USA > New York > Pioneer history of the Holland Purchase of western New York : embracing some account of the ancient remains > Part 65
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contractor to those of another; sleeping and eating where emergency made it necessary, in quarters no matter how rude or humble; or in his room at the old "Cottage" in Lockport, coolly and good naturedly resisting the fierce importunities of the dissatisfied con- tractor; yielding to exigencies here and there, when public interest demanded it, or strenuous and unyielding when it did not; pressing on the difficult work upon the Mountain Ridge, amid great difficul- ties and embarrassments; persevering to the end, until he had seen the last barrier removed that prevented the flow of the waters of lake Erie through their long artificial channel.
There was the early principal engineer, David Thomas; in the public service, in all his extended conventional and social relations -amiable, unassuming; when wronged, not reviling; the pattern of a man; endowed with intellectual powers, and high scientific attainments, that well entitles him to a high rank among the men of New York. His sudden removal from a sphere of great useful- ness, in which no blemish or wrong doing was shown, with another memorable instance, must always be passed over by the historian, with the conclusion that the times, and not the men, were at fault. He yet survives, with faculties unimpaired, to make voluntary, liberal offerings, to the common stock of scientific knowledge. The other early engineers employed west of the river, as principals, were David S. Bates, and Nathan S. Roberts, to both of whom, the work was largely indebted for successful management. Of the resident and assistant carly engineeers, there were, Davis Hurd, Charles T. Whippo, - Price, Alfred Barrett, Porteus Root, and John Hopkins; all of whom, in the discharge of their duties, abundantly justified the early expressed opinion of Mr. Ellicott, that the genius and enterprize of the young men of our country would obviate the necessity of going to Europe for engineers.
A jubilee, such as has never, upon any other occasion, been witnessed in our country, awaited the completion of the Erie Canal. All else consummated, a signal from the Mountain Ridge was anx- iously looked for, to commence the work of preparation for the great event. It was given as follows :-
"To the Hon. Stephen Van Rensselaer, President of the Board of Canal Commissioners: SIR - The unfinished parts of the Erie Canal will be completed and in a condition to admit the passage of boats, on Wednesday, the 26th day of October next.
It would have been gratifying to have accomplished this result as early as the first of September, but embarrassments which I could not control, have delayed it.
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On this grand event, so auspicious to the character and wealth of the citizens of the state of New York, permit me to congratulate you.
WM. C. BOUCK, Canal Com.
Lockport, Sept. 29, 1825."
On the promulgation of this gratifying intelligence, active prepa- rations commenced. Committees of conference on the part of New York and Albany, taking the lead, a general plan of celebration was agreed upon, which was concurred in by a conference of com- mittees of Rochester, Lockport and Buffalo.
In all the space that intervened from the announcement of Com- missioner Bouek, up to the appointed day, the celebration was the engrosing topic of conversation, preparation for it the paramount business. There was the active correspondence of committees and sub-committees, processions and dinners projected, speeches and toasts prepared; artillery and other military companies were brush- ing up their ordnance and arms; fire companies, mechanics' and other associations, in cities and villages, preparing their appropriate banners; bands of music, were practicing enlivening strains; man- agers of dancing assemblies were issuing their cards of invitation. In short the "busy note of preparation" was sounding from lake Erie to Sandy Hook. All were looking forward to a gala-day-a period of joy and hilarity-the celebration upon a scale of grandeur and magnificence, of the peaceful triumphs of state energy, enter- prise and perseverance.
An important feature in the general arrangements for the cele- bration, was the stationing of cannon of a large calibre, (generally 32s,) from Buffalo to Sandy Hook, to announce the departure of the first boat from lake Erie to tide water, and answer the purposes of a continuous salute.
As the appointed day drew near the forces of the contractors upon the Mountain Ridge were largely increased, and every means put in requisition to be in readiness. On the evening of the 24th of October, the work was completed, the guard gates were raised, and the filling of the lake Erie level commenced. On the evening of the 25th, the entire canal from Buffalo to Albany was in a navigable condition.
Buffalo, then a village of only twenty-five hundred inhabitants, but making up in public spirit and enthusiasm any now seeming want of numbers, from its position at the head of navigation, was of course to lead off in the ceremonies. And well did the germ of a now
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great city, acquit itself .* The New York Committee that arrived there on the evening of the 25th, in their after report, say that they "found every thing in readiness for the commencement of the celebration."
At 9 o'clock on the morning of the 26th, a procession was formed in front of the Court House. It consisted of the Governor and Lieutenant Governor of the state, the New York delegation, dele- gations from villages along the whole line of the canal, various societies of mechanics with appropriate banners, and citizens gener- ally; the whole escorted by the Buffalo band, and Capt. Rathbun's Rifle Company. The procession moved down Main Street to the head of the canal, where the pioneer boat, the "Seneca Chief," was in waiting. The Governor and Lieut. Governor, and the Commit- tees, including that of Buffalo, were received on board. The whole standing upon the deck, there were mutual introductions and con- gratulations. Jesse Hawley, Esq. in behalf of the Rochester Committee, made a short address, which was replied to by Judge Forward.
All things being in readiness, the signal gun was fired, and con- tinuing along from gun to gun, in rapid succession, in one hour and twenty minutes the citzens of New York were apprized that a boat was departing from the foot of lake Erie, and was on its way, " traversing a new path to the Atlantic ocean."
The Seneca Chief, led off in fine style, drawn by four grey horses fancifully caparisoned. Three boats, the Perry, Superior, and Buffalo, followed. The fleet moved from the dock under a salute from the Rifle Company, accompanied by music from the band. The procession marched to the Court House, where an address was delivered by Sheldon Smith, Esq. after which an original ode written for the occasion, was sung to the tune of "Hail Columbia." A public dinner succeeded, and the festivities of the day were closed by a splendid ball at the Eagle Tavern.
At Lockport, a salute of thirteen guns was fired at sunrise. At nine o'clock a procession was formed in front of the Washington House, under the direction of Gen. Parkhurst Whitney, as marshal of the day, assisted by Col. Samuel Barton and Maj. M. H. Tucker. The procession moved to the foot of the locks, when the President
* It is questionable whether the same thing could be better done now. A vast increase of numbers, would hardly supply the spirit and joyous feeling that then existed. Surfeited with prosperity, communities as well as individuals, became stolid and indifferent.
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and Vice President of the day, the Canal Commissioners and Engineers, the Committee of Arrangements, Visiting Committees and many citizens of distinction from abroad, embarked on board the packet boat William C. Bouck, that had been selected as the first to pass the locks. Over two hundred ladies were escorted upon the boat Albany, of the Pilot Line. The remainder of the procession embarked on other boats lying in the basin. Immediately after the grand salute had passed from Buffalo east, the lock gates were opened, and the fleet commenced ascending to the lake Erie level. As it ascended the stupendous flights of locks, its decks covered with a joyous multitude, it was greeted with the constant and rapid discharge of heavy artillery, thousands of rock blasts or explosions prepared for the occasion, and the shouts of spectators, that swarmed upon the canal and lock bridges, and upon the precipices around the locks and basin. As soon as the two for- ward boats had passed out of the upper locks, they were drawn up side by side, and after a prayer by the Rev. Mr. Winchell, an address was delivered by Judge Birdsall. Stepping upon an elevated platform upon the deck of one of the boats, in the stillness that had succeeded the earthquake sounds, and the shouts of human voices, he exclaimed : "The last barrier is passed ! We have now risen to the level of lake Erie, and have before us a perfect navigation open to its waters." The address was one of marked ability, replete with stirring eloquence and the spirit of the occasion. At the close of the address, under a discharge of artillery, the explo- sions of rocks, the fleet of boats started for the west. At Pen- dleton it halted, and the fleet of boats from the west, that had been joined by a boat from Black Rock with a local committee on board, soon came up. The boats that had passed the locks acting as an escort, the combined fleet passed down to Lockport, where it was received under a discharge of artillery. A supper was served up at the Washington House, after which the pioneer fleet from Buf- falo and Black Rock continued upon its voyage to the ocean.
Night setting in, no farther prominent demonstrations marked the progress of the fleet until it arrived the next morning at Holley. At that village and at Brockport, its arrival was welcomed by the firing of cannon and other joyous demonstrations. The spirited citizens of the then just rising village of Newport (Albion) deter- mined not to forego a participation in the jubilee. They had a celebration on the 26th; a procession, an address by G. W.
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Fleming, Esq. firing of cannon, a dinner and toasts; prolonging the ceremonies of the day even to the " small hours of the night," not to let the procession of boats pass in the absence of such demonstrations as the darkness allowed.
At Rochester, the demonstrations were upon a scale, and of a character, corresponding with the local position and the immense advantages that its citizens anticipated, from the completion of the great enterprize. The Seneca Chief, with the boats in her train, arriving there about 2 o'clock P. M. on the 27th, were received with eight uniform companies under arms, and an immense con- course of people. Upon the wharf under an arch, were the Rochester and Canandaigua Committees. Short congratulatory addresses were made by Jesse Hawley and John C. Spencer, Esqs. which were replied to by Gov. Clinton. A procession moved to the Presbyterian church, where a prayer was offered by the Rev. Mr. Penny, and an address delivered by Timothy Childs, Esq. A dinner followed at the Mansion House, Gen. Matthews presiding assisted by Johnathan Childs and Jesse Hawley, Esqs. and in the evening there was a ball and a general illumination. At 7 o'clock in the evening the fleet took its departure for the east, the "Young Lion of the West," having on board a Rochester Committee, being added to the flotilla. From Rochester to Albany, during its transit there was at all the canal villages, a succession of celebrations. It was in the language of one who witnessed the demonstrations, "a protracted 4th of July celebration." The fleet arrived at Albany on the 2d of November, at 1 o'clock P. M. The celebration there was upon a scale of magnificence never upon any other occasion attempted at our state capital. But it was reserved for the Empire City of the Empire State, to add the grand finale, to terminate the great Jubilee, by putting in requisition her immense facilities upon land and water. It was said by a gentleman present, who had witnessed the naval fete given by the Prince Regent of England, upon the Thames, during the visit of the allied sovereigns to London after the dethronement of Napoleon, that the spectacle upon the waters of New York, far transcended that in the metropolis of England. The crowning ceremonial, was the sailing of an immense fleet down the bay to Sandy Hook, when from the deck of a vessel Gov. Clinton poured a keg of water that had been carried down from lake Erie on the Seneca Chief. into the Ocean, accompanying the act with suitable explanatory remarks. The vessel upon which
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this ceremony was performed, was surrounded by a fleet three miles in circumference. Upon the return of the Seneca Chief to Buffalo, there was brought on board of her a keg of the water of the ocean which was poured into lake Erie by Judge Wilkeson, chairman of the Buffalo Committee, who made a short address, which included a brief account of the splendid pageantries the Buffalo Committee had witnessed in their tour. Thus ended the protracted Jubilee ! A long successions of demonstrations, of public rejoicings, such as in the aggregate have never attended any other peaceful triumph of the wisdom, foresight and energy of any people, in any age.
There are readers of the present day, who, perhaps, will be likely to look back upon the events we have narrated, and deem the demonstrations extravagant; unable, as they will be, to form a just estimate of all that stimulated and promoted them. They will, at least, not fail to acknowledge, how more than realized, have been the seemingly extravagant anticipations of that period. The half was not seen, even in those days of anticipations and rejoicings. Even then, had some bold anticipator of coming events, more confident than the mass, ventured to predict the results that have flowed from the construction of the Eric Canal, he would have been called a dreaming enthusiast! Who, then, would have ventured to foretell what is now reality? Who would have been bold enough in his imaginings, to have pointed forward to the end of twenty-three years; to the great cities that have been doubled in population; to the new ones it has created; to the large and prosperous villages that are dotted along its banks; to the new Empire it has helped to create around the borders of our western Lakes, and the fleets of steam and sail vessels it has put afloat upon their waters?
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CHAPTER III.
COMMERCE OF THE UPPER LAKES.
The vast internal commerce upon the chain of Upper Lakes, has a distinct identity with our local region, and a brief sketch of its progress, will be looked for, as a part of our pioneer annals. The foot of lake Erie is its eastern termination. The "mouth of Buffalo creek," as Mr. Ellicott used to designate the locality, in dating his earliest letters from the Holland Purchase; the "New Amsterdam," as he was disposed to call it, after he had determined to make it the site of a village, and platted it for that purpose- has become the MART of the commerce of states, of a vast and fertile region. Buffalo creek, that sluggishly flowed into lake Erie, a sand bar at its mouth, over which, even the bateaux of the early French traders, had to be dragged, is now crowded with a long line of shipping; at times, having the appearance of some of our chief harbors upon the Atlantic. Upon its bank, a long, continuous wharf, and capacious store houses, filled with the produce of the west, and merchandize from the east, meeting here in their transit of exchange. Where, at one period, and that within the memory of living witnesses, the sum total of other than native residents, was Black Joe, William Johnstone, Benjamin Middaugh, Winne, and Ezekiel Lane; and even thesc, assimilated in habits and inclinations, to the wild sons of the forest, by whom they were surrounded, and whose tenants they were; now are the principal operations of a commerce, equal to the export trade of the whole . Union with foreign nations. Where stood the primitive log cabin, which afforded the only resting place for the surveyors, after their long pilgrimages in the wilderness, are now magnificent hotels, brick blocks, piled up four and five stories high, to economize in
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the matter of room; the value of the ground having gone up from five dollars per acre, to three, and even four hundred dollars per foot. The grounds between, below the "beautiful elevated bank," "extending to the lake, and up Buffalo creek," which Mr. Ellicott congratulated Mr. Cazenove upon having kept out of the Indian Reservation, inasmuch, as with "little trouble it could be converted into beautiful meadows," is now traversed by the Erie Canal, and its arm or extension, the Hamburgh Canal; in almost the centre of it, the state is now constructing an immense artificial basin, or harbor, to accommodate the vastly increasing commerce of the Canal; and throughout its greatest extent, is a compact, built-up portion of the embryo "New Amsterdam," now appropriately called the "CITY OF THE LAKES."
Even in an age, a country, and a local region of Progress, all this is wonderful; a prominent, marked feature. It is almost wholly, the joint offspring of lake and canal commerce.
An account of the pioneer advent of La Salle, in the navigation of the lakes, has been given. It marked a new era with the French missionaries and traders. Up to that period, their route from the St. Lawrence, to their stations at the west, had been through Canada, to lake Huron. Other vessels must have soon supplied the place of the wrecked Griffin, for the new lake route of La Salle, became the avenue for reaching the forts, missionary and trading stations, that were soon multiplied, and embraced the straits of Detroit and St. Clair, the northern shore of lake Michigan, and the vallies of the Maumee and Wabash. Many years previous to the English conquest, the French commerce, it seems, required the construction of a railway up the mountain at Lewiston, a portage road, and a landing place at Schlosser. Two vessels were probably quite sufficient for the trade, however, and that number-the two fired and sunk at Burnt Ship Bay, in the Niagara river-is all we hear of, at the termination of French dominion.
The history of English commerce upon the lakes, previous to the surrendering of these posts in 1796, is a brief one. It was carried on with one or two vessels, and consisted only of the transportation of men and supplies, to the western posts and trading stations, and furs and peltries, on their way to Montreal. It had undergone but little progress in all the long periods of French and English occupancy. Mr. Fairbanks, who resided at
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Chippewa, in 1795, says that an armed brig, a few gun boats, and one merchant vessel, was all the English had on the lakes at that period .*
There were a long series of years, following after the close of English dominion, that the commerce of the lakes had little, if any progress. For a long period after the settlement of this region commenced, there was only added to the carrying trade that has already been named, the downward freight of a small, yearly supply of white fish, and fruit from the orchards on the Detroit river. The completion of the Erie Canal had not the immediate effect to materially increase lake commerce. It awaited the new impetus, the commencement of rapid emigration to the western states and territories. "The breaking out of the Black Hawk war, in 1832, first brought out a knowledge of the richness of the soil, and salubrity of the climate of northern Illinois and Indiana, and the territory of Wisconsin, and exhibited the commanding position of Chicago, for commercial business. This war being closed that same season, and peace being re-established in all those parts, a strong current of emigration set in that direction, the next year, and the rich prairies of that country began to fill with a vigorous, hardy and enterprising population; and from that time, only the short space of eight years, may it in truth be said, that there has been any commerce west of Detroit." t
The first steam vessel on the upper lakes was the " Walk-in-the- water," built at Black Rock, and launched in August, 1818. In 1819, she made a trip to Mackinaw, to carry up goods for the American Fur Company. This boat was wrecked on the beach near Buffalo, in 1821. In 1822, her place was supplied by the steam boat Superior.
The building of this second steam boat not only marks a period in the history of lake commerce generally, but, connected with it,
* The following reminiscence of English lake commerce, is taken from a number of the "New York Gazette and Weekly Post Boy," of February, 1770: - " By letters from Detroit, we are informed that several boats with goods, have been seventy days in crossing lake Erie; the distress of the people was very great; they were obliged to keep two human bodies, found unburied upon the shore, in order to collect and kill the ravens and eagles that came to feed on them, for their preservation. Many other boats are frozen up, within forty miles of Detroit. A great many trader's small boats have been lost."
t Letter of James L. Barton, Esq. to Capt. W. G. Williams, of the topographical engineer department, dated December, 1841. To that letter, and other productions of this able and indefatigable, early and persevering friend and historian of lake com- merce, the author is farther indebted for materials for his brief sketch.
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were some pioneer movements in the construction of Buffalo har- bor. Previous to 1820, no lake craft larger than a canoe or French batteau, had entered the mouth of Buffalo creek. The stinted commerce of the Lakes had no harbor at the foot of lake Erie, except Black Rock; vessels discharging freight destined for Buffalo, or taking freight from there, either did it at Black Rock, or, laying off' the mouth of Buffalo creek, received and discharged freight by means of small boats. In 1818, the legislature authorized the survey of Buffalo creck, at the expense of the county of Niagara. This survey was made by William Peacock, gratuitously. In 1819, the legislature authorized a loan of $12,000 for the construc- tion of a harbor. It was secured by bond and mortgage upon real estate, executed by Oliver Forward, Charles Townsend, Samuel Wilkeson, and George Coit. Under the superintendence of Judge Wilkeson, the money was expended, and a pier extended into the lake about eighty rods, reaching twelve feet water. In 1821, obstructions were so far removed as to admit small vessels into Buffalo creek. When an agent came on from New York, to build the steam boat Superior, however, in January, 1822, he did not regard the harbor improvements sufficiently advanced to insure the passage of the boat out of the creek, if constructed upon its banks, and at first determined upon building at Black Rock. To divert him from this purpose, a few prominent citizens of Buffalo, --- Charles Townsend, Samuel Wilkeson, George Coit, Ebenezer Johnson, E. D. Efner, and Ebenezer Walden, executed a bond, agreeing to pay the steam boat company one hundred and fifty dollars for every day the boat should be detained in Buffalo creek, after the first of May. This induced the agent to build the boat at Buffalo. During the season of 1822, the harbor improve- ments were prosecuted with great vigilance, and before the setting in of winter, enough had been accomplished, as was supposed, to ensure against the penalty of the bond. The spring freshet, unfor- tunately, filled up the channel, reducing the depth of water for a considerable distance, to three feet and a half. The completion of the steam boat, and the first of May, were events near at hand. With extraordinary public spirit, the citizens of Buffalo raised a subscription, the able-bodied among them, without distinction of occupation or profession, becoming laborers upon the work, cleared out the recent deposit, the Superior passed out as soon as she was
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ready for the lake, and the bond was thus canceled. This is the brief pioneer history of the Buffalo harbor; to which may be added the mention of the first appropriation made to the work by the general government. This was in 1826-the sum $15,000- procured through the influence of the Hon. Daniel G. Garnsey, then Representative in Congress, from Niagara and Chautauque .*
The waters of lake Michigan were first visited by a steam vessel in 1827, a boat having that year made an excursion with a pleasure party to Green Bay. The first steamboats that reached Chicago, were those employed by the Government to transport troops and supplies for the Black Hawk war.
The commerce of the Lakes, originating in the pioneer advent of La Salle in 1668, may be said to have had almost a sameness - a few vessels answering all the purposes of a small carrying trade, connected with the western military and trading stations-until the commencement of the navigation of the Erie Canal, in the season of 1826; with the exception perhaps of a small increase that had kept pace with settlement in the lake region of Ohio and in a small portion of Michigan. "This embraces a period of one hundred and forty-eight years. The commerce that embraces the entire chain of the upper lakes, as connected with the ordinary business of life, settlement and improvement, has in fact existed but a little over twenty years. Its progress is one among the wonders of the age. To make a full exhibit of its rapid increase, would require the insertion of a series of statistical tables, and a larger space than the author has now at his disposal. The reader, however, can well estimate the immense magnitude of the commerce of the upper lakes, from the following aggregates, selected from the commercial statistics of the Buffalo Commercial Advertiser for 1847 :-
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