History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 21

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Number of Pages: 391

USA > New York > Ontario County > History of Ontario Co., New York > Part 21

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

1850

1840

1860

1800

1870

1875

1789

Bristol.

2953

1953

1733

1657

1551

1597

1829

Canadico.

1379

1341

1075

1026

905

882

1789

Canandaigua ..

5162

5652

6143

7075

7274

.7799

1789

Bast Bloomfield.

3861

1986

2262

2163

2250

2416

1789

Farmington ..

1773

2122

1876

1858

1896

1946

1789

Gorham ..

2981

2779

2645

2537

2889

2428

1822

Hopewell ...

2198

1976

1928

1970

1868

7822 1915

1821

Manchester.

2811

2912

2940

3280

3546

3737

1789

Naples ..

1941

2345

2376

2067

2188

2482

1789

Phelps ..

4876

5568

6543

5586

6180

5267

1789

Richmond

1876

1937

1852

1650

1622

1659

1789

Beneos (includes Geneva) ........

6207

7078

8505

1448

9188

2674

1888

Bonth Bristol.

1875

1129

1216

1218

1251

1812

Victor ..

2270

2393

2230

2404

2437

2640

1838

West Bloomfield ...

2094

1698

1646

1651

1576

CHAPTER XXI.

TRACES, ROADS, AND TURNPIKES-STAGE LINES AND MAIL BOUTES-POST- OFFICES AND CANALS.

THE Iroquois, like the later Americans, made use of the natural routes through the country. The name trace is associated with a narrow path, ill marked, and of occasional use. The truth is, that intercourse between villages, and travel upon the great central trail from the present site of Albany to that of Buffalo, was fre- quent and general. Indians had no wheeled vehicles and no commerce. Their tracee were well chosen and sufficient for their use. From Hudson to Lake Erie, an Indian highway crossed the finest portions of New York, and along its track came the successive improved roads of the white man. Referring the reader to the " League of the Iroquou" for a full description of this ancient and notable trail, we outline only its course through the bounds of Ontario County. It en- tered Ontario along the beach at the foot of Seneca lake, and from the present site of Geneva ascended Geneva creek to the Indian village of Ganundasaga, the most eastern in the lands of the Senecas. Thence its course lay through the towns of Seneca and Hopewell to Ga-nun-da-qua, at the foot of our Canandaigua lake. From Canandaigua two trails led. One passed southwest through Bristol to the foot of Honeoye lake. It crossed the outlet, and extended westward through Richmond, over the hill within view of Hemlock lake, and led to the north end of the Connesus lake, and on westward to the village of Little Beard, the largest of the tribe. The other and the main trail led from Canandaigua along the " north road," over the lands of West Bloomfield across the Honeoye outlet, and proceeded to an Indian village, now' the site of Lima. This trail, in width from a foot to eighteen inches, was deeply worn into the ground. The depth varied, according to the consistency of the soil, from three to even twelve inches.

Upon the trees adjacent were frequent incisions by the hatchet of an unknown antiquity; it was surprisingly direct, and exercised a controlling infinence in the location of settlements now become villages and cities. Along the trails of the Iroquois came the Pitta, the Comstocks, the Wadsworths, and thousands of the carly settlers of the Genesee valley, bringing with them cattle, household goods, upon the sled or sleigh. For years this trail was the sole line of travel.

A Cayuga chief thus recounts his claim to mention in the history of this region :

" The Empire State was once laced by our trails from Albany to Buffalo,- trails that we had trod for centuries,-trails worn so deep by the feet of the Iro- quois that they became your roads of travel as your possessions gradually ate into those of my people. Your roads still traverse those same lines of communica- tion which bound one part of the Long House to the other."

While the Indian trails gave a clue to travel, they knew no labor. The settler was often checked for hours at the steep banks of a miry stream, to construct a temporary bridge. Parties were compelled to. travel together to obtain mutual help in crossing streams, swamps, hills, and ravines. In town history, reference is made to large land-owners who constructed roads at very early date to facilitate the settlement of their tracts. In March, 1794, a State road was established by law from Ution, via Cayuga Ferry and Canandaigua, to the Geneva river at Avon. Three commissioners were employed to lay it out six rods wide, and direct as practicable. At first little better than an Indian trail, it was gradually improved, so that a stage which set out from Utica September 30, 1799, arrived at Genesee on the afternoon of the third day, and from that time on a regular stage passed along this route.

In 1800 a law was passed making this . turnpike road; its construction was immediately begun, and completion soon followed. During the year named, road was made from Avon to Ganson's settlement, now Leroy, and at the same time another road was commeneed eastward from Buffalo to connect with it, thus constituting a continuous road from Utica to Buffalo.

The long period consumed in making the journey to the lands of the Genesee was not caused by ox-teams employed and distance, but by obstructions and fre- quent quagmires, illustrated in the journeys noted. This rude condition of roads was.changed ; they were advanced successively towards perfection, and from the old trail resulted the broad traveled pike. The various steps upon the roads now grown old had been the survey, the cutting of brush, the turning aside of fallen timber from a roadway winding in course, and the blazing of trees. Later, trees were chopped down and removed; corduroy was built over swampy tracta, and the concentrated travel to Cayuga lake stimulated the erection of long and costly bridges, over which for years the endless columns of emigration poured. There were horse- and ox-teams, wagons covered with canvas, marked Ohio, or other Western points, men on horseback and on foot, singly and in parties, flooks of sheep, droves of cattle, and a caravan whose tolls and tavern bills made many rich.

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Geneva (in Beneca).,

HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

Important improvements made in turnpike roads of western New York were greatly attributable to the enterprise of Geneva and Canandaigua citizens. In 1802, an act was passed by the Legislature authorizing the formation of a stock company to open a turnpike road from Canandaigua to Bath. Subscription books for shares in the stock were opened in June, 1803, by John Swift, of Palmyra, Moses Atwater and Abner Barlow, of Canandaigua. and William Kersey and Henry A. Townsend, of Bath. In 1806, a company was formed to build a turnpike from the Susquehanna river to the town of Bath. The president of the company was John Johnson, Esq., of Geneva. Illustrative of the character of those turnpikes so numerous in time, yet so unremunerative to their builders, we note the conditions of contract upon the Bath and Susquehanna road. "The road must be opened four rods wide, and be thirty-three feet between the ditches on each side; twenty-five feet thereof, when necessary, should be bedded with stone, gravel, sound wood, or other hard substance, well compacted together, and of sufficient depth to secure a good and solid foundation. The greatest ascent should not exceed fourteen inches in any one rod. The bridges to be twenty-four feet wide, and covered with good white oak, white pine, or hemlock plank, clear of sap, and three inches thick." In the estimate, toll-houses, gates, mile-stones, and guide-boards were included, and ten miles was the extreme limit of a single contract. It was at this time that the Seneca Turnpike Company prepared to build their road, and it was expected that teams leaving Canandaigua and Geneva could carry loads one-third heavier than previously, and every team returning light from Utica or Albany might bring a return load of salt, thereby reducing to the inhabitants of Ontario the price of that necessary article. A project was started in 1810 for opening a turnpike road from the court-house, in Canandaigua, through Farmington and Palmyra to Putneyville, on Lake Ontario. On November 3, 1813, a grant was asked to incorporate a company for the construction of a road from Canandaigua direct to the new bridge at the Falls of the Genesee, and to intersect the " ridge road." These are but examples of the manis for speculation in the construction of roads, which had so developed in 1810 that the nominal stock in turnpike and toll-bridge charters was then over eight million dollars. Many lateral roads branched from the main road, and while investments in stock became worthless, the model of construction for the great network of roads to be constructed was of much benefit. The public interest in roads was heartily revived about 1850, and plank roads multiplied as the turnpikes had done. The plank was not durable, the repairs were not kept up, stock depreciated, and the roads, abandoned by the companies, have been divided among road districts as public highways. A single instance will suffice to recall the era of plank roads. The Palmyra and Canandaigua plank road ceased to pay a dividend from May, 1857. The plank was worn out, and no funds provided for its renewal. The road was, like others, . great convenience to the traveling public, but not fully appreciated. It was customary to shun the toll-gates wherever practicable, and the idea seemed fixed that roadways should be free. Upon the bed of the plank gravel was carted, and most excellent roads have resulted; such has been the case of the road used as an illustration, which has long been one of the best in the State. With the aban- donment of associative control has come the extinction of offices of turnpike and plank road inspectors, who were chosen to the number of from three to five from persons having no interest. in the roads, and whose duties were to protect the public from the imposition of tolls upon neglected roads.

STAGE LINES

were once a great feature of the carrying . trade, but the stage of ante-railroad date is known only to the memory of the aged, and preserved but in the files of a few old newspapers. A stage line was established by Levi Stevena, of Geneva, on May 14, 1804, to run once a week from Canandaigua to Albany. He asserts, in making known his enterprise, that " he has been at great pains and expense to fit up his stages for the accommodation of his passengers." Seats were procurable by application at Taylor's hotel, Canandaigua, or Powell's, Geneva. The rates charged were five cents per mile. Within a short time Stevens increased his business to two stages per week. A western mail stage was started May, 1808, by John Metcalf. It left Canandaigua on Monday at six A.M. for Niagara, via Buffalo, and returned by Sunday at 5 P.M., thus occupying three days esch way. Fare was six cents per mile, and fourteen pounds of baggage were allowed each passenger. Progress in stage traffic is seen in the establishment of a daily line known as the Canandaigua and Utica stage line, opened July 5, 1813, by William Powell. Few are left to-day who saw the stage drawn up at Taylor's every morn- ing for its passengers, and then start off with crack of whip and rumble of wheels down the street. The rate diminished with increase of distance till a (Ready gait was taken, and then on for hours, looking out upon the growing vil- lages, the passing travel, conversing with pleasant companions, or settling to a nap, unconscious of jar or jolt, time or distance. A new line was established October 20, 1813, via Cherry Valley, Casenovia, and Manlius, from Albany to

Canandaigua, with a fare for the trip of eight dollars. The office at Albany was at what was known as the Connecticut coffee-house. The proprietors of this route were Mesars. Martin & Branch, Beach & Conde, Beach & Chamberlain, and Z. Patch. A tri-weekly mail stage left the village of Canandaigua for the west in the year 1814. A line starting at the same village on July 20, 1815, via Geneva and Auburn, went through in two days. E. B. Dewey was a proprietor, and seats were obtainable at Coe's stage house. Samuel Hildreth ran a bi- weekly stage, beginning January 4, 1816, between Rochester and this village. A line of stages began August, 1817, to run via East Bloomfield, Mendon, and Pittsford to Rochester. Oliver Phelps & Co. opened a stage business in May, 1818, leaving Canandaigua tri-weekly for Newburg, which place was reached in three days. The fare from Utica to Albany, ninety-six miles, and from Canan- daigua to Buffalo, ninety miles, was in each case but two dollars. Messrs. Faulk- ner & Fenton began, August 2, 1822, to ran a stage coach daily from Gooding's hotel, Canandaigua, to Montezuma, to connect with the canal-packet "Echo," which conveyed passengers to the "Oneida Chief," on the Erie canal, and the stage also made connection with the steamer " Enterprise," then running on Cayuga lake. The stage business increased in extent, and various parties en- gaged in its conduct during 1822. F. Powell & Co., J. Parker & Co., John M. Sherwood, and B. D. Coe, on January 20, 1823, consolidated their lines, and put the fare down to two cents per mile. C. H. Coe & Co. commenced staging Jan- uary 1, 1826. The firm consisted of C. H. Coe, B. D. Coe, and Samuel Green- leaf, and continued until the death of Chauncey H. Coe, in 1836, when Captain Asa Nowlen, of Avon, bought the Coes' interest, and the firm was changed to S. Greenleaf & Co. This firm ran a number of stages until the completion of the Rochester and Auburn railroad. In connection with this last and most notable firm it is pleasant to observe that, in 1840, Mr. Greenleaf had started a stage- drivera' reading-room and library for his employees. The effort was salutary, and characterized as a godsend to the stage-drivers. A handsome whip was presented on June 4 to the driver who had read most in the Bible during the last year, by Mr. Greenleaf.

POST-OFFICES, POST-RIDERS, AND POST-ROUTES

were subjects of local and general interest in the ante-railroad days. A suspen- sion of the mail facilities now, for a period equal to the intervals of mail recep- tion in the early days, would be little less than a calamity, so closely has this agency entwined itself in all that concerns commercial intercourse. The inception of mail facilities was the work of private enterprise. In 1791, Luther Cole was employed by Oliver Phelps and others to carry letters from Canandaigua to Whitestown. He sometimes went on horseback, and often on foot. A week was required to go, and a like period was consumed by the return. This was the first " news carrying" done in the Genesee country. When the first mail that was ever received in Canandaigua arrived, Augustus Porter stood at the side door of Moses Atwater's house, and he asked a friend at a later day, " How do you think it was brought ?" Answering his own query, he said, " Luther Cole brought it from Utica in a large morocco pocket-book, which he carried in the breast-pocket of his coat." Who would contract at this day to bring the mail from Utics in that way ? In 1797, mail was brought from Albany once in two weeks on horse- back. Post-riders were engaged later to deliver mail matter and newspapers at the houses of the settlers. Among those post-riders, who usually traveled on horseback on different routes at an early day, were Elisha Nye, Joseph Becket, and William Badgrow. Jonathan Blakely was one of the early news carriers. The establishment of a post-office was of later date.

The only post-office in all the Genesee country in the year 1803 was at Canan- daigua. The extensive region embraced in the circuit of delivery is shown by the advertisement of letters addressed to persons in Northfield, Government House, Head of Lake Ontario, Sodus, Friend's Settlement, Big Tree, Sodus, Williams- burg, Geneva, and like remote localities. Post-routes were contingent upon the ability of the people to support them. A new post-route was established in the latter part of 1816 from Canandaigua to Lewistown, along the whole extent of the ridge road, and a post-office was established at Black Rock. In the year following, routes were formed from Canandaigua via Richmond, Bristol, Livonia, Genesee, and Warsaw to Sheldon, and from Bath to Naples. In 1822 a route was established from Canandaigua to Penn Yan; and a mail-route from the former place to Manchester, Palmyra, South Williamson, Williamson, and Pultneyville was contracted in January, to run once in two weeks.

The navigation of the inland lakes, within or bordering upon the lands of Ontario, was an early enterprise. Upon Seneca lake Captain Williamson had a large sloop of forty tons engaged in a carrying trade, and a vessel of the same character was an object of curiosity to the settlers along the banks of Canan- daigus lake. The first vessel propelled by steam on Seneca lake was built and owned by the Rumsey brothers. She was named the "Seneca Chief," and was

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HISTORY OF ONTARIO COUNTY, NEW YORK.

officered by Captain H. C. Swan ; First Engineer, Aaron Stout; Pilot, Fred. King; Second Pilot, William Roc, the agent was John R. Johnson. She was furnished with four plain cylinder boilers, and a cylinder eighteen inches in diameter with a seven-foot stroke. Her average speed was ten miles per hour. The builders ran her a few years, and sold to John R. Johnson and Richard Stevens of Ho- boken, New Jersey. During the winter of 1831-32 she was rebuilt and enlarged, and her name changed to the " Geneva," or, familiarly, " Aunt Betsy." In 1835 the " Richard Stevens" was built for a passenger boat. Among others of the old steamboats on Seneca were the "Chemung," "Canadesaga," "Seneca," and " Ben Loder,"-the last built in 1848, at a cost of $75,000. The first steamboat built on Canandaigua lake was launched during the summer of 1823. An association was formed, stock subscribed, and this boat, christened " Lady of the Lake" by John Greig, was constructed to run on the lake; Isaac Parrish was her captain, and Moore.was engineer. She was in use but a few years and was then laid up, went to pieces, and her engine was sold for other use. A second boat was built by citizens of Naples in 1845, and in September so far completed as to allow her hull to be floated down the lake to the wharf at this village, where her engine was to be obtained. Want of funds delayed her completion until 1846. A third boat "was known as the "Joseph Wood." A fourth, built by the Standish brothers, is named the "Ontario," and a fifth, the "Canandaigua." These last-named boats are well patronized by parties of pleasure, and enhance the attractions of the lake and surrounding scenery. On June 23, 1874, a tiny steamboat, named the "Seth Green," was launched on Hemlock lake. She was built at Buffalo; her length is forty feet; width, eight. She has a six-power engine, and can carry forty passengers. Pleasure-seekers can find no more attractive spot than this beautiful Hemlock lake,-its clear waters abounding in fish, its picturesque location among steep, woody hills, amidst whose ravines are living springs of clear, cold water, presenting a refreshing picture, delightful to the eye of the tourist escaping from the close air of the cities during the summer.

THE ERIE CANAL.

Touching the county of Ontario, in the northeast corner of the town of Man- chester, at a point appropriately designated and known as Port Gibson, is the Erie canal. No work before or since excited such opposition and expectation, gave more satisfaction, or contributed to such & development of the internal resources of the State; and a place in the history of this county, for a record of the incep- tion and progress of the undertaking, is requisite to an understanding of the early prosperity of the Genesee country. The bill authorizing the project became a law on April 15, 1817. Ground was first broken at the village of Rome, on the 4th of July of the same year. The occasion was marked by the roar of artillery, and the cheer of a large concourse drawn to the spot by feelings of curiosity and interest. The work was known in three divisions. The labor upon the middle section ended with its completion in 1819. The western section was finished in October, 1822, from the Genesee river east, and boats ran from Ro- chester to Little Falls during that month; while the eastern section was completed in October, 1823, and boats passed from the canal into the Hudson at Troy. The aqueduct at Rochester, over the Genesee, was finished in 1823, and boats proceeded west to Holly or Brockport. During the year following, the canal was opened to the foot of the high rocky ridge at Lockport. The difficulties here met and surmounted illustrate the energy and perseverance of its builders, led by canal commissioner Hon. William C. Bouck, and finally, in the fall of 1825, the route was opened between the ocean and great inland lakes. As in the cable beneath the sea, and like great achievements, the disbelief in ability to do this great work was shared by many who have lived to realize much of their pros- perity as a direct result. In arranging for a grand celebration all along the line, the terminus at Buffalo was made the initial point. At the close of October 24, 1825, the last work was done, the guard-gates were raised, and the water began its flow upon its artificial channel, from Erie towards the Hudson. Cannon which had reverberated in action of September, 1813, on Lake Erie, were placed at intervals of ten or fifteen miles along the entire distance to announce a triumph of intellect over obstacles of nature. On the morning of October 26, a proces- sion formed in front of the court-house at Buffalo, then a flourishing village, and, headed by the brass band, and consisting of a military company, civic societies, and citizens, marched down Main street to the head of the canal, where Governor De Witt Clinton, with the State officers, embarked on the "Seneca Chief," drawn by four gray horses gaily caparisoned, and set out upon the expedition. As the boat gained headway, a signal-gun was fired from her deck, a gun in the distance responded, one farther on repeated the signal, and so within eighty minutes the citizens of New York knew that the fleet had started. In the wake of the pio- neer boat came the " Perry," the "Superior," and the " Buffalo," loaded with officers, delegates, and citizens, The fleet was joined at Lockport by the " William C. Bouck," "Albany," and other boats. Crowds gathered along the line, cannon boomed at

intervals, and bonfires by night illuminated the scene. A grand celebration at Rochester greeted the arrival of the fleet, and Canandaigua was there represented by a delegation led by Hon. John C. Spencer, who made a speech on the occasion. " The Young Lion of the West" joined the flotilla at this place, and the boats, meeting ovations at various points, reached Albany November 2. On the morning following, three boats, the " Seneca Chief," " Niagara," and the Rochester boat, were towed by steamers down the Hudson to New York, which was reached next day at daylight. At 9 A.M., the boats were en-route for the ocean, accompanied by a fleet of steam and sail vessels; on their arrival at Sandy Hook a circle was formed, and within its centre lay the "Seneca Chief," having on board Governor Clinton and other officers. In expectation, many eyes watched the governor as he mounted the deck, and poured from a keg water taken from Lake Erie to mingle with that of the Atlantic. The keg was re-filled with ocean water, the return made to Buffalo, and on November 23, this representative water of old ocean was mingled with the fresh volume of the inland sea. Thus was completed a thoroughfare which diverted the tide of emigration, insured the permanence of villages upon its route, and opened up a market to the grain-raisers of the Genesee.

The Ontario Canal Company is a remembrance of a vigorous but unfruitful effort. The history of the attempted often more fully illustrates local energy than the accomplished. A meeting was held by Canandaigua villagers at Mill's hotel, on August 24, 1820, to consider the propriety of making a " lateral canal" from Canandaigua lake to the grand canal. A committee upon route consisted of John C. Spencer, James D. Bemis, Asa Stanley, Dudley Marvin, and William H. Adams. A report was made December 21, 1820, that the length of the canal would be nineteen and one-half miles. Its terminus northward, at the Erie canal, was to be three and one-half miles west of Palmyra village. The descent from the foot of the lake to Mud creek at Garnet's Mill was found to be two hundred and twenty-five feet, which required twenty-three locks. The entire cost was estimated not to exceed sixty-eight thousand dollars. The following committee of fifteen was appointed : N. Gorham, D. Marvin, F. Granger, T. Short, William H. Adams, D. Comstock, R. M. Williams, M. A. Francisco, J. Clark, G. Codding, H. Chapin, J. Birdsey, Chester Loomis, Asa Stanley, and Peter Mitchell, who were to petition the Legislature for act of incorporation for a canal to connect the points designated. The association was named " The Ontario Canal Company," with a proposed capital of one hundred thousand dollars. An act was passed March 31, 1821, incorporating the company, and books for subscrip- tion opened on May 23, at B. Coe's hotel, by commissioners N. Gorham, Z. Sey- mour, A. Stanley, P. P. Bates, and William H. Adams. The subscription by June 12 was twenty thousand dollars. At a later meeting it was announced that fifty thousand dollars- a sufficient amount-had been raised, and a meeting for the election of nine directors was called at Mend's hotel, January 20, 1824. The following were elected : Evan Johns, H. B. Gibson, Israel Chapin, Asa Stanley. J. C. Spencer, Mark H. Sibley, Robert Pomeroy, and H. M. Mead. The canal was not dug, and a cheap, if slow, means of communication was lost when the measure seemed nearest its consummation.

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History of Ontario Co., New York, Part 21

Author: Publication date: Publisher: Number of Pages: 391

Author:
Publication date:
Publisher:
Number of Pages: 391