USA > New York > Chautauqua County > Portland > Historical sketches of the town of Portland : comprising also the pioneer history of Chautauqua County, with biographical sketches of the early settlers > Part 3
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Dunham's Creek .- This stream rises in the central and south part of the town, receiving in its course many smaller streams mostly originating in springs, and running a general north- westerly direction falls into the lake on lot thirty-two, T. 5.
Correll's Creek .- This stream rises also among the high- lands in the south of the town, runs a general northwesterly direction and enters the lake on lot thirty six, T. 5.
Fay's Creek .- This is the most westerly stream in town, of note, north of the highlands, rises as all the others-in the highlands-and after absorbing the waters of the numerous tributaries from springs empties into the lake on lot forty-two, T. 5.
A number of streams of less note also empty into the lake, and some of them have been used more or less for the purpose of propelling machinery.
The East Branch of Chautauqua Creek rises in the town of Chautauqua, enters the town of Portland on lot fifty-three, l'. 4, and after a circuitous course enters the town of Chautauqua again on lot 59, T. 4, near the southwest corner of Portland,
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF
and falls into the lake at Barcelona after uniting with the west branch a little south of the village of Westfield.
Although the streams of water are few and small and scarcely subserve the purposes of necessary manufacture, large springs are numerous and furnish an abundance of pure water, enough for all the purposes and conveniences of life. Some of these burst with considerable energy from the gravelly belt before spoken of, and furnish water in large quanties during the whole year. Springs are also found in almost endless profusion upon the side hills or northern slope of the great water-shed, emanating from nearly every depression and from the crevices of the out-cropping rocks. Water is also obtained by digging to a moderate depth.
Lakes .- Portland is washed the entire extent of its northern border by the waters of lake Erie. Most of the beach is gravelly, but a portion of the distance is perpendicular rock which occasionally rises from the surface of the lake to the hight of from forty to fifty feet. Against this iron-bound shore in boisterous weather the waters of the lake dash with great violence, at times casting their spray far above the tops of the rocks.
The water of the lake at this time is from three to four feet higher than at the first settlement of the town. It was possible at that time to pass with facility and most of the way upon dry land, along the beach from the west line of the town to Van- Buren Point near the northeast corner, a distance of more than eight miles. It is said that a difference of seven feet has been known to exist in the hight of the water, but of the particular cause of this rise and fall nothing is definitely known ; conjec- ture says "probably prevailing winds, unequal amounts of rain, and evaporation." There are no small lakes or ponds within the borders of the town.
Climate .- The climate of the town of Portland in common with that of the whole southern lake border is mild and salu- brious, the greatest range of the thermometer being from ninety five to ninety eight degrees to from three to five degrees
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THE TOWN OF PORTLAND.
above the cipher of Farenheit, or zero. Occasionally, however, the mercury rises to one hundred and two degrees and falls as low as from three to five degrees below. The gentle breezes from the lake in the summer cool the atmosphere and render it delightful. Being' on the border of so large a body of water the climate is subject to sudden changes, and strong winds, mostly from the west and south, in certain seasons of the year are frequent.
Frosts seldom come so early in the fall as to prove a damage to vegetation or to maturing crops, and the grass remains green until the falling of the snows of winter. The falls of snow during winter are seldom heavy, but usually coming in connection with the strong westerly winds it is thrown into huge drifts and often to an extent interfering with travel.
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CHAPTER V.
Natural Geography continued-Geological Features-Rocks-The Portage Group-Gas Springs-Sulphur Springs-Harbors-Forest Trees.
Of the geological features and formations in the town we purpose to say but little. The rocks that underlie the whole town and that crop out here and there, belong to what is termed the " Portage Group of the New York System." This group is composed of the Coshaqua Shales, Gardeau Flag Stones and Portage Sand Stones. The order of their arrange- ment is from below upward, the whole formation dipping slightly towards the south. The upper strata, or Portage sand stone, lies below the coal fields of Pennsylvania; in fact the highest series of rocks in this state form the floors of the coal measures of that state, rendering the idea of the existence of coal at any point within the bounds of this state as visionary. The sand stone of this Portage group is the stone mostly nsed for building purposes, and is quarried in various places ; and of this stone is formed most of the cellars in town and the original bridges and culverts of the Lake Shore railroad. The veins are of various thickness, from a few inches to three or four feet. The strata in this town, however, are of uneven surface, not uniform in thickness and not as well adapted for building purposes as those from the quarries of the town of Pomfret and of some other localities.
The flagging is obtained in very limited quantities and occupies but a small space between the other strata.
The lower strata, or Portage Shale, crops out largely in various localities but principally along the border of the lake. and in some places forms the bed of the lake for a considerable
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THE TOWN OF PORTLAND.
distance. This stone is worthless for building purposes. crumbling into fragments after a short exposure to the atmos phere. Of the thickness of these strata little can be told, and it can only be determined accurately by drilling.
An occasional limestone boulder is found upon the surface or imbedded in the soil, but not in sufficient quantities to be made practically available.
Drift, including loose deposits of boulders, gravel, sand and clay, is found in most parts of the town, and in some parts the rocks are covered with it to the depth of many feet. The peculiar character of this drift, the forms in which it is found, and the position it occupies, all give evidence of some great general moving power which existed after the stratified rocks were lifted from their original beds, ages before the present order of things was instituted. It is evident that in this town and also along the whole southern shore of lake Erie the whole lake country, as it is termed, at some remote period formed a part of the bed of the lake or some vast inland sea. and that the action of the waters of this lake had much to do in the formation of the various drifts now found ; but in many places, evidently, they have been formed more recently by the agency of streams, atmosphere and frost.
Gus Springs .- A "very peculiar geological feature of the town is the springs of carburetted hydrogen gas found in several places along the border of the lake. This, however, is not a feature at all confined to this town, but the springs are found over the whole lake region from Erie, Pennsylvania, to Cattaraugus creek on the east. These springs have their origin in the strata of shale of the Portage group of rocks, the gas being evolved through the fissures. In various places along the beach it bubbles up through the water of.the lake from twenty to sixty feet from the shore. But one spring of this character in town has been utilized. Some years since, J. E. Harris, living on lot thirty-two, T. 5, obtained a supply of this gas from the rocks on the bank of Dunham's creek, conveyed it to his house but a few feet distant, and it was used for
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HISTORICAL SKETCHES OF
lighting the house for several years. Rev. T. L. Harris pro- poses to utilize a large spring coming up from the bed of the lake thirty or forty feet from the shore and directly opposite his residence on lot twenty-two, T. 5. From unmistakable indications there is no doubt but a large supply, sufficient for illuminating purposes, might be obtained with but little expense at any point along the lake, and possibly for heating purposes also.
Sulphur Springs .- These are found at various points in town and undoubtedly come up from the same source as the gas-the shales of the Portage group of rocks. Some are very strongly impregnated with sulphur and have been resorted to by invalids for the medicinal qualities they are supposed to possess. The strongest spring is one upon the farm of Charles H. Warner, on the southeast part of lot twenty- one, T. 5, a little north of Brocton and not far from the railroad station of that name. The peculiar scent may be detected for many rods from the spring.
At many places along the lake the gas and water emanate from the steep surface of the rocks, the water trickling in rivu- lets to the lake, leaving a sulphury deposit upon the stones and gravel the whole distance.
Harbors .- The waters of the lake are shallow for some dis- tance from the shore the whole extent of the lake border in town with the exception of the northeast corner, rendering all safe approach by vessels impossible. The east line of the town strikes the lake about half a mile east of VanBuren Point, leaving about one-third of the bay of that name within the limits of the town of Portland. Within this bay the water is sufficient in depth to float any lake craft very near the shore. In the winter of 1836-7, during the speculation mania of those years that so largely pervaded the whole country and proved the ruin of so many who "made haste to be rich," a pier was built from the central portion of the bay, about two hundred feet long. by a company of capitalists and others having their place of business at Fredonia. in this county. A warehouse of
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. THE TOWN OF PORTLAND.
ample dimensions was also erected and every facility for the transaction of business] secured. But within the next two years the excessive pressure from exaggerated and inflated business transactions brought back the good sense of the peo ple and the prospect of a near realization of the advantages of the harbor and the facilities for business it seemed to afford had to be abandoned, and the whole transaction faded away almost as rapidly as it had been brought into existence. The harbor is good, and with a little expense might be made a shelter from nearly every wind; but from the nearness of Dunkirk on the east and Erie on the west with the facilities for business and transit by railroads, it is not at all probable that it will ever be made useful or subserve the purposes of com- mercial transactions.
Forest Trees .- Previous to 1805 the entire surface of the town was covered with a heavy growth of timber, and particu larly was this so from the lake to the foot of the highlands, a distance of about three miles. The first encroachment upon that wilderness was made that year by Captain James Dunn, and the warfare continued with unceasing energy until within the last few years. The anxiety of the early settlers to burn and destroy the timber from the surface, and by every means in their power free the land from the encumbrance. is only equaled by the anxiety of the present occupants to preserve the remains of this stately growth from entire destruction.
After the erection of sawmills and for many years thereafter, lumber was sold for from three to five dollars per thousand feet and was often a drug at that. Lumber at the above prices, and black salts manufactured from the ashes of burnt timber, were for many years almost the only means of liquidating claims and furnishing the necessaries of life ; the latter being the only means of obtaining money to satisfy the demands of the tax-gatherer on his annual rounds.
Cypress or whitewood, cucumber, hemlock and beach pre dominated, while many other varieties usually found growing in connection with the above were in great abundance. The
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first three varieties often grew to a very great size. Walnut maple, chestnut, birch, cherry, oak and elm were also found in some localities. The indigenous plum tree was found in pro fusion, that yielded a fruit of very agreeable flavor ripening late in the fall. No pine timber grew within the limits of the town. Upon the side hill or upon the ridge very little of cypress was found, but the whole was covered with a heavy growth, similar to that of the lake belt, yet somewhat lighter with a thick undergrowth.
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THE TOWN OF PORTLAND.
CHAPTER VI.
Natural Geography continued-Natural Curiosities and Scenery-The Cascades-View from the Highlands --- View from the Lake, South-Natural Scenery.
There are very few attractions in this town that would appropriately range under this head. There are no yawning caverns or frightful gulfs, precipiees steep or silver lakes to attract the attention or charm the sight. Two cascades, how- ever, are found in Slippery Rock creek that present a beautiful appearance during high water. One is half a mile north of Brocton, on the northwest part of lot twenty-one, T. 5, on lands of T. L. Harris. The water falls over rough and craggy rocks a distance of twenty feet, forming a perfect sheet of snowy foam. The other is at the mouth of the creek. the water falling a distance of fifteen to twenty feet over a steep, rugged rock, then rushing with great force in a sheet of foam down a rocky declivity to the lake, a distance of eighty feet. The high overhanging bank on the west side of the fall and below is overgrown with evergreens and a thick growth of small shrubs, while on the east side a tree of rugged growth stands upon the brink with outstretched and uplifted branches as if to catch with grateful emotions the health-giving mists that rise from the stream below. It is a beautiful retreat, and the traveler looks out as well upon the lake with its sailing craft and towering steamers dotting the crystal waters.
Fair stream, thou call'st me from the busy cares With which I am surrounded, and bid'st me For the time forget this fleeting life is Full of evil. Thou makest me forget That all is not as bright and beautiful As thine own fairy form, whilst thon in haste Art passing on to join old Erie's tide.
ti
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View from the Highlands .- From the summit of the hills on the south the view of the lake and the intermediate country is exceedingly beautiful. From this elevation in the west part of the town may be seen the borough of Westfield, the village of Barcelona, the two villages, Brocton and Centerville, in the town of Portland ; and from a point farther east the boroughs of Fredonia and Dunkirk. and in a favorable state of the atmosphere the position and a dim outline of the city of Buffalo may be discerned in the far distance. The view of the lake dotted with vessels of various sizes and their sails trimmed to the favoring breeze, the Lake Shore railroad for a distance of twenty miles with its trains of living freight, or perhaps at intervals one or more laden with the commerce of the west or the oily products from the south, like huge saurians moving their bulky forms in the distance-the Buffalo, Corry & Pittsburgh railroad winding its way amongst and over the hills-the busy scenes of an active and stirring population engaged in the various duties of farm life, is at once beautiful, charming and elevating. Its equal is seldom seen. The view from the lake border south. with the hills as a background, is scarcely less admirable and fascinating. These views. however. are not confined exclusively to the town of Portland, but extend, with variations, from the state line on the west to Cattaraugus creek on the east. The inhabitants of the town, from their familiarity, scarcely appreciate their favorable locality or the beauty and charm of the scenery with which they are sur- rounded.
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THE TOWN OF PORTLAND.
CHAPTER VIL.
Natural Geography continued-Native Animala found in the Town at the First Settlement.
We propose to barely mention the names of the native animals, those found here by the early settlers, saying nothing by way of description or with respect to their habits, as these are all well known by every one, if not from observation, from books of natural history. The immense and dense forests were highly favorable to the production of animal life, and they were the residence of a great variety and number of animals. They were fed by the production of a fertile soil, and unmolested except by a few armed only with a bow and arrow. The principal of those found existing in the wilds of the now town of Portland were bear, wildcat. beaver, deer, fox, rabbit, porcupine. woodchuck. raccoon, muskrat, skunk, mink, weasel and squirrel. The first five of these have entirely disappeared. whilst the remainder are on such terms with civ- ilization as they are able to procure.
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CHAPTER VIII.
View of the Town previous to Settlement by the Whites-No Traces of Cultivation- No Traces of Indians or of Indian Life-The whole Country Abandoned by them -Evidences of Early Civilized Life, Fortifications, &c.
At the period of the advent of the earliest settler that portion of territory now within the town of Portland was a wilderness of dense, heavy forests. "No traces of cultivation enlivened the dreary waste," and we suppose that it had remained thus for a long succession of ages. When Capt. James Dunn explored the town in 1804 with a view of settlement and making for himself and family a home in the wilderness, this heavy growth of timber along the northern border, and. deep ravines made by the streams near their mouth. deterred him from locating near the lake, and he was of the opinion that the whole section could never be made available for agri. cultural purposes. He said to his wife before they arrived on their new purchase in 1805. that they should always have plenty of land for their cows to browse over, as the whole of the land near the lake was covered with the richest herbage and could never be made use of for anything else. Mr. Dunn made a good location for himself, but his estimate of the lake shore land was greatly at fault, as the many excellent farins along our northern border will attest.
It is quite probable that our forests were the haunts of savage life more or less, but there was not the least trace of aboriginal life within our borders found by the settlers. or the least evidence that the soil in any locality was ever occu- pied as planting ground by earlier inhabitants. It is true that Indians were often seen by the settlers, and perhaps
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THE TOWN . OF PORTLAND.
some of them had temporary lodgments within the town, but they were only wandering bands in search of game, having their principal location to the east or to the south of Portland. The great aversion of the Indian to habits of industry. the heavy growth of timber upon our soil and the fact that the women performed the entire labor of cultivating the soil. are perhaps sufficient reasons why the town was never a favorite resort for the red man except for the purposes of the chase. Those that occasionally visited the settlements, and on several occasions greatly alarmed women and children while alone in their cabins far away in the recesses of the forest were of that division of the Iroquois confederacy called the Senecas, a powerful tribe whose principal villages were on the Genesee river not far from Irondequoit bay on lake Ontario. Their territory extended over the whole of the west- eru part of the state. They were a constituent of a powerful nation and wielded a large influence in the confederacy in the days of its greatest glory ; but like the dew before the rising sun they are fast melting away and disappearing before the influence of civilization. But a remnant remains and they are located upon the Cattaraugus and Alleghany Reservations and a few elsewhere. Those occasionally visiting Portland were inoffensive and harmless and disposed to cultivate the good will of the settlers : came and went as they pleased and always manifested the most friendly intentions. The whole county also seems to have been abandoned by them or nearly so previous to the first settlements. or only used as hunting grounds. " When the first white man, Col. James McMahan, passed through the county in 1795, with a view to a residence, there was a small settlement of Indians on the Conewango creek, in the present town of Carroll, on a farm since owned and occupied by Judge Prendergast. This. it is believed. was the only settlement within our present limits-at least it is the only one of which we have any authentic account. There were other tracts of smaller extent which, bore marks of cultivation. and which had
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been occupied as planting grounds at more remote periods. According to tradition derived from the Indians their ances- tors had used them for purposes of tillage, but at what time is left entirely to conjecture. The forest trees which have since overgrown them furnish us no satisfactory answer to the inquiry. The cultivation. of which there are only faint traces uearly obliterated by the hand of time, was evidently resorted to merely for the purposes of subsistence. as evidences of tillage for other purposes, either in the traces which are left or in the character of the people who drew them, are wholly wanting."-WARREN.
But there are evidences within our borders, the remains of fortifications bearing marks of great antiquity, that indicate the remote existence of nations far more civilized than the present races or any of the known tribes of North America. These fortifications, or their remains, are found in various parts of our state, particularly from the interior to the western border. " There is a large one in the town of Onondaga. one in Pompey and another in Manlins ; one in Camillus, eight miles from Auburn : one in Scipio, six miles, another one mile, and another about half a mile from that village. Between the Seneca and Cayuga lakes there are several -- three within a few miles of each other. Near the village of Canandaigua there are three. In a word. they are scattered all over that country. These forts were, generally speaking, erected on the most commanding grounds. The walls or breastworks were earthen and the ditches were on the exterior of the works On some of the parapets oak trees were to be seen, which from the number of concentric circles must have been standing from one hundred and fifty to three hundred years; and there were evident indications not only that they had sprung up since the creation of these works, but that they were at least a second growth. The trenches were in some cases deep and wide, and in others shallow and narrow, and the breastworks of various alti- tude-from three to eight feet. They sometimes had one and sometimes two entrances. as was to be inferred by there being
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TIIE TOWN OF PORTLAND.
no ditches at those places. When the works were protected by a deep ravine, or a large stream of water. no ditch was to be seen. The area of these forts varied from two to six acres, and the form was generally an irregular ellipse : and in some of them fragments of earthenware and pulverized substances supposed to have been originally human bones were to be found. These fortifications, thus diffused over the interior of our country, have been generally considered as supassing the skill, patience and industry of the Indian race, and various hypotheses have been advanced to prove them of European origin."-CLINTON.
" On the south side of lake Erie are a series of old fortifica- tions, from the Cattarangus ereck to the Pennsylvania line, a distance of fifty miles. Some are from two to four miles apart. others less. Some contain five acres. The walls or breastworks are of earth, and they are generally on ground where there are appearances of creeks having once flowed into the lake, or where there was a bay. Hence it is inferred that these works were on the former margin of lake Erie, whence it has retreated from two to five miles northward."-[MOULTON.
These old forts afford a certain evidence of a large and crowded population, settled in towns which were defended by these forts, cultivating agriculture and commerce. and much further advanced in civilization than those inhabiting the same regions at the time of the discovery by Europeans.
" They may be viewed as connecting links of a great chain which extends beyond the confines of this state, and becoming more magnificent and enrions as we recede from the northern lakes, passes through Ohio into the great valley of the Missis- sippi, thence to the Gulf of Mexico, through Texas and Sonth America. In this vast range of more than three thousand miles the mennments of ancient skill gradually become more remarkable for their number, magnitude and interesting variety. until we are lost in admiration and astonishment to find in a world we call new, ancient institutions, religions ideas and forms of edifices similar to those in Asia, which there seem to go back to the dawn of civilization."-[EASTMAN.
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