A history of Lewis County, in the state of New York, from the beginning of its settlement to the present time, Part 34

Author: Hough, Franklin Benjamin, 1822-1885. dn
Publication date: 1860
Publisher: Albany : Munsell & Rowland
Number of Pages: 422


USA > New York > Lewis County > A history of Lewis County, in the state of New York, from the beginning of its settlement to the present time > Part 34


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Moose have been often killed east of the river where they are still found. Elk's horns prove the former existence in our county of this animal, now wholly extinct in the state.


Wolves once common and still found in the east woods. Of these there are two varieties, the black and the common. The former are large, powerful and fierce. The county bounties for their destruction have been $10 till 1819, except 1815, and on various years since. A special act, April 18, 1838, allowed the addition of $10 for wolves and $5 for their whelps. State premiums of $347.50 were awarded in


307


Notes on Natural History. Topography.


1816 ; $180 in 1817; $282.50 in 1818; $440 in 1819 ; $500 in 1820 ; $720 in 1821; $40 in 1822; $72.50 in 1823, and $52.50 in 1824. In the whole state during these years it was $88,714.15, chiefly in Franklin county.


Panthers have seldom been found west of the river, and bounties have usually been the same as for wolves.


Squirrel hunts, were formerly held. Large parties would meet, appoint two captains, choose sides, and on a given day devote themselves wholly to the sport. The heads were counted in the evening, and the vanquished party paid the supper and sometimes the powder and shot. The unit of reckoning was usually a red squirrel. In one of these con- tests, a black squirrel was counted 2, a partridge 2, a wood- chuck 4, a fox 6, a deer 8, a wolf 12, and a bear 12. The last two were usually rated much higher.


White swans .- A flock was seen on the river March, 1826. One of them when shot was found 7 feet 10 inches from tip to tip of wings, and weighing 17 pounds.


Pigeons, have in some years appeared in great numbers, especially in the spring of 1829, 1849 and 1858, when they nested in the beech woods of Montague, and West Turin.


Fish .- In Fish creek salmon formerly abounded. No perch were found in Black river or its tributaries until about 1843, when B. Smith and A. Higby, jr., put about 30 specimens into Brantingham lake. They have greatly multiplied, are now common. Trout, dace, suckers, bull- heads and eels, form the other principal native fishes of our streams and lakes.


TOPOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY .- Lewis co. lies mostly in the valley of the Black river,1 which flows centrally through it from south to north. The river is broken by frequent cas- cades and rapids, until it reaches the High falls where it plunges down a steep, broken ledge of gneiss rock, to the still water which affords a navigable channel to Car- thage, 42} miles below. This is the lowest part of the county and is 714 feet above tide level. The amount of water passing at Carthage at the lowest stages has been


1 The Indian name of this river, as given by L. H. Morgan of Rochester, in his League of the Iroquois, is Ka-hu-ah-go As given by the St. Regis Indians to the author in 1852, it is Ni-ka-hi-on-ha-ko-wa, and by Squier, in his Aboriginal Monuments of New York, Ka-mar-go. The authority first cited gives the name of Deer river, as Ga-ne-ga-to-da ; Beaver river, Ne-ha-sa-ne ; Otter creek, Da-ween-net ; Moose river, Te-ca-hun-di-an-do ; Great Fish creek, Ta-ga-soke; Salmon river, Ga-hen-wa-ga; Sandy creek, To-kä-da- o-ga-he ; and Indian river, O-je-quack. The St. Regis name Indian river, O-tsi-qua-ke, "where the black ash grows with knots for making clubs."


308


Topography and Geology.


computed at 30,000 cubic feet per minute. The principal tributaries of Black river on the east, are Beaver river, Crystal, Independence, Otter and Fish creeks, and Moose river, which issue from lakes or swamps mostly, and have their waters highly discolored by organic or mineral matter in solution. On the west, the river receives Deer river. Stony, Sulphur-spring, Lowville, Martin's, Whetstone, House's, Bear and Mill creeks, Sugar river and a few other streams. Such of these as rise in swamps on the western plateau region are also highly discolored, but the smaller ones, fed by springs from the slates and limestones, are very clear. Along the river, but little above its level, are extensive swamps in Martinsburgh, Lowville, and Den- mark, on the west side, some of which are capable of being brought into use. They were mostly covered with ash and alders, but the lower one of these was in 1854, burnt off, and is now covered with wild grass and reeds capable of being mowed. The soil of this vlaie, or natural meadow, is a deep black muck underlaid by clay. Along the river- bank is a ridge of hard land formed by its overflow, and west of it, a drift ridge of sand covered with hemlock timber. Still west of this, is a long narrow cedar swamp, extending several miles. It is higher than the meadow near the river and has furnished a large amount of bog iron ore for the Carthage furnace.1 A cedar lot has by many been regarded as an essential appendage of a farm.


The river flows over limestone a short distance from Oneida county, when its bed comes upon gneiss rock, the primitive formation extending from about half a mile west of the river throughout the whole eastern part of the county, excepting a portion of Diana. This rock when it appears at the surface, rises into rounded ridges, mostly naked, or with soil only in the crevices and hollows. It is largely composed of feldspar and quartz, with particles of hornblende, magnetic iron ore, and more rarely of garnets. It is everywhere irregularly stratified and highly inclined. The general surface rises gradually from the river eastward, until it reaches an elevation of from 1,500 to 2,000 feet above the river on the eastern border. This rock covers a comparatively small part of the surface, the intervals being


1 This ore never occurs in swamps liable to overflow from the river. It has been found largely in Watson, New Bremen and Denmark, occurring as a loam, or in solid masses, sometimes replacing the particles of roots, leaves and wood, but preserving their form. It is said to have been mostly exhausted, but if allowed to remain without drainage, would be again deposited. Limit- ed quantities of this ore have been found in Diana.


309


Topography and Geology.


a light sandy soil of drift, with occasional intervals of allu- vial deposit, sometimes appearing to have been formerly lakes. The disintegration of this rock affords the iron sand so common along the streams, and upon the shores of lakes in this region. A vein of magnetic iron ore has been opened in the north part of Greig, but not worked to any extent, In Diana, white crystaline limestone occurs, presenting a great variety of interesting minerals, and many instructive points for the study of geology. The region is highly meta- morphic, and presents marked indications of former igneous agencies.


The minerals of Diana and vicinity, are Apatite in small green crystals ; Calcite in great variety, including satin spar, and a coarse crystaline limestone of sky blue tint; Horn- blende ; Mica of the varieties known as Phlogopite ; Py- roxene, white and black in crystals, and in grains known as coccolite ; Quartz in crystals, and of the forms known as ribbon agate chalcedony ; Rensselaerite ; Scapolite in rounded pearly gray crystals ; Serpentine, opaque and greenish ; Sphene of the variety known as Ledererite ; Sulphurets of copper and of iron ; Tremolite ; Wollastonite or tabular spar, and Zircon in square prisms, sometimes a third of an inch on a side, and with terminal prisms. Mining for silver was attempted by Enoch Cleveland many years since, and a small blast fur- nace was put up which produced a few hundred pounds of very hard metal apparently iron. The reputed ore is a fine grained greenish black rock which occurs abundantly, and appears to consist of chlorite and specular iron ore in variable proportions.


The primitive region of this county still comprises large areas of unsettled lands, and presents the same wild forest scenery of lakes, dark winding streams, tangled swamps and sombre pine and hemlock forests, as when first explored by surveyors and hunters. The whole of Diana, and about half of Croghan are drained by the Indian and Oswegatchie rivers. A small part of Diana is underlaid by calciferous sandstone, which usually occurs level and covered by a thin but fertile soil. Detached capping masses of Potsdam sandstone also occur in this town, but the most remarkable locality of this rock in the county, is due east of Martins- burgh village, where a stratum is found resting directly upon the gneiss, in the bed of Martin's creek. Its thickness does not exceed three feet, and its surface exposure is slight. It is directly covered by limestones and is composed of masses of pebbles and sand cemented as if by heavy pressure.


310


Topography and Geology.


Parallel with the river, and on an average of about a mile west, rises an irregular series of terraces, consisting of birdseye, Black river and Trenton limestones. The first of these may be quarried in rectangular blocks, and is highly valuable for building and for lime. A portion of it furnishes hydraulic lime, which has been made to some extent in Lowville and Martinsburgh. It does not form a surface rock of much extent and occurs chiefly on the edge of the lower terrace, and in the beds of streams. It is covered by the Black river limestone which forms the surface rock between the first and second terrace, is not adapted to building, contains masses of flint, and is so soluble that every exposed angle has been rounded and every seam widened by the action of rains and running water. Streams usually sink into crevices and flow under it, often forming caverns of limited extent, especially in Leyden. The Trenton limestone forms the highest and broadest terrace of the series, rising from 300 to 600 feet above the river, and spreading out into the level fertile region which every traveler through the county has admired. These limestones seldom appear at the surface except at the edge of the ter- races and in the water courses, and every stream flowing across them has more or less of a smooth rocky bed, and a picturesque cascade where it tumbles down to the next lower. level. Deer and Sugar rivers and Martin's creek have worn deep yawning chasms into the rock, and present cascades of singular wildness and beauty well worthy of a visit by the pleasure-seeking tourist.


The western tributaries of Black river have usually no valleys, except the immediate channel they have worn. Drift agencies have given the appearance of several oblique val- leys coming down from the northwest across the limestone terraces, which usually have a drift deposit on their north- ern side, while on the south the rock is exposed and often furrowed in the direction of these oblique valleys. Deer river might almost as well have turned northward at Copenhagen into Sandy creek, as to have taken its present course.


In Martinsburgh and Lowville, veins of calcite with the sulphurets of zinc, lead and iron have been found. In the former, carbonate of lead, and in the latter fluor spar oc- curred. These mineral veins are of scientific interest, from the evidence they afford of electrical deposit. They were formed in what appeared to be natural fissures of the rock, and the sulphuret of zinc was attached to each wall, upon which was a layer of lead ore and lastly of pyrites, the latter often covering the crystals of calcite or appearing


311


Topography and Geology.


with cavities left by their solution. The lead was some- times crystalized and imbedded in spar, or grouped with clusters of that mineral in masses of much beauty.


A range of high lands, known as Tug Hill,1 runs through the county parallel with the river, and from three to seven miles from it. It rests upon the limestone and consists of Utica slate and Hudson river shales, rising by a rounded slope to an elevation of from 500 to 1000 feet above the flats below, and spreading out in a level or slightly broken region, into Oneida, Oswego and Jefferson counties. Innu- merable beaver meadows occur along the sluggish streams rising from extensive swamps in this region, and the waters from this plateau flow from it into the Mohawk and Black rivers and lake Ontario. The largest streams flowing from this region are Fish creek and Salmon river, each of which have valleys of considerable extent, and receive numerous tributaries. Deer river also gathers the waters of a wide district. The large streams flowing down have uniformly worn deep channels, the larger of them several miles in length, and in Martinsburgh presenting some of the wildest scenery in the state.2 Every spring torrent has its ravine, and the limestone flats below, are so covered with slate


1 Said to have been named by Isaac Perry and - Buell, on their first journey into the county, upon reaching the top of the hill on the old road west of Turin village.


2 The more interesting of these is Whetstone gulf. The chasm extending about three miles up, is bordered by precipitous banks 200 to 300 feet in height. The first two miles are mostly occupied by a heavy growth of timber, but the last mile presents but little of this, except what over- hangs the banks, or finds root on the steep, crumbling slate rock. The stream is here quite irregular in its course, presenting sharp angles and sud- den turns, which afford, at every step, new points of interest, and a constant succession of magnificent views. The walls approach nearer as we ascend the stream, until they may be both reached by the outstretched arms, and the torrent is compressed into a deep, narrow chasm, which forbids farther pro- gress without difficulty and danger. A rough wagon road has been made about two miles up the gulf, and in low water parties can cross the stream everywhere without difficulty.


About two miles west of Martinsburgh village, on Martin's creek, occurs another gorge worn in the slate hills, of much the same character. From a vast triangular pyramid of slate rock formed by the junction of two gulfs, it has acquired the name of Chimney point. To the left of this, as seen from the banks above, a stream of moderate size falls in a beautiful cascade about sixty feet, breaking into a sheet of foam upon the rough bed, down which it glides. A few rods below it unites with the longer and larger branch, whose ravine extends half a mile further up. Upon following the latter we arrive at a cascade, where the stream falling from a narrow chasm into a pool, for- bids further progress. The strata of slate, elsewhere nearly or quite level, are here highly inclined, but the disturbance in the stratification only extends a few rods. Chimney point has the advantage of presenting its finest view from the banks, but such as prefer to descend, will find themselves amply rewarded by the pleasing variety of scenery which the locality presents. This


312


Topography and Geology.


gravel, that the line of junction of the two rocks can no- where be seen in the county. Leyden Hill is a detached mass of this slate formation, cut off by a valley from the main portion. The road from Constableville to Rome, rises about 1000 feet above the latter place and runs many miles over this range of highlands, which comprises the whole of Lewis, Osceola, High Market, Montague and Pinckney, and parts of Leyden, West Turin, Turin, Martinsburgh, Harris- burgh and Denmark. The black oxyde of manganese oc- curs in swamps in Martinsburgh on the top of Tug hill, and weak sulphur springs known in the early settlement as deer licks, are common but unimportant.1 The limestones and slates in this connty abound in characteristic fossils of great scientific interest. About half a mile below the foot of Tug hill, on the line of junction between the slate and limestone, there occurs a strip of clay averaging perhaps forty rods in width, which may be traced from one end of the county to the other. In the state of nature this was a line of ash or cedar swamp, and when cleared and drained it affords a strong meadow or grass land, but it can not well be plowed. The slates allow the rains to percolate down through their


ravine is surrounded by cultivated fields, but is still as wild a solitude as when first found by the surveyors.


A thrilling incident occurred at Chimney point, in the spring of 1834, which, were it not well authenticated would scarcely appear credible. It is, however, too well known and attested to admit of a doubt, and must be placed on the list of wonderful escapes. Chillus D. Peebles, who lived adja- cent, was clearing the land, and rolling the logs off into the gulf, when by an unexpected motion of a log he was thrown off the precipice. He fell about one hundred and fifty feet, and struck on the steep slope formed by the gra- vel crumbled from the cliffs above, from whence he bounded and rolled to the bottom, about a hundred feet further. The accident was seen by a man not far off, who hastened to descend by the usual path, expecting to find the unfortunate man dashed to atoms or mangled and dying on the crags below. To his infinite surprise he met Peebles, who had got up and started to return, which he did without aid, and in less time than the person who came to assist him. Upon reaching the top he was delirious, but after a few days he returned to his labor as usual.


1 One of these occurs near the head of Whetstone gulf, and another 1 mile S. W. of Houseville on House's creek. One sulphur spring of some interest occurs in the limestone on the land of S. B. Dewey, on lot 14 in the N. W. part of Lowville, which from the earliest settlement has enjoyed a local repu- tation for its medicinal properties. It issues from the foot of a low terrace of Trenton limestone, within a few feet of the upper strata of that rock, and its sulphurous taste and odor is apparently due to sulphuret of iron dissem- inated in the rock. It occurs on the west side of a small mill stream a few rods below Gladwin's grist mill, and the spot is shaded by a thin growth of trees. The spring is curbed about three feet deep and the water is clear. Now and then a few bubbles of inflammable gas rise from the bottom, and at some periods the discharge of gas is said to be sufficiently active to give the spring the appearance of boiling. The water may be easily drank and flows off at the rate of about six quarts in a minute.


313


Drift Deposits. Scenery.


seams until the water reaching the limestone finds its way to the surface in this line of springs. West of the strip, slate may be found anywhere, by digging through the soil and drift. East of it, it can be found nowhere, except in broken gravel washed down by streams.


Drift deposits occur promiscuously over every part of the county, usually in rounded ridges. The largest of these are south-east of Denmark village, where the deposit is miles in extent and of great depth. By the term drift, we wish to include all earthly matter or detached rocky masses lying upon the undisturbed rock, excepting soil derived from the disintegration of the rock underneath, and the alluvium or soil washed down and deposited by water, or formed by organic growth. The soil of the drift is variable, being in some places light and sandy, while at others it is hard loom or clay. In the Primary region, especially in Diana, there are found in many places, flat intervales and marshes which appear to have been formerly lakes that have been filled in by the encroachment of vegetable growth and by the soil washed down from the ridges adjacent. Peat has been observed in some of these marshes, and marl deposited in the bottom of the lakes. Boulders of gneiss and other pri- mary or igneous rock, are found promiscuously resting upon all the formations of the county, or imbedded in the soil. In many cases clusters of these masses are found together, favoring by their appearance the theory that they had been transported by fields of floating ice, at a period when this region was covered by the ocean.


The scenery of the county, excepting the ravines and cas- cades above described, presents nothing majestic, and may be regarded as beautiful rather than grand. From the western side of the river, the eastern slope appears rising by insensible degrees until lost in the blue level range of the forests of Herkimer county, with here and there a point slightly elevated above the general surface, indicating the position of the higher mountain peaks of Hamilton county. The highest primary ranges in Lewis county, occur in its south eastern corner, in the town of Greig. On an autumnal morning, or after a summer shower, patches of white mist resting upon the surface, indicate the position and extent of the forest lakes, and at times a curtain of fog hanging over the river, may shut out the view entirely. As viewed from the brow of the slate ranges, the panorama of the valley and of the distant horizon is exceedingly beautiful, and sunrise as seen from these hills on a clear morning, will amply repay the labor of an early walk to their summit. The


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314


Scenery of the Valley.


beaver meadows of the western plateau region, are usually bordered by a thrifty growth of balsam fir trees, whose dense conical masses of dark evergreen, give a characteristic aspect to the scenery of these open meadows in the bosom of the forests. No prospect can be conceived more cheer- less than the swamps which extend for miles along the head waters of Fish creek, and other streams, which have their sources in these highlands. They are mostly without trees or shrubs, excepting here and there a slender tamarack, festooned with gray hanging moss. Where the soil is of sufficient stability to support them, a growth of alder shrubs may be traced along the margin of the channels, but in many places the surface may be shaken to the distance of many feet, and a pole may be thrust to an almost indefinite depth.


Viewed from the eastern side, the limestone terraces and slate hills on the west, are seen to great advantage, and the successive steps by which the surface rises, are distinctly observable. The cultivation of sixty years has quite changed the natural surface of the landscape, and a patch of reserved woodland here and there alone remains. Viewed from a distant eastern point, the horizon towards the north drops down as the hills are of less elevation towards the lake, and the terraces become much broader. At the period when lake Ontario flowed up to the lake ridges, now nearly four hundred feet above its surface, the north eastern portion of the county might have been submerged, as traces of these ridges are found in Wilna, near the borders of this county.


INDEX.


Academies, 129, 135, 162, 188, 215. Adams, Levi, 175; Dr. Seth, 155; Wm. Root, 166.


Aldrich, Jonathan, house of burned, 80; Peter W., 128. Alford, Asahel, murdered, 224. Allen, Dr. Samuel, 82, 88.


Alpina, 73, 96, 100.


Alsop, Thomas, 30, 248. Angerstein, John Julius, title of, 33. Antwerp Company's lands, 25, 70, 71. Arson, trial for, 153.


Arthur, Richard, notice of fam. of, 175. Ashley, Otis, jr., shot, 182.


Assemblymen, chron. list of, 289. Astor, John Jacob, owner of lands, 31. Balloon, from Oswego, 226.


Bancroft, Edward, notice of, 180. Bank of Lowville, 157; Lewis county,


186; of the People, 160; Valley, 160. Bannister, Rev. Henry, 166. Baptist Association, 284.


Bar, list of the Lewis county, 290.


Barnes's Corners, Pinckney, 206. Barnes, Judah, 211. Barney, Eliam E., 165.


Bands of Instrumental Music, 157, 214. Beach, John, 218; Nelson, Jr., 218. Bears, encounter with, 117, 128. Beaver Falls, Croghan, 196. Beaver Lands, tract known as, 53. Beavers, notice of, 306; dams of, 198. Belfort, Croghan, 78. Belletre's expedition, 21. Benton, Z. H., 100. Bent's Settlement, Croghan, 78. Birdseye maple, statistics of, 119. Black river, erroneous location of, 20, 25, 34; elevation of, 307; Indian name of, 307 ; canal, 263 ; company, 262; tract, 24, 25, 26, 27. Blake, Patrick, 56, 58, 59, 62, 76. Blodget, Jesse, family of, 84. Boards of Health, cholera, 88, 155. Bog iron ore, where found, 223, 308. Bonaparte, Joseph, 71, 72, 77, 94, 95, 96, 98; lake, 96, 97. Booge, Rev. Aaron, J., 189.


Boon, Gerret, 121.


Boshart, Garret, 143.


Bossuot, Jean Baptiste, 77.


Bostwick, Isaac W., 84, 113, 149, 178.


Boylston, Thos., 25 ; tract, 25, 27, 28.


Brantingham, Thomas H., 32; tract, 25, 31.


Brass band, Turin, 214.


Breese, Arthur, land agent, 32. Bridges, 89, 103, 119, 135, 196, 226.


Brodhead, Charles C., surveys of, 52, 125, 139.


Brown, Charles; academy of, 91.


Brown, Gen. Jacob, 2, 6, 56 ; John, 33.


Brown's Tract, 25, 33, 111.


Brunel, Mark I., 50, 51, 52.


Buck, Chester, 134.


Budd, Dr. David, 246, 291.


Burr, Aaron, lands owned by, 22, 34. Burnand Eugine, Swiss proprietor, 99. Bush, Zaccheus and family, 211.


California, so called in Harrisburgh, 114; companies, 296.


Canaan, Timothy, child of, burnt, 185. Canal statistics, 260; surveys, 259; description of, 266.


Card, Peleg, 86.


Cardinal lines of Castorland, 52.


Carret, James, agent, 77.


Castorland, 25, 34 to 70, 104.


Castorville, 56, 57, 80.


Cattle, sale of; anecdote, 213.


Cavanaugh, Michael ; respite of, 131. Caverns in Black river limestone, 130, 310.




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