USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > From a forest to a city : personal reminiscences of Syracuse, N. Y. > Part 10
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years this industry has ceased to be active. It is also remarkable what circumstances have to do with localities as well as with individuals. A good illustration is Pearl street, which about seventy years ago was lined with one story buildings and slab shanties, occupied at first by those who dug the canal, and later by the first salt boilers. At this time it was called "Whitehall," from the cir- cumstance of these little dwellings being whitewashed inside and out several times during the summer season, as it was believed to be an antidote for the malaria then so prevalent. It certainly gave the little homes a neat appearance, and no doubt the inhalation of the vapor from the lime had a beneficial effect upon the health of the occupants "Whitehall" only exists now in the memory of very few. Fifty years ago Pearl street was lined with one and a half story houses occupied by re- spectable citizens. On the corner of Pearl and Willow streets lived Dr. Parker, a man popular as a good physi- cian and citizen. Recently I looked with astonishment at the changes time had wrought in this locality. Not one of the houses were left standing, but instead the ground was covered with the railroad ties of the West Shore road. Other localities, such as West Genesee street between Clinton street and the creek, until a few years ago remained with but little change, and even to-day many of the original houses are still there. Rev. Dr. Adams' house, that he first occupied in 1825, with many others in its near vicinity, are still standing where they were built sixty years ago.
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ONONDAGA CREEK AND OTHER STREAMS.
The few unassuming water courses which flow through Syracuse are mere rivulets compared to some others, yet they come in for their share of importance when the his- tory of Syracuse is written. One of these, called the Yellow brook, was once quite a formidable stream, but now only exists in memory and even its precise location is a matter of dispute among some of our older inhabitants. It found its way from the hills in the eastern part of the village, crossing, in its wanderings to Onondaga creek, Genesee street near Forman Park, and passing in a cir- cuitous route near the Jewish synagogue to the junction of Warren, Madison and Onondaga streets, where, near the location of the Farmer Block, its waters filled a pool of considerable size. From this point it crossed South Salina street half way between Jefferson and Fayette streets, whence it found its destination after crossing Clinton street. The mouth of the stream, as it entered the creek, was several rods in width. It is a problem of Syracuse to-day how to fill the mouth of the city's poor, but it was a greater problem in the early days of the vil- lage how to fill the mouth of Yellow brook, and appro- priations were made from time to time for this purpose, and the few inhabitants felt the tax for this purpose keenly. The banks of the small stream that continues to flow in the western part of the city, known as Harbor brook, were once covered with so dense a growth of brush and brakes that it was almost impossible to pene- trate it as the stream neared the lake. This brook is connected with a bit of history which will be of interest
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to those not familiar with it. During colonial times the King of England granted to Sir William Johnson, fo: services during the French war, 100,000 acres of land north of the Mohawk. When war was declared between. the colonies and the mother country, Sir William seemed to love each alike, and felt he could not war with either. When the time came that he must decide which he mis: serve, he made a long and earnest speech on the situation. A few hours afterward he died, and it was said by many that he caused his own death to avoid warring with either side. His son John inherited the immense estate and at once took part with the Tories against the colonies, whereupon his property was confiscated. He fled to Canada, and, raising a large force, proceeded to the Mohawk valley for revenge. The course of his army was up the Oswego and Seneca rivers to our lake where they were obliged to leave their boats, and, fearing that they might be destroyed by the enemy, found a safe harbor for them in the brook that was so thickly covered that notwithstanding a party was sent from Rome, N. Y., to destroy the boats of Sir John, they could not be found. and for one hundred and ten years this stream has been known as Harbor brook. Onondaga creek has been of some advantage as power for machinery before the days of steam, and has been of service for sewerage; it has also been a great source of annoyance to us, without doubt being the cause of much sickness and death. Large sums have been spent to counteract this difficulty. The first dam across the creek was built in 1855 where Gene- sce street crosses it, and was built of logs and earth in
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such a way as to serve as a bridge and dam also. It was swept away by a freshet in 1807 and rebuilt where Water street crosses the creek. This dam was also of logs and of a much larger capacity than was necessary, causing the detention of a large body of water. At that time Clinton street was not a straight street, but wound around the mill pond. For many years there was much com- plaint among the inhabitants of the village that the pond caused much sickness in the place. So great was the complaint that in 1825 a much smaller dam was built. This did not entirely remove the difficulty, and as soon as Syracuse became a city the first great work was to cut a new channel for the creek and fill the old mill pond. There has been no greater improvement made within the limits of Syracuse, during my recollection, than the re- claiming of nearly ten acres near the centre of the city from a pond of water which constantly fluctuated in filling the full capacity of its banks, and during dry weather leaving bare a wide surface of mud and decaying algae, filling the central part of the town with miasma. Ague and fever was very prevalent. The filling in of the mill pond with earth from Prospect hill employed a large force of men and teams for several months, but the ad- vantages were greatly in excess of the outlay. By this means this immense frog pond was transformed into acres of green turf, which was laid out in a beautiful park and named Jefferson Park. Soon after an effort was made to obtain appropriations from the State for an Armory. After nearly 82,000 was raised by subscription, the State appropriated $5,000, and the first Armory was built in
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1858. It was quite an unassuming structure for so fine a location. In 1871 it was destroyed by fire, and the fol- lowing year the present building was erected at a cost of $80,000, and the name of the park was changed to Armory Park, which was then inclosed with a substantial iron fence. A part of the tract reclaimed from the old pond is now occupied by an extensive coal yard, also the D. L. & W. R. R. depot and freight office, besides many other substantial buildings. In making a new channel for the creek its course through the city was greatly shortened, as the original channel was exceedingly ser- petine. South of Onondaga street, so far as the sanitary effects were concerned, an evil greater than the first was created, as the old channel remained filled with water without a current. These conditions were most unfavor- able to the health of the inhabitants of that part of the town. So frequent were malarial fevers that during some portions of the year one-half of the inhabitants on Baker street were shaking with the ague, and many on South Salina street suffered from the same cause. Repeated petitions were made to the Common Council for relief. Some of the greatest sufferers brought the matter before the Grand Jury for indictment as a nuisance, and upon the testimony of the best physicians, including Drs. Clary and Shipman, as to the sickness caused by these stagnant pools, the bed of the old channel was indicted as a nuisance, but for some cause there were no further legal proceedings. The Mayor called a public meeting as to the sense of the citizens, whether a tax should be levied for the purpose of filling the old channel south of Onon-
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daga street. This meeting was attended by a large num- ber of citizens, the city hall was filled to its utmost capacity and a great interest was felt by those present. The meeting was opened by a prominent lawyer residing on West Onondaga street, who, in his usual earnest and eloquent manner, presented the facts concerning the dis- tress and sickness caused by the stagnant water in the old channel of the creek, and, to support his argument, referred to the testimony of the prominent physicians before the Grand Jury by which an indictment had been granted. An unexpected opposition arose from a strong party from the First and Second Wards, denouncing the proposed outlay in the strongest possible terms, stating that large sums had been expended in filling the mill pond and cutting new channels, and that compe- tent judges estimated that it would cost twice as much to fill the old channel as it cost to construct the new, and that the people of the First and Second Wards were tired of being taxed for further improve- ments for one side of the city, until something was done for their relief, as they were equal sufferers from the influence of the creek, that the southern and central portions of the city drained their filth into the creek, and that it was caused by the current to lodge in the many bends of the stream, and there pollute the atmosphere of their section of the city, and that they felt it was their turn to have the channel straightened in their locality before any further outlay was made. These points were well taken, and most forcibly presented. The discussion then became general and sharp, and speeches were made
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on both sides, which had a tendency to irritate, particu- larly those from the north side, who from the first had manifested a bad spirit. The feeling had become so in- tense between the two parties, that it looked as if the meeting would break up in confusion, when Charles Andrews gained the floor and with a heart always over- flowing with kindness, delivered one of the most concila- tory speeches I ever heard, in which he said that there should be no north nor south, that we were one people, and if any part was suffering from any cause, we should all sympathize and work to remove that cause. Mr. Andrews' speech was well received by all, seeming to be like "oil on the troubled waters," but the meeting ad- journed with but little accomplished. The following winter the Legislature appointed commissioners known as the Onondaga creek commission, who employed George Geddes to make surveys and report in his judgment the best means of improving the course of the creek to the lake. In the spring of 1867 the creek was troublesome in flooding its banks with an unusual freshet. The flats south of Onondaga street were under water, which reached as far as Salina street, The barns of the Oakwood street railway company, which had been erected the year before, and the houses near the creek on West Adams street were flooded, and the water was four feet deep in the parlors and living rooms of the brick gothic house standing near the creek on Adams street, the plank side- walk on Clinton near Onondaga street was afloat. The water was eighteen inches above the arches of the Onon- daga street bridge. While several people were standing
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on the bridge and viewing the great mass of water strug- gling to find its way under the arches, a sight was wit- nessed that shocked the strongest nerve. A boy who had built a raft froin the floating boards to take a sail on the wide expanse of waters, had been so indiscreet as to ven- ture too near the strong current of the stream, in which he was caught, and was completely powerless, being car- ried along at a rapid rate in the centre of the stream, where he made his appearance but a few rods above the filled arches of the bridge, under which it seemed certain that he must plunge, and he, with all beholders felt that for his life there could not be a ray of hope. At that moment he was carried near a few twigs that hung from a small tree on the bank, and with a desperation known only to those who stare death in the face, sprang and caught the frail twigs and unexpectedly to himself and all who saw him, pulled himself to safety in the main branches of the tree, although it was trembling from the immense pressure of the water and was liable to give way any minute, he felt himself most providentially saved from what seemed certain death. He was rescued by Frank Billings, who constructed a raft and with a long rope, floated it under the tree and rescued the poor little fellow. The flood of that year was succeeded by ex- treme low water, and this condition was regarded by Mr. Geddes as most favorable for his calculations. He ex- hausted the appropriation of $1,000 in surveys and maps, and he proposed to lower the bed of the creek by a cut that would average six and a half feet deep, and to put in o this cut a timber floor made of plank four inches
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thick, twenty-eight feet long, laid across the channe". close together, and connected by iron dowels. On th. ends of these planks build stone walls, without mortar. made of heavy stone, and four feet thick on the bottoni sloping three inches to the foot on the face sides, ar.d perpendicular on the bank sides-these walls to be six feet high. This would make a trunk twenty feet wide on the bottom, and twenty-three feet wide on the ti having a smooth plank floor. The bottom of this sewer, as it may be called, would rise in the sixty chains from Spencer street to the canal, five feet and a quarter; and the water running in it when it is six feet deep will have a velocity of four and three-quarters miles to the hour The estimated cost was $135,108. The increase o taxation that followed the bonding for the two railroad: the Northern and the Chenango Valley roads was s great that nothing since has been done.
ONONDAGA LAKE.
The lake into which these waters flow is a beautifi sheet, about five miles in length from the mouth of Or ondaga Creek to its outlet into Seneca River, and about the average breadth of one mile and a half. It southerly margin is sandy and in many places marsh and its water shallow, but at a distance of from two four hundred feet from shore it abruptly increases depth one hundred feet or more. It is largely fer subterranean springs several of which are easily iden by the extremely low temperature of the water in vicinity, even in the wannest weather. The existe these large fresh water springs so near our well . vn
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and abundant reservoirs of salt water is a geological peculiarity not yet fully explained. We give here a cut showing a transverse section of the ancient Onondaga Valley before it was partly filled with drift. Also giving the thickness of the several strata, ascertained by boring salt wells at the lake.
5
B
6
DED 'THEF VALLICY & #
330 fh.
7
1 Black muck, five feet 2 Marl, five feet. 3 Blue clay, five feet. 4 Fine sand, three feet. 5 Gravel, alternating from coarse to fine, one hun- dred and forty fect. 6 Dark brown sand, one hundred and fifty-five feet. 7 Gravel, compact and cemented, twenty feet. 8 Hard-pan, the primary formation on the bottom of the valley. A A A Sides and bottom of ancient valley excavated in red shale. B Alluvium filling the valley. D Onon- daga Lake. E Surface of the lake.
The geology of our county is more interesting than almost any other part of the state. The best geologists claim that we are living in a valley that has been partly filled during some period of the earth's history. Mr. Vanuxem in his geology says, "the real depth of the ancient Onondaga Valley cannot but be a matter of con- jecture, as its present known depth shows that its outlet has been covered up by alluvium sand and rolled stones, with the exception of that part occupied by the lake. That the surface of the original valley was of red sand stone, the same as crops out on the shores
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of Lake Ontario." To the circumstance of the closing up of this vast basin we are indebted for our immense brine reservoir. The providential circumstances that have preserved our salt interests are most remarkable. Had it not been for the thin layer of marl and hard pan placed at the bottom of our lake, thus dividing the salt and fresh water, we should have a salt lake. Within a few weeks the great mystery has been solved where the rock salt beds were located. In 1820 the legislature passed an act authorizing Major Byington to bore for rock salt, the state to pay him two cents per bushel premium on all salt dug, used, or manufac- tured from such rock salt for ten years. His efforts to find rock salt were confined to the hills east of Salina. Great credit is due Mr. Vanuxem, who published a work in 1842, including the geology of our county, in which he gives reasons for believing that the rock salt must exist south of where the borings had yet been made, and from his suggestions I believe rock salt has recently been found in the vicinity indicated by this geologist.
Our beautiful lake has attracted many to its shores, some for pleasure and others to seek recreation in a boat ride upon its usually quiet and placid surface. Many have been drowned in its waters, some under the saddest circumstances. Of these I will only mention two unusu- ally sad cases of drowning, which at the time filled the whole town with sorrow and sympathy. These cases are separated by a period of fifty-seven years. The first is remembered now by only a very few. When the manu- facture of salt was commenced here much the same
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interest was manifested as in the California gold mines in 1849, men of wealth and culture being sometimes attract- ed here. Among this class first to make a home in Liver- pool, then only a small clearing in the woods, was Jonathan P. Hicks, who soon became a well-known and prominent business man in our county. In 1821 Mrs. Hicks's sister, Miss Louisiana Mathews, came from her home in Johnstown, N. Y., for a visit. Miss Mathews was a very accomplished and beautiful young lady. There was also a highly respected and worthy young man living in Liverpool named Harvey Hawley, who became acquainted with Miss Mathews and married her. In a few weeks after, they left Liverpool, on the 2d of January, 1822, to attend the wedding of Mrs. Hawley's brother at Johnstown. This journey was a great under- taking at that season of the year, as many deep and dark forests must be encountered, and sometimes the roads could only be kept by blazed trees (a white spot made on trees by removing the bark with a hatchet). At that date such a journey was attended by perils and hardships unknown to the present age. They left Liverpool in a severe snow storm, expecting to be absent about three weeks. After an absence of six weeks, Mrs. Hicks wrote to her brother in Johnstown to discover why they re- mained away so long. Two weeks were required to receive a reply, which was to the effect that they had not been there, and that the Johnstown friends supposed they were in Liverpool. Suspecting what might have happened, as soon as the snow was thawed from the ice search was made, which resulted in finding one corner of
£
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the trunk above the ice and within the distance of a :: feet the horse and cutter. About five feet from the c ter Mr. Hawley was found and Mrs. Hawley was d. . covered entangled in the reins between the horse a! . dashboard. It was supposed that on account of :: snow storm Mr. Hawley became confused, driving o ... some thin ice that had formed over a space cut away t . the fishermen for their nets. The place on the lak: where they were found is but a few feet above where ::. R. W. & O. R. R. crosses the Oswego canal, and was near the shore where the water was but six or eight fee. deep. This accident filled a large circle of relatives an ! friends with sadness at the time, and brought to ever; reflective mind the uncertainty of life. This young and accomplished couple, filled with hope and anticipation of a long and happy life which seemed to spread o ... before them, in which to enjoy each other's society. were, without a moment's warning or a parting good-bye plunged into a cold and icy grave. To-day, those wi. . stroll through the cemetery at Liverpool may see their quiet resting place, and upon a marble slab that has been beaten by the storms of three score years and seven, this simple inscription:
HARVEY HAWLEY, aged 23 years ; LOUISIANA, his wife, aged 18 years, Departed this life January 2, 1322.
" They were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided."
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An equally sad accident happened on June 20, 1879, by which Alfred T. Sanford and Miss Olive C. Holmes were drowned in Onondaga lake, near Lake View. Mr. Sanford was a son of Prof. H. H. Sanford, once a mem- ber of the faculty of the Syracuse University. Miss Holmes was the daughter of Judge S. N. Holmes of this city. These parties were from highly respected families of Syracuse, accomplished and carefully educated. Mr. Sanford graduated from the High School in 1873, and from the University in 1877. After this date he traveled in Europe, completing some of his studies in Germany. At the time of the accident he was a student at the Madi- son Theological Seminary. Mr. Sanford was a scholar of rare ability, and a nephew of Benjamin F. Taylor, the poet. Miss Holmes was a student at the High School, and a very beautiful and accomplished young lady. Mr. Sanford had just returned home for a short visit, and together with Mr. Arthur L. Howes, had invited the two daughters of Mr. Holmes to take a boat ride on the lake. Accordingly they , rocured boats at the Salina pier, and had made the trip safely across the lake, where they made a landing, and after a short ramble on the shore they proposed to go to another part of the lake in search of water lilies, and pulled away from the shore, keeping ten or fifteen rods apart. While attempting to change places in the boat. it capsized, owing to its exceedingly frail and treacherous construction, and the parties were thrown into the water, and Mr. Howes made all possible haste to their rescue. When he arrived at the spot his boat was under such speed that it was carried by, and
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before he could return the couple were seen to sink. clasped together. Mr. Howes dove into the water and made every effort to find them, but on account of the great depth of the water at this point he could not see them. Mr. Howes and the sister of the unfortunate young lady made haste home to bring the sad news. When it became known through the city, many repaired at once to the lake to render all assistance possible in recovering the bodies. Much sympathy was felt for the bereaved families, particularly that of Mr. Holmes, as five years previous one of his daughters met a violent death from the falling of the floor of the parlors of the Central Baptist Church during a festival. When the accident happened at the church, the young lady who was drowned was seated on a sofa, eating ice-cream, and when the floor went down she was saved from death by falling in such a manner as to be protected by the so:a. There were some circumstances connected with the drowning that the superstitious would have thought re- markable. When the boat ride w. proposed by the young men, Miss Olive seemed to be at once filled with apprehensions of danger. So strong and increasing were these forebodings that she went to her mother for counsel, who advised her to suggest a carriage ride around the lake instead. This proposition was strongly opposed by the young men and the sister, and she was informed there could be no danger, as the men were both expert swimmers, Mr. Sanford stating that he once swam from Lake View to the Salina landing without difficulty. She then very reluctantly consented, but still felt strong mis-
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givings as to safety. It was said that Mr. Sanford had just completed his first sermon, which he was to preach the next day, and in which, as an illustration, he had given a description of a drowning man. The efforts to recover the bodies of these unfortunate parties were unceasing, but they were not found until the eleventh day. The body of Miss Holmes was first discovered by her father, a inile distant from where the accident occurred.
" THE EPIDEMIC AND ENDEMIC DISEASES OF THE VILLAGE OF SYRACUSE."
The advent of the cholera in Syracuse in 1832 was not the sudden outbreak of an unexpected epidemic, but as an anticipated deadly scourge that was most sure to visit us, and from which there was but little hope of escape. It seemed an epidemic destined to travel over the whole world. It originated in 1817 in the delta of the Ganges, near Calcutta, and drew nearer our shores every year. It ravaged the fairest portions of the world. and its victims seemed as numerous as the sands on the seashore. Its march had been as rapid as the shadows of the sun-dial, and it had clothed in sackcloth every city, village and hamlet through which it passed. In 1831 it spread over most of central Europe, appearing in England in October, and in January 1832 in Edinburgh. It first appeared on this side of the Atlantic in Quebec and Montreal on the roth of June, 1832. The newspapers published the full- est account of its rav gen. very much to the discomfort and alarm of a large class of naturally apprehensive and timid people. The Board of health may yet think best,
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