■ V5:-\ ^^ % .^**" .-^^m ''*--..*^'' /«•- \ .' .Ov ''■^"^ ^.- .^ .3^"-. .-Jy •^ ;> 1 * ^l P^ .0- .^' V. '^^ .'^"^ / ^0^ A^^ .^^"-^ °:%^C\^.' .^^ v\ ^oy ' ^V" , °^ ^ .0- %^<^ \> s • • > '- S^^ ^^0^ ^V-»' ^> ^ >^^ A 4 O ^^^ 7 . ■<:'-<.^ HI z o h- < c \il z o LU I I- Things Fl^orth Knowing About Oneida County By W. W. CANFIEI>D AND J. E. CLARK THOMAS J. GRIFFITHS UTICA, NEW YORK 1 909 .05 C, a. COPYRIGHT 1909 By THOMAS J. GRIFFITHS. UTICA, N. Y. TRANSFERRED 00fv;„'artr .. Contents Page. The Keystone County 9 The Great Pass 9 l[le\ations 11 ^ J.akes 12 Streams 1 j Scener)' 13 Geological Formation 14 Early Designation 15 Tryon County ' . . . . 16 White's Town t6 Date of Erection vy The Aborigines rg Age of Confederacy 20 The Tribes 20 I lome (^f the Oneidas 21 Numbers 21 Treatment of 22 hjiglish Influence 23 Kirkland's Influence 24 Line of Property 26 Second Treaty zy Power Broken 27 Last Indian Lands 28 Council Fire Fxtino-uished 28 Page. The Oneida Stone 29 History of Oneida Stone 30 Inscription 34 dlie Highway and the Forts 35 The Carrying Place 35 The Forts 36 Date of Building- 37 Uses of the Forts 38 Confusion of Names 39 Character of the Forts 39 The Fort Bull Massacre 43 Plan of Campaign 44 Invasion from Canada 45 The Attack 46 Massacre and Repulse 47 The Battle of Oriskany 49 Its Great Importance 49 Conditions 50 The Forces 5 ^ Advance of St. Leger 52 Patriot Farmers Aroused 53 Herkimer's Advance 54 The Ambush 54 Sortie at Fort Stanwix 56 Duration of Battle 57 Losses 57 Fffect 58 Tlie Battle Monument 59 Slorv of the VVaq- 60 Page. The Fort Slanwix Flag 62 First Displayed in Battle 63 The Roads . ; 65 Trails and Post Roads 65 State Flighways 66 Lotteries to Aid 67 Improved Conditions (>i':\'A'n()N.s. — rile hills on the southern side of the valley rise to a maximum height of [,307 feet, while on the north side the greatest height is Bell hill. This is iiisected by the Oneida- Herkimer coimty line and is 1,582 feet above the sea. The distance from hill to hill at this part of the valley is ten miles. From the summit of Steel's hill directly south of Utica to Smith's^ hill, the highest point in the Mohawk range just north of the city, the distance is nine miles. Westward from Utica the Mohawk valley ranges on either side are of ksser heights. On the .south side the\- are intercepted by tributary valleys, and on the north side sweep into table lands, or diminish toward the pass at Rome. The general lay of the land included within the lines of Oneida may be gleaned from the altitudes of familiar and prominent points. Myers hill in the town of Forestport is 1,765 feet above the sea; Starr hill in Steuben is r,8oo feet; the village of Trenton is 841 12 Uiicida Counly feet: the villag-e of Hinckley is 1.168 feet; Paris Hill, .a beautiful tableland, is 1,542 feet; Crow hill in Kirk- land is 1.303 feet: the Oriskany battlefield monument is 540 feet; Rome is 430 feet; Oneida lake is 370 feet; the ]\IohaA\k ^•alle}' at the Oneida-Herkimer county line is 400 feet. The highest point in the county is Tassell hill in the town of Marshall near the junction -of that township with Bridgewater and Sang-erfield. It has an altitude of 1.985 feet. The city of Rome is built partly on the watershed separating the waters which flow to the ocean through the Hudson and those which flow to the ocean through the St. Lawrence. \\^3od creek and the Mohawk river, the former going to Oneida lake and to the St. Lawrence and the latter to the Hudson, are but a mile apart at Rome, a circumstance which will be referred to later in a manner commensurate with its importance. And it is at this point that we find the loAvest pass in the Appalachian system — 430 feet above the mean sea level. Lakes. — The lakes of the county are White lake, Long lake. Round lake. Big i^ond and a portion of Oneida lake. Stre.\A[S. — Raised b\' nature like a triumphant seat in New York's galax\- of counties. Oneida's springs, gushing from its hillsides, send their sparkling drops to the ocean in all directions — east, west, north and Otitliitc History. 13 south, a fountain-head in fact as well as in metaphor. Fish creek, draining northern and western portions, reaches the Atlantic by Oneida lake, Oneida river, Oswego river, Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence. The waters of the northeast drain into the Black river and eventually reach the St. Lawrence. The western side drains to Oneida lake. In the southeast and the southwest portions the waters through the Chenango, the Susquehanna and the L^nadilla rivers flow to Chesapeake bay. The great central part and a con- siderable portion of the far north and the south is drained by the Mohawk, which may be fairly said to rise in this county, and its waters flow to the sea thr(^ugh the Hudson. Thus sits Oneida in the center of the state, or like a keystone in a great arch of counties extending from New York bay to Lake Erie. Beauty of Scenery. — The scenery of Oneida county may justly be termed beautiful. The valley of the Afohawk is one of the most remarkable in the world. f(M- it is rich alike in soil and in topographic effect. It lies in the Empire State like the golden horn of plenty. The lesser valleys and the tablelands abound in views which excite admiration, while for generations the wonders of Trenton Falls ha^^e attracted tra\'elers from all parts of the continent to behold a remarkable work I if nature. This cleft in the Trenton limestone 14 Oneida County is to scientists like the drawing of a curtain allowing a peep at a portion of the world's past. The series of falls which the water takes in its course through the gorge are among the finest to be found on the North American continent. Fish creek in the town of Annsville presents another gorge of pleasing aspect as the river in its course sinks deep into the earth's hard crust. In the southern part of the county the valleys are wide, and the slopes uniformly easy. In the north the hills and valleys are sharper, and the face of nature takes a more primitive cast. As a whole, the county is a great garden yielding a ready response to the varied touch of industry. Originally the face of the county was deep wooded, but now it may be said to alternate between woodland and field in happy proportion. Geological Formation. — The composition of the earth's crust within the confines of this county contains an exceptional variety of formations. There is found everything from the arch?ean, or primitive (the rocks in w^hich no traces of life have thus far been discov- ered), to the carboniferous (a formation characterized bv traces of the presence of ancient forms of life). This region therefore affords a wonderful field for th'.' stntly of geology. The portion of the county lying south of the Mohawk contains a great strata of iron ore, much of which has Outline Historv. 15 "been quarried ami reduced to crude iron. Ore is also found in the northern section, but not in such generous quantities as in the southern, where the supply is said to be almost inexhaustible. Other minerals found are waterlime and gypsum, bog and magnetic ore, marl and peat. There are remarkable mineral springs in many places, and there is much tine building stone. Gold has been found in small quantities, as have oil and gas, and once the state legislature made an appro- priation looking toward the development of a salt spring which was reporteeriod n the buried past of this portion of the state, and all we know of its history is gained from legend and stories told by the red men to hunters and trappers who penetrated the fastness of the virgin country. Il is known in a general way that even before the voyage of Columbus, a powerful Confederacy, more advanced in its system of government than were many of the •states of Europe at that time, held sway over all the 20 Oneida County territory that swept from Ottawa to Lake Huron oit the north, and from the mouth of the Sorel to a point where the Ohio falls into the Mississippi on the west. They spoke of themselves to the early French as Ongwe-Honwe, men surpassing all others ; but the French gave to them the name Iroquois, or the people of the long house. Legendary. — The date of the formation of this Confederacy is not known, but a well-authenticated legend places the date upon a year in which occurred a total eclipse of the sun at the time of the "green corn festival." This would be in 145 1, or forty-one years before Columbus landed at San Salvador. Undoubted history presents these Iroquois as united and main- taining their political organization for more than three hundred years before the}^ were finally broken up b\- the onward march of a greater civilization. The Tribes. — The Iroquois Confederacy was originally composed of five tribes. The Mohawks kept the door of the long house on the east; the Oneidas and Onondagas guarded the center of the line from attack from either north or south ; the Cayugas and Senecas watched with equal A'alor and vigilance the' west. In T715 the Tuscaroras. a tribe that had been the title <>f Britain ancf its allies. Patents. — Recognizing this title, the English gov- ernment by treaties acquired numerous tracts fr(~»m the Iroquois as patents, and these in turn were bestowed upon favorites of the government and those who had rendered especial service. It was in this way that permanent English settlements made their appearance, and chief among these was the one at Johnstown, in which Sir William Johnson represented the crown. Kavorkd England. — It is not a matter tor surprise that when the Revolution came the larger part of the Iroquois were favorable to the side of the parent gov- ernment. One <^f the chief factors in bringing about this C(^ndition was a Mohawk half-breed. J(iseph Rrant — Thayendanegea. Possessed of more than ordinary gifts, he had enjoyed peculiar advantages for their cultivation. His sister Molly was the mistress oi Sir William Johnson, and Johnson had made it possible for Brant to secure a fair English education, and after- wards a position connected with the Indian agency which he held until the opening of the war. .\bout that time Rrant made a visit to England and was received with such marked attention by the nobilit\ that he became the avowed ally of the British governineiit. He was de.scended from a sachem of the Mohawks and had attainerl the high honor of a recognized chief of the 24 Unci da County Confederacy. As a leader of his people he was exhaust- less in expedients, of tireless energy, dauntless courage, lofty and chivalrous bearing — a tower of strength to his friends and a terror to his foes. To a student of the history of his times, the name of Brant awakens recol- lections of slaughter, massacre, plunder, pillage, burning- and devastation for which men still justly execrate his name and stigmatize his memory. Kirkland's Influence. — But Brant had little influence with the Oneidas. In July, 1766. ten years before the Revolution, the Rev. Samuel Kirkland took up his residence with the Oneidas at Oneida Castle and established the first permanent Protestant mission ever located in Oneida county. It is impossible to estimate the fruits of the Rev. Mr. Kirkland's labors. He was born in Connecticut and possessed with his great piety an intense patriotism for his native country. Step by step he led the Oneidas into that condition of thought that urged upon them the justice of the cause for which the settlers were fighting. Great as was the Con- federacy of Avhich they were no inconsiderable part, strong as must have been their traditions and their love for those with whom they had been linked for centuries, Kirkland held the Oneidas back and the\- refused to engage in the war of the Revolution as allies of Britain. Had the}' joined with the other tribes, the struggle for libertv would have been the harder and might have Oiifliiic History. 25 iitterlv failed. A little thing- might have turned the balance at the time when Burgoyne was sweeping down bv Lake Champlain and St. I.eger was advancing from Oswego to ravage the Mohawk Valley. Brant was aware of the inlUience Rev. Mr. Kirkland exerted with the Oneidas. and through his instigation and upon recommendation of Col. Guy Johnson (the successor of Sir William Johnson) the devoted mis- sioner was compelled to leave the Oneidas ; but they remembered his teachings and could not be swayed by Brant from their determination and promise to be neutral. The Oneidas took no part with the British in the war of the Revolution, and. indeed, there is not lacking evidence of the claim that they gaAc to tlie settlers of the Mohawk Valley timely warning of the intention of the British and Indians to push down the valley from Fort Stanwix and with fire and sword destro}- all. Tt is not recorded that within the territory of Oneida countv occurred an\- of those terrible Indian massacres that make up distressing" pages in the history- of other sections of the state. Fortunatelv it was not the lot of this county to have in its story a chapter as dark as that which belongs to Schenectady. Cherry A'^alley. New- town CElmira). or Oswego. The account of its battles, written in another chapter, contains enough of renown, and it is with relief that the student of our liistor\- finds 26 Oneida County in the struggle for supremacy little that has at its foundation cruel massacre. The Line of Property. — In September, 1768, Sir William Johnson, accompanied by the governor of New Jersey, William Franklin, and a number of England's representatives, set out for Fort Stanwix with twenty boat-loads of goods. The Iroquois had been summoned to meet with him, but were slow in assembling, and it was not till October 24 that the council was opened. There were at that time about 2.000 Indians present. At this council the Indians ceded to the whites lands east of a line called "The Line of Property." This line began at the mouth of the Tennessee river: thence up the Ohio river to Fort Pitt (Pittsburg) : thence up the Allegheny river to Fort Kittaning-; thence nearly east over the Allegheny mountains to Bald Eagle creek : thence northeast to the east branch of the Susquehanna river ; thence northeast to the mouth of the east branch of the Delaware river ; thence up the west or Mohawk branch of the Delaware : thence up the L^nadilla river to its head : thence by a direct line to the east branch of Fish creek in Oneida count}' : thence north to the mouth of French creek, the present site of the village of ClaA'ton, on the St. Lawrence river. Just at the foot of College hill in the village of Clinton mav be seen a stone monument erected by the Hamilton College class of 1887 to mark this "Line of Property." THE LINE OF PROPERTY MONUMENT. Oiifliiic History. 27 (' Second Trkatv. — After the Revolution, October 22. 1784, another great ct)nncil was held at Fort Stanwix at which Arthur W'olcott, Richard l>utlcr and Arthur Lee, commissioners appointed by Cong-ress, treated with the Indians, except the Mohawks, wdio had fled to Canada. The Marquis de LaFayette was present at this treaty. The Indians at this time ceded to the whites all their lands 'Avest of a line from Lake Ontario four miles east of the Niagara river, to Buffalo creek ; thence south to Pennsylvania ; thence west to the end of Pennsylvania : thence sotith along the west bounds of that state to the Ohio river." Thus at Fort Stanwix the Tr(K[uois parted with the greater pcn-tion of their magnificent empire in these tw^o treaties — and the terms were certainly not creditable to the whites. The Indians still retained title to the interior of New York state from the eastern end of Oneida lake to a ])oint four miles east of the Niagara river. Powi:r Broken. — Tn 1779 an expedition was con- ducted by Gen. J(^hn Sulli\'an through the country of the Senecas, Ca}ugas ami Onondagas. It broke the ])ower of the Ir()(|uois. for their crops and towms were burned and many of their {"ycojile were slain. The Oneidas w-ere not molested b\- this expedition. The Senecas. Cayugas, Onondagas and Tuscaroras then treated with the state and accepted the few reservations to which thev still hold title. 28 Oiicida Coinifx Last Ixdian Lands. — -\t Fort Stanwix again, in 1/88, the Oneidas, who had been so loyal to the colonists, for the beggarl}- pittance of $2,000 worth of clothing, $1,000 worth of provisions, and some help toward building a grist and saw mill at their village, ceded to the state nearly all their lands, making but few reservations. From that time up to 1846 the Oneidas continued to sell their lands piecemeal, but receiving more just compensation. With the money thus received they were enabled to purchase at Green Bay, Wis- consin, a reservation to which most of them removed and upon \\hich they reside at the present time. A few families remained near Oneida Castle and their descendants now live there and hold their lands in severalty. The Council Fire Extinguished. — Before dis- missing this subject it is proper to draw attention to two more historical incidents. On the 19th of January, 1777, a delegation of Oneida Indians visited Fort Stanwix (then known as Fort Schuyler) and to the commanding officer in charge stated that the great coimcil fire of the Iroquois at Onondaga had been extinguished for all time, and that the Confederacy of the Six Nations was a thing of the past. Hence- forth the tribes must be treated with separately, for the first republic on .^merican soil had expired while the second greater and grander republic was in the doubt- ful struggles of its infancy. Outline History. 29 . One Rk.maixixc, .Moxumkxt. — The Indians neither wrote historA- ntM- buildcd monuments. Their hteratnre consisted simplv of heautiftil legends which were handed down from one generation to another, and which were told so often by the elders of the tribes that thev were learned by the younger generation and then in turn comnuinicated by them to those who came after. I'\"w of these legends have 1)een preserved with an\- faithfulness as to accuracy until the [jresent day; but these and stMiic ])ieces of wampum or picture writing c»^niprise all the literatiu'e remaining of these ])eo])le that was not written by their enemies. The Oxeid.v StoxI':. — In all the \ast territory over which the red men held swa}- there remains n(^t a vestige of a Iiabitation once occupied b\- them. They built no ])ermanent strtictures and they carried out 110 abiding improvements. Thus it happens that within the county of Oneida there remains but one Indian montiment — the Sacred Stone of the Oneidas. MoxuMEXT l^iiESERVED. — Near the entrance to Forest Hill Cemetery. I'^tica, is a large field stone, which in ap])earance is n(^t unlike the white boulders so abundant in the .\dirondack region. It was placed there in the fall of 184Q by the trustees of the I'tica Cemetery .\ssociation. and it will probably remain in its ])resent location as long as time shall last. After the main b(^dv of the Oneidas had remo\-ed to Green 30 Oneida Cuuiify Bay, Wisconsin (in 1846), the few members of the tribe remaining in this locahty reahzed that as a people possessing a distinct organization their days were num- bered, and they therefore made known a desire that the Sacred Stone of the Oneidas should be preserved. Se\eral trustees of the Cemetery Association visited St()ckl)ri(lge. Alathson count}", to inspect the stone, and in the autumn of 1849. Dr. M. M. Bagg and Julius A. Spencer drove to Stockbridge. accompanied by a heavy wagon dra^^'n by four horses, and the stone w^as brought to the cemetery. Several Indians returned with it and saw the stone deposited in the place it has since occupied. History of the Stone. — The cemetery was formallv opened and dedicated in the spring of 1850. and at that time AMlliam Tracy of Utica wrote the following history of the stone : "At a prominent position near the entrance of the cemeterv stands the palladium of the Oneidas, the sacred stone w'hich gave them their national name and which is said to have followed them in all their wan- derings. The legend is that the Oneidas. whose territorv extended from the countr}- of the Onondagas to tliat of the Mohawks, occupying all of Central New ^'ork. were descended from two Onc^ndaga Indians who were brothers. At a \-ery remote ])eriod they left their native home and l)ui1t wigwams on the Oneida Outline History. 31 river, at the outlet of Oneida lake, where, like the ante- diluvians, they 'builded a city" and 'begat sons and daughters.' At their resting place there appeared an oblong, roundish stone, unlike any of the rocks in the vicinit)' which came there to be their sacrificial altar and to gi\e a name to their children. "Onia, in their native tong^ue, is the word for a stone. .\s their descendants increased in number and became knowifas a communitw the}" were called after it Oniota-Aug. the people of the stone or who sprung from the stone. The particle Aug furnished the plural and left the singular form (^f the word Oniota, a man sprung from the stone — applical)le to an indi\idual. A mispronunciation has gi\en us the word Oneida. The stone was the altar upon which their sacrifices were made and around which their councils and festive and religious gatherings took place. After the lapse of sex'eral ages the Oniota-Aug, now become numerous, removed from the Oneida ri\er to the ]:)lace where the creek, which now bears their name, is discharged into the (Oneida lake, and the sacred stone, unassisted b)- human liands. followed ihem and located itself again in their midst. Here the}' flourished until the con- federati(Mi of the \'Wc Nations was formed, and the children of the stone became second in the order of precedence in the Confederacy. At length it was deter- mined bv the old men and warriors of the nation to remo\-e their council fire to the summit of one of the 32 ()itcida CoitJtfy chain of hills which on the east skirt the vallev of the Oneida creek. The one chosen for the new seat of the tribe is in the town of Stockbridge, and about i8 miles distant from its former residence. It commands a view of one of the most beautiful valleys in our own or indeed in any country, extending from the lake southward some thirty miles. "When the council of the nation had selected this new^ home for its people, the stone, true to its mission, a second time followed in the train of its children and seeking one of the most commanding and beautiful points of vision upon the hill, deposited itself in a beau- tiful l^utternut grove from beneath whose branches the eye could look out upon the whole distant landscape, the most lovelv portion of the national domain. Here it remained to witness the remainder of its people's history. It saw the Five Nations increase in power and importance until their name struck terror from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of A'lexico, and from the Hudson to the Father of Waters. Around this unhewn altar, within its leafy temple, was gathered all the \\is(lom of the nation when measures affecting its welfare were to l^e considered. There eloquence as effecti\e and beautiful as e\er fell from (^reek or Roman ]\\) was ])oured forth in the ears of its sons and daughters. Logan, the white man's friend, was there trained to utter words tliat burned, and there Sconon- doa, the last orator of his race, the warrior chief, the Outline History. 33 lowlv Christian convert, with matchless power, swayed the hearts of his conntrymen ; there the sacred rites were celebrated at the return of each harvest moon and each new year, when every son and daughter of the stone came up Hke the Jewish tribes of old to join in the national festivities. This was the resting- place of the stone when the tirst news came that the paleface, wiser than the red children of the (ireat Spirit, had come from be\(3nd the great water. It remained to see him. after lapse <>f many years, penetrate the forest and come among its children a stranger; to see him welcomed ])y them to a liome ; to see them shrink and wither before his lireath, until the white man's sons and daughters occupied their abodes and plowed the fields beneath whose forest covering the bones of their fathers were laid. At length the council fire of the Oneidas was extinguished. The stone no longer reeked with the blood of a sacrificed \ictim ; its people were scattered and there was no new resting place for then? to which it might betake itself and again become their altar. It was a stranger in the ancient luMne of its children, an exile ujion its own soil. "Many i:»ersons interested in the associations con- nected with this memorial of the aboriginal race desired that it might be remo\-ed to some position where it might be j'jreserved to future times. While the prejiaration of the cemetery gnmnds was in progress, it was ascertained that James H. Gregg, the 34 Oneida County prDprietor of the farm upon which it was situated, actuated by a similar feehng. would consent to its removal to some place within them, where it would remain secure from the contingencies to which it might be exposed in a ])ri\'ate domain liable to constant change of owners. It was thereupon removed to its present position: long to remain a memorial of a people celebrated for their savage virtues and once not ol)scure actors in some of the stirring passages of our country's histor}-, but who have faded before the approad of the white man and the last drops of whose blood \\\\\ soon have mingled with the earth." Appropri.vtely Txscribed. — In the spring of 1902 the cemeter}- authorities caused the sacred stone to be elevated upon a handsome base (^f ^^''esterly granite. And that those who \isit this beautiful spot may know upon whose monument they were gazing, a bronze tablet has been let into the easterly side of the base bearing this inscription : S.\CREi) Stone of the Oxicida Txdiaxs. This Stone was the National Altar of the Oneida Indians around which they gathered from \-ear to year to celebrate solemn religious rites and to worshi]) the Great Spirit. T\\\i\ were known as the tribe of the r])right Stone. This \aluable historical relic was brought here from Stockbridge, IMadison Countv. X. ^'., in 1840. ' ,' THE HIGHWAY AND THE FORTS. 'J'liR Water Route Westward — Interrupted by THE Carrying Place at Rome — Forts Erected TO Protect This Potxt — Their Names and Xumber. THE Carrying Place. — In a wilderness the course of travel is generally restricted and tor- tuous. The hrst advances arc made along lakes and rivers. Between the eastern and western doors of tlie long house of the Iroquois there was a water route whicli included the Mohawk river on the east of the watershed at Rome, and Wood creek. Oneida lake, ( )ncida and Oswego rivers and Lake Ontario on the other si(k' of the divide. At what is now Rome, the route was 1)roken 1)\- a neck of swaiup land over wluch the canoes nmst l)e carried, and this was termed "The Carrxing I'lace"' or "The Portage. "" The Dutch name for the carr)-ing ])lace was "l^row Plat."" Tlie Molinwk A'allev 1)\- land or water was the great route to tlie far west and Canada. Besides the water route there were in those earlv times trails wdiich followed the vallev. One trail coming up the valley on tlie north side cn^ssed the river at a ford near the 36 Oneida County foot of Genesee street, L tica. [here were trails from this ford to the Oneida vilhiges and to the carrying- place. The earl}^ traders and trappers who went among- tlie Iroquois and to the country beyond the territory occupied l)}- the Confederacy used the Mohawk water route. In the early days the Indians found eniploMuent in carr\'ing goods of travelers across the portage, and it is recorded that e\en in those times the value of a monopoly asserted itself because there were complaints in 1754 about the charges made ]3y the Indians for assisting the travelers overland witn their boats and baggage. The Forts. — The necessity for forts along the highway was discussed by the English in 1700. There was wealth in the fur trade with the Indians, and though nominalh' at peace, l)oth France and England claimed the territory of the Iroquois, and in conse- quence the control of the route through New York. In September, 1700, a commission sent out fn^m Albanv, traveled to Onondaga and returning repcM'ted in favor of erecting forts at the carrying place lietween the Mohawk and Wood creek. It does not api^ear that the recommendations were then acted upon. At the treatv of Utrecht bet\\een England and I '"ranee in 1713. jurisdiction (ner the disputed territor\' was conceded to the h'nglish. 1die luiglish and the h'rench com])eted for tlie Indian fur trade. In T7-'4 tlie New Outline History. 37 '^'lM■k merchants were forbidden by the Leg^islature to sell o-Qods to the French for Indian trade. This was done at the solicitation (»f the English Indian traders. Against this law the merchants protested. I).\ii: oi" h"iccupied the mind of Washington before the Revolu- tion. Upon the close of the great struggle, he saw in the improvement of means of internal communication the advancement of the prosperity of the nation. In Outline History. 71 1784 he personally explored the route of the Mohawk valley and Oneida lake. In a letter to the Marquis of Chastellux he said: "I have lately made a tour through the Lakes George and Champlain as far as Crown Point ; then returning to Schenectady, I pro- ceeded up the Mohawk river to Fort Schuyler, crossed over to Wood creek, which empties into the Oneida lake, and affords the water communication with Ontario. I then traversed the country to the head of the eastern banks of the Susquehanna, and viewed the L>ake Otsego and the portage between that lake and the Mohawk river at Canajoharie. Prompted by these actual observations I could not help taking a more contemplative and extensive view of the vast inland navigation of these United States, and could not but be struck with the immense diffusion and importance of it, anrl with the goodness of that Providence who has dealt his favors to us with so profuse a hand. Would to God we may have wisdom enough to improve them, I shall not rest contented until I have explored the western country, and traversed those lines (or great part of them) which have given bounds to a new empire." The First Canal.- — In 1791 a commission was appointed to survey the carrying place at Rome and to estimate the cost of a canal. The following year the commission reported that the cost to improve by locks 72 Oneida County and canals the route from Albany to Seneca lake would be $200,000. On March 30, 1792, the Northern and Western Inland Lock Navigation Company was incor- porated. There were two companies — one for the opening of lock navigation from the Hudson to Lake Champlain, which was called the Northern. The other company was to open lock navigation between the Hudson and Lakes Ontario and Seneca, and that was the ^^^estern company. Each had a capital stock of 1,000 shares of $25.00 each. Later the capital stock of the companies was largely increased and the state subscribed to the stock of each. The work contem- plated by the Western company was the removing of obstructions in the natural water courses, the construc- tion of canals and locks at Little Falls and at Fort Stanwix. The work was accomplished and in the spring of 1796 the Western canals were opened from Schenectady to Seneca Falls for the passage of boats of sixteen tons burden. The Carrying Place Canal. — The canal at Fort Stanwix was one and three-quarters miles long and a portion of its bed is now occupied by the Erie canal. There was a lock at each end. A feeder from the Mohawk river furnished part of the water supply for this canal. The feeder entered it at about the middle. Thirteen isthmuses were cut in Wood creek to facilitate navigation, and in 1796 boats passed through this canal Outline History. 73 and down to Oneida lake. The work of this western canal system had up to 1797 cost $400,000. The boats used along the course were open, flat-bottomed, thirty- five or forty feet long, and propelled by men with poles. The poleman set an end of the pole against the banks or the bottoms, put his shoulder to the other end and pushed. Along each side of these boats were walking boards upon which the navigators stood. Four men on each side of a boat could drive it about eighteen miles a day up stream. Sails were used wherever advantageous wind was encountered. Later, oars were substituted for the poles. It required nine days to make the trip from Utica to Oswego — 113 miles. The heavy tolls which were imposed stimulated land travel. In 1820 the state purchased the property of the Western Inland Navigation Company. The Erie canal had then been commenced. Erie C.a.nal. — The construction of the Erie canal was the result of many ideas for the improvement of the State, promulgated over a series of years. History places men of Central New York in the foremost rank of those who shaped the plans and carried them out. Oneida participated actively in the first legislation. Judge Benjamin Wright, a noted engineer of his day, was an assemblyman in 1707-08. Joshua Forman. a member from Onondaga county, was his room-mate at Albanv. Assemblvman Forman introduced a reso- 74 Oneida County hition for a canal survey from the Hudson- to Lake Erie. Judge Wright seconded it. The resolution was adopted ; the survey was made by Simon DeWitt and Mr. Wright. Their report created much discussion. On motion of Senator Jonas Piatt of Oneida, in 1810 commissioners were appointed to explore the proposed canal route. The project was further advanced until the war of 18 12 turned attention from it. The Canal Authorized. — Interest was revived upon the close of the war. In 181 5 we find Jonas Piatt among those who were fighting for it. Two years later (18 17) the law authorizing its construction was enacted and in June, 18 17, a contract for the con- struction of the middle section (Utica to the Seneca river) was let. July 4, 181 7, ground for the canal was broken at Rome. The course of the canal was then south of Rome. Later the course was changed to its present bed. The middle section of the canal (94 miles) was completed in 18 19, at a cost of $1,125,983. Ftr.st Section Navigated. — That portion of the canal between Rome and LTtica was the first part of the canal that was ready for navigation. On October 21, 18 19. the channel was filled with water from the Oriskany creek. On October 22, a boat named the "Chief Engineer," of Rome, N. Y., in honor of Judge Benjamin Wright, made a trial trip from Rome to Outline History. 75 Utica. There was a band aboard and the boat was received in Utica with joyful demonstrations. I Opening Described. — The following letter descrip- tive of the opening was written by a Utican and pub- lished in a newspaper at Albany : "The last two days have presented in this village a scene of liveliest interest, and I consider it among the privileges of my life to have been present to witness it. On I'riday afternoon I walked to the head of the grand canal, the eastern extremity of which reaches to within a very short distance of the village and from one of the slight and airy bridges which crossed it I had a sight which could not but exhilarate and elevate the mind. The waters were flowing in from the westward and coming down their untried channel towards the sea. Their course, owing to the absorption of the new banks of the canal and the distance they had to run from where the stream entered it. was much slower than I had anticipated. They continued gradually to steal along from bridge to bridge, and at first only spreading over the bed of the canal, imperceptibly rose and washed its sides with a gentle wave. It was dark before they reached the eastern extremity, but at sunrise next morning they were on a level two and a half feet deep throughout the whole distance of thirteen miles. The interest manifested by the whole countrv as this new internal river rolled its first waves yd Oneida County thruiigh the state can not be described. You might see the people running across the fields, climbing on trees and fences, and crowding the bank of the canal to gaze upon the welcome sight. A boat had been prepared at Rome and as the waters came down the canal you might mark their progress by that of this new 'Argo' which floated triumphantly along the Hellespont of the West, accompanied by the shouts of the people, and having on her deck a military band. At nine the next morning the bells began a merry peal, and the com- missioners proceeded in carriages from Bagg's Hotel to the place of embarkation. The governor, accom- panied by General VanRensselaer, Rev. Mr. Stansbury of Albany, Rev. Mr. Blatchford of Lansingburg, Judge Miller of Utica, Mr. Holley, Mr. Seymour, Judge Wright, Colonel Lansing, Mr. Childs, Mr. Clark, Mr. Bonner, and a large company of their friends, em- barked and were received with the roll of the drum and the shouts of a multitude. The boat which received them is built for passengers, is sixty-one feet in length and seven and one-half feet in width, having two rising cabins of fourteen feet each, with a flat deck between them. In forty minutes the company reached Whitesboro, the boat being drawn by a single horse, which walked on the towing-path, attached to a towing-rope about sixty feet long. The horse appar- ently traveled with the utmost ease. The boat, though literally loaded with passengers, drew but fourteen Outline History. yy inches of water. A military band played patriotic airs. From bridge to bridge, from village to village, the procession was sainted with cannon, and every bell whose sound conld reach the canal swung as with instinctive life as it passed by." Completed. — The original Erie canal was com- pleted in the fall of 1825. It was 363 miles long and the total cost was $7,143,789.86, or $19,679.87 per mile. On October 26 of the year of its completion Go\crnor Clinton and others left Buffalo on a squad- ron of boats and made the trip to New York. The trip from beginning to end was a continuous ovation. The Chenango Canal. — This waterway, connect- ing the Susquehanna river at Binghamton with the Erie canal at Utica, 97 miles long, was commenced in July, 1834, and completed two years later at a cost of $2,782,124. For a number of years it was an impor- tant coal route, but the advent of railroads caused it to be eventually abandoned. The Black River Canal. — The construction of the Black River canal was authorized in 1836. The canal was opened between Rome and Port Leyden in 185 1. Afterward a dam was constructed at Car- thage on the Black ri\er. making the river navigable for forty-two miles to High Falls, at which point the canal connects with the river. The Black River canal yS Oneida County system provided 78 miles of navigation and it was in- strumental in opening up a northern section of the state. Railroads. — After the canal enterprises came the development of railroads. The first railroad in the United States authorized to carry on a general trans- portation business in freight and passengers was the Mohawk and Hudson River railroad, extending from Albany to Schenectady, which was opened for traffic in October, 1831. In 1836 the Utica and Schenectady railroad was completed at a cost of $20,000 a mile. First Train West. — In June, 1839, the Utica and Syracuse railroad was completed at a cost of $700,000, and on June 27 the first train started out of L'tica westward. Black River. — The first section of the Utica and Black River railroad was opened in December, 1854, and it was gradually extended northward until in 1871-72 it had reached Philadelphia, N. Y. There- after the Black River Company acquired control of other roads and made other extensions which con- nected the lines with the waters on the north. Rome. Watertown and Ogdensburg. — In No- vember, 1848, work was commenced in Rome on the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg railroad, and May 28, 185 1, the line was opened to Pierrepont Manor and it was extended northward in succeeding vears. Outline History. 79 In 1886 this road leased all the roads of the Utica and Black River Railroad Company. In 1891 the New York Central and Hudson River Railroad Company, which had many years before consolidated the independent lines and formed the great thorough- fare from New York to Buffalo, leased these northern lines. The Southern Lines. — The Utica, Clinton and Binghamton railroad was chartered to construct a horse or steam road from Clinton through New Hartford to Utica and also to the villages of Whites- boro and New York Mills. In 1863 it opened a horse road in Genesee street between Utica and New Hartford. In 1866 a steam road was in operation from New Hartford to Clinton and the horse line had been extended to Whitesboro. Later the road was by successive stages pushed further south, improved and eventually passed into the control of other hands. Other Lines. — The Utica. Chenango and Susque- hanna Valley railroad was finished in 187 1. The New York and Oswego Midland road was opened in 1872. The Rome and Clinton road was opened in 1871. The New York, West Shore and Buffalo railway was opened from Weehawken to Syracuse October i. 1883. The Telegr.\ph. — Alert minds and progressive spirits reached out and brought into the Mohawk 8o Oneida County valley and thence spread east and west the telegraph when it was yet believed by many to be a thing of chimerical realms. It had no friends in New York city. Prof. Samuel F. B. Morse about 1844 estab- lished a line between Washington and Baltimore. Men of This County Interested. — James D. Reid, who was known as the "Father of the Tele- graph," in his book, "The Telegraph in America," thus tells of the celerity w^ith which the men of Utica caught up the telegraph : "It was reserved to the inland cities of Rochester and Utica to take hold of the giant child and rear it to national greatness. In Utica as in Rochester there had always been a circle of solid, somewhat rough and practical men, always wideawake to enterprises of this character, a kind of frontier men, quick, impetuous, daring, ready for any new thing which had in it the necessity of pluck, the probability of success. Promi- nent among these, in 1845, were Theodore S. Faxton, John Butterfield and Hiram Greenman, the pioneers of old stage lines through central and eastern New York. They had all cracked their whips from the stage box, knew how to plant a good cowhide boot on the foot-board, and instinctively took to anything that had go in it. These men became at once interested in the telegraph. It was in their line. And so first Butterfield, who was a great traveler, and then Faxton found their way to Washington to watch the progress Outline History. 8i of the building and opening of the government line. They were not the men to buy pigs in bags, or to accept anything at second hand. So they character- istically footed it out from Washington to see Ezra Cornell at his work, and then cautiously and quietly watched the opening of the government offices. With the utmost care they made themselves familiar with all the details, and formed their judgment of the value of the invention by what they saw. They soon deter- mined to secure it for their own state and early in June, 1845, Mr. Butterfield had closed a contract with Mr. Kendall to erect a line of Morse telegraph, curi- ously enough having its termini at Springfield, Mass., and Buffalo. N. Y., via Albany and Utica. Spring- field was designed to be the connecting point with the New York and Boston Company, the absurdity of which was soon apparent. It was while Mr. Butter- field was returning from Washington on this errand that, on June 7th, he met on the Albany night boat Henry O'Reilly, of Rochester, to whom he imparted the nature of his project and so fired him with the idea of a similar mission that, in eight days, Mr. O'Reilly had in his possession the important contract which bears his name." Company Formed. — A company was formed in I^tica on July 16, 1845. with a capital stock of $200,000 to construct the Springfield. Albany and Buffalo Telegraph Line. 82 Oneida County The trustees were Theodore S. Faxton, John Butterfield, Hiram Greenman. Henry Wells and Crawford Livingston. To interest the public in the enterprise a line was constructed in the fall of 1845 from Utica to the State fair grounds, just outside the city, where the Masonic Home now stands. The first line in the state was from Albany to Utica. It was finished January 31, 1846. The line connecting Utica with Buffalo was next finished and after that the New York and Albany line was finished, the company having early seen that New York would make a better terminal than Springfield, Mass. That was the beginning. What the men who dwelt in the pass had done for liberty and for commerce, they also did for the telegraph. Who, viewing the magnitude of these enterprises with the far reaching influence of each, may not repeat with pride, "This is my own, my native land"? THE BEGINNINGS. First Permanent Settlements in the Towns — Incidents Connected with the Coming of the Pioneers — The Wilderness Turned into a Productive and Prosperous Country. SOON after the close of the Revolution a tide of emigration set in toward the wilderness of the west. There were in the armies of the patriots many New England soldiers who had been in the garrison in Fort Stanwix, and a brigade of Massa- chusetts troops under General Larned was with Gen. Benedict Arnold when he raised the siege of that fortress. They took back with them glowing tales of the beauty and fertility of the country they had visited, and those who had courage and hardihood determined on pushing out into the wilderness, though at that time the journey was tedious, wearying and full of dangers. White's Town. — The first ci these pioneers to make a permanent settlement in what is now Oneida county was Hugh White. He left Middletown, Connecticut, early in May, 1784, and arrived at what is now Whitestown June 5. His family consisted of four sons, a daughter and a daughter-in-law. They 84 Oneida County came up the Hudson to Albany, crossed by land ta Schenectady, and then in a batteau made their way to the mouth of the Sauquoit creek. At Shoemakers, a few miles below Utica, they stopped and planted a field of corn on an abandoned farm from which the Indians and English had driven the owner and burned his buildings. At the proper time Judge White and his sons returned and tilled this, and in the autumn gath- ered a bountiful harvest. Judge White and his sons immediately set to work to clear land, which they planted, and near the eastern end of the village green in Whitesboro they erected their house. The site is- now designated by a fine granite monument which, marks the location of the home of the first permanent settler and his family in this county. Around this point centered for many years all the business attendant upon the erection of the new com- munity. Other New England families followed Judge White, and in 1785 Amos Wetmore and his sons and daughters were added to the settlement. Thomas R. Gold and Ozias Wilcox came in 1792, and in a few years Whitesboro had become a flourishing village in which resided, besides those mentioned above, the families of Jonas Piatt, George Doolittle, Reuben Wilcox, Arthur Breese, Enoch Story, Elizur Morley, Caleb Douglass, William G. Tracy and Gerrit Lansing. The first white child born in the settlement was Esther White, daughter of Daniel C. White. She was Outline History. 85 born in 1785. The first white person to die in the settlement was Mrs. Blacksly. who was the aunt of Judge White and who resided with him. Judge White was a strong, forceful character, and he possessed the secret of getting along well with the Indians. He made them understand that he was their friend and he did not deceive them. Best of all. he put them upon their honor by placing in them implicit trust. It is related that an Indian named Han Yerry who resided at Oriskany came to Judge White's house one day and after conversation told the judge that to trust his friendship he wanted to take home with him the judge's little granddaughter and keep her over night. The fears of the child's mother arose in an instant, and it is not improbable that the grandfather had most disturbing suspicions ; but he well knew that he must betra}' no fears, and so he confided the little three-year-old to the Indian's care. The baby was returned the next afternoon by the chief and his wife, safe and w^ell. they had removed the garments she wore from home and had substituted a complete Indian dress, even to the tiny moccasins of deerskin. This incident cemented the friendship between the family of Judge White and the dusky people who sur- rounded his forest home. Deerfield. — In Deerfield a settlement was made in 1773 by George J. Weaver, Capt. Mark Damoth and 86 Oneida County. Christian Reall, and their houses were located near the present site of the Corners. They had started a clearing and were making progress in the forest when suddenly, in the summer of 1776, an Oneida Indian came to them and ga\ e the information that a party of Tories and Indians were approaching from the vicinity of West Canada creek. The settlers at once concealed their furniture in the woods, and placing the women and children in a crude wagon they hurried away to Little Stone Arabia, a fort near Schuyler. The Tories and Indians soon descended upon their poor homes and destroyed them. Afterward Mr. Damoth was captain of a company of rangers in the Revolution and received a bullet wound which shattered his right arm. Mr. Weaver was taken prisoner near Herkimer and was carried to Quebec, where for nine months he was confined in a dark cell. He was then taken to England, where he was kept a prisoner two years before he was exchanged and returned to his chosen home. In 1784, after war and pillage had passed its devastating hand over the Mohawk valley, these three old settlers were re-united and were again located upon their old farms, which they had cleared with so much toil, at Deerfield Corners. Other families who settled here about this time were Peter. Nicholas and George Weaver. George Damoth. Nicholas Harter and Philip Harter. The first bridge built over the Mohawk river Outline History. 87 between Utica and Decrfiekl was erected in 1792 at "the fording place," probably east of Real's creek. In order to insure the presence of sufficient help to raise it, the work was done on Sunday. Rome. — The settlement of Rome is so closely identified with the history of Forts Stanwix and Bull and the other stockades at the "carrying place" that the reader is referred to the chapter on that subject for further details. Briefly it may be said in addition that it is the oldest point of interest in the county of Oneida, and from the earliest struggle between the French and English for supremacy to the evacuation of Fort Stanwix after the battle of Oriskany. it was a spot for which there was constant contention. It was the scene of military occupation, battle, treaty, massa- cre, siege, hardship, and finally victory, and its story properly set forth would form a chapter of unusual interest to close students of our early history. No braver garrison ever withstood the onslaught of a foe than that which defended Fort Stanwix, over which floated the first Stars and Stripes ever flung to the breeze in time of battle. The permanent settlement of Rome commenced in 1784. when Jedediah Phelps erected a small foundry on Wood creek. He moved the next year to the site of Fort Stanwix. and 1785-6 five log houses were erected there. In 1795 the first grist mill was built, 88 Oneida County and in 1799 a printing office was established and the Columbian Gazette was started as a weekly paper by Thomas Walker. It was at Rome, July 4, 18 17, that the first shovelful of earth was turned in the construction of the Erie canal ; and it was at Rome within the memory of many men now living that the first sleeping car ever con- structed in the United States was built. The town of Rome was formed March 4, 1796. Thirty-four years before, on August 28, 1762, the first white child born in this county saw the light of day at Fort Stanwix. His name was John Roof, and his father and mother resided in a log hut near the fort. Rome was incorporated as a city by an act passed February 23, 1870. Westmoreland. — In several respects the settlement of Westmoreland is among the most interesting of the events connected with the history of our county. A considerable portion of this township, lying in the southwestern center and west of the Line of Property, was granted to "James Dean of Connecticut directly from the Oneida Indians, and this grant was confirmed by the state. Mr. Dean when a young man was a missionary to the Indians and became proficient in their language. He afterwards entered Dartmouth College and was a member of the first class graduating there- from. In 1774 the Continental Congress sent him Outline History. 89 among the Indians to aid in influencing them to side with the colonists, and while acting in this capacity he was arrested by the British as a spy and taken to Quebec. His cool self-possession enabled him to pass their examination and he was liberated. Wlicn the Revolution commenced he was appointed to the rank of major and was sent to Fort Stanwix and Oneida Castle to act as interpreter and Indian agent. His services were most valuable, for through his influence, added to that of Samuel Kirkland, the great body of the Oneida tribe was induced to remain neutral. At the close of the war the Oneidas gave Mr. Dean two square miles of land on the west side of Wood creek in the present town of Vienna, but after starting a clearing and remaining upon it a year, he pointed out to the Oneidas that it was an unfit place to commence a set- tlement as it was too low and marshy, and the Indians agreed that he might change the location to any point on the west side of the Line of Property between the Oriskany and Wood creeks. He selected the land (Dean's Patent in Westmoreland) in 1785, located upon it in February, 1786. and after constructing a log house returned to Connecticut and married Miss Lydia Camp on October 11. Their wedding journey was made on horseback to their future home and they immediately took up the stern realities of pioneer life. Other families came in the same fall or following winter. Mr. Dean and his wife were in the front rank 90 Oneida County of those strong characters who reclaimed this county from the wilderness. Other considerable portions of this township were lands that had been patented to General Washington and Governor Clinton, and there are a number of deeds on record that were executed by these two notable figures in our early history. Several deeds of this nature were executed in 1797-8-9. In 1787 or 1788 Mr. Dean built the first saw and grist mill. The millstones were cut from a large rock found near Lairdsville. Previous to the building of this mill, the settlers had to go to German Flatts for their milling, and as horses were nearly out of the question from their cost and the difficulty of keeping them in the woods, the wheat or corn was carried on the back of the settler the long distance, and the meal or flour was brought home in the same manner. In the little cemetery at Lairdsville lies another of those patriots of the Revolution. Phineas Bell, who was among those who were so long confined by the British in the notorious Sugar House prison in New York. Capt. Neahmiah Jones, James Crittenden. Roderick Morrison and John Vaughn were among other Revo- lutionary patriots who are buried in this town. KiRKLAND. — The settlement in the town of Kirk- land was begun by eight families in March, 1787. A stone slab in the park in the village of Clinton marks Outline History. 91 the beginning of this settlement and contains the following inscription : Moses Foot, Esq., in company with seven other families commenced the settlement of this village March 3, 1787. Nine Miles to Utica. Moses Foot, James Bronson. Luther Foot, Barnabas Pond, LuDiM Blodgett, Levi Sherman. The i)lace received the name of Clinton from George Clinton, who was then governor of the state. This settlement appears to have been a very happy and pros- perous one, barring the vicissitudes that would seem almost insurmountable to people of the present time, but which to our hardy forefathers were incidental and by no means discouraging. It is probable that the marriage of the first white couple in Oneida county took place in Clinton early in 1788. and was that ' ^-. ^° ■^*-^ 0^^. *-. „ ^°.'' v^ V » ' • o, r^s '" 5( • 'P r, /I, o ^s vP J ''.^ / \'^^'-.^'' ' ■i.^ ^ i° ^^. '^^ "-?r:r< %°' . o *" e / V.-'^ .^^ •V. X ■■ ■O^r, >x^ o .V t ° " » . ^^, ^^^^' ^^. V '3^^ %*' " '>^, .0-