History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 2

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 2

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Boundaries .- Oneida County is bounded on the north by Lewis and Oswego, on the South by Otsego and Madi- son, on the east by Herkimer, and on the west by Madi- son and Oswego Counties.

The latitude and longitude of the two principal towns, Utica and Rome, are approximately as follows : Utica, latitude 43º 06' north, longitude 1º 41' east from Wash- ington. Rome, latitude 43º 15' north, longitude 1° 30' cast from Washington.

Peculiarities .- The beautiful valley of the Mohawk is perhaps the most remarkable in the United States, and in some respects in the world ; not on account of its extent or productions, though these are by no means insignificant, but from its peculiar geography and topography, its re- markable geological structure and development, and its wonderful history.

Generally speaking, the county of Oneida lies upon the dividing ridge of highlands which runs through the State in a northeast and southwest direction, and separates the waters which flow into the St. Lawrence, the Mississippi, the Susquehanna, the Delaware, and the Hudson Rivers.

In pre-historic times, and during its occupancy by the

# This estimate of course covers the waters of the county.

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Iroquois Confederacy, its central valley was a great high- way. Upon its diverging waters the painted warriors of the Ho-de'-no-sau-nee launched their bark canoes and went forth to conquer in all directions. It was a strategical base of operations from whence military expeditions could penetrate by natural channels a vast surrounding region, and to this fact more perhaps than to any other the famous Confederacy of Central New York owed their supremacy.

The great trail connecting the Hudson River and the lakes passed along the Mohawk, and thence westwardly by the most practicable route to Lake Erie ; and it is a singu- lar fact, and vastly to the credit of the Indian "path- finders," that in after-years the first turnpike-road of the white man followed substantially the war-path of the savage, as did " Braddock's road" and the great national highway, the celebrated Indian path through Pennsylvania, known as " Nemacolin's trail."

When the European appeared on the scene, the territory now constituting Oneida County lost nothing of its impor- tance as a great thoroughfare. It rather became still more prominent, and its strategical importance, commanding as it did the gateway between the East and the West, was speedily recognized, and fortifications were erected at an early day along the carrying-place between the Mohawk River and Wood Creek. From 1727, the date of the building of the first fortification at Oswego, or Chouaguen, down to 1783, it was alike the war-path of the savage and the Gaul, the Briton and the American ; and even so late as 1812-15 it was the great military highway for the transportation of armies and munitions destined to operate on the northern and western frontiers of the nation.

Upon the completion of the Erie Canal, in 1825, it became the route of the greatest tide of emigration known to modern times; and when the railway followed, the amount of travel and traffic passing through it became simply enormous. This has continued to the present time, and since 1840 the transportation of grain, provisions, and merchandise has grown to such proportions that it is ex- tremely doubtful if it is cqualed in any part of the world. The vast cmigration from Europe, and the wonderful movement of grain and provisions from the agricultural regions of the West, nearly all take this route, and the necessities of commerce have compelled the enlarging of the Erie Canal, and the building of a railway with four steel tracks; and the end is not yet. Chicago is the primary collecting-point whence is sent forth 100,000,000 bushels of grain annually, and thousands of tons of stock and meats; and New York City is the great emporium from whose docks depart the thousand " white-winged ships," freighted with the necessaries of life to feed the millions of laborers in European lands. The line of traffic between these two great cities of the East and West is along the Mohawk Valley, and generations yet to come shall still behold the mighty tide roll on.

For civil and political purposes the county is divided into twenty-six towns, two municipalities, having city or- ganizations, and ten incorporated villages. These are again sabdivided into school and road districts, etc., for local accommodation, educational purposes, and neighborhood convenience.

TOPOGRAPHY.

The distinguishing topographical features are a broad, central valley, extending through the county from west- northwest to east-southeast, and high table-lands rising towards the north and south, cut by the valleys of numer- ous streams. These table-lands rise in the northern portion of the valley to elevations varying from 800 to 1300 feet above the central valley, culminating in " Penn Mount," in the town of Steuben, which reaches an altitude of about 1727 feet above the sea ; the height of the Mohawk above tide- water at Albany being 427 feet .* Starr's Hill, in the same neighborhood, is also very high. The highest point south of the Mohawk, and also in the county, is called Tassel Hill, from a Dutchman named Van Tassel, who formerly lived near it. It is near the corners of the four towns Marshall, Sangerfield, Bridgewater, and Paris, and is said to be 1800 feet above the Mohawk at Rome, or over 2200 feet above the sea.

The height of the lowest pass between the Black and Mohawk Rivers is 1120 feet above tide. The northeastern part of the county reaches the wilderness region, which is wholly underlaid by the primary, or Archaan formation. The central valley, including large tracts in the vicinity of Oneida Lake and the Mohawk Valley, is comparatively level, while the remaining portions are more or less uneven or hilly. The valleys of the streams are highly cultivated, finely improved, and beautiful. The ranges of hills are parallel with the streams, and are more abrupt in the northern part of the county than in the southern, and con- sequently better adapted to grazing than general cultiva- tion. The central valley has a soil composed of sandy and gravelly loam and alluvium. The southern portions have a mixture of clay with sand and gravel.

Oneida is one of the best agricultural and dairy counties in the State. A large share of its surface was originally quite heavily timbered with a great variety of deciduous trees, and there was also considerable pine, cedar, and hem- lock. The great bulk of the timber has been cut away, and the people depend largely upon the anthracite region of Pennsylvania for fuel.

There is little doubt but at one period several quite ex- tensive lakes occupied what are now some of the finest agricultural sections of the county. Oneida Lake, at some period, undoubtedly covered a very much larger territory than at present, and the valley of the Mohawk above Little Falls very possibly constituted a long, narrow lake, extend- ing as far west as Rome; and the two may have been united in one body. Of course this speculation refers to a late period in the earth's history, when the whole region of the State had been lifted above the shallow sea that once overspread it.

GEOLOGY.

The geological features of Oneida County and the imme- diate region are among the most remarkable in the world. Within a distance of thirty miles, measured from northeast to southwest, from the Black River valley, in the town of Reisen, to the valley of Oriskany Creek, in the southern

# This is claimed to be the lowest pass through the main Appala- chian system.

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

part of the county, there is an outcrop of nearly every for- mation from the Archaan, or primitive, to the Carboniferous. To illustrate: commeneing with the primary rooks of the Adirondack region, mainly composed of gneiss, we find in succession, as we go south, the great limestone system known as the Trenton (including the Birdseye, the Black River, and the Trenton proper) formations, with their wonderful fossil remains; the Utica slate; the Lorraine shales, or Hudson River group (known in the west as the Cincinnati group) ; the Oneida conglomerate; the Medina sandstone; the Clinton group; the Niagara shale and lime- stone ; the Onondaga salt group; the Helderberg lime- stone; the Oriskany sandstone; and the Hamilton and Chemung shales and sandstones. It is very probable that below the Trenton group, lying between that and the pri- mary rocks, the Potsdam and Calciferous sandstone, and the Chazy limestone, may all be found, as they outerop in various other directions,-north, east, and south from the primary system.

Trap-dykes and veins do not occur io the county ; or if found they are exceedingly diminutive, as may be seen in the limestone at Trenton Falls, on West Canada Creek. Of these various formations, the Trenton limestone, Utica slate, Oneida conglomerate, the Clinton group, and the Oriskany sandstone received their names from their fine development in this county.

" Of useful minerals, the county has the lenticular elay iron ore of the Clinton group ; bog ore, in the swamps near Oneida Lake; and possibly magnetic orc, in the northeast part, where there is abundance of iron-sand. Marl and peat have been found in some places, and water-lime and gypsum quarries have been worked to some extent. Build- ing-stone in great variety, and of superior quality, has been extensively quarried. Mineral springs are found in several places."*

The Archaan, or primitive rocks, are supposed to have a thickness of 50,000 feet, and are known to geologists as the LAURENTIAN system, from their grand development in the St. Lawrence region. Another formation of the primitive, known as the HURONIAN system, from its development in the vicinity of Lake Huron, estimated at from 10,000 to 20,000 feet in thickness, is by many supposed to be of sub- sequent formation to the LAURENTIAN, but still belonging to the primitive. The granular limestone and iron-bearing region of St. Lawrence County is sometimes referred to the HURONIAN. Professor Helmholtz, the eminent scientist, has made an approximate calculation of the length of time required to cool this granite mass into a solid, and estimates the period at 350,000,000 years.

The Archaan region of Northern New York covers an area of about 12,000 square miles, and is composed mostly of granite, gneiss, hypersthene, etc., depending upon the pro- portions of the ingredients which compose it,-quartz, feld- spar, hornblende, and mica. This formation lifts its highest points (Mount Marcy and others) more than 5000 feet above the sea, while in Pennsylvania the same formation is more than 7 miles below the surface, being overlaid by a maximum thickness of sedimentary rocks to the depth of

42,000 feet. These sedimentary or secondary rocks are entirely wanting in the Adirondack region of New York, which proves conclusively that either the primary system uprose before the secondary was begun, or, if since, that the latter has been entirely worn away and carried to distant regions. It is the general belief that the Adirondaeks were elevated before the formation of the sedimentary roeks be- gan, and that they constitute a portion of the most ancient uplift on the globe. The outcropping formations of the State of New York represent the ARCHAAN, the SILURIAN, the DEVONIAN, and (partly) the CARBONIFEROUS ages. In the Archaan no animal life was known to exist, and there is no positive evidence that vegetation had yet appeared. In the Silurian the Invertebrates appeared, and plants of the Algea family ; in the Devonian, various fishes were repre- sented, and new forms of vegetation ; in the Carboniferous, amphibious animals made their appearance, and among plants Acrogens and Conifers, which contributed so largely to the coal formations.

The thickness of the stratified or sedimentary rocks in the State, above the Archæan, is about 13,000 feet. In Pennsylvania, as before stated, it reaches 42,000 feet, and in Virginia a still greater thickness, while in the Western States it does not, in some places, exceed 4000 feet. In Europe it reaches 100,000 feet. These facts would evi- dently show that the American continent was much older in its uplift than the European. In America, also, east of the Mississippi, there is very little rock formation left above the Carboniferous, while in Europe the formation reaches a thickness of 25,000 feet, showing that the later formations in the United States have been disintegrated and worn away through an immense lapse of time, while the European for- mations of a similar character are comparatively fresh and new.

The various strata in New York lap over one another like the leaves of an open book, and dip towards the south or southwest, increasing in thickness through Pennsylvania and Virginia.

It will be obvious to every one that if the Archæan system has a uniform thickness over the globe, the thinnest crust of the earth is found where the primary has never been overlaid by the secondary formations ; hence earthquakes would be more likely to affect the surface in the Archiæan regions. Taking the maximum thickness of the primary system at 50,000 feet, it will be seen that the Adirondack region of New York is 40,000 feet thinner than the forma- tion in Pennsylvania, or only a little more than one-half the total thickness in the latter State.

The Potsdam sandstone, which lics directly upon the primary formation, contains here and there a few forms of animal life which existed in the seas during the period of its formation ; and as we come up into the Calciferous and Chazy formations, these increase both in species and indi- viduals, and the Trenton group is almost wholly composed of animal remains, especially its upper strata.

The magnificent gorge of the West Canada Creek, at the celebrated Trenton Falls, is cut for three miles through the Trenton limestone to a depth varying from 60 to 200 feet, and here the seeker after nature's truths can study the countless forms of animal life, from the minutest Brachio-

# State Gazetteer.

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

pods to the gigantic Orthocerata family, some of whose members attained a length of 15 feet. Here, also, are magnificent, glossy specimens of the Trilobite species, nearly a foot in length, which lived in the days when the primor- dial rocks were being slowly deposited in the bottom of the ancient sea.

Taking a section of rock at the lowest cutting of this gorge, in the vicinity of the " High Fall," where it is about 200 feet in perpendicular height, and estimating the stream to have worn away the limestone at the average rate of two feet in a century, we have ten thousand years consumed in this excavation ; which, however amazing it may scem, is as nothing compared to the time required in the deposi- tion of the rock.

The immense accumulation of organic remains in the Trenton and kindred formations has given rise to a theory regarding the vast petroleum deposits of Pennsylvania, which is certainly not obnoxious to sound reasoning. As outlined and, possibly, originated by a prominent citizen of Oncida County, it is this: This vast accumulation must have produced prodigious quantities of oily matter, which has in some way disappeared from the place of deposition. The strata of the Silurian and Devonian formations are known to dip at a certain angle towards the south and south- west, in a direction nearly parallel to the trend of the Ap- palachian Mountains. The oil as it became liberated from the decomposing remains gradually found its way along the sloping strata to the sand, or sand-rock formation of the present oil regions, where it accumulated in such quantities that the whole world can draw from it ad libitum. In other words, the oil deposits of Pennsylvania are the drainage of the limestone and shale formations of the regions to the north. The oil is invariably found in what is technically known by the miners as " pebble rock," and the quality varies from the fine lubricating or amber oil to the crude petroleum, according to the fineness or coarseness of the grain of the rock, which holds it as a sponge holds water.

Oil is still found in the limestone and shale formations of the State, but not in large quantities. In the Trenton formation it is occasionally found in pockets, and burns readily. It is also found in the Niagara limestone, notably in the vicinity of Chicago, Illinois, in the Utica slate and shale, in the Genesee shale, and in the Corniferous limestone. Since the discovery of oil in 1859, more than $400,000,000 have been paid for the production of Peonsylvania alone ; and the whole vast deposit may have been drained from the New York formations.

Black River, in the northeastern part of the county, runs very nearly on the line dividing the primitive from the secondary formations. On the cast is granite, or kindred formations, and on the west the Trenton limestones; and this condition exists as far north as Carthage, in Jefferson County, where the " long falls" of Black River break over the ancient rocks. The Trenton rocks cover an area (out- crop) of 100 or 150 square miles in Oneida County.

Extensive quarries are worked at the gorge below the village of Prospect, in Trenton. The new government building in Utica is being constructed of this material.

The thickness of the Trenton limestone is, in Oneida County, about 300 feet ; along the Appalachian Mountains,

to the south, it reaches, according to Rogers, 2000 feet. The Trenton period of geologists includes the Black River and Trenton limestones, the Utica shales and slates, and the Hudson River and Cincinnati groups of limestones and shales.

Overlying the Black River and Trenton formations, next in order, is the Utica shale, which extends in a narrow band along the Mohawk Valley, and reaches a thickness of 15 to 35 feet at Glen's Falls, 250 feet in Montgomery County, and, probably, 300 feet in Oneida County. This formation abounds in combustible material, though it contains no coal. The percentage of this material in the Mohawk Valley is from 12 to 14 of the whole mass, according to Professor Whitney. It outcrops in the towns of Boonville, Steuben, Western, Floyd, Trenton, Rome, Marcy, and Deerfield. It is of no value for building purposes, being thin and brittle.

Succeeding this is the Hudson River group of the Cin- cinnati epoch ; variously known as Hudson River, Pulaski and Lorraine shalcs, and reaching a thickness in Lewis County of 300 feet. It is similar in its nature to the Utica shale, and both abound in fossils. The formation occasion- ally contains thin layers of limestone. It is found in the towns of Boonville, Ava, Western, Lee, Annsville, Rome, Whitestown, and Utica, and extends down the valley of the Mohawk, on its southern side, to the valley of the Hudson. It also covers a large area in the counties of Lewis, Jeffer- son, and Oswego. These formations close the LOWER SILURIAN AGE. In speaking of this period, Dana, in his " Manual of Geology," says, "The seas of the Trenton period were densely populated with animal life. Many of the beds are made of the shells, corals, and crinoids, packed down in bulk ; and most of the less fossiliferous compact kinds have probably the same origin, and differ only in that the shells and other relics were pulverized by the action of the sea, and reduced to a calcareous sand or mud before consolidation."

It is not necessary in this connection to enter into a technical description of the various forms of life which then existed. The curious will find them minutely de- scribed in various geological works. It is sufficient to state that animal remains constitute a large proportion of the various limestone formations, amounting in the aggregate to many thousand feet in thickness. The best locality for the study of this subject is around Trenton Falls.

UPPER SILURIAN AGE .- At the close of the Lower Si- lurian age there were great changes in the earth's crust, and an immense destruction of animal life. The changes occurred slowly through long periods, and in the beginning of the Upper Silurian age many new forms of animal life appeared. The Upper Silurian includes the Niagara, Salina, Lower Helderberg, and Oriskany formations.

The Niagara group includes the Medina, Clinton, and Niagara subdivisions, and the Medina includes the Oneida Conglomerate and Medina Sandstone.

The lower member of the Medina epoch is a pebbly sandstone or grit, and called the Oneida Conglomerate from its development in Oneida County. It extends through the towns of Florence, Camden, Annsville, and in a narrow strip into Herkimer County, where it thins out and dis- appears. It varics from 20 to 120 feet in thickness. This

HISTORY OF ONEIDA COUNTY, NEW YORK.

formation is known under the name of Shawangunk grit in Ulster County, and the celebrated Esopus millstones are manufactured from it. It is 500 feet thick in the Shawan- gunk Mountains.

The upper formation of the Medina epoch is known as the Medina Sandstone, which is a red or mottled argilla- ceous sandstone. It is from 300 to 400 feet thick along the Niagara River, and gradually becomes thinner as it cx- tends east and disappears in the central portions of Oneida County. It is found in Camden, Vienna, and Rome.

According to Dana, " where fullest developed in New York the Medina group includes four divisions, as follows : red marl or shale, and shaly sandstone, banded and spotted with red and green ; flagstone,-a gray, laminated, quartzose sandstone, called 'grayband'; argillaceous sandstone and shale, red, or mottled with red and gray ; argillaceous sand- stone graduating below into the Oneida Conglomerate." Above the Medina group appears the Clinton Sandstone, which stretches from the neighborhood of Schoharie Creek, in the county of the same name, westward through Herki- mer and Oneida Counties, and on across the Niagara River at Lewiston, through Canada and Michigan. Near Canajo- harie its thickness is 50 feet. In the town of Stark, Herkimer County, the rock contains a bed of gypsum. It extends through Oneida County, with a width of from six to ten miles. Oneida Lake lies wholly in this formation. Its thickness in this county is from 100 to 200 feet. An extensive quarry has been opened in this rock in the town of Verona. It is spoken of by Hon. P. Jones, in " Annals of Oneida County," as consisting of blue and yellowish strata, mostly very hard, and breaking with a uniform cleavage, making it a superior stone for building purposes .* Iron ore abounds in this formation. It is of the kind known as lenticular or oolitic.

The Niagara formation proper overlaps the Clinton, and extends from Herkimer County through Oneida in a narrow belt, outcropping in the towns of Paris, Kirkland, and Ver- non. It is very thin in this section, but at Niagara Falls, which it forms, is about 80 feet in thickness. This rock outcrops in Ohio, Canada, Michigan, Northern Illinois, and Iowa, and has a thickness in the West of about 100 feet. Professor Worthen, of the Illinois State Geological Survey, says this limestone near Chicago is completely saturated with mineral oil, though it is not capable of being collected to advantage. The color of this rock is commonly a dark bluish-gray. Its structure is often nodular or concretion- ary, and sometimes abounds in chiert or hornstone. It occasionally contains gypsum.

The rocks of the Niagara period, like those of the Tren- ton, abound in fossils: Radiates, Mollusks, Crinoids, Brachi- opods, Lamellibranchiates, Gasteropods, and Crustaceans.

THE SALINA PERIOD .- Next in succession comes the Salina formation, or Onondaga salt group, which affords the brines of Central New York.

" In Onondaga County the beds in the lower half are tender, clayey deposits (marlytes) and fragile, clayey sand-

stones, of red, gray, greenish, yellowish, or mottled colors ; and in the upper half calcareous marlytes and impure, drab- colored limestone, containing beds of gypsum, overlaid by hydraulic limestone. The rock is sometimes divided by columnar striations, like the Lockport limestone, the origin of which is probably the same as for those in that rock. The seams sometimes contain a trace of coal or carbon."} Serpentine, mica, and hornblende are occasionally found. The gypsum-beds of Michigan are located in this forma- tion. The beds are from 700 to 1000 feet thick in Onon- daga County, but diminish towards the east, and are only a few feet on the Hudson. This formation is almost des- titute of fossils, but abounds in sulphuric and carbonic acids.

LOWER HELDERBERG PERIOD .- This formation of lime- stone immediately overlies the salina-beds, and extends through the State from the Hudson to Lake Erie at Buf- falo. This is also called the Water-lime group, and is a drab-colored or bluish, impure limestone, in thin layers. It abounds in fossils, exceeding even the Trenton and Niagara groups in this respect, over 300 species having been named and described, belonging to the Protozoons, Radiates, Mol- lusks, and Articulates.

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History of Oneida County, New York : with illustrations and biographical sketches of some of its prominent men and pioneers, Part 2

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