History of Clinton and Franklin Counties, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 81

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) 1n; Lewis, J.W., & Co., Philadelphia
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 922

USA > New York > Clinton County > History of Clinton and Franklin Counties, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 81
USA > New York > Franklin County > History of Clinton and Franklin Counties, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 81

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The following is a list of the residences burned and the owners and occupants :

Commencing in the southeast corner, first was the resi- dence of Henry Smith. Next a house owned by Peter Stevens, and occupied by Walter Moore. Then a large number of houses, mostly frame, owned by the company, and occupied by the families of Henry Lucas, John O'Neil, William Laporte, Mr. St. Mary, Mr. Butler, John Beach, Burdo Brothers, Mr. Coral, Isaiah Bows, Mr. Viola, Moses Brooks, Jeremiah Miller, Thomas Moore (the yard boss), Joseph Silver, Oliver Silver, Daniel Kennedy (engineer), and Mitchell Patnode (sawyer). There were also four other houses, occupied by French families. This includes all the houses burned on the south side of the railroad. On the north was the large boarding-house near the depot ; a company house occupied by Alvin Laporte (head clerk) ; Mr. Lee's residence ; a house owned and occupied by Philip Rogers (blacksmith) ; large frame company house, occupied by James E. Winters, of Mooers Forks (millwright); two houses owned by Edward E. Gay, one occupied by E. S. Roberts; a school-house ; a company house, occupied by William Winters, of Mooers Forks (mill boss) ; houses owned and occupied by Abram Colton, James Moore, and Mr. Smith, Amos Wells, Moses King, John B. Fosburg, and Peter Stevens (watchman), most of them nearly new. Also, log houses of the company, occupied by Wolford Gebo and William Supernau.

Mr. Lee, the agent, was in the thickest of the fight, being one of the last to retreat, and was carried away nearly in- sensible. He came near perishing in the flames.

The principal house saved was that of William S. Clark. The furniture, which was all taken out, was burned, while the house was saved.

The company safe was opened on the 15th, and the books found in good condition.

There were 64 families living at Clinton Mills.

Mr. Wright, of Mooers Forks (mill boss), boarded,-his family remaining at his residence in the town of Mooers. Wright, and James and Henry Winters, with their fami- lies, arrived in Mooers on the night of the 15th, well fatigued, and so lame that it was with difficulty that they could walk. The Winters brothers saved nothing from their houses. It is significant that another brother was burnt out at Cannon's Corners the same hour.

Mr. Wright Lance, of Plattsburgh (boss filer), remained at the mill fighting the fire till it was with difficulty that he got away alive.

About twenty families fled to the Crabtree farm, two miles north, where they remained overnight, crowding not only the house, but the barn to its utmost capacity. They were so completely exhausted that they were glad to find any place of safety in which to sleep. Others fled to Churubusco and elsewhere.

INDUSTRIAL PURSUITS.

The leading industrial pursuits of the town have been farming and the cutting of railroad ties and lumber in gen- eral. The water-power being of a minor order has never attracted large manufacturers. A number of saw-mills were early in operation, of which John McCoy, Daniel Pettis, and Sloeum Clark had the earliest.

Clinton Mills has been the principal point of industrial

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interest. Operations were commenced there in 1865 by R. W. Adams & Co., owners of a tract of timber-land about six miles square. A large steam saw-mill and other im- provements were at once made. Some idea of these can be formed by a perusal of the fire that destroyed them all in May, 1877. They were mostly rebuilt, however, in 1877- 78, and a flourishing lumbering business is again in progress there. The firms who have operated there have been R. W. Adams & Co., Adams, Lec & Co., and Adams & Son.

MILITARY.

The military history of so young a town is necessarily very brief. The records show that every patriotic effort was made by the town to supply its full quota of men with promptitude in the conflict of 1861-65.

The following residents are among those who performed active service in the army, as enumerated in the census of 1875. The full list cannot be found in the town :

Thomas O'Neil, Daniel McDonough, John Keese, Andrew I. Brown, John H. Thwarts, Albert Vosburg, John Carrigan, Thomas Carrigan, Marron Owen, Thomas Healy, James Booth, Joseph Bigwood, Alexandre Jomptre, Thomas McDonough, John Leyhon, Joseph Blackbird, Ransom Kennedy, Hugh Dougherty, John Brisett, Henry Minor, Elbridge Edwards, Wm. P. Edwards, Edwin B. Bullis, S. Gaskill, Ashael White, Charles Cota, Oliver Bowen, Leslie Beardsley, Robert Ames, David Bean, S. M. T. Beardsley, George W. Kenny, John D. Baker, Martin Grandy, Jerome Boker, Joseph Strong, David Dam, John Dannody, Francis Gohy, Joseph Parmeter, Leander Patnode, John Patnode, John Ryan, Josna Debiste, Hiram Hawthorne, Thomas Duffy, Robert Jay, Ninyan Robinson, Andrew Rushford, George Durkee.

CHAPTER LV. DANNEMORA.

THE town of Dannemora lies upon the west border of the county, and is bounded as follows: on the north by Ellenburgh and Altona, on the east by Beekmantown, on the south by Saranac and Franklin County, and on the west by Franklin County.

Its surface is a mountainous upland, the principal peaks being Lyon, Dannemora, and Ellenburgh Mountains. The latter is covered with a heavy growth of timber. The soil is a light, sandy loam.

Near the centre of the town is a beautiful sheet of water called Chazy Lake, locally celebrated as a place of resort. It is about three miles in length by one and a half in width, and pleasantly located on its shores is a summer hotel owned by Mr. Merritt, of Plattsburgh. Upper Cha- teaugay Lake, a body of water three and a half miles long and one and a half in width, lies near the west border of the town. A stream called Separator Brook riscs at the foot of Lyon Mountain and flows northwesterly into Cha- teaugay Lake, affording an abundance of water-power.

THE PIONEERS.

The first settlement in this town was made in 1836, by Phineas Hooker and wife, within the limits of the present village of Dannemora. They found one rude log shanty, which they at first occupied. It had probably been erected by hunters. Mrs. Hooker still resides in the village at the advanced age of eighty years, is vigorous and active, and

vividly relates scenes and incidents of the early days in Dannemora. " Yes," says the old lady, " we came here first ; came to board the 'hands' who were to work in the mines, and I was the first woman who cooked a meal of victuals on this hill !" This locality was then an unbroken wilder- ness, the nearest settlement being three miles distant, in the town of Saranac.

Soon after other settlers came in, among whom may be mentioned Peter Darouche, George Brown, Melancton Travis, and Nathan B. Turner.

The first hotel was kept by Ezra Tucker, in 1845, near the Roberts House. James Hart was also a pioneer hotel- keeper.

The first school-teacher in the town was Miss Hammond, who taught in a house which stood near the present school- house, in 1845. Among other pioneer teachers are men- tioned the names of John Stackpole and Frances Higby, wife of W. P. G. Graves.

Among the early merchants were Charles Cook, Eli Chittenden, J. D. Kingsland, Seymour Edgerton, Mr. Burdick, etc.

THE IRON INTEREST.

The Averill Mine .- In 1832 a mining company of ten gentlemen was formed, and what is known as the Averill Ore-Bed was purchased of Judge Elisha Arnold for $1000, each gentleman subscribing for one share of $100. But the company did nothing to develop it. Finally, in about 1842, two members of the company, Charles K. Averill and F. L. C. Sailly, bought up the others' interest, opened the minc, built a separator, and did a lively business for a number of years. Mr. Sailly subsequently sold out to Mr. Averill, and the property finally fell into the possession of Chittenden & Co., of Burlington, which included O. A. Burton. The business was subsequently conducted by Burton, Chittenden & Co., and finally abandoned.

The Fairbanks Mine, on the top of the mountain, back of Dannemora, is also abandoned. It was owned by Gen. Skinner, was opened by Jason Fairbanks in 1861, was worked some by him, and subsequently by Andrew Wil- liams and by the State. But it proved too lean and inac- cessible. Mr. Fairbanks lost his life by an accident at this mine.

CIVIL HISTORY.

The town of Dannemora was set off from Beekmantown, Dec. 14, 1854, and named by Gen. St. John B. L. Skin- ner from a celebrated iron locality in Sweden.

The first town-meeting was held in 1855, and Alanson Higby was elected supervisor. In consequence of the loss, a few years since, of the town records by fire, we are unable to give a list of the town officials or the military record.

CHURCHES.

METHODIST EPISCOPAL CHURCH.

This church was organized in 1855, by the Rev. C. L. Hagar, with the following members: David B. Shaw, A. D. Warren, Helen Warren, L. Buck, Amelia Buck, Mrs. Meader, E. R. Stanton, M. S. Lewis, Laura Reynolds, Helen Signor, Mary Hull, B. Powers, Caroline Hull, Jane Hull, Mary Hull, Rebecca Lawrence, Mary Cruger, Betsey Cummings, Orphia Henry, Emeline Henry, Mrs. Cubid,

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Mrs. Hobbs, Laura A. and Julia Edgerton, Melissa Nyeres, Merey, Mary, Caroline, and Henry Turner, Joseph Myers, Jane Mason, Elizabeth Ward, and Mary A. Higby.

Serviees were held in the sehool-house until the erection of the church edifice, which was commenced in 1865 and eompleted in 1867, at a cost of $4325. It was dedicated in March, 1869, by Rev. Mr. Dayton, of Burlington, Vt.

The following is a list of pastors from the organization of the church to the present time: C. L. Hagar, J. D. White, D. W. Harris, C. E. Little, E. Marsh, A. S. Bige- low, H. N. Munger, W. H. Tiffany, S. Palmer, Silas W. Edgerton, A. Witherspoon, W. A. Miller, J. C. Walker, present pastor.

The present offieers are as follows : Trustees, H. R. Sig- nor, W. H. B. Graves, Asaph Merrill, M. S. Lewis, J. C. Myers, John Myers. Stewards, same as trustees, except George W. Meader in place of John Myers. Present membership of church, 35.

There is also a flourishing Catholic Church at Danne- mora, but we were unable to seeure data for its history.

CHAPTER LVI. DANNEMORA-(Continued).

The Chateaugay Ore Bed and Railroad#-Chateaugay Ore and Iron Companies-Development of a Gigantic Enterprise in the Heart of the Wilderness-An Iron Ore which Makes the Finest of Steel, and Furnishes its own Flux for the Blast Furnace-Great Extent of the Deposit-The Chateaugay Railroad-Present Condition, Future Prospects, etc.

OUR first visit to the celebrated iron mine in the western part of this town, known as the Chateaugay ore bed, was made in the autumn of 1874, immediately after which we gave a brief historical sketeh of it, together with the Bel- mont Iron-Works. In that sketeh the prediction was made that this would prove to be one of the most valuable iron mines even in this rich iron region, but it must be confessed that the developments which have sinee been made, in opening the mine and diselosing the rare and valuable qualities which the ore proves to possess, exceed the most sanguine expectations. That it was well adapted to the manufacture of steel the very complete analysis which had then been made fully indieated ; but theory is comparatively worthless unless supported by actual tests, and probably even the proprietors of the mine did not then anticipate how fully actual working qualities in this case would sup- port the indieations of analytical tests. At that time the development of the mine was hardly commeneed; in fact, the operation of raising the ore was more properly quarry- ing rather than mining ; for, comparatively speaking, only a scratch had been made upon the surface of the vein which had at that time been exposed or traced.

Croakers were abundant then who were ready to bring plenty of evidence upon which to base the theory that this mueh-talked-about deposit of ore several miles in length would prove to be merely a flake upon the surface,-the remains, perhaps, of a vein, the great mass of which had

been ground off by glacial action ; or may be an elongated pocket, the bottom of which, with that of its owners, would soon be found; or, at best, this would prove to be one of those distorted veins, without well-defined roof or floor, which would, on working, soon prove to be blended and lost in the native rock. These prophets are all silent now on beholding here an almost continuous opening of seven hundred feet in length, and varying from fifty to one hun- dred and eighty feet in depth, the vein having a well-de- fined roof as any mine in the country ean show ; a uniform dip, a nearly uniform working thickness of fourteen feet, and laeking only uniformity of floor because the whole thickness has very evidently not been reached. There is in fact no longer any shadow of a doubt that lying here at the western base of Lyon Mountain is a deposit of first- class ore which rivals in extent and excellence the most celebrated iron mines in the world.

Before proceeding with a general deseription of the pres- ent condition of the mine, and some matters related to it, a few points in its earher history may be briefly glaneed at. And in fact the whole matter ean only be briefly noted, for a detailed consideration would fill more space than we ean devote to it. The mine is in township 5 of the Old Mili- tary Traet, which lies in the form of a parallelogram twenty miles wide from east to west and sixty miles long from north to south. The Legislature of New York, in 1781, eaused a large traet of land to be surveyed and set apart in the cen- tral part of the State to satisfy the elaims of two regiments of soldiers, which the State of New York had found it necessary to raise, in default of action on the part of the general government, soon after the Deelaration of Independ- enee, in order to protect her own interests against the foes of the government on the northern frontier, as well as from the hostility of savages within her own borders. But, in consequence of difficulties which arose in adjusting a trans- fer of the Indian title to those lands, the Legislature, in 1786, passed an aet setting apart this traet already men- tioned for the purpose of satisfying these military claims. The greater portion of these 1200 square miles we have nothing to do with at present, it being only with township 5 of the Old Military Traet that we are interested. On the 11th of September, 1794, " Number Five" became the property of "Wm. Henderson, merchant of New York City," who sold it on the 28th of January, 1795, to Jacob Mark. A week later, Feb. 3, 1795, Mark mortgaged it to Jacob and Robert Leroy, and from that time for about a quarter of a century it seems to have been kieked about between different owners like a foot-ball, of so little value was it considered. In 1822 it was owned by John L. Nor- ton and Hannah Murray, who divided it up into 300 lots, which lay in what was afterwards incorporated into the towns of Ellenburgh and Dannemora, and in the apportion- ment of the 300 lots between the owners the part which lay in Dannemora fell to Hannah Murray, who conveyed it, Nov. 22, 1822, to Lloyd N. Rogers.

Up to this time it is very doubtful whether any actual discovery of iron ore had been made upon this tract, al- though the inaccuracies in the lines of the survey furnish abundant evidence that something must have been the mat- ter, cither with the compass or the surveyors, the lines-

# Contributed by George F. Bixby, of the Plattsburgh Republican. 39

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HISTORY OF CLINTON COUNTY, NEW YORK.

or rather curves, as actually run-zigzagging back and forth over the true lines in a most remarkable manner. Perhaps the immense deposits of rich iron ore lying covered only with a thin scurf of soil were even exerting their bale- ful influence over the compass, thus laying the foundation of legal contests which the actual discovery of the treasure subsequently greatly intensified. There is, however, good reason for believing that the discovery of ore upon this tract was made many years before. Only two miles to the west- ward of the mine now being worked, and a mile and a half from the shore of Chateaugay Lake, is an old opening known as the " Prall Vein," which has evidently been worked to a considerable extent at some remote period, a shaft having been sunk from which quantities of waste that modern iron- manufacturers would call good working ore have been thrown out and left. Now, in 1803, William Bailey, father of our townsman, John W. Bailey, Esq., erected a forge on the Chateaugay River, about five miles below the outlet of the lower Chateaugay Lake, which was operated for a year or two. Where did Mr. Bailey get his ore? History says he used bog ore, but the fact that no bog ore exists anywhere in this region disposes of that claim. Is it not far more rea- sonable to suppose that Mr. Bailey obtained his ore from this " Prall Vein," shipping it on rafts or boats through the lakes to within five miles of his forge ? But, however that may be, there are reasons for supposing that Mr. Rogers, soon after his purchase in 1822, or perhaps before, became in some way aware that there was iron ore upon his land. One version is that a Mr. Collins first discovered the ore, and that Rogers made an agreement-which he did not keep -- to give him a one-third interest, while another story is to the effect that a party of impecunious iron-hunters hired a local genius, who claimed a natural gift for discovering hid treasures, to go into the wilderness on a summer day to help them hunt for the mine, the existence of which they, for some reason, strongly suspected,-that the very first night they, by mere chance, built their camp-fire right upon a vein of rich ore,-that the keen eyes of the expert detected its location first, and he actually collected $95 from the party for informing them that the treasure for which they had come out into the wilderness to see was under the camp-kettle. But it is hard to draw the line which separates reliable history from tradition on this ground, and we are inclined to class these and many other more improbable yarns relating to the same matter with that other one, which goes on to tell how a party of St. Regis Indians appear periodically somewhere among the western spurs of Lyon Mountain and carry off tremendous back-loads of lead taken from a rich mine, the exact locality of which they alone know, and cruelly persist in refusing to tell. In fact, there are those who maintain that this whole region is under the influence of some magic spell which makes it difficult to separate the actual from the real, and in support of this fancy significantly point to the fact, among other curious ones, that no two strangers, on emerging upon this opening after being whirled over twelve miles of splendid plank-road through the dense wilderness, were ever known to agree with regard to the points of the compass,-some declaring that the sun rises in the south, others that it sets in the northeast, while one cool-headed person, who is no stranger here, avers that he once caught

the moon setting early in the morning behind Birch Hill, away in the northwest! But, aside from all this, whether ore existed in the vicinity of the mine now being worked or not was a question of comparatively little interest so long as there was no means of getting it out of this dense wil- derness, the only avenue through which at that time was a trail that appears to have been mainly used by smugglers, and in passing over which several persons have been in earlier days frozen to death or killed by falling trees.

The time for action had not yet arrived when the hand of enterprise was destined to open these treasures to the markets of the country, but that time began to dawn in 1868, when Messrs. Henry Foote, Erastus Mead, A. B. Waldo, and Smith M. Weed made a contract with Edmund Law Rogers, son and heir of Lloyd N. Rogers, for four-fifths of his interest in this property, of which they soon afterwards took possession.

Then followed a protracted litigation between Mr. Rogers and the four gentlemen above named. During this litiga- tion one by one of the four sold out to Mr. Weed, until he owned four-fifths. Then, and while the litigation was still pending, he sold two-thirds of his interest to Andrew Wil- liams and Col. C. F. Norton. While Weed, Williams, and Norton owned it an adjustment was reached with Mr. Rogers, and, subsequently, Messrs. Williams and Weed pur- chased Col. Norton's interest, and became sole owner's not only of the Rogers or bed tract, but also of the water-power and iron-works at the outlet of Chateaugay Lake, and a large amount of lumber-lands lying around the Chateaugay waters. And now the work of improvement commenced in earnest ; Mr. Williams taking a keen interest in the devel- opment of the mine on account of his owning iron-works on the Saranac, and Mr. Weed, perhaps, partly because he was born and spent a portion of his boyhood at the foot of the lower Chateaugay Lake, leading him very naturally to desire a share in the work of opening up the rich resources lying at the very foot of the grand old mountain, which formed so striking a feature of the landscape from his father's door. Whatever the motive might have been, these two gentlemen, who now compose the Chateaugay Ore and Iron Companies, have taken hold of the enterprise with a vigor which has brought about most remarkable results. In the first place, they have built one of the finest plank-roads in the country from Russia, a mile above the village of Sara- nac, about twenty miles through the dense wilderness, thus uniting the Saranac River at Russia with the shore of the Chateaugay Lake, over which loads of iron are hauled weighing from 2 to 5 gross tons. This of itself is an enter- prise which rivals or eclipses that of which nearly half the county was so justly proud of accomplishing a few years ago,-the Saranac River Plank-Road, which, by the way, is still encumbered by toll-gates, while the Chateaugay Plank- Road is free, and in far better order than the former ever was.

Coming now to present condition and future prospects, we find, instead of the slight surface work which was going on four years ago, an almost continuous opening of 700 feet. First are the Cummings and Nolan openings, which are now one, having been commenced as separate shafts and the partition subsequently worked out. These are 300 fect

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long, and about 180 feet deep. The dip is nearly uniform, about 45 degrees, and the vein as worked is from 14 to 20 fect thick. Next above comes the Tucker opening, a thick- ness of about 50 feet of ore intervening between that and the upper end of the Nolan. This partition will soon be worked out, when these three divisions will be continuous. Next above the Tucker, through another solid mass of ore, is the old opening, now abandoned and filled with water, not, however, on account of having shown any signs of failure, but because the mine could be more economically worked from below. These openings are all in the same general direction, with the exception of a turn in the vein, which appears to conform to the features of the slope upon which it is located, and when all are connected, as they will be soon at the present rate of development, they will form a continuous opening 700 feet long, with a thickness aver- aging about 14 feet, thus making a working surface of nearly 10,000 square feet. The roof of the vein seems well defined, and is nearly parallel in dip with the general moun- tain uplift, the ore-vein appearing to be perfectly uniform with the rock strata between which it is found, the strata being thus tilted as if thrown up in the convulsion which elevated the masses of which Mount Lyon is the central fea- ture. We have already alluded to the fact that the floor of the vein has not yet been found, and an interesting feature in this connection is that recent prospecting indicates that the vein extends back up the slope to a thickness of some 50 or 60 feet, the limit not yet having been reached. The surface is, however, being uncovered at several points, with the view of determining the lateral extent of the deposit, with the most encouraging results, which make it not at all improbable that the vein has a thickness of perhaps hun- dreds of feet. Longitudinally, the deposit seems to have no traceable limit. Several hundred feet below the lower shaft it has been and is now being uncovered with a view of sinking a new shaft ; to the eastward a mile and a half there is an opening which has been worked profitably, show- ing no signs of failure; to the west some two miles is the old Prall vein, which lies in the same direction of the main vein, and is undoubtedly a continuation of it, and the de- posit has been traced by the compass for over six miles, while the magnetic attraction is so strong in other directions as to plainly indicate an enormously thick stratum of iron ore, or else several of them lying parallel to each other.

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History of Clinton and Franklin Counties, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 81

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) 1n; Lewis, J.W., & Co., Philadelphia Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & co. Number of Pages: 922

Author: Hurd, D. Hamilton (Duane Hamilton) 1n; Lewis, J.W., & Co., Philadelphia
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Philadelphia : J. W. Lewis & co.
Number of Pages: 922