USA > New York > Livingston County > A history of Livingston County, New York: > Part 29
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A call appeared in the Livingston Register of June 15, 1825, for a public meeting to be held at the house of Col. John Peirce, in the village of Geneseo, on the 28th of June, of the citizens of Monroe, Livingston, Allegany, Cattaraugus and Steuben counties "who feel interested in the formation of a canal from Roch- ester along the valley of the Genesee and Canaseraga, and of a canal from Genesee river to some point of the
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Allegany river." The meeting was "for the purpose of devising means to collect and convey to the Canal Commissioners and to the State government, the nec- essary information as to the practicability and vast importance of the above canal routes." The call was ·signed by Phillip Church, Daniel H. Fitzhugh, Wil- liam H. Spencer, Ira West, Jonathan Child and He- man Norton.
At this meeting a committee was appointed " to «obtain information respecting the practicability of making a canal " as proposed, and subsequently this committee was notified to meet at Geneseo on the first Tuesday of September, to commence the active dis- charge of its duties. A bill had been introduced in the Assembly the previous spring, authorising a sur- vey for this proposed canal, but it failed to become a law. Five years later the question was still being agitated by the people of the Valley, their efforts thus far having met with but little success. A large and enthusiastic meeting of citizens of Sparta and adjoin- ing towns, friendly to the Genesee Valley Canal, was held in Dansville July 24th, 1830. Resolutions were adopted claiming that the region through which it was proposed to run the canal "as equal if not supe- rior to any which for a length of time have been pre- sented to the public, and especially so as it has been satisfactorily ascertained that by a canal connecting the waters of the Allegany river with the great Erie canal, a complete water communication will be effected between the two great commercial cities of New York and New Orleans." A meeting of like character had been previously held at Angelica, and subsequently, on the 26th of August, 1830, a delegate convention of conspicuous men from all the counties effected by the proposed measure, was held at Gene- seo, for the purpose of securing a survey of the route.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
Again, in 1833 we find a call for a meeting to be held in Geneseo Nov. 20th, of "the inhabitants of the counties more directly interested in the construction of a canal from Rochester to Olean, with a branch to Dansville village," "for the purpose of taking into consideration the proper measures to be adopted in relation to that object." The call was signed by H. D. Mason, William Finley, Allen Ayrault, Daniel H. Fitzhugh, Robert Dixon, D. H. Bissell, Russell Aus- tin, S. G. Grover, John Cutler, Donald McDonald, Charles Colt, Leman Gibbs, James Wadsworth, P. C. Fuller, J. Young, William H. Stanley, Donald Fra- ser, Jr., William A. Mills, James McCurdy, Tabor Ward, Jotham Clark, E. Hill, C. R. Bond and James S. Wadsworth.
Other meetings were held in various places, but it was not until 1834 that the preliminary surveys for the canal were made, although the subject was con- stantly discussed in the public prints and by individ- uals. Meanwhile the necessity of some better means of transportation had been yearly becoming greater, and the people had become clamorous for this improve- ment. The trade with Rochester, which had become thus early an important commercial center, was car- ried on principally by the river. Lumber was floated down during the spring and fall freshets, "and the passage was considered short if made in two days. Our merchants brought their goods by the same chan- nel, but requiring from four to five days to run up."* Such means of transportation, while answering the needs of the country when first settled, were wholly inadequate to the then present demands of their in- land commerce, and no effort was spared to enforce this fact upon the attention of the Canal Commission-
* Mount Morris Union and Constitution.
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ers and the legislature. This demand of the people of the Valley was, therefore, at length heeded, and a survey made as stated, in 1834.
The total cost of the canal, as estimated by the chief engineer, F. C. Mills, after making this survey, was $2,002,285. Subsequent surveys and examina- tions, together with a change in the plans of many of the structures, increased this estimate to $4, 750, 125.79, and reviewing this estimate again, he made it $4,900,- 122.44, but included in this $197,099 for reservoirs for supplying the summit level with water. Its actual cost when completed, however, was about $6, 000, 000, or more than three times the first estimates of the engineer.
DAM ACROSS THE RIVER AT MOUNT MORRIS.
So. expeditiously was the project pushed, after the preliminary steps had been taken by the State author- ities, that about 30 miles of the line had been put under contract in 1837, and 50 miles in 1838. The remainder of the work was let in the following year. It was originally intended to be 123 miles long, including "navigable and unnavigable feeders," but the canal tself is only 118 miles in length. Its general course is a south-westerly one from Rochester, through Monroe,
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Livingston, Wyoming, Allegany and Cattaraugus counties, (passing through the towns of York, Leices- ter, Mount Morris, Nunda and Portage), following the valley of the Genesee river to Squaukie Hill, at Mount Morris, where it crosses the river and follows the Cashaqua valley to a point beyond Nunda, when it again seeks the river, which it re-crosses at Portage- ville. Thence it descends to Olean. The peculiar character of some parts of the country traversed by this artificial waterway necessitated some very expen- sive work. The plans first proposed included 115. locks (besides several guard locks), one tunnel of 1032 feet in length near Portageville, 15 aqueducts, 8. dams, 134 culverts, 103 highway bridges, several tow-path bridges, 130 farm bridges, and a number of bulkheads, waste.weirs, etc. Alterations in the plans changed these figures some what, but not materially, except in the abandonment of the tunnel project.
The greatest engineering difficulties were encoun- tered, and the heaviest proportionate expense incurred on that portion between Nunda and Portageville. Here there is a cutting through the ridge, dividing the valley of the Cashaqua from the Genesee valley, 73 feet deep, and a series of locks, about 17 in number, which are required to reach the summit level, 982 feet above the level of the Erie canal. Besides these ex- tensive works, the highest skill of the engineers was required to carry the canal around the high, moun- tainous hills overhanging the river,-and the attempt to do this seemed several times a futile one. "The canal having been brought from the deep cut across the Cashaqua ridge almost to the verge of the perpen- dicular cliffs impending over the river, takes thence the ascending course of the stream. Approaching to within about two miles of Portageville, the mountain increases rapidly in height," and the excavation be-
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
comes very deep, in some places 50 or 60 feet, through solid rock. Here it was proposed to cut a tunnel through the mountain, and work was commenced upon it and continued until the most stupendous diffi- culties compelled the engineers to abandon the work. The length of the tunnel was to have been 1082 feet, its height 27 feet, and width 20 feet, piercing the tow- ering mountain from side to side. This work was deemed necessary on account of the treacherous char- acter of the sliding shelves of the hill, but the same cause which led to the tunneling of the hill finally forced the engineers to abandon this project and con- struct the canal around the side of the hill. A writer for an Eastern paper,* who visited the work while it was in progress, describes it as follows: "Great em- barrassment has already been experienced and heavy expenses incurred in consequence of these slides, both above and below the tunnel," and, speaking of the tunnel itself, "since the excavation has been com- menced, such is the character of the rock, thrown together, apparently, by Nature in loose masses and blocks, that it now appears that the entire roof and sides of the tunnel will require arching with solid mason work. Indeed, temporary arches of wood have been found necessary during the progress of almost every successive yard of the work. It is by far the greatest undertaking of the kind that has been attempted in our country." Of the engineer he says : "If he shall at last accomplish the work of pinning, as it were, the canal to the slippery shelf of sand which overhangs the gulf, we shall have something worth while to show to engineers of the old world." After nearly a quarter of a million of dollars had been expended on the tunnel it was abandoned. It
* William L. Stone.
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can be seen, in a ruined condition, in passing over the line of the canal,-a dark, half-ruined cavern in the crumbling rock. and the lasting depository of the people's money, squandered in a foolish struggle with Nature. But though baffled here, the engineer did succeed in pinning the canal to the treacherous side of the towering mountain, and his work is well worth a long visit to see. The hill rises quite abruptly to the height of several hundred feet. A long distance below, in a chasm with almost perpendicular sides, is the Genesee, encircling the base of the hill and hurry- ing along over the rapids or madly leaping down the upper and middle falls. Half way up the precipitous
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LOWER FALLS AT PORTAGE.
side of the mountain is the canal, cut into its side, and overhanging the raging torrent below. A narrow strip of land alone serves as a tow-path, from which the descent is almost perpendicular to the river. The canal winds around the hill in this manner, passes
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under the famous Portage Bridge, and a short distance above crosses the river by means of a wooden aque- duct. Work upon the canal was prosecuted vigor- ously, except on the upper sections,* and in 1840 thirty-seven miles, from Rochester to Mount Morris, were completed. The line from Mount Morris to the Shaker settlement, four miles, and the Dansville branch, eleven miles, was completed in 1841; from the Shakers to Oramel, thirty-six miles, in 1851 ; from Oramel to Belfast, two miles, in 1853 ; from Belfast to Rockville, three miles, in 1854 ; and from Rockville to Olean basin, twenty-four miles, in 1856.
The completion of the canal to Mount Morris in 1840, and to Dansville in 1841, was hailed with dem- onstrations of the greatest joy by the people of the valley. Early in the summer of 1840 a meeting was held in Rochester to make arrangements for a suitable celebration, and in the fall of that year, in accordance with the previous arrangement, the letting of the water into the canal was observed, with appropriate ceremonies. In 1841, when the canal was opened to Dansville, the State scow went through from Roches- ter with a numerous delegation on board, and a six- pounder cannon from which a salute was fired at every village on the route.
In 1857 the legislature authorized the extension of the Genesee Valley Canal from Olean to Mill Grove pond (which connects with the Allegany river), a dis- tance of six and one-half miles. The engineer's esti- mate of the cost of this work was $88,500.
* Work on these sections was suspended by act of the legislature March 29, 1842, but was subsequently resumed. The enormous cost of the canal above the original estimates of the engineer proved a great hindrance to the rapid progress of the work, and there is reason to suppose that had the State known how great the cost was really to be, it would never have author- ized the construction of the canal.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
The canal, however, was not the only measure of relief proposed by the people of the Valley. Other plans for providing suitable means of transportation were suggested, the most important of which was the. improvement of the Genesee river. There were those who believed this a better plan than that of construct- ing a canal, and until the latter measure was sanc- tioned by the legislature, and work upon it com- menced, they urged their views with great zeal and pertinacity. In 1836 " the inhabitants of Livingston county friendly to improving the navigation of the Genesee river, from Rochester to Geneseo, or to some point above, as may be found practicable," were invited to meet at the Court House in Geneseo on the 16th of December. "A general attendance is re- quested," said the call, "as it is wished to have an interchange of views in relation to applying to the legislature for a modification of the law for construct- ing the Genesee Valley Canal, so far as to leave it discretionary with the Canal Commissioners to substi- tute the river in place of a canal along its banks." The meeting was held and was largely attended by citizens of York, Avon and Geneseo, the southern towns being evidently opposed to the measure. Cor- . tiss Hawley of Avon was made chairman, and Benja- min F. Angel of Geneseo secretary. George Hosmer presented a series of resolutions, which, after approv- ing speeches by those present, were adopted. These resolutions commended the wise policy which had for years characterized State counsels, by which the ben- efits of legislation had been extended to all parts of the State, and especially the aid which had been given in opening avenues of trade and commerce, "a policy which has advanced us to a proud and com- manding eminence among our sister confederates, and justly entitled New York to the appellation of the
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Empire State." It was also declared that those com- posing this gathering were in favor of a water commu- nication between the Allegany river and the Erie canal at Rochester, and that they were friendly to the proposed canal, but that they at the same time be- lieved that if a portion of the Genesee river could be improved and used advantageously as a canal, "at a saving of more than a quarter of a million of dollars to the State, and at the same time render greater facil- ities to trade at a period of interrupted navigation in the spring and fall, when a canal, supplied with water from the summit level of the Genesee Valley canal, would be locked with ice," it should command the serious and candid consideration of the public. The resolutions concluded by urging a modification of the act authorizing the construction of the canal so as to allow the Canal Commissioners to inquire into the ex. pediency of substituting such portions of the river as might prove desirable, in place of the canal, and a committee consisting of Calvin H. Bryan, George Hosmer, Allen Ayrault, Charles Colt, Joseph B. Bloss and Elias Clark, was appointed to present these views to the legislature.
The project, however, does not seem to have had the support of the public, or at least of the people inhabiting the towns south of Geneseo, on the pro- posed route of the canal. Hence the movers in the enterprise were unsuccessful, and it was early aban- doned .*
About this time, also, the question of improving the Allegany river from Olean to Pittsburg was seri- ously discussed, the object being to make a continu-
* At this early period railways were too much in their infancy to be re- garded with much favor, but at this meeting Mr. Bryan and Mr. Hosmer, in their addresses, suggested that the time might come when a railway along the valley of the Genesee would supersede any other mode of transportation.
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
ous water connection, via the Genesee Valley canal, Allegany and Ohio rivers, between the Erie canal at Rochester and the river towns on the Mississippi. A number of meetings in behalf of this object were held in the county, and the subject was urged upon the attention of Congress.
In 1857 the legislature authorized the extension of the canal to Mill Grove pond, about six miles beyond Olean, and a small amount of work was done on this improvement, when the work was suspended, and has not since been resumed. In 1858 a new project was broached, that of extending the canal beyond the Allegany river to certain creeks flowing through rich iron and coal regions. The estimated cost of this im- provement was $110,000, while incalculable benefits were expected to be derived from it. It was an unfa- vorable time, however, to urge the State to engage in any new enterprises of this character, and when the commonwealth had recovered sufficiently from the financial crisis of 1857 to warrant it in making any such vast expenditure of public funds as this and other contemplated measures for internal improve- ment would have demanded, the war came on and monopolized its energies and resources. Now it is seriously proposed to abandon this canal, as being a useless and costly burden to the State. It is strongly urged, and with much truth, that the canal has sur- vived its usefulness, and might better be abandoned than sustained in navigable order at such cost. It is true that the tolls received have never paid the cost of the ordinary repairs and running expenses, much less any interest on the cost of its construction, yet it has been of inestimable value to the whole Valley which it traverses, and though now, in these days of rail- roads and fast freight lines, it is comparatively use- less, it has paid indirectly many times its cost. It is
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
scarcely possible to estimate the influence it had in developing the resources of this part of the State, but a little reflection will convince any one that to a very large degree our remarkable growth and prosperity are due to the facilities afforded by the Genesee Valley Canal, and that the State was wise in constructing it.
In 1826, after an exciting contest, William H. Spen cer and James Faulkner were chosen Assemblymen by large majorities, while Ethan B. Allen was elected Senator. Levi Hovey having been elected County Clerk, John H. Jones, who had recently held the same office in Genesee county, was recommended by the Republicans to fill the vacancy as Judge of the courts of Livingston county. The appointment, however, was given to Willard H. Smith of Caledonia, who served in this capacity with great acceptability until 1832.
On the evening of the 30th of May, 1826, a meeting of a number of the prominent citizens of the county was held at the Court House in the village of Geneseo, to take steps for the establishment of a school on the monitorial plan, "sufficiently extensive to teach 600 scholars, particularly in the higher branches of sci- ence." Articles of association, previously drawn up, were adopted, and a committee consisting of George Hosmer, Charles H. Carroll, James Faulkner and Philo C. Fuller, was appointed to solicit subscriptions in aid of this object. In August of the same year a committee advertised for proposals for the erection of buildings for the "Livingston County High School." The specifications called for an academic building, of brick, 65 by 33 feet, three stories high, and a brick or frame boarding house, of about the same proportions. These buildings were completed in due season, and constitute the property of the present Geneseo Acad- emy. In 1827 the legislature incorporated the Living-
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ston County High School Association, with the follow- ing incorporate members : William Wadsworth, James Wadsworth, William Fitzhugh, Daniel H. Fitzhugh, John H. Jones, Charles H. Carroll, George Hosmer, James Faulkner, William H. Spencer, Philo C. Fuller, John Colt, Henry P. North, Leman Gibbs, Orlando Hastings, Augustus A. Bennett, William Finley, Moses Hayden and Jeremiah Briggs. The school remained under the control of a stock associ- ation until 1849, when it passed under the control of the Synod of Buffalo, and became a school under Presbyterian control, but not especially a sectarian institution. For nearly half a century it remained one of the most useful and prosperous, as it is one of the oldest, academies of the State. Its graduates have been numbered by thousands, and students from every clime have laid the foundations of their educa- tion within its walls. It is a source of deep regret that in 1875 the Academy was closed, with no pros- pect of its immediate re-opening.
The post-rider in early days was an important per- sonage. His visits were eagerly watched for, and none were more warmly received in the settlements than he, whose coming brought tidings from absent friends, or news of the great world's doings. Besides delivering the letters and papers coming through the mails he made it a part of his business to supply newspapers to the people on his route, in much the same manner as the business is done by newsdealers at the present day, buying his papers of the publish- ers and furnishing them to regular customers at a certain rate per annum. As in more modern times, payments were not always made with as much prompt- ness as they should have been, and the post-rider was often compelled to issue touching appeals to the delin- quent customers to pay him. William Hutchins gives
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HISTORY OF LIVINGSTON COUNTY.
notice, over date of Dec. 10, 1823, "to all those who have received of him the Livingston Gazette, printed at Moscow, that a collection must be made in order to enable him to pay the printer." He very kindly offers, however, to receive grain in payment for news- papers, if delivered by the 15th of January at Gaines- ville, China, Springville, Collins, or at Walnut Creek Mills.
In the fall of 1824 the mail stage between Geneseo and Rochester run three times a week each way, leav- ing the former place Sundays, Tuesdays and Thurs- days, at half past six o'clock in the morning. In April, 1825, E. Fisk advertises that the "Rochester stage will in future leave Geneseo every morning at half past five o'clock," and the common wagons be- fore in use were exchanged for "elegant coaches." In December of the same year the stage was adver- tised to leave Geneseo for Dansville, Bath and Olean Sundays and Wednesdays, on the arrival of the Rochester stage. The line to Rochester intersected the east and west line at Avon, thus giving a daily com- munication with Rochester, Canandaigua and Batavia, and points farther east and west. "For this accom- modation the public are indebted to the enterprise of Mr. E. Fisk, whose perseverance has, from the use of a common wagon which lately passed between this place and Rochester once a week, established a daily line of elegant coaches."
As early as Jan. 8th, 1824 formal application was made to the legislature by residents of Nunda, "That six miles of the north part" of that town, in the county of Allegany, might be erected into a separate town and annexed to the county of Livingston. Some years later this prayer of the people of Nunda was substantially granted.
The people of the young and growing county were
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not allowed to suffer for the want of amusements. Traveling shows early found their way hither, and the public journals contained frequent flaming an- nouncements. The Register of June 17, 1824, adver- tised a new museum of wax figures as " now open at the house of C. Watson in Moscow for a few days only." The collection embraced noted personages, the "Sleeping Beauty," and views of celebrated places. "The decorations and dresses are made in that style of elegance that will insure gratification to the observer. The museum will be open from 9 o'clock in the morning till 10 o'clock in the evening. Music on an elegant organ !" Unless the making of wax figures has since become a lost art, and the spec- imens to-day but inferior imitations of those then shown to the public, it is not to be presumed that the exhibition was a very meritorious one. Perhaps as fascinating, far more terrible, finally, was the show of the snake charmer, who about this time visited Gene- seo and surrounding towns. Allowing the repulsive reptiles to crawl freely about his person, he attracted curious crowds wherever he went. He was frequently warned of the danger he run in allowing the reptiles to touch his person, but he only laughed at the fears of his spectators. One unlucky day, however, while exhibiting his snakes in Conesus, one of the reptiles in crawling across his face, bit him on the lip. Every thing was done by the kind hearted people that was possible, but he was soon beyond human aid, and died in the most terrible agony.
There were very few Indians within the limits of the new county at the time of its erection. An informant states that there could not have been more than eighty or one hundred at this time, including young and old, male and female remnants of the Senecas. The resi- dence of these people was at Squaukie Hill. Soon
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