Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894, Part 35

Author: Haddock, John A. 1823-
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Sherman
Number of Pages: 1094

USA > New York > Jefferson County > Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894 > Part 35

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THE THOUSAND ISLANDS.

the West, and had been a long time absent, he could not desist when he passed the Thousand Islands on his return to his native town, Brockville, from making a call by the way on his Mississagua friends. They recognized him immediately, gave him the warmest reception, and carried him on their shoulders to their Chief, who made a great feast in his honor, and canoes full of Indians came gliding in crowds from the islands to see and welcome him. He had to pass the night among them ; the squaws prepared his couch, and two of the Indians insisted on serving him as a guard of honor at his tent-door, where they camped out and kept the fire. 'I was almost moved to tears myself, sir, on seeing my half-savage friends again. Believe me, it is a race very susceptible to kindness, though at the same time certainly very revengeful for injuries. They never forget their friends, but are very terrible and even treacherous against their enemies. We call them poor and miserable, but they appear quite otherwise to them- selves. They are proud of their prowess and animal daring, and of the performances of their forefathers. In fact they think themselves the first race in creation.' They have been scattered like the chaff ; their fisheries and their hunting became continually less productive; the villages and towns of the whites grew up around them ; they began to feel the pressure of want ; their race died away like the fish in their waters, and at last the few who remained accepted a proposal of the Government, that they should exchange these islands for a more remote habitation-I do not myself know exactly where."

A HOUSE BOAT, Where people live with their families. When they get tired of one place they hire a tug and move on.

The Folger Steamers.

The many residents as well as the travellers among the Thousand Islands are fortunate in the Steamboat service upon the upper river. It is perhaps not generally known that the Messrs. H. S. & B. W. Folger, are Jefferson county men, their father having been a resident of Cape Vincent in 1842-18. These young men commenced their business career in King- ston, Ont., many years ago, and are now the largest vessel owners on the upper river. Their commodious steamers, formerly known as the "White Squadron," consisting of the St. Lawrence, Empire State, Islander, Maynard and Jessie Bain, connect with all Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburg Railroad trains arriving at and departing from Clayton and Cape Vincent. En route between Clayton and Alexandria Bay they make stops at Round Island,

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

Grenell Island Park, Thousand Island Park, Fine View Park, Jolly Oaks, St. Lawrence Park, Point Vivian and Edgewood Park. At each of these points tourists will find fair hotel accommodation. The large Hotel Frontenac, at Round Island, is one of the prom- inent objects down the river after the steamer leaves Clayton. Round Island, the first stop, is a fine summer resort, the Island being dotted by numerous pretty cottages. At the next landing, Grenell Island Park, the Pullman House is located. The new Columbian Hotel at Thousand Island Park, is built upon modern plans, lighted throughout by electricity, and equipped with every convenience for the comfort of its guests. The Fine View House possesses a splendid location on Wellesley Island, five minutes' run below Thousand Island Park. The Grand View Park Hotel also occupies a prominent position at the head of Wells Island, and is reached by a small ferry steamer from Thousand Island Park. The Cottage Hotel, at St. Lawrence Park, is situated in a fine grove and attracts patrons. Edge- wood Park possesses a very comfortable hotel, and is a secluded, restful spot among the Islands, within a short distance of Alexandria Bay, which is the last stop. The Crossmon House, managed by Mr. Charles W. Crossmon, has a delightful location upon the river, undoubtedly the finest hotel in Northern New York, and secures each season a majority of the patronage at that point, its patrons returning year after year.

The Westminister Park is about one miles from Alexandria Bay, and is reached by a ferry steamer making hourly trips in connection with that point. It is a picturesque spot. The steamers of the Thousand Island Steamboat Company also ply between Cape Vincent and Clayton, making two round trips daily, and calling at the romantic and historical Carle- ton Island-the location of several prominent clubs. This Island possesses one of the most interesting ruins, in the form of an ancient fortification. Carleton Island boasts of one of the finest fishing grounds upon the St. Lawrence River.

Frontenac ; A Sketch.

READ AT THE CAMP-FIRE, SHADY LEDGE, AUGUST 6TH, 1889.

A MODERN humorist has written of this region :

" Here the red injuns once took their delights, Fisht, fit and bled ; But now the inhabitants is mostly whites, With nary a red."

It is a peculiarity with the American people, that as a mass we care but little for history, especially for that of the land in which we live. As boys and girls we imbibe a strong and lasting prejudice against it at school. As men and women our faces are ever turned toward the future. Let the dead past bury its legends and its musty tales of marches and counter-marches. We are busy making the history that will be studied by our children. Such is the spirit.

And yet I have to deal with the past, and if you will bear with me for a few minutes, taking your medicine gracefully, I will give you a bit of history wherein I will try to answer the question so often propounded, "Why was the hotel named Frontenac ?"

Passing from comedy to tragedy, I may state, right here, that two hundred years ago to-night, a camp fire occurred upon the St. Lawrence. It was attended by a greater throng than that now encircl- ing this little camp. Men were there who had fought their way for months through dense forests

THE CHIMNEYS-CARLETON ISLAND.

GEO. M. PULLMAN'S CASTLE REST, AT ALEXANDRIA BAY.

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THE THOUSAND ISLANDS.

for the occasion. Their faces were not the faces of kindly and indulgent friends and neighbors, but of demons. Their songs were not those of peaceful revelry, but were the fiendish death-chants of the implacable savage.

Their fagots were human bodies and their feast the hearts of the unhappy Canadian frontiersmen. Two hundred years ago to-day, at four o'clock in the morning, an alarm-gun

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was fired from a little fort in the environs of Montreal. It aroused a small army of sev- eral hundreds of French sol- diers of the line, and volun- teers, who had slept the night through while the dreaded Iroquois were en- gaged in the slaughter of the helpless people of the vil- lage of Lachine.

All of the day of August 6th, 1689, both invaders and beseiged lay stupefied. The VIEW ON CARLTON ISLAND one partly from the vast quantity of rum captured in the village, the other from the almost untellable horror and panic caused by the scene that met them as they came upon the ruins of Lachine. That night the Iroquois army, carrying along one hundred and twenty captives, retired across Lake St. Louis, and at Chateaugay, within sight of the people of Montreal, burned the greater number at the stake, a few being thoughtfully saved to be sacrificed for the amuse- ment of the squaws left behind in the Indian villages of Central New York. This black event undoubtedly led to the re-instatement, by his royal master, Louis XIV, of Count Frontenac as the head of affairs in the struggling colony of Canada.

After an absence of seven years he returned to find his work of former years undone. Those Indian tribes whose favor and good will he had so long won and held in behalf of the French, were either alienated or driven away from their old haunts. The powerful and cruel confederation of the Six Nations held mastery of the St. Lawrence, and dictated terms to the commandants of the remaining and feeble out-posts. The important fort and trading post at Frontenac (upon the site of Kingston) was destroyed. The navigation of the lakes was cut off from the French traders. The wily Dutchmen of Albany and the progressive Englishmen further south kept the Iroquois well supplied with powder and ball and with gaudy trinkets. It was the same wave of selfishness, intrigue, cruelty and devastation that surges in every age over all lands where the European gains a foothold, and where new races contend for the heritage of old and less aggressive peoples.

Count Frontenac is described by Parkman, the able historian of Canada, in the following terms : " Fontenac has been called a mere soldier. He was an excellent soldier and more besides. He was a man of vigorous and cultivated mind, penetrating ob- servation, and ample travel and experience."

Withal, he is said to have been of imperious nature, his anger often bridling his better judgment. His bear- ing and features were strongly patrician. His moderate fortune was wasted in his earlier years in the lavish en- tertainment that obtained about the royal court of France in the palmy days of Louis XIV.

His contentions with the Order of the Jesuits, then all powerful in Canadian affairs, form an interesting page in Canadian history.

The region of the Thousand Islands was often a de- batable ground among the Hurons, the Iroquois, and their weaker red brethren of dependent tribes. It was

THE OLD WINDMILL BELOW PRESCOTT.

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

in the highway of predatory travel and the favorite water-lane of native barter. Frontenac pushed his forces up from Montreal through the maze of islands upon errands of treaty and persuasion, just as he sent his soldiers and their red allies down Champlain to plague the people of Schenectady and Albany. He was untiring.

Taking the field himself, he sometimes made arduous voyages up the rapids of the St. Lawrence, and at the camp-fires of great chiefs, lighted beneath the grand old pines that then bordered these myriad isles, made new treaties, joined in the red-man's rude amuse- ments, and laid deeper the foundations of the far-reaching inland commerce which then extended even to Mackinac, a valuable system of traffic which the French had not the wit to fully appreciate or the nerve to adequately protect.

With all excuse of probability, we may well imagine the flotilla of the adventurous Frenchmen after toiling up yonder American channel, and encountering the baffling winds and rough waves of the open lake now gleaming in the moonlight before us, seeking gladly the shelter of this ever hospitable island, and by a moderate tension of fancy we may con- ceive the barbaric scene, the brilliant costumes and arms of the Europeans flashing in the light of the fire, the skin-clad, feather-bedecked braves, and the swarthy beauty of the squaws lurking upon the edges of the conference.

Weighing all the testimony of credible historians, and there are many great and small ; sifting the comment pro and con, made upon the deeds of this aggressive leader, it appears that he was a man who was happily fitted to deal with the events of the unsettled times in which he lived, and that to him, more than to any other pioneer, the valley of the St. Lawrence has owed its rescue in behalf of civilization.

As far as I have been able to discover, there is no stigma upon his name which should make us hesitate to bestow it upon our summer abiding place. FRANK H. TAYLOR.

Skiff Sailing and Building.

BY F. H. TAYLOR.

" Why should we yet our sail unfur1? There is not a breath the blue waves to curl But when the wind blows off the shore, Oh ! sweetly we'll rest on our weary oar."

E VERY visitor to the Thousand Islands who is at all au fait in the matter of sailing must admire the grace, speed and capabilities of the St. Lawrence skiff, and no less the skill and daring with which it is handled upon the breezy and often tempestuous open waters between the islands. If the stranger is observant, he will notice these beautiful skiffs have no rudders. They are propelled by oars either way with equal facility, and when the boatman has his party, generally a lady and a gentleman, stowed away comfortably in the chairs, which are a proper and indispen- sible feature of every boat here- abouts, and his sail shaken out witlı "sprit " all fast, you will discover that the waterman is handling his boat entirely by the "sheet" or line holding the sail in leash. By this he will guide his obedient craft upon any wind, as surely and safely as a trainer upon the race-track controls a spirited steed. A longer acquaint-

SKIFF WITH BUTTERFLY SAILS.

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THE THOUSAND ISLANDS.

ance with the ways of the boatman develops the fact that when a flaw careens the craft, he not only loosens the sheet slightly but lays forward, and if his guests are both gentlemen, and he wants to go about in a stiff breeze, he does not hesitate to request them to "lay for'ard " also, thus depressing the bow of the boat and allowing the stern to swing free.

Per contra, when the wind is astern, all hands may be snugly bunched aft, and in "falling away" to fill the sail, when she runs up into the wind, the boatman will lay well back, thus dragging the stern.

These things charm and amaze the amateur, and by dint of close attention he soon masters the details of this peculiar method of sailing. He must, however, know not only how to do the right thing at the right moment, but just also how to do it in the shortest possible way. His action must become automatic, and his eye trained to read every sign the winds write upon the impressible surface of the waters. Most of the professional boatmen who are to be found during the summer at Round Island, Alexandria Bay and the other resorts, ready to pilot excursionists to the best fishing places, are clever mechanics who build boats in the winter time and some of them have acquired wide reputation for the excellence of their handiwork. There is no place upon the list of touring points where the boats are so universally good as here. Such a thing as a snub-nosed, flat-bottomed "tub," or gaily painted but otherwise contemptible row-boat, which, in many places, is thought "good enough for summer tourists," is unknown here.

The St. Lawrence skiff is built of perfect, knot- less pine, or Spanish cedar, a trifle more than one- quarter inch in thickness. It is well ribbed with white oak strips, placed about four inclies apart. The "shear" is a perfect curve and every line in sight harmonizes. A deck extends about thirty inches from its pointed ends, made up of pine and walnut stuff laid in strips, with a centre-piece on top to stiffen it. Length twenty-one and one-half feet ; beam, in the centre, outside measure, three feet and three inches; depth, thirteen inches. Snug seats are placed fore and aft. These are detachable for sponging out. The stern seat is fitted with an arm chair, cane-seated and backed, without DESCENDING LACHINE RAPIDS. legs. Five feet forward of this is another seat with a similar chair, and upon the thwarts between them are catches to hold trawling rods and rings for the sheet line. The two chairs face, and behind the last named is the fish-box, which is exactly in the centre of the boat. The box serves as a seat for the rower when alone in the boat, in which case he rows stern forward. Ordinarily the rower sits upon a seat placed so that the fish-box serves as a foot-brace. Detachable out-riggers are used. The boat has no keel, but an elliptic bottom piece, perfectly flat, is used. This is about five inches wide at centre. Upon this the boat slides when being hauled up on the wharf. A center-board occupies the space under the rower's seat. It folds up like a fan into a sheath, which is water-tight, being opened and closed by a lever carefully packed. The sail-brace and socket for base of mast are carefully fitted, and the mast and sail, when not in use, lie along the starboard side of the seats. A false bottom of movable stuff pro- tects the light frame, and this is covered by neatly-fitting canvas. Feathering oars are seldom used, the boatmen claiming that a well-balanced pin oar can be more easily dropped to haul in a fish,

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

DOWN THE - LONG - SAULT

Timber Rafts of the St. Lawrence.

BY FRANK H. TAYLOR.

NE of the most picturesque of life-upon-the-river incidents is found in the passing tim- rafts which float down among the islands almost every day in the early part of the season. Considerable enjoyment can be had in rowing out to them, mooring your boat and talking, as we did a few mornings ago, to the swarthy, good natured crew. The men had long before disposed of their breakfast of fried bacon and boiled potatoes, and were distributed along the raft, which was in fact three rafts in one, and extended a third of a mile at least. Some were driving strong hickory pins into the binders which led from one section to another ; others were binding these into a compact superstructure with withes of oak. The timber was already squared, and lay half a dozen sticks deep. All of these thousands of immense pieces were securely bound without injuring the wood with peg-holes.

VIEW FROM JUDGE SPENCER'S TOWER, SHOWING ALEXANDRIA BAY IN THE DISTANCE.

THE OLD SETH GREEN HOUSE, AS REBUILT.

VIEW TAVEN EDAM THE WHILADT TA EnAMA AT CAME

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THE THOUSAND ISLANDS.

One part of the raft was made up of barrel staves, also closely bound. Near the bow (if a raft may be said to have a bow) a group of men were coiling the great cables and completing a winch for weighing the anchors when necessary ; and the anchors themselves, as large as those of a frigate, lay close by. Dug-outs were hauled up on the timbers, and one or two tents, in which the men slept, were pitched between some especially large logs. The boss and his gang-foremen occupied a shanty, and even indulged in the luxury of straw mattresses in their bunks. From the "boss" we learned, through an interpreter, a great deal of the hard and often exciting life upon a timber raft. A section of such a raft is known as a "dram," and the present one was made up of some seventeen of these, its value being something more than $250,000. Before reaching the great rapids of the river, where the hard work and excitement culminate, these "drams" are cut apart. The steam tow-boat (which looks, with its huge paddle-boxes, like the earliest of transatlantic steam vessels,) drops its cable and each section looks out for itself. The crews push or pull at the long oars rigged at the front and rear and along the sides, keeping the timbers parallel with the swift current. Sometimes a raft breaks up, and then come simply ruin and death. It is consid- ered so safe, however, that it is quite the fashion for ladies and gentlemen at Montreal to go up to Lachine, nine miles above the city, and go down that famous rapid upon a raft.

Some Prominent Islands.

IN passing up and down the St. Lawrence, among the Thousand Islands, the traveller is impressed with the fact that while they are all beautiful, no two are alike. Some have abrupt fronts of rock, many have trees growing right down into the water, while a few have natural turfs and show the beauties of a lawn embowered in trees. Having visited very many of these islands and noted their individual excellencies, the writer is fain to give high praise to that beautiful group called

MANHATTAN.

There are several of them, and they lie about a mile northerly from Alexandria Bay, on the northwesterly side of the main channel of the grand river. Upon the principal island of this group, having an area of about six acres, are the buildings and residences of the owners, Hon. Jas. C. Spencer and Mr. John L. Hasbrouck, of New York city. To this main island are connected two smaller ones by means of bridge and chain-ferry. Each of these islands contains about half an acre of arable land.

This interesting group was originally owned by Seth Green, the noted fish-culturist and Superintendent of Fisheries of the State of New York, who purchased the property from Messrs. Cornwall & Walton. Green was the original cottager and summer resident in this vicinity. He built, and for a series of years resided in, a small cottage on the main island, and there engaged in studying the habits of the finny tribe, and devising means for their culture and propagation. Here he obtained his first practicai knowledge and experience, which has proved of such value to the people of the United States. After he had completed his practical course and entered the service of the State of New York, his cottage and islands remained unoccupied for several years, except by temporary residents and itin- erant campers. In 1867, he sold the group of islands to Judge Spencer who, in 1868, permanently restored and enlarged the old cottage by additions and improve-

HER FIRST CATCH.

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THE GROWTH OF A CENTURY.

ments, and made it a comfortable residence, which he occupied each summer until he associated, as joint owners with himself, Mr. and Mrs. John L. Hasbrouck of New York city, and from that time there commenced a series of improvements under their personal supervision, that has resulted in its present condition. The piers and buildings, the lawns, trees, shrubbery and flowers, and general appearance, are complete and beautiful beyond description, and equal those of any other island property. Every year, for a period of three or four months, the pro- prietors and their families and guests come to Manhattan to enjoy its beauties and its restful comforts.

One of them remarked to the writer: "The climate and the natural advantages, and the life we lead here, are most important from a sanitary point of view, preserving the health and vigor of its residents, and give them continuous and unalloyed rest, pleasure and happiness. We come here gladly, and leave with keen regret-anticipating our return another season as a compensation for our temporary separa- tion from our Island Homie that we love so much."

Seth Green always claimed that when he selected this island for his summer residence, he had his choice of all the islands in this vicinity, and the present proprietors have never doubted his judgment and taste in choosing this island as the "bonniest of them a'." The writer found every reason to reach the same conclusion, for the islands are faultless, the turf like that of England, the people them- selves refined and hospitable.

Every island and Island Home in this wilderness of islands, from Sport Island and Summer Land (three miles below Alexandria Bay) to Calumet and Governor's Island and those islands above them (near Clayton, ) have their own natural beauty and artistic improvements, and each one deserves most favorable comment and criticism, but Manhat- tan has a quiet beauty that just fills the artistic eye. It is a A GOOD CATCH. noteworthy fact that among the islanders and cottagers there is neither envy nor discontent, each one apparently entirely happy in his own pos- sessions. Each is supreme in his little kingdom, and they are all satisfied with their portion of the emerald gems of this unique river, and the islanders cordially admire and enjoy the possessions of their neighbors almost equally with their own, and take an interest in every improvement made in their locality.

Those who attended the Centennial at Philadelphia in 1876, as well as those who revelled in the glories of the Chicago World's Fair of 1893, when asked to describe what they saw, are utterly unable to do so. So much bursts upon the recollection, that the tongue and mind are paralyzed, and the listener only hears partial descriptions of perhaps trivial things. So it is with the Thousand Islands, you are unable to describe them satisfactorily- you want the listener to see them, then let him describe them. There is nothing in the world like them, any world-wide traveller will tell you that. The Rhine has its islands, and castle towers,

" And hills that promise corn and wine And scattered cities crowning these Whose far, white walls along them shine," -

the beautiful lakes of Switzerland, the Riveria itself, Como and the Isles of Greece-all these are beautiful, and Venice is queenly-but the St. Lawrence and its emerald islands crowding each other for 30 miles, surpass them all, individually and united. It is a land too beautiful for words, where even the painter's hand trembles at its own weakness to depict all his eye sees, where God smiles all the while through the summer days, but makes the glorious

VIEW FROM THE OLD SETH GREEN HOUSE.

ACROSS THE AMERICAN CHANNEL. ALEXANDRIA BAY IN THE DISTANCE.

THE HASBROUCK HOUSE AND BOFFIN'S BOWER. WESTERLY SIDE OF MANHATTAN.

JUDGE SPENCER'S RESIDENCE, EASTERLY SIDE OF MANHATTAN. QUIET NOOK, AND TERRACE, AND PAVILION ON THE RIGHT.

PIAZZA OF SPENCER HOUSE, OVERLOOKING THE RIVER.

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THE THOUSAND ISLANDS.

season short, lest man, entranced by perennial rest and enjoyment, would find even nature's beauties at last "palling upon the satiated taste." It is a land of rest, of high ideals, of perfect natural beauty, where water, and sky, and land and wooded shores blend into something unknown elsewhere. An able writer says :

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Growth of a Century : as illustrated in the history of Jefferson County, New York, from 1793 to 1894, Part 35

Author: Haddock, John A. 1823- Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Sherman Number of Pages: 1094

Author: Haddock, John A. 1823-
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Philadelphia, Pa. : Sherman
Number of Pages: 1094