USA > New York > The natural, statistical, and civil history of the state of New-York, v. 2 > Part 10
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Rochester, was founded in 1812, by Messrs. Rochester, Fitz- hugh, and Carroll, and has had the most rapid growth of any town in the state. Its water privileges are of a superior order. There are now seven flouring mills, having in all twenty-four run of stones; two others with twelve run are building ; besides these there are three mills for custom work having seven run of stones. In 1826 there were floured at the preceding mills for exportation 150,169 barrels of flour. The flour exported in 1826 amounted in the ag- gregate to 202,900 barrels.
There is one cotton manufactory with fourteen hundred spindles and thirty power looms, one woollen manufactory, and three fur- naces for smelting. One daily, two semi-weekly, and three weekly papers are printed here.
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Brockville, about twenty miles west of Rochester, is a small vil- lage ; it is a creature of the canal.
Lockport, sixty-one miles west of Rochester, is situated on the summit of a steep, and contains upwards of three hundred houses. There are ten locks on the Erie canal at this place, five are for the descent, and five for the ascent of boats. It is thirty-one miles . northeasterly from Buffalo, twenty east-northeast from Niagara falls, and nine south from lake Ontario. It was founded in the year 1821. The ground before this time was covered with woods.
Black Rock, a small village in the town of Buffalo, in Erie county, is on the east side of the river Niagara, at the west end of the Erie canal. The river is about a mile broad. The village con- tains about one hundred houses. The harbor which has been con- structed here contains one hundred and thirty-six acres, and is two miles and a half long, with a breadth of from sixteen to forty rods. The entrance on the side of the lake is narrow, and not always ac- cessible ; the pier or dam at the lower end of the basin or harbor has a lock for the descent and ascent of vessels in and out of Nia- gara river. The village has been built since the location of the harbor at this place.
Buffalo stands on the shore of lake Erie very near the outlet, two hundred and ninety-six miles west of the city of Albany, two hundred and ninety northeastwardly of Detroit, and twenty-two south southeastwardly of Niagara falls. The ground on which it is built rises very gently from the shore of the lake and Buffalo creek. The village contains four hundred houses, and upwards of two thousand inhabitants. Its situation is one of the best on the lake. A branch canal, a mile or more long, extends from the vil- lage on the margin of the lake to Black Rock harbor. Buffalo will be a great warehouse for the products of the east and the west. Its harbor at a moderate expense might be rendered the best on the lake. The money already laid out in the construction of the harbor at Black Rock would nearly have accomplished it. At pre- sent it admits vessels of eight or nine feet draft. The country in its environs, and for some distance, is flat, or very moderately roll- ing. Buffalo creek within the bars has depth of water for a mile and a quarter for ships.
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Cazenovia, in the county of Madison, on Chitteningo creek, and Manlius square, on the south Seneca turnpike, and Skencatelas, a! the outlet of the lake of the same name in Onondaga county, cor .- tain, respectively, about one hundred houses.
Auburn, the county town of Cayuga, is situated on both sides of the Owasco outlet in the midst of a fertile country, seven miles south of the Erie canal. It contains about four hundred houses, sever :! places of public worship, a bank, court-house, jail, states' prison, &c. and about two thousand inhabitants. It has been built during the last twenty years.
Dunkirk, Fredonia, and Portland, are in Chautauque county, on the shore of lake Erie. Dunkirk and Portland are harbors which admit lake vessels. The first is forty-five, and the second sixty miles southwest of Buffalo.
Oswego, in Oswego county, is on the banks of the river of the same name just above its mouth, and contains about two hundred houses. Vessels drawing eight feet of water cross the bar at the mouth of the river, and enter the harbor. The village is thirty- three miles nearly north of Syracuse on the Erie canal. On the completion of the Oswego canal, there will be a boat navigation up to the Erie, This village is beginning to rise.
Sacketts Harbor is situated on Hungry bay, an arm of Chaumon: bay. The harbor is the best on lake Ontario. Men-of-war car- rying one hundred guns can anchor close by the shore, where they are secure from every wind. Population fourteen hundred. Sacketts harbor is one hundred and sixty miles from Albany, in a northwest- wardly direction, and thirty from Kingston, in Upper Canada. Its latitude is forty-three degrees fifty-five minutes.
Ogdensburg, in St. Lawrence county, is on the right bank of the river St. Lawrence. at the mouth of the Oswegatchie, sixty miles northeasterly of the issue of lake Ontario ; it has about one hun- dred houses, and the county buildings. It is at the foot of lake navigation.
Owego, in the county of Tioga, is on the right bank of the Sus- quehanna, about a mile above the mouth of Owego creek, and twenty-nine miles southeastwardly of Ithaca, on Cayuga inlet. I: has nearly one hundred buildings. It is a depot for salt, gypsum, &c.
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Oxford and Norwich are in the county of Chenango, on Che- nango river. The former is one hundred, and the latter one hundred and eight miles southwestwardly from Albany. They have, severally. about one hundred houses. Norwich is the county town.
Homer, in Cortland, one hundred aad forty-four miles west- wardly from Albany, has about one hundred houses. Cortland, in the same town, has nearly as many. Both are on Tioughnioga river.
Cooperstown is situated at the outlet of Otsego lake in a deep valley, and contains upwards of one hundred dwelling houses, two churches, a court-house, and jail. It is the capitol of Otsego county. Its situation is picturesque aud beautiful. The lake, a fine sheet of limpid water, extends northwardly ; on both sides are hills aspiring at the mountain character. Cooperstown is twenty-two miles south of the Erie canal, and sixty-three westwardly of Albany. It was founded about 1792 by a Mr. Cooper.
Cherry Valley is in the same county fifty miles west of Albany, and ten south of the canal. It has about one hundred houses, a bank, &c.
Montgomery, twelve miles west of Newburg, is in Orange county, on the river Walkill, and has about eighty houses, a church, aca- demy, &c.
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CHAPTER IV.
AMERICAN ANTIQUITIES.
THE Antiquities of the State of New-York, are in the westere country. They commence at, or near Black river, in the county of Jefferson, and extend, southwesterly to the state of Pennsylvania.
The late Governor, De Witt Clinton, in a memoir on these an- tiquities, says: " That from enquiries and personal observations, he is induced to believe, that the western parts of the United States were; (prior to their discovery and occupation by the Europeans,) inhabited by numerous nations in a settled state, and much farther advanced in civilization than the present tribes of Indians."
The antiquities consist mostly of fortifications, or works of de- fence .- When these were constructed, or by whom, it is impossible at this distant day to determine with certainty. History is silent concerning them and their constructors. Every thing in relation to them is left to conjecture. Under such an order of things, it cannot be expected that we can deduce certain conclusions. We shall do little beyond stating facts, and making suggestions. Such a course, although it may not be entirely satisfactory, we think can- not fail to interest most readers ; that no records remain beyond the works themselves, ought not to appear strange. How many works are now found in Greece, Italy, France, Spain, Barbary, and Asia Minor buried in the same obscurity ? Those nations whom it has pleased Providence to. favor with a knowledge of letters, have not been very particular in the narration of events. Much time has been spent by travellers and others, in order to as- certain when some of the works in the preceding countries were constructed, and by whom. Conjectures have been resorted to, and inferences deduced : but still the same doubts exist, and must from the very nature of things, which exist in respect to works in America. The people who constructed them have disappeared. and their historical records (if they had any,) have also disappear- ed. The same has happened in America. Time, which over- whelms and destroys all things, has only left the works ; and these
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themselves, are in very dilapidated states, exhibiting only faint traces of the originals-overspread with forest trees, over which centuries have passed, and covered with leaves and other vegetable recrements, and assaulted by the vicissitudes of the seasons, these works appear as ancient as the objects which surround them. It is only their forms, and some traces of human skill and industry, that point them out to us as the works of men. Embarrassed, however, as the subjects under consideration are, it cannot be un- interesting to investigate them, make suggestions, and draw some deductions. In doing so, we shall be under the necessity of ex- amining similar works found in other states, which are connected with them. The examination in regard to facts-we flatter our- selves will be interesting.
The fortifications and other works now remaining in the State of New-York, are not numerous or extensive. They are situated in the north eastern part of a long narrow tract of country, hereto- fore inhabited by a people who have long ago migrated to other regions, leaving no traces behind them, save the works. The causes which led to the abandonment and migration, are as un- known as the people themselves. The Agoneascah, and Moheak- anneews, had no tradition or memorials relative to these works, or the people who constructed them. The Moheakanncews had resi- ded in the cauntry time out of mind ; yet they knew nothing con- cerning the works, or the people. They imagined them to be the works of genii, or the gods, in former times. Upon their arrival, they found the country new and vacant. The Moheakanneews came from the northwest, or west-of this they had a tradition. The abandonment and migration must then have been anterior to their arrival, and at a very remote period ; otherwise some memo- rial, some remembrance, would have been preserved.
Some have alledged, that the people who erected these works were vanquished, nnd expelled hy the Mohcakanncews, and other hunting nations of Tartar origin. There is, it is true, considerable plausibility in the allegation. But how are the facts ? Are they not disproved. How would the Moheakanneews and others of Tartar origin, have vanquished and expelled a people so muchi more numerous thian themselves, and so much better prepared to
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defend themselves, and repel invasions. But admitting for ar- ment sake, that they were here, and that they were vanquished and expelled. Could it have been done without long and bloody cos- tests ? Would not every foot of ground have been contested : And would not the Moheakanneews, or those who were actors and victors, have preserved some mementos concerning such memorate events ? We say yes. They would have been engraved, and passed in the hearts of all succeeding generations. They wow's have been handed down from father to son. The father word: have shown these works to the son, as monuments of the nation: prowess, victories and glory. He would have said to the soz. these works were erected by such a people, whom we conquered. and drove out of the country. The son would have told the same to his son ; and thus, it would have been transmitted to all succeed- ing generations. The principal strokes of great events ; such as victories, and expulsions of nations, can be preserved, and are pre- served without the aid of letters. Ossian's poems, which narrate warlike achievements, love adventures, and assassinations, were handed down in songs, through an unknown series of ages and or- ally, or by tradition. These songs were scattered among the High- landers of Scotland, and were not collected and reduced to writing before the close of the eighteenth century. No one at this day doubts their authenticity. Now, if the rude and unlettered mous- taineers of Scotland, could preserve the accounts of events by song, through unnumbered ages; we would ask, whether the Indians of this country, could not have done the same? and we answer in the affirmative.
From the great number of defences and mounds, found in the regions between Black river and the Arkansaw, we are led to be- lieve, that many of them were constructed before the Christies era. The banks of the Mississippi and Missouri, were in all pro- bability, the original seats of the nation, after it became sedentary. Emigrants proceeded from these seats to the east, southeast, and northeast. Those that seated themselves on the Ohio and its branches, sent out colonies that settled in the western parts of Penn- sylvania, and New-York. The progress of the settlements and the improvements made, must have been extremely slow, owing to the infancy of the arts. Great and sudden improvements can only
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take place where the arts flonrish. We do not speak of the fine arts ; but of the more useful. The colonization of the Uuited States affords good examples, although our ancestors possessed ac- quirements superior to any of the American nations. The progress among them in forming settlements and making improvements, was slow. The early colonists were unacquainted with clearing lands. The axe, so indispensably necessary, was then a very rude instru- ment. Its present improved form has been given to it during the last fifty years. Grubbing trees was in common use for upwards of one hundred years after colonies were planted at Jamestown, New-York, and Plymouth. Indeed it was not laid aside entirely before the axe received nearly its present improved form. This is the era of rapid improvement among us. The ancient settlements made in our western country, must therefore, have been made at different and distant intervals. The clearing of the land around the several works, must have been slow and very laborious. All the improvements were on the lands of prime quality. Centuries must . have elapsed during these improvements, and perhaps centuries after they were made, before they were abandoned. We have said that the number of the works were not great-this is true when they are compared with those of Ohio and some other coun- tries, but then they are sufficient to indicate a considerable popula- tion.
- The most remarkable remains known in the state, are in the counties of Jefferson, Onondaga, Cayuga, Seneca, Wayne, On- tario, Livingston, Monroe, Genesee, Orleans, Erie, Chautauque, Cattaraugus, Allegany and Tioga. Those in Jefferson, are on the south side of Black river, in the towns of Rodman, Rutland, Adams and Ellisburg. Those in Rodman are twelve or fourteen miles east of lake Ontario, and eight or nine miles south of the village of Watertown, on Black river. They consist of fortifications, and mounds of earth. The former have ramparts and ditches with avenues. These works appear to be greatly defaced by the ravages of time. In excavations made since the settlement of the country, by our people, several pieces of coarse earthen-ware, apparently the fragments of bowls, dishes, jars, &. have been found.
That at Rutland is eight or nine miles east of Watertown, and is a fortification. It stands on an eminence, and consists of a ditch,
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wall and entrances. Its form is that of an irregular elipsis. On one side there is a triangular projection, of the extent of one hun- dred and fifty feet, ending in an acute angle. The moat extends quite around, enclosing about four acres of land, exclusive of the projection. Human bones have, on digging, been found at this place. .
Those in Adams, amount to seven. They are all circular, con- taining from half an acre to two acres of land each. Each bas a ditch and rampart, extending all around. They severally have gateways or entrances. Fragments of earthen jars, bowls, &c. and whole pipes have been found, several hearths or fire places, buried some feet, have also been found. -
" Near Sandy creek, in the town of Ellisbury, fourteen miles south of Sackets Harbor, there are works of defence that contain fifty acres of land. Numerous fragments of pottery have been found at these works." See Mr. Clinton's memoir on the antiqui- ties of the west.
Those in the county of Onondaga, are in the towns of Camil- · lus, Onondaga, Fabius, and Pompey. Those in Camillus, are about four miles south of Seneca river, on the farm of Judge Monroe, near the village of Elbridge, and are two in number. The largest is situated on a hill, and encloses about three acres. It consists of a wall of earth surrounded by a deep ditch. It has two 'entrances : the one on the east, and the other on the west. There is a spring about ten rods from the latter. The smallest stands on lower ground, at the distance of half a mile. Like the preceding, it has a wall of earth, a ditch, and entrance. The shape of both is eliptical. The wall of the largest was ten feet high, when the land was cleared.
Those in Fabius are in the northeast part of the town.
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Those discovered in Pompey, are mostly in the southeast corner of the town, and amount to three. The largest contains six acres, and has a triangular form. It has a ditch, rampart, and gateways. The other two are in the same vincinity, and have ramparts, ditches, and entrances.
" About two miles south of Manlius Square, in the town of Pompey, are the remains of a town, which extended three quarters of a mile from north to south, and half a mile from east to west.
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Large spots of black mould in regular intervals, and a few paces apart in which are ashes, mark out the sites of the houses. Here are three forts of circular or eliptical forms, distant about eight miles from each other, and forming a triangle, which protected the approaches." See memoir of Mr. Clinton.
Those in Cayuga are in the towns of Aurora and Auburn. That in Aurora, is two miles southeasterly from the village, The area · is of a triangular form, and contains nearly two acres. Two of its sides were defended by precipitous banks, and the other by a bank and ditch. Fragments of earthen vessels, and the bones of ani- mals, have been found here enveloped in beds of ashes.
Those in Auburn are two in number ; and are distant a mile and half from each other. The one is a mile and a quarter north- easterly of the village, and the other a quarter ef a mile south- westerly-they are circular. That northeast of the village encloses about two acres. It had a rampart, ditch, and gateway. It is now nearly obliterated by the plough. In its original state, or the con- dition it was in about thirty-five years ago, about which time the land was cleared, the rampart was seven feet high, and the ditch ten feet wide and three deep, -- two persons, the one standing in the ditch, and the other within the enclosure, were unable to see one another. The gateway was on the northeast side, in the direction . of a spring close by. Fragments of earthen-ware have frequently been ploughed up. The height of the rampart, the width and depth of the ditch, we had from Mr. Casey, one of the first settlers, who now resides near it; and who went with us, and showed us the works as they are now. The rampart was 350 paces in cir- cuit.
That south-west of Auburn is in a wood, and remains in the con- dition it was when settlements were made in Cayuga; the works were never finished ; the embankment is in eight pieces, varying from three to one hundred paces, with intervals between each piece. This has the same number of pieces, with intervals ; the pieces in their lengths invariable corresponding with those of the rampart ; the entire circumference is four hundred and thirty-six paces, equal to one thousand three hundred and eighty; the length of the enclosure is one hundred and thirty-four paces, and the breadth one hundred
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and ten; its form is as near that of a circle as the nature of the ground would admit; the bank is from one to two feet and a half high, and from eight to ten broad, and is made of earth taken out of the · ditch ; the latter is from one foot to eighteen inches deep ; the lands on the east and west sides fall at first moderately, and then rapidly; on the south abruptly, and in the direction of the village gently.
. We examined the stump of a chesnut tree in the moat, which was three feet two inches in diameter, two feet and a half above the surface of the earth ; part of the trunk of the same tree was lying by the stump. As this tree had been cut down, we endea- vored to ascertain its age, and for this purpose we counted the rings ' or concentric circles, and found them to amount to two hundred and thirty-five. The centre of the tree was hollow, or rather de- cayed ; this part we estimated at thirty more, making in all two hun- dred and sixty-five rings. About five years had elapsed since the cutting down of the tree ; this was in 1825. There were evident marks on the stump and trunk, showing that the tree had been con- sumptive long before it was felled. This tree, then, was two hun- dred and sixty-five years old, and if we add five years, which is the period it had been fallen, which would make two hundred and se- venty, and then substract these from 1825, it would carry us back to 1555.
At the distance of three paces from the preceding stump, we ex- amined the remains of another chesnut stump situated in the ditch. The tree must have exceeded three feet in diameter, and must have died standing, and must have remained in that posture many years before it fell. Chesnut is very durable timber, perhaps more so than pine. To aver then that seventy or eighty years had elapsed since the death of this tree, would not in our opinion be an aberation from the truth; and this, admitting the number of years to have passed, would carry the time back before the discovery of America by Columbus, allowing the tree to have been two hundred and seventy years old when it died. Besides, there is no evidence that this, or any other tree in the wood, grew immediately after the dereliction of these works. Several growths of timber, for any thing we know, may have gone before the present. That these works, and others of the kind, were constructed long before Amer-
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ica was known to the Europeans, can, we think, admit of no ra- tional doubt.
On the east side of Seneca river, near Montezuma, there are still to be seen the ruins of a small fort. There is a small mound on the east side of the same river not far from the fort ; it is artificial.
" There are three forts near Canandaigua, in the county of On- tario, and several between Cayuga and Seneca lakes, in the county of Seneca, there being three within a few miles of each other."- See the Memoir of Mr. Clinton.
In the town of Avon, in Livingston county, there are the remains of a fortification on a high point of land projecting into a pond ; it is small, and has its ditch, bank, and opening. The pond is in the Genesee flats, and was probably once the bed of the river.
There is a small fort on Irondequot bay in the town of Penfield, Monroe county. It is on the north side of the ancient beach of lake Ontario, and must have been erected subsequent to the retro- cession of the waters of that lake.
Several of these ancient works have been discovered in the town of Ridgway, and the adjacent parts in the same county. Burial grounds have also been discovered.
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Between Genesee river and lake Erie several remains of defen- sive works have been noticed. In the Indian openings north of Ba- tavia, in the county of Genesee, there is a mound ; before ploughed down it was ten or twelve feet high, and about one hundred in cir- cuit. A similar mound is to be seen in the town of Wilson, Nia- gara county ; it is about three-quarters of a mile from the shore of lake Ontario ; its dimensions before ploughed were about the same as those of that at the openings. Human bones have been found in both. Near the union of Alleghany and Olean creek, in the county of Alleghany, are some small mounds of earth.
" On the south-east side of lake Erie there is a series of old fortifications running from Cattaraugus creek to the Pennsylvania line, a distance of fifty miles ; some are two, three, and four miles apart, and some within half a mile; some contain five acres; the walls or breast works are of earth; they are from two to five miles from the lake. Still farther south-eastwardly there is said to be another chain of forts running parallel with the former, and about VOL. II. 15
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