History of Chautauqua County, New York, Part 4

Author: Edson, Obed, 1832-; Merrill, Georgia Drew, editor
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Boston, Mass. : W.A. Fergusson
Number of Pages: 1068

USA > New York > Chautauqua County > History of Chautauqua County, New York > Part 4

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).

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.

away this material was left in great beds upon the surface. These extended all around Lake Erie and are called Erie clay.

The portal of the chasm where now lies the Cassadaga lake, through which the ancient river of the Cassadaga may have discharged its waters northward, and at the point where the highland range reaches its greatest altitude, was left choked with drift to the depth of five hundred feet. This extended southward along this stream, decreasing in depth and quantity until it reached the Allegany river at Warren. The chasis of Bear lake, Conewango and Cattarangus, and upper Allegany were also buried deeply. The deposition of the heaviest masses of drift in the northern portion of these channels raised their levels, so that the surface of the valleys was slightly tilted southward and their water currents reversed. The great terminal moraine left by the glaciers dammed the waters near the Pennsylvania line, and caused an extensive and irregular lake to extend like the fingers of a man's hand up the valleys of the Conewango, Cassadaga and Bear creeks, the evidences remaining in fine assorted material, peculiar fresh water deposits, stratified drift, and beds of marl.

The Champlain era that followed the glacial period fitted this region for the growth of semi-tropical vegetation, the relies of which are traced even now north of the ridge-the middle part of the county, where there is in a measure an absence of evergreens and some growth of more southern species, such as magnolias, represented by the encumber, whitewood and honey- loenst. Tropical animals then existed here, but of species differing from those now existing. The mastodon undoubtedly frequented the shores of the lake that covered the great valleys of our country and its bordering marshes. Its teeth have been found at different times in the valley of the Cassadaga.

In August, 1871, portions of a gigantic mastodon were found one mile north of Jamestown near the summit of the low hills dividing the valley of Chautauqua lake from that of the Cassadaga. This important discovery within our county of relies of life in the Champlain period (perhaps of the Recent period), demands a full description. The exhumation and preserva- tion of the bones were fortunately intrusted to the late Prof. Samuel G. Love, assisted by Prof. Burns and Albro, and are now in the museum of the James- town High- School. The following is from an article written by Prof. S. G. Love, published in the Jamestown Journal :

". On the east side of the Fredonia road, about one mile north of James- town, is the farm of Joel I. Hoyt. About five hundred yards from the road is a sink or slough covering about an acre, possibly more in extent, and vary- ing from two to eight feet in depth, and fed by several living springs. Cattle have been mired and lost there since the farm was first occupied. Mr. Hoyt drained the sink and left the innek to dry, and later commenced an exca- vation there. The work of excavating had continued a little more than a week, when the workmen began to find (as they supposed) a peculiar kind of wocd

THE CHAMPLAIN AND RECENT PERIODS.

and roots, imbedded some six feet beneath the surface. For several days they continued to carry the smaller pieces into an adjoining field with the muck, and to pile the larger ones with pine roots and stumps to be burned. But Mr. Hoyt discovered unmistakable evidences of the remains, of some huge animal. At once there was a change in the procedure, in order to secure specimens and determine their character. It was difficult to determine the precise position of the remains, as they were inch disturbed and partially removed before any special notice was taken of them. From the best infor- mation I could get, I conclude that the body lay with the head to the cast, from four to six feet beneath the surface, and in a partially natural position. Many of the bones were however out of place. The lower jaw was about five feet from the head, and lay on the side crushed together so that the rows of teeth were very near each other. The tusks extended eastwardly in nearly a natural position, and, judging from the statements of Mr. Hoyt and the workmen, they must have been from ten to twelve feet in length. After digging into the gravel and clay about ten inches I found traces of a rib, decaved, but distinctly marked, over five feet in length. Where the body must have lain were found large quantities of vegetable matter (evidently the contents of the stomach ) mostly decaved, in which were innumerable small twigs varying from one-half inch to two inches in length. The remains were all in a very forward state of decay; and when I reached the ground I found it impossible to do little more than had already been done to preserve them. Many of them were picked up in the field, whither they had been drawn with the muck, and from piles of roots and stumps. Specimens secured : 1. Tip of one of the tusks; length, 3 feet, 712 inches ; diameter, 61, inches. 2. Middle section of the other tusk ; length, 2 feet, 5 inches ; diameter, 71; inches. 3. Six teeth ; length of longer ones on the crown, 7 inches ; weight, 54. pounds ; length of shorter ones, 412 inches ; weight, 212 pounds. 4. Left side of under jaw containing two teeth in situ ; length preserved, 2 feet, i inch ; depth from the crown of the teeth, 1042 inches ; thickness, 6 inches. 5. Pieces of scapula (shoulder blade) from to to 13 inches long and 4 to 7 wide. 6. Sections of ribs; 12 to 18 inches long. -: Head of the femur (thigh bone.) 8. Portions of the vertebra of the neck. 9. Fragments of the cranim (skull.) 10. Various other pieces not yet indentified. The animal was undoubtedly the American mastodon, (Mastodon Maximus, or Mastodon Americanus of some authors.) A single tooth is sufficient to dis- tinguish it from the elephant. The grinding surface of a mastodon's tooth is covered with conical projections (whence the name of the animal) while that of the elephant is flat. The size of the living animal must have been, in height, from 10 to 15 feet, and in length to the base of the tail, from 15 to 20 feet. (I ought perhaps to say that although I am quite satisfied with the above estimate of size, I have been told by very good authority that it is an under estimate.")

1492430

The following is from a paper read by Prof. Love before the Chautauqua Society of History and Natural Science, July 16, 1885. Referring to the article in the Journal he says :- " It may not be out of place to add a few words. When we arrived at the farm we found the rain of the previous night had filled the excavated portion of the sink with water to the depth of two or three feet. At the limit of the digging on the eastern side stood a bank

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.

or wall of the muck about 416 feet high. After reopening the ditch and draining off a part of the water, we commenced an examination of this bank, in which the lower jaw was soon found. It was nearly three feet from the surface : the sides were crushed together, the right side of the jaw being uppermost. It was removed with great care in a blanket, but the upper (right) half crumbled into small pieces as soon as it was exposed to the air for a few minutes. I am of opinion that the animal died in his tracks from some natural cause. He may have been drowned or mired, but if so the sink must have been at that time much deeper than at present, and, judging from the make of the land around the sink, I should say it may have been deeper by many feet. The slight dislocation or disturbance of the remains I have no doubt were due to causes which would naturally operate in a slough, into which large trees would be liable to fall and finally sink to the bottom. In any event the remains must have been buried much deeper in the muck and water for many, many years in order to escape complete destruction, and the fact that the bones of those animals were permeated with large proportions of fatty matter would help greatly to preserve them."

The twigs found in such large quantities where the stomach would natu- rally be were found, upon a microscopical examination and comparison, to be of the same kind (genera and species,) as the cone-bearing trees, (pine and spruce) of the present day. Mingled with the twigs was a mass of yellowish fetid matter, probably the remains of some vegetation which did not possess the staying qualities of the balsamic cone-bearers.

The Recent period followed the Champlain. This part of the continent was then more elevated than during the Champlain period. This caused the lake to flow more rapidly through its outlet southward and through the great morain that dammed its waters in the Champlain period. As the channels of its outlet were eut deeper, its waters slowly lowered until now there remains only the clusters of little lakes where the drift is piled the deepest. Yet the drainage is still going on. The Cassadaga, Bear, and Mud lakes of the Cone- wango and Cassadaga valleys, diminutive descendants of the great lake, must yield in time, be drained through their slowly lowering outlets, and filled with silt from the neighboring hillsides. Yet the waters of these extensive valleys are even now detained from resuming their old channels and flowing north- ward into Lake Erie by only the slightest of barriers. Many years ago a few strong men in a short time cut a channel from the head of Cassadaga lake for a few rods, sufficiently deep to permit its waters to flow into a tributary of the Canadaway which flows into Lake Erie. They were restrained by an injunction issued by Judge R. P. Marvin. Had not this measure been promptly taken the waters would have been diverted into this channel, and the sand, gravel and loose material that deeply underlie all the northern borders and indeed the whole lake, would have so quickly yielded to the rapid flow down

THE CHAMPLAIN AND RECENT PERIODS.

the steep descent northerly as to excavate a deep channel which would have drained it. The flow of the waters of Cassadaga creek or outlet and of the Conewango would have been first arrested and then turned north into this channel, and the floor bed of this ancient river again laid bare.

The Recent period terminates with the commencement of historic time. The extensive lake that covered the Cassadaga and Conewango valleys dur- iug the Champlain period in the Recent period degenerated into a miry marsh with shallow ponds. The trees that then formed the forests were little like those that the first settlers found. The twigs in the stomach of the Jamestown mastodon belonged to a species of spruce which then undoubtedly grew here plentifully but is not now known to exist.

Since the Recent period there have been many successions of trees. The first settlers found dense evergreens, pine and hemlock in all the valleys, and the four southeastern townships. The latter also extended over the rocky ridges and along the stony sides of the ravines of the smaller streams. The hills and higher lands were heavily timbered with deciduous trees, principally beech, maple, chestnut and oak. The early settlers also found plentifully scattered the relics of an ancient pine forest. Of many trees of which only the remains of the stumps were left, the trunks were fallen and the place of their decay marked by knots and fragments of " fat " pine. A few huge bark- less trunks that were prostrate, and others still standing, were sufficiently preserved to make lumber. A lesser number green and growing stood soli- tary upon the hills, and towered an hundred feet above the woods around. A forest of gigantic pines that had once densely covered the hills yielded up the ground to the chestnut, maple and beech, and was struggling for supre- macy with the hemlock in the valleys. Woodsmen have observed that when the beech and maple and other indigenous trees were cleared away and a second growth suffered to spring up, the new trees would often be of a dif- ferent kind, illustrating how a slight change in the conditions of the soil or climate had caused old species to be supplanted by new ones.

In the forest which cast its dark shadows everywhere in the county were often found trees of unusual growth. Upon the bank of Walnut creek near Silver Creek grew a gigantic black-wahmut which gave its name. In the sketches of the " Early History of Hanover" it is said that "A section of thirteen feet of this tree was cut off, and, after the bark was taken from it, it was found to be thirty-one feet in circumference, and, after all the decaved wood was cut away, it left a shell of very uniform thickness of about four inches, and it was over ten feet in diameter." We copy the description of this famous tree from Young's History :

It was very tall and straight; and the lower limb was 70 feet above the ground. It was blown down on the 22d of April, 1822. Being hollow at the butt, about 12 feet was cut off from the lower end, and the inside worked down

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.

and smoothed out, leaving a shell about 4 inches thick. While lying on the ground, a man, it is said, rode through it on horseback. It was raised on end, and used for some time as a grocery; and on one occasion by a ladies' tea- party. An old settler says it was sold for $200 to Titus Roberts and Stearns, who mounted it on a carriage fitted up for its transporation, and started on a tour of exhibition. The Erie canal having just been completed, they moved their curiosity toward the canal. On their arrival at Lockport, or some other point near that place, their expenses having exceeded their receipts, they abandoned their enterprise and returned. Another party, having got posses- sion of the tree, took it to New York, and after a tolerably successful exhibi- tion, disposed of it. It was taken to England and put into a London museum, where it was destroyed by fire."

The Fredonia Censor of Dee. 27, 1826, copies from a New York paper : " The proprietor of the new museum in Chatham street has engaged for a short time a most wonderful production of nature, the big black-walnut tree from Lake Erie. This innnense curiosity measures 31 feet in circumference, and is universally admitted to be the largest production of the vegetable world. The inside of this tree is hollowed out, is most splendidly fitted and furnished as a drawing room, and contains, with other ornaments, an original letter of George Washington. There have been inside of this tree at one time 39 persons standing and 17 sitting. From this fact some idea can be formed of this giant of the forest." The arrival of the " Big Walnut " in London was announced in 1828. The London Literary Gazette said : "A calculation has been made showing that this tree would contain, on shelves projecting not more than six inches, 3,000 volumes. A New York paper said the Big Wal- nuit sold for $3,000 in that city, and had produced twice that sum during its exhibition."

Peers of this great walnut undoubtedly grew in other parts of the county. In the pine forest of the southwestern towns stood many magnificent speci- mens. Upon the farm of George W. Fenton on lot 23 in Carroll, as late as 1840, stood a pine tree from which 13 sixteen-foot logs and one of twelve feet were cut from its trunk. Its height must have exceeded 250 feet, rivaling the "red-woods " of California. Joel Scudder felled a pine tree later upon the farm of Seth Cheney in Kiantone that measured twenty-two feet in circumference ; at the height of fifty feet it branched into two large forks, one twenty-two inches in diameter one hundred feet from the ground. On lot 12 in French Creek there grew a pine tree twenty-seven feet in circumference and nearly 200 feet in height. Seldom in northern latitudes did trees grow so tall and large. It was not uncommon that 5,000 feet of sawed lumber was pro- duced from a tree, and the pines that grew upon a single acre of land would sometimes yield 100,000 feet. A pine tree was felled by Charles Spencer in 1854 on lot 21 in Kiantone, from which was cut eight logs sixteen feet long and six of twelve feet, besides the top and stump. A\ pine tree was cut upon the same lot in 1860 that was seven feet in diameter at the stump and six

THE CHAMPLAIN AND RECENT PERIODS.

feet sixty feet from the ground. It was sawed into plank and boards at L. B. Warner's saw mill in Jamestown and produced 13,300 feet .* Other enormous trees of a different species grew upon this lot. An oak tree six feet in diam- eter at the stump, and five feet sixty feet from the ground was cut here. From this tree Soo firkins and their heads were made : 600 of them were sold for SI each, the others for 85 cents each, making $770 realized from the lumber of a single trec.

The county was heavily timbered, not merely in the valleys where the pine and hemlock grew, but upon the hills with beech, maple, oak, chestnut, ash, cherry and other hardwood. It is estimated by Daniel Griswold, L. B. Warner and Lewis Hall, experienced lumbermen, that the area of the county not covered by its lakes and streams would produce from 20,000 to 35,000 feet of sawed lumber for every acre. There are according to the assessors' figures for 1892 656,538 acres of such land. Allowing the low estimate of 20,000 feet per acre, there was in the county when first settled, 13, 130,760,000 feet of lumber. The assessed value of the real estate was $26,132.516 in 1893. Allowing for the valuable pine, cherry, ash, and the cheaper lumber the small average of $5 per thousand we have $65,653,800. Making allowance for the low estimate of assessments, the remarkable fact appears that the timber that stood in the county when it was first settled had it remained untouched would be of far more value than the present worth of the land with its cities, villages, railroads and improvements.+

Of the animals living upon this continent during the Recent period many species still exist while others have become extinct. The mastodon existed during this period as well as the Champlain and is one of the last of the extinct species. Probably the mastodon found near Jamestown existed in the Recent period. Estimates of geologic time are only approximations. Prof. Love cautiously estimated 30,000 years to have passed since this mastodon roamed the hills and valleys of our county. If he is correct, the creature was a dweller here in the Recent period. The horse, hog, sheep and ox, all of gigantic size, which were living during the Recent period on this continent afterwards became extinct in America. Among the other existing animals, the buffalo, beaver, deer, elk, moose and reindeer survived to the Historical period. Some of these now hold existence by but a feeble tenure, and are constantly lessening in numbers, tending towards a natural extinction in obedience to the law of progress that is constantly supplementing old species with higher and more complex forms of life. As a great poet has said :

All nature widens upward, evermore

The simpler essence lower lies ; More complex is more perfect-owning, more Discourse, more widely wise.

*II. H. Jones.

tIn a subsequent chapter is given a full and accurate description of the trees of the county by Prof. James T. Edwards, who has made it a subject of careful study. It is believed that a more complete description of the sylva of any locality of equal extent, within the state at least, has not been prepared.

HISTORY OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, N. Y.

The first description that we have of the country bordering Lake Erie and the denizens of its woods and prairies was written by Baron LaHouton, a French officer, who, in 1687, was stationed in Canada, and who'coasted along the northern shore of Lake Erie and visited Ohio. In his letters and memoirs he gave a very interesting description of that lake and the country. Ilis description will apply to that part of Chautauqua county that lies between the highlands and the lake.

" Lake Erie is justly dignified with the illustrious name of Conti, for assuredly it is the finest upon earth. You may judge of the goodness of the climate from the latitude of the countries which surround it. Its circumfer- ence extends 250 leagues, but it affords everywhere a charming prospect, and its shores are decked with oak trees, elms, chestnuts, walnut, apple, plum trees, and vines which bear their clusters up to the very tops of the trees upon a sort of ground which lies as smooth as one's hand. Such ornaments as these are sufficient to give rise to the most agreeable idea of landscape in the world. I cannot express what quantities of deers and turkeys are to be found in these woods, and in the vast meads that lie upon the south side of the lake. At the bottom of the lake we find wild beeves on the banks of two pleasant streams that disembogue into it without cataracts or rapid cur- rents. It abounds with sturgeon and white fish, but trout are very scarce in it, as well as other fish that we take in the lakes Hurons (Huron) and Illinese (Michigan.) It is clear of shelves, rocks and banks of sand, and has fourteen or fifteen fathoms of water. The savages assure us that it is never disturbed by high winds except in the mouths of December, January and February, and even then but seldom, which I am very apt to believe, for we had very few storms when I wintered in my boat in 1688 though the boat lay open to the lake of Hurons."

These wild beeves were unquestionably the buffalo or American bison. There is no doubt that this animal recently inhabited these regions. Char- levoix the French traveller says that in 1720 " They were on the south side of Lake Erie a prodigious quantity of buffalos." Father L. Allemant, in 1641, writes of the Nenter nation, who resided north of and around the foot of Lake Erie, that " They were much employed in hunting deer, buffalo, wild cats, wolves and beaver and other animals." In 1770 Washington made a journey to the mouth of the Muskingum and was entertained by his old com- panion, the Seneca chief Guyasutha, with buffalo meat just slain." The River Aux Boeuf, a tributary.of French creek, is said to have been so named from the great number of buffalo there found. This stream flows in Erie county, Pa .. within fifteen miles of Chautauqua. At this day we must seek the buffalo two thousand miles away in the West. He and his red brother the Indian are fast disappearing. Surely and rapidly these lords of the forest

*Life of Washington by Irving.

THE CHAMPLAIN AND RECENT PERIODS.

and the plain are yielding up their once wide domain to the advance of the encroaching white man, and making their home cach year nearer and still nearer to the setting sun.

Among the diminishing species that have scarce survived to the present time is the beaver. We have evidence that he mmerously inhabited many parts of the county a little before the first exploration of white men. The beaver-meadow flat in French creek appears to have been once occupied by this creature. The meadow was covered with alders and with pine and balsam along the edges and on what were then islands. There was also a beaver meadow on lot 21. On lot 9 there was a small but quite perfect beaver dam. On the west branch of French creek on lot 47 the remains of a beaver dam lately could be plainly seen. In the southeast part of Stock- ton in the Cassadaga swamp is a treeless space of many acres called the " Open Swamp" covered with alders. Here were the signs of a beaver dam, and logs from trees with marks of the beavers' teeth where they had been cut from the tree. In Westfield upon the Beaver Meadow creek upon the farm once owned by George W. Rice, were faint signs or indications of three beaver dams. In Sheridan near the upper waters of Beaver creek are well- known and extensive remains of the works of the beaver. Dr. Taylor in his " History of Portland " informs us that the beaver formerly existed in that town. Undoubtedly many other places in the county bore evidence of their recent presence. Their homes probably were broken up by the Indians to supply the great demand for furs during the period of French occupation. Besides the bison and the beaver, the reindeer and the moose entirely and the elk nearly disappeared before the advent of Europeans.

The salmon is believed to have inhabited the waters of the county, but became extinct not long before the coming of Europeans. Rattlesnakes which have now nearly or entirely disappeared, in early years were abundant in Car- roll and probably other towns in the south part. Hiram Dickinson killed one at his doorstep that had nine rattles and measured four feet in length. Black snakes inhabited the county. Deacon Hinds Chamberlain, who passed through the northern part of the county along the Indian trail from Catta- raugns creek to Presque Isle in 1792, relates that between Cattaraugus and Erie he shot a blacksnake or racer with a white ring around his neck, that measured seven feet and three inches long. In Wheeler's gulf in Pomfret they were found in great abundance and of enormous size. The wild turkey, that solitary wanderer of the forest, was occasionally met with by the early hunter, but disappeared with the rapid encroachments of the settlers' clear- ings .*

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 Chautauqua County, New York, Part 4

Author: Edson, Obed, 1832-; Merrill, Georgia Drew, editor Publication date: 1894 Publisher: Boston, Mass. : W.A. Fergusson Number of Pages: 1068

Author: Edson, Obed, 1832-; Merrill, Georgia Drew, editor
Publication date: 1894
Publisher: Boston, Mass. : W.A. Fergusson
Number of Pages: 1068