History of Oneida County, New York, 1667-1878, Part 148

Author:
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 932

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" The Baron De Zeng, a German nobleman, descends from a noble family in Saxony, and arrived in America during the Revolutionary war. He was married to a respectable lady in New York, and did now intend to begin a settlement in this vicinity. He had engaged to accompany mne on this tour, and I expected, as I really experi- eneed, that he not only should be an agreeable companiou, but very useful to me in many respects.

"The baron was so kind to charge himself to purchase a grand canoe, engage two servants, and procure the required provisions for our voyage. As he had before rowed through this wilderness, he knew best what was wanting to lessen the hardships of a similar enterprize ; and I must do him the justice that he left nothing untried to procure every article which might render our journey more agree- able. A well-muade tent, with a good carpet, stood foremost on the list, and his spouse took care that a sufficient quantity of bread and biscuit was prepared. While all this was brought in readiness, I had the satisfaction to explore the country, examine the woods with the contemplated slate for the canal, to join the Mohawk with the Wood Creek, and convince myself of its practicability. But this is ouly the dwarf fixing his eyes upward to the gigantie canal, yet in embryo. The soils differ little from that of Whitestown ; except the summit of the highland, on which the fort is ereeted, generally not less fertile ; often too rich for wheat as the first erop ; not free from baking ; sev- eral feet deep of the same unadulterated mould as the uppermost layer. By digging ten and twelve feet, often deeper, leaves perfectly pre- served, branches of trees, large pieces of timber, are discovered. I did see several samples of all these when a well was dug for Colonel Colbreath. Elm, ash, becch, heavy oak, and walnut are in the upper part ; on the lower ground chiefly beech, maple, and birch. As no apparent obstruction is visible, the canal may be executed nearly in a straight line.

"Scarce a day passed in which not two, sometimes three, bateaux arrived, whose destination was towards the Genesee lands, Onondaga, Cataraqui, or other parts of the westeru district. We met daily with groups of five or six men on horseback in search for land, with inten- tion, if succeeding, to move on with their families the next winter or following spring ; while every day one or other accosted us to purchase lands of which we did not own one single inch.

"During the timo I tarried here, a large bateau with furs arrived froin the West ; two yoke of oxen carried it over the portage. This was the second eargo within one week. It may be conjectured from this single example what riches the waters of Oneida Lake may carry on to Fort Stanwix, if every obstruction shall be removed. Now, it makes a fortune to individuals; thon, it shall become as productive to the nation as a gold mine.

" We waited another day in tho hopo of a few refreshinents, which I had procured at Schencetadi; but at length our patieneo being ex- hausted, although De Zeng was possessed of a deep fund of it, nearly equal to that of your friend, we walked on Saturday towards Wood Creek, saw our baggage stowed, stepped in the canoe, and pushed off.

"Do you recolleet, Mappa, how Remus vexed his brother Romu- lus by springing over tho ditehes with which he had encircled the future mistress of the world ? Here certainly might he have indulged his whim with less peril. No Oncida Indian, no valiant American, could have considered his country insulted by this process. Tho Wood Creek, indeed, resembles, at the landing-place, rather an insig- nificant diteh than well a navigable stream. Ere long it is, neverthe- less, enlarged, and resembles very much the numberless inland waters by which our ci-devant Fatherland was intersected. We arrived, at the distance of three miles, at Fort Bull, or rather at the place on which, during the war, a fort of that name was orected. The same faet I found after verified, viz., places designated by names originating from fortifications coustructed during the late French or the Revolu- tionary war.

"As we indulged ourselves from time to time in angling, we hooked a few tront and several large ehubs, without reflecting that the sun

* Gansevoort.

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

was setting ; our lusty boys waded continually to drag our deeply- loaded canoe over rifts and shoals. At once the air was darkened, which was rendered of a deeper hue by the streams of lightning with which it was on a sudden as embroidered ; several peals of thunder re-echoed through the woods, and the increasing darkness became now visible. The boys were discouraged; De Zeng sprang at once out the canoe and inspired them with fresh courage ; and your friend ? I trusted in their experience, and hoped their trial would be a short one; and then they might rest from their labors, while the baron ought to pay some price of not possessing his soul in equal patience.

" Now we proceeded quickly, and discovered after a few minutes a light in a small cottage. It was that of the Widow Armstrong, on the corner of the Wood and Canada Creeks, seven miles from Fort Stan- wix,-the part of land where Rosevelt's purchase begins, with which you and some of my best friends desire to become acquainted, and which, if I am not mistaken and disappointed in my wishes, may be once a goodly heritage, under God's almighty blessing, for us and our children.

" As we are now engaged in drying our clothes by a good fire, and Mrs. Armstrong is preparing our supper and couches, I must allow you a little rest before I offer you my rough sketch of the skirts of that noble tract, once the heritage of the Oneidas, now the object of ardent longings of Americans and foreigners, who, by every licit and illicit means, by extravagant praises and unfounded slanders, en- deavor to secure this possession to themselves, while some squatters have fixed themselves here and there on its borders,-a tract which, in population and wealth, must vie in time with any part of the Western District.

"I am yours sincerely."

" KINGSTON, 1st August, 1792.

"MY DEAR SIR,-You followed our steps, sir, through the meander- ing Wood Creek to the spot where the Canada Creck empties in it, the residence of Mrs. Armstrong, thus far the hospitable patroness of that insulated spot. I really hope, my dear sir, that you may have been able to keep your attention awake, otherwise it must become a more than herculean labor to drive the sleep from your eyes by a dry topo- graphical description. I really am apprehensive that the wish of getting rich by the purchase of a few hundred thousand acres of this land cannot make a sufficiently deep impression on your disinterested- ness, even if your purse was in unison with such a wish. I hope, at all events, it shall not exceed a slumbering, not heavier than mine on horseback, awakening the instant when I was leaning half-way from the saddle; and in that case I am not without hope, or the fall of a heavy oak, the report of our guns, our cries of joy on a canght prey of fish or decr, the lamentations and curses of our crew, and every real and imaginary danger shall break off the spell of the enchant- ment of some fair or malignant sorceress, and permit you to contem- plate the residence of the beautiful Oneida Lake with admiration.

" It is a general observation with regard to this world-and I am yet wavering to decide if the name of New or Old is the most appropri- ate-that the most barren tracts are everywhere near the sea-coast ; that the most populous part of the fifteen States, which have been settled in the beginning, cannot be compared with the extensive fertile fields of the West, and that their natural productiveness and riches are increasing in proportion that you penetrate deeper in the interior. Every traveler confirms this truth, and every new settle- ment affords so many incontestible proofs from the unusual produce of the fields, as by the sudden increase of the lands, to confirm these reports.

" No man dared yet to contest this truth except a few German in -- habitants on the rich borders of the Mohawk before the Revolutionary war, believing-in which they were confirmed by the cunning artifices of their great landholders and crafty politicians-that their paradise was surrounded by unsurmountable barriers, being no habitable spot above Canajohari, impenetrable except by a savage's foot, except by British Canadians, who dreaded the neighborship of Americans, ex- cept land-jobbers aiming at a cheap purchase by artfully underrating the land.

" The tract with which I would make you better acquainted was purchased two years past from the Six Nations, and begins at the Wood Creek, where that of the Canada Creek joins it. It has to the northeast Funda's# purchase ; to the south and west the Oneida reser-

vation, the military lands now beginning to be settled; to the north- west Lake Ontario ; to the north the Great Salmon Creek, from which it touches again Funda's purchase, in a northeastern course. See here, then, the rough circumference of 700,000 acres. Consider, my dear sir, if I might err somewhat in a due course, and take the east for the west, that I am yet in the infancy of my geological expedition, and am ready to say Peccati, Pater ; not, however, in that bewitching tone I heard you sing ' Mon père, je viens devant vous.' To prevent gross mistakes and secure you of forming an erroneous opinion of my senti- ments, I send you with this a pretty correct map, which, with the assistance of that of Governor Pownall, may learn you in how far I was successful.

" A simple statement of courses is sufficient to lay open the water communication with all the circumjacent lands : by the Wood Creek to the Mohawk eastward, and so on to the North River; through the Seneca River, southwest of the Oneida Lake, to the Genesee lands, whose settlements are daily increasing ; through the Onondaga and Oswego Rivers, in Lake Ontario; through the St. Lawrence and the North River, in the ocean. Consider now further, sir, that the dis- tance of Fort Brewerton at the west end of Oneida Lake, near the mouth of the Onondaga River, is, in a straight line, only eight miles from the Little Salmon Creek, and twelve miles from the great two principal landing-places on Lake Ontario; and the distance from the centre of the lake, near Bruce's Creek, is, in a straight course, no more tban twelve miles to the same spot.

" The land is there not much broken, with few stones or rocks, so that few hands, as soon as the trees are chopped, might make a toler- able good road from the one lake to the other. This land carriage is of a vast additional value; but no man can have seen the shape of the land and examined the Salmon Creek from Lake Ontario, and Bruce's Creek from Oneida Lake, in their courses, and doubt yet the high probability of a water communication of a short distance bc- tween these two lakes. Join to all this-and this, my dear sir, is an encouraging observation-that the circumjacent tracts, as the Gencsee lands to the south, Funda's, Steuben, Oothout's patent, are already partially settled, and continue to increase in inhabitants, while the lots in the military lands are increasing daily in value.

" Is this not already a great deal, my friend ? I know you consider it from this point of view, and are already anticipating the time that stores and magazines, villages and country-scats, are adorning the borders of Oneida Lake ; and yet how great this is, it is not all. Throw, I beg you, for a moment a cursory glance on the situation of this tract,-I ought to have said come and see and believe. Towards the south you have Oneida Lake, that of Ontario to the north, both joined by the Onondaga and Oswego Rivers; and in these disembogue, be- sides a number of smaller creeks, the Wood Creek, the Oneida Creek, the Canada Creek, the Fish Creek, the Little Fish Creck, the Black Creck, Bruce's Creek, the large and smaller Salmon River, and what is called the Fresh Lobster Creek, from the numbers we caught here of this delicious crustaccous fish, even superior to the sca lobster, and as exquisite a dainty as those in Guelderland and the Duchy of Cleves, which afford there such a sumptuous and palatable dish to the modern deseendants of Apicius.

" Both Salmon Rivers emptying in Lake Ontario, to the north of this tract of land, and the Fish Creek in Oncida Lake, are in the spring and fall full of salmon. You may form of this assertion a pretty ac- curate opinion after I have informed you that one Oneida Indian took with his spear 45 salmon in one hour; another, in the presence of Captain Simonds, 65 during one night; and another, 80. They are equal to the best which are caught in the rivers of the Rhine and Meuse, and might, if the time of fishing was limited by the Legisla- ture, and, what is more, its laws punctually obeyed and executed with rigor, become as beneficient to our country at large as the salmon fishery of the Meuse, in Holland, from which the East and West In- dies are supplied with this luxurious fish. Were the method of catch- ing the salmon in fuyks and smoking these introduced, as I advised several, with the offer of initiating them in this mystery, Oneida Lake, with its tributary streams, might supply an abundant provision for all the States, the West Indian market, that of South America in- cluded.

" Persuaded of this truth, I wrote to my Dutch friends, and ob- tained through my old Hon. friend, D. Herbach, from a mercantile house at Schoenheren,-the staple-place, as you know, of this commo- dity,-an accurate description of the mode of catching, curing, smok- ing, through the whole process, and offered its communication to Mr.

# Fonda.

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Stevens, at Fort Brewerton, and others, but it was not accepted,-too much trouble ! too distant ! too uncertain the prospect of gain ! no control over the Indian brethren ! no encouragement by the Legisla- ture ! I do, nevertheless, not yet despair or a happier period shall arrive.

" The cel of the Oneida Lake is equal to the best of the Holland market, and far surpasses every kind which I have ever tasted here in size, in fatness, in tenderness of the fish. The Salmon River possesses, besides this plentifulness of the finny tribe, another in- portant advantage,-our full-laden bateaux may have access and re- cess to both. What a potent lure, merchant, to Canadians, who now must purchase many articles at three and four times the capital higher from Quebec than they may obtain these from the State of New York ! They who pay at Cataraqui $3, and $3.50 at Niagara for one bushel salt, are often supplied with it at the Salmon Creek for five shillings, although even at Whitestown, Fort Stanwix, and its vicinity, often is paid from eight to ten shillings. Here, too, in time the price shall be lower ; cut only canals, increase the salt work, and manufacture it to a higher degree of perfection.

" A bountiful God has in this respect, too, provided for the wants of the western country with profusion. Everywhere are salt-springs, and but few miles from Oncida Lake, in Onondaga, is a copious salt- lake, encircled with salt-springs, the domain of the people of the State of New York. A considerable quantity is already transported to Can- ada, and thousand American families make never use of any other. How the copiousness must be increased when roek-salt too is manu- factured and carried to the south and west of our immense continent ! How exuberant it must become when that limestone erust, through whose crevices it is now ascending, shall be broken, and that vast body of solid salt discovered from which now a thousand springs through ages have been saturated ! You perceive that I believe in the real existence of this subterraneous treasure, which I presume may be discovered without Jacques Aymar's Baguette Divinatoire, and I have no less name than that of Leibnitz to procure credit to my supposi- tion. Ile said, in his ' Protegea,' 'Sub terra esse conditoria salis, satis fontes aquarum salsarum doccat,' which, as you have often heard when in Holland, faithfully translated in our English lan- guage, is, ' that there are repositories of salt under the carth is evi- dent from the salt-water springs;' but Rome, says the proverb, was not built in one day. What a time elapsed before the Chestershire salt-springs were of any advantage! What a time elapsed before the basket-salt was brought to market, and how late was it that the rock- salt was there discovered, from which considerable quantit'es, dug in large masses, are now transferred to the west coast of England, melted in sea-water, and again reduced in salt and used in the eure of her- rings. And how much must the value of this treasure be enhanced when the discovered coal mines are placed in the west at its side ?

" This country, so abundant in water and fish, is, if possible, yet more profusely endowed by our bountiful Maker with wood. Every kind of timber of the Northern and Eastern States is here in the greatest plenty and perfection,-butternut, walnut, white oak, sugar- maple, echestnut, beech, black ash, pine, hemlock, tbe lime-tree, white- wood or canoe's-wood, and several other species. When I asserted that the most part of these were to be found in the highest perfection, I always limit it to our States, as our timber is unquestionably infe- rior to that which is carried to the Dutch markets from the interior parts of Germany and the Baltic. Oak, pine, and chestnut aro chiefly found at short distances from tho lakes; the remainder in a more fertile soil at some greater distance; the hemlock, fir, and pine on more barren spots.

" The canals cannot bo opened or tho valuo of the timber must be raised. You know the scarcity of wbite oak and pino on several points of the North River and Mohawk, so that they are scarce suffi- cient to supply the first wants of the inhabitants, who are often com- pelled to employ timber of an inferior kind. I might enlarge on the blessings of the hard maple, without which the new settlers would bo bereft of the comforts of life,-sugar, molasses, vinegar,-were you not thoroughly acquainted with the inestimable valuo of this precious treo.

" It is true, my dear sir, a good soil, good water, and plenty of wood for fuel and timber are strong inducements to settle in a new country, -more so when the price of all this is enhanced by the prospect of a good market in the neighborhood ; but if thou art there nearly alono without neighbors ; if from the vicinity you obtain nothing even for ready cash; if, as is the situation of the largest number who trans-

port their families to the woods, their all consists in an axe, a plow, a wheel, a frying pan, kettle, bed, and pillow, with a seanty provision of flour, potatoes, and salt-pork, then what? Then, my dear sir, something else besides is required not to suffer during the first season. It is true a little wheat is often saved in the fall, a small spot cleared to plant in the spring corn and potatoes, while they live in the hope, if their health is spared, to prepare the soil for sowing flax-seed ; but something more yet is required to the maintenance of a numerous, hungry family, and in this respect, too, Providence has in this dis- triet graciously provided even to satiety. Never did I yet see a country where all kind of fish was so abundant and good. It may be equalled; it cannot be excelled. I tasted, within a short time, of more than a dozen different species, the one contending with the other for the pre-eminence, the least of these affording a palatable food,- salmon, pike, pickerel, catfish (if well prepared, boiled or stewed, resembling the taste of tbe delicious turbot), Otziergo bass (an cpi- curean morsel), yellow perch, sunfish, triob (chub), three species of trout, river lobsters, turtle, swordfish, and a green-colored fish of an exquisite taste, whitefish, etc.

" The salmon is generally salted, and sold at £4 the barrel; catfish at £4 and £4 10; the cel is smoked, and, with the two preceding sorts, preserved for the winter provision ; others are consumed fresh. Hun- dreds of gull eggs may be gathered on the islands. Ducks and geese visit annually the lakes and crecks in large floeks; the swan is but seldom seen in this vicinity, while bears and deer are roaming in the neighborhood of every cottage. It is enough to set out a few lines at evening, to make now and then an excursion to the woods, without sacrificing much of his time, that a settler may supply his family with meat and fish during five or six months.

"This is the country in which I could wish that our families were transplanted, with a few industrious families around us, whom wo could assist, and be mutually aided by them. Here we might soon forget the bustle of the great world, might secure our happiness if we can curb our affections, and leave a handsome inheritance to our chil- dren. But lle who directs all human affairs for the best shall direct our steps.

"Do not suspect that I placed too much trust in general favor- able reports. Follow me and we will take ocular inspection of the land.

" On Sunday morning we bid adieu to the good widow, who left nothing undone which was in her power to render her homely cot- tage confortable to us. About three miles from her house a small, swift-running stream empties its waters in the Wood Creek from the south. From thence we proceeded to a place called Oak Orchard, situated at the same side. We arrived ere long at a singular neck of land about a mile in length, and so small that, by standing, we dis- covered the water at the opposite side. This was a tedious circum- navigation indeed. We might have passed it in a few sccouds if a passage had been cut through it.

" Not far from this spot we discovered a clearing, extended towards the Fish Creek, or Oneida River, known by name of Captain Philips' and Dean's improvements. We left our canoe now and then to look at the land ; it was low and flat near the borders of the ereck, and had the appearance of being annually overflowed. The muddy sedi- ments placed it beyond doubt ; the luxuriant foliage of the stately trees did leave no room to suspect that the land might not be trans- formed in verdant meadows and grass lands; at some distance the land became gradually more clevated, and was adorned with oak, beech, and maple.

"The approaching night compelled us to look out for a convenient spot for our encampment, in which we soon succeeded. Our tent was pitched, and a blazing firo prepared by the boys. We spread our carpet and mado our beds ready, waiting for our supper. Here thous- ands of muskitoes welcomed us in their abode, obtruded their com- pany, and exhausted our patience by their treacherous earesses, in which they continued till we had encircled our tent with smoke, and yet we heard their singing, but quite different from Pergolesi's Stabat Mater.

" We covered our faces with a veil before we went to sleep. This was the first time in my life I slept in the woods, and yet my sleep was sound, but short and not very refreshing, as I awoke fatigued. and was not at case till I drove sleep from the eyes of all my com- panions, and had hurried them to the canoe to pursue our journey.

"We did so, and had scarce proeceded a mile when the Wood Creek, increasing imperceptibly in breadth, lost the appearauce of a

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

diteli and appeared a handsome river. But how charming was the sight ! How delightfully was I surprised when I did see it, unex- pectedly, enlarged to more than double its breadth, and our frail vessel, if a hollow tree may be decorated with this pompous name, in its middle ! This sensation, however, was only momentaneous. It was succeeded by another of a different stamp, which I could not suppress, although I endeavored to conquer it. You know that in days of yore presumption was rather my fault than fear, and here I could not have dreamed that it lurked in my breast, and yet I longed to be somewhat nearer the banks with our canoe; but the sight of danger is as fleeting when we dare to look sternly at it, and are willing to brave it, as that of a careless security is blinding our sight, when we heedless rush on in an untrodden road. I soon perceived that we were now as safe as in the Wood Creck, and it was a delight to observe how this river doubled its speed to pay its tribute to the lake. Now we hurried on, and encouraged our raw and unexpert hands to row on with alacrity, as we longed impatiently to see this vast expansion of water. Our wisbes were ere long gratified. We stopped our course about nine o'clock, unloaded our canoc, pitched our tent, and brought fire-wood together, that we might bave full leisure to contemplate this beautiful lake.

" De Zeng left me with the canoe and one hand to take a short ex- cursion on the Oneida Creek, to the south side of the lake, to fetch some implements left there the year before by one Peter Frey.

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History of Oneida County, New York, 1667-1878, Part 148

Author: Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Fariss Number of Pages: 932

Author:
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia, Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 932