USA > New York > Albany County > Cohoes > The history of Cohoes, New York, from its earliest settlement to the present time > Part 4
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In the writings of the Count Rochefoucauld Liancourt, from which a quotation has previously been made, it was described as follows :
" This bridge is erected on the spot where the Cohoez Falls appear to the greatest advantage. It is constructed of timber and rests on stone pillars about twenty-five or thirty feet distant from each other. The masonry is not remarkable for solidity or neatness ; but the carpenter's work is exceedingly well done."
An act in regard to the bridge was passed by the legis- lature, April 3, 1797, in which the rates of toll were fixed as follows :
"To make adequate provision for keeping the bridge in
1753103
35
1798. HISTORY OF COHOES.
good repair, it is enacted: That from and after the first day of June next, the following toll shall be collected from every person crossing said bridge, viz : For every carriage crossing the said bridge and drawn by a single horse, six cents ; for every wheel carriage or sled crossing said bridge and drawn by two horses, mules, or other working cattle, the sum of eight cents ; for every carriage or sled drawn by more than two horses, two mules, or two other working cattle, at and after the rate of two cents for each additional creature ; for a man and horse or mule the sum of four cents ; for every single horse, mare, colt or mule the sum of one cent ; for every bull, ox, cow, heifer or calf, the sum of two cents, and for sheep and hogs, at and after the rate of ten cents per score."
The toll house and gates were to be erected and the col- lector of tolls to be appointed by "the supervisor of the town of Watervliet, and the supervisor of the town of Half Moon," who were also directed to apply the surplus money " to the clearing away and removing the rock at the northeast corner of the said bridge, and in repairing and amending the highways in the said counties of Albany and Saratoga, leading to and from the said bridge."
This act was amended by the passage of an act March 30, 1798, which appointed John Hazard of the town of Half Moon and Peter S. Schuyler of the town of Watervliet, as commissioners " with full power yearly and every year hereafter, on the first Tuesday in May to sell at public ven- due the toll of the bridge together with the toll house be- longing to the same for the term of one year then next ensuing." By this act, also, a penalty was established of $15, to be imposed upon any one who should break open the toll gates, and it was declared unlawful for any one to keep a tavern or inn at the toll house.
On petition of Matthew Gregory and Gradus Van Schoon- hoven, then lessces of the bridge, who set forth that as it had been much injured by ice and water, the tolls were in- sufficient to pay for the necessary repairs, the legislature, in an act passed April 4, 1801, authorized the commissioners
36
HISTORY OF COHOES. 1806.
to increase the rates of toll to the requisite figure, with the restriction that the increase should not be over 33} per cent. or be continued more than four years.
The Cohoes Bridge Company, consisting of Samuel Stewart, Ira Scott, John I. Close, Guert Van Schoonhoven, Moses Scott, Henry Davis and Samuel Demarest, was in- corporated April 4, 1806, "for the purpose of rebuilding the state bridge over the Mohawk River," it having been severely damaged by theice. The stock of the company was limited to three hundred shares of twenty-five dollars each. New rates of toll were fixed, considerably higher than those of 1797.
The completion of the bridge was of course followed by some little change in the life of the inhabitants. A means of communication was furnished to parts of the adjoining country which had previously been difficult of access, and as the amount of travel by the new route was considerable, the hamlet doubtless assumed a slight appearance of activity. The road, beside being generally used by the farmers in the vicinity, became one of the main routes to the north, and in later years was traversed by the stage coaches running from Albany to Ballston Spa and other points. A tavern was established in the house on the farm before described as Gerret Witbeck's, Richard Heamstreet being proprietor.
-
37
HISTORY OF COHOES.
1811.
III.
FROM THE INCORPORATION OF THE COHOES MANUFACTUR- ING COMPANY, 1811, TO THE COMMENCEMENT OF OPERA- TIONS BY THE COHOES COMPANY, 1830.
THUS far in the history of Cohoes, there had been no indications of the importance which it was destined to assume as a manufacturing town. As at other points along the river, several small mills had been established, but they were comparatively unimportant, and there was little to distin- guish the place from other farming settlements in the neighborhood. Early in the present century, however, the advantages of this locality for manufacturing purposes were recognized, and on a small scale the first attempt was made to utilize them.
In 1811, the Cohoes Manufacturing Company, composed entirely of gentlemen from Lansingburg, was incorporated, being one of the first corporations formed under the " general act" of that year. A tract of sixty acres on the bank of the river, which was part of the Heamstreet farm, ' together with the water privilege, was secured, and land was also purchased from Jacobus Van Schoonhoven on the opposite side of the river, embracing what is now known as Simmons's Island. The property belonging to the patroon was trans- ferred to Gerret Peebles, one of the trustees of the company,
! This tract, known for some years as the Factory lot, and which afterward came into possession of the Cohoes Company, comprised all that part of the Heamstreet farin which lay east of Mohawk street, down to a point near Columbia street. The southern limit may be described according to landmarks now in existence, as a line extending from the Rensselaer and Saratoga rail road crossing (near Steenberg's carriage shop) to the river, passing by Geo. Ducharme's house and the now you work -. The annual rental was seven bushels of wheat. A new lease was at the -ime time executed to Charles Heamstreet for the remainder of his farm, 1455, acres.
38
HISTORY OF COHOES.
1811.
May 20. The certificate of incorporation, filed June 18 in the office of the secretary of state, was as follows :
" This may certify that Timothy Leonard, Elijah Janes, Garret Peebles, Calvin Barker, Elias Parmelee, Sylvanus J. Penniman, Ebenezer W. Walbridge, John Stewart, Joseph Fox, Jacob L. Lansing, James Adams, Elisha Janes, John Pierce and Seth Seelye, in the village of Lansingburg in the county of Rensselaer, and state of New York, have associated and formed themselves into a company according to the act entitled 'an act relative to Incorporations for man- ufacturing purposes, passed March 22, 1811,' by the name of 'The Cohoes Manufacturing Company,' for the purposes of manufacturing Cotton, Woolen and Linen goods, making bar-iron, Anchors, Mill Irons, nail rods, Hoop-iron and Iron Mongery. That the Capital Stock of said company shall be One Houred Thousand Dollars and the number of shares two thousand. The stock, property and concerns of the said company shall be conducted and managed by seven trustees, and Timothy Leonard, Calvin Barker, Gerrit Peebles, Elias Parmelee, Elijah Janes, Ebenezer W. Wal- bridge and Seth Seelye, shall be the Trustees to manage the concerns of said company for the first year, commencing on the day of the filing of this certificate in the Secretary's office of this State. The operations of the said Company will be carried on at Cohoesville in the town of Watervliet, in the county of Albany and state aforesaid, on the west Bank of the Mohawk River, a little distance southeast of the Cohoes bridge."
The first enterprise in which the company engaged was the manufacture of screws ; a wing dam was built, and a building (on the site now occupied by Weed & Becker's axe factory) was erected soon after the incorporation.
It was the intention of the company, in purchasing so large a tract of land, to lay it out and improve it so as to afford sites for further manufacturing establishments which in time could be disposed of to other parties, but no move- ment of the sort appears to have been made, and for some years, at least, the operations of the Company were confined to this factory. The operatives employed were mostly from New York. Several large wooden tenements, still
39
HISTORY OF COHOES.
1813.
standing, (between Saratoga street and the canal) were built for their accommodation, on the knoll at the west of the factory.
The first superintendent employed by the company was named Pierce, who was succeeded in 1813 by Col. Prescott.
Horatio Spafford, who was a resident of Lansingburg, and was doubtless acquainted with his townsmen who were engaged in this enterprise, appears to have been the first writer to mention the wonderful facilities offered by this locality for manufacturing purposes. In his Gazetteer of New York State (1st ed., 1813), he said, under the head of Half- Moon :
" The Cahoos Falls of the Mohawk, near its mouth, are between this town and Watervliet, and will supply a vast profusion of sites when the surrounding population shall need extensive works. There are now mills erected upon the upper sprout or delta of that river just at Waterford Point where it meets the Hudson."
Under the title of Watervliet, the following appeared in regard to Cohoes :
" About three miles N. of Gibbonsville (West Troy) there is a bridge across the Mohawk, a short distance below the Cahoos Falls. The roads are numerous in the interior, but they are rather paths than highways. The Cahoos, being the principal falls of the Mohawk, are between Watervliet and Half Moon in Saratoga Co. The whole waters of the Mohawk descend in one sheet at high water, about 70 feet. In the vicinity of the Cahoos is a Dutch church and farming neighborhood commonly called the Boght. Since the above was written, a manufactory of serews of iron for woodwork, erected on the lower sprout of the Mohawk near the Cahoos bridge, has got into successful operation.
Works are about to be added for drawing the wire from which the screws are formed, when the iron will be taken in the bar, and manufactured into serews, now made of foreign wire. The machinery is all driven by water, and is said to bo very ingenious, the invention of a self-taught artist, Mr. W. C. Penniman. Some samples of the screws which. I have seen appear to be well formed, and they are cut with
40
HISTORY OF COHOES.
1813.
great dispatch. These works are owned by an incorporated company with a sufficient capital, and are situated directly opposite Lansingburg, and about two miles below Water- ' ford."1
It is probable that the establishment of this factory made little difference in the general life of the hamlet. It was situated some distance from the main road, accessible only by a rough path through the woods (now Oneida street), its proprietors and operatives were all strangers, and beyond the interest naturally awakened by the first operations, the enterprise received but slight attention from the inhabitants.
One event, however, which was of general importance, was perhaps brought about by the accession of the families of the factory operatives. The only school house in the neighborhood previously, had been located at the Boght, but another was established about this time, which was more accessible to many of the inhabitants. The school was first located in a building on the main road, afterwards. occupied as a residence by Israel Anthony, a shoe-maker, and still later by Wm. Link.2 The first teacher was a man named O'Neil. About the same time or soon afterward, a school building was erected a short distance above the Heamstreet farm house.3 Supply F. Wilson was one of the early teachers.
About this time the manufacture of writing paper was commenced in Gerret Clute's mill near the Falls. The building had not been used as a grist mill for some time, and was occupied for several years as a cloth establishment for dressing common farmers' flannel. The proprietor of the paper mill was Elisha Sheldon, who employed a man
1 John M. King, who as a boy was employed in the screw factory, is now living in Lansingburg.
" Near the corner of Oneida and Mohawk streets, on the site of the residence of M. S. Younglove.
9 On Saratoga street on the site occupied by the Red or State-yard school house.
1816.
HISTORY OF COHOES. 41
named Ensign as his superintendent. Two wooden tene- ments were erected near the mill. 1
In 1815 or 1816, the screw factory was burned, and this appears to have interrupted for a time the operations of the company. A great part of the stock changed hands, most of it coming into possession of Benjamin and Samuel De Milt of New York, and after some delay a new building was erected, which was occupied as a cotton factory. In connection with it a small factory was afterward estab- lished for the manufacture of shovels and other tools which was conducted by Collin and Jones. Few particulars in regard to it can be obtained.
About the year 1820, the first church building within the present limits of Cohoes was erected. It was a small wooden structure, located above the north line of the Charles Heamstreet farm, near what is now the north- west corner of Mohawk and White streets. But little can be ascertained in regard to the history of the church. It was of the Methodist denomination, and was organized mainly through the efforts of the different HTeamstreet families. The services were conducted by Jacob ITeamstreet and a man named Whipple of Lansing- burg, as exhorters, but there is no record that a clergy- man was ever regularly settled. The building was only usedl about two years, when disputes of some sort arose and the services were abandoned. It remained for some time unoccupied, and was afterward converted into a dwelling house. Directly in front of this church was located the ninth mile stone from Albany. The eighth mile stone was near Jacob II. Lansing's house.
The construction of the Erie and Champlain Canals, which was begun in 1817, and completed, at least in this vicinity, in 1823, was the first event to cause a noticeable change in
. The bull was destroyed about 1832, when the improvements of the Cohoes Com- ; say were in progress.
6
42
HISTORY OF COHOES.
1823.
the character of the place. It may well be imagined that the equanimity of its quiet Dutch inhabitants was seriously. disturbed by the projection of these improvements, and that they regarded the invasion of their domains with a disfavor which no awards of land damages could remove. Every farm was traversed by one or both of the canals. Both passed directly in front of the residence of Abram G. Lan- sing, marring the lawn which extended from the house to the river, and destroying much of the beauty of his country place- while the next farm on the north, belonging to Charles Heamstreet, was damaged almost as greatly. The front yard of the farm house was cut off by the Champlain Canal, leaving no means of access to the highway, except by a bridge which was built a short distance above the house, and soon afterward Mr. Heamstreet disposed of the farm, and moved away, his reason being, it is said, disgust at this mutilation of his property. The other farmers, whose lands were all more or less injured, appear to have been more resigned to the innovation, though it was doubtless equally unwelcome.
The junction of the Erie and Champlain Canals (located near the site of the stables of the Troy and Cohoes Horse Rail Road Company on Saratoga street north of the dyke), gave this locality some little importance in the early days of canal navigation. On the occasion of the canal celebration Oct. 8th, 1823, the Dewitt Clinton, the first boat to pass from the Erie Canal into the Hudson, was here met by the joint committee of the common council and citizens of Albany, who escorted to that city the passengers, consisting of Gov. Yates, the canal commissioners, and other prominent officials. It was at this point that the slight ac- tivity in the place, which followed the regular opening of navigation, was chiefly manifested. The construction of the canals brought to Cohoes quite a number of new in- habitants, some of whom came during the progress of the work and others soon after its completion. Houses were
43
HISTORY OF COHOES.
1823.
built, and canal groceries, stables, and similar concerns es- tablished at different points. The most important of these were at the junction, at which place the principal settlers were Messrs. Crowner, Waterman and Phelps. The house of Mr. Waterman, who was the first justice of the peace in the neighborhood, was situated on the hill just south of the ravine at the northwest of the junction, and those of Crowner and Phelps were by the canal north of the site of the horse rail road stables. Among other families which came to Cohoes about this time were those of Messrs. Henry En Earl, Flannigan, Beecher, Wolcott and Herkimer.
The boats at this time only ran during the day and there was consequently a demand for lodgings for the boatmen and stabling for their horses, which was the means of supporting several small taverns ; of these the most im- portant was the one which had been established by Richard Heamstreet, and was then kept by Andrews. Another was located in the old Ouderkirk or Fonda farm-house, which was kept by -- Dyer and afterward by -- Williams. Connected with this was a large barn (burned a few years since) which stood on the flats between the canal and the river, and furnished accommodations for a number of canal teams. On the hill was the Cohoes House owned by the Van Der Marks, who had leased the southwest portion of the Clute farm. This was located near the bridge which crosses the present Erie Canal by the Boght road.1
With the exception of some alterations made three years since, near the old junction, the course of the Champlain Canal, near Cohoes, has remained as originally laid out. The old Erie Canal ran north from the junction, passing over the ground now occupied by Main street, and the third and second levels of the Cohoes Company's canals. Above the Falls it ran in a north westerly direction, being at the west of
! This was torn down in 1873. In later years it was called the Old House at Home, and was kept by Geo. Bray.
44
HISTORY OF COHOES.
1823.
the present location of the Cohoes Company's upper level. Within the space now included between the northern and southern boundaries of the city were nineteen locks, fol- lowing each other in rapid succession. Two of these were below the junction, and seven between the junction and the road to Watervliet, now Columbia street. The next one was located near what is now White street, and the old lock house (on the east side of Main street), is still standing ; three more were situated near the site now occupied by the jute mill (formerly paper mill) on Mohawk street, and two others occupied the ground near where the pump house now stands. Between the Three Locks and the Two Locks, near the site of the Harmony Mills, was a large basin, capable of holding thirty or forty boats, which at night was often filled. A canal grocery, owned by Oliver C. Hubbard, was, about 1828, located on one of the Two Locks. The last locks, four in number, were near the present northern boundary of the city.
These locks were an object of great dislike to travelers and boatmen, whose progress was seriously impeded by them in busy seasons when boats were numerous. To avoid wasting the time which would have been employed in the tedious journey from Albany to the upper locks, a line of stage coaches was established by -Allen, a few years after the opening of the canals, which connected with the packets just above the locks. These coaches, on some days five or six in number, came up from Albany every morning bringing westward bound passengers and returned at night with those who had come in from the opposite direction. The horses were stabled during the day at the Van Der Mark tavern.
In Spafford's Canal Guide, published 1824 and 1825, the following objects of interest in Cohoes at that time were mentioned :
"Between Albany and Schenectady, twenty-eight and &
45
HISTORY OF COHOES.
1823.
half miles, a day is employed, there being so many locks to pass ; but every person is well compensated for the time and expense of at least one trip, passing twenty-seven locks, two aqueducts, and an interesting variety of natural scenery.
Miles from Albany.
83 Juncta, or the junction where the Erie receives the Champlain Canal by a navigable feeder from the Mohawk, below which there is a basin and 2 locks, Nos. 3 and 4, 2 of the Nine Locks. No. 3 to 11, in about half a mile rise 78 feet. Here are two locks the commencement of a double set now building of the white marble of West- chester Co.
r. from Juncta by Champlain Canal to Waterford, 2 miles.
1. A. G. Lansing's at lock No. 6.
9 Lock No. 12, rise 8 feet.
9} The Three Locks, Nos. 13, 14 and 15, rise 26 ft., opposite Cahoos Bridge.
9} The Two Locks, Nos. 16 and 17 rise 18 ft., Nos. 13, 14, 15, 16, the 4 Marble Locks.
10 Deep cutting, 26 ft., 40 rods, transition argillite r. Cahoos Falls, perpendicular descent 78 ft.
101 r. Paper Mill on Mohawk River.
10} The Four Locks, Nos. 18, 19, 20, 21, rise 32 ft.
r. Wing dam, and grist saw and plaster mill.1 "
The points mentioned on the Champlain Canal were Whiting's factory, " the cotton factory and the dam, the latter of which is thus described. "} m. Dam, Mohawk River, 7 ft. pond 1600 ft. wide, back water 53 rods, navi- gation through the pond, guard locks, feeder for Erie Canal.".
In the second edition of Spafford's Gazetteer, published 1824, the place was described as follows :
I The plaster mill, belonging to the Lansing family, had not been long in opera- tion. It was located in an addition which was built at the south of the original saw and grist mills. The building was used a few years later for the manufacture of coarse wrapping paper.
? This was the mill which had been conducted by John Heamstreet. It came into the possession of the Whitings of Troy, and was used some years as a candle factory. The frame of the mill remained standing as late as 1837. The house occupied by the Whitings, and in later years known as the Alcombruck house, is still standing, Duar the site of the old mill.
46
HISTORY OF COHOES. 1823.
" The detention of boats in passing the numerous locks near here will help the proprietors towards making this a place of business, particularly if they connect it with mill works and factories, as they may well do. . ... . I have perhaps rather whimsically named the new town which the proprietors mean to have at the place where the Erie Canal receives the Champlain Canal, Juncta, but if they make a town or village there, I may at least make a name for it until they give it one. It is a pretty spot, and if they give it water power and hydraulic works, there will soon collect about it people enough to make a handsome little village."
The cotton factory of the Cohoes Manufacturing Company, of which - Sayres was at the time agent, was spoken of as Prescott's factory, "a stone building, near the Cahoos bridge and the ruins of the screw factory mentioned in the first edition of this work. It is owned principally in Lan- singburg."
It was at the time the only cotton factory in the county. The design of the company to establish here a manufactur- ing village, referred to in the above extract, is described at greater length in a memorial drawn up for presentation to the canal commissioners by the trustees, soon after the opening of the canal. In this it was stated that they had purchased lands and water privileges from Stephen Van Rensselaer and Jacobus Van Schoonhoven " for which lands and water privileges there has been paid by the trust- ces of the Cohoes Manufacturing Company to the aforesaid persons the sum of four thousand six hundred and seventy- one dollars. Your memorialists further represent that at the time of making the above purchases they had ascer- tained that the lands so purchased, together with the water privileges, would furnish sites and power for twenty-two manufacturing establishments ; that the ultimate value of so many sites for hydraulic machinery your memorialists calculated would indemnify them for the extraordinary price paid for the aforesaid premises, and the expenses which they might incur in commencing operations which were yet new in this country ; that with the view of dis- posing of sites to purchasers, they have had their land sur- veyed and laid out into proper lots, and have excavated a
-
47
HISTORY OF COHOES.
1823.
canal nearly through their land, forty feet wide, at an ex- pense of three thousand four hundred and sixty dollars ; that after practicing every economy, which the nature of their business would admit, they have expended on the pre- mises the sum of seventy-five thousand dollars, for which or for the interest that has accrued thereon, they have as yet received no return. Your memorialists beg leave further to suggest that they conceive they had acquired a perfect title to all the above mentioned premises ; that they are entitled to an adequate compensation for the damages they sustain by the loss of land and improvements by means of the canal operation, and by loss of privileges occasioned by the use and diversion of the waters of the Mohawk, and your memorialists beg leave further to suggest the propriety of their claim to the waters of the Mohawk, beyond what is necessary for supplying the northern and western locks and canals ; and your memorialists respectfully solicit your honorable body to fix upon certain regulations under which your memorialists may have leave to take and use such of the waters of the Mohawk as shall not be wanted for canal purposes."
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