History of Cattaraugus County, New York, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 8

Author: Franklin Ellis and Eugene Arns Nash
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages:

USA > New York > Cattaraugus County > History of Cattaraugus County, New York, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers > Part 8

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

These, above mentioned, were the pioneer settlements of the county. Into the region along the northeastern, north- ern, and northwestern border, and along the lower valley of the Allegany, the settlers came later, and these will be found mentioned in the histories of the several towns in which they made their homes.

It can hardly be said that settlements progressed rapidly through this region at first, for it is found from an official source that at the end of six years from the commencement of Adam Hoops' settlement on the Allegany, the entire territory of Cattaraugus County contained a population of only four hundred and fifty-eight souls. An old settler upon the Allegany (John King, of the King Settlement, above Hoops') explained the cause of the slow progress of settlement and improvement along the valley of the Alle- gany * in a way which at first thought seems amusing enough, but which, when further considered, seems by no means wholly unreasonable. He argued that the fact was due to the unusual facility afforded by the river for getting away from the country; that new settlers, becoming dis- couraged, had only to collect a few slabs, form a raft, and be carried by the current of the river to a new home. He thought in the experience of most of those who attempt the settlement of now countries, there were times when dis- couragement and dissatisfaction with their surroundings would impel them to abandon their attempt and to return whence they came, or to go farther on, provided they could accomplish the removal easily ; and he added,-what was undoubtedly true,-that many substantial and prosperous citizens, through all the region of Western New York, had

reason to be thankful that there were formidable obstacles to leaving the country during the early times of trial and privation.

As a rule, the settlers who came to Cattaraugus were far from rich in this world's goods; and indeed such appears to have been the case with those who settled on the other portions of the purchase. Soon after the opening of the company's lands to purchasers, Mr. Ellicott wrote the gen- eral agent, " I have made no actual sales this fall where the stipulated advance has been paid. I begin to be strongly of the opinion you always expressed to me (but which, I confess, I rather doubted), that few purchasers will come forward and pay cash for lands in a new country." And again he said, "If some modes could be devised to grant lands to actual settlers who cannot pay an advance, and at the same time not destroy that part of the plan which required some advance, I am convinced the most salutary consequences would be the result, which I beg leave to suggest for Mr. Busti's consideration, as three-fourths of the applicants are of that description ; and as every acre of land that is cleared, fenced, and sowed on the purchase makes the district at least twenty-five dollars more valua- ble, it appears to me some modo might be devised to grant to such actual settlers lands without restricting them to pay in advance. Moneyed men are loath to settle before con- veniences can be had, which accounts for the reason why our sales have not been more extensive to that class of pur- chasers." Probably quite as powerful a reason was that those intending emigration, and having the means necessary to purchase government lands (for which advance payment must be made), preferred to pass on to the West, where those lands were located, and there to make their purchases at a lower price, and, as they believed, in a country of still greater fertility; certainly a region much more inviting to the farmer's eye than the forest-crowned hills and isolated valleys of Cattaraugus.

And thus it was that while purchasers having money passed by the lands in this region, those having no wealth but their hands remained here to take contracts of the Holland Company, who certainly sold good lands at reason- able prices, gave easy terms to purchasers, and always proved the most lenient of creditors. They articled their lands for ten years, exacting but a small payment down, and proposed to extend the article five years longer if the interest was kept up and a small payment made at the time of extension. This induced men of small means, especially young men just starting in life, to take up their lands, as such had no doubt but that in ten, or certainly in fifteen years, they would be able to pay for their lands and make necessary improvements.

In the earlier years succeeding their coming the settlers had very few resources which would command money, and some money was necessary even for those who occupied lands of the Holland Company. To obtain it, the only way was the production of black salts,-though even these did not become saleable until some time after the first forests were felled. But at length asheries were built, and these, by purchasing the " salts," afforded the settlers a chance to realize a little money. All who could procure a five-pail kettle, or club with neighbors (if neighbors they had) to

* When James Green removed to Great Valley in 1812, he was the only white inhabitant on the river below Olean Point.

Digitized by Google

HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NEW YORK.

purchase a cauldron, commenced their manufacture. This not only brought a little money into the country, but it also promoted the clearing of land.

The process of manufacture of an article so much prized as " black salts" among the carly inhabitants of this region should be described. It was as follows : Timber was cut into convenient lengths, piled, and burned to ashes (though this process was by no means as rapid as its description). The ashes were then gathered, placed in a sort of hopper, and drenched with water, which, percolating the alkaline mass, dripped out in the form of "lye," which was then boiled in kettles or in cauldrons, becoming more and more concentrated as the process was continued, until at last the liquid was crystallized into the substance known as black salts, each hundred pounds of which represented a certain amount of money, and an amount, too, which the pioneers of those days regarded as very considerable.

The best ashes came from the burning of oak, elm, maple, beech, birch, and some other kinds of hard wood. Those made from pine and hemlock were worthless for the purpose under consideration. The timber, if good and heavy, covering an acre of ground, would produce, possibly, four hundred pounds of salts, which could generally be sold at about two dollars and fifty cents per hundredweight. The results here given are fully as favorable as were obtained on an average by the settler; and when we compute the amount thus realized from the severe labor of felling and converting an acre of heavy timber into the commerial commodity, we realize how precious was money, and how cheap was the labor of sinew and bone among these early settlers.

A source of far greater revenue than could ever be de- rived from black salts was found in the dense masses of pine timber which covered the lands in the southern part of the county ; but these were not developed until some years later, and then the manufacture and marketing of lumber, though found very profitable by many, required an amount of capital ,which was far beyond the reach of the greater part of the pioneers who made the early settlements in this and the adjoining counties.

The life of these first settlers was a hard one at best. When they entered upon their lands (in which the usual extent of their proprietorship was the privilege of purchas- ing if they should ever become able) the first work was to build a cabin of logs, with stick chimney, and window of oiled paper ; then to clear and plant a small plat, from the harvest of which, God willing, they might hope for a scanty subsistence for the family during the succeeding winter. When the crops were in, still there was no rest from unre- mitting labor, for the work of clearing was never done, and fences must be built, and more inexorable than all was the demand for daily food,-a demand not easily met during the time that elapsed before the maturity of the crops ; and if, by any mishap of drought, or depredation, or un- timely frosts, these crops should fail, then the prospect became dark indeed, and it sometimes occurred that, under such circumstances, families entirely without pecuniary resources (as was the case with many) became reduced to actual suffering from lack of food.

The abundance of wild game, however, and the great

numbers of fish living in the streams,-particularly the Allegany River, *- furnished considerable assistance, at cer- tain seasons of the year, towards supplying the necessities of the family ; and instances were not infrequent in which supplies drawn from the forest and the stream have allayed the pangs of actual hunger. Deer were abundant in all the woods, and in times when the snow was smoothly crusted these were taken with scarcely any difficulty ; and although at these times their flesh was rather unpalatable from the flavor given by the hemlock on which they were compelled to feed when the snow covered every other green thing, yet it was food, and as such was not unwelcome. Elk were also occasionally found in the pine forests along the Alle- gany, but these were less easily taken.

Bears and wolves were also found here, the latter in great numbers. Their presence was disliked by the settlers, more, however, on account of their depredations upon sheep, hogs, and fowls than of danger from them to the human species ; though there were many instances where they attacked persons when driven to that extremity by raven- ous hunger. An unrelenting war was waged against the wolves, in particular, on account of the large bounties paid by State, county, and town for their scalps. To some who were skilled in wolf hunting and trapping this became a source of greater revenue than they could derive from black salts, and was obtained with far less labor; and it has been related of some who, in after-years, counted their pos- sessions by scores of thousands, that no inconsiderable part of their carly acquisitions came from a peculiarly shrewd method of traffic in wolf-scalps. The " wolf-certificates" for the year 1818 (found with the supervisors' records at the county-seat) show that the bounties paid that year on wolf-scalps in the county of Cattaraugus were as follows :

State bounties.

$117.50

County bounties. 412.50

Town bounties 405.00

Total $1235.00

The bounties paid at that time on each scalp were: State, twenty dollars; county, twenty dollars; towns, some twenty, and others ten dollars. Whelp-scalps received a bounty of seven dollars and a half, each, from town, county, and State; a total of twenty-two dollars and a half for each whelp.

But if the early settlers in Cattaraugus saw much of hardship and privation they had many reasons for abundant gratitude ; and the chief of these was their immunity from danger of Indian inroad. In the older settlements along the Mohawk, the upper Hudson, and the Susquehanna the

* It is related that at the time of the first settlements the smaller streams were filled with trout, and that fish of the most excellent kinds were exceedingly abundant in the Allegany. But three-fourths of a century of Indian fishing upon that stream has wellnigh exter- minated them. A few years ago an attempt was made to stock the river with shad, and on the 30th of June, 1872, and 3d of July in the same year, a total of four hundred and twenty-five thousand young fish of this kind were placed in the stream at Salamanca by agents of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries. The fish, which were furnished by Messrs. Green & Clift, were brought here from the Connecticut River, at South Hadley Falls, Mass. It is not known that shad have since been caught in the river, except in one instance, when two were taken by Mr. Levi Leonard, of Carrolton.

Digitized by Google

HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NEW YORK.

pioneer never slept free from danger of attack and massacre ; he never left home without the consciousness that his cabin might be burnt and his family massacred or carried into captivity before he returned; and he never worked in his clearing but with his rifle in reach. To the early settlers in those dark and bloody grounds might well be applied the words of Scripture (Nehemiah iv. 16, 17, 18), " And it came to pass from that time forth, that the half of my servants wrought in the work, and the other half of them held both the spears, the shields, and the bows, and the habergeons; . . . They which builded on the wall, and they that bare burdens, with those that laded, every one with one of his hands wrought in the work, and with the other hand held a weapon. For the builders, every one had his sword girded by his side, and so builded."

But the first comers to these wilds braved no such dan- gers. The settler might build his cabin in the loneliest dell of Cattaraugus, and sleep in peace at night and work unarmed in the dark woods by day without a fear of harm from the hands of the savage, for the spirit of the Seneca was cowed, his ancient ferocity was gone, and his promise to live in peace with the white man was faithfully kept.

THE EARLIEST ROADS.

The earliest evidence or suggestion of the existence of a road or traveled way, other than the Indian trails, within the territory which now forms the county of Cattaraugus, is found in the State map of 1802, prepared by Simeon De Witt, Surveyor-General of New York. In this map there is laid down a portage-road, starting at the south bank of Cattaraugus Creek at the extreme north west corner of the county, and running thence across what is now Perrysburg and a part of Dayton to the head-waters of the east branch of the Connewango. As this date was before the advent of white settlers within the county, it seems evident that the road thus delineated must have been merely a bridle-path that had been cut through by the surveyors of the Holland Company, in 1798, for the passage of the pack-horses, which were employed in the transportation of their supplies from boats or canoes on the Cattaraugus Creek across the highlands to the water-way of the Connewango.

On a map which accompanies the " Documentary History of New York," and which is entitled " Western New York in 1809," there is laid down the " Lake Erie Turnpike Road," running on an exactly straight line across the coun- ties of Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany, and Steuben, from a point on Lake Erie, a little west of Portland Harbor, to Bath, in Stueben County ; making connection at Bath with the "Susquehannah and Bath Turnpike-Road," and also with the Great Bend and Bath Turnpike-Road." Of course, the first-named turnpike-road never existed ; but the fact that it is found laid down on this ancient map shows clearly that such a highway was projected at that early time, probably intended mainly as a route for emigrants moving towards the great West.

The Rev. James H. Hotchkin, in his " History of the Presbyterian Church in Western New York," says that when Major Hoops came to Olean Point " the only access to the place was by an indifferent and circuitous road from

the county of Steuben to King's Settlement, in Pennsyl- vania," and from thence, of course, by the Allegany River to the place of his destination. The condition of this en- tire region at that period will be realized from a statement of an old gentleman by the name of Metcalf, once a resi- dent at Ellicottville. His father, John Metcalf, came to Batavia with Captain Williamson, and was the keeper of the public-house he erected there. Mr. Metcalf said, " In January, 1806, I came through from Bath to Angelica, and then on to Olean Point. The road from Angelica to Olean was then only underbrushed; the logs were not cut out ; I had to lift my sleigh over them. There were then no inhabitants between Genesee River and Olean. I found large hunting-parties of Indians encamped about the small settlement that Hoops had commenced, with whom I bartered goods for furs. I then started for Buffalo, taking an Indian trail that crossed the Cattaraugus Creek a short distance below Arcade. In all this route I saw no white man, except at Olean and after I had reached a few pio- neer settlers in the south part of Erie."

The first road-which could properly be termed such- connecting the county of Cattaraugus with the outside world was, by an act of Legislature, passed April 10, 1810 (Thirty-third Session, Chapter 40), authorized to be laid out and opened " from Canandaigua by the head of Conesus Lake, by the most eligible route to the mouth of Olean River." The commissioners for laying out this highway were Valentine Brother, of Canandaigua ; George Hornell (afterwards Judge Hornell), of Hornellsville; and Major Moses Van Campen; the last-named gentleman being ap- pointed surveyor of the road. This highway was laid out to accommodate the great tide of emigrant travel which even at that early time was passing through the State, and aimed to strike the mouth of Olean Creek.

In the same year (1810) a road from Buffalo, passing through the present villages of Springville (Erie County) and Franklinville to Olean Point, was opened. The com- missioners appointed to locate this road were David Eddy, Timothy Hopkins, and Peter Vandeventer. The expense of opening this highway was borne in equal parts by the State and the county of Niagara. This road, although " opened" at the time mentioned, was hardly passable for several years after.

A road, to run from the termination of the "Pine Creek Road," at Cerestown, Pa., to Hamilton (Olean) and thence to the outlet of Chautauqua Lake, was authorized by an act of Legislature, passed March 20, 1813. (Chap. 72, 36th Session). Moses Van Campen, of Angelica, Christopher Hurlbut, of Arkport, Steuben County, and Jedediah Strong, of the town of Olean (with Tarball Whitney, of Almond, Allegany County, to act in case of a vacancy occurring), were appointed commissioners to locate and lay out the road, and " the superintendent of the Onon- daga Salt-Works is required to pay said commissioners $6000 out of any public moneys he may have in hand" for the construction of the road.

This road was constructed not only to the outlet of the lake but through to Lake Erie. It was, however, opened but barely wide enough to admit the passage of wagons, and was never in good condition. A great portion of its

Digitized by Google

HISTORY OF CATTARAUGUS COUNTY, NEW YORK.

route through Cattaraugus County lay through the Indian reservation, and the road was more used by Indians than by whites. Eventually it became impassable.

The " old Chautauqua Road," which had its eastern con- nection with Geneseo and Canandaigua, was opened by the Holland Company for the purpose of connecting the oppo- site portions of their purchase. It entered this county at the northeast corner of the fifth township of the third range, and passed thence in a southwesterly direction through the present towns of Farmersville, Franklinville, Ellicottville, Mansfield, Little Valley, and Napoli to the village of Rutledge, in Connewango, and then, crossing Connewango swamp and creek, passed on through Chau- tauqua County to Mayville. It was " underbrushed" through as early as 1812, and corduroyed across the Conne- wango swamp. The most that could be said in its praise, at that time, was that it was possible to pass over it. After- wards, a branch, commencing near Little Valley, was built on a more southerly route, to Jamestown. For a number of years, and until after 1825, the Chautauqua road was a great route of travel for emigrants traveling to "New Connecticut" and other points in Northern Ohio. It was largely used as a thoroughfare by drovers until a much later date.

A road from Angelica to the village of Hamilton was surveyed by Moses Van Campen, and opened in 1815; but in this, as in case of most of the first roads, the opening was but little more than cutting away the underbrush so as to place it within the bounds of possibility for a strongly-built wagon to pass over it. The condition of this road four years later is pretty clearly indicated by the language of an act passed April 2, 1819, authorizing the building a State road from Angelica, " by the way of Van Campen's Creek to the village of Hamilton" . . " on representation that the said road was rendered almost impassable by the great extent of foreign travel and transportation." The commissioners named in the act were Joseph Ellicott, Robert Troup, Charles Carroll, Philip Church, Dugald Cameron, Major Moses Van Campen, Seymour Bouton, Sylvanus Russell, and William Higgins,-five of whom should constitute a quorum for business.

An act passed April 11, 1817, authorized the opening of a road four rods wide, from the Canandaigua and Buffalo road, in the first range of townships, and thence south through Warsaw by the best and most practicable route to intersect the Allegany road, " and as much further on a direction to Olean Point as the commissioners shall think the public good may require." The commissioners ap- pointed to lay out this road were Elizur Webster, Josiah Churchill, and Thomas Dole.

A State road, to run southwestwardly from Hamilton and connect with a road then recently opened by the State of Pennsylvania, was authorized by an act passed April 14, 1823, which appointed Wyllys Thrall and Griswold E. Warner commissioners " to lay out, open, and improve a road from the Pennsylvania line; to begin in the town of Great Valley [the part now Allegany], at the place where the road from Kittaning, Pa., terminates, and to run from thence to the village of Hamilton, in the town of Olean." The road was to be completed in two years from the date

of the act, and to be paid for out of the proceeds of the tax on salt.

The above-mentioned comprise all the most important roads which were opened in the county of Cattaraugus during the twenty years next succeeding its settlement.

THE EMIGRANT HIGHWAY.

It is noticeable that the objective point of all these high- ways (with the exception of the Chautauqua road) was the settlement of Major Hoops, the village of Hamilton, or, as it was better known, Olean Point. This was con- sidered the head of navigation on the Allegany River, and being also the most accessible point at which that stream could be reached by the host of emigrants who were then removing from the older portions of New York and New England, to seek homes on the fertile lands of Ohio and other Western States, it became the centre to which they were attracted in great numbers, to embark here for the different points of their destination upon the lower river.

A very heavy emigration was then setting towards the northern part of Ohio, known as the Western Reserve, and this travel passed, to a great extent, over the Chautauqua road, as has been mentioned. But a large proportion of the emigrants moving westward were destined for other regions, some for the more southern and southeastern parts of Ohio, some for Western Virginia, Kentucky, and In- diana. To all such, the smoothly-flowing currents of the Allegany and Ohio Rivers offered the easiest, cheapest, and, in every sense, the most eligible highway ; a route by which, with very little labor to themselves, the rude craft on which they embarked at Olean Point would land them, without change, almost on the spot of their destination.

These were the considerations which induced multitudes of western-bound travelers to lay their route by way of Ham- ilton-on-Allegany. For several years succeeding the open- ing of this route, and particularly during the decade which preceded the completion of the Erie Canal, each return of spring saw the muddy grounds adjacent to the Point cov- ered by the temporary encampments* of an emigrant army, -not as numerous as the hosts of Sennacherib are repre- sented to have been, but too many for the peace and com- fort of the few villagers of Hamilton,-waiting for the lifting of the ice embargo, and for the moving of the waters of the Allegany. They usually chose the latter part of winter for their exodus, because at that season the friendly snow still lingered upon the roads, and mitigated, in some degree, the horrors of the passage west of the Genesee. If they had rightly timed their journey, and the melting- time came soon after their arrival, then all was well with them, but if the spring thaws delayed their coming, and the shivering, homesick wayfarers were compelled to remain

* There were then but few houses in Hamilton, not enough, indeed, -if they had all been given up to the use of these emigrants,-to shelter a tenth part of the number who were often found congregating there at one time, awaiting the opening of the river, or (at other sea- sons) waiting for a rise of water. They were therefore compelled to take such shelter as they could secure,-board shanties, rude tents, or wagon covers. Many of those better circumstanced remained at Hicks' Tavern, a few miles back on the Allegany road. This public- house, although but of small dimensions, had sheltered two hundred persons at one time, at the period of greatest emigration.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

History of Cattaraugus County, New York, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of Some of Its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 8

Author: Franklin Ellis and Eugene Arns Nash Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages:

Author: Franklin Ellis and Eugene Arns Nash
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: