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 40
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RIVERS AND CREEKS. Oak Orchard, Johnson's, and Sandy creeks, are the only streams of importance in the county. The first is about fifty miles in length.
· By an open aqueduct four and a half miles in length, cut for most of the distance through solid rock, the canal commissioners have turned the upper waters of the Tonawanda creek into Oak Orchard creek, thus increasing the volume of the latter, and rendering it more valuable for hydraulic purposes, and for supplying the feeder of the Erie canal.
LARES. There are no lakes or ponds of any importance in the county. Jefferson lake, in the town of Murray, is the largest, but does not contain more than fifty acres.
MARSHES. The great Tonawanda. Swamp, which extends over portions of Genesee and Niagara counties, lies partly in this county. It is twenty-five miles in length from east to west, and from two to seven in breadth. It is bounded on all sides by plains a little elevated above its surface.
CLIMATE. The exposure of the whole northern boundary of the county to the lake, has the effect of producing a more uni- formly mild climate, than that of some of the more southern counties. The county is generally considered healthy.
GEOLOGY AND MINERALS. In the northern portion of the county, the Medina sandstone prevails, affording in many places, an admirable material for building. In the central and southern portions, the Niagara, Clinton and Onondaga limestones form the surface rock.
The mineral productions are principally bog iron ore, and some brine and out- phur springs.
SOIL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. The soil is mostly clay and argillaceous loam, and is highly fertile. The timber of the county, is beech, maple, linden, elm, red, black and white oak.
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hickory, hemlock, pine, black and white ash, &c. The southern part of the county is more heavily wooded than the northern. . PURSUITS. Agriculture is the principal pursuit, and the atten- tion of the farmers is divided between the culture of grain and the rearing of cattle. The county, however, may properly be ranked among the grain counties.
Manufactures receive some attention, particularly those of flour, lumber, leather, fulled cloths, iron, and distilled liquors.
There is but one harbor on the lake, and very little commerce, nor are there any mines of importance.
THE STAPLE PRODUCTIONS of the county are wheat, oats, corn, potatoes and lumber ; a considerable quantity of butter and cheese are also produced.
SCHOOLS. There are in the county 134 public schools, taught, during the year 1846, an average period of eight months. In these schools, 9841 children received instruction, at an expense for tuition of $11,226. The district libraries contained 16,895 volumes.
There were in the county the same year, sixteen private schools, with 313 pupils ; three academies and one female seminary, with 330 students.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. Methodists, Baptists, Presbyte- rians, Unitarians, Universalists, Episcopalians, Congregation- alists, Friends, and Dutch Reformed.
There are forty-one churches, and fifty-nine clergymen, of all denominations, in the county.
HISTORY. This county was first settled by emigrants from New England. It was all included in the grant to Massachu- setts ; the towns of Barre, Carlton, Gaines, Ridgeway, Shelby, and Yates were comprised in the Holland Land Company's purchase ; whilst Murray, Clarendon, and Kendall, belonged to the Pulteney estate.
Murray, the oldest town in the county, was organized in 1808, In a settlement so recent, there is of course little of historical interest.
In Ridgeway and its vicinity are remains of Indian fortifica- tions.
VILLAGES. ALBION, a village in the town of Barre, is the seat of justice for the county. It is pleasantly situated upon the canal, near the centre of the county.
A flourishing female seminary is here located, and an incor- porated academy. It is surrounded by a rich and fertile coun- try, and is a neat and thriving village. Population, 1600.
Holley is a pleasant village in the town of Murray. It has some manufactures. A short distance east of the village, is the Holley embankment, one of the largest on the canal, elevated seventy-six feet above the creek. Population 400.
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Medina, a thriving village in the town of Murray, was incor- porated in 1832. It has some manufactures. Population, 1200. Knowlesville, in the same town, is a growing village. Popu- lation, 600.
Gaines, in the town of the same name, has an incorporated academy. Population, 700.
LVI. CHEMUNG COUNTY.
Square Miles, 530. Organized, 1836.
Population, 23,689. Valuation, 1845, $2,464,634.
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1. Chemung, 1791.
2. Elmira, 1792.
3. Catharines, 1798.
4. Big Flats, 1822.
5. Erin, 1822.
6. Southport, 1822.
7. Catlin, 1823.
8. Veteran, 1823.
9. Cayuta, 1824.
10. Dix, 1835.
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Rivers. O. Chemung. b. Newtown Creek. c. Catharine's. d. Cayuta.
Battle Fields. Elmira.
Villages. ELMIRA. Havana.
BOUNDARIES. North by Steuben and Tompkins; East by Tompkins and Tioga; South by the state of Pennsylvania ; and West by Steuben county.
SURFACE. This county .forms part of the great table land ex- tending from the counties of Ulster and Greene, to the vicinity of Lake Erie. Its mean elevation is about 1600 feet above tide water, but the northern portion declines gradually toward Sen- eca Lake, whose waters are but 456 feet above the level of the ocean. The streams which pass through the county divide this otherwise level surface into ridges, their banks being very high and precipitous.
RIVERS. The Chemung or Tioga river is the principal stream of the county. The other streams are, Cayuta Creek, forming part of the eastern boundary, Wynkoop, Baldwin's and New- town Creeks, tributaries of the Chemung, and Catharine's Creek, an inlet of Seneca Lake.
LAKES. Cayuta Lake, in the northeastern part, is the only pond of importance in the county. Seneca Lake forms a portion of the northern boundary.
CANALS. The Chemung canal connects the village of Elmira with Seneca Lake.
RAILROADS. The route of the New York and Erie railroad is laid out through this county.
CLIMATE. The climate, like that of the table land generally, is cool, but salubrious. The vicinity of Seneca Lake exerts nome influence in modifying it.
GEOLOGY AND MINERALS. The basis rock is secondary gray- wacke slate, sometimes mingled with shale, at others compact, and forming fine building stone. It is covered with a fine, close grained sandstone. In the northern part of the county are beds of limestone. The surface rocks belong to the Chemung sand- stone, except a small tract around Seneca Lake, where the Helderberg limestone makes its appearance.
The mineral productions of Chemung county are few, and generally. unimpor- tant. There is some marl, in various parts of the county, and gypsum in Catha- rines and Catlin.
VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. The soil is generally fertile; the pine plains in the towns of Big Flats and Elmira, which were formerly deemed worthless, are found by the application of plaster, to yield abundant crops. The timber of the county is white pine, hemlock, spruce, oak, maple, elm, beech, ash, linden,
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&c. The maple is very abundant, and yields large quantities of sugar.
The soil of the uplands is better adapted to grass than grain, but the valleys yield abundantly the various grains, peas, beans and hops.
PURSUITS. The people of the county are mostly devoted to agriculture ; attention being paid to grazing in the uplands, and to the growing of grain in the more fertile valleys.
·Manufactures are also increasing in importance. Flour, lumber, eloth, iron and leather, are the principal articles.
The opening of a navigable communication between the Hud- son and Susquehanna, through the Seneca Lake and Erie canal, by means of the Chemung canal, has opened a market to the inhabitants of Chemung county, and been productive of ex- tensive inland commerce.
The Corning and Blossburg railroad, which pours a portion of the mineral wealth of Pennsylvania into New York, has also been of great advantage to the county.
STAPLE PRODUCTIONS. Oats, wheat, corn, buckwheat, butter, and cheese.
SCHOOLS. There are in the county 128 schools, maintained during the year 1846, an average period of seven months, affording instruction to 7962 children, at an expense for tuition of $10,336. The district libraries contained 12,197 volumes.
There were in the county, the same year, twenty-four unincorporated private schools, with 283 scholars, and one academy and one female seminary, with 134 pupils.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. Methodists, Presbyterians, Bap- tists, Episcopalians, and Friends. There are .twenty-six churches, and forty-one clergymen, of all denominations.
HISTORY. The first white settlers in this county located in Elmira, Southport and Big Flats, between 1786 and 1792, having become acquainted with the country while engaged in General Sullivan's expedition, in 1779. They were mostly from Pennsylvania, and from Orange county in this state. Cat- lin. Catharines, and Veteran, were settled soon after, by emi- grants from Connecticut ; Erin by Dutch and Scotch emigrants from New Jersey and Delaware county ; and Chemung by emi- grants from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. During General Sullivan's campaign in 1779, of which we have spoken in the historical sketch of the state, he encountered the enemy's force, consisting of somewhat more than 1000 Indians and tories, under Brant and Colonels Butler and Johnson, at Elmira, in this county. The battle which ensued, called " the battle of the Chemung," was a severe and bloody one. It terminated in the defeat of the enemy, and the destruction of their towns. The land in this
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county was sold to the settlers, in 1788, at eighteen cents por acre.
VILLAGES, &C. ELMIRA, the county seat, is admirably situated for the purposes of trade, being in the midst of a fertile valley of considerable extent, and connected with Pennsylvania and Ma- ryland, by means of the Susquehanna river, and with almost every part of New York, by the Chemung canal. It is also on the route of the New York and Erie railroad, and from its commer- cial facilities, must eventually become a place of considerable importance. The first settler in the town was Colonel John Hendy, a veteran who had served under General Sullivan. He united, in a remarkable degree, extraordinary courage and great physical power, and in his conflicts with the Indians, often ex- hibited both. Population, 3300.
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In 1790, a treaty was negotiated at this place between the Indian tribes and the United States. Over 1000 Indians were present, and among them most of the principal chiefs. In 1797, Elmira was visited by Louis Phillippe, the present king of the French, accompanied by the Duke de Nemours, and the Duke de Berri. They had travelled on foot from Canandaigua to Elmira, a distance of seventy miles. Mr. Tower, whom they visited, fitted up an ark or flat boat, on board which he conveyed them to Harrisburg.
The village has an incorporated academy and female semin- ary, both in a prosperous condition. There is also a mechanics' association, which has a commodious hall and a public library.
It is largely engaged in the manufacture and exportation of lumber, ten million feet of marketable planks and boards being exported annually.
Chemung, the earliest organized town in the county, has a hilly and broken surface, but much of it is fertile. In the south part of the town, is a mound called "Spanish hill," which but for its extent might be considered a work of art. It is elevated 110 feet above and near the river's brink, and has upon its sum- mit vestiges of fortifications which display much skill and judg- ment. The entrenchments are regular and command the bed of the river. By whom they were constructed is unknown.
Catharines, one of the early settled towns, was named after Catharine Montour, the wife of an Indian sachem. This ex- traordinary woman was a native of Canada, a half breed, and had been carried into the Seneca country when only ten years of age, and adopted by one of its families. She possessed a good address and had great influence with her tribe, frequently accompanying the chiefs to Philadelphia and other places where treaties were made. Her town, consisting of thirty houses and
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farms in a high state of cultivation, was destroyed by General Sullivan, in 1779.
Havana, in the town of Catharines, is a thriving village on the Chemung canal. It has some manufactures. Population, 1000.
Fairport, formerly called Horseheads, from the feet that General Sullivan here killed some seventy or eighty of his pack horges, to prevent their falling into the hand of the Indians, is a thriving village in the town of Elmira. It is considerably en- gaged in the lumber trade. Population, 600.
Millport, in the town of Veteran, is a village of some import- ance. It has a fine hydraulic power. Population, 500.
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LVII. FULTON COUNTY.
Square miles, 500. Organized, 1838.
Population, 18,579. Valuation, 1845, $1,308,724,
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1. Broadalbin, 1793.
6. Oppenheim, 1908.
2. Mayfield, 1793.
7. Ephrata, 1827.
'3. Johnstown, 1798.
8. Bleeker, 1831.
9. Perth, 1838.
5. Stratford, 1805.
10. Garoga, 1843.
Mountains. EE. Kayaderosseras. JJ. Au Sable range. k. May- field mountain. 1. Klip Hill.
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4. Northampton, 1801.
FULTON COUNTY.
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Rigers. a. Sacandaga. c. Cayaduta or Little Canada Creek. f. Fish. h. East Canada. i. Garoga.
Lakes. m. Fish Lake. n. Garoga Lakes.
Battle Fields. Johnstown.
Villages. JOHNSTOWN. Kingsborough.
" BOUNDARIES. North by Hamilton county ; East by Saratoga county ; South by Montgomery county, and West by Herkimer county.
SURFACE. Mountainous. The Kayaderosseras and Au Sable ranges traverse the county. Mayfield mountain and Klip hill are local names given to spurs of these ranges.
RIVERS. On the east the county is drained by Sacandaga river and its branches, West Stoney and Mayfield creeks. On the south by Chuctenunda, Cayaduta, Garoga and Zimmer- man's creeks, all flowing into the Mohawk, and on the west by East Canada Creek and its tributaries, Ayres, Fish and Sprite Creeks. '
LAKES. Fish Lake and the Garoga Lakes are the only con- siderable sheets of water in the county.
CLIMATE. Healthful, but from the elevation of much of the surface, cool.
GEOLOGY AND MINERALS. The rocks of the northern part of the county are primitive, consisting of gneiss, in some of its forms. As we approach nearer the Mohawk, the calciferous or earlier limestone makes its appearance, particularly in the east- ern part of the county. In Mayfield, the limestone denominated by Geologists, birdseye, is found, and on the southern limits of the county, the Trenton limestone.
The county does not appear to be rich in minerals. Mica, garnet, green feld- . spar, and porphyritic gneiss, are the principal yet discovered. Quartz, in fine transparent crystals, occurs in the southern part of the county.
SOIL AND VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. The soil of the southern portion of the county is rich and fertile, and well adapted to grain. Oak, hickory, ash, maple, &c. are the principal forest trees. In th , northern part of the county the hemlock and oak are found, and the land is less fertile.
PURSUITS. Agriculture is the pursuit of a majority of the inhabitants. In the southern towns a considerable quantity of grain is raised ; in the northern, more attention is paid to the rearing of cattle, sheep and swine, and to the products of the dairy.
Manufactures also form an important pursuit in the county, and are annually increasing in value. The principal articles of manufacture are. leather, (for which the hemlock forests of the
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northern portion afford great facilities,) buckskin gloves and mittens, which are made here in larger quantities than any where else in the United States ; flour, lumber and paper.
There is no commerce from the want of navigable streams. There are no mines.
THE STAPLE PRODUCTIONS are butter, cheese, wool, oats, rye, flax, potatoes and corn.
SCHOOLS. There are 105 public schools in the county. The average number of months during which schools are maintained is seven. The expenses of public school instruction in 1846, were $7168, and the number of scholars 5593. The district li- braries contained 11,292 volumes. Three private schools had nineteen pupils, and two academies eighty-five scholars.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. Presbyterians, Methodists, Bap- tists, Dutch Reformed, Unitarians, Episcopalians and Univer- calists. There are in the county thirty two churches, and twenty-nine clergymen, of all denominations.
HISTORY. The first settlements in this county, appear to have been made by German emigrants, in 1724, at Oppenheim and Ephrata. The settlements about Johnstown were made be- tween 1760 and 1770, through the influence of Sir William Johnson and his family. In 1764 or 1765, Sir William erected the residence known as Johnson Hall, one mile west of the vil- lage of Johnstown, and resided there till his death. A sketch of his life has already been given, under Montgomery county. The possessions of the baronet in this, as well as in Montgom- ery county, were confiscated after the revolution, and sold.
On Sunday, the 21st of May, 1780, Sir John Johnson made an incursion into Johnstown, and burned thirty-three houses, killed eleven persons and wounded a number more. Colonel Visscher, one of those who were wounded, was scalped and left for dead, but finally recovered.
In October, 1781, the battle of Johnstown was fought, on the Hall Farm, in Johnstown.
A body of tories and Indians, about 700 in number, under the command of the inhuman Ross and Walter Butler, had made a descent upon the valley of the Mohawk, to plunder and butcher its inhabitants. They had proceeded thus far; marking their course with fire and blood, when Colonel Marinus Willet, with a body of Mohawk valley troops, attacked them, and after a se- vere action compelled them to retreat. ' They were closely pur- sued, and it was during their flight, that the infamous Butier met with the fate he so justly merited, at the hand of an Oneida Indian .* The loss of the Americans, in this conflict, was about
* It is related that when Butler was wounded, and the Oneida Indian who had shot him, rushed upon him, tomahawk in hand, the wretch, who had never shown
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forty. Nearly the same number of the enemy were killed, and about fifty taken prisoners.
VILLAGES. JOHNSTOWN is a fine and thriving village, in the town of the same name. Its location was selected by Sir Will- iam Johnson, and several of its public edifices erected by him.
It has a flourishing academy, the bell of which was the gift of Queen Anne, to a chapel called after her, which was destroyed . during the revolution. It is the county seat. Population 1000.
Kingsboro' is another village in the same township, famous for the manufacture of deerskin gloves and mittens. It has an academy of some note. Population 400.
Gloversville, in the same township, is also celebrated for the manufacture of mittens, gloves and moccasins, of buckskin. Population 400.
At the confluence of Mayfield creek with the Sacandaga river, is the Fish House village, so named from Sir William John- son's summer residence, which stood at this point, and at which he was accustomed to spend a considerable portion of each sum- mer, in hunting, fishing and rural amusements.
About 1000 acres of the Vlaie, or great marsh, extending over some 5000 acres, lie in this vicinity, and afford a valuable range for cattle in the dry season, and a fine fishing and hunting ground for the sportsman.
Rawsonville, in the town of Broadalbin, is a village of some importance. Population 500.
mercy to any, however innocent and helpless, who had implored it at his bande, begged for quarter from the Indian. " Me give you Sherry valley quarters," was the broken reply of the savage ; alluding to the bloody massacre of Cherry valley, in which Butler had acted so conspicuous a part. With this answer, be harled his tomahawk in the brain of the murderer.
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LVIII. HAMILTON COUNTY.
Square Miles, 1064. Organised, 1835. .
Population, 1882. Valuation, 1845, $339,228.
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HAMILTON COUNTY. 411
TOWNS.
1. Wells, 1805.
5. Arietta, 1837.
2. Lake Pleasant, 1812.
6. Long Lake, 1838.
3. Hope, 181S.
4. Morehouse, 1835.
7. Gilman, 1839.
Mountains. EE. Kayaderosseras. GG. Chateaugay. HH. Clinton range: JJ. Au Sable range.
Rivers. a. Sacandaga. b. Oxbow. c. Moose. d. Indian. f. West Canada Creek.
Lakes. h. Teralt. j. Long. k: Oxbow. 1. Piseco. n. Pleasant.
Villages. PISEco. Lake Pleasant.
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BOUNDARIES. North by St. Lawrence and Franklin counties ; East by Essex Warren and Saratoga ; South by Fulton and Herkimer, and West by Herkimer, counties.
SURFACE. The surface of this county is mountainous, four chains of mountains traversing it, viz: the Kayaderosseras, Clinton, Chateaugay and Au Sable ranges. Much of it is cov- ered with dense forests and lakes, presenting to the eye an ap- pearance very similar, probably, to that of New England, two hundred years ago. The hills are generally susceptible of cul- tivation, the soil being strong and productive, and considerable tracts as arable and fertile as the timber lands of the west.
RIVERS. The principal streams which drain the county are the Racket, Indian, Sacandaga, Oxbow, Moose and Beaver rivers, and West Canada creek.
LAKES AND PONDS. These are almost innumerable, and in the purity of their waters, the picturesque and majestic scenery which surrounds them, the abundance of trout and other fish which they afford, are equal to any in the world.
Long, Indian, Racket, Transparent, Clinch, Crotchet, Pleas- ant, Round, Piseco, Elm, Oxbow, Beaver and Squaw lakes, are the principal. The forests abound with deer and other game, not excepting panthers, bears, catamounts and wolves.
CLIMATE. From its elevation, as well as the density of its forests, the climate is cold, and the winters long.
GEOLOGY AND MINERALS. The county belongs almost entirely to the great northeastern primitive formation; and its rocks are mainly granite, gneiss and hypersthene.
Iron has been discovered, and probably the other metals and minerals of a primitive country exist. The ore of iron discov- ered is the magnetic, and of excellent quality.
VEGETABLE PRODUCTIONS. The timber is principally beech, maple, black birch, butternut and elm; the lower range of hills
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produces pines of gigantic growth. Portions of the county are well adapted to the culture of grain.
PURSUrre. 'The inhabitants are mostly devoted to agricultu- ral pursuits and fishing. The county possesses much land suit- able for grazing.
The manufactures are principally domestic.
STAPLE PRODUCTIONS. Butter, cheese, lumber, corn, oats, buckwheat and potatoes.
SCHOOLS. There are twenty-six schools in the county, at- tended by 600 children. The number of months in which schools were taught, during the year 1946, was five, and the amount paid for teacher's wages 8677 .. The number of volumes in the district libraries was 1043.
There is one private school in the county.
RELIGIOUS DENOMINATIONS. Baptists and Methodists. There are three churches and three clergymen, of all denominations, in the county.
HISTORY. Very little can be said of the early history of this county. The first settlers probably removed from the counties of Montgomery and Fulton, into the wilderness. The first town was organized in 1805. In some sections of the county consid- erable bodies of Welch emigrants have located themselves.
VILLAGES. PISECO, on the Piseco lake, in Arietta, has been designated as the county seat. It is a small but pleasant vil- lage.
Lake Pleasant, on the lake of the same name, is a small vil- lage. It is a favorite resort for sportsmen and anglers.
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LIX. WYOMING COUNTY.
Square Miles about 590.
Population, 31,526.
Organized, 1841. Valuation,* 1845, 03,652,788.
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TOWNS.
1. Sheldon, 1808.
2. Middlebury, 1812.
3. Gainesville, 1814.
11. Wethersfield, 1823.
4. Perry, 1814.
12. Eagle, 1823.
5. Orangeville, 1816.
13. Pike, 1827.
14. Warsaw, 1828.
7. Bennington, 1818.
15. Java, 1832.
16. Genesee Falls, 1846.
Rivers. N. Genesee River. c. Allen's Creek. d. Seneca. f. Catta- raugus. g. Nunskoy. n. Cayuga.
Falls. s. Portage Falls.
Lakes. i. Silver.
Villages. WARSAW. Attica. Genesee Falls. Perry.
BOUNDARIES. North by Genesee; East by Livingston ; South by Allegany and Cattaraugus; and West by Erie.
* This sum is exclusive of the three towns of Eagle, Pike and Genesee Falls, added in 1846, from Allegany county.
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