History of Monroe county, New York with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, Palatial residences, Part 13

Author: McIntosh, W. H. cn; Everts, Ensign, and Everts, Philadelphia, pub
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Ensign and Everts
Number of Pages: 976

USA > New York > Monroe County > History of Monroe county, New York with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, Palatial residences > Part 13

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MONROE COUNTY is bonoded on the north hy Lake Ontario, Wayne and a small part of Ontario on the east, Ontario and Livingston on the south. and by Genesee and Orleans counties on the west. The area is six hundred and eighty- two square miles, and its location is northwest of the centre of the State. two hundred and two miles west of Albany, and between latitudes 42º 51' and 43º 16' north, and between 3º 22' and 4º 03' west longitude from New York. The tract extends southward from the lake about twenty-two miles, and twenty-one miles west and fourteen miles east of the Genesee river.

There are at present nineteen civil towns. named and formed as follows : Chili. Gates, and Grecce, in 1802: Parma and Riga, io 1808; Penfield, in 1810; Mendon and Perrinton, 1912; Sweden, 1813: Brightoo and Pittsford. 1814; Ogden, 1817; Henrietta and Rush, IS18; Clarkson. 1819; Wheatiand. 1821 ; Irondequoit, 1837; Webster, 1838 -; and Hamlin, 1852. Various natnes were given to these laods at earlier dates, of which the two most prominent were Northfield for the towns east of the river, and Northampton for those lying no the west. Within the limits of the county there bate sprung up of hamlets and villages over fifty ; several of the latter incorporated, and a village of 1817 a large city in 1876. Rochester was made the capital of the county in 1821, and such remains. It is finely situated and well built. Streets are wide and pavel. Edifices, public and private, command admiration. The stone-built churches, the city hall, the Bank of' Rochester building. the Powers' building, Trevor hall. tbe public buildings, the toilla, the bridges, and the aqueduct are bot instances of the many which evidence liberality, enterprise. and intelligence. Rochester owes ita pre-eminence to the water-power supplied by the falls of the Gencsee, which amounts to two hundred and sixty-eight fect within the hounda of the city, there being three falls besides rapids. An immense trade centres here from the rich lands adjacent and along the river. The Erie canal is still in use, as in the days of half a century ago. The packets have disappeared. but up and down the great work go and come a vast number of boats laden with products of bulk seeking a market. Railroads centering at this city bring hither the surplus of the west, and from mill, manufactory, and nursery go out articles superior in quality, im- mense in quantity. As a manufactory of four Rochester acknowledges no rival. and for many years ber mills ground yearly half a million barrels, while the pro- duct of 1832 was six hundred thousand barrels .- requiring three million bushels of wheat, of which one million three hundred and tifty-nine thousand tive bun- dred and forty-six were brought in wagons from the adjacent farms.

In Rochester, churches have multiplied as population increased; and while the towering spires betoken no niggard outlay. these structures acknowledge no aid in their erection beyund that of the citizens. Rowhester has been the birth-place of many eminent men, fuined in literature, invention. . It-denial. and in war. Here was started the first newspaper in the county, aud here are banks whore credit knows no limit, and educational institutions of high rank.

Among the leading villages are Pitt-ford, incorporated in 1827; Honeoye Falls, in 1838; Charchville, in 1867. and the business village of Brockport. Pittsford has the advantages of the Auburn branch of the New York Central railroad, and of the Erin canal. There was mid of it in 1860, " It contains four

churches, a union school, and a flouring-mill ;" and ten years later another wrote. " It contains six chunches. a number of hotels, stores, and mechanics' shops, and about seven hundred inhabitants."

Honcoye Falls has a notable manufacture, facilitated hy the fall of water, which has an extent of nearly sixty feet within the corporation. An iron bridge cruces the stream below the falls, and a covered railroad bridge above them. There are located here mills, factories, and shops. There are half a dozen churches, a bank. and a printing-office. The indications ate of industry and thrift.

Churchviile, on Black creek, is in the northwest part of the town of Riga. A station on the New York Central railroad, it contains several churches, mills, and stores, and a population of over five hundred.

The village of Brockport lies in the north part of Sweden. It has developed since the construction of the canal, and has n reputatinn national in respect to the manufacture of mowers and reapers. Here was begun by Messrs. Seymour. Morgan & Co., in 18:5, the manufacture of the MeCormick reaper. The im- provetuents made in this, the oldest manufactory of reapers and towers in the world, have continued for the firin the precedence in advanceinent as well as in originality. Jubnson, Huntley & Co. were an enterprising firm, baving a large establishment for the making of reapers. The tendency is to gather in-titutions of like purpose in same localities, aod with the growth of the present firms, the accession of others, and the development of branch industries, the village may well lay claim to prosperity and progress.

Spencerport lies east of Brockport, in the northern part of Ogden. Mills, shops, sod churches have beco erected, and the villagers may claim a residence in a pleasant and desirable locality.

Fairport is no inconsiderable village, situated in the town of Perrinton, in the sontheast part of the county. The one great interest in this village is the Ruler- atus factory of D. B. De Land, begun in 1852. Advertisements of the firm reached twelve thousand dollars in a year, and the sales of 1874 were five hundred and seventeen thousand dollars. The business has reached enorminus extent

Among the lesser villages of Monroe are Clarksoo, in the south part of the towo of the same name; Charlotte, a popular resort and a point for much of the lake commerce ; East Henrietta, in the east part of the town, the seat of Monroe Acedemy ; Unionville, Bushnell's Basin, East Rush, Webster, Scottsville, and Mumford, besides a large number of thriving and ambitious hamletx. Most of these places are local conveniences for groceries, mails, grista, school and church privileges. ·

The northern boundary of Monroe is formed by the waters of Lake Ontario, whose value for commerce, health, and agriculture is incalculable. The principal lines of boats make Charlotte a stopping-point ; contiguity to the lake renders the climate mild and equable, and favorable to health and to fruit and plant. The large number of persons now living at an advanced age, and enjoying life, con- stitutes an excellent proof of the salubrity of the climate from luke vicinity.

This lake is the northern of the great chain of inland seas which divide the United States from British America. It is elliptical in coufiguration, and while its greatest width is fifty-five miles, the average is oinch less. A central line con- necting extremes is one hundred and ninety miles in exteot. The Niagara, on the west, receives the waters of the upper lakes. while the St. Lawrence foruns the outlet, by the gulf of the same name, to the Atlantic. The lake is dorp. but enp- plied with few good harbors. Its largest river is the Genesee, and among its bays in Monroe are Teornnto, Gerundegut or Irondequoit, Duck pond, Long pond, and Bradloe's or Braddock's bay. The level of the lake is three hundred and twenty- nine feet below Lake Erie. and one hundred and ninety-six feet above tide-water of the Hudson at Albany. Spafforil says, of what is now known as Irondequoit, " The Teoronto bay of Like Outario merits more particular notice, if for no other purpose than to speak. of Geruoderut, Irondequoit, and Rundicutt, nanies by which it has been known. The Indians called it " Toronto,"-a sonorous, purely Indian name. The bay is shout five miles long and one mile wide. com- manicating with the lake by a very narrow opening, and The-o-ron-tok, perhaps nearer the Indian pronunciation, is the place where the waves breathe and die, or gasp and expire. Bordering upon Irondequoit and its like-named creek. the sur- fuce exbibits an unusual and picturesque landscape. There is a multitude of conical mounds composed of sand and light earth, sometimes seen isolated, at other points united. and rising to an altitude of two hundred feet. Projecting into the two of Greece are Duck and Long ponds, and Braddock's bay. the latter being the most considerable. These bodies of water have been noted ay favorite resorts of hanters and anglers. In early days bushels of the egys of ducks and geese could be gathered from nests in the surrounding marches.

The river which bears the name Gence, signifying Pleasant Valley, is the principal natural feature of the region of which Monroe furins a part. Its scenery is picturesque; its banks unexcelled in fertility. From its soarce on the table- land of western Pennsylvania, seventeen hundred feet above the Atlantic level,

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HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

oa to the lake, there is much of the bold and strikingly romantic. At its source, within a tract of thirty-six miles square, rise streams whose waters, flowing widely apart, mingle with those of the St. Lawrence, Chesapeake, and Mexico. Its length is one hundred and tilly miles, que hundred and twenty-five of which lie in New York, through the counties of Allegany, Livingston, and Monroe. It receives the waters of Canaseraga crock and Conesus and Hemlock outlets on the east, and the outlet of Silver Like and Allen's and Black creek on the west, with other smiller tributaries. From the Gardeau reservation, where are two falls. one of sixty, the other of ninety feet, the river is navigable tu near Rochester, where are three falls, one of twelve feet, above the canal aqueduct ; one of ninety-seven feet, about a quarter of a mille below the aqueduct ; thence rapids for one und a half miles, terminating in a fall of twenty feet ; and twenty rods below is a final fall of about eighty feet, whence there is navigation between high banks to the Like. Racewaya cut in the solid rock give unlimited water-power, which is to a great extent employed, but far beneath the opportunity. The appearance of the county in the commingling of natural beauty with agricultural wealth is thus commented upon in the Rochester Directory of 1827 : " The Genesee flats must strike the eye as peculiarly worthy of the name. There are natural prairies or Indian clearings many thousands of acres in extent, between the villages uf Gen- esec, Moscow, and Mount Morris, which now crown the opposite declivities of their surrounding uplands ; and contrasting their smooth verdure with the shaggy hills that bound the horizon, and their occasional clumps of spreading trees with the tall and naked relics of the forest, nothing can strike with a more agreeable sen- sation the eye long accustomed to the uninterrupted prospects of a level aad wooded country. Could those who named the valley have witnessed the flocks and herds that now enliven its landscape, the busy towna, with spires overlooking from the hills, the boats bearing its surplus wealth down its winding stream, and the evence of intellectual and moral felicity to which it contributes in the homes of its present eolightened occupaots, and had they been able to appreciate this, they would bave employed the choicest expression of their language to give it & Dame." One may look upon the quiet streatu as the lovely feature of a land- scape, and again upon a vast destructive tide of rushing waters.

. A flood was known upon the Genesee in 1835 ; it swept through Rochester. tearing away Main street bridge and the buildings attached. Agaio, in 1957, the waters rose and carried off a bridge; but it was in the spring of 1865 that occurred

THE GREAT OVERFLOWING OF THE GENESEE.

Bridges were im pelled from their foundations; buildings, undermined, came crash- ing down ; railroad communication was severed; and heavy individual and cor- poration losses were incurred. The premonition was seen on Friday, March 17, when the river rose at Rochester one foot per hour ; cellars were filled, and the flata overflowed. Higher rose the water, heavier became its volume, till the Genesee valley canal in the west, and the feeder of the Erie canal on the east, ceased to be visible. Tbe overflow of the Erie canal banks began at three P.M .. and at Child's basin a torrent poured through Exchange into Buffalo street. The inunda- tion had increased till by six p.M. Platt street was navigable to skiffs. Hill street received vast quantities of water, which poured towards Brown's mill-race along Allen and Centre streets and the Central railroad. An hour later, and foot- passage, without wading, was cut off from the First to the Second ward on State street. So far the water bad poured from the canal, but now the Main street bridge, wholly of stone, was inadequate to pass the volume of water, and a froth- ing tide swept over the bank, submerging the lower part of Front street, inun- dating miles of streets, and surging on to the river. As hours passed the tide still rose, and at midnight the water began to pour over the top of the Main street bridge at the west or luwest end. A powerful current, deep, wide, and strong, ran down Front street, coursed into Buffalo, on through the city, resistless in its power. It was morning of March IS; niue-tentha of the streets in the First ward were under water, much of those in the Second, and in others. Ans- iety and admiration called not only the citizens but thousands from elsewhere to view the scene. A multitude standing in Main street gazed upon the flood. and oa Buffalo, west of Washington, a vast crowd looked upon water one-third of a milo wide, its eastern portion boiling aod surging as if' stirred from its depths by subterranean gigantic force. State street for half a mile was under water from oce to four fuet. Many skiffs were seen upon this inland sea, and occasional teams moved about. The extent of submergement is indicated by a depth of water at the corner of Buffalo and Front streets of six to right feet ; at the Cra- tral depot it was three feet; in Areade Hall it was twenty inches ; and in the post-office a fout. 'The territory subject to the freshet wwwy a half-mile long by one-third of a mile wide. and thickly covered by business property and dwellings. Two railroad bridges were destroyed. At eleven o'clock Friday night the bridge of the Central railroad ucar the upper fills gave way atl was hurled over the

great precipice. But a few minutes previous, peuple and engine hul crowd upon it. The Erie railroad bridge in the upper part of the city list two arches at four P.M., Saturday. Many buildings were damaged. One of a number of abandoned street-cars way awept over the falla. The water marks retained up the river showed the water three feet higher than in 1835. No services were held in churches on Sunday ; white tlags waved from buildings indicates diaires. and then in boats distributed bread. . \ bureau was Liken from the water un Mount Hupe avenue, in which, among pipers, was a deed for one hundred acres of land at Mount Morris. Small buildings were moved, and settled here and there. Surrets were injured, and sidewalks toro up. Samuel Richardson sad D. R. Barton just by the full of buildings one hundred thousand dollars, and the entire loss was about a million dollars. Up the valley was one vast lake of water, and Allen a creek cuntributed no inconsiderable volume of water. The calumnity bud been foretold by Lyman B. Langworthy, Esq., on the occasion of laying the corner- stone of the new court-house, June 20, 1850, but no steps had been taken to guard against its occurrence.

The surface of Munroe, like Orleans and Niagara, is divided into terraces by the Ridge road, and the mountain ridge crossing from east to west. This road is distant from fuur to six miles from the lake, to which it is amiuly parallel, and above which it is elevated about one hundred and fifty fect. There is a grubual descent from its base northward and southward. This ridge is regarded as the result of waves, which formerly washed the northern side; it has been eut through by streanis and artificially to effect the drainage of low lands on the south side. The general surface of the county is that of a level, elevated table laud. A distant view presents a plane surface, broken by the one narrow ridge, but closer observation presents a surface considerably diversified. The slope southward frum the ridge is but for a few feet, and then rises to the summit of the mountain ridge, over three hundred feet above the lake. South ward the ridges are gently undulatedl. and extend north and south. The highest elevations on the south border rach over six hundred feet above tide, and four hundred feet above the lake. Petriutou, lying in the southeast, has an uneven surface. In the south part is Turk hill. the highest land in the county. Besides the Genesee and its auxiliaries, in Mon- roe are the Irondequoit and Four-Mile creeks to the northeast, end Sandy, Littie Salmon, Salmon, Long pond, and other smaller atreams, which discharge their waters into the bays and inlets of the lake. These streams, towing over the limestone ridge, constitute ao abundant and valuable water-power.

The soil is a gravelly loam of great depth, and, by constant disintegration of liwe- stone, is rendered perpetually fertile. Along the lake shore it is of a red, argil- laceous, loamy character, its derivation being from the crumbling of Medios sandstone. The decay of the Clinton and Niagara shales is the origin of a ciay material. The soil is impregnated to the south with lime and gypsum elements, favorable for the growth of wheat. In 1827 the following was true : " There remain the remnants of dense forests of beech, oak, and maple, un a deep yelio? loan, covered to a depth of six to ten inches of black, vegetable earth ; some light, sandy plains, alternately supporting the oak und pine, a portion of the laud called . Oak openings; scattering oak woods on a solid, calcareous gravel, sometimes a ciay, sand-mixed; occasional swamps of tamarack and pine, with black ash swale ; and upon the river and creek winding flats of the richest alluvial soil.

The soil is well adapted to raising grain ; attention is generally giveu to the culture of fruit, and the lands have ever beeu considerably in use for daitying atri stock-breeding. It is asserted that but little if any land in the county is unbited for production. Marl is abundaut in Chili, Riga, and Wheatland. Large quas. tities of gypsum are found in the last-named town. Among the products shows to the settlers were different varieties of wild plums of delicious favor, and many of the crab-apple. The first orchard planted in the Genesee country, west of the river, was owned by the Shacffers, on the Allen farm, the seeds of which were pus in the ground in December, 1700. The xip of the sugar-maple was made into sugar, molasses, and vinegar. Pumpkins were raised among the first products. Pared pumpkin, stewed, was known as " pumpkio butter," and wild berries were used for sauce and fur preserves. Later years have seen considerable attention given to raising apples and peaches. Apples are successfully grown ; prach4 and other fruits are oot certain crops. The grape and smaller fruits are grown etten- sively, and they are of superior quality. Grapes have been sold, during the Idi, at thirce cents a pound by peddlers in the city. The nurseries in the county aru the most extensivo in the country. They are out only numeros, but uf strat size ; elsewhere their history is detailed. In soil of incahaustible ferulity, chiznate of great uniformity, water-power of unlimited extent, river and canal for navi. gation, and railroads for transportation, Monroe County presents an array .. natural advantages rarely found combined in the same ares, and conducive to the greatest wealth, production, aud populatiun.

HISTORY OF MONROE COUNTY, NEW YORK.

CHAPTER XVIL

THE PROGRESS OF AGRICULTURE-STAPLE PRODUCTS-IMPROVEMENTS-STOCK -MACHINERY-AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES-FAIRS-FARM STATISTICS.

AGRICULTURE forms the leading object of pursuit. It is the origin of speedy development, and the basis of liumso impmovement. The fame of the alluvial flats of the Genesee has been extended wildly. not from a knowledge of constituent elements of soil, but from the great and unexampled yields of produce. From the hand of Indian Allen the first wheat was sown upon the Genesee. In 1739, the Sbaeffers found twenty acres in wheat, and during the season of 1790 they sowed a hundred arres to this staple, planted large fields of corn, and engaged extensively in grazing. From this source settlers from far and near provided themselves with grain for seed. much of which they bure away upon their backs. Early farming at the best was erude. The cmp was often largely injured by wild beasts, large and stuall, and by birds. The pioneer perforce placed himself in the forest with the confidence born of intelligence. and while corn, potatoes, turnips, and pumpkina gave more immediate supply of find, an ultimare porpore led him to place large areas under cultivation. K. mote from stores, and destitute of means to acquire their goods, the pioneer farmers drew from the soil a supply for every argent want. Standing in the forest, his oxen and ox-sled or the sleigh by him, the settler constructs a shelter from the trees about him, and begins a cultivation of a small patch of ground. Years go by, and changes transpire as the result of industry. The dwellings are improved. the brush fence is replaced by rails, and these by boards, or, mayhup, the farmer rejects the expenditure of value upon fences, and goes without them ; stumps are burced, rot out, or are pulled; stones are dug and piled in heaps, or made of use; drainage is effected, and fields improved.

The mode tools, clumsy of make and requiring arduous manual tull, gradually gave place to farta utensils, models of lightness and efficiency, and depending for power upon the horses instead of upon men. Care was early taken to improve stock and increase variety and extent of crops. and. fio.dly, we find the descend- ants of the pioneers,-the independent and progressive men of to-day.

Of early privations, hard labor, and much discouragement, we have spoken, and of an export of surplus wheat and cora. Ely & Bissell and Brown & Mum- ford created a home market, and began the purchase of produce from the vorronnd- ing country in 1815. When the wheat and flour of western New York were first sent to the seaboard markets, a prompt acknowledgment was rendered of superior quality.

" The wheat of this part of the country bears the highest price in the New York market, selling for fourpeuce, eightpence, and a shilling per bushel more than the North river wheat, which is reckoned next best. The flour manufac- tured by Mr. Bartles, from the mills on Mud creek, between Bath and Geneva. was esteemed the best ever inspected io Baltimore, to which it was floated in arks through the Conhocton, Tioga, Susquehaona, and Chesapeake." So wrote Maude, in 1800.

The first market was Elmira. and tran-portation was difficult. The prices of various products in 1801 were as follows : Wheat, 75 cents. coro. 37} cents, and rye 50 cents per bushel; bay, 86 to 812 per ton ; butter and cheese. 11 to 16 cents per pound; salt pork. SS to $10 per cwt. ; whisky. 30 en 75 cents per gallon; salt, $1 per bushel of 56 pounds, or $5 per barrel; sheep. &2 to 84 per head ; cattle, for driving, $3 to 84 per hundred; milch cows. $10 to $25 per head ; livres, $100 to $125 per span; working oxen, from 350 to $50 per yoke ; Laborers' wages, 810 to $15 per month, including board : a suit of home-made clothes brought 84 to $5; and shoes $1.75 to $2 30 per pair. Shipment of produce to Albany, io 1804, was made by boats in summer aud sleighs in winter, and now and then by an enterprising farmer.

...

Cropa were light in 1805, and, prior to the harvest of 1806, wheat went up to $2.50 per bushel. During that year the season was advanceil, and wheat was cut on the 4th of July. Wheat and corn became a drug, and would not be traded our bartered. The seasons of 1807 to 1911 were productive, and from 1 -12 to 1316 were not so; it was in ISIG that the wheat did not ripen till September. The corn crop was almost wholly lust, and there was a nightly frust from June 6 to 12. The harvests of 1817-18 were fair, and from 1-19 to 1-24, abumint. The home market was so many busliels of wheat fur a cow, a yoke of oven. a plow ; and Judge Price paid ton bushels of corn for showing a horse. in the early day, while living in Rush. Wheat has always been the staple grain product of Monte County, in quantity almost beyond belief. It was long thought that the Hate were unsuited to wheat-raising, since it would now ron kales. maddes and is brume wortlili-s. To an extent, it Wia trite ; beat the warily was fast in's courral introduction of hander-stemmed varieties of who it. the place of the old and varity. The white fint superseded the red chat and bearded rody, and the dots gained a 1

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History of Monroe county, New York with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, Palatial residences, Part 13

Author: McIntosh, W. H. cn; Everts, Ensign, and Everts, Philadelphia, pub Publication date: 1877 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Ensign and Everts Number of Pages: 976

Author: McIntosh, W. H. cn; Everts, Ensign, and Everts, Philadelphia, pub
Publication date: 1877
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Ensign and Everts
Number of Pages: 976