USA > New Jersey > Essex County > Orange > History of the Oranges, in Essex County, N.J., from 1666 to 1806 > Part 2
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With their first efforts to subdue the land, began the disturbing influences which, in two hundred years, have diminished the springs, drained the swamps and raised their surface. The saturated soil of the forest lost its native humidity when laid open to the air and
I. Smith's History of New Jersey, 180.
II
Water Sheds.
sun ; its cultivation around the low lands, the open- ing and working of highways beside and over them, the decay and falling of trees within them, arresting the flow of the water and promoting the annual de- posit of vegetable glebe ; and all these causes in con- tinuous and increasing action, together with the exposure of soil by freezing and thawing subjected to the erosion of water, and washed from the cultivated ridges, all contributed to bring the surface into the condition in which we now behold it.
The construction of dams, also, which flooded the marshes, and killed the trees, opened their surface to the sun and air. In the progress of years the superficial drainage from the cleared lands, which is more regu- lar than from forest ground, promoted an unobstructed natural drainage of the streams north and south, through a "constant degradation of the uplands and consequent elevation of the beds of water courses, which is a result of clearing of lands."
WATER SHEDS.
We have just now spoken of the streams running north and south. The subject is worthy of our special notice.
The main street from Newark to Orange is mostly on the ridge of the water-shed of this region. The Elizabeth and the Rahway rivers, running south, and the First and Second rivers, flowing north, have their fountain heads within less than half a mile, and in some places not more than two hundred feet from the main road.
First River, or Mill Brook, within Newark limits, rises within the low grounds east and north of the canal bridge, in Orange Street, running by a nearly direct course for three-quarters of a mile, to the Passaic.
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History of the Oranges.
The Meadow Brook is the first easterly tributary to the Second River. Its head-springs are on the south side of Central Avenue, between the first and second ridges west of Newark. Running north-easterly through the low bottom, and receiving the drainage from the contiguous uplands on each side, it dis- charges into the Second River, a mile and a quarter from its mouth at Belleville. 1
The Elizabeth River, which empties into Staten Island Sound, at Elizabethport, derives its primitive northerly rivulet from the low grounds south-west of the East Orange railroad station. The little stream crossing Central Avenue, runs west of the Poor Farm to South Orange Avenue, where it receives the drain- age from the adjacent ridges, till it reaches Irvington, swelling to a size sufficient for milling purposes, and thence flows onward to Elizabeth. The natural drainage east and north-east of the East Orange rail- road station, is north-east to the Passaic River. South-west of the station, it is south-west to Staten Island Sound.
The east branch of the Rahway River has its pri- mary northerly fountain-head in a spring on the south side of the Mt. Pleasant Turnpike, a short distance below the summit of the mountain. The overflow finds its way down the south gully of the highway ; soon leaving the highway it runs south to the North- field road, and thence to the valley. Augmented by rivulets from the mountain side, and by the
I. This, and what follows, upon the water-shed, is taken from notes made twenty or more years ago, when this writer's observations were made. The clearing of the woods in which the head springs were, and on the high land east of them, and the consequent grading and street improvements, together with the construction of houses on the same, have dried up the springs. Nothing at the present time but the rainfall supplies the diminished bed of this tributary.
I3
Water Sheds.
· drainage from the west slope of Scotland Street ridge, it passes through South Orange, and thence to Mil- burn, when it unites with the west branch, which arises between the First and Second mountains, a lit- tle north of the Swinefield road. 1
Opposite, and a few feet above the mountain-head spring of the east branch of the Rahway River, which we have just noted, is a spring, less constant in its flow, which trickles down the gully on the north side of the highway. It soon leaves the gully and descends the mountain through the southern limits of Llewellyn Park, crossing the Valley Road near the school house, and discharges into Wigwam Brook, which is the western tributary to the Second River. These two springs thus noticed, one hundred feet apart, mark the summit of the watershed at that point. The mountain at these springs is 623 feet above tide water. There are other places in Orange equally illustrative. The south-west roof of St. Mark's Church sheds its rainfall into the Staten Island Sound -; its north-east roof sheds into the Passaic River and Newark Bay. Ridge Street (hence its name) dis- charges its drainage on the west side into the Rahway, and on its east side into the Passaic. The Scotland Street ridge sheds the rainfall under the same condi- tions.
SWAMPS.
Two great swamps were a distinguishing feature in the primitive topography of the mountain. Their condition, and the space they occupied two hundred
I. This west branch of the Rahway River is now the source of the water supply for the city of Orange, the reservoir being located west of the top of the first mountain, and between the Northfield Road and South Orange Avenue.
14
History of the Oranges.
years ago, compared with those of the present, afford a typical illustration of the changes of superficial physical geography wrought out by human action.
The lesser of the two, at its southern part, began in the low ground north and in the rear of St. Mark's Church, occupying the low ground between the base of the First Mountain and the upland on its eastern side, and extending to the Swinefield Road, now Washington Street, where it is bounded by the farm of Ira Harrison.
Fra. Harrison It extended for a short space on the south-west side of his farm, and on the east side north-easterly to the rear of Rosedale Cemetery. It passed around its northern side and its eastern bounds till it became a part of the low lands west of Park Street, near the ice ponds. The wider portion of the swamp, north of Park Avenue, was bounded by the upland on the south, and on the north by the upland, the greater part of which is held as cemetery prop- erty. This high land being thus surrounded, was known as the "Island."
The three streams which had their channels through the swamp, and derived the most of their waters there- from, are the southern head-waters of the Second River. The Wigwam Brook rose within the "Crystal Springs," in Montclair, a few hundred feet north of the township line. They were once lively springs, but at the present time are dry, or nearly so.1 The brook ran south, as it does now, to its union with a brook be- ginning at the springs on the southern boundary of the low grounds, and which, augmented by the mountain
I. It is traditional that near the springs was the habitat of a few Indians with their wigwams. The brook is thus named as a boundary in a survey to Matthew Williams, 1686.
15
Swamps.
rivulets, so increased the size of Wigwam Brook as to make it sufficient for milling purposes. It was fur- ther increased in its capacity by its union with the Nishuyne River, which rises in the low ground oppo- site (east of) the upper entrance of Rosedale Cemetery on the Montclair Road, and passes through the low swamp behind and north of the Cemetery, flowing into the main stream west of Park Street, which, from this point, takes the name of Second River. This creek runs about half way between the eastern bounds of the Cemetery and Park Street. It is a small affair now. We cannot measure its depth and breadth as it was when the otter burrowed its banks, and the beaver built their dams. It was so called from the fact that an Indian bearing that name, with his squaw, both being drunk, were swamped in the water and quick- sand. Unable to extricate themselves, they were drowned. Its crossing-place, which has not been changed up to this day, was called the "ferry," as those passing it were forced to ferry themselves over on logs, or to resort to a rude corduroy crossing. "To the road by the Nishivine ferry" is a boundary noted in the will of Lewis Crane, 1776. The road is at present, known as Dodd Street. 1
A swamp of much greater extent than that just described occupied a district south of the "highway to the mountain," now Main Street. Its western ex- tremity was north of Highland Avenue, between the Scotland Street ridge and the high land of Centre Street. It stretched north toward the highway and near the railroad station, and thence east, parallel
I. This minute notice of this swamp will be dull to many readers. The author thinks that they will justify him in giving it, when they discover the relation it bears to the progressive history of this corner of the mountain settlement.
16
History of the Oranges.
with the highway, to the upland at the East Orange junction, including all the land east of Centre Street, to that in the rear of the Orphan Asylum, and to the west- ern base of Munn Avenue ridge, extending thence in a still wider stretch through the wide intervening bottom across South Orange Avenue to Irvington. Being dense- ly wooded, it was the abode of wild beasts. The higher portions of this district were occupied by the early planters, and have been reclaimed by cultivation and the removal of the forest. A large part of the region is now occupied by streets and dwelling houses.
Within this swamp were the head springs of the Eliz- abeth River, as heretofore noticed. Parrow1 Brook, a tributary to the Second River, had its primal springs a short distance north of the junction of Harrison and Centre streets. Flowing through the swamp north, it makes a junction back of Willow Hall, with a stream from the low land between Centre and Scotland ridges, and thence it runs north until it is merged in Wigwam Brook, at the corner of Day and Washington streets.
The distance from Main Street, between the head of the Elizabeth River, running south, and the head of Parrow Brook, running north, marks the width of the watershed at this place.
FLORA AND FAUNA.
The genera and species of the primitive forest growth were in large variety. They are named in the order of their relative distribution. The oak-red, black, and white (also called rock oak), with pin?
I. This name is also spelled " Perro " and "Parow," and is the same as that of the chief negotiator on the part of the Indians at the time of the purchase of the land, as above narrated.
2. So called because used for pins in jointing timbers in house frames, and other like purposes.
I7
Flora and Fauna.
oak on the borders of the swamps. The chestnut and hickory, of their various species ; the elm, in its Amer- ican varieties ; the beech and birch, black and white ; ash, black and white; and, on the First Mountain-side, the tulip. The ash and tulip have increased in later years. The maple, in some of its species, was of the early growth, including the sugar maple, from which · molasses was occasionally made. This variety has dis- appeared. The sycamore was quite generally diffused, growing to a very large size. The gum (pepperidge) known as bitter gum, and the sweet gum ( liquid amber styraciflua ) were indigenous. The former was most common. Neither is now frequently met with. The bitter gum was utilized for floors of barns, two and a half inches thick, and when sawed into boards was used for other inside work. It was also much employed for coffins. When old, this tree begins to decay in the centre. It was not uncommon to fell a tree, and cut it into suitable lengths, and use them for well curbs. Attaching an artificial bottom, they were made receptacles for grain and other farm products. Scattered over the region, and among the trees of larger growth, the dogwood, wild cherry, the native apple and persimmon flourished. No variety of the pine was indigenous. The few small groves on the mountain-side, of the yellow pine, have come up on land early cultivated, worn out and abandoned. Red cedars are a second growth, and have come up under the same conditions. In the clearing of lands of their native growth, the second growth is chestnut. This is a uniform result over this mountain region.
The grasses were the blue grass in some places, and an inferior native grass in others. After the clearing of land, white clover not infrequently sprang up. Red clover and timothy, for hay and pasturage, were
2
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History of the Oranges.
not introduced by the planters until the beginning of the present century. Tradition says that they were introduced by Ebenezer Canfield, who had the best farm at the mountain. It lay on the north side of the Main Street, beginning a little east of the old road to Wardsesson, now Prospect Street, and was next on the east to Moses Jones' land, where the Calvary (Meth- odist) Church now stands. The site of his large stone- house is opposite Halstead Street.
Of the native fruits of the Newark Mountain we have neither record nor tradition. From Denton's descrip- tion of New York, written 1690, and Miller's descrip- tion of the same, 1695, both of whom as well as other writers give information upon this part of New Jersey, we may reasonably infer that the smaller fruits were native to its soil, such as raspberries, currants, strawberries, grapes, plums, mulberries, persimmons, peaches, apples, quinces, "which are in England planted in orchards and gardens, and many more fruits, which cannot come to perfection in England, are the more natural product of this country." 1
The wild beasts of the mountain were the bear, wolf, panther, elk, deer, together with the fox, coon, opos- sum, and the lesser land animals. The rattlesnake and copperhead abounded. Beaver and otter had their habitats in the swamps. The wolves were the most nu- merous and the most troublesome to the settlers. In their first agreement is this item: "the Town agreed that any Man that would take Pains to kill Wolves, he or they, for their Encouragement, should have 15s. for every grown Wolf that they kill, and this to be paid by the Town Treasury." ?
I. "A brief account of the Province of East New Jersey, in America, Printed in Edinburg, 1683."
2. The bounty was subsequently reduced to 12s. per head. Records of the Town of Newark, page 6.
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Flora and Fauna.
They were sources of annoyance and alarm to the people. Their noses were not infrequently seen in the open cracks of the outside doors of the houses. A single howl at night was responded to from one por- tion of the region to another, till it encircled a wide neighborhood.
Bears were not so numerous nor as troublesome, but sufficiently so to require the notice of town meeting, which, in 1680, offered a bounty of ten shillings per head. They were seen all through the last century, and down to the early years of the present. About 1780, Deacon Amos Harrison, on a certain occasion in the autumn, discovered a bear in an apple tree, near the stone bridge on Oak Bend in Llewellyn Park, eating of the fruit. He went home for his gun, and returning, shot the beast. Finding that he had killed him, he again went to his home (now known as Walnut Cottage, on the Valley Road), harnessed his team to a stone drag, and, bringing the beast to his house, dressed and divided the carcass among his neighbors. The apples of that tree were natural fruit, and, being of good quality, Mr. Harrison took cut- tings and grafted a considerable number of trees with them. The fruit thus became common, and was known as the Bear Apple. There is a tradition that subsequent to this a bear was killed on the knoll where stands the house of the superintendent of Rose- dale Cemetery. The last one seen was about, or a lit- tle before, 1810, in a field on the corner of Commerce Street and Railroad Avenue. When surprised he dis- appeared in the swamp.
The deer were numerous, and continued, though in diminishing numbers, in the region beyond the inoun- tain, till near the close of the last century. It was no unusual thing, at that period, for the settlers over the
20
History of the Oranges.
mountain to see, from the doors of their houses, the deer going to the springs and streams to drink. A large buck was known to traverse the First Mountain about 1780. He was an object of earnest search for the hunters, by whom he was frequently seen and sometimes shot at, but he was very sagacious and always eluded his pursuers. On one occasion his foot was caught in a trap which had been set for him ; from this he succeeded in releasing himself, but his foot was so injured that ever afterward his tracks were recognized. Thus he became known as Old Trap- foot, and long lived to worry the ambition of the hunters. There was living in the town one of that class of shiftless boasters, who are always busy in doing next to nothing for themselves or others. His professed employment was hewing timber for build- ing. On a certain clear, crisp morning, in the fall of the year, he was going by the highway toward the mountain. As he passed Capt. Thomas Williams' house, with broad-axe in hand and gun on his shoul- der, the Captain hailed him with : "Shaw, where are you going now ?"' "I'm going up the mountain to work at my trade, and shoot Trapfoot." Onward he went by the highway to the mountain, ascended its gradual slope till, having passed the present site of the upper gate to the Park, he came to the corner at the base of the trap-rock, turning which he began his ascent through the notch to the summit. Just here in the centre of the narrow cart path, in full sight, stood a noble buck. Our hero levelled his musket and shot him dead. It was Trapfoot. He was a noble specimen of his kind, and one of the last which trav- ersed these mountain heights. The hewer of wood and the slayer of Trapfoot achieved renown.
The rattlesnake and copperhead were found through-
21
Flora and Fauna.
out the mountain region. They seemed, however, to collect in localities. The level land on the north side of the Second River, from the site of the Bethel Church at Doddtown to the bend of the river, was called " Rattlesnake plain." It is so noted in some of the deeds we have seen. The wild, rough spaces on each side of the highway where Trapfoot was shot on the mountain, were known as " Rattlesnake bed." They abounded on the bottom lands of the Passaic River at Swinefield. This was so called from the cus- tom of the planters, in the spring of the year, to drive their swine to the meadows to find food during the summer. The beech nuts, the rank growth of grass, and the rattlesnakes furnished an abundant supply for their growth in fat. To kill these snakes, they placed both their fore feet upon the reptiles, and tore them to pieces with great rapidity. In a few years the snakes were exterminated in that locality.
Beavers inhabited these primitive low lands. As late as 1780, they occupied the dense swamp at the junc- tion of Nishuine River and Wigwam Brook, building their dam at the confluence of the two streams. At the union of the stream from the springs, north of St. Mark's Church, with Wigwam Brook, the remains of a beaver dam were apparent to the early settlers. The stumps of trees which had been felled by these an- imals for damming purposes bore the marks of their teeth. The otter was seen till a late day, and is now found occasionally in the low grounds of Morris County.
Up to the close of the last century, the hunter and trapper found both diversion and profit, when oppor- tunity offered relief from the less exciting duties of farming. Hunting parties from the town at the river and other neighboring places frequently visited this
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History of the Oranges.
region, camping out and spending several days in search of bears, wolves and smaller game.
INDIANS.
The number of Indians belonging to the Hackensack tribe and who laid claim to the Passaic lands sold to the Newark settlers, is believed to have been small. The whole number in the Province, at the time of its coming under the dominion of the Crown, was, prob- ably, not more than two thousand. They were under the rule of abont twenty kings, and some of the tribes numbered less than fifty souls. Oraton was king of the Hackensacks, and Perro claimed proprietorship of the Passaic lands. 1
In the years of the early settlement of the moun- tain, the few remaining natives of the soil were of vagabond habits, getting a precarious subsistence upon game, occasional patches of corn, and the good offices of the settlers. A few wigwams in Tory Corner seem to have given name to the creek passing through that neighborhood. There was a camp of Indian families upon the Dodd lands, on the high ground east of Mid- land Avenue. On the Crane lands, south of Northfield Avenue, and on that part of them where now stands the house of O. S. Carter, was, traditionally, another camp. When that house was being built, Indian relics were brought to the surface in digging for its foundation. This incident corroborated the tradition that on that farm had been an Indian habitat.
At or near Samuel Harrison's saw-mill on Wig- wam Brook, about two hundred yards west of Day Street, stood a very large tulip tree, which tradition says was cut down by a company of Indians for the
I. See Mr. Whitehead's Memoir in Supplement to Vol. VI. of the New Jersey Archives, p. 33.
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Indians.
purpose of making a canoe. In felling the tree a cir- cle was formed around it, and, singing a rude song, they passed around it, each in his turn striking it with his tomahawk until it was felled. Then taking so much of its trunk as would serve their purpose they commenced, with much adroitness, to burn it out. They were industriously employed in the process for many days till it was nearly completed, when the com- pany left, placing it in charge of one of their number, who, neglecting his work, allowed a hole to be burned through it. It was abandoned in consequence. The charred trunk lay for a great many years where it had fallen, perpetuating the recollection of their disap- pointment.
Canoe building, which was a necessity, became a source of profit in this mountain region. The natives carried clams and oysters to Albany, where they were delivered to the Mohawks as tribute. In the valley west of the Second Mountain runs a considerable stream, which in early days was much larger. It
takes its rise on the south line of Caldwell township, and running south-west through Livingston and North- field to Chatham, discharges itself into the Passaic. It is known to this day as Canoe Brook, deriving its name from the canoes made on its shores by the na- tives of early times. They were made of the ash tree, cut from the gullies through which the stream flows. The trees, deprived by their place of growth of the sunlight, except on their tops, grew straight and with- out lateral branches. The wood of the tree is tough and light, and well adapted to the purposes of canoe material. They grew moreover in great abundance. When the canoes were completed, the builders awaited a freshet sufficient to float them down the stream to the Passaic and finally to the salt water bays. The
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History of the Oranges.
only interruption to this journey by water was from above Little Falls to below the Passaic Falls at Pater- son, a distance of five miles, over which it was neces- sary to carry the canoes.
Opposite Willow Hall, west, but close to the brook, in the early days was a knoll, which abounded in small arrowheads. They appeared to have been made of the sharp, dense part of the clam-shell found at its articulation. These arrowheads were gathered by the boys of the present century, now among our old men. The knoll was regarded as the site of an Indian dwell- ing place ; possibly that of Perro, of whose home in this neighborhood a dim tradition exists. Rev. James Hoyt, in his "History of the First Presbyterian Church of Orange," very reasonably infers that Perro's name is perpetuated in the brook (Parrow's), which washed the base of the knoll. Arrowheads and divers relics of Indian make are occasionally found at this day.
Basket making was a common source of profit among these people here, as it has been everywhere else where they lived, among their more industrious and civilized successors.1 It is related that one of the planters
I. Their more important traffic with the white settlers was in pelts of the beaver, otter and the lesser water animals, as well as of the wild beasts of the forests. Wampum was their article of exchange. It was of two species, the black and the white, and was made in large quantities on Long Island, which abounded in shells. Its fabrication was free to everybody, and in nowise limited. The black wampum was the most valuable, and was made, as Van- derdonck says in his History of New Netherlands, from the conch shells taken from or cast up by the sea. The thin parts of the shells were struck off, the pillars and standards preserved, the material ground smooth and even, and reduced according to its thickness, and by a hole drilled through them, strung on cord often made of sinews of beasts. This was the only money and medium among the natives. These strings, varying in number and in value, were formed in belts, some as wide as a man's hand. They are frequently named, and have an important place in the recorded negotiations and treaties between the Indians and the white settlers. Smith, in his History of New Jersey, page 76, says that the white wampum was made from the inside of
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