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 25
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RUSTIC THEATRE.
a natural ravine, the company built a very pretty little open air theater in rustic design. From the stage of this theater some of the noted men of the country, including President Roosevelt, Captain Hobson and others, have spoken to the people of Niagara County.
Farther west in the grove a shelter and refreshment booth and a number of pretty little kiosks were built, and then on the extreme western limit one comes to the great ho- tel with its magnificent casino, dining hall, bathing pavilions and other conveniences of the modern up-to-date resort. The company also began in 1900 the construction of a sub- stantial cement breakwater wall at the foot of the high bluff, and, when in the following year this was finished, the face of the bluff was smoothed and sown with grass, becoming a beautiful sloping verdure-clad bank instead of a rough sand bluff. In 1902 the railway company began to add further improvements to the resort by beginning the construction of a great steel and cement pier, which will extend, when fin-
the very beautiful little stone chapel, or Church of St. An- drews-by-the-Lake, referred to elsewhere.
A few years ago the veterans of the Town of Newfane and the surrounding country united to place a handsome monument at the intersection of the Lake avenue road to Lockport with the main street of the village to the memory of their fallen comrades in the great rebellion. The monu- ment is an ornament and a handsome testimonial of the re- gard of the comrades of the fallen for their fellows in arms in the defense of country.
THE HARBOR.
A recent appropriation was obtained from the Federal Government for the purpose of deepening the harbor at Ol- cott, and even as this history is being written the great dredges are at work scooping up the black mud of the har- bor bottom so that it may be deepened to accommodate the great lake ships and steamers which are expected to stop there. Already, since the village became connected with the
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OLCOTT BEACH HOTEL.
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outside world by the trolley, a line of steamers has made the port a regular stopping point.
There are those who hope the day is not far distant when Olcott will take its place as a great lake shipping port for the coal and iron trade.
Whatever the future may have in store for the village its citizens will not forget that the renewal of its youth and prosperity came with the advent of the steel ribbon which connected it with the cities of Western New York by way of Lockport, nor will they cease to hope that, whatever of commerce may gather in its harbor, the beauty of the place as an ideal summer resort may never be destroyed.
MANUFACTURING INDUSTRIES.
The surplus waters of the Erie Canal are discharged into Lake Ontario from Lockport through Eighteen-Mile Creek, the total fall from the upper level at Lockport to Lake Ontario being over 300 feet. The water in making this fall passes over a number of dams, several of which are in the City of Lockport and others in the Town of Newfane.
Two of the dams are at Charlotteville. The upper one furnishes power for the flour mill of William Collins and the lumber mill of the Newfane Basket Manufacturing company.
THE UPPER DAM AT CHARLOTTEVILLE.
The Collins flour mill has been operated for at least seventy-five years-for the past quarter century by William Collins.
Shaw & Vincent started the business now conducted by the Newfane Basket Manufacturing Company, of which Selden D. Redman is President; Robert D. Wilson. Secre- tary ; Charles J. Miller, Treasurer ; James A. Kelley, Vice President and Manager. The company operate a basket factory, sawmill and lumber yard. The officers have served the company for a number of years. James A. Kelley came to the Town of Newfane with his parents in 1860 and has resided there since. He has held his present office in the administration of the affairs of the company since 1887. Charles J. Miller, Treasurer, is also Treasurer of the Niagara County Farmers' Club. He was born in Newfane in 1865, and graduated from Lockport High School and Cornell Uni- versity, receiving the degree of B. S., in 1890. He is owner of Meadowbrook farm, which is devoted to the breeding of thoroughbred Guernsey cattle.
INDUSTRIES AT LOWER DAM.
The lower dam at Charlotteville is owned by the Lock- port Felt Company. Over fifty years ago Daniel Van Horn discovered the fact that power could be secured at this point. He built a sawmill on the spot, which he operated for a hum- ber of years. He afterward disposed of the property, and later it was converted into a woolen mill, which was run by Francis Niles, who now lives at Charlotteville and is eighty- six years of age. The mill was subsequently sold to George Van Ostrand, who disposed of it to Andrew Ten Brook. Later Van Ostrand bought the property again and after- ward sold it to the Lockport Felt Company. The mill em- ploys forty-five hands in producing felts for use in paper and pulp mills. It is interesting to note that a not incon- siderable part of the product of the company is sold in Eng- land, at a much higher price than the English article, which. demonstrates the skill that our artisans have achieved in the production. The company have recently installed an elec- trical plant for lighting their mill.
ELECTRICITY IN CHARLOTTEVILLE.
The Newfane Electric Company was organized to dis- tribute electricity from this dam throughout the Town of
Newfane. The streets of Charlotteville are now completely and brilliantly lighted by electricity, and every store in the village, one of the churches and many private residences are lighted by electricity.
THE TOMPKINS GRIST MILL.
The Tompkins grist mill is situated on Eighteen-Mile Creek, about a mile south of Charlotteville. It was built originally in the early part of the century and was rebuilt in 1869 by Hon. Ira Tompkins, who operated it for a num- ber of years. His son, Albert Tompkins, subsequently op- erated the mill. It is now conducted by Frank Anderson, of Lockport.
THE VAN HORN WOOLEN MILL.
The creek flows down past the two dams at Charlotte- ville, whose work has been described, and a mile and a half north of the village is the former site of the old Van Horn woolen mill, the ruins of which are still to be seen. Thirty years ago it was operated by a stock company, among the prominent shareholders being Hon. Burt Van Horn, Hon. Franklin Spalding, Morrison W. Evans, James P. Murphy, Alfred Van Wagner and George W. Bowen. The company had a store on Main street, Lockport. They employed a large number of hands and dwellings were erected near by, some of which are now standing, though many have fallen into ruin. The product of the company was very extensive, most of it being taken by A. T. Stewart, of New York.
THE VAN HORN GRIST MILL.
A half mile below the site of the Van Horn woolen mill, where the Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg Railway crosses the creek, is the site of the old grist mill that James Van Horn built in the early years of the century, and which was destroyed by the British in 1813. In 1817 the mill was rebuilt by Mr. Van Horn, with Ira Tompkins as millwright, on the site of the present power house at Burt. The mill has since been burned two or three times and as often rebuilt by James Van Horn. Two years ago the present power house was built on the site.
A GREAT WATER POWER PROJECTED.
The above location is the site of the proposed dam of the Lockport and Newfane Power and Water Supply Com- pany. In the year 1892 Hon. Timothy E. Ellsworth, Jesse Peterson, Willard T. Ransom, Willis H. Howes, Francis N. Trevor, William W. Trevor and Thomas M. McGrath, all of the City of Lockport, purchased what was then known as the Guibord water power, which was then being operated as a flouring and grist mill at the above place. Soon thereafter the seven gentlemen above named incorporated the Tusca- rora Pulp Company, with the following officers ; Willard T. Ransom, President : William W. Trevor, Vice President ; Thomas M. McGrath, Secretary and Treasurer; the forego- ing and Messrs. Ellsworth, Peterson, F. N. Trevor and Howes being directors. The water privileges were obtained for the purpose of developing them into a mammoth water power by purchasing flowage rights for two miles south, but which was not accomplished until 1900. In that year Messrs. Peterson, Howes, McGrath and F. N. and W. W. Trevor sold their interests to Mr. Ransom. The Tuscarora Pulp Company, in the year 1900, secured the necessary flowage rights to erect a sixty-foot dam and then sold their entire rights and privileges to the Lockport and Newfane Power and Water Supply Company, with Burt Van Horn, Presi- dent : Willard T. Ransom, Secretary and Treasurer, and the following Directors-Hon. T. E. Ellsworth, Hon. John A. Merritt. W. T. Ransom, Henry Ransom, of Lockport; Wil-
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liam B. Rankine, of Niagara Falls; Burt Van Horn, of Burt ; and Henry J. Pierce, of Buffalo. It is the intention of the present owners to erect a sixty-foot dam on the property and develop an immense power for manufacturing and other power purposes. The company has erected a power plant of considerable capacity, running by steam, the power gene- rated being used by the Lockport and Olcott Railway and in a moderate way at present for local lighting purposes.
Reminiscences of Pioneer Life.
BY MRS. RUBY F. COOPER, NEWFANE'S OLDEST RESIDENT.
During the year of 1809 Francis Albright, native of Germany, who owned and operated a flouring mill on Allen's Creek, in Wheatland, Genesee County, came into the eldor- ado of the Holland Purchase, the Niagara Frontier, then an unbroken wilderness east of the mouth of Eighteen-Mile Creek, and located some 200 acres of land, lying on the west side of Keg Creek, and running west on the lake shore to William Wisner's land (now Outwater's).
The following spring his eldest son, Jacob Albright, aged twenty-four, left the home on Allen's Creek for the West, with all his belongings loaded in a wagon, with wife and child, with an ox team, a horse and a man to help him, to find the land his father located. Through roads merely chopped out they struck the ridge somewhere near Gaines, and there found a road which had been laid out from Roch-
RUBY F. COOPER.
ester to Lewiston. From Wright's Corners they must go north to the lake, with no road, a few teams had been through, following the east bank of the creek. Leaving there in early morning they reached the mouth of Eighteen- Mile Creek about sundown, and must then follow the lake east two and one-half miles before reaching a habitation. William Wisner, of Seneca County, had come the preceding fall with a brother, a lad of twelve or fourteen years, to pre- pare a home for his wife and little ones, who had not yet ar- rived. When Albright drew up in front of their light they were welcomed with joy, and the weary mother and child made as comfortable as possible. Wisner said the sweetest music he ever heard was that child's crying before they reached his house. The cabin stood on Outing Park camp ground, near the well, which was then a flowing cold spring. Albright built his log cabin near his west line to have the benefit of that spring.
The next year, 1811, the Holland Land Company had a road surveyed along the lake through Somerset, but it was forty or fifty rods south of the few homes the settlers had built.
Burgoyne Kemp was to cut out and make the road pas- sable, and settlers soon began to come in.
Zebulon Coates, from New Jersey, built his hewed log house on land he took up in 1811, where P. T. Dix now re- sides on his beautiful fruit farm. He sold in 1836 and moved to Wilson, on the Lake Road, and died there at the advanced age of eighty-nine.
After the war other settlers came in: Shubal Merritt, grandfather of John A. Merritt, and two married sons; Ben- jamin Halstead, David Wisner and sons; Jehial Wisner, cousin of David, and a Baptist minister-the first and only preacher located in this lake shore territory for many years; Zebedee Stout, grandfather of the Stouts, now living on or near the old home farm; Nathaniel Swarthout, Burgoyne Kemp, and the Mudgetts, together with Zebulon Coates, William Wisner and Jacob Albright, were the first settlers on the lake and Lake Road east of the Eighteen-Mile Creek to the east line of the Town of Newfane.
NEWFANE IN THE WAR OF 1812.
The winter of 1813 and year following was most trying to the courage and nerves of the settlers. Not knowing what day or hour a marauding party of half-drunken Indians and soldiers from the British fort would march upon them to burn, murder and devastate, the inhabitants took from their houses and little barns everything they could spare, storing them in shelters they built in the thickets out of sight, leav- ing them there for weeks and months.
A squad of British burned the house of Zebulon Coates, and the houses at the mouth of the Eighteen-Mile Creek, except that of the Kemps, where they stayed over night, and which the commanding officer spared through sympathy for the sick mother.
Fortunately for the families east of the creek They went no farther in this direction, but burned the mill at Van Horn's after allowing a number of barrels from the 250 stored there to be saved for the inhabitants.
No person living in this favored and beautiful Niagara County today can realize the hardships, excitement and fear the pioneers endured. The war with England was cruel, as they employed the hostile Indians, and incited them to deeds of violence, by giving them rum to craze their savage na- tures.
It is well a better spirit prevails. May the two nations always remain friends, and may the descendants of these brave pioneers never forget that to their energy, courage and perseverance we owe many of the blessings and privil- eges we enjoy.
AN INCIDENT OF PIONEER LIFE.
The evening the British officer and his company reached the mouth of the Eighteen-Mile Creek, with orders to burn the Van Horn mills and destroy everything belonging to the settlers, Albright, who had put up a sawmill on Keg Creek, south of the road about sixty rods, went to a neighbor's house, built where the Hess Road strikes the Lake Road, this neighbor having sent a messenger to the frontier to learn if all was quiet there.
After they left Mrs. Albright dragged a heavy chest against the door and sat down to her sewing, feeling quite brave. But soon she heard a noise that alarmed her. She listened, and was satisfied it was not the screeching of a wild animal. She unbarred the door and heard: "Hello, the
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SOUVENIR HISTORY OF NIAGARA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
house ; turn out, turn out, the Indians are coming!" They were going east on the new road, so far away she could not answer them. Her two children, a girl of four and a boy one year old, were asleep. She awoke the eldest, wrapped her up, told her they were going to meet father, and she must keep awake and not cry. Then taking her boy in her arms, and the girl on her back, she started over the snow- covered ground, along the footpath to where it intersected the road, about opposite the sawmill, a quarter of a mile from the house. As she approached the road, under a large tree that lay parallel with and a rod from it, she found dry leaves and no snow, and decided that here she must leave the eldest child.
It was late in December, and covering her up as well as she could with the leaves, she told her she must lie still and make no noise if she heard people passing and talking or the Indians would find her; that her father would soon come, and when she heard him call "Louisa" she must answer. The mother hurried on to cross the creek, with its high banks covered with dense hemlock, and quite a resort for black bears, hoping to meet her husband.
As she reached the top of the hill her strength failed and she sat down to rest, but soon saw a light approaching. It came nerer and she found it was her husband, who would not have been more surprised had he met the red coats.
The messenger had brought word that the British would not go far east of the creek, and Albright was hasten- ing home with the good news.
After telling where she concealed the child, and what she said to her, he left the boy to help her back, and ran ahead to get the girl. When he came near the log where she was hidden he began talking, jabbering and stamping about to imitate Indians and soldiers, but not a sound came from the log, and thinking she had fallen asleep he called "Louisa," and instantly came the answer, "Here I am." He caught her up and ran with her to the house, where the lad with the tired mother and babe soon came, and when they were seated around the fire, not much the worse for the fright, they felt thankful to God for His care and mercy.
When word reached the hamlet that the British troops were only a mile or two away all was consternation. Sup- posing the Indians, who had committed so many deeds of violence on the river frontier, were with them, the inhabi- tants expected no mercy, and there was an agreement among the neighbors that the one first hearing of their approach should warn the rest. A young lad who was sent to Kemp- ville the same evening to learn the news, not waiting to get the correct word, jumped on his horse and rode down to Keg Creek, shouting at every house, "Turn out, turn out ; the Indians are coming!" and this was the result of the news in one family.
Town of Pendleton.
BY AUSTIN F. KINNE.
ENDLETON was created a town April 16, 1827, from the Town of Niagara. It was named for Pendleton Clark, one of the earliest residents. The following officers were elected at the first town meeting in May 1827: Supervisor, Lyman E. Thayer ; Town Clerk, Garrett Van Slyke ; Assessors, Nathaniel Sykes, David Candler and James C. Hawley ; Collector, Kimball Ferrin; Commissioners of Highways, Willard Sykes, Law- rence Pickard and John Baker; Overseers of the Poor, Bai-
ley Curtis and Russell Richards; School Commissioners, Henry Keyes, Alanson Sykes and John Schuyler; School Inspectors, James Henderson, Abel Rug and Asa Milliken ; Constable, Horace Thacher.
THE TOWN'S SUPERVISORS.
The following Supervisors have served since the organ- ization of the town: 1827-28, Lyman E. Thayer, IS29, Asa Millikin ; 1830-32, John Pratt; 1833, Lawrence Pickard,
FRED FERGUSON.
1834, John Pratt ; 1835, Nathaniel Sykes; 1836,-37, Anthony Ames; 1838, Silas Olmsted; 1839-47, Lawrence Pickard; 1848, Cyrus F. Williams ; 1849-53, Lawrence Pickard; 1854, Elisha B. Swift; 1855-56, George Kelsey; 1857, Linus J. Peck; 1858, Hiram Pomroy; 1859-61, Lyman Goodridge; 1862, Hartman Richard ; 1863-65, Albert H. Pickard; 1866, Morris Wire; 1867, Albert H. Pickard; 1868-70, Alexander H. Ellis; 1871-72, Frederick S. Parsons; 1873-75, Gilbert C. Richards; 1876-77, Albert H. Pickard: 1878, Amos A. Brown; 1879, Herman J. Leland; 1880-82, Martin Wendell ; 1883, Lawrence A. Pickard; 1884, Herman J. Leland ; 1885, Martin Wendell; 1886-88, Joseph C. Rickard; 1889-90, Aaron D. Thompson ; 1891-92, Alvin Van Slyke; 1893-94. William Babel; 1895-96, Alvin Van Slyke : 1897-1901, Mat- thias L. Rickard; 1902, Jacob Snell, Jr.
PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS.
Briefly described, the whole region of the town is a plain, gently undulating, and having a slight descent to the south. There are six local centers, or points of conveyance within the town. Of these the most important is Pendleton Center, near the center of the town, while Pendleton Vil- lage, in the southern part, on the Tonawanda Creek, is the oldest and largest. The Erie Canal divides the town into two parts, which are connected by several substantial and costly bridges, built and maintained at the expense of the State, and named in order as you ascend the canal. the Riley bridge, at the north line of the town ; then the Hawley bridge, the Guard Lock bridge and, lastly, the Pendleton bridge, near Pendleton Village.
The town is also connected with Erie County, by three iron bridges, the Pendleton, the New Home bridge at Wen- delville and the Pickard bridge.
The town is crossed by two railroads, the Lockport and Buffalo branch of the Central, with a freight and passenger
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SOUVENIR HISTORY OF NIAGARA COUNTY, NEW YORK.
station at Mapleton, and the other the well known trolley line, with three stations within the town, Hodgeville, Pen- dleton Center, and, lastly, Hoffman, on the division line be- tween this town and the Town of Wheatfield.
PENDLETON'S DEBT TO. THE CANAL.
Historically speaking, if I plainly express my real con- viction, I say Pendleton owes, if not its very existence, all its substantial progress and prosperity, to the canal. It owes apparent prosperity, but really devastation, to the Cen- tral, while it has undoubtedly been benefited by the so-called "trolley line" through its freight and passenger siation at Pendleton Center. Here is the proof. The Erie Canal found the region, now comprised in the Town of Pendleton, thinly inhabited, the people dispirited, apathetic, scourged with fever and ague, and appalled at the herculean task of re- moving the vast forests. There is no more heavily wooded region on the continent than was the valley of the Tona- wanda in the early days, if we except the red wood forests of the Pacific slope.
READY MONEY FROM THE TREES.
The canal opened up a market for timber and afforded a means for transporting it in a way that made it most val- uable-that is in the shape of trees. Ship timber! No won- der the settlers leaped for joy. They had large tracts of land. They had wood for fuel. They could live. That was about the sum total. They might, indeed, now and then obtain a few English shillings by making black salts in the swamps, by selling a few pounds of maple sugar, a dish of wild honey or the carcass of a deer, but there was no market for these, and after a long tramp to Buffalo, to Lew- iston, or even to Batavia, the settlers might not be able to obtain any money for their stuff, but be compelled to change it for a night's lodging, a pound of tea or a few yards of cheap cloth. But now the timber, the miserable, worth- less trees, could be sold for money. A tree, a single tree, of the millions that abounded, would buy a gown for wife, toys for the children, -a jerkin for the farmer, and, more, leave a few shillings to jingle in his pocket, pleasant sounds -sweet music to his ears.
Did the canal do anything for this man of the Town of Pendleton. Put yourself in the settler's place. The forests rapidly disappeared and the Town and Village of Pendleton thrived and grew apace.
GROWTH OF THE TOWN.
But prosperity and great numbers of settlers came to- gether. The canal was too small. It was made bigger and more capacious. The forests disappeared faster. The peo- pel soon were more presentable. Commodious dwellings, capacious barns, school houses and churches arose. All this from the timber that went down the canal. But with all this cause of exultation was one sad affliction. A por- tion of the old canal, that very portion upon which Pendle- ton Village was located, was abandoned. Alas! the ill-fated village received a staggering blow, from which it never com- pletely recovered.
SETTLERS SELL THEIR TIMBER.
The Buffalo branch of the Central came. Every one knows that the construction of a railroad requires immense quantities of timber. Though the hard woods of the town were exhausted, there were yet large tracts of soft wood forests remaining. By the offer of the most monstrous and unheard of prices, the railroad's representatives induced the citizens of Pendleton to sell them their timber. The woods disappeared as if by magic. Never in the history of Pen-
dleton was money obtained so easily and so readily. Lum- bermen came from Michigan, Pennsylvania and other parts to engage in the work. Mountains of ties and fuel arose about every station. Many farmers did not quit until they had sold their last stick. Disastrous and damaging fires followed in many instances.
The farmers obtained the money and, "easy come, easy go," they spent it, and awoke with the sad consciousness that their fencing material, their fuel, their partial protection from the bleak, biting winds which sweep over this region was gone, and, worse, the money was gone, too.
LUMBERING GONE FOREVER.
Lumbering as an occupation closed forever in the Town of Pendleton. And now let us remark what has long been obvious to the reader, doubtless, that the people of Pendle- ton had never been farmers in any correct sense. They simply were lumbermen, who did a little farming. To be sure, many owned and cultivated large farms, but their farming was without philosophy, without compensating ele- ments, without forethought, without pleasure, and in a great majority of instances without profit. It was simply robbing the soil exactly as they had denuded the forests. I am not reproachful. I do not wish to convey the idea that in this respect they are peculiar, or sinners above all other men. I simply state what has come under my own observation, and the conclusion I draw.
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