USA > New York > Lewis County > History of Lewis County, New York; with...biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 20
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Where an investment is made by indi- viduals, or by moneyed corporations, the question of profit or loss necessarily becomes the leading one, and the strict balance of receipts and payments, deter- mines as to success or failure. The public benefit to the community is accidental rather then essential, and may or may not result from the enterprise. But in every well ordered government, large sums are expended for the public welfare, which yield no direct revenues whatever. Of this nature are our public highways, our river and harbor improvements, our light-houses and other aids to commerce, all of which may require continual ex- pense. Yet taken in connection with their benefits, they are of the highest utility, and worthy of all the care and expense bestowed upon them. In short, they are essential to our civilization, and an absolute want, demanding the earnest
135
BLACK RIVER CANAL.
care of government, and maintenance at every hazard.
Our State canals are public high- ways, made for the public convenience, and their utility is not measured by the amount of tolls they bring into the treasu- ry, so much as by the benefit they con- fer upon the district which they accom- modate, and upon the State at large.
But in examining the claims of the Black River canal, it will be found that this avenue of internal commerce has substantial and growing results to show in the way of direct and indirect reven- ues, and that the actual balance of cost for maintenance is but trifling in amount when taken in connection with the bene- fits.
The Tonnage Reports show the num- ber of clearances and tons transported each year, to have been increasing (with occasional exceptions) since the canal was first opened. Taking the average annual result, in periods of five years, there has been a steady advance without exception. The returns of late years upon lumber and timber, two important objects of our canal business, are as fol- lows :-
Boards and Scantling.
Tons.
Feet.
1871.
Lyons Falle ..
43,080
25,848,114
Boonville.
23,446
14,067,776
Total ..
66,526
39,915,890
1872.
Lyons Falls.
54,893
32,635,540
Boonville.
24,933
14,960,208
Total .... 79,325
47,595,748
1873.
Lyons Falls
50,491
30,296,051
Boonville ..
20,151
12,090,714
Total.
70,642
42,386,765
1874. Boonville ...
44,376
26,625,832
1871.
1,305 tone.
1873. 2,780 tons.
1872. 5,126
1874.
18,480
Total Tonnage for each year for Up ond Down Freights. 1871.
97,040 tone.
| 1873. 92.142 tons. 1874. 82,998 "
TOLLS, (including Contributions to the Erie Canal.)
1871. Lyons Falls
$15,701.33
Boonville
8,154.25
Rome
1,981.87
Total.
$25,837.45
1872.
Lyons Falle
$16,655.02
Boonville.
10,441.33
Rome.
1,396.65
Total.
$28,493.00
1873.
Lyons Falle
$15,876.76
Boonville.
8,128.00
Rome.
1,378.14
Total.
$24,882 90
1874.
Boonville.
$27,698.59
Rome.
1 106.26
Tolls that should properly be cred-
3,468 42
Total.
$32,273.25
Cost of Maintenance. .. $45,000.00 Of which there was chargable to Reservoirs for benefit of Erie Canal 11,600.00
Cost of Black River Canal proper for the year $33,400.00
Deduct tolls, etc ... 32,273.25
Deficiency for 1874 $ 1.126.75
Now let us consider some of the ben- efits conferred upon the Black River val- ley and State at large, in return for this sum of $1, 126.75 :-
There are about forty tanneries and two hundred saw-mills that have been mostly built since the canal was opened, and on the faith that the canal was to be permanently owned and kept in condi- tion for use by the State.
There are many warehouses and other structures built along the line of the canal, to facilitate the business of for- warding, boat building, etc.,which are fit for nothing else. The State has estab- lished the precedent of paying for such damages, in the case of change of line of the Erie Canal during its enlargement, and would be justly chargeable with the damages, in case the canal is not main- tained.
There are various manufactories and other interests that have grown up, either from the facilities of transporta- tion which the canal affords, or in con- sideration of the reduced rates of rail- road freights, which the competition of the canals has secured, and can ensure in the future.
There are about 900,000 acres of tim- ber land in the great Northern Wilder- ness, on the Black river and its tribu- taries, which will yield and furnish, on an average, not less than 12,000 feet of timber to the acre, including vast quan- tities of timber suitable for spars, spiles and shipping timber, from which timber- lands the timber may be floated (by means of streams made public high ways, at great expense to the State and private enterprise,) down to mills using this canal as an avenue to market ; the same section abounding also in an almost un- limited amount of mineral wealth, all of which would be heavily depreciated in value, were this privilege impaired. In fact, the greater part of this timber would otherwise have no market value whatever.
There is a broad and highly fertile
Timber.
Timber.
1872. 101,803
Ited, but are not
136
HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.
tract of farming land, which would also be reduced in taxable value from $3.00 to $5.00 per acre ; of course increasing in inverse proportion the burdens of tax- ation throughout the State, because the amount of State taxes is to continue, and by reducing taxable values in one section, we must increase them in others.
Besides these, the inhabitants within reach of the canal, and various manu- factories that are springing up along the line of the canal, and in the region that it accommodates, get the benefit of com- petition in prices, with the railroad that runs parallel with it through the greater part of its course; so that, even where they use this road instead of the canal, as do many of the tanneries, in bringing their hides and returning their leather, they get a substantial reduction of rates by these means. A single factory, the Extract Works, reports a saving of $3,000 a year from this cause alone. .
Viewed in this light, our canals may be regarded as the most effectual check upon monopolies in the carrying trade. Like the common highway, they are open to all, and by affording equal facil- ities to every one who chooses to carry his own freight, or to engage in carry- ing for others, they effectually defeat all attempts at combination, and are justly entitled to our favorable regard, not only in the cheapening of freight actual- ly carried, but in compelling railroads to reduce their rates in corresponding degree.
Your memorialists, in view of these facts and considerations, cannot but en- tertain a confident hope that the Black River canal, which has furnished the main opportunity for Northern New York, developing its resources, which development is yet in its infancy, will continue in the future as in the past, an essential feeder of the Erie Canal, as well in the water that fills its channel, as in the freight it bears to market, and that its future earnings will grow at past and present rates, until at a period in the near future, it will pay all expenses of main- tenance, and leave the benefits con- ferred upon Northern New York and the State, as a clear profit.
The results of the election in Novem- ber last, in the three counties directly interested in this canal, showed a una-
nimity of feeling among the electors, never before presented upon any ques- tion that has come before them, and this sentiment, founded upon self-interest, and effecting their welfare in a vital part, cannot fail to unite them hereafter in any question in which the Black River canal is concerned. The solid vote or 81 per cent. of our electors, it being a majority of 17,786 in the counties of Oneida, Lewis and Jefferson, in favor of continuing these rights under the pro- tection of the Constitution, is a signifi- cant declaration of their earnest feeling upon this question, and the determi- nation to give the full weight of their influence as voters in defense of their privileges.
By an amendment of the Constitution adopted in 1874, the Legislature was left at liberty to sell or abandon all but cer- tain canals specified, of which the Black River canal was not one. It was there- fore left to the discretion of the Legis- lature, to maintain or otherwise dispose of, until by a further amendment, allow- ing the tolls to be removed upon the State canals, adopted in November, 1882, the Black River canal was specified as one of the canals that should. be main- tained at the State's expense. It is there- fore beyond the reach of legislation as to continuance, under the Constitution in its present form.
Steamboats on Black River.
The steamer Cornelia* was built in 1832, at Carthage, by Paul Boynton, (who af- terwards settled at Canton and died there,) for a company in which Vincent Le Ray was president and principal owner, at a cost of about $6,000. Its dimensions were, length of keel 90 feet, across the guards 22 feet, and when light it drew 22 inches of water. She meas- ured 70 tons, and was furnished with two upright high pressure engines of
t Named from Madame Cornelia Juhel a relative of the Le Rays. among other names proposed was Dido. by some one who is presumed to have read the Ænead of Virgil.
I 37
STEAMBOATS.
ten horse power each, when first built, but before starting one of these was taken out, reducing the draft to 17 inches. The machinery was built by N. Starbuck, of Troy. Her cabin was aft, the floor a little below the deck, and the forward part was covered by an awning. Her first trip was made Sept. 22, 1832, having on board a large number of citizens, and everything went on pleasantly until op- posite Lowville, where she ran on a sand-bar, and although the hands jumped into the water and tried to lift her off it was of no avail.
This was but a prelude to numerous like casualties which marked her short and unprofitable career, which ended with 1833. A thrilling incident attend- ed her first visit to the High Falls. The man at the tiller, wishing to show the party on board and the spectators on shore, the qualities of the boat in rapid water, steered up so near the falls that as she turned, the spray from the torrent covered the deck, and the boat itself came as near as possible being drawn under. Fortunately there was a heavy pressure of steam up, and the next mo- ment the craft was out of harm's way, with only a thorough drenching .* This boat was dismantled, and a few years after was privately cut loose from the dock at Carthage in a freshet, and went to pieces in the rapids below. Her en- gine was put on a boat upon Black lake, and her boiler, many years after, was used in pumping water at one of the iron mines near Somerville, St. Lawrence county.
The steamer Jack Downing was a small craft originally intended to run on the Black river. She was built at Car- thage in 1834, but its destination being changed, it was drawn on wheels in the summer of that year to Sackett's Harbor. The team consisted of four yoke of oxen,
and a special truck was made for this use. It was there finished, and the deck and engine put in, costing in all about $1,500. It was 45 feet long, 8 wide within, and 14 feet across the guards, engine seven horse-power, builder and owner, Paul Boynton.
The arrival of this stranger at Ogdens- burgh created quite a sensation. It so happened that the steamer United States, then the largest on the lake, came in just ahead, and the rumor spread in the streets that she had " pupped." Crowds hastened down to the wharf to see the stranger that had come to town unexpected and unannounced,-for steamers great and small were still something of a novelty, so few were they in number, and every addition to the fleet was an event that attracted notice, whether acquired by immigration or natural increase.
In January, 1848, notice of an applica- tion for the formation of a steamboat company with $50,000 was published but failed. The Black River Steamboat Company was formed at Lowville, April 24, 1856, and in the summer following, the steamer L. R. Lyon was built at Lyons Falls. It was launched June 26, 1856, and got in operation that year, at a cost of $8,000. When light this boat drew 15 inches of water ; she was built with a stern wheel, after the model of the Ohio river boats, with open sides and elevated cabin. She was chiefly em- ployed in towing canal boats, and was afterwards burned, as was also a side- wheel steamer of the same name after- wards constructed. The little steamer J. W. Norcross, built at Phoenix, Oswego county, came in from the canal in the spring of 1858, and was employed one season as a packet, making a trip from Carthage to the Falls and back daily. She was afterwards run on the Erie canal.
The steamer Gallagher was completed and began running in June, 1860, and was used several years:
* This incident was related to us in 1852, by Mr. Boyn- ton the builder and engineer at the time.
1 38
HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.
The steamer F. G. Connell made her trial trip from Carthage to Lyons Falls Nov. 22, 1865. It afterwards formed a connecting route from Lowville to Car- thage, at the time that the railway had its terminus at Lowvillc, a line of omni- buses being used to transfer passengers and their baggage at the southern end of the line. This steamer was burned near Glensdale Nov. 16, 1869, and an attempt was made to show that it was an incen- diary fire.
The steamer Wren was also used to connect with the trains for Low ville, and is, we believe, still used.
In the spring of 1853, G. H. Gould fit- ted up a scow with a small portable en- gine connected with a stern wheel by a band. This craft, named the Enterprise, made a few trips. The little steam tug William P. Lawrence, of Lansingburgh, was brought into the river in Sep- tember, 1856, and on the 11th made the first steamboat visit to Beaver Falls. She soon after burst her boiler near Independence creek and was com- pletely demolished. The captain was badly injured in the face, a boy was thrown through the window into the river, and the engineer into the hold. The fireman was thrown into the river somewhat scalded, and the boiler itself blown ashore, the steam chest going far beyond over the tops of the trees. The accident was attributed to fastening down of the safety valve.
There are at present five other steam- boats on the river, viz :--
Nellie Sweet, built by James Ervin and Captain George Sweet, about 1873; owned by the Van Amber Brothers, of Watson.
Van Amber Brothers, built in 1879, and owned by the firm whose name it bears.
T. F. Macoy, built in 1879, and owned by the Van Amber Brothers.
T. B. Baselein, built by James Ervin in 1881, and owned by a stock company, Captain J. Ervin in charge.
Oclawaha, built in 1881, and owned by the Van Amber Brothers ; chiefly used in carrying charcoal from the banks of the river to Carthage furnace.
CHAPTER XVII.
THE MILITIA.
First Military Organisation after the for- mation of Lewis County.
THE minutes of the Council of Ap- pointment contain the following, [April 11, 1805] :-
" His Excellency, the Commander-in- Chief, having thought proper to form the Militia of the counties of Lewis, Jef- ferson and St. Lawrence into a Bri- gade :-
" Resolved, That Walter Martin be, and he is, hereby appointed Brigadier-Gen- eral thereof, and that in the said Brigade the following officers be, and are, here- by appointed, to-wit :-
Jonathan Collins, Lieutenant-Colonel;
V. W. Martin, promoted. Jonathan Edwards, Captain.
Thomas Wolcott, Lieutenant.
Ethe Witmore, Ensign.
Nathan Coe, Lieutenant. Gideon Sprague, Ensign. Levi Hough, Ensign.
Morris S. Miller, Captain.
Zeboan Carter, Lieutenant-Colonel.
Daniel Gould, Ensign.
Solomon Buck, Captain. Nathan Munger, Lieutenant.
Jeremy Chapin, Ensign. Jabez Wright, Captain. William Clark, Lieutenant.
Francis Saunders, Ensign. Oliver Bush, Captain. Winthrop Shepard, Lieutenant.
Edward Bush, Ensign.
Ephraim Luce, Captain.
Ehud Stephens, Lieutenant. John McCollister, Ensign.
Enos Scott, Captain.
Jesse Wilcox, Lieutenant.
Benjamin Davenport, Ensign.
Of Light Infantry :-
Richard Coxe, Captain. Asahel Hoof, Lieutenant.
139
THE MILITIA IN THE WAR OF 1812.
Levi Collins, Ensign. Stephen Butler, Adjutant. Leonard Sage, Paymaster. William Holada, Quartermaster. William Darrow, Surgeon.
The IoIst Regiment was formed June 15, 1808, comprising the towns of Low- ville, Denmark, Harrisburgh, and Pinck- ney, its first officers being Luke Win- chell, Lieutenant-Colonel Commanding ; Solomon Buck, Ist Major ; Zeboam Carter, 2d Major ; William Card, Adju- tant ; Andrew Mills, Quartermaster; and William Darrow, Surgeon. Its first Captains were John Bush, Nathan Cook, David Cobb, William Clark, Robert Clafton, Jesse Wilcox, and Ezra King. Zeboam Carter was Colonel of this reg- iment when war was declared, and these two regiments comprised the whole county through that period.
The first Troop of Horse was formed in this county in 1809, having Levi Col- lins, Captain ; Abner Clapp, Ist Lieuten- ant ; Adoniram Foot, 2d Lieutenant ; Johnson Talcott, Cornet ; and Leonard House, Levi Hart, and David Waters, Sergeants .*
Services of the Militia in the War of 1812-'15 .- The troubles with England occasioned an act of Congress passed March 30, 1808, detaching 100,000 men from the militia and placing them under the orders of the general government. Of these, 14,389 were drawn from this State, and 350 from Martin's Brigade. None of the militia of this region were called out under this act. On the 10th of April, 1812, in anticipation of a war, the President was authorized to require the several States to organize, arm and equip their proportions of 100,000 men to be officered from the militia then ex-
isting, or others at the option of the States and to receive the same pay, rations and emoluments as in the regu- lar army when in actual service. The whole or a part of this draft might be called out as occasion required, and the levies were to be drawn for a term of six months. Under this authority, 13,500 men were detached in this State, and 230 from the 26th Brigade. A com- pany was drafted for three months, under Captain Lyman Deming, of Den- mark, in the regiment of Colonel Chris- topher P. Bellinger, of German Flats. They served at Sackett's Harbor from May 12th to August 21, 1812, when they were discharged.
War was declared June 12th, while these men were in service, and upon the receipt of the news the Governor by general orders, dated June 23d, authorized Gen. Brown to call upon the militia of Lewis, Jefferson and St. Lawrence counties, and equip them at the State arsenals at Water- town and Russell. Under this authority one company of 72 men, besides officers, was called into service from this county for a term of six months, under Capt. Nathan Cook of Lowville, and placed under Colonel Thomas B. Benedict of De Kalb. This company drew their arms at Watertown, escorted two heavy loads of arms to the arsenal at Russell, and repaired to Ogdensburgh, where they remained in the presence of the enemy through the season, and assisted in repelling the attack in October .* Row- land Nimocks, of Turin, was Lieutenant, and Ebenezer Newton, of Pinckney, En- sign of this company. Major Oliver Bush, of Turin, was on duty in this draft.
During the winter following some arms and ammunition were deposited at Martinsburgh in the care of General
* The first roll comprised, besides the above, Warren Church, Oliver Allis, Comfort Parsons, James Henry, John Waters, Elisha and Richard Arthur, Elijah Halla- day, James Coates. Selah Hills, Joshua Loomis, Joseph Bradford, James Miller, Ithamer Ward, Aaron Parks, Johnson Foster, Benjamin Baker, Gurdon Lord, Win- throp Allen, I.evi Hunt, Eber Hubbard, and John Clobridge.
* Capt. Cook was arrested by order of Gen. Brown upon a charge of cowardice on the occasion of this at- tack, but was honorably acquitted, and the affair did him no injury where the facts were known. He was after- wards Colonel of the regiment in which he belonged.
140
HISTORY OF LEWIS COUNTY.
Martin, and 200 muskets and some am- munition in Turin, Leyden and Lowville, upon the bond of Richard Coxe, Daniel Kelley, James H. Leonard, Jesse Wil- cox, Levi Hart and Levi Collins .* An alarm for the safety of Sackett's Harbor, occasioned by the arrival of Sir George Prevost in Kingston, and a threatened attack by crossing on the ice, led General Dearborn to call out the militia en masse in this and other counties on the Ist of March, 1813, and they remained at the Harbor and at Brownville till the 20th,t under Brigadier-General Oliver Collins, of Oneida county.# The fear of an at- tack ceased with the melting of the ice, and a project for an aggressive move- ment was postponed until the fleet could co-operate. A third draft for three months was made in September, 1813, consisting of 60 .men under Capt. Win- throp Shepard, of Turin, and a company under Capt. Wm. Root, of Denmark. They served under General Collins in the regiment of Col. Geo. H. Nellis, from Sept. 14th to Nov. 4, 1813, at Sackett's Harbor and Brownville, during the costly preparations for the miserable failure of Wilkinson in his boasted descent upon Montreal.§ An inspection return dated September, 1813, showed that the 26th
Brigade contained in the 46th and IoIst regiments (Coxe's and Carter's), seven companies each, and a total of 301 and -367 rank and file.
A call en masse was made, and the mili- tia of the county served in one regiment, under Colonel Carter, from July 30th to Ang. 22, 1814, at Sackett's Harbor .* Gen- eral Martin was on duty upon this occa- sion. The last call en masse was made Oct. 7, 1814, and the militia of Lewis county were comprised in four consolidated com- panies under Colonel Carter.t They served at Sackett's Harbor till Nov. 11, 1814. Two companies of cavalry under Captain Sanford Safford, Abner Clapp and Calvin McKnight, served at Brown- ville in Major Levi Collins' regiment, and a company of Silver Greys under Capt. Jonathan Collins, volunteered for the service and were on duty from October 28th to November 9, 1814, in Lieutenant- Colonel Calvin Britain's regiment .;
The above comprises the military ser- vice of the citizens of Lewis county dur- ing the war.§ The settlements were frequently alarmed by rumors of Indian invasions from Canada. The route through the county became a thorough- fare of armies, and every resource of the valley was called into use to supply the troops passing through, or the garrison on the frontier. The first body of regu- lars that passed was Forsyth's rifle com-
* Governor Tompkins' message of April 1, 1813.
t Colonel Coxe's (46th) regiment consisted of compa- nies under Captains Truman Stephens and Adam Conkey, of Martinsburgh, Winthrop Shepard and Hezekiah Scovil, of Turin, Ethemer Wetmore and John Felshaw, of Leyden, and Luke Winchell, of Lowville. Colonel Carter's (IOIst) regiment included the companies of Captains Moses Waters, Joel Murray and Cyrus Trow- bridge, of Lowville, Israel Kellogg and Francis Saun- ders, of Denmark, and Capt .- Hart Humphrey, of Har- risburgh. Winchell's company consisted of "Silver Greys" or exempts. Bradford Arthur served as lieuten- ant.
# Gen. Collins was father of Ela Collins, formerly of Lowville.
§ This draft included Montgomery, Madison, Otsego, Herkimer, Oneida, Onondaga, Jefferson and Lewis counties. In the general orders of Oct. 4th, the general rendezvous was ordered to be at Martinsburgh, Lowville or Champion, as Gen. Collins might direct. The 26th Brigade (Martin's) was directed to furnish two captains, four lieutenants, four ensigns, ten sergeants, twelve cor- porals, two drummers, and one hundred and eighty privates. While encamped near the Harbor, the snow fell a foot deep, and the weather was severe.
* Captains Waters, Root, Conkey, Tallmadge, Kel- logg, Knapp, Trowbridge, Murray, Scovil, Shepard, Wetmore and Felshaw, served with their companies at this call.
+ Under Captains Kellogg, Root, Tallmadge and Waters. The general orders making this call were dated Oct. 3d, and stated that Sackett's Harbor was in immediate danger of invasion. Oneida, Herkimer and Lewis counties were comprised in this call, the whole to be under the command of General Collins.
# This company of exempts numbered 56 men, officers and privates. A few citizens of Pinckney joined a com- pany of exempts in Lorraine, under Capt. Joseph Wil- cox.
§ Most of the facts above given were furnished by Mr. Leonard C. Davenport, who made it a specialty as an attorney for many years to solicit claims arising from service.
I41
RECENT MILITIA ORGANIZATIONS.
pany .* Armies under Generals Dearborn, Izard,t Covington and Dodge,; besides many small parties of regulars, marines, militia and sailors, trains of artillery and arms under escort, went through at vari- ous times.
In the winter of 1813-'14, some ten or fifteen teamsters were hired from the north part of this county, and many more from Jefferson, to remove flour from Sackett's Harbor to French Mills, [Fort Covington] and from thence to Platts- burgh. They had returned as far as Chateaugay, where thirty-two teamsters had stopped at an inn for the night, and were carousing to wear away the tedious hours, as sleep in such a crowd was out of the question. Their gaiety was sud- denly arrested by the entrance of a Brit- ish officer, who informed them that the house was surrounded by his men, and that they were all prisoners. Their sleighs were loaded with plunder and they set out for Cornwall, where, after four days' detention, they were paid and dismissed. Mr. Ichabod Par- sons, of Denmark, was one of the party, and from him the circumstances were received in these details many years ago.
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