochester, Buffalo, &.c. 
 in blocks of any size, by the canal, cranes being used for lift- 
 ing on and off the boats. 
 
 The rail-road hence to Utica, sixty miles, was finished in 
 183S-9, and cost only $600,000 ; the road was rapidly formed 
 by Cram's pile-driving machine, and follows the invariable 
 level and low grounds. The facility to travelers in con- 
 tinuing the rail-road west of Ulica is very great, and from 
 this it goes to Auburn, twenty-five miles. 
 
 The valley that contains Syracuse and the Onondaga Lake, 
 is within nineteen feet as low as the Cayuga Lake, and is a 
 lonafitudinal valley, extending north and south between the 
 Onondaga hills, and has always been a remarkable place, and 
 was selected by the sagacity of the aborigines, as the richest 
 land and the most central abode for the maintenance and 
 diffusion of their power, and here for a long time they held 
 their secret council fires, and the six. confederated Indian bo- 
 dies, the Mohawks, Onondagas, Senecas, Oneidas, Cayugas, 
 Tuscaroras, became the terror, not only of the weaker tribes 
 of natives, but also of the white man. 
 
 The name of Onondaga is a pure Indian word, and means 
 a swamp at the foot of a hill, or a place between two hills. 
 Sacandaga, is swamp or marsh. These, like all their names, 
 
 / 
 
104 Syractise. 
 
 are sonorons. descriplivp, and strictly characteristic, and should 
 be preserved with religious care and veneration. Tlie French 
 gave the«e tribes the name of Iroquois. They were never piib* 
 dried until the expedilion, dniinji the revolutionarv war, under 
 the comtnand of General Sullivan, wlien they were crnshed, 
 and the haughty spirit of the confederates tboioughly sub- 
 dued, and the tribes scattered. A small remnant of them 
 still linger in this valley, and are reluctant to quit the abodes 
 of their ancestors, but they are fast fading under tlie influ- 
 ence of intrmperance and idleness. 
 
 The site of the present city o{' Syracuse has been cleared 
 but a very few years since the Erie Canal was laid out, but it 
 has within ten years risen with g^iant strides from an incon- 
 siderable hamlet to its present importance, at the e^cponse of 
 its suiferinp neighbors, Salina and the Onondagas ; hut this is 
 only temporary, as a few years of prosperity is destined to 
 fill this central saline valley even to overflowing with popu- 
 lation and wealth. 
 
 Throuuh the centre of this county farms sell at from twen- 
 ty five to forty and sixty dollars an acre, under L'ood cultiva* 
 tion. Wheat gives tvventy, and maize thirty bushels the acre, 
 aided by fjypsum. Pine and hemlock, witli deciduous trees, 
 densely covered the northern part of the county ; in the cen- 
 tre and south, beech, maple, and bass wood. The stumps 
 that remain attest the depth and exuberance of the soil. For 
 gardens, nolhincr can be better than the rich vegetable matter 
 that is here found. 
 
 The red saliferous sand-stone underlays the marsh and 
 swamps, plain and lake, and forms a brim around the last. 
 The shoal waters and marsh rest on this margin, while the 
 deep waters are within it, to the depth of sixty or seventy 
 feet. The lake has been lowered two feet, the marshes 
 drained, and this place rendered much healthier in conse- 
 quence. 
 
 Salina, one and a half miles north of Syracuse, is on a plain 
 near the centre of the marsh, with Onondaga Creek near it, 
 and here are seventy-seven of the salt manufactories, and the 
 Lead salt spring that supplies the works here, and Liverpool, 
 and Syracuse, the water being conveyed in subterranean logs. 
 The brine is forced to the top of a reservoir eighty-five feet 
 high, by pumps driven by the surplus water of the Oswego 
 Canal, at the rate of three hundred gallons per minute for 
 distribution. Solar evaporation produces the coarse salt, and 
 
Syracuse— Onondaga Creek, 106 
 
 feosling the fine. Four hundred cords of wood per day are 
 tiere used for this purpose. In the evaporating process, a low 
 roof that is movable so as to shove off, to admit the rays of the 
 sun, or to cover the vat during rain, admits of the deposition in 
 a few days of the crystals that form, and are removed when 
 matured. 
 
 There are one hundred and thirty-three salt manufacturers, 
 three thousand four hundred and twenty-three kettles and 
 pans of the capacity of three hundred and thirty-nine thou- 
 sand seven hundred and seventy-five gallons, and over a mil- 
 lion and a half of superficial feet of vals for solar evapora- 
 tion. 
 
 Onondaga Hollow, and Onondaga West Hill are separately 
 referred to on the stage route. (See p. 59, and index.) 
 
 The county court-house and public buildings, clerk's ofSce, 
 &c. are at Syracuse, it being a village incorporation, is on 
 both sides of the Eric Canal, with every thing well arranged 
 for business, concentration, and comfort ; has an Episcopal, 
 a Presbyterian, a Methodist, and a Baptist church, sixteen 
 lawyers, eleven physicians, sixteen general stores, twenty- 
 two grocery and provision stores, four drug, two hard-ware, 
 four clothing, and five shoe stores, three furnaces and ma- 
 chine shops, two flouring and one lumber mills, one planing 
 machine, three tin and copper, two leather, one morocco, two 
 carriage, three cabinet, three marble, one soap and candle 
 manufactories, one of steam-engines and castings, one 
 brewery, one distillery, two tanneries, one boat-yard and dry 
 dock, two fire engine and one hook and ladder companies. 
 The Onondaga Salt Company, and the Syracuse Salt Com- 
 pany, each with a capital of one hundred and fifty thousand 
 dollars for making coarse salt, fifteen salt blocks or nests of 
 kettles for making salt by fire. 
 
 The Onondaga Creek rises in Tully, twenty-eight miles south, 
 giving good water power, runs through the village, over 
 which the canal is carried in a stone aqueduct of four arches, 
 each of thirty feet span. 
 
 For Oswego Canal, see index. A small packet-boat plies 
 to Salina every hour, fare twelve and a half cents. Many 
 strangers here prefer to leave the Erie Canal and go to 
 Oswego, and thence by steam-boat on Lake Ontario to Ni- 
 agara, by way of variety. There are two receiving or turn- 
 ing basins in Syracuse and Salina, for the accommodation of 
 Che salt and other boats. 
 
106 Bellisle—Nine Mile Creek— Amher— Cross Lahe. 
 
 Soon after quitting Syracuse is a lock of six feet fall, and in 
 a mile and a quarter, another of six feet rise, and in liaif a mile 
 we pass throngli Geddes, as before mentioned, winding along 
 in sight of tlie small Onondaga Lake, six miles in extent and 
 one broad, 
 
 Bellisle, on the canal, is a small hamlet of fifteen dwellings, 
 six miles from Syracuse, and Amboy is on the Nine Mile 
 Creek, or outlet of the Oiisco Lake, seven miles from Syra- 
 cuse, and has twenty dwellings, a mill, &c. Camillus, also 
 on the same creek, has fifty dwellings, four stores, three tav- 
 erns, a grist, saw, carding, and cloth dressing mill. Near the 
 village is a quarry of gypsum, the first treasure of that kind 
 found and used in this State by Canvass White, Esq. engineer 
 on the Erie Canal, the son of Judge White, of Whitestown. 
 A feeder one and a half miles long is here formed to con- 
 nect with the Erie Canal. 
 
 At the Oiisco, or Nine Mile Creek, six miles from Geddes, 
 is an aqueduct and lock of eleven feet rise, and six mdes be- 
 yond is Canlon village, fifteen miles from Syracuse, and has 
 fifteen dwellings, three stores, and two taverns. Canton is the 
 half way village between Albany and Buffalo, one hundred 
 and eighty-three miles each way, and seventy-five from Uti- 
 ca. The Otisco Lake is four mdes long and half a mile wide, 
 and sends forth a powerful stream, the Nine Mile Creek. 
 
 Amher is near the lake, has a Methodist church and 
 twelve dwellings. Otisco Centre has a Presbyterian church, 
 fifteen dwellings, two stores. 
 
 At Peru are a icw scattered dwellings, a store, &c. on the 
 canal, and at Jordan, six miles beyond, is a lock of eleven 
 feet fall, and an aqueduct over the Skaneateles Creek of 
 three arches, one hundred feet long. Here are one hundred 
 and fifty dwellings, a Methodist and Presbyterian church, 
 three grist and three saw mills, sash and pail factory, clothing 
 works, distillery, twelve grocery and other stores, two drug, 
 one tannery. 
 
 Cross Lake, is a basin or reservoir, five miles long and t\v« 
 wide, through which the Seneca River passes, in a low 
 swampy district, whose surface is three hundred and seventy- 
 feet above tide. It is a mile or two north of the canal. 
 
 For Skaneateles village and lake, see stage road, p. 60. At 
 Elbridge, three miles south, are Indian remains on a hill, of 
 three acres in extent, with a ditch and wall of earth. Here 
 are sixty dwellings, three mills, three taverns, three stores.. 
 
Weedsport — Port Byron— Montezuma. ' 107 
 
 The next six miles introduces us to Weed's Basin or Weeds- 
 port, seven mile? nortli of Auburn, eighty-seven from Ulica, 
 and twenty six from Syracuse; has one iiundred and twenty 
 dwellings, three forwarding houses, a Presbyterian and a Me- 
 thodist church, eitjht stores, three taverns, one furnace, one 
 saw mill. This is a sort of port, and landing, and embarkation 
 for Auburn., and all that part of Cayuga County. Stages 
 are in waiting to take passengers, (For Auburn, see stage 
 road, p. 61.) Cenlreport has twenty dwellings and a gro- 
 cery, a short distance beyond the preceding place. 
 
 Port Byron, three miles west of Weedsport, on the Erie 
 Cunal, has one hundred and forty dwellings, one Baptist 
 Church, five stores, two taverns, two grist, four saw, and an 
 extensive merchant's mill, one distillery, one tannery, one 
 cardmg and cloth-dressing mill. Here is a lock of nine feet 
 fall, and an aqueduct over the Oioasco Creek, of stone, of 
 four arches of twenty feet each. Here are dry docks, and 
 large boat-houses, for building and repairing ; and in four and 
 a half miles we pass through a lock of nine feet fall, and in 
 one and a half miles are at another of seven feet fall, on the 
 level of Seneca River, At Montezuma or Lakeport, there are 
 forty dwellings, several groceries, a collector's office for ca- 
 nal tolls, three taverns, one store. About one mile west of 
 the village are the Cayuga or Montezuma marshes. The 
 canal-boats for passengers time their arrivals and departure 
 to meet the lake steam-boat to and from Ithaca at the head 
 of the lake thirty-six miles south. The width of the lake is 
 four miles, and its area eighty square miles. A ferry-boat 
 plies across at Genoa, King's ferry. The shores of this lake 
 are beautifully disposed to please the eye in going on its 
 surAice, or traveling on its borders. (See page 62.) 
 
 The salt works at Montezuma, before alluded to, are near 
 by, but are not very productive or profitable. It is seven 
 miles from this, south, to the Cayuga bridge. The rail-road 
 from Auburn to Rochester is in course of construction, and 
 will soon complete the line from Albany to Buffalo. 
 
 From Montezuma we cross the Cayuga outlet by a tow- 
 path bridge, and over the marshes, and then strike in by the 
 valley of Clyde River, in a north-west direction for five miles, 
 when we are in IVayna County, in the township of Galen, and 
 at a lock of nine feet rise. We continue on for five miles in 
 the same direction till we arrive at Clyde Village, and a lock 
 o( five feet rise. Here are one hundred neat-looking 
 
lOS Lyons— Allovday, 
 
 dwellings, a Presbyterian, a Methodist, and a Baptist chmch^ 
 many stores and forwarding houses, a cylinder window-glas^ 
 factory, two grist, two saw, and one cloth-dressing mill, o 
 tannery, and a school, and three taverns. This is eight 
 miles east of Lyons. Lock Berlin, on the canal, has a locSs 
 of seven feet rise, ten dwellings, store, tavern, and smithy, 
 and a Quaker meeting. Thence four and a half miles 
 brings us to Lyons^ the capital of Wayne County, and 
 to a lock of six feet rise, and to a change from the north 
 bank of the Clyde, by a considerable detour round the base 
 of a hill, passing the outlet of the Canandaigua Lake, that 
 here comes in from the south, and uniting with Mud Creek, 
 forms the Ctyde River for forty-three miles, to the union with 
 the Cayuga outlet at the marshes. At the confluence of Mud 
 Creek and the Canandaigua outlet, and on the north bank, Ly- 
 ons is situated, and has two hundred and fifty^dwellings; ma- 
 ny of them and of the stores are ot brick, spacious, and are 
 fast increasing. It is situated on a plain bounded north and 
 east by limestone ridges of gradual ascent, that gives a fine 
 panoramic view of the village, the vale to the south-east, and 
 of the confluent streams. Here is a Presbyterian, a German 
 Lutheran, and a Methodist church, a brick court-house and 
 jail on a public square, a bank, capital $^200,000, twenty stores^ 
 five taverns, two printing-offices, a furnace, one flouring, one 
 grist, one saw mill, one carding and cloth dressing mill. 
 
 The canal of half a mile from the Canandaigua outlet on 
 the south side of the river, gives a fall of nine feel and a large 
 volume of water ; the greater portion is yet unemployed. A 
 bridge is made to cross at this point. 
 
 Mloicay, three miles south of Lyons, on the Canandaigua 
 outlet; has two flouring, two saw, two carding and cloth-dress- 
 ing mills, two distilleries, one store, two taverns, one Baptist 
 church, thirty dweUings. It has a good water power. 
 
 The Erie Canal now crosses by an aqueduct and a lock of 
 ten feet rise, over to the south bank of Mud Creek, and in 
 four and a half miles are four locks, of eight feet rise each, and 
 in one fourth of a mile, Miller's Basin. 
 
 Eleven miles more brings us again alongside of the Mud 
 Creek at Palmyra, a town, or village, of 250 dwellings, 
 three large canal basins, a Presbyterian, Episcopal, Methodise 
 and Baptist church, an academy, a brewery, two tannerieSj, 
 twelve general stores, several groceries and druggists, a grist 
 and saw mill, a printing-office — thirteen miles from Canandai- 
 
Fullam'i Basin— -Great Embankment— Rochester. 109 
 
 gvia, twenty-nine from Rochester by canal, twenty-two by 
 road. 
 
 In one and a quarter miles from Palmyra the canal again 
 "Crosses, by an aqueduct, to the north side of Mud Creek, and 
 in two and a half miles a lock of ten feet lift, and three quar- 
 ters of a mile a second also often feet lift, in Macedon. Nino 
 miles more bring us to FuUam's Basin, in Perrinlon, Monroe 
 County, through a marshy tract. At FuUam's, at the ex- 
 tremity of the ridge, is a warehouse and tavern. It is 16 
 miles from this to Rochester Ity canal, and only eleven by land, 
 and stages are in waiting for those wishing to cut across ; but 
 no traveler should omit seeing once at least the great enibaiik- 
 metit over Irondequoil Creek, that in four miles is now passed 
 tiole«s volens in two miles beyond Hartwell's Basin. 
 
 This stupendous embankment of earth is 72 feet above 
 the creek, and is two miles long, thus carrying the wondering 
 and astonished passenger in mid air, far above the meadows 
 below, that may be viewed as a map. The construction 
 •of this work was one of great expense to the State, and the 
 cause of much anxiety to the engineers, as to the results. 
 
 A lock of eififht feet rise is passed, and then in two miles we 
 arrive at Ptllsford, a town of 100 dwellings, six miles south- 
 least from Rochester ; has a Presbyterian, a Baptist, and a 
 Methodist church, a saw mill on the canal lock, four stores, 
 three warehouses, one tannery. Oak openings begin to ap- 
 pear in this and in Perrinton, as a new feature. 
 
 Blossomville has a post office, a plaster mill, a Presbyterian 
 "chiTch, a store and tavern, and fifteen houses. 
 
 In six and a half miles we meet, at a chain of five locks in 
 Brighton, a rise of thirty-seven feet and a half, and are at the 
 beginning of the second, or Genesee Long Level, of sixly-fivQ 
 miles, that extends westward to Lockport, in Niagara County, 
 in three miles we cross the feeder of two miles long, that 
 coiaes from the rapids, and are in the city of. 
 
 ISocEiester^ 
 
 Ihe capital of Monroe County. It is a port of entry for the 
 Lake Ontario, Genesee district, in north latitude 43°--has 
 ^,500 dwellings, many of three and four stories liigb, of brick. 
 10 
 
110 Uochesier— Great AqucducL 
 
 and a population of about 17,000, embracing all the me' 
 chanic arts and professions. The residences of many of 
 the inhabitants indicate wealth, taste, and comfort, having 
 court yards, shrubberies and gardens attached. 
 
 The settlement dates from 1812; the incorporation from 
 1834. There are five wards, a court-house and jail of stone, 
 six large hotels, fourteen churches (two of correct and atlrac 
 tive architecture) of all sects, an arcade of six stories, con- 
 taining the post office, atheneum, a hotel, and various other 
 offices. There is a savings bank, and three banks with an ag- 
 gregate capital of $950,000, seven newspapers, (two daily,) 
 three bookstores and binderies, and a host of merchants, tra-* 
 ders, forwarding and commission houses, grocers, and me- 
 chanics of all kinds. The streets are wide, and paved, and 
 drained. Three bridges connect the east and west parts of 
 the city, besides the great aqueduct, eight hundred feet long, 
 on eleven arches. 
 
 The manufacture of flour is here the business of primary 
 importance, from the well known and unequalled facilities 
 yielded by the falls in the Genesee River, two hundred and 
 seventy-one feet, from this to the lake, that, at the English 
 valuation of water power, would be S9)'718,272. This power 
 is but partially employed at present; there are 24 flouring 
 mills, with about 100 run of stones, that can make 60 (to 100) 
 barrels each per day, equal to 5,280 a day, or 1,74(5.000 per 
 year. 400,000 have been produced, amount $2,700,000. 
 
 There are 11 large saw mills, nine large machine shops, 
 that use water power for turning, stone cutting, grinding dye 
 woods and bark, grain for distilleries, &c. making edge tools 
 and carpets ; of these marts of labor and industry, the Globe 
 is the most extensive and curious, a cotton and three woollen 
 factories. The value of capital invested in mills and ma- 
 chinery is about $750,000, and that required for conducting 
 at $2,000,000, and the returns at three millions and a half; 
 amount of merchandise sold annually, over two millions. Ex- 
 ports by the lake, near a million. 
 
 The situation on the canal and river, and vrith the various 
 rail-roads branching like arteries to various directions, and 
 pulsating with the most active commerce, and alive with pas- 
 sengers," and the canals with boats and merchandise, im- 
 presses one with a vivid belief in the general prosperity. 
 The Tonnawanta rail-road of 32 miles to Balavia, is de- 
 
Genesee Falls. 
 
 scribed at p. G6. A short rail-road also extends to Port Gene- 
 see, seven miles, and to Cliarlotte; and another one from Scotts- 
 viUe,H village of 120 houses, four churches, five mills, 15 miles 
 south on the river, up the valley of Allen's Creek, through 
 Wheatland, 10 miles, and then to Caledonia, and will be even- 
 tually to Le Roy, and west to Batavia, for the benefit of the 
 farmers and millers on the route, and to connect with the ca- 
 nal from Rochester to Oleau, on the Mleghany River. This 
 canal pursues the valley of the Genesee on the west bank, 
 keeping- along the edge of the low grounds near the base of 
 the hills, to be above inundation, but avoiding- the too great 
 sinuosities, and crossing the Genesee by an aqueduct at Mount 
 Morris to the east side, from whence it goes suuth to Olean, 
 on the Alleghany, (a branch leading off to the south-east, up 
 the valley of the Canasoraga Creek to Dansviile, and to Bath 
 and Painted Post, to unite with the Chemung Canal at New- 
 town.) The Genesee is navigable for small boats 53 miles to 
 Mount Morris, and a steam-boat plies to Avon, 20 miles. 
 
 The lake steam- boats come up to Carthage, two miles north 
 of the Erie Canal, near the falls Here are GO dwellings, and 
 an inclined plane from the landing-place to the warehouse 
 160 feet above, with machinery, the steps are 237 ; the rail- 
 road from the city ends here. The bridge of one arch of 352 
 feet cord, and versed sine 54 feet, summit 196 feet above the 
 water, length 718, width 30 foet, was put up in 1819, avx^fell 
 down in 1820, with a crash, after a heavy loaded wagon and 
 four horses, and a gig had just crossed. It cost $27,000. 
 
 There are two grand falls of the Genesee: the first, about 
 a quarter of a mile below the aqueduct, is 96 feet, in three 
 distinct sheets ; and below this the river is broad and deep, 
 with occasional rapids for a mile and a half to the second fall 
 of 20 feet, thence it extends for 400 feet over a rough bed, and 
 gathers its waters for the last and final leap of 105 feet per- 
 pendicular; thence are rapids to the head of sloop navigation ; 
 the ravine throughout, from the upper to tiie lower fall, be- 
 ing a deep, narrow, rocky gulf, of over a hundred feet deep ; 
 the country on both sides being even to the lake shore, and 
 in going from east to west, no indication is given of an ap- 
 proach to such a deep indentation in the surface of the earth 
 until we are close upon its brink, and in this particular it con- 
 forms to the features of the Niagara below the falls to Lewis- 
 ton and Queenston. 
 
 Steam-boats that ply from Niagara along the south shore 
 
112 ' HoUcy Embankme7ii — Sandy Creek. 
 
 of the lake to Oswego, and Sackelt's Harbor, and Ogdeng- 
 burgh, also look into this river, and land and receive passen- 
 gers. 7ho ridge road from this to Lewiston is 80 miles, 
 parallel with the lake shore, and cither by this or some otiier 
 mode, (of steam-boat to Niagara River, or of canal to Lock- 
 port, or any way that will bring the traveler in such a direc- 
 tion to this tVontier, as that he may catch the first view of the 
 cataract in going up, either from Leuiston or Queenston,) 
 the traveler should a|)proac!i INiagaia till the spectacle sud- 
 denly l)ursts upon him in all its panoramic ghry, when be- 
 held in front, or coming from the north. In our opinion this 
 is preferable to making the approach from the rear, or south, 
 and then coming lonnd to the front. 
 
 There are six basins or stopping places at short distances 
 between Rochester and Brorkport, viz. Kinji's, six and a half 
 miles; Webber's, two and a half beyond ; Kilhorn's, one and a 
 half; Spencer's, one an<l a half, within a mile or two o^ Parma 
 on the ridge road; then Webster's, one; Bates', two, at the 
 embankment over Salmon Creek; Cooler's, two and a half; 
 Brockwny or poit, two and a half. This is a town of 300 to 400 
 Jiouses, many of (hem of three and four stories high, of bi ick 
 or freestone, seven or tight commission wareliouscR. tav«'rn8j, 
 stores, in the customary abundance and variety ; one Presbyte- 
 rian, one Baptist, and one JNlethodist church, of stone and 
 brick, with steeples, also an Episcopal congregation, five 
 schoid?, a large college building ol five stcnies high, a grist 
 mill, two tanneries, and machine factory. This is a laige wheat 
 purchasing mart. 
 
 At the end of the next five miles occurs the Homey em- 
 hanlment of 76 feel hith a hove the creek, before enlermg the 
 village that contains 70 dwellings, many of brick, on six 
 streets, a Baptist and a PIe^b}telian church, thiee mills, a 
 furnace, a woollen factoiy for making flannels and cloths, 
 besides stores and taverns. 
 
 Sundy Cree/,\ at the junction of the two main branches, lias 
 four nulls, fcur stores, three taverns, one tannery, and 25 
 dwellings. North Murray has a Bafitist church, two stores, a 
 tarern, and ]0 dwellings. Scio, on the canal, .six miles east 
 from Albion, has a Methodi.-^t chuich, a mdl, store, a tavern, 
 and 20 dwellines. Smitli's Basin is six and a half miles west 
 of Hrdley, and is the halfway basin. Gaines' Bnsiii, one and 
 a half miles north of Albion, has 12 dwellings, a warehousCj 
 and three stores. Gaines' Village has 60 dwellings, three 
 
OUer Crceh— Albion. 113 
 
 miles north-n^est of Albion, two churches, two taverns, four 
 dry goods, one tannery, one ashery. 
 
 Fair Haven, two and a half miles north of Albion, has 15 
 dwellings, a store, tavern, and Universalist church. 
 
 Oiler Creek embankment is 55 feet high, and in li miles i$ 
 another long' embankment at Clark's Brook of 15 (eet high, 
 and in three miles is the Fish Creek embankment, and ai 
 arched road-way under the canal. The village of Oak Or 
 CHARD is 2h rniles off to the right, on the ridge road, and ha« 
 10 dwellings, two taverns, a store, grist, and two saw mills. 
 
 The aqueduct over Oak Orchard Creek has an arch of 60 
 feet span, and here conies in a feeder of half a mile long. The 
 Oak Orchard Creek has a fall near the canal of 30 feet near 
 Medina. The Oak Orchard rises on the table land, south 35 
 miles, and runs north towards Lake Ontario, and joins it at 
 Fish Bay. It flows through the great Tonnawanta swamp, 
 that is 25 miles long east to west, and two to seven in breadth, 
 an area of 50,000 acres, and occupies the submerged land 
 south of the highest ridge 400 feet above Ontario. In rainy 
 seasons this swamp is flooded deep, and drains but slow. An 
 open aqueduct or feeder of four and a half miles is cut. 
 through marsh, and part of the way through solid rock, by 
 which the upper waters of the Tonnawanta, that would other- 
 wi.se be absorbed in the Niagara, are now diverted in part to 
 the north, and led to the Oak Orchard Creek, that through the 
 marsh was sluggish, and before this tapping of the Tonna- 
 wanta, was in the summer of no importance; its mass has 
 now been greatly increased, and is made use of for hydraulic 
 purposes, as after breaking through the barrier on the north 
 it is rapid, and has a smooth, rocky bed, and in leaping over 
 the ridges, forms some beautiful cascades. 
 
 Albion, the capital of Orleans County, has grown up since 
 1823, is on the canal near the centre of the county, 35 miles 
 from Rochester, 50 from Buffalo, 28 from Lockport, 18 from 
 Batavia, and 10 south of Lake Ontario. It has 2:;i0 dwellings 
 of brick and wood ; some are large and neat. The public 
 square is decorated by a court house of brick with the county 
 offices ; a Presbyterian and a Methodist church, and a school 
 for females. It has a bank, capital $200,000, 13 dry goodi, 
 one book, one hardware, two drug, and many other stores, 
 also tanners, ashery, grist, saw, and cloth and carding mill, a 
 furnace, five taverns, various mechanics, nine lawyers, five 
 physicians, two newspapers. 
 
 10* 
 
114 Medina— Barre Centre— Middlepori. 
 
 Medina is 10 miles west of Albion, and has '250 dwellinfrs, 
 a Presbyterian, Baptist, Methodist, and Episcopal church, 10 
 dry goods, a brewery, a tanner, a carding and cloth dressing, 
 ashinwle factory, three taverns, a high school, and seminary 
 for ladies, a nevvspaf)er, &ic. This a business-hke and growing 
 village. Ea^le Harbor, three miles west of Albion, has 15 
 dwellings, a Methodist church, three stores, and a warehouse. 
 
 Barre C«'ntre, three miles, and South Baire, six miles 
 south of Ali)ion, have 25 ilwellings each, Knowlesville, on 
 the canal, six miles west of All)ion, has a Bnptisl and Pres- 
 byterian church, 30 dwellings, four dry goods, one drug store, 
 a tanner, an ashcry, two taverns. Shelby's Basin, on the 
 canal, 13 miles west of All)i()n, has a Universalist church, a 
 tavern, tannery, two stores, 12 dwellings. 
 
 Servos' Basin is 46 miles from Rochester, and in one quar- 
 ter of a mile is the embankment over the middle branch of 
 Oak Orchard Creek. 
 
 Middlepori, near the east line of Niagara County, 12 miles 
 from Lock port, has 40 dwelling,'?, three warehouses, four 
 stores, two taverns, one Methodist cluuch, and an embank- 
 ment over the west branch of Oak Orchard Creek. Gasport, 
 on the canal six miles east of Locknort, has an inflammable 
 spriniT which rises in the canal basin ; it has a few dwellings, 
 tavern, store, and a warehouse. One and a half miles west of 
 M'ddleport is the embankment over Jolmson's Creek 25 teet 
 high, and in three miles on\var<l is the emhankinent over 
 Eishteen Mile Creek, 20 feet, and in one mile is a b.'isin. 
 
 Eiiiht miles from a basin, Royallon, brings us along the 
 fool of the moutuain ridge to Lockport, the termin-ition of 
 the lonji western level of 05 miles from this to Prrriiiton 
 beyond rhe Genesee. The natural ravine that here forms an ob- 
 looif or horse-shoe amphitheatrical basin of six acres, embo- 
 soming and slielterins: the expansion, IS a most remarkab!e/?wai'e 
 to this end of ihe long level; and if this ravine had been nmde 
 by the aid arul iniieniou< lahors of man, by bbisting and hard 
 knocks, at an expense of millions, that in such an event it 
 must have cost, it could not even then have received a better 
 shape and ailaptation to its pur; oso f*s the magnilicent ter- 
 minus to the long level, and the still more stupendous por- 
 tal as cut through the rock of 60 or 90 feet, that inlro- 
 duces lis to the rocky barrier tliat admits us tu the upper lakes. 
 
 The two Ions,! levels on t!ie canal, and the Lockport basin, 
 the Wat Huix gap on the Mohawk, aud perhaps other places 
 
Lockport, 1 15 
 
 and remarkable features, no doubt conduced to aid the in- 
 genuity of man in completing: this Herculean undertaking of 
 tracinjr and excavating for 3G2 miles, a channel to unite the 
 waters of the lakes and the ocean by the deep majestic link 
 of the Hudson and Mohawk. 
 
 Lockport, 
 
 the capital of Niagara County, is founded upon the summit 
 and the base of the terrace or rocky ridge, that stretches 
 from Lewision heights on the iNiagara, eastward towards the 
 Oneida Lake. In 1821 its site was a farm, and was i hen sur- 
 veyed and divided into city lots, and the incorporated limits 
 of one and three quarters by one and a half miles, cover an 
 area of 1,630 acres, and is composed of an upper and lower 
 town or terrace. There are 500 houses, and 6,000 inhabitants 
 of all grades, and the usual variety of professions, trades, and 
 employments. A railroad of 20 miles here extends to Niagara 
 Fails.' 
 
 Its buildings, both public and private, are of the excellent 
 stone that is here quarried; such is the courthouse anct jail, 
 and some of the nine churches or meeting-houses. There is an 
 academy, and one seminary for males, and one for females, and 
 masty select and common schools, several hotels in good repute, 
 a bank, capital 3^100,000, a lyceum for literary and scientific 
 piirposes, a library, two bookstores, and numerous dry goods 
 and groceries. 
 
 The flouring business here also takes precedence, there 
 being tour large mills with 24 run of stonrs tliat make 
 annually 47,000 barrels of flour, worth $235,000. The 
 great al)unfhincc of water derived from Lake Erie, that 
 is brouijht through the \We}^ cut to the brow of the ridge, and 
 all around the bas-in, is used in pari for the following mills and 
 factori^s, viz. one for sawing stone, one cotton and one 
 woollen factory, two doul)Ie ganji saw mills, five single saws, 
 one machine simp, two furnaces for forging and working iron, 
 one set of machinery for making barrels, one window sash 
 factory, one carding and cloth dressing mill. There are 
 four WKijon makers, and one coach do., six turning lathes, 
 two ch;iir factories, ten smiths, two gun smiths, two tin, cop- 
 per, and sheet-iron workers, three newspapers. Th? waste 
 water of the above mills, and of the five combined or double 
 
116 Lockport. 
 
 locks of the sixty feet mountain ridge, after it has fulfilled its 
 hydraulic operations in its descent to the basin, is there re- 
 tained by a dam across the ravine, and forms tlie head or 
 fountain to fill the long or sixty-five mile level, and as such 
 is chiefly rrlied on, though the Oak. Orchard, the Genesee, 
 and other feeders are useful in their place. 
 
 The upper village is about 80 feet above the level of the 
 basin and long level of the canal, and this leads to many pic- 
 turesque and pleasing sites, in disposition of houses, water, &c. 
 
 In moving up in a boat to the head of the basin to enter the 
 chain of double locks that are arranged in the most massive 
 style, side by side, in huge chambers, with stone steps in the 
 centre, guarded by iron railings on both sides for safely and 
 convenience, the gates of the lock are closed after the boat 
 13 in the chamber, and the roaring and sudden influx of the 
 water from the lock above, in tiiree or four minutes raises 
 the boat to the level of tlie next lock above, and this is re- 
 peated five times, the adjoining side lock being, perhaps, em- 
 ployed in letting a boat pass down the lock to the basin and 
 canal. 
 
 The boat having in this manner risen up 60 feet in five 
 lifts, the passenger is astonislied to contemplate before him a 
 vista of several miles, bounded on either hand by walls of 
 the solid limestone rock, 25 to 30 feet high, and very ap- 
 propriately called the Deep Rock Cutting at Lockport, and 
 this continues for several miles south, but gradually dimin- 
 ishes in height as the rock dips under the soil, wlien we 
 emerge at Pendleton, tlirougii a guard lock into the dark wa- 
 ters of the Tonnawanta Creek, that by means of a dam at its 
 mouth of four and a half feet, that bucks the water and raises 
 it to a level with Lake Erie, is, for 12 miles from this, as still 
 and sluggish as a canal, and is 120 feet wide and 16 feet 
 deep, with a tow-path on its south bank, and in this 12 miles 
 is only a descent of one foot. This creek is the boundary of 
 Niagara and Erie Counties, and rises in the south part of Gene- 
 see, and has a course of norrh-north-west and west for more 
 than 80 miles to the Niagara River, opposite Grand Island and 
 the new village of Tonnawanla, with its mills and 20 houses, 
 &c. From the dam here are outlet locks from the Erie Canal 
 to the Niagara River. The East Boston Company, proprie- 
 tors of Grand Island, are interested in this place, and also 
 own While Haven, on Grand Island, where they have 50 fami- 
 lies and 200 workmen, a steam grist mill and saw mill 150 
 
EllicotVi Creek— Black Rack, 117 
 
 feet square, with room for 15 gangs of saws, a building used 
 for school and church, a wharf, and a dock for floating timber. 
 
 EUicoit's Creek comes into the Tonnawania just above the 
 dam. 
 
 Turning round to the south and leaving the Tonnawanta 
 behind, we advance along tlie banks of the clear blue Niagara 
 (here 100 rods in width over to Grand island) on the one 
 band, and the higher banks of the Erie Canal on tlie cast, 
 passing the Long Meadows at Two Mile Creek, and in six 
 miles are at the lower end of Black Rock Harbor, and the 
 sloop lock and mills, Skajocketa Creek, and Squaw Island, 
 and the mole, then one mile to Black Rock, one to the upper 
 end of the mole at Bird Ishmd, and one and a half to Buffalo 
 city, the queen of the lakes. 
 
 Black Rock has 350 dwellings, is three miles from Buffalo, 
 an<J is opposite to tlie village of Waterloo and Fort Erie, (in 
 ruins ) 'ihe River Niagara, or more correctly perhaps, the 
 St. Lawrence, is here near one mile wide and 25 feet deep, 
 and has a current of six miles an hour, is of a sea green color, 
 and has a ferry to the Canadian shore. The mole, a crib 18 
 feet wide, filled with stone, that extends from Bird Island 
 north, and forms the harbor, (88 to 220 yards broad,) is 4,565 
 yards long, nearly parallel to the east shore, thus forming a 
 nariow but secure rf fuye inside of the break- water, of an area 
 of 136 acres, and raising the water at the lower part of the 
 dam four feet, that could be used for 100 mills, that no drought 
 or season could ever aflijct. There are now one flouring mill, 
 one grist of two run, two saw, a stave, and carding and lulling 
 mill, one iron loundery and steam engine factory, a distillery, 
 and grinding mill, and at Squaw Island, a saw and shingle 
 mill, and a glass factory. 
 
 A rail road of three miles on the low bank at the harbor's 
 side leads to BulTalo, and the rail road from Buffalo to the 
 Falls of Niagara is on the upper bank. The town | laf em- 
 braces 1,212 acres in the mania for speculating in 1836, an 
 association purchased the property of P. B. Porter, ot 400 
 acres of lanti, house, factories, water power, &c. for ^30(',000. 
 The State of New-V'oik formerly ov^'ned a mile in width 
 along the fioiitier, from Lake Erie to Ontario, that was not 
 sold to the Holland Company. 
 
 The floor of the lake at the water's edge on the Canadian 
 shore, near Fori Erie, where the waves and surf act with full 
 effect, and where the indraught towards the river is very 
 
113 Outlet of Lahe Erie. 
 
 strong-, is of linifistone, extending by a gradual slope into the 
 lake towards Buffalo. The desolalinf^ effects of war are yet 
 visible on the wails of this fortification; some of the iron pills 
 are still to be seen, deeply Hxed in the thiols limestone walls, 
 that are blackened with smoke. From this position is a fine 
 view of the lake, and of Buffalo, Black Rock, and of the 
 American shore; and in proceeding from Black Rock by the 
 upper town towards Buffalo, is a stdl more extensive view of 
 the grandeur of the lake, and of its iron-bound shores on the 
 south, to the utmost extent of vision. 
 
 The Erie Canal continues on from the Black Rock harbor 
 
 114 chains to Little Buffalo Creek in the heart of the town, 
 with lateral branches through the lower town. 
 
 A mole and pier of wood and stone extends 1,500 feet into 
 the lake from the south shore of the creek, and at the ex- 
 tremity of the pier is a light house 46 feet high, 20 in diameter 
 at base, of yellow sandstone. Vessels of eight feet draught 
 can enter this harbor, a mile in extent, and remain secure. A 
 ship canal 80 feet wide and 13 deep, near the mouth of the 
 creek, extends for 700 yards. 
 
 The approach to this city of the lake is, either by land or 
 water, quite imposing, as its domes, turrets, steeples, an<l the 
 successi^ streets and lake craft, are developed to our view; 
 and when it is considered that all we behold here has arisen 
 from the industry and the labor of man within ten or twenty 
 years, it is gratifying to any philanthropist as being the result 
 of our free institutions. 
 
 A marine hospital and rail-way are erected. 
 
 Buffalo and Black Rock have a supply of water by a canal 
 coming from the creek four miles above the city to its eastern 
 limits, that has attracted to its borders a considerable popu- 
 lation engaged in manufactures. Steam-boats for Detroit and 
 the intermediate pons, and for Chippewa and the Falls, go 
 daily. Mucii inconvenience to the trade on the canal, and to 
 the commerce of Buffalo, is occasioned by the ice, that in 
 April, or later, blocks up the harbor for several weeks, and 
 this can, perhaps, only be obviated in part, by continuing the 
 canal alon^ the lake shore to Dunkirk or Portland, near the 
 western border of the State. The great rail-road from Dun- 
 kirk through the southern range of counties to the city of 
 New-York, about 400 miles long, that is now in progress, is 
 another cogent reason why this canal should be continued to 
 the same terminating point. 
 
 For description of Buffalo see p. Qd and 70. 
 
/I' 
 
 >. I 
 
Erie and Juuclion Canal. 
 
 119 
 
 A LIST OF 
 THE PRIKCIFAL. PliACES ON THE CANAL, 
 
 AND THEIR 
 
 DISTANCE FROM EACH OTHER, 
 
 As adopted by tlie Canal Board. 
 
 Erie and JTimciion Canal, 
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 
 
 Albany, .... 
 
 Port Schuyler, 
 
 Washington, (Gibbonsville,) 
 
 West Troy, 
 
 Junction, .... 
 
 Cohoes, 
 
 Lower Aqueduct, 
 
 Willow Spring, 
 
 Upper Aqueduct, 
 
 Schenectady, 
 
 Rotterdam, 
 
 Phillip's Locks, 
 
 Amsterdam, 
 
 Schoharie Creek, . 
 
 Smithtown, (Auriesville,) 
 
 Caughnawaga, (Fultonvi!l3,) 
 
 Big Nose, 
 
 Spraker's Basin, 
 
 Canajoharie, 
 
 Fort Plain, 
 
 DiefendorPs Landing, 
 
 Mindeii Dam, (St. Johnsville,) 
 
 East Canada Creek, 
 
 Indian Castle, (Nowaudaga Creek,) 
 
 Fink's Ferry, .... 
 
 Little Falls, .... 
 
 Rankin's Lock, (No. 7,) 
 
 Herkimer Lower Bridge, 
 
 Herkimer Upper Bridge, . 
 
 Fulmer's Creek, 
 
 Morgan's Landing, 
 
 1 
 
 DISTANCE 
 
 FROM. 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 -2 
 
 -5 a. 
 
 i 
 
 a 
 
 o 
 
 Sm 
 
 < 
 
 E3 
 
 p^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 110 
 
 269 
 
 5 
 
 5 
 
 105 
 
 264 
 
 1 
 
 6 
 
 104 
 
 263 
 
 1 
 
 7 
 
 103 
 
 262 
 
 a 
 
 9 
 
 101 
 
 260 
 
 1 
 
 10 
 
 100 
 
 259 
 
 3 
 
 13 
 
 97 
 
 256 
 
 6 
 
 19 
 
 91 
 
 250 
 
 7 
 
 26 
 
 84 
 
 243 
 
 4 
 
 30 
 
 80 
 
 239 
 
 9 
 
 39 
 
 71 
 
 230 
 
 b 
 
 44 
 
 66 
 
 225 
 
 3 
 
 47 
 
 63 
 
 222 
 
 5 
 
 52 
 
 58 
 
 217 
 
 
 54 
 
 56 
 
 215 
 
 3 
 
 57 
 
 53 
 
 212 
 
 7 
 
 64 
 
 46 
 
 205 
 
 
 66 
 
 44 
 
 203 
 
 3 
 
 69 
 
 41 
 
 200 
 
 3 
 
 72 
 
 38 
 
 197 
 
 3 
 
 75 
 
 35 
 
 194 
 
 
 77 
 
 33 
 
 192 
 
 4 
 
 81 
 
 29 
 
 188 
 
 a 
 
 83 
 
 27 
 
 186 
 
 3 
 
 86 
 
 24 
 
 183 
 
 
 88 
 
 22 
 
 181 
 
 
 91 
 
 19 
 
 178 
 
 
 95 
 
 15 
 
 174 
 
 
 96 
 
 14 
 
 173 
 
 
 97 
 
 13 
 
 172 
 
 
 98 
 
 12 
 
 171 
 
 « 
 
 364 
 359 
 358 
 357 
 355 
 354 
 351 
 345 
 338 
 334 
 325 
 320 
 317 
 312 
 310 
 307 
 300 
 298 
 295 
 292 
 289 
 287 
 283 
 281 
 278 
 276 
 273 
 
 267 
 277 
 
120 
 
 Erie and Junction Canal. 
 
 
 DISTANCE FROM 
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 
 
 si 
 
 2 & 
 
 s 
 
 .a 
 
 e5 
 
 S 
 
 1 
 
 s 
 
 
 Ui 
 
 < 
 
 B 
 
 fi 
 
 pa 
 
 Steel's Creek, .... 
 
 99 
 
 11 
 
 170 
 
 265 
 
 Frankfort, 
 
 2 
 
 101 
 
 9 
 
 168 
 
 263 
 
 Ferguson's, ..... 
 
 6 
 
 107 
 
 3 
 
 162 
 
 257 
 
 Utica, 
 
 3 
 
 no 
 
 
 
 159 
 
 254 
 
 York Mills, (Wetmore's.) 
 
 3 
 
 113 
 
 3 
 
 156 
 
 '-'51 
 
 "Wh tesboro' 
 
 1 
 
 114 
 
 4 
 
 155 
 
 250 
 
 Oriskauy, " 
 
 3 
 
 117 
 
 7 
 
 152 
 
 247 
 
 Rome, ...... 
 
 8 
 
 125 
 
 15 
 
 144 
 
 239 
 
 Wood Creek Aqueduct, (Fort Bull,) 
 
 2 
 
 127 
 
 17 
 
 142 
 
 237 
 
 Hawley's Basin, .... 
 
 2 
 
 129 
 
 19 
 
 140 
 
 235 
 
 Stoney Creek, .... 
 
 1 
 
 130 
 
 20 
 
 139 
 
 234 
 
 New London, . . . , . 
 
 2 
 
 132 
 
 22 
 
 137 
 
 23^: 
 
 Higgins', ..... 
 
 4 
 
 136 
 
 26 
 
 133 
 
 22^ 
 
 Looniis', ...... 
 
 2 
 
 138 
 
 28 
 
 131 
 
 22( 
 
 Oneida Creek, (Durhamville,) 
 
 3 
 
 141 
 
 31 
 
 128 
 
 22- 
 
 Canastota, 
 
 5 
 
 146 
 
 36 
 
 123 
 
 2]{ 
 
 New Boston, (Canasaraga,) . 
 
 4 
 
 150 
 
 40 
 
 119 
 
 21 
 
 Chittenaugo, 
 
 3 
 
 153 
 
 43 
 
 116 
 
 21 
 
 Pool's Brook, .... 
 
 3 
 
 156 
 
 46 
 
 113 
 
 20 
 
 Kirkville, ...... 
 
 2 
 
 158 
 
 48 
 
 HI 
 
 20 
 
 Little Lake, 
 
 2 
 
 160 
 
 50 
 
 109 
 
 20 
 
 Manlius, (Reels,) .... 
 
 2 
 
 162 
 
 52 
 
 107 
 
 20 
 
 Limestone Feeder, 
 
 1 
 
 163 
 
 53 
 
 106 
 
 20 
 
 Orville Feeder, .... 
 
 2 
 
 165 
 
 .^)5 
 
 104 
 
 19 
 
 Lodi 
 
 5 
 
 170 
 
 60 
 
 99 
 
 19 
 
 Syracuse, ...... 
 
 1 
 
 171 
 
 61 
 
 98 
 
 19 
 
 Geddes, 
 
 2 
 
 173 
 
 63 
 
 96 
 
 19 
 
 Belisle 
 
 4 
 
 177 
 
 67 
 
 92 
 
 18 
 
 Nine Mile Creek, .... 
 
 1 
 
 178 
 
 68 
 
 91 
 
 li= 
 
 Camillus, 
 
 1 
 
 179 
 
 69 
 
 90 
 
 Ig 
 
 Canton, ...... 
 
 5 
 
 184 
 
 74 
 
 85 
 
 li 
 
 Peru, . 
 
 2 
 
 186 
 
 76 
 
 83 
 
 !■ 
 
 Jordan, . . . t . . 
 
 4 
 
 190 
 
 80 
 
 79 
 
 r 
 
 Cold Spring, ..... 
 
 1 
 
 191 
 
 81 
 
 78 
 
 1" 
 
 Weedsport, . . . . • 
 
 5 
 
 196 
 
 86 
 
 73 
 
 If 
 
 Centreport, . . . . . . 
 
 1 
 
 197 
 
 87 
 
 72 
 
 u 
 
 Port Byron, ..... 
 
 2 
 
 199 
 
 89 
 
 70 
 
 u 
 
 Montezuma, (Lakeport,) . 
 
 6 
 
 205 
 
 95 
 
 64 
 
 It 
 
 Lockpit, ...... 
 
 6 
 
 211 
 
 101 
 
 58 
 
 1. 
 
 Clyde . 
 
 5 
 
 216 
 
 106 
 
 53 
 
 1^ 
 
 Lock Berlin, 
 
 5 
 
 221 
 
 HI 
 
 48 
 
 1 
 
 Lyons, ...... 
 
 4 
 
 225 
 
 115 
 
 44 
 
 1 
 
 Lockville, 
 
 6 
 
 231 
 
 121 
 
 38 
 
 1 
 
 Newark, 
 
 1 
 
 232 
 
 122 
 
 37 
 
 1 
 
 Port Gibson, ..... 
 
 3 
 
 235 
 
 125 
 
 34 
 
 1 
 
Junction and Erie Canal. 
 
 121 
 
 DISTANCE FROM 
 
 NAMES OF PLACES, 
 
 n 
 
 Palmyra, 
 
 Macedonville, 
 
 Wayneport, (Barrager's Basin, 
 
 PerriiUon, (Lindcl s Bridge,) 
 
 Perrinloii Centre, (Col. Petor 
 
 Fairport, 
 
 Fullam's Basin, 
 
 Bushnell's Basin, 
 
 Pittsford, . 
 
 Billinghast's Basin 
 
 Lock No. 3, 
 
 Rocliester, 
 
 Brockway's, 
 
 Spencer's Basin, 
 
 Adams' Basin, 
 
 Cooley's Basin, 
 
 Brockport, . 
 
 Holley, . 
 
 Scio, . 
 
 Albion, 
 
 Gaines' Basin, 
 
 Eagle Harbor, 
 
 Long Bridge, 
 
 Knowlesville, . 
 
 Road Culvert, 
 
 Medina, . 
 
 Shelba Basin, 
 
 Middleport, 
 
 Reynold's Basin 
 
 Gasport, . 
 
 Lockport. . 
 
 Pendleton, 
 
 Welch's, . 
 
 H. Brockway's, 
 
 Tonnawanta, 
 
 Lower Black Rock, 
 
 Black Rock, 
 
 ButTalo, . 
 
 240 
 
 244 
 
 247 
 
 249 
 
 251 
 
 252 
 
 253 
 
 256 
 
 259 
 
 263, 
 
 265 
 
 269 
 
 279 
 
 281 
 
 284 
 
 287 
 
 289 
 
 294 
 
 298 
 
 304 
 
 306 
 
 307 
 
 309 
 
 311 
 
 312 
 
 315 
 
 318 
 
 321 
 
 324 
 
 326 
 
 333 
 
 340 
 
 342 
 
 346 
 
 352 
 
 360 
 
 361 
 
 364 
 
 130 
 
 134 
 
 137 
 
 139 
 
 141 
 
 142 
 
 143 
 
 146 
 
 149 
 
 153 
 
 155 
 
 l.=)9 
 
 169 
 
 171 
 
 174 
 
 177 
 
 179 
 
 184 
 
 188 
 
 194 
 
 196 
 
 197 
 
 U 
 
 201 
 
 202 
 
 205 
 
 208 
 
 211 
 
 214 
 
 216 
 
 2-23 
 
 230 
 
 232 
 
 236 
 
 242 
 
 250 
 
 251 
 
 254 
 
 29 
 25 
 22 
 20 
 18 
 17 
 16 
 13 
 10 
 6 
 4 
 
 10 
 12 
 15 
 18 
 20 
 25 
 29 
 35 
 37 
 38 
 40 
 42 
 43 
 46 
 49 
 52 
 55 
 57 
 64 
 71 
 73 
 77 
 83 
 91 
 92 
 95 
 
 124 
 120 
 117 
 115 
 113 
 112 
 111 
 
 10.5 
 101 
 99 
 95 
 85 
 83 
 80 
 77 
 75 
 70 
 66 
 60 
 58 
 57 
 55 
 .53 
 52 
 49 
 46 
 43 
 40 
 38 
 31 
 24 
 23 
 18 
 12 
 4 
 3 
 
 
 u 
 
122 
 
 Champlain Canal. 
 CHAMPLAIN CANAL. 
 
 NAMES OF PLACES. 
 
 Albany, 
 West Troy, 
 Junction, 
 Waterford, 
 Mechanicville, . 
 Stillwater Village, . 
 Bleocker's Basin, 
 Wilber's Basin, 
 Van Duzen's Landing, 
 Schuylerville, 
 Saratoga Bridge, 
 Fort Miller, 
 Moses Kill, 
 Fort Edward, 
 Glenn's Falls Feeder, 
 Baker's Basin, 
 Smith's Basin, 
 Fort Ann, 
 
 Conistock's Landing, 
 Whitehall, 
 
 DISTANCE FROM 
 
 
 
 - 
 
 
 
 
 O 
 
 S 
 
 A 
 
 ^ 
 ^ 
 
 
 
 
 
 73 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 66 
 
 2 
 
 9 
 
 64 
 
 3 
 
 12 
 
 61 
 
 8 
 
 20 
 
 53 
 
 4 
 
 24 
 
 49 
 
 2 
 
 26 
 
 47 
 
 2 
 
 28 
 
 45 
 
 5 
 
 33 
 
 40 
 
 3 
 
 36 
 
 37 
 
 2 
 
 38 
 
 35 
 
 3 
 
 41 
 
 32 
 
 3 
 
 44 
 
 29 
 
 5 
 
 49 
 
 24 
 
 2 
 
 51 
 
 22 
 
 1 
 
 52 
 
 21 
 
 5 
 
 57 
 
 16 
 
 4 
 
 61 
 
 12 
 
 4 
 
 65 
 
 8 
 
 8 
 
 73 
 
 
 
 Whole distance Erie Canal, 363 miles. 
 
 do. do. Champlain do 64 do. 
 
 Route and expenses from JVew- Y'ork to St, Itouis, 
 
 New-York to Albany, 50 cents to $2 00 
 
 Albany to Buffalo, by Erie Canal, in packet boat, . do. 15 00 
 
 " " " " ia line boat, . . do. 9 00 
 
 Buffalo to Erie, by steam, do. 3 00 
 
 Buffalo to Ashtabula by steam, do. 4 50 
 
 Buffalo, to Cleveland, Ohio, by do do. 6 50 
 
 Erie to Beaver, on the Ohio, by stage, including food, do. 5 50 
 
 Beaver to Cincinnati, by steam, .... do. 10 00 
 
 Cincinnati to Louisville, by steam, .... do. 300 
 
 Louisville to Shawneetown, by steam, ... do. 6 00 
 
 Louisville to St. Louis, by steam, .... do. 12 00 
 
123 
 
 , time 2 
 
 and 
 oga, 
 
 ads by 
 bbons- 
 Dy, six 
 90,000.^ 
 plot of 
 e main 
 i large 
 ir, ord- 
 ational 
 lo be- 
 ock of 
 er, and 
 if some 
 
 r Troy, 
 taining 
 icipaJly 
 50,000. 
 rations 
 
Steam-hoat Route to St. Louig. 123 
 
 Steam-boat route to St, Louis^ via Lake JErie, SCc, 
 above 1200 miles. 
 
 From Buffalo to Dunkirk, 45 miles. 
 
 Portland, 60 
 
 Erie, 90 
 
 Salem, 120 
 
 Ashtabula, 135 
 
 Grand River, 165 
 
 Cleveland, 195 
 
 Huron, 245 
 
 Sandusky, 260 
 
 Detroit, 330 
 
 Mackina, 600 
 
 Green Bay, 750 
 
 Chicago, 900 
 
 Stage coaches go from Chicago to St. Louis, 320 miles. 
 
 do. to Galen, Wisconsin, is 160 miles, time 2 
 
 days and nights, stage fare $12 to $15. 
 
 Route from Albany, Troy, Ballston, and 
 Saratog:a, to Lake Oeorg^e, Ticonderog^a, 
 and Whitehall. 
 
 The capital macadamized road of six miles, that leads by 
 the side of the Erie Canal and the Hudson River to Gibbons- 
 ville, and past the United States arsenal to West Troy, six 
 miles, is one of the best roads in the State, and cost $90,000. 
 The Arsenal is comprised within a very extensive plot of 
 ground, bisected by the Erie Canal, and adjoining the main 
 road, and consists of several fire-proof edifices, and large 
 stores of small arms, and the various munitions of war, ord- 
 nance shops, &,c. ; this is one of the most important national 
 dep6ts, and is worth a moment's time of the traveler to be- 
 hold, as the armory always contains an immense stock of 
 small arms, arranged in glittering and imposing manner, and 
 the relics of the revolutionary parks of artillery, and of some 
 presented by the King of France, Louis 14th. 
 
 West Troy has grown up rapidly, and is a suburb of Troy, 
 and with it identified in interest and prosperity, containing 
 500 dwellings and 3,300 inhabitants, employed principally 
 in manufactures, with a bank of a capital of $150,000. 
 There is an India rubber manufactory, and several operations 
 
124 Troy. 
 
 carried on that derive water power from the surplus waters 
 of the Erie and Junction Canals, that by a side cut have an 
 outlet here into the Hudson, and across the river to Troy, 
 and the intercourse by means of ferries and the rail-road 
 bridge is constantly kept up. 
 
 One of the sprouts of the Mohawk passes under the bridge 
 that leads from West Troy to Tibbitt's Island. The lowdr 
 ferry near the arsenal leads across the Hudson, here one 
 eighth of a mile wide, to Washington-street and the foot of 
 Mount Ida on the east bank, 300 feet high, from which is one 
 of the finest views and panoramic scenes on the Hudson. The 
 mansion and grounds of John Hart and Wilson oc- 
 cupy the summit, and George Tibbitts the next one north. 
 
 The middle ferry, passing beyond Liberty and Division- 
 streets, lands at Ferry-street, and penetrates the central part 
 of the city to the east. The next streets in a parallel direc- 
 tion to the last, are in succession, Congress, State, Albany, 
 Elbow, Grand; the two latter extending east past the Rens- 
 selaer Institute, established by the late patroon, Stephen 
 Van Rensselaer, Esq. for gratuitous education, by A. Eaton. 
 
 The next in order are Federal street, and the rail-road 
 bridge, Jacob, Hutton, and Hoosack-streets ; from the latter, 
 the capital macadamized road leads out north-east to Ben- 
 nington in Vermont, 28 miles, and the company that con- 
 structed it have the grant of laying rails on the same, con- 
 nected with the rail-road to Brattleboro', on the Connecticut 
 River ; thence is a road to Lowell, on the Merrimack, mak- 
 ing a new route to Boston. 
 
 The next streets north of Hoosick are Vanderheyden, Jay, 
 Rensselaer, and North, (east of which is Mount Olympus, 120 
 feet high,) then Middlebury, Canal, and Dow-streets, and the 
 water-works on the north, and the State dam of nine feet high, 
 extending across the Hudson, and backing the water to Lan- 
 singburg and Waterford, with locks of a size to pass sloops. 
 
 River-street is the principal thoroughfare next to the Hud- 
 son, and contains the principal warehouses, stores, and shops, 
 and some hotels ; the Mechanic, the Troy, and Mansion 
 houses ; the two latter on Albany and River-streets, the 
 Frankliyi, corner of Elbow-street, and Washington Hall, cor- 
 ner of Grand and Division-streets, and SlearrVs, near King- 
 street, and the Northern Hotel between Jacob, and Hutton, 
 and River, and Second-streets, the American, and the Na- 
 tional. 
 
Troy, 125 
 
 Next to River-street on the east, are streets named from 
 First to Seventh streets, and on First street is the bank of 
 Troy, the Presbyterian and Scotch Presbyterian churches, 
 and on the Second street is the celebrated Seminary for fe- 
 males, so long and ably managed by Mrs. Willard, (lately re- 
 tired, and succeeded by her son and daughter-in-law, Mr. 
 and Mrs. John H. Willard, as joint principals, aided by 17 
 assistant teachers.) The terms are $240 per annum. The 
 Episcopal and Presbyterian churches are creditable and orna- 
 mental edifices, as is the court house of marble, with pillars ia 
 the Grecian style. 
 
 Troy has a population of 20,000, four banks, total capital 
 $1,318,000, and three insurance companies $800,000, 12 
 churches, (four Presbyterian, two Episcopal, one Baptist, one 
 Methodist, one Roman Catholic, one Bethel, one Friends, one 
 Universalist,) a market and a jail, a lyceum of natural his- 
 tory and cabinet of minerals, an asylum for orphans, and a 
 house of industry, several daily and weekly papers, and 
 many schools. The houses are of brick, there having been 
 several large fires that have most used up the wooden ones, 
 and the streets are paved, and ornamented with trees, and jets 
 of water from the reservoir, that has a head of 75 feet, and 
 supplies the city by iron pipes subterranean. 
 
 The warehouses fronting tlie Hudson are lofty, and the 
 enterprise, activity, zeal, and public spirit manifested by the 
 citizens of Troy, in competing with Albany for the steam-boat 
 business, and the canal and river trade, and in rail-roads to 
 the Springs, and roads to the interior, evince the stamina of 
 wealth and perseverance. 
 
 As a residence either temporary or permanent, for business, 
 or pleasure, or health, it has much to recommend it. It is in- 
 corporated, and has six wards, a mayor, and 12 aldermen. 
 
 The first house built in the village of Vanderheyden, as it 
 was called in 1707, yet remains, corner of River and Division- 
 streets, in 1787 there were but four dwellings, and the 
 ground was covered with oaks and pines. The Poesten and 
 Wynant's Kill, coming from the east, have a descent of 400 
 feet in four miles, of which 270 are in the city bounds, and 
 give great power, that is used for a variety of purposes, by- 
 four flouring mills (capable of making 100,000 barrels of flour 
 yearly,) a wool and cotton factory, nail and spike factory, and 
 rolling and slitting, one paper mill. 
 
 Cascadilla,9.t\he ironworks one mile off, has 60 dwellings. 
 
 n* 
 
1 26 Troy—Lansingburg. 
 
 There are also air furnaces, steam engine and machine fac- 
 tory, breweries, tanneries, four large tallow chandlers, famous 
 for making- best tallow candles, two carriage ffvetories, whose 
 stages are seen all over the United States, bell and brass 
 founderies, three plaster mills, two burr mill stone factories, 
 a shovel and spade factory, a rope walk, bleaching and col- 
 oring works. There are 100 vessels owned in this place, and 
 several of the largest steam boats on the Hudson, that carry 
 yearly 232,000 tons of freight, and 10 tow boats that carry 
 66,000 tons, 100 canal boats, of 30 to 40 tons eacii, belonging 
 to the Troy line to bring produce to this city direct, 67 cot- 
 ton and 40 woollen factories are within the range and influ- 
 ence of the Troy market to the east and north, and draw 
 their supplies hence, and the water power that is still unem- 
 ployed in this vicinity, that may be drawn from the Hudson 
 and Mohawk, &c. is immense. 
 
 A pleasant walk m;«y be taken along the banks of the Poes- 
 ten, and other kills, tracing them up to their summits, through 
 narrow gorges or ravines, and cragged rocks, amid trees, and 
 shrubs, and murmuring falls and cascades, wild, romantic, 
 and picturesque. 
 
 The great slide or land slip that took place from the dis- 
 ruption of a hill to the east of, and immediately in the rear 
 of Troy, in 1837, by which several lives were lost, is well 
 worth viewing as a matter of curiosity, and (hough the ascent, 
 by toiling up Congress street, past Mr. Tibbitl's, and thence 
 to the right or south to Mount Ida, may be arduous, j'et the 
 view that will unfold itself to the eye is splendid, and cannot 
 but be impressive. 
 
 The alluvial flats at the foot of the hill are from a quarter 
 to half a mile wide, and the arrangement of the city plat is 
 into blocks of 400 by 280 feet, intersected by alleys. Fifteen 
 of the streets range north and south, and 19 east and west, 
 and are 60 feet wide, and graveled or paved, and lighted. 
 
 Omnibusses and stages are continually passing between 
 Albany and Troy, for a fare of 12^ cents each passenger. 
 
 Lansingburgh three miles north of Troy, has 3,000 inhabit- 
 ants, six churches, and 500 dwellings, principally on one 
 street, and a bank. It is laid out in squares 400 by 260 feet, with 
 alleys and wide streets, is opposite the mouth of the Mohawk, 
 and the roar of the Cohoes Falls can be heard at night, and 
 from the hills in the rear it can be seen at a distance of five 
 miles west, beyond Van Shaick's Island, where was the camp 
 
Waterford— Rensselaer and Saratoga Rail-road. 127 
 
 of the Americans before the capture of Burgoyne at Saratoga, 
 in 1777. and here the army under Gen. Schuyler had en- 
 trenched, and were to liave made a last and desperate stand, 
 if the enemy had thus far advanced. 
 
 Famous good ale is here made by several establishments on 
 a large scale, and there are 40 stores, and much business, and 
 many mills and factories, slaughtering and packing houses, 
 oil cloths, bruslies and bellows, guns and rifles, machine 
 cards, &c. The communication with the towns below, by 
 hourly coaches, omnibusses, &c. make this almost a suburb 
 of Troy. 
 
 Walerford has four churches, 200 dwellings, population 
 2,000, and a bank with a capital of $100,000, several flour 
 mills and manut'actories that derive their water power from 
 the Mohawk, and here are three locks of U feet, uniting the 
 Champlain Canal to the Hudson and Mohawk. The bridge 
 over the Hudson to Lansingburg, of 800 feet long, cost S'70,C00, 
 was carried away in the great storm and freshet of 26th and 
 27th of January , 1839. This is the extreme head ofsloop navi- 
 gation. The Cohoes Falls, on the Mohawk, that are else- 
 where described, (see p. 88,) may be visited in a ride of three 
 miles from this place, and the aqueduct over the Mohawk, 
 and other scenes and points of importance. 
 
 The Rensselaer &.v\d Saratoga Rail-road starts in Troy from 
 the vicinity of the fashionable hotels, theTroy House, and the 
 Mansion House, at the junction of Albany and River-streets, 
 and goes through River to Frederick-street, and thence crosses 
 the Hudson by a covered bridge 1,600 feet long, on eight piers 
 of cut stone, 30 feet above high water, and 34 feet wide, with 
 a water way of 180 feet between each pier, two of them rest- 
 ing on Fish Island, thence to Tibbitt's or Green island, and 
 then assumes a direction to the north four and a half miles, 
 passing over the delta and three branches of the Mohawk on 
 bridges resting on substantial abutments of stone to Water- 
 ford, thence following side by side with the canal and the Hud- 
 son River for eight miles to Mechanicsville, a village of a i'ew 
 mills and 60 dwellings, then crossing the canal, turns to the 
 north-west up the valley, and past Round Lake in four miles, 
 and in six miles from this, a creek, and for two miles it runs 
 in close proximiiy to the Saratoga and Schenectady Rail-road, 
 and enters Ballston Spa, and there uniting with the other 
 road, both trains pass on to Saratoga, after a few minutes 
 halt to discharge ihoso passengers desirous of remaining 
 
128 ' The Stimpson Farm — Ballston Springs. 
 
 at Ballston for a few days to test the exhilarating qualities of 
 its famous medicinal waters, and enjoy the fasliionable so- 
 ciety at the Sans Soiici and the other hotels. Twenty-four 
 miles from Troy, seven from Saratoga, 30 from Albany. 
 
 There are three churches, a reading room, a court house, a 
 jail, a six story brick building intended for a cotton factory, 
 several mills, six hotels and stores, 180 houses, and 1,100 in- 
 habitants. It is situated in a vale, and a small creek winds 
 its way through the centre, and has a succession of cascades, 
 where art has added to the picturesque effect. 
 
 The price of board is from three to eight or ten dollars a 
 week. As there are two post offices in the town, travelers 
 must be careful to have their letters and papers sent to Ballston 
 Spa. 
 
 The Stimpson Farm in Galway, of 1000 acres, is on a spur 
 of a mountain 10 miles north-west of the spa in Ballston, 
 and as boarders are reeeived by the proprietor, and the farm 
 is celebrated as a pattern, and is wilhal situated in a position 
 overlooking a large extent ol'country, a visit to it, in making a 
 circuit through the neighborhood, is recommended. 
 
 By his method, four tons of hay and 100 bushels of corn 
 to the acre have been realized. 
 
 Galway Corners has two churches, four stores, 40 dwellings, 
 and two public houses. West Galway, three miles further, 
 has 20 dwellmgs, and a meeting-house for Quakers, Baptists, 
 and Presbyterians. 
 
 A ride on the plains between the Green and Mayfield Moun- 
 tains, is a favorite excursion with strangers. 
 
 The Sans Souci is the most prominent building in this vil- 
 lage, and is of wood, with a front of 160 feet, and wings of 
 150 feet, and three stories high; that, with its broad piazzas, 
 and court yard tastefully embellished with trees and shrub- 
 bery, its neat lawns, clean and well kept gardens and grounds, 
 makes an agreeable impression on the traveler as the train 
 takes a sweep through the village, crosses the Kyaderasseraf, 
 and he alights at this splendid hotel. 
 
 The spring in the rear of the hotel, and that in the rear of 
 the village hotel, and the original spring at the west of the 
 village, contain, as essential ingredients, the carbonates of so- 
 da, oflime, iron, and magnesia; the tonic qualities of the iron, 
 and the sparkling and enlivening influence of the fixed air 
 that they possess in an extraordinary degree, have a wonderful 
 effect upon enervated, bilious, and debilitated constitutions. 
 
Ballsion Lake— Saratoga Springs. 129 
 
 Such is the salutary effect of these waters upon some, that 
 an annual resort to them in summer is indispensable, but to 
 strangers prudence would dictate that the advice of a resi- 
 dent physician should always be obtained as to the quantity 
 and mode of taking them. 
 
 Ballston, or Long Lake, is five miles south of the Spa, and 
 is a fine body of pure water, five miles in extent north and 
 south, and one wide, and yields good sport to the votaries of 
 old Isaac Walton ; and the same may be said of other lakes 
 in this county and vicinity, such as Saratoga, Round and Owl 
 Lakes ; the former is nine miles long by three wide, six south 
 of Saratoga and six east of Ballston Spa ; and at the taverns 
 on the west shore of the lake are good accommodations, and 
 the necessary equipments for fishing, fowling, or sailing. The 
 border of the Saratoga Lake is marshy and accessible but in 
 few places, but soon rises into elevated ridges amphitheatri- 
 cally, with some cultivation. Snake hill on the east shore 
 is 200 feet high, and intrudes into the lake three miles 
 from the south end. The argillaceous and graywacke slate 
 composing its rock strata is remarkably contorted. The 
 lake is supplied by the Kyaderasseras Creek that heads in the 
 mountains a few miles to the nortli-west, and its outlet is 
 Fish Creek, that joins the Hudson at Schuylerville eight miles 
 east. (See index ) 
 
 As the cars leave Ballston for Saratoga, the road curves 
 to the north through the principal street over a bridge and 
 an embankment, and then strikes off to the north-east over 
 the creek, which course it continues to Saratoga. The line 
 of this road of 21| miles, passing the Ballston Lake as above 
 described, is over a country so level as not to require an 
 inclination over 16 feet per mile; its cost, from its cheap 
 construction, being only $300,000, with engine, cars, &c. ; 
 the sills of wood with iron plates. 
 
 Saratog^a Spriogs, 
 
 that are now so easily reached by rail-road from Albany or 
 Troy, are situated on a broad street, on which are the princi- 
 pal hotels, five churches and 250 dwellings. The hotels in 
 most repute are the United Slates, an edifice of brick, 
 200 feet by 36, four stories high, with a wing of 60 feet 
 on the north and three stories high, and another on the sotith 
 
130 Congress Hall — Pavillion—Union Hall, gfc. 
 
 of 100 feet by 50, with commodious parlors and bed-rooms 
 for families. The grand piazza in front extends and connects 
 with that on the south and rear, and the ground and garden 
 is most tastefully and pleasingly laid out, and admirably well 
 kept, clean and attractive; the house can receive 300, and 
 the dining and drawing rooms are capacious and elegant. 
 There are about five acres attached to this establishment, 
 with extensive stables, &,c. The liouse is kept by Seaman 
 and Marvin. 
 
 The Congress Hall is 200 feet in front and three stories 
 high, with an attic, and has a wing of 60 and one of 100 
 feet. But the most striking and effective feature in this 
 spacious edifice, and in fact in the entire village street, 
 is the ample piazza in front, and its pillars of wood en- 
 twined with evergreens in the happiest manner, with a 
 flower garden in front of the colonnade, separated from the 
 street by a neat railing. A pine grove and a garden in the 
 rear are enjoyed from the back piazza. The construction 
 is of wood, and can also receive 300. It is the nearest 
 to the Congress Spring, the fountain of health, and has a 
 gravel walk and shade trees leading thereto. 
 
 The Painllion is of wood, and has a front of 136 feet, and a 
 wing of 80, and one of 200 feet, with private parlors 
 and lodging rooms, convenient for families. It is two and 
 a half stories high with an attic, and a portico and collonade 
 in front ; a large garden, with a small lake in the rear for 
 fishing. The rooms are so arranged with folding doors as to 
 throw open the whole into one grand saloon, for dining or 
 for balls and large assemblies. 
 
 The Union Hall, opposite the Congress, 120 feet front and 
 three stories high, with two wings of 60 feet, and a building 
 adjoining of 100 feet, with private parlors and a garden in 
 the rear ; kept by Putnam and Taylor, The Adelphi Hotel 
 is brick, three stories high, near the United States; kept by 
 Mr. Cross. 
 
 The Columbian Hotel, south of the Pavillion, has a garden. 
 
 The Washington Hall, a retired house in the north part of 
 the street, free from noise and dissipation. Boarding may 
 be had from four to twelve dollars per week. 
 
 Prospect Hall, one mile north-west, by B. R. Putnam, and 
 Highland Hall, half a mile south of the Congress, may be 
 resorted to in case of need. 
 
 The healing virtues of these waters to invalids was un- 
 
Higli Rock Spring, 131 
 
 folded by the aborigines to their friend and patron, Sir William 
 Johnson, in 1767, when he was borne to the spring on a lit- 
 ter, but by the use of the waters a few weeks, he was rein- 
 stated in health. At that time, bears, deer, wolves and moose 
 abounded, beaver and salmon-trout sported in the stream, and 
 the huts of the Indians were scattered in the valley. 
 
 In 1783, Gea, P. Schuyler came from Fish Creek and spent 
 several weeks under a tent with his family, near the High 
 Rock Spring, and in 1789 G. Putnam came in, and with him 
 and his descendants, and other settlers of that day, began 
 the permanent settlement and improvements that have con- 
 tinued to the present time. 
 
 The High Rock Spring, rising as it does in a circular aper- 
 ture to a certain height in the interior of a dome-shaped 
 rock, elevated several feet above the surrounding level, would 
 in any part of the world be viewed as a remarkable curiosity ; 
 but when accompanied as it is by the emission of such a 
 quantity of fixed air, the deadly carbonic acid gas of the labo- 
 ratory of nature, with the mysterious and alarming effect 
 upon animal life that it exhibits, great indeed must have been 
 the astonishment of the early discoverers. 
 
 Even now its " grotto del cane," unseen cause, though 
 understood and explained, is to the uninitiated a gaping 
 wonder, that will attract for ever thousands of pilgrims and 
 worshippers. 
 
 In 1792, Mr. Gillman, a member of Congress, discovered the 
 Spring that bears that name, issuing from an aperture in the 
 side of a rock that bordered the little brook that rises from 
 the earth 50 rods west, and for several years it could only be 
 collected in small quantities as it came from the rock, only 
 to tantalize the eager and tliirsty recipient; attempts were 
 made to excavate and search for its source, and for a time it 
 was lost, and the goose that has since returned and placed its 
 golden egg beneath, fled for a time from the eager and prying 
 curiosity of man, but the sagacious Putnam, observing, after a 
 la{)se of events, signs of gas rising through the water of the 
 brook, turned the stream aside, and by digging eight feet 
 through marl and gravel, recovered the sacred f()Untain, placed 
 a tube of plank ten inches square rising to the surface, from 
 whence f^ows the precious fluid in abundance — one gallon per 
 minute — and can be increased by lessening the pressure in 
 the curb. The temperature is 50° Fahrenheit. The analysis of 
 Dr. Steel gives, in a gallon of 231 cubic inches of water, 
 
132 Columbian, Washington, Hamilton Springs. 
 
 chloride of sodium or sea salt 385 grains ; hydriodate of soda, 
 3.5; bicarbonate of soda, 8.982, bicarbonate of magnesia, 
 S5.7SS ; carbonate of lime, 98.093 ; carbonate of iron, 5.075 ; 
 siiex, 1.5; total, 597.943 grains; and of carbonic acid gas, 
 311; atmospheric air, seven ; total, 318 cubic inches. 
 
 The gas affects respiration near the surface of the foun- 
 tain, and fish and frogs when immersed in the water perish. 
 The water is used in a fresh gaseous state in making bread, 
 or in preparing hot cakes, in which sour cream is a compo- 
 nent, and forms an expeditious and palatable article. When 
 first brought up from the tubes it is limpid and sparkling, but 
 soon has a pellicle and sediment, and the glass has a stain; 
 four to six half-pints in the morning before breakfast operate 
 as a cathartic and diuretic, and give increased appetite and 
 vigor. 
 
 There aro 18 other springs that are all of nearly the same 
 properties, and rise in the same valley, vix. the Columbian 
 Springs^ the Washington, the Hamilton, the Flat Rock, and 
 the High Rock, the President, 30 rods north, the Red Spring, 
 ^0 rods north-east; the Barrel, the Walton, the Monroe, the 
 Ten Springs, one mile east; Ellis's, two miles south-west, 
 issues horizontally, sparkling, clear, acidulous and chalybeate, 
 and is esteemed for its iron ; irs temperature is 48°. The 
 third in the list is in the rear of Congress Hail, and the next 
 in the rear of the Pavillion, 100 rods north-east, under a small 
 Cliinese temple over the well, that is 15 feet deep, and curbed. 
 The High Rock is 100 rods further north, and is composed of 
 Hme, magnesia and oxide of iron, sand and clay ; its height, 
 four feet , circumference at base, 26 feet eight inches ; a line 
 over the top from north to south, 11 feet seven inches; and 
 from east to west, 10 feet nine inches; from the top of the 
 rock to the surface of the water, two feet four inches ; depth 
 of water, seven feet six inches; diameter of opening at top, 
 10 inches ; and from this sky-light opening a person may look 
 into the interior formation of the dome, from whence, no 
 doubt, the water formerly issued and deposited its sediment 
 equally around in this tuffa formation. 
 
 Bathing houses may be found at the Washington, Hamilton, 
 Putnam, and Monroe Springs. The enormous quantity of 
 fixed ttir that is contained in the water of the Congress, to the 
 sum of more than its bulk, cannot be equalled by any other in 
 the world, and to this it is indebted for its celebrity.' 
 
 The amusements that a sojourner at Saratoga may enjoy, 
 
Sacondaga River— Lakes, S^e, " \s% 
 
 besides the rides to the lakes and falls within a few miles, 
 and the regular balls and evening parties at the various hotels, 
 consist in a subscription to the excellent library and reading- 
 room on the block north of the United States Hotel. The 
 library is possessed of several thousand volumes, and the 
 reading-room supplied with 100 papers, periodicals, &c. and 
 a register is kept of the arrivals and departures of the vast 
 concourse of strangers that throng this place in the sultry 
 jnonths of June, July, and August. 
 
 Mails from Boston, New-York, Philadelphia, Albany, arrive 
 with great punctuality, and are closed daily at nine A. M. 
 The same caution should be used here as at Ballston Spa, in 
 having letters and papers directed to Saratoga Springs, other- 
 wise they go to, and remain at the other Saratoga Post-0fl5ce, 
 twelve miles distant. 
 
 The direct distance to Sandy Hill is 14i miles, or to Glenn's 
 Falls ontlie Hudson 11 miles in a north-east direction, and to 
 those desirous of viewing the splendid falls, Hadley'sand Jes- 
 sup's, Glenn's and Baker's, that the pencil of Wall has sketched 
 in the Hudson River Portfolio, it is suggested to those intend- 
 ing to continue on to the north to Lakes George and Cham- 
 plain, Montreal and Quebec, that by hiring a coach at Sarato- 
 ga it will be but a slight variation from their route, to proceed 
 in the first place to the upper falls in the town of Luzerne, 
 about 13 miles from Saratoga, past Jessup's Landing to the 
 junction of the Sacondaga with the Hudson at Jessup's Falls, 
 and then crossing the Hudson at Jessup's Landing near and 
 above Hadley's Falls, and continuing on to Glenn's at the in- 
 tersection of the road from the south to Lake George, and 
 taking the best conveyances at Sandy Hill, the rail-road 
 cars, or stages, to Whitehall 22 miles, and the steam-boat 
 down the lake to St. John's, Canada, 122 miles; or else go 
 from Sandy Hill or Glenn's Falls to Caldwell, at the head of 
 Lake George, and bv steam-boat 36 miles to Alexandria, en- 
 joying the ravishingscenes that are unfolded to the eye of the 
 delighted tourist on this lake, the very beau ideal of all that 
 is picturesque and beautiful, and replete with scenes of the 
 greatest historical interest to the well-read American citizen 
 and patriot. 
 
 The Sacondaga branch of the Hudson River is about SOmiic:* 
 long. Its sources are in an elevated mountain region, em- 
 bosoming a system of lakes, the Piseker, the Oxbow Round, 
 and Pleasant Lakes, thai may be reached by following up ths 
 12 
 
134 Lake Pleasant— Stillwater— Bemus^ Heights, 
 
 Saconda^a valley from the fish-house in Broadalbin, and up 
 (ro Lake Pleasant, the Long Lakes, and others in the wild cen- 
 tral regions of Hamilton County, itself worthy of a distinct 
 exploration on foot, and of a detailed description ; the other 
 branches of the Hudson will be alluded to hereafter. 
 
 Leaving Saratoga, and taking the road that leads east and 
 crosses Fish Creek, the outlet of Saratoga Lake, we arrive in 
 eight miles at its junction with the Hudson, and on the arena 
 where was enacted some of the most important events in the 
 drama of the revolution, and we divergent part from the regu- 
 lar route, to trace back the chain of military results that 
 transpired in this vicinity. 
 
 An overwhelming British force under Gen. Burgoyne hail 
 succeeded in penetrating from Canada into tlie heart of the 
 state of New-York in powerful array, carrying in their pro- 
 gress the strong works at Crown Point and Ticonderoga, and 
 arriving at Whitehall, the southern termination of Lake 
 Champlain, flusiiedwith victory, began to form a road through 
 the wilderness to Fort Ann, and traces of it yet remain, and 
 from thence advanced down the Hudson valley, driving all 
 before them, to Stillwater, at which place a severe action oc- 
 curred on the 17th September, 1777, that broke the charm of 
 invincihilitv, and caused the enemy to retrace their steps, 
 but the clustering and gathering of the regular troops and 
 militia hemmed in and prevented the advance or retreat of 
 the gallant foe, and finally caused a capitulation on the 17th 
 October. 
 
 Oa this field the traveler may look down upon, from the 
 hotel, it being the meadow on the margin of the Hudson and 
 Fish Creek, where are distinct remains of Forts Hardy and 
 Schuyler, the latter being a furlong to the soutli-east, over- 
 looking tiie river and creek, the northern or Champlain Canal 
 being adjacent, and the residence of the Schuyler family, 
 and the owner of the cotton factory, and the village known as 
 Schui/lerviUe. 
 
 At Stillwater and on Bemus' Heights, two miles west of 
 the river, was the fierce and sanguinary struggle between the 
 British farces and the Americans, that on tlie 19th September 
 and 7th October decided the fate not only of the defeated 
 army at that time, but, by its moral efiect and animation, led, 
 perhaps, to a succession of triumphs, and the establish- 
 ment of the independence of a great nation, and that in its 
 future results and influences will be extensive as the civilized 
 world. 
 
Stillwater— Bemus'' Heights. 135 
 
 The right wing- of the British army, consisting of light 
 troops, kept along or near the summit of the ridge as tliey 
 advanced to the soutli, and commanded and overlooked the 
 plain beneath, while the lieavy artillery and baggage contin- 
 ued by the road tliat runs near to and parallel with the river, 
 while the Americans advancing to the north to meet them, 
 had tlieir right wing and guns on the river road, and their 
 left wing and skirmishers and riflemen on the heights, and 
 this was the respective positions of the armies when the onset 
 commenced. 
 
 Much of the battle-ground was interspersed with trees, of 
 which but a iew are living, but there was also some more 
 open grounds, and such was the aspect of the spot designa- 
 ted as Freeman's farm in the dispatches of that day, and such 
 it remains, as also does a trace of the British encampment. 
 The road extends across the farm from east to west at right 
 angles to the main road north and south, and just to the east 
 of this intersection was the hottest of the fight, and a few rods 
 south of a blacksmith's-shop close to a fence. Gen. Frazer, the 
 second in command, fell by a rifle shot from one of Morgan's 
 corps. The head quarters of Gen. Gates are seen half a mile 
 south. 
 
 Tlie pathetic scenes that took place amid the wounded and 
 dying, and that have been so feelingly and graphically de- 
 picted by the dramatic and gentlemanly pen of Burgoyne, and 
 the female tenderness of the Baroness Reidesdel, occurred in 
 a dilapidated antiquated dwelling, painted red and yellow, 
 with the entrance and end facing the river, it having been re- 
 moved from its original position that was a quarter of a mile 
 south-west. 
 
 Nearly all the river hills west of the Hudson from Bemus' 
 Heights to Fort Miller, twelve miles, have some remains of the 
 hasty ramparts thrown up by the contending armies ; and 
 there are also some above and on the east of the river, that 
 may be seen from the canal and stage road. 
 
 A mile and half above Schuylerviile, the Battenkill comes 
 in to the Hudson from the east, its sources being at the base 
 of the Green Mountains in Vermont twenty miles distant, and 
 also a portion from the Big Pond in Argyle ; it has a rapid 
 current and several falls, and one three miles from its mouth 
 of 60 feet, that in freshets is worth beholding. There is a 
 bridge over the stream near its mouth, and one over the Hud- 
 
136 Fort Edward-Baker's Falls. 
 
 son from Northumberland to Greenwich, near the rapids or 
 Saratoga Falls, three miles below Fort Miller, 
 
 At Fort Miller is a cliurch, a mill, a tavern, store, and 30 
 dwellings, and hereabouts it was that Gen. Burgoyne pass- 
 ed his troops over to the west side as he was forcing his way 
 down to the gouth, to reach New- York or Albany. 
 
 At Fort Edward, near the great bend of the Hudson as it 
 crosses over Glenn's and Baker's Falls, are three locks on the 
 canal of 10 feet each, and the ruins of the fort built in 1755, 
 by Gen. Lyman and Johnson, at the old landing or carnjing 
 place to Wood Creek, The walls were lormerly thirty feet 
 high, and defended by cannon, with a deep fosse in front, and 
 in the French war was a post of importance as the medium 
 and connecting link with Lake George, and here Burgoyne 
 and his army waited six weeks for provisions to come on from 
 the lake in his rear, and thus lost the best part of the season 
 for his military operations. 
 
 Tlie former seat of war and watchfulness is now changed 
 to a peaceful and pleasant plain, fair and fertile, with 100 
 dwellings, a church, two hotels, a tavern, nine stores, three 
 mills, a distillery, and two breweries. 
 
 Tile great dam above the village and ruins of the old forti- 
 fication is 27 feet high and 900 feet across the river, and 
 throws an ample supply of water into the feeder of the 
 canal, besides forming a cascade, from its height and width, 
 of considerable magnificence. 
 
 Below the dam is an island and two bridges of 500 feet 
 each. The village is supplied with water from a fine spring 
 on the hill a quarter of a mile east, near the fatal spot 
 that witnessed the tragical death of Miss M'Crea in 1777, that 
 was here murdered by the two savages that had been emi)loy- 
 ed by her lover to take her to a place ofsafety, and quarreled 
 about the promised reward, and in their fury she fell a sac- 
 rifice. 
 
 Above the dam, the canal extends twenty-one miles north- 
 east to Lake Champlain, at Whitehall, its summit level being 
 only 51 feet above the Hudson, and 30 above Lake Cham- 
 plain, and 127 feet helow Lake George. 
 
 Baker's Falls commence at the bend of the river where it 
 winds around to the south in a deep ravine in the rock of 
 limestone, the descent being 7rt feet in 60 rods, the water 
 rushing with great fury in and through numerous serpen- 
 tine channels and deep excavations that it has bored and 
 
Sandy Hill— Glenn's Falls. 137 
 
 worn into the rock, but having no perpendicular fall, but a 
 variety of chutes, that are exceedingly varied and imposing 
 at particular stages of the water, as influenced by the seasons, 
 and may he advantajieously viewed from a projecting rock on 
 the east shore below the mills. 
 
 Sandy Hill, where the rail-road from Saratog-a to Whitehall 
 crosses the Hudson on a viaduct of J, 100 feet long, is a 
 half shire village of 110 dwellings on a high sandy plain 
 adjacent to Baker's Falls, and is a pleasant and healthy 
 site, has a Presbyterian ami Episcopal church with cupolas, 
 and two Congregational, a Metliodist and Catholic, ivitliout ; 
 there are seven mills, two good hotels, two furnaces, 10 
 stores. The streets are arranged upon a triangular plat, 
 having an open, ornamented and neat enclosed area, with 
 elegant and comfortable houses and the county buildings, 
 the courts being held alternately here and at Salem. — 
 From this place to Glenn's Falls, three miles west, is a 
 road on the high hank of the river, so level, beautiful, and 
 pleasant, that few can exceed it, both villages being in sight. 
 
 Glenn''s falls are next encountered ; the village has 130 
 dwellings, two churches, the hotel and three taverns, eight 
 stores and groceries, 31 mechanics' shops, a printing-office 
 and papfr, six lime-kilns, 11 mills, some for sawmg the 
 black and variegated marble, that is here found, into slabs, 
 and others for lumber and shingles : the marble quarries are 
 extensive, and the price is 75 cents the superficial foot 
 in New- York. The falls have a total descent of 70 feet, 
 at first in one angular mass of 900 feet wide and five 
 feet fall, the wliole width of the river, that, M'hen in full 
 flood, descends with a grandeur, tumult, and foaming rage, 
 that e.xrites awe and admiration in the beholder, as it is con- 
 templated from the bridge in passing; at a low stai'e of the 
 water the scene is remarkably changed, and could hardly be 
 recognized as it })lunges into the crevices, caves and sinuosi- 
 ties of the dark and irregularly formed rock, and again issues 
 forth in jets and boiling or whirling forms, or glides with ra- 
 pidity over slopes worn to a polished snrtace by the ahrasion 
 of the waters. The general face and aspect of the fall is to the 
 east, and after it shoots under the bridge and partly through 
 caves and water-worn excavations under the traveler's i'eet, 
 and in seams of the horizontal secondary limestone, well 
 worth exploration as the source and scene of legends and 
 frightful Indian tales, the water extricates itself from its laby- 
 12^ 
 
138 Jessup^s and Hadley^s Falls. 
 
 rinthine concealments in the dark and massivo rocks, and is 
 received into the bed of the river below, under the frowning 
 face of impending towering precipices, and escapes over a 
 series of rapids that has caused a wide, vast, and deep gorge 
 in the rocky hills almost as regular as an artificial cut in the 
 solid rock, and exposing the stratification to the easy examina- 
 tion of the geologist, and the triiobites and organic remains 
 are seen \\\ perfection. 
 
 A leeder and a branch canal seven miles long, extends from 
 the Hudson two miles above Glenn's, wiiere is a dam across 
 the Hudson of 12 feet high and 770 feet long, that fills 
 the canal as it passes through Glennsviile and Sandy Hill, 
 and feeds the Champlain Canal, that it enters in Kingsbury, 
 two miles above Fort Edward, where there are thirteen locks. 
 
 Jessup''sand Hadlei/s Falls Rre the next distinguished objects 
 to attract the attention of the traveler devoted to the admira- 
 tion of the picturesque and beautiful in nature. The first is 
 ten miles beyond Glenns Falls, and the second occurs within 
 the next five miles, and may be conveniently examined by 
 starling in the morning either from Sandy Hill or Saratoga, 
 and returning the same day, with ample time to spend a few 
 hours at either spot. As the country in that direction is rather 
 wild and unsettled, it may be advisable to make provision for 
 a rural fete champetre to enliven the party. 
 
 The first fall exlnbits the entire volume of the Hudson in 
 one grand cataract of 100 feet ; the next it is seen leap- 
 ing througlj tlie rocky gates of the mountains, that appear 
 to have been cloven to admit its passage ; and to a person 
 viewing it from below, it appears to come bounding down tho 
 jagged, irregular, gigantic barriers with irrepressible fury, and 
 a magnificence and variety endless, bewitching, and inde- 
 scribable. 
 
 The road from Luzerne or Glenn's Falls to Lake George is 
 a yellow pine plain, soil sandy, rather barren, and destitute of 
 interest until we approach within three miles of the head of 
 the lake, before overtopping the rising ground seen in front, 
 where the road passes by a crater-like or bowl-shaped pond 
 on the east, in close proximity, deep, dark, and dismal, its 
 unruffled surface covered with the pond-lily, and its depths 
 lined with the bones of the soldiers that perished in the con- 
 flicts on its borders, and that were here thrown in, and ever 
 since called the Bloody Pond. 
 
 In proceeding from Fort Edward to Lakes George and Ch«m- 
 
Lak» George, 139 
 
 pUin, we pass in review ground consecrated in history, not 
 only by the war of our independence and the American revo- 
 lution, but also in those murderous affairs and sanguinary 
 conflicts of previous years, when the liordesof French troops 
 issuing from Canada, aided by infuriate savage demons, car- 
 ried terror and destruction along the whole northern frontiers. 
 
 it is our purpose to describe tirst the events and the scene- 
 ry connected with Lake George and Ticonderoga, and then 
 to give the canal and railroad route from Sandy Hill to 
 Whitehall, and down the lake to intersect the other route, and 
 pass along its surface and by its shores to Canada. 
 
 The traveler, while musing on the scenes that have been 
 enacted on this border within eighty years past, amid the 
 gloomy forest through which he proceeds for two or three 
 miles, arrives at the crown of a long and tedious ascent, 
 through the vista of mountains (hat have accompanied his 
 progress for several miles ; those on the east being elevated, 
 and in some places denuded of vegetation ; those on the west 
 being more depressed, but clothed with the remains of the 
 native forest; when at the precise and most advantageous 
 pinnacle the curtain of the forest is withdrawn, and the clear- 
 ed spot unfolds to the astonished and enraptured gaze of the 
 tourist the full and glorious scene. 
 
 The Lake is expanded beneath his view to more than half 
 its extent, with a beauty and lustre emanating from its 
 surface of a transparent cerulean hue that fills the mind with 
 rapture ; the first glance and the deep impression can never 
 be obliterated from the imagination of the ardent and sensitive 
 traveler; the splendid frame-work of mountains that enclo- 
 ses the lake and its beautiful islands, and that forms a back 
 ground of extreme beauty and finished excellence, the noble 
 promontory that it puts forth on the north, of 1,500 feet high, 
 and seen at 14 miles distance, with (he softened hue that 
 harmonizes with the receding perspective, terminated on 
 each side by the deep bays or prongs that gird, on the north- 
 west andnortheast in diverging lines, the base of this noble 
 headland or promontory, is the complete realization of eager 
 expectations of all that is exquisite in lake scenery. 
 
 Lake George, or Sacrament, as it was termed by the French, 
 from the unrivalled and admirable clearness and purity of its 
 waters, that induced them to use it for religious purposes, 
 baptism, he. is 34 miles long and from one to four broad, 
 (average perhaps about two) for 20 miles, is, more orlesi, 
 
140 Caldwell— Natural Bridge. 
 
 from the promontory referred to, ornamented with an archf-- 
 pelago of islands of the most fanciful, varied, and lovely 
 form«, that leaves no taste ungratiiled. 
 
 Caldivell — the village at the head of the lake at its south- 
 west corner, with its spacious Iiotel, capa!)le of receiving 100 or 
 more tourists ; has about 40 dwellings and 500 inhabitants, 
 the county huildin2s, clerk's office, jail and court house. 
 
 A road from the south passes through Caldwell to the 
 north-west, and in six miles crosses the Hudson River, and 
 contin\)es on ten miles to Chester, a village of 150 dwell- 
 inns and two churches, with mills, and on the outlet of 
 FrieniVs Lake two miles long; from this a road branches off 
 north-wpst to Ogdensburgh, on tiie St. Lawrence, and an- 
 other north past Scroon Lake, and on the west side of Lake 
 Champlain to Plattsbursrh, and is the nearest and best land 
 route to Montreal and Quebec, and attracts considerable 
 travfd and business in this direction. 
 
 Scroon Lake is eight miles long north-east to south-west, 
 and from half to two and a half miles wide, embosomed in 
 lofty mountains. Brant or Loon Lake is five miles long, one 
 wide, and is south-east of Scroon Lake, 
 
 The Natural Bridge, a mile or two above the outlet of 
 Scroon Lake, may be visited at the same time, with the wild 
 romantic, shores of the various kikes in its vicinity. A stream, 
 named Trout Creek, a few rods above the bridge, tumbles 
 over a precipice into an excavation ; there a branch runs east 
 and fortns divided channels, one being under an arch of gran- 
 ite 40 feet high and 80 feet wide, that niay be followed IGO 
 feet, the other and principal one, more difficult of explora- 
 tion, opens into dark and cavernous recesses, with deep 
 pools of water, and at 250 feet from its brginniner the united 
 cui rents emerge to light below a precipice of 56 feet, and 
 an arch of five feet hitih and ten wide. 
 
 In 1755 to 1759, when the American Colonies were involv- 
 ed in the contest between Great Britain and France, the thea- 
 tre of operations shone forth on Lake George, that then exhi- 
 bited armaments and a more glittering- array of foreign troops 
 than had ever before occurred, or it is destined ever again to 
 •witness; and that the sweet repose that now prevails on this 
 lahe sljould ever have been disturbed by the din, tumult and 
 CO nphcated horrors of a war growing outofihe hatred, feuds 
 anil jealous'.es ^ f distant nations, that sent their warriors hith- 
 er to enart t>iose feats of arms, and fulfill the bloody, cruel 
 
liailU'i near Lake George. 141 
 
 mandates of distant rulers and potentates, appears now to 
 have been as unnatural as it was surprising. 
 
 The first conflicts took place south of ihe head of Lake 
 George, where a body of English and colonial troops had 
 been assembled in September, 1755, under the command of 
 <Gen. afterwards Sir William Johnson, a man that had a spuri- 
 ous, unfounded reputation, and was saved from defeat and 
 disgrace by the brave Gen. Lyman, of Massachusetts, the 
 second in command. 
 
 Johnson lav carelessly encamped, but unfortified, in open 
 field on the hills near the site of Fort M'Henry, a little south 
 of the present village of Caldwell ; when Gen. the Baron 
 Dieskau, who had recently arrived from France, advanced 
 from Montreal up Lake Champlain, passed Fort Frederic, or 
 Crown Point, and Ticonderoga, and boldly up to Skenesboro, 
 now Whitehall, and landed, and marched towards Fort Ed- 
 ward, then called Fort Lyman, on the Hudson, then in an in- 
 complete state and without cannon, as he had been truly 
 informed by one of his scouts ; but after proceeding a few 
 miles and near Fort Anne, he suddenly altered his plan, and 
 directed his column towards Lake George to surprise John- 
 eon and his army, and was only foiled in this manoeuvre by 
 a timely and chance discovery of his change of the line of 
 march that reached Johnson, who up to this hour had not 
 been aware of the vicinity of an enem.y under such a gallant 
 and chivalric commander, and then began in great haste and 
 terror to throw up entrenchments around his camp, that was 
 injudiciously placed too low, and overlooked and commanded 
 by neighboring eminences ; he also dispatched i,200 troops 
 under Col. Ephraim Williams, to advance and meet Dieskau 
 and his forces, who being aware by his spies of Williams' 
 approach, arranged his men on both sides of the road in a 
 crescent form, extending his wings into the woods so as to 
 enclose his unsuspecting opponents. 
 
 The Americans struck at the centre of the French line with 
 unflinching boldness and intrepidity, but they outflanked and 
 closed in upon Wiiliams' detachment, and poured in a mur- 
 derous fire both on his front and rear at the same moment, 
 that killed Col. Williams and Hendrick the brave Mohawk 
 Indian chieftain.* The detachment, after the death ofWil- 
 
 * Hendrick was shot in the back, to his exceeding mortification and 
 chagrin, it being considered dishonorable to be touched in the rear; ho 
 ss'as 65 years ojf age, very corpulent and gray headed ; he had a voice of 
 
142 Battles near Lake George. 
 
 liams, was drawn off to the main body by Col. Whiting in good 
 order, followed by the French and Indians to the lines of 
 Johnson's encampment, where the troops recovered from their 
 panic, rallied witiiin tlie hasty entrenchments, and the battle 
 commenced anew, and lasted several hours, when the French 
 and Indians were driven in their turn and pursued and scat- 
 tered, and Dieskau badly wounded and taken prisoner, and 
 the baggage and annnunition captured. This action was in 
 the environs of the Bloody Pond before alluded to, into which 
 the dead bodies were thrown — 700 French and 300 English. 
 
 In 1757, the French army of 8000 men under the famous 
 Gen. Montcalm, with thousands of Indians, made a formida- 
 ble invasion up Lake Champiain, and appeared before Fort 
 Wm. Henry, and demanded its surrender from Col. Monroe, 
 and was refused, and began the siege that lasted six days, 
 the Colonel expecting to be momently relieved by Gen. Webb, 
 with 4,000 men at Fort Edward, only fifteen miles distant, 
 but he not daring to appear. Col. Monroe, after a brave re- 
 sistance, was forced to capitulate under honorable stipula- 
 tions, that included protection from savage fury ; but this was 
 not observed, for out of the garrison of 3,000, 1,500 were 
 massacred in cold blood on the 9th of August. The fort was 
 soon after demolished by the French, as they had strong 
 works existing at Ticonderoga and Crown Point. 
 
 In 1758, it being desirous to dislodge the French fromtheir 
 strong holds at Ticonderoga and Crown Point, the large force 
 of 10,000 provincials and 7,000 regular troops was again 
 concentrated at the head of Lake George, under the command 
 of General Abercronibie, and on the 5tli July, leaving only a 
 guard, this formidable force was embarked in over a thousand 
 boats, in one of those fine summer days when the genial air 
 and the placid lake conspired to aid the gorgeous military 
 effect of this grand pageant ; the boats were arranged in lineg 
 and divisions in precise order; the lion and the cross, the 
 " meteor flag of England,'' was triumphantly exhibited to the 
 confident, well-commanded army; and all being arranged, 
 the signal was given — they advanced uniformly to the sound 
 of the finest military music, that the re-echoing hills returned 
 with admirable effect from the glens and forests, as if the 
 thick woods were peopled with unseen spirits, startled and 
 
 imtneuse power aud volume, that when he harangued his people, could b®^ 
 heard amid the hills for miles, 
 
Buitlc at Ticonderoga. 143 
 
 a6righted from their deep, romantic, and inaccessible recess- 
 es, at the unwonted and strange sights and sounds that 
 astounded them. This pomp and splendor continued for se- 
 veral hours, during the progress down the lake, giviiig the 
 army ample time to look around upon the splendid panorama 
 that environed them, and at the approaching place of de- 
 barkation, (at the present landing-place,) and at the lurking 
 foes they should soon have to encounter. 
 
 They landed and were arranged in four columns, and ad- 
 vanced under incoinpetent guides through crooked roads to 
 the north-east, and soon fell Jnto some disorder, that was in- 
 creased by meeting the pickets and out-posts of the-foe that 
 had retreated on the first landing of the army, but seeing the 
 confusion that now prevailed in the columns, they rallied, and 
 at their first fire Lord Howe,* the second in command, fell ; 
 the war-whoop began, and after a warm skirmish, in which 
 300 of the foe were killed, and 148 taken prisoners, with 
 trifling loss on the English side, the columns retired to 
 the landing. 
 
 Taking the precaution the next day to send a force to re- 
 connoitre and secure the mill at the outlet of Lake George, 
 and to view the enemy and works situated on a peninsula, 
 with the lake and outlet nearly environing it, and an abattis 
 in part to obstruct the crossing of the isthmus, the army ad- 
 vanced heedlessly to the attack, without attempting to can- 
 nonade the works, as the abattis was held in too much con- 
 tempt ; but on their near approach, and complete exposure 
 to the fire of the foe, themselves concealed behind the abattis 
 in perfect security, and taking unerring deliberate aim on 
 their assailants, the havoc was so great that the English and 
 colonial forces gave it up in despair, after a conflict and 
 struggle of four hours ; during which the brave Highlanders 
 three times drove the French from a portion of the abattis, 
 but were not supported. 
 
 The loss of the English in this failure was near 2,000 men ; 
 that of the French, three or four officers and a few privates. 
 The latter did not at first intend to make but a show of re- 
 sistance; but seeing the English so daring, and exposed to 
 their mercy, they tned to thin their ranks, and succeeded. 
 
 The English commander ordered a retreat, though he had 
 14,000 men unharmed, and the French had only 3,000 ; thus 
 voluntarily adding disgrace to defeat. 
 
 * The father of the Lord Howe that commanded here in the American 
 revolution. 
 
J 44 iMke George, 
 
 In July, 1759, another British armament of similar UncSf 
 under General Amherst, made its appearance on Lakffl 
 George; and at its approach the positions of Ticonderoga 
 and Crown Point were abandoned by the French as untena- 
 ble, as they doubtlei^s were, as more recent events proved, 
 and they abandoned them for ever. 
 
 In 1777, when Ticonderoga and Crown Point were occu- 
 pied by the Americans for the last time, as important military 
 posts, they abandoned them when General Burgoyne ap- 
 proached; and since the revolutionary war, and our froTJtier 
 has been so much extended to the north, they are looked 
 upon as. almost the only relics and ruins of any note in this 
 State that are invested with the garb of a moderate antiquity 
 and veneration. 
 
 Fori George, at the head of the lake, still presents its out- 
 line and circular massy wall, and ramparts of stone 20 feet 
 hiofh, and in good condition, a short distance east from those 
 of Fort William Henry, and one-fourth mile back from the 
 strand ; and here is also the best view of the widest part 
 of the lake, and of the north-west bay, and of the ranges of 
 mountains for 20 miles, and of several of the largest islands, 
 and of the head promontory before alluded to, and of the 
 shelving rock that intrudes from the east far into the lake, 
 and beyond which the eastern arm of the lake turns to- 
 the right. 
 
 The passage across the lake by steam-boat from Caldwell, 
 36 miles north, fare about $2, is made daily, in summer, to 
 gratify tourists and travelers ; that at Ticonderoga can inter- 
 sect the boat that touches there daily, and continue on up or 
 down the lower lake. Those wishing to return to Caldwell 
 the same day, can do it by the return of the boat, but stran- 
 gers usually devote the remainder of the day to Ticonderoga, 
 three miles beyond the landing, and a very agreeable walk 
 along the outlet and falls of Lake George, estimated at a 
 descent of 150 to 300 feet ; the surface of Lake George is 243 
 feet above tide, the greatest depth 60 fathoms ; its sources, 
 probably, from the deepest, coldest, and purest springs, as it 
 has no rivers of any consequence running into it. 
 
 The lake is frozen about 25th December, and remains 
 closed usually three and a half or four months, when, without 
 sinking, as it does in Lake Champlain, the ice gradually dis- 
 solves. There is no current, except near the outlet, and the 
 shores being rocky or gravelly, the water is pure and potable, 
 
Excursion on Lake George. 14i 
 
 and has no lime; the borders are the seat of health, and fever 
 and ague is a stranger. Tlie melting ofthe snowin spring only 
 raises the lake one or two feet. The prevalent winds are N. E. 
 and S. VV, There are more settlements on the west than 
 on the east side of the lake on the slopes, from a few rods 
 to a mile wide, reaching up tiie mountain, that will, some 
 future day, be decked out all in terraces and villas, for it is im- 
 possible that such charming sites should be always neglected. 
 Deer and bears still abound on the moiintains, and the 
 depths of the lake with the largest and Snest trout, bass, and 
 perch, and the lofty cliffi of the hills and crags with eagles 
 and rattlesnakes; and for these Mount Prospect has an espe- 
 cial bad name, that is to be regretted, as it is said to command 
 a capital view of the lake, and between the dread of one and 
 the love of the other, "de gusiibus non est disputandem." 
 
 Excisrsioii osi JLake Oeor§:e. 
 
 Every traveler in making an excursion on this lake, if he 
 'js favored with a proportion of suitable weather, clear and 
 -cloudy, fair and foul, to see the changes of the scene, the 
 'lights and shades, and hear the effect of echos from a heavy 
 thunder-storm reverberated from the amphitheatre of moun- 
 'iains, will enroll it in the calendar of his life as one of th« 
 most memorable epochs of his existence. 
 
 On putting out from the village on the broad surface of the 
 pellucid crystal waters of the lake, the enjoyment begins by 
 the contemplation of the surrounding panorama, the noble 
 mountains on the east, with their deep shadows reflected in 
 the water-mirror at tiieir base, the graceful slopes on the 
 west, and the border on the south, with the acclivity covered 
 with a fine green sward, interspersed with groups of forest- 
 trees, and a handsome sprinkling of evergreens. The time- 
 worn battlements of Forts George and William Henry, half 
 shrouded in moss and shrubbery, are invested with a hallowed 
 interest from the associations of the stirring events of by-gone 
 days of war and chivalry that those walls and the pinnacles 
 of the adjacent mountains have witnessed. 
 
 The islands and shores soon come in for a large share of 
 
 the tourist's admiration. The beauty, variety, and grace of 
 
 the curves of the finely wooded margin of the lake, with 
 
 forests and groves rising at various angles, or overshadowing 
 
 13 
 
146 Ttcelve Mile Island. 
 
 and formuig nalural arbors of the many recesses and /nder^ 
 tations that arc presented in endless variety on both shores 5 
 the deep umbrageous twilig^ht effect of some masses of trees 
 and underwood, is contrasted with the more open and gay 
 lawns and groves, that aj)pear prepared for the rural fete or 
 merry dance. The smooth slopes and cheerful borders, that 
 are already partially occupied by the |)rirnitive settlers, or 
 their immediate descendants, and that have made themselves 
 rudely comfortable and happy in the rough log-hut or more 
 finished tenement, extend for mile;?, and are followed by pro- 
 montories encroaching boldly into the lake, and forbidding 
 access to the husbandman. The pomts are varied, acute, and 
 angular, gliding into rounded and circular, followed by fretted 
 ami scolloped margins, or a beach of bright yellow, or golden, 
 or light-colored sand, displaying the purity and transparency 
 of the waters, and tempting the feet of the nymph to tread its 
 unsullied margin, or to bathe in its soft, and shining, or glis- 
 tening waters. 
 
 The spurs, or angles of the mountains, at times intrude far 
 out in the lake, and are covered with the native forest; and 
 at others are but long- narrow ridges stretching horizontally, 
 or with a graceful declination to meet the surface of the wa- 
 ters; or they assume the appearance of islands m the loom- 
 ing up of the distant perspective. 
 
 After continuing on for ten miles, a bare spot, denuded of 
 its forest and shrubbery, is observed, where the hunters are in 
 the habit, annually, of setting fire to the last year's dry grass, 
 to admit of the new growth of the spring to come forth, and 
 tempt the deer from their haunts, that soon after are seen to 
 frequent it in herds, when the noisy yelping of the hounds, 
 and the sharp crack of the rifles, are heard echoing and faintly 
 responding from amid the distant hills. These fires sometimes 
 range uncontrolled in the forest, and have a sad and destruc- 
 tive influence on the landscape, but at night the effect of one 
 of these conflagrations is truly sublime. 
 
 '^l\celve Mile Island, so called from its computed distance 
 from the head of the lake, is 35 feet in elevation, contains 
 over 20 acres, and is very near the centre of the lake, and of 
 a circular form, and only requires to be preserved in all its 
 pristine beauty. 
 
 Beyond this round island, the lake in one mile divides into 
 two prongs, that to the left being the north-west bay, six miles 
 long, and the other the northeast bay leading to the outlet 
 
Fairy Group of Islands. 147 
 
 and landing"; between the two prongs rises the noble heaH- 
 Sand or promontory of Tongue Mountain to a heigiit of 1,400 
 feet, that abuts boldly forth, and lords it over the opposite 
 heights, and looks <1owr upon the lake that at its base has a 
 doptii of several hundred feet, and upon the clustering islands 
 that here begin and form the narrows, for six or seven miles. 
 The mountain can be ascended from the rear, but at great 
 risk of reptiles and being bewildered in the forest; but the 
 view from the summit is surpassingly beautiful. 
 
 The Fairy Group of Islands now thicken as we proceed, 
 and assume infinite variety in shape and feature; some i>eing 
 in groups, or families, of five to twenty or thirty, or twin-like, 
 or iii solitary beauties, standing out for admiration, or more 
 coyly retiring from the public gaze, and requiring to be sought 
 out from the concealments of the labyrinth, ever changing, 
 ever new, to the enchanted beliolder, that delights to repeat 
 bis explorations as he discovers new beauties at every repeti- 
 tion of his visit as he lingers among these embowered Borro- 
 mean isles. 
 
 There are such an infinity of forms of beauty in their figure 
 and dimensions, that nature appeain, as it is in truth, inex- 
 baustible in resources; some are mere islets or naked rocks, 
 in contrast with tufted and brilliant verdant spots, of a tew 
 feel to a furlong or a mile in length ; the vegetation of some 
 is scanty, but in most it is perfect ; some have but a tree or 
 two, or are decorated with a feathery group, inclining like the 
 princes gracefully towards the surrounding margin ; some are 
 dense with iorest or shrubbery, others admit of winding paths 
 beneath o'ertopping trees, shaded from the noon-day sun, and 
 free from undergrowth; others, as the boat insinuates and 
 glides too rapidly past long and narrow islands, presents, for 
 a moment, apertures that disclose the near or more distant 
 mountains, or a giim[)seof sky, or of objects and forms beau- 
 tiful, evanescent, and magically changing as they are ap- 
 proached but to be admired and lost in the rapid transition. 
 
 The pine, with its tall trunk peering above all competitors, 
 waving loftily and nobly in the sky, occupies many such 
 positions; while on other islands the mnple, the beech, or the 
 oak, m liveliest verdure, and in the wild luxuriance of native 
 vigor have uncontrolled domiidon, orare seen in various stages 
 of decay, or scathed and splintcrerl by lightning. The whole 
 scene is doubly enhanced by the unruffled mirror that inverts 
 ihe forms above, of islands, trees, rocks, and winding shores 
 
148 Anihomfs Nose. 
 
 in the sky-reflected arch beneath, depicted with the truth ant! 
 coloring of nature. 
 
 If the admeasurement is correct, Black Mountain that is on 
 the east, eighteen miles from Cald^^ell^ is the hiohest crest of 
 any of the range bordering the lake, being 2,200 feet high, and 
 in front of it on the west, is the lialf way iiouse or island ; and 
 here the traveler will behold, in the next few miles, \i>e 
 choicest lake scenery. 
 
 The mountain has a serrated waving outline of much gran- 
 deur, and is densely clothed vvilh evergreens, pines, and firs. 
 
 On a projection from the west shore, 24 miles from the 
 head of tlie lake, is a prominent point named from a party of 
 English havins: had a conflict with the Indians on that day, 
 Sabbalfi-day Point. The small island, called the Saolch Bon- 
 net, is seen in three miles ; and in three miles more a cluster 
 of dwellings and mills, known as Hague, on the west shore, 
 and here the lake attains its utmost width, said to. be 4 miles. 
 
 Three miles further the traveler will notice a rock of 200 
 feet high, descending to the lake at an angle of 25 degrees,, 
 and decidedly more easy of descent than ascent ; and the tra- 
 dition is, that in the war of 1755 to 9, Major Ragers, a partir- 
 zan officer, equal to Putnam in intrepidity and hatred to the 
 Indians, and being their most vindictive enemy and persecu- 
 tor, found himself, when pursued and nearly in their grasp, on 
 the verge of this inclined plane at the top of the mountain, 
 down which (it being probably covered with snow, as he had 
 liis snow-shoes on, and had no alternative) he slid, without 
 flinching, just as his pursuers W'ere upon him,, and left them 
 standing aghast and shrinking from following his nimble 
 footsteps, and beholding with amazement his charmed life, as 
 he appeared in safety at the base of the precipice, down 
 which they dared not follow. 
 
 Anlhonifs Nose, one of those singular nicknames, and such 
 Ji noted and peculiar prominence on the Mohawk, and on the 
 profileof a jutting rock and mountain in the Highlandst of the 
 Hudson, is also found here in opposite face to the Rogers^ 
 Slide ; the precipices are 50 to 100 (cet in elevation, and the 
 shores contracted amid gigantic masses of reck. Two miles 
 from the above is an island where the prisoners that were 
 taken from the French were put upon the limits, and west of 
 the island is the point wiiere the Englisli army under Lord 
 Howe, consisting of 16,00J men, were landed and marched to 
 the attack of Ticonderoga, as mentioned. 
 
Ticonderuga. 149 
 
 A huge rock fell from (he precipice at Anthony's Nose, a 
 few years since, and plunging into the lake, came very near 
 demolishing' a fisherman and sinking a canoe by tlie surge 
 !t created. 
 
 On a rock opposite to this are said to be a series of Indian 
 mortars wrought in tiie solid slone, for pounding their corn. 
 Some of them are capable of containing half a barrel, and 
 others of smaller size, smooth and circular. 
 
 The water of the Jake that has, up to this point, been of an 
 emerald green, now changes to a muddy color, from the dif- 
 ference in bottom, that is here clay instead of rock as above ; 
 and in one mile we are at the termination of our Excursion on 
 Lake George, or Horricon, as the Indian name is transmitted. 
 Three miles more by the rough and winding romantic road 
 before alluded to, along the gorge that contains the outlet of 
 the lake we have traversed, brings the traveler in sight of 
 Lake Champlain, and to the walls of old Ticonderoga. 
 
 The change in scenery when we descend to the lake below, 
 is as obvious as that of the water. There are three falls in the 
 outlet of the upper lake ; the lowest one being 100 feet, with 
 a rapiil at the bottom, and in spring they exhibit much mag- 
 nificence: at other times they are small but pleasing cascades. 
 The bottom of the upper is about on a level with the surface of 
 the lower lake. By following up the creek that comes in from 
 the west near where the steamer is left, we come to a chain 
 of small lakes near lake Pharaoh, that falls into Swan Lake, 
 one of the heads of the north-east branch of the Hudson 
 Kiver. 
 
 Cke-on-der-oga, by the Indian phrase, noise, was by the 
 French changed into Ticonderoga, and was also by them 
 named Fort Carillon, after its erection in 1756; it cost the 
 French government a large sum of money, and was consider- 
 ed to be very strong both by nature and art, being surrounded 
 on three sides by water, and by a deep swamp on part of the 
 other, and a breastwork on the remainder; but it was subse- 
 quently easily reduced by the simple expedient adopted by 
 Burgoyne, that had been before strangely overlooked, of haul- 
 ing a piece of artillery up the pinnacle of Mount Defiance 725 
 feet high, on the south side of the creek that overlooks and 
 entirely commands the fort, and from which a shot can with 
 ease be thrown into the midst of the works, that had been pro- 
 bably supposed to be too distant to be injured in that way; 
 but at the siege of Gibraltar shot were thrown 4| miles, and 
 13* 
 
150 Mount Independence. 
 
 by the French at the siege of Cadiz bombs were thrown even 
 six miles, and perhaps more 
 
 Mnnnt Independence, where some intrenchments are yet 
 visible, is on the opposite or cast shore of the lake, distant 
 one mile, with a ferry in the tovvnshipof Orwell, Vermont, is 
 of diminished height, an<l overlooks the peninsula of Ticon- 
 deroga, thouwh that land is 110 feet above the lake, and J9G 
 above xWe. Ochre, used as pigments in mailing yellow and 
 red paints, and also plumbago or black lead, are found at tiie 
 base of Mount Defiance. The village, at the head of the 
 falls, consist injfT of a ^ew houses and mills, is Alexandria ; the 
 one at the lower falls, one mile, is Ticonderoga, and has a 
 post-office. The peninsula contains about 500 acres. The 
 walls and chimnies yet remain, in part, as venerable ruins of 
 the barracks and fort, as also does the magazine, 35 feet long, 
 15 wide, and 8 high, of stone, arched and forming a complete 
 bomb-proof under earth ; there is also a covered way and 
 sallyport forming a subterranean passage from the south- 
 west corner of the old fort to the lake, the identical passage 
 that Col, Ethan Allen, of Vermont, entered in 1775, and 
 surprised the commandant in bed before he was aware of 
 his danger, and iu his characteristic way required the officer 
 to surrender. He replied, " To whom ?" " Why to Jehovah 
 and the Continental Congress, lo be sure," was the quaint 
 reply. This was the first fortress captured by the Americans 
 in the war of the revolution. 
 
 The remains of another fortification, erected during the 
 revolutionary war. are 60 rods south, on a point near the lake, 
 and the walls are 60 feet high. 
 
 The most important events, connected with this fortress, 
 by which so many thousands of human beings have been 
 ■wantonly, and rashly, and inhumanly exposed and sacrificed 
 in the campaign of 1768, under General Abercrombie, have 
 been fully detailed in our preceding pages. In 1759 the 
 French evacuated this post, that they had, with Fort Frederic 
 or Crown Point, first endowed with military importance, and 
 had expended on both vast treasures of men and money ; 
 that they tamely quitted as the powerful armament of Lord 
 Amherst approached and took possession, and it so remained 
 for 16 years, when the American revolution breaking out, it 
 was captured without bloodshed by Colonel Allen, as before 
 mentioned, in 1775, and held till 1777, when the British army 
 appeared in array before it, under the gallant Burgoyne, when 
 
St. Clair. 131 
 
 St. Clair, the American commander, M'as forced to evacuate 
 in his turn, and it fell into British possession, and was held 
 during- the war. 
 
 St. Clair dispatched tlie baggage and stores by a detach- 
 ment up the lake to Whitehall, and was followed by the Bri- 
 tish in ifnll pursuit to Fort Anne, where a skirmish ensued ; 
 but the forces under St. Clair crossed the lake to Mount In- 
 dependence, and directed their march upon Hubberlon, Ver- 
 mont, where Colonel Warner, with 1,000 men, w^as overtaken 
 and brought to action by the advanced ijuard of the British, 
 and were vanquished, and retired to Fort Edward, on the 
 Hudson, to unite with General Schuyler. In modern times 
 Ticonderoga and Crown Point are only adverted to as hav- 
 ing once been an important place in American history, a spe- 
 cies of " points d'appui," that held the keys of the lakes on 
 which the movements of fleets and armies must take place. 
 
 After finishing Lake George and Ticonderoga, the tourist 
 can take the steam-boat at Shoreham, in Vermont, one mile 
 east of Ticonderoga, and return to the south by the way of 
 Whitehall and the stage route through to Troy, or take the 
 cars for Sandy Hill, or proceed from Shoreham to Kutland 
 and Windsor, Vermont, and up or down the charming valley 
 of Connecticut River, or continue on for the north down Lake 
 Champlain to Plaltshurgh and St. John's, and thence to Mon- 
 treal and Quebec. The downward stearn-boat from Whitehall 
 usually calls at Shoreham, in the summer, before dark, but 
 from Crown Point to Plattsburgh, 46 miles, the passage is 
 made at night, there not being a line of day-boats. The price 
 of passage from Whitehall to St. John's, 160 miles, is So. 
 
 We now return back to trace our route from page 145, 
 where we diverged from the regular route to give our readers 
 the popular lake tour. 
 
 Leaving Sandy Hill in the cars or stages, we cross the sum- 
 mit level, or height of land between the Hudson River and 
 the water running north, and in a short distance the northern 
 canal that we meet at Fort Ann, the village so named, 10 
 miles from Sandy Hill and 1 1 from Whitehall, and on the site 
 of the old fort erected in 1756. It contains 60 dwellings, three 
 churches, two taverns and stores, and is surrounded by a roll- 
 ing forested country; and two miles south may be seen ves- 
 tiges of the military road of logs made in 1777 for the trans- 
 port of the artillery, baggage, and stores of Burgoyne's army 
 to Saratoga. 
 
152 GriswohVs Mills— Comstock— Whitehall. 
 
 Grisw&ld's Mills is on Half-way Brook, four miles west of 
 Fort Ann, and six north of Sandy Hill, and has 30 dwellings, 
 one grist, one saw-mill, two stores, one tavern, several forges 
 for making- anchors, a trip hammer, a furnace for castings, a 
 pottery, and a woollen factory. 
 
 Comstock, a landing on the canal, is four miles nortli from 
 Fort Ann, and is a place of much hnsiness, and has the trade 
 of the vicinity and east part of Vermont; and several vvare- 
 honses, a post-otfice, tavern, store, and 10 or 12 dwellings. 
 Canal-boats are also built here. 
 
 The canal enters Wood Creek, and for Gh miles pursues its 
 channel. There are three locks at Fort Ann, fall 24 feet into 
 Wook Creek. Jn 4i miles is ihe narrows, and in three more is 
 the dam in Wood Creek to supply the canal to Whitehall, and 
 make the creek navigable three miles al)ove to the dam-lock ; 
 and in five miles more we arrive at WhUehall, at the head of 
 Lake Champlain, TSi miles from Alliany, wliere thecanal'ter- 
 minates, and has three locks and a fall of 26 feet, and in all 
 from summit level 54, to the basin in Lake Champlain, and 
 30 to the Hudson at Fort Edward. 
 
 There are pots, or water-worn cavities in the hard gneis 
 rock at the narroios on Wood Creek, near 50 feet above its 
 present level, that clearly indicate tiie former existence of a 
 much larger body of water discharging itself north through 
 the depression of Lake Champlain; and as the Hudson, at 
 Sandy Hill, is only 126 feet above tide at Troy, a surmise ex- 
 ists that this current from the Hudson to the St. Lawrence 
 formerly obtained, or the dividing ridge may have been up- 
 heaved by earthquakes. 
 
 Wkitehall, formerly Skenesborough, 73 miles from Alba- 
 ny, has 150 dwellings, a bank, many warehouses for the 
 commission and forwarding trade, two large hotels, 20 gene- 
 ral stores, and 2,500 inhabitants ; a Presbyterian and a Me- 
 thodist church, and Societies of Universalists, Catholics, and 
 Baptists. It commands the steamboat business from thesouth 
 down tiie lake, and the canal trade, and also that of a con- 
 siderable region around. A steam-boat leaves daily during 
 the season for St. John's, Canada, 150 miles distant, touching 
 at the several landings. 
 
 This place has much of the aspect of a port, and there are 
 many sloops owned here, canal- boats, &c. There is not much 
 room for wide streets, as it is in a defile and very restricted. 
 The houses are of the stone that is quarried on the spot, and 
 
WhUehalL 153 
 
 many may be said *o rise out of their cellars on knolls aiuS 
 elevations, and others at the edge of the harbor. 
 
 The Aboriginal name of this place was Kah-cho-qua-na, the 
 j)lace to dip feet, at the fool of the lalls near the village where 
 the Wood Creek, and Pawlet River unite. Here may be seen 
 rotting- in the mud the useless hulks of the vessels captured 
 by Commodore M'Donough from the British, during the last 
 war, in the action off Plattsburgh and Cumberland Head. 
 
 The Poultney River that comes in from the north, and that 
 has its source in Rutland County, Vermont, at the l)ase of the 
 Green Mountains, and in the Lake Bombazine, in Castleton, 
 five miles long, in 1783 made for itself a new channel by an 
 impetuous rush of water, the result of some outbursting of a 
 mountain lake, or of a water-spout that forced and cut iis way 
 60 feet deep through a ridge, and carrying so large a quantity 
 of earth into the east bay, as to choke up, for a season, its 
 navigation. 
 
 From Fort Ann to Whitehall, 1 1 miles, the canal runs side by 
 side with Wood Creek, so near that a pistol shot will reach 
 either, and we here see the truth of the principle of Brindley, 
 the engineer of the Duke of Bridgcwater's canal, who being 
 questioned before the House of Commons, what bethought 
 rivers were made for, replied, "to feed navigable canals ;" 
 anfi although the channel of Wood Creek is actually used for 
 canal purposes for six or seven miles, yet as it has a strong 
 current difficult to stem in coming from Whitehall, the canal 
 is preferable. At one remarkable spot the road j)asses over, 
 for several hundred feet, the surface of a bare rock, called the 
 " DeviVs Dining Table.^'' There is a variety of hill and dale, 
 barren rocks, swamps, tracts of clay, alluvion, and of rich 
 mould in this county. 
 
 At Whitehall Burgoyne destroyed the American flotilla in 
 1777, and the baggage and stores of the American army, and 
 had his head quarters for some time, while his troops were 
 forming a road and clearing obstructions (that the Americans 
 had prepared to oppose their progress,) to enable him to get 
 on with his army and materiel the short distance to Fort 
 Edward, and to accomplish this he spent so much time, and 
 subsequently in camp at Fort Edward in waiting for his 
 provisions, artillery, &c. to arrive from Whitehall, that the 
 Americans had time to rally their militia from all quarters, 
 and poured in her hardy mountaineers frora Vermont, New 
 
154 Short Tours near New- York. 
 
 Hampshire, Massachusetts and Connecticut, and soon turned 
 back the current of invasion. 
 
 The remains of an intrenchment thrown up at that time by 
 the Enplisli, may yet be seen on the hill overlooking the basin, 
 she village, and the falls of Wood Creek, and the canal and 
 locks tliat are compressed side by side; nature versus art. 
 A path leads to the summit; there is a bridge over Wood 
 Creek. 
 
 The rocks are beautifully stratified in horizontal and per- 
 pendicular lines, similar to masonry, and this is seen in oilier 
 places as we pass on. 
 
 'J'he summit of Skene's Mountain at Whitehall is 588 feel. 
 
 ^hort ToHrs Eiear I^ew-Yoali. 
 
 A few suggestions as to the many cheap and agreable ex- 
 cursions, lides, tours, &c. that are j)resente(l to the stranger 
 in the vicinity of this metropolis, having but a (ew hours or 
 days to allot for this purpose, may be useful to many of our 
 readers. 
 
 Long Island may be viewed cursorily by a ride in the rail- 
 road cars starting from the Battery, and crossing the south 
 ferry at nine o'clock in the moining to Atlantic-street, having 
 a glim[)se at a portion of Brooldyn and of its suburbs, the 
 Navy Yard, Marine Hospital, and then by Bedford and across 
 the hills, the scene of the battle of August, 1776, when the 
 Amcricanf? were defeated by the British, and ]New-York was 
 captured, — the traveler will have in view soon after starting 
 the meadows to the south, and the mill at Gowanus and the 
 hUls adjacent, where Gen. Sullivan was captured, and in that 
 vicinity is now forming an ornamental enclosure of 200 acres, 
 the Greenwood Cemetery, on the most beautitid plan, even 
 now worth a visit, and when matured, destined to be of pow- 
 erful attraction. 
 
 The train dashes through the Bedford and Flatbush hills, 
 and the deep cut of the summit level, and the dense woods 
 that cover the surface for a mile or two, when, on attaining- 
 the (aco of the level plain skirting the base of the hills that 
 rrend north-east and south-west, the view is momentarily 
 
Jamaica— Rockaicay, l-iS* 
 
 ighted up, and suddeuiy extended to the south-east, and the 
 ;ye glancing over and around the fertile fields in view, be- 
 lolds in the remotest distance the waters of the Atlantic 
 Ocean; but as the level of the road is soon depressed as 
 ve skim onward to the east, the view becomes limited and 
 confined, and the train is for a few seconds slackened at the 
 loted Union Race Course, where fields and fortunes are lost 
 md won ; where the Eclipses and Henrys^ and the favorites 
 )f the sporting field for the day and hour, pass in rapid suc- 
 •ession before the bewildered gaze of thousands at such times 
 issembled. 
 
 Tii'3 extensive, and remarkable, and prairie-like surface 
 low beheld, continues east for 80 miles. The rail-road at pre- 
 lent terminates at Hicksvillc,^! miles from Brooklyn ; and in 
 massing onward and through the borders of the silent and 
 )leasant village of Jamaicaand residences that abound in this 
 ■ural, pleasant, smiling, and rich country, we pass the late 
 esidence of that distinguished statesman Rufiis King, situ- 
 (ted near the main road on the north, embowered in trees 
 md shrubbery (after entering the village) in the vicinity of 
 he Episcopal church. 
 
 Rockaicmj, a celebrated bathing-place on the sea shore, 
 line miles south of Jamaica, may soon be reached, and here 
 s an extensive erection, the Marine Pavillion, that when open 
 o the public gives accommodation for hundreds, and from 
 ts galleries and colonades, and front of 225 feet, a conspicu- 
 )us view of the grar^deur of the heaving, tumultuous, Atlantic, 
 vith its foaming billows curling, dashing, and thundering on 
 he hard sandy beach, beneath the eye of the delighted 
 ouiist. 
 
 A branch of the Long Island rail-road extends three miles 
 o Hempstead on the plains of that name; it is a small but 
 ively village of over a hundred houses. 
 
 The tourist can extend his visit to Oyster Bay on Long 
 sland Sound, 10 or L5 miles north of Hicksville, and return 
 rom thence to New- York by steam- boat, or get to Flushing 
 m!y five miles north of Jamaica, and visit Prince's extensive 
 grounds and korticidliiral establishment, and the fine old oak 
 rees near by, venerated by the society of Friends or Quakers, 
 IS having shaded, about 200 years since, George Fox, a cele- 
 »rated preacher of their persuasion ; and in leaving that place 
 )y steam-boat at seven in the morning or three in the afier- 
 loon, soon after passing through the celebrated rocky, virinJ- 
 
156 Long' Island Excursion. 
 
 ing channel at the western extremity of Long Island Sound, 
 termed Hurlgale, the boat touches at Halleti's Cove, (now 
 Astoria,) and here let the tourist step on shore, and visit the 
 beautiful residence and horticultural and floral establishment 
 of Mr. Grant Tkorburn, (the Lawric Todd of one of Gait's? 
 novel?,) and after examining his extensive green-houses, and 
 enjoying his peculiar colloquial talents, and viewing the 
 neighboring grounds and the extensive public editices on 
 BlackiveW$ Island, in front the Lunatic Jlsylum and the large 
 Penitentiary, the tourist can cross the ferry from Halleti's 
 i;ove, and walk up the hill through 86th-street to the 4th ave- 
 nue at the summit bridge, and either take the rail-road cars to 
 go through the Tunnel to Harlem, two miles north, and see 
 Hall's garden and embellished grounds, or return to the city. 
 
 The Lo7ig Island Excursion, far as Jnvinica, and the visit 
 to Flushings and to Mr. Thorburn's, may be effected between 
 nine A. M. and six P.M. — expense $1 50 — if to Hicksviile 
 and Oyster Bay, the expense may be doubled. 
 
 The ride from New- York or Brooklyn, over the hills to 
 Flatbush, and to the sea-beach of Coney Island; and to Balh, 
 (where the British troops landed in 1776 under cover of the guns 
 of their fleet, that lay moored in a crescent form,) and thence 
 taking the road to Fort Hamilton, at the narrows, and by the 
 margin of the harbor of New- York, will make a circuit of 20 
 to 25 miles, and give the utmost gratification, 
 
 A few hours should be devoted to an excursion in a car- 
 riage, or on foot, around the hills of Staten Island, 6 to 10 
 miles distant, touching at New Brighton, the narrows and 
 driving on the elevated terrace past the residences of John 
 Anthon and Grymes. 
 
 The Falls of the Passaic, and the large manufacturing vil- 
 lage of Patterson, 16 miles to the north-west, may be reached 
 in an hour by starting from Powles Hook in the rail-road cars. 
 
 Hohoken, on the Jersey shore, IVeekawken, and Fort Lee. 
 are in 2 to 10 miles, and may hourly be seen and reached 
 by steam-boats. 
 
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