USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > Settlement in the West : sketches of Rochester with incidental notices of western New-York > Part 16
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The general agents of the Holland Company have usually resided in Philadelphia. The first local agent at Batavia was Joseph Ellicott-and David E. Evans has been agent for several years.
The Military Tract was necessarily so frequently noticed in the accounts of the other tracts and in the arrangements with the Indians, that a brief account of it here has been deemed advisable.
The interests of various kinds which the people of Ro- chester have in the surrounding country will doubtless ren- der acceptable to many of them the particulars now inserted.
Of the minor tracts, in which Rochester is considerably in- terested, we have noticed the two next westward-the " Tri- angle," and the " Connecticut" or "Hundred Thousand- acre Tract"-respecting which latter the Messrs. Ward, of Rochester, have an agency.
PROGRESS OF IMPROVEMENT.
HIGHWAYS-CANALS-RAILROADS.
THE advantages which we now enjoy cannot be ade- quately appreciated by those who reflect not on the former condition of things. What vast changes in all the business relations of the country have been effected within thirty or forty years ! An account of the origin and progress of roadmaking on the principal routes may serve as a toler- ably good index of the progress of improvement in the early settlement of Western New-York -- while the retrospect may form a fitting prelude to the account that will shortly be given of the System of Internal Improvement by canals and railroads which has so suddenly and wonderfully trans- formed the appearance of the country, and showered innu- merable benefits on the people, not merely of Western New- York, but of the state at large, and of a considerable portion of the Union.
" The truth of the case was," says a traveller in 1800, when accounting for the settlement which Capt. Williamson (agent of the Pulteney Estate) made on the high lands of Steuben county in preference to the richer lands in the northerly part of the tract-" The truth of the case was, that Capt. Williamson saw very clearly, on his first visit to the country, that the Susquehannah, and not the Mohawk, would be ultimately its best friend. Even now it has proved so ; for at this day (in the year 1800) a bushel of wheat is better worth one hundred cents at Bath than sixty cents at Geneva. This difference will grow wider every year ; for little, if any, additional improvement can be made in the water communication with New-York, while that to Bal- timore will admit of very extensive and advantageous ones," &c.
What a commentary on the former condition of things is presented by the present course of trade and price of trans- portation through Western New-York !
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" In November, 1804," says the Albany Gazette, "a wagon-load of wheat was brought by four yoke of oxen from Bloomfield (Ontario county) to Albany, a distance of 230 miles. The wheat was purchased at Bloomfield for 5s. cur- rency per bushel (62} cents), and sold at Albany for 17s. 3d. per bushel (two dollars and 15} cents). The journey going and returning may be performed in twenty days, notwith- standing the badness of the roads at this season."
But let us see the gradual progress of improvement as ev- idenced by the laws passed concerning the
Highways of Western New-York.
In 1792 " the road from Geneva to Canadagua was only an Indian path," says Col. Williamson, in a note to Maude's travels. "On this road there were only two families then settled ; and Canadagua, the county town, consisted of only two small frame houses and a few huts, surrounded by thick woods. From Canadagua to the Genesee River [at Canawagus or Avon], twenty-six miles, only four fami- lies resided on the road. Through all this country there are not only signs of extensive cultivation having been made at some early period, but there are found the remains of old forts, where the ditches and gates are still visible." (See notices of Antiquities in this volume.)
Patrick Campbell, who travelled through Western New- York in March, 1792, mentions that " the whole distance from the Onondaga Hollow to Cayuga was in forest"-and that in Marcellus township he met with only one house and two new erected huts.
1794. On the 22d of March, 1794, three commissioners were appointed for laying out a road, authorized by law, from old Fort Schuyler (Utica), running as nearly straight as practicable to the Cayuga Ferry [then] in Onondaga coun- ty, or to the outlet of Cayuga Lake, as they might choose ; thence to Canadagua (Canandaigua) ; and thence to the set- tlement at Canawagus (now Avon) on Genesee River, where the first bridge across that stream was built-(no bridge was erected where Rochester now stands till 1812). The road to be six rods wide ; and, for aiding in its construction, £600 was appropriated out of the proceeds of Military Lands for making the road through that tract-with £1500 for the re- mainder of the road, equal portions of said sum to be spent in Herkimer and Ontario.
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1798. The directions given to travellers about this time form a curious contrast to the condition of things in 1838. " Should curiosity induce you to visit the Falls of Niagara," says Col. Williamson in a note to Maude's travels, " you will proceed from Geneva by the state road to the Genesee River, which you will cross at New-Hartford [now Avon], west of which you will find the country settled for about twelve miles ; but after that, for sixty-five miles to the Ni- agara River, the country still remains a wilderness. This road was used so much last year (1797) by people on busi- ness, or by those whom curiosity had led to visit the Falls of Niagara, that a station was fixed at the Big Plains (twelve hours ride, or 38 miles west of the Genesee) to shelter travellers. At this place there are two roads that lead to Niagara River : the south road goes by Buffalo Creek, the other by Tonawanda village to Queenston or Lewiston landing. The road by Buffalo Creek is most used, both because it is better, and because it commands a view of Lake Erie; and the road from this to the falls is along the banks of the Niagara River-a very interesting ride." "Queenstown contains from twenty to thirty houses," says Mr. Maude. " On the side of the river opposite to Queenstown [where Lewiston now stands], the government of the United States design to establish a landing, or, rather, to renew the old portage to Fort Schlosser. There are at present only two houses there, one of which is the ferry- house ; a road being opened from this to Tannawantee, dis- tant only thirty miles." "Another scheme of the Anglo- Americans," continnes Maude, " is to do away the necessity of a portage by substituting a canal around the Niagara Falls-an object best explained by a quotation from Capt. Williamson's Account of the Genesee." (See notices of In- ternal Improvement in this work.)
1799. " The road from Fort Schuyler (Utica) to the Gen- esee, which in June, 1797, was little better than an Indian path," says Col. Williamson, former agent of the Pulteney Estate, " was so far improved that a stage started from Fort Schuyler on the 30th September following, and arrived at the hotel of Geneva in the afternoon of the third day, with four passengers. This line of road having been established by law, not less than fifty families settled on it in the space of four months after it was opened. It now bids fair to be, in a few years, one continued settlement from Fort Schuy-
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ler (Utica) to the Genesee River. - All last winter (1797) two stages, one of them a mailstage, ran from Geneva and Can- adarqua to Albany weekly."
1800. " The great Genesee road turns off at this place (Utica) ; an act has lately passed for making it a turnpike road to Geneva and Canadarqua, and the expense is esti- mated at $1000 per mile-the road to be four rods wide," says Maude, an English traveller in 1800. " The inhab- itants of Utica," he adds, " subscribed to finish the first mile : they formed twenty shares of $50 each : these shares they afterward sold to Colonel Walker and Mr. Post (for forty- four cents the dollar), who have finished the first mile-and it is expected that thirty miles will be finished before the winter sets in. Utica contains about sixty houses."
There was a bridge across the Mohawk at Utica at this time.
1800. " A very handsome road, four rods, or sixty-six feet in width, has been cut out the whole distance from the Gen- esee River [at Avon] to Ganson's, being twelve miles nearly in a straight line westward," says Maude.
A new road was commenced from Buffalo eastward, and three miles of it completed this year-similar to the road cut by Capt. Williamson from the Genesee River to Ganson's.
1801. The law of the 8th April, 1801, relating to high- ways, provided that, in all cases of carriages or sleighs meeting westward of Schenectady, on the great roads run- ning eastwardly and westwardly on either side of the Mo- hawk River, and contiguous thereto, and from the village of Utica, Oneida county, to the town of Canandarqua, in the county of Ontario, the carriages or sleighs going westwardly should give way to those travelling eastwardly, under fine of $3.
By the same law, the rivers forming the outlets of Canan- darqua, Seneca, Otsego, and Cayuga Lakes, and as much of the outlet of the Crooked Lake as is contained between the Seneca Lake and the lowest millseat on the said outlet, and the rivers formed by the outlets of the Owasco and Skane- atelas Lakes from their respective junctions with the Seneca River to the first falls in each of the said rivers ; Nine-mile Creek, falling into Salt Lake, the outlet of said lake ; the Canaseraga and Chittenango Creeks ; Limestone and But- ternut Creeks, to their first falls ; Genesee River, from the
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PROGRESS OF IMPROVEMENT.
great fall until its junction with Canaseraga Creek ; also the said creek to the south boundary of township number seven, seventh range, in [what was then] Ontario county ; also, Mud Creek, from the eastern boundary of township number twelve, third range, to the outlet of Canandarqua Lake ; also, the Rivers Conhocton and Canisteo, the one from the mills near Bath, the other from Big Marsh to Tioga River, and all the river within the state; also, the west branch of Chenango River, from the north bounds of Virgil to the east branch ; thence down to Susquehannah River, and all that river in this state ; also, Oneida Creek, from the bridge near Oneida Castle to Oneida Lake-were all declared high- ways, excepting privileges for building stores and docks.
Cayuga Bridge was commenced in May, 1799, and fin- ished in September, 1800. The length a mile and a quarter, the width admitted three wagons abreast. It was built by the Manhattan Company of New-York, and cost $150,000. " This bridge is the longest in America-perhaps in the world-and yet, five years ago," says a traveller in 1800, " the Indians possessed the shores of the lake, imbosomed in almost impenetrable woods."
1804. John Swift, Grover Smith, and John Ellis were appointed commissioners to explore and lay out a public road of at least four rods wide, from the village of Salina in Onondaga county, to the northwest corner of the town- ship of Galen, and from thence through the towns of Pal- myra and Northfield (now Penfield), to or near the mouth of the Genesee River-the expense of exploring and laying out said road to be borne equally by the counties through which the route lay, viz. : Onondaga, Cayuga, and Ontario, according to the then divisions of the state.
1810. Micah Brooks, Hugh M'Nair, and Matthew War- ner acted as state commissioners for laying out a road from Arkport to Charlotte, to connect the navigation of the Sus- quehannah with Lake Ontario at the mouth of Genesee River. When at the spot where now stands the City of Rochester, they enjoyed the hospitalities of the " first hotel" hereabouts-first in erection and in character-for it was the only frame dwelling then in existence at this point. Their bedstead was of primitive solidity, resting as they did on a strawheap and bearskin on the ground floor. (The little frame shantee yet exists, nearly opposite the Sec-
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ond Methodist Church in St. Paul's-street ; and is one of the two represented in the frontispiece, " Rochester in 1812.")
In the same year the same commissioners laid out a road from Canandaigua to Olean, to connect the turnpike at Can- andaigua with the Mississippi Valley through the Allegany River.
1810. Commissioners were appointed to explore and lay out a highway, at least four rods wide, from the bridge over Genesee River, near the village of Hartford [now Avon], in the town of Avon, in the county of Ontario, to the vil- lage of New-Amsterdam [now Buffalo], in the county of Niagara. Erie county, which includes Buffalo, has been cut off from Niagara since this date. The road to be open- ed by the people of the counties through which the line runs, &c.
1812. Commissioners were appointed to superintend the improvement of the road laid out from Genesee River at Avon to Buffalo, via Batavia. $5000 to be paid for such improvement by the state from the proceeds of state lands on the Niagara frontier.
1812. The construction of the first bridge at Rochester caused the diversion of some travelling from the other route, and gave an impetus to the making of roads pointing to this bridging-place-it being the only point whereat the river could then be crossed in that way between Avon .and Lake Ontario. "It may tend to give an idea of the commercial and civil importance of this section at that time," says Eve- rard Peck, Esq., in the Rochester Directory for 1827, " to state that the mail was in 1812 carried from Canandaigua once a week on horseback, and part of the time by a woman !"
1813. The Legislature granted $5000 for cutting out the path and bridging the streams on the Ridge-Road (between Rochester and Lewiston), which was then almost impassa- ble.
1814. Jabez Bradley, David Ogden, and others were in- corporated, with a capital of $20,000, in shares of $20 each, to make a turnpike-road from the termination of the " fourth great western turnpike-road," in the town of Homer, Cort- land county, through the towns of Locke and Genoa, Cay- uga county, to the east shore of Cayuga Lake.
1815. James Ganson, Joseph M'Clure, and Ira Selby were appointed to lay out and establish a road, beginning at Van Orman's in the town of Canandaigua, to the bridge
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[then] to be erected across the Genesee River near the house of Horatio Jones [between Geneseo and Moscow], conforming to and as near the present postroad as may be ; thence in the nearest direction to the southeasterly shore of Lake Erie, between the house of Zenas Barker and the mouth of Eighteen-mile Creek-the expense of such laying out to be borne by the three counties through which the road was to pass, viz. : Ontario, Genesee, and Niagara, ac- cording to the then existing divisions of the state.
1815. Samuel Hildreth, of Pittsford, commenced running a stage and carrying the mail twice a week between Can- andaigua and Rochester, a distance of twenty-eight miles.
In the same year a private weekly mailroute was estab- lished between Rochester and Lewiston on the Niagara River-dependant on the income of the postoffices on the route for its support. And it was not till
1816 that any inquiry was deemed proper "as to the expediency of establishing a postroute from the village of Canandaigua, by way of the village of Rochester, to the village of Lewiston, in the county of Niagara and State of New-York"-a resolution to this effect having then been presented to Congress by Gen. Micah Brooks (then the only representative of the double district which included all that portion of the state westward of Seneca Lake-Gen. Peter B. Porter, his colleague, having been appointed a commis- sioner to settle the boundary question with Great Britain).
The simple fact that ten mails for various quarters leave the City of Rochester daily in 1837, is sufficient (without particular reference to canal, lake, or railroad communica- tions) to indicate THE CONTRAST which the present state of things furnishes to that set forth in the foregoing statements.
ORIGIN AND PROGRESS OF THE CANAL SYSTEM.
The extent to which the people of Rochester are interest- ed in the navigation of the Erie Canal-an extent which may be inferred from the fact that they either own or control about one half of the stock in all the regular transportation lines on that great water-way *- will doubtless furnish to them a sufficient apology for the length of the following ar-
* See article concerning the " Canal Trade of Rochester."
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ticle, in which we have endeavoured to trace the agencies that have resulted in establishing that SYSTEM OF INTER- NAL. IMPROVEMENT, of which the Erie Canal is the grand- est feature. The necessity already existing for enlarging that important thoroughfare has a tendency to increase the interest manifested by our citizens on this subject. The fact that several of the most influential agents in establish- ing the Canal Policy are personally known to many among us-some of them having resided, or being still residents in Rochester and the surrounding country-combines with the other considerations in inducing us to present, as fully as prac- ticable in this work, as many particulars as seemed necessary to elucidate the origin and progress of that essential policy of the state. With the facts already given respecting the highways of Western New-York, those who are not conver- sant with the subject may find here some interesting data concerning the early history of the country, the progressive settlement of which is pretty clearly indicated by the march of improvement in the matters of roadmaking and canalling.
These canal operations might have been much more briefly despatched ; but it has been deemed advisable to quote lib- erally the language of those who were chiefly instrumental in producing the glorious results in the history of our Inter- nal Improvements.
The remarkable features of Western New-York, with ref- erence to water communications, early arrested the attention of the pioneers, as they had previously commanded the no- tice of the Indian occupants of the country. The interlock- age of streams rolling their waters to the ocean in various di- rections, the benefits resulting from the many lakes diversi- fying the surface of this region, the facilities furnished by the chain of inland seas with which connexion exists on the north and west, and with the rivers flowing towards the Gulf of Mexico, and towards the Bays of Chesapeake, Del- aware, and New-York, presented such manifold attractions as might well command the consideration of contemplative minds, while suggesting to the trader and soldier the advan- tages inseparable from suitable canals in lieu of portages between the various waters which thus wonderfully approx- imate at their sources, or in their courses towards opposite points of the continent. .
When the British supplanted the Dutch in possession of
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the Province (now State) of New-York, the streams which with short portages connected the Hudson River with Lake Champlain and with Lake Ontario, were the routes by which intercourse was maintained in peace or war between the tra- ding-posts on the lakes and the St. Lawrence and those on the Hudson. So that, for purposes of trade or blood, these nearly perfect water-communications were early and well known to the traders and soldiers, as well as to the Red Men who came to traffic with, or to fight for or against the English colonies.
Dr. Colden, the historian of the Five Nations, who was surveyor-general of the Province of New-York, prepared a map for his work about a hundred years ago, showing the present territory of this state and other lands which were included therewith in what were known as the hunting- grounds of those enterprising tribes. That map early ren- dered many familiar with the facilities of water-communica- tion which they had not practically experienced. Indeed, so closely were the waters of the Hudson and the St. Law- rence known to approach, that some travellers about the middle of the last century wrote on the supposition that the water-communication was actually perfect. It was because of the convenience of the communications with the country of the Iroquois or Five Nations, that Gov. Burnet, in 1726, erect- ed a fort and trading-house where Oswego now stands, " be- tween the lakes and Schenectady, there being but three port- ages, and those very short." "I have said that when we are in Lake Ontario we are upon a level with the French, because here we can meet with all the Indians that design to go to Montreal," said the venerable Colden about a hun- dred years ago. " But, besides this passage by the lakes, there is a river [now called the Seneca] which comes from the country of the Senecas, and falls into the Onondaga [now Oswego] River, by which we have an easy carriage into that country without going near Lake Ontario. The head of this river goes near to Lake Erie, and probably may give a very near passage into that lake, much more advantageous than the way the French are obliged to take by the great Fall of Niagara," &c. Thus early was atten- tion turned to the streams of Western New-York-to the waters leading towards Lake Erie, as well as towards the Ontario.
The route from the Hudson to Lake Ontario was through
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the Mohawk River, Wood Creek, Oneida Lake, and Oswe- go River. The portage between the Mohawk and Wood Creek was about three or four miles long. The navigation of the Mohawk itself was somewhat interrupted by rifts and bars, as well as falls, which were obviated by short portages.
The route from the Hudson to Lake Champlain was by another creek called Wood Creek, between which and the Hudson there was a short portage.
Governor Moore, in 1768, urged upon the Colonial Legis- lature the propriety of improving the route between Sche- nectady and Lake Ontario, stating that " obstructions in the Mohawk River, occasioned by the Falls of Conojoharie, had been constantly complained of, and that it was obvious to all who were conversant in matters of this kind, that the diffi- culty could be easily remedied by sluices upon the plan of those in the great canal of Languedoc in France, which was made to open a communication between the Atlantic and the Mediterranean."
The Ontario route to the lakes, as well as the Champlain route from the Hudson to Montreal, was thus evidently well understood even before the revolution, though nothing effi- cient was accomplished towards the completion of the routes by constructing canals or sluices at the several portages.
It is worthy of notice, that the chief who led the American people through the revolution was foremost in turning at- tention to the improvement of these and other water commu- nications after the restoration of peace. The subject had previously largely occupied his attention, and his resignation of military command was specdily followed by a tour of in- spection through Western New-York. The feelings with which Washington was animated are vividly portrayed, not merely by his biographer, but by his own letters, as will be seen by the following paragraph from Marshall's History :-
"'To a person looking beyond the present moment, and taking the future into view, it is only necessary to glance over the map of the United States to be impressed with the incalculable importance of connecting the western with the eastern territory, by facilitating the means of intercourse be- tween them. To this subject the attention of Gen. Wash- ington had been in some measure directed in the early part of his life. While the American states were yet British colonies, he had obtained the passage of a bill empowering those individuals who would engage in the work to open the
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Potomac so as to render it navigable from the tide to Wills's Creek. The James River had also been comprehended in his plan ; and he had triumphed so far over the opposition produced by local interests and prejudices, that the business was in a train which promised success, when the revolution- ary war diverted the attention of its patrons, and of all Amer- ica, from internal improvements to the great objects of liberty and independence. As that war approached its termination, subjects which for a time had yielded their pretensions to consideration reclaimed that place to which their real mag- nitude entitled them ; and the internal navigation again at- tracted the attention of the wise and thinking part of society. Accustomed to contemplate America as his country, and to consider with solicitude the interests of the whole, Washing- ton now took a more enlarged view of the advantages to be derived from opening both the eastern and western waters ; and for this as well as for other purposes, after peace had been proclaimed, he traversed the western parts of New- England and New-York. 'I have lately,' said he, in a let- ter to the Marquis of Chastellux, a foreigner who was in pursuit of literary as well as of military fame, ' I have lately made a tour through the Lakes George and Champlain, as far as Crown Point; then returning to Schenectady, I pro- ceeded up the Mohawk River to Fort Schuyler [or Stanwix], crossed over to Wood Creek, which empties into the Oneida Lake, and affords the water communication with Ontario. I then traversed the country to the head of the eastern banks of the Susquehannah, and viewed the Lake Otsego and the portage between that lake and the Mohawk River at Cana- joharie. Prompted by these actual observations, I could not help taking a more contemplative and extensive view of the vast inland navigation of these United States, and could not but be struck with the immense diffusion and importance of it, and with the goodness of that Providence who has dealt his favours with so profuse a hand. Would to God we may have wisdom to improve them! I shall not rest contented until I have explored the western country, and traversed those lines (or great part of them) which have given bounds to a new empire.' "
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