A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 6

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188

USA > New York > A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 6

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Of the physical conditions under which the

stratified gravel, sand and clay, part of which, as before stated, are equivalent to the "yellow drift" of New Jersey, are also difficult to ac- count for. They consist largely of transported material from older beds, and by their struc- ture indicate that they have been formed by swift currents which carried along and de- posited coarse and fine material mingled to- gether. Their fossils, so far as we know, ex- clude them from the Tertiary, and they under-

Pyrula, clam, oyster.

New Utrecht.

4. Clam and oyster shells.

Well at Flatbush Almshouse. Flatbush.

1 of Long Island.

Bet. Brooklyn and Flatlands.

60 feet.

§ Dr. J. C. Jay, Ann. of Lyc. Nat. Hist., 1842.

70 feet. Furman's Antiquities.

25 feet.

Thompson's History.

15. Clam and oyster shells.

140 to 160 feet.

Wood.

17. 18. Oyster shells.

24. Carbonized wood.

Sea Cliff, 1845.

944 feet.

E. Lewis, Jr.

32. Bones of mastodon.

Venus mercenaria.

TOPOGRAPHY OF THE ISLAND.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

lie the drift unconformably, although by defini- tion the Glacial period begins the Quaternary age.

If, however, we assume in the Quaternary a succession of glacial epochs, or alternate periods of advance and retreat of the ice-sheet, as suggested by Croll's theory, we can explain the origin of the beds in question by supposing that during the epoch of glaciation imme- diately preceding their deposition the ice- sheet did not reach so far south, while the floods of the succeeding warmer epoch modi- fied and spread over the sea-bottom the drift thus formed.

In order to appreciate more exactly the re- lations of these Post-pliocene beds to the glacial drift, it will be necessary to consider some very interesting phenomena. Along the north shore of Long Island from Flushing to Orient Point are exhibited most striking evi- dences of glacial action. We find the stratified gravels, sands and clays upheaved by the lat- eral pressure of the ice-sheet and thrown into a series of marked folds at right angles to the line of glacial advance, which, judging from the grooves and striæ on the rocks of New York and Connecticut, was about S. 30 de- grees E. The glacier having thus crumpled and folded the underlying strata, it evidently rode over them and continued its course south- ward, pushing before it an immense mass of sand and gravel, together with debris from the rocks of New York and New England.

The theory that Long Island Sound was a body of water previous to the arrival of the ice-sheet would seem to be sustained by the character of the detritus deposited by the ice on Long Island. From Brooklyn to White- stone, where the sound is narrow, the till or drift proper is quite conspicuous; east of this it becomes less noticeable, and beyond Roslyn, as before stated, it does not again occur in abundance until we reach the vicinity of Green- port, where the Sound again grows narrow. This seems to be due to the fact that the finer debris of the northern rocks was carried along imbedded in the lower part of the glacier. The channel of the East River, owing to its narrowness, was filled up and passed over, the till being deposited to form the range of hills near Brooklyn; but in crossing the broader part of the Sound the ice probably lost the greater portion of its load of till, and only carried over the boulders which were on the suface or in the upper part of the glacier. On reaching the north shore of the island the

alluvial gravel and sands were scooped up and pushed forward in front of the ice-sheet, to form the "moraine," and the boulders, when the ice melted, were deposited on the surface. The map shows that the principal bays on the north shore penetrate the land in a direction identical with that of the advance of the glacier. We may reasonably infer from this fact that these indentations were ploughed out by projecting spurs of ice, and the inference is supported by the fact that the bays are walled in by high ridges which have been formed largely through the upheaval of the beds by lateral thrust. The best example of this displacement in the formation of a bay is shown in the section at Crossman's clay-pit in Huntington, which I have previously de- scribed. Harbor Hill, which stands at the head of Hempstead Harbor, is 384 feet high and chiefly consists of gravel and sand more or less stratified. Jane's Hill, four miles S. S. E. of the head of Cold Spring Harbor, is 383 feet high, and is composed of the same materials. In the vicinity of each of these hills, moreover, there are other ridges and elevations averaging about 300 feet in height. Southeasterly from Huntington Bay we have the Dix Hills and Comac Hills rising about 250 feet. Southeast of Smithtown Harbor, we have Mt. Pleasant, 200 feet in height; in a like direction from Stony Brook Harbor are the Bald Hills, also 200 feet high. Again we have Reulands Hill, which is 340 feet in height, and has the same general bearing from Port Jefferson Harbor. About South 30 degrees East from Wading River, where there is quite a deep valley, we find Terry's Hill, 175 feet high. South of Great Peconic Bay rise the Shinnecock Hills, I40 feet, and southeasterly from Little Peconic Bay are the Pine Hills, about 200 feet high. From these instances it will be seen that the areas of high elevation bear a very marked geographical relation to the deep indentations of the coast. That this relation is due to glacial action, seems more than probable, as it can scarcely be an accidental coincidence that the highest hills on the island should be in a line with the deepest bays on the northern coast, and that the course of these bays should coincide with that of the glacier.

At every point along the north shore where a section of the strata is exposed, the flexed structure of the beds under the drift may be observed. On Gardiner's Island these folds are remarkably prominent, the surface of the island being broken with numerous parallel

TOPOGRAPHY OF THE ISLAND.

ridges having a general trend N. 65 degrees E. These ridges correspond to folds in the strati- fied beds, which the surface drift overlies un- conformably, and as they are at right angles to the line of glacial advance it is difficult to conceive any agency which could have pro- duced them except the lateral thrust of the ice-sheet. Unless these phenomena can be re- ferred satisfactorily to some other cause, and of this I very much doubt the possibility, we have in these folds a strong argument against the iceberg theory, as it seems evident that a mere drifting berg could not develop sufficient progressive force to do the work here shown. A similar origin may be attributed to the ranges of hills which form the so-called "back- bone" of the island, as their structure indicates that they have been formed partly of gravel and sand transported from the north shore and partly through the upheaval of the stratified beds by the friction of the moving mass of ice. As the downward pressure of the glacier was about 450 lbs. per square inch for 1,000 feet of thickness, and its progressive force was only limited by the resistance of the ice, it is quite reasonable to assume it capable of pro- ducing such a result. At one locality, West Deer Park, this is manifestly the case, and I have no doubt that in time it will be found generally true. The numerous springs that issue from the hillsides along the north shore also lead one to infer that the substratum of clay has been raised up in the center of the hills. The occurrence of the springs might be accounted for hypothetically by supposing that morainal hills, distributed on the plain, eroded horizontal strata of sand underlaid by clay ; but this we know is not the case.

Mr. Upham, in his discussion of the mo- raines, attributes all the stratified deposits to diluvial and alluvial action in the Champlain period, to which the Gardiner's Island deposit has been erroneously referred. He also con- cludes that the more southern drift hills, which are from 200 to 250 feet high, were formed in ice-walled river-channels formed upon the surface of the glacial sheet when rapidly melt- ing. That this process has taken place in some cases is quite probable, as there are undisputed kames in certain places ; but from the analogy of the deposits in question to the others de- scribed, I am inclined to refer them generally to the same causes.

The changes which have occurred on Long Island since the retreat of the glacier have been mainly topographical, and unquestionably

very extensive. The streams of the Cham- plain epoch carried down the drift from the moramnal hills and distributed it on the plain to the south, forming in many places local beds of clay. In the vicinity of Bethpage and else- where are hillocks of stratified sand similar in appearance to the New England kames. The valleys mentioned above, which have been examined by Elias Lewis, Jr., are unquestion- ably the channels of streams resulting from the melting of the glacier.

The coast line of the island is rapidly changing on account of the action of the swift westerly currents, which are wearing away the east end and depositing the sediment along the north and south shores. By this means the bays which open into the Sound are rapidly becoming shallow. The Great South Beach is also an evidence of the action of the waves and currents in changing the outline of Long Island. We have, moreover, abundant evi- dence that the south shore has been gradually sinking. This subsidence probably began in the later Quaternary and may be still contin- uing.

ECONOMIC GEOLOGY.

Magnetite is the only metallic ore found on Long Island, and occurs almost everywhere on the beaches in the form of sand. It is not, however, sufficiently abundant in any one locality to render its collection profitable. A company was started some time since for the purpose of separating the ore, in the vicinity of Quogue, from its associated quartz and gar- net sand by means of powerful electro-mag- nets ; but the enterprise proved unsuccessful. Iron pyrites in its white variety, or marcasite, is common in the lower clay beds, but does not occur in sufficient abundance to pay for utiliz- ing it. Lignite occurs only in small quantities and usually at great depths. Peat of an in- ferior kind, composed of the matted roots of grasses and other plants, occurs at the heads of most of the bays on the south shore, but is not used to any extent.

Although not productive of any of the val- table minerals, Long Island may be considered peculiarly rich, from the fact that almost the whole of the island can be utilized in the arts and trades. Its sands and gravels are of every kind in use, and its clays are suited for the manufacture of fine grades of brick and pot- tery. The former materials are largely

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

The most extensive deposit of fine pottery clay occurs at Glen Cove, on the premises of the Messrs. Carpenter. This clay is very plas- tic and burns a light cream color. The friable quartz pebbles described above produce, when shipped from Port Washington and the vicin- ity for building purposes.

ground, the finest quality of white sand for glass and pottery. The deposit of kaolin is also unsurpassed. In addition to these ma- terials, this locality furnishes fire-sand for pot- tery, gray and blue pottery clays and an ex- cellent fire-clay.

The next locality of note is Huntington. In this town is an immense deposit of the finest brick clay, upheaved to such an elevation that it is easily accessible. The beds are worked at Crossman's and Jones' brick-yards, and ex- tend throughout Lloyds' Neck. Between

Huntington and Cold Spring a large deposit of white pottery-clay has been worked for many years. The brick-clay extends east over ten miles, and is worked at Eckerson's yard on East Neck, and Provost's at Fresh Ponds. At Eckerson's and at Sammis' pits, on Little Neck, are immense deposits of fire-sand, which extend over Eaton's and Lloyd's Necks.

A little west of Greenport are two brick- yards at which a bed of glacial clay is being worked. Between these two yards is a bed of mottled blue clay, used for making flower pots. The most extensive deposit of all, how- ever, is that on Gardiner's Island. This clay is unsurpassed for the manufacture of bricks, and from the abundant supply of molding- sand and the easy accessibility of the locality by water, must in time prove an important source of revenue.

CHAPTER II.

THE INDIANS AND THEIR LANDS.

HE story of the red man on Long Island is an epitome of that of his race all over the American conti- nent. When we first meet him he is rich as riches went among Indians, power- ful, living in regular communities under a rec- ognized head, waging war, engaging in the chase, his daily life hallowed by traditions, cir- cumscribed by superstition, and rounded out by a blind religion which taught him that there was a hereafter, but a hereafter in its features very much like those he regarded as brightest and best in the present. Still, it was a relig- ion, and if it did not elevate him sufficiently to make him an enthusiast, it at least made him a stoic. Then, when the time came for him to be measured with the white man, he imitated the latter's vices, not his virtues,-or but few of them-and gradually but surely he became beaten in the struggle for existence, cheated, wronged and cozened at every turn, sometimes under the guise of the requirements of civili- zation, the authority of religion, or the inflex- ible demands of modern progress. Originally strong and numerous, the aborigines steadily dwindled under the influence of the resources of civilization until their representatives are now but a handful, and these are facing the inevitable end, of total annihilation, not very far distant. It is a sad story, a painful story, that of the undoing of an ancient race, but it must be told. The white man was not alto- gether to blame, for he was but the factor in the carrying out of an inexorable law-the survival of the fittest. One comfort is that on Long Island the story is more gentle, less

accompanied by blood and rapine and tragedy, than in most of the other sections of the coun- try where the Indians were at all powerful.

As is the case with all efforts at solving early Indian history, there exists much doubt as to the identity of those occupying Long Island when it was first discovered by the white adventurers, and the effort at solution has involved considerable controversy and still left much that is vague and obscure. Into that controversy we cannot enter here, for contro- versy is not history ; but it may safely be said that the consensus of opinion, the drift of all the evidence produced, is that the aborigines of Long Island were a part of the great family of Algonquins and belonged to the group designated by the Dutch pioneers as the Mo- hegan nation. The language spoken over the island is described as being that of the Algon- quins, the same which prevailed all over the seaboard and throughout the northeastern part of the present United States, but doubtless was diversified by as many dialects as there were tribes or clans. John Eliot used it in his trans- lation of the New Testament and other books, biblical and theological, which nowadays form the best record of a language which has for- ever passed from the lips of living men.

The tribes or clans of the Mohegans on Long Island were as follows :*

*The proper spelling of Indian names has never been reduced to an exact science, but throughout this chapter we give the most generally accepted form first, followed, where need be, by one or more accepted variations.

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

I. Canarsies (Canarsee, Canarsie) : Oc- cupied Kings county and part of the old county of Queens as far as Jamaica.

Subordinate tribes: (1) Marechawicks, Brooklyn. (2) Nyacks, New Utrecht ; seem to have settled on Long Island about 1646. (3) Jamecos, Jamaica.

II. Rockaways: Occupied Hempstead, Rockaway and parts of Jamaica and Newtown.

III. Matinecocks: Occupied lands from Flushing to Fresh Pond, Glen Cove, Cold Spring, Huntington, Cow Harbor.

IV. Nesaquakes (Missaquogue, Nisse- quah) : Occupied lands from Fresh Pond to Stony Brook.

V. Setaukets (Setalcats) : From Stony Brook to the Wading River, including Strong's Neck.

VI. Corchaugs: Claimed the territory east of the Wading River, including the entire townships of Riverhead and Southold and also Robin's Island.

VII. Merokes (Morrick Merikoke) : Claimed land between Near Rockaway and Oyster Bay, through the middle of the island. Part of Hempstead was purchased from this tribe.

VIII. Marsapeagues . (Marsapequa) : From Fort Neck to Islip and north of about the center of Suffolk county. The Merokes are believed to have been a branch of this tribe. The battle of 1653, at which Capt. Underhill was victorious, was mainly fought against the Marsapeagues.

IX. Secatogues (Secatague) : In and around Islip township. "The farm owned by the Wallets family at Islip is called Secatogue Neck, and was, it is supposed, the chief set- tlement and residence of the Sachem." -- Thompson.

X. Patchogues: Patchogue to Canoe Place. A Sag Harbor newspaper in 1830 mentions the death on Jan. 5, of that year, at Patchogue, of "Elizabeth Job, relict of Ben Job and Queen of the Indians in that place, leaving but two females of her tribe, both well- stricken in years."

XI. Shinnecocks : Ranged from Canoe Place to Easthampton, including Sag Harbor and Peconic Bay. At Shinnecock Neck is the reservation of about 400 acres on which yet linger the survivors of this once flourishing tribe, now numbering about 100. They have lost their ancient tongue and most of their ancient customs and ideas, and are reported to be a practical, hard-working and fairly pros- perous body, a body which has adopted the customs and ways of the now dominant race, but is steadily decreasing decade after decade.

XII. Montauks: The Montauk Penin- sula and Gardiner's Island. "About the year 1819, Stephen, the King or Sachem of the Montauk Indians, died, and was buried by a contribution. This Indian King was only dis- tinguished from others of his tribe by wear- ing a hat with a yellow ribbon on it."

XIII. Manhassets: Shelter Island and Hog Island. Tradition says they could at one time place 500 warriors on the warpath.

There are legendary traces of the existence of several other tribes on the island, but all actual record of them has passed away.

For several decades following 1609, when Hendrick Hudson anchored in Gravesend Bay and commenced that intercourse of white men with red which marked the beginning of the extermination of the latter, we get but few glimpses of the aborigines, and these glimpses are by no means altogether favorable to the whites. It must, be remembered that the lat- ter were intruders; that their main object was to acquire wealth; that they did not under- stand, or seek to understand, the natives, and that trouble necessarily arose between them from the first. The stories of the primitive . transactions between the two are now, in a measure, lost to us, and the early writings we have, of course, all show the white man's idea of his American burden; but it should be re- membered that the white man himself was a burden upon the native and proved in the end a burden that crushed him back into the earth from whence he came.

Writing about 1832, Gabriel Furman, the

THE INDIANS AND THEIR LANDS.

most eminent and painstaking of the early an- tiquaries of Long Island, said :

The old Dutch inhabitants of Kings county have a tradition that the Canarsie tribe were subject to the Mohawks, as all the Iroquois were formerly called, and paid them an annual tribute of dried clams and wampum. When the Dutch settled in this country they per- suaded the Canarsies to keep back the tribute, in consequence of which a party of the Mo- hawks came down and killed their tributaries whenever they met them. The Canarsie In- dians are at this time totally extinct; not a single member of that ill-fated race is now in existence.

We have still preserved in the records of the Dutch government of this colony historical evidence of the truth of this tradition and some account of this extraordinary incursion of the Iroquois, or the Five Nations of In- dians, upon Long Island. They seem to have regarded all the Indians of the great Mohegan family, in the southern part of this colony, as their tributaries, and they probably were so long anterior to the Dutch settlement of this country. After the Dutch colonization the Indians on Long Island appear to have dis- continued the payment of the usual tribute to the Iroquois, or to the Mohawks, as they were generally called, that being the Iroquois tribe most contiguous to the European settlements, being located then a little south of Albany, upon the west side of the Hudson River, and thus for a long time with the European col- onists the name of Mohawks was used to designate the whole Iroquois Confederacy, and the Long Island Indians did this probably from the belief that the Iroquois would not dare come down and attack them among the Euro- pean settlements. But in this they were greatly mistaken, for in the year 1655, with the view of chastising all their former tribu- taries in the southern part of the colony, a large body of these northern Indians de- scended upon the Hudson River and made a landing upon Staten Island, where they mas- sacred sixty-seven persons. * * After this the Indian army crossed to Long Island and in- vested the town of Gravesend, which they threatened to destroy, but which was relieved by a detachment of Dutch soldiers sent from New Amsterdam. Upon their abandoning the siege of Gravesend the Dutch records give no further account of them than to mention that all this was done when those northern Indians

were on their way to wage war against the Indians upon the east end of Long Island. It was undoubtedly directly after leaving Grave- send that they fell upon and destroyed the Canarsie tribe and afterward proceeded down through the island with that terrible foray of murder, the account of which has been pre- served in tradition to this day, and to prevent a repetition of which the Consistory of the Dutch Church at Albany undertook to be the agent to see that the required tribute was yearly paid by the Long Island Indians to the Five Nations. So great was the dread of the Iroquois among the Indians of this island, arising from the tradition preserved of this terrible incursion, that a very aged lady, who was a small girl of eight or nine years before the commencement of the Revolutionary war, tells us that five or six Indians of the Iroquois nation were for some offence brought to New York and sent to Jamaica upon Long Island ; and that, although they were prisoners, not one of the Long Island Indians could be induced to look, with person exposed, upon any of these terrible "Mohawks," as they called them; but very many of them would be continually peep- ing around corners and from behind other peo- ple to get a sight at those northern Indians, and at the same time expressing the utmost fear and dread of them.

Mrs. Remsen, the widow of Anthony Rem- sen, formerly of Brooklyn, says that soon after she was married they moved to Canarsie, now [1832] about forty years since, where she made the shroud in which to bury the last in- dividual of the remnant of the Canarsie tribe of Indians. This last remnant of that tribe also told her of the tradition, before men- tioned, of the destruction of the greater por- tion of the Canarsie tribe by the Mohawks. This Indian told her that three or four fam- ilies of them, having become alarmed by the shrieks and groans of their murdered friends, fled for the shore of the bay, got into their canoes and paddled off to Barren Island, form- ing part of the Great South Beach, whither the Mohawks could not, or did not, follow them. They returned late in the following day, and soon ascertained that they consti- tuted the only living representatives of their entire tribe, who had the night previous lain down to rest in apparent security ; and that no trace was to be discovered of their barbarous enemies. It was some days, however, before they ventured to return permanently to their old residences, and not before they became en-

HISTORY OF LONG ISLAND.

tirely satisfied that the Mohawks had returned to their homes.

This Indian incursion caused the Dutch Government to feel much apprehension on the subject of Indian attacks upon the towns of the western part of this island for a long time subsequent. The inhabitants of Flatbush were ordered by Gov. Stuyvesant, in 1656, a short time after that foray, to enclose their village with palisades to protect them from the In- dians.

And again, to prevent the incursions of Indians, the Governor, in 1660, ordered the inhabitants of Brooklyn to put their town in a state of defense and also commanded the farmers to remove within the fortifications un- der the penalty of forfeiting their estates.

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A history of Long Island, from its earliest settlement to the present time, Part 6

Author: Ross, Peter. cn Publication date: 1902 Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co. Number of Pages: 1188

Author: Ross, Peter. cn
Publication date: 1902
Publisher: New York ; Chicago : The Lewis Publishing Co.
Number of Pages: 1188