USA > New York > Niagara County > Souvenir history of Niagara County, New York : commemorative of the 25th anniversary of the Pioneer Association of Niagara County > Part 2
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Of the four Neuter villages that lay east of the Niagara River, two were within the present limits of Niagara County. Onguiahrra, a populous town, with a palisaided fortification, occupied the site of the village of Lewiston. Another, un- known by name, stood on the mountain ridge, about a mile west of the City of Lockport.
On the same ridge, about three and a half miles east of the Niagara River, on the present Tuscarora Reservation, stood a small fort or outpost, known as Kienuka, whose out- lines are yet faintly discernable. About eight miles east of this outpost, also on the ridge, was a mound and an ossuary, or burial pit ; and on Tonawanda Island was another mound ; both of which may have been connected with ancient village sites.
The Neuter nation was annihilated in 1651 by the Sen-
Casson and Gallinee, and several attendants, he passed the mouth of the Niagara River, on his westward journey. In a few days he changed his plans, left the missionaries, re- turned eastward, stopped at the mouth of the river, and on the site of Fort Niagara built the first white man's house ever erected hereabouts. During his stay, of probably a few weeks, he and his small party carefully examined the shores of the river, no doubt for its entire length. After his departure his cabin stood for nearly six years, when the Sen- ecas burnt it.
But La Salle intended, and was destined, to return to this locality ; for he saw in it a good center for trade in furs : he projected the erection of a fort at the mouth of the river, and he made several efforts to have the French Government construct it.
Failing in this, he went to France, and secured from the Government private rights to trade in the Far West, and also the right, in connection therewith, to build forts wher- ever he deemed it necessary ; all at his own expense.
There was already a fort at Frontenac (Kingston), and the next one in the westward chain he planned to build at
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SOUVENIR HISTORY OF NIAGARA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
the mouth of the Niagara River. So, in 1678, he sent out his advance party for this purpose, and followed it himself a month later.
On December the 6th of that year the vessel, bearing this advance party, entered the Niagara River, "into which never any such ship as ours entered before." as Father Hen- nepin, who was on it, records. "Te Deum Laudamus" sang the Frenchmen; and the savages on the shore gazed in awe, and listened in wonder. A few days later the vessel was towed up stream as far as Lewiston, and on the site of that village, the crew, led by La Motte and Hennepin-for the
sought trade with the white men; many of them voyaging as far east as Quebec, some going by the Ottawa, and some by the Niagara route.
The fact that on the Niagara route a great fall inter- rupted the navigation, and that it was necessary to carry their canoes around it, was known to the Indians along the Atlantic coast as early as 1603, for in that year Champlain heard of it, in that region, and noted it in his work, entitled "Des Sauvages." It was this portage around them, and not their scenic grandeur, that had impressed itself on the minds of the savages and made them thus early transmit the knowl-
FIRST KNOWN VIEW OF NIAGARA (HENNEPINS) , 1697.2
latter was a priest militant-both in the service of the church and in the trade with the savages -built a "cabin surround- ed with palisaides," which they called "an habitation," but which was in reality a fort ; the first white man's fortification in this territory.
But there were other plans in view, and on the arrival of La Salle, soon afterwards, a site for a ship yard was selected on the "Little River," near the present village of La Salle, and there he laid the keel of the first vessel, other than an Indian canoe, that ever floated on the upper lakes. This vessel was named the "Griffon," was of sixty tons burden, and was the pioneer craft of the enormous fleet that today carries the commerce of a nation on four of our great in- land seas. She was built within, and started out on her maiden, and only voyage, from the confines of the Niagara County of today.
At La Salle Father Hennepin erected a small chapel of bark, in which, during the construction of the Griffon, he regularly said mass, intoned the service of the Catholic Church and preached the Gospel to a mixed congregation of Frenchmen and savages. The earlier missionaries, as well as Hennepin, had previously carried a portable altar, to- gether with the holy vessels, and the sacred vestments strapped to their backs on their journeyings. This was the first structure, though a temporary one, ever erected for di- vine service within the limits or our county.
At that time, and probably for many years previously, there was an Indian trail, or foot path, between the site of Lewiston, which was the head of navigation for the Indian canoes on Lake Ontario, and the smooth waters of the river, some half a mile above the Falls, which was the foot of nav- igation on the upper river.
For the Indians of those days were great travellers, and
edge of the existence of Niagara Falls to the far away tribes of their brethren.
The first description of Niagara Falls was published by Father Hennepin, and in a subsequent edition of his work he gave the first picture of them as reproduced herewith.
While La Salle always insisted on being accompanied on all his expeditions by one or more priests, it was to the
REGN-VINO IMP.CHRS.
THE GREAT CROSS.
"arquebuss" in the hands of the soldier, rather than to the "Sword of the Spirit" in the hands of the priest, that he looked for success in his dealings with the savages.
With him began the building of modern forts in Niag- ara County. In January, 1679, he traced out Fort Conti, on
SOUVENIR HISTORY OF NIAGARA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
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the site of Fort Niagara, and though it was speedily com- pleted, it stood but a few months, being destroyed by fire the following August, through the carelessness of the garri- son.
FRENCH CONTROL.
In 1687 the Marquis de De Nonville came here with an army, and on the site of Fort Conti he built a fort with four bastions, which he named after himself. He garrisoned and provisioned it and then returned to Quebec. The Senecas at once besieged it, maintaining the siege all winter, and by spring disease had reduced the garrison from 100 to twelve men. Though regarrisoned, the Senecas, backed by Brit- ish influence, insisted on its destruction, and in the fall of 1688 the French were compelled to tear down its ramparts and abandon it, though they left intact the buildings and also the great cross, eighteen feet high, that stood in the center of the enclosure. France now saw that her hope of a fort in this territory lay through the friendship, not through the conquest, of the Senecas, and used every means to con- ciliate them. Britain also wanted and worked for the Sen- ecas' good-will, but France proved to be the better concil- iator.
upper story overhanging and pierced with loop-holes for the use of fire-arms ; musket-proof, and surrounded with palis- aides. It was styled "Magazin Royal," but the numerous attendants were French soldiers, and over it floated the flag bearing the lillies of France.
In 1725, so well had Joncaire played his part in cement- ing the friendship of the Senecas to the French interest, France secured the Indians' consent to the erection of a stone house, in place of Joncaire's wooden "Magazin Royal," as it was then known. The engineer, probably under orders, built it, not at Lewiston, but at the mouth of the river. Tradition says that it was commenced by strat- egy ; that the French, having gathered the necessary mate- rials, invited the Indians to accompany them on a big hunt, and the invitation was accepted. The hunt occupied three days, the rendezvous being near the present site of the City of Lockport ; and when the party returned to the mouth of the river, the walls of the stone house were up one story, and the French soldiers had thus a fortification within which they could defend themselves.
This building, the first Fort Niagara, was speedily com- pleted; and after unsuccessful attempts on the part of Brit-
THE CASTLE AT FORT NIAGARA, COMMENCED 1725.
It was through the influence of an employee in the French service, Chabert Joncaire, a Frenchman by birth, but a Seneca by adoption, that she was temporarily to triumph over her rival.
He was the real representative of France in this ter- ritory for many a year, and has gone down in history as "the man who spoke with all the good sense of a Frenchman and with all the eloquence of an Iroquois." The Senecas wished him to dwell among them and had given him permission to ocate his cabin wherever he chose, agreeing to maintain a village of their people near him.
In 1719 France utilized this permission, by having him ocate, where Lewiston now stands, at the foot of the port- ige around the Falls. Britain bitterly resented this suc- cess on the part of her rival, but her influence availed her laught, nor could she even secure consent for the erection of similar house in this locality.
Joncaire's cabin was known as a "trading house," the irst of its kind among the Indians in their own country, but n reality it was intended to be a fort, and such it soon be- came. Within two years he had enlarged it so that it was building forty feet long by thirty wide, built of logs, its
ain to have it demolished, about 1730, a regular fort, with four bastions, was built around it. The foundation of this stone house, now known as "The Castle" of Fort Niagara, is the oldest masonary in our county or along this frontier.
France held the perpetual friendship of the Senecas, largely by employing their braves in carrying goods over the portage or trail that ran between the site of Lewiston and the smooth water of the river, above the Falls. It is stated that at one period, 1721, 200 Senecas were thus em- ployed; their loads averaging 100 pounds, and their pay twenty pence per pack. As the business increased in vol- ume, the upper end of the portage became an important spot, and at this place about 1745 the French built a stone fort or block house, and also a store house. The site of these buildings is in the present City of Niagara Falls, just above the inlet of the hydraulic canal, and is still known as "the Frenchmen's landing." As the western trade in- creased, in place of the Indian bark canoes the French em- ployed wooden bateaux, and these were gradually increased in size, until their navigation of the swift current from this point became both difficult and dangerous. In 1751 the French moved the upper end of the portage some half a
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SOUVENIR HISTORY OF NIAGARA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
mile up stream, and there built a good-sized fort, consisting of three block houses, protected by palisaides, known as Fort de Portage, or Fort Little Niagara ; and extended the road from its former terminus, along the river shore, to it.
The old stone chimney, that even until now stands isola- ted near the river's bank at this point, was not within the fortification, but was attached to the barracks that stood a little way from the fort itself, and was built at the same time. In the same year they built on the top of Lewiston Moun- tain a large store house, which, being for the protection of goods in transit, was defensible and in reality a fort. At the foot of that same mountain they also, at the same time, built a similar, defended store house, and later added two others.
FORT NIAGARA CAPTURED.
France now ruled this entire territory, but Britain con- tinuously planned for its capture, and in 1755 an expedition was sent against this fort, but failed to reach its destination.
forces, but who, on the death of his superior, General Prideaux, succeeded to the supreme command, and won the glory of being the captor of Fort Niagara. So far as deal- ing with the Indians of all tribes was concerned, he was the most important white man that ever lived. There was also George Clinton, later Governor of the State of New York. And there was Charles Lee, afterwards a Major General of the Continental Army, and second in command to Wash- ington, dismissed by Congress for insubordination and proved by posthumous papers to have been a traitor to the cause he professed to serve. There was Joseph Brant, later the great Chief of the Mohawks. And there, too, was John Butler, even then a famous Indian leader.
During the siege, the French forces with their Indian allies from the west arrived at the burnt fort Little Niagara, and hurried to the greater fort along the well known port- age, a portion of which is still called the Portage Road. The
THE OLD STONE CHIMNEY.
In 1756 the cannon captured by the French at Brad- dock's defeat arrived at and were mounted on the ramparts of Fort Niagara. George Washington, then a young man, had been in Braddock's army at its repulse. Had that army not been defeated it would have proceeded to Fort Niagara, and the future President of the United States would have been among the captors of that Fort. That near, and that near only, did George Washington come to being identified, by his presence, with the history of Niagara County.
In 1757, in anticipation of the coming struggle with Britain, France entirely rebuilt Fort Niagara, increasing its strength and enlarging its enclosed area many fold. The huge earthworks on the land side, as well as the outer earth- works or Ravelin, now in ruins, was built at this time.
When in 1759 a British army appeared before it and laid siege to it, its fortifications were on the same lines as now; it had accommodations for 1,000 men, and was de- fended by a garrison of about 500.
When the British started the siege of Fort Niagara, word was sent to all the French posts in the west, calling loudly for immediate help, in order to save the most import- ant French post on the lakes. Fort Little Niagara was evacuated and burnt, its garrison being transferred to Fort Niagara. In the British besieging army were several men destined at a later period to play prominent parts in his- tory. Among those who then trod our County's soil were Sir William Johnson, at first in command of the Indian
British forces met them in battle on the site of the village of Youngstown, and routed them; this being the first recorded battle between opposing forces of white men within the limits of our County. The French surrendered Fort Ni- agara the day after the battle, and their flag disappeared forever from our region.
Thus this long coveted stronghold came under the rule of the British; its capture being materially assisted by the Colonial troops, many of whom, a few years later, were des- tined to bear arms against the very country for which they had here fought.
Within the limits of the present Niagara County, France had built, between 1679 and 1759, eleven different forts, all along the Niagara River ; and now her power was forever to disappear from our region.
Once in possession the British proceeded to fortify this section anew. They repaired and strengthened Fort Niag- ara, and in 1760, to replace Fort Little Niagara, they built a stronger fort, to which they gave the name of Fort Schlos- ser. Later, in 1764, they built a new fort at the foot of Lew- iston Heights. Away from the bank of the Niagara River, the entire area of our County was still an uninhabited re- gion, covered with a dense forest.
DEVIL'S HOLE MASSACRE.
In 1762 better transportation was needed between Fort Niagara and Fort Schlosser, and the British made a
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SOUVENIR HISTORY OF NIAGARA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
contract with John Stedman for the construction of a wagon road, to replace the old French road, which was in reality only the widened Indian trail of earlier days, between Fort Schlosser and the fort at the foot of the Mountain. By August, 1763, he had completed his work, and the first train of wagons, drawn by oxen, went with a load to Fort Schlos- ser. The following day as it returned, still guarded by sol- diers, as it reached a point, known as the "Devil's Hole," several hundred Senecas suddenly sprang from ambush, killed and scalped the escort, tumbled the wagons over the precipice, and drove off the oxen. But two persons es- caped. John Stedman, mounted on a fleet horse, cut loose the bridle from the hand of the Indian who grasped it, dashed his spurs into the horse's flanks, and miraculously escaping the shower of bullets reached Fort Schlosser in safety. A drummer boy, Matthews by name, jumped over the cliff, and, the drum strap catching in the branches of a tall tree below, enabled him to conceal himself, and later to escape. The British soldiers, at the fort below the Moun- tain, on hearing the shots, hurried to the scene. This was what the Senecas expected, and they ambushed this reliev-
provided they would surrender to the British Crown a strip of territory on both banks of our river, from Lake Ontario to just above Fort Schlosser. What he really wanted was the Niagara County shore, for that comprehended the whole length of the Portage. The Senecas of course agreed. On the eastern bank, the territory so to be ceded, was to lie be- tween the river and a line drawn from a point some four miles east of Fort Niagara, on the shore of Lake Ontario to the mouth of Gill Creek.
The year 1764 was a noted one in the history of this section. It was in April of that year that Sir William agreed on this settlement with the Senecas, which was to be ratified at a great treaty, to be held at Fort Niagara the fol- lowing August, and to which he invited representatives of almost all the tribes of the central and western country to be present. Sir William knew that through a British army that would be present at the treaty, he could enforce the Senecas' promised grant of land ; so prior to the date set for the treaty he ordered the Niagara Portage to be thoroughly fortified. Eleven block houses, strongly built, each capable of accommodating about a dozen men, and each one forti-
THE OLD LEWISTON INCLINE.
ing force, only eight men out of two whole companies es- caping. When the garrison of Fort Niagara reached the scene, the savages, with the scalps and booty, were miles away in the forest.
This awful massacre was planned and carried out by Senecas, who had always been the firm friends of the French, and who were now specially embittered against the British, because by their employment of ox teams for the business of the portage, they had deprived the Senecas of their former means of livelihood. So, instigated no doubt by French influence, they lent a willing ear to the advances of Pontiac for his great uprising of all the western tribes against Brit- ish rule. This massacre was the result, and thus does the history of Pontiac's conspiracy enter into that of Niagara County. It had further effect, for Britain was now com- pelled to further fortify this section, which had become to her of transcendent importance.
By here had to pass all the traffic, both military and commercial, to the western country; and by here had to come back the furs, gathered throughout that region ; it was the trade of half a continent.
The Senacas appealed to Sir William Johnson for for- giveness for the "Devil's Hole Massacre." He agreed,
fied with a cannon, were built along the Portage between the top of Lewiston Mountain and Fort Schlosser, a distance of some six miles, about 1,000 yards apart. When these had been completed the Niagara Portage was the best protected highway in all America. The first block house stood right on the crest of the Mountain, so as to protect and control an inclined plane built in 1764 and used in the raising and lowering of goods between that point and the water's edge below. This was the first railroad ever built in America.
FIRST RAILROAD IN AMERICA.
It ran from a wharf at the water's edge, in a straight line nearly perpendicular, to the top of the cliff above. The rails were formed of the trunks of trees laid end to end, and rest- ing in some places on the projecting rock, but mainly on rough, strong piers of stone, the spaces beneath che rails, and between the piers, being left open. The tops of the rails were hewn flat and along the whole length of each was cut a deep groove. There were two pair of these rails, and on each pair slid a flat-bottomed car or sled, to whose under surface, and extending the whole length of the car, two wooden tongues were fastened. These fitted into the grooves in the rails and prevented the car's leaving the
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SOUVENIR HISTORY OF NIAGARA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
track. At the top of each pair of rails was a capstan, and about each of these were several twists of an enormously strong rope, one end of which was fastened to either car, its length being so arranged that when one car was at the top of the incline the other car was at the bottom. By loading the descending car with a weight equivalent to that in the upgoing one it did not require a great amount of force to operate this unique railroad. Its motive power was fur- nished mainly by the Senecas, who were glad of the employ- ment. Thus the first railroad in America lay wholly within the limits of our County, and its first employees were the savage owners of the soil, who literally drank up their wages, for each one of them would toil all day at the capstan for a pint of rum and a plug of tobacco, luxuries greatly craved, but otherwise unobtainable by them.
Meanwhile the great Treaty assembled, and every tribe but the Senecas were represented. They had repented of their bargain, but Sir William intended to exercise that land option. He sent them word that if they did not at once appear and execute the deed, the British army which he had with him would be sent to annihilate them.
erected a log building for Divine service, in which, occa- sionally a clergyman from Fort Niagara, but oftener Brant himself, read the service of the Church of England. This was the first permanent religious structure, outside of Fort Niagara, erected in our County. A church bell, sent from England to a Mohawk congregation, was brought along by this band in its westward migration and hung in the crotch of a tree along side the church and summoned the faithful to service. It is a fearful commentary on Brant's religious convictions, that during the Revolution, while he was maintaining this church edifice and personally conduct- ing services therein, he was one of the main leaders in the atrocious "Border Warfare." He continuously planned the inhuman expeditions against innocent people, participat- ing in them, and leading his bloodthristy warriors on these forages of murder and devastation.
At the close of the Revolution Brant led his Mohawk band from Lewiston to their present location on the Grand River in Canada.
The War of the Revolution never reached this region in actual conflict, but Fort Niagara was a plague spot to
BRITISH BLOCK HOUSE AT FORT NIAGARA, BUILT 1770.
They came. Then he asked them to enlarge the prom- ised grant so as to include all the land along the river from lake to lake and four miles back on each side. They could not refuse. So in our County they ceded to the Crown all the land on the river, extending back therefrom for four miles, from Lake Ontario to Tonawanda Creek. They also presented to Sir William personally all the islands in the river, so he was the first white owner of the Goat Island group, and of the other islands that are included within our County's limits. That was the first, and in its effect proba- bly the most important, land deal ever consummated here- about.
In the British army, then on its way to the west, that lay encamped at Fort Niagara during this treaty, was Israel Putnam, later known as "Old Put" of the Revolution.
DURING THE REVOLUTION.
At the commencement of the Revolution Guy Johnson exerted his influence to induce the Mohawks, who dwelt in Central New York and adhered to the British interests, to remove westward. The most of them, under Brant's lead- ehship, then settled for a time on the Ridge Road east of Lewiston. Here is a spring, still known as "Brant's Spring," and here Brant, who professed to be a churchman,
the Colonists. There Brant and the two Butlers made their military headquarters. There were planned and from there started out, usually led by Brant or the Butlers, those marauding and murdering expeditions that during that war so often carried death and destruction to peaceful settle- ments in Western New York and Northern Pennsylvania ; among them those that executed the massacres of Wyom- ing and Cherry Valley ; and it was to Fort Niagara that all these expeditions returned with their prisoners, scalps and spoils. General Washington in 1779 sent General Sullivan to capture this fort. He devastated the lands of the Sen- ecas in the Genesee Valley, but stopped short of his objec- tive point, whither the defeated and famished Indians, some 5,000 in number, had fled, and which he could have captured with lasting benefits to the cause of the Colonists. That was the greatest gathering of Indians ever seen in this County. Those of the Tuscaroras and Oneidas in Central New York, who had been friends of the British, fled to Fort Niagara, where they spent the winter of 1779
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