USA > New York > Chemung County > Chemung County, its history > Part 2
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Many of the very earliest settlers came ahead of their families, in the springtime, to plant crops and build log cabins. In the Fall, after the crop was harvested, they returned home to help guide their families to their new homes in the wilderness.
The honor of being the first permanent settler in the Elmira area is generally accorded Colonel John Hendy, who built a shelter near Newtown Creek in 1788 in order to plant corn and wheat. Later he brought his family from Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and built a more permanent log cabin in the vicinity of what is now West Water St. across from Rorick's Glen, about 125 yards from the river.
The first permanent settlements were made in Chemung County about 1786; Big Flats in 1787, El- mira and Southport in 1788, Horseheads, 1789, Van Etten, 1795, Veteran about 1800, Bald- win 1813, Erin 1817.
The settlement of 1788 was at the junction of the Chemung River and Newtown Creek, and was called Newtown or Newtown Point. The Indian name for this spot was Canaweola, meaning "head on a pole." This New- town is not to be confused with the Battle of Newtown which took place five miles southeast at the site of an Indian village of similar name near the present village of Lowman.
9
Restoration of interior of John Hendy's cabin.
Hendy's cabin, built in 1796, as it appeared about 1900.
Later Moses DeWitt established another village to the west, called DeWittsburg. Soon after, Henry Wisner set up still an- other village farther west called Wisnerburg. These villages were incorporated as the Village of Newtown in 1815.
The first settlers moving to the Chemung valley could bring with them only those implements which were necessary for existence: carpentry tools, because houses and furniture must be made; of course an axe, a rifle and ammunition, because they must live on game until the land was cleared and a garden producing. Fishing tackle, a plow, rake, traps for small game, etc., could be made from the materials around them in the wilderness.
Later, as roads were cleared and wagons and stagecoaches moved, more and more refinements could be brought in. Each settler built for himself and his family a log house, a protection from the weather, but of simple construction with few doors and windows, and a barn or shed for his animals.
The men of the family worked out of doors, cutting wood, clearing the bark from the logs, cutting fire wood for cooking and warmth, har- vesting the crops. They hunted and fished, to provide food, and furs for clothing. The woman was responsible for all of the household activi- ties. First she cooked over an open fireplace with a pot swinging above the fire on a crane, or in a "spider" as the frying pan was called, on top of glowing coals. With only one or two cooking utensils the food she prepared was simple, a kettle of stew, soup, broiled meat. Everyone dipped into the common kettle until the father had time to make individual wooden bowls. Later stoves were brought in or built, and food became more interesting and varied. If one had worked hard clearing the land and plowing all day, one did not complain about the same food, just so long as there was plenty of it!
The woman also spun thread and wove material for the clothes that the family wore. She dyed it using berries and barks that were at hand. If there was sickness she had to brew medicines and prepare poultices from herbs and items available.
Everyone was busy in the early settlers' family. No one had time to wonder what to do next. There was no TV to watch, no movies to attend, no baseball or football games. Life was hard, but certainly was interesting.
Although theirs was a life of hard work, the settlers had time for play as well. There were quilting bees, barn and house rais- ings, horse racing on Sundays.
10
In 1789 a famine caused great hunger and suffering, until the rye grain began to form in the fields, and once more bread flour could be produced. Salt was obtained by barter from the In- dians, who gathered it from the salt licks near Seneca Lake. Other supplies were purchased from trading posts, or brought in from Wilkes-Barre.
Prior to the coming of the early settlers, Mathias Hollenback had established a trading post near Newtown Creek to trade with the Indians. The men he engaged to run his posts became some of the earliest permanent settlers. Later blacksmiths, coopers, tailors, carpenters and men of other trades came to swell the settlements.
At first all grain was taken to Wilkes-Barre for grinding, but soon flour mills as well as saw mills sprang up along the banks of the creeks, adding to the activities of the villages.
In 1793 the first schoolhouse was built of logs. It stood near the corner of what is now Market and Lake Streets. The first courthouse was built in 1796. In 1798 there were 24 houses within the village of Newtown.
In 1801 two postoffices were established. In Chemung Elijah Buck served as postmaster, in Newtown the office was held by John Konkle. In those days mail was carried by post-boy on horseback. The trip from Wilkes-Barre took four days. Now- adays it takes 4 hours.
In 1803 a turnpike was authorized to run from Newtown to Seneca Lake. This road led to the use of the stagecoach as a means of travel about the area, and provided a speedier way to obtain supplies.
The churches kept pace with the development of the area. The first church organization was of the Baptist faith in Wellsburg and Chemung. The Rev. Roswell Gough, or Goff, was the pastor. In 1795 the Rev. Daniel Thatcher came to Newtown under the Presbyterian Board of Missions. They held their first meetings in the newly constructed jail until a church building could be erected. Soon after the Methodists organized a church in Newtown.
CHEMUNG COUNTY
1867
This area of
to help form Schuyler Co. in 1854.
(
(NO FURTHER DIVISIONS TO PRESENT DAY).
This off to Schuyler
CATLIN
VETERAN.
in 54.
VAN
ETTEN
ERIN
1854 FROM
BIG
¡ CAYUTA
FLATS
1854 ELMIRA
ELMIRA : BALDWIN
emun
River
FROM
·CHEMUNG
SOUTH-
`ASH
CHEMUNG
PORT
LAND
1867
-H. B. K. 12-9-60. \ Shaded square indicates
the city of Elmira.
Chemung County in 1867 after final divisions.
TOWN OF CHEMUNG~ 1791.
[ NORTH BOUNDARY OF TIOGA COUNTY 1791 - 1794
--------
...
...
...
DUNDEE
The County of Toga as organized (from
Montgomery Feb. 16, 1791, extended
eastward to the old Provincial Line
It included in its limits the present
a Cake
most of Tompkins; one third of
cortland, and half of Che.
E nango County
of five towns chemung, Owego,
union, Jericho, and Chinango.
WATKINS
3- Cayuta Lake"
Only area
Present & boundary of Chemung County
Chemung County
not under the
Town of Chemung in 1791.
-VAN ETTEN
cold original 1788 North
Line of Chemung
₹ 1788 TOWN LINE
·- BIG FLATS
WAS DISCARDED IN
1791; NEW EAST
(TOWN OF
CHEMUNG
LINE FIXED ON
Chemu
TIOGA
COUNTY)
& NORTH LINE ON
River
rung River
~ N. BOUNDARY OF TIOGA COUNTY
LOWMAN
susqueha
N. Y.
PENNA.
LWELLSBURG
....
Shaded area shows part of Ashland under Newtown in 1792; Scale in Miles
nume "Newtown" changed to Elmira in 1808.
H.B.K. 12-7-'60
The Town of Chemung, which originally covered large area.
11
3 1833 02885 1506
3 ·- ALPINE tal 1791 AFTER APRIL 10,1792, ALL CHEMUNG WEST OF THIS LINE BECAME NEWTOWN Creek
7
Seneca
counties of Chemung, Tioga and
Broome entirely; most of Schuyler;
It consisted
N.º Tioga 1794
in the present
CAYUTA CREEK
CHEMUNG
- WAVERLY
HORSE-
HEADS
ERIN AND
1856:
Source materials for further reading :
EARLY SETTLEMENT References The Chemung Historical Journal
Vol. 2-No. 3 Mar. 1957 Last of the Pioneer Cabins
Vol. 2-No. 3
Mar. 1957 Beginnings Of Elmira
Vol. 2-No. 1
Sept. 1956 Indian Name For Elmira
Vol. 5 - No. 4 June 1960 Slabtown Revisited
Vol. 6-No. 3
Mar. 1961 "Pigeon Point" and "Frog Hollow"
Vol. 6-No. 3
Mar. 1961 Our Patchwork County
Vol. 4-No. 3
Mar. 1959 John Hendy, Our First Farmer
Historical Sketch of the Chemung Valley, by T. Apoleon Cheney. Historical So- ciety Files. 1-2-85
Brief Sketch of Elmira, by. Jno. I. Sexton. Historical Society Files. 1-2-78
A Brief History of Chemung County, New York, by Ausburn Towner.
History of Chemung County, by Clark Wilcox. Historical Society Files. 1-2-85 Article by Thomas Maxwell, 1863 Elmira Directory.
Historical Sketch of Elmira and the Chemung County, 1868 Elmira City Directory.
12
THE CHEMUNG CANAL
When George Washington was president of the original thirteen United States, Generals John Sullivan and Philip Schuyler recommended to him and later to the New York Legislature, that a canal be built connecting the Chemung River and Seneca Lake. They suggested that such a waterway would open up the territory for commerce, but their idea was not acted upon at the time.
Agitation for canals began shortly after the turn of the 19th century. In 1817, the Erie Canal was authorized by the state and construction was begun shortly after.
Farseeing citizens saw the possibilities of a canal system cover- ing the whole state. Among them were many men who had settled in this area. They kept pressing the legislature in Al- bany until finally in 1829, laws were passed which provided for the building of the Chemung Canal at a cost not to exceed $300,000. The work was finished in May, 1833 and the canal was opened for traffic in October, 1833.
The day the first barge left the basin-an anchorage for barges -at State and Market Streets, there was a great celebration in Elmira. Bands played, flags were unfurled in the breeze, many flowery speeches were made in honor of the occasion, and the citizens held a great feast on Clinton Island in the river, near the present Walnut Street bridge.
State engineers planned the difficult route of the Chemung Canal. They were successful in their surveying and in the ter- rain chosen. The main canal ditch was excavated from the river at the foot of State St. directly north to just beyond Wash- ington Ave. (Then it veered off to the east toward the Lake Road, but west of it, now Lake St., then north again to Horse- heads.) The present single-track Lehigh Valley Railroad fol- lows the route from Fifth St. north.
From a point in the river called Chimney Rocks near Gibson, a small village east of Corning, a channel of the river was diverted to the Feeder Canal which was dug through the sandy and gravel valley of Big Flats along Sing Sing Creek to Horseheads, where it joined the main canal, a little to the north and east of Hanover Square. The toll house stood north of Hanover Square on the east side of the Lake Road. Here all boats and barges had to stop to have their cargoes weighed and to pay the toll, just as today's motorists stop to pay toll on some roads and bridges.
Flood gates built at Gibson regulated the water supply from the river into the Feeder Canal. Three locks were necessary in the Feeder for the drop to the Horseheads level, a distance of sixteen miles.
13
WATKINS
HAVANA
The Chemung Canal 1833-1878
0
Length, 23 miles Total of 53 locks Elevations: Havana (Mon- tour) 487 ft. Millport, 710 ft .. Pine Valley 920 ft. Horseheads 903 ft. Elmira 863 ft.
I
m
3
MILLPORT
C
Z
0
Chemung Co. Historical Society map by Herbert A. French
0
PINE VALLEY
CANAL
Z
Each lock had its own lock keeper, considered a very good job in those days. Sometimes it took from half an hour to an hour to lift or lower a barge from one level to another, for the lock keeper had to open and close the gates by hand with an enormous iron key. (There is one in Chemung County Historical Museum.) Today a big freighter can be locked through the Eisenhower lock in the St. Lawrence Seaway in six minutes with electrically operated gates.
HORSEHEADS Towpaths were built along the canal, so that a horse or a mule had a narrow roadway to plod along. The animals pulled the barge with a heavy hemp rope fastened to their harness.
BIG FLATS
CHEMUNG FEEDER
ELMIRA
C
HEMUNG
RIV
R
The Chemung Canal and its link with Junction Canal.
From the Toll House, the canal flowed directly north to Pine Valley, Millport, and Montour Falls. Part of the old canal bed can be seen today below and to the right of the present Lake Road going north. When the waterway reached Montour Falls -then called Havana-the direction changed a little to the northeast, through the swampy land to Watkins Glen-then called Jefferson-and the docks on Seneca Lake.
The distance from Elmira directly to Watkins was twenty-three miles. Forty-nine locks were needed to carry the boats north or south. The summit level was at Pine Valley.
The Chemung Canal took four years to build. The general con- tractor was Charles Cook. His troubles were many. There were always the problems of getting materials, the wood, stone and iron needed for the locks, lack of money, and sickness among the laborers. In some places the land was easy to dig, in other CANAL spots, hard and rocky, sometimes pockets of quick- sand slowed the work. It was all done by hand with pick and shovel. Occasionally black powder was used to blast out huge rocks or enormous trees as the work progressed through virgin forests. There were no bulldozers or big gasoline shovels to do the work rap- idly a hundred years ago.
The prism of the canal, that is the dimensions, were depth four feet, width at bottom, 26 feet, and 42 feet on the surface. The overall cost in the beginning was $314,395.51. More than double that amount was spent on upkeep and repairs during its' life- time of 45 years.
The tonnage the boats carried was 85 to 90 tons. During its first year of traffic less than 20,000 tons were transported. Traffic increased each year until a peak of 270,978 tons was reached in 1854. About this time the railroads were beginning to grow in importance. The Erie Railroad had reached Elmira in 1849. Business men began to realize that they could ship their produce of lumber, flour, coal and salt, more quickly, if not more cheaply by rail, so canal business began to slacken.
14
.
JUNCTION
The winter season brought the closing of the canal to traffic, and the excess water was drained off into the river through the spill- way at the foot of State St. in Elmira. When the remaining water was frozen over, it made a wonderful skating rink for boys and girls and grownups too. In the summer, the swing bridges over the canal were havens for fishermen who liked to spend a warm day waiting for a bite.
Often spring weather and the breaking up of ice in the river and canal, brought trouble. The gates of the locks would be broken and the lumber rotted, so there were years when it might be June before lieavy traffic could be maintained. Once in work- ing order, however, the canal was a busy, bustling thoroughfare.
There were two basins along State St., one at Market St. and one above Second St. where the canal boats loaded their cargoes of local lumber and grain; also the coal which came in from the Blossburg area by way of Corning, and the salt from Watkins; or unloading hardware and dry goods from New York and Albany.
Canal families lived on the barges and traveled all summer. Frequently too they lived on them wherever they tied up for the winter. Being a canal boat captain was a very important posi- tion a century ago.
Today it is hard to believe that Millport in those days was a thriving village larger than Horseheads or Elmira. Boat build- ing and lumbering were big industries there. Hundreds of heavy barges for canal use, called Chemung Scows and Lakers were built there during the booming canal days.
During that period Horseheads changed its name to Fairport because of its importance on the canal. The toll house there made it the hub of all traffic. The citizens liked their old name
-
Spillway of the Chemung Canal, looking north from Water St. at State St.
15
Photo of Junction Canal at a point near Lackawanna R. R. Station site.
..
Sketch of Feeder at Corning
better, because of its historical significance, so after two years it was changed back to the original name by act of the Legis- lature.
In 1847, when the state of Pennsylvania had a spreading canal system, a group of private citizens in Elmira formed a company to finance the building of the Junction Canal to connect the Chemung Canal with Pennsylvania. It was opened at this end in 1854, but was not completed to Tioga Point, below Athens, joining the Susquehanna Canal and River, until 1857. The Chemung River was used in part for this canal. There are still signs of the channel which was dug along the river from Low- man to Elmira, below Route 17.
A little to the west of the point where Newtown Creek enters the river, the canal bed was excavated diagonally north-west, cross- ing Sullivan St. and reaching Madison Ave. at Fifth St. It con- tinued to follow the diagonal line across Lake St., passed the present Lackawanna Station (abandoned) and joined the main canal at State St., just below Washington Ave. This connection gave access to the states south of New York, all the way to Chesapeake Bay, and gave a real impetus to business in Che- mung County and all along the routes. The ability to ship produce in all directions by canal created great new sources of wealth in this section.
While canal shipping began to decline when the railroads be- came more firmly established as carriers, nevertheless during the Civil War years (1861-65) there was a great increase of ton- nage on the canal. Elmira was one of three large recruiting depots in the state and so large supplies were needed. Once the war was over, the decline was very apparent. Tonnage dropped each year, until 1877, when the tonnage was only 12,026. The decision was made by the state at that time not to spend any more money on the Chemung Canal. In the summer of 1878, 8,767 tons were shipped. The canal was closed permanently that winter.
The next year, attempts were made to sell the canal and materials with very little success. Finally, at an auction in March, 1880, bridges, locks, stone, timber and iron were sold for a total of $1,639.87, an extremely low figure, when the original cost, plus the upkeep for nearly fifty years, was around $600,000.
Mementoes of the Chemung Canal a hundred years later are few. There is a swampy place just west of Lake St. on McCann's Boulevard where it is possible to see the old canal bed and some of the timbers. The Chemung Canal Trust Company is at the corner of State and Water Sts., once the scene of great canal activity.
Far up State St., some of the old warehouses which once served the canal are still in use, and there is a little street running from
16
East Seventh St. to Washington Ave., called Canal St. Big Flats still has its Canal St. also.
William Schweizer says that when he is gliding or soaring from Harris Hill, it is quite easy to see parts of the bed of the Feeder Canal as it wandered through Big Flats toward Horseheads and the Toll House so long ago.
Traffic was slow moving then. A thrilling two miles an hour was the average for barges, as the mules or horses plodded along the towpath. Nevertheless the Chemung Canal was a main artery of commerce which helped to build this area into the prosperous community that it has been ever since.
For further reading, consult:
CHEMUNG CANAL References The Chemung Historical Journal
Vol. 1 - No. 4 June 1956
The Chemung Canal
Vol. 5- No. 3
Mar. 1960
The Chemung Canal
17
TRANSPORTATION
· H.T. Benedict
S.White
8 M
PENNY
W.T. Knapp
· Saw Mill · P. Jones · Bartholomew
DUG HILL
S. Jones
. S. Miller
J. Jones
. F.A. Webb
S. Marvin
s.pedrick
BJ. pedrick
WEIRD CREES
6 M
· Bovier
5
. H. Miller
. A. Gibson
DRY RUN
C. Atkins
5 M
. R. Beckwith
D. Nichols
4 M
. P. Holmes
. D. Howell 6. Show
J.C. Brook
Ayres
. W. swan
C. Evans
H.c.spauldingo
· Mc Henry
· B. Baker'
2 M
J.L. Smith church
N. Johnson
· L. Miller
. A. Kinyon
S. Partridge
Contemplated
PLANK ROAD from ELMIRA to the STATE LINE M.Sly
30 Toll Gate
CHEMUNG RIVER
apr. 15, 1848.
The old Plank Road from Elmira to the Pennsylvania line.
Prior to the battle of Newtown in 1779 the only means of en- trance into the Chemung Valley was via the Indian trails and the waters of the Chemung River. With the valley as a hub, the narrow paths radiated south to Williamsport, west to Corn- ing, north to the Finger Lakes region, and eastward to the Sus- quehanna River at Tioga Point and Owego.
The Sullivan-Clinton army hewed and hacked a crude road northward from the Lowman battle site to Geneva for the pas- sage of the pack-horses and the light-wheeled vehicles. Narrow streams were bridged with logs; bogs and swamps were crossed on corduroy; and in some places the road was dug out of the hillsides. It was a very poor highway.
A journey into the valley was most difficult. The primitive military road became over-grown, the log bridges were washed away by flood waters, and the hillside portions eroded. The easiest and best avenue of entrance was with little boats and rafts on the river.
Following the peace treaty between this country and England, the settlers began to push their way up the Chemung River, some traveling by boats and others walking, leading their horses and oxen, upon whose backs was packed all the settlers' possessions.
Those early residents of the valley were fortunate in having a trading post at the junction of Newtown Creek and the river, it being established by Colonel Matthias Hollenback of Wilkes- Barre in 1783. To supply his out-post, pack-horses were used, and in times of ample water Durham boats and arks were utilized. These were propelled by "walking poles" in the hands of the four and five-man crews. At times it was necessary for the crews to tow the loaded vessels with long ropes.
As additional settlers came into the valley the Indian trails were widened by usage until wheeled wagons could make pas- sage, though the journey was a hardship on man and beast. The trails took no heed of streams or hills. Where the swamps were worse, corduroy roads bumped the wagons and passen- gers, often breaking precious wheels and throwing teams and riders into the mud.
3M
J. Grover
M. Church. Dalrymple
· J. Brown J. Townsend
J. C. Wells
R.T. Jones
Map IM
Elmira
The necessities of life were costly at Hollenback's store due to the difficulty of transportation. Freight charges for shipments out of the area were so high that the settlers could not send their crops to distant markets. In 1790 the cost of shipping a bushel of grain from western New York to New York City was twenty- five cents. This was in the days when a man's pay was only twenty-five cents a day. It was the high cost of sending prod- ucts to market and getting needed items in return that made the frontiersman so desperate for good roads.
18
THE FIRST ROADS
On March 20, 1803 authorization was given to build a turnpike road from Newtown to Seneca Lake to connect there with the Catskill turnpike from the Hudson River. This was the begin- ning of Lake St. in Elmira.
In 1807 the only regular contact with the outside world was by means of a post-boy on horseback who carried the mails to and from Wilkes-Barre and used four days each way for the trip of less than a hundred miles.
Authority was granted in 1812 to project a road from Newtown to Ithaca, and five years later the Berwick Turnpike was char- tered to be built between Berwick, Pa. and Newtown. This road was constructed during the years 1821-23. The first good high- way in the area, it was a toll road until 1847.
A highway between Newtown and the state line at Seeley Creek was in a deplorable condition from ruts, deep mud and pot-holes. In 1847 it was a highway of enough importance to warrant the forming of a company for the purpose of constructing a "plank road." This road, surfaced with wood, extended from the south end of the Lake St. bridge in Elmira to the state line, slightly over eight miles, and was a toll road. It passed through the present village of Pine City which took its name from the ex- tensive white pine forests that bordered the highway and it enabled the northern Pennsylvania lumbermen and farmers to ship and trade in Elmira.
THE STAGE COACHES
With the improvement of the roads came the stage coach era in the valley, an important and colorful part of this area. Hand- some Concord coaches, drawn by four-horse teams, conveyed travelers in and out of the valley and carried the mails. But, at best, such transportation was a hardship. As many as eight- een passengers could be crowded into a coach. Baggage was limited to fourteen pounds per person. Thirty to forty miles a day was the distance traveled. Teams were changed every twelve miles on the "express" routes. In summer the dust was thick and choking and the stream fords were many. In winter
3R.
.
KLOODE
LIBERTY
VALLAOKS
AVOCA
KANON
BATH
SAVONA
CAMPNELL'
· CURTIR
. COO FIRS
N.Y.
L. ERIE
OKIOX
KOOPER
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ELMIRA
CHEMUKO
BATRE OO
Towandg HOW MILF01
Elbland On
Troy
Montroseos'
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Covington
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Minnequa Spr&. Taathannock
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Birch Cy. CAR
Trout Run
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Williamsport
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Principal railroad lines and stations of 50 years ago.
Sketch of horse car.
19
"Orange" No. 4 engine of the Erie was the first to enter Elmira.
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