USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > From a forest to a city : personal reminiscences of Syracuse, N. Y. > Part 3
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and many people rushed here with as high expectation. as they did in later years to the California gold fields Kellogg & Sabine laid out the lots east to Warren street Each lot was twenty-five feet front, and the price wa fixed at $220. The first lot sold was on the corner of Warren and Genesee streets, to Mr. Van Hosen who built a blacksmith-shop on it. Ezra Rhyne's story and . half house came next on the west side, and next to hi ... was Jabez Halley's cabines-shop. Joel Owens built a small frame house. Nearly all the buildings east of the Syracuse House, that were commenced in IS24, were on: and a half story frame buildings. In the year 1824 th : Syracuse Company bought from Kellogg & Sabine the original Walton tract with other lands, and about 192; rebuilt the Syracuse House and surrounded it with ba !- conies and ornaments, which added so much to its appear- ance that it was considered one of the finest buildings at the time in Western New York. The Company also erected several substantial buildings on the adjoining east side. These spacious buildings on the corner stood out in such broad contrast to the little insignificant build- ings east and south, that in 1834, by mutual agreement among their owners, a uniform block of brick buildings three stories in height was erected and named the Frank- lin Block. One had a stone front and is the only one that has not been modernized more or less.
The Syracuse House was not built with the expecta- tion of a paying support from Syracuse, as there was no: even a village here at that time; but from transient cus- tom from lines of stages, which was the only mode of
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SYRACUSE HOUSE AND VICINITY IN 1830, AND ST. PAUL'S CHURCH, LOCATED ON THE PRESENT SITE OF THE GRANGER PLOCK.
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public travel through the State, as at that time we had neither canals nor railroads. The middle-aged of to-day know but little of the hardships of travel in those days. We can journey across the continent now with less fatigue than we could travel across the State in 1820. Only a few years previous to the building of the Syracuse House the State became interested in laying out roads through the State, the principal thoroughfare being the Genesee turnpike. Soon after lines of stages were in running order on these roads, and hotels or taverns were erected at short distances for the accommodation of travellers. This mode of travel is so little known to the young and middle-aged people of to-day, that a short description may be read with interest, and also serve to show how one of the Mayors of the city made his first appearance in Syracuse.
The old four-horse stage coach was a strong and crude contrivance and as uncomfortable a mode of travel as could be imagined, with its strong perfume of tar-grease and reeking horses. Steel springs not having been in- vented, the coach body was suspended upon heavy leather straps, and a large. rack was fastened on the rear and called the " boot," where baggage was stowed away. The top was decked over and a strong iron railing placed around the outside of the deck to keep packages from falling off. When passengers were plenty and anxious to go, twelve persons were crowded inside, and I have seen nearly as many on the outside at the same time. Five miles an hour, under such circumstances, was astonish- ing velocity. A journey from Albany to Buffalo in those
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days, for ladies and gentlemen who were not strong, was undertaken with much reluctance; for sea-sickness was as common on such journeys as on a voyage across the ocean, as the egg-shaped box suspended on these straps, or belts, had the motion of a rocking-chair. At that time, when the country was comparatively new, many swamps and forests were encountered in building roads. These swamps were bridged over by logs being laid close together across the road and filled in between with coarse gravel which was soon partly forced out, and the most intolerable road was the result. As the stage went thump- ing and jolting, log in and log out, over this road the motion of the stage-coach resembled the action of the walking-beam of a high-pressure engine, and those occu- pying the rear seat would have to grasp, with both hands, the straps that were provided to hold on with, to prevent their being thrown headlong from their seats. Under such conditions passengers who were not strong would soon tire out and be compelled to stop at the taverns and rest until another stage was due, sometimes requiring a weck, in such a case, to make the trip from Albany to Buffalo. In those days there was but little travelling for pleasure, yet it was an improvement over what had been, and travellers were satisfied because they knew of noth- ing better. Although many hardships were encountered, the journey was not altogether void of attractions, --- such as the deep dark forest with its towering hemlocks and pines, with here and there a little clearing with a log house and a feeble attempt to cultivate the soil. The scenery was varied and sometimes interesting. The pas-
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sengers were social, and many a warm and lasting friend- ship had its origin in the old stage-coach. The drivers were a hardy class of men capable of great endurance. This was a necessity, as they were exposed to many hard- ships which they bore with great cheerfulness. In the year 1822 there was a great excitement throughout the length of the Genesee turnpike, in consequence of an opposition line of stages from Utica to the west. There were Vanderbilts in those days, and everything possible was done to make this new line a success. Its coaches were superior to any that had been used before; the horses were the best that could be found, and the drivers were selected with the greatest care. At that time there was a young blacksmith in Utica, who had applied for a posi- tion as a driver on the new line. It was soon found he had a great knowledge of horses, and that, with his lively and energetic manner, won for him the privilege of select- ing his horses and coach from all that were to be placed on the line; and as he had the best outfit, he was selected to drive out of Utica the first stage on the new opposition line, which was a great event in those days and was witnessed by a crowd of interested spectators. These pages may be of value to some young men who have life before them and no definite aim yet decided upon, to watch the career of this young coachman and emulate his example; for none could commence life nearer to zero than he. All the regular instruction he ever had in " hool was gained in one winter teri in a district school, and after spending five years to learn the blacksmith's trade he started out in the world to seek his fortune with
£
£
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a cash capital of only eight cents. We see him next as I have described, on the driver's seat ready to leave on his western trip. The young coachman is filled with pride as
" He tightens the reins and whirls off with a fling From the roof of the coach his ten feet of string: Now lightly he flicks the "nigh" leader's left ear,"
" Gives the wheelers a neighborly slap with the stock, They lay back their ears as the coach gives a rock And strike a square trot in the tick of a clock !"
" There's a jumble, a jar and a gravelly trill In the craunch of the wheels on the slate-stone hill That grind up the miles like a grist in a mill."
" He touches the bay and he talks to the brown, Sends a token of silk, a word and a frown To the filly whose heels are too light to stay down."
Thus the old stage-coach whirls along, up hill and down, through dark forests miles in extent, passing over tedious corduroy roads, then where cultivated fields line the roadside, with here and there humble dwellings, the homes of people who were living in quiet simplicity, never dreaming of the comforts and improvements of the present day. I always felt the greatest sympathy for this hardy class of people who endured great toil and hardships in clearing the forests away and preparing the soil for cultivated fields of waving grain. They seem to have been martyrs who wore their lives away in hard labor, that the next generation might enjoy the results. This young stage-driver that we have been descrit ing. encountered nowhere between Syracuse and Utica a worse piece of road, or a more dismal prospect, than that
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between the hills on the eastern boundaries of the town and the Syracuse House. Every foot of the road-bed was made by laying logs close together through the swamp. Pools of water lined the sides of the road where Fayette park is located, and had a team of horses step- ped off this road-bed of logs they would have mired in the swamp and probably never regained the road. The approach from the east to the Syracuse House at that time was most unfavorable for a display of the stage- driver's skill. When within a mile of their stage-house where horses were changed, it was customary for the drivers to blow a horn to announce their arrival, and constant practice with this simple, straight tin horn en- abled some drivers to produce as much music out of it as from a key-bugle. At the first blast of the horn the weary, tired horses knew that their journey was ended, and taught by their drivers to make a display as they approached their stopping place, would quicken their steps until within a few rods of the house when they would spring into a gallop and. guided to the opposite side of the street, would cut a circle with the utmost precision as they whirled up to the door of the Syracuse House.
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The skill of the drivers of the old stage-coach is well described in verse in
"SONGS OF YESTERDAY."
" The boys and the girls all abroad in high feather, The heads of the horses all tossing together, Flinging flakes of white foam like snow in wild weather, All swinging their silk like tassels of corn, 'Twas the drivers time ! And he whipped out the horn ! 'Twas the drone of king bees and a myriad strong --- 'Twas fanfare ! and fanfare ! with a bugle's prolong, Chanticleer ! Chan ti cleer ! I am coming along !"
" The bellows dropped down with a vanishing snore. The smith in black crayon gave the anvil the floor And leaned on his sledge in the cave of a door ; The landlord in slippers cut away at the heel, Shuffled out on the stoop at the rattle of wheel, Click-click --- went the gates, and like yarn from a reel, Smiling women wound out and looked down the street Where the driver swung plumb in his oriole seat,
The mail, chained and padlocked, tramped under his feet."
" Ah, few whips alive in their cleverest mood Can write with a coach as old Benjamin could, And you ought to have seen the sixteen feet With their iron shoes on the stricken stone When they waltzed around in the narrow street To a time and a tune that were all their own, Like the short sharp clicks of the castanet By the Moorish girls in a dancing set, When, as free as the sweep of a wizard's wand. Right-about with a dash came the four in-hand ! 'Twas crackle of buckshot and sparkle of fire. And nevera ra-pool a granng th :. A. he cat a clean 6 ind swept a boldi >, Like a boy that is trying his brand new slate !"
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The stage-coach driver who made his first trip with but eight cents in his pocket I will now introduce to the reader as Jason Woodruff, a man who has a history in Syracuse. When he, with so much pride, wheeled up his coach-and-four in front of the Syracuse House door, he little thought that the dismal swamp through which he had passed would be the centre of a beautiful city, that the road-bed of logs would give place to paved streets lined with spacious dwellings, that just thirty years from that time he would fill the office of Mayor of Syracuse, and in the parlor of the Syracuse House in 1852 would introduce to the citizens General Scott, the hero of many battles, and in that year the chosen candidate of the Whig party for President of the United States. In the life of Mr. Woodruff we have a demonstration that the door to position and honor is closed to no young man, no matter how dark and cheerless his prospects may be at his commencement of life. It matters little what his occupation is if he has the ability to excel in his business. This stage-driver excelled all others on the road, gained the confidence of all he met, and found friends to assist him to step from driver to proprietor of a line of stages. He soon after erected a flouring-mill in the First Ward at a cost of thirty thousand dollars. During the destruc- tion by fire of Mr. Haskin's salt grinding mill Mr. Wood- ruff's mill caught fire and was destroyed. This was hard luck, as his insurance was very small. He was also unfortun 's by having several thousand bushels of wheat in his mill, owned by Mr. John D. Norton. An expensive litigation followed between Mr. Woodruff and the owner
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as to who should sustain the loss. Mr. Woodruff related the occurrence to me with much feeling, and said after a long period of litigation he called his family about him and gave them a history of the case and the stubbornness of his opponent, and said he would abide by their de- cision, as it would be their loss if he at last was beaten in the suit. They advised him to pay the claim and he did so, but it is evident that he never recovered from this misfortune, although he afterwards held many offices of responsibility for State, county and city. He was one of the trustees of the First Presbyterian church for 24 years. From 1831 to 1837 he discharged the onerous duties of bank manager under the United States banking system.
The most remarkable building in our city is the Syra- cuse House. Charles Dudley Warner speaking of the antiquity of an Egyptian Sphinx, says: "All of the achievements of the race of which we know anything, have been enacted since that figure was carved. It has spen (if its stony eyes can see) all the procession of history file before it " In like manner we can say, that whatever history Syracuse may have, it has all transpired since the corner stone of the Syracuse House was laid. In the year 1820 Messrs. Buel & Safford bought the twenty acres cornering here and commenced to build a hotel. the only resemblance to the present building being that it was built of brick. It was fifty feet square and two stories, with a basement. The roof slanted to the north and south, and the end walls were carried above the roof an i called battlements, through which the chimneys were
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built. At that time, and for years after, a large part of the brick buildings were built in this way. During the erection of the building an accident happened by which two men fell. One man lodged on a joist and was badly hurt, but Mr. Safford fell to the cellar and was killed. This accident delayed the completion of the building, but it was finally finished in 1822 by Mr. Eckle. Many years later there was another accident also attended with loss of life while workmen were engaged in raising the south wing a story higher over the long dining-room. I was passing the house when I heard a scream. I looked up and saw a man falling from the top of the wall, his head striking the flagstone a few feet in front of me and burst open as it struck the stone. In a minute it seemed as if all the blood in his body was flowing over the side- walk. A minute before his strong arm was filled with activity and a long life of usefulness seemed to be spread out before him, in which by his industry he could build for himself and family a home of happiness and comfort. His life with all his hopes and anticipations in a moment's time had fled. His brother workmen, after looking down and seeing his fate, resumed their work without him. His lifeless body was carried away and a servant came out with a pail of water and a broom and cleaned the blood from the side-walk and all was over but the in- delible lesson that it had taught us of the uncertainty of life. These accidents lead us to reflect on the dangers and hardships incident to a mechanic's life, for which he seldom receives sympathy.
The finger of scorn is sometimes pointed at the Syra-
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cuse House on account of its obsolete and unattractive appearance, as it sometimes is with men who are unable to adopt the style that the conventional requirements of the times demand. It is true that every corner in its vicinity can boast of a vastly superior structure. It is also true that around this unpretentious building there is a history that, were it written, would be read with more interest than that of all its more stately neighbors. Forty years ago the first floor of the Syracuse House was four feet higher than it is now, with a platform and steps run- ning all around the house facing the street. This plat- form was of sufficient capacity to seat a hundred people, and was a popular resort for men of leisure to congregate and discuss the news of the day and the gossip of the town, which was always well ventilated here. There was also a class, who were well represented, that never entered into any discussion, and it was said that the vanity of this class led them here that they might be seen by the people passing by and be taken as guests of the house, as they were always picking their teeth. There was a young man, who was always in his place, that they called "young Jason," who was always seen with a cigar in his mouth, and was the subject of a bet of twenty-five dollars between two friends. One bet that the other could never find "young Jason" without a cigar in his mouth, meal time excepted. Three o'clock in the morn- ing was the time named by the party who was to find Mhp without a cigar in his mouth, and accordingly at that ... the parties, with a witness, rang the door-bell of his f.thet's house, which was answered by the father. They
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TO A CITY.
explained the nature of their visit at that unreasonable hour to be a matter of business with his son which could not be delayed. As one of the parties was a railroad conductor their request seemed reasonable, and there- upon they were led to the sleeping-room of the young man where he was found fast asleep with a stub of a cigar an inch long in his mouth, his cheek covered with the ashes and the room filled with tobacco smoke. The bet was promptly paid and was the subject of much sport long after. The truth of this story I cannot vouch for, but as a warning to all who smoke to excess I can say that the young man was about thirty years old and weighed but ninety-six pounds. His early death was attributed to his excessive smoking which was undoubt- edly the cause. There was an unusual episode happened to the party that assembled on the Syracuse House steps one afternoon in the summer of '47. The day previous, Mr. Wise made a balloon ascension from an inclosure on the west side of Salina, between Fayette and Jefferson streets. As Mr. Wise took his place in the basket he made a speech in which he said he was to make an ascen- sion in Auburn the next day, and that he would bring to his friends in Syracuse the Auburn papers in advance of the fastest train. The next day the wind was in the south-east and no one expected Mr. Wise would keep his promise; but, nevertheless, some person saw his bal- loon in a current that brought him over the city. It was at a great altitude and looked only the size of an apple. Ile made his descent in the First Ward, where a dray was sent after him and he was brought to the steps of the
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Syracuse House in his balloon, where he delivered the Auburn papers. For the amusement of the crowd which had assembled, he made an ascension with much diffi- culty, and after sailing just above the tops of the build- ings in imminent danger of descending into the canal, he threw out his coat and then his boots, making a fair ascension, finally descending into a garden on West Genesee street.
In the days of which I am writing there was no place in town where the political issues of the times were so fully and clearly discussed as on the platform of the Syracuse House. The names of those who were considered the best talkers were Wm. B. Kirk, "Chancellor " Orcutt, Isaac D. Lawson, W. Van Zandt, Joel Greeley and several others. When a quorum of these men were present there was always a fair audience of listeners. A few feet south of the steps was a tobacco and cigar store kept by Wm. L. Palmer, who sold tobacco by the year for a stated sum if smoked in his store. He kept a barrel of fine-cut under his counter, where those who paid for their year's supply went around and helped themselves. Tobacco was cheap in those days. . This place was called "Tam- inany Hall." When the weather or the hour of day was unfavorable for this crowd on the Syracuse House steps, it was understood that they could be found in "Tam- many Hall." I will explain the origin of the name as I understand it. There was a Delaware Chief whose name was " Tammmy," and who di I in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Societies in honor of his name sprung up in Philadelphia, New York, and other cities ;
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but that organized in New York, May 12, 1789, was the only one that survived and still exists. This society, originally charitable, became diverted to political uses, and in the hands of the Democratic party grew to be the recognized head of that party in this State. The little cigar store in the Syracuse House took its name from Tammany Hall in New York. and was the headquarters at that time of a class of men whose chief occupation and delight was to smoke and talk politics. I think in the days of slavery the common people were more interested in politics than now, as some scheme was constantly springing up in Congress to strengthen or combat this institution. Sometimes parties would spring into life headed by candidates for the Presidency, the result of some issue of the slave question. I will give an instance. A bill appropriating $2,000,oco to buy Mexican territory having been introduced into Congress in August, 1846, Mr. Wilmot offered an amendment providing "that as an express and fundamental condition to the acquisition of any territory from the Republic of Mexico, by the United States, neither slavery nor involuntary servitude shall exist in any part of said territory." This " Wii- mot proviso," as it was afterwards called, passed the House but not the Senate. It was the basis of the Free- soil campaign of 1848. Lewis Cass made himself decid- edly popular in the debates on this question. As the Mexican war approached a conclusion Mr. Cass's famous Nicholson fever nade is opp. mance. This letter, dated December 24, 1847, proposed to keep the question of slavery or its prohibition in the Territory to be acquired
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from Mexico, out of Congress, by setting up for the legis- latures of the Territories an exclusive right of determin- ing their own domestic institutions equivalent to that possessed by the State. Mr. Cass made himself so popu- lar in this matter that he was chosen as the Democratic candidate for President at Baltimore in 1848. He found a formidable opponent in General Zachary Taylor, nominated by the Whig party on the strength of his mili- tary achievements in the Mexican war. I should not have referred to this matter, interesting as it may be, had it not been that I desired to introduce Mr. Cass to the reader, that I might relate an episode that happened to him on the Syracuse House steps. He was delivering campaign speeches through the country and was a guest at the Syracuse House. He was invited out by his friends to make a speech, and was standing on the steps facing Salina street when, during the most exciting part of his speech, he paused a moment to take breath, some wag in the little crowd shouted, "Hurrah for old Zach !" This was followed by suppressed laughter from a number of inconsiderate Whigs. The effect upon the speaker and his hearers, by this interruption, can hardly be imagined. He seemed to have lost his subject for the moment, and to recover himself he turned to the insult- ing fellow and said: "I am sometimes called the Michi- gan school teacher, and I am proud of the title; but let me tell you, sir, that there are two qualifications neces- say in that branch,-one is to teach, and the other is to chastise. In your case I feel competent to do both ; but however deserving you may be I will only say to you,
TO A CITY. 49
that it is a shocking breach of etiquette to hurrah for the opposite candidate at such a time as this."
An interesting chapter might be written in relation to the celebrated men of our country who have, at different times, held their receptions and made speeches from the balconies of the Syracuse House. Such men as Wm. L. Marcy, who held the office of Governor of our State for three terms from 1832 and was defeated by Wm. H. Seward as a candidate for a fourth term in 1838; also General Scott, Henry Clay, John C. Fremont, and many others. To follow back in the path of time and bring to life the incidents and subjects which seemed of vital importance and filled the public mind forty or fifty years ago would not be time wasted, as by this course we can best judge of the world's progress. The venerable should be respected. When we reflect that this was the first brick house built in this place, it is worthy of our admiration. Its walls have been heated scorching hot repeatedly during the destruction by fire of more pretentious buildings in its im- mediate vicinity, yet never but once was it in a blaze, and then but a few minutes during the greatest conflagra- tion that Syracuse ever experienced, in 1834. It has been so charitable as to pay the insurance companies, during its long existence, many times its own value to enable them to make good the losses of its unfortunate neighbors. It is the nucleus, the central hub, around which a city many miles in circumference has sprung ·to existence.
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