USA > New York > Cayuga County > History of Cayuga County, New York > Part 22
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In 1858, the State appropriated seven thousand dollars to develop the Montezuma salt springs, and Colonel John S. Clark and William H. Carpenter of Auburn were appointed to superintend the operations. Two borings were made, but in neither was the brine of sufficient quality to warrant the erection of works. A third well was sunk one and a half miles southeast of the village and brine was obtained which was claimed to be equal to that of Syracuse. Two long blocks were built and the manufacture of salt was started in 1860. In 1862, Truesdale & Loomis were producing a salt of superior quality and the industry promised to become a factor in the commercial life of the county, but in 1863, an iron attachment to the pump fell into the well. It fitted the bore exactly and sealed it up forever.
About that time the competition of Michigan and Canadian salt began to render the manufacture unprofitable and it was abandoned.
In 1871, the State again attempted to foster the industry and appropriated three thousand dollars for that purpose, but after sinking a well to the depth of one thousand feet without promising results this effort also failed.
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FORMATION OF TOWNS
CHAPTER XVI.
Formation of Towns.
After the formation of the county in 1799, the several towns were set off as follows:
Aurelius, a "Military Township," January 27, 1789. Auburn was formed from Aurelius, March 28, 1823. Brutus was formed from Aurelius, March 30, 1802. Cato was formed from Aurelius, March 30, 1802 Conquest was formed from Cato, March 16, 182I. Fleming was formed from Aurelius, March 28, 1823. Genoa was formed from the Military tract as Milton, January 27, 1789, but the name was changed April 6, 1808.
Ira was formed from Cato, March 16, 1821. Ledyard was formed from Scipio, January 30, 1823. Locke was formed from Milton, now' Genoa, February 20, 1802. Mentz was formed from Aurelius as Jefferson, March 30, 1802, but the name was changed April 6, 1808. Montezuma was formed from Mentz, April 8, 1859. Moravia was formed from Sempronius, March 20, 1833. Niles was formed from Sempronius, March 20, 1833. Owasco was formed from Aurelius, March 30, 1802. Scipio was formed from the Mili- tary tract, March 5, 1794. Sempronius was formed from the Military tract, March 9, 1799. Sennett was formed from Brutus, March 19, 1827. Springport was formed from Scipio, January 30, 1823. Sterling was formed from Cato, June 19, 1812. Summer Hill was formed from Locke, as Plato, April 26, 1831, but the name was changed, March 16, 1832. Throop was formed from parts of Aurelius, Mentz and Sennett, April 8, 1859. Venice was formed from Scipio, January 30, 1823. Victory was formed from Cato, March 16, 182I.
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HISTORY OF CAYUGA COUNTY
The government of Cayuga County was organized May 28, 1799, at the Court House at Aurora, by the assembling of the first Board of Supervisors. There were only seven members in that first board namely :
Joseph Grover, of Aurelius; Thomas Hewit, of Milton; Jacob T. C. DeWitt, of Sempronius; Silas Halsey, of Ovid; George Bailey, of Romulus; Abraham Mariele, of Ulysses; and Walter Wood, of Scipio.
The first board of the county, after the separation of Seneca County from its western border in 1804, met at Scipio, and was composed of ten members. They were Joseph Grover Jr., Aurelius ; Augustus Chidsey, Scipio; Elijah Price, Owasco; Rufus Sheldon, Brutus; Silas Bowker, Locke; Charles Kellogg, Sempronius; Richard Townley, Milton; John Ellis, Dryden; John C. Barnes, Cato; and Isaac Smith, Jefferson.
In 1818 the Board of Supervisors still consisted of but ten members, namely: William Allen of Scipio, William Clark of Genoa, Nehemiah Wisner of Aurelius, James Leonard of Mentz, Charles Chamberlain of Locke, William Satterlee of Sempronius, Elijah Devoe of Owasco, Rufus Sheldon of Brutus, Augustus F. Ferris of Cato, and John McFadden of Sterling.
The town of Auburn was first represented in the board in 1824, Elijah Miller being the first supervisor from the town. In that year there were eighteen towns represented, Conquest, Ira, Spring- port, Victory, Venice, Ledyard and Fleming, having been erected in the meantime.
The records of the proceedings of the earlier board of supervisors indicate that the principal sources of local taxation were damages claimed by land owners for new roads through their lands, bridges over streams to perfect those roads, the support of the poor and bounties for the destruction of wild beasts.
One of the sources of amusement and profit of the early pioneers was hunting. The woods abounded with game. Deer, squirrels,
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bear and wolves roamed the forest in incredible numbers and there were myriads of foxes, rabbits and raccoons. When the settlers began to raise crops and keep barnyards nearly all of these became very destructive. The wolves, powerful red-haired beasts, were dangerous, and the deer, squirrels and foxes were a constant menace to the crops and the barnyard. The squirrels became such a pest that whole townships would organize in grand hunts for their slaughter, but so prolific were they that these hunts were kept up for about thirty years. To exterminate the wolves a bounty was offered and paid. So it came that this bounty was one of the items for which taxes had to be raised.
Before the erection of the County Poor House in 1825, the expenses of the towns for the support of the poor were nearly equal to all other outlays. It would seem that all the "hardy pioneers" were not self-supporting.
The heavy expenses for the support of the poor led the super- visors, at their session in 1825, to proceed to the erection of a county poor house. It was built upon the farm of Thomas Stevenson in the town of Brutus. The building was completed in 1826, and fifty-two inmates were received. In 1827 the number had risen to one hundred and fifty. Pauperism was much greater in those days, per capita, than it is at present.
For several years after the organization of Cayuga County, the village of Aurora, which was then central and nearest the most populous towns, was its capital. It was never so designated by law, but was the place where the courts were held and where the super- visors convened; besides, it was regarded as the leading market town of the county. But when Seneca County was erected out of Cayuga in 1804 several other places set up claims to the county seat. Auburn was finally decided upon and county buildings planned. The Court House was completed in 1809. The archives of the county were moved to Auburn in 1807.
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CHAPTER XVII.
Early Modes of Travel and Transportation-Roads, Stages, the Grand Canal- Dawn of the Railroad Era.
The modes of travel and transportation of the early settlers who came to Cayuga County, were circuitous, rude and toilsome. The late John I. Brinkerhoff in a paper which he read before the Cayuga County Historical Society of Auburn upon February 15, 1883, says: "They came with tented wagons and brought with them as much as they could carry of provisions and household stuff that would be necessary for them by the way. Gangs of men were working in Pennsylvania opening a road through the wilderness to the Genesee country, New York. Trees were cut down and logs got out of the way with now and then a corduroy bridge over swampy places, so their wagons could pass. Their progress was very slow, sometimes they would come to the end of the road,-that is they would come up to a company of men who had not got through their section and they would halt and help these men through to the next section. They did not find commodious hotels on the way, but every family who had got up a log house would take in all their little house would hold. So when near night they came to one of these houses, they would take bedding enough out of the wagons to cover the floor, and the women and children would sleep in the house, and the men would sleep in the wagons, and when night overtook them, and there was no house, the women and children would sleep under the tents in the wagons and the men on the ground under the wagons. After they arrived and built themselves a log house, then began the work of clearing and planting for sustenance."
"Provisions for the first year or two after their arrival were scarce, especially grains, and they had to economize pretty close."
DAVID WADSWORTH
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As for meats, the game in the woods, and fish in the lakes and brooks furnished that until they raised beef, pork and mutton, so they never were in a starving condition. Mr. Brinkerhoff says: That his eldest brother George, when seventeen years of age killed sixteen deer the first season after they came here and about the same number the next season. They were two months on the road upon that journey. I do not know how early they could send anything by mail but for a time they had to send by messengers, or go themselves. For a number of years, and I think up to the time navigation commenced by the canal, their wheat market was at Utica, when they had more than they needed for home consumption; their threshing and marketing was done mostly in winter. They generally had sleighing during the winter months and sometimes in part of March. It would take about four days to take a load to Utica and return. They threshed by flails or tramped the wheat out with horses.
In 1791, a company was formed and duly incorporated, called the Western Inland Lock and Navigation Company. The object of the Company was to improve the facilities for transportation of goods and produce, and settled effects between the then growing West and East, and this company undertook to open a route by water from Schenectady to Seneca Lake. The condition of the route, although it had been known and used by the Indians for ages and also in later times by the pioneers in their journeys to the West, we find at this time to have been as follows: On account of the long distance round, and the difficulties attending the navigation of the Hudson river and the Mohawk between Albany and Schenectady the water was abandoned, and a land route, sixteen miles, adopted between those two places. On the Mohawk from Schenectady to Little Falls, a distance of fifty-six miles, no serious obstructions were found. The stream was broad and in many places deep, with an easy current and a smooth, unruffled surface.
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Arriving at Little Falls a carry or portage became unavoidable. Light boats and canoes were carried by hand, while the heavy boats and bateaux were drawn three-fourths of a mile around the falls by ox teams over a difficult and rocky pathway.
The boats or bateaux used in these early days were generally from twenty to thirty feet in length, and four to six feet broad, flat bottomed and of light draught.
Upon the upper edge, and upon both sides of these boats ran a wale or plank their entire length, upon which the boatman, whose power alone propelled the craft, could walk.
The mode when moving against the current was to place one end of a pole upon the bottom of the stream and the other against their shoulder, and then by pushing, the boat would glide along under their feet, while they walked its length, much the same as a tread- mill is moved by the animal propelling it.
After passing Little Falls, the next obstruction to free naviga- tion was the shoals or rapids, at German Flats, as they were then called, now Herkimer.
From the latter place to Utica an easy passage was found. From Utica to Rome, however, the river was more shallow and was obstructed by logs and trees felled into it by settlers as a more expeditious manner to dispose of them than to burn them.
At Rome or Fort Stanwix as it was then known, a carry was necessary to reach Wood Creek, a small stream, which instead of emptying into the Mohawk, less than two miles distant, with an elevation of land of only two feet between them, flowed by a circuitous route of nearly thirty miles into Oneida Lake, and thence by the Oswego River into Lake Ontario.
The portage at Fort Stanwix was called by the Indians, De-o- wain-sta, the place where canoes were carried from one stream to another.
Through Wood Creek, therefore, and Oneida Lake, lay the route of these bateaux, by which they reached the Oswego River, thence
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into Seneca River, passing Montezuma which was the stopping place for Cayuga County, and pursuing the course of that river in its windings and through the marshes into Canadaigua Creek which, being followed, would bring them to Seneca Falls, to find the last obstruction in the passage to Seneca Lake.
In this condition of navigation through Central New York, a bateau could with difficulty transport, with a crew of three men, between Schenectady and Seneca Lake, in fifteen to twenty days, one and a half tons of goods.
Many pioneer settlers reached their chosen lands for settlement, in the summer season in small boats or canoes containing their family and effects, over this long and tedious route. Others came in winter, upon rude sleds drawn by oxen through the wilderness over the narrowly cut out roads, with little else than the cutting done upon them, and in many places nothing but Indian trails or blazed trees to guide them through the forest.
A letter is here given which brings up a view of Cayuga County ninety-three years ago. It was written by Samuel Coonley to Joseph Smith of Washington, Dutchess County, N. Y., and who was the great grandfather of Mr. C. E. Almy of Auburn. Coonley's Corners, between Levanna and Aurora, are named after Samuel Coonley, who wrote the appended letter.
SCIPIO, May 21, 1814.
DEAR SIR :
I embrace the earliest opportunity to inform you of our safe arrival at this place on Tuesday the Ioth inst. after a journey of Seven days. We found bad roads but had tolerably good weather and endured the fatigue of the journey as well as could be expected and we still enjoy a reasonable state of health hoping these may find you and yours enjoying the same inestimable blessing-I have made some enquiry about land since I have been in the Town tho' not so much as I wished by reason of the difficulty of obtaining such things as we really stand in need of-there is one farm adjoining
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me of (I believe) something rising of One hundred Acres under good improvement the price will be probably about Thirty Dollars per Acre-another of one hundred and Thirty Acres under tolerable improvement buildings poor within about one Mile for about Sixteen Dollars pr. acre thought to be a great Bargain-with Several others in the Neighborhood-the few days we have been in the Town it has been remarkably wet which makes Farmers back- ward with their planting. The Season very Healthy-I must for this time conclude (being joined by my Family) in tendering you my warmest acknowledgement for past favors and desiring your future health and prosperity which is the earnest desire of
Your Sincere Friend,
SAMI COONLEY. Please to write by the bearer Humphrey Sharpsteen.
The Western Inland Lock and Navigation Company pursued a vigorous policy and in two or three years constructed locks at Little Falls, some of which are still visible, improved the condition of the river at German Flats, removed obstruction between Utica and Rome, built a canal at the latter place to connect the Mohawk and Wood Creek, and shortened the distance to Oneida Lake, by straightening Wood Creek nearly one-half, so that enlarged boats with five men could transport between the extreme terminal points of their improved navigation, twelve tons in ten days.
These limited improvements were said to have doubled the value of the lands lying contiguous to their line of inland navigation. For many years this was the popular route to the West through Cayuga County.
The success of this enterprise had its effect, together with the increase of population, and the extended area of cultivation, in the ultimate construction of the Grand Canal, which became daily more and more apparent, a public necessity.
In August, 1816, the Grand Canal project had been so fully discussed, and so well understood, that we find records of favorable
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legislation and a commission duly appointed to cause books of subscription to be opened at various points along the line, to solicit donations of land or money to aid in its construction.
A committee for this purpose, in the village of Auburn consisted of the following named gentlemen, viz .: Joseph Colt, Elijah Miller, and John Haring.
The work was at length commenced and the first spade in its construction was thrust into the ground at Rome near the old United States Arsenal by the Honorable Joshua Hathaway. The receipts of aid for the construction, by donation, were however in- sufficient for the proper prosecution of the work, and an applica- tion was presented to Congress, praying for aid, but President Monroe expressed it as his settled conviction that Congress did not possess a constitutional right to appropriate money for internal improvements.
This decision of the President was a great disappointment to the friends of the project, and drew from a resident of Auburn the following words, which should be printed in letters of gold and treasured in the archives of the Empire State:
"If Mr. Monroe thinks, that by his refusing any assistance to the people of this State, in the execution of the grand project which is now in the full tide of successful experiment, he can damp the ardor of the people, he is greatly mistaken, and every attempt to discourage their operation will but stimulate them to still greater exertions. Rich in population and resources, united by ties of common interest, commanding the internal commerce of a vast and fertile region-New York-single and alone, has breasted herself to the mighty work. She will triumph in its accomplishment-and the glory will be her own." So spake and wrote Thomas M. Skinner.
In July, 1820, the Grand Canal had been so far completed as to allow boats to run between Montezuma and Utica three times a week, taking two days for the trip, and fare four dollars. Stages
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were found in waiting at the principal places on the canal to convey passengers to villages on the turnpike.
The locks at Little Falls were completed and the water let into the canal, on the 18th of November, 1821, which extended the trip of the packet boats from Montezuma to Schenectady.
On the 29th day of September, 1825, a meeting of the citizens of Auburn was held at the Western Exchange tavern, kept by Holt and Curtis, with Doctor Erastus Humphrey in the chair, and William H. Seward, secretary. That meeting passed the following resolution :
Resolved, That we hail with great satisfaction the approaching completion of the Erie Canal, the most SPLENDID WORK OF INTER- NAL IMPROVEMENT UNDERTAKEN IN ANY COUNTRY, and that we will heartily concur with our fellow citizens in other parts of the state, in celebrating the same.
Resolved, That Jno. W. Hulburt, Elijah Miller, Erastus Humph- rey, S. W. Hughes and G. Ash Gamage, Esqrs., be appointed a committee to correspond with other committees and report at a future meeting.
The final completion was in October, 1825, which was duly celebrated at the principal places along its entire length.
The celebration for Cayuga County was at Port Byron on the twenty-seventh day of the month. Auburn was fully represented by her ablest and best men, with Myron C. Reed of Auburn in the chair as vice-president of the day, and who addressed the assem- blage. On this festive occasion an ox was roasted whole; toasts and speeches and the firing of cannon, were amongst the demonstra- tions of general joy.
Port Byron and Weed Basin vied with each other many years as to which should be considered the landing place or port of entry for the village of Auburn. Stages were placed upon both routes to connect with the packet boats. Heavy public wagons to transport
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merchandise and products between Auburn and the canal, formed a business for a large number of persons many years.
Uncle "Nat" Williams was one of the favored and favorite of those hard working teamsters. This was Auburn's outlet for pas- sengers and property except by the lines of stages of which we shall speak directly, for nearly fourteen years.
The roads through our county when first cut through the forest, followed as closely as practicable, the old Indian trails, and in 1790 and 1791, a party of emigrants under the direction of General Wads- worth, improved the road through the wilderness, between Whites- town and Canandaigua.
In 1797, a law was passed authorizing the raising of $45,000 by lotteries to improve the various roads of the state, and the sum of $2,200 out of that fund was appropriated to the improvement of the great Genesee road.
The great Genesee road through Cayuga County was substan- tially the old road from Skaneateles or Mottville by Franklin street to Auburn and thence nearly on the line of West Genesee street, to Cayuga ferry about one mile north of the present village of Cayuga. In the same year, 1797, the Cayuga Bridge Company was incor- porated, called the Manhattan Company, consisting of John Harris, Thomas Morris, Wilhelmus Mynderse, Charles Williamson, and Joseph Annin, the latter sheriff of Cayuga County in 1800, the year of the completion of the bridge. The cost of the first bridge was $25,000, and the total length of it one mile and eight rods.
In the year 1800, an act passed the Legislature incorporating the Seneca Road or Turnpike Company. This road as cited in the act was to run between the house of John House, in the village of Utica and the Court House in Canandaigua, substantially covering the ground of the great Genesee road.
The trustees of this company were Charles Williamson, Benjamin Walker. Jedediah Sanger, and Israel Chapin.
The act required the road to be six rods in width and twenty
18
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HISTORY OF CAYUGA COUNTY
feet of it in the center to be covered with broken stone or gravel to the depth of fifteen inches. Toll gates were to be ten miles from each other, and the toll for a two-horse vehicle, twelve and a half cents; four-horse, twenty-five cents. No persons passing to or from public worship on Sunday, going to their common labor on their farms with their cattle or teams, carrying firewood, going to or returning from mill for the grinding of grains for family use, going to or returning from any funeral, shall pay any toll in the town in which they reside.
The Cherry Valley turnpike was also laid out in the year 1800, which ran from Cherry Valley in Otsego County to the outlet of Skaneateles Lake, there to connect with the great Seneca turnpike to the West.
An act passed the Legislature in March, 1804, giving Jason Parker and Levi Stevens the exclusive right to run stage wagons for seven years on this new turnpike, between Utica and Canan- daigua. This was the first line of stages that ever ran through Cayuga County.
The number of passengers in each wagon was limited by law to seven adults, and the stages made two trips per week. In 1805, the year following, a line was extended eastward from Utica, by John Post, who fitted up three stage boats or bateaux with seats and oilcloth covering. These boats ran to Schenectady assisted by the current of the river, and were brought back by men with poles as has been heretofore described.
The surplus product of the county, and the merchandise used, were often taken to and from Albany by teams over the new and imperfect roads of the day. These long journeys consuming more than a week's time were, however, not without interest.
A neighborhood of farmers would set out together, with loads, assisting each other as occasion required, over hard roads, and heavy inclines, congregating at noontime, by the side of some shaded stream or bubbling spring to bait their teams and enjoy
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their luncheon, and at night to assemble at the wayside inns of the period to enjoy the hospitalities of mine host.
In 1809, Isaac Sherwood of Skaneateles became the partner of Jason Parker of Utica, in the stage lines through this county carrying the United States Mail.
In 1816, a line of stages left Canandaigua and Utica every week day to run through in thirty-six hours. The proprietors of this line were Thomas Powell, Jason Parker, I. Whitmore, Aaron Thorpe and Isaac Sherwood & Co.
In connection with this line of stages another company ran East from Utica a tri-weekly line for Albany.
The parties above mentioned, constituted the proprietors of what is familiarly known as the Old Line Mail, upon this growing thoroughfare, and who maintained undisputed and unmolested occupation and control up to the year 1828, nearly or quite twelve years, when the Pioneer Line, in opposition, was placed upon the route.
The history of this bitter opposition is not without interest, and a portion of it is here submitted. The public mind in the year 1828, was unusually excited and disturbed; the tariff question, the temperance question, and political anti-Masonry, swept through the country like a whirlwind, and that was probably one of the most vindictive seasons of political warfare ever known to the state.
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