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CORNELL UNIVERSITY
COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE LIBRARY
Cornell University Library
F 127.U4H6
History and legend, fact, fancy and roman
3 1924 020 682 419 fine
Y
1865
IN
ED
A.D
Cornell University Library
The original of this book is in the Cornell University Library.
There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text.
http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924020682419
The OLD MINE ROAD
HURLEY
MARBLE TOWN
WAWARSING
KERHONKSON
STONE RIDGE
ACCORD
NAPA NOCH ELLENVILLE
PHILLIPSPORT
WURTS BORO,
WEST BROOKVILLE CUDDEBACKVILLE
PORT CLINTON
-
PORT JERVIS
BRICK HOUSE
DINGMAN'S FERRY
FLATBROOKVILLE
THE MINE HOLES
VATER GAP
HINE 1908
KINGSTON
F127 14H6
Cornell University
Ithaca, Nem Park
COLLEGE OF ARCHITECTURE LIBRARY
Eric Gugler
HISTORY AND LEGEND
FACT, FANCY AND ROMANCE
of the
OLD MINE ROAD
KINGSTON, N. Y.
to the
MINE HOLES OF PAHAQUARRY
" The Minisink trail ran from the Hudson, via Marbletown, Rochester, Wawarsing, Wurtsborough, Port Jervis, and the Delaware nearly to the Water Gap." Even as we shall run.
HINE'S ANNUAL 1908
Lo
Ar, 4159
COPYRIGHT, 1909 BY C. G. HINE
.
A FEW FIRST WORDS.
Like the butterfly on the flower-strewn plain, the traveler on foot can laugh at fences or ditches and flit from interest to interest, taking no thought for the highway. Be it a pano- rama from some hilltop or an old family burial ground in the remote corner of a pasture lot, it is but the storming of a few rails or a bit of barbed wire and a brief walk amid the field flowers, or between rows of growing corn. Hence no excuse is offered for taking this trip on foot; rather do we commend ourself for having selected the best method of travel for the purpose.
It is quite out of the question for the ordinary pen to adequately depict or praise the beauties of such a region as is traversed by our Old Mine Road. A region of mountains and valleys, brooks and waterfalls, country that yields a rich re- turn to the farmer or that is still wild with heaped rock masses, all embroidered with exquisite patterns of mountain and stream and meadowland. All this aside from the richness of its history, its legend and romance.
To be one with such pleasures for a week or more, with no care but to sip from the next cup when the present has sated, to make the few gracious friendships that are part of the ex- perience, to carry home for the long Winter evenings the memory of it all, makes the traveler feel that he has been favored of the gods and has much to be thankful for.
Neither words nor pictures can tell the full story of such a trip as this for, as with Hamlet, the region has "that within
IV.
THE OLD MINE ROAD.
which passeth show". One must both see and feel it, have been of it, as only the humble wayfarer can be of it, have stepped from the dusty roadway to the softness of the cool, lush grass, or stood sheltered within the covered bridge while the sudden mountain storm rages down from the heights, and then to step out into the freshness and be part of the gorgeous rolling away of the tattered curtain: ah! that indeed is joy unspeakable :-
"To one who has been long in city pent 'T is very sweet to look into the fair And open face of Heaven,-to breathe a prayer Full in the smile of the blue firmament."
-John Keats.
The facts herein set forth have been freely taken from the writings of those learned in the subject and the lips of those willing to impart information. The fiction is largely due to the author's inability to grasp the truth. But an effort has been made to avoid anything approaching dryness - anyone who has exercised much knows how easy it is to get dry, and how uncomfortable.
It is but fair to acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. Benjamin M. Brink of Kingston, Dr. George W. Nash of Hurley, Mr John James Schoonmaker of Accord, Mr. David Crist of Wawarsing, Messrs. Demmon Reynolds, Edward Vernoy and Isaiah Rose of Naponoch, Messrs. Thos. H. Benedict, Alfred Ronk, Mr. Taylor and Miss E. H. Gray of Ellenville, Mrs. Harriet G. Brodhead beyond the Leurenkill, Mr. Levi Cuddeback of Cuddebackville, Professor Dolf and Messrs. W. H. Nearpass and Thomas J. Bonnell of Port Jer- vis, Mr. D. H. Predmore of Brick House, and to many others on whom I made brief calls by the way. While, as usual,
V.
A FEW FIRST WORDS.
thanks are due for the assistance rendered by those in charge of the library of the New York Historical Society, who have placed much that was curious at my disposal, and to those of the Newark Free Library, who have saved me many a weary search.
"And I'll be sworn 't is true; travellers ne'er did lie, Though fools at home condemn 'em."
-Tempest, III., 3.
VI.
A FEW FIRST WORDS.
THE CALL OF THE SPRING. Alfred Noyes.
So now come out of the city's rout, Come out of the dust and the din, Come out,-a bundle and stick is all You'll need to carry along, If your heart can carry a kindly word, And your lips can carry a song ; You may leave the lave to the keep o' the grave, If your lips can carry a song !
Come, choose your road and away, my lad, Come, choose your road and away! We'll out of the town by the road's bright crown, As it dips to the sapphire day! All roads may meet at the world's end, But, hey for the heart of May! Come, choose your road and away, dear lad, Come, choose your road and away.
Come, choose your road and away, my lad, Come, choose your road and away! We'll out of the town by the road's bright crown, As it dips to the dazzling day. It's a long, white road for the weary; But it rolls through the heart of the May.
MOTIVE.
In that issue of "Olde Ulster", which appeared for Febru- ary, 1907, was an article on "The Old Mine Road", which gathered together about all Mr. Brink thought worth record- ing which in any wise referred to the subject. With that gentleman's permission, I quote his article entire, then follow quotations and condensations from the Sullivan County his- tory, whose author has opinions of his own on the subject; these are again followed by such other matter as I have hap- pened on in my surface scratching.
So much by way of introduction. "Olde Ulster" says :-
"THE OLD MINE ROAD.
"El Dorado, the region of gold, was the quest of centuries succeeding Columbus. Not only among the adventurers who flocked to the Spanish Main, but this was the dream of the colonists of Jamestown and Roanoke. And no sooner had Hudson's discovery revealed 'The River of the Mountaynes' than tales of crystal mountains and wonderful mines aroused adventurous spirits to locate them. The principal object for which the Dutch West India Company was incorporated was not the trade for furs along the Hudson but the capture of the richly laden Spanish fleets with their gold and silver. The trade in furs was but incidental at first.
"The Dutch colonists in the Esopus were agriculturists. But among them there were a few restless and adventurous
2
THE OLD MINE ROAD.
men who had been interested in the tales told from the first of almost fabulous mines in the interior. These were located as reported in the undefined 'Minisink country'. We will give, chronologically, the story of these reports and speak of the efforts to reach these mines which were situated, in all the accounts, on the Delaware River.
"In the 'Journal of New Netherland' the first golden vision is found under date of 1641. It is
"'In the interior are pretty high mountains, exhibiting gen- erally strong indications of minerals.'
Four years later (August 31st, 1645,) the West India Com- pany determined to investigate. By this time a definite loca- tion is reported of the mine and it is fixed in the Raritan coun- try :-
"'Having received from savages some specimens of min- eral, which we think valuable, and being informed by the savages, that the mountain, from which they had brought the specimens, is situate inland near the Raretang, we have con- sidered it best, most advantageous and profitable for the W. I. Company to use all diligence to discover the said mine and when found and it is valuable, it is resolved to take possession thereof for the said Hon'ble Company and build a fort there.' "Something of exploration must have been done for in De- cember, 1646, it was reported that
" "The specimens of New Netherland minerals sent over have been examined but, we are told, no metal has been found in them; we can nevertheless only deem it advisable to order the continuation of the search for minerals by your Honor, and wish to know what kind of metal and this from the innermost, that is the greatest depth, can be obtained; we desire also a description of the place where it is found.'
3
MOTIVE.
"For a few years nothing further appears. In 1657 Vice- Director Alrichs, writing of the colony on the Delaware River says :-
"'On this road or way is a good and rich iron mine. situate or contained in a certain mountain near which is a cataract or waterfall on a river which runs past and close by the place, and is adapted to the turning of mills. This river likewise affords facilities for bringing away such substance in a boat.'
"The directors in Holland wrote to Stuyvesant on April 25th, 1659 :--
"'We have lately been shown a small piece of mineral, which is said to have come from New Netherland, and which we found to be good and pure copper, so that we have thought it worth while to hear Claes de Ruyter about it, a person who showed that he was not ignorant of it and consequently dem- onstrated, that a copper mine was said to be in the Nevesinks, also that there was lying between the Manhattans and South- river [Delaware River] a crystal mountain, of which he says he brought several specimens.' 1
"Claes de Ruyter was not alone as a prospector. In the same letter we read :-
"'Gerrit Jansen Kuyper and Abel de Wolf have also re- quested us that such lands and minerals may be granted to them (as we conceive situate near the Esopus Kil in and about the high Catskil Mountains).'
"The officials here in New Amsterdam knew nothing of these wonderful discoveries and when they received this let- ter in July they replied :-
"'We learn with astonishment from your Honor's letter of the report made there by Claes de Ruyter of a coppermine
4
THE OLD MINE ROAD.
in the Newesinghs and of the request of Gerrit Jansen Kuyper and Abel de Wolf as neither before nor since any communica- tions in this regard have been made to us nor any petition been presented. *
* * In the Fall or early next Spring when the woods and hills are burned over and cleared of brushes, and if the good God gives us life, we shall not fail to make inquiries and send your Honors samples of the discov- ered minerals.'
"The commissioner of the Colony near the mouth of the Delaware took up the matter and made an examination. He reported during the same year (1659) to the authorities in Holland :-
"'We have examined Claes de Ruyter, an old and experi- enced inhabitant, from whom we have learned thus much, that the reported coppermine does not lie on the South River, but that a crystal mountain was situate between that Colonie and the Manhattans, whereof he himself had brought divers pieces and specimens; furthermore that the acknowledged gold mine was apparently there, for he, having kept house with the In- dians living high up the river and about Bachom's country, had understood from them that quicksilver was to be found there.'
"In 1735 Governor Cosby wrote to the London Board of Trade :-
"'In the Jerseys is one extraordinary rich mine and some others are discovered there which afford a good prospect, but in this Province none has yet been discovered tho a good deal of money has been expended in search of them.'
"Having given the stories of the mines from the old docu- ments we propose to tell of the efforts to reach this region of boundless mineral wealth. The spot was near what is now
5
MOTIVE.
known as 'The Delaware Water Gap' and upon the left bank of the river and thus in New Jersey. No attempt seems to have been made to find a route up the Delaware from its mouth but from the north. It was soon ascertained that ac- cess was the easiest from the Esopus, up the valley of the Rondout and to the Delaware along the line on which the engineers of the nineteenth century were to build the Dela- ware and Hudson Canal. Along this route already pioneers had pushed up from Esopus to Hurley; thence to Marble- town; to Rochester; to Wawarsing; to Peenpack and to Mahackamack, now Port Jervis. Old maps still show the road up the valleys which is reputed to have been the best con- structed in the colonies and was known as 'The Old Mine Road'. When it was built no one knows but its course is still shown on maps two hundred years old.
"Hazard's Register contains a copy of a letter written in 1828 by Samuel Preston which throws some light upon the Minisink settlement and, incidentally upon the road to the mines. We will quote therefrom at length :-
"'In 1787 the writer went on his first surveying tour into Northampton County [Pennsylvania]; he was deputed under John Lukens, Surveyor General and received from him, by way of instructions, the following narrative respecting the settlement of Minisink on the Delaware, above the Kittanny and Blue Mountain :-
"'That the settlement was formed for a long time before it was known to the Government in Philadelphia. That when the Government was informed of the settlement, they passed a law in 1729 that any such purchases of the Indians should be void; and the purchasers indicted for forcible entry and detainer according to the law of England. That in 1730 they
-
6
THE OLD MINE ROAD.
appointed an agent to go and investigate the facts; that the agent so appointed was the famous Surveyor, Nicholas Scull; that he, James Lukens, was N. Scull's apprentice to carry chain and learn surveying. That as they both understood and could talk Indian, they hired Indian guides, and had a fatiguing journey, there being then no white inhabitants in the upper part of Bucks or Northampton County. That they had very great difficulty to lead their horses through the water gap to Minisink flats, which were all settled with Hollanders; with several they could only be understood in Indian. At the venerable Depuis's they found great hospitality and plenty of the necessaries of life. J. Lukens said that the first thing which struck his attention was a grove of apple trees of size far beyond any near Philadelphia. That as N. Scull and him- self examined the banks, they were fully of opinion that all those flats had at some very former age been a deep lake be- fore the river broke through the mountain, and that the best interpretation they could make of Minisink was, the water is gone. That S. Dupuis told them when the rivers were frozen he had a good road to Esopus, now Kingston, from the Mine- holes, on the Mine Road, some hundred miles. That he took his wheat and cider there for salt and necessaries, and did not appear to have any knowledge or idea where the river ran- Philadelphia market-or being in the government of Pennsyl- vania.
" "They were of opinion that the first settlements of Hol- landers in Minisink were many years older than William Penn's charter, and that S. Dupuis had treated them so well they concluded to make a survey of his claim, in order to be- friend him if necessary. When they began to survey the In-
7
MOTIVE.
dians gathered around; an old Indian touched Scull and said "Put up string, go home". Then they quit and returned.
"'I had it in charge from John Lukens to learn more par- ticulars respecting the Mine Road to Esopus, &c. I found Nicholas Dupuis, Esq., son of Samuel, living in a spacious stone house in great plenty and affluence. The old Mineholes were a few miles above, on the Jersey side of the river by the lower point of Paaquarry Flat; that the Minisink settlement extended forty miles or more on both sides of the river. That he had well known the Mine Road to Esopus, and used, before he opened the boat channel through Foul Rife, to drive on it several times every Winter with loads of wheat and cider, as also did his neighbors, to purchase their salt and necessaries in Esopus, having then no other market or knowledge where the river ran to. That after a navigable channel was opened through Foul Rift they generally took to boating, and most of the settlement turned their trade down stream, the Mine Road became less and less traveled.
"'This interview with the amiable Nicholas Dupuis, Esq., was in June, 1787. He then appeared about sixty years of age. I interrogated as to the particulars of what he knew, as to when and by whom the Mine Road was made, what was the ore they dug and hauled on it, what was the date, and from whence, or how, came the first settlers of Minisink in such great numbers as to take up all the flats on both sides of the river for forty miles. He could only give traditionary accounts of what he had heard from older people, without date, in sub- stance as follows :-
" "That in some former age there came a company of miners from Holland; supposed, from the great labor expended in making that road, about one hundred miles long, that they
8
THE OLD MINE ROAD.
were very rich or great people, in working the two mines,- one on the Delaware River where the mountain nearly ap- proaches the lower point of Paaquarry Flat, the other at the north foot of the same mountain, near half way from the Del- aware and Esopus. He ever understood that abundance of ore had been hauled on that road, but never could learn whether lead or silver. That the first settlers came from Hol- land to seek a place of quiet being persecuted for their re- ligion. I believe they were Arminians. They followed the Mine Road to the large flats on the Delaware. That smooth cleared land suited their views. That they bona fide bought the improvements of the native Indians, most of whom then moved to the Susquehanna; that with such as remained there was peace until 1755.
"'I then went to view the Paaquarry Mineholes. There appeared to have been a great abundance of labor done there at some former time, but the mouths of these holes were caved full, and overgrown with bushes. I concluded to myself if there ever had been a rich mine under that mountain it must be there yet in close confinement. The other old men I con- versed with gave their traditions similar to N. Dupuis, and they all appeared to be grandsons of the first settlers, and very ignorant as to the dates and things relating to chronology. In the Summer of 1789 I began to build on this place; then came two venerable gentlemen on a surveying expedition. They
were the late Gen. James Clinton, the father of the late De Witt Clinton, and Christopher Tappen, Esq., Clerk and Re- corder of Ulster County. For many years before they had both been suryevors under General Clinton's father, when he was Surveyor General. In order to learn some history from gentlemen of their general knowledge, I accompanied them
9
MOTIVE.
in the woods. They both well knew the Mineholes, Mine Road, &c., and as there were no kind of documents or records thereof, united in the opinion that it was a work transacted while the State of New York belonged to the government of Holland; that it fell to the English in 1664; and that the change in government stopped the mining business, and that the road must have been made many years before such digging could have been done. That it undoubtedly must have been the first good road of that extent made in any part of the United States.'
"In the original act creating Ulster County in 1683 it was to extend from Murderers Creek at the Highlands to Sawyers Creek at Saugerties. This line continued to the Delaware River would have left most of the town of Deer Park in Orange County with all of what is now Port Jervis. But pro- vision had been made to prevent this. London Documents XXXI. Col. Hist. VI., page 927, states :-
" 'By an Act of this Colony passed so long ago as the 13th of William the 3rd it is enacted that Maghackemack, and great and little Minisink should be annexed to the County of Ul- ster.'
"This may have extended the borders of this old county in those days far down the valley of the Delaware into what is now New Jersey and covered the location of the mines.
"But what is meant by the mine, in this letter of Preston, lying north of the one on the Delaware and half way from there to Esopus? Was this the mine near Ellenville now called 'The Spanish Mine'? Were some Spaniards among those early Holland prospectors? We know there was one named Manuel Gonzales here as far back as the times of Dutch domination. There were others, both Spaniards and
10
THE OLD MINE ROAD.
Portugese, in the Esopus at that early day and, being of the nations who had exploited in Spanish America, they would naturally be drawn where minerals were reported. The tra- dition of an old Spanish mine at Ellenville, begun by Spanish prospectors, might have considerable justification could we but discover the facts. There is, however, nothing to show that anything but lead was ever found in the Shawangunk range." (Here ends "Olde Ulster".)
Mr. James Eldridge Quinlan, whose History of Sullivan County was published in 1873, tells us that the great trail from the Hudson to Minisink ran through Marbletown, Rochester, Wawarsing, Wurtsborough, Port Jervis and the Delaware nearly to the Water Gap.
In 1663 the Esopus Indians were humbled and a way opened to the heart of the Manassing or Minsi country, and soon after the treaty of peace the tide of emigration flowed through the valley of the Mamakating to Minisink, where the council fires of the great Lenape confederacy had glowed for many years. The Dutch treated the Indians well and had peace. The early days of Peenpack and Minisink are not re- corded.
Gordon, in his history of New Jersey, says: "We may justly suppose, that the road between the colonies on the Hudson and Delaware was not wholly uninhabited", in 1658. He takes it for granted that the Minisink Road, which was one hundred miles long was the work of the Dutch, but Mr. Quinlan says: "And yet five years after this time (1658) there were not seventy-five able bodied male residents of Wild Wijk. It is not to be supposed that such a mere handful of men had hewn their way through a hundred miles of forest, infested by savages." Eager, in his History of Orange
11
MOTIVE.
County, expresses the belief that there were miners from Hol- land at work in the mine holes of Minisink and in the Mama- kating Hollow, previous to 1664, and that the mining business closed in consequence of the surrender to the English in that year. Quinlan says: "If so, the country must have been ex- plored by the Dutch and they would not have been compelled to employ as guides, in 1663, white females who had been prisoners with the Indians, and escaped; nor would they have resorted to Indians to pilot them through the woods to the forts and villages of the hostile clans, which were located within forty miles of Esopus."
"The error of Gordon and Eager is undoubtedly based on the interesting paper which was communicated by Samuel Preston in 1828 to Hazard's Register", (which is quoted by Mr. Brink.)
Pahaquarry is undoubtedly one of the mines mentioned by Lindstrom, the Swedish engineer, a knowledge of which, it is presumed, was imparted to the inhabitants of Esopus by the Minsi Indians, and led to the Minisink settlements above the Water Gap.
When in 1729-30 the Pennsylvanians questioned the right of the Dutch to their settlements, Quinlan says: "They (the Dutch) were shrewd enough to claim that their ancestors oc- cupied the Minisink long before Penn purchased land of the Lenape; that in a forgotten age they had constructed a road one hundred miles through a wilderness country, to their pos- sessions; worked mines, cultivated land, built substantial houses, and exercised undisputed control; that from genera- tion to generation they had married there-reared their off- spring there-grown gray there, and peacefully descended to
12
THE OLD MINE ROAD.
the valley of death, where their flesh and bones had mouldered and returned to dust."
"When did the first settlers locate there? The Dupuis, as their name proves, were French Huguenots and the Hugue- nots did not come to this continent previous to 1686. The first comers, it is alleged, were miners from Holland, who worked in the Pahaquarry Mountain. Grant this, and still you do not concede that the territory was settled as soon as Gordon and Eager would have us believe; for in 1787, 'the old men were grandsons of the original settlers'. In the order of nature, this would have been the case, if the original white settlers had come as late as 1700. In one hundred and twenty- five years the grandsons would have been dead."
"In February, 1694, Capt. Arent Schuyler was ordered by Governor Fletcher to visit the Minisink country. He trav- eled through eastern New Jersey and reached the Neversink River above Port Jervis and thence passed to Minisink. He makes no allusion to white inhabitants of that region, although he speaks of traders and trappers, who had passed through it." We give his journal as quoted in Stickney's Minisink.
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