USA > New York > Dutchess County > General history of Duchess County from 1609 to 1876, inclusive > Part 2
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39
23
24
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
loftier mountains which lie from the river's side, and anchored the Half Moon near Catskill Landing, where he found a loving people and very old men."
Hudson appears to have sailed up the river to a point a little above where the city of Hudson now stands. Not wishing to venture further with the ship, he sent a boat in charge of the mate, who went as far as the present site of. Albany.
"Weighing anchor on the 27th, Hudson passed down the river, with a fair north wind, past the wigwams of the 'loving people' at Catskill, who were ' very sorrowful' for his departure .. and toward evening anchored in deep water near Red Hook. where part of the crew went on shore to fish. The next two days were consumed in working slowly down to the 'lower end of the long reach' below Poughkeepsie, and anchored in the evening under the northern edge of the Highlands .* Here he lay wind-bound for a day, in a very good roadstead, admiring the magnificent mountains which looked to him 'as if they had. some metal or mineral in them.'
"The wild game sprung from their familiar retreats, startled: by the unusual echoes which rolled through the ancient forests .. as the roar of the first Dutch cannon boomed over the waters .. and the first Dutch trumpets blew the inspiring airs of the dis- tant Fatherland. The simple Indians, roaming unquestioned through their native woods, and paddling their rude canoes along the base of the towering hills that lined the unexplored river's side, paused in solemn amazement as they beheld their" strange visitor approaching from afar, and marveled whence the apparition came."
Such is the account given of the first visit of the white mary : to the shore of DUCHESS, made nearly three centuries ago.
* In the vicinity of Fishkill, on the Hudson: :
1
TOPOGRAPHY.
UCHESS County lies on the east bank of the Hudson, centrally distant 60 miles south from Albany, and about 75 miles north from New York. Its greatest length, north and south, is about 38 miles, and its greatest breadth 26. Its form is nearly that of a parallelogram. It is bounded on the north by Columbia County ; on the east by Fairfield and Litchfield Counties, in the State of Connecticut ; and on the south by the County of Putnam. Opposite Duchess, on the west side of the Hudson, lie the counties of Orange and Ulster.
Its surface is principally a rolling and somewhat mountain- ous upland, broken by the deep valleys of the streams. The Taghkanick Mountains, extending through the east border of the County, are from 300 to 500 feet above the valleys, and from 1000 to 1200 feet above tide. The declivities of these mountains are generally steep, and in some places rocky.
The Matteawan, or Fishkill Mountains, constitute a high broad range, which extends nearly north and south, and occupies the central part of the county. A spur from this range extends along the southern border to the Hudson, form- ing the northern extremity of the Highlands. These mountains have an average elevation of about 1000 feet above tide, the
25
26
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
highest peaks along the southern border attaining the elevation of 1500 to 1700 feet. In the southern part of the County the mountain declivities are steep and rocky ; but toward the north the country assumes a rolling character, broken by rounded hills. The western part of the County is a rolling upland, occasionally broken by deep ravines and isolated hills, and terminating upon the Hudson River Valley in a series of bluffs 100 to 180 feet high.
The Taghkanick Mountains run in a northeast and south- west direction, passing into Putnam, at which point the Hudson River forces a passage through them. On the west side of the river they assume the name of Kittatiny Mountains, and continue their course into New Jersey and Pennsylvania under that name. The Taghkanick system forms the most eastern Appalachian Mountain Range, and extends through the counties of Columbia, Rensselaer, Washington, Ulster, Greene, Albany, Saratoga, and other counties west of the Hudson River.
On the west rolls the majestic Hudson, the "River of Mountains," as appropriately named by its eminent discoverer.
The greatest part of the streams that drain the county are tributaries of the Hudson. Principal of these are the Sawkill, Landimans, Crom Elbow, Fallkill, Wappingers and Fishkill. Sprout Creek is a considerable branch of the Fishkill. Ten Mile River, otherwise called Weebutook or Oblong River, runs south through Amenia into Dover, where it turns east and dis- charges its waters into the Housatonic, in the State of Connecti- cut. Ten Mile River receives Swamp River from the south. Croton* River, takes its rise in the southeast part of the county, and Roeliff Jansen's Kill flows through a small portion of the extreme northern part.
Among the highlands in the central and eastern parts are romantic lakes, noted for the purity of their waters and the beauty of scenery immediately about them.
* Indian name Kitchawan, a term descriptive of a large and swift-flowing current. Croton, the present name, is said to have been adopted from an illustrious sachem who lived in the limits of Cortlandt, Westchester County, or as others say "who lived and -exercised his authority at the mouth of the stream."
GEOLOGY.
HE County in the eastern part is primitive, granite and gneiss being the principal constituents.
Geologists differ in opinion whether the Taghkanick* system should be ranked with the primary or transition. It is composed of brown sandstone, limestone, and green shales or slaty rocks. It contains some minerals, and furnishes a fine limestone for building, but has few or no fossils. The soil which overlays this system is generally good, and often highly fertile.
The county comprises extensive alluvial and diluvial deposits. The former consist of sand, gravel, loam, &c. The latter are a stiff blue clay beneath, a yellowish brown clay above this, and sand on the surface. The marine shells found in these clays, belonging in some instances to extinct species, show that these deposits were made at an earlier period than those thrown down by rivers or oceans in modern times. To this system belong also the boulders scattered in the county.
MINERALOGY.
Extensive and valuable deposits of brown hematite occur in various parts of the county.
* The Taghkanick system is claimed by some as corresponding to the Cambrian system of Mr. Sedgwick, and by others to be newer formations changed by heat.
27
28
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
Fishkill Bed is situated about three miles northeast of the village of Hopewell. The ore, which is chiefly limonite, pre- sents all the varieties from the compact brown hematite to the yellowish clayey ochre. The brown ore is usually in the form of rounded nodules, which are sometimes hollow ; and when this is the case, the inner surface is highly polished, and has the appearance of having undergone fusion. Not unfrequently, beautiful stalactites are found in these balls ; and occasionally a black powder supposed to be oxide of manganese. This bed, as well as the other beds of limonite found in this part of the county, is situated at the junction of mica or talcose slate with the grey and white limestone.
Clove Bed .- This is an extensive deposit of brown hematite in the southwestern part of Union Vale. Like most of the ore beds in this district, it is worked to the day, as it is tech- nically called. It contains a larger proportion of the ochrey, or fine ore, than the Fishkill bed, and which is usually considered the most valuable. Associated with this ore are minute crystals of oxide of manganese. This locality is further deserving of notice from the fact that the rare mineral gibbsite is associated with the hematite.
Foss Bed .- Situated in the town of Dover, one mile and a half west-southwest from the furnace of the Dover Iron Com- pany. In extent this bed seems to be inferior to either of the above beds, and contains a larger proportion of foreign sub- stances, and work on it has for some time been discontinued.
Amenia Bed .- An enormous deposit of hematitic iron ore, near the village of Amenia. It presents all the varieties observed at the other localities, and contains a fair proportion of the yellow pulverulent ochre so much esteemed by iron smelters. There are several beds of the same ore in the vicinity of that just mentioned, such as the Chalk Pond and Indian Pond Ore Beds, and another at Squabble Hole .*
Pawling Bed .- Situated about a mile and a half west from Pawling Station. This is an extensive deposit of brown hema-
* Layers of the oxide of zinc are formed in the chimney of some of the furnaces in this county, proving that this mineral also exists in the ore.
29
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
tite, of a superior quality. The ore yields from forty-five to fifty per cent. of metallic iron, and lies near the surface of the ground.
Other beds have been opened within the county, and are being more or less extensively worked.
The iron region just described is undoubtedly a part of the great series of deposits which has been traced in nearly a northern direction through the States of Connecticut, Massa- chusetts and Vermont.
Bog iron ore* has been found in various parts of the county, though not in sufficient quantity to attract much notice.
In the southeast corner of the town of Northeast is a thin vein of galena.f Several openings are to be seen, which are said to have been worked, as early as the year 1740, by a com- pany of Germans, the ore being sent to Bristol, England. Soon after this they were abandoned, but were re-opened during the Revolution, since which time they have been entirely neg- lected.
Unimportant localities of the sulphuret of lead have been noticed in the towns of Amenia and Rhinebeck.
Beds of marble, similar to those found in Massachusetts near the borders of this State, exist in the towns of Amenia, Dover, Pawling, Beekman and Fishkill. In Dover. the quar- ries have been extensively wrought ; and the marble which they yield, although dolomite, is pure white. fine-grained, and takes a medium polish. Clouded marble occurs in the towns of Amenia and Northeast.
Hudson River Slate forms no inconsiderable part of the rock formation in the western part of the county. This rock has been quarried at Red Hook for flagging, and in various places for roofing slate.
Deposits of marl have been noticed in the towns of Rhine-
* Bog ore is deposited in swamps, the bottoms of which are clay, hardpan, or some other strata impervious to water. It is continually accumulating, so that it may be removed two or three times in a century. It has various shades of color, from a yellow to a dark brown. One variety is liable to blow up, sometimes destroying the furnace in which it is being smelted.
t The principal ore from which the metal lead is extracted.
30
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
beck, Northeast, Pine Plains, Stanford, Red Hook and Milan .. Often they are associated with peat. Two localities of graphite ** occur : One at Fishkill Hook, and another about two and a half miles south of Fishkill Landing.
A sulphur spring occurs one mile and a quarter north- northwest of the village of Amenia.
Dark colored calcareous spar is found in Rhinebeck.
In the town of Fishkill, near Peckville, a little north of the line of Putnam County, there is a large bed of talc in the primitive rock, which has been opened as a quarry of soapstone. Its value is impaired in consequence of minerals being found imbedded in it.
A deposit of kaoline (porcelain clay) has been found near Shenandoah, East Fishkill, on lands of Mr. Seymour Baxter. The clay has been tested, and is pronounced first-class. Kao- line proceeds from the decomposition of the mineral feldspar. This, in making porcelain, is mingled with a fusible earthy matter called petunse.
Inflammable carburetted hydrogen gas is emitted from the bottom of a lake in Northeast.
Crystalized garnet occurs abundantly in mica slate in the vicinity of the Foss Ore Bed, and also at the Stone Church. in the town of Dover.
Besides these are found calcite, asbestus, staurotide. epidote. green actinolite, anthophyllite, and tourmaline.
* Black lead.
BOTANY.
1 NDER this head, little more than a brief mention of the more common and most important productions can be given, as an attempt at an exhaustive treatment would of itself fill the limits of this volume.
The forest trees form a large portion of the vegetable wealth of the county,* though the display in this respect is far inferior to what it was at the time of settlement; the clearing up of the soil for purposes of agriculture, and the avarice of man, have, in a great measure, denuded the mountains and valleys of the magnificent forest trees that were once their pride and glory.
The cone bearers ( Coniferw ) which are nearly all evergreen trees, are well represented in our Flora. There are several species of Pine. Tamarack (P. Pendula) differs from all other pines in its leaves, which fall at the approach of Winter. Hemlock. Spruce. Red Cedar and Arbor Vitæ belong to the
* There was not an unbroken forest here when the first settlers came; as the fires of the Indians, in their pursuit of game, had destroyed the timber on the dry lands, except a few specimens of oak, white wood and wild cherry, some of which attained great size. On the plains were scattered small oaks which had sprung up after the fires, and by the creeks and in wet lands there were large buttonwood and black ash trees, while all the streams were overhung with a mass of alders and willows. The mountains, it has been said, were covered with a less dense growth of wood than at present. It is evident that in the valleys, the white wood or tulip tree, and the wild cherry have given place to other trees, as the elm: and that on the mountains, the chestnut has greatly increased. Tlc mountains, being burned over also by the Indians, were so bare, that the wild deer were plainly seen from the valley. below .- [History of Amenia.
31
.32
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
same natural family. The last mentioned variety is conspicu- ous along the Hudson for its cone-like growth ; and is some- times found in the interior in swampy places, and is then known as White Cedar.
The Oaks are still more numerous. White Oak ( Quercus Alba ) is one of our most valuable timber trees. The wood is of great strength and durability, and is used when these quali- ties are required. Other varieties are the Red Oak ( Quercus- Rubra ), Pin Oak ( Quercus Paluster ), and Black Oak ( Quer- tetron. )
The White Elm* ( Ulmus Americana ), when growing in moist rich soil, is one of the thriftiest of the forest trees. The Red or Slippery Elm ( Ulmus Fulva ) known for the mucilaginous properties of its inner bark, and Witch Elm ( Ulmus Montana ) are found.
The Plane or Buttonwood ( Platanus ), Ash ( Traxinus ), Basswood, Lime or Linen ( Selia), Beech ( Tagus), Birch ( Petula ), and Dogwood ( Cornus ), are more or less common. The latter possesses many of the medicinal properties peculiar to Peruvian Bark.
Shell Bark Hickory ( Carya Alba ) bears the common white walnut, so pleasant to crack by the Winter fireside.
The Chestnut ( Castanea ) is a variety of the European, differing only in its smaller and sweeter nuts. The Tulip or Whitewood (Liriodendron) is the pride of our forests for its majestic growth, symmetrical form and handsome foliage.
The Sycamore (Plantanus), the Poplars and the Willowst are of little value except as shade trees. The Locust (Robinia) is a tree of rapid growth, graceful form, its wood hard and nearly indestructible, and is not a native of the county, but is cultivated for sale, and as an ornamental tree.
Among the varieties of Maple (Acer) are the Sugar Maple,
* From the bark of the white elm the Indian manufactured his light canoe. These were sewed together with thongs made from the sinews of the deer. One of them wax capable of holding from 12 to 14 men, or 150 bushels of corn.
t The Willow exhibits a remarkable hardihood. If a young willow be inverted, the branches will become roots and the roots put forth leaves like the branches. If a branch be inserted into the ground, either by the lower or upper end, or by both at once, it will tako root and flourish.
33
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
a large and handsome tree, well known as furnishing the sap from which maple sugar is made ; the Red, the White, and the Mountain Maple or Moosewood. Curled Maple and Birdseye Maple are only accidental varieties of the Sugar Maple.
The mountain sides and woods are clothed with a growth cif shrubs, as the Whortleberry, Sweetfern, Rhododendron and the Mountain Laurel. Anemone and Violets, the Cowslip or Marsh Marigold whose yellow cups illuminate the swamps, the Woodbine, Bloodroot and the Skunk Cabbage, serve to mark the opening Spring. The last mentioned, though pleasing either in name nor odor, possesses a kind of beauty, and is the earliest to appear.
The Pond Lily-said by Hawthorne to be " the most satis- factory of flowers"-is a plant, the flowers of which, attached to long stems, float upon the surface of the water in slow flow- ing streams, and in ponds having muddy bottoms; like the Primrose and Four-o'clock, opening in the early morn to rejoice in the Summer sunshine, and in the afternoon closing again to sleep through the night. The botanical name is Nymphæa,-so called from the fact that the Greeks associated the Pond Lily with the water nymphs.
Besides those mentioned, the more frequent plants of low grounds and margins of streams are the Iris, Sweet Flag* or Calamus Root, Forget-me-not, whose bright blue flowers con- tinue from early Spring till frost ; Arrow Leaf; Cat-tail Flag, loved of boys, and shaped like a cannon-sponge ; together with numerous varieties of Rush and Sedges.
Plants of the group called by botanists Composite, to which the Asters and Golden-rods belong, forming one-ninth of our entire flora, are characteristic of the Autumnal vegetation. Warrow, Boneset, Tansey, Wild Hyssop and some few others cre medicinal; most of the order are but weeds, as every farmer who has had his land overrun with Canada Thistles and Pigweed can testify. The Sunflowers and Jerusalem Arti-
* A plant having aromatic and medicinal qualities, and with us are small weakly Tiverbs ; but Bates and other travelers in the Amazon speak of seeing them of enormous
C
34
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
chokes are not natives, but are sometimes found in waste places near habitations. Sweet Cicely, an umbelliferous plant of sweetish taste, is found in certain localities. The Wild Carrot, poisonous in its native state, is, when cultivated, the esculent Carrot of the garden .*
In the deep recesses of woods and swamps, the Arum and the Orchis are met with. Poison Hemlock, by a draught of which Socrates is said to have died, with other introduced and native plants, as the Milkweed, Plantain, Canada Thistle, Poke Weed, Thorn Apple, Oxeye Daisy, and Dandelion, belong to a. class that might be denominated "wayside plants," from their commonly occupying a position beside roads and fences. The Plantain has been called by the Indians "white man's footstep," because it is found wherever he has placed his dwelling. The more it is trodden down, the more luxuriantly does it grow.
Of the family Rosacea are the Eglantine, or Sweet Brier, Rose, Blackberry, Strawberry, Thornbush, Service Berry or Shad Bush, Wild Plum and the lofty Wild Cherry : the latter is much used in cabinet work.
Of the Labiata or the Mint tribe, Spearmint or Julep Weed Peppermint, Pennyroyal, Catnip, Balm and Mountain Mint are generally known.
A few of the Nightshade tribe are natives, as the Bitter- sweet and Deadly Nightshade, the latter of which has a sus- picious appearance, and is reputed poisonous.
Buckwheat is one of the Polygonace, and of the same order are the common Sorrel, Water Dock and Smart Weed.
Shrubby plants are numerous ; many species are highly ornamental ; others, from their virtues, are admitted into the Pharmacopœias ; others, again, are poisonous. Of this latter class is the Swamp Sumac, simple contact with which, or mere exposure to its effluvium, being sufficient in many cases to pro- duce a most painful eruption of the skin. Mercury or Poison
* The cabbage. in its wild state, is a slender branching herb, with no appearance of a head. The potato, in its native wilds of tropical America, is a rank running vine with scarcely a tuber upon its roots. All the rich varieties of the apple have sprung by artificial means from an austere forest fruit. The numerous and splendid varieties of the dahlia are the descendants of a coarse Mexican plant with an ordinary yellow flower.
35
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
Oak (sometimes called Poison Ivy) is less active than the preceding, but sufficiently so to cause all who are easily affected by vegetable poisons to shun its neighborhood. The leaves of the common Sumac are used in the manufacture of Morocco.
The wild upright Honeysuckle, the broad-leaved Laurel, and the gorgeous May Apple, make the woods gay by the pro- fusion of their flowers.
The Dwarf Laurel (known also as sheep-poison and lamb- kill) is a pretty little bush, but has a bad reputation, its leaves being said to poison sheep.
The Elder, and the Hazel, prized for its nuts, are found in every coppice. The Whortleberry; the Billbery, frequent in swamps and shady woods, and the agreeably acid Cranberry, abound.
The banks of every stream and rivulet are fringed with Willow, Alder, and Spice Wood. Witch Hazel is, in the eyes of the superstitious, a most notable shrub, because, in the moment of parting with its foliage, it puts forth a profusion of gaudy yellow blossoms, as though from enchantment, giving to November the counterfeited appearance of Spring.
No class of plants is so widely distributed as the grasses. They form the principal portion of the herbage of the earth, giving to the hills and plains their lovely green. Though our flora contains many native species, only a small number are of value, our meadow grasses being, with some exceptions, of foreign origin. The principal varieties are Clover, Timothy, Sweet Vernal grasses, which, when half withered, give out a pleasant odor of vanilla, Blue Grass and Rough Grass, most of which have spread all over our pasture grounds. Some grasses are peculiar to the sands ; their matted roots, forming a thick sod, prevent the loose soil from being carried away by water or wind. Many others, by their annual decay, aid in fertilizing the soil. Phragmites, the largest grass of the Northern States, looking at a distance like Broom Corn, grows by the borders of swamps and ponds.
36
HISTORY OF DUCHESS COUNTY.
The Wild Oat, and Chess, into which many people errone- ously believe Wheat and Rye degenerate, are found.
Ferns and fern-like plants occupy a wide extent of territory ; such as the common Brake, under which the sportsman is sure to find the rabbit and the partridge. The Scouring Rush is used for polishing wood and metals.
In moist thickets, conspicuous from its red fruit, is the Winter Berry, once used for the cure of fever and ague .*
* In the Report of a Geological and Botanical Survey of the State made by order of the Legislature previous to 1850, the whole number of flowering plants in the State was said to be 1450. Of these 1200 are herbaceous, and 150 may be regarded as ornamental. Of woody plants there are 250 species, including about 80 that attain the stature of trees. Of native and naturalized medicinal plants there are 160 varieties.
ZOOLOGY.
AMMALIA .- By mammalia are meant all those ani- mals having warm blood, a double heart, and bringing forth its young alive. Of the Carnivora, or flesh- eaters, may be mentioned the Mole, Raccoon, Skunk, Weasel, Mink, Otter, Dog (five varieties of which are native), Black Bear,* Wolf and Panther.
Of the Rodentia, or gnawers, are the Fox ; the Red, Striped and Flying Squirrel ; the Woodchuck, or Ground Marmot ; the Musquash, or Muskrat ; the common Rat, Mouse, and the Grey Rabbit ; the Beaver and the Porcupine.
Ungulata .- Animals with toes covered with a horny case, or hoof. Of these we have the Hog, Horse, Ass, Ox, Goat, Sheep, Fallow Deer, Moose and Buffalo.t
Aves, or Birds .- Birds of prey, Accibitres, include Eagles, Hawks and Owls. Passeres, birds of passage. This class in- cludes most of those birds that depart for a more southern
* Such as are not now found here in a wild state are printed in italics.
t The vast gorges of the Highlands and these vales once abounded with the buffalo. -[Trumbull's Hist. Conn.
Van Der Donck, writing of this vicinity in 1656, says: "Buffaloes are tolerably plenty, but these animals keep mostiy toward the southwest, where few people go. It is remarked that half these animals have disappeared and left the country."
An early European traveler, visiting this vicinity, thus writes home :- " The animals here are of the same species as ours, (except lions and other strange beasts) ; many bears, wolves, which harm nobody but the small cattle; elks and deer in abundance; foxes, beavers, otters, minks and such like."-[Doc. Hist. New York.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.