Landmarks of Niagara County, New York, Part 7

Author: Pool, William, 1825-1912, ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: [Syracuse] : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 820

USA > New York > Niagara County > Landmarks of Niagara County, New York > Part 7

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).

made prisoners, the cannon destroyed and the magazine blown up. Meanwhile Miller had carried two other batteries and block houses in their rear. Within forty minutes after Porter and Miller began opera- tions, the whole line of British intrenchments was in possession of the Americans. Fort Erie was saved, with Buffalo and the stores on the frontier, by this successful sortie. Congress presented medals to Porter, Brown and Ripley, and public honors were bestowed upon them. These events were not only important in themselves, but have local significance from the fact that General Porter bore so conspicuous a part in them. He was a brave and loyal citizen and greatly distin- guished himself. He was grandfather of Col. P. A. Porter who lost his life at Cold Harbor in the war of the Rebellion, and father of P. A. and George M. Porter, prominent citizens of Niagara Falls. General Porter was brevetted major-general of militia soon after the events here de- scribed.

The practical results of the campaign of 1814 were not especially advantageous to the American cause. Battles were won, and officers and troops fought bravely and successfully ; but at its close in Decem- ber the British were still in full possession on the Canadian side. Two months later, in February, 1815, news reached this country of the treaty at Ghent. Under this treaty each country agreed to surrender all places captured during the war, leaving the boundaries as they formerly existed. This closed hostilities on this frontier. The closing events of the war in the south are well known and constitute a part of general history.

At the end of the war the whole country was left poor. Trade of all kinds was broken up, specie was almost unobtainable, banks were with- out credit, and general depression prevailed. But the resources of the country were great and recovery was rapid. Niagara county, as at present bounded, was still almost an unbroken forest. Along the river and on a few of the principal roads, clearings had been made ; all else was woodland. But the pioneers were made of stern stuff and when the clouds of war had cleared away they returned and took up the work of making their homes. Settlement continued to advance with consider- able rapidity during the first quarter of the century, and in 1821 a di- vision of the great county, which then included all of what is now Erie

county was made by an act of the Legislature in 1821, Niagara retain- ing the original name and Erie county the organization. The sub- divisions of Niagara county which took place before and after the erec- tion of Erie county are summarized later on. Lewiston was then the most prominent village in the county and practically the county seat, continuing thus until 1822. It was the terminus of the daily lines of stages that had been established to connect with Rochester; and a tri- weekly line ran to Buffalo. These lines were the natural avenues of travel between the east and the west and for many years and even after the advent of the first railroads, were largely patronized. Taverns were numerous along the routes, and hamlets came into existence to supply the rural districts with goods.

In the mean time the great work of constructing the Erie Canal, which was to prove of so much importance to this county, was progres- sing. There is no excuse for giving a detailed history of the under- taking in these pages, for it is at everybody's hand in scores of places. The herculean task of cutting through the Mountain Ridge at Lockport was the last work done on the waterway, and the series of locks at that point were finished and the canal opened on the 26th of October, 1824. One of its most important results as far as this county was concerned, was the building up of the thriving village and later city of Lockport, and of the less important village of North Tonawanda.

The Legislature of 1823 passed an act for laying out the territory of the jail limits and the erection of a court house in Lockport, a full account of which is given in a later chapter. It was in that session, also, that an act was passed incorporating the Niagara Canal Company, the avowed object of which was to construct a ship canal from the mouth of Gill Creek to Lewiston. The application to the Legislature was signed by Benjamin Barton, Jacob Townsend, N. Leonard, William Hotchkiss, Rufus Spalding, Silas Hopkins, and Bates Cook. Nothing was accomplished in this canal scheme, but the project has at different times been discussed ever since. At about the same time application was made to the Legislature for authority to construct a turnpike road from what is now Wright's Corners to Warren's Corners. An im- passable swamp lay between the two places, but a good road was made across it.

Immediately after the erection of the new county, political affairs were active and much complicated. In 1822 Judge Silas Hopkins was earnestly pressed to accept the candidacy for the Assembly. He then resided in Niagara, but subsequently removed to a farm in Lewiston, where he lived to an old age. He declined the proffered nomination, giving as the reason that his circumstances would not permit him to make the sacrifice involved in the service Reuben Wilson was nominated in his stead. Augustus Porter was candidate for Congress, Lothrop Cooke for sheriff and Oliver Grace for county clerk, on the same ticket. The canvass was active, jealousy of the growing importance of Lock- port entering into the contest. The total vote of the county was less than 1,500 and the candidates above named were badly defeated.

Those who suffered from the raids of the British and Indians in the war of 1812 held many meetings thereafter to press their claims for reimbursement of their losses. At the meeting of December, 1822, Rufus Spalding, Benjamin Barton and Bates Cook were appointed a committee to take charge of the matter. The meeting resolved not to employ any lobby aid. Some years later a partial reimbursement of losses was made, but not sufficient to satisfy the sufferers,

This chapter may be interestingly closed with the following from the Lewiston Sentinel of 1824, probably written by Oliver Grace, and treating somewhat upon the travel created by the attractions of the falls and other causes :

We of the frontier who are supposed by many to dwell on the very borders of the west, but who in fact live some hundreds of miles east of a well cultivated and civil- ized portion of America, have witnessed so far this season more of the traveling mania than in any one year within our remembrance. Eastern and southern travel appears to be rapidly increasing from year to year. The great perfection to which the means of transportation has been brought in this State has obviously contributed much to this increase. The regular lines of daily stages, excelled by none in the State for superior carriages and teams, which ply the Ridge road as well as the Buffalo route, are but little adequate to the travel that is now passing to the great center of attraction-the falls of Niagara. But to make good any deficiency in this respect, the stage proprietors have provided their lines with ample extra convey- ances, so that no passenger need delay a moment's time on any part of the route from Albany to this frontier, and on returning the same facilities await him. Our steamboat, too, which scours the eastern shores of Ontario is in no way behind hand in point of accommodation, and is the means of imparting pleasure and of affording facility for the traveler, and we are happy to see that she is gathering a good share

of the patronage of the fashionable as well as increasing in her commercial and for- warding transactions. In fact, there is a sensible revival of trade and of business in general on this frontier, and when a few more improvements which are now in progress, are accomplished-when the Ridge Road is made perfect by the construc- tion of a turnpike through the Eleven-mile Woods, and the waters of Erie are pass- ing through the Mountain Ridge- the spot where Brock fell, and the splendid monu- ment now erecting to his memory-the stupendous rock over which the unfortunate Colonel Nichol was precipitated, and the battle grounds of Queenston, Lundy's Lane and Chippawa-these, we say, with the great natural curiosity as the center, will furnish attractions for which we may challenge the world for a parallel.

CHAFTER VII.

FROM 1825 TO THE WAR OF THE REBELLION.

From the close of the first quarter of the present century to the be- ginning of the great Civil war, Niagara county as a whole kept abreast of other parts of this State in its general development. Population in- creased from 26,490 in 1835, to 31, 132 in 1840; to 34,550 in 1845 ; to 42,276 in 1850; and to 50,399 in 1860. During this period every town in the county increased its number of inhabitants, though in recent years, in common with most other sections, some of the rural towns have declined in this respect. Lockport grew from 6,000 to more than 13,000 ; but in 1860 the whole town of Niagara had only 6,603 inhabitants, to which number it had grown from about 2,000 in 1835. The great days of Niagara Falls were yet far in the future. All the towns in the county had been erected before 1825, excepting Pendleton and Wheatfield-Lockport and Newfane in 1824. The orig- inal forest had been largely cleared away, the log houses of the pioneers superseded by frame dwellings; commerce on the lakes had reached large proportions, contributing its share to the prosperity of this region; manufactures had been established in some localities, with newspapers, schools, and churches, and general progress was manifest- ed on every hand.

Going back for a moment in the course of this record it should be noted that commerce and trade between the East and the West was

greatly facilitated early in the present century by the improvement of waterways by the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company, which was incorporated by the Legislature March 30, 1792, its purpose being stated as "to encourage agriculture, promote commerce, and facilitate intercourse between the citizens of the southern, northern and western parts of the State." The company was promptly organized, and in its operations followed the old route. It constructed a short canal with locks at Little Falls ; another across the portage from Rome to Wood Creek, from which Oneida Lake was easily accessible, and made im- provements in the Oneida, Seneca and Oswego Rivers. However im- perfect this navigation was as compared with that of the Erie Canal, its influence upon the prosperity of the State, and the early settlement of Western New York was incalculable. The company did a profitable business for some years, but later for several reasons it became un- profitable and its property and rights reverted to the State when the Erie Canal project was assured. The latter waterway had a still greater influence on the development of Western New York than its predecessor. The detailed history of its construction is familiar to all intelligent readers. The initial steps were taken early in the century, and the re- port of commissioners made in March, 1811, recommended the work on the route selected by Engineer James Geddes. On the strength of this report the Legislature continued the commission and voted $15,- ooo for further operations. A year later, it having been found impos- sible to obtain an appropriation from Congress, the Legislature author- ized the commissioners to borrow $5,000,000 on the credit of the State for the work. The war of 1812 delayed the enterprise, but it was re- vived in 1815 and in 1817 the actual construction commenced. The work was divided into three sections, eastern, middle and western, this county belonging, of course, in the latter. James Geddes was appoint- ed engineer of the western division and made a survey in 1815, but no work was done thereon until 1820. In that year he was succeeded by David Thomas, who made some changes in the route, the most im- portant of which was in the point at which the mountain ridge should be crossed, and which determined the site of Lockport. Mr. Geddes's line crossed the Ridge in the gorge a mile west of Lockport. The whole western division of the canal was placed under contract in 1821.

During the fall of 1823 the navigable part of the canal was extended west to Brockport and Holley, and in the following season to the foot of the Ridge at Lockport. In 1824, also, the adaptation of Niagara River and Tonawanda Creek for canal purposes was completed and the channel excavated east to Lockport, leaving the great rock cutting and lock construction at that point as the last work to be done on the canal.

Meanwhile the old stage lines flourished. The line from Canan- daigua west by way of the Ridge Road, which has before been alluded to, to Lewiston and the Falls, was established in 1816 and was im- mensely popular. The coaches were met at Wright's Corners by a wagon from Lockport carrying mail and passengers for the stage pro- prietors. These stages were kept running up to near the middle of the century. In 1828 a company of men who were opposed to running stages on Sunday, established the Pioneer line, their coaches leaving the Ridge road at Wright's Corners for Lockport and thence to Niag- ara Falls and Buffalo. Competition was active, rates of passage were lowered and the Pioneer Company, failing to get a mail contract, suc- cumbed to its rival after about two years. With the advent of railroads the old stages gradually disappeared.

The intimate connection between this county and the celebrated case of William Morgan, the abducted Free Mason, entitles it to brief notice here, though the general facts are well known. Morgan was a resident of Batavia and had written and threatened to publish a book revealing all the secrets of the Masonic order. After numerous attempts to in- duce him to abandon his purpose and give up his manuscript of the book, all of which failed, he was arrested on a trifling charge and con- fined in the Ontario county jail. A day later he was released by ad- vice given to his wife by several Masons, and on reaching the street was seized and placed in a closed carriage and driven rapidly westward. He was accompanied by three Masons, and was taken on through Roch- ester and via the Ridge road and Lewiston, and thence down the river to Fort Niagara, which was reached near midnight of the 13th of Sep- tember, 1826. He was there confined in the magazine until the 19th. The following paragraph is from Capt. James Van Cleve, who was fully conversant with the facts of the case :

In September, 1826, many Free Masons came up the lake on board the steamer Ontario [on which Van Cleve was clerk] from Rochester to participate in the instal- lation of Col. William King as Knight Templar at Lewiston. On the steamer's re- turn she landed by request at the government wharf at Fort Niagara, and many Masons went into the fort for the purpose of seeing William Morgan, who was then confined there by the Masons. Col. Samuel Denison, the managing owner of the Ontario, who was a Mason, told me at the time that he was requested to go into the fort and see Morgan, but he declined, believing such high-handed measures in viola- tion of the law would in the end lead to much trouble, which proved true.

On the 19th Morgan disappeared. Arrests and trials for his abduc- tion followed. Eli Bruce, then sheriff of Niagara county, the com- mandant at Niagara, and several other prominent Masons were tried at Lockport and Canandaigua, and a few were convicted. Bruce was fined and imprisoned for contumacy and deposed from office. The trials extended over a period of four or five years. It came to be generally believed that Morgan was drowned in Niagara River, and the stream was dragged, but without finding his body, and it is not even now positively known what became of him.

The event created intense excitement throughout the country, and especially in this State ; it finally crept into politics and gave birth to the Anti-Masonic party which for some years was a powerful political factor. It drew large numbers of adherents from the other parties and in the election of 1829 its candidate for State senator in the Eighth dis- trict was elected by the unprecedented majority of 8,000. In 1830 in a poll of 250,000 votes it failed of electing its candidate for governor by barely 8,000, while in 1832, when the poll was 320,000, it was de- feated by less than 10,000. In Pennsylvania it elected its candidate for governor in 1835, and carried large strength in some other States. Much of this power was attained through the skillful manipulation of politicians, at the head of whom was Thurlow Weed in this State; it is now clear that there was no real and permanent foundation for such a great organization, and it gradually passed out of existence.

After the building of the first railroad in this country, farseeing men realized that a line from the metropolis of this State northward and westward would, sooner or later, become one of the most important and probably the most profitable in the country. Between 1835 and 1840 the several roads that were consolidated into the New York Central in 1853, had their inception, and one of the very early branches was built

in this county. In 1835 the Lockport and Niagara Falls Company be- gan the construction of its road ; it started from the corner of Chapel and East Market streets in Lockport (known as Lower Town), whence it ran southwesterly a short distance, turned across the canal and thence extended to the end of Glenwood street; along that street it wound its way up the mountain side, and after turning to the south to pass the head of the gorge a mile west of Lockport, it bore away to the west through Pekin to Cleghorn's, thence a branch down the moun- tain grade to Lewiston, the main line continuing to what is now Sus- pension Bridge, whence it ran on to the Falls along the cliff that over-

looks Niagara River. The roadway itself comprised mudsills laid lengthwise, across which were laid ties and upon these were lines of 4 by 6 oak timbers on which flat iron rails were spiked. The cars were small affairs on four wheels, holding either sixteen or twenty-four persons, the former class being divided into two and the latter into three compartments, with seats crosswise. These cars were drawn by horses about two years, when light locomotives came into use.

Meetings were held in Lockport in 1835 to consider the building of roads to Batavia and Buffalo, which projects were favorably discussed, but nothing further was then accomplished.

In July, 1836, the Niagara Falls Journal announced that the road from Lockport to that place was rapidly approaching completion, and that the Buffalo and Niagara Falls road was also in a far advanced con- dition, cars being then running on some parts of it. It was then ex - pected that the track would be ready for use between the Falls and Schlosser and between Black Rock and Buffalo by August I, when these two sections would be connected by a steamboat ; both boats were to be ready in September. The Buffalo road was surveyed in 1834 and part of the grading done in 1835. The road road bed was similar to the above described. In the winter after the road was opened, frost so heaved the sills and track that the engines were taken off and horses substituted for motive power. Some years later the road was recon- structed and the route somewhat changed. In the latter part of Au- gust, 1836, the Buffalo Courier announced that the first locomotive had been put on the track between Tonawanda and Black Rock, and a speed of about fifteen miles an hour attained. The first engine was called Little Buffalo, and the second, Niagara.

On December 10, 1850, the Rochester, Lockport and Niagara Falls Railroad Company was organized. It purchased the interest of the Lockport and Niagara Falls Company in 1851, and the track of the latter company was abandoned and taken up. None of the first direc- tors of this company was from Niagara county. Regular trains began running on this line June 30, 1852, and the road was joined in the consolidation of the New York Central in May, 1853. The branch from Lockport Junction to Tonawanda was built by the Rochester, Lockport and Niagara Falls Company in 1852, and began business in January, 1853.

At the time of the consolidation of the Central roads there was or- ganized a company which constructed the Canandaigua and Niagara Falls road. This line was opened to the Falls July 1, 1853, and to Suspension Bridge, October 1, 1854. In March, 1857, it was purchased by a syndicate of individuals, most of whom were in Europe, to whom it was heavily mortgaged, and the name was changed to the Niagara Bridge and Canandaigua Railroad ; it was then immediately leased to the Central.

On the 9th of September, 1852, the Niagara Falls and Lake Ontario Railroad Company was organized to build a line from Niagara Falls to Youngstown. Benjamin Pringle was president; John Porter, vice- president ; Bradley D. Davis, secretary, and William S. Mallory, treasurer. The construction of this short road involved an immense amount of rock cutting along its picturesque route on a shelf of the cliff that overhangs the river between the Devil's Hole and Lewiston ; it was graded and opened to Lewiston in 1854, and a train ran over the road to Youngstown October 21, 1855. Soon afterward work on that part of the road was suspended and the track taken up. The re- mainder of the road was leased to the New York Central. The open- ing of these railroads changed the conditions of trade, made com- munication between distant points more easy and frequent, and broad- ened the social life of the community.

Niagara county had its share in the financial distress and panic that swept over the country in 1836-7 and again in 1857. During the year 1836 speculation and extravagance ran riot through the country ; land values were carried far beyond their legitimate limits, while the

disorganized condition of the currency and the banks produced results that might have been foreseen. The western part of the State, espe- cially at and near Buffalo, suffered severely when the revulsion came. Among the prominent speculators of that city was Benjamin Rathbun, who went down in the crash with many others. He operated exten- sively in real estate and made large purchases at Niagara Falls and its vicinity, built a large addition to the old Eagle Hotel and laid the foundation for another large public house on the square now occupied by the International Hotel. Under his enthusiastic and visionary manipulation the village plan was extended and he began the sale of lots at auction. But in the midst of his operations the tide turned and he was overwhelmed. There was great depression for a time and the village at the falls suffered severely. But recovery from the effects of both the periods of stringency referred to was more rapid than in many localities. Niagara Falls village has always had within itself a source of considerable wealth, while Lockport was then just beginning to feel the beneficent effects of the great water power supplied at the locks in the canal, which eventually made the place prominent in the manufacturing centers of the State.

In 1837-8 took place what has become known as the Patriot war, in which many American citizens along the frontier were engaged, in associ - ation with residents in Canada in redressing wrongs more or less imagi- nary which they had suffered from that country. As a result of the work of emissaries of the Canada insurgents in this State, secret organizations were formed, the membership of which, with outside sympathizers, was very numerous. About the middle of December, 1837, a few hundreds of these crossed from Schlosser to Navy Island armed with weapons furnished by contribution or stolen from a State depository, among the latter being a number of cannon. Preparations were made on the isl- and for an invasion of Canada. The leader of this party was Rensse- laer Van Rensselaer. Another officer was Gen. Thomas Jefferson Sutherland, having many relatives in Niagara county. On the 29th of December a small steamer, the Caroline, belonging to William Wells, of Buffalo, made several trips between Schlosser and the island, carry- ing the men and equipments, and finally tied up at the Schlosser land- ing. That night a party of British crossed the river and after a fight in

which one New York man was killed and several wounded, set fire to the Caroline, cut her loose, and she drifted over the falls. About twenty-five men were on the boat at the time of the attack, some of whom were missing after the firing of the vessel. The burning of the Caroline was an unjustifiable proceeding and constituted an invasion of United States territory, and it created intense excitment throughout the country ; for a time it was feared that complications might arise from the event which would lead to war between the United States and England. This act, moreover, rapidly added to the ranks of the self- styled patriots and gave them a new excuse for their proposed invasion. The Niagara frontier was the most important point to the insurgents, though they were active farther east and particularly near Ogdensburg. General Scott was now sent to Niagara, and was accompanied by Gov- ernor Marcy. A considerable force of troops, including Randall's bat- tery of artillery, was collected at Buffalo, and in January, 1838, marched to Schlosser. Finding matters quiet there they returned to Buffalo, and a few days later were stationed at Black Rock. After the burning of the Caroline, the patriots brought the Barcelona down from Buffalo for use as their ferry boat, but General Scott nullified their efforts by hiring the vessel for the United States government and on the 16th ordered her back to Buffalo The boat had been carefully watched by the British authorities, who had stationed three armed schooners just above Grand Island with the purpose of attacking her on her return trip. A force of the British were also under arms on the Canada side. On the preceding day Scott had notified the English commander that he was fully prepared to restrain any further demonstration by the pat- riots and that if the British fired on the Barcelona, he should consider it a breach of neutrality and a hostile demonstration against his govern- ment. This warning was repeated on the morning of the 16th. In the mean time Scott had posted his men and planted his cannon on this side of the river, where the gunners stood ready to fire on the British if they attacked the vessel. They wisely let her pass unmolested, thus averting difficulty that might have led to international war. On the previous day, when Van Rensselaer saw that he was to lose the Barce- lona, he abandoned the island, returned to this side and dispersed his patriots. The entire foolhardy scheme was soon afterward abandoned.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Landmarks of Niagara County, New York, Part 7

Author: Pool, William, 1825-1912, ed Publication date: 1897 Publisher: [Syracuse] : D. Mason & Co. Number of Pages: 820

Author: Pool, William, 1825-1912, ed
Publication date: 1897
Publisher: [Syracuse] : D. Mason & Co.
Number of Pages: 820