History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 3

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1354

USA > New York > Westchester County > History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I > Part 3

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GEOLOGY.1- The rocks which compose New York Island, and underlie the adjacent country on the north and east, are chiefly gneiss and mica-schist, with heavy, intercalated beds of coarse-grained, dolo- mitic marble and thinner layers of serpentine .? These are all distinctly stratified, and, according to Prof. Dana, have once been sedimentary beds deposit-

1 The accompanying geological map of Westchester County was prepared by the officers of the United States Geological Survey, at Washington, D. C., from data prepared by Professor Dana, and presents the latest conclusions of that school of geologists who agree with Prof. Dana as to the Lower Silurian age of the West- chester County rocks. The geological portion of this chapter was written at the office of the Geological Survey, at Washington, and submitted to Prof. McGee, the chief geologist of the survey, and he has approved it as correct and as full as the present information about the section of country will admit. Prof. McGee says that very little is known of the geological age of Westchester County, and that eveu that little is not accepted by all geologists. Prof. Newberry, differing with Prof. Dana and the United States Survey, holds that the county belongs to the Lau- rentian age, while the other side place the county region on the Upper Silurian age. We have given the views of both, aud followed with the map. We have used Prof. James D. Dana's account of the limestoue beds as the most important feature and value which geology points out for the county. Of course we had to abridge as much as possible in or- der to keep within the limits of our work.

2 Prof. I. S. Newberry, in Popular Science Monthly, for October, 1878.

74'00'

73°45'

73°30'

41 15'

Montrose

Croton R.

Bedford#

RIVER

White Plains

41 00

00'

40°

45'

40° 45'

74900'

73°45'

73 '30'

Geologic Map of Westchester County, N.Y.

MILES 1 0 3

Metomorphu, Hudson Hiver shales (2)

Metamorphic, Trenton Calculerous limestones(?)

Metamorphic, Potsdam. sandstone (? )with associated schists

ficargra slate .Archcun

15'

41º

LONG ISLAND SOUND

GEOLOGY.

ed horizontally-sandstones, shales and limestones- but now, upheaved and set on edge, are by metamor- phism converted into compact crystalline strata, with the obliteration of all fossils-if fossils they contain- ed. The age of these rocks has not yet been aceu- rately determined, although they have been supposed to be Lower Silurian, and a continuation of those which contain the marble beds of Western Massa- chusetts and Vermont. There are some reasons, however, why they should be regarded as still older. That they do not form the southern prolongation of the marble belt of Vermont is indicated by the facts that both the marble beds and the rocks associated with them are so unlike in the two localities that they can hardly be parts of the same formation. In Vermont the marbles occur in what is essentially a single belt, are fine-grained, unusually banded and mottled, are nearly pure carbonates of lime, and the rocks immediately associated with them are gray siliccous limestones, quartzites and slates. In West- chester County and on New York Island, on the contrary, the marbles are very coarsely crystalline dolomites (double carbonates of lime and magnesia), which occur in, a number of parallel belts, are gener- ally of uniform white or whitish color, and have no rocks associated with them that can represent the quartzites and argillites of Vermont.

On the east bank of the Hudson, at and above New York, we have : 1st. A belt of crystalline rocks form- ing apparently a continuous series to and beyond the Connecticut line ; 2d. Strata set nearly vertieal, onee forming high hills or mountains, now worn down by long exposure to a more rolling surface ; 3d. The series composed chiefly of gneiss and crystalline schists, with heavy beds of dolomite marble and thinner bands of serpentine; and 4th. Contain- ing in its western portion, where it adjoins the New Jersey iron-belt-with which it is inseparably connected-important beds of magnetic iron-ore, while apatite is one of the most common dissemina- ted minerals. For these and other reasons Mr. New- berry regards the New York rocks as belonging to the Laurentian age.

On the other hand, Prof. James D. Dana 1 holds that Westchester County is comprised within the Green Mountain region, that it borders the southern side of the Putnam County Archaan, as Dutchess County does the northern, and resembles in its order that part of the Green Mountain region which now makes Western Connecticut. The topographical features of the county owe much to the lime-stone belts, which, by their easy erosion, have determined the courses of river valleys, and the lines of marshes along such valleys, as well as located many of the lakes. The beds of this soft roek stand nearly verti- cal, thus favoring the excavation of deep channels.

The valleys are sometimes abrupt on both sides, but usually have one side high, precipitous and rocky, and the other gently sloping; and this is largely due, in connection with the erosion, to the pitch or dip of the beds. But the pitch of the beds may not have been the ouly cause of the form of the valleys. Prof. Dana holds that the throw of the waters against the right bank of a stream (the western if flowing south, or the northern if flowing west), in consequence of the carth's rotation, may have had its effects, and may possibly account for the cases in which the western side is the steep one, notwithstanding a vertical or even a high eastern pitch.

The lime-stoue belts of the county are divided by Prof. Dana into: 1st, the Southern section of the county, from New York Island to White Plains; 2d, The Middle section, from White Plains to Croton Lake ; and 3d, the Northern seetion, north of the Croton Lake.

The southern section is composed of three arcas or belts which, commencing in New York Island, extend for two or three miles into Westchester County. The first of these areas, the Tremont, extends from Ford- ham southward to Harlem River, and thence into New York Island. It reaches the Harlem River by two lines-a western at Mott-Haven and an east- ern at the mouth of Morris Hill Brook, west of Brooke Avenue. The second belt of the southern section, that of "the Clove" follows Croniwell's Creek, north of Central (or McComb's Dam) Bridge and the brook emptying into it. The most southern outcrop oceurs about a mile north of the Bridge; it again out- erops near the "Club House." This belt probably continues southward into New York Island. The third area of the southern section is a prominent feature of the north end of New York Island, from which it extends three miles northward into West- chester County along Tippitt's Brook. The Harlem River makes a deep eut through it at Kingsbridge; and where the abutments of High Bridge rest, disap- pearing there, outerops at points in Tippitt's Valley as far as nearly three miles from Kingsbridge. Just above the point of junction of the Harlem and New Haven Railroads ledges of lime-stone are visi- ble, and were cut into in grading the railroad tracks.

The areas of serpentine, with some calcareous ma- terial, appear at New Rochelle and Rye. At Yonkers the lime-stone area follows the course of a north and south bend on Saw-Mill Creek, with a width of at least one hundred feet. There are indications of a more castern belt along the Saw-Mill River Valley just north of the city. On Grassy Sprain Brook a small area exists with a width to the south of five hundred yards. On the Bronx River a lime-stone belt begins near Bronxville, and tapers out to the south, while to the north, and for the most of its course, it is divided into two parts, separated by a band of mica-schist and gneiss. The Hastings belt oceurs along the Hudson to the north of Yonkers.

1 Paper on the Geological Relations of the Lime-stone Belts of West- chester County, N. Y., American Journal of Science.

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

In the middle seetion of the county. in the Saw-Mill River Valley, a large lime-stone area commences about two and a half miles north of Ashford, and widening at East Tarrytown, continues northward to a near junction with the Pleasantville area. This last- mentioned area is also broad and sinuous in its course, terminating just north of Chappaqua Depot. The Sing Sing belt commences south of the depot on the Hudson and extends north-northeast nearly to the boundary of the town of Ossining ; it also branches eastward up a small valley towards the Camp Woods. Half a mile east of the village of Croton occurs a small area without distinguishable features, and south of the Croton River a narrow area extends from near "Quaker Bridge" to the foreation of the river at Huntersville. At Merritt's Corner, and on the east border of Croton Lake, as well as near Bedford Station, small areas of lime-stone are indicated. East of the Pleasantville belt, on the border of New York and

THE COBBLING-STONE, IN SOMERS.

Connectieut, lies a lime-stone area, which extends along the course of Byram River to its source in Byram Lake. To the northeast of Byram Lake, following a valley along the head-waters of Mianus , and dried, makes excellent fuel. The great differences River, as well as another along that of Stone Hill in elevation and exposure, together with the variety of soils, cause a remarkably large flora. In round numbers, about twelve hundred flowering plants and fifty varieties of ferns have becu found here. River, the outcroppings of lime-stone indicate an area which completes the list of areas in the middle seetion of the county.

The areas of the northern section of the county to some extent tend toward the east and west in trend and in the strike of the beds. The large eastern area of the northeast extends into Connectieut; that at Cruger's Station lies mostly to the south and east of the station. At Verplanck's Point, and up Sprout Brook Valley or Canopus Hollow, extends an area nearly five miles in length.

Prof. Dana regards Westchester County as topo- graphically a southern portion of the Green Moun- tain elevation ; that the grade of metamorphism fol-

lows the same rule as to the north-that is, it is of greatest intensity to the eastward and to the south- ward. It is in accordance with this that the least degrees of metamorphism are found in the lime-stone and associated schists of the vicinity of Peekskill, in the northwest eorner, while along the central and eastern portious of the county, and in the western, also, south of the Croton, the crystallization is com- monly very coarse; that the lime-stones have the same kind of associated rocks-that is, of mica-schists and gneisses-as the eastern and more metamorphic por- tions of the region in Connecticut ; that the lime-stones have a like paucity in disseminated minerals and simi- lar occurring species with those of Connecticut ; and that the ordinary normal trend of the rocks-north 10° east to north 20° east-is very nearly the average trend of the beds of lime-stone and associated roeks in the Green Mountain system.

Prof. Dana's conelusions are that : " The lime-stone of Westchester County and New York Island and the conformably associated metamorphic roeks are probably of Lower Silurian age."

The soils of the county are made up of the abrasions and disintegration of the gneiss, feldspar and lime-stone rocks, with considerable districts largely composed of sand and more limited areas of clay. As a whole, the soil may be called a light loam. It is generally favorable to the growth of cereals. The valleys have the addition of vegetable matter and are very productive of the rich natural grasses which abound here. The hillsides have suffered from washing by heavy rains, but yield abundant erops to good cultivation. About the hill-tops and along the summits of the ridges the rocks generally crop out, so that these localities are mostly left to be covered with forest growths, adding greatly to the beauty of the scenery. In many places in the eounty there are peat swamps, where ancient lakes have been filled with the accumulation of vegetable matter and the growth of sphagnum moss. This peat, when pressed

The surface of the county has been much affected by glacial action and drift deposits. Croton Point, on the Hudson, and other places in the county show evi- denees of glacial moraines. Deep striæ and lighter scratches still remain upon many exposed rock sur- faces and others have been smoothly polished. Im- mense numbers of boulders are scattered over the surface. The most of these are of granite, brought from Massachusetts and New Hampshire. Some are of conglomerate from across the Hudson River and others have great numbers of shell fossils.

THE INDIANS.

A remarkable boulder is found in Somers. It stands on the hill directly northeast of Muscoot Mountain in the southwestern part of Sommers, and from its top can be seen the blue hills of Long Island across the sound, the northern clevations of Dutchess County and the distant lands of Connecticut. To the west it overlooks Yorktown and Cortlandt. One side of this eurious rock has the appearance of au Indian's face. It is au immense mass of red granite, said to be the only specimen in the county, and is perched upou three lime-stone points, two feet or more above the surface of the ground, and four hundred feet above the Muscoot Valley. It was doubtless brought here by a glacier or dropped from an iceberg, which is mentioned in the old deeds as the "Cobbling Stone."

. Thomas Scharf

CHAPTER II.

THE INDIANS OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

BY JAMES WOOD, A.M. President of the Westchester County Historical Society.

THE 13th day of September, 1609, marked the point of division between the pre-historic and the historic periods of the district of country now known as Westchester County. On that day Henry Hudson, the intrepid English navigator, anchored his vessel, the " Half-Moon," in the newly-discovered river, near the site of the present city of Yonkers. The dawn of the following day disclosed the residents of the village of Nappeckamak gathered upon the eastern shore, and viewing with wonder, but with a kindly interest, the strange revelation before them. We now kuow much, although far too little, of what has since transpired here; but we know almost nothing of the events of the untold centuries that preceded that day.

The European discoverers of North America found the continent peopled with millions of human beings, of types analogous to those of the Old World, and with characteristics almost equally varied. In stature they covered a wide range, from the dwarf-like deni- zens of the far north to the vigorous inhabitants of other sections, whose height averaged, in the men, fully six feet. In activity and courage they excited the admiration of their discoverers. Their color was unique, and was imagined to resemble that of copper ; but further investigation showed that this color varied greatly. Some of the natives were found to be nearly as dark as negroes, while in other sectious they were 2

almost as light as Caucasians. They spoke many hundred different languages, which showed striking analogies in their grammatical construction, with equally striking disparity in their vocabulary. The goal sought by these discoverers was India, and, im- agining that they had found its outlying provinces, they called the inhabitants of the new land Indians.

It would be the merest conjecture to attempt to state how long mau had occupied the American con- tinent. Apart from the length of time required for producing new languages, or even dialects, and from all ethnological considerations, there are facts con- nected with his existenec here that indicate a period of almost incalculable antiquity. Of the animals found in the New World, none were identical with those known in the Old, and in the vegetable king- dom the same rule held almost as absolutely. Maize and tobacco were cultivated in every portion of the country where the climate suited their requirements, while cotton was grown in a section necessarily more limited in area. We may reasonably suppose that man existed here for a long time before he discovered the fitness of maize for food, and for a much longer period before he began its cultivation; and then it must have required centuries to introduce it to gen- eral cultivation over nearly a hundred degrees of lati- tude in the two continents. It is well known that plants change their character very slowly ; but maize, tobacco and cotton had so long been subjected to the transforming influences of cultivation as to have lost all resemblance to their original forms, so that they could no longer be identified with the wild species. The force of this consideration is heightened when we remember that, in this transformation, these plants became entirely dependent upon cultivation for their existence.

In some portions of the contiuent the great an- tiquity of man is proven by the remains of his struct- ures still existing ; but as none of these were found in this section, the subject need not be considered here.

Closely connected with the question of the time of man's existence here is that of his origin. How came he here? The question has received much con- sideration. The attempts to designate particular nations as the original peoplers of the American con- tinent, whether they were the Lost Tribes of Israel the Phonicians or the Chinese, have so utterly failed to convince inquirers, that they have been generally abandoned. The autochthonic theory, the theory of indigenous origin, has had many strong arguments produced in its favor. Some of its advocates suppose that the Creator placed an original pair of human beings here, as Holy Scripture teaches that He did in the Eastern Hemisphere. But these arguments come short of conviction. The advocates of the theory of development that would find the ancestor of man in the monkey, have abandoned all idea of

HISTORY OF WESTCHESTER COUNTY.

the change having taken place here, as the American continent has furnished no species of the apes, nor the remains of any such species from which man could have been developed.

They all admit that uarrow-nosed apes could alone have been the ancestors of man, and no such apes- no catarrhine simiadæ-have existed here.

When we look at the conditions on either side of the continent, we cannot suppose that it was at all impossible for men, at any indefinitely remote period, to have found their way hither. The climatic changes of past periods, at some time, may have made the route by Behring's Straits entirely practicable. The route by the Aleutian Islands is not difficult now to canoe navigators. The Pacific currents frequently cast the wrecks of Japanese vessels upon our north- western shores. The islands of the South Pacific afforded a probable way of communication, and it is believed that many have disappeared, comparatively recently, beneath the surface. On the Atlantic side the difficulties were by no means insurmountable, even if we ignore "the lost Atlantis." The trade- winds and equatorial currents carried Cabral and his Portuguese fleet, bound around the Cape of Good Hope, to the American shores, and led to the acci- dental discovery of Brazil. On his second voyage Columbus found, in a house on the island of Gauda- loupe, the stern-post of an European vessel. In various periods of the past the same forces may have brought men to these shores.

It is probable that America was peopled from va- rious sources, aud at widely separated periods. These must have been very remote to afford time for the production of the conditions found existing here.

The aborigines of Westchester County belonged to the great family of Indians called the Algonquin Len- ape. Their connection with the Mound-Builders of the Mississippi Valley, with the Aztecs of Mexico, or with the builders of the wonderful structures found in Central America, if any ever existed, must have been extremely remote. Their traditions re- ferred in a very vague way to long journeys from the northwest, and great suffering from cold on their way hither, and of contests with a people who occupied the country before them. Of their own history they were lamentably ignorant. Their computation of time by moons and revolving eycles led all investiga- tions into inextricable confusion. Any event beyond an individual's recollection floated vaguely in the boundless past. No records of any kind were made. For these reasons the Europeans were able to obtain from this people very little information of them- selves or their fathers. They existed here for unnumbered centuries, and then passed away, leav- ing behind them no sign to mark their occupa- tion of the country, save a few simple imple- ments of stone, and no structure of any kind memo- rializes their power or attests their strength or skill. We are thus singularly destitute of nearly all means

for acquiring accurate kuowledge of this people's history.

The Algonquin tribes occupied nearly the whole Atlantic seaboard, and their language necessarily was widely diffused. It has been found more fertile in dialects than any other aboriginal speech. It was strangely agglutinative, and gave expression to thought by stringing words together into an extended compound. It was the mother-tongue of those who greeted Raleigh's colonists on the Roanoke, of those who boarded the "Half-Moon" on the Hudson, and of those who welcomed and fed the Pilgrims at Plym- outh. It was heard from the land of the Esquimo to the Savannah River and from the Bay of Gaspe to the Mississippi.

It is not necessary to investigate the national divisious of the Algouquins further than to state that the Mohegans occupied the country along the left bank of the Hudson River, called Mahi- cannittuk, and eastward to the Connecticut, and from Long Island Sound uorthward to the mouth of the Mohawk, and perhaps to Lake Champlain. Their country was called Laapliawachking. North and west of the Mohegans were the powerful and warlike Iroquois, their immediate neighbors being the Hori- cans and Mohawks. Across the Hudson, below Cats- kill, were tribes belonging to the Delaware nation, and east of the Connecticut were the Pequots. Long Is- land was occupied by Mohegan tribes. It has been stated that at the time of discovery the Mohegans were under military subjection to the Iroquois, aud were compelled to pay an annual tribute to them. This is not substantiated by investigation, for we find no reference to it in any of the treaties made by these tribes with the whites, nor was such a thing ever al- luded to in all the protracted negotiations between them.

The subdivisions of the tribes were very numerous. They had advantages for local government and the pres- ervation of order. The form of government was very simple. Each local tribe had its ruler, called thesachem. He was also their representativein the general councils, which were composed of the representatives of the smaller tribes of the nation. They were presided over by the national grand sachem, who occupied the position of a sovereign. These councils assembled only in cases requiring concerted action, as in a gen- eral war. In all other matters the local tribes were independent, and declared war for themselves, or made peace without consulting their brother tribes. The national obligation was imperative, and treason to the decisions of a council was punished with death. Each natiou had its emblem, or totem, which served the purpose of the flag of a civilized nation. These were used in times of war, and were drawn upon trees and rocks to indicate that the tribes had taken up the hatchet and had gone upon the war- patlı. The Mohegan totem was a wolf, and in de- elaring war the animal was represented with its dex-

THE INDIANS.

ter paw raised in a threatening manner. The name Mohegan meant " Enchanted Wolf." Their military forces had regular forms of organization and disci- pline. The companies from the local tribes had their commanders, who were selected for their prow- ess and achievements in arms. The united forces were commanded by chiefs who had obtained military distinction, and these stood in rank according to their services and their reputation for bravery, pru- dence, cunning and good fortune.

There was but little need for civil government, as their chief possessions were held in common, and where personal property existed, the owner's rights were recognized.

It is probable that these local tribes were communi- ties of blood relations, who readily recognized the patriarchal authority of their sachem and who held their lands in common. Doubtless, they elosely re- sembled the clans and septs of Great Britain and Ireland, without the land being held either by tanistry or gavel-kind. The sachems received their support by the free contributions of the community. The ownership of land depended upon conceded original occupation or upon conquest. If obtained by con- quest, all original rights became vested in the con- querors, and if it was re-conquered, these returned to the original owner. They had but little idea of title to land. They valued only its occupation and use. The game that filled the forests and the fish that swarmed in the waters gave a value that they well appreciated, and they also prized their cultivable tracts.

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History of Westchester county : New York, including Morrisania, Kings Bridge, and West Farms, which have been annexed to New York City, Vol. I, Part 3

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed Publication date: 1886 Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co. Number of Pages: 1354

Author: Scharf, J. Thomas (John Thomas), 1843-1898, ed
Publication date: 1886
Publisher: Philadelphia : L.E. Preston & Co.
Number of Pages: 1354