USA > New York > Essex County > Westport > Bessboro: A history of Westport, Essex Co., N.Y. > Part 2
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That Elizabeth, by the way, who has been so honored in our nomenclature married Daniel Ross, First Judge of the Court of Common Pleas of Essex county, and many of her descendants are still living in the county. She was a child only one or two years old in 1764, when the patent of Bessboro was first surveyed and named, and was at that time Gilliland's youngest child. though others were born afterward.
The village of Westport was originally called "North- west Bay," taking its name from the bay at the head of which it stands. This bay is one of the largest on the lake, and was named very early in its history. The
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French called it "Baie des Rocher Fendus, "or "Bay of the Split Rocks," and it is so marked on Santhier's map of 1779. It is interesting to note how plainly this name indicates the approach of the French discoverers from the north. - When the early explorers had occasion to refer to the bay, they said, "It is that great bay which you enter after passing Split Rock, keeping to the deep water along the cliffs, as a careful sailor naturally will.' On the other hand, the name of Northwest Bay shows just as clearly the approach of the English from the south. The bay west of Crown Point fort, to which we now give the old name of Bulwagga,# was then called West Bay, and it seems plain that Northwest Bay was named by the English with reference to this, reckoning the points of the compass from their most important post, Crown Point.
Though officially named Westport in 1815, the vil- lage retained its early name for many years. As late as 1840 we find mentioned even in the town records both Northwest Bay and Pleasant Valley (the okl name of Elizabethtown). Old people to this day speak of going to "the Valley," and to "the Falls," and, especially if they live on the high lands near the Black River, "down to the Bay." Old letters are still preserved directed to "Northwest Bay, Elizabethtown," written
*NOTE. Governor George Clinton called it "Bullwagen Bay," June 13. 1750, in a letter to Washington, (Clinton Papers, MSS. Doc. No. 2970,) and also in a letter to Gen. Howe, June 14, 1750, (C. P. 2972, ) and in a letter to Col. Robert Van Rens - selaer, (date about June 2, 1780,) writes, "Your letter of last night dated at Bull- wagen Bay." This was during the pursuit of Sir. John Johnson after he had his raid on the Mohawk valley, and was making his escape to Canada.
- Letter from H. H. NOBLE.
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before the days of post-office stamps, and evidently in- tended to be carried by private :messenger.
. The township of Westport contains two post- offices, Westport and Wadhams Mills, the latter built upon the falls of the Boquet river, in the northern' part of the town. This village was named after General Luman Wadhams, an early resident and mill-owner, who was prominent in the annals of the place.
It is likely that the present name was given to our town by "old Judge Hatch." who wrote his name "Charles Hatch, Esquire," and was a leading figure in our ancient history. He was one of a committee of three appointed to run the line dividing the original Elizabethtown, which stretched from Keene to the shore of Lake Champlain, into two townships, the eastern of which was the present. Westport. Tradition has not handed down to us the names of the other members of the committee, but it is plain that "the old Squire," as we call him, must have known the choice and agreed to it. A wild fancy suggests that one of that committee was a Scotchman, born near the West Port of Edin- burgh, and had ancestors who were "out in the '45," and sang, (if the song was written then,)
"Then up with the West Port an'let us gae free. And its bo! for the bonnets of Bounie Dundee!'
But the reason for the name is obvious enough, and the committee were not trying to be original. Doubt- less they relished the commercial sound of the "port" and saw visions of the harbor filled with shipping, and
HISTORY OF WESTPORT
great riches coming from the iron mines. They had never seen the geographical gazetteer of 1900, with col- uma after column of an unbroken succession of places named Westport ! We may look upon it now as an in- teresting language-proof that an Essex county lake towu, in the old days, always looked to the lake for its nture.
BOUNDARIES.
Westport is bounded on the north by the towns of Lewis and Essex, on the east by the state of Vermont, on the south by the town of Moriah, and on the west by the town of Elizabethtown.
The north boundary is a straight line. run by survey- of's chain and compass. It was intended to be a due east-and-west line, but owing to the imperfections of surveyors' instruments in the eighteenth century, when the line was run, it has a slight inclination to the north- east and south-west."
*NOTE While studying the subject of the old town lines, a letter was received from Mr. Win. Pierson Judson, Deputy State Engineer, with the following ex- planation :
"The lines which are shown on the United States Geological Survey maps are True, (or astronomical, ) North-and South and True East-and-West, while the old Town lines, to which you refer, are the magnetic East-and - West lines of 1772 The deviation of these old lines is the magnetic declination of the needle at the time the surveys were made. The question as to how much this declination was, and what the correct direction of these lines should be, is one which has been, and now is, before the Courts, and has been the subject of much discussion and many opinions."
This letter is intended to answer the question in a general way, and is not to be taken as specifically applying to any particular line or set of lines.
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It would appear from some old records that the north line was originally intended to run to the mouth of the Black river, but if so, a change was made at some time unrecorded, perhaps when a new survey rectified the lines of the patents.
We learn from the old town records that in 1818 our northern boundary was in danger. At the town meet- ing in March every voter gave his voice ju support of a resolution setting forth that the citizens of Westport did protest against a petition from the town of Essex to the state Legislature, which petition prayed that a strip one mile wide of our domain should be set off to our northern neighbor. Our supervisor, then John H. Low, was authorized to send a copy of the resolution to our Representative at Albany, and the measures taken were plainly sufficient to prevent further aggres- sion from the north. . I do not understand this at all, but I suspect a "school house war," over a school dis- triet which lay in both towns.
The eastern boundary is the irregular and invisible line, drawn through the waters of Lake Champlain, which marks the division between New York and Ver- mont. It is not equidistant from shore to shore, but follows the channel, or deepest part of the lake. The towns east of this line are Ferrisburgh and Pauton, in Addison county, Vt.
The southern boundary is a straight line, except for a small jog on the east side of Bald Knob, made for the sake of consistency with the lines of some of the lots of the Iron Ore Traet. This line was ron in 1849. From
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HISTORY OF WENTPORT
1815 to 1849 the boundary was a diagonal line from the south-east corner of Elizabethtown to "the old ore-bed wharf," which was the terminus of one of the roads from the Cheeverore-bed. This inelnded Bald Knob aud Bart- lett pond, as well as the busy mining settlement of "the Cheever." " As a larger and larger population clustered around the mine shafts, there was, of course, an in- creased number of voters, who were obliged to go to the village of Westport, eight or nine miles away, to cast their votes. With a polling place only two miles away, at Port Henry, this came to seem quite absurd, and steps were soon takeu to set off this sonthero triangle to the town of Moriah. Our present southern bounda- ry was determined by the southern line of Gilliland's Bessboro, as directed by the act of the Legislature which made the change.
The northern part of the western boundary follows the course of the Black river, "as it winds and turns." The town line is not in the middle of the stream, but follows the eastern bank. Consequently every bridge which crosses Black river is upon Elizabethtown terri- tory, and must be built and repaired at the expense of that town. This canny arrangement is due to the shrewdness of Squire Hatch, bent upon the advantage of his own town, while the commissioners from Eliza- bethtown thought ouly of keeping control of as much of the water power as possible .*
*NOTE. After this was written, appeare i in the Elizabethtown Post (George I .. Brown, editor, ; the following which comple'es the history of this boundary
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CHAPTER XIII.
AN ACT for dividing Elizabethtown, in the County of Essex.
Passed March 24, IS15.
I. Be it enacted by the people of the State of New York, represented in Senate and Assembly, That from and after the first Monday of April next, all that part of Elizabethtown, in the county of Essex, bounded as follows, to-wit : Beginning on the north line of the said Elizabethtown at the mouth of the Black river; thence up the said river as it winds and turns on the east shore of said river, until it in - tersects the south line of Morgan's patent; thence due south to the north line of Moriah; thence easterly on said line of Moriah to the ore bed wharf ; thence east to the east line of this State; theuce northerly on the east line of this State to the south-east corner of Essex; thence west on the south line of Essex to the place of beginning be, and hereby is erected into a separate town, by the name of Westport. and that the first town meeting be held at the dwelling house now occupied by Charles Hatch, in said town.
II. Be it further enacted, that all the remaining part of Elizabethtown shall be and remain a' separate town by the name of Elizabethtown and that the next town meeting shall be held at the dwelling house now occupied by Norman Newell and son in said town.
III. And be it further enacted, That as soon as may be after the first Tuesday in April next, the supervisors and overseers of the poor of the said towns of Eliz- abethtown and Westport, on notice first being given by the supervisors of said towns for that purpose, shall meet together and divide the money and poor belong- ing to the town of Elizabethtown previous, agreeable to the last tax list, and that each of the said towns shall forever thereafter respectfully maintain their own poor.
The above is copied from page 100 of the bound volume of the Session Laws of IS14-15. The late Judge Charles Hatch, who built the fine old brick mansion in IS25 which still stands in the village of Westport, who was noted for cunning and shrewdness, is credited with having drafted the above copied law, making the line between Elizabethtown and Westport follow the east bank of the Black River so that the former town would be obliged to build all the bridges across that stream. However, in due time the matter was tested. It came about that a new bridge was needed across the Black River near the Nathaniel Pierson place just above Meigsville proper, there being long and somewhat expensive "approaches" to construct each side of the stream. The late Jacob Lobdell, son of Captain John Lobdell, of Battle of Plattsburgh fame, was Highway Commissioner in Elizabeth - town, the late Marcus Storrs holding that office in the town of Westport. Action was commenced in March, IS70, to compel the town of Westport to stand half the expense of constructing the bridge, approaches, etc. Richard L. Hand acted as counsel for Elizabethtown, Waldo, Tobey & Grover acting in behalf of Westport. The matter in dispute was finally referred to Peter S. Palmer, the late well-known Plattsburgh lawyer and historian. He decided, in accordance with the general statute applying to such cases, that the towns of Elizabethtown and Westport were jointly and equally liable to the expenses incident to bridge construction, etc., along the Black River town line. Reference to page 50 of the pamphlet of proceed- ings of the Board of Supervisors for the year 1874 shows that a judgment for $300 was paid by Westport.
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The southern part of the western boundary is a straight line drawn from the Black river to the south line of Elizabethtown. The point at which this line touches the Black river is also the point at which the river is touched by the north line of Skene's patent, and was determined by that fact. This was intended to be a due north-and-south line, but it has the same variation as all the early patent lines, a slight inclina- tion to the north-west.
There was a dispute over the location of the south- western corner of the town after the iron mines near Mineville began to rise in value. All the boundary lines were very clear on the map, but standing among the rocks and trees on the mountain side, it was not so easy to prove just where the early surveyors had intended them to run. So a new survey was ordered, and it was discovered that the settlement which had been from the first called "Seventy-five," because it was believed to lie upon Lot No. 75 of the Iron Ore Tract, in Eliza- bethtown, actually lay upon Lot No. 48 in Westport and Lot No. 47 in Moriah. There was a feeling of gratification in Westport at the time to find that she had a larger share than was supposed in this rich terri- tory, and it is curious to reflect how little it matters now. None 'of our ancient border wars would be pos- sible to-day. They were all brought on by economic conditions no longer to be found. The water power of the Black river is now worth no one's scheming. "The Cheever" and "Seventy-five" put no large taxes into the hands of the collector, uor do they furnish voters for
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town meeting day. Rather has the town doled out its meagre charity to the poor who were left stranded at Seventy-five for years after the mines shut down. To- day I believe there are no more souls to be found there than lived ou the dry, hilly farms before ore began to be raised from the Thompson shaft, and the short, bright day of its prosperity dawned.
Giving measurements which do not claim to be exact, but close enough to give a good general idea of the ex- tent of the town, the length of the north line is about nine miles, and that of the south line five miles. From the north-east corner, where the Essex line touches the lake, to the south-west corner at the mining hamlet of "Seventy-five," as the crow flies, it is about thirteen and one-half miles. If the same crow should Hy from the month of Black river to the Moriah line, he would go a little less than nine miles, and if he flew from the month of the brook in the village, straight west from the lake shore until he came to the town line at Black river, he would go four and one-half miles. Fly- ing from Nichols pond, straight east to Bluff Point, he would go five and a half miles. Dismissing the crow from our service, if a boy in a rowboat took a fancy to follow every curve of the shore line, he might row eighteen miles in Westport waters. Before Moriah was ceded a part of our territory in 1849, he might have rowed twenty.
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POPULATION.
Westport cannot be said to be densely populated. The census of 1900 reports the total population as one thousand seven hundred twenty-seven (1,727). This, for a township containing about thirty-five thousand aeres, gives plenty of breathing space. But the main body of the population is gathered within an area of not more than half the total acreage, -- perhaps it would not be incorrect to say within one-third. The village of Westport is reckoned to contain five hundred sixty- three souls, and. Wadhams Mills one hundred sixty. At the last presidential election, held in 1900, there were one hundred and six votes cast in the first, or northern district, and two hundred and sixty-nine in the second or southern district, making a total of three hundred and seventy-five.
Westport is not as thickly settled as it was fifty years ago, as will be seeu by the following figures :
On Barr's map of Essex county, published in 1829, the population is given as one thousand three hundred twenty-two (1,322). The town at that time included the southern portion, containing the Cheever ore-bed, set off to Moriah in 1849. In 1845 the population had in- creased to two thousand ninety-four (2094). Before the next census the area of the township had been di- minished by the loss of the territory mentioned, but nevertheless we reached the highwater mark of two thousand three hundred fifty-two (2352). Westport has never come up to that level since. It will be re- membered that Jackson opened his furnace in 1818,
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and those were the gala days of the iron business. For the next twenty-five years the population varied as follows :
1850, -- 2352. 1955,-2041. 1860,-1981. 1865,-1687. 1870, -- 1577: 1875,-1981.
Doubtless in 1875 the census taker enrolled all the men employed in working upon the railroad, which would explain the increase.
The Supervisors' Report of 1900 gives the exact num- ber of acres in town as thirty-four thousand five hun- dred eighty-five (34,585). The total valuation of real estate is set down as $728,815. Of course it will be understood that this is the assessed valuation, for pur- poses of taxation. The actual value, or selling price of a farm or a house is often double the assessment. Per- sonal property is given as $83,200, and this should be multiplied at least by three to express actual condi- tions. The census of 1900 shows a marked increase in the value of property over that of 1890.
PRODUCTIONS.
Our productions are mainly agricultural, -- hay, oats, potatoes and apples, with milk, butter and wool. No iron has been mined or manufactured for many years. Lumber is sawed and shipped in moderate quantities. chietly from the mills at Wadhams.
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HISTORY OF WESTPORT
There are still some of the quaint home industries of colonial times carried on among us to a small extent. Some homespun woolen yarn is knit into heavy socks and mittens, which are brought into the stores at Wad- hams every fall. Warm and durable they are, too, every pair worth three that are factory woven. These are most often made by the older women, who were taught the homely art of knitting in their childhood. The girls nowadays make "Battenburgh" lace "throws," to hang on the corners of picture frames.
The weaving of rag carpets on a hand loom is still a thriving industry, though the number of weavers is few. The massive looms are very quaint and interesting, and the skill of the weaver is still that which was required before the days of steam invention. Perhaps there are a half dozen of these primitive looms in town, none of them built within sixty years, and some of them very much older than that. I know of but three which are now fitted for work.
Of the extinct industries, the most unusual was the making of clay pipes. At Coll's Bay, near the place of the early Raymond settlement, lived an Englishmau by the name of James Smith, always distinguished by the title of Pipe-maker Smith. He and his sons for years made the old-fashioned clay pipes, in a shop at one end of the farm house. The pipe clay came from New Jersey, and the pipes were burned in a kiln attached to the house. The burning was an operation requiring much skill and patience. This was the only place between Albany and Montreal where clay pipes were
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HISTORY OF WESTPORT
made. The business was kept up until some time in the eighties.
All the brick buildings in town were made from brick of our own manufacture, but none of them have been built within thirty years. To-day no one builds of any- thing but wood, and the bricks for foundations and chimneys come in on the railroad. There were, at the time of our greatest prosperity, a number of brick-yards in town, and all agree that the material was of the best.
One unusual industry is that of gathering ginseng root in the woods, to be sold at a high price and sent to China. There is a little spruce gum gathered to be sold every year. More important than either of these, though small, is the trade in the skins of furbearing- animals. Every spring several thousand pounds of maple sugar are made.
GEOLOGY.
For the geology of Westport I am entirely indebted to a bulletin issued in 1895 by the New York State Museum, called "The Geology of Moriah and Westport Townships," by James Furman Kemp, in which it is said that
"The geology of the eastern Adirondacks presents many problems of interest. The townships along Lake Champlain contain within their borders the contacts of the labradorite rocks - (gabbros, norites and anor- thosites) with the quartzose gueisses and crystalline limestones ; and the later-formed unconformabilities of all these with the Potsdam sandstone of the Upper
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HISTORY OF WESTPORT
Cambrian. The crystalline rocks of the Archean invite study of both igneous and metamorphosed forms, while along the old shore line are the Cambro-Silurian sedi- ments, unchanged, not much disturbed and rich in fossils."
This will not be especially illuminating to the aver- age un-geologic reader, but the language of this science has "unconformabilities" which render it difficult to translate. Ou page 332 we find this :
"The southern part of Westport is mainly gneiss, but the northern is all anorthosite and gabbro. The anor- thosites have an extended development in Split Rock Mountain, and also appear in the southeast. The gab- bro is especially important in the central portion. The sedimentary rocks mark the southeastern lake shore. The Potsdam, Calciferous, Chazy and Trenton are all well shown." .
In the matter of trap dikes it seems that we are somewhat deficient, though several "are exposed along the lake shore a mile or two north of Westport,-and others appear in the old iron mines on the west side of the Split Rock ridge. Porphyries, tho' known in the next township north, have not been met."
As it is quite possible that some reader may be in- terested in the detailed description of the "Iron Mines of Westport," I will copy it in full :
"There are at present no producing mines in West- port, and such as have been opened have been idle for many years. Except perhaps the second bed at Nich- ols Poud, all that we visited were clearly in the gabbro
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HISTORY OF WESTPORT
series, and gave thus every reason to infer that they are titaniferous, and such analyses as have been available have carried out this impression.
"THE NICHOLS POND MINES .- These are situated high up on a mountainous ridge above Lake Champlain, and just north of Nichols Pond. There are two beds ; the soutberly one is in gneissic gabbro, and is about 9' thick. It strikes nearly east and west, and dips south about SOP. The ore is magnetite mixed with horn- blende and is lean. The second bed lies more to the north, and shows the following section, with a strike and dip like the last. 1. Hanging wall gueiss. 2. Ore 12'-15', shot ore consisting of magnetite and quartz. 3. Lean ore not worth separating' 20', but of same general character as 2. 4. Compact feldspathic rock, 15'. 5. Lean shot ore and quartz same character as 2, not worked. 6. Foot wall coarse gneiss. There was a large separator in operation some twenty-five years ago at Nichols Pond, and a tramway ballasted with tailings runs down to the highway to the eastward. These mines are in lots 166 and 168 of the Iron Ore Tract and on Campbell Hill.
"THE LEDGE HILL MINES .--- This name may not be the most common or correct one, but it is the oue given us in Westport. The mines are near the summit of a hill, two miles west of Westport, and are several hundred feet above Lake Champlain. They are in gabbro of a gneissie habit, but at times quite massive at points not far from the ore .. There are two ore bodies. The ore is richest in the middle and becomes lean towards the
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HISTORY OF WESTPORT
walls, with abundant hornblende and garnets. In the lowest opening there are 4'-6' of richest ore. Fifty feet higher up there is another opening on the same ore. The strike is east of north and the dip is high to the west. A little to the east is a second ore body, opened by a cut about 6' feet wide at the bottom. The walls are gabbro. The mines are in lot 153 of the Iron Ore Tract.
"THE SPLIT ROCK MINES .- These are opened in Split Rock mountain, about one hundred feet above Lake Champlain, and show very considerable excavations, which are practically dry, as the situation for mining is very convenient. The ore is 10' thick, strikes N. 70- 80 E. and dips 50° south. Gabbro forms the walls right up to the ore on both sides. It is the metamor- phosed variety with the copious reaction runs of gar- nets. The writer was told that there is another opening to the south. There is a separator on a level with the lake, and above the mines, in a terrace in a break in the hills, are the old boarding houses. From this ter- race there is a most superb view of the lake and the Green Mountains. The mine is just across from Fort Cassin."
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