Landmarks of Oswego County, New York, Part 16

Author: Churchill, John Charles, 1821-1905; Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925; Child, W. Stanley
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1410

USA > New York > Oswego County > Landmarks of Oswego County, New York > Part 16

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waters mingled. By these streams the eastern tribes of the Iro- quois in their light canoes had from time immemorial maintained communication with the central and western tribes. When the English occupied Oswego, supplies were sent to it by the same route. By it the armies of Bradstreet, Prideaux, Johnson, and Amherst made the expeditions which aided in terminating French rule in North America. With the close of the Revolutionary war and the extinction of the Indian title to the lands in the central and western part of the State, which soon followed, there was a great movement to occupy these lands, and a corresponding demand for the improvement of this route.

On the 30th of March, 1792, the Legislature, by an act, the preamble to which recited that it was intended to " encourage agriculture, pro- mote commerce, and facilitate intercourse between the citizens of the southern, northern, and western parts of the State," incorporated the Western Inland Lock Navigation Company to open a lock navigation " from the navigable part of the Hudson River to Lake Ontario and to the Seneca Lake." The company was promptly organized, and for its operations followed the old route. It built a short canal with locks at Little Falls; another across the portage between the Mohawk and Wood Creek; and made various improvements in the Oneida, Seneca, and Oswego Rivers. Durham boats, sixty feet and more in length, and carrying, upon a draft of two feet, twenty to twenty-four tons, passed from Schenectady to Seneca Lake, and to Lake Ontario at Oswego, with but a single short portage at the Oswego Falls. Three hundred boats in a single year passed through the canal at the Rome portage. However imperfect this navigation was as compared with that of the Erie Canal which superseded it, its influence upon the prosperity of the State, and the early and rapid settlement of Western New York, was incalculable. The company was not a success finan- cially. Under a power given by the act of April, 1817, which author- ized the construction of the Erie Canal, the State acquired by appraisal and condemnation its property and franchises, at a loss to the corporation of about $300,000. As the State was a large stockholder, it shared the loss.

Early in the century the necessity of improved internal waterways

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THE ERIE CANAL.

forced itself upon the attention of the people of the State. Two plans were suggested-one, a canal following the old route, to be supple- mented by a canal around the Falls of Niagara, and so making con- nection with Lake Erie ; the other a canal from the Hudson to Lake Erie, following substantially the route afterwards adopted. Each had earnest and able supporters. Against both were arrayed a large part of the people of the State, who regarded either plan as visionary in the extreme, and likely to prove by their cost seriously burdensome. The canal question divided parties and shaped the politics of the State. Its discussion was suspended during the war with Great Britain, but was promptly renewed at its close, and continued until 1816, when an act was passed appointing commissioners to survey routes and make estimates for a canal from the Hudson to Lake Erie; followed the next year by the act already referred to, for its construction.

From the moment the citizens of Oswego heard of the project to build a canal direct from east to west, between the Hudson River and Lake Erie, to the date when the canal was opened for passage of boats, they opposed it to the extent of their ability. If money was to be spent in improving water communication between the east and west, it should, they argued, be devoted to what they termed "the natural route "-the one already provided through a large part of the distance by the beneficent hand of nature. If any canal were to be built, it should properly extend, they insisted, westward to Salina and thence direct to Oswego, where the waters of the great lake were always open to commerce.

In the Gerrit Smith library is one volume containing about five years of the first issues of the Oswego Palladium, excepting the very first number. These are the oldest local newspapers we have found- indeed, the first paper in the county (the Gazette started in 1817) ante- dated this file by only about two years. The second number of the Palladium bears date October 14, 1819, and from it we gather some facts bearing upon the subject which was at that time agitating the people of the county. The Erie Canal for purposes of construction had been divided into three sections. Work was begun at Rome in the middle section July 4, 1817, and work upon that section was approach- ing completion. It was yet hoped the State might be induced to omit

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to build the western section. A pamphlet had been published, setting forth arguments against "continuing the great canal westward beyond the Seneca River ;" in other words it favored the Oswego route. This pamphlet was made the text for several lengthy articles in the Palladium. One of the arguments advanced was, that the trip from Buffalo to Salina " by the Oswego, or natural route," would be made in six days, whereas it would require eight days by the other route. The editor adds: "We cannot dismiss this subject without noticing the harbor of Oswego, as its importance in the lake navigation must command the attention of the observer. View its fine position on the map; not a port on the whole shore of the lake offers such facilities for navigation. It is a place of such importance, and its river possess- ing so many natural advantages, our readers are, no doubt, ready to inquire, 'Why are they so little regarded ?' while there is such an impulse for improvement in the State." This was followed by very weighty arguments in favor of the northern route for east and west navigation across the State. Another canal article says: "There is one fact that ought to outweigh volumes of reports founded on hypothesis and supported by sophistry. The trade between Oswego and Lewiston, for for the last twelve years, has been carried, almost exclusively, in vessels belonging to Oswego. The average number employed has been ten." It need not be said that Oswego county votes were largely in favor of the political party opposed to the canals. In 1820 Oswego county gave Tompkins, the candidate of that party for governor, 455 votes against 31 1 for Clinton.

Nothing could stay the progress of the Erie Canal. On October 22, 1819, the first boat passed between Rome and Utica, and the entire line was finished in 1825, the event being celebrated by public demon- strations in all parts of the State.1

When the Erie Canal became a certainty, the people of Oswego at once perceived the necessity to them of a connection with it. With the imperfect facilities then existing, Oswego received from Salina in 1819 forty-seven thousand barrels of salt. That trade, with its hoped for in-

1 The first cost was $7,602,000. It was enlarged between 1835 and 1862 at a further cost of more than $36,000,000. It has been a source of immense wealth to the State and, especially in early years, greatly promoted our commercial interests,

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crease, would be lost unless such connection could be secured. The organization of Oswego county in 1816 had given its inhabitants in- creased political importance which now stood them in good stead.

Up to 1820 the territory of Oswego county had furnished no mem- ber of the State Senate ; and but a single member (Barnet Mooney) of the Assembly, and that during the war when the canal question was in abeyance.

But in 1819 Theophilus S. Morgan was elected to the Assembly, and in 1822 Alvin Bronson was elected to the Senate from Oswego county. From that time, for a quarter of a century, those bright and capable men, then in the prime of their powers, whether in or out of the Legis- lature, represented and advanced the interests of Oswego.

By their efforts an act was passed in 1820 appropriating $25,000 for the improvement of the navigation of the Oswego River, which was the first recognition by the Legislature of the movement which resulted in the Oswego and Syracuse Canal.

In the early stages of the discussion the building of a canal between Salina and Oswego became almost hopelessly involved with the alterna- tive of improving the navigation of Oswego River to such an extent that a canal might be dispensed with. The leading men of the place wanted the canal, but if that could not be secured, they were not wholly averse to any measure which promised to accomplish the desired result, namely, give them facilities that would enable them to control the great traffic which men of forethought realized must soon flow eastward from the great west. A meeting was called December 2, 1822, at Guiteau's Hall, in Oswego, to "concert measures for bringing before the Legisla- ture the subject of improving the navigation of the Oswego River, and other matters of public interest." Edmund Hawks was chairman, and George Fisher secretary, of the meeting. A committee was appointed to prepare a memorial to the Legislature and report. Among other statements made was this, that $25,000 had already been appropriated, which, " with improvements at or near Salina, will make a perfect boat navigation from the Erie Canal to the Oswego Falls, a distance of twenty-four miles; twelve miles more will complete it to Lake On- tario." Other meetings were held in the same interest. There was, however, such a diversity of opinion upon the subject of expending 20

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money on the river ; so many people believed that it would be substan- tially wasted, and that nothing less than a branch canal would be of real and permanent utility, that nothing was accomplished under the law making the appropriation.

April 22, 1823, an act was passed which directed the Canal Commis- sioners to cause a survey to be made of the Oswego River from the head of the Falls to Oswego, and to report the same, with the probable expense of completeing the canal from Salina to Lake Ontario, to the next session of the Legislature, the expense to be paid out of the mon- eys already appropriated for the improvement of the Oswego River.

The act authorizing the canal between Oswego and Syracuse was passed November 20, 1824. On the 20th of April, 1825, an appropri- ation of $160,000 was made for the work, and construction was begun in 1826. The canal was finished in 1828 at a cost of $525,115. The original act did not contemplate water connection with the Erie Canal, but only with Onondaga Lake. The continuation to the Erie was authorized by the act of 1824. The canal is thirty eight miles long and includes nineteen miles of slackwater navigation in Oswego and Seneca Rivers. 1

When the Oswego Canal was opened the Erie Canal had been in operation three seasons, and with the most gratifying success. The granaries of the rich Genesee country and those farther west poured their stores through it to the seaboard, and its numerous packets were laden with delighted passengers. It made, however, little impression upon the commerce of Oswego. It was what the people of the latter

1 Before a blow was struck on the Oswego Canal, the Oswego people learned with consterna- tion that the Buffalo member of Assembly, Reuben B. Heacock, had introduced a bill repealing the law authorizing the Oswego Canal. Mr. Bronson was then out of the Senate, but was ex- pected to take care of the interests of Oswego all the same. He mounted his horse and started for Albany. On entering the Capitol the first man he met was Aaron Burr, who, twenty-five years before, had been vice-president of the United States, but was then, in his old age, earning a very moderate subsistence by his practice at the bar. He knew Mr. Bronson, having argued cases before him when, as a senator, that gentleman was a member of the old Court of Errors. "Ah," exclaimed the veteran, as he met the Oswego merchant, "so you have come to look after your canal, have you?" "Yes, sir; that is my main object." "Well, now, Mr. Bronson, I am disposed to be on your side; I am in favor of the Oswego Canal, too." "Well, Colonel," said Mr. Bronson, "I believe all sensible men are on our side." "Ah, my young friend," replied the dis- appointed and cynical politician, "if you have none but the sensible men, there is a vast majority against you." But whether by the aid of the sensible or senseless, the Buffalo project was de- feated, and the Oswego Canal was begun in 1826, the corner-stone of the first lock being laid on the 4th of July in that year-[Johnson's History of Oswego County, p. 72.

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PUBLIC IMPROVEMENTS.

place feared it might accomplish in future years, rather than its early influence, that inspired them and their representatives to battle earnestly for the Oswego Canal and which also filled them with hopeful antici- pations when this waterway was finally opened.

The rapid growth of commerce at Oswego now demanded better harbor protection, and ere long was begun by the government the series of extensive improvements which finally gave to the city its superior commercial facilities. A legislative act of March 27, 1821, required the Commissioners of the Land Office to cede to the United States land at the mouth of Oswego River for a lighthouse site, " not to exceed six acres." The following year (1822) saw the building of the first bridge across the river in Oswego village, as further described in the history of the city. Down to this time the ferry had been main- tained as the only public means of crossing the stream. Meanwhile mail facilities through the county were considerably advanced. Be- tween 1810 and 1817 the only post route was from Oswego to Onon- daga by way of Three Rivers, Liverpool and Salina. In 1817 a route was established from Oswego Falls to Rochester by way of the "Ridge Road; " and this was supplemented in 1825 by another extending from Watertown by way of Sandy Creek to Richland, Union Square, Colosse, Central Square and Syracuse.

On the 17th of April, 1816, Jacob L. Lazalere, James Geddes and John McFadden were authorized to lay out a road four rods wide, " beginning at the ferry on the west side of the Oswego River in the village of Oswego, and thence by the most eligible route through the towns of Hannibal, Sterling, Wolcott and Galen to the bridge over Canandaigua outlet at the blockhouse in the town of Galen."

On the same date Seth Cushman, of Lysander, and Edmund Hawks and William Moore, of Hannibal, were authorized to lay out a road " beginning at Snow's Bridge in Lysander" and running thence through the towns of Lysander and Hannibal to Oswego. On the 14th of March, 1817, the Oswego Falls and Sodus Bay Turnpike Road Company was incorporated by George Scriba, Adonijah Church, Obadiah Adams, James Mudge and associates. Their road began on the west side of Oswego River, " near the termination of the road from Utica, and runs thence to Port Glasgow on the eastern shore of Sodus

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Bay." On the 28th of March, 1817, the Oswego and Sodus Branch Turnpike Company was incorporated, to construct a road from a point on Owasco Creek in Mentz through Cato, Sterling, and thence to Oswego.

By the census of 1820 the population of the county was shown to have increased to 12,364, and the march of progress in other respects was proportionately rapid. Villages were growing, each with its schools and religious societies; the new roads mentioned and others were opened and improved; newspapers, societies, and public and private institutions were founded ; mail-routes and post-offices opened, all of which will be described as we proceed.

In 1820 an Assembly District was created composed of Oswego and Oneida counties, and in that year this county elected its first assembly- man in the person of Theophilus S. Morgan, long a prominent citizen and business man of Oswego. From 1823 to the present time Oswego county has had separate representation in the Assembly.

On March 31, 1821, an act was passed by the Legislature amenda- tory of another act of March, 1817, authorizing a toll-bridge over the Oswego River, " below and not to exceed one mile from Oswego Falls." The shares of the original organization were to be relinquished to Nehemiah B. Northrup. who was then (1821) building a bridge at his own expense. The amendment confirmed him as the proper per- son to finish the bridge. In the same year the surveyor-general was authorized by law to lease the State Reservation at Oswego Falls for an annual rental, or to contract for permanent improvements to be made thereon, which would revert to the State at the expiration of the lease. The law provided that the land between the river and the road, " from the building called the United States store, to the landing where boats are usually drawn out above said falls, to pass the same, except such as may be necessary to erect storehouses upon, shall remain for public uses." The act contains other provisions defining conditions for constructing a canal, etc.

In the first senatorial apportionment under the Constitution of 1821, Oswego county was placed in the Fifth District, the other counties of the district being Herkimer, Lewis, Jefferson, Madison and Oneida. The " Bucktails " were strong in this vicinity and they determined to

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nominate a senator from this county. Accordingly Alvin Bronson was nominated and elected. This gave him an opportunity to continue to exert his influence in favor of a canal to Oswego, and ultimately to carry the project to success, as has already been stated.1

It is a somewhat remarkable circumstance, in view of the history of Oswego village itself, and the fact that settlement began at several other points in the county prior to 1800, that a church society was organized in the town of Redfield as early as 1802, and that there was not a church edifice in the county until 1823, when a small one was erected at Colosse. The first one in the village of Oswego was erected in 1825. This may seem to indicate a backward condition of religious sentiment in the county, but the fact is, religious services were held throughout this county as early as in other sections of the State, when compared with dates of settlement, and the religious sentiment and sub- servience to the teachings of religion were as prevalent here as else- where. Seaport and lakeport villages, in their early years, have always an element among their population that might be expected to lower the standard of religious belief and practice-transient inhabitants who follow the vocation of sailors and who find themselves idle during winter months. While Oswego village may have suffered to some extent in early years on this account, there is no reason for believing that the inhabitants, not alone of the village but of the county at large, were not honorable, conscientious and God-fearing people.

In the fall of 1824, Gen. Daniel Hugunin, of Oswego village, was elected to Congress, the first congressman from the county. Nothing had yet been done by the general government to improve Oswego harbor. General Hugunin assumed the duties of his office in December,

1 In the classification of senators, Mr. Bronson drew a two years' term. He very naturally became the leader of the movement in favor of the Oswego canal, and finally brought that move- ment to a successful issue. He was also, in the latter part of his term, a member of the celebrated "seventeen " who were the theme of such wide denunciation and praise over half a century ago. Previous to that time the presidential electors had been chosen by the Legislature. At the session of 1824, in order to prevent the vote from New York being cast for William H. Crawford, a bill was in- troduced giving the election to the people. Few were willing to oppose what seemed likely to be so popular a measure, and it passed the Assembly almost by acclamation. In the Senate, how- ever, seventeen senators defeated the bill, considering that whatever might be its merits at the proper time, it was a mere party measure, designed to affect the ensuing presidential election. For a while they were denounced in the bitterest manner, and not one of them was re-elected, but in time the reasonableness of their action was admitted, the "seventeen " became popular, and one of their number, Silas Wright, became a leader of his party in the United States .- [Johnson's History of Oswego county, p. 71.

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1825 (having been compelled to contest his seat), and secured an appropriation for that purpose of a little over $30,000. Down to this time the mouth of the river was simply an open roadstead, as shown on the early maps herein. The appropriation was not made available until about 1827, when Captain John L. Smith was placed in charge of the proposed improvements. His plan was to extend jetties 230 feet into the lake from each shore, and join these with crib work 2,050 feet long, leaving an opening of 250 feet between the heads. In 1828 an appropriation was made of $9,583.39, and in the following year the breakwater was finished, and the engineer, Captain T. W. Maurice, recommended the building of a mole outside of the pier, to cost about $12,000.

The opening of the canal in 1828, succeeded by the completion of the Welland Canal two years later, gave a wonderful impetus to business in Oswego and convinced the inhabitants that an era of prosperity and growth was opening for them. One of the first consequences of this condition was the incorporation of the village, which took place under an act of the Legislature dated March 14, 1828. The first officers of the village were: President, Alvin Bronson ; treasurer, Thomas Willett ; collector, John Howe; clerk, Edwin W. Clarke ; trustees, Daniel Hugunin, jr., George Fisher, Nathaniel Vilas, jr., David P. Brewster, Theophilus S. Morgan, Joseph Turner, Orlo Steele ; fire wardens, Henry Eagle, Francis Rood, Thomas Ambler, William I. Kniffin. The new corporation was divided into two road districts, one on the east and one on the west side of the river, and the usual village ordinances were adopted.

The population of the county had now reached 27, 119, and general progress was manifest in all directions. This was temporarily checked, especially in Oswego village, by the cholera outbreak of 1832, of which such details as are now obtainable are given in the later village history. On the 4th of April, 1832, the last town organizations in the county (excepting West Monroe in 1839), were effected by erecting Schroeppel and Palermo from Volney.

One effect of the opening of the canals was a gradual but marked change in the industries of the county. Prior to this, wheat and other grains had been grown in large quantities and found a market at satisfac-

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tory prices ; but the influx eastward of the products of the great grain fields of the west, caused the farmers to turn their attention more to dairying. The same cause also induced many who found grain-grow. ing no longer profitable, to sell out and "go west." Farms with im- provements were sold about this time as low as $10 an acre, and dairy farmers came in from Herkimer and Otsego counties and found here all requisites for properly carrying on the business. Fruit growing, too, began to attract attention and rapidly advanced toward its later prom- inence. It was learned that the proximity of the lake so tempered the climate that grapes, peaches and berries, as well as more hardy fruits, would thrive. Others turned their energies towards the lumber business, and the manufacture of barrels. This latter industry was for many years very extensive, particularly in the southern and central parts of the county, where hundreds of thousands were made and sold to the millers at Oswego and Fulton, and to the salt manufacturers at Salina.

The period between 1830 and 1837 was one of general prosperity throughout the Northern States. Development was rapid in all direc- tions; sales of land were enormous; money was plenty and a spirit of speculation came into existence, which could have but one end. This condition of affairs was especially prevalent in cities and villages where there were indubitable evidences of growth and where all business interests were active and prosperous. Such was the case to a conspic- uous degree in lakeport villages, like Oswego, Buffalo, and Cleveland. The people of these places became money-mad, apparently imbued with the conviction that wealth could be created by the mere transfer of lands or other property from hand to hand at regularly advancing prices. Tracts of land were bought and mapped out into lots, which found purchasers in all ranks of life. Everybody turned speculator- capitalists, merchants, mechanics, even, lawyers, doctors and preachers. Buffalo was a hot bed of speculatlon and suffered correspondingly in the final crash. In Oswego from 1834 to the climax in 1836, specula- tion was rife, and when the change came, depression, loss and ruin fell to many. For several succeeding years there was general " hard times," from which Oswego, village and county, recovered more rapidly than many other localities. The extensive improvements made in the harbor by the government and the expenditures connected therewith

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Landmarks of Oswego County, New York, Part 16

Author: Churchill, John Charles, 1821-1905; Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925; Child, W. Stanley Publication date: 1895 Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason Number of Pages: 1410

Author: Churchill, John Charles, 1821-1905; Smith, H. P. (Henry Perry), 1839-1925; Child, W. Stanley
Publication date: 1895
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : D. Mason
Number of Pages: 1410