Memorial history of Syracuse, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time, Part 33

Author: Bruce, Dwight H. (Dwight Hall), 1834-1908
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y. : H. P. Smith & Co.
Number of Pages: 938


USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > Memorial history of Syracuse, N.Y. : from its settlement to the present time > Part 33


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Although the boundaries of the locality in which "American hydraulic cement," or water-lime, was first discovered are outside of the limits of Syracuse, nevertheless the city became a great center for the distribution of the article, and a sketch of such discovery may have an appropriate place here. It was during the early days of the construction of the Erie Canal that a large contract for quick-lime for the structures was made with Harris & Livingston, of Chittenango, Madison county. They burned a large kiln of limestone, but it was soon found, on practical trial of it, that the lime would not slack. Canvass White, one of the canal engineers, be- came much interested in the product and began a study of its composition. He called to his aid a Dr. Barto, of Herkimer county, a gentleman of scientific attainments, and together they pursued their investigations. Pul- verizing a quantity of the burnt rock in a common hand mortar, Dr. Barto mixed the product with a quantity of sand, rolled it into the form of a ball, and submerged it in water over night. In the morning it was found to have " set " so strongly that it could be rolled about the floor. Dr. Barto pronounced it equal in quality to the best Roman cement. Mr. White, who had recently returned from a professional trip to England, was of the same opinion, and obtained a patent-right to his discovery. Four hundred thousand bushels of this water-lime was used in the construction of the canal, in defiance of the patent, worth in royalties to Mr. White $16,000. The cement was everywhere used, and Mr. White, to defend his patent, finally brought suit against Timothy Brown, living near Chittenango, and recovered $1,700. Other contractors were equally liable; the article had been extensively manufactured in Madison, Onondaga, and Cayuga coun- ties, and Mr. White had but to establish the validity of his patent to re- cover $20,000. These contractors petitioned the Legislature for relief; and after a protracted controversy the State paid Mr. White $10,000 in full of all claim against them, on condition of his assigning his patent to the people of the State of New York, which was done. The cement was first burned


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for market in the town of Sullivan, Madison county, a milc and one-half west of Chittenango, in the fall and winter of 1818-19. It was burnt on log-heaps and ground in a mill fitted up by John B. Yates. Onondaga county afterward became the more important place for its production, and from which vast quantities have been shipped throughout the United States, to Canada, and Europe. Of late years it has not been in so great demand, having come into competition with a cement made by machinery from substances other than lime rock.


Joshua Forman, of Onondaga county, was the first to propose the con- struction of the Erie Canal in the Legislature, by offering a resolution in the Assembly, February 4, 1So8, (which was concurred in by the Senate on the following day,) appointing a joint committee to take into consideration the propriety of exploring and causing an accurate survey to be made for a route between tide water and Lake Erie, to the end that Congress might be enabled to appropriate such sums of money as might be required for the accomplishment of that great national object. The resolution met with fav- orable action a few weeks later. James Geddes, also of Onondaga county, was the first engineer appointed under the resolution, his commission com- ing from Surveyor-General Simeon De Witt, under date of June 11, ISOS. Thus it was that this locality began at a very early day to lead in all great enterprises. The section of canal through Syracuse was completed Octo- ber 22, 1819, also the " Salina side-cut," two miles in length, to afford ac- cess to the salt manufactories. Joshua Forman was the first canal collector at Syracuse, at a salary of $250 a year. D. S. Bates made a report of his survey for the Oswego Canal January 7, 1820. He stated the fall from On- ondaga Lake to Oswego at 119 feet, and the distance thirty- one and a half miles. His plan contemplated the locking of boats at Salina into the lake. He estimated the cost of the route through the lake and along the Seneca and Oswego Rivers at $212,599. In making his survey he sought to avoid the extensive fisheries on the Oswego River. He stated that one thousand barrels of eels and five hundred barrels of other fish were caught annually at Oswego Falls, and that the income from the fisheries amounted to $30, - 000 a year. A later plan was, however, adopted, the southern starting point being at Salina. The original canal, before its enlargement, was opened for navigation December 10, 1828. The cost of construction was $525, 115. The present Weigh Lock in Syracuse took the place of a hydro- static lock. The tonnage of boats was obtained by the latter by measuring in a pond the displaced water which had previously been gauged in the lock.


Although the credit of producing a war ship of novel construction and called the Monitor, which created so much sensation and performed such


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excellent service at a critical period in the Rebellion, is generally ascribed to Ericsson and others associated with him, it was really the invention of a Syracusan, Theodore R. Timby. He constructed a turret in the winter of 1842-43, for which he obtained a patent, the model of which was almost identical with that employed by Ericsson. It was built in the shop of Elam Lynds & Son, situated near the present Central Railroad station. An effort is now being made to have Congress recognize the fact by passing a joint resolution of credit to Mr. Timby.


There were no " flyers" in 1835, but there was some competition be- tween water and stage transportation lines. Passenger rates between Syra- cuse and New York, " for those who travel in the steerage of canal boats and on barges towed by steamboats, and find themselves, $3.56"; for first- class passengers, " found by the owners of boats, $6.25." Packet fares were four cents per mile, "including board." Freight rates from New York to Syracuse were 49 cents per 100 pounds for " heavy goods," and 59 cents for " light goods." In this year the total length of all the railroads within the State was one hundred miles, divided among seven companies.


Sixty years ago the ground now occupied by the Century Club house bore a cottage house in which lived Major M. D. Burnet. It stood upon a knoll, and was thickly surrounded by a hickory grove. In a pine grove where now is situated Hon. George P. Hier's house lived a man by the name of Fields. A small yellow house occupied the place where now stands Horace K. White's house, in which lived Keeler Hoyt. On either side of the street was a dense forest. What is now the Fifth ward contained at that time three houses and a brick yard, the latter near the intersection of Seymour and Onondaga streets, and owned by Zopher Adams. A man named Hall occupied the lot upon which O. C. Potter's house now stands, in Onondaga street. There was a race track even at this early day sonie- where in that locality, at the head of the patrons of which was Eb. Hop- kins, who possessed several horses which were "fast " for those days.


It is believed that the first race course in this vicinity was on the lake shore, between Geddes and Salina, early in the '20s. In 1828 there was a mile track in what is now the Fifth and Thirteenth wards. A celebrated race took place in that year for a " stake" of $1,000, between " Salt Point John," owned by a Mr. Moore, of Salina, and " Paul Pry," owner unknown. People were attracted from all parts of the State to see it. Henry and Ste- phen Van Hoosen were the owners of a blacksmith's shop which stood on the present site of the Larned Block, and they were present under a retainer of five dollars to insure the proper footing of the horses. "Paul Pry " won two of the three " heats," and carried off the prize.


It would be interesting to learn what kind of fish were alluded to in the


Theodore E. Hancock)


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journal of Father Le Moyne, the Jesuit, who came to Onondaga in August, 1653. He says : " In spring, as soon as the snow is melted, it [the Oswego River] is full of gold fishes; carp succeed them, afterwards the achigen, which is a flat fish, six inches long, of excellent flavor." The latter were probably our present bass ; but what were the " gold fishes ?"


It is related that when Albert Congdon was returning from "the ham- let" to Pompey with a hogshead of molasses, soon after the Erie Canal was opened, he went by way of the "Cinder road," now Onondaga avenue, and that when he reached the Furnace Brook, where it crossed the road- way, there was a great splashing of water. Looking for the cause, he ascertained it to be a twenty-pound salmon, which he killed with the butt of his whip.


In 1840 hundreds of sheep were sold in Syracuse for twenty-five cents a head. The hides and tallow only were saved. The other parts were used for manure. The tallow was mainly used by Oliver Orcutt in making candles.


It is said of William B. Kirk that while he was Assessor he made an assessment of the property in the village of Syracuse without leaving his house. His bill for services was two dollars.


Chauncey Parsons, then living at Onondaga Hill, uncle of E. E. Chap- man of the First ward, is said to have removed the first shovelful of earth when the construction of the Erie Canal was begun in this vicinity.


In the First Ward Cemetery there is a grave about which there is a some- what elaborate and costly structure of mason work. The grave is covered by a large slab, from which the lettering is almost effaced. It once bore the name of Ichabod Brackett, who was an active, prominent business man in early days, and to whose energy Syracuse owes not a little. He died in 1832.


When Luke Aldridge was digging a cellar in ground now covered by the School of the Sacred Heart, in 1845, the top of a coffin was thrown up, this having once been a burial-place. Upon it, made with brass nails, were the letters "T. O." No one could guess for what name the initials stood until Ira Gilchrist, 84 years old, saw them and remembered Thomas Or- mand, the man who brought the first kettle for boiling salt to this locality.


Daniel Candee is authority for the statement that when William B. Kirk came to Syracuse his desire was to buy a hotel, situated on the site now occupied by Kearney's Brewery, in the First ward. But the price of the property was $4,000, which was more money by $1,000 than he possessed, so he contented himself with the purchase of a tavern, built of wood, two stories high, situated on ground now occupied by the Kirk Block. He paid $2,700 for the property. He did not claim any superiority of judgment for


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choosing the advantageous location, but was driven to it because of his financial condition ; he really desired the tavern at Salina. He called his purchase the Kirk House, and in the course of six or seven years it disap- peared to give place to a brick block, which included stores in response to the popular demand. It rented so readily and so profitably that, it is said, the income from it paid its cost every three years. The present magnificent Kirk Block, built by the son of the original owner of the property, well marks the progress which Syracuse has made.


Amos Stanton, father of the late Rufus Stanton, came from Massachu- setts to Pompey in 1791, and bouglit three hundred acres of land for $150. In 1805 he removed to this locality, and gave a cow for an acre of land and a log house, situated on the east side of Salina street, where the street crosses the Oswego Canal. Here he died one year later, leaving the care. of the family to Rufus, who was born in Montgomery county eighteen years previously. An old resident states that at this age (probably in 1806) Rufus assisted in the construction of a tavern on land now occupied by the Empire House. It is also related that, at a somewhat later period, Mr. Stanton and his brother-in-law, Joseph Landon, became proprietors of the largest tavern west of Albany, and entertained General Scott and other officers on their way to Sackets Harbor, in 1812. Many years later Gen- eral Scott met Mr. Stanton on the Mayflower on Lake Erie, and rec- ognized him. Mr. Stanton's friends claim that he built the first frame house in Syracuse, on the site of the log house his father built, and that it was destroyed when the Oswego Canal was constructed. The house remained until it was destroyed by the construction of the West Shore Railroad. In 1816 Mr. Stanton had a field of rye where the old Syracuse House stands. In his earlier years he was a favorite of the Indians, and spent much tinic in their company in roving through the forests.


Nelson Gilbert, residing at 308 East Willow street, says that until within a few years there stood near the north end of the Alhambra Rink a white oak tree that had a history. When the canal was completed, in 1824, the salt industry was greatly stimulated, which made Syracuse a great barrel market. The towns of Cicero and Clay furnished so many that their bar- rels were humorously called "Cicero wheat." The local coopers were naturally annoyed by the country competition. One night they collected around this oak tree, near which stood a wagon-load of Cicero barrels, cut off most of its top and branches, leaving stubs three or four feet long, on which they hung so many Cicero barrels that the denuded tree was almost covered. Mr. Gilbert well remembers how oddly the old tree looked the next morning and the merriment of the crowd that gathered to see it. He also says that away back in 1825-26 he used to play with the boys in a grove


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where St. John's Catholic Church-the Cathedral-now stands. The grove belonged to a Mr. Sackett, who lived in a long white house in North Salina street, near the present location of Burhans, Black & Co.'s hardware store. For some reason Mr. Sackett, who was peculiar in his make-up, incurred the ill-will of many who knew him. One morning this grove was no more. Every tree had been sawed off close to the ground and the stumps marked with white chalk. The afflicted owner made almost frantic efforts to dis- cover the aggressors, but never succeeded. A few years ago a farmer from Lafayette, in a talk with Mr. Gilbert about old times, smilingly said that he was one of those who slew Mr. Sackett's grove.


CHAPTER XL.


REMINISCENCES OF HON. ANDREW D. WHITE.


Personal Recollections of Syracuse - Scenes and Incidents of Half a Century Ago -A Pen- Picture Closes the Volume.


[The following reminiscences were dictated to a stenographer by the Hon. Andrew D. White, at the request of the Editor, during one of his recent visits to his old home .-. EDITOR. ]


YOU ask me to give you my reminiscences of Syracuse. In the short time at my command, and in the absence of any documents to correct my impressions, chronological or other, they must be discursive and inade- quate, and I trust that you will rectify any inaccuracies you may find in them.


My recollections of our city begin in the year 1838, when, as a child in my seventh year, I was brought through it by my father and mother on the way to Niagara Falls for a summer excursion. The village at that time numbered about 4,000 inhabitants; a few scattered residences in Fayette Park being at its outskirts on the east, and the Oswego Canal, where it crosses Salina street, being the boundary of its main inhabited center on the north, while on the south there was very little below Jefferson street, and on the west hardly anything of the better inhabited portion beyond Clinton street. Of course there were houses, some of them fairly good, beyond these limits, but the main inhabited portion of the village was within them. I remember being taken to see the tunnel of the Utica and Syracuse Rail- road, which was then building far to the east of the village ; but no railroad passed through it at that period, and we embarked upon a canal packet for Rochester. A year later the family removed from Cortland county to Syra-


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cuse and took up its quarters at a house in South Salina street, standing di- rectly opposite (south) the present Fourth Presbyterian church, and oppo- site (east) the large apartment now standing at the intersection of Onon- daga and Salina streets. That position was at a point far south of the more thickly settled part of the village; indeed, "going down to the village" was considered in those days quite a long walk. To the northeast of our house were great commons, intersected by deep ditches; to the south and southeast broad pastures, and to the southeast a somewhat sunken tract, which, during a considerable portion of the year, was largely a swamp. A few scattered shanties were all the marks of human habitation in that re- gion, extending from the present Fourth Presbyterian church to the foot of University IIill. In South Salina street there were a few houses south of the First Presbyterian church, which then stood opposite its present site, on the land now occupied by the dry goods establishment of Messrs. MeCarthy ; to the northward, on Salina street, was a great gap between the village proper and what is now known as the First ward, but then as Salina. The better houses of the town were much scattered; two of them in North Sa- lina street being especially noteworthy as the residences of Hon. E. F. Wallace, father of the present Judge Wallace, and Judge James R. Law- rence. Several houses, with pleasant grounds about them, were scattered along Clinton street, where all is now thickly built up with warehouses. In Salina street, where now stands the Globe Hotel, was a grove in which stood a row of pleasant residences, and opposite, where now stands the White Memorial Building and stores immediately south of it, was a ram- bling sort of a house in a large garden. Some building had begun in James street, where was pointed out especially the house of John G. Forbes, esq., which is still standing ; but above all the house of Major Moses B. Burnet, now occupied by the Century Club. This house was the wonder of the whole region, and people mentioned with bated breath that it was sup- posed to have cost $20,000. There were few houses in the neighbor- hood of Fayette Park, though that had already begun to take shape as a pleasant part of the town. The only place of public resort in the open air was a sort of tea garden fitted up with summer houses and arbors, far out of town, south of the intersection of Warren and South Salina streets. But in 1839 or 18.10 fire swept off the constructions there, and they were never renewed. The cemetery of the town was on the spot where now stands the station of the Syracuse and Northern Railroad, very nearly op- posite the present station of the New York Central, the entrance being upon West Water street.


The principal churches of the place were the Presbyterian church, sit !!- ated on the site now occupied by the Mccarthys; St. Paul's Episcopal


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church, then standing in the midst of a grove on the triangular plat of ground formed by Genesee, Warren, and Railroad streets ; the Baptist church, standing in East Genesee street about where the present building of that congregation now stands ; the Unitarian church, an unpretentious wooden building on the north side of East Genesee street, and a little way . west from Fayette Park; the Congregational church, a wooden structure just west of the present site of the Courier Building in Genesee street ; and the Methodist Episcopal, on its present site near Fayette Park. There was no Roman Catholic church edifice in the village at that time, the only one in the neighborhood, so far as I can remember, being the small wooden church in Salina.


The Court-House, which was of brick, and which was considered a very imposing structure, stood on the north side of Salina street, about midway between Syracuse and Salina, and back of it stood the jail. The main land- mark among the public buildings was the Syracuse Academy on the knoll east of the village, it being the building which was afterwards occupied by the Onondaga Orphan Asylum, and which was removed a few years since. It was separated from the village by long stretches of unoccupied commons, and was really a great credit to the place. It was supported with mueh public spirit by a Board of Trustees, among whom were such men as Aaron Burt and Harvey Baldwin, afterward the first Mayor of the city; and the institution called to its service men of real value, both as scholars and teachers. Its Principal at that time was Mr. Oren Root, afterward during many years Professor of Mathematics at Hamilton College. Joseph A. Allen was his principal assistant, and afterward followed him in the princi- palship. Both of them were exceedingly successful in their work. Mr. Root was an ardent devotee of the natural sciences, and infused into his students something of his own spirit. Mr. Allen was the best teacher of English branches that I ever knew: without wearying his scholars, he allured them on so that study was a pleasure rather than a burden. I recall among the scholars at that period such men as Charles C. Felton, present United States Senator from California ; Edgar Marvin, who recently died as United States Consul-General at Victoria ; Donald and William Kirk- patrick, Judge W. J. Wallace, O. W. Clary, William B. Cogswell, the late J. Forman Wilkinson of this city, and, if I remember rightly, Hon. Carroll E. Smith. Very noteworthy were the exploits of two of the youngest students at that time: these now bear the honored names of Charles E. Fitch, of Rochester, and Prof. Oren Root, jr., of Hamilton College. I re- member that they used to be brought at the age of six or eight years into the academy chapel to give set speeches on declamation days, and that their eloquence was greatly and justly admired.


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One feature of the town which gave it an aspect very different from that which it now presents was the mill pond formed by Onondaga Creek. This pond, which in those days seemed to me like a large lake, occupied a space west of Clinton street, in the center of which, as nearly as I can now recall it, stands to-day the Armory Building. It was greatly enjoyed for boating in summer and skating in winter. The flow of water through the creek was then much larger than at present, so that adventurous boys on Saturday could paddle their skiff's nearly as far south as Onondaga Hollow, and more than once I have seen, in the high water of spring, the Onondaga Indians in their canoes going to and coming from the reservation.


In summer the great mill pond was not so satisfactory. The citizens living in all that part of the village had to suffer year after year from fever and ague in consequence of it. In order to feed the mill a dam had been erected, which threw the water back over the flats during the night and drew it off during the day. The result was that hardly a house escaped the scourge. In our own family my father, my grandmother, my brother, and myself were all down at one time with it, and in our neighbors' houses mat- ters were not much better. After a long and tedious litigation the dam was suppressed ; then the sunken space left by the pond was filled up and fever and ague disappeared ; but the reputation it gave the town lasted long. As late as 1866, when the late Ezra Cornell was urging me to come to Ith- aca to take the Presidency of the University about to be founded, he pro- tested jocosely against my living in a place like Syracuse, or, as he called it, " Salt Point," so notorious for chills and fever.


The life of the village at that period was simple and pleasant. Nearly all the citizens knew each other ; there was little if any separation into cliques, and the main important events were those connected with politics, the most famous of these within my memory being the great State Con- vention of 1840, an episode in the widespread movement which carried William Henry Harrison into the Presidential chair. The Whigs had gath- ered from far and near, long processions coming in upon all the roads, bear- ing banners and devices showing a world of patriotic ingenuity. At a point north of the Empire House, on the present site of the Onondaga Temperance House, was the great log cabin, the main center of the polit- ical speaking of that year. There were gathered in all their glory the whole apparatus of coon skins, great balls which were made to " keep rolling," and barrels of hard cider, and thence swelled the chorus for "Tip- pecanoe and Tyler too." In this reaction against Mr. Van Buren's admin- istration Harrison was elected ; but in a month after his administration he died, and most bitter was the disappointment of the Whigs when they fell into the hands of President John Tyler, Harrison's Vice-President and suc-




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