USA > New York > Albany County > Albany > The annals of Albany, Vol. VIII > Part 15
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John Melish in Albany.
The city is well supplied with water. There are two excellent springs three miles to the westward, from whence it is conveyed in pipes, to every part of the city. Lots in the principal streets are as high as in New York, and the rent of houses and stores is in proportion. This being the great mart, in which the trade of an extensive back country centres, it is well supplied with provisions; but the outlet to the great commercial city, New York, is so easy, by the fine river Hudson, that all articles which can be easily shipped, are kept pretty high. Flcur is about 10 dollars per barrel; beef 6 dollars; pork 5 dollars per cwt .; bacon 12 cents per lb .; fowls 12g each ; geese 25; turkeys 62; cyder 1 dollar 50 cents per barrel; beer 3 to 10 dollars, according to quality; porter 7 dol- lars 25 cents. Board from 2 to 4 dollars. House rent for mechanics 20 to 60 dollars.
The principal manufactures at Albany are those of grain, brewing and distilling. There are no manufacto- ries of cloth in the city, but there are several in the neighborhood, and there is a disposition in the citizens to encourage them, though apparently against their in- terest, the trade of the city being almost wholly commer- cial. The principal trade is by the river, on which is sent down grain and provisions, timber, malt-liquors, and spirits; and they receive in return groceries, dry goods, hardware and crockery, to supply a great part of the country. American manufactured glass, however, be- gins to make a prominent appearance in the warehouses; and they will, no doubt, feel the advantage of other ar- ticles of American manufacture soon. Albany, from its situation, must be always a place of extended commerce. At present, it suffers by the reaction of an over-strained foreign commerce, but that will be but temporary. In- ternal manufactures and commerce, being once organized, will more than compensate for the loss of the other.
The citizens of Albany are very mixed. The original settlement was by the Dutch, and their descendants form a very prominent part of the society. Of Scottish set- tiers there are a great many, and the rest are principally
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John Melish in Albany.
New Englanders. In such an assemblage, we may natu- rally look for industry and enterprise, and a general at- tention to education and the improvement of the mind, all of which are very perceptible in the citizens. There are good mechanics in all the different branches; and there are 10 clergymen, 20 doctors, and 45 lawyers. The schools are numerous; the library and reading-room have been already noticed. Two newspapers are pub- lished, each twice a week, which have a pretty extensive circulation. That the place is healthy, appears in the countenances of the ladies, many of whom are handsome, with beautiful florid complexions. That it is cold in winter, is indicated by the general use of stoves, the hard frost in the ground, and the appearance of snow; so, for fear of being storm-staid, I shall close this chap- ter, and hurry off to New York.
My anticipation was realized; there was a considera- ble fall of snow this morning. I engaged a passage for my horse by one of the packets, fare 4 dollars, exclusive of board; and for myself by the steamboat, fare 7 dol: lars, including board; and getting on board of that ele- gant conveyance, we started from the wharf at 9 o'clock. The snow continued to fall, and the weather was very hazy, so that we could not enjoy the view on the river; but we had a very comfortable view in the boat. The cabin was sufficiently large to accommodate 80 or 100 people; the births were neatly mounted with drapery, and contained good clean bedding; there was a good stove in the room; our company, though not numerous, were sociable and agreeable; and our captain kept a most excellent table. I should mention that this was the North River steamboat, captain Roorbach, and to that gentleman's politeness I was indebted for a variety of information regarding this river. Four other steamboats were upon the river, but it was supposed that two of them would be stopped, as they were started without the sanction of the patentees. A most superb new boat had just been started by the patentees, Livingston and Ful- ton, who are entitled to great praise for their exertions
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John Melish in Albany.
in bringing into active operation an invention of such importance to the navigation of the American inland waters.
The banks of the river are nearly the same as above Albany, for 20 miles, to Hudson; the soil is pretty good, and the settlements thick on both sides. The river is a noble stream, augmented, as it proceeds, by a great num- ber of tributary streams on each side. Towards night, we were four miles below Poughkeepsie, and the captain, thinking it too dark to run on, came to anchor, and re- mained during the night.
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CASCADE OF THE VLY KILL. [From the Albany Daily Advertiser, 1825.]
In the vicinity of Albany there are several waterfalls that have attracted the notice, and been often visited by the lovers of picturesque scenery. Tivoli, Tempe, and Ida, are classic names, which in the defect of more ap- propriate or more descriptive ones, have been applied to well known objects, and the Cohoes has been often . sung by poets, and described by tourists. But it is not generally known that there is a beautiful cataract on the northern declivity of the Helderberg, about eight miles from our city. This waterfall is formed by the Vly Kill, a tributary of Norman's Kill, about half a mile from its confluence. The Vly Kill is a small stream arising in the Helderberg mountains, but its water is sufficient, even at this season, to exhibit the cataract to great advantage. The perpendicular, or nearly perpendicular pitch of the water is 65 feet-about 30 feet from the top the descending sheet of water is broken by a projecting rock, like the Valino in Italy. The quantity of water is about half as great as that of the admired Valino. The rock that forms the preci- pice over which the water is precipitated, is a well characterized grau wacke-it is distinctly stratified, and the strata have an inclination to the southwest- viewed from below, the stratification has a very distinct and somewhat artificial appearance, as of a wall, and the apparent dissimilarity of the different strata, suggests the idea that it discloses several geological formations, but on inspection it is found that the strata are only grau wacke, alternately compact and fissile. The more com- pact stratum soon becomes fissile on exposure to the atmosphere, and is easily decomposed. We approached
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Cascade of the Vly Kill.
the cascade from the west, through an open field, and our first view of it was from the top of the fall. The Vly Kill was entirely concealed from view, until we ar- rived at this place. The eastern shore is a steep decli- vity covered with a lofty original forest, and the stream soon disappears below in a deep rocky wooded ravine. The country to the south is also wooded, and the high trees intercept in some degree the view of the Helderberg summits. To the north the eye commands the distant range of the Green mountains-the wide val- ley of Albany, and near at hand are seen the rich mea- dows and cultivated farms of Norman's Kill. The scene is considerably extensive and varied, but wholly rural. We have no cities, villages, turnpike roads, canals or rivers white with commerce, within the view. We have also attained an elevation that gives us a little of the freshness of the mountain air. To persons of leisure, of taste, and to lovers of a monetary escape from the bustle and dust of a city, we can confidently commend this excursion. To the geologist our little tour presents several curious and extremely interesting phenomena. The clay, which appears so conspicuous at Albany, and is beautifully stratified, as may be seen in many places where it has been recently excavated to fill up the pier, is a regular geological formation, entitled to its place, like sandstone or wacke. I suppose this formation to be the plastic clay of Phillips and Conybeare. This clay reposes on argillite, and upon it is deposited the sand and boulders so conspicuous in the country around Alba- ny. This is supposed to be the diluvial deposit of Phil- lips and Conybeare.
On passing over the sand plain the clay is seen to crop out, or is thrown into hillocks, near the Helderberg. The strata of clay when examined in these low hills is irregular and indefinite in its inclination, as secondary or transition rocks are always found to be in the near vicinity of primitive, if the primitive is more elevated than the secondary. This fact evinces the antiquity of the clay, as compared with the diluvial deposits. The
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Cascade of the Vly Kill.
diluvial being seldom stratified-if stratified never in- clined, and above all, never confused in the direction of its strata, by older formations. The plastic clay, having a strong affinity for water, rapidly subsides towards its surrounding level, and hills or precipices of it would soon disappear, unless very large, or in some way pro- tected from atmospheric influence. From the operation of natural causes the character of the tract we are en- deavoring to describe, is rendered somewhat obscure, and some attention is requisite to determine the confused inclination of the strata to which we allude.
It is evinced, however, distinctly and unequivocally, in the undulating aspect of the country along the valley of the Norman's Kill. Within this hilly and disturbed district, corresponding with the spurs and northern out- line of the Helderberg mountain, the Norman's Kill pur- sues its way to the Hudson. To the north of this stream, extends a slightly undulating diluvial sand, rest- ing on the plastic clav, and usually concealing it from the view. This sand is of very limited depth; in many places indeed the underlying clay crops out, forming al- ternate tracts of clay and sand. The clay contains a considerable portion of carbonate lime, but no organic remains to my knowledge have been noticed in it or in the diluvial sand. Primitive boulders, from a few ounces to many tons weight, are seen in many places connected with the sand. As far as I have been able to examine them, these boulders appear to be fragments derived from the mountains in the vicinity of Lake George, Saratoga and Lake Champlain. The remark was first made (I believe by Col. Young,) that the direction of the current that scattered these fragments must have been from north to south. H. Hayden, predicating his conclusion on similar phenomena, and many other geologists, have arrived at the same supposition. I have several remarks to make on this subject, but I fear my communication is already to long. The mercury also, in the coolest shade that I can find, now stands at 92-and I am admonished to defer the consideration of the true cosmogony to an- other occasion.
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Cascade of the Vly Kill.
CHAPTER II.
Near the cascade of the Vly Kill, elevated about two hundred feet above the level of the Norman's Kill, we noticed a rounded block of sienite of three or four tons weight, which was filled with nests of a redish cocoa- lite, arranged in the same manner as we had noticed the chrystals of this mineral, in places near Whitehall, at the southern extremity of Lake Champlain. A boulder of porphyritic sienite of still larger size, was seen at the same spot, in which the feldspar, in large rhombic masses, had the same aspect, and the quartz had the same green tinge which we had noticed in places at Moria, near Crownpoint. A large mass of gray granite was also noticed, in which the mica is in small black scales, the feldspar and the quartz of different shades of green- the fracture uneven, &c. This granite is coarse grained and compact-a specimen of it could not be distinguished from one taken from the granite of Westport, opposite Crownpoint. After examining the boulders in this vi- cinity with some care, I have not been able to recognize fragments of rocks from the south or west.
If the distribution of these rolled fragments were en- tirely accidental, or dependent on gravitation, we should expect to meet with such substances as abound most in the immediate vicinity, more especially at a greater ele- vation, as at the Catskill or Helderberg mountains; but no fragments peculiar to these higher and contiguous eminences are found, while the primitive and more dis- tant mountains to the north seem evidently to have con- tributed to the diluvial formation of this tract. In the channel of Wendell's creek near Albany, several large primitive fragments are noticed, which evince a similar evidence of their being out of place. Here also is an anomalous boulder of primitive lime stone-it is white granular, the grains rather small, and the whole mass a little stained, black or bluish. This mass is called anomalous, because after having viewed the country to the north as far as Crownpoint, I have seen no such lime
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Cascade of the Vly Kill.
rock in any place. At New Lebanon a similar stone is seen, and it exists in the same range, as far north as Mid- dlebury, in Vermont, but it requires some violence and dis- tortion of our favorite hypothesis, to transport such a mass from New Lebanon to its present place, if indeed it is doing justice to this subject, I mean the direction of the diluvial current as ascertained by present appear- ances, to call it hypothetical. The history of such a state of things is recorded in a system of medals or monuments-as durable and as unequivocal as the ever- lasting mountains.
The influence of a northern current is strikingly illus- trated, on the farm called Norman vale, the property of the late Lt. Gov. Tayler. Near the place where the Hunger Kill crosses the low range of clay hills, towards the Norman's Kill, there is a gap or breach in the soil of considerable extent, which from its configuration strongly suggests the idea of its having been formed by water. The clay in this vicinity is entirely denuded of diluvial sand, but heaps of gravel and pebbles are distri- buted, as in bars formed by running water, in the inter- mediate rivers. At the entrance of the level, fertile tract, called Norman vale, there is a remarkable bar of this kind. It extends from north to south, at the dis- tance from the gap above mentioned, that it would natu- rally occupy, if formed by such a current as we have supposed. This bar is a short distance from the place that appears to have been the narrowest throat of the channel, where the water, in beginning to lose the velo- city it had when comparatively confined, would naturally deposit the heaviest particles of earth or stone that were carried along by it, at the point where the force of the current began to be diminished, as at the mouth of riv- ers. This bar forms a conspicuous mound which is crossed by the road. On our return, we made a circuit- ous route along the Norman's Kill; we were conducted by a private road through a succession of well cultivated farms. Between this tract and the public roads, there is a part of the diluvial sand plain covered with a thick
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Cascade of the Fly Kill.
low growth of pine, oak, poplar, &c. There are a few - improved farms scattered through this sandy tract, and the soil though light, is found to amply reward culti- vation. These farms are so distant from each other, as not to destroy the wild and secluded aspect of an unre- claimed country. The forest serves the more effectually to insulate the valley of the Norman's Kill from the populous, the traveled, and the busy world-a more se- cluded situation can hardly be imagined. As a conve- nient and agreeable excursion, I take pleasure in recom- mending that to the cascade of Vly Kill to the attention of my fellow citizens and to strangers,
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LICENSE IN OLD TIMES.
The records of the colony of Rensselaerwyck and of the city of Albany show how much restraint was continu- ally thrown around the retailing of spirituous liquors.
There was a provision in new Amsterdam in 1641, which reads as follows :
" Whereas complaints are made that some of our in- habitants have commenced to tap beer during divine service, and use a small kind of measure, which is in contempt of our religion, and must ruin the state," and annexes a penalty of 25 guilders, besides the forfeiture of the beer for the use of the attorney-general, upon each offender; and such offender " shall not tap beer again for three months." Whether this enactment provided the attorney-general with a sufficient quantity of beer for his own consumption does not appear upon the minutes, and is left wholly to conjecture.
It is amusing to notice the complaints made by the governor, twenty years later, against retailers of brandy, for selling that liquor to the Indians. The rate of ex- change was one pint of brandy for a schepel (three pecks) of wheat.
The regulations in other respects, at some places, were very strict in terms, but not rigidly enforced. For in- stance, at Wiltwick it was declared that if any person should desire to leave the place to take care of his private concerns, or should wish to go to the Manhattans, Fort Orange or any other place, "he shall notify his intended departure, and write directly on his arrival there, under the penalty of twenty-four stuyvers." There ap- pears to be no salvo for those who could not write.
Another regulation was no doubt highly salutary, as follows: "No one shall appear drunk on guard, nor on parade,-nor curse, nor swear, nor make any noise, nor blaspheme the religious worship, or the holy sacrament, under the penalty of 25 guilders " ($10).
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ORDERS REGULATING THE INDIAN TRADE.
ADOPTED BY THE CITY GOVERNMENT OF ALBANY SOON AFTER ITS INCORPORATION.
From New York Colonial MSS., vol. xxiv, Secretary's office.
[This document seems to be the original rules and regulations concerning the Indian trade, a part of which was yearly renewed by the common council, and will be found in the City Records, printed in the previous volumes of these Annals. The copy in the secretary's office is mutilated by time and use, as will be seen by the omissions in the printed pages which follow.]
Citty of Albany Sct.
Att a Common Councill held at ye Citty Hall of ye said Citty, on ye 14th day of September, in the second year of the Reign off our Souveraigne Lord James the Second, by the Grace of God of England, Scotland, France and Irland King, Defender of ye faith, Su- pream and only Lord of ye Province of N: Yorke, &c., and in ye year of our Lord 1686, before Pieter Schuyler Esq. Mayor, Isaack Swinton Esq. Recorder, Dirk Wessells, Jan Jansz. Bleeker, Johannes Wendell, David Schuyler, and Adriaen Gerritse, Aldermen, and Jochim Staets, Lawrence Van Ale, Melgert Wyn- antse, Isaak Vplank, Albert Ryckman and John Lansing, Assistants.
Whereas his Excell. Thomas Dongan, Capt. Gen. and Governour under his said Maj. of ye Province of N: York and Dependencies, by virtue of ye Power and Authority in him being, from and under his said Maj. in and by a certain Charter beareing date ye 22d day of July last [ Annals, viii.] 19
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Orders Regulating the Indian Trade.
past, and given under ye Seale of ye said Province for ye consideracon therein expressed, amongst diverse other things, did Grant Ratify and Confirm, unto us ye sd Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of the Citty of Albany, to have, hold and enjoy the Priviledge, Preheminence and Advantage of haveing within our owne walls the sole management of ye Trade with all the Indians liveing within, and to ye eastward, northward and westward of ye said county of Albany, within ye compasse of his said Majs. Dominion here, therein and thereby prohibiteing and dischargeing all and every of ye Inhabitants of ye said Province of New Yorke (ye Inhabitants of ye Citty of Albany only excepted) to trade or trafique with any of ye five Nations of Indians called the Sinnekes, Cay- ouges, Onondages, Oneydes and Maquase, who live to the westward, or with any other Indian or Indians what- soever, within ye County of Albany or to ye eastward northward, or westward thereof, so farr as his said Majs. Dominions have doth or may extend, or to have or to keep within their houses or elsewhere any Indian Goods or Merchandize, upon ye pain and penalty of ye forfeiture and confiscation off such Indian Commodities, whether the same be Bevers, Peltry, or other Indian Commodities whatsoever, except Indian Corn, Vennison, and drest Deer Skinns, so traded for and upon pain and penalty of ye forfeiture and confiscation of all such Indian Goods and Merchandize, as Gunns, Powder, Lead, Duffells, Rumm, and all other Indian Goods and Merchandize, which should att any time thereafter be found concealed, or kept in any house or place, without ye walls of ye said Citty and within ye said County, and y" other limites, and boundaries therein and herein before sett forth and pre- scribed to be sued for prosecuted and disposed off, in such manner as therein is more particularly sett forth and prescribed; and whereas in and by ye sd Charter, itt is further granted ratifyed and confirmed unto us ye said Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of ye Citty of Albany, to make such further and oy" orders in ye Regulacon of ye said Trade as to us from time to time should seem
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Orders Regulating the Indian Trade.
convenient, as in and by the said Charter, relation thereto being had may more att large appear :
Now Wee the said Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of ye ...... of Albany in Common Council mett and assembled in pursuance of ye premisses and by virtue of ye power and authority to us in and by ye said recited Charter graunted as aforesd for ye due orderly manage- ment of ye Indian Trade, as well within ye said Citty and County as without the same, within ye limites, and boundaryes aforesaid, doe hereby make, ordeyn, publish and declare these our Orders Rules and Regulations, in manner following, that is to say :
That no Person or Persons whatsoever within this Citty or County or without ye same, within ye limites and boundaries aforesaid, shall trade or trafique with any Indian or Indians, for any Bever or Peltry, or any Indian Commodities without ye Gates of this Citty, except for Indian Corn, Vennison and drest Deer Skinns, on Pen- alty of forfeiting such Indian Commodities, soe traded for as aforesaid, as also under penalty of being fined for so tradeing att ye discretion of such Court, before whom the same shall be prosecuted so as such fine exceed not twenty pounds courant money of this Country, one third of such Commodities so to be forfeited to ye Mayor of ye s' Citty for ye time being, one third to ye Mayor Alder- men and Commonalty of the said Citty, and one third to such person as shall sue for ye same, and two thirds of such fine to be adjudged to ye Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of ye said Citty, and ye other third to such person as shall sue for ye same.
That no Person or Persons in this Citty or County, or without. ye Same, within ye limittes and boundaries aforest that shall receive of any Indian or Indians any Indian Commodities except before excepted for Provisions, shall keep ye same, if of ye value of twelve shillings, in there houses or elsewhere without ye Citty, for ye space of more than twenty four hours after there receit of ye Same, on Pain and Penalty of forfeiting, such Indian goods so kept as aforesd, two thirds to ye use of ye Mayor,
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aldermen and Commonalty of ye said Citty, and ye oy" third to such person as shall sue for ye same.
That no Person or Persons whatsoever within this Citty and County or without ye same, within ye limites and boundaries aforesd, shall have and keep within there houses or else where without ye Gates of s1 Citty, any Gunns, Strouds, Blanketts, Rumm. Pouder, Lead or other Indian Goods or Merchandizes whatsoever, on pain and penalty, of forfeiting such Indian Merchandizes and Commodities so kept and concealed as aforesd, one Third part to ye use of ye Mayor of ye sd Citty for ye time being, one Third part to ye use of ye Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of ye sd Citty, and ye other third part to such person as shall sue for ye same.
That no person or persons whatsoever within the said Citty or County, or without ye same, within ye limites and boundaries afores1, shall take or receive, upon any pretence whatsoever, any paun or paunes (zewt excepted) from any Indian or Indians whatsoever, upon pain of forfeiture of ye value of what such paun was left for, two third parts ...... ye Mayor, Aldermen and Common- alty of ye said Citty, and. . . part to such person as shall sue for ye same, and upon Pain and Penalty of haveing such pawne restored to such Indian or Indians gratis.
That no person or persons whatsoever, within this Citty, shall upon ye arrivall of any Indian or Indians addresse themselves or speake to them of and concerning Trade, nor shall entice ym either within or without ye gates of ye said Citty, by Signs or oyrwise howsoever, to trade with themselves or any other Persones upon pain and penalty of paying for each offence iff committed with- out the gates of ye sd Citty, ye summe of tenn pounds, if within ye same, ye summe of six shillings only, one morety thereof, to ye Mayor, Aldermen and Commonalty of ye said Citty, and ye oyr to such Person as shall sue for ye same.
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