History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 149

Author: Durant, Samuel W
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 920

USA > New York > Oneida County > History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers > Part 149

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"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 nad geese visit unocally the lakes and crecks in large flocks; the swan ie but seldom seen in this vicinity, while bears and deer are rooming 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 io which I could wish that our families were transplanted, with a few industrious families around us, whom we could assist, and he mutually aided by them. Here we might soon forget the bustle of the great world, might secure our happiness if we can carb our affections, and leave a handsome inheritance to our chil- dres. But He 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 tako ocular inspection of the laod.

" On Sunday morning we bid adieu to the good widow, who left nothing undone which was in her power to reader her homely cot- tage comfortable 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 laod ahout a mile in length, aod 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 seconds if & passage had been cut through it.

"Not far from this spot we discovered a clearing, extended towards the Fish Creek, or Oncida River, known by name of Captain Philips' and Dean's improvements. We left our canoe now and thea to look at the land ; it was low and flat near the borders of the creek, 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 nad grass Innda; at some distance the land became gradually more elevated, and was adorned with oak, beech, nod maple.

"The approaching night compelled us to look out for a convenient spot for our encampment, io which we soon succeeded. Our tent was pitched, and a blazing fire prepared by the boys. We spread our carpet nad made our beds ready, waiting for our supper. Here tbone- aode of muskitoes welcomed us in their abode, obtruded their com- pany, and exhausted our patience by their treacherous caresses, in which they continued till we had encircled our tent with smoke, and yet we beurd 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 sbort and not very refreshing, as I awoke fatigued, and was not at ease till I drove sleep from the eyes of all my com- panions, and had burried them to the ennoe to pursue our journey.

"We did so, and had scarce proceeded a. mile when the Wood Creek, increasing imperceptibly in breadth, lost the appearance of &

550

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

diteh and appeared a handsome river. But how charming was the sight! How delightfully wae I surprised when I did see it, unex- pectedly, enlarged to more than double its breadth, and our frail vessel, if a hollow trce may be decorated with this pompous name, in its middle! This sensation, however, was caly inomentaneous. 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 cance; 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 beedless rush on in aa untrodden road. I scan perceived that we were now as safe as in the Wood Creek, 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 rast expansion of water. Our wishes were are long gratified. We stopped our course about nine o'clock, unloaded our cence, pitched cur tent, and brought fire-wood together, that we might have full leisure to contemplate this beautiful luka.

"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.

" This Peter Frey, born in Germany, lives since twenty years among tha Oneida Indians, and gained their confidence in such a degree that they use him in any affairs of consequence, and consider him as the most honest white man with whom they have been acquainted. True it is that he takes care of their interests with a fidelity and ardor bor- dering on enthusiasm, which is but seldom met with. He is peculiarly entrusted with the management of the affairs of a Colonel Lewis," who served in the Revolutionary army, and was rewarded by the State with a bounty in lund.

" The Oneida and Onondago Indians cultivate many hundreds choice apple-trees, from which they liberally distribute the fruits among their white neighbors, and provide them with grafts and young trees, if they are inclined to settle in their vicinity.

" While Major De Zang continued his course in exploring the Canada Creek, I took a walk along the eastern sandy shore of this charming lake, and examined its northera salient angles, of which the first was foar, the second about aine miles distant in this circuit from the mouth of Wood Creek. The woode on the south shore are overshadowed by a chain of mountains, from east to west, curiously diversified by three elevations, which, by their undulations in a serpentine lina, altered the horizon in a most delightful manner. The small islands in the lake could be distinguished, and zephyrs ruffled the silver waves. Witbin a few moments I saw three canoes, one with Indians, among whom Capt. Jacob Reed, and one bateau from the south and west, while two bateaux with four families, from the Fish Creek, landed a little below our encampment.

" The soil is a barren sand ; the trees near the shore dwarfish and of little value. At first, when I entered the woods, I met with a swampy ground, but further proceeding, a good leam, increasing ia depth and richness as I went on. Oak, fir, pine, water-ash, then oak, beech, and maple, are the principal timber.

" The baron returned about twelve, with two most capital eels, pre- eented him by an Oneida, Good Peter, who had been hired by him the last year to follow him on a similar expedition as that in which we now were engaged.

" Haring loitered here away the afternoon in examining shells and stones, and plants and shrubs, we pursued our course the next morning ; then rowing, then using the setting-poles along the shore, till we reached the paint from which its northerly side may be calculated. From here the shore was generally covered with pebbles. A small creek, called by the Indians who were with us Little Fish Creck, falls bere in the lake. At the coast-side, near the lake, the pine, oak, and hemlock elevate their heads, and overshadow an extensive tract of tolerable good land, although it does not assume this appearance, as at soma distance from the lake, where they are intermixed, often outnumbered by bass-wood, ash, whitewood, chestout, and sugar-maple. To the west side of this creek is a large tract of oaks, a gray, sandy soil; a little further it is covered with a thin loam; there the oaks becomuc

minglad with beech, ere long with butternut and maple, thea ash, walnut, maple, and beech, in a rich loam from six to eighteen inchas deep, increasing by every step which yon advance to the interior.

" We had now lost a great part of two days in fishing, without an adequate reward to our exertions, and might have suspected that the exuberant abundance of thie lake in fish, of which we had heard 80 much boasting from white men as well as Indians, had been exag- gerated, but we scon discovered the cause of our failure, while the Indians and roving Americans confirmed us in our opinion. The lake was now covered as with a white cloak of hundred, thousands, millions of insects, which we call Haft in Holland, and which lay in some parts of the shore one and two inches deep. This insect appears here an- nually at a stated period, although somewhat earlier than in Holland. The eggs are hatched in the surface of the water, the winged insect flutters a short time in the air, and is buried after a short life in its watery grave, to supply the finny tribe a rich repast, from which man reaps in his turn the advantages. My imagination, warmed and ex- alted by the present scenes, brought me in a twinkling of the eye on the Meuse, and I ordered the rowers to steer to the Stone Chamber (Steenc-kamer), to regale myself with that delicioue and so hand- somely-shaped fish, the roach, f which preys upon this insect, and is never called for by the lovers of a good fare except in these few days. A decent public-house, at the mouth of the Wood Creek, might here replace the Steene-kamer, and the landlord might regale his guests in a more luxurious manner. The water-plants, with their broad, oval lcaves, and their yellow and white flowers, continued the illusion. It wanted only to complete its success a few bottles of old Mezel wine.

" It was infallible, my dear friend, as I spent in my youth so many delicious hours on the Meusa, when I often staid several weeks in its vicinity, or thie remembrance contributed to exhilarate my soul, en- raptured with the charms of the spot, with the contemplation of the wonders which a bountiful God spread over the face of the earth, and might to be traced in every step.

"We were, a little after sunset, surprised at a number of fires in a semicircular form on the lake. I numbered aine, others several moro. These were muda by the Oneida Indians spearing eel. They are usu- ally two or three ia a canoe,-one steerman, one who spears in the bow, the third takes care of the fire, made from dry, easily-flaming wood, in a hallow piece of bark, first covered with sand. This bringe me again to the Meuse, to see the fuyks setting for the salmon fishery, or emptying these from their captures, when some are saved, others, as you know, intended for fat salmon, receive their immediate doom, being kaneked on the forepart of the head, which they term kuyzen. How the fisherinnn laughs at the fruitless endeavor of the inexpert youth to kill the salmon ; he performs it always with ane, and well, a soft stroke.

" We proceeded on our course, and arrived at no great distance to another, but much smaller creek, emptying ite waters in a pretty hay. Here was the land to some extent towards the lake low, und could only he appropriated for pasture or hay-lund; but it gradually ascended about twenty feat, where it was covered with a deep, black, rich, fertile soil, mixed with a small portion of black sand, and covered with ma- jestic oak, beech, butternut, walout, ash, and maple. Here the pros- peat was admirable indeed. Imagine, my dear sir,-and yours is lovely enough,-imagine that falling plain near the lake, cleared from trees and stumps, and covered with verdure, embellished with a dozen of cows, justly as you contemplated in the days of yore, in the rich pastures of the South Rhine and Delfsland, the lake in front, a wood to the south, at the other side, behind it, the Caneserago Moun- tain, the small rambling creek to the enst, and to the west the islands in the lake in the perspective, while behind you the noblest fields in- vite you to admire the rich produce of the scil, equal to the best-tilled in our country.

" Major De Zeng walked slowly with his gua on shore,

' With head upraised and look intent, And eye and ear attentive bent,'

while we rewed on ; he gave us a signal; we pushed to the shore; he told us that he saw a bear on the next point ; in an instant we left the canve, and dispatched our boys, well armed, in the woods, to cut off his retreat. De Zeng and I advanced in his front from the lake-side ; when within a pistol-shot of this surly lord of the woods, he stood still, trotted on a few steps, and received a shot from the woods, which

# Colonel Lewis, chief of the St. Regis tribe, and of mixed Indian and negro blood.

+ Cisco, or lake herring.

MARY E. QUITEAU.

FRANCIS GUITEAU.

PHOTOS BY & B WILLIAMS, UTICA , NEW YORK

LITH. BY L. H. EVERTS PHILA, PA

RESIDENCE OF MRS. FRANCIS GUITEAU, TRENTON, ONEIDA CO., N.Y.

551

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

broke his left hind leg; another glanced hia brawny side. De Zeng missed his aim, and while I stepped forward with the cocked gun, De Zeng, throwing his gun aside, sprung impetuously forward with the tomahawk io his bond, ntfucked him in front, and knecked him en the head twice. Bruin lifted up his paw, twice he epencd hia mouth ; at last, staggering, he falle; in bloed and foam expires. We dragged him with difficulty towards the canoe, as he was indeed of monstrous size, lifted him in it, and returned hy land to the little creek, while eur men rewed towards the same spot. Here we resolved to make our encampment for that night. In the morning it proved to be the most delightful spot which we had yet seen.

" Methinks, my dear sir, you must new be pretty tired with the rending; take, then, what repose. The how cannot be always Lent; we are making our preparations fer the same end, while eur boys are opening the bear early in the morning. They shall take off his hide to preserve it our trophy, fnsten his limbe to the trees for the first paa- senger,-man or other henst of prey,-and prepare for our breakfast a few alicee, roasted, with a small piece for soup at dinner.

" Adio. Yours."

" KINGSTON, Ist August, 1792.

" MY DEAR SIR,-If you never tasted it you might have declined to share in our breakfast. Stewed slices of surly Bruin was the prin- cipal diab. It was not to his advantage that, though bulky enough, he wna not fat ; otherwise you must know that in the country not only everywhere, but even to the fastidioue palate of many polished New Yorkers, it is a dainty, and thia meat deserved indced thia high praise, if you obtain it in ita senson in perfectico. With all thie I should not be surprised at all that you bad rather preferred a pike, of three feet and six inches, which we discovered on shore,-his helly torn open, without entrails,-if we hnd cought it. I doubt not or be fell a prey to a bald eagle, who, hy some accident, was prevented to destroy bim.

"We entered once more our cance; discovered two bateaux steering towards the seuth, and arrived about noon at the Black Creek, the largeat at thia side of the Inke after the Fish Creek or Oneida River; here we dined on an excellent rice soup, from ene ef Brown's gommone, which we bad saved. Here wne a broad piece of foreland, watered by this creck, and about a hundred rede further en another creek, sufficient to turn a wheel, joined it. The upland was excessive steep, high, and harren ; the soil, fine yellow sand; the trees, fir, hem- lock, pine, and a few onk. At some distance the land gradually de- scended, the soil hecame richer, and the timber was improving; eak, nsh, yet further, butternut, beech, maple, and again the same rich black soil, not subject of being so soon exhausted in intensive hot weather as the Whitestown leam.

" We continued our conrse after dinner along the shore, and hoped that we might reach the Fisher's Bay, in which the little creek empties herself, whose vicinity was highly extolled hy De Zeng, with no un- bounded praise; and yet bie description did not appear to me, after a cool examination, to he too highly colored.

" It was late before we reflected upon it, and a rising thunder-storm nrged us to take quickly hold of all our care. I ought to bave said payays, as we were in a canoe. We did run-by our burrying too fast, and through the inattention of our man nt the helm-with our canoe on a huge stone, without having it in our power for a long while to move it backward er forward; at length we got again afloat, and arrived safe in the creek at Mr. Bruce's, in former daya a Connecticut merchant, now an independent inhabitant of the Oneida Lake, main- taining himself by the chase and fishery, and what he earned from a small potato spet. He fetched directly upon our arrival a fine catfish, from a reservoir constructed from saplings and twiga, so well twisted that no escape was possible. He praised himself not a little on his invention, as this magazine supplied hia wants hy foul weather, or, a8 he said, 'when Bruce was too lazy to go in quest for other food;' and who would have been willing to peisen his complacency, or withheld the tribute to hia ingenuity, which was really exerted in no ordinary way in this and other similar circumstances, when his powers of action were circumscribed within such a narrow sphere? Was not Cæsar himself delighted with the success of his invention, as when he con- structed that wonderful bridge over the Rhine, which be crossed with hie army to penetrate into Germany, and of which he seemed pleased to leave us euch a minute description ? and Bruce, poor as he now was, had a pretty high opinion of himself, ecemed not to wish to repas the Mohawk, and if not sua se virtute inrolvens, considering himself as

the best man, appeared at least to enjoy ense and contentment-he was a Bruce !

"This catfish weighed ten pounds. We obtained afterwards one of twenty-four pounds. Some have been taken of forty and forty-five weight; but these of the largest size are chiefly brought from Lake Ontario. When Bruce bad prepared him, he showed us a handful fat, as yellow as gold. It wne indeed a delicieua repaat for our sup- per. Roasted, as this was,-and no ceok could have done it hetter,- or hreiled, or stewed,-as we did cat after a while,-you would not have been able to distinguish it from a fine turbot, if ita shape had been imitated. A harrel containing nhout fifty catfish, the head and backhone being thrown away, ie seld herc at £4 108. We observed bere two sorte of trout ( Forellen), both known by the name of salmon- trout, although incorrectly. We could not obtain a specimen of the white species. These were the yellow and the red-colored, properly named salmon-trout. The first is generally of a smaller size, ite coler a dark browo, with a yellow tinge. The other is larger, the brown more lively, with reddish spots, frioged with a culer of gold, and are sometimes between two and three feet long. The chub (Triob) is the usual hait, sometimes frogs.

"In the morning we made an excursieo in the country, took a atraight northerly course, nod returned through the west and south at the other side to our encampment. The foreland near the lake, at the enst side of the creek, appeared but indifferent to the eye, now somewhat used to contemplate first-rate soil, and the timber stood in the same relation. At the distance of about one-fourth of a mile from the lake the ground rises gradually, and continues to do so, if you proceed another quarter of a mile. Then the soil increases io fer- tility froin step to step, and in the same proportion in depth. We had at first ooly a layer of four, then of six inches, which augmented from two tu seven paline of my hand. When we had proceeded about two miles, sometimes it is a black woodinod, in other places it waa mixed with a fine black sand, sometimes a rich blue, sometimes a fioe yellow clay.

" It seems to me that you are somewhat surprised at my accuracy. Do you not then recollect that I never could be satisfied in having done a thing by balf? I may be mistaken. I may make a wrong decision through ignorance or inadvertence; but it was my sincere nim to obtain a correct view of this country for your, for my owo, sake.

" I removed with my large pocket-knife first the muck, till I reached the first layer, nod protruded theo a sound stick io that spot as far as it could penetrate, wbco I often, at five and seven palme' depth, discovered the same sort of quil at the end of the stick as that on the surface. Beech, maple, walout, was the principal timber, with here and there an ash and lime-tree, oak nod pine, near the shore.

" We crossed the creek a little above a beaver-dam, and found the same excellent seil at the west side, with the anme gradation, and in the same proportion as that which we had explored oo the east, till we arrived again at the plain covered with fir and pine.

" This is a barren plain, De Zong, so it seems, but it has guod water, it has good building spots, nud by manuring and good husbandry will make good gardens. It ia barren indeed, De Zeng, although it may ba melierated, but you do not reflect on the advantages of that creek ; art thou not convinced by what thou hast seen that, with small exertions to improve it, full-Inden bateaux may go in and out,-may de it actually now ? Did your eye got discover the mill-sents on this creek ? Ought not the valuable Innde back to these not to come in competition ? Can you not see bateaux ascending Bruce's Creek and descending the Salmon Creek ? Can you oot see the furs and other valuable produce of Canada brought hither through the canal? Ah, do you not see already various stores and magazines crowded with merchandise ?- then you have nothing of second sight. Return to this spot within thirty or forty years, and you shall excinim, 'De Zeng was pretty near the truth, but underrated yet the value of the spot ;' and so it would have heen indeed new had a colony heen planted here under Stuyvesant'e administration, and the noble patronage of the Dutch government, of a few families of Boers from Guelderlaod, and of fishermen from the hordera of the Meuse.

" A swamp begins about two milea and a half from the creek, which extends itself considerably in the country and joins an excellent piece of land, which is separated by aoother marsh from the lake towarde the west. You toay calculate the value of this land by that one of the Oneida Indians. Colonel Lewie left nothing uotried to have it secured to him as bie individual property ; and that the Indians,

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HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

when afterwards a French adventurer, one Chevalier Bennett,# had obtained the possession, did give him in lieu of it 60,000 acres near Catarnqui. Even these swamps must noquire in time no inconsiderable value, from the timber which they contain. Their draining, naver- theless, though it may be executed, must be an expensive undertaking, by want of & descent for the water, ns they are lying nenrly on a level.

" We left Bruce's Creek on Friday evening about six ; the sky was serene and delightful ; a soft breeze curled the waves and fringed them with white, while the sun sinking towards the west beautified the whole scenery. I did not witness such a grand or majestic sight sincs I crossed the Atlantic. It must be seen before it can be fully np- praised, and then it must ben brute whose bosom does not glow with an ardent love townrds his Crentor, and adores His goodness and wisdom, so majestically displayed in every part of the universe. In propor- tion that we penetrated deeper in the Inke the beauty of this diversi- fied prospect was more and more enhanced ; the islands, the shores, the woods, the mountains ohtruding themselves to our sight, secmed to vie with each other for the preference. At length the slight breeze increased ; ere long a brisk wind arose from the weat; the increased undulated motion with the white-capped waves appalled our raw hands, whose trembling limbs and pale visages too clearly betrayed their fear of s threatening shipwreck. We endeavored to assuage it, as the wind was stendy. If we bnd any apprehension, it arose from their inexpertedness, from their unsubdued terror, from the knowledge that two or three waves would have beco sufficient to sink our deeply- londed canue. We conquered, nevertheless, and they rowed on with redoubled alacrity. We encouraged and applanded their efforts nnd laughed away their fears.

"I never witnessed a more charming sight; it was indeed exquisitely benutiful; the suo in its full splendor at the western horizon, gilding the enchanted clouds, un extensive sheet of water in ao undulating motion, two islands towards the south in front, which we were now approaching, a small opening between these through which we had a view of the southern coast, one single, cuvered with grass, and with one tree-adorned rock, behind which in perspective appeared the country of tho Oneidas with the Canoserago hills.

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History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 149

Author: Durant, Samuel W Publication date: 1878 Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Fariss Number of Pages: 920

Author: Durant, Samuel W
Publication date: 1878
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts & Fariss
Number of Pages: 920