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 12
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The use of poor implements and the high price of labor left small profit for the farmer, but the invention of various machines has enabled him to dispense with so much of hired labor, or use it to better advantage. Contrast the old " Bull plow" (one of which is in the possession of Jason Smith, of Tyre) with the Seneca County plow of Newcomb & Richardson, of Waterloo; the A har- row of the pioneer with Ode's patent cultivator; the hand sickles or the swing- ing cradle with the numerous excellent reapers ; the flail with the thresher ; the hoe with the cultivator, and carry forward the contrast at will, and see what encouragement the farmer has to-day to exercise with pride and pleasure his vocation.' Improvement of stock has been a laudable desire of Seneea farmers, and to the efforts of an association of Junius agriculturists is owing the excel- Ience of cattle, further promoted by subsequent purchases. The first Durham bull was purchased in October, 1834, at the State Fair, by the united means of Joel W. Bacon and Richard P. Hunt, of Waterloo, Franklin Rogers, Israel. Fiske, Stephen Shear, O. Southwick, and others of Junius. In 1834, the asso- ciation bought the heifer Strawberry, sprung from imported Durham stock. G. V. Sackett and Mr. Clark purchased the bull Copson, dam by Strawberry ; and in 1838, the bull Forager, from the stock of Thomas Widdell, was bought and intro- duced by Messrs. Bacon, Sackett, and Hunt. The exhibition of fine stock at the annual fairs shows creditably for these breeders, and the large products of the dairy prove the wisdom of their action. Of horse breeders in Seneca, Ira H. Coleman, of Lake View stock farm, at Sheldrake, in the town of Ovid, takes the lead. He began in 1863 the improvement of horses, and had, in 1871, some fifty colts and horses of thoroughbred and trotting blood, and half a dozen beau -. tiful stallions, namely, Sencea Chief, Cayuga Star, American Star, Bashaw-Ab- dallah, Abdallah-Bashaw, and Mambrino Hambletonian. Earlier breeders were the Ingersols, John and Charles W., and N. Waheman, of Covert, who obtained a fine horse, known as " Texas Jim," in 1838. The raising of sheep began with the century. Dr. Rose, in 1803, introdneed the system by the establishment of a small flock of Southdowns upon his extensive farin in Fayette. The flock was improved in 1813-14 by a purchase of merinos, and again, in 1820, he secured a number of Saxon bucks from Connecticut, paying for them fifty dollars each. The result was fine wool and light flecces. A flock of one thousand seven hun- dred and fifty was kept, and the wool-elip in 1830 sold at 872 cents to $1.00 per pound. All varieties of sheep have been brought to Seneca, but the merino has long had the preference. The price of wool being low discouraged sheep- husbandry, and from seventy-two thousand head in 1845, the number decreased, in 1850, to thirty-five thousand. The War of the Rebellion gave an unwonted stimulus, in price and quantity, and in 1865 there were fifty-seven thousand eight hundred and forty head owned in the County. The breeding of swine is not extensively engaged in. The first instance on record of improvement in this useful animal in Seneca County is of the importation from England, by Joel W. Bacon, of Waterloo, in 1834, of a full-blood Berkshire. Dr. Henry Reeder, about 1841, brought several of this breed into the town of Varick, and in 1847, a pair of Chinese pigs were imported from Canton for the Oaklands farm. The number of swine in Scneea County in 1845 was twenty-two thousand; in 1850, eleven thousand five hundred; and in 1865, thirteen thousand six hundred and sixty-three, the number slaughtered in 1864 having been twenty-four thousand two hundred and ten. As might be inferred, the dairy interest assumes consid- erable importance. The yield of butter, in 1850, was 521,974 lbs., and in 1864, 690,428 Ibs. Not the least of Seneca's agricultural sources of wealth is its poultry and eggs. The statistics of 1848 show 44,500 liens and 356,000 eggs; those of 1865 give the value of the former $27,466.75, and of the latter sold in 1864, $16,752.97. It is with regret that we are obliged to refer to a past, since the census report of 1876, complete in material, is not in a condition to be made available. The relation of wages to labor is a matter of importance; parsimony in employment results in indifferent crops, while an excess consumes the profits
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HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
of the farmer. The most serviceable laborer is he who is employed by the year. The rates of wages for labor, in 1850, were half a dollar a day, $12.00 per month, and $96 to $120 by the year. Female labor was from fifty cents to one dollar per week, board and lodging found by the farmer. The wages for 1875 were, for a common hand, $1.50 per day; haying, $2.00 ; $20.00 to $30.00 per month were paid for ordinary labor and for harvesting respectively. Housework received $2.50 per week. The report of crops in 1874 gives wheat as but one- third of a yield, apples a poor crop, other prodnets ordinary. Associations of persons engaged in like pursuits are well known to be valnable for the oppor- tunity of disseminating information and stimulating exertion, and from a very early date agricultural fairs were annually held in the County. In 1838 an annual fair was held at Ovid, of which Alval Gregory was Secretary. A fair and cattle ahow was held at Lodi, Augustus Woodworth being President, and the highest premium three dollars. A horse fair was held at Waterloo on Septem- ber 2, 1857, at which the time in a trotting trial was two minutes and fifty seconds.
It was not till June 19, 1841, that a permanent agrienltnral society was formed in Seneca, whose meetings and fair up to the present have grown in importance and value under capable and prominent leadership. The Seneca County Agricul- tural Society was organized at the date aforesaid, to promote the interests of agriculture and honsehold manufacture, under the Act for the Encouragement of Agriculture, passed May 5, 1841. Meetings were to be held alternately at the court-house in Ovid, and Waterloo; the first-being held in the conrt-house in Ovid. At the organization at Bearytown, the first officers were G. V. Sackett, of Seneca Falls, President ; A. V. Dunlap, Ovid, Recording Secretary ; Samuel Williams, Waterloo, Corresponding Secretary ; and John D. Coe, Romulus. Treasurer. The first fair held at Ovid, on October 21 and 22, 1841, resulted financially with cash on hand. Statisties were read by the President, G. V. Sackett, and an address delivered by A. B. Dunlap. At this fair Jeremiah Thompson, with a Wisconsin plow, won the first premium in the plowing match, the Committee of Award being the following well-known pioneers : Andrew Dun- lap, William Sackett, Jonas Seeley, Joseph Stull, Elijah Kinne, Nicholas Gnlick, John Sayre, Caspar Yost, and David Harris. Of premiums awarded, best butter and cheese was given to Andrew Dunlap; best crop of wheat to Peter Covert ; best half-acre of potatoes. John V. Groves; best specimens of cocoons, Mrs. C. Joy ; aod best cloth, Helen Sutton ; the premiums being of two and three dol- lars, and of honorary valne. The fairs have been held at Ovid, Seneca Falls, Waterloo, and Farmerville. Under the " Act to facilitate the forming of Agri- cultural Societies" passed April 13, 1855, the society was reorganized in February, 1856. Among its Presidents oceur the names of G. V. Sackett, John Delafield, John Johnson, and Orin Southwick. The last session, being the thirty-seventh, held at Waterloo, closed October 7, 1875. Judge John D. Coe, Treasurer for thirty years, reports the receipts the heaviest taken since the organization. Lyman F. Crowell, President; Chas. H. Sayre, Vice-President ; A. D. Baker, General Superintendent ; and J. R. Wheeler, Secretary. In the plowing match, E. Anderson, of Varick, obtained the first premium of ten dollars, and Matthew Simpson, of Varick, for the hest sample of butter, four dollars. Leading agricul- turists, among whom was Delafield, became impressed with the advantages likely to result from a school of agriculture, and the subject being agitated, a farm was purchased by the State on the west border of the town of Ovid. The farm con- tained six hundred and eighty-six acres, five hundred cultivated ; it was in dimen- sions two and one-half miles east and west, by five-eighths wide, situated on an inclined plane, and having a rise of five hundred and fifty feet. Plans of a build- ing were presented, and Hewes was appointed architect. Work began on Sep- tember 8, 1857. The foundation of the outside walls were constructed of stone weighing four to five tons cach, nine to twelve feet wide, and three and one-half deep, laid in hydraulic cement. The completed building was to be three hundred and twenty feet long, fifty-two feet wide, and four stories above the basement ; the wings were to be two hundred and six feet loog, and same width and height of main building; the centre projection to be seventy-nine feet long by sixty-four wide. An octagonal eupola, in diameter thirty-six feet, and rising fifty feet from the apex of the roof. The rooms to scat thirteen hundred persons; ten lecture- rooms, two hundred and twenty chambers for students, two students in each. The entire cost was estimated nt one hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars. The corner-stone was laid on Thursday, March 2, 1858, with impressive ceremonies. An extract from the address then delivered contained the following beautiful contrast :
" Almost on the very spot, where fifty or more years before, the famous Indian queen, Catharine Montour, had erected hier wigwam and received the attentions of savage attendants in the midst of a reign of rudeness and barbarism, now in the lapse of time a noble institution is upbuilt-a triumph of modern civilization."
School was opened under the control of General Patrick, who left for the army
during vacation, and Cornell having proposed a new basis for an agricultural college, to be founded at Ithaca, the buildings and farm, beautifully, conveniently, and healthfully located, were set apart for a home for the chronic pauper insane, and the Cornell University entered npon its encouraging career.
The farming community throughout the country, oppressed by exactions in transportation and purchases, sought relief by the organization of a society, known as " Grangers." The movement grew in popularity and spread like wild-fire; hun- dreds of granges were formed, and their membership was among the hundreds of thousands. Granges were organized in Seneca County early in 1874. The order is known as Patrons of Hnshandry, and ineludes only those persons whose nearest and best interests are connected with agriculture. The first grange was instituted by George Sprague, Esq., Secretary of New York State Grange, at Dublin, in the town of Junius, on Jannary 8, 1874, and was known as No. 34. W. W. Van De Mark was elected Master, and Henry Bishop Overseer. The East Fayette Lodge, No. 40, was instituted on Jannary 9, 1874, and others rapidly followed, until there are now twelve lodges in the County, with a membership of about one thousand. In 1875, a County Council was organized, with E. S. 'Bartlett, Master, and E. J. Schoonmaker Secretary. The following exhibits numbers, locality, and present officers :
No. 34, Junius; Master, W. W. Van De Mark. No. 40, East Fayette ; Master, S. W. E. Viele. No. 44, Seneca ; Master, Wm. G. Wayne. No. 64, Kendaia ; Master, John F. Falladay. No. 88, Tyre; Master, Wm. A. Stevenson. No. 116, Rose Hill; Master, U. D. Bellows. No. 139, Magee's Corner ; Master, Emery Story. No. 155, Ovid; Master, Theodore Dowers. No. 160, Farmer's Village ; Master, W. W. Boorom. No. 213, Lodi; Master, Walter I. Traphagan. No. 249, West Fayette; Master, Wm. Esheruour. No. 250, Mount Pleasant ; Master, John Monroe.
The paramount importance of husbandry is generally admitted, and the farmers of Seneca, in the various branches of their profession, as outlined above, are shown to have kept pace with the progressive spirit of the age.
CHAPTER XVI.
GEOLOGY-ONONDAO\ SALT GROUP-GYPSUM GROUP-MARCELLUS SHALE- SENECA LIMESTONE - HAMILTON GROUP -TULLY LIMESTONE - GENESEE SLATE AND DRIFT DEPOSITS.
THERE is no subject connected with the history of Seneca County so little understood, and yet so full of interest, as that which treats of its rock formations. To him who, observing the formation of rocks, seeks to know further, are offered the facts contained in this chapter, which are based upon the survey by Dr. Thomas Antisell made for and contained in the Agricultural Survey of the County of Seneca, by John Delafield, for the New York State Agricultural Society, in 1850. Above primary or granite rock, rests elay slate, and above this is a siliceous and argillaceons rock, formed by deposit from salt water, and bearing the name of Silurian. This rock, underlying the northern surface of Seneca, is known as the Onondaga Salt Group,-Seneca limestone and varieties of shale. The rocks being formed, volcanie action ceased; the seas retired, and sandstone was raised above the water level. This rock is known as the old red sandstone, and lies in the extreme southern part of the County. Above the sand- stone, and of more recent origin, are found in order, limestone with coal beds, magnesia, limestone, new red aandstone, serpentine, and chalk, with the green-sand of New Jersey. It is thought that an inland sea submerged the surface of western New York, and observations tend to prove the theory. The Ontario Lake Ridge shows seven distinet shores upon its side, from the erest to the present shore. Like shores exist at the head of Seneca Lake. A vast eurrent, sweeping south- eastward, deepened the valley northward in Seneca, and the lakes on either side were southern ontlets, by way of the Susquehanna, to the ocean. At a level of nine hundred and eighty feet the flow from Cayuga stopped; ninety feet farther subsidence and the drainage from Seneca ceased to the south, and the present flow began.
The lowest and oldest secondary rock in the County is called the Onondaga Salt Group. Upon it, and partaking of its slope southward, are a series of beds, classified as blne and green ahale, next above, green and ash-colored marls, and upon this bed, gray marls and sliales, with beds of gypsum. No lines divide these beds, but the order is readily perceived. This group extends as a belt across the County, and occupies the lands north of the outlet. Its existence is not
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HISTORY OF SENECA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
externally perceived, save by the various springs. It is exposed by digging for wells, at a varying depth of fifteen to fifty feet. The upper beds of the bank may be seen under the falls of the outlet, at the village of Seneca Falls. Upper beds of gypsum are less valuable than those deeper, yet pure phister ean readily be procured from the higher deposits. The entire soil between the river and Cayuga Bridge is underlaid with gypsum, and eastward the railroad cut exposed the plaster covered with some twenty-five feet of clay. The limestone lyiog upon the group at Seneca Falls is dense with cavities filled with crystallized incrustations of carbonate of lime. Above the limestone is a bed of stone which changes from blue to gray on exposure ; it is known as silico-argillaceous limestone, and from it has been made water-cement. A mill at Seneca Falls is built of this stone, taken from the vicinity. Over the Seneca limestone is a blue fossiled slate, wermed Marcellus shale. Its characteristics are black and blue-black slate, fragile and laminated. Crushing under slight pressure, it decomposes to tena- eious clay. It extends from the Caynga tu the Seneca, where it is widest, and includes the northern and middle portions of Fayette. The slate can easily be examined, as it is seen upon the roads, in the turned furrow, and the debris of wells. Its ridges are the estimated result of expansion of sandstone and the contraction of slate under the influence of heat. The Marcellus shale is a thin layer, reaching its greatest depth of sixty feet on the Seneca Lake shore, and thinning to the north and east. The Seneca limestone lies over the gypsum group, snd marks its southern margin. It is a stone of fine grain, a deep blue, und, from the presence of alumina, varies downward from a gray to an ashy shade. In its strata are masses of hornstone, increasing to the west of the County and thinning the limestone. By the dissolution of the calcareous matter the jagged hernstene is brought to view, and stones from this bed are scattered over the surface southward. The shale above the limestone varies from four to eight feet, while the limestone itself, in half a dozen strata af nine to eighteen inches thickness, does not exceed thirty feet depth. It is not seen to be the gathered remains of molluses, corals, and shelled animals, but a deposit of mud upon a limestone basis rapidly and deeply made. The upper beds are fissured, and fit for the kilo ; a fourth, fifth, and sixth bed beneath the surface yield large blocks of stone. The third and thickest bed has a depth of four feet. The Seneca lime- stone constitutes a durable and beautiful building material, and its production constitutes an important industry of the County.
Under the caption of the Hamilton group are included the rock-beds lying under the middle of the County, from the boundary of Romulus, and portions of Ovid, northward. Its name originates from the place of its development, in the County of Madison. It is arranged in six series, five of shale, one of lime- stene. The group lies between the Marcellus shale and the Tully limestone. Its beds are uf immense thickness, reaching a depth of six hundred feet. The ravines on the lake shores expose the strata, more especially on the Seneca eastern shore. Of the six beds, the first, a " dark, slaty, fossiliferous shale," underlies the town of Varick and the southern part of Fayette. It is argillaccous, and contains the shells of testaceous animals. In places in Fayette, it is covered to a depth of thirty feet by drift clay and alluvium. The second stratum is fissile and calcareous when touched by limestone, but higher up receives a manganese mineral which gives it a dark olive tint. On exposure, it crumbles into soil. Ou Lot 71, Romulus, it is exposed, and shows a depth of one hundred and fifty feet. The " Moscow shate" is the highest stratum of the group, thick, dark blue, seamed, and near the Tully limestone fossiliferous. It is easily decomposed, and contains iron pyrites. Its greatest breadth is nine miles, and the thickness of the beds, including the Marcellus shale, is one thousand feet.
Above the Moscow shales lies the Tully limestone, so called from Tully, in Onondaga. It is the last bed formed by deposit of sediment, and the most southern in the State. Compact and fine-grained, it is, at times, argillaceous, at others, calcareous, and has an average depth of eleven feet and au extreme of thirteen feet. It is traceable in Romulus, on the cast edge of Lot 89, whence, dipping, it reappears in Ovid, on Lots 5 and 6, where it is over twenty rods wide, and is lost at Sheldrake point of Caynga Lake. On Lot 42, it appears, crosses a ravine, curves south, and is lost under the Genesee slate. Oo the ravine below the falls of Lodi, it is fifteen feet above the water, and rises gradually to a height of sixty feet. Its course may be followed, alternately sinking and rising, through Lodi, Ovid, snd Romulus. The action of water in the ravines bas cut through and exposed its layers, which are strikingly uniform in character. Of five courses of stone, the lowest, and thickest, averages nearly five feet, with vertical distant joints, facilitating the quarrying and removal of large stones. Being compact, it resists the friction of the current, and, the underlying slate giving way, a ledge projects farther and farther over the chast, till the leverage is too great, and a mass is broken off into the ravine, where its presence is beneficial as a break- water against further destruction of the banks. The lime of Tully limestone, obtained from the lowest bed, is pure, and the blocks being easily reached, and
firm, offer a field for enterprise and profit. A great part of Southern Sencea is covered hy Genesce slate, which underlies an area of sixty-five square miles. Influenced by the weather, it splits inte pieces, but stands the action of fire for long periods unaltered. Its depth extends from one hundred to two hundred feet. It reaches the latter extreme at the Ledi falls, where good views of its appearance can be had. The bed is argillaceous, with beds of black slate and shale. Between the beds are layers of sandstone. The joints are a dozen or more feet apart, vertical, and run an east-west course and a north-by-east direc- tion, and allow of the removal of large sheets of flagstone. Various quarries are opened, of which the one on Lot No. 86, in the town of Covert, is most exten- sive, and frem which the best flagstones have been taken. Huge stones have been quarried here and transported to the different leading cities. A four-feet stratum of clay and a two-feet stratum of shale cover the beds. Only three to four feet deep, the lateral extent is practically unlimited, and sheets are raised twelve feet square and half a foot in thickness.
The attention of many has been arrested by the presence of foreign boulders upon the surface of the lands, or imbedded in their elay, snd conjecture has been busy to derive their origin. It is attributed to the action of water, and is one of two classes of material so conveyed ; the second kind being beds of clay, sand, or gravel. The boulders are most numerous in the northern towns, and are rare in those southern. The upward slope of the land southward explains the reason, as there must needs be a strong current to bear those heavy masses forward. These boulders are all fragments of granite or primary rock, fermed by the fusion of mica, quartz, and feldspar. The granitic masses in Junius are white, while smaller stones are flesb-colored. In Tyre, large boulders are found together with smaller of greenstone porphyry. They are confined principally to these two northern towns. Granite is found abundant in Ovid and Romulus, and much less so in Lodi and Covert, and in small masses. In southern Fayette, limestone is seen as a drift- rock, and is traced far south of the bounds of the County. There is no apparent line of deposit for these boulders, and hence they are not regarded as the result of glacial action. The ridges of finer material are formed by like aqueous action. These ridges are abundant in Junius, and lie in a south-southeast course. In Tyre, they are found in the perthwest and middle regions. Following down- ward, with little variation, in Seneca Falls and Waterloo, we find the hills flat- tened in Fayette, und only traceable in Varick and Romulus in even layer and fine material. It is noticed that the sand is more heavily deposited on the shores of the lakes in the southern towns than over the eeutral lets. The depth of the drift deposit varies from one or two to fifty feet, being deepest at the north. The deposits in the north are derived from localities farther north ; those in the south, from that immediate region. A summary shows that the rock formations of the County furnish cement, building- and flag-stone, and good lime, and contain the elements of a soil's renewal and a source of highly valuable industry.
CHAPTER XVII.
POLITICAL LEGISLATION-PARTIES-POPULATION-POPULAR VOTE AND CIVIL LIST.
THE history of civil government is a record of a long, bitter, and finally successful struggle between the people and immediate and remote representatives of kingly power. It teaches a gradual transfer of authority frem sovereign rule to the hands of the populace, and its whole course is marked by local and general advantages. Exeess in an opposite direction has been checked by conservatism, and given rise to political parties, whose contests have been violent but subservient to the public good. Civil government was established by the Dutch in 1621, aod in 1629, New York, then called New Netherlands, received its first Governor, in the person of Wouter Van Twiller. From 1664 -- the date of the surrender of the province to the English-up to 1683, James, Duke of York, was sole ruler. He appointed Governors and Councils, whose enactments were acknowledged as laws. The first legislative assembly was organized in 1691, and originated a code of rules in consonance with enlarged powers. The province was divided into nine counties, and the Ilouse consisted of seventeen delegates. An aet of Assembly for a National Church, passed in 1693, was received with discontent, and tanght the necessity of perfect religious freedom, but entirely disconnected with affairs of State. A second Assembly convened in 1708. Encroachments upon popular rights, by the royal Governors, paved the way for their speedy dowofall, on the breaking out of the Revolution. On April 20, 1777, was formed and
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