USA > New York > Monroe County > Rochester > Settlement in the West : sketches of Rochester with incidental notices of western New-York > Part 23
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
" The distance from New-York to Portland, via Newburgh, is 415 miles ; but the route of the railroad round, not over the hills, gives the increase. A straight, but far more ex- pensive course might perhaps be made in 350 miles. It is apprehended, however, that more minute surveys will enable the engineers to shorten the route ; and it is now said to be reduced to 460 miles."
The whole cost of the New-York and Erie Railroad, from the Hudson to Lake Erie, is estimated at $6,000,000 for a single track, including locomotives, cars, &c. Among the projected lateral communications connected with this railroad route, there is one for connecting at Dansville with a pro- posed railroad from Rochester, as well as with the branch of the Genesee Canal-and in Allegany county, the New-York and Erie Railroad route crosses the main trunk of the Gen- esee Canal. So that this proposed southern railroad can- not be viewed with indifference by the people of Rochester, connected with it as they may thus be, by railroad or canal through the Genesee Valley.
But there is still another line of railroad, the speedy com- pletion of which promises great advantage to Rochester. The northern railroad route, between the Hudson and Lake Erie, passes through Rochester in connecting Albany and Buffalo. It is composed of several links, such as the roads between Albany and Schenectady, from the latter place to Utica, thence to Syracuse, from that place to Auburn, and
241
PROGRESS OF IMPROVEMENT.
from Auburn to Rochester-whence the communication is continued by the Tonnewanta Railroad to Batavia and Attica, while the enterprising citizens of Buffalo, connected with others at Batavia, &c., are preparing to finish the last link in the chain by carrying on the work from Batavia to Lake Erie at Buffalo. This line is now in operation between Al- bany and Utica, and between Rochester and Batavia-the section between Syracuse and Auburn will be in operation this summer-while vigorous preparations are made for completing speedily the links between Utica and Syracuse, and between Auburn and Rochester.
With the improvements in progress between Albany and Boston, it is not improbable that in three years a railroad communication will thus be completed from Lake Erie to Massachusetts Bay-passing through Rochester, where the route is connected with the navigation of Lake Ontario.
So that, in the two great railroad routes between the east and west, as well as in the magnificent works of enlarging the Erie Canal and constructing the Genesee Canal, be- sides the improvement of the lake and river navigation, it will be seen that the people of Rochester have extensive in- terests which may excuse the fulness of the references here made to the subject of INTERNAL IMPROVEMENTS-some fur- ther particulars of which, in their connexions with our city, may be found among the notices in the sequel of the trade and resources of Rochester.
The extent of our internal improvements forms at this day a brilliant contrast to the rude efforts which we have traced in roadmaking through Western New-York. And yet it has been said that this state is a sluggard in the cause of which she was one of the earliest pioneers ! In rebutting a charge of this sort, the State Paper mentions that ---
" Since 1817 not a year has passed in which New-York has not been engaged upon some great work of internal improvement : and the state is at this moment engaged in the construction of works, the cost of which (to say nothing of the loan to the New-York and Erie Railroad) is not estimated at less than $21,000,000 ! The following statement, derived from authentic sources, will show what New-York has done. Canals finished cost
$12,000,000
Genesee Valley and Black River will cost
6,200,000
Enlargement of the Erie Canal, at least 15,000,000
Loaned to Delaware and Hudson Canal 800,000
Loaned (authorized) New-York and Erie Railroad
3,000,000
Amount carried over,
$37,000,000
21
242
SKETCHES OF ROCHESTER, ETC.
Amount brought forward,
$37,000,000
" So much has been expended and authorized to be ex- pended by the state. In addition to which are the follow- ing private works of improvement, viz. : Delaware and Hudson Canal, completed
$2,420,000
Railroads completed
5,065,000
Private Canals commenced
1,550,000
Railroads commenced
. 16,000,000
25,035,000
Total
$62,035,000
Add railroads authorized
31,064,000
Grand total $93,099,000 " The number of miles of canals and railroads completed is 995; miles commenced, 1134; authorized, 1704 ; showing a total of 4833 miles." Thus has New-York sustained the system which she commenced.
The following is a comparative view of the tolls on the canals for four years :
Canals.
1833.
1834.
1835.
1836.
Erie Canal,
1,290,136 20
1,179,744 97
1,375,821 26
1,440,539 87
Champlain Canal,
132,559 02
115,211 89
117,030 33
115,425 24
Oswego Canal,
22,950 47
22,168 02
29,180 62
30,469 83
Cayuga and Seneca,
17,174 69
18,130 43
20,430 14
20,523 43
Chemung Canal,
694 00
3,378 05
4,714 98
5,066 20
Crooked Lake,
200 84
1,473 40
1,830 55
2,311 86
1,463,715 22 1,340,106 76 1,548,108 65 1,614,336 43
Tolls collected at some of the principal places on the Erie Canal.
Places of Collection.
1833.
1834.
1835.
1836.
Albany,
323,689 88
245,746 42
357,613 84 389,327 28
West Troy,
172,070 41
132,035 02 153,459 78 160,247 67
Utica,
55,063 97
52,266 44
50,584 30
57,974 40
Syracuse,
99,931 05
83,550 68
74,756 29
56,767 22
Rochester,
168,452 37 164,247 28 176, 170 33 190,036 59
Palmyra,
48,117 96
51,056 54
40,181 28
41,079 17
Lockport,
50,562 39
44,536 68
52,129 24
38,199 69
Buffalo,
73,812 79
91,203 44 106,213 35 158,085 05
Thus have we presented a rude outline of the progress of improvement from the period when the first road was laid out through Western New-York down to the present time, when the land is teeming with the rich fruits of an en- lightened policy-of which it would be difficult to furnish happier evidence than is afforded by THE CITY OF Ro- CHESTER.
STATISTICS OF ROCHESTER.
HAVING in the preceding papers furnished some facts which it was thought might be interesting to the citizens re- specting the climate, soil, settlement, and productions of this western region generally, we will now devote our remarks more particularly to the CITY OF ROCHESTER.
The various branches of information illustrative of the origin and condition of the city will be found arranged under appropriate captions. It is for the reader to determine whether these statements afford sufficient confirmation of our assertions in the outline sketch of Rochester with which this volume was commenced.
Although the origin of Rochester may not be correctly dated before its incorporation under a village charter in 1817 (the difficulties connected with the war having prevented any considerable settlement for the first three or four years after it was "laid out"), it may not be uninteresting to pre- serve some records of the rude condition of the tract on which the city is built-records, for which we are indebted to the recollections of some of the pioneers and to the private journal of a statesman (De Witt Clinton), whose "first impressions" were noted in connexion with other particu- lars of the first exploring tour of the commissioners on the route of the Erie Canal.
With this preface we present some notices of the condition of things previous to the incorporation of the village of Rochester. These "lowly annals" form an amusing con- trast to the record which the lapse of a single quarter century enables us to present respecting the same portion of territory.
Condition of Things in and around the Site of Rochester (previous to 1817).
The main road from Utica to Buffalo, passing across the Genesee at Avon by the only bridge then on the river, oc- casioned an extensive settlement of the lands in the imme-
244
SKETCHES OF ROCHESTER, ETC.
diate vicinity of that thoroughfare, while a large tract, of which Rochester is now the centre, was almost literally a wilderness. A few persons, however, penetrated northward between Avon and Lake Ontario as ealy as 1788-90. 'These were Israel and Simon Stone, who settled in what is now Pittsford ; and they were followed by Glover Perrin, who settled in and afterward gave a name to Perrinton ; and by Peter Shaeffer, who located on the flats of the Genesee, near where Scottsville stands, beside Allen's Creek-a stream named after "Indian Allen," who also resided there before building the first mill hereabout in 1790, as noticed in the account of " the Early Millers of the Genesee."
Orange Stone settled in what is now called Brighton, about four miles from the Genesee, in 1790 ; and, in 1791, William Hincher took residence in the woods about the junction of the river with Lake Ontario. The two last-named person- ages lived twelve miles apart, and for several years without an intervening neighbour. Such was the eccentricity of Hincher, that he looked jealously upon new-comers, whose settlements might disturb the tranquillity of this " neighbour- hood."
Respecting Shaeffer, Maude said in 1800, " This respecta- ble farmer lives off the road in a new boarded house, the only one of that description between New-Hartford [now Avon] and the mouth of the Genesee River, about twenty-five miles. Shaeffer is the oldest settler, Indian Allen excepted, on the Genesee River. When Shaeffer first settled on this river, about 1788, there were not more than four or five families settled between him and Fort Schuyler (Utica), a distance of 150 miles; and at this time, 1800, there is a continued line of settlements, including the towns of Cayuga, Geneva, Canadarqua, and the populous township of Bloom- field."*
In 1796 Zadoc Granger and Gideon King settled at what was termed Genesee Landing, afterward Hanford's Land-
* " Shaeffer's farm consists of 800 acres, 100 of which are a part of the celebrated Genesee Flats, which have their northern termination at this place. Shaeffer informed me that he paid seven dollars a barrel for salt, and that six dollars was the usual price. This he considered as one of the greatest hardships of his situation ; for the inhabitants of the back country are not only under the necessity of salting their provisions, but of giving salt to their cattle ; to them so necessary that they could not live without it."-Maude, 1800.
245
TOUR OF DE WITT CLINTON.
ing, sixteen years before the village of Rochester was pro- jected. (See article headed " Hanford's Landing.")
Tour of De Witt Clinton in 1810.
The journal which De Witt Clinton kept while on an ex- ploring tour with the other Canal Commissioners, furnishes some notices of the country at and around the place where Rochester has since sprung into being. 'Through the po- liteness of the gentleman who is now preparing a memoir (with the aid of the private papers) of the lamented states- man, we have been permitted to copy from the journal the observations made by Mr. Clinton at that time. Under date of July, 1810, the journal (which is generally minute in its details) thus mentions the approach to and departure west- ward from the Genesee River :
" We crossed Gerundegut Creek at Mann's Mills, where Mr. Geddes proposes a great embankment for his canal from the Genesee River to the head-waters of Mud Creek, and he crosses Gerundegut Creek here in order to attain the great- est elevation of ground on the other side. Adjacent to this place were indications of iron ore and red ochre, which often accompany each other.
" We arrived at the tavern at Perrin's, in the town of Boyle [now Perrinton], twenty-one miles from Canandaigua, four and a half from Gerundegut or Irondequoit Landing, and fourteen from Charlottesburgh. A vessel of thirty tons can go to the head of this landing [from Lake Ontario; but the sandbar at the mouth of the bay now prevents all intercourse of that sort]. The sign of the tavern contains masonic em- blems, and is by S. Felt & Co. Felt is a man in the land- lord's employ ; and the object of this masked sign is, as the landlord says, to prevent his debtors from avoiding his house. * * We drew lots for the choice of beds ; and
it turning out in my favour, I chose the worst bed in the house. I was unable to sleep on account of the fleas, &c. * * At this place we eat the celebrated whitefish salted ; it is better than shad, and cost at Irondequoit Landing $12 per barrel.
" We departed from here at seven o'clock, after breakfast ; and after a ride of eight and a half miles, arrived at a ford of the Genesee River about half a mile from the Great Falls, and seven and a half from Lake Ontario. This ford is one rock of limestone. Just below it there is a fall of fourteen
21*
246
SKETCHES OF ROCHESTER, ETC.
feet .* An excellent bridge of uncommon strength is now erecting at this place. We took a view of the Upper and Lower Falls. The first is ninety-seven, and the other is seventy-five feet. The banks on each side are higher than the falls, and appear to be composed of slate, but principally of red freestone. The descent of the water is perpendicular. The view is grand, considering the elevation of the bank and the smallness of the cataract or sheet of water. [Such was, in 1810, the aspect of the place where Rochester is built.]
" From the ford to the lake is seven and a half miles ;
" From the Great Falls to the lake is seven miles ;
" From the Great to the Lower Falls is one and a half miles ;
" From the Lower Falls to Hanford's Tavern, where we put up, is one and a half miles ;
" From Hanford's to Charlottesburgh on the lake is four miles.
" There is a good sloop navigation from the lake to the Lower Falls [now called the Ontario Steamboat Landing in Rochester]. These falls, as also those of Niagara, and perhaps of Oswego, are made by the same ridge or slope of land. The Genesee River, in former times, may have been dammed up at these falls, and have formed a vast lake cov- ering all the Genesee Flats forty miles up. The navigation above the ford is good for small boats to the Canaseraga Creek, and ten miles above it, making altogether fifty miles.
" We dined and slept at Hanford's tavern, who is also a merchant, and carries on a considerable trade with Canada. There is a great tradet between this country and Montreal in staves, potash, and flour.
" I was informed by Mr. Hopkins, the officer of the cus- toms here, that 1000 barrels of flour, 1000 do. of pork, 1000 do. of potash, and upward of 100,000 staves, had been al- ready sent this season from here to Montreal ; that staves now sold there for $140 per thousand, and had one time
* This is what is called in this work "the First Fall." (It might be better termed a rapid-but the place commonly called " the Rapids" is about two miles up the river.) This "First Fall" is situate a few rods south of the Erie Canal Aqueduct ; and from the dam here built water is thrown into millraces on both sides of the river. There are now (1837) three other dams across the river, supplying hydraulic power on each side of the river within the city limits.
t It is amusing to contrast that " great trade of this country" with the present business of a single establishment in Rochester alone.
247
FIRST PUBLIC WORK AT ROCHESTER.
brought $400 ; that the expense of transporting 1000 staves from this place to Montreal is from $85 to $90 ; across the lake, from $45 to $50 ; that of a barrel of potash to Mon- treal, $2; pork, $2; flour, $1 25; but that the cheapness of this article is owing to competition, and is temporary.
" A ton of goods can be transported from Canandaigua to Utica by land for $25 00.
" Notwithstanding the rain, we visited in the afternoon the mouth of the river. On the left bank a village has been laid out by Col. Troup, the agent of the Pulteney Estate, and called Charlottesburgh, in compliment to his daughter. He has divided the land into one-acre lots. Each lot is sold at $10 per acre, on condition that the purchaser erects a house in a year. This place is in the town of Geneseo. The harbour here is good. 'The bar at the mouth varies from eight to eight and a half feet, and the channel is generally eleven feet. There were four lake vessels in it. We had an opportunity of seeing the lake in a storm, and it perfectly resembled its parent (the ocean) in the agitation, the roaring, and the violence of its waves."
The first Public Work where Rochester now stands.
The law authorizing the construction of a bridge across the Genesee where the main bridge of Rochester now stands, gave the first impulse to improvement at this point.
Among those whose views were earliest turned to the tract whereon Rochester is founded was our respected fel- low-citizen ENOS STONE, who, while yet in a green old age, has the satisfaction of beholding around him evidences of improvement which contrast strongly with the character be- stowed upon the place in the Legislature while the Bridge Bill was under consideration .* Mr. Stone had visited this region in 1794, but did not conclude on settling here till about 1807-8; and even then his removal from Massachu- setts hither depended on the question of constructing a bridge at this point. It was agreed that the settlers in Pitts- ford, Perrinton, &c., should petition the Legislature for an act authorizing the construction of the bridge ; and that Mr. Stone should forward the object by attending at Albany du- ring the session of that body. The bill for the purpose was
* A son of Mr. Stone, born in 1810, was the first white person born on either of the tracts now included in the City of Rochester.
248
SKETCHES OF ROCHESTER, ETC.
strongly opposed by some members as imposing an unne- cessary tax upon the people. The bridge at Avon (nearly 20 miles southward) was said to be sufficient for public ac- commodation, while it was alleged there was nothing in or about this point which required or would justify the erection of an additional bridge. " It is a God-forsaken place ! in- habited by muskrats, visited only by straggling trappers, through which neither man nor beast could gallop without fear of starvation or fever and ague !" Such was almost lit- erally the character by which the tract whereon Rochester now stands (for the place was nameless then) was stigma- tized in the New-York Legislature less than thirty years ago ! It is almost superfluous now to add, that the repre- sentation was considerably exaggerated, by local jealousy perhaps, though it is certain that the then prevalent im- pression was not favourable to this location with reference to salubrity.
Although a portion of the tract on which Rochester stands was originally somewhat marshy, it would be difficult to find in or around any city an equal portion of territory abounding with locations for a large population more eligible on the score of health or beauty, as is obvious to those conversant with our localities and present bills of mortality.
The bill authorizing the construction of the bridge became a law ; but so outrageous was it considered by many, that the " extravagant folly" of taxing the people for bridging in such an outlandish place was frequently reprobated during the ensuing political campaign in Ontario county.
The bridge was commenced in the following year, 1810, and finished in 1812, at an expense of $12,000, taxed from the counties of Ontario and Genesee-the river being then the dividing line between those counties (MONROE COUNTY, of which Rochester is the chief town, not having been erected till the year 1821). The river had previously been forded at this place on the rocky bottom, a few rods south of the Canal Aqueduct, and near the site of the present jail. Accidents not unfrequently resulted from this mode of cross- ing the stream. In 1805, during the spring freshet, Messrs. Willis Kempshall and William Billinghurst, while crossing in a canoe rowed by William Cole (the only man then res- ident hereabout except Mr. Hanford), narrowly escaped be- ing hurried into eternity-one of the oars having broke, and the other being insufficient to guide the canoe across the
249
INDIANS AT ROCHESTER.
flood. Luckily, the branches projecting from Brown's Isl- and enabled them to arrest suddenly their bark, which an- other moment might have dashed over the awful cataract ! A shocking catastrophe occurred in the spring of 1812, before the bridge was finished. A farmer, with his team and wagon, were destroyed by being swept over the falls (nearly a hundred feet high) from which Messrs. Kempshall, Bil- linghurst, and Cole had such a hairbreadth escape, and where Sam Patch afterward jumped into eternity while de- monstrating his favourite maxim that " some things can be done as well as others."
At the time of the first settlements there were numerous families of Indians scattered around this place. Hot-bread, a worthy chief, with Tommy-jemmy, Captain Thompson, Blackbird, and some other red men of note, spent part of their time here ; and as late as 1813 one of the great pagan festivals (the Sacrifice of the Dog) was solemnized publicly at the rising ground beside which the Bethel Church now stands. (See Account of the Religious and Social Institutions of Rochester.) " At that time, the swamps back of the Mansion House, where the new market now stands, and around the bathing-house in Buffalo-street, between the Eagle Tavern and United States Hotel, were filled with rabbits, partridges, and other game ; and deer might be seen almost any day, by watching at the 'Deer Lick,' about where Reynolds and Bateham's Horticultural Establishment now is, at the corner of Buffalo and Sophia streets ; and in 1813 my brother shot two deer where is now the heart of the city-one at the west end of the main bridge, the other near where Child's Buildings stand, opposite the Rochester House," says a friend, whose reminiscences are elsewhere acknowledged.
NOTE .- Sketches of " first settlement" must necessarily partake largely of a personal character. As for Rochester twenty years ago, it would be rather difficult to say much without referring to the few persons who then constituted the whole population of the tract whereon is now flourishing one of the principal cities of the state. 'The enterprising pioneers of Rochester, who are yet mostly living among us, will there- fore pardon the necessity which compels the chronicler to
250
SKETCHES OF ROCHESTER, ETC.
make them figure personally in these " annals of the olden time," in lieu of mayor, aldermen, and other high function- aries with which our goodly place is now dignified by virtue of an increased population and its city charter.
The Scene in 1811-12 .- The Bearfight.
An adventure which occurred about this period has been employed in the frontispiece to illustrate the contempora- neous condition of this locality. The shantees there de- picted were the only frame dwellings then at this place. One of them was occupied by Isaac Stone, the other by Enos Stone. The singular fact that some of the early set- tlers were annoyed by wild beasts in 1812 should not be overlooked among the reminiscences connected with the " ancient days" of Rochester. A memorandum of the bear- fight, wherein the quadruped fought for life and the settler for the corn requisite to preserve his family from hunger, has been furnished by a friend to whom we are indebted for various facts concerning those " good old times :"
" It was in the fall of 1811 that Enos Stone had a patch of corn, about six acres in extent. This cornpatch was on the east and south sides of his little dwelling, which stood near the bank of the river, beside the fording-place-for the bridge was yet unfinished. Provisions were exceedingly scarce, and not to be had at any price, except to prevent starvation. Mr. Stone looked upon his cornfield with anx- iety, knowing well the extent of his dependance upon it for the then approaching winter. Towards the ripening of the precious crop, he found that much would be lost from the depredations of the wild beasts ; and at length he began to tremble for the whole field, when he found that an old she- bear had commenced devastations upon it, destroying far more than she devoured. For a while he kept her at bay by leaving out his dog ; till, at length, the imboldened bear would chase the dog even to the doorstep. Finding that something must be done ; that he could not hope for half a crop if such depredations continued ; and that he could not sleep with such an animal prowling about his dwelling. Mr. Stone turned out with a boy and a rusty gun to attack the intruder about two o'clock one morning. The bear then took refuge in a tree, whence she was soon dislodged by the smoke of a fire kindled beneath. She fell near Mr. Stone,
251
FIRST SETTLEMENTS.
and, after a short contest with him and his boy and dog, fled to another tree. She was dislodged from this and three other trees by kindling fires beneath-when, more powder being obtained from a neighbour (the first two shots proving ineffectual, and exhausting all his own powder), Mr. Stone had the satisfaction of seeing his annoyer disabled to such a degree as to fall from the tree. But, though fallen, the bear was ' unconquered still ;' and, when no longer able to stand, the ferocious brute fought upon her haunches, like that redoubtable soldier who,
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.