USA > New York > Steuben County > A history of Steuben County, New York, and its people, Vol. I > Part 4
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From the head of Keuka lake to the valley of the Cohocton the same features and marked evidences are presented of such ac- tion throughout. Depressions, holes and mounds extend from near the State Hatchery at Cold Spring in Pleasant Valley eastward to Lake Salubria eastward of and below the village of Bath. Sink holes are found along the Five Mile Creek Valley far above its present level in the towns of Prattsburg and Wheeler.
In the north part of the town of Cohocton are found the same depressions, abrupt and deep, surrounded by mounds and hills of sand and alluvium as found in Dansville and Wayland, be- fore noted. In all the deep ravines and water courses the rocks are found outcropping and exposed to view. At Hammondsport in the town of Urbana, in the ravine above the site of an old mill, about three hundred feet of rock is exposed to view. It consists of shale and sandstone of thin layers below and thick layers above, the edges being more or less covered with crystallized gypsum, some of the shale near this place emitting intermittent odors of bitumen. There are found fragments of fossilized vegetables iron pyrites. At a time not remote competent prospectors concluded here were evidences of coal, but the diligent search thereby induced was barren of success.
At Harmonyville, in the town of Pulteney, not far from the lake shore, similar features and supposed evidence of the existence of coal promised reward for digging for coal which never" ma- terialized.
Argillo-calcareous rock, of sufficient thickness, is found north of the village of Bath, and also in the Big creek ravines in the towns of Hornellsville and Fremont. Sulphur springs, strong- ly impregnated, are found in Hornellsville, Canisteo, Ironwood, Urbana and Hornby.
Marl and tuffa are found near Cold Springs, between Bath and Hammondsport; also near Arkport in the town of Hornells- ville, in Troupsburg, in the valley of Canaseraga creek, in the town of Dansville on the summit between this creek and the Canisteo river, and along the Five Mile creek in the town of Prattsburg. In the Gulf-a high valley in Bath and Wheeler- is a bed of clay of unusual depth and tenacity, in which occasional animal remains have been found that dissolved into a fine flour- like substance on exposure to the air.
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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
HISTORIC AND ACTIVE GEOLOGY.
The foregoing fragmentary, disconnected and unsatisfactory instances will doubtless excite some inquiry and perhaps induce- ment on the part of the thinking people as to the cause, why and wherefore of these evidences of the past. They are to be found at every step. The attractive little pebbles found in the running brooks, the pretty, sharply colored and peculiarly formed and shaped stones of the carefully attended flower and vegetable gar- den, the huge and moss-grown boulder by the wayside and in the pasture, the flag stones of the sidewalks in the cities and villages showing the lines of travel, tracks and remains of the animal life of so long ago, the vegetable evidences of great trees. delicate fern leaves, rare and beautifully formed flowers of an unknown flora- all are living, interesting exhibits demanding our industrious and studious attention. This is all geology.
Geology is the science which deals with the history of the earth. Its province is to show how this history became known, and how its limits are and can be studied. The rocks and soils of the earth furnish the larger part of the data for unravelling the history of the earth, though they are not the only sources of information. The rain falls on the land. Some of it gathers into streams; the streams flow into the sea. In the flow of the water the substance of the land is worn away and the material carried to and deposited in the sea in the form of sand, gravel and mud. The sand and mud need nothing but cementation to become sand- stone and shale, two of the common forms of rock found in Steu- ben county. The process of cementation is now going on by na- tural means in many places within its boundaries. In the sand and mud, as deposited in the sea, shells of various organisms are often imbedded. The shale and sandstone of the land also con- tain shells and other marine organisms. So that we infer with con- fidence that these, with certain other kinds of rocks, were orig- inally deposited as beds of sand, mud and other earth, in the sea, and that they have since been elevated to the condition of land.
The activities of other agencies must not be overlooked. The results of the work of rain and rivers-by underground water, by waves and currents, by the atmosphere, by glaciers and ice, by changes of temperature, by organic agencies, and all other forces and activities on the surface of the earth-have taught the patient and intelligent observer how to interpret the ages of the rocks formed in the cycles of the past.
The duration of the earth's history is a matter which has received much attention, but no conclusions have been reached which can be relied upon, beyond the very general one that the history of the earth has been exceedingly long. Various conjec- tures as to the number of years occupied in bringing the earth to its present condition have been made. They range from twenty- five millions to several hundred millions. Geologists in general would not be surprised if it could be demonstrated that the history of the earth since Archean time has occupied fifty million to one hundred million years. Historic geology divides the earth's period of formation into six periods, each period or era representing a great system of rocks, each presenting evidences of inert and living
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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
formations in strata, one above the other. In one is the birthplace of gold and other precious metals; in another that of coal; then again oil and gas. During this year (1910) deposits of diamonds are unexpectedly found in Arkansas, said to be of igneous pro- duction from the first formation.
It may yet be demonstrated that the geologic and mosaic his- tory of the earth's creation are not unreconciled. Knowledge is superior to doubtful criticism.
CHAPTER II.
FIRST OCCUPANCY.
FRENCH OCCUPANCY-UNDER ENGLISH SOVEREIGNTY -KEN-IS-TIO DESTROYED-ANDREW MONTOUR-IN GREAT HIGHWAY OF TRAVEL-SENECA TRADITIONS-THE MOHAWK GRANT-CON- NECTICUT IN WYOMING VALLEY-THE WYOMING MASSACRE- OTHER ATROCITIES-"DOOR KEEPERS" FOR THE SIX NATIONS- SENECAS' DOMESTIC LIFE-THE SENECA WOMAN'S RIGHTS- TRADITIONAL ORIGIN OF SENECAS-THE FABLED SERPENT OF BARE HILL-WYOMING AVENGED AT NEWTON-RAID CON- TINUED INTO SENECA-LAND-CAMPAIGN "UP THE CHEMUNG" - ENGAGEMENT AT BLOODY RUN-DEATH OF ANDREW MON- TOUR-FINALE OF THE SULLIVAN CAMPAIGN-FAR-REACHING RESULTS.
The territory embraced within the ancient, original and pres- ent boundaries of Steuben county, in the state of New York, and the surrounding region has been claimed by three European gov- ernments-Spain by right of discovery, recognized and affirmed by a Papal bull. Both France and England have proclaimed and asserted dominion and ownership by colonization, conquest and treaty, and in the name of their respective monarchs have occupied it with armed military forces and the vedettes of religion.
The emblem of the Hawk's Castle of the Hapsburg, the tri- color of France and the Cross of St. George have floated in and greeted its breezes as a declaration, admonition and evidence of their respective occupation, dominion and sovereignty.
The native inhabitants were regarded by the Spaniards as only victims and subjects for slavery, rapine, plunder and mur- der; by the French, who claimed absolute ownership of the whole land, that they were its wards, to be governed and cared for as the home government might direct. The rights of the natives the English claimed was the right of possession, either by purchase or conquest.
This territory has been given and granted by conflicting royal and imperial charters, and by edicts and statutes of sovereign states. It has been transferred by treaties solemnized both in Europe and America. It was part of the vast domain conveyed by the largest sale of land ever made by a government or by a
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.HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
state to private individuals, by a single instrument or grant of sale and conveyance.
In the year 1535, forty-three years later than the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus, Jacques Cartier, concluding his second voyage to North America, landed at Hochalaga, now the city of Montreal, on the banks of the river St. Lawrence, erected the cross and planted the flag of France, thus setting aside and nullifying the Papal bull of Pope Alexander VI., defiantly dis- regarding and ignoring the claims and pretensions of Spain, most solemnly proclaimed in the names of Jesus and Mary, and of his sovereign, Francis I. of France, that he then and there, in their names, took possession of that river and all of its tributaries, affluents, seas and lakes, great and small, and all the lands and shores adjoining, adjacent and dependent, both remote and distant. The same claim, right and occupancy, equally as extensive and comprehensive, was by the same authority made, proclaimed and reasserted by Samuel De Champlain at the founding of Quebec in 1608, seventy-three years later.
The English, under Bartholomew Gosnold, had entered Chesa- peake Bay in 1607, and a Dutch company in the person of Henry Hudson entered and sailed up the river that bears his name. one hundred and fifty miles long, in 1609. (The tercentenary of this discovery was fittingly observed in the year 1909.) Each of these navigators claimed the adjacent country for and in the names of his respective monarch and employer.
FRENCH OCCUPANCY.
In tracing the advent of our race to this territory. French claim, occupancy and colonization must of necessity have first at- tention and study. That part of the state of New York, westerly and northerly of the present boundaries of Oneida county and the extension thereof, from and after the arrival of Champlain at Quebec until the conquest and treaty in 1762, formed a portion of French Canada, or, in a more extended geographical designation, New France. It was vigilantly watched and jealously guarded by the French authorities. The county was a part of that territory.
In 1690 Count Frontenac, then governor of New France, learning that a portion of his domain in the Iroquois country, bordering La Belle ( Allegheny) river, was trespassed upon and ravaged by hostile, roving tribes in the vicinity of Brebeuf, sent Sieur De Villiers with a party of soldiers, Jesuits and Indians to warn, convert, or drive away all intruders and evil-doers. With this expedition (upon the authority of Fathers Hennepin and Charlevoix, and letters addressed to Madame De Maintenon, one whom the world will not easily forget) was the good Abbe Fenelon, afterwards Bishop of Cambray. The Relation says: "The ex- pedition left Catarauqui (now Kingston), crossed to and skirted the south shore of Lake Ontario to the river Genesee. Leaving the lake boats they ascended this river. About two leagues from its mouth they came to considerable falls and rapids. Constructing suitable craft the journey was continued up this stream about twenty leagues, where further navigation was impeded. After a portage of three leagues they reached the waters of a stream flow- ing to the south. Upon this stream, in a mountain country. they
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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
found a collection containing several score of houses built of tim- ber, each having four stone chimneys, adjoining a natural meadow of several hundred arpents. It was a nondescript place, peopled with fugitive Frenchmen from Canada, renegade Dutchmen from Albany, runaway negro slaves from Chesapeake Bay, graceless Yankees driven and pursued from New Plymouth-called Ken-is- tio. They belonged to no clan or tribe. A more worthless lot of renegades and villians, who had no hope of heaven or fear of hell, we never saw."
De Villiers, after crecting the cross and planting the flag of France, proclaimed the country belonged to Louis XIV., and was a part of New France. After the celebration of the mass the party resumed their journey towards the southwest.
The same Relation records that it was on this journey the good abbe composed in part that charming work, "The Adventures de Telmaque," an allegory representing a youth in pursuit of happiness, guided by wisdom; it is one of the classics of French literature, which will be read while mankind reverences the noble, the beautiful and the true. The fancy that it was, in part, born in thought among these rugged and picturesque mountains and on the banks of its murmuring streams makes this county classic ground.
Long before the conquest and fall of New France both the English provinces of Massachusetts and New York passively claimed this region under conflicting charters. Those under which Massachusetts claimed were granted by Charles I. of England in 1620, and by James II. of the same realm in 1686, and embraced all the territory lying between forty-two degrees and forty-four degrees fifteen minutes, north latitude, and extending from the Atlantic ocean on the east to the Pacific on the west. The province of New York was claimed under a charter granted by Charles II. of England to James, Duke of York and Albany, by reason of the annulment by the court of chancery of the Plymouth charter, in 1684, whereby was granted all the lands extending from a line twenty miles easterly of Hudson river, northerly to Canada, south- erly to Delaware Bay, and westerly to the ocean. James II., in 1686, granted the Dongan charter.
UNDER ENGLISH SOVEREIGNTY.
After the conquest and fall of New France and until the close of the Revolutionary war this region became the undisputed domain of England and her provinces of Massachusetts and New York, but was occupied by the same Indians as before, who were under the supervision of one of the most remarkable men of that period, one of the makers of America, who had control of the Indian affairs for the English on this continent-Sir William Johnson.
KEN-IS-TIO DESTROYED.
In November, 1762, two Indians of the Ken-is-tio inferno mur- dered two Dutch traders, English subjects, and confiscated their property while passing through the Seneca country. At a meet- ing held by Lieutenant Guy Johnson, deputy agent for Indian affairs, with the Indians at Onondaga, on December 6, 1762, in pursuance of Sir William Johnson's instructions the Senecas were
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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
notified to attend and produce the guilty parties. Delegations of the Onondaga and Cayuga nations attended. The Seneca nation was not represented. Lieutenant Johnson then and there said to those inattendance that if the Indians expected to live in peace with the English these malefactors must be brought to justice with- out unreasonable delay.
Teyawarunte, speaker for the Onondagas, replied: "Brother, we have all heard and carefully attended to your talk and must confess the case is very hard, both on your part and on ours, as it cannot but give us the greatest uneasiness to think that a village like Ken-is-tio, composed of stragglers from several nations, should have presumed to act a part so contrary to the sentiments and in- clinations of the confederacy. For our part we assure you that we are determined to do everything in our power for procuring you that satisfaction so justly required; but we are very desirous first to see the Upper Nations, to acquaint them with your speech, and to be informed what they have done in the affair, and we hope that their present delay is owing to their being in quest of the murderers. Therefore, we beg you will rest satisfied until the arrival of the Upper Nations, and in case the Senecas do not im- mediately comply with your demands you may rest assured we will without delay go in search of the murderers, being unanimously resolved to pursue them to the utmost distant parts, rather than fail in convincing you how much we disapprove of their barbarity."
The murderers fled to the region of the Ohio river. The In- dians declared they could not find them. It was afterwards re- ported that one of them had been killed.
Sir William Johnson placed no confidence in these reports; he was satisfied that the criminals were being harbored in the vi- cinity of their depredations. He resolved to wipe out and obliterate this plague spot. Therefore, in April, 1764, he sent Captain An- drew Montour, a halfbreed Indian, with a force of one hundred and forty Indian and one hundred white men to avenge the crimes of these outlaws and destroy their town. Captain Montour, with his forces, marched from Tyron (now Montgomery) county, New York. With these Indians was Hiakatoo, the husband of Mary Jemison, the "white woman of the Genesee." After several skirm- ishes this force arrived at Ken-is-tio. Captain Montour attacked this place without delay. After a sharp fight he completely de- stroyed it by burning. It consisted of sixty good houses built of logs, with roofs made from puncheons hewn from timber, with three or four chimneys or fireplaces to each house. He found a large quantity of Indian corn, a great number of tools and imple- ments, stolen from localities in their murderous forays; many new saddles and other horse equippings and several horses, many horned cattle and swine-the most of them in such poor condition that the invaders killed all but about fifty, which they drove with them.
This place was admirably situated for a gathering place for these bandits, who recognized no authority or control superior to themselves. It was located on a large stream, at the junction of several smaller but considerable streams, with valleys diverging in every direction; the convergence of well-known and frequented trails to and from Fort Niagara, the Genesee country, Brebeouf, Vol. I-2
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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
the Ohio river, Albany and the Susquehanna region; surrounded by high mountains and on the margin of a savanna, or natural meadow of remarkable extent for this state. Its origin or cause is unaccounted for. This is the same place spoken of by Fenelon and Villiers. It is now the busy, flourishing and attractive village of Canisteo of today. The Indian trails of a century and a half ago are now traversed by improved highways-electric and steam railroads.
CAPTAIN ANDREW MONTOUR.
Let us pause here for a retrospect. Captain Andrew Montour, selected by Sir William Johnson for the above narrated cleaning- out raid, was in many respects most intimately connected with the early history of the territory afterward known as Steuben county. He was born at Catherinestown (called by the Indians She-o- qua-ga) at the head of Seneca lake, formerly called Havana, now Montour Falls, Schuyler county, New York. His mother was Cath- erine Montour, the queen of the Senecas. Catherinestown was named for her, as is also the town of Catherine in the last named county. She was the reputed daughter of Count Frontenac, one of the early French governors of Canada. At the age of ten years -her life before that time was passed amid the luxuries and refine- ments of the best of society-she was made a prisoner by the Senecas in one of their expeditions against the French in Canada; was by them carried away and adopted into their nation. Her grace and beauty, coupled with a proud spirit and strong mind, captivated the haughty Senecas and gave her great influence in the nation. When she arrived at womanhood she became the wife of one of the most brave, renowned and distinguished Seneca chiefs. She accompanied him to Philadelphia on several occasions. Her extraordinary beauty and easy, polished manners attracted great attention and opened to her the most refined and luxurious homes. She retained and spoke with easy diction her native French, re- tained and cultivated by association with the Jesuit missionaries among the Senecas. Her character has been attacked by Camp- bell, who, with unpoetic license, has ascribed to her fierceness, barbarity and cruelty, which it is hard to reconcile with her known refinement and grace. The historian, Stone, however, a most ex- cellent authority, utterly discredits and repudiates these asser- tions.
On the approach of General Sullivan's expedition against the Senecas Queen Catherine fled to Fort Niagara, where she was treated with marked attention by the British officers. After the war she returned to her home at Catherinestown, where she was visited, in 1796, by Louis Phillipe, afterwards King of the French, then traveling in this country, an exile from his native land. Her two sons, John and Andrew Montour, both died from wounds re- ceived in Indian wars.
John was buried on the west side of the Genesee river, near the site of the Indian village of Big Tree, opposite the village of Geneseo. His grave is still discernible.
Andrew Montour, the other son, died of wounds received in a battle with a detachment from Sullivan's army of invasion against the Senecas, a few miles below Painted Post, in Steuben
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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
county, on the Chemung river. He was brought up that river in a canoe and died on the way. He led the expedition that destroyed the Indian village of Ken-is-tio. He was buried at Painted Post. Tradition asserts that a wooden post, stained or painted, to mark his grave, was then set up. This tale is now seriously doubted, if not exploded.
PAINTED POST; ITS ORIGIN.
This place is at the confluence of three rivers-Canisteo, Tioga and Cohocton-which form a fourth, the Chemung river, flowing southeasterly about forty miles and joining the Susquehanna. The valleys of these rivers from each of the cardinal points-with well- known and extensively traveled trails-met at this meeting of the waters, making a rendezvous for warriors, hunters, traders, trap- pers and travelers for the entire country from the Great Lakes, the mountains and the seaboard; for trade, exchange of prisoners, peltries, wampum, big stories of exploits, athletic sports, feastings and resting.
The Indian is by nature an inveterate gambler, believing in signs, omens, chance and dreams. Here they met, staked the fruits of their labors on games of chance, races and bouts. It was the Monte Carlo of the denizens of the land. When a party of a dif- ferent tribe or nation was a winner a post denuded of bark was put up, on which was marked the totem of the victors and winners in a rampant position; the vanquished by its totem immediately under, in an inverted position. These pictures were put on in colors of pigments, stains from berries and roots or paint. The red color indicated victory ; black, defeat. The graves of the dead were always indicated or distinguished by a cairn or heap of stones, each passerby, if not an enemy, contributing a stone. This rite was observed to mark the grave of a chief slain in a battle. This information is derived from Mr. Julian O'Bail, an alumnus of Allegany University, and substantially the same comes from Mr. David Jennison of Brantford, Ontario.
"I know not what the truth may be;
I tell the tale as it was told to me."
It has more of common sense and observation of intelligent travelers than any other conjecture put forward.
IN THE GREAT HIGHWAY OF TRAVEL.
The territory embracing Steuben county was well known to and frequently traveled by the zealous, faithful and determined Jesuit missionaries, by traders, trappers and hunters from the lower St. Lawrence river, the Dutch settlers from eastern New York, about Albany, and by French soldiers and Indian runners until the close of the French war and the beginning of the Revo- lution. No actual white settlers had made a home in this region, except feeble attempts at the foot of Seneca lake, now Geneva, and on the upper La Belle ( Allegheny) river. It was on the direct line of travel, mostly by water, from Montreal to the Ohio and Mississippi rivers and their numerous tributaries. The streams along which the trails followed, though small, were ample for navi- gation by their canoes, which transported themselves, prisoners and peltries; and much safer and better understood than by the Great
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HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY
Lakes, whose navigation they usually avoided. Indeed, all the communication and transportation (then of considerable volume) between Quebec, Montreal and adjacent country and the regions about the Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, Michigan, Wisconsin, Min- nesota, the Dakotas and western Canada was entirely made by the Ottawa river, its tributaries and adjacent and similar streams. The Hudson Bay Company, with its gigantic monopoly of trade, always used these routes, and the Dutch West India Company in a lesser way and volume pursued these routes.
Our county was well stocked with deer and elk, as well as the beaver, otter and other valuable fur-bearing animals.
SENECA TRADITIONS.
It was the favorite hunting grounds of the Senecas, and when it was invaded by other tribes the Senecas always savagely re- sented, usually with success, and drove away the invaders. These in- vading poachers came from the country between the Allegheny river and Lake Erie; from the south, along the tributaries of the west branch of the Susquehanna and were not connected with any of the Six Nations, being lawless rovers from all tribes. Frequently sharp encounters took place in these forays. It is said a severe and bloody battle between these invaders and the Senecas was fonght at the mouth of the Black glen, now called Stony Brook glen, in the northern part of the town of Dansville, near the Kanouse farm. The Senecas drove the invaders (mostly from Ken-is-tio) into the glen, many of them escaping by hiding in the jungles of that inaccessible gorge. Tradition, with the aid of a vivid imagi- nation, tells of finding, a day or two after, a halfbreed Delaware Indian girl in a cave of overhanging rocks, telling her devotions with thornberries ; more of this captive will be later on attended to.
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