History of Seneca Co., New York, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public building and important manufactories, Part 11

Author:
Publication date: 1876
Publisher: Philadelphia : Everts, Ensign & Everts
Number of Pages: 294


USA > New York > Seneca County > History of Seneca Co., New York, with illustrations descriptive of its scenery, palatial residences, public building and important manufactories > Part 11


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CHAPTER XIV.


GEOGRAPHICAL-TOWNS-VILLAGES-SURFACE-SOIL-PRODUCTS-WATER- COURSES-WATER-POWER-LAKES-NATURAL HISTORY-TREES-ANIMALS -REPTILES-FISH.


SENECA COUNTY is bounded by Wayne on the north, Cayuga and a small part of Tompkins on the cast, Tompkins and Schuyler on the south, and by Yates and Ontario on the west. The arca iz four hundred and twenty square miles, and its location is in the central part of New York, one hundred and fifty-six miles west of Albany. It is inclosed on the east and west by Lakes Seneca and Caynga. At present there are ten civil towns, Junius, Tyre, Waterloo, Seneca Falls, Fayette, Varick, Romulua, Ovid, Lodi, and Covert. Within their area are contained thirteen villages, three of which are incorporated. Ovid has priority from age; it was the former capital of the County, from 1804 to 1816, and con" tained court-house, jail, and other public buildings .. Here originated some of the oldest churches in the County; here were born and lived some of the County'a most prominent men, in letters and in arms, and in Ovid was started the first newspaper. The place is rich in historie association. Near the village are the fair-grounds. The Ovid Academy, further noticed elsewhere, was located in Ovid, and this institution, advantageously situated, became a widely-known and flourishing educational agency.


Waterloo is Seneca's second capital, for a time reigning supreme; she later shares the honors with the village of Ovid. It is situated on Seneca River, and has the advantages of canal and railroad, with valuable water-power, well improved. It was incorporated April 9, 1824, and is the seat of important factories, flouring milla, yeast-factory, and other manufacturing enterprises. The place has a National Bank, fine churches, good business housea, large school building, and handsome residences, with tasty grounds. The river is crossed by substantial bridges: The Towsley House, a large hotel, with others, offer excelleut accom- modstions to guests, and the place supports a newspaper, and with postal facili- ties, firs precautions, and other agencies for comfort and safety, is well supplied. The metropolis of the County is the village of Seneca Falls, the aite of very valuable hydraulie privileges, and the consequent seat of extensive and growing industries. An Act to incorporate the village passed April 22, 1831, and a new charter was granted April 24, 1837. The placo is of easy access by numerous


trains east and west. It has an excellent post-office, two banks proper, and a savings institution, large, new, and costly church edifices, stately business houses, and private residences, embellished in architecture and surroundings by taste and skill. It has been cramped in its endeavors to avail itself of local advantages, and has been liberal for worthy projects, be it railroads, men and money to put down rebellion, aid to crect churches, or donations for the victims of the fire-fiend in other cities.


Among the lesser villages are Canoga, on Caynga Lake; Farmer Village and Covert, in the south; West, Fayette, or Bearytown, in Fayette, on the line of Varick; Junius, s hamlet in the northeast; Lodi, a village south of Ovid; Romulus, a hamlet in the town of the same name, centrally located; Sheldrake Point, a steamboat landing in Ovid, on the Cayuga; Townsendville, near the south boundary of Seneca ; and Tyre City in the north. Most of these places are convenient resorts for mails, grists, and lumber conveniences and church privileges. Upon the farm originally intended for the " State Agricultural Col- lege" is located the Willard Asylum for the Insane; the institution is on the east bank of Seneca Lake, in the town of Ovid, and is convenient of access both by steamboat and railroad. As a charitable institution, it is a work of humanity, and annually grows in importance. The surface is generally level. A high ridge upon the south slopes gradually downward toward the north. It is broken in places by steep declivities. Again, its slope tends downward to the level of the lakes, while southward it ends abruptly in bold, high bluffs upon the water- shores. The summit of the ridge is elevated seven hundred to eight hundred feet above Seneca Lake, and cleven hundred to twelve hundred and fifty above tide level. Lake bluffs siok from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet at the head of Seneca to twenty feet at its foot. Upon Cayuga a bluff descends north ward from two hundred feet to Romulus; thence northward one meets a low and shelving shore. Between the central summits of the ridge and those of the bluffs the surface has a smooth declivity, varied by natural terraces. From Ovid north the surface falls abruptly about two hundred feet, and thence sinks slowly as it stretches to the borders of Seneca River. North of Seneca and west of Cayuga outlets the lands are level, with portions marshy and subject to overflow. Alluvial ridges filled with gravel, in altitude some thirty to fifty feet, extending north and south, fill up the northwest parts of Junius; these slope smoothly southward, but are abrupt at other points. The lands of Seneca abound in con- trasts. Not elsewhere in the State, in its romantic scenes, is found a.spot more wild and beautiful than Lodi Falls in southwest Sencea. The waters pour along upon their shaly bed until, at Lodi Mills, they leap a precipice down one hun- dred and sixty feet to the basin below. The steep and rocky glen, the startling depth of fall, the native verdure, and the tangled foliage awaken awe and create emotions of mingled wonder and surprise. Again, in Tyre and Varick are large areas of waste and inundated lands. Six thousand acres lie useless in north- eastern Tyre, and the eye looks along and over a tract of rich deposit, treacherous to the foot and useless to the cultivator, till co-operative drainage shall make it tillable and change the dismal scenery. In Varick eight hundred acres form the " Cranberry Swamp," a shallow, slate-rock basin, filled with vegetable debris. the source of miasma and cause of local sickness. Should one desire to view a distant landscape, of several points most eligible, he may stand on Seminary Hill, in Ovid. He may see in line of vision from below the bounds of Seneca, along the lake, fifteen miles northward to Geneva. Westward. seven miles, is seen the village of Dresden ; southwest, eight miles, is Eddytown ; ten miles northward is Benton Centre ; and far beyond Penn Yan may be seen the mist-enshrouded hills of Jerusalem. Eastward is spread out Caynga Lake, and on beyond Aurora, Le- vanna, Union Springs, and others,-in all a magnificent and extensive prospect. The elements of soil are known to intelligent farmers, who have had the earth upou their fields analyzed, and have learned a system of rotation of crops. The gradual crumbling of the shale of Wayne, swept down and ground to sand and clay, has made a layer in northern Seneca, which largely constitutes its soil. This great deposit of material emerging from the waters was acted on by heat and cold and atmosphere, and slowly rendered fit for vegetable life. A theorized current has heaped light sand and gravel in Junins, Tyre, and Waterloo, deposited clay and mould in southern towns, and sand along the lakes. Magnesia is abundant. but lime deficient, in, the north of Seneca. Thick deposits of marl are numerous, and will fill the want of lime. The soil is mainly good, and well fitted for raising grain. The lowlands are constantly enriched by matter from the rocks above. A sandy tract at the foot of Seneca, once thought worthless, has been made pro- ductive at comparatively light expense, and in time the marshes of Tyre and Varick will be the richest farms of Seneca.


The natural products of Seneca County in the years preceding and subsequent to 1800 were not those known to the present occupants. The almost unbroken forest stretched northward between the lakes and away unlimited to the shores of Lake Ontario. ITere could be seen oak-trunks with fifty feet of rail-cuts to the


PLATE IX


RES. OF JAMES C. HALLSTED, LATE RES. OF JOSEPH WRIGHT, COR. OF VIRGINIA & WILLIAM STS ., WATERLOO, N. Y.


130 18100


PLATE X


( THIS FARM FOR SALE. )


FARM RESIDENCE OF JAMES C. HALLSTED , WATERLOO, N. Y.


37


HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY, NEW YORK.


limbs; sugar maples, rich with the juices of spring's rising sap; the cucumber, with its highly-colored fruit; the birch, belted with the fibre which gave the name to the Indian eanoe; the sassafras, whose root made healthful drink; the elm, with slippery inner bark ; the butternut, freighted with oval nuts; the buttonwood, whose product, from its shape, had given its name; the basswood, used for puncheoned floor; the hickory, whose bark gave light for evening labor; and besides all these, the whitewood, ash, black walnut, dogwood, and a sprinkling of chestnut, cherry, and wild mulberry. Upon the erags along the lake banks grew the large red cedar, while pine and hemlock could be seen upon the banks of streams debouching in the lakes. Apple-trees were grown by Indians in their clearings, and wild plums of different varieties, and some of delicious flavor, were common in the swales, especially on the ak land. Fruit soon became plenty, excepting apples and pears, peaches being especially abundant. The earliest bearing apple-trees were owned by Silas Halsey and Turtellus Goff. The judge's orchard was.north of the road, and some forty rods east of Paul Golbrie's, now Lodi Village, and Goff owned an Indian orchard at Goff's Point, now Lodi Landing. The fruit was indifferent, and grafted trees were unknown. Cider was brought, in winter, from the valley of the Mohawk, and purchased by the tavern-keeper at eight dollars per barrel. Potatoes were often dug as needed during the winter, as there was little frost, and the crop finished in the spring. The sap of the sugar-maple gave sugar, molasses, and vinegar. Pickles were made by placing cucumbers fresh from the vines in a composition of one gallon of whisky, four gallons of water, and a little salt. They were soon fit for use. Crab-apples and wild plums were used for preserves. Molasses was made from pumpkins, and pumpkins, cut up and cooked in the molasses, for preserves. Pared pumpkin, stewed, was known as "pumpkin butter." Old Indian corn-fields have been discovered overgrown with timber. Hills were still visible, from the custom of making a hill large enough for three clusters of stalks, and keeping up the hill for years. In later years frnit culture attracts general attention. Nearly every farmer has a growing orchard, and the huge trunks of many an apple-grove attest the value vested in that fruit. The peach is foreign to this elime, and to enjoy the luxury of this delicaey care must be taken to plant some trees each year. The pear thrives with ordinary attention. Charles Seekell, of Tyre, has a young and promising orchard, which in time will prove very valuable. The grape and smaller fruits are grown successfully. There are various nurseries in the County, some of large size. Ebert Taylor started a growth of young trees of various kinds at Waterloo ; the business has now passed into the control of William H. Burton, who has over one hundred acres set out in young fruit-trees, and employs skilled labor in their culture.


While Seneca's formation forms no rivers, the lands are not deficient in water- courses. The chief stream is kuown as the Seneea Outlet; its waters give power to varions manufactures at Waterloo; again, at Seneca Falls, they put in motion much machinery; thence they flow on and mingle with the northern current of Cayuga Lake, a mile and a half above its foot, augment the volume of the Oswego, and find rest in Lake Ontario. The Outlet is fourteen miles long. Prior to improvement its course was marked by several rapids, the chief of which gave the Dame to the village which sprang up about it. The fall was ahout forty-five feet, and was of service in running grist- and saw-mills at an early date. Kendig, or Big Creek, drains the western portions of Fayette, Varick, and Romulus. It flows parallel to Seneca Lake, and discharges into Seneca River at the farm of J. Ringer. Near the eastern part of Fayette, in the southwest part of District No. 9, is a spring known as the Canoga; its basin is fifteeu feet across, and the pure water rising there has a rapid eurrent to Cayuga Lake, furnishing thereby good power for grist- and saw-mills. Ifere, at Canoga, is the spot, marked by a tree, in- teresting as one of the claimed birthplaces of the chieftain Red Jacket; to this spot he is said to have come, when old, to look again upon the place of his origin. Mill Creek, rising in Schuyler County, flows north and west into Seneca Lake at Lodi Landing; the name is indicative of the advantages derived from its waters. Black Brook rises in northern Waterloo, flows eastwardly, bearing south, till at the out- skirts of the village of Seneca it veers northward and becomes tributary to Canan- daigua Outlet, which flows through the Montezuma marsh across the northeastern limits of Tyre. The eye of the observer is at once attracted and surprise ocea- sioned by the heavy and swift current of Seneca River. An estimate of the discharge per minute of water from Crooked Lake, which is two hundred and aeventy-one feet higher than Seneca Lake, compared with a like discharge from the latter, shows that a volume of water cqual to eighty-eight thousand two hundred and forty-one gallons per minute is contributed by springs beneath the ·surface, together with various tributaries. That these subaquean springs exiat is proven by the rising of columns of water from the bottom, causing an ebullition and paralyzing by their frigidity the limbs of bathers passing through them. An even temperature obtains in the vicinity of the lake from the waters escaping from seams in the dipping shale, rendering their surface cool in summer and warm in winter, as they acquire the temperature of the rocks through which they percolate.


The springs of Seneca furuish a topic of interest. The Canoga spring alluded to is noticeable for the escape from its orifice of large quantities of pure nitrogen, which rises rapidly in bubbles to the surface. Sulphuretted springs are common. On Lot 6, Seneca Falls, and_Lot 54, Lodi, are examples. Chalybeate springs- oxide of iron changed to sulphate and dissolved in water-also exiat, instances of which are the one on Lot 69, in Covert, and Lot 21, Tyre. A apring at Dublin, in the town of Junius, has the property of curdling milk. Some aprings deposit lime, and an example near Ovid ahows the deposit profusely. The Lodi spring gives off a gas generated in the marshes; it is of carburetted hydrogen, and burns with a light, pale flame. On Lot 58, in Lodi, is a bituminous apring ; the bitumen being more generally known as Seneca oil, and found in enormous quantities in northwestern Peunsylvania, giving rise after a process of distillation to the petroleum or kerosene of commerce.


From spring and stream the transition is easy to lakes, from which Seneca derives great advantages. On the west of Seneca County is Seneca Lake, thirty-nine miles long and four miles wide at its broadest point. Its greatest depth is aix hundred and thirty feet below the surface, and its mean temperature about fifty-four degrees. Upon the east side of Seneca is Cayuga Lake, less in volume and lower in tem- perature than its twin upon the west. Cayuga is thirty-eight and a half miles long from north to south ; its deepest water is near Myer's Point, where it reaches a depth of three hundred and ninety-six feet; being shallow, it has occasionally frozen in winter and closed navigation.


The scenery along these lakes is renowned for its panoramic beauty. Rock- ribbed shores, jutting points, deep ravines, with falling streams, and a wealth of wild, romantic glens, give pleasure to the lover of nature and the tourist in their varied consonance with placid or impassioned mood. During the summer season the scene is enlivened by the presence of sloop and schooner sailing from point to point, or along these lakes, while steam navigation companies do a haudsome business in passengers and freight. Among familiar names on Seneca Lake are the Onoudaga, the Magee, Ontario, Schuyler, and Elmira,-boats fitted for comfort, pleasure, and facility of travel.


An interesting article concerns the lake-fisheries of 1834, and the changea sinee. In that earlier day, lake trout and white fish were caught some distance down the lake, and piekerel and perch were rarely seen. Now the former are nearly extinet, and the latter swarm in the waters. During the months of November and December, trout spawo iu shallow water, and the young fish fall easy prey to the perch and pickerel which scek them there. The white-fish ean he scen some distance, and the perch have been observed to follow in their wake devouring the spawn. As low down as the Cayuga canal-lock, white-fish were plenty in 1850, but have disappeared. The black bass have been thinned out by the fresh-water shark. Where once a circuit trolled of several miles has been rewarded by a dozen bass, weighing from three to five pounds, now the same distance may be trolled and none secured. Oswego bass live aud breed in shallow water, protected by the weeds and grasses which germinate in these marshy portions. They are abundant, and caught easily with hook and line. The pike, once common, is seldom met. Spear in hand, the boys of that elder day secured many a one of these fine tish. The muscalonge resembles the pickerel, frequents the rivers, and attains a weight of from five to twenty pounds. In the spring of 1874, 73,000 salmon-trout were put into Cayuga Lake from the propagating beds of Caledonia, 4000 brook-trout in Newfield Creek, and some 12,000 in the inlet. Something over 400,000 fish have been put in the lake and its headwaters through the enterprise of the Ithaca Game Club, and, as a result, the water is well stocked with these excellent species. All in all, lakes, falls, and springs, contribute to make Seneca County one of the most attractive portions of Central New York.


CHAPTER XV.


AGRICULTURE-TRADE-ROUTES FOR MARKETS-GRAINS-AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY-STATISTICS-AGRICULTURAL COLLEGE-PATRONS OF HUSBANDRY.


THE tillage of the earth is ancient and honorable. It is the basis upon which rests the auperstructure of trade and commerce. It is the one source of human support. About the year 1790, Seneca County received the first scattered seed from the hand of the white man. Deprived of access to store and shop, the settler drew from the soil and forest a supply for every want. Step by step needs have been met, till the intelligent farmer, in dwellings, fences, fields, machinery, stock, and crops, stands forth, in truth, an independent and progressive man. The tendency of land tenure is a reduction of area: A military lot of six


38


HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY, NEW YORK.


hundred acres, purchased by a pioncer, is divided among his children. As a result, the greater number of farms contain but one hundred acres, down to twenty-five and less, while but two or three farms reach the size of six to nine hundred acres. Experience demonstrates that small farms produce better yield, from the greater care in cultivation. We have recounted the privations and expedients of the olden-time farmer, the rude machinery, the hard labor, and the seanty fare ; but soon, aside from home consumption, came an export of surplus wheat and corn. Myndersc and Swift created a home market. Colonel Mynderse began paying cash for wheat in 1804, and a few years later " eash for wheat and other produce" became a common sign in every village. The first market was Elmira, and, by land or water, the transportation was difficult, and farmers received low prices. . The prices of various products in 1801 were.as follows : Wheat, 75 cents, corn, 37} cents, and rye, 50 cents per bushel ; hay, $6 to $12 per ton ; butter and cheese, 11 to 16 cents per pound ; salt pork, $8 to $10 per hundredweight; whisky, 50 to 75 cents per gallon ; salt, 81 per bushel of 56 pounds, or $5 per barrel; sheep, $2 to $4 per head; cattle, for driving, $3 to $4 per hundred; milch cows, $16 to 825 per head; horses, $100 to $125 per span ; working oxen, from $50 to $80 per yoke ; laborers' wages, 810 to $15 per month, including board; a suit of home-made elothes brought $4 to $5; and shoes, $1.75 to 82.50 per pair. In 1804, produce was taken to Albany in sleighs iu winter, and boats in summer. Enormous wagons, with wide tires, and drawn by several teams, conveyed away the surplus of the farms. The farmers of to-day live ignorant of pioneer experiences ; the axe, the maul and wedges, the siekle, seythe, and hoe, are relics of a past system. The stumps are gone from the clearings, the log house has crumbled or been torn down, the old well-sweeps have finally all disappeared, and in the rooms of the historical societies only are seen former utensils, while in the old and prosperous agricultural fair are seen the numerous labor-saving machinery of the present day. The staple grain pro- duced in Seneca has constantly been wheat. Fully onc-fourth of all plowed land is devoted to the production of this important cereal. In the year 1840, the yield was about 350,500 bushels, and its average up to date is about half a million bushels. The average product per acre has increased from ten bushels, in 1840, to twenty. · Unusual seasons, an absence of or too great abundance of rain, backward weather, and the ravages of insects, have tended to reduce both quality and quantity. In several instances forty bushels have been produced upon one acre. Wheat raised in Seneca has given sixty to sixty-two pounds to the bushel. Among the varieties were the Hutchinson, Soles, Mediterranean, White Flint, and, more recently, the Clawson wheat, which has the following his- tory: In 1866, Garret B. Clawson, while crossing a recently harvested field of several varieties of wheat grown together, observed among the stubble some uncommonly fine-appearing heads. Saving and sowing them, he grew two varieties. One of these was the Clawson, having red chaff, being heardless, free from rust, hardy, early to mature, and heavy to yield. In a fair test, side by side, of Diehl wheat and the Clawson, the advantage was evidently with the latter.


Indian corn is to the manor born. We have spoken of the surprise among Sullivan's soldiers at the fields in cultivation upon their famous expedition. The yield in 1840 was about 175,000 bushels. A growing demand stimulated production in 1847, and resulted in a yield of 409,480 bushels. The crop of 1850 was estimated at 277,000 bushels, and there were harvested in 1864 497,753 bushels. These figures indicate a growing attention to this crop. Among varieties of oats, the black oat is the most reliable. The progress of production gives an increase of 213,826 bushels, in 1840, to 337,821 in 1864. The barley erop shows little change, the annual yield being about 125,000 bushels. Rye is raised to a limited extent, and a light yield discourages its pro- duetion. Buckwheat is used as a fertilizer. Flax, once extensively raised for the supply of clothing-material, was scen to be exhausting to the land, and but 556 aeres were sown in 1864. Potatoes, once limited to actual needs, are now raised in large quantities. The crop of 1849 gave 80,000 bushels, while that of 1864 is reported at 126,522 bushels. The sowing of spring wheat has attracted attention, and a beginning has been made, which will be increased as the winter crop fails, and success attends the raising of the former. The thoughtful farmer seleets for seed from the cleanest and best, aets upon the principle of like pro- ducing like, and rotates his crop. The experience of Seneca farmers has con- firmed the theories of the scientific, and their association has tended to disseminate to all individual discoveries. Early crude farming permitted a growth of weeds, which were injurious to crops, and depreciated their value. The early efforts by town legislation to eradicate the thistle were impotent until united effort was sceured. Old-time enemies of the agriculturist were what was denominated pigeon-weed, thistle, chess, cockle, wild mustard, daisy, may-weed. dock, and bind-weed ; besides, there are mullein, burdock, and sorrel. Neglect is shown by a speedy appearance of one or more of these pernicious weeds upon the farm. The Germanie origin of many Seneca farmers is shown by the construction of


commodious barns and sheds. The barn is placed upon a side-hill affording a warm resort for cattle, and rendering the work of feeding casy. While there are some wire fenees, the majority are of board and rail. The board fence is of the best, but requires renewal, which in many cases is neglected. The old bars are replaced by gates which are convenient and sightsome. The need of under- drainage was long experienced, and John Johnson, of Fayette, in 1835, imported drain tiles from Scotland. Under his superintendence tile were manufactured at Scauyes in 1839, and his farm soon attested the advantages of their use. The first cost was twenty-cighit cents a rod, and prevented general introduction. A machine for making drain tiles and pipes was imported from England, and placed in the hands of B. F. Whartenby, of Waterloo, in 1848. The price of tile was reduced, drains were laid at a cost of three shillings per rod, and the system was adopted with full remuneration in products of lands in consequence. Mr .. Johnson has laid a number of miles of drain upon his farm, and enjoys the repu- tation of being considered the leading agriculturist in Sencca County.




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