USA > New York > Geography of the state of New York. Embracing its physical features, climate, geology, mineralogy, botany, zoology, history, pursuits of the people, government, education, internal improvements &c. With statistical tables, and a separate description and map of each county > Part 39
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There are several salt springs in the county, but the brine is not sufficiently strong to render them valuable. Sulphur springs are numerous, but few of them are visited. The Monroe springs, five miles from Rochester, are the most cele- brated. There are also springs strongly impregnated with sulphur in the town of Ogden. There is a mineral spring at Riga containing iron.
Mari is abundant in Wheatland, Chili, and Riga. Gypsum occurs in large quantities in Wheatland. A bed of argillaceous iron ore extends from the Gen- esee river to the eastern limit of the county, but it is little worked.
Blende and galena, the sulphurets of lead and zinc, are also found in the county in small quantities. Fire stone, a magnesian earth used for lining stoves and
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Are-places, is found abundantly in Ogden and Sweden. There is some limestone suitable for building.
SOIL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. The soil is gravelly loam, usually of great depth, and by the aid of disintegrated limestone, is rendered perpetually fertile.
The timber is mainly oak, beech, and maple, frequently ,very dense, but in the oak openings more sparse. In the swamps are black oak, pine, and tamarack.
The Genesee wheat, so abundantly raised in this county, is found, on analysis, to contain more saccharine matter than that of the southern states, and to com- bine with less water in the composition of bread. The superiority of its flour is too well known to need remark.
PURSUITS. Agriculture holds a high rank among the pur- suits of the people of this county. It is the largest grain county in the state. In 1845, there were raised in the county 1,338,000 bushels of wheat, besides large quantities of other grains.
Manufactures are also in a highly flourishing condition. The county contains, perhaps, the largest flouring mills in the world, and produces flour annually to the value of more than two and a half millions of dollars. Lumber, cloths, iron, pa- per, and leather are also extensively manufactured.
Commerce. A steamer plies on the Genesee, between Ro- chester and Avon, in Livingston county. Steamers from the lake ascend the Genesee to Carthage, which is the port of Ro- chester ; the Erie canal receives a large portion of its immense freights from this county. There are no mines of importance.
THE STAPLE PRODUCTION is wheat. Considerable quantities of butter, wool, and pork are also produced.
SCHOOLS. There are in the county 240 school-houses. The schools were taught, during the year 1846, an average period of nine months. 19,448 children received instruction, at a cost of $33,994. The libraries of the districts contained 34,468 vol- umes.
There were sixteen private schools in the county, attended by 297 children, and eight academies and female seminaries, with 432 pupils.
The organization of the Rochester city schools has been described at page 125. The Rochester university was incorporated in 1846.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. Baptists, Methodists, Presby- terians, Congregationalists, Friends, Universalists, Episcopa- lians, Roman Catholics, Unitariane, Dutch Reformed, and Lu- therans.
HISTORY. This county was settled principally by emigrants from New England, with a few from other states, and other sections of New York.
In 1726, a station was established at Teoronto or Ironde- quoit bay, to secure the Indian trade.
In 1796, the first permanent settlement was made at Han- ford's landing, where was erected the first house in this county,
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west of Genesee river. Indian Allen, so notorious in the his- tory of this region, erected a grist mill and saw mill on the hundred acre lot on which part of the city of Rochester now stands, in 1789, receiving a deed of a hundred acres of land ad- joining, from Messrs. Phelps and Gorham, the proprietors, for his encouragement.
In a few years, these decayed and were abandoned. Roches- ter was not settled till 1811, and was laid out as a village in 1812.
In 1813, the Seneca Indians held a great sacrifice and thanks- giving of several days continuance, on the present site of Ro- chester.
The terror inspired by the incursions of the British and their savage allies, during the late war, prevented the rapid settle- ment of the county .* After the close of that war, however, its growth was astonishingly rapid. The completion of the Erie canal, by opening a market for the productions of its fertile soil, gave a new impulse to its prosperity, and it is now one of the most populous counties in the state.
CITIES AND VILLAGES. ROCHESTER city lies on both sides of the Genesee river, seven miles from Lake Ontario. It is finely situated and handsomely built. The streets are generally wide and well paved. The two sections of the city are connected by several bridges, and by the splendid aqueduct of the Erie canal. It has many fine edifices, among its churches and public build- ings.
* In 1814, Sir James Yeo, with thirteen vessels of various sizes, appeared off the mouth of the Genesee river, threatening the destruction of the infant settlement. There were but thirty-three people in Rochester capable of bearing arms. They assembled, together with the few who could be gathered from the other settlementa, and hurried down to the mouth of the river. "The militia were undisciplined and not in uniformn, but they were brave and determined. They were marched and counter-marched through the woods, in order to deceive the enemy in regard to their numbers. Presently an officer was sent from the British fleet with a flag of truce. He was received by ten of the most soldier like of the militia, who, in order to be ready for action, kept fast hold of the triggers of their muskets. The Brit- ish officer expressing his surprise at this, the officer, to rectify his mistake, order- ed his men to ground arms. This astonished the British officer still more, and believing their ignorance to be feigned, he hurried back to the fleet, fully satisfied that a plot was laid for them.
In the afternoon of the same day another oficer was sent with a flag of truce, the object of the enemy being, if possible, to obtain the provisions stored there. without endangering their own safety. Captain Francis Brown was deputed with a guard to receive the flag. The officer was still suspicious, and finally asked that the military stores and provisions should be given up, on the condition that the set- tlements were spared by Bir James Yeo. "No," was the prompt reply of the patriotic Brown, " Blood knee deep first." While this parley was in progress, an American officer with his staff, on their return from Fort Niagara, were accident- ally seen, passing from one wooded point to another. This confirmed the suspi- cions of the British officer, and on his return to the fleet, a vigorous attack was made upon the woods with bomb shells and balls, which were returned with some effect by a rusty old six pounder, which had been furbished and remounted for the occasion.
After a few hours, Admiral Yeo slipped his cables and ran down to Pulteneyville, where, to his mortification, he learned how he had been outwitted by a handful of militia.
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This city owes its rapid growth to the vast hydraulic power created by the falls of the Genesee river, which amount to 268 feet within the bounds of the city, there being three falls of ninety-six, twenty, and 105 feet, besides rapide. The passage of the Erie canal through the city, and the navigability of the Genesee river, above and below the falls, render it a central point for the immense trade of the fertile counties by which it is warounded.
ester was laid out in 1812 by Nathaniel Rochester, Charles Carrol and William Fitzhugh, and received the name of the senior proprietor. In 1816 it numbered but 331 inhabit- ants; and in 1817 it was incorporated as a village, under the name of Rochesterville. In 1834 it received a charter as a city, and now (1846) has a population of more than 25,000 inhab- itants .*
The quantity, as well as the quality of the flour manufactured here, entitle the city to rank among the first flour markets in the world. Between one and two millions of dollars are invested in this business.
Brockport, a village in the town of Sweden, is pleasantly sit- uated on the line of the canal. It has a large trade, particularly in grain. The collegiate school edifice, erected by the citizens · at an expense of $25,000, is a noble stone building, five stories high. Population 2000.
Wheatland is appropriately named; the fertility of its soil and its adaptation to the culture of grain is such as to render it the granary of the county. It is rich also in gypsum and marl.
Scottsville, in this town, was founded by Isaac Scott, in 1800. It is a thriving village, and has some manufactures. Popula- tion 600.
Mumfordsville and Garbellsmills are small villages in the town.
West Mendon, in the town of Mendon, is a manufacturing village of some importance.
Port Genesee, at the mouth of the Genesee river, in the town of Greece, has a customhouse, lighthouse, several large warehouses, &c. Its harbor is good, having thirty feet water within the bar. It has some trade.
Pittsford, in the town of the same name, is a thriving village on the canal. Population 800.
* About the commencement of the present century, it was proposed in the leg- islature of New York, to build a bridge across the Genesee river, at the present site of Rochester. The project was strongly opposed, and one member remarked that it was "a God-forsaken place, inhabited only by muskrats, and visited only by straggling trappers, through which neither man nor beast could gallop without fear of starvation, or fever and ague."
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LIII. YATES COUNTY.
Square miles, 320. Organized, 1893.
·Population, 20,777. Valuation, 84,207,936.
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1. Jerusalem, 1789.
2. Middlesex, 1789.
3. Benton, 1803.
4. Italy, 1815.
5. Milo, 1818.
6. Barrington, 1822.
7. Starkey, 1824.
8. Potter, 1832.
Rivers. a. Crooked Lake Outlet. c. Big Stream. e. Flint Creek. f. West.
Lakes. BB. Seneca. h. Canandaigua. m. Crooked.
Villages. PENN YAN. Rushville. Bellona. Dresden. -
BOUNDARIES. North by Ontario county ; East by Seneca lake; South by Steuben county, and West by Crooked and Cananda- igua lakes, and Ontario county,
SURFACE. "The surface of this county is greatly elevated. It lies on the northern declivity of the ridge which separates the waters of the Susquehanna from those flowing into the lakes and the St. Lawrence. The southern extremity of the county is elevated from 1200 to 1300 feet above tide water, and in the town of Barrington attains the height of 1600 feet. From this height it descends to the surface of the Canandaigua and Sen- eca lakes-the former of which is 670, and the latter about 420 feet above the level of the ocean.
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The hills, however, are never abrupt, but generally gently waving, and rounded at their summits.
RIVERS AND CREEKS. The principal streams of the county are Flint creek, Crooked lake outlet, connecting Crooked and Sen- eca lakes; West river, a tributary of Canandaigua lake, and Big and Rock streams flowing into Seneca lake. The Crooked lake canal follows the course of the outlet.
LARES. Seneca lake forms the entire eastern boundary of the county. Two-thirds of Crooked lake lie within its limits, and Canandaigua lake forms its northwestern boundary.
CLIMATE. The climate is temperate and healthful, and for the cultivation of fruit is not surpassed by that of any county in the state.
GEOLOGY AND MINERALS. The Ludlowville shale is the pre- vailing rock, and approaches the surface in the southern part of the county. The soil above this is a marly clay, highly fertile, and particularly favorable to grass crops. The northern portion of the county belongs to the great central limestone for- mation, but the limestone alternates with slate.
Sulphate of iron (copperas) is found native in the eastern part of the county. There is a valuable sulphur spring near the foot of Crooked lake. An inflamma- Ne gas spring has been discovered near Rushville, and a very productive brine Pring has been found at the Big stream falls, near Dundee, in the town of Starkey.
VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. The timber of the county is large, but not so dense as in some other sections. It consists of oak, hickory, chestnut, black and white walnut, wild cherry, maple, beech, linden, poplar, ash, &c. The apple, pear, plum, cherry, melons and grapes, are all very successfully cultivated here.
PURSUITS. Agriculture is the pursuit of a majority of the in- habitants-the elevated and diversified surface of the county renders it well adapted to grazing. In portions of it, however, grain is successfully cultivated.
Manufactures are attracting some attention. The principal articles manufactured are flour, lumber, woollen cloths, oil, dis- tilled liquors and leather.
The commerce of the county is confined to lake and canal nav- igation, and is not very extensive. There are no mines of im- portance.
STAPLE PRODUCTIONS. Wheat, oats, corn, barley, butter, wool and pork.
SCHOOLS. There are in the county 106 public school houses. In these, schools were taught an average period of seven months, in 1846. The number of volumes in the district libraries is 13,644; 6536 children were instructed during the year, at an expense of $8789.
There were in the county eighteen private schools, with 218 pupila, and one academy, with twenty-six scholars.
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RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. Methodists, Baptists, Presbyte- ians, Episcopalians, Congregationalists and Dutch Reformed. There are forty-five churches, and forty-one clergymen, of all denominations, in the county.
HISTORY. This county was entirely included in the Massa- chusetts grant, and formed a portion of the Pulteney estate. The first inhabitants were from New England and Pennsylvania.
This county was the residence of the celebrated Jemima Wil- kinson, during the latter part of her life."
VILLAGES, &C. PENN YAN, the seat of justice for the county, is a village in the town of Milo. It is pleasantly situated at the foot of Crooked lake, and received its name from the circum- stance that its original inhabitants were Pennsylvanians and Yankees, in equal numbers. Population 2500.
Jerusalem, one of the earliest settled towns in the county, is fertile and well cultivated. Bluff point is a high bold tongue of land extending between the arms of Crooked lake. The landscape, which spreads itself before the beholder, from this lofty headland, is one of the most picturesque and beautiful afforded by the scenery of the smaller lakes.
Starkey is a hilly but well watered town. The falls of Big stream, in this town, are worthy of the attention, both of the ge- ologist and traveller. The stream, after dashing over a rapid half a mile in length, leaps down 140 feet, into a basin eight or ten rods in diameter, from whence its foaming waters find their way to the lake, by a channel some eighty rods in length.
Dundee is a busy and thriving village in the town of Starkey. It has some manufactures. Population 1000.
* Jemima Wilkinson, or as she styled herself, the " Universal Friend," was born in Cumberland, Rhode Island, about the year 1753. She was educated among the Friends. When about twenty-three years of age, she was taken sick, and during her illness an apparent suspension of life occurred. After her recov- ery she professed to have been raised from the dead, and to have been invested with divine attributes, and authority to instruct mankind in religion. She also pre- tended to foretell future events, and to possess the power to heal the sick and te work miracles ; and if any person who made application to her was not healed, she ascribed it to a want of faith. She asserted that those who refused to believe her claims, would be forever punished for their incredulity. She possessed ex- traordinary beauty, and though illiterate, discovered great taet in maintaining her extraordinary pretensions. Her memory was said to be very retentive. She set- tled at Milo, in this county, with her followers, in 1790, and subsequently removed to Bluff Point, where she died, in 1819. The settlement at Milo numbered about forty familes, and was then the largest in the whole Genesee country. A few of her disciples still remain at Bluff Point.
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LIV. WAYNE COUNTY.
Square miles, 572. Organized, 1823.
Population. 42,515.
Valuation, 1845, 86,818,533.
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1. Palmyra, 1789.
2. Sodus, 1799.
3. Williamson, 1802.
4. Ontario, 1807.
5. Wolcott, 1807.
6. Lyons, 1811.
7. Galen, 1812.
8. Macedon, 1823.
9. Savannah, 1824.
10. 'Arcadia, 1825.
11. Marion, 1825.
12. Butler, 1826.
13. Huron, 1826.
14. Rose, 1826.
15. Walworth, 1829.
Rivers, &c. a. Mud Creek. b. Canandaigua River. c. Clyde.
Lakes and Bays. J. Ontario. d. Sodus Bay. e. Port Bay. f. East Bay. h. Crusoe Lake.
Villages. LYONS. Palmyra. Newark. Clyde. Pulteneyville.
BOUNDARIES. North by Lake Ontario; East by Cayuga county ; South by Seneca and Ontario, and West by Monroe.
SURFACE. The surface is much diversified. The Ridge Road extends through the county, from east.to west, at a distance of from four to eight miles from the shore of Lake Ontario, and at an elevation of 140 feet above it. North of this road, the descent to the lake is gradual and nearly uniform; south of it, and ex- tending to the mountain ridge, the surface is raised into low hills of gravel and sand, seemingly by the action of the waves of the lake, which, perhaps, at some remote period, covered this whole region.
The mountain ridge forms, here, the watershed of the county,
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dividing the waters which flow into the lake from those which run southerly.
RIVERS. The principal streams of the county are Mud creek and the Canandaigua river or outlet. The length of each of these streams is about fifty miles. They unite in the town of Lyons and form the Clyde, a tributary of the Seneca river.
BAYS. The lake coast is indented by three considerable bays, viz: Sodus bay, Port bay and East bay. The first of these af- fords a very good harbor for vessels of light draft.
Crusoe lake, in the town of Savannah, is a shallow pond, ope and a half miles in circumference.
CLIMATE. The temperature is rendered agreeable by the ex- tent of surface exposed to the lake. The county is generally considered healthy.
GEOLOGY AND MINERALS. The Medina sandstone appears on the surface along the shore of the lake. As the land rises, this is succeeded by the Clinton, Niagara and Onondaga groups-all limestones. South of the Ridge-Road, the county is traversed by numerous long, narrow, parallel ridges of sand and gravel, from twenty-five to thirty feet high.
Lenticular iron ore and bog iron ore are found in considerable quantities. Gypsum, mari, gypseous marl, and water limestone are abundant. Sulphur springs and weak brine springs occur in several localities. The latter were formerly of considerable importance. In 1810, 50,000 bushels of salt were manufactured from them. In Wolcott, specimens of heavy spar have been discovered.
SOIL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. The soil of this county is very fertile, and experience has proved, that the process of cul- tivation renders it increasingly so, by producing disintegration and decomposition of the earths of which it is composed. The timber is similar to that of the other counties on the lake, con- sisting of beech, maple, elm, black and white oak, white walnut, some hemlock and pine, black and white ash, &c.
PURSUITS. Agriculture is the principal pursuit of the inhabit- ants. The diversity of the surface renders grazing and the culture of grain nearly equally profitable, and both are practiced extensively.
Manufactures are increasing in importance in the county. Large quantities of flour and lumber are produced, and the ·manufactures of iron, glass, leather, distilled and malt liquors, pot and pearl ashes, employ a considerable amount of capital.
The commerce of the county is not large, vessels of light draft only being able to cross the bar, at the mouth of the Sodus bay, on which the principal landings are situated.
There are some iron mines, or quarries, as they are denom- inated, in which considerable quantities of the lenticular iron ore are obtained.
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STAPLE PRODUCTIONS. Wheat, corn, oats, potatoes, flax, wool, butter, cheese and pork.
SCHOOLS. The whole number of school-houses in the county is 227. The public schools were maintained on an aver- age eight months during the year 1846; 15,296 children re- ceived instruction, at a cost of $17,635 for tuition. The district libraries contained 25,760 volumes.
There were in the county thirty-one private schools, with 871 pupils.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. Methodists, Baptists, Presbyte- rians, Friends. Episcopalians, Congregationalists, Dutch Re- formed, Universalists, Unitarians and Lutherans. There are in the county seventy-two churches, and eighty-nine clergymen, of all denominations.
HISTORY. The settlement of this county dates since the revo- lution. About two-thirds of its territory, including one quarter of the towns of Galen, Rose and Huron, and all west of these, was included in the Massachusetts grant to Messrs. Phelps and Gorham, and formed a part of the Pulteney estate. The other third belonged to the Military Tract. The emigrants were from New England, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, England, Scot- land, and Germany. During the late war with Great Britain, Sodus, and Pulteneyville, (a village in the town of William- son, ) were invaded by the British, and the former burnt. They were repulsed in each instance, before obtaining the provisions, which were the object of their incursions.
In 1829 or 30, the Mormon delusion originated at Palmyra, in this county. Joseph Smith, the reputed prophet and founder of that system, resided in the town of Manchester, in Ontario county, and his leading disciple, Martin Harris, was a thrifty farmer of Palmyra. By money furnished by this man, Smith was enabled to publish the first edition of the book of Mormon, or the Mormon Bible, as it has since been called. In the autumn of 1830, Smith removed to Kirtland, Ohio, afterward to Mis- souri, and finally to Nauvoo, Illinois.
VILLAGES. LYONS, the county seat, is a pleasant village in the town of the same name. It was first settled in June, 1793, by Mr. Van Wickle and about forty other emigrants from New Jersey and Maryland. It has a fine hydraulic power, obtained by a canal of half a mile in length, from the Canandaigua out- let. The mill privileges afforded by this canal are well im- proved. The High school here is an excellent institution, sur- passed by few academies in the state. Population about 2000.
Palmyra, one of the earliest settled towns in the county, has a village of the same name within its limits, situated on the Eric canal. It is a place of considerable business, and extensively engaged in the lumber trade. It is considered one of the most
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ORLEANS COUNTY. 3.99
beautiful villages on the canal. Its streets are ornamented with fine shade trees. Here is an incorporated academy. Pop. 2200. Clyde, on the river of the same name, a village in the town of Galen, is a thriving, busy place. It has a number of manufac- tories. The high school here is incorporated and comprises two school districts, which have united for greater efficiency. It is in a flourishing condition. Population 1200.
Sodus contains within its limits the principal harbor of the county. At the mouth of the bay in this town, the United States government have erected a pier, a mile in length, for the im- provement of the harbor. The town was burned during the late war with Great Britain. Population about 500.
Pulteneyville, a village on Lake Ontario, in the town of Williamson, was also invaded by the British, but their fears of the American riflemen prevented them from doing much injury. Population 500.
LV. ORLEANS COUNTY.
Square Miles, 379.
Organized, 1824.
Population, 25,845. Valuation, 1845, 94,761,054.
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1. Murray, 1808.
2. Ridgeway, 1812.
3. Gaines, 1816.
4. Barre, 1818.
5. Shelby, 1818.
6. Clarendon, 1821.
7. Carlton, 1822.
8. Yates, 1822.
9. Kendall, 1838.
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Rivers, &c. a. Sandy Creek. b. Johnson's. d. Oak Orchard. Lakes. J. Ontario. c. Jefferson.
Villages. Atmox. Medina.
BOUNDARIES. North by Lake Ontario; East by Monroe coun- ty; South by Geneace, and West by Niagara, counties.
SURFACE. The county has three distinct terraces, the first rising gradually from the shore of the lake, to the height of 130 feet, is about seven or eight miles broad, and is terminated by the Ridge Road. The second, from one to three miles in breadth, rises from the ridge more precipitously, to about the same height, and is terminated by a ledge. The third extends into Genesee county ; its ascent, of about 140 feet, is quite rapid. The elevation of this highest terrace above the lake, is, there- fore, about 400 feet.
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