USA > Massachusetts > Berkshire County > History of Berkshire County, Massachusetts, with biographical sketches of its prominent men, Volume I pt 1 > Part 4
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On the eastern side of the valley marble crops out in several towns from a bed not so wide as the other, which extends from North Adams to New Marlboro. The white marble in this bed, like most of the white marbles in Berkshire, is a dolomite, more highly crystalline, with a coarser granulation and greater hardness than on the east. At the Natural Bridge, a little south of the Clarksburg line, and about a mile. from North Adams village, this formation has a more superh exhibition than any other of marble which we know. The bridge itself is one of the most curious and beautiful works of nature in the State, and one which has recorded its own history for ages, more clearly than any other At this point Hudson's Brook, which comes in from the northwest, just before its junction with the north branch of the House, has wom a channel thirty yards long and fifteen feet wide, which. gradually sink ing. has left a chasm in the martde, with cliffs on each side, sometimes more than sixty feet high. All over their smie. these cliffs and freested with imnumerable rounded indentions, mostly circular, and of moderate depth.
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
Sometimes they take more grotesque shapes, the most curious resembling a section of an inverted dinner pot. These are generally near the present level of the brook, and large enough to make a niche in which the visitor can ensconce himself comfortably, while be contemplates the marvels of nature about him. Bat the best point of view is from the middle of the brook, which is easily fordable at most seasons, and at the lower part of its transit through the gorge. Looking up from this wet and slippery standpoint. you will see the chasm spanned at the height of fifty fact by an arch of what is really pure white mailde. although vegetation and the elements have somewhat obscured its splendor. Above this, with all interval of some ten feet intervening, was originally another bridge, the ruins of which still remain, but which was broken by qharrymen loulous the early astheticism of the region could interrupt the vandalism which had begun to transform it into material for tombstones. The view of the whole structure-chasm and bridge-is still strikingly beautiful, as well as of curious interest. It is apparent that. far off in the ages, the bank leaped over a precipice at the southern terminus of the lodge in a water fall which, if it still existed, would yearly attract thousands of cobmiting eyes. The charm of the natural bridge and chasm no less deserve stich admiration, but rather more. And they would receive it. if a foot bridge were constructed from which the view could be conveniently sen La ladies. Parties of tourists, or excursionists, from which ladies are py cluded, are in Berkshire apt to be of small numbers: a solitary Those o or enthusiasts following his footsteps, in comples. We have inticoIneed this description here, to show the inexhaustible amount of beautiful stone stored at a point where it was easily observable by the earliest explorers.
A rock whose value in the economic geology of the county ranks quite as high as that of marble, or iron ore, is the quartz which is fomnl throughont its entire length. sometimes in veins, sometimes in bods. non! sometimes comprising the mass of large hills. It is a very interesting rock to geologists, and is found in several varieties. It is often of the vitreous, milky white variety. of almost pare silica. as in the veins whiny intersect the Taconic slate at frequent intervals. Sometimes these vins. and masses of the same rock, are gold bearing, but not to an expert to tempt the shrewd, practical gold seeker; although it has sometimes des Inded those of less experience. the presence of the sulphurets of sajplates of iron sometimes, although not always. aiding the delusion, The chief difficulty has been found in the fact that veins which near the surfer afford a rich proportion of the precious metal suddenly terminate in what are technically known as " faults." There can be no doubt that gold is intermingled in consideratde quantities with some of the quartz and other rocks of the county. This has been proved by analysis of rocks in Chef field. Pittsfield. and elsewhere. We personally, found in a little mole than a tablespoonfal of the dalais, brought up in boring the first of tesian well of the Carson paper mill, at Dalton, a percentage of pure zi61.
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GENERAL HISTORY.
which would rival that of any gold bearing quartz in California; but ils wealth may not have extended beyond a few inches. Experience in other local veins indicates that the deposit is of limited extent. At any rate. the pure water which springs up from the depths of this well is of more value than its owners could expect from any mining operations. The gold of Berkshire is scattered in diverse and but generally infinitesined proportions.
The quartz which is of economical value is the granular variety, gon- erally what is geologically called " quartz rock." Of this. President Hitchcock says, Berkshire county contains the principal repository In the State. A very large proportion of this is nearly pure quarta, but touch of it is mixed with other minerals. Often it is disseminated in minute particles through marble and other rocks. Of the useful varieties there are three classes. In what was formerly called " Rock Mountain." in Washington, on the borders of Pittsfield. it occurs in a stratified forto. which it rarely assumes elsewhere. The rock here is exceedingly hapl, so as to almost defy the seulptor's chisel: but the strata, which are some- times only a few inches, rarely more than twenty. in thickness, are easily separable; hence we find in the Pittsfield Cemetery some old tombstones made of it, on which there is a good deal of graceful tracery. The cut ting is very thin, but it changes the color of the rock, and such is it- adamantine hardness, that the storms of more than a century have haft no perceptible effect upon it. The rock was chiefly wood. however. for the hearths and jambs of fire places. for door steps, and like pinposts In later times its cheapness and durability brought it into use for fog ging the sidewalks and erosswalks of Pittsfieldl, but its somewhat norden cleavage renders it not perfectly adapted to that purpose, and it has fallen into disfavor.
Another variety of the quartz rock, which is of great value, is the fire stone used for the hearths of iron blast furnaces. This is widely ex tended, and of the best quality. A query in the southeastern part of Great Barrington for many years furnished hearths for furnaces all ofmy . the country. It was first worked by John C. Briggs, from which the material took the name of " Briggs stope." and afterward by John D vanny. Owing to close connections with the railroad, a quarry at New Lenox now mostly supplies the market.
All three varieties of granular quartz were very helpful in the amely settlement and early business of the county; but they do not contribuinte to its present wealth as another variety - the silicions sandt of commond As we have said. granular quartz extend- in large quantities through the whole length of the county. Bald Mountain in North Mang and Clarksburg, is the highest hill composed of it. The white di of Mann ment Mountain, in Great Barrington, five hundred feet high, made world famous by Bryant's poom, is composed of the same sulejance. We have found small portions of it there disintegrated into sand a little cheese than that of the northern beds All along the greater portion of the
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
eastern slope of the Hoosac range, a rock much harder than limestone and apparently perfectly compact, is found and called " flint." But if you give a small piece of it a smart blow with a hammer, or throws a large parcel at a red heat into water, it flies at once into a white sand. often very pure and fine. In the towns of Savoy. Cheshire. Lanesboro, and Lenox, nature has formed extensive beds of this sand ley a myste rious process of her own, probably dissolving the feldspar, which cemented it, and which it is now necessary to wash out before the sand is consigned to the glass crucible. This sad is extremely beamtind. If being difficult for the eye to distinguish it from the whitest granulated sugar or salt, or indeed from snow. The beds already open are a coffee of much wealth to the county, and geologists are convinced that offers will be found making the supply for glass manufacture practically ines haustible.
Another rock, of great commercial value, which is being developed. is the steatite or soapstone. This stone is used for a great variety of most important purposes, and is little diffused. as compared with lime. quartz, and iron. The demand for it exceeds the supply. One of the largest quarries in the country is at Middlefield. in Hampshire conuts. and the same vein extends into Hinsdale and probably other Berkshire towns: the iron ore quartz, marble, and soapstone form the basis of sont of the most profitable manufactories of Berkshire, and will be further treated in that connection.
The virgin soil of Berkshire was very rich, and well adapted to the growth of all grains, including wheat. It is nowhere excelled in Massa- chusetts, except in the interval lands of the Connections valley, and by them only in extent. The awards of the Massachusetts Agricultural Si. ciety have repeatedly declared that some of the mand farms of Back- shire excel any other in the State. This is a matter of record, although higher cultivation may have made smaller patches in the neighborhood of cities more prolific. There is much poor land in Berkshire as there is everywhere in New England, but there are few sections of Massachusetts more inviting to to the early settler.
With all these great and varied natural sources of wealth the quest tion naturally arises, why it was not settled until a hundred years after every other county in the State. We shall address ourselves to that point after giving an account of the aboriginal occupation of the soil.
CHAPTER III.
ABORIGINAL OCCUPATION.
W THEN FIRST visited by the white man. what is now Berkshire county was a portion of the territory of the Mahican tribe of Indians, whose possessions originally extended on the west side of the Hudson River from Catskill to an undefined point in the north, and on the east from the southern boundary of Columbia county, until it was lost in the uninhabited forests of the Green Mountains of Vermont ; or. as their Dutch discoverers called them, the " Winterberge." This em. braced the head waters of the Hudson. Housatonie, and the Connectiont. and the watersheds of Lakes George and Champlain. East and west it extended from Schenectady to the Connecticut .*
It was all included in the territory afterward claimed by the Eng- lish Government of New York, although a considerable portion finally fell to Connecticut. Massachusetts, and Vermont.
The Mahican. so far as we know, is the only aboriginal tribe or race. whose early history has been written in English by one of its own mem bers, from the accounts furnished by its appointed chroniclers. The Court of the chieftain had as full and as formal a corps of officers as any English court of justice, and among them were skilled historians, whose duty is was to preserve in their memory the annals of the tribe. report them to its people from time to time, and transmit them through succes- sors trained by themselves. Captain Hendrick Aupamut was, probably not one of these officials : but it is said to have been doubtless he who wrote from their traditions the story which has been handed down to us by Dr. Dwight. Captain Hendrick Aupaumut, or, as he in his later life chose to be called, Captain Hendrick, was, without question, the ablost. wisest, truest, and best man whose name appears in the history of his
*Mr. E. M. Battenberg of Newburgh, ha- publish la bi-fors of the Ilon tribes of it. Hudson, which is the result of longand patient study. These researches fort dans su danie from previous writers in several particulars. In some cases, where in fertiles Ini strongly by documentary evidence, we have accepted his emendations, as in this case.
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
people. The early writers cannot speak too highly of his eloquence. his good judgment. his unselfish devotion and purity of character, and his services through an active life of more than fifty years, both to his own race and onrs ; which he aided greatly in the wars of the Revolution and of 1812, as soldier and diplomatist. His early youth was passed among the Mohawks, and he was probably a son of the great Mohawk chieftain of the same name, who was the son of a Mahican. married to a Mohawk princess, through whom. inheritance descending in the formle line. his son became grand sachem of the tribe. After the concentration of the Malicans at Stockbridge, the younger Hendrick returned to them. through the influence of the mission, at whose school he was educated.
There is nothing improbable in his history of the tribe, except that it represents them as holding to and teaching their children. as of divim origin, all the laws of Christian morals. He avers that " before they en- joyed gospel revelation " they believed in a Supreme Being who dwells above, whom they styled " Wontheet- Monitor, or the Great. Good Spirit," the author of all things in Heaven and on earth, and who gov erns all events. They had equal faith in the existence of an evil one, called Afton-tool, or the Wicked Spirit, who delights altogether in doing and prompting evil, who incites men to lie, to anger, to fight, hatte, stal murder, to be envious, malicious, and evil talkers, and who also excites nations to war, and to violate the friendship which the Great Spirit les ordained for their own good. That the Magicans, and most other Indian tribes, did worship, as a Supreme Being, one great and good spirit with an unvarying faith which shames civilization, is beyond doubt : and also that they believed in an Evil Spirit, but the formula given savoy me! of the Westminster Catechism than of aboriginal theology. The Ameri can Indian's faith in a Great. Good Spirit, and in a future life, was indeed. under his circumstances, grand and touching ; but his supersti tious fears, the result of a realistic sense that the Evil Spirit was always near him, led him rather to attempt to concilate the Devil them to fix from or resist him. There are stranger things, however, in this paper. than the mere assertion of faith in a good food and belief in a personal Devil on the part of the Magicans, before the existence of either was taught them, and we can only accept them as referring to a period in the history of the tribe so remote as to constitute them its mythical story. When the paper was presented to the Indians of the Stockbridge Misspor. not only had the most remarkable of the laws and enstors which it is tails passed away, but the traditions of them levt been almost obliterated Still, the paper was evidently written by a native antiquarian, and! throws the only light we have upon the early history of the tribe In the two centuries next preceding its date the Matican native had passed through wars, vicissitudes, and revolutions enough to have chiriget the whole constitution of its tribal family life. Nevertheless, it is imposside not to see that the writer's traditional lote was colored and warped In his mission education and his desire that his people should stand well
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GENERAL HISTORY.
with his white friends and teachers. We find it difficult to give credence to some of the most startling, and, if true, the most important state- ments. There is, for instance, the account of a code of morals and a custom connected with it. which would provoke incredulity even if ascribed to the cottages of Scotch Covenanters or the log cabins of New England Puritans. instead of the wigwams of Mahican savages. We are told that the head of each family -- man or woman -= would begin, with all tenderness, as soon as daylight broke, to wake the children and teach them after a form, which, as printed. fills more than an octavo page of bourgeois type.
The children were directed first to remember that the goodness of the Great Spirit had preserved them through the night, and that, if they wished to see many good days and evenings, they must love all men and be kind to all people. Then followed the instructions as to the conduct of life, which we condense:
" Help those in distress. Feed the hungry, for you may be huagry. too. Clothe the naked, even with your own raiment. If you do not have compassion upon and help the poor, you will displease the Great Spirit: you will be called ' Uk-u-theet, the hard hearted, and will be mocked when your own distress comes upon yon. Pity and help the aged: it will make their hearts glad and they will speak well of you. If you see your neighbors quarreling, try to make them friends again. [Blessed are the peace makers. ] Listen to the aged. Do not hasten to speak when others are talking, nor allow yourself too much laughing. If any speak evil of you speak not evil back again. but shut your ears and month, as though you heard nothing. and shun such people. Never quarrel with any person. for quarreling is of the Evil Spirit and boasts ; but live in peace with all men. and so please the Great Spirit and you will be happy. Be honest in all your ways. Lie not, lest you bring a bad name upon yourselves: people will point at you with scorn and say. ' look at that liar !' Even when you speak the truth, they will not be lieve you. Steal not; you would not like others to steal from you. If .you steal you will disgrace yourself, your parents, and friends, and be dispised by all good people. Avoid bad people, but, above all, do not commit murder, because you wish to see long life. If you commit mur- der, the Great Spirit will be angry with you; your life will be in great danger, and also the lives of your dear relations. Be industrious. Get up early in the morning ; put on your clothes and Muchsens [Moccasins] and tie your belt about you, so that you may be ready to do something. By so doing, you will always have something to cat and put on. But if you are lazy you will be always poor and may shamefully bag of steal. Nobody will give you anything to eat without grudging. When you grow up do not take husband or wife without the consent of your parents and all your relations. If you do it may bring great darkness to you. Ober your sachems and chief at all times Never spook evil of them : they have taken great pains in promoting your happiness. If you do not observe this you are worse than the beasts."
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HISTORY OF BERKSHIRE COUNTY.
The assertion that a lesson like this was formally taught by the heads of Mahican families to their children every morning at daybreak. and "occasionally repeated to them after they had grown up." passes belief. The Mahicans were undoubtedly a kindly, though warlike people, with higher and purer morals than most aboriginal tribes, and with minds easily inclined to civilization and Christianity. The latter may have been the result of the more just and friendly treatment which they received, both from the Dutch and the English, of it may have been the revival of the long buried germs of their ancestral life. But. how- ever that may be, the virtues taught by the code we have quoted mush. many of them, have been foreign both to the belief and practice of their forest life. They possessed others, not mentioned. among which was scrupulous chastity.
But, whatever we may think of this portion of the paper preserved by President Dwight. there is little reason to distrust the account which it gives of the early history of the tribe, which appears to be more accurate than most traditionary lore, probably on account of its transmission through a trained official medium. There is nothing improbable in the story, and we follow its account, which is substantially as follows:
Their ancestors, having crossed the great water at a point in the northwest where the two countries (continents) nearly meet, encountered! a famine, as they would have been likely to do at that point. They were compelled to disperse themselves through the wilderness in search of sustenance : that is, we suppose, the bleak region compelled them to be- take themselves for a livelihood to hunting and fishing, in which they "lost their former ways of living, and apostatized " lost the arts of civilization, and became savages. After a while they bend their course to the southeast in search of a more satisfactory dwelling place. They crossed many large rivers, but none which ebbed and flowed like the Mul-he.con-nul of their " nativity." until they reached the Hudson war Albany. Pleased with the resemblance, they gave the river the name of Make-capital, and as the shores abounded in game, while the soil was easily tilled by their rude husbandry, they resolved to make them their home. They therefore kindled their conneil tire nearly opposite the city of Albany, at Esquatuk, " the place of fire." now corrupted to Schodack. where it long remained.
The native writer. from whom we have quoted, styles the government " Democratical." From his description it appears rather to have bien an elective and very limited monares. Upon the death of the chief sachem his successor was chosen by the body of the people, not from among his sons, but from his nephews in the female line, if there were any: we are not told what was done if he had none. He had the change of all the affairs of peace, which it was his duty to attempt to preserve. He must have nothing to do with wars, but exhort his people to peace and unity, and harmony with their allies, giving his whole thought to promote their happiness. He was looked upon as a great tree, under
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GENERAL HISTORY.
whose shade the whole nation might sit. He had no stated salary, as it was esteemed disgraceful to ask pay for public services : but it was the custom to help him build his long wigwam, or executive mausion, and he fared well in voluntary gifts, the hunters contributing liberally of their spoils, and the women bringing moccasins, belts, garters, and other orna. ments, not forgetting wampum. As he entertained all strangers until their business was completed his people saw that there was no lack of provisions on such occasions. He was also hereditary keeper of the "Bag of Peace" which was made of wild hemp, and would hold about a bushel of wampam and strings, to be used as tokens in making treaties of friendship. When they found the wampum in the bug running shoes the sachem and his counsellors sont their runner to collect mate-" fout the women." He also, in the same way, was the custodian of the " Pip .. of Peace," which the writer is careful to describe as being made of a hard, red stone, and having a long stem." It is curious fact, that pijes of peace, answering perfectly this description. have been used all over the country, from Maine to the far West, and from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico, from the earliest times to the present, wherever there have born or are independent Indian tribes. One, captured in the Seminole war. is in the Historical Cabinet of the Berkshire Athenamm, and specimens may be found in many museums. It also strikingly illustrates the commer cial intercourse which existed between extreme sections of the commity. even in its most savage days. when we learn that the ted stone spoken of is found only in one quarry on the banks of the upper Mississippi, while the obsidian-like arrow heads, which are scattered everywhere, were made from a stone found only in one locality, in the interior of Maine, where the fragments left by the native workmen in " chipping" them may still be seen scattered in profusion. It is of tradition that the Iroquois made a hostile incursion for the purpose of getting exclusive possession of it.
The sachem was the only hereditary office. He was aided in pro- moting the peace and happiness of his people by counsellors, called chiefs. wise men elected by the people, whose duty it was, besides aiding the sachem in council, to exhort the young people to every good work. We are afraid the chronicler is here again a little influenced, at least in his phraseology, by his missionary education. The chief sachem was also attended by two officers, who have their counterparts in civilized courts-the owl and the runner. The owl was required to have a strout memory and a stout voice, for it was his place to sit beside the sachen in council and proclaim his decrees to the people. At daybreak every morning, he also imitated the screeching of an owl, to muse the people. whom he ordered to their respective duties for the day. The muller must be swift of foot, and sure of tougne both as to memory and truth fulness. His office was to summon the people, when the sachem required them to assemble, to herald the coming of the sachem and chiefs when they went abroad to hold council with others, to light the sachem's joje.
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