USA > New York > Comley's history of the state of New York, embracing a general review of her agricultural and mineralogical resources, her manufacturing industries, trade and commerce, together with a description of her great metropolis, from its settlement by the Dutch, in 1609 > Part 3
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* The " Five" Nations, at the period of our earliest knowledge of them -- the " Six" Nations after they had adopted the Tuscaroras, in 1712.
+ "The People of the Long House," from the circumstance that they likened their political structure to a long tenement or dwelling.
£
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COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
position, others, equally intelligent, and as well instructed in their traditions, do not pretend to thus limit the period of settlement at these points.
Their actual dominion had a far wider range. . The Five Nations claimed " all the land not sold to the English, from the mouth of Sorrel River, on the south side of Lakes Erie and Ontario, on both sides of the Ohio, till it falls into the Mississippi ; and on the north side of these lakes that whole territory between the Ottawa River and Lake Huron, and even beyond the straits between that and Lake Eric."* And in another place the same author says: "When the Dutch began the settlement of this country, all the Indians on Long Island, and the northern shores of the Sound, on the banks of the Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware, and Susquehannah Rivers, were in subjection to the Five Nations, and acknowledged it by paying tribute. The French historians of Canada, both ancient and modern, agree that the more northern Indians were driven before the superior martial prowess of the Confederates." " The Ho-de-no-sau-nee occupied our precise territory, and their council fires burned continually from the Hudson to the Niagara. Our old forests have rung with their war shouts, and been enlivened with their festivals of peace. Their feathered bands, their eloquence, their deeds of valor, have had their time and place. In their progressive course they had stretched around the half of our republic, and rendered their name a terror nearly from ocean to ocean ; when the advent of the Saxon race arrested their career, and prepared the way for the destruction of the Long House, and the final extinguishment of the Council-Fires of the Confederacy." t "At one period we hear the sound of their war-cry along the Straits of the St. Mary's, and at the foot of Lake Superior. At another, under the walls of Quebec, where they finally defeated the Hurons, under the eyes of the French. They put out the fires of the Gah-kwas and Eries. They eradicated the Susquehannocks. They placed the Lenapes, the Nanticokes, and the Munsees under the yoke of sub- jection. They put the Metoacks and Manhattans under tribute. They spread the terror of their arms over all New England. They traversed the whole length of the Appalachian Chain, and descended like the enraged yagisho and megalonyx, on the Cherokees and Catawbas. Smith encountered their warriors in the settlement of Virginia, and La Salle on the discovery of the Illinois." 1 "The immediate dominion of the Iroquois -- when the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas were first visited by the trader, the missionary, or the war parties of the French-stretched, as we have seen, from the borders of Vermont to Western New York, from the Lakes to the head waters of the Ohio, tlie Susquehanna and the Delaware. The number of their warriors was declared by the French in 1660. to have been two thousand two hundred; and in 1677, an English agent sent on purpose to ascertain their strength, confirmed the precision of the statement. Their geo- graphical position made them umpires in the contest of the French for dominion in the west. Besides, their political importance was increased by their conquests. Not only did they claim some supremacy in Northern New England as far as the Ken- uebec, and to the south as far as New Haven, and were acknowledged as absolute lords over the conquered Lenappe-the peninsula of Upper Canada was their hunt- ing field by right of war; they had exterminated the Erjes and Andastes, both tribes of their own family, the one dwelling on the south-eastern banks of Lake Erie, the other on the head waters of the Ohio; they had triumphantly invaded the tribes of
* Smith's History of New York.
+ Letters on the Iroquois, by Shenandoah in American Review.
Schoolcraft.
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COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
the west as far as Illinois; their warriors had reached the soil of Kentucky and Western Virginia; and England, to whose alliance they steadily inclined, availed itself of their treaties for the cession of territories, to encroach even on the empire of France in America." *
NEW YORK STATE.
" THE Empire State" is one of the Middle States of the Atlantic slope and of the original thirteen of the revolutionary confederation, extending from the parallel of 400 29' 40" to 45° o' 42" N. lat .. and between the meridians of 71 51' and 79 45' 54.4" W. long. from Greenwich. The State is nearly triangular in shape, aside from Long Island, which stretches east for 116 miles. It is bounded on the N. and N. W. by the Dominion of Canada, partly separated from it by the St. Lawrence River, Lake Ontario, Niagara River, and Lake Erie : also on the North by Long Island Sound, which washes the N. shore of Long Island, and the Atlantic Ocean; East by Vermont, from which Lake Champlain partly separates it, by Massachusetts and Connecticut, the Lower New York Bay, and the Atlantic Ocean ; S. by the Atlantic, the lower Bay and the States of New Jersey and Pennsylvania ; and W. and N. W. by Pennsylvania, Lakes Erie and Ontario, and NiagaraRiver, which divide it from the Dominion of Canada. Its greatest length from N. to S. is 3113 miles; its greatest breadth from E. to W., including Long Island, is 412 miles. Its area is 47,000 sq. m., or 30,080,000 acres, including its share of the great Lakes-45,658 sq. m. without them.
The surface of New York is greatly diversified. It has numerous chains of hills and mountains, many beautiful valleys, much rolling land, and extended plains. For topographical purposes it is divided into three sections of unequal size by the deep depression of Lakes Champlain and George and the Hudson River, and by the narrower valley at right angles with this, through which the Mohawk flows, which furnishes the natural route for the Erie Canal. These sections are, E of the Hudson, N. and S. of the Mohawk and Erie Canal, designated as E., N., and S. sec- tions. E. of the Hudson is a continuation of the Green and Hoosac ranges south- ward, reaching the Hudson in Putnam County, opposite West Point. reappearing on the W. side of the river as the Kittatinny Mountains. The northern section has 6 distinct parallel ranges of mountains, besides two ridges of lower altitude. These ranges all trend from N. E. to S. W., and, at their eastern terminii, either on Lake Champlain, Lake George, or St. Lawrence River or its tributaries. They are, beginning at the S. E .: (1) the Palmertown range, from the vicinity of Whitehall S. W. to the lower part of Saratoga County. (2) The Kavaderosseras or Luzerne Mountains, beginning at Ticonderoga, passing along the W. side of Lake George through Warren and Saratoga counties, to Montgomery County. (3) The Clinton or Adirondack range, proper, beginning at Point Trembleau on Lake Champlain, passing through Essex, Warren, Saratoga, Hamilton, Fulton, and Montgomery counties to the Mohawk River. This range contains the highest peaks in the State --- Mount Marcy or Tahawas, whose height is variously stated at from 5378 to 5466 feet ; Dix Peak, 5200 feet; Mount McIntyre, 5183 feet; Sandanoni and Mount
# Bancroft's History of the United States.
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COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
McMartin, each about 5000 feet; Dial Mountain, about 4900 feet. It also forms the watershed between the tributaries of the St. Lawrence and those of the Hudson and Mohawk. (4) The Au Sable or Peru range, beginning still higher on Lake Champlain, near the mouth of An Sable River, and trending S. W. through Essex, Hamilton, and Fulton counties into Montgomery. White Face is the highest moun- tain of this range, its altitude being 4854 feet, while Mount Pharaoh and Taylor are each about 4500 feet. (5) The Chateaugay range commences near the northern extremity of Lake Champlain in Canada, passes through Clinton, Franklin, and Hamilton counties to Herkimer County and the Mohawk River. It maintains an average height of about 2000 feet through its whole course, while Mount Seward is 5100 feet, and several of its summits approach 4000 feet in height. (6) The St. Law- rence range, parallel with the last, and about 10 or 12 miles N. of it, follows the course of the southern shore of the St. Lawrence. The broad plateau known as the Highlands of Black River is about 60 miles in length and from 1250 to 1650 feet in height.
Between the Highlands and the Mohawk lies a ridge about 20 miles long, nearly 9 miles broad at its base, having a general elevation of 800 or 900 feet, known as Hassencleaver Ridge. The section S. and S. W. of the Mohawk and the Hudson may be divided into two sub-sections -- the eastern, which includes three distinct ranges of mountains : viz., (1) the Highlands of Orange and Rockland counties, having a gen- cial N. E. direction and coming to the W. shore of the Hudson ; (2) back of these, the Shawangunk Mountains, skirting the valley of the Rondout ; (3) and most consider- able, the Kaatsbergar Catskills, called the Helderberg Mountains near Mohawk. The Catskills are rather a group of mountains than a chain. They cover a region more than 500 square miles, having between 30 and 40 peaks, the most celebrated of which are Round Top, High Peak, Black Head, Overlook, and Pine Orchard, which range from 2900 to 3800 feet in height. The Helderbergs are not so high. The Shawan- gunk summits do not rise more than 2000 feet, and the Highlands range from 1000 to 1650 feet. S. W. of these, in Sullivan and Delaware counties, the Blue Mountains take their rise. Near their junction with the Kaatsbergs they rise to 2700 or 2800 feet, but elsewhere not above 1400 to 1600 feet. The western sub-section of this southern section is composed of a series of terrace plateaus rising from the shore of Lake Ontario, first, to the Ridge Road -- supposed to have been the ancient southern shore of Lake Ontario, now 300 feet above it ; this terrace extends from the Genesee to the Niagara above the Falls; second, from the Ridge Road to the falls of the Genesee at Nunda and Portageville, where they meet an abrupt wall of rock about 300 feet in height, and the entire height is over 900 feet ; from this point there is a gra- dual ascent to the summit level from 1500 to 2000 feet in Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Al- leghany, and Steuben counties, the water-courses having eroded the limestones, through which they passed, at numerous points, making picturesque waterfalls, some of them of enormous height-the Taghkanic and Watkins Glen falls, for instance. The greater portion of these terraces are fertile and beautiful plains. The valleys of the Mohawk, of the Upper Hudson, and of the Delaware, Susquehanna, etc., are also very picturesque and fertile.
Rivers, Lakes, Bays, etc .- The Hudson River is the largest river. It is navi- gable to Troy, nearly 160 miles. It has many tributaries, of which the Mohawk is the most important. The others are Schroon, Hoosick, Battenkill, Kinderhook, and Croton on the E. ; Wallkill, Rondout, Esopus, Kaateskill, and Sacandaga on the W. I he Chazy and Saranac are the largest streams flowing into Lake Champlain. St. Lawrence River washes the northern boundary of the State for 100 miles, and has
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COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
several important aids from the State, among which are the Oswegatchie, Indian, Grasse, Racket, St. Regis, and Salmon. Oswego River-the original outlet of the lakes in Central New York, and, in connection with the Oswego Canal and Riverim- provement, navigable for canal-boats and steamers for IS miles-Black River, and the Genesee flow into Lake Ontario, the last furnishing great water-power and being the outlet of four or five small lakes; Niagara River, connecting Lake Erie and Ontario; the Alleghany, one of the constituents of the Ohio River, has a course of nearly 50 miles in the State; the Susquehanna, with its tributaries, the Tioga and Chenango; and the Delaware, with its E. and W. branches, and its affluents, the Little Delaware, Mongaup, and Neversink, are the more important of the other rivers which drain the State. It is stated that there are 2SI miles of river navigation for steam crafts in the State.
Lakes .---- The State is somewhat remarkable for its lakes, many of which are navigable, there being 350 miles in length of lake navigation; the eastern end of Lake Erie, one half of Lake Ontario, and one half of Lake Champlain belonging to New York. In the N. E., Lake George, Schroon Lake, and nearly 200 smaller lakes, in Warren, Essex, and Hamilton counties, add beauty to the landscape. In Central New York there are three groups of lakes, the eastern consisting of Otsego, Schuyler, Cazenovia, and Summit. Farther W. commences a chain consisting of Oneida, Onondaga, Orisco, Cross, Skaneateles, Cayuga, Seneca, Crooked or Keuka, and Canan- daigua lakes. Still further W. is another chain of lakes, Owasco, Honeoye, Canadice, Conesus, and Silver Lake. In the S. W. corner of the State lies Chautauqua Lake. There are numerous smaller ones in the S. E. counties, and two or three on Long Island. A remarkable feature of the natural scenery of New York is its waterfalls. The Falls of Niagara beggar description, and those of Trenton, the Watkins Glen, the Taghkanic, and the numerous falls near Ithaca are equally noteworthy for their kind. The falls of the Genesee at Rochester, and the High Falls in the same river at Portage, the falls at Ticonderoga, and those in the Adirondacks, are very romantic.
Islands .- The most important islands are Manhattan, Long, and Staten Islands; numerous smaller ones surround these, as Randall's, Ward's, Blackwell's, Governor's, Bedloe's, and David's, around New York : Coney Island, Fire Island, Shelter Island, and a great number of islands in Long Island Sound. There are numerous small islands in the Hudson River; nearly 1500 in the St. Lawrence, one half of which belong to New York ; many in Lakes Erie, Ontario, and Champlain ; and about 400 in Lake George.
Bays, Sounds, etc .- The bay belonging to Long Island has been described. The lower and upper New York bays form one of the finest approaches to a great harbor in the world. Staten Island Sound is rather a strait than a sound, as is also the East River, but Long Island Sound beyond it is almost an inland sea. The Hudson River forms a broad expanse near Haverstraw, known as the Tappan Zee. There are several small bays and harbors on the New York coast of Lake Ontario, and Buffalo and Black Rock harbors on Lake Erie.
Geology and Mineralogy .- The geology of New York is peculiar. While in some parts of the State nearly every class formation is found, from the lowest Eozoic rocks to the recent alluvium, the whole Carboniferous era, as well as the upper members of the Devonian and the Permian and Jurassic formations, have no place whatever in its geology, and very little of the Lower Tertiary deposits occurs. There are traces of anthracite coal, an inch or two in thickness, found between the strata of older rock, but nowhere is there evidence of the existence of the coal-
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COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
measures. The following table gives the various formations of the State in their order :
Quaternary Alluvium, marsh-mud, and sand.
Tertiary
Pleistocene, boulders, clays, and sand.
Cretaceous.
New red sandstone. Lower Cretaceous, mostly on N. shore of Long Island
Old red sandstone.
Catskill group, conglomerates of the Catskill.
Portage sandstonc. Portage group Gardeau flagstone. Coshaqua shales.
Genesee slate. Trully limestone.
Moscow shales.
Devonian
Hamilton group Encrinal limestone. Ludlow shales.
Marcellus shales. Corniferous limestone.
Onondaga limestone.
Schoharie grit.
Cauda-Galli grit.
- Oriskany sandstone.
Upper pentamerous limestone.
Delthyris shaly limestone.
Pentamerous limestone.
Tentaculite limestone.
Water-lime group.
Gypsum.
Onondaga salt group Green shales. Red shales.
Middle Silurian.
Niagara group, coralline limestone. Clinton group.
Median sandstone.
Oncida conglomerate, Shawangunk grit.
Hudson River group.
Utica slate.
Trenton limestone. Black River limestone.
Birdseye limestone.
Lower Silurian. .
Chazy limestone. Quebec group, including roofing-slate. Calciferous sandstone.
Eozoic.
Potsdam sandstone. Huronian rocks, specular ore beds of St. Lawrence and Jefferson counties. Granite, gneiss, hypersthene. Volcanic and metamorphic rocks, Palisades, etc., trap and porphyry.
With a few words on the distribution of these formations, we must refer our readers to the elaborate treatises on New York geology. The Eozoic rocks are found in the S. E. portion of the State, in a part of Rockland, Putnam, Westchester, and New York counties, and occupy a large tract in the N. E. of the State, including a part of Clinton and Franklin, the whole of Essex, Warren, and Hamilton, the greater part of Herkimer, and a part of Lewis, St. Lawrence, Jefferson, Fulton, Saratoga. and Washington counties. The Potsdam sandstone occupies a narrow belt imme- diately N. of this Eozoic region, and also a small tract in Jefferson County. The Lower Silurian groups -- the Calciferous sandrock, Quebec group, and Chazy lime- stone -- are found along the W. shore of Lake Champlain, the S. shore of the St. Lawrence to a point a few miles above Ogdensburg, and the region E. of the Hudson from Whitehall to Putnam County, and there, crossing the Hudson, reap- pear in Orange County. The Lower Silurian-Birdseye, Black River, and Trenton
7
Upper Silurian . .
1 Drift.
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COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
limestone-occupy more than one half of Jefferson County, and thence extend in a narrow belt around the lower edge of the great Eozoic tract already described. The Utica and Lorraine slates occupy the region between the last formations and the Mohawk River to Utica, and thence both sides of the Mohawk and the W. side of the Hudson as far N. as Sandy Hill, and S. to a short distance above Pough- keepsie, where they turn W. in a broad belt into Orange County. The Oneida conglomerate and Medina sandstone of the Middle Silurian are found from Oneida Lake on the E., along the S. shore of Lake Ontario to the Canada line, extending in breadth to the Ridge Road. S. of this, and parallel with it in a narrow belt, the Clinton and Niagara groups extend E. to Schoharie, and the Onondaga salt group follows in a more irregular but somewhat wider belt. The four lower groups of Devonian-Lower Helderberg, Oriskany sandstone, Cauda-Galli grit, and Upper Helderberg-are found in a band not more than five miles wide, extending from Buffalo to Albany County, and thence S. W. to Delaware River at Port Jervis; and immediately S of this the Marcellus shales, Hamilton group, and Genesee slate occupy a broader and irregular belt, dipping S. around the shores of the Central New York lakes through Madison, Otsego, and Schoharie counties, and, like the preceding, turning S. W. till they reach the Pennsylvania line. S. of this the whole southern tier of counties belongs to the Portage and Chemung groups, except a few outcrops of the Catskill red sandstone. The New Red sandstone only makes its appearance in the S. part of Rockland County, and as it approaches the Hudson River, the trap porphyry which constitutes the Palisades has forced its way through it. The Cretaceous formations come to the surface only on the northern shore of Long Island, while Drift and Alluvium overlie the other formations in much of the State.
Minerals .- The most important of these is iron, of which there are magnetic, red and brown hematite, specular, and bog-iron ores, and, in Dutchess, Essex, and Clinton counties, carburet of iron or plumbago. Galena or lead ore is found in St. Lawrence and other counties in large quantities. Zinc, copper, arsenic, manganese, barytes, strontian, and alum occur in various parts of the State, but do not possess much economic value. Salt springs, from which a vast amount of salt is made, occur along the line of the Onondaga salt group, especially in Onondaga County. Gypsum and waterlime accompany them.
The State abounds in building material ; its granite, white and colored marbles, Potsdam and Medina sandstone, and gray and blue limestone, as well as its excel- lent clay and sand for brick, furnish a sufficiency of material for its dwellings; but while it exports some of these, it imports more from other States and countries. Its quarries furnish also large quantities of slate, and flagging-stones and trap-rock for paving purposes. Serpentine, soapstone, talc, asbestos, amianthus, magnesia in several forms, are among the minerals of merely scientific value. The State has numerous mineral springs of high repute, the chalybeate and saline at Saratoga, sulphur in Madison and Monroe counties, acid in Genesee and Orleans, those evolving nitrogen gas, as in Columbia, Rensselaer, and Seneca counties, and those possessing magnetic or electrical qualities, as in Tompkins County. In Chautauqua, Dutchess, Oncida, and Monroe counties are illuminating gas-springs. Fredonia, in Chautauqua County, has utilized this gas for lighting its streets and dwellings, and the lighthouse at Barcelona, in the same county, is illuminated by it.
Soil and Vegetation .- Notwithstanding the mountainous and broken char- acter of much of its surface, the greater part of the soil of New York is arable, and some of it very fertile. Most of the mountainous districts are fine grazing lands, and yield the best milk, butter, and cheese. The plains and valleys are adapted to the culture of cereals, and the north and north-western counties to root crops. Oneida, Madison, Otsego, and a part of Chenango are engaged in hop-culture. Tobacco is cultivated in several counties, grapes on the islands of the Hudson, and
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COMLEY'S HISTORY OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK.
on the shores of the Central New York lakes, and Indian corn in most every part of the State. Market gardening is extensively practised in the vicinity of the large cities, and great quantities of fruit are grown in the central counties. The forest trees of the State present a great variety, and a few years ago nearly one half the area of the State was covered with forests; but the great demand for timber, lumber, and hemlock and oak bark, for building ships, houses, railroads, and for tanning purposes, has much reduced the forest area. The State has ten genera of the pine family, including the hemlock, balsam, fir, black and white spruce, and tama- rack, and the allied species of red and white cedar, arbor vitae, and Canada yew. There are ten species of oak, of which the white oak is the most valuable and the most abundant, three species of elm, three of ash, five of maple, the sugar maple being the most plentiful; the black walnut and butternut, and four species of hickory, the beach, chestnut, three species of birch, the sycamore, several species of poplar, numerous willows, the robinia or locust, the tulip tree or whitewood, the linden or basswood, the ironwood or hop-hornbeam, the ailantus and its cousins, the sumachs; the magnolia glauca, the cornel or dogwood, and various alders, the buttonbush, the shadbush, and spicewood, are the principal other forest growths.
Zoology .- The State, in its geological and natural history survey, ordered in 1836, including the geology, mineralogy, paleontology, agriculture, botany, and zoology of the entire State, and the results were given in a series of magnificent quarto volumes fully illustrated, of which twenty-two have been published, and others are yet to come. The zoology occupies five volumes. According to this work, there are among the mammals one species of opossum, 5 bats, 2 moles, 6 shrews, the black bear, raccoon, wolverine, skunk, fisher, Pennant's marten, pine marten, 2 weasels, the ermine weasel or stoat, the mink, the otter; 30 varieties of dogs, 5 of them native; 2 species of wolf, the gray and black, the panther, Canada lynx, wild cat or bay lynx, the seal, hooded seal, and walrus. Of rodents, there are the gray fox, the red or common fox; four species of squirrel, the woodchuck, the Labrador rat, the beaver, muskrat, porcupine, the Norway or brown rat, two species of black rat, eight species of mice, the gray rabbit, the prairie hare. Of hoofed animals, besides the domestic animals, there are the fallow deer, the elk, moose, stag, and reindeer. There are 9 cetaceans in the waters of the State-6 whales, 2 porpoises, and the grampus. The number of fossil mammals is in- creasing by frequent discoveries. Three of the elephant family have been found in the State -- the original fossil elephant, the American elephant, and the masto- don; of the latter, nearly twenty skeletons, more or less perfect, have been exhumed. Fossil skeletons of several other animals occur. Six orders of birds are found in the State: birds of prey, birds of passage, the cock tribe, waders, lobe-footed birds, and swimmers. Of the birds of prey, there are 3 families and 26 species; of the birds of passage, 20 families and 146 species; of the Gallina or cock tribe, 20 families and only 6 species of undomesticated birds ; of the waders, 7 families and 57 species; of the lobe-footed tribe, I family and 5 species; of the swimmers, 6 families and 65 species. There are 3 orders of reptiles : the turtle, lizard, and serpent tribes. There are 17 species of turtles, tortoises, and terrapins, 2 of lizards, and 2 venomous and 17 or 18 harmless serpents. Of the amphibia or batrachians there are 4 families: the frog tribe, comprising 12 species; the salamander tribe, of which there are also 12 species ; the triton tribe, 4 species; and the proteus tribe, 2 species. The number of fishes is Very large. The bony and cartilaginous fishes are both represented, the first by 6 wiers and the second by 3. Of the first there are 28 families and about 270 species. Of the second, there are 4 families and over 30 species. The crus- tareans, including io orders, and about 60 species. Of mollusks there are 6 orders, and a large number of species, many of them edible.
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