USA > New York > Franklin County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 1 > Part 3
USA > New York > Jefferson County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 1 > Part 3
USA > New York > Lewis County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 1 > Part 3
USA > New York > Oswego County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 1 > Part 3
USA > New York > St Lawrence County > The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 1 > Part 3
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49
Ulrich, Peter J.
1334
Vadney, Claude H. 1386
Valentine, Charles W. 576
Valiquette, Alfred H. 826
Vaughan, Herman L. 1460
Van Deusen, Julian A. 670
Van Deusen, Robert A 676
Van Doren, George B. 622
Van Houten, John C., Jr. 1208
Van Kennen, George E .. 1629
Van Namee, Hazel I. (Gray) 1070
Van Wie, Charles 894
Victoria Paper Mills, Inc., The 1633
Villars, Edward 736
Villnave, John Alfred 1498
Vrooman, Howard H. 726
Waddingham, Wm. Walrath 563
Wadhams Hall Preparatory College 1193 1435
Wadley, Franklin P.
Wagner, A. R.
1322
Wagner, Frank Joseph 1202
Waite, Harvey Rice. 567
Walbridge, Karl Howe 1219
Walker, Frank T. 1076
Wallace, George H. 907
Wallace, Homer M. 1188
Wallace, H. Louis. 1267
Wallace, Joseph Anthony 886
Wallace, Robert G. 1587
Walrath, Frank D. 649
Walsh, Eugene A 1568
Walton, William O. 822
Ward, Norman F. 662
Wardner, Charles H. 1232
Wardner, William Allen 1013
Warner, William F. 952
Washburn, John R. 625
Waste, Harvey Gray. 995
Waterman, Howard F. 719
Waterman, Robert S. 1149
Watson, Edwin B 1619
Webb, Harry C. 1279
Webb, Urban O 1419
Weekes, John 698
Wells, Luke Edward 772
Wells, Ralph P. 1639
Wendell, James Gilbert 1294
Wenzel, Clifford C. 847
Wert, James Howard 1499
West, Charles W 697
West, Dewitt Clinton 1644
West, Charles T. 692
Wescott, Lawrence Edward. 943
Wetterhahn, Ross Adair 601
Whalen, John W. 617
Wheelock, Orlin W. 653
Wheeler, Allen M. 1400
White, Earl E. 794
White, John C. 1585
Whiting, Eugene F 1518
Whittemore, Van Crampton 1589
Whittier, Clarence A. 1121
Wiener, John A. 878
Wilcox, Fredus H. 970
Wilkins, Eratus J. 1115
Willard, Edward S. 592
Williams, Frank Fay. 1360
Williams, Harry Ray. 991
Williams, Pardon C. 722
Williams, Robert Plummer 721
Willson, George Abel. 1246
XXV
Thompson, Robert, Sr.
Von Zierolshofen, Paul H. 1472
Sweet, Charles J. 1445
HISTORY OF THE NORTH COUNTRY
Wilson, Frederick Charles 1505
Workman, W. H.
1243
Wilson, George W.
983
Wright, Edward E.
1536
Wilson, John
891
Wright, Wilbur L.
1553
Wilson, William Daniel.
1032
Winn, Clayton
1519
Yerdon, Lester.
1491
Winslow, Charles A
680
Yops, Edward John
1643
Wise, James B.
608
Young, Fred A.
1338
Wood, Alfred S.
832
Young, Peter
620
Wood, Irving S.
906
Woodard, Paul J.
1641
Young, William J
903
Woolshlager, Fred H.
1404
Woolshlager, John F.
1464
Wooster, Frank J.
1295
Young, Thomas A. E. 1328
Zehr, Benjamin F
1374
xxvi
Illustrations
Adelsberger, Louis
1456
Agriculture, State School of
384
Alexandria Bay, Boldt Castle 264
Allen, William Jarvis 1016
Alverson, Hon. Claude B.
896
American Legion Camp Tupper Lake 224
Anderson, William F
1304
Angley, Harrison J.
872
Arsenal Street, Watertown
96
Avery, Myron E.
760
Bagley, George Augustus
568
Barge Canal Lock at Oswego 288
Barker, S. V.
816
Barry, Very Rev. Dean Michael
1256
Bell Tower, Thousand Islands
456
Belleville, Union Academy at.
256
Bingham, Chas. D.
696
Blaiklock, George A.
744
Bonaparte, Caroline Benton 48
Bonaparte, Joseph 320
Bonaparte House, Joseph 320
Boshart, Edward J.
1432
Boyce, Grover C.
1248
Brasher Falls, New R. C. Church at 184
Bridge over Salmon River 160
Brooks, Otis 968
Brown, Maj. Gen. Jacob 33
Buck, Robert Jones 640
Calkins, Frederic Russell 1216
Canton, Court House at 384
Canton, The Park 360
Carrying the Cable 72
Carthage Public Library.
352
Carthage, State Street Bridge 352
Champlain Statue
33
Charlebois, Lewis William 776
Clarkson College 376
Conde, William Wheeler 648
Corse, Frank Dudley 1280
Court House, Pulaski 160
Cruikshank, John M.
624
Culkin, Frances D.
1059
De Chaumont, James De Le Ray. 264
Delmage, Frederick William 1336
De Wit Clinton West, The 64
Diment, Ellwood 1240
Dorr, Arthur C.
864
Doxtater, Helen Louise. 1384
Doxtater, Lee Walter
1385
Drury, Charles S
1168
Field, Brayton Allen
616
Field, William T
784
Flower Memorial Library.
416
Flower, Hon. Roswell P.
545
Fort Haldimand during the Revolu- tion 80
Fort Haldimand, Ruins of. 80
Fort Ontario, Hospital and Barracks 288
Fort Ontario, Ramparts of Old. 336
Fort Oswego in 1855
64
Freeman, Henry R.
1320
Fulton, Edwin W.
1264
Gamble, Charles 888
Gannett, Lois L. Eastman
1160
Grant, Frederick A. 768
Grant, Col. Robert P. 976
Greene, Harry William
704
Gregor, David Gilbert
553
Griggs, Daniel F
922
Hall, Clarence F.
920
Hankin, Edward
800
Harding, Tad W. 1288
Hawn, George M.
936
Hendricks, T. Arthur
664
Hirschey, Samuel L.
1440
Hollis, Starr Clarence.
1480
Hull, William C.
1200
Johnson, "Admiral Bill"
48
Johnson, Sir John
48
Joslin, Orrin P.
1144
Keegan, Isidor E 840
Kelley, William W. 752
Kilborn, John R. 960
Kinkley, Melvin S. 600
Kinne, Clarence E
688
Kirley, Cyril P.
1448
Knowlton, George Willard
712
Lance, George A. 1152
Lansing, Edward S. 1088
Lansing, Stuart D. 1080
Leonhardt, Harry. 720
LeRay Mansion
264
Lewis County Court House
128
xxvii
E
HISTORY OF THE NORTH COUNTRY
Lewis County, First Central Rural School in 368
Lowville Academy 496
Lowville, Masonic Temple at 496
Lowville, State Street
128
McIlmoyl, H. A. 1368
Malone, Alice Hyde Memorial Hos-
pital at
368
Malone, Flanders Public School at. 304
Malone, Main Street
304
Map of Tracts, Patents and Grants.
88
Martin, Mary J.
1352
Martin, Orrin E.
1352
Meredith, Harrison Oliver
1392
Merrell, E. S. K.
1416
Merrill, Albert Darius
560
Miller, Seaver A.
1112
Moore, Louis W
584
Morris Mansion, The Gouverneur
144
Natural Bridge, Main Street
184
Neumann, John Charles
1424
Ogdensburg Free Academy
192
Ogdensburg, Post Office
240
Ogdensburg, State Armory
240
Olga Knitting Mills, The
1425
Oswego High School.
176
Oswego, State Armory at
336
Otis, John F.
1224
Paddock, Hiram L. 1096
Palmer, Charles M. 1192
Parkison, Robert A.
656
Peck, Charles Frederick
792
Perkins, Frank Elliott
848
Pike's Monument
72
Potsdam State Normal School
376
Putnam, Charles Utley
1008
Quinn, James H.
1136
Rathbun, J. Arthur 808
Redmond, Bernard J. 672
Reed, Rev. Harry Westbrook 912
Rogers, Charles H.
1376
Rooney, William P.
904
Root, Edward S.
1312
· Rose, W. Harold
1344
St. Lawrence Hospital, Ogdensburg_ 192 St. Lawrence University, Richardson Hall 360
St. Peter's Catholic Church
1128
Sackets Harbor During War of 1812 40
Sackets Harbor, First Battle of 40
Samson, Leon L.
1176
Saranac Lake, Mt. Baker
464
Saranac Lake, View of.
464
Schraub, Fred C.
1408
Scott, R. Clark
1000
Seamans, Byron G. 1272
Seeber, Eli J.
1120
Sheldon, J. O.
1296
Sillcox, Lewis K.
1072
Singleton, Edward J.
728
Smith, Hon. Edward North
824
Smith, George N.
928
Stafford, Archie C. 856
State Normal School, Oswego
176
Steele, Mark B.
984
Sternberg, W. Fred. 944
Sullivan, William A.
1104
Sweet, Thaddeus C.
1064
Taylor, John B.
632
Tavern at Gouverneur, The Old Brick 144
Tessier, Antoine Paul
1184
Thousand Islands, Airplane View of_ 456
Trainor, A. Winfield
1488
U. S. Veterans Hospital, Tupper Lake 224
Valentine, Charles W.
576
Van Houten, John Chillian, Jr.
1208
Vespucci, Maria Helena 48
Villars, Edward
736
Von Zierolshofen, Paul H.
1472
Wardner, Charles H.
1232
Warner, William F.
952
Waddington, St. Paul's Church at. 256
Watertown about 1880
96
Watertown High School
416
Watertown, Old.
112
Watertown, View of Modern 112
Wheeler, Allen M.
1400
Willard, Dr. Edward S. 592
Williams, Frank F.
1360
Winslow, Charles A.
680
608
Wise, James
832
Wood, Alfred S.
Woolshlager, John F. 1464
Wright Home, Silas. 320
Wright, Silas.
320
Young, Thomas A. E.
1328
xxviii
CHAMPLAIN STATUE AT PLATTSBURG, N. Y.
MAJ. GEN. JACOB BROWN, COMMANDER OF THE AMERICAN FORCES ALONG THE NORTHERN NEW YORK FRONTIER IN THE WAR OF 1812
History of the North Country
CHAPTER I.
THE ONONDAGA WAR TRAIL.
EARLY INDIAN OCCUPATION OF NORTHERN NEW YORK-THE COMING OF CHAMPLAIN-FATHER PONCET AND THE OSWEGATCHIE TRAIL-THE GREAT PEACE CONFERENCE AT LA FAMINE-THE EXPEDITION OF COUNT FRONTENAC.
From time immemorial the Indians had moved eastward from the interior of the continent over the great water highway com- posed of the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence river. At the point where Lake Ontario ends and the St. Lawrence begins is the north- ern New York of today, shaped something like a squat triangle, the lake and the river forming its two sides and the ancient peaks of the Adirondacks its base. Five counties now compose this section of New York State, the North Country of Eben Holden,-Oswego, with its matchless lake harbor from which scores of trails once radiated to the Oneida and Onondaga villages; Jefferson, wedged in between lake and river, its irregular shore line the delight of ancient Indian fishermen; St. Lawrence, where the Oswegatchie trail from the Royal Block House terminated; and Franklin and Lewis, favorite hunting grounds for Algonkians and Iroquois long before the first white man had penetrated the wilderness fastness of the North.
Standing as it did at a corner of a great trail over which count- less waves of aboriginal migration passed, it is not surprising that
33
34
HISTORY OF THE NORTH COUNTRY
for centuries the present Northern New York should have been familiar ground to the Indian. From the standpoint of the abor- iginal hunter and fisherman the North Country with its rugged coast line and its diversified back country was an inviting place. So invit- ing was it, indeed, that in its soil today one may find remains of Indian cultures covering a span of well over 5,000 years.
Many were the groups that long before the dawn of history on the North American continent treked into the North Country and made it their home land for various lengths of time. Here, certainly, the Algonkians of one period or another lived for centuries, and, in ancient camp sites, scattered throughout the territory, one finds evi- dences of other occupations,-the Eskimo, the "Gravel Knoll" people, the Mound Builders, the Red Paint people, but principally the Iro- quois, whose warlike legions were even then making their power felt among their neighbors.
It is all very much conjecture, of course, but it is natural to think that the Eskimo-like people that left their harpoon-heads of walrus ivory in the ashes of their fires must have been the first human inhabitants of the section. One well known authority on the New York State Indian, Dr. Erl Bates, goes so far as to call them the "Ice Sheet People" and to assert that they came in the wake of the glaciers. But Dr. Arthur C. Parker of Rochester, widely known archeologist, places their coming much later. There is evidence to show that this mysterious people migrated to Northern New York from the north or northeast, but whether they were Eskimos or simply Indians influenced by the Eskimos, we do not know. A num- ber of their sites have been uncovered along the St. Lawrence river and the shores of the lake. Fragments of a crude, soap stone pot- tery are found in these sites as well as walrus ivory spear heads and semi-lunar knives of slate.
From the days of the harpoon people to the time when the an- cestors of the people of the Long House deserted their palisaded for- tresses on the hills of the North Country and started the great retreat southward, certainly many, long centuries intervened. In the inter- val, the three migrations of the Algonkians had occurred, each leav- ing its characteristic imprint in the soil of the North Country. The little known Red Paint people had come, lingered awhile and then moved slowly on to New England. The Mound Builders had paused
35
HISTORY OF THE NORTH COUNTRY
in their march eastward and in a dozen or more places, buried under heavy slabs of stone, had left a banner stone or two and a platform pipe to keep company with their dead.
It is difficult to arrange these various occupations in anything like chronological order. Each took the form of a filtering in of a new people into a new territory, rather than a definite movement with a definite termination in view. Several undoubtedly overlapped, some may have been contemporaneous, but each left something of its his- tory in the buried ashes of old fire pits. Certain canoe routes and trails came into common usage, trails followed first by the Algon- kians, then by the Iroquois and finally by the first white men who were guided over them by the Indians. There was the route skirting the lake shore and Wolfe Island which one took going to and from the Ottawa river, the same route, incidentally, which Champlain took when he first touched on the shores of Northern New York. Then there was the trail from the lake shore to the St. Lawrence, which later became a familiar one to the Jesuits. Then, too, there was the trail from the Mohawk Valley across the Black river divide into the Oswegatchie, which in time became a war trail of many nations. Finally there were the numerous trails which paralleled the Salmon river, the two branches of Sandy creek and the Oswego river, leading to the Finger Lake region and the Mohawk.
The best known of these routes was probably the canoe route from the Mohawk river to Oswego, which in historic times became an im- portant highway for war and trade. Beginning at the site of the present city of Rome where the Mohawk river describes a semi- circle, there was a portage across the divide between the watershed of the Mohawk and Oneida Lake to Wood creek. In the course of time this portage became known as the "Great Carrying Place." The route was then along Wood creek and through Oneida Lake and thence down the Oswego river to Lake Ontario. Thus there was what amounted to an all-water route from the Atlantic seaboard to Lake Ontario, passing through the heart of the Iroquoian Confeder- acy.
The British were not slow to appreciate the importance of con- trolling the Oswego trail and long before the Seven Years War it had been strongly fortified. Fort William, erected in 1732, guarded the eastern terminus of the "Great Carrying Place," while the west-
1128215
36
HISTORY OF THE NORTH COUNTRY
ern terminus was guarded by Fort Bull, erected five years later. As an added protection for the portage Fort Newport was built in 1756. At the western end of the trail, where the waters of the Oswego river emptied into the lake, was Fort Oswego, which, in the course of time, became one of the strongest British fortifications on the con- tinent.
But undoubtedly the earliest of all these routes was that which later became known as the Onondaga war trail. In general it fol- lowed the eastern shore of the lake northward from either the Oswego or Salmon rivers until Stony creek was reached. The dusky paddler seldom tried to negotiate the dangerous waters off Stony Point. In- stead he ascended Stony creek to a point where it was but a short "carry" to Henderson Bay. Then he would cross the calm waters of the estuary composed of Henderson, Black River and Chaumont Bays to a point where the trail forked. He had his choice here of either "carrying" across Point Peninsula and hugging the mainland until he entered the St. Lawrence, or he could ascend the Chaumont river to a point near the present Depauville, then "carry" across to French creek and descend the creek to the St. Lawrence.
It is along this trail, most of it within the limits of the present Jefferson county, that some of the most productive Indian village and camp sites in New York State have been uncovered and many of them are evidently sites of great antiquity. Triangular, barbed arrow heads, crude, cord-marked pottery and an abundance of ham- mer stones found in fire pits and refuge piles in these old camps show them to have been occupied by the Algonkians anywhere from 2,000 to 4,000 years ago. No less than 77 Indian sites have been located and to some extent explored in Jefferson County alone, and there are scores of others that are known to local archeologists. Says Dr. Arthur C. Parker in the introduction to "Notes on Rock Crevice Burials in Jefferson County," "It is no idle statement to say that Jefferson County has long been regarded as the most important and prolific archeological area in the State of New York."
Some indication of the number of Indian remains found in North- ern New York may be gained from the fact that Dr. Parker in his "Archeological History of New York," the most recent and most authoritative work of its kind, lists no less than 130 known sites in St. Lawrence, Franklin, Lewis, Jefferson and Oswego counties. In
37
HISTORY OF THE NORTH COUNTRY
addition to the seventy-seven in Jefferson County, St. Lawrence has twenty-six, Oswego twenty, Franklin four and Lewis three.
The route from the Mohawk region, over the divide to the St. Lawrence River and Canada, must have been of later origin than the routes along the lake shore since it threaded the forests and followed the rivers through the very heart of Northern New York. It was a common route of the Iroquois during the historic era in their campaigns against the French in Canada and later, during the Seven Years War and the Revolution, it assumed such importance as a war trail that a fort was constructed at either end, the outposts of two nations. One branch of the Oswegatchie trail, as it is now commonly known, ran from the Royal Blockhouse at the eastern end of Oneida Lake northward to the Indian and Oswegatchie River. Another led from the place where later Fort Bull was erected at the "Great Carrying Place" on the Oswego-Mohawk trail, joining the other trail probably near the site of the present Lyons Falls, in Lewis County. At this point there were two courses open to the Indian. He could paddle down Black River to the present Carthage or he. could follow the trail along the shore and across the river at or near the site of Carthage at the place called by the pioneers, the Long Falls.
Having crossed the Black River the route was again through the forests to the Indian River, which was reached somewhere near the present Evans Mills. This portage is referred to in the Castorland Journal, the daily record of the French colonists who later attempted to settle the present Lewis County, the manuscript of which is pre- served in the state library at Albany. There is another definite reference to this portage in the Haldimand Papers in the Canadian Archives.
Once having reached the Indian River the trail was definite. It followed the Indian River. There was a "carry" around the falls at the present Theresa where the name, Indian Landing, is still pre- served, and another at the present Rossie into Black Lake. From Black Lake the usual route was down the Oswegatchie into the St. Lawrence, although at times a "carry" from Black Lake to Chippewa Creek was made and entry to the St. Lawrence made several miles above the mouth of the Oswegatchie.
38
HISTORY OF THE NORTH COUNTRY
The importance of this trail during the Colonial period from a military standpoint can be appreciated when it is known that during the French and Indian Wars the French controlled the northern end through little Fort Presentation and the British the southern end through Fort Bull, while in the Revolution British control of the St. Lawrence was mantained in part through Fort Oswegatchie, at the present Ogdemsburg, while the Americans commanded the south- ern terminus of the trail by means of sturdy, little Fort Stanwix.
Along the Oswegatchie trail have been found many evidences of aboriginal occupation in the form of Iroquoian village and camp sites. Squiers, Hough, Morgan and all the early archeologists made note of the remains of ancient fortifications in the Black Lake region and a dozen or more such sites were plotted, charted and to some extent excavated. Fifty years ago quaint rock drawings, undoubtedly the work of Indians, were visible at Black Lake. Less than seventy-five years ago inhabitants of Theresa pointed to deep scars on trees at Indian Landing which tradition said were inflicted by Indian toma- ·hawks while prisoners were being tortured. More recently important discoveries of Indian camp sites have been made on the various small lakes near Theresa, particularly on Red Lake.
When the first white settlers came into Northern New York just at the turn of the nineteenth century they found many evidences of a prior occupation of the territory by a vanished race. On the sandy plains of Ellisburg, along the Rutland hills and all through the Black Lake country were the visible remains of extensive fortifications, with earthen walls and ditches. It seemed inconceivable to them that the Indians could have built such extensive earthworks and they thought they must surely have been constructed by some su- perior race, long since vanished from the earth. So when the Rev. John Taylor, a Congregationalist missionary, rode up into the Black River country in 1802 and saw all about him in the forests traces of these ancient strongholds, he was confident that they were the remains of some forgotten white civilization.
Speaking of the remains of an ancient fortification on the south branch of Sandy Creek, Mr. Taylor said: "This town and undoubt- edly all this country has been in some ancient period thickly inhab- ited. In some places there are evident marks of houses having stood
39
HISTORY OF THE NORTH COUNTRY
so thick as to join each other. The remains of old fireplaces built of stones-wells, evidently dug and stoned to a considerable depth; and the remains of old forts and entrenchments, are all evidences of this fact. The fort on the south branch is plowed, and the old fire- places appear to have been about two rods apart, throughout the whole. The earthenware of a peculiar structure and singular ma- terial, is scattered over the ground. The point of a sword, two edges, about one and a half feet long, was found last spring in plowing in the fort. The fort is regularly built, with five sides and five gate- ways-is about 20 rods from the river upon the north bank; 1,400 to 1,500 rods to the northeast, near the north branch, is another fort, west of which 150 or 200 rods there is an entrenchment lately found, half a mile in length in a straight line, and also a breastwork. Two and a half miles north of this is another fort, regularly built, con- taining about ten acres. Upon all these works the trees are of equal dimensions with those around. I measured one and found it four feet in diameter and saw one which had fallen and was almost con- sumed, which appeared to be of equal dimensions, and which grew upon the highest part of the fort. The people frequently find pipes, something in the form of German pipes."
Mr. Taylor goes on to describe other evidences of what he con- sidered proof of former white or European occupation. He says that the people find fragments of brick wherever they plow and tells of fortifications cut out of solid rock. It is only natural that Mr. Taylor, seeing these remains of the past in a region where settlement was only just starting, should think them the products of some highly civilized race. As a matter of fact he described with fair accuracy typical Iroquoian fortifications of the pre-Colonial era. The fire- places he describes are spaced about as they are usually found in the Iroquoian long houses. It is not strange that he found great trees growing in these forts since the forts, themselves, must have been nearly 300 years old when he viewed the ruins. The "bricks" were fragments of Indian pottery, still found in the fields. The "German" pipes were Onondaga pipes such as are found in every Indian relic hunter's collection. The sword was probably dropped by some French explorer many years after the forts were abandoned. The fort cut from solid rock, of which Mr. Taylor had heard, was probably
40
HISTORY OF THE NORTH COUNTRY
the rock-hewn trenches of old Fort Haldimand which may still be seen on Carleton Island near Cape Vincent, and which are of British and not Indian construction.
Civilization has of course almost obliterated these external signs of Indian occupancy. The plow of the farmer has demolished wall and ditch. The old fire pits have disappeared and such pottery and pipes as are now found are usually discovered underground. How- ever, traces of an old fortification still remain at the so called Talcott site on the Watertown-Adams road, and there are the Perch Lake mounds over which the archeologists have speculated for a century or more.
The so called Perch Lake mounds have long been known to be of Indian origin. Squier, Hough, French and many local archeologists have mentioned them but it remained for that eminent student of Indian customs and history, the late Dr. William M. Beauchamp of Syracuse, to make a thorough investigation. Perch Lake is a small body of water in Jefferson County and is known to have been a favorite fishing ground of the Indians from time immemorial. The mounds were at one time very numerous but many of them have disappeared. Those that remain are low, irregular in shape, being from two to four feet in depth and from thirty to forty or more feet across the base. Excavations have resulted in the finding of few artifacts. In each mound there is apparently a fireplace usually directly under the center depression in the top of the mound. Dr. Beauchamp believed the mounds were remains of Algonkian lodges and pointed to similar remains in the Mississippi Valley. He placed their age at something like 500 years but had no very satisfactory explanation for the almost complete lack of broken pottery, pipes, arrow points and other artifacts so common in most Indian sites.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.