USA > New York > Onondaga County > Past and present of Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York : from prehistoric times to the beginning of 1908 > Part 7
USA > New York > Onondaga County > Syracuse > Past and present of Syracuse and Onondaga County, New York : from prehistoric times to the beginning of 1908 > 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).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72
QUADRUPEDS.
It is unnecessary to mention all the smaller Onondaga quadrupeds, like bats, rats, miee and moles; some native to the soil, others introduced to our sorrow and loss. Some larger ones may be enumerated, thought mostly of the past. Domestie animals will be omitted, though of high importance. From the first there has been a strong interest here in cattle of all kinds. leading to a choice of the best, and even to their improvement. Cattle shows became a feature nearly three-quarters of a century ago, and many fine ani- mals are annually exported.
The black bear has left his name to Bear mountain, near Cardiff, and his teeth and bones often appear on Indian sites or in graves. Some of the
53
PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
teeth were used as ornaments. The Indians sometimes had tame bears, kept in small pens and fattened, but the cubs were often sent to the eastern counties to be sold as pets. One was killed in a swamp near Memphis in December. 1907. Oneida lake was a favorite resort for this animal, fish being abundant there. Raccoons are still common, and the wolverine onee lived here.
The skunk is in as bad odor and as abundant as ever. The fur. also, which was once despised. is now of some value. DeKay said he had "seen some of their burrows running horizontally twelve to fifteen feet under ground. at about two feet below the surface." The fisher, or black cat, was onre abundant in swamps and streams. DeKay said of this: "We are informed by a person who resided many years near Lake Oneida, where the Fisher was then common. that the name was derived from its singular fondness for the fish used to bait traps. The hunters were in the practice of soaking their fish over night, and it was frequently carried off by the fisher, whose well-known tracks were seen in the vicinity." The skin was then worth one dollar and fifty cents, and this may have been the animal mentioned in a Moravian journal at Onondaga. March 8. 1755; "David captured a Fish otter, which was very welcome, not alone for the meat, but the skin, being quite valuable, would go toward buying food, of which we have little." The sable and otter have both disappeared, but weasels and minks are yet found.
When Pursh visited Ephraim Webster in 1807, he said: "I inquired about the Indian dog; but he told me that not one genuine one was to be found among those Indians any more, having degenerated by mixing with others to such a degree that hardly the traces could be seen in them." Though the white dog was burned for eighty years later, this is now the excuse for substituting something else. The sacred breed is extinct.
Cicero was the haunt of wolves, though they were not confined to that town. They fed upon deer, and were fond of sheep. Being thus troublesome to farmers, Mr. J. V. H. Clark said that they resolved to have a great hunt in February, 1819. in which he joined, scour the town of Cicero, and destroy all the wolves in it. Men came from adjoining towns, forming a line nearly ten miles long. with the men a rod apart. As this would require thirty-two hundred men, the space may be increased and the line slightly shortened. At a signal the whole line moved northward toward Oneida lake, to drive the wolves upon the ice. Not one was seen all day, nor ever sinee. A few deer were taken.
Clark credits panthers to the same town, though it belongs more to mountain regions. Old hunters say that the cry of some owls is often mis- taken for this; it is the mystic nocturnal animal of Huron tradition. which "approached the lion by the tail." Wild cats have also disappeared, but foxes maintain their hold in many parts, especially the north and south county lines. They have lost nothing of their traditional cunning.
Gray and black squirrels, onee abundant throughout the county ,are now rather rare, and mostly in the southern part. Once the farmer found them a pest everywhere, and great squirrel hunts were quite the fashion. These
54
PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
graceful animals could commonly be seen in the fall, gliding along the rail fences of the corn fields, while their bark was heard in every woodland. Red squirrels and chipmunks hold their own in country and town. From its note the former was sometimes called chick-a-ree. Most squirrels swim well. Chipmunks find old stumps and stone walls convenient abodes. The flying squirrel likes hollow trees, and is nocturnal in its habits. While once of general distribution here, it seems to prefer the southern towns.
The woodchuck is indigenous, but has thriven on civilization, liking old pastures and clover fields. In cultivated fields it has become a pest, and horses are especially afraid of its burrows. It enjoys swimming, in which it seems to have no object but pleasure. In the winter it eloses its burrow and hybernates. The young vary much in markings, even in the same litter. Its senses are very aente.
The beaver was once the most famous animal of New York, and has left its memorial here in the names of meadows and small lakes. It is nocturnal in its habits, making dams when in communities, but satisfied with a burrow when alone. Muskrats are still found and trapped, and were once quite an article of conumeree. They burrow in banks-sometimes causing damage -- or build huts in marshes. Their food is partly aquatic roots, and partly fresh- water clams, the shells of which often show their holes. If the shell is thin one valve is torn off: if thick, part is gnawed away. The porcupine was once plentiful here, and had not vanished fifty years ago. It figures in Indian legends, and its quills in Indian work, for which it is dyed. The Indians also highly esteemed its flesh.
A tooth of the fossil elephant was found in a gravel bank, Lot 97. Lysan- der, in September, 1878. It was six inches in height, and in good preservation. Other fossil bones have not been clearly identified, and no certain traces of the mastodon have been reported, though there is little doubt that it once fre- quented our lower lands.
The American deer was once abundant in some parts of the county. though the Indians kept them down near their villages. In the northern towns the pioneers found them a nuisance, from their depredations in fields of grain. The young are spotted with white, and older animals vary in color, according to the season. The young male has a single cylindrie horn, but the spikes annually increase and the antlers spread. From an immense branch some Indian made a handsome and unique pipe, now belonging to the Rev. Dr. Beauchamp, of Syracuse. DeKay gives an interesting note: "Its horns are east usually in the winter, but the period appears to depend much on the latitude, mildness or severity of the season. While growing the horns are covered with a velvet-like membrane, which peels off as soon as they have attained their growth. It has often been a matter of surprise that while so many horns are annually east, so few are ever found. This is to be explained by the faet that as soon as shed they are eaten up by the smaller gnawing animals. I have repeatedly found them half gnawed up by the various kinds of field mice so numerous in our forests."
55
PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
The elk and moose onee lived here, the latter in the northern towns. In his account of Cicero, Mr. Clark said: "Two moose were killed by the. In- dians near the north line of the town, in the year 1789, since which the animal has not been seen in this part of the country."
Rabbits are still killed in large minbers, and are sometimes destructive in their turn. In severe winters their presence may often be detected by their guawing young trees or shrubs above the snow line, and they sometimes injure young orchards. Hares have always been much rarer. Traps and snares were used for small game by the Indians, but in spite of general abundance. they were often half famished. As they used no salt at first. meat could only be preserved by drying or smoking, and they feasted or hungered according to the day's supply.
BIRDS.
Much interest is now felt in the study of bird life, and there are keen observers even in the city. In 1886, Morgan K. Barnum issned a list of the birds of Onondaga. comprising two hundred and four species. Many have been added since, some of them rare. "A Revised List of the Birds of Central New York" had been published in Auburn in 1879, by Messrs. Rathbun. Fowler and Wright, containing two hundred and thirty-six species. This had forty-one kinds not in the Onondaga list, and lacked nine kinds found there. It is probable, however, that all birds found in the one list might be placed in the other.
The Onondaga catalogne has twelve speeies in the family of thrushes. which need not be specified. The chiekadee, white and red-bellied nuthatches and brown creeper follow. There are four wrens and the shore lark, the latter now breeding here. The tit-lark follows. Of the warblers we have the blue and white creeper. the blue yellow-backed, blue golden-winged. Nash- ville and Cape May warblers, sunmer yellow-bird, black-throated blue, yellow- runped. błaek and yellow. cerulean, chestnut-sided, black-poll and bay- breasted warblers, Blackburn's black-throated green, pine-ereeping and red- poll warblers, golden-crowned thrush, small and large-billed water thrush. Connectieut and mourning warblers, Maryland yellow-throat, hooded, black- eapped yellow and Canadian fly-catching warblers, and American redstart. The scarlet tanager often reaches us before the green has fully turned to red. and now sometimes appears in villages.
Five swallows are in this list, the cedar bird and five vireos. Both the winter and summer butcher birds are found. The pine grosbeak. purple fineh, red- poll, American and white-winged erossbill are all frequent visitors; all but the finch in winter. The American goldfinch also occurs in winter, having been taken in January. The pine goldfinch, white snowbird and Lapland longspur, are all winter visitants. The Savannah sparrow, grass finch, English, white- erowned and white-throated sparrows are all well known here. The tree sparrow is a winter visitant. The chipping, field. grass, song, swamp, Lincoln's and fox-colored sparrows are, all but one, common. The black snowbird
56
PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
sometimes breeds here. The chewink is noted as common, but certainly is not widely distributed. It occurs on the Indian reservation. Cardinal gros- beaks have several times appeared, and indeed have laid eggs, but may have been escaped birds. The rose-breasted grosbeak is inereasing and becoming tame. Indigo birds love the berry patches still, singing in the heat of the day.
In the blackbird family come the bobolink, cowbird, red-wing, oriole, meadow lark. rusty and crow blackbird. It is probable that the orchard oriole should be included. The crow and blue jay follow. The common and great- erested kingbirds, phoebe bird, wood pewce and least flycatcher are well known. The whippoorwill seems rare, but oceurs in Van Buren and on the Indian reservation, probably elsewhere. Nighthawks have become frequent in Syracuse, and the chimney swallow is everywhere found. Some scarlet horse chestnuts in the city attract humming-birds in great numbers. The kingfisher and the yellow and black-billed cuckoo are frequent, and their notes well known. Of woodpeckers there are recorded the hairy, downy, yellow-bellied. erested, red-headed, golden-winged and black-backed. To these should be added the red-bellied. which occurs at Skaneateles.
The owls are the long and short-eared, barred, saw-whet, little screech, great horned and snowy owls. Also the hawk owl, which has been shot twice at least in the county. The hawks are the pigeon, sparrow, fish, marsh. Coopies. sharp-shinned, hen. red-shouldered, broad-winged, rough-legged and goshawk. The bald eagle breeds here, and as many as four have been seen together.
The passenger pigeon is now rare here, but once appeared in countless numbers. The mourning dove is common. Partridges are resident, but quails rare. They sometimes appear near the Seneca river, but an attempt to colo- nize them on the Indian reservation failed.
Of plovers three speeies are reported, and one turnstone in 1881. Wilson's and the northern phalarope are rare. In the snipes there are the woodcock and fourteen other kinds. The herons inelude the great blue, green and black- crowned herons. American and least bittern, and the great white egret. The latter was killed in Skaneateles about 1850, and one at Baldwinsville in 1896. But two of the rail family are reported in this list, but others probably occur.
To the common wild goose must now be added Hutchins's goose, one having been shot at Baldwinsville. September 13, 1897. . It has never before been reported in the interior of the State, and is much like the other species. but half the size. Nineteen dueks at least have been found here, and three sheldrakes. Of the former some are rare. Both the common and double- crested cormorant have been shot here. Three gulls only are reported, one of which is the black tern, shot at Baldwinsville, May 22. 1878. The common winter gull is the Indians' Bird of the Clouds. It is probable that the Onon- daga list may be mueh increased, as the other contains nine species of gulls. Two loons are reported, and three grebes, or divers.
To this list should be added the white pelican, shot at Onondaga lake in the fall of 1893; the thiek-bellied guillemot, shot at Baldwinsville, December 15. 1893, and December 19, 1896; and the white swan on Oneida lake, 1886.
57
PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
CHAPTER VI.
ANTIQUITIES OF ONONDAGA.
There are three periods in the aboriginal life of Onondaga. The first is that distinctly prehistorie, when men came whom we can not directly connect with those whom Europeans found here. The next includes those of the Iroquois, who were here in prehistorie times, but who have left such traces as to establish a connection with the Onondagas of colonial and later days. The first are easily shown to have come from different directions, but their age and sequence are not so clear. Some had vessels of potstone; others had none of these, or even earthenware; others again earthen vessels, but not of the Iroquois type. They also had many articles which never have been found on Iroquois sites. We have some knowledge of the direction from which many of these came; none at all of the time in which they lived.
The second period has more definiteness, dealing with the prehistoric life of an historie people. In the main these early forts and villages had the same pottery, pipes and implements used by the Onondagas when first known to white men. The connection between the two periods is clear, but in the earlier the relative age requires eloser study, because changes in articles used were slow, and change of location frequent. It would be rash to give definite dates to most villages here preceding European contact. In a few cases we ean give probable ones, partly by dating back from historie sites, and allowing the usual time for their occupancy. Thus, four neighboring forts might have a period of fifty years, but often of much less. The length of oc- eupaney may be judged from the blackness of the soil and the abundance of relies.
The third period is more satisfactory, for we not only have historie av- counts of many towns, but the sites themselves show progressive contact. On the earliest may be one or two European articles, or a suggestion of a knowledge of these. The next will show more, to be increased by the next. till at last European articles may surpass the aboriginal. In this way the age of several early sites in Pompey is shown. Later removals are shown by history, and the various sites in Pompey is shown. Later removals are shown by history, and the various sites are described in Aboriginal Occupation of New York, a bulletin prepared by the Rev. W. M. Beauchamp, and published by the State Museum. Besides maps, this contains plans of earthworks and stockades. Other bulletins by the same author deseribe and illustrate local Indian relies, selected from a large mimber.
The earlier relies show many articles wrought with great taste and skill. Many kinds of stone appear in the chipped artieles, which are both large and small. One obsidian arrow has been found on the Seneca river, an extremely rare occurrence. Sinkers and hammer stones abound on camp sites, near lakes and rivers. Stone pestles are frequent, both fine and rude. Mortars are
58
PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
very much rarer. Grooved stone axes are rare, but the chisel, or wedge form. is widely distributed and abundant. It is often of fine material, and may be handsomely polished or quite rude. The size also varies from less than two inches in length to those weighing several pounds. Much rarer are the polished stone gouges, some of which are nearly a foot long, and beautifully made. Occasionally these have a groove across the back. A short and broad form is almost flat, and seems local.
The stone tubes are also well made. Some cylindrie ones found at Otisco lake were of gray slate, and seem to have been nearly a foot long. They differ from others found here in being bored lengthwise almost to the end. where a small perforation is made in the center. In all other cases they are bored uniformly from end to end. They are usually cylindric, but may be angular, and the material varies from plain sandstone to the most beautiful banded slate. Occasionally an unfinished specimen is found. Excepting those which were found at Otisco lake, and which ditfer from others, they are confined to the northern half of the county, and this is the case with a large part of the earlier articles.
The bird and bar amulets, ranging from most of New England to Lake Michigan, are well represented here. The bar amulet is very simple. The bar is flat on the lower side, thickened in the middle and at both ends, which are usually slightly raised. Whatever the variety, there are diagonal holes at the bases of the ends. The bird amulets vary much, being compressed or broad and flat, the head and tail raised, and the head with or without project- ing knobs on each side, suggestive of eyes or ears. They are always finely polished and beautifully wrought.
Banner stones are more frequent, and are mostly symmetrieal and polished. but sometimes an unfinished one is found. They may be cordate, pickaxe or butterfly shaped, or sometimes like a reel, and are always perforated in the center, which is usually thick. The nicely drilled perforation may be through the long or short axis, according to the outline of the stone. The material may be handsome or plain, and a broken one may have a secondary use. Gorgets are usually quite thin, symmetrical, flat and polished, but vary greatly in outline. There are one or more holes, perhaps to attach it to the dress. They are not rare, and are often of fine material.
Stone pipes are both early and recent, and early ones sometimes occur unfinished, awaiting polishing and drilling. In design they are inferior to the Iroquois pipes of clay, excepting the bird pipes, which are of a recent date. One remarkable stone pipe from the Seneca river had a majestic human face, and inlaid eyes of hollow bone.
Some very fine articles of native copper have been found in the northern towns, the Seneca and other rivers affording an early highway, as well as excellent fishing grounds. This material came from Lake Superior, and these artieles seem to have been wrought there. On the other hand, soapstone ves- sels, whole or fragmentary, came from Pennsylvania, and two kinds of stone knives have a northeast origin, not improbably Eskimo. One is the arrow- shaped knife of polished slate, still used by that people; the other is the better
59
PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
known woman's knife of slate, half circular in outline, and sometimes having the back thickened. The Genesee river is the western limit of both.
On eamp sites of all sizes earthenware may be present or not. The Iroquois type is easily recognized, but there are fragments which seem umch earlier. On all Iroquois sites it is abundant, gradually thinning out as the brass kettle took its place. It was sparingly made as late as 1700, but was probably con- fined to the poorer Indians, after European trade became widely extended. Clay pipes held on longer and were often finely wrought. It was usual to have the human countenance, bird or beast on these, face the smoker, but some- times several faces appear on the bowl. Later pipes may have the face turned from the smoker. A little before 1600 the Onondagas added human faces and forms to the decorations of pottery, but brass kettles proved too strong for this advance in art, and in less than thirty years these forms had disappeared. The Mohawks and Senecas used this decoration about the same time.
The early Onondagas used bone and horn articles abundantly. These were arrows, awls, fishhooks, ornaments, harpoons, and articles used in games. Shell was used moderately at first, but European trade made wampum and shell ornaments abundant, and metallic articles, glass beads and ornaments of pipestone and red slate were freely supplied. At first the favorite ornaments obtained in trade were of shell, brass or glass, but after 1700 silver took the place of brass, and was freely used for nearly two hundred years. Head-bands, wrist and arm-bands, gorgets, brooches, medals and earrings became conspic- uons. They have now disappeared from use, but a few remain in public or private collections. Sometimes they are found in graves.
On the Onondaga reservation the Indian bow and arrow survive, with the pestle and mortar, snow snake, burden frame, wooden spoon, cradle board. and a few other things. Some bead work is still made, as well as baskets and mats, but moccasins have disappeared, and blankets and forehead straps arc but little used. Four kinds of rattles and the Indian drum still accompany some dance music, but all the wampum belts, and nearly all the wampum are no longer there. Wooden masks survive, and there are feeble reminders of early attire at some of the great feasts. Cornhusk dolls are ingenious relies of primitive conditions, and lacrosse rackets and balls are brought out for this fine game. Bone disks, peach stones and wooden bowls yet perpetuate the universal games of the American Indians, and boys may be seen throwing the javelin on any fine day. One may also find the earved wooden war elub. for they are very ingenious in carving. The basket sieve and the bark tray are sometimes seen, but the blowgun is rare, and but few use the tally stick, though it has a place in ceremonies. The bark house long ago gave way to the neat eabin of squared logs, and this is being given up for pretentious framed houses. One Indian is preserving the primitive stairway from an old log cabin. It is simply a long and smooth piece of timber. with notches ent in one side. Our pioneers sometimes used the same.
While certain relies are scattered somewhat indiscriminately over the surface, there are places easily recognized as camp or village sites, from the blackness of the earth caused by frequent fires. If close to the shore of a lake
60
PAST AND PRESENT OF ONONDAGA COUNTY
or river these may be sites of mixed age, occupied by successive camps. If in some more secluded spot the relies will probably be of one period. If the earth is very black and fireplaces are many, it may pay to dig, for ashes and cinders often form deep pits, and only where these materials are present need articles of bone be expected. Forts are rarely very near large streams. except when there is a commanding situation. Security was the first thought in selecting sites for these. It must be remembered too, that early forts were seldom long in a place. With the use of the metallie ax they remained longer. If a fort was on a ridge or hill a convenient dumping ground for rubbish was selected. and fine articles sometimes occur in this. A brief account of some sites will follow.
CLAY-Burial place on lot 22; vessels of clay with the skeletons. Some lodges.
Lot 16, cemetery and hamlet on bluff east of Schroeppel's bridges.
Lot 23, hamlet with rude relies. Many fireplaces.
Lot 74, hamlet with fine relies. Fish weirs in the rivers here and in Cieero.
CICERO-Hamlets and graves on both sides of the river at Brewerton. Mixed sites, some quite early. Baldwin island yielded many fine relies.
Camps on lots 8, 32, 33, 46, 69, 70. Hamlets on lots 47 and 73.
DE WITT-On lot 32, East Syracuse, twenty skeletons were exhumed in June, 1878. Rude relics.
ELBRIDGE-Several eamps and a burial place on east side of Carpenter's brook, Lot 35. A favorite fishing place of the Onondagas. A camp just west of the brook.
Three hamlets and scattered lodges on lot 34.
Three hamlets on Cross lake, lots 31, 32, 33.
Camps on lots 57 and 59.
On lot 83, south of Elbridge village, Clark described an unenclosed village · where hundreds of grooved axes were erroneously reported to him. These are rare in New York, and the report had no foundation. Flint arrows were abund- ant. He also deseribed a circular earthwork on Caleb Brown's place, a little east of Elbridge village, enclosing an acre on lot 73. The supposed remains of a blacksmith's shop were probably traces of lodge sites, the whole group being prehistorie. Another circular fort on Mr. Brown's farm, lot 84, was forty rods south of the road and enclosed three aeres. The bank was two feet high, and the outside diteh four or five feet deep. A wide gateway was on the west side and a smaller one on the northeast. A pit for corn was mistaken for a well. Pottery was abundant.
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.