USA > Pennsylvania > Potter County > Genesee > Genesee echoes : the upper gorge and falls area from the early days of the pioneers > Part 5
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After the older generation of the Shores family were gone, the son William sold a great amount of timber to a lumber company from Buffalo. As the level land had been cleared years before, the timber was on the great sloping banks above the river. It was believed that the timber could be safely slid down the bank and, at a certain water level, could be safely floated to Rochester to market. A road was built to the river level and sawmills were erected, as well as camps for the lumbermen. A huge slide was cleared down the bank and logs were ended down with good re- sults. They were piled along the river's edge, to be put into the stream at the proper time, during high water. A boom was built across the river near Rochester at a point where the logs were to be removed.
All went well until Mother Nature took a hand. The hard rains came, the river rose during the night, floating the logs free, and the result was disaster for the city. The boom was too heavi- ly bombarded with logs and they went on to cause log jams in the river's course through the city. Residents of the area ac- quainted with the dangers of the Genesee tried to warn the lum- bermen in advance, but those not familiar with the speed of ris- ing water thought they were being needlessly harassed. The project was finally abandoned, with much of the timber left standing. The area residents felled trees during the winter when the logs could be hauled out on the ice.
Big Bend, like all the other land from the new Mount Morris dam to the Erie bridge at Portage, has become a part of Letch- worth Park with a scenic drive built around the circle at the top of Big Bend and a cabin area with camping facilities near
48
GENESEE ECHOES
the foot of Rogers' Hill. During the days of the CCC Camps, a camp was built there, later run as a "Hobo Camp" during the winter.
LUMBER INTERESTS IN BIG BEND
Harry P. Kellogg of Rochester, who has been interested in Big Bend for years and has kept a diary on special events, has written an account of the lumbering interests in that section. It relates so many interesting incidents that, with his permission, I include it here.
'Early in 1893, J. B. Satterlee, a lumberman from Nunda, bought two tracts of timber about two miles north of St. Helena. One tract was bought from James McHerron on the River Road and the other from Wooster Brooks of Brooks Grove. This tim- ber was on the east side of the river. About March 1, 1893, the writer started work on this job and a mill was placed on the McHerron flats next to the bank. A camp was built consisting of a cook shack, bunk house, stable, and a repair shop. A crew of about twenty men and four teams, with all kinds of equipment, started work. Most of the time one of the men and family lived in the cookhouse and provided the meals.
"At that time I was eighteen years old on March 15, so I was the youngest member of the crew. Most of us worked by the month and my salary was $20 per month and 'found,' as they termed it those days. Some of us single men usually stayed in camp on Sundays to care for the horses. That was when we did our laundry. In the summer time it was simple. We could go down to the river, remove our clothes, wash them, and hang them on the bushes to dry, while we took a swim. No trouble at all and not expensive! One dollar would buy a suit that would answer for a job of that kind. However, it was the hardest kind of work, with no schedule of hours but we could save a little money, as there was no place to spend it. We did not need any sleeping pills after climbing those hills and handling logs and lumber. We had more or less talents of sorts, such as a fiddler, a singer, and a clog dancer.
"All of the logs and lumber had to be moved by teams, most of them hauled to Nunda.
"In the fall of 1893 the mill was moved to the John Chase
49
THE OLD RAFTING PLACE AND BIG BEND
timber lot on the Chase farm south of St. Helena, on the east side of the river. To make this move, it was necessary to ford the river at Chaffee's and then ford again south of St. Helena. With all of the heavy machinery and buildings, it was quite a job but we were used to those things then. The mill was set right over Dishmill Creek, a short distance above the Chase buildings. There was a level spot of about an acre where the other buildings were placed. We remained there a little over a year. Arthur Chase, son of John Chase, had a shop near the mouth of the creek which he ran by a water wheel and did odd jobs of all kinds. He also made clothespins. The sawdust from the Satterlee mill dropped into the creek and was washed away. On this job, we cut the poles for the electric light system at Nunda which was being installed at that time. These poles were loaded on cars at Lewis's Switch and shipped to Nunda. Several carloads of poles were needed. The switch was named for the Lewis brothers who had lumbered in that area some years before and shipped from the same point.
"The roads were not improved at that time and two trips per day were all the teams could make from mill to switch. When we left the mill with a load of lumber for the switch we had to climb quite a hill for nearly a mile. As I recall, the first house was Tom Galton's; then Wellington Walker, George Shores, and Clark Garrison were large farmers on the west side of the road. The schoolhouse on the left at the top of the hill. A house on the right at the top of the hill whose owner's name I have for- gotten. Then down a hill to the flat where Ernest Newville and several others lived and farmed. Then another bad hill for a mile or more to reach the switch. A little beyond Newville's house one hot day, I saw a rattlesnake sunning himself on a log. I took my brake stick and killed him. It was the only rattlesnake I ever killed, although we found plenty of blacksnakes on the Chase lot. It seems that those two brands do not mix socially and are seldom found in the same woods.
"When we first reached the Chase place, Dishmill Creek was the main topic. All of the natives knew wooden dishes had been made there but no one knew when. Farther up that stream there was a place where there could have been a mill. The creek was a little wider and there would have been room for a mill. It was
50
GENESEE ECHOES
not far from the River Road. The tale had been passed from the older people.
"We started in the fall and dumped logs into the creek. When the rains came, water floated the logs down to the mill and we had a busy time taking them out and getting them into the yard. However, most of them had to be hauled with horses. There was another tract of timber on the Chase job that was located below the Chase ford but high up on top of the Highbanks. Between the mill and this timber there was a deep gulley that was im- passable. There was talk of getting a right of way from other owners up around the ravine, but that was expensive. After test- ing the river we found that near the bank where the river curved, the water was from 25 to 30 feet deep, so it was decided to throw the logs over the bank into the river. A boom was placed below to keep the logs from floating away and they were worked across the river, loaded on trucks and taken back across the Chase ford to the mill. About 125,000 feet of logs were handled in this manner and very few were damaged or lost. With all of these operations, nobody was injured or sick enough to re- quire the services of a doctor. We had skinned fingers and bruises but a little pine pitch from the end of a log would soon take care of that. A very good record, with no safety inspectors!
"One day while we were at the Chase job, Sam Agar and Marshall Chaffee called and asked the writer to play for a dance at Agar's a few nights later. I had my fiddle and they said they had an organ and that Tom Robinson's wife from Castile would play it. I agreed, and when the night arrived, I went across on the ice and walked down to the Agar farm. Mrs. Robinson's peo- ple had visited an aunt of mine near the Ridge some time before. At that time, she was Laura Rappalee. We had a good crowd and they danced until 4:00 A.M. I returned to the mill, had breakfast and took my place ready for another day's work. They paid me two dollars for playing for the dance, which was quite a bit of money in those days.
"There was a road leading from the Bend to the corner on the River Road by Johnny Black's and I believe the dish mill was near that road. We had our mill set on the creek close to that road on two different occasions in 1903 and 1910. There was plenty of talk of dishes being made there.
51
THE OLD RAFTING PLACE AND BIG BEND
"The flood you mentioned in the St. Helena history in 1894 came the night of May 18, 1894. We had an all-night job in saving the mill and logs that came down the creek. We had not started throwing logs into the creek, which was lucky. We start- ed the river work July 3, 1894. During the May flood we were able to salvage a good collapsible canvas boat but we never knew where it came from. We used to take it up to the other end of the bend on a load of lumber on a Saturday, and Sunday we would go up there, carry the boat down to the river, and go out around the bend to Chase's.
"Years afterward, my cousin, Jim Jones of Cooperville, came into possession of a few acres of land on the west side of and up the river from the Chase ford. There was no way to reach it ex- cept from the river when it was frozen and then it was a climb up through a gulley. There was a little timber on it and Jim had asked me for an estimate on it, but it would have cost more to get it than it was worth. The Rochester Gas and Electric bought it of him without being too particular about the title but when they came to sell it to the state about five years ago, the state was more fussy. It was in the town of Castile but had never been assessed to anyone and there had been no taxes paid on it. Jim Jones had been dead for twenty years. After the Gas and Electric Company had spent several months in Castile, Portage, and up and down the river, somebody told them I might know something about it as I had worked in the woods near there years ago. With what little information I was able to give them, they got the state satisfied. That came very near being a no-man's land. Oh, that I should live so long!
"My brother, Arthur, owned a farm in the Big Bend and lived there until the Gas and Electric Company bought the land. I 'ran over' his timber lot also before he sold it."
GREAT BEND CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS CAMP 23
After all families had left the Bend area and the land had been acquired by the state, Camp 23 of the Civilian Conservation Corps was located there. Living in army tents at first until wooden barracks could be erected, a group of men under First
52
GENESEE ECHOES
Lieutenant Joseph W. Kullman of the 28th Infantry, Fort Ni- agara, came in June, 1933, to the somewhat desolate and isolated spot. The place selected was a site earlier owned by Colonel George Williams. At the foot of the old Rogers' Hill, the camp site came into being, built by the hands of CCC workers. When completed, it consisted of five barracks, a recreation building, a mess hall, a hospital with eight beds, and a headquarters build- ing to house the officers and camp leader personnel. An orna- mental fence was constructed between the barracks buildings, and evergreens were planted at their doors. A bake oven was presented to the camp and put into operation twenty-four hours a day to provide bread, biscuits, and pastry for the entire camp.
Ingenuity played its part in supplying conveniences. An old truck motor furnished power, and the camp had its own laun- dry. Some of the bargain-hunting officers secured a laundry washer and dryer. The men built a 12,000-gallon concrete stor- age tank and laid a half mile of three-inch pipe to conduct water to the camp from springs in the neighboring hills. Two fruit and vegetable cellars were built and the camp supply officer bought a winter supply of potatoes at the fall price of forty cents a bushel.
A piano was donated for the recreation hall and the men built reading tables, paper and magazine racks, and later a ping-pong table. Candy and tobacco could be bought at the post exchange run in one end of the hall. A huge steam serving oven appeared, a product of the combined initiative of the men. Various econo- mies accumulated funds to purchase a bus for trips to near-by towns and sight-seeing tours as far as Niagara Falls and Fort Niagara.
A school was held two evenings each week for those who wished to improve their time. Subjects taught were English, spelling, arithmetic, landscaping, and architecture.
Such fine progress was made at the camp, it was adjudged the best CCC camp in the northern zone, taking in eighty-eight such camps in New York State west of Syracuse.
During the life of the camp, much was done to develop the area for park purposes. The men built seven and a half miles of road, blazed eleven and a half miles of trail, cut out 250,000 board feet of dead chestnut timber, constructed forty cabins,
53
THE OLD RAFTING PLACE AND BIG BEND
comfort stations, and shelters on the picnic areas, strung three miles of telephone and electric wiring, and built fifteen cabins on the Civil War barracks grounds near Portage.
In the mess hall hung a picture of "Custer's Last Stand," changed by a placard to read "Capture of Camp 23 on June 19, 1933, by the Civilian Conservation Corps."
CHAPTER X
ST. HELENA
ST. HELENA was once a tiny bustling village in the valley of the Genesee, where mill wheels hummed and the woodman's axe cleared the timber from the hillsides. When the booklet St. Helena, Ghost Town of the Genesee, 1797-1954 was written by Marian Piper Willey and myself, we tried to give a clear picture of the town. Since then, many interesting incidents and facts have been called to our attention.
The first post office was established October 4, 1854, with Silas Bartlett as postmaster. Following are the later postmasters and dates of assuming office:
Perry Weed-Feb. 21, 1857
Marcus L. Wisner-Nov. 24, 1857
Lyman S. Torrey-Feb. 5, 1858
James H. Moore, Jr .- Nov. 25, 1859 Elisha Reynolds-March 26, 1862 Harry M. McDuffie-June 22, 1864
The post office was closed in June, 1867. It was established again on February 11, 1897, with Mrs. Lucy A. Wallace, post- mistress, but was discontinued June 2, 1897.
After that, the mail was taken from the post office at Castile by anyone who came to town and left in a box on Herman Piper's porch, where every family came to get it. It is not be- lieved the rural mail carrier travelled into St. Helena until around 1910. The first one is believed to have been Charles Bolton of Castile, whose widow has provided us with a picture of his first motorcycle. Some of the hills were so steep he had to push the motorcycle part way, so he abandoned the idea and his wife carried the mail over the old creek road and the steepest places with a horse and buggy. Many tales could be told about near-frozen fingers and toes on long trips through the country with the rural mail. The following poem, printed on white cards,
54
55
ST. HELENA
was placed in every mail box by Mr. Bolton as a Christmas greet- ing:
A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A HAPPY NEW YEAR Compliments of Carrier C. A. Bolton
PENNIES IN THE BOX
I'm Uncle Sam's most favored pet, I'm hearty and I'm hale; I've nothing in this world to do But glide 'round with the mail. But one thing almost breaks my heart, And my nervous system shocks; It's the everlasting pennies That I'm fishing from the box.
It's all right in the springtime, Or when the summer breezes blow; But a different proposition When it's thirty-two below; When all your fingers and your toes Are frozen hard as rocks,
It's 'most anything but funny Scratching pennies from the box.
I carry stamps and envelopes, And postal cards and such; And I would like to sell a few --- 'Twould please me very much; But a man can't sell unless you buy, No matter how he talks; So I have to keep on diving After pennies in the box.
And now, quite confidentially, I'll tell you something more, A rural carrier ('way out west) Forgot himself and swore. Says he, "I can stand the snowdrifts, I can stand the frozen blocks,
But blast the measly pennies In the blasted measly box."
When "the roll is called up yonder," And we all shall gather there, They wouldn't let the mail man in If they knew he'd learned to swear. If you want St. Peter to open the gate When your mail carrier knocks, Buy stamps, and don't be guilty Of putting pennies in the box.
Canalboats were built at St. Helena during the 1850's. The state dredged the river from there to York Landing so that both St. Helena and Gibsonville could make use of the Genesee Val- ley Canal for shipping their produce. Wheat, flour, logs, lumber, staves, tan bark, and whiskey were shipped over the route.
On March 18, 1828, the New York State Legislature granted to Rosel M. Curtis, John LeFoy, and Joshua Smith the right to erect a dam across the Genesee River to accommodate their mill
56
GENESEE ECHOES
near the mouth of Wolf Creek, on Lot 76, Castile Township. It was to be constructed with a lock to allow passage of rafts, arks, and other boats.
The dam, as erected, diverted the river into the mill race at St. Helena, where it ran various mills until 1865. In that year a flood washed away most of the dam. The foundation must have been exceedingly well built. During the summer of 1955, more than a century later, many of the foundation timbers were visible along the river bank at the "Old Dam Site."
A lady at Fillmore has a rope bedstead made of cherry which bears the inscription "Made in 1837 at St. Helena by Orson Beardsley."
During the Civil War, Leon Blakeslee's grandfather lived on the farm now owned by C. S. DeGolyer. The principal crop at that time was hops. Wild hop plants are still found on the farm.
Mr. Samuel Gayton of Warsaw remembers some exciting events of the valley when he lived with his brother on the Shel- don farm at the top of the east hill. During the summer of 1902 there was a bad flood when it rained for several days and, I be- lieve, a creek dam broke at Mills' Mills. A family, members of the Rochester Canoe Club, were on a river excursion and were ma- rooned near Big Bend. They were able to reach a rocky ledge when their canoe was damaged, but a steep cliff at that point forced them to stay there about forty-eight hours before being rescued. They were cold, wet, and hungry when someone from the Tom Marsh family reached them by rope from above.
A number of hives of bees belonging to the Marshes were washed down the river. Some were found later on the White farm at Mount Morris.
Mr. Gayton relates a story told of Fred Marsh when he was plowing on the flats. In the team he had a mare whose colt was running loose and following along. When the team stopped to rest, the colt stopped some distance behind. Thinking it would be fun to see what the colt would do if a bee got after him, Mr. Marsh stopped the horses not far from a bees' nest. The bees went for the colt and, of course, he wanted his mother. Some- how he got between the mare and the other horse and tangled the reins, pulling Mr. Marsh over the plow. The joke came near being a tragedy.
GENESEE ECHOES
PLATE I
Courtesy of The Little Studio, Perry, N.Y.
Glen Iris today-former home of William Pryor Letchworth, now an inn. (Chapter XVI) :
PLATE II
GENESEE ECHOES
This photo courtesy of Mrs. A. G. Podlesney, Portageville, N.Y.
Top: Perry Jones home-Prospect Home Farm. Middle: Dairy herd at Chestnut Lawn Farm. Bottom: Reuben Jones home-Chestnut Lawn Farm. (All Chapter II)
GENESEE ECHOES
PLATE III
Monument at Mary Jemison's grave; close-up of Council House; monu- ment and Council House. (All Chapter V)
PLATE IV
GENESEE ECHOES
Left: Early sawmill at Upper Falls. Right: Wooden railroad bridge, built 1851-2. (Both Chapter III)
GENESEE ECHOES
PLATE V
Left: Section of the Big Tree Treaty tree. Right: Rustic entrance to the first Museum. (Both Chapter V)
Photos courtesy of Davis family, Castile, N.Y. Rustic bridge over Deh-ga-ya-soh Creek, with furniture factory at right. (Chapter II)
Gardeau Flats-home of Mary Jemison in the distance. (Chapter XII)
PLATE VI
GENESEE ECHOES
First test train on the iron bridge above the Upper Falls, 1875. (Chapter III)
GENESEE ECHOES
4
Mills and lattice bridge at Middle Falls, 1857. (Chapter IV)
PLATE VII
PLATE VIII
GENESEE ECHOES
Upper: Harvey Lee home, once "Rogers Hotel," from Big Bend Road. Lower: Genesee River at the Old Rafting Place, site of Rogers Bridge. (Both Chapter IX)
GENESEE ECHOES
PLATE IX
Gorge of the Genesee, showing "rock-bound battlements." (Chapter I)
Lower Falls, in Letchworth Park. (Chapter IX)
PLATE X
GENESEE ECHOES
Courtesy of Ray Orsburn, Albion, N. Y.
Genesee Valley Canal, rounding Tunnel Point above the river. (Chapter VI)
GENESEE ECHOES
PLATE XI
Hornby Lodge, onetime home of Elisha Johnson-from a drawing. (Chapter VII)
PLATE XII
GENESEE ECHOES
Photos courtesy of Frank Kohler, Warsaw, N.Y.
Left: An ingenious stump puller-Frank Davis beside it. Right: A stump fence on the Lee farm. (Both Chapter IX)
Courtesy of Mrs. Charles Bolton, Perry, N.Y.
Charles Bolton-first mail carrier to St. Helena-on his motorcycle. (Chapter X)
GENESEE ECHOES
PLATE XIII
Photos courtesy of The Little Studio, Perry, N.Y.
Upper: Federal Flood Control Dam at Mount Morris during the flood of 1956. Lower: The Dam as it appears under normal conditions. (Both Chapter XIII)
PLATE XIV
GENESEE ECHOES
E
S
83
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Lins powro
IFFITHIS CORNERS
L. A Tisiman
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----
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. Lylevert
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Map-showing Transit Line, East Bounds of Holland Company Purchase. (Chapter I)
GENESEE ECHOES
PLATE XV
¿ Kulbirfind
0 Millas
119
J& Barlir
L Tutteli
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Map-showing Big Bend and part of river area now within Letchworth Park. (Chapter IX)
PLATE XVI
GENESEE ECHOES
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TIVE CORNERS
XSquires
Curling normal
John
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Map-showing St. Helena area and western part of the Gardeau Reser- vation. (Chapter X)
LPierce
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GENESEE ECHOES
PLATE XVII
GIRSOXVILLE
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BROOKS .
Map-showing Gibsonville, Brooks Grove, and ex- treme eastern part of the Gardeau Reservation. (Chapter XIII)
Schoolhouse built by Mr. Letchworth in 1873. (Chap- ter VIII)
Monument to the First New York Dragoons, Letch- worth Park. (Chapter XIV)
PLATE XVIII
GENESEE ECHOES
GENESEE ECHOES
PLATE XIX
T
Memorial plaque at Inspiration Point. (Chapter XVI)
Old cemetery in Letchworth Park. (Chapter IV)
PLATE XX
GENESEE ECHOES
1
-
wwww
Glen Iris about 1859 when it was acquired by Mr. Letchworth. (Chap- ter IV)
GENESEE ECHOES
PLATE XXI
Courtesy of Genesee State Park Commission, Castile, N.Y. Portrait of William Pryor Letchworth. (Chapter XVI)
PLATE XXII
GENESEE ECHOES
Early rustic gates of Glen Iris. In the distance is "Lauterbrunnen," one of two "Swiss chalets," now the home of the park superintendent. (Chapter IV)
Courtesy of Mrs. Frank Davis, Castile, N.Y.
Big Bend of the Genesee River-from an old photograph. (Chapter IX)
GENESEE ECHOES
PLATE XXIII
Courtesy of Davis family, Castile, N.Y.
The William T. Davis home, with bridge over Deh-ga-ya-soh Creek. (Chapter II)
First Museum on the Council House grounds, showing the corner of the second "Swiss chalet," now razed. (Chapter V)
PLATE XXIV
GENESEE ECHOES
Courtesy of Mrs. Frank Davis, Castile, N.Y.
Glen Iris pond and fountain. (Chapter IV)
Present Museum, Letchworth Park-from a photo taken soon after it was built. (Chapter XVI)
57
ST. HELENA
The people who lived in that vicinity and were remembered by Mr. Gayton were Fred, Tom, Milton, and Charles Marsh, the Pipers, Andersons, Orsburns, Teeples, Templetons, Rev. Mr. McCormic, the Whitchers, Ben Coffin, Fred and Ed Foote, Billy Mussen, Jared Young, the McHerrons, Lyman Larkham, Will Little, a Mr. Wilson, Arthur Chase, Carley George, Ace Tuttle, George Devinney, and Alta, George, and Lou Harrington.
Alice Powers of Gainesville, now Mrs. Earl Burlingame of Warsaw, was the teacher at St. Helena in 1903-4. She boarded with Mrs. Herman Piper, and tells us she was the only "girl" in the valley that year. The Orsburn boys and Otto Clark would gather at the Piper house to spend many a pleasant evening play- ing "Flinch" and "Pit," games then popular.
Miss Powers had complained about not being awakened to see the ice go out one December night near midnight. Mr. Piper promised to call her the next time it occurred, so one Sunday morning in January, 1904, he called her at six o'clock. She joined the crowd to watch the ice jam up under the bridge and finally break loose, taking the bridge with it.
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