USA > New York > Wayne County > History of Central New York : embracing Cayuga, Seneca, Wayne, Ontario, Tompkins, Cortland, Schuyler, Yates, Chemung, Steuben, and Tioga Counties, Volume I > Part 2
USA > New York > Cayuga County > History of Central New York : embracing Cayuga, Seneca, Wayne, Ontario, Tompkins, Cortland, Schuyler, Yates, Chemung, Steuben, and Tioga Counties, Volume I > Part 2
USA > New York > Seneca County > History of Central New York : embracing Cayuga, Seneca, Wayne, Ontario, Tompkins, Cortland, Schuyler, Yates, Chemung, Steuben, and Tioga Counties, Volume I > Part 2
USA > New York > Ontario County > History of Central New York : embracing Cayuga, Seneca, Wayne, Ontario, Tompkins, Cortland, Schuyler, Yates, Chemung, Steuben, and Tioga Counties, Volume I > Part 2
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).
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960
Lent, Rev. Frederick
800
Lester, Elias 838
836
Licht, Louis Jacob
905
Light, Leslie F. 1018
653
Lockwood, William D. 1007
Longwell, D. Spencer 1283
Luce, William A. 631
Murphy, George R. 1101
Lusk, Hon. Clayton R. 1457
Lyke, Charles H. 1116
Lyons, Rev. Edward J. 803
McCarthy, Charles A. 704
Narsh, Samuel J. 1064
Nesbitt, Capt. Clarence C. 1256
McColl, Robert Boyd 723
Newland, George Clifford 961
McCormick, Walter J. 1082
McGrath, William Louis 832
McGuire, Thomas James 1261
Mckinney, James F. 679
Mckinney, Robert A. 1075
Oaks, Charles Wilson 1269
Ogden, James E. 1352
Oldroyd, John H. 1061
Osborne, Charles Devens 689
Osborne, Lithgow 696
Osborne, Thomas Mott 688
Markgraf, Arthur C. 1515
Ostrander, Glenn Vance
1489
xvi
Moia, Rev. Pietro G. 705
Monnin, Frank Edward 1182
Moore, Erwin V. 626
Moore, Norman S.
627
Moore, Veranus A. 624
Morehouse, Russel 1272
Morey, George Torrey 955
Morris, Richard William 916
Morrow, Winfred 1325
Morse, Albert A. 787
Morton, Harry K. 1377
Mosher, Albert J. 1050
Moses, Joseph 1026
Mott, Austin L. 802
Mott, Maurice Whitlock 1447
Mulcahy, Frederick A. 1037
Murdock, Theodore R. 1493
Murnan, George M. 1442
Murray, Earl William 1433
Murray, William M. 776
Murray, Ray B. 1374
Northup, Gardner Herrick 880
Norton, Arthur Henry 1409
Nye, Hon. Olin Tracy 1195
MacDonald, Clarence A. 842
MacDonald, William S. 841
MacPhail, Rev. Malcolm L. 745
Manroe, Wallace 1394
Matthews, James E. 682
Mead, Alfred Milton 964
Mead, Benjamin C. 717
Mekeel, Stephen E. 872
Menihan, William G. 1316
Merrill, Athel D. 1025
Merrill, Charles Randall 1350
Messerschmitt, William 1293
Meyer, Alfred J. 1491
Kingsley, Ira J. 752
Kinne, George Remsen
1178
Kirby, Allen B. 1426
Kittler, Alfred 1484
Kleckler, Elmer
1295
Kulp, Claude L.
601
Kussie, Abram John
1218
Marshall, Eugene Joseph 911
Lester, Frederick W.
Livermore, Paul S.
McCarthy, Dennis A. 1146
HISTORY OF CENTRAL NEW YORK
Paddock, Arthur James 1292
Page, Arthur Robert 933
Palmatier, Charles 1213
Rothschild, Harold C. 1436
Rowe, Hon. Frank E. 1473
Royce, Elmo Milliken 1190
Ryon, Verne V. 1313
Rumsey, Edward M. 642
Russell, Charles Prescott 1502
Sackett, F. E. 990
Sailor, R. W. 1068
Sand, Austin W. W. 1104
Sanderson, Milton R. 846
Savage, William Hudson 847
Scharf, Frederick E. 1040
Schmidt, Robert Roy 1005
Schornstheimer, Edward Henry 816
Schott, Henry L. 1000
Schulz, Arthur George 1498
Scott, Benjamin D. 1041
Scutt, Caleb Charles 1224
Searles, Archie N. 1162
Sebring, James O. 1360
Sefton, Frederick 768
Selover, Charles Willard 946
Shaffer, William A. 987
Shannon, Thomas
1287
Shaw, Fred Palmer 1481
Shea, John 944
Sherwood, Elmer 1197
Shoemaker, Clayton S. 1533
Shurger, Roy C. 675
Sinclaire, William W. 1321
Sisto, Angelo 1521
Skinner, Alexander Wilson 909
Skinner, James Wallace 799
Slayton, F. Howard 782
Smith, Andrew J. 1395
Smith, Francis J. 728
Smith, Louis P. 1460
Smith, Rev. Myron J. 1009
Smith, Ralph C. 1490
Smith, Sidney R.
1486
Smyth, Stuart W. 1112
Snodgrass, Herbert Sidney 1013
Snyder, Frank Hassan 1280
Snyder, Maj. Hubert E. 1003
Spengler, John Arthur 1296
Sperry, Herbert E.
1210
St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, Au- burn 1274
Robinson, Charles Hebron 1194
Robinson, James Richards 592
Robinson, Herbert A. 750
Robinson, Richard C. 637
Rockwell, Lemuel M.
978
Roe, Hiram A. 1468
Roehm, Charles 1320
Ropp, H. Clifford 1043
Rorapaugh, Earl A. 1084
Parker, Clarence Gray 790
Parker, Fred A. 731
Parker, Fred Blair 1121
Parker, Major John Mason 1105
Parmele, Henry Marvin 965
Parmelee, John Barnes 957
Parrott, Percival John
1328
Parsons, Frank M.
747
Patch, Robert C. 1125
Payne, Fred Alexander 938
Payne, Sereno Elisha
685
Payne, William Knapp 684
Pepper, William E. 1526
Perkins, George H. 788
Perry, Charles W. 1017
Perry, David B. 612
Perry, Raymond A.
1067
Peterson, Victor A.
1060
Petteys, Jesse C. 891
Pidgeon, George Henry 1467
Pleasant Valley Wine Company.
1522
Pollard, James DeVillo
828
Pollard, Thomas W.
834
Post, John H.
635
643
Price, Robert F.
638
Pulling, Frink Minard
1373
Purcell, Jay B.
863
Purdy, Dorman S. 633
Purple, Ivan C.
1122
Putnam, Charles S.
1049
Putnam, Deyo W.
1300
Putnam, Harry Montgomery 1176
Rabourn, William O. 762
Randolph, Orville F. 1181
Rathbun, P. M. 786
Rawley, Burnett C. 1126
Reagan, Dennis J.
997
Reed, Rev. Harry Lathrop 697
Reilly, Bernard J. 1417
Reynolds, Louis B. 1416
Reynolds, Melvin A. 1047
Rich, Adelbert P.
757
Rich, Eugene M.
756
Richards, Maurice D.
700
Rider, Floyd J. 1154
Riford, Lloyd S.
767
Riley, G. Earle 699
Rising, Harry E. 1326
St. Bernard's Catholic Church, Scipio 804 St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church 706
St. Hyacinth's Catholic Church 711
St. Patrick's Church, Cato 754
St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Mo- ravia 797
Stafford, Leonard David 831
Stafford, Rev. Thomas P.
876
Stangle, John
848
xvii
Potter, Floyd N.
HISTORY OF CENTRAL NEW YORK
Stanion, Philip J. 928
Staunton, Charles Henry 1499
Stempfle, Charles D. 982
Underhill, Edwin Stewart 1304
Stevens, Guy G. 1485
Utter, Uriah
678
Stevens, Truman Short 1158
Stewart, Art 687
Stewart, Harry J. 1536
Stewart, J. Lynn
883
Stewart, Otto K.
1524
Stover, Abel B.
1391
Stover, S. John 1310
Strachen, Emory 1046
Straub, Rev. Frederick G.
1273
Stuart, William M.
1437
Stutz, Harry G.
584
Sutton, Henry Bruner
672
Swarthout, Myron H.
871
882
Sweet, Burtt E. 1001
Sweet, Lt. Commander George Cook 823
Sweet, W. Glenn
1412
Swift, Lynn G.
744
1505
Taber, Hon. John 1200
Tabor, Ernest G. 758
Tallman, Selah C. 733
Tarbell, George Schuyler 595
Tarbell, George Schuyler, Jr. 598
Taylor, John Lansing 1107
Taylor, William M. 1133
Tellier, John S. 956
Thaler, Louis K.
611
Thomas, Edwin Andrews 994
Thomas, John L. 1315
Thompson, Charles Eugene 1230
Thompson, Frederick R. 1341
Thurston, Frank Anson 1203
Tillema, John G. 1312
Tompkins, Harry A. 1149
Toole, Redmond Anthony 940
Tower, Walter Bowman 1179
Townsend, Clayton D. 1099
Townsend, Harry Brayton 1185
Townsend, Leslie B. 615
Tracy, Frank B. 1129
Tracy, William J. 1531
Travers, John Lawrence 1247
Treman, Allan H. 656
Treman, Robert E. 640
Treman, Robert H. 577
Tripp, Frank Elihu 1443
Truman, James Steele, Hon. 1102
Truman, William C. 1142
Tunison, Edgar E. 621
Turner, Ebenezer T. 662
Tuttle, Hammond Barker 939
Tuttle, Roy A. 806
Tyler, Leslie 623
Van Cleef, Mynderse 1080
Van Doren, Fred H. 878
Van Natta, James E. 630
Van Valkenburg, Harry J. 618
Van Vleet, Clarence J. 874
Vieweg, Otto C. 985
Vogt, William Louis 930
Volker, Otto H.
980
Wait, W. Bryan 1387
Walker, Eben M. 733
Walsh, James 1448
Walter, Warren S. 1227
Warden, James 1205
Warner, Melvin E. 1271
Warner, William C. 1027
Warr, William Gordon 929
Warren, Harry R. 763
Warren, Irvin R. 765
Wasser, O. E. 1070
Waterloo Mills, Inc.
829
Watkins, Lincoln L. 1128
Webb, Elsie V. 775
Weber, George F. 1216
Webster, Fred R. 1299
Weismann, Walter Scott 995
Welker, George Erwin 1186
Wells, Raymond B. 885
Wells, Reginald W. 1513
Wheat, Henry Axtell 1516
Whitfield, Charles Henry 1441
Whitney, Frank Eugene 953
Wickwire, Charles Chester 1335
Wiley, Jason L. 714
Williams, Charles Stewart 658
Williams, Clarence L. 1276
Williams, Fred E. 1519
Williams, George Burbank 902
Williams, Hugh H. 1236
Williams, Lewis Cass 1187
Williamson, Claude Cobb 952
Willis, Clarence 1285
Wilkins, Hon. Fred A. 1120
Wilson, Malcolm J. 1011
Wilson, S. Bruce 670
Windnagle, Thomas Warner 1170
Witbeck, John Henry 771
Wood, George Daw 1402
Woodford, Elliott C. 1164
Woodford, Norman L. 773
Woodhouse, Benjamin F. 1036
Woodin, Walter E.
694
Woolf, Harry D. 1008
xviii
Sweet, Arthur D.
Symonds, William P.
Underhill, Edwin Stewart, Jr. 1309
Underhill, William Allen 1308
HISTORY OF CENTRAL NEW YORK
Woolf, Joseph O.
1487
Yells, Frederick William
925
Wright, Daniel S.
741
Young, Albert
896
Wyatt, Robert John
1344
Young, Sanford Monroe 1258
Yanick, James J.
1512
Zabriskie, Robert Lansing
766
Yates, Claude T.
644
Zabriskie, N. Lansing
1184
xix
Illustrations
Achilles, William E. 1136
Auburn High School. 80
Auburn Theological Seminary. 256
Baker, Bert T.
912
Banks, Hon. S. Edwin
608
Barge Canal Lick, Seneca Falls.
96
Bath, Liberty Street
112
Bath, Soldiers Monument and Wash-
ington Park
289
Bath National Military Home
289
Blood, Charles Hazen
1088
Brockway, George A.
1392
Canandaigua Academy
432
Canandaigua District No. 9 School
432
Canisteo High School and Grade
Building
192
Catchpole, Hon. Robert Abbott 1152
Cato School Building 176
Cayuga County Court House, Au- burn 80
Cornell University Library 240
Cornell University Armory. 240
Corning, Market Street 64
Corning World War Memorial Li- brary 64
Cortland Free Library. 33
Cortland State Normal School 33
Crosby, Hon. John Francis 1232
De Puy, Fred W.
720
Dunning, David Montgomery, Sr.
1059
Elmira Carnegie Library
48
Elmira College, Sarah Wey Tomp- kins Hall 48
Elmira, New Main Street Bridge
128
Elmira United States Post Office. 128
Fox, William Douglas 864
Frank, Edward A.
1168
Geneva General Hospital. 936
Geneva Quadrangle, Hobart College 144
Geneva State Armory
112
Geneva, William Smith College and Campus 144
Groton High School
272
Hageman Hall, Keuka College 160
Hamilton, Albert Hine
1248
Harter, Hon. Ralph A.
1264
Hewitt, Hon. Charles J.
1072
Hoagland, Stanley T.
1376
Homer, Water Street Bridge.
336
Hornell, New High School
192
Interlaken, Main Street
368
Keuka College, Keuka 160
Kingsley, Ira J.
752
Lain, Ezra L.
784
Lamont Memorial Library, McGraw-
ville
336
Lent, Rev. Frederick
800
Lyons, Wayne County Building.
400
McCarthy, Charles A.
704
McGrath, William Louis 832
Melone, Harry R.
Frontispiece
Moore, Erwin V.
624
Moore, Norman S.
624
Moore, Veranus A.
624
Moravia High School
256
Newark North Ward School.
464
Northup, Gardner Herrick
880
Osborne, Thomas Mott. 688
Ovid, Main Street 368
Owego Coburn Free Library
496
Owego Free Academy, Owega
496
Owego, Lake Street
304
Palmyra High School, Palmyra
464
Parrott, Percival John
1328
Penn Yan Soldiers' and Sailors' Me- morial Hospital 224
Port Byron, Upper Dam, Owasco Creek 176
Robinson, Hon. James Richards
592
Sand, Austin W. W.
1104
Schornstheimer, Edward Henry.
816
Sebring, James O.
1360
Sefton, Frederick, M. D.
768
Seneca County Home
208
Snyder, Frank Hassan, M. D.
1280
Sodus Hospital
400
Spengler, John Arthur, M. D.
1296
Stangle, John
848
Stanion, Philip J.
928
Sullivan Monument, near Elmira
96
Sutton, Henry B.
672
Taber, Hon. John
1200
Tillema, John G.
1312
Tompkins County
Memorial Hos-
pital
528
Treman, Allan H.
656
XX
HISTORY OF CENTRAL NEW YORK
Treman, Robert E. 640
Watkins
96
Treman, Robert H.
577
Watkins High School
224
Trumansburg, Main Street 272
Weber, George F., M. D.
1216
Union Springs, Dedication of the Sullivan Monument near 304
Wilkins, Hon. Fred A.
1120
Wyatt, Robert John 1344
Waterloo, Lafayette and Scoiyase Monuments
96
Zabriskie, N. Lansing
1184
Young, Albert 896
Waterloo Memorial Hospital
208
xxii
11 **
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CORTLAND FREE LIBRARY, CORTLAND, N. Y.
STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, CORTLAND, N. Y.
CHAPTER I RESOURCES, GEOLOGY, HISTORICAL BACKGROUND.
ADVANTAGES OF LOCATION - GEOLOGICAL FORMATION - TOPOGRAPHY - ARCH. AEOLOGY AREA-INDUSTRIES-CITIES AND VILLAGES-PARKS-EARLY EX- PLORERS-SULLIVAN'S CAMPAIGN-SETTLEMENT AND PROGRESS.
Fertility and diversity, the twin builders, have made the land of promise of the red man the land of fulfillment for his white brother in Central New York. Coupled with the wide variety of products, the transportation facilities and nearness to markets, is the fact that New York State itself is located in the midst of a comparatively small area that contains forty-nine per cent of the country's population and fifty-five per cent of the country's wealth. This gives a concentrated market to both farmer and manufacturer.
Nature endowed Central New York with a perfect foundation for industry. Within its boundaries flow a marvelous chain of waterways. It is the heart of a state which leads the nation in manufacturing, in population, in wealth and in railroads. Di- versity of industries give assurance of skilled labor of every type. Large population makes labor plentiful, able and willing. Com- petition of rail, truck and waterways provide low freight rates. Raw materials cost less because Central New York produces most of them. Power is abundant and cheap. Climate provides favor- able working conditions. And most of all, Central New York is a good place in which to make a living and live while making it.
The region is a natural playground, with lakes, rivers, moun- tains, gorges, and a variety of scenery found in few spots of equal area on the globe. Its altitude rises to an elevation of 2,300 feet and its communities enjoy the advantages of both city and country.
33
34
HISTORY OF CENTRAL NEW YORK
The area of eleven counties is bounded on the north by Lake Ontario, on the east by Oswego, Onondaga, Madison, Chenango and Broome counties, on the south by Pennsylvania, and on the west by Monroe, Livingston and Allegany counties.
The northern half of the region drains through the six major Finger Lakes into the Seneca River which flows to the Oswego and thence to Lake Ontario, where the water finds its way to the Atlantic through the St. Lawrence. The southern part of the region drains southward through the Susquehanna River and its tributaries, finally reaching the Atlantic through Chesapeake Bay.
The outstanding geologic feature of the entire region, how- ever, is the Finger Lakes. If you look upon the map of the state, these great blue Fingers extend southward across the terraine, something in the shape of an outstretched hand. No group in the world provides a like arrangement and perusal of a map of the entire United States reveals these inland seas as an outstanding group on the continent.
Central New York provides a romance of geology, according to Dr. Herman L. Fairchild, professor emeritus of geology of the University of Rochester, who explains the origin of the Finger Lakes. "This series of parallel valleys is probably the most notable in the world," Professor Fairchild says, who challenges the old theory that the lakes are formations left by the glaciers.
"A misleading theory in former years," says the Rochester authority, "claimed the basins were scooped out during the glacial period. But the Quebec glacier, which overspread New York and New England, and which admittedly had some abraid- ing effect, was not guilty of the valley deepening, although it had some part in producing the basins."
Professor Fairchild explains that the history of geology in Central New York covers many millions of years since the area was permanently lifted out of the sea. The clear record of the long maritime submergence is seen in the rock strata, several thousand feet in thickness, filled with remains of the varied life of the ancient seas. Remnants of the nearly horizontal strata constitute the broad arching ridges between the valleys, with
35
HISTORY OF CENTRAL NEW YORK
elevations up to over 2,000 feet above seaboard. The valleys are the positive effect, having been carved by atmospheric and stream erosion out of the uplifted land, Professor Fairchild holds. He analyzes the complex geological history of Central New York as follows: 1340701
(1) The original drainage on the uplifted sea-bottom, of coastal plain, was southward across New York from Canada. Only a few remnants of that primitive flow now exist in western New York, with the upper Susquehanna and its tributaries in the eastern district.
(2) Evolution of the great east and west Ontario Valley, in a wide belt of weak rocks, shales and limestones, by the Ontarian River, beheaded the Canadian rivers.
(3) Northward tributaries of the Ontarian River, on the south side of the expanding valley, ate back (southward), by headwaters erosion into the Allegany Plateau, even to Penn- sylvania. In this way was developed the remarkable series of parallel valleys; the reverse, in direction, of the original drainage.
(4) High elevation of eastern America, in later Tertiary time, enlivened the rivers by increasing their fall to the sea, and hence their velocity. This caused rapid down-cutting of the valleys, so producing the steeper lower walls of the central lakes, and the convexity of the slopes.
(5) The high elevation of Eastern America, possibly accom- panied by a slight lowering of world climate, produced vast and deep ice sheets. The latest one, the Quebec glacier, over- spread New York, and subdued the state to the same condition that Greenland now suffers.
(6) In the waning of the Quebec glacier and the recession (northward) of its south front, it served as a barrier in all of the north-sloping valleys. Glacial lakes were thus held in all the valleys, and the present lakes are lineal descendants of the ice-bound lakes.
(7) During pauses in the recessions of the ice front the heavy load of rock rubbish was piled in the valleys. One great series of these frontal moraines is the heavy filling south of the lakes.
36
HISTORY OF CENTRAL NEW YORK
Another forms the wide plain that buries the north end of the valleys, and produces the lake basins.
(8) Northward uptilting of the land since the weight of the ice-cap has been removed has lifted the north ends of the lakes, thus producing some increase in their depth.
Human progress is not a smooth procession down through the ages. Rather it is a series of sudden starts, rapid gaits, failures and achievements. So it has been in Central New York. For nearly three centuries after Columbus discovered America, this territory, whose opening to civilization was destined to shape the course of new world history, lay fallow. Mystery cloaked it. Myths shrouded it. A strange red nation whose origin was unknown guarded it.
Relics of a prehistoric age have rewarded archaeologists who have trekked the ravines and winding streams of Central New York. From the silent woods and whispering shores of the re- gion have come mute tidings, centuries buried, that here the Eskimo, then the Mound Builders and the Algonkin lived before the Iroquois stalked his game. But up through the period that George III ruled America, the district was beyond the frontiers of human knowledge-the great enigma of America's founders.
The French were the first white men to gaze upon Central New York. Early Jesuit priests, more than a century before the Revolution, penetrated this forest realm and set up the Cross. Champlain, the Frenchman, in 1615 clashed in arms with the Iroquois not far from what is now Syracuse. In 1669 Robert Cavalier de Salle visited the region and at intervals later French explorers led expeditions into it. In 1664 De La Barr conducted a futile invasion that gave the Senecas a contempt for the French but in 1687 De Noville, with a force of 1,600 Frenchmen and 400 Canadian Indians entered the Long House of the Iroquois from Lake Ontario and in a pitched battle on the site of Victor, Ontario County, defeated the Senecas, although the French lost about a hundred men. In the savage contest between France and Britain, culminating in the final struggle of 1754, the Iro- quois became the shield of the English on this continent.
37
HISTORY OF CENTRAL NEW YORK
The first white explorer into Central New York is believed to have been Stephen Brule, Frenchman, who on September 8, 1615, set out from Upper Canada with twelve Huron Indians, for the Susquehanna on a scouting expedition for Champlain. He did not rejoin Champlain for three years, in which time he reached Carantonan, an Indian town boasting 800 warriors and located in the environs of Waverly in Tioga County, on the east side of the Chemung River. On the return Brule's party was at- tacked by Iroquois, scattered and their leader put to torture by fire. His nails and beard were pulled out, but a threat of heaven's vengeance just as a thunder storm broke so frightened the In- dians that they escorted him toward his goal with every atten- tion. Years later, according to Sagard writing in 1638, this first white man to see Central New York was put to death by Huron Indians near Thunder Bay, Canada. This seventeenth century historian says that Brule was eaten by the savages.
The first Englishman known to have visited the region was Wentworth Greenhalgh, a trader from Albany in 1677.
When Henry Hudson in 1609, a navigator in the employ of the Dutch East India Company, sailed into the great river that bears his name, he founded the Dutch claim to what is now New York State. This, however, was disputed by both France and England because of explorations of their adventurers. Perma- nent Dutch settlement of the state came in 1623, but they were conquered by the English in 1664. Conquest was made perma- nent in 1670, and the name of New Amsterdam changed to New York. Spurred by the fur trade, a spirited rivalry then con- tinued between English and French, with border conflicts many and the Indians lending a hand. But until after the Revolution the Iroquois remained the allies of the English.
At last came 1779-the crossroads of the centuries for Cen- tral New York-and Sullivan's hosts of Colonials. A century and a half ago they came with torch, gun and high courage. In the uncharted wilderness of Central New York they left deso- lation-the greatest destruction ever wrought before in America. But in the silence of the forest had been achieved a turning point in the Revolutionary war with Britain. The expedition
38
HISTORY OF CENTRAL NEW YORK
of Gen. John Sullivan against the Six Nations in Central New York gave the war new vigor in its dark hour. Washington himself had planned it and a third of the entire Continental army prosecuted it.
Sullivan's campaign swung wide the gate of empire. It de- termined at a single blow whether the white man or the red was to rule the continent that has become America. It blasted out of the forest the foundations of Central New York towns, built with the power of gun and torch, ax and shovel, vision and courage.
When Sullivan's men passed across Central New York, sol- diers from six states marveled at the immense cleared fields of a semi-civilized race. They saw fertile soil with growing corn so tall that a man riding through it on horseback would be hidden from sight. Maize, wheat, grains, pumpkins, beans, squash, or- chards of luscious fruit, with horses, cattle and swine were here in this hidden land of the Indian. With victory, tales of a land of plenty were carried back by the soldiers; stories of a land of wild grandeur, of rushing streams, bulging with latent power and surging to the sea unharnessed through a country where grist mills and cabin homes should rightfully spring up.
And in those forward looking days of faith alone, pioneers came back to answer the call of this wild new land, setting up in the region the first land office in America and establishing the civilization that is ours.
The birth of progress in Central New York very nearly cor- responds in time with the birth of the United States. The Dec- laration of Independence had been signed but four short years before Sullivan's army carried the light of civilization into the fastnesses of the forest. Since that emancipation, Central New York has ever held high the beacon of progress, always in step with the times, ever leading as America marched forward toward her destiny.
Like the nation, Central New York may consider herself about 150 years old. During three momentous half centuries, history was here in the making. Each half century has had its distinguishing character. It required practically all the first
39
HISTORY OF CENTRAL NEW YORK
fifty years to settle the region. The second may be classified as that of development and the third that of prosperity.
In each of these three periods the nation engaged in one major war-1812, the Civil war and the World war-in each of which Central New York gave and served to the capacity of its resources. The first fifty years saw the forest give place to cabin homes and open its green vastness to corduroy roads threading paths charted by the Indian. It witnessed the advent of the stage coach, the tavern and the Erie Canal, with its packets and barges. Fifty years more brought the first railroads, rib- bons of wood over which horses drew rattling coaches. In this development period came the telegraph, the telephone, the elec- tric light, while the nation itself flung far its borders, extending its Canadian boundary from the Great Lakes to the Pacific, gain- ing Texas, New Mexico and California and negotiating the Gads- den purchase on the Rio Grande and the purchase of Alaska by a statesman from Central New York.
Then came the period of prosperity, when communication and transportation were improved and the street car and the auto replaced the horse car and the omnibus. It was the time of great inventions, answering the call of humanity's needs. Radio and aviation carried communication into another realm. Comforts and conveniences were made available through the creation of great public utilities. The pioneers in enterprise who settled and developed the area gave place to business pioneers who have set the stage for the day of opportunity to come.
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