The north country; a history, embracing Jefferson, St. Lawrence, Oswego, Lewis and Franklin counties, New York, Volume 1, Part 3

Author: Landon, Harry F. (Harry Fay), 1891-
Publication date: 1932
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind., Historical Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 610


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.




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