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A TOUR OF FOUR
GREAT RIVERS
This edition is limited to seven hundred
and eighty copies of which this is
A TOUR OF FOUR
GREAT RIVERS
THE HUDSON, MOHAWK, SUSQUEHANNA AND DELAWARE
IN 1769
BEING THE JOURNAL OF
RICHARD SMITH
OF BURLINGTON, NEW JERSEY
EDITED, WITH A
SHORT HISTORY OF THE PIONEER SETTLEMENTS,
BY
FRANCIS W. HALSEY
AUTHOR OF "THE OLD NEW YORK FRONTIER."
NEW YORK
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS
1906
C(r\lM
kJUKARY ni CONGRESS
Two OoDlct necelveO
StP 7 190w
cuss /V . W^C No.
COPY A.'
Copyright, 1906, by
Charles Scribner's Sons
Vuhlhbed May, iqob
THE DEVINNE PRESS
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
GREAT SEAL OF THE PROVINCE OF NEW YORK
Reproduced on the Cover
In use from 1767 until the Revolution.
From an impression in the State Library at Albany.
MAP OF THE ROUTE OF RICHARD SMITH . . . Frontispiece
The route shown in red, place names mentioned in the text being
given and modern county lines inserted.
Compiled by the Editor.
FACING PAGE
PORTRAITS OF RICHARD SMITH xiv
(i) From a sketch in the Emmet Collection of the Lenox Library,
nvhere it is described as '^ taken from a silhouette in the Coates
collection. ^''
(2) From a silhouette oivned in the family.
SMITH HALL xviii
Built in Laurens, Otsego Co., N. Y., in 1773, by Richard Smith, and
now perhaps the oldest house in Central New York south of the
Mohawk Valley. The piazza was recently added by the present
owner, W. V. Huntington.
From a recent photograph.
PART OF THE VISSCHER MAP OF NEW NETHERLANDS xxix
DrawTi before 1656 and showing the Hudson, Mohawk, St. Lawrence,
Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers.
From a copy in the Emmet Collection of the Lenox Library.
vii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
NEW AMSTERDAM IN OR BEFORE 1655 xxxii
From a 'vie'w engraved on the margin of the Nicolas J. Visscher Map
of Neiv Netherlands.
This view is almost identical with one given by Van der Donck.
COLONIAL HOUSES IN NEW YORK CITY xxxvi
(i) The Franklin House in Franklin Square. Built about 1770.
(2) The Walton House in Franklin Square. Built in 1750.
(3) Burns' s Coffee House in Broadway, just above Trinity Church.
Garden -vieav.
(4) Bums's Coffee House. Front 'vienv.
From old prints.
HUDSON RIVER MANOR HOUSES xxxviii
(i) The Verplanck House in Fishkill. Built about 1740.
(2) The Beekman House in Rhinebeck.
(3) The Van Rensselaer House which survived in Albany until recent
years. Threatened with demolition, it has been removed to
Williamstown, Mass., and there re-erected as a college frater-
nity house.
(4) The Van Cortlandt House on Croton Bay.
From old prints.
COLONIAL BUILDINGS IN ALBANY AND ON THE
MOHAWK xlii
(i) The Mabie House near Rotterdam, built in 1680, and the oldest
house now standing in the Mohawk Valley.
(2) St. George's Church, Schenectady, built in 1759.
(3) The Queen Anne Parsonage at Fort Hunter, built in 1712.
(4) An Eighteenth Century Street Scene in Albany.
The first three from recent photographs. The last from an old print.
OLD SWEDISH, OR HOLY TRINITY, CHURCH IN WIL-
MINGTON, DEL Ixii
Built in 1698, and, in continuous occupation, said to be the oldest
church building in the United States.
From a sketch made by Benjamin Ferris in 1S4J and engra-ved by
John Sartain.
viii
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
COLONIAL BUILDINGS ON THE DELAWARE Ixiv
(i) The Laetitia House on its old site. Now standing as re-erected in
Fairmount Park, Philadelphia. Built by William Penn and for
a time his home.
(2) The Quaker Meeting House in Burlington (1683-178 7).
(3) The Old Patrick Colvin Ferry House, still standing opposite
Trenton.
(4) The Slate Roof House in Philadelphia. Occupied by William
Penn from 1699 to 1700.
From old prints.
NEW YORK CITY IN 1768 4
Looking southeast from a point on Manhattan Island near the Hudson
River, and showing, in the center. King's College and Trinity
Church spire, and in the distance on the right, Staten Island.
From a sketch " draivn on the spot by Captain Thomas Hoivdell, of the
Royal Artillery y ' ' and engra'ved by P. Canot,
THE PHILIPSE MANOR HOUSE 6
Still standing and for many years in use as the City Hall of Yonkers.
From a steel engraving of about 1 8^0.
MAPS OF ALBANY AND NEW YORK CITY 16
(i) Albany as surveyed by Robert Yates about 1770.
From a reproduction of the original in Volume III of the ^^Documentary
History of the State of Nenu York.'"''
(2) Bernard Ratzen's Map of New York, drawn in 1767.
Reproduced from a copy in the Lenox Library.
TWO VIEWS OF COHOES FALLS 20
(i) From a draiuing by Isaac Weld, the traijeler and author, published
in London in I/QS.
(2) From a sketch by Gonjernor Thomas Ponvnall, made sometime before
1760, and engra'ved by William Elliot.
FORT JOHNSON IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY ... 26
Built by Sir William Johnson in 1 742, and still standing between Am-
sterdam and Fonda.
From an old French print.
ix
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
JOSEPH BRANT (THAYENDANEGEA) 38
From a portrait made in London from life during Brant's -visit in
jjjd, the same being an original dranjuing formerly in the possession
of James Bosiuell.
FOUR INDIAN POTENTATES OF NEW YORK .... 66
(i) Tee Yee Nees Ho Ca Row, Emperor of the Six Nations.
(2) Etow Oh Koam, King of the River Indians, or Mohicans.
(3) Saga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow, King of the Maquas, or Mohawks.
(4) Ho Nee Yeath Taw No Row, King of the Generethgarichs,
or Canajoharies.
From portraits painted in London by L Verelst in I J 10, during a 'visit
of these Indians nxitb Peter Schuyler to Siueen Anne.
On the margin of ether pcrtraiti made in London at the same time, these In-
dians are described as '^ the four tings of India lobo on the 2 May JJ 10 "were
admitted by her Majesty the Sjueen of Great Britain fraying assistance against
the French in America, betvieen Neio England and Canada.^'
A PAGE OF THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT 68
Illustrating, by comparison with the adjoining text, the changes made
by Richard Smith in his transcript.
Reproduced in facsimile from Mr. Smith's original Journal, onvned hy
J. Francis Coad, of Charlotte Hall, Maryland.
INDIAN RELICS FOUND ON THE UPPER SUSQUEHANNA . 86
(i) Gorgets (7) Small ad2es (13) Sinew stone
(2) Pipes ( 8 ) Arrow points (14) Small axes
(3) Pipe with snake ( 9 ) Small gouges (15) Knife blades
car\'ing (10) Stone beads (16) Banner stones
(4) Amulets (11) Spear points (17) Spear points
(5) Spear points (12) Scrapers (18) Perforators
(6) Spear points
Photographed from specimens chosen from the collection of Willard E.
Yager, of Oneonta, Neix York.
(
^
CONTENTS
PART I
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
PAGi
I Richard Smith xiii
II The Pioneers of the Hudson xxiii
III The Pioneers of the Mohawk xl
IV The Pioneers of the Susquehanna liii
V The Pioneers of the Delaware Ixi
PART II
A TOUR OF FOUR GREAT RIVERS
I THE HUDSON;
By Sloop from New York to Albany, 164 Miles, May
5 — May II, 1769 3
II THE MOHAWK:
By Wagon Road from Cohoes to Canajoharie, 52 Miles,
May II — May 13 19
III THE SUSQUEHANNA:
By Wagon Road from Canajoharie to Otsego Lake; Thence
by Canoe to Old Oghwaga, 106 Miles; May 13 — ^June 5,
1769 29
IV THE DELAWARE;
By Indian Trail from Old Oghwaga to Cookooze; Thence by
Canoe to Burlington, 236 Miles, June 5 — ^June 10, 1769 . 70
V A TABLE OF DISTANCES 81
VI NOTES ON THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF
THE INDIANS 83
VTI INDEX 89
PART I
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
HISTORICAL INTRODUCTION
RICHARD SMITH
yA S a contemporary record of human and other
/ % conditions in the valleys of four great rivers,
1 m during the period between the Stamp Act
and the beginning of the Revolutionary War, the
journal of Richard Smith has particular historical
value. Three of these valleys, or some parts of them,
at that time had been undergoing settlement by
Europeans for somev^^hat more than i oo years, while
the fourth had been in the hands of Europeans for
about twenty-five. Except for the towns which had
grown up at or near their mouths, each made its
way through a country still sparsely settled.^ Aside
from the fur trade, agriculture was the chief industry,
1 The population of the Province of New York in 1771, exclusive of In-
dians and negroes, was about 1 50,000, but was mainly confined to New
York City, Long Island, Staten Island and the Hudson Valley. West of
Orange, Ulster and Albany Counties lay the County of Tryon, comprising a
territory that now includes eight counties, besides parts of three others. In
all that frontier territory were only about 10,000 inhabitants.
xiii
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
such others as existed being subordinate to it — the
shipping that conveyed flour to the West Indies, the
small tradesmen who earned livelihoods as middle-
men between manufacturers and consumers.
Mr. Smith saw these valleys, when the Indians
still traversed the trails that had been worn deep by
the feet of their forefathers, and when the bark canoe
was still an indispensable adjunct of frontier trade.
His journal is not alone valuable because of the con-
ditions in which it was written, but also for the dis-
crimination and precision with which its author ob-
served real things and recorded what was vital and
interesting in them. In many ways it is an excep-
tional document.
Mr. Smith belonged to a family which was long
settled in Burlington, New Jersey, where he was born
March 22nd, 1735, being the sixth of the family
who in succession had borne the name of Richard.
He was a brother of Samuel Smith, who wrote a
history of New Jersey, that is still held in esteem by
those who prosecute historical inquiries. At the
family home. Green Hill, may be seen to this day
ancient cherry trees, which Richard Smith as a boy
helped to plant. Having studied law in Philadel-
phia, he was admitted to the bar and afterwards
served as a member of the New Jersey Assembly, and
as State Treasurer.^ When he made his tour of these
four rivers, he was thirty-four years old. The jour-
1 "The Burlington Smiths," by R. Morris Smith (1878).
xiv
E 2
6 -
K g
0) ^
RICHARD SMITH
nal indicates unusual powers of observation and judg-
ment for a man of that age.
The immediate purpose of Mr. Smith in his tour,
was to make a survey of a grant of land now known
as the Otego patent, comprising 69,000 acres on the
upper Susquehanna, in which he, along with many-
others, was interested as a proprietor. He and his
associates were a few of the many from distant places
who, in the years immediately following the Fort
Stanwix Treaty of November, 1768, explored and
surveyed the fertile lands bordering on the Susque-
hanna immediately south of the Mohawk.
Fort Stanwix, the scene of this treaty, of which
no part now remains, occupied the site of the present
City of Rome, in Oneida County, New York. It
had been built during the French War, taking its
name from a British general, but it acquired its chief
military distinction in 1777, when, under the name
of Fort Schuyler, it became the scene of a notable
siege, contemporary with the battle of Oriskany,
fought eight miles east of it. Oriskany was a con-
test between Indians and Tories on the one hand,
and a relief force bound for the fort on the other.
For many years before the treaty, there had been
chronic trouble with the Indians on the New York
and Pennsylvania frontiers, the Indians having grown
more and more discontented with the white man's
"thirst for land." Under Sir William Johnson's
direction, a council was at last called, to meet at
XV
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
Fort Stanvvix, its purpose being to establish a scien-
tific frontier.
This council in its results became a memorable
gathering. The Indians who came numbered
3,200, — probably the largest number who ever assem-
bled in America for a conference with white men.
Sir William Johnson, in preparation for the meeting,
sent to Fort Stanwix twenty large batteaux laden
with the necessary presents for the Indians. He
ordered sixty barrels of flour, fifty barrels of pork,
six barrels of rice, and seventy barrels of other pro-
visions, the basis of his calculation being that each
Indian would consume twice as much food as a
white man.
After several days devoted to the preliminary nego-
tiations, the conference ended in the formal execu-
tion by the Indians, of a deed in which was delim-
ited what was long afterwards famous as the Line of
Property. This division of territory surrendered to
the white man all title to lands that lay east of this
line, which began near the eastern end of Lake
Oneida, whence it proceeded to and followed the
Unadilla River southward, then followed part of the
Delaware and part of the Susquehanna and finally
went westward to the Alleghany, after which it fol-
lowed the Ohio. By this conveyance was definitely
made over to the English a territory out of which
states have since been created, forming as it does the
basis of title to a large part of New York State, as
xvi
RICHARD SMITH
well as of Kentucky, West Virginia, and Pennsyl-
vania. One of the witnesses to the transaction was
Benjamin Franklin.
The deed transferred these lands, with " all the
hereditaments and appurtenances in the fullest and
most ample manner unto our said Sovereign Lord,
King George III., his heirs and successors, to and for
his and their own proper use and behoof forever."
While the sum paid to the Indians for this imperial
territory was only $50,000, the king thought the
demands of the Indians "very unreasonable," and
contended that the mother country ought not to
have "any part of expense of a measure calculated
for the local interests of particular colonies."^
Once the treat}* had been signed, the granting of pat-
ents to the newly acquired territory became an active
pursuit. In the same year in which it was executed,
John Butler, who was afterwards to acquire an in-
famous name at Wyoming, got a tract on the But-
ternut Creek just west of the Otego grant. Following
this came many other grants, including Croghan's
at Otsego Lake, where twenty rears later, the father
of Fenimore Cooper was to found the settlement
that still bears his name.
The Otego patent comprised a considerable part
of the present towns of Oneonta and Otego in Otsego
County, just north of the Susquehanna, and south of
1 A fuller account of this treat}-, witli a map showing in detail the Line
of Property, may be found in •' The Old New York Frontier " ( 1901 ).
xvii
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
Cooperstown. In issuing it, the crown reserved "all
white or other sorts of pine trees fit for masts, of the
growth of twenty-four inches in diameter and up-
wards, at ten inches from the earth, for masts for the
Royal Navy of us, our heirs, and successors." It
imposed as a condition that one family should settle
each 1 ,000 acres within three years, and should cul-
tivate at least three acres for every fifty acres capable
of cultivation.^
Mr. Smith made his tour accompanied by Robert
Wells and several surveyors. Soon afterwards he
began the work of settling his part of the tract which
comprised four thousand acres on both sides of the
Otsdawa Creek.^
Several families were induced to take up lands,
but one of his projects, the founding of a Quaker
settlement, was thwarted by the Border Wars of the
Revolution. His notes to his journal, written twenty
years afterwards, show that Mr. Smith personally
visited these lands in 1773, 1777 and 1783. Dur-
ing the visit of 1773, he built a house known after-
wards as Smith Hall, which is still standing in the
town of Laurens, about half way between the villages
1 Land papers of Richard Smith, now owned by J. Francis Coad, of
Charlotte Hall, Maryland, a great-great-grandson of Mr. Smith.
2 The reader will perhaps pardon the personal pleasure which it gives me
to recall here that, during a vacation from college, one hundred years after
Mr. Smith made this survey, I acted as chain bearer in a survey on these
Otsdawa lands, the purpose being to determine the true line between two
farmers who had carried their disputes into court.
xviii
v. ^
RICHARD SMITH
of Laurens and Mount Vision. He described the
house at that time as follows:
"The cellar is about six feet high, of the same
dimensions as the house, that is thirty by twenty.
Saturday, July 17th, we raised the house before din-
ner, the persons present beside myself, Nathaniel
Edwards, John Hicks, Jonathan Fitch, Edward
Halsey, William Ferguson, Thomas Wise, Joseph
Meynall, William Horner, Joseph Dean, and the
carpenters John Newberry and John Brown — no rum
or other liquor than good water. The house is a
frame one, two stories high, each of eight feet, be-
sides the garret and cellar, all built of white pine,
except white oak, and black oak, or red oak lath.
It is to have two large windows of 24 lights each in
the first front story, and three above, and the like
in the rear, with two small windows in each
end above and below ; a front and back door ; one
chimney and three fire-places in the Northeast end,
and room left for others in the opposite end, with
two small windows in the cellar, and two in the
garret. It is the only house, properly speaking, as
yet upon the Otego patent, the rest being only small
log huts."^
During the Revolution Mr. Smith served as a dele-
gate from New Jersey to the First Continental Con-
1 Memoranda made by Mr. Smith in 1773 and the originals now owned
by Mr. Coad, Mr. Coad has several deeds pertaining to the Otego patent,
three of which are on parchment. Two of these are signed by Benjamin
Franklin's son, William, the Colonial governor of New Jersey.
xix
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
gress, where he is said to have kept the journal of the
proceedings. In Matteson's picture, entitled " The
First Prayer in Congress," his portrait is given, and
on some of the early issues of Continental currency,
his signature may be seen.^ He was elected to the
Second Continental Congress, but afterwards resigned
in consequence of ill health. After the war, his son,
Richard R. Smith, followed William Cooper to
Otsego Lake, and in the winter of 1 789-1 790,
opened the first store in the settlement. He was
afterwards chosen the first sheriff of the county.
Richard Smith about 1790, removed to his farm at
Smith Hall, " to which he had long been much
attached, and which he continued to improve and
cultivate to the year 1799, when he removed to
Philadelphia."^^
On September 17th, 1803, Mr. Smith died in
Natchez, while making a tour of the valley of the
Mississippi, and was buried in the cemetery at that
place. He was a man of cultivated mind, as his
journal amply shows, with marked literary tastes.
He numbered among his correspondents Tobias Smol-
lett.^ His son describes him as " a man of incor-
ruptible integrity, of gentle and amiable manners, of
almost unexampled temperance, having through the
course of his life, never been known to drink the
1 " The Burlington Smiths," by R. Morris Smith (1878).
2 Manuscript sketch of his life, signed "his affectionate son, Richard R.
Smith," dated Philadelphia, October 25, 1803, and now owned by Mr.
Coad.
XX
RICHARD SMITH
smallest portion of ardent spirits, or even wine. He
possessed a strong mind, enriched with a variety of
knowledge, collected from judicious observations
upon men and manners, and from intimate acquaint-
ance with almost every author of note in the ancient
or modern languages."
The original manuscript of the journal has been
carefully preserved by Mr. Smith's descendants and
is now the property of Mr. Coad. In October, 1790,
a transcript of it was made "for the use of" M.
Pierre Eugene du Simitiere, the Swiss artist, who was
then living in this country, and to whom many
eminent men sat for their portraits. Mr. Smith
prepared for this transcript a series of comments in
the form of notes, running with the text, but placed
in parentheses, which are given in the present edi-
tion as foot-notes with the initials R. S. appended.
From this transcript another copy was made long
afterward and eventually came into the possession of
George H. Moore, formerly the Librarian of the
Lenox Library. At the sale of Mr. Moore's books
and manuscripts in 1894, it was purchased by me,
and has formed the basis of the printer's "copy" in
the preparation of the present edition.
Mr. Coad has very obligingly lent the original
manuscript in order that all changes made in the two
transcripts might be noted. Apparently the first
transcript was made under Mr. Smith's own eye, if
not by his own hand, many sentences having been im-
xxi
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
proved here and there as to construction and clear-
ness of expression, but otherwise the copy of this
transcript and the original journal are the same.
The reader therefore possesses the journal as Mr.
Smith desired it to be read by others, with the addi-
tion of the notes that were appended by him twenty-
one years after the original was written. Except
for a few extracts, pertaining to particular localities,
making in all about one fourth of the whole, the
journal is not known to have been printed before.
xxii
II
THE PIONEERS OF THE HUDSON
WHEN Mr. Smith reached New York,
May 5th, 1769, he found it scarcely yet
recovered from the turmoil incident to
the Non-Importation Agreement of 1765, in which
(perhaps unconsciously, but none the less definitely),
had been begun the foundations of American manu-
facturing; incident also to the Stamp Act Congress
of the same year, the arrival of the stamps, and their
seizure and locking up in the City Hall then standing
in Wall Street on the site of the present Sub-Treasury
Building. Only four years had passed since British
officials were hung in effigy in the streets of New
York and the state carriage of the Acting Governor,
Cadwallader Colden, was hauled down to Bowling
Green, and there publicly burned. Liberty poles
were now being maintained on the site of the present
Post Office Building, with much difficulty, when
maintained at all. One year later was to be fought,
in John Street, the Battle of Golden Hill, in which,
with a prostrate liberty pole for its immediate cause,
was shed the first blood of the Revolution.
The Province of New York was then one of the
xxiii
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
smallest of the American colonies, both in population
and in resources. The city made a much better com-
parative showing than the country, but was still third
among the large cities. It had special importance
as the administrative centre for Royal interests in
America, so that a small court, modelled after the
London example, could be said to have been main-
tained here. Coaches were owned by twenty-six
persons, chariots by thirty-three, and phaetons by
twenty-six, while eighty-five gentlemen were entitled
to display coats of arms.^
In a social sense, the city was perhaps more im-
portant than Boston or Philadelphia. The notable
houses were the Walton in Franklin Square, and the
Kennedy, at No. i Broadway. There were three Epis-
copal, or Established, churches; three Presbyterian
churches, and three Dutch Reformed ones, while six
other denominations had each one church, — the
Methodists, Moravians, Baptists, Quakers, French
Catholics and Jews. King s College was a notable
seat of learning for the Middle Colonies, and there
was one theatre. Other buildings were the City
Hall, Fort George, the Royal Exchange, and
Fraunces' Tavern.
Thomas Jones,^ the loyalist, has drawn an idyllic
picture of the city as he knew it in 1752, describing
that period as "the golden age," the city being then
1 Du Simitiere.
2 *' History of the Province of New Yorlc."
xxiv
PIONEERS OF THE HUDSON
"in its happiest state." The inhabitants were in-
creasing in numbers and wealth ; luxury was un-
known ; the strife of parties was forgotten ; and peace
prevailed on the northern frontier.
While the city had grown as the rural parts could
not, the city in its first years grew slowly. Three
years after the first settlement, a horse grist mill, in
South William Street near Pearl, was about the only
visible sign of a settlement meant to be permanent.
Twelve years later the town had only three hundred
inhabitants, and only seven farms were under culti-
vation. Father Jogues^ in 1644 found four or five
hundred people in the place, who spoke eighteen dif-
ferent languages. In 1652 one small wharf, fifty
feet long, sufficed for trade, the population being
eight hundred for the city, and two thousand for the
Province. Few of the permanent settlers were
Dutch, the Dutch who came in those years being
traders. After the expulsion of the Spaniards the
Dutch had shown reluctance to emigrate from Hol-
land, feeling that "no country was pleasanter to live
in."^
But a powerful impetus was given to the city some
thirty years afterwards, when was passed the Bolting
Act, which provided that no mill outside of the city
should grind flour for market. This monopoly con-
tinued in force sixteen years, and the town under its
1 "Description of New Netherlands."
2 John Fiske's " Dutch and Quaker Colonies."
XXV
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
fostering influence went forward with rapid strides.
Indeed the Bolting Act may be said to have laid the
foundation of the foreign commerce of New York.^
Combined with other causes, this discrimination
restricted, as with an iron hand, the growth of
settlements in the Hudson Valley. Such attempts
as were made there, were constantly checked, first by
the Indians, and then by aggressions from the French
in Canada, extending over quite one hundred years.
Immigrants in these circumstances chose the safer val-
leys offered in New Jersey and Pennsylvania. As the
whole northern frontier of New York was exposed
to this danger, it was feared that the French might
secure the Hudson Valley, in which case no settle-
ments there would be secure. The city itself scarcely
felt safe. Fort George at the Battery being kept con-
stantly in a state of military efficiency. As early as
the time of Frontenac (1687), Canadian officials
had urged the conquest of New York as a measure
which would make the King of France master of
North America. The danger was not completely
removed until the fall of Quebec, and the Treaty of
Paris in 1763 had forever ended the power of France
in the New World.
Let me outline briefly such work as had been done
to people the Hudson Valley during the century and
a quarter that had elapsed since the Walloons in
1623 made the first actual settlement on Manhattan
1 Janvier's " In Old New York."
xxvi
PIONEERS OF THE HUDSON
Island. In 1614, on an island opposite Albany, the
Dutch had founded a trading post, and in 1623,
Albany itself was founded, with Walloons for the
principal settlers. In 1 644, Father Jogues described
Albany as having "a wretched little fort called Fort
Orange," with a population of 100, who reside in
25 or 30 houses, "all made of boards, and thatched,
the only mason's work being in the chimneys."
The place thrived, however, as a trading post. In
the year 1656, 46,500 beaver and other skins were
shipped from Albany to New Amsterdam. And yet
when Mr. Smith made his visit one hundred years
afterward, the houses in Albany numbered only three
hundred, and it was by no means attractive as a place
to live in. It was still guarded by a stockade, and
had in the centre a small fort, "a sort of citadel,"
provided with cannon, and capable of holding three
hundred men.^ In 1678, this fort with its 12 guns
was described as "sufficient against the Indians," and
in 1687, it had small arms for forty men.^ It was
sometimes called Fort Aurania, but more often Fort
Orange.
In these years the Dutch had well explored the
interior of the Province. The Visscher " Map of
New Netherlands," which dates from before 1656,
shows the course of the Hudson, Mohawk, Susque-
hanna and Delaware with a fair degree of general
1 *' Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New York."
2 Dongan's " Report on the Province."
xxvii
PART OF THE VISSCHER MAP OF NEW NETHERLANDS
DRAWN BEKORE 1656 AND SHOWING THE HUDSON, MOHAWK, ST. LAWRENCE,
SUSQUEHANNA AND DELAWARE RIVERS
From a copy in the Emmet Collection of the Lenox Library
PIONEERS OF THE HUDSON
accuracy, while the number of place names given
is surprisingly large.
The first efforts made to establish settlements along
the Hudson met with constant obstructions in the
form of Indian hostilities. In one of the outlying
settlements the Indians, in 1643, killed forty Hol-
landers and burned many houses, besides barns filled
with grain.^ At Esopus, or Rondout, a trading
post had been established in 1614,^ and what could
be called a settlement was made there about 1640,
when the entire population of the Province did not
exceed one thousand.
These first pioneers at Esopus were forced away
by the Indians, but the place was soon settled again,
and in 1655 Peter Stuyvesant personally staked out
a village there and sent twenty-four soldiers to guard
it. In 1657 the place was described as " an exceed-
ingly beautiful land," where "some Dutch inhab-
itants have settled themselves, and prosper especially
well."^ By 1658 Esopus contained between sixty
and seventy Europeans who that year put " 990
schepels of seed grain into the ground."* They had
found it necessary, however, to live close together in
villages, although cultivating lands at a distance, and
to build a fort on the site of Rondout, and hence
the name Rondout.
1 Jogues.
2 E. M. Bacon's "The Hudson from Ocean to Source."
3 *' Documentary History of the State of New York."
* A schepel is the equivalent of a bushel.
xxix
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
In 1658, the village resisted a siege from the In-
dians, and in 1661, after the new village of Wiltwick,
now Kingston, had been founded, the pioneers were
again attacked. Wiltwick was completely destroyed,
twelve buildings being burned, eighteen people killed,
six made prisoners, and sixty-five others taking flight.^
Three years later the Eastern shore of the Hudson
was devasted by the Mohicans. In spite of these
warnings, settlers returned to Esopus, and in 1668
were founded the neighboring villages of Marbletown
and Hurley. A local court was established, and in
1673 Kingston could boast a warehouse thirty feet
by forty. In 1646 and 1656, deeds to land on Cat-
skill Creek had been obtained from the Indians, and
in 1656 one at Schodack.
None of these settlers were Englishmen, the Dutch
having strictly prohibited the English from going to
Esopus and Albany. Englishmen from Lynn, Mass-
achusetts, who in 1639 had sought to found a settle-
ment at Manhasset on Long Island were driven out
by the Dutch, and sailing eastward, began a settlement
at Southampton, which was probably the first Eng-
lish colony planted in New York State.^ Some years
later non-intercourse was proclaimed with Connecti-
cut, and in 1657 a fine of ^50 was imposed for har-
boring Quakers over night, while any vessel bring-
ing Quakers into the City was subject to confisca-
1 "Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New York."
2 Southold, Long Island, also claims this distinction. The rival claims,
have, I believe, never been satisfactorily adjusted.
XXX
PIONEERS OF THE HUDSON
tion.^ French Protestants, however, were welcomed,
Walloons and Huguenots forming a considerable
element in all the settlements on the Hudson.
Others who came to the Province were Germans,
Danes, Norwegians and Bohemians.
From the Esopus centre went out those adventurous
pioneers who, in the years when Esopus was attacked
by Indians, pushed westward to the fertile lands
in the southwestern part of Orange County, known
collectively as Minisink, where grew up a thriving
settlement. Before the century closed, a neighboring
one called Waywayyonda was founded. The Indians
gave trouble at Minisink, and in 1669 a massacre
occurred, "the bloody horrors of which still linger
in the traditions of the neighborhood."^
These Indian wars almost depopulated the Prov-
ince. When they began, the population was about
2,500, but when they closed, it was under one thou-
sand. Indeed it was not until some years after the
English rule had become well established that the
Province could again boast of 2,500 people.
With the English conquest, fresh efforts were made
to people the Hudson Valley. At Esopus, a new and
large tract was acquired in 1664, and thirty lots were
granted to each soldier of the garrison. Twenty years
later the settlers at that place petitioned to be allowed
to choose their own officers and were declared rioters
1 Broadhead's "History of New York."
2 Stone's "Life of Brant."
xxxi
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
for their presumption. After having been bound
over to keep the peace, they were released on paying
their fines. At New Paltz, in 1677, a deed to a
tract twelve miles long was obtained by Hugue-
nots who had been in Kingston since 1660, and the
beginnings were made of an important community.
These settlements in Orange and Ulster Counties long
remained the granary of the Province.
In 1678, the entire Province contained only
twenty-four towns, villages and parishes; and twenty
years later the number of saw-mills — and a saw-mill
was a first necessity to pioneers — was only forty .^ The
population was about eight thousand in 1678. Of
these the city alone had 3,430, who were housed in
about four hundred dwellings. Long Island, Staten
Island and Westchester County, being less exposed
to hostilities than other neighborhoods, contained
the greater part of the remainder. Twenty years
later the Province had 1 7,000 inhabitants, of whom
4,937 were in the City, and 8,241 on Long Island.
In Orange County were only 219; in Ulster and
Dutchess 1,387, and in Albany County, which then
extended over all territory in the Province west and
north of the present limits of Albany County, were
1,384.^ Few of the immigrants had yet come from
the British Isles. In 1687 Governor Dongan de-
clared that, in the course of seven years, not more
^ Bellomont to the Lords of Trade and Plantations.
2 Returns printed in the "Documentary History of the State of New
York."
XXXll
4-^■^ /''
Q 2 r
H n <
^ o r
PIONEERS OF THE HUDSON
than twenty of the immigrants were English, Scotch
or Irish.
One important cause of this disinclination to settle
in New York was the use made of the Colony by
England as a place to which objectionable or crimi-
nal persons were deported. The Colony thus ac-
quired a bad name. Moreover, it became a favorite
resort for pirates, to whom it was not inhospitable.
Captain Kidd being among the number received. It
also maintained, at the foot of Wall Street, a slave
market, the number of slaves in the Province in
1723 being more than 6,000, and not all were
black.^ The city itself failed at times to keep such
headway as it gained. Lieutenant Governor Clarke,^
in 1 74 1, declared that, when he arrived in the Prov-
ince, he found "the shipbuilding almost dead," and
one hundred houses " empty for want of tenants.'*
In these circumstances, while men who were am-
bitious of official life eagerly sought positions in
New York, others who desired to take up industrial
pursuits and rear families, preferred to plant homes
elsewhere.
Along the Hudson a system of land holdings came
into existence by which settlements were still further
restricted. In 1629 what is known as the Charter
of Privileges and Exemptions offered liberal grants
of land to those who, within four years, should bring
1 "Documentary History of the State of New York."
2 Letter to the Lords of Trade and Plantations.
xxxiii
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
fifty grown-up persons to the Province, and settle
them along the Hudson, these lands to be held as
patroonships. The West India Company reserved
all right to the fur trade, but other privileges almost
feudal were acquired by the patroons.
Oldest of these famous estates was the Van Rens-
selaer estate, the beginnings of which were made as
early as 1630. Its founder was Killien Van Rens-
selaer, who was interested in the West India Com-
pany, but never came to America. From his home
in Amsterdam, Holland, he employed agents to trade
with the Indians on the upper Hudson, taking lands
in exchange for goods. This manor grew in time
to be an almost independent little principality. In
1650, complaint was made by the authorities on
Manhattan Island that the patroon "causes all his
tenants to sign that they will not appeal to the Man-
hattan authorities," and in practice "absolutely abol-
ishes whomsoever he pleases," and " does not
allow any person to reside there except at his pleasure
and upon certain conditions." The Van Rensselaer
patroonship was the only one of those granted by
the Dutch which survived after 1664, the others
having "died a natural death or been bought back
by the Dutch West India Company."^
After the English conquest, other feudalistic estates,
with more restricted privileges, were founded under
1 Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer in the ** North American Review"
for August, 1901 .
xxxiv
PIONEERS OF THE HUDSON
the name of manors. Extending from Yonkers
northward to the Croton River, and comprising 390
square miles, Frederic Philipse, by purchases from
the Indians and by grants from the government, ac-
quired a vast tract, which in 1693 was erected into
a manor/ North of him was the Van Cortlandt
Manor, dating from 1697, and reaching to Anthony's
Nose. Its manor house, still standing, was built to
serve as a fort as well as a dwelling.
Next came the Romboudt and Verplanck Manors,
granted in 1685, when Dongan was Governor, and
extending between the Fishkill and Wappinger
Creeks several miles along the river, and sixteen
miles back into the interior. East of this lay the
Beekman Manor. Next, on the north, lay that
part of the river where Robert Livingston acquired
a princely domain, which eventually made one of his
heirs the richest man in the Province.
The owners of these tracts sought to secure settlers,
but in the early years their success was small. Pioneers
of the best class, seeking freedom in the new world,
were reluctant to become land tenants, a condition of
life in which the old world had taught them that
1 Of tliis family was Mary Philipse, whose hand Washington is said to
have sought in marriage, not knowing she was already engaged to Col. Roger
Morris. By a strange irony of fate, the house which she and Col. Morris
were building for a home on Manhattan Island at the time of Mr. Smith's
visit, became in 1776 the headquarters of Washington, Col. and Mrs.
Morris having fled from the city as loyalists. One of the romantic traditions
connected with this marriage is that an Indian soothsayer, who was present
at the ceremony, remarked to Mary Phihpse, " your possessions shall pass
away when the eagle shall despoil the lion."
XXXV
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
there was serious danger of becoming serfs. Such as
came were obliged at first to live in pits dug as cel-
lars might be and then roofed over.
Writing in 1 70 1 , the Earl of Bellomont, Governor
of the Province, declared to the Lords of Trade/
that "not less than 7,000,000 acres have been granted
away in thirteen grants, and all of them uninhabited,
except Mr. Van Rensselaer's grant, which is twenty-
four miles square, and on which the town of Albany
stands." Two generations had passed away since
these Van Rensselaer lands were acquired. Mean-
while they had "fallen into many hands by the
Dutch system of dividing them equally among their
children."
With the other grants no such favorable results
had been reached. Bellomont declared that Mr.
Livingston "has on his great grant of sixteen miles
long and twenty-four broad but four or five cottages,
as I am told — men that live in vassalage under him,
and work for him, and are too poor to be farmers,
having not the wherewithal to buy cattle to start a
farm." Col. Van Cortlandt "has also on his great
grants four or five of these poor families," his two
grants being each twenty miles square. Col. Philipse
on his manor had about twenty families "of those
poor people that worked for him." " I do not hear,"
said the Governor further, "that Philipse's son. Col.
Schuyler, Col. Beekman, or Col. Smith have any
1** Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New York."
xxxvi
COLONIAL HOUSES IN NEW YORK CITY
(i) The Franklin House in Franklin Square. Built about 177O.
(2) The Walton House in Franklin Square. (3) Burns's Coffee House in Broadway, just
Built in 1750. above Trinity Church. Garden view.
(4) Burns's Coffee House. Front view.
Fro7n old prints
PIONEERS OF THE HUDSON
tenants on their grants," and then added that many
people had been "wickedly stripped of their lands
by these grantees."
Early in the new century, an important, though
temporary, accession to the population came from
Germany. Men of the peasant class from the Palat-
inate, having been forced by the wars between their
country and France to leave their homes in a state
of great poverty, sought the protection of Queen
Anne, and made arrangements by which they emi-
grated to New York, where they were to acquire
lands and eventually were to reimburse the Crown
for their passage money and other expenses.
Several thousand came over, beginning in 1710.
Under Governor Hunter, it was arranged that they
should take up lands in Livingston Manor, where,
about eight miles below the city of Hudson, live
villages were laid out for them. But they did not
thrive; under the conditions imposed they found it
impossible to make money, and after a stern struggle
for a few years, gave up the task. Many removed
to Schoharie, and others found their way to the Upper
Mohawk. A small number remained in the Hud-
son Valley — 126 families on the east side, 97 on the
west. The failure of these settlements was excep-
tional, but it illustrates the radical defect in a system
of land holdings which, under the patroons and lords
of manors, for a long period retarded the growth of
the Hudson Valley.
xxxvii
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
As late as 1759, in a memorial asking for clergy-
men to be sent to the Hudson Valley, it was stated
that on the east side of the river, "quite as far as we
have any settlements abounding with people," the
country was destitute of ministers, except for two
Dutch and two German ones, and many people have
almost lost all sense of Christianity." In Philipse
Manor there were " people enough for a large con-
gregation, without any minister." In other words,
it was mentioned, as if somewhat remarkable, that
from Yonkers to the Croton River there were enough
people to fill one of the small churches of that day.^
But the best evidence of the backward condition
of the Province is found in the census. New York,
which in our day has long stood first among the
States in population, was eighth among the colonies
in 1755. Pennsylvania in that year had 220,000
people, Massachusetts 200,000, Virginia 125,000,
Maryland 100,000, Connecticut 100,000, New
Hampshire 75,000, New Jersey 75,000, and North
Carolina 75,000, but New York had only 55,000.^
Mr. Smith's tour was made thirteen years after
these returns were compiled. During the second
half of this period, with the return of peace and a
peace which it was known would last — at least so
far as the claims of France were concerned — remark-
able growth had set in. By 1 774, the population was
1 "Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New York."
2 Returns made to the Lords of Trade and Plantations.
xxxviii
HUDSON RIVER MANOR HOUSE
(i) The Verplanck House in Fishkill. Built about 1740.
(2) The Beekman House
in Rhinebeck.
(3) The Van Rensselaer House which survived in Albany until recent years. Threatened
with demolition, it has been removed to Williamstown, Mass., and there
re-erected as a college fraternity house.
(4) The Van Cortlandt House on Croton Bay.
PIONEERS OF THE HUDSON
estimated to have reached 182,000, of whom 21,000
were black. But in the first half of these thirteen
years growth had been impossible, for then occurred
the last and most destructive of the French Wars,
when the map of the whole northern frontier of
New York became dotted with forts and camps.^
That region furnished sites for several important
battles, Albany becoming the chief base of supplies,
and a rendezvous for troops. Niagara, Lake George
and Ticonderoga in those years witnessed many
engagements, preliminary to that final combat further
north, one of the decisive battles in the history of
the world — the victory of Wolfe over Montcalm at
Quebec.
1 A partial list of the forts or fortified towns in the Province at that time
would include these : In the Hudson Valley and on the lakes north of it,
Fort George (in New York City), Rondout, Philipse Castle, Van Cortlandt
Manor House, Fort Orange, Fort George (on Lake George), Fort Edward,
Fort Ann, Fort Ticonderoga and Crown Point; on the Mohawk, Fort John-
son, Fort Hunter, Canajoharie, German Flats, Fort Stanwix, Fort Bull and
Fort Brewerton; on Lake Ontario, Fort Oswego and Fort Niagara; on the
Susquehanna, Cherry Valley and Oghwaga.
XXXIX
Ill
THE PIONEERS OF THE MOHAWK
KNOWLEDGE of the Mohawk is contem-
porary with the founding of the trading post
at Albany. Two men, of whom one was
named Kleynties, explored the Mohawk in that year
or the next and went down the Susquehanna from
Otsego Lake/ Champlain, for the French, in thesame
year (already in 1 609 he had explored, almost to its
head, the lake called after him — this was in the same
year and season that Hudson sailed up the river bear-
ing his name, the two men being only one hundred
miles apart, and yet each was ignorant of the other's
presence), visited central New York, coming by way
of Lake Ontario, and thus probably reached some of
the headwaters of the Mohawk.
All through the Dutch period, fur traders explored
the Mohawk in their bark canoes, but white men
founded no actual settlements there, until after the
English had established their supremacy. The
Dutch minister Megapolensis, however, had gone
' On this expedition was in part based the Figurative Map, the earliest map
of the interior of New York. It shows all four of the rivers visited by Mr.
Smith. The Visscher or Van der Donck map of before 1656 shows these
rivers with many additional details.
Xl
PIONEERS OF THE MOHAWK
into the country preaching to the Indians and vis-
iting their castles.' Meanwhile, the French also had
come — not as traders or soldiers, but as Jesuit mis-
sionaries, displaying a zeal and devotion " unsur-
passed in the history of Christianity."^
First among the Jesuits was Isaac Jogues, who
was brought into the Mohawk country as a captive
and horribly tortured by the Indians, as he " fol-
lowed them through the still November forest, and
shared their wild bivouac in the depths of the wintry
desolation."^ Escaping from his captors, Jogues
reached Manhattan Island, and thence sailed for
France, but soon returned voluntarily as a missionary
to the Mohawks, who now treacherously murdered
him.* " One of the purest examples of Roman
Catholic virtue which the Western world has seen,"
was Jogues.' Joseph Bressani, another captive mis-
sionary, came in 1644, and like Jogues was bar-
barously tortured. With only one finger of his right
hand left entire, he wrote from the Mohawk to the
general of his order in Rome, a letter stained with
his own blood, his ink being " gunpowder mixed
with water, and his table the earth."
The beginnings of actual settlements date from
1 Megapolensis's " Treatise on the Mohawks."
2 Morgan's "League of the Iroquois."
3 Parkman's "Jesuits in North America."
4 This occurred near the present village of Auriesville, on the south side of
the Mohawk, a few miles west of Fort Hunter.
^ Parkman.
xli
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
1662, when a grant of the "great flat" at Schenec-
tady was made to Arent Van Curler, who soon began
to build houses and erect mills. Van Curler had
been an agent, or commissioner, of the Van Rens-
selaer estate and acquired much distinction in the
frontier annals of his time. It was through his per-
sonal efforts that Jogues made his escape from cap-
tivity. At the same time Van Curler, by fair dealing,
secured the lasting friendship of the Indians. By
them he was always known as Corlear, and so much
did they esteem him that ever afterwards the gov-
ernors of the Province were called, not by their own
names, but by his, and the governor's official resi-
dence to them was always " Corlear's house.'*
For more than ten years Schenectady remained
the most remote settlement on the Mohawk, ranking
as an outpost on the New York frontier, with Mini-
sink as settled from the lower Hudson. Next fol-
lowed a settlement at Rotterdam, eight miles west of
Schenectady, where may still be seen the Mabie
House, built in 1680, and now the oldest structure
standing in the Mohawk Valley.^ Meanwhile, the
French continued to assert their claims to northern
and western New York. De Curcelles, with 1,300
men, made an expedition against the Mohawks in
1665, and burned five of their castles, or palisaded
villages, and La Salle, in 1669, took possession of
Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, building a fort at
IW. Max Reid's "The Mohawk Valley."
xlii
COLONIAL BUILDINGS IN ALBANY AND ON THE MOHAWK
(i) The Mabie House near Rotterdam, built in 1680, and the oldest
house now standing in the Mohawk Valley.
(2) St. George's church, Schenectady, (3) The Queen Anne Parsonage in Fort Hunter,
built in 1759. built in 1712.
(4) An Eighteenth Century Street Scene in Albany.
The Ji7-st three from recent photographs. The last from an old print.
PIONEERS OF THE MOHAWK
Niagara. Other Frenchmen in 1673 erected at
what is now Kingston, Ontario, another fort to
which they gave the name of Frontenac. The Eng-
lish seemed not to have fully understood the meaning
of these events until 1675, when Governor Andros
personally ascended the Mohawk to the site of Utica,
where he met the chiefs of the Iroquois in a council
extending over several days, the result of which was
the appointment of an Indian commission that was
to have marked influence on subsequent events in the
conflict with the French.
Fourteen years later. Fort Niagara having been
destroyed, a memorable invasion of the valley was
made by the French, under Frontenac. Having
reached Schenectady at night Frontenac, without
being discovered, gained an entrance into the forti-
fied town then comprising about forty " well-built
houses." He " beset each house, murdered the
inhabitants, and then burned the houses." Some
sixty persons were killed, twenty-seven made pris-
oners, and twenty-seven others escaped to Albany.^
Important grants of land, leading to scandalous
exposures and finally to a revocation of the grants,
had been made in those early days on the Mohawk.
They included one to a man named Penhorne that
was fifty miles long and two miles wide, one to
Captain Evans forty miles by thirty, and a still larger
one to Dr. Dellius, a Dutch minister who labored
1 ** Documentary History of the State of New York."
xliii
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
among the Mohawks. This reckless disposal of some
of the most valuable lands of the Province was made
in the time of Governor Fletcher.
When Lord Bellomont came over as Fletcher's
successor, severe representations were made to the
home government as to what these grants meant.
Bellomont, in 1698, wrote that the Dellius tract was
reported to be eighty-six miles long and twenty-five
broad, or i ,376,000 acres in extent, " which is a pro-
digious tract of country to grant away to a stranger
that has not a child, that is not denizened, and in a
word a man that has not any sort of virtue or merit."
Moreover, there was "not a Christian inhabitant on
either of his grants." The same was true of Captain
Evans's tract, which "has but one house on it, or
rather a hut where a poor man lives."^
Bellomont pointed out that the most serious feature
of these large grants was the harm they would do to
the English alliance with the Indians, since they
would "constrain and force the Indians of the Ma-
quase^ nation to desert this province, and fly to the
French." He added that "it was impossible while
things remained so, that the country can ever be set-
tled or peopled, the grantees being too few to do it."
The Mohawks had been "the best guard and security
to these frontiers," and if they were dispossessed, it
would be difficult for the English to resist the French.
1 Letter to the Lords of Trade and Plantations.
2 Mohawk.
xliv
PIONEERS OF THE MOHAWK
Moreover, others of the Five Nations v^ould follow
the Mohawks, and New York was "the safeguard
and chief defence of all His Majesty's northern plan-
tations."
After these patents had finally been vacated, the
Mohawk territory began to be partitioned off into
small grants, the earliest dating from 1703, but it
was not until fifty years afterward, that the entire
south side of the stream passed into private hands, the
grants then numbering twenty-eight. Meanwhile,
to the north of Schenectady, and lying just west of
the Hudson, had been made the large grant known as
Kayaderosseras, which comprised 256,000 acres, par-
titioned among thirteen persons. It was settled with
much difficulty.^
In the first part of the new century, settlers could
do little toward peopling the Mohawk. Even the
Peace of Utrecht^ in 171 3 was not followed by ac-
tive immigration, the government being slow to offer
incentives. When Governor Burnet established a
trading post at Oswego his act was heralded as a sign
of exceptional enterprise by a royal governor, and
so indeed it remains as a fact in the history of the
State. A new " thirst for land " then set in, and some
little progress was made.
While many small patents were being issued, a
missionary work going forward in the valley exercised
1 See a map of these grants in the " Documentary History of the State of
New York."
2 By this Peace was ended the War of the Spanish Succession.
xlv
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
considerable influence on its development. Governor
Dongan was the first among the royal governors who
saw the importance of this work as a matter of state
policy. It was necessary that Protestants, as repre-
senting English interests, should counteract the work
of the Jesuits who represented the interests of France.
In 1687, Dongan asked the Indians not to "receive
any French priests any more, having sent for English
where you can be supplied with all to content." He
wrote to the home government asking for five or six
ministers to live at the Indian castles and thus oblige
the French priests "to return to Canada, whereby
the French will be divested of their pretences to the
country, and then we shall enjoy that trade without
any fear of its being diverted."^ Dongan was soon
afterward recalled, but his policy had made some
headway and in 1700 an act was passed "against
Jesuits and Popish priests."
Protestant missionaries then came in. At Schen-
ectady, in 1 70 1, was stationed Bernardus Freeman, a
Calvinist, who reported that thirty-five Mohawks out
of one hundred were Christians, and that he had trans-
lated into the Mohawk tongue the Ten Command-
ments, the Athenasian Creed, and parts of the Prayer
Book. Then came Thoroughgood Moor, who la-
bored among the Mohawks three years and was fol-
lowed by William Andrews, who also remained three
1 "Documentary History of the State of New York,"
xlvi
PIONEERS OF THE MOHAWK
years. It was within this period that a fort one hun-
dred and fifty feet square, with a block-house at each
corner, and a school house thirty by twelve feet, was
built at Fort Hunter. Queen Anne was the moving
spirit in this enterprise, having been inspired to it by
the visit which Col. Peter Schuyler, formerly Mayor
of Albany, made to London in 1 7 1 o, Schuyler taking
with him four Indian kings. One of these kings was
the grandfather of the Mohawk leader Joseph Brant,
who in Mr. Smith's tour became his guide on the
Susquehanna.^ Mr. Andrews's labors came to a close
in 171 8. Among those who followed him were
John Miln and Henry Barclay. Barclay in 1743 re-
ported that only a few unbaptised Mohawks remained.
Under the influence of these missionaries a few set-
tlements were founded.
The chief obstacle to settlements, wrote Lieutenant
Governor Clarke, had been "the massacres in King
William's War by the French and Indians, so that
very little progress was possible until the Peace of
Utrecht." After that date, a few farmers began to
settle on the Mohawk. The crops grown by them
were good and more families soon came in. But
war again broke out with the French of Canada in
1745, when a descent was made upon Saratoga, and
forty houses were destroyed and one hundred pris-
1 At Fort Hunter still stands what is known as the Queen Anne Parsonage,
which has come down from 1712.
xlvii
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
oners captured. Destruction was also done else-
where on the frontier until the more remote parts of
the County of Albany became a scene of desolation.
In the midst of the work done by the missionaries,
there arrived in the valley a man who was destined
to give a great impetus to settlements and finally to
dominate its interests for quite thirty years. During
that period his influence with the Indians became so
great that to him more than to all other persons is
to be ascribed the important aid the Indians rendered
in the final overthrow of the French power. Wil-
liam Johnson (afterwards Sir William) came to the
Mohawk Valley in 1738, as the agent of his uncle.
Sir Peter Warren, who had a large grant west of
Schenectady, and south of the Mohawk. Johnson
founded a settlement beyond Fort Hunter, to which
he gave the name of Warren's Bush. Here he
cleared land, built mills, opened roads, and arranged
to bring in settlers.
Of this work we gain an important hint in a lettei
from Lieut. Governor Clarke, to the home govern-
ment, in 1736, in which he refers to "a scheme to
settle the Mohawk country which I have the pleasure
to hear from Ireland and Scotland, is like to succeed."
In brief, the scheme was to give 100,000 acres to
the first 500 Protestant families that came from
Europe "in 200 acres to a family, who being settlers,
would draw thousands to them." ^
1 Letter to the Lords of Trade and Plantations.
xlviii
PIONEERS OF THE MOHAWK
Johnson remained five years at Warren's Bush, and
in that time sold off on easy terms two-thirds of his
uncle's lands, and then, having obtained for himself
a tract of several thousand acres on the north side of
the river, near Amsterdam, removed to it in 1743,
and there built a saw and grist mill, as well as the
stone house called Fort Johnson, which still stands
there. In 174 1 Johnson had brought in sixty Scotch-
Irish families, giving them lands on long leases at
nominal rent, and thus had gathered about him a
loyal band of feudal followers.^ Some German refu-
gees having come to New York, he induced them
to settle on the Mohawk, their number being about
1 60. Meanwhile, he carried on an active trade with
Indians, and soon had established at Oghwaga, on
the Susquehanna, a trading post, Oghwaga then hav-
ing 100 Indian lodges. About 1745 he imported
from England a breeding stud of horses, as well as
cattle and sheep, the horses numbering thirty, the
cattle forty, and the sheep 100. By 1746, he was
shipping flour to the West Indies, and was the
largest slave holder in the Province, having sixty or
seventy slaves.
Thus had the Mohawk entered upon a condition
in which it could be said to have become settled
from Schenectady to its western limits, but a new
war broke out with France, with dangers to the
frontier greater than ever before. In 1755, Brad-
iBuell's " Sir William Johnson " (1903).
xlix
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
dock was defeated on the western borders of Penn-
sylvania, and in 1756 Oswego was lost to the
French. Johnson defeated the French at Lake
George in 1755, but in 1757 a terrible blow fell
upon the frontier in the massacre of German Flats,
where on the upper Mohawk in 1751 had arisen a
village of sixty dwellings and about 300 souls.
Aroused by the French under Beletre at three
o'clock in the morning, forty or fifty persons were
killed, 130 made prisoners, and their buildings
burned. Such was the destruction that when Lord
Howe arrived he found "nothing but an abandoned
slaughter-field." Consternation struck the frontier,
the settlers sending their goods and valuables to
Albany and Schenectady, until it " seemed as if these
settlements would be entirely depopulated."^ At this
time, in 1758, was built Fort Stanwix to guard the
Mohawk from the west, while Albany became the
chief rendezvous for troops bound for that fort and for
points in the Champlain Valley.
How well the valley had now become peopled
appears in a contemporary statement. At Canajo-
harie, where Mr. Smith left the Mohawk to reach
the Susquehanna, there stood in 1858 a fort 100
paces in size on each side, surrounded by a ditch and
four bastions, with pickets fifteen feet high, port-
holes, and a stage all around for firing. At each
1 Stone's "Life of Brant."
1
PIONEERS OF THE MOHAWK
bastion were small cannon.^ A good road ran from
Canajoharie to Fort Hunter, twelve leagues away,
there being i oo houses on the road, occupied mainly
by Germans. At Fort Hunter, the cannon were seven
and eight pounders, a church being inside the fort,
besides thirty cabins for the Indians. From Fort
Hunter to Schenectady, a distance of seven leagues,
were twenty or thirty houses, occupied by Dutch
settlers. Schenectady had 300 houses surrounded by
pickets with a fort in the centre of the village, half
masonry and half timber, with four bastions, a bat-
tery of cannon on the ramparts, and capable of
holding 200 or 300 people. Between Schenectady
and Albany were two houses.
On the north side of the river, in the same year,
from the mouth of Canada Creek to Fort Johnson,
a distance of twelve leagues, were about 500 houses,
mostly built of stone, and occupied by Germans, but
with no fort for the whole distance. From Fort
Johnson to Schenectady were twenty houses.
When peace was declared in 1763, Acting Gov-
ernor Colden issued a proclamation inviting settlers,
and many came into the valley. A temporary reac-
tion followed during the conspiracy of Pontiac, when
many thought of abandoning their homes. Johnson
then had 1 20 families as tenants on his new estate,
north of the old one, in what is now Johnstown,
1 "Documentary History of the State of New York."
li
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
where he built a new house, in which his beneficent
labors came to a close in 1 774, the most notable
achievement of his last years being the Treaty of
Fort Stanwix.
lii
IV
THE PIONEERS OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
THE latest of these four valleys to be settled —
latest by more than loo years — was the
Susquehanna/ In a sense the river was
discovered slightly in advance of Henry Hudson's
visit to the Hudson and Delaware. This discovery,
however, related only to its mouth, as visited by Capt.
John Smith in the summer of 1608. To the Dutch
the Susquehanna was not known until Kleynties and
his companion in 1 6 1 4, after exploring the Mohawk,
passed southward from Otsego Lake. That it was
soon afterward visited by the early Dutch traders
from Albany and Schenectady, may be assumed.
These men are known to have penetrated to many
remote parts, but French traders may have antici-
pated them. It is more likely still that French mis-
sionaries were contemporary with the Dutch —
Jogues, Bruyas and Milet.
Oghwaga, on the Susquehanna, was already an
ancient Indian town — one of the oldest in the Prov-
1 Susquehanna is an Algonquin word, meaning river with long reaches.
The Iroquois name for it was Ga-wa-no-wa-na-neh Gahunda, meaning
great island river.
liii
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
ince. Originally founded by Mohawks who had
had differences with their brethren in the Mohawk
Valley, it had become the home also of discontented
Oneidas, and finally of Tuscaroras, until the assort-
ment of tribes living there was important enough
to acquire a name of its own — the Och-tagh-quan-a-
we-croones. Oghwaga was long a central trading
post for the Susquehanna and Delaware Rivers. Here
from the far West and South, came Indians to meet
the Dutch. Its first occupation by the Mohawks as
a village has been placed as far back as 1550.^
Other Indian villages, but much smaller ones, and
of a more temporary character, lay at the mouths of
several streams flowing into the Susquehanna, such
as the Unadilla and Charlotte Rivers, and the Otego
and Schenevus Creeks, while at Otsego Lake dwelt
Indians who are referred to on the Visscher map as
" Canoo-makers." Three miles above the mouth
of the Unadilla, on the old Indian trail, long existed
a heap of field stones, known to the white people as
the Indian Monument — a sort of cairn that had grown
up from the Indian custom of throwing a stone upon
the spot when passing that way. This custom was
understood to be a form of recognition by the Indians
of the existence of a supreme being. The monu-
ment disappeared about thirty years ago. At the
mouth of the same river, there existed in the time of
the first settlement of the place remains of an aborig-
1 Buell's «*Sir William Johnson " (1903).
Hv
PIONEERS OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
inal fort, which Indian tradition said had been
erected " five hundred summers ago." In comprised
three acres of land, and was enclosed by a ditch.
In Governor Dongan's time, it was recommended
that traders be sent out to form camps or settlements
on the banks of the Susquehanna as being nearer to
the Indians than Albany, and "consequently the In-
dians more inclinable to go there." Dongan in 1686
made a formal request to the Indians to see that
neither French nor English, " go and live on the
Susquehanna, nor hunt nor trade without my pass
and seal." The Indians were to seize any men who
should come without proper passports and deliver
them in Albany "where care shall be taken for
punishing them."^
With the more serious aspects that now arose in
the trouble with the French of Canada, nothing for
more than a generation was actually done to people
the Susquehanna. In 1722 Governor Burnet sent out
several young men to Oghwaga as traders, and in 1737
Cadwallader Golden, in an official report, declared
that " goods may be carried from this lake (Otsego)
in battoes, or flat bottomed vessels, through Penn-
sylvania to Maryland and Virginia " — an opportunity
which had been improved as early as 1723, when
thirty families of Palatine Germans, after trouble over
their lands in Schoharie, passed down the river and
founded settlements in Pennsylvania, thus becoming
1 "Documentary History of the State of New York."
Iv
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
among the advance guard of the so-called " Pennsyl-
vania Dutch." They were followed in 1725 by fifty
other Palatine families, and in 1729 by another com-
pany. Older residents still living fifty years ago, at
the mouth of the Charlotte River, could remember
having seen standing the stumps of trees which these
pioneers had felled to make the canoes in which they
went down the Susquehanna.
Not until Sir William Johnson's time was Ogh-
waga permanently occupied by Europeans as a trading
post. This occurred in 1 74 1 , only three years after
Johnson arrived in the Mohiwk Valley. Soon after
he became established at Oghwaga, missionaries from
New England began at that place an important
work among the Indians, which lasted about thirty
years. The first of these was probably John Sergeant,
who came in 1744, followed soon by David Brainard,
and he in turn by Elihu Spencer. In 1748 Mr.
Spencer made a translation into the Mohawk tongue
of the Lord's Prayer,^ of which the first words
are : " Soung-wan-ne-ha, cau-roun-kyaw-ga." From
Spencer's time until the Revolution, New England
missionaries (except for a short interruption due to
the French War, a threatened invasion by Delaware
Indians after the defeat of Braddock) were constantly
at Oghwaga. Among those men were Gideon
Hawley, Samuel Kirkland, Eleazer Moseley, Eli
Forbes and Aaron Crosby.^
1 Printed in Smith's " History of New York. "
2 An account in detail of the work done by these men at Oghwaga is
given in "The Old New York Frontier."
Ivi
PIONEERS OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
The white man's first title to the lands on the
Susquehanna was acquired in 1684, when, in an
offensive and defensive alliance, formed at Albany
between the English and the Indians, the Indians, in
a formal instrument signed and sealed, declared " we
have given the Susquehanna river, which we won
with the sword, to this government, and desire that
it may be a branch of the Great Tree which grows
in this place, the top of which reaches the sun."^ It
does not appear that the Indians intended this as a
conveyance of all right and title, but rather as part
of a treaty of alliance with the English, they still
retaining the right to live and hunt on the river.
Contemporary with the arrival of the missionaries,
was the granting of land titles by the Provincial
government. John Lindesay, in 1738, obtained a
large patent at the head of Cherry Valley Creek, and
in the same year, Arendt Bradt one on Schenevus
Creek, while on Otsego Lake, a patent was obtained
by one Petrie and on Canadurango Lake at Rich-
field another was secured by David Schuyler. In
1 75 1, Sir William Johnson acquired his vast tract,
two miles wide, extending along the Susquehanna
River from the mouth of the Charlotte to the Penn-
sylvania boundary, being 100,000 acres, of which the
part extending from the Charlotte to the mouth of
the Unadilla is now known as the Wallace Patent.
With a few others, these comprise the patents that
were granted on the upper Susquehanna before the
1 ** Documentary History of the State of New York."
Ivii
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
negotiation of the Fort Stanwix Treaty in 1768.
They had been the means, however, of planting the
first permanant settlements on the headwaters of this
stream. Mr. Lindesay, who had been Naval Officer
of the port of New York, as well as Sheriff of Albany
County, came into the country in 1738, with his
wife and his father-in-law, besides a few servants.
He spent the winter on these lands, during which
his family was saved from starvation by an Indian
from Oghwaga who secured food in the Mohawk
Valley. Mr. Lindesay then induced a young clergy-
man named Samuel Dunlop, whom he had known
in New York, to come to the settlement, and in 1 74 1
Mr. Dunlop prevailed upon several Scotch-Irish
families from Londonderry, N. H., to settle on Mr.
Lindesay's patent.
Such were the beginnings of the most important
settlement made before the Revolution, south of the
Mohawk. It marked for many years the extreme
outpost of civilization on the frontier of New York.
What is more important, it brought to the frontier
the advance guard of what proved to be a consider-
able band of Scotch-Irish people, who, during the
next thirty years planted settlements at other points
on the Susquehanna. When the Revolution began,
it was these frontiersmen who, joining with the
Germans and Dutch of the Mohawk Valley, formed
that enthusiastic and efficient body known as the
Tryon County Militia, by whom was forced back-
Iviii
PIONEERS OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
ward the rising tide of Tory sentiment, which other-
wise might have preserved for the EngUsh cause the
New York frontier.
Under Mr. Dunlop's influence a log church was
soon built in Cherry Valley, but the settlement grew
slowly in consequence of the renewal of troubles
with the French. Ten years had passed before a
second company of Scotch-Irish arrived. They were
followed in 1754 by the Harper family, including
several men who won distinction in the Border Wars.
In 1769 the settlement embraced forty or fifty fami-
lies, who made up a thriving, energetic community.
Other but smaller settlements grew up elsewhere
in this hill country. At the foot of Canadurango
Lake in 1758 was formed what was known as the
Herkimer settlement. About the same time, the
TunniclifFe family settled at Richfield. John C.
Hartwick attempted a settlement below Otsego Lake
in 1 76 1, but seems not to have succeeded until later.
Nicholas Lowe took up lands in Springfield in 1762 ;
Joachim Van Valkenberg settled at the mouth of
Schenevus Creek in 1765 ; Percefer Carr, as the agent
of Col. Edmeston, settled on the Unadilla River in
1765; and a few German families took up lands in
Middlefield in 1767.
Then came the Fort Stanwix Treaty, after which
the Susquehanna lands were quickly portioned off,
and the way opened for pioneers whose titles could
no longer be questioned, and whose fears of war with
lix
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
the French and Indians were definitely at rest. John
Butler obtained his grant in 1769, and George Cro-
ghan in the same year secured his tract comprising
100,000 acres on Otsego Lake, and made an attempt
to found a settlement. Augustine Prevost, Croghan's
son-in-law, began a settlement at the head of the lake
in the same year. Some Scotch-Irish people about
the same time pushed further down the valley, and
at the mouth of the Ouleout Creek formed a settle-
ment called Albout, while at the mouth of the Una-
dilla. Rev. William Johnston formed another and
larger one, which was in a thriving state when the
Border Wars began. Just south of the Susquehanna
settlements two New York merchants, famous in
their time, William Walton, and Lawrence Kort-
right, secured large tracts, bordering on the Delaware,
now embracing each a township, bearing the Walton
and Kortright names.
At the time of Mr. Smith's visit, there must have
been altogether about 1 00 families in these scattered
settlements on the upper Susquehanna. With rare
exceptions, they all became patriots in the Revolution,
and in consequence their homes were destroyed by
fire, many of them were massacred, and those who
survived either fled from the country in terror, or
served against the British in the Try on County Militia.
Ix
B
THE PIONEERS OF THE DELAWARE
Y its own name, the Delaware River pro-
claims how all that once was Indian in its
'ownership has forever passed away. For-
merly it was the home of Indians who by the
English have commonly been called the Delawares,
but before the middle of the eighteenth century the
river had altogether ceased to be theirs.
To the Dutch the Delaware was first known as
the South River, its present name having been
bestowed by the English, after its surrender to them
by the Dutch. The Indians called it the Kithanne,
meaning the largest stream, and usually called them-
selves Lenni-Lenapes, meaning real men, or, as some
interpreters say, the original people ; but they also
used as their own name the name Dyo-Hens-
Govola, meaning people of the morning. The
latter term was usually employed by the Senecas, and
perhaps was introduced by the Senecas, to whom the
Delawares became subject. By people of the morn-
ing, reference was made to an Eastern origin, the
accepted tradition being that, at the time of the dis-
covery of America by Columbus, they were living
on Manhattan Island. Lenni-Lenape, however, is
the older and more proper name for these Indians.
Ixi
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
The Dutch have commonly been credited with
originating the word Manhattan, but the Delawares
are believed themselves to have employed it, its
meaning being a place where good timber for bows
and arrows can be secured, the hickory trees which
grew at the lower end of the island having possessed
peculiar strength. It is a curious circumstance that,
long after the dominion of these Indians over Man-
hattan Island had passed away, another dominion
over it was acquired by a political organization which
derived its name from a noted Delaware chief.^
The coming of white men to the Delaware began
as early as their coming to the other great rivers
visited by Mr. Smith. Henry Hudson discovered the
Delaware in the same year in which he sailed up the
Hudson, and the first settlements on its lower waters
were made at about the same time as those on Man-
hattan Island and in Albany. In 1626 the Dutch
built on its banks, for use in the fur trade. Fort
Nassau, the site of which was about four miles below
Camden. This was the first settlement made by Euro-
peans on the Delaware River. Seven years later
came the Swedes and Finns, who were so successful
as fur traders that in 1644 they were able to send
1 Tamanend was the original form of the word Tammany, the chief of that
name having died about 1 740. His name appears on deeds to Delaware lands,
dated in 1683, and 1697, and he is believed to have been buried in New
Britain Township, Bucks County, Penn. His traditional reputation is that of
an Indian who was conspicuous for wisdom and benevolence. He appears,
in Cooper's •* The Last of the Mohicans."
Ixii
PIONEERS OF THE DELAWARE
two vessels to Europe, in which were 6,127 Pack-
ages of beaver skins and 70,420 pounds of tobacco.
In consequence of this rivalry, the Dutch, after what
became almost armed conflict, forced the Swedes
and Finns into subjection.
The lands which these pioneers had taken up lay
along Delaware Bay and the lower waters of the
river. None of the settlements before 1664 had
been planted further north than Philadelphia. Not
until 1675 was Burlington founded, and then only as
a trading post bearing the name New Beverly. Two
years later Quakers settled there, and with the Swedes
and Finns became the only settlers in a real sense.
The Dutch primarily were traders, but the others
took to husbandry. The points which the Dutch
occupied lay along the Bay, but the Swedes and
Finns "sought the freshes of the river Delaware."^
Thus the Delaware had become a home of white
men half a century before William Penn negotiated
his Treaty with the Indians at Shackamaxon, now a
part of Philadelphia. At the time of his coming, a
few settlements had been made further up the river,
in what is now Bucks County, Pennsylvania, which
included points perhaps as far north as Easton.^
Growth was rapid after Penn made his treaty. In two
years, that is in 1684, he had perhaps six thousand
I.William Penn's " Description of the Province of Pennsylvania " (1683).
2 Buell in his *♦ Life of Penn " (1904) says : "There were about a thou-
sand— some say 1,200 — white inhabitants already in the territory granted to
Penn."
Ixiii
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
people in his province, of whom one fourth were the
original Swedes, Finns and Dutch. Philadelphia had
three hundred houses and 2,500 inhabitants.
Meanwhile, on the lower eastern shore of the
Delaware, had been begun settlements which even-
tually were, to form parts of another state. In 1677,
Penn had founded his colony of West Jersey, which
in 1680 had three thousand inhabitants, w^ho had
come into the country chiefly under his influence.
These immigrants in the main settled below Burling-
ton, but not many years elapsed before settlers had
gone to the fertile lands further north. In 1678,
when the line was drawn dividing West Jersey
from East Jersey, the peopling of the northern part
of this valley was kept well in mind. In order that
West Jersey might include the entire valley south of
what should be claimed by New York, the line was
made to run from Little Egg Harbor on the Atlan-
tic coast ten miles above Atlantic City, in a straight
line northwest, to Cushietunk, on the Delaware.
Cushietunk was forty miles above Port Jervis, and
is now known as Cochecton, a station on the main
line of the Erie Railway.^
For half a century afterwards Indians continued
to dwell on the Delaware. In 171 8 a deed of re-
lease to the Forks of the Delaware^ was given by
^ Parts of this line still survive on the New Jersey map as countv lines,
notably those between Ocean and Burlington, Somerset and Hunterdon
Counties.
- Now Easton; the Lehigh, which flows into the Delaware at this point,
being then called the West Branch of the Delaware.
Ixiv
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PIONEERS OF THE DELAWARE
them and settlements followed. What was known
as the Walking Purchase belongs to a later period.
The character of this purchase is indicated by its name.
A man familiar with the land and capable of pedes-
trian feats was employed to secure as much land as
possible from the Indians in a walk during the time
arranged for in the agreement. Indians, however,
were not willing to leave this territory altogether,
and becoming troublesome, the Iroquois, in 1746,
were appealed to for aid in forcing them away.
The Delawares being subject to the Iroquois, were
finally obliged to depart. They then formed villages
further west, mainly on the Susquehanna about
Wyoming.
More than a thousand Palatine Germans, between
1725 and 1740, came to the Delaware neighbor-
hood of which the "Forks" were the center. As
early as 1752 their commercial needs had created a
promising village of about forty souls, now known
as Easton, and ten years later its population had
increased to 250, mostly Germans.^ Elsewhere
along the river the population had advanced
rapidly under the impetus given by the policy of
Penn, whose colony in 171 4 boasted a population
of 60,000, of whom more than one half had been ac-
quired in eleven years. People other than Quakers
came in large numbers in 171 2 and 171 3 and were
mainly Germans, Swiss, Huguenots and Scotch-Irish.^
1 H. M. KiefFer's " First Settlers at the Forks of the Delaware."
2 Buell's "Life of Penn."
Ixv
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
Under other influences settlements had already
been founded in the Port Jervis neighborhood. Here,
in a territory known as Minisink, which derived
its name from the Mimsi Indians/ tradition points to
the arrival of white men, in the period from 1632
to 1640. "In some former age," says Nicholas
Depuis, a descendant of an original settler, "there
came a company of miners from Holland, supposed
to have been a rich and great people, from the labor
they bestowed in opening two mines — one on the
Delaware, where the mountain nearly approaches
the lower point of Pahaquarry Flat; the other at the
foot of some mountain half way between Delaware
and Esopus, and in making the mine road from the
Delaware to Esopus, a distance of 100 miles."^ Other
settlers subsequently came from Holland by way of
the Hudson, taking up large tracts of lands on the
Delaware, among them Huguenots who date from
1690, and reached Minisink by way of Kingston.
Eventually this grew to be a well-established neigh-
borhood— certainly the largest and probably the
earliest founded in the American Colonies at a place
so remote from navigable waters. Mention has al-
ready been made of the massacre which occurred
there in 1669.
1 Thus often stated, but it may be that the Indians got their name from
the place, the meaning of which is given by Beauchamp as land from which
the water has gone out. This definition pointed to a tradition that in this
region had once existed a large lake the waters of which were released when
the Delaware forced its way through the Water Gap.
- Quoted in "Gordon's History of New Jersey" (1834.)
Ixvi
PIONEERS OF THE DELAWARE
When this community spread further southward
serious trouble arose. The new County of Sussex in
New Jersey, had been formed, with a Hne extending
so far northward, that it was claimed to be an in-
vasion of "the bounds formerly set for Minisink."
The New York government complained that officers
of Orange County, in which lay Minisink, had been
"repeatedly beaten, insulted, and prevented from the
execution of their respective offices ; taken prisoners,
carried to points in New Jersey remote from their
settlements and thrown into jail." The people of
New Jersey, it was further asserted, " as often as they
are able," possessed themselves of vacant lands in
Orange County, and " frequently beset the homes of
subjects by night and attempted to seize and take
prisoners of his majesties subjects." ^
In 1753, on the eve of the last French War, trouble
still existed over this boundary, being described as
"great and continuous quarrels and tumults between
the persons near the contested bounds and bloodshed
and murder were like to ensue." Invasions had been
made by New York men, "even down to Minisink's
Island, a place about forty miles below North Station
Point."' In 1754, Thomas DeKay made affidavit
that "for some time before he left home, he was every
night obliged to nail up all his doors, excepting one
at which he placed a guard for fear of being surprised
1 " Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New Jersey."
- Cushietunk, or Cochecton. Cushietunk was formerly the name of a
much larger territory than it is now.
Ixvii
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
in his bed by the people of New Jersey, who have
sundry times declared they were resolved to take
him prisoner and carry him to New Jersey."^
One reason for the activity of the Delaware In-
dians, which now began on the side of the French,
was their discontent at having been forced away from
their own valley. With the defeat of Braddock in
1755, they took new courage to redress their wrongs,
and were described as " roaming among the passes
of the mountains unmolested, until between the Dela-
ware and Potomac the frontier had been lighted
up with the blaze of burning cottages." Governor
Belcher of New Jersey wrote to Governor Morris
of Pennsylvania that the " enemy have a few days ago
burned a town at Minisink, and put the inhabitants
to death," ^ and added that he had had " between two
thousand and three thousand the week past marching
and counter-marching toward the borders of this
province," while in addition " near two thousand
men were ranging the woods and frontiers."
It had accordingly been resolved to build forts and
block-houses, " where it should be judged most proper
on the River Delaware, into which to distribute
about three hundred men." In 1758, it was pro-
posed that the whole frontier "be guarded to the
length of 90 miles on the Delaware"; that there be
erected on this line ten miles apart ** ten houses forti-
1 " Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New Jersey."
2 This report afterwards proved to be unfounded.
Ixviii
PIONEERS OF THE DELAWARE
fied against muskets," and to have a guard of twenty-
five men at each of these houses, " with a sufficient
number of dogs who are very useful in scenting the
track of the Indians, and preventing ambuscades."
Patrols, three or four times a day, were to pass from
house to house.^ Some of these forts, as shown on
an English map, compiled twenty years afterward,
were Reading, Van Camp, Walpack, Headquarters,
Nominack, Shipeconk, and Jersey/
One of the reports of desolation wrought by the
Delawares, in Northampton County, Pennsylvania, in
which lies Easton, named fifty houses burned, and
one hundred persons murdered or taken into cap-
tivity. Even the upper Susquehanna was threatened,
Gideon Hawley, the missionary at Oghwaga, being
obliged to retreat to Cherry Valley. Indians who
were expected to devastate the whole Pennsylvania
frontier, started north early in 1756, until from
Shamokin to Wyalusing, "there reigned the silence
1 " Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New Jersey."
2 " American Military Pocket Atlas " ( 1 776), which related in particular
to the regions "which now are, or probably may be, the theatre of war."
This atlas, now very rare, was published by the British Admiralty and Board
of Trade, having been "improved from recent surveys." A copy has been
kindly lent to me by Archibald W. Speir who acquired it from the Brinley
collection.
One of the curious errors in the atlas is that all Western New York, be-
yond the Fort Stanwix Line of Property, is given to Pennsylvania, thus ignor-
ing the Indian title to that country, as confirmed in the Fort Stanwix Treaty.
On this map the Delaware above Port Jervis is called the Great Viskill. Jay
Gould, in his "History of Delaware County," says the West Branch of the
Delaware in early times was called the Fishkill.
Ixix
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
of the grave."^ It was at this time that Major Wells
built the fort at Oghwaga under instructions from Sir
William Johnson.
Earliest of the settlements above Port Jervis was
one on the west side of the river at Cushietunk. It
lay at the foot of a mountain called by the same
name and rising from the Pennsylvania side of the
river. This was the first of the settlements made in
Pennsylvania by those Connecticut people, who
claimed to own the lands of that Province between
the 41st and 42nd parallels, a claim out of which
afterwards grew their settlements at Wyoming.
In 1750 men had been sent from Connecticut to
view these lands, and in 1753 was formed the Sus-
quehanna Company, comprising 840 families, after-
wards increased to 1,200, but owing to the Indian
troubles no actual settlement was made at Wyoming
until 1762. Meanwhile had been formed the Dela-
ware Company, composed also of Connecticut peo-
ple, and by them in 1757, after the company had
bought the Indian title, was made the settlement at
Cushietunk, out of which five years later had grown
a cluster of rude log cabins, housing thirty families.^
This settlement encountered opposition from the pro-
prietary or Penn government of Pennsylvania which
sought to destroy it. A proclamation of warning
was issued and other aggressive steps were taken.
The Cushietunk settlement was not only an actual
1 Kulp's *• Families of the Wyoming Valley."
2 Alfred Mathews's ** Ohio and her Western Reserve" (1902).
Ixx
PIONEERS OF THE DELAWARE
part of the Connecticut invasion of Pennsylvania, but
the pioneer among those settlements. Comtemporary
with it was a smaller settlement at the mouth of the
East Branch of the Delaware about twenty-five miles
further north.^
In 1762 about 200 Connecticut families crossed
through the Minisink country and by way of the
Delaware went to Wyoming. The Delaware In-
dians claiming these lands, attacked the settlers, and
wounded twenty of them. In 1769 forty armed
men were sent out from Connecticut to occupy and
defend Wyoming and were to be reinforced by 200
others. At this time was built what is known as
Forty Fort, a name still retained as that of a village
on the river opposite, but above, Wilkes Barre. The
forty men on arrival were arrested and taken to
Easton, where they were thrown into prison, but
new settlers soon followed until by the end of 1 770,
about 6,000 men altogether had gone into Wyoming
from Connecticut. A few families at the same time
took up homes on the Delaware, the Pennsylvania
side of which between the forty-first and forty-second
parallels came within the limits of the County of
Westmoreland which Connecticut had formed in
Pennsylvania.^
1 Now Hancock.
2 When finally, in 1778, these pioneers in Wyoming were attacked and
many of them massacred by Indians and Tories, those who survived returned
to Connecticut by way of the Pocono Mountains, thence crossing the Dela-
ware, and proceeding through the Minisink country. After they had passed
through a region known as the Shades of Death they found their first shelter
at Fort Penn, which is now Stroudsburg, near the Delaware Water Gap.
Ixxi
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
The Delaware settlements from Cookooze (now
Deposit), where, in 1769, were living the only Dela-
ware Indians inhabiting the stream that bears their
name, down to Port Jervis, while few in number and
at best forming a sparsely settled territory, were now
able to produce enough farm products, in excess of
their own needs, to require shipments to market.
For this purpose long flat boats called Durham boats
were put into service, having a capacity of five or six
hundred bushels each. Owing to the rapids in the
Delaware, and the shallow water at many points,
shipments were made only in times of high water.^
At the head of the West Branch of the Delaware,
a small settlement had been begun before the Revo-
lution, at the place now known as Stamford, while
on the East Branch, at Margaretville, was founded a
larger one. Here at Margaretville, before 1763,
pioneers who were probably Walloons or Huguenots
had taken up lands. They came from Esopus, which
was distant only forty-five miles, and occupied the
site of an ancient Indian village. Dutchmen came in
later, until a thriving little settlement was established
there. Lands for a distance of more than twenty
miles along the river passed under cultivation, and
schools in which instruction was given in Dutch
were founded. There still remains at Margaretville
a graveyard in which these pioneers interred their
dead. When the Revolution began about thirty
1 Gordon's *' History of New Jersey."
Ixxii
PIONEERS OF THE DELAWARE
people were living in these settlements on the head
waters of the Delaware.^
Such in outline are the circumstances in which,
when Mr. Smith made his interesting tour, the val-
leys of these four rivers had been explored, and such
is the extent to which they had been peopled. All
had then been known to Europeans for about a cen-
tury and a half, — much longer in fact than the period
from the Revolutionary War down to our own
day — and yet they were everywhere so sparsely set-
tled, that the total of inhabitants of all four valleys
probably was not equal to the present population of
Newark.
ijay Gould's ** History of Delaware County."
Ixxiii
PART II
A TOUR OF FOUR GREAT RIVERS
THE HUDSON; BY SLOOP FROM NEW YORK TO
ALBANY, 164 MILES, MAY 5-MAY II, I769
With a View to survey a large Tract of Land then
lately purchased from the Indians I departed from
Burlington for Otego May 3*! 1769 in company
with Rich*! Wells, now of Philadelphia and the Sur-
veyors Joseph Biddle Jun' & William Ridgway as
also John Hicks. We dined at Crosswicks^ and
lodged at Cranbury.
May 4. We dined at Woodbridge, called by the
Way at Brunswick and viewed the Town and Mineral
Works; passed thro' Elizabeth Town and lodged at
Newark.
5*!* In the Morn? we arrived at Paulus Hook^
Ferry, went over and dined at Burns's Tavern'* in
New
1 At that time Crosswicks was an important settlement on the direct road
from Burlington to New York. Twenty years earlier David Brainard, the
missionary, labored there among the Indians.
2 Now Jersey City.
3 Burns's Tavern, or Burns's Coffee House, stood on the west side of
Broadway just north of the present Trinity Building. It was formerly the
DeLancey homestead. At various times it bore different names — including the
Province Arms, New York Arms, York Arms, and City Arms. Several
men had been its proprietors — Burns being one of them. Here in 1765
was signed the Non-Importation Agreement. During the Revolution, it was
a favorite resort of military men, being near the fashionable promenade,
or mall, in front of Trinity Church. In 1793, the buildmg was taken
down, and on its site was erected the City Hotel, which in turn long re-
mained a famous hostelry.
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
New York & this we deemed an indifferent House ;
here we saw the Gov^ Sir Henry Moore and other
noted men. In the Afternoon we took Passage in a
sloop, Rich^ Scoonhoven, Skipper, for Albany; had
fine weather and found it extremely agreeable Sail-
ing with the country seats of the Citizens on the
Right Hand, and the high Lands of Bergen^ on the
Left and the Narrows abaft. We sailed about 1 3
or 14 Miles & then came to Anchor for the Night;
the great Rains just before we set out had caused the
Water of the North River to tast almost fresh at this
Place. The Bergen Shore is high and Rocky & the
Eastern Side diversified with Hill and Gully.
6^'' These Albany Sloops contain very convenient
Cabins. We eat from a regular Table accommodated
with Plates, Knives & Forks & enjoyed our Tea in
the Afternoon. We had laid in some Provision at N.
York & the Cap^ some more, so that we lived very
welL Our Commander is very jocose & good com-
pany. About 7 oCloc we passed Spite the Devil
(why so called I know not),* or Harlem River, which
divides the Manhattan Island from the Connecticut.
The Entrance here appears to be narrow, bounded on
each side with high Land ; Kings Bridge said to be
about a Mile from this Entrance but not in Sight. The
Bergen Coast continues to be lined with lofty Rocks,
thinly overspread with Cedars, Spruce & Shrubs.
Nearly opposite to Tappan we took aTurn on Shore
to
1 Now known as the Palisades.
2 Now written Spuyten Duyvil. The origin of the term has been much
discussed. In a deed to Van Der Donclc in 1646 the Indian name is given
as Papirinimen — " called by our people," adds the deed, " Spytden Duyvel,
in spite of the Devil."
TOUR OF THE HUDSON
to a Part of Col. Philips's Manor/ from the Hills of
which are beautiful Prospects. All the Country on
both sides of the River from the City is hilly. The
Manor of Philipsburg according to our Information,
extends about Miles on the River and about
6 Miles back and is joined above by the Manor of
Cortland.^ This Morn^ the Sloop passed by Col.
Philips's Mansion House and Gardens situate in a
pleasant Valley betv^^een Highlands. The country
hereabout excels ours by far in fine prospects and
the Trees & Vegetables appear to be as forward
almost as those at Burlington when we left it; but I
conceive that our countrymen excel the People here in
cultivation. Hardly any Houses appear on the Bergen
Side from Paulus Hook to the Line of Orange County.
The Tenant for Life here tells me he pays to Col.
Philips only ^7, per Annum for about 200 acres of
Land & thinks it an extravagant Rent because, on his
demise or Sale, his Son or Vendee is obliged to pay
to the Landlord one Third of the Value of the Farm
for a Renewal of the Lease. The Skipper gave here
5 coppers for a Quart of Milk & M' Wells bought
Ten
1 The Philipse Manor lands comprised ** all the hunting grounds "
between Spuyten Duyvil and the Croton River. In 1693 parts of them
were erected into a Manor which included the present town of Yonkers.
In 1682 was built the Manor House which still stands in Yonkers and is now
the City Hall. Mr. Philipse' s possessions included Fredericksborough, since
better known as Sleepy Hollow, above Tarrytown, which with other lands
comprised 240 square miles. Here in 1683 he built Castle Philipse, a
stone structure, and also built the church which still stands there, the oldest
religious edifice in New York state.
2 The first of the Van Cortlandts was Oliver. It was his son, Stephanus,
who in 1697 had his landed estates erected into a manor. The manor
house he built is still standing in Croton Bay. It was intended to serve as a
fort as well as a home, the walls being three feet thick and pierced with
holes for use in defense.
5
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
Ten small Rock Fish for i 2 coppers. The Freight
of a Bushel of Wheat from Albany to N York ac-
cording to our Skipper is Four Pence, of a Barrel of
Flour one shilling and of a Hogshead of Flour 7/6 and
he thinks they have the same Rates from Kaatskill.
In the Night we ran ground among the Highlands
about 50 Miles from N. York between Orange and
Duchess Counties. The Highlands here are not so
lofty as I expected and the River at this place appears
to be about Half a Mile wide.
7'!* Our Company went on Shore up the Rocks to
a miserable Farm and House in Orange & left with
the Farmer a Direction for Otego^ as he and a few of
his Neighbors seemed desirous to seek new Habita-
tions. He pays Seven Pounds a Year Rent for about
100 acres including Rocks and Mountains. Hudson's
River is straight to the Highlands, but thro them very
crooked, many Strawberries are to be seen about the
Banks and stony Fields. Martiler's Rock^ stands in a
part of the River which is exceeding deep with a bold
Shore encircled on either Hand by aspiring Moun-
tains & thro them there is a View of a fine Country
above. Here it is chiefly that the sudden Flaws
sometimes take the River Vessels for which Reason
they have upright Masts for the more expeditious
lowering of the Sails on any sudden Occasion. Be-
yond the above Rock lies Pollaple's Island.^
But
1 The name of a creek of the river Susquehanna whereon, and in the
vicinity, we afterwards formed a settlement. — R. S.
Otego Creek flows into the Susquehanna from the north a few miles west
ofOneonta, and about 25 miles below Cooperstown.
- This rock no longer exists there.
3 Now written Polopel's Island. According to local tradition, it was
called originally Polly Pell's Island.
6
I-H W ~^
TOUR OF THE HUDSON
But a few Wheat and Rye Fields appear along the
East Side of the River from N York hither and a
very few Fields are ploughed as if intended for In-
dian Corn. The Lands seem proper for Sheep or
perhaps (if the Severity of our Winters will admit)
for Vineyards. On the West Side among the High-
lands are only a few Houses seated in the small Vallies
between the Mountains. From the Streights between
Butter HilP and Broken Neck HilP & below them
there is a distant Prospect of the Kaatskill Mount',
to the N. W. Murderers Creek^ which runs by the
Butter Hill, divides the Counties of Orange and Ulster,
there are a few Houses at the Mouth of the Creek.
The soil in these Parts is broken, stony and few places
proper for the Plow. What grain we saw growing
was but indifferent.
About one oCloc we passed by the Town of New
Windsor on the Left, seeming at a Distance to consist
of about 50 Houses Stores and Out houses placed
without any regular Order. Here end the High-
lands. This Town has some Trade and probably
hereafter may be a place of Consequence as the fine
Country of Goshen is said to lie back about 1 2 or
more Miles. On the East Side of the River a little
above Windsor is the Fish Kill & Landing whence
the Sloops carry the Produce of that Side for Market.
The North River is here thought to be near Two
Miles
1 From the context Butter Hill appears to be Storm King.
2 Now Break Neck Mountain.
3 By this is meant the stream known on the maps as Moodna Creek, which
enters the Hudson at Cornwall. Murderer's Creek, however, still survives
as a colloquial term for it. Below Albany, near Castleton, flowing in from
the east, there is another stream called Murderer's Creek.
7
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
Miles wide and the general range of the Highlands
by the Compass as taken on the N. Side by our Sur-
veyors is W. S. W. & E. N. E.
We took a Turn on Shore at Denton's MilP called
60 Miles from N. York and walked above Two Miles
down the River to Newbury a small scattered Village
& to Denton's Ferry. We found excellent Cyder at
both. The New England men cross here & here-
abouts almost daily for Susquehannah ; their Rout is
from hence to the Minisink's accounted only 40 Miles
distant, & we are told that 700 of their Men are to
be in that Country by the First of June next. A
sensible Woman informed Us that Two Men of her
Neighborhood have been several Times across to those
Parts of Susquehannah which lie in York Government
& here the people say our Rout by the Albany is
above 1 00 Miles out of the Way. This is since found
to be true, yet that Rout is used because it is the only
Waggon Road to Lake Otsego.
The Lands near Hudsons River now appear less
Hilly tho not level & a few Settlements are visible
here and there; the Houses & Improvements not ex-
traordinary. Denton's Mill above mentioned has a
remarkable large Fall of Water forming a beautiful
Cascade. We saw several other Cascades and Rills;
divers Limekills and much Lime Stone on each
Shore hereaway & some Appearance of Meadow Land
of which we have hitherto seen very little. Lime
Stone, it is said, may be found on either Side of the
River from the Highlands to Sopus.^ We have the
pleasure
1 This point is now Marlborough.
2 Esopus is a Delaware word meaning river. Other forms are Seepers and
Sopers.
8
TOUR OF THE HUDSON
pleasure of seeing sundry Sloops & Shallops passing
back and forwards with the Produce of the Country
and Returns. In the Evening we sailed thro' a re-
markable Undulation of the Water for a Mile or Two
which tossed the Sloop about much and made several
passengers sick, the more observable as the Passage
before and after was quite smooth & little Wind
stirring at the Time. We anchored between Two
high Shores bespread with Spruce, Chestnut Oaks
and other Trees, very like the towering Banks of
Bergen.
8^!" There is a high Road from New York to
Albany on both sides of the River, but that on the
East side is most frequented; both Roads have a
View now and then of the River. Poughkeepsing the
County Town of Duchess stands above the Fishkill a
little beyond the rough Water already noted. We
passed the Town in the Night. Slate Stone Rocks
are on the West Shore at and below Little Sopus from
whence N York has of late been supplied. They
reckon Little Sopus Island to be Half Way between
N York and Albany. The Weather yesterday and
to day very warm but the Mornings and Evenings are
cool. Our Skipper says there are at Albany 3 i Sloops
all larger than this, which carry from 400 to 500
Barrels of Flour each, trading constantly from thence
to York & that they make Eleven or i 2 Trips a year
each. The general Course of Hudson's River as
taken by compass is N & by E. and S. & by W. in
some Places North and South. Between the High-
lands and Kaatskill both these Mountains are in view
at the same time.
At Two ocloc we arrived off the Walkill, there are
9 2 or 3
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
2 or 3 Houses at the Mouth of the Creek & a Trade
carried on in Six or Seven Sloops. Kingston^ the
County Town of Ulster stands about Two Miles
distant but not visible from the Water. The Kaats-
kill Mountains to the N. W. appear to be very near
tho they are at a considerable Distance. The Country
on both Sides continues still hilly and rugged and
what Wheat is growing, looks much thrown out and
gullied — more Houses & Improvements shew
themselves along the Sopus Shore and Opposite being
an old settled Country.
Our Vessel came to Anchor a little above the Wal-
kill about 60 Miles from Albany. We went on
shore to Two stone Farm Houses on Beekman
Manor^ in the County of Duchess. The Men were
absent & the Women and children could speak no
other Language than Low Dutch. Our Skipper was
Interpreter. One of these Tenants for Life or a
very long Term or for Lives (uncertain which) pays
20 Bushels of Wheat in Kind for 97 Acres of cleared
Land & Liberty to get W^ood for necessary uses any
where in the Manor. Twelve eggs sold here for
six pence, Butter 14*^ per pound and 2 shad cost 6^!.
One woman was very neat & the Iron Hoops of her
Pails scowered bright. The Houses are mean ; we
saw^ one Piece of Good Meadow which is scarce
here away. The Wheat was very much thrown out,
the Aspect of the Farms rough and hilly like all the
rest
1 This town has since been burned by the British General Vaughan. — R, S.
The burning of Kingston occurred on Oct. 16, 1777. Vaughan was
accompanying Gen. Clinton northward to reinforce Burgoyne, but arrived
too late. Burgoyne capitulated the day after Kingston was burned.
2 So called, although the Beekmans were not properly Patroons.
10
TOUR OF THE HUDSON
rest and the soil a stiff clay. One Woman had
Twelve good countenanced Boys and Girls all clad
in Homespun both Linen and Woolen. Here was
a Two wheeled Plow drawn by 3 horses abreast, &
a Scythe with a Short crooked Handle and a Kind
of Hook both used to cut down Grain for the Sickle
is not much known in Albany County or in this
Part of Duchess.
^th -yVe arose in the Morn^ opposite to a large
Brick House on the East Side belonging to M' Liv-
ingston's Father, Rob' R. Livingston the Judge,^
in the Lower Manor of Livingston. Albany County
is now on either Hand, & sloping Hills here and
there covered with Grain like all the rest we have
seen, much thrown out by the Frost of last Winter.
Landing on the West Shore we found a Number
of People fishing with a Sein; they caught plenty of
Shad and Herring and use Canoes altogether having
long, neat and strong Ropes made by the People
themselves of Elm Bark. Here we saw the first
Indian a Mohicon^ named Hans clad in no other
Garment than a shattered Blanket; he lives near the
Kaatskill & had a Scunk Skin for his Tobacco
Pouch
1 Robert R. Livingston, the judge, who had been an energetic member of
the Stamp Act Congress, was described by Sir Henry Moore, the Governor
ot New York, as "A man of great ability and many accomplishments, and the
greatest landholder, without any exception, in New York." By "greatest "
Sir Henry may have meant the richest: in actual acres Sir William Johnson
is understood to have been the largest. Livingston's daughter married
General Richard Montgomery, who fell at Quebec, and lies buried in St.
Paul's Churchyard at Broadway and Vesey Street, New York City. His
son, also Robert R. Livingston, was the Chancellor who administered the
oath of office in Federal Hall, Wall Street, to George Washington at his
inauguration as the first president of the United States.
2 The Mohicans occupied the eastern shore of the Hudson.
I I
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
Pouch. The Tavern of this Place is most wretched.
Trees are out in Leaf. Cattle and Sheep, nothing
different from ours, are now feeding on the Grass
which seems to be nearly as forward as with us when
we left Burlington, the Trees quite as forward & the
White Pine is common. One Shad taken with the
rest had a Lamprey Eel about 7 Inches long fastened
to his Back.
I was informed here by a person concerned in
measuring it that the Distance from Kaatskill Land-
ing to Schoharie is 325^ Miles reckoned to Cap' Eck-
erson's House, a good Waggon Road and Produce
bro' down daily; from thence to Cherry Valley half
a Day's Journey; that People are now laying out a
New Road from Sopus Kill to Schoharie which is
supposed to be about 32^ Miles. Sopus Creek is
about 1 1 Miles below Kaatskill Creek and a Mile
below where we now landed. They say that 7 or
8 Sloops belong to Sopus. The Fish are the same
in Hudsons River above the Salt Water as in the
Delaware. The Skipper bought a Parcel of Fish
here cheap. These Fishermen draw their Nets oftner
than ours not stopping between the Draughts.
At 3 o'Cloc we passed by the German Camp^ a
small Village so called having Two Churches, situated
on the East side of the River, upon a rising Ground
which shews the Place to Advantage. Some distance
further on the same Side of the River we sailed by
the Upper Manor House of Livingston. A Quantity
of low cripple Land may be seen on the opposite
Side
1 A survival of the unsuccessfial settlements made on Livingston Manor by
the Palatine Germans in 1710.
12
TOUR OF THE HUDSON
Side & this reaches 4 miles to the Kaatskill called
36 miles from Albany. Off the Mouth of this Creek
we have a View of the large House built by John
Dyer the Person who made the Road from hence to
Schoharie at the expence of /400, if common Report
may be credited.
Two Sloops belong to Kaatskill, a little beyond
the Mouth whereof Hes the large Island of Vastric.^
There is a House on the North Side of the Creek
and another with several Saw Mills on the South
Side but no Town as we expected. Sloops go no
further than Dyer House about Half a Mile up the
Creek. The Lands on both Sides of Kaatskill
belong to Vanberger, Van Vecthe, Salisbury, Dubois
& a Man in York. Their Lands, as our Skipper says,
extend up the Creek 1 2 Miles to Barker the English
Gentleman his Settlement. The Creek runs thro
the Kaatskill Mount' said hereabouts to be at the
Distance of 12 or 14 Miles from the North River
but there are Falls above which obstruct the Navi-
gation.
We landed in the Evening on the Kaatskill Shore
4 Miles above the Creek but could gain no satisfac-
tory Intelligence only that the [Dowager] Dutchess
of Gordon and her Husband Col. Staats Long Morris^
were
«
1 This island was afterwards called Rogers Island.
2 Staats Long Morris belonged to the family of that name of Morrisania,
and was a brother of Lewis Morris, one of the signers of the Declaration of
Independence. He was an officer in the British army, who had served in
India, where he was present at the siege of Pondicherry. Having adhered
to the royal cause in the Revolution, he lost title to his patent on the Susque-
hanna; but these lands were granted to his brothers Lewis and Richard after
the war, as compensation for losses due to depredations committed by the
British at Morrisania.
13
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
were just gone from Dyer's House for Cherry Valley
and Susqueh^ with Two Waggons; they went by
the Way of Freehold at the Foot of the Mountains
on this Side and so over them to Schoharie guessed
to be about 32^ Miles as was said before.
10^ We passed by Sunday Islands whereof Scut-
ters Island affords a good low Bottom fit for Meadow
and some of it improved. Bear's Island is said to be
the Beginning of the Manor of Renslaerwic which
extends on both Sides of the River. The Lords of
Manors are called by the common People Patroons.
Bearen Island or Bears Island just mentioned is
reputed to be 12 Miles below Albany. Cojemans^
Houses with Two Grist Mills & Two Saw Mills
stand a little above on the West Side and opposite is an
Island of about Two Acres covered with young
Button wood Trees which Island, our Skipper says,
has arisen there to his Knowledge within 16 years
and since he has navigated the River.
More low, bottom Land is discovered as we pass
up, generally covered with Trees; being cleared might
be made good Meadow by Banking an Improvement
to which the Inhabitants are altogether Strangers.
The upper End of Scotoc's Island^ is a fine cleared
Bottom not in Grass but partly in Wheat & partly
in Tilth. However there was one rich Meadow
improved. We saw the first Batteaux^ a few Miles
below Albany, Canoes being the Common Craft.
One
1 Now written Coeymans.
2 Now Schodack, but originally Shotag, an Indian word, meaning the
fire place, or the place where the councils are held. This island bv the
action of the water has since been divided into two, which are known as
Upper and Lower Schodack Islands.
3 <« Battoes," as New York frontiersmen, through corruption, usually
H
TOUR OF THE HUDSON
One Staat's House is prettily fixed on a rising Ground
in a low Island, the City of Albany being 3 miles
aHead. We discovered for the First Time a Spot of
Meadow Ground, ploughed and sowed with Peas in
the Broad Cast Way ; the Uplands are now covered
with Pitch Pine & are sandy and barren as the
Desarts of N. Jersey.
As we approach the Town the Houses multiply on
each Shore and we observe a person in the Act of
sowing Peas upon a fruitful Meadow of an Island to
the right. The Hudson near Albany seems to be
about Haifa Mile over. Henry Cuyler's Brick House
on the East Side about a mile below the Town looks
well & we descry the King's stables a long wooden
Building on the left & on the same side Philip Schuy-
ler's Grand House with whom at present resides Col.
Bradstreet.^ Col. John Van Renslaer has a good
House on the East Side.
At
wrote this word, were boats originally brought into use by the French, as
substitutes for the bark canoe in the fur trade, canoes being not strong
enough to carry heavy loads. They were usually built of white pine
boards, the bottoms flat, and both ends sharp and higher than the centre.
In length they varied from 2Ot0 2 5feet. The width in the centre was
three and one half feet, and the depth about two feet.
1 Since deceased, and Schuyler is now a Major General in the service of
the United States. — R. S.
Philip Schuyler, when only 23 years old, had served with Bradstreet at
Oswego, and in 1758 had become Bradstreet's deputy commissary. In
1 76 1 he went to England as Bradstreet's agent in settling his accounts with
the home government. A few years later he became an acknowledged
leader of the patriot party in New York, during the controversies that pre-
ceded the Revolution.
Major General John Bradstreet, whose rank had been won in the French
War, had title to an extensive tract of land, some 300,000 acres, on the
Susquehanna River near the mouth of the Unadilla, which, after his death,
became a subject of litigation, unprofitable alike to his heirs and to the set-
tlers, many of whom were ruined by the expenses involved in the contest.
15
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
At Half after i o oCloc we arrived at Albany^ es-
timated to be 164 Miles by Water from N. York
and by Land 157. In the Afternoon we viewed the
Town which contains according to several Gen-
tlemen residing here, about 500 Dwelling Houses
besides Stores and Out Houses. The Streets are
irregular and badly laid out, some paved others not,
Two or Three are broad the rest narrow & not
straight. Most of the Buildings are pyramidically
shaped like the old Dutch Houses in N York. We
found Cartwright's a good Tavern tho his charges
were exorbitant & it is justly remarked by Kalm^ the
Swedish Traveller in America that the Townsmen
of Albany in general sustained the character of being
close, mercenary and avaricious. They deem it 60
miles from Albany to Cherry Valley.
We did not note any extraordinary Edifices in
the Town nor is there a single Building facing
Albany on the other Side of the River. The Fort
is in a ruinous neglected Condition and nothing now
to be seen of Fort Orange built by the Dutch
but
1 While Albany is one of the earliest permanent English settlements made
in the United States, the French are believed to have had a trading post
near there much earlier still — that is, in I 540, but this was soon abandoned.
2 Peter Kalm visited America in i 748-1751. Writing of the fur trade at
Albany, he said : " Many persons have assured me that the Indians are
frequently cheated in disposing of their goods, especially when they are in
liquor, and that sometimes they do not get one-half, or one-tenth, of the
value of their goods. I have been witness to several transactions of this
kind." He adds that "the avarice and selfishness of the inhabitants of
Albany" are well known. Kalm had in mind particularly the fur traders.
These men, as a class, not only in Albany but elsewhere, at that time, bore
evil reputations. Parkman says many of them were "ruffians of the coarsest
stamp, who strove with each other in rapacity, violence, and profligacy.
They cheated, cursed and plundered the Indians, and outraged their
families."
16
djli^" (leal ri // >
MAPS OF ALBANY AND NEW YORK CITY
(1) Albany as surveyed by Robert Yates about 1770. From a reproduction of the original in
Volume III of the "Documentary History of the State of New York.
(2) Bernard Ratzen's map of New York, drawn in 1767. Reproduced from a copy in the
Lenox Library.
TOUR OF THE HUDSON
but part of the Fosse or Ditch which surrounded it.
The Barracks are built of Wood and of ordinary-
Workmanship ; the same may be said of the King's
Store Houses. The Court House is large and the
Jail under it. One miserable Woman is now in it
for cutting the Throat of her Child about 5 years
old. There are 4 Houses of Worship for different
Denominations and a Public Library which we did
not visit. Most of the Houses are built of Brick or
faced with Brick. The Inhabitants generally speak
both Dutch and English & some do not understand
the latter. The Shore and the Wharves 3 in Number
abounded in Lumber. Stephen Van Renslaer the
Patron or Lord of the Manor of Renslaerwick^ his
House stands a little above the Town ; he is a young
man.
The Site of the Town is hilly and the soil clay
but round the place it is mere Sand bearing pine
Trees chiefly of the Pitch Pine. Some Lime or
Linden Trees as well as other Trees are planted
before the Doors as at N York and indeed Albany-
has in other Respects much the Aspect of that City.
The Houses are for the most Part covered with
Shingles made of White Pine, some few with
red
^This manor was founded byKillian Van Rensselaer, a wealthy pearl and
diamond merchant of Amsterdam, Holland. At first his possessions em-
braced land on the west side of the Hudson River, from a point i 2 miles
south of Albany to Smack's Island, "stretching two days into the interior."
Later he concluded the purchase of land on the east side, both north and
south of Fort Orange, and reaching "far into the wilderness." This vast
estate included the entire territory now embraced by Albany, Columbia, and
Rensselaer Counties, and was known as Rensselaerwick. It was Stephen
Van Rensselaer, the seventh patroon, who in 1765, took down the old manor
house, and built a splendid new one, which survived until recent years. A Kil-
JianVan Rensselaer of this family died in New York City in November, 1905.
17
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
red or black Tiles. In one of the Streets there is a
Sign of the Jersey Shoe Ware House being supplied
in Part with Shoes by Henry Guest of N. Brunswick ;
there is a Town Cloc which strikes regularly. We
saw some Indians here & found the Weather very
warm and sultry.
i8
11
THE MOHAWK: BY WAGON ROAD FROM COHOES
TO CANAJOHARIE, 52 MILES, MAY I I -MAY I 3
11^!^ Having hired an open Waggon the Com-
pany quitted Albany early in the Morn^ intending
for Schenectady by way of Cahoe's Falls; the Fare of
the Waggon with two Horses was 2of. It is called
7 miles from the City to the Mouth of the Mohawk's
River & from thence to the Cahoes 5 miles/ from
the Cahoes to Schenectady 16 Miles. From Albany
to Schenectady in a Direct Line along the usual
Road is 1 7 Miles. The Patroons House at the North
End of Albany is a large handsome Mansion
with a good Garden & Wheat Field that reaches
down to the North River. The Road leads along
the Bank for about 6 or 7 miles from Albany and
the rich Bottom on each side of the River is near
Half a Mile broad consisting of a blac Mould very
level & low, proper for the best Sort of Meadow,
but here sown with Wheat and Peas both which
look well. Some of the Peas are up and some
are now sowing. Very little Indian corn is raised
in
1 The Mohawk has three mouths. Mr. Smith seems to have been giving
the distance from the southern mouth, but even that is less than five miles
below^ Cohoes. Cohoes is an Indian word meaning a shipwrecked canoe,
and refers to an occurrence, in which the owners of a canoe had a remark-
able escape from death.
19
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
in these Parts & that not planted in Furrows & Rows
but at random, one Field excepted. They plant
three or 4 Feet apart in the Hills & the same Ground
every year. The Land back of this fertile Space is cov-
ered with the Pitch and White Pine chiefly and yet
not bad Land, and along the Mohawks River also
this rich flat Ground extends from a Quarter to Half
a Mile wide, but somewhat narrower on the upper
parts of that River.
This Stream at the Cahoes is reckoned to be about
a Quarter of a Mile in Breadth & the Falls extend
quite across. The Heighth of the Fall is conjectured
by M^ Wells & the Two Surveyors to be 60 Feet or
upwards but I have seen a Copper plate that calls it
y^, tho' upon ocular View it appears less. The Fall
is almost perpendicular, the whole Body of the River
brawling over a Slate Rock. The Banks of the
River consist of this Rock intermixed with a crumb-
ling stone and are perhaps 30 feet higher than the
Bed of the River. The whole looks as white as
cream except in the middle where the black Rock
projects a little and the water breaks into many
small Rills. We descended down to the Shore by a
dangerous passage and ascended by the same after
examining every Thing below particularly some
heavy Stones and other Indications of a Copper
Mine being not far off.
Upon quitting this spot we directed our Course
for Schenectady and passed some excellent Farms
and likewise some poor barren Pine Land; yet we
saw choice Ground bearing the Jersey or Pitch
Pine a Thing to me heretofore unknown. The
Course from the Cahoes to Schenectady was nearly
20 West
TWO VIEWS OF COHOES FALLS
(i) From a drawing by Isaac Weld, the traveler and author, published in London in 17
(2) From a sketch by Governor Thomas Pownall, made some time before 1760,
and engraved by William Elliot.
TOUR OF THE MOHAWK
West. About six Miles below that Town we are
told that the rich Bottoms sell at ;^35 or J^^o p
Acre while the Upland will only fetch ^3 or there-
abouts. They hardly ever plow their Upland. The
Indian Corn in the rich Lands is said to produce
from 40 to 60 Bushels an Acre altho every Year
planted in the same Earth. By the Information
rec*! Stephen Van Renslaers Manor extends on each
Side of the North River 1 2 Miles below Albany
and 12 above by 48 Miles acrofs East & West.
Along the Road the Trees are out in full Leaf and
the Grass in the Vales several Inches high. Clover
and Timothy are common to the Country. They
use wheeled Plows mostly with 3 horses abreast &
plow and harrow sometimes on a full Trot, a Boy
sitting on one Horse. The Timber in these Parts
besides the Two sorts of Pine consists of Blac &
White, Oak, White and brown Aspen large and
small. Bilberry, Maple red Oak Hazel Bushes, Ash
and Gum together with Butternut and Shellbark, Hic-
cory in plenty. Elm and others. The Woods abound
in Strawberries, and we find the Apple Trees, Bil-
berries, Cherries and some others in Blofsom as are the
wild Plums which are very common here. We were
informed by D"" Stringer at Albany that the Owners
of Hardenberghs or the great Patent^ sell their
Lands in Fee at 7/6 per Acre.
12''^
1 Issued to Johanus Hardenburg and others in 1708, with an additional
tract in 1751. This princely estate comprised altogether something under
2,000,000 acres and to it, in 1844, spread what was known as the anti-rent
war, which, in a milder form, had broken out sometime earlier on the
manors of the Hudson Valley. Men disguised in sheep skins, wearing horns
and tails, and calling themselves Indians, committed many acts of violence in
21
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
1 2'!" Lodged last Night at Clench's in Schenec-
tady a very good Inn and the Landlord* intelligent
and obliging. The Town according to our Conjec-
ture counts about 300 Dwelling Houses besides Out
Houses, standing in 3 Principal Streets nearly East
and West ; these are crossed by 4 or 5 other Streets.
Few of the Buildings are contiguous, some of them
are constructed in the old Dutch Taste generally of
Wood but sometimes of Brick and there may be 6
or 7 elegant Mansions without including a large
Dutch Church with a Town Cloc, a Presbyterian
Meeting House and a neat English Church now fin-
ishing off, containing a particular Pew for Sir W*"
Johnson^ adorned with a handsome Canopy supported
by Pilasters. There are no Wharves but a public
Landing or Two at the Ends of the Streets where
the Batteaux bring the Peltry and wheat from above.
These Batteaux which are built here are very large,
each end sharp so that they may be rowed either
way.
The Townspeople are supplyed altogether with
Beef and Pork from New England most of the
Meadows being used for Wheat, Peas and other
Grain ; however there are certain choice Grass
Meadows
Delaware County, such as tarring and feathering, seizing and burning
sheriff's papers, and finally caused the death of the sheriff, O. W. Steele.
Companies of militia were then sent into the country, and Delaware County
was declared to be in a state of insurrection, which after a time was sup-
pressed. Besides the greater part of Delaware this patent comprised a large
part of Sullivan and Ulster Counties.
1 Sir William Johnson, the most notable figure in the Colonial history of
New York, had for his second wife Molly Brant, a sister of Joseph Brant,
with whom he lived in a state of felicity, she being commonly known as
** The Indian Lady Johnson." In his will he described her as his " house-
keeper."
22
TOUR OF THE MOHAWK
Meadows about the Place and yet at the End we en-
tered, the Sandy Pine Land approaches within 300
Yards of the Buildings. The Mohawks River here
is hardly wider than Half a Quarter of a Mile, the
Course W. S. W. and E. N. E. by compass. Fresh
Beef sells at 5*! and 6'^. p pound. We thought the
Carriers here very apt to impose on Strangers ; it was
with some Difficulty we engaged an open Waggon
with Two Horses for Cherry Valley for Forty Five
Shillings; they told us the Distance was 50 Miles.
The Inhabitants are chiefly Descendants of the low
Dutch, a few Irish & not so many English. We
did not observe any Orchards or Gardens worthy of
Attention. M": Clench says the cold here is not at
all severe and the Grass out earlier in the Spring
than in Pennsylvania where he has lived. The North
River was open several Times at Albany during the
last Winter j Sloops and Oyster Boats came up both
in January & February. Numbers of people from
N England and elsewhere have travelled this Way
during the last Winter & this Spring looking out for
settlements ; there is yet remaining in Schenectady a
small wooden Fortrefs having 4 Towers at the
corners.^
In the early part of this Day we crofsed the River
at a Ferry kept in Town from whence to Col. Guy
Johnsons^ son in Law to Sir W? are 1 5 Miles ;
thence
1 This fort had been erected during the first French War. From its earliest
settlement Schenectady had been protected, either by a stockade or a fort.
The word is Indian, and means beyond the opening, or beyond the pineries.
2 Col. Guy Johnson was Sir William's successor as Superintendent of In-
dian affairs. Remaining loyal to the crown, he retired to Canada, and
became active in the war, his lands being confiscated afterward.
23
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
thence nearly a Mile to Col. Claus^ who also mar-
ried a Daughter of the Baronet, & from him to Sir
John Johnson^ a Mile ; thence to the Spot which lies
opposite to Fort Hunter^ 3 miles. Fort Hunter*
stands Half a Mile up Schoharie Creek whose
Waters here mix with the Mohawks stream, & at or
about the Fort live a small Party of Mohawk In-
dians^ who subsist by Agriculture. From Fort
Hunter to Major Funda's" are 4 Miles and thence to
M' Kincaid where we lodged 5 miles, the Road gen-
erally lying on the Eastern Banks of the River in
those fertile Wheat Meadows so much celebrated.
Sir Wm. Johnson resides at Johns Town the Capital
of the extensive County of Tryon,' which Town lies
7 or 8
1 Col. Daniel Claus, when the war began, followed the Johnsons to
Canada, and was active on the frontier, his relations to Joseph Brant being
particularly close.
2 Sir John Johnson, the heir to Sir William's title, and to a large part of
his estate, during the Border Wars was personally the most active of all the
influential loyalists of the frontier. His Royal Greens were at the massacre
of Wyoming, and he led two expeditions into the Mohawk Valley, effecting
great destruction. The last is believed to have been connected with Arnold's
treason. "Both shores of the Mohawk," says Stone, "were lighted up
by the conflagration of everything combustible." Sir John's vast landed
property was confiscated after the war.
3 Tribes Hill.
4 Fort Hunter was the Lower Castle of the Mohawks.
^Quere: Whether they have not since been routed by order of Gen-
eral Sullivan ? — R. S.
The Sullivan expedition of 1779 encountered no hostile Indians in the
Mohawk Valley ; nor had there been any resident there since 1776, when
practically all the Mohawks followed Col. Guy and Sir John Johnson to
Canada.
" Here now stands the town that bears Major Fonda's name.
"^ Tryon County, formed in 1772 from Albany County, and taking its
name from Governor Tryon, but later called Montgomery, after the Gen-
eral, originally comprised the territory now embraced in the Counties of
Otsego, Madison, Herkimer, Fulton, Hamilton, St. Lawrence, Oswego
and Jefferson, with parts of Delaware, Oneida and Schoharie.
24
TOUR OF THE MOHAWK
7 or 8 miles back from the River. The Breadth of
the Flats on each Side of the River from Schenec-
tady to M' Kincaid's maybe from loo to 300 yards,
the Road very level and good ; the Upland in general
is no other than Pine Barrens both Stony and Hilly.
Guy Johnson's House is of Stone 2 stories high,
neat and handsome; the Garden behind runs dov^n
to the River and is accommodated with a pretty Pa-
vilion erected over the Water.^ Daniel Claus's
House is of stone and one story high. Sir John's is
also of stone and contains Two Stories, all Three
situate at the Foot of Hills very steep, barren and
rocky having narrow Strips of Bottom Ground. Sir
John has most Meadow and their Farms are much
inferior to those of many common People here-
abouts. The Country seems to be well settled & we
are told that wild Pidgeons breed everywhere. Sir
John possesses an elegant Seat and Gardens called
Fort Johnson^ tho there is now no other Fortress
than a wooden Block House and a Powder Maga-
zine. From Sir Johns to his father Sir W"?' they
count 9 Miles.
Fort
1 This House was afterwards, in the absence of the Family, destroyed by
a Flash of Lightning, and all the elegant Furniture consumed, and among the
rest, a curious Map drawn by the Colonel, and which we had viewed with
Pleasure, describing the Bounds and Situation of the various Patents for Lands
granted previous to the late Treaty of Fort Stanwix in this Quarter of the
Government, with their several dates ; but another House, similar to the
former was finished, and it has been much defaced since that Gentleman
joined the British Interest against his own Country. — R. S.
Col. Johnson also made a "Map of the Country of the VI Nations
Proper, with Parts of the Adjacent Colonies." It was engraved and printed
in I 77 1, dedicated to the Governor, William Tryon. It may be found in
volume IV of the "Documentary History of New York."
2 Still standing between Akin and Tribes Hill, where it may be seen from
a New York Central Railroad train.
25
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
Fort Hunter, as they say for we did not go over,
is constructed of Wood having 4 Bastions and is
like the small Fort at Schenectady. We saw some
of the young Indian Women who reside there &
several other Parties of Indians some of them
painted very hideously and preposterously in red and
blac, — The River a little above Fort Johnson breaks
into a Number of Channels forming so many Islands.
The Timber seen to day was much the same as yes-
terday with the Addition of wild Rasberries cur-
rants and gooseberries. We observed a Saw Mill on
the Road with 14 Saws, a Thing usual in this Part of
the Country, but very uncommon if not altogether
unknown in Jersey and Pennsylvania.
At Kincaid's we first met with the Maple Sugar
of which our Hostess manufactures 300 or 400
Weight per Annum. She describes the process as
extremely simple. In Feb. March or the Beginning
of April as the Season admits they draw the Liquor
from the Tree (the Acer Saccharinum Foliis quin-
quepartito-palmatis accuminato dentatis of Linna?us's
Species Plantarum pag. 1055) by striking an Ax
into it or boring it and placing proper vessels there-
under to receive the Juice as it distils. This they
boil for several Hours taking care to stir it while it
cools & so pour it into any Kettle or pot previously
rubbed with Hogs Lard and then the Sugar is taken
out in cakes like Beeswax which when used they
cut down with a Knife. This Kind has the Aspect
of coarse brown Muscavado but tastes more like
coarse loaf sugar. Mrf Kincaid says She sells it
in Common 9"! p. pound and she has exchanged
2 pounds of this for 3 Pounds of West India Sugar,
26 the
7 ^
0 i--
1 r
o 2.
TOUR OF THE MOHAWK
the People esteeming the former best. They tap
200 Trees for 400 Weight, the same Juice is con-
verted into Molasses and sometimes into Vinegar.
For this last the Liquor is half boiled and worked
with Yeast. They use our common Maple also
but prefer the Sugar Maple. After a Tree has been
tapt several years the Liquor is thought to grow
stronger. About 3 Gallons are sufficient for a Pound
of Sugar and this Quantity will ooze from a Tree in
a days Time. The Mohawks River is but shallow tho'
very rapid and the Navigation obstructed by Rifts
and the Inhabitants of its Banks are said to be sub-
ject to Fevers and Agues. The Measures introduced
originally by the Dutch are still in vogue. A
Morgan of Land contains somewhat more than Two
Acres and a Skipple is about 3 Pecks. Col. Claus
is clearing the Hill before the Door with an Inten-
tion to plant a Vineyard. A neighbor of Kincaids,
as we hear, lately sold 360 acres of Land whereof
30 were all Meadow, for the Sum of ^900. The
People of the German Flats bring their Loads of
Wheat in Sleighs down to Schenectady, the Distance
being 60 Miles, and return in 3 Days. One Hassen-
clever it seems has formed a Settlem' above the
German Flats.^ I was informed that M' Clenchs
Tavern in Schenectady rented for ^100 a year pre-
vious to the Peace of 1763.
1 These places have been since destroyed during the present War. — R. S.
German Flats was first settled about forty years before the date of this
journal. In 1757, as already stated in the Introduction, it was burned,
and its people were massacred. In 1778 it was again burned by Joseph
Brant, who carried away all the horses, cattle and sheep, but the people,
having retired to the fort on hearing of Brant's approach, escaped bodily
harm.
27
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
I 3^!" May. — Kincaids is not a public Tavern but
for our Money we were civilly and tolerably enter-
tained. The Inns between [Canajoharrie] and Cherry
Valley are few and wretched. We crossed the River
from Kincaids to the South Side and passed along
its shores for 8 Miles to Scramlins^ which is nearly
opposite to Col. Fry's; we found the road passable.
Fry's House of one story high is built of Lime
Stone or has that appearance, he has a Brew House
& these look well from the high Hill fronting
them.^
1 At or near Canajoharie, "Col. Fry's" being Palatine Bridge. Cana-
joharrie was the Upper Castle of the Mohawks. The name came from a
place in a creek where the water flows through a circular gorge and thus
was called by the Indians Canajoharie, meaning the pot that washes itself.
In 1677 an Indian village stood on the opposite side of the Mohawk and
was stockaded.
2 Fry was one of the Members of Assembly for Tryon County. He
afterwards removed over the River to a handsome house oddly placed in a
Hollow just under the Hill before mentioned, from the top of which I
beheld it in 1773 and again in 1777, and the view brought to my mind the
Idea of a House fixed in the Bottom of a Well. — R. S.
28
Ill
THE susc^jehanna: by wagon road from canajo-
HARIE TO OTSEGO LAKE; THENCE BY CANOE TO OLD
OGHWAGA, 1 06 miles; MAY I 3-JUNE 5, 1 769
1 3'!^ May. At Scramlins we turned off from the
River pursuing a S.W. Course for Cherry Valley and
perceived the Soil to be blac & deep bearing very lofty
White Pines, Butternut, Beech, Shell Bark Hickery
and many other sorts of Timber including several
Trees of the English Yew as affirmed by R. Wells &
John Hicks who were both born in England. The
roads were miry and heavy. We saw great plenty
of Lime Stone & heard that a Hedge Tavern
Keeper^ living 5 Miles from Scramlins gave jf^igo
for 200 acres where he resides. We met, on their
Return Four Waggons which had carried some of
Col. Croghans Goods to his Seat at the Foot of
Lake Otsego. The Carriers tell us they were paid
30/. a Load each for carrying from Scramlins to
Cap' Prevost's^ who is now improving his Estate at
the Head of the Lake; the Cap* married Croghan's
Daughter.
1 So reads the manuscript. Perhaps it should be "A. Hedge, tavern
keeper."
-Augustine Prevost's military title had been acquired in the British Army.
He had seen service in Jamaica. Near this point there grew up a settlement
called Springfield, which was burned by Brant in 1778, the inhabitants being
all driven out.
29
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
In the afternoon he arrived at Major Wells, one
cf the principal Freeholders of Cherry Valley called
I 2 Miles from the Scramlins & 50 from Schenectady.
Near Cherry valley we chased an Animal till he
climbed into the Top of a tall White Pine Tree
where we shot him. He proved to be the only
Porcupine I ever saw, & I brought some of his
Quils to Burlington. There are Farms and new
Settlements at a short Distance all the Way from
the Mohawks River, the Ground in many places
hilly & broken but strong and producing thick and
tall Woods. In Cherry Valley^here are about 40 or 50
Families mostly of those called Scotch Irish and as
many more in the vicinity consisting of Germans
and others. There is a Pearl Ash Work and much
Lime Stone in the Valley. Major Wells has a choice
Farm with a large Quantity of even Meadow on
each side of his House. He has lived here all the
Two last Wars and entirely unmolested.^
We rec^ Information at this Place that there is
a Rout from Kaatskill across to Susquehannah in this
Line
1 Cherry Valley, so long the most important settlement on the Susque-
hanna, and the parent of several others, is now a small village. For many
years after the Revolutionary War it was an important place on the Great
Western Turnpike.
2 The Major died not long afterwards. His worthy Widow, Children
and Domestics to the number of nine, were put to death in November 1778,
and their home burnt during the horrid Massacre and Destruction of C. Valley
by the Indian Savages and British Monsters, headed by Butler and Brant. — R. S.
Robert Wells had a son named John who escaped. He was then at school
in Schenectady. John Wells was afterwards an eminent lawyer in New York,
and became associated with Alexander Hamilton. A beautiful monument
to his memory was erected by his associates at the bar, inside of St. Paul's
Church, at Broadway and Vesey Street, where it mav still be seen.
Walter N. Butler was the chief offender in this massacre. He seems in-
deed to have planned it. Brant joined the expedition with some personal
30
TOUR OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
Line, namely from Kaatskill to Akery 8 miles, to
Batavia 1 2, to Red Kill 8, (on the Schoharie where
it is crossed, there are said to be settled Places) from
Red Kill to a Lake at the Head of the Mohawks or
Main Branch of the River Delaware, 12 and to
Otego about 16 — in all 56 Miles.^
14^^ Being Sunday We attended Major Wells and
his Family to the new Presbyterian Meeting House
which is large and quite finished and heard a Sermon
from the Rev. M' Delap an elderly courteous Man
who has lived in this settlemt above 20 years.^
The Congregation tho not large made a respectable
Appearance, several of them being genteely dressed.
From our Lodgings about the centre of the Valley
down to the mouth of Cherry Valley Creek they
reckon 12 or 14 Miles and in Freshes one may pass
in a Canoe from the House to Maryland. Here are
3 Grist Mills and one Saw Mill and divers Carpen-
ters and other Tradesmen. The Soil is a strong
blac
reluctance, having many old friends among the inhabitants of Cherry Valley.
During the massacre his influence was one of restraint. He afterwards said
the white men were «' more savage than the savages themselves." The chief
barbarities due to the Indians were committed by the Senecas, under the
leadership of Hiokatoo, whom Brant afterwards said he could not control.
1 In April 1777 I rode over the Delaware just below this Lake, or Pond,
which serves as a Reservoir for a Saw Mill, and the River is no other than
a Brook, not a Foot deep, and two or three yards broad. — R. S.
This reference appears to be to Summit Lake, the head of the River Char-
lotte, not the Delaware. The Delaware takes its source from a spring at
Stamford.
2 His wife was murdered in the Massacre aforesaid. — R. S.
Rev. Samuel Dunlop is here referred to. Surviving the massacre, he re-
moved from Cherry Valley during the war and died elsewhere. In the
Presbyterian Church at Cherry Valley, in the summer of 1904, a tablet was
set up to his memory. Bishop Potter, whose grandfather, Eliphalet Nott,
had been pastor of the same church, made one of the addresses.
31
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
blac Mould with a large Proportion of Bottom Land.
Their Patent is only for 9000 acres, the Farms
rather small, M' Wells's Homestead being but 200
Acres. The Price of Land uncertain & according
to the Quality and Improvements. Uncleared
Woods possessing a due Proportion of low Ground
sell at least for 10/. an Acre and cultivated Farms
from 40/. to ^5. an Acre. Major Wells says he
turns his Horses and Cattle out to full Pasture about
the First of May sooner or later as the Season may
prove and begins to fodder about the Middle of
November. Summer Wheat is grown as well as
Winter Wheat and thought to produce as much.
From the Mouth of Cherry Valley Creek for 9
miles upwards on both Sides the Low Lands (and
these only) are said to belong to Gov' Clarke's^ Heirs
and some of the Livingston's who include the place
called Skeneves's.^ Gov. Clarkes son Leased out
Lands in C. Valley (being concerned in that Patent)
on these terms viz : Ten Years for Nothing, for 7
Years afterwards 3"! Sterling an acre then ever after
6*! sterlg. an Acre — the Landlord to pay the Quit
Rent to the Crown.
About 9 miles from the Mohawks River on the
Road to Cherry Valley, as Report says, is a Brim-
stone Spring^ at the Foot of the Hill where we shot
the Porcupine. We
1 George Clarke, Lieutenant Governor of the Province, had come to
America in Queen Anne's time. He was related to the Hydes, who were
Earls of Clarendon. Hyde Hall on Otsego Lake and the George Hyde
Clarkes who own it, still preserve the name in those parts.
2 Now a small village and railroad station, the name being written
Schenevus.
3 Known afterwards as Sharon Springs, long a fashionable watering-place,
and still much visited by invalids.
32
TOUR OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
We find ourselves well entertained at M^ Wells's
who keeps a Store where Powder may be had for 3/.
and shot for 6^ p pound by the Dozen, Rum sells
from 5/ to 6/ a Gallon, Ozenbrigs i S^. a yard and
at divers Farms Cyder may be procured from the
press at 1 2/. p Barrel. A large Quantity of Flaxseed
is purchasable for 4/. a Bushel — The Cherry Valley
Men make all their own Linen and some Woolen.
A Fulling Mill is much wanted. There are Two
Furnaces in the Pearl Ash Work. The Manager
gives y^. and S'! a Bushel for Ashes and pays in Goods
sold at a large Advance. He has one Hand to assist
Him. A Pair of Mens shoes costs 9/. and for making
only they ask 2/6. There is a Gun Smith and a
Blacsmith who have i/. a pound for Plough Shares
Coulters &*= and lo'^ a Pound for some other Work.
The Distance from Cherry Valley to Cap^ Prevosts
on the Head of Susquehannah is 9 Miles.
1 5'!^ We are informed that the Flats on Schoharie^
are pretty wide ; the Improvements there from
about 1 2 miles up the Creek may extend 20 Miles
further up; they carry their Wheat & Peas to
Albany 40 miles and back again in Two Days.
Some of the Farmers are reported to be worth
money. It is asserted and probably with Truth
that fresh Settlers frequently do not till their Land
for the First Crop but only rake the ground clean,
then sow the Wheat, harrow it in or draw a Bush
over it and reap good Crops.
M.\ Wells would accept no Recompence for our
Entertainment
1 Schoharie was already an old settlement, many of its lands having been
taken up by Palatine Germans as early as 17 14.
33
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
Entertainment, but hiring to us his Cart drawn by
2 Horses v/e set out for the Lake and passing by the
Ministers House we noticed a Pair of Elks Horns
killed in the Neighborhood 2 years ago, the Length
of each Horn was 4 Feet and each Horn produced
6 points, the Distance between the Points of the
Main Beam 3^ Feet. We arrived at Cap* Pre-
vosts in 4 Hours, the Road not well cleared but full
of Stumps and rugged thro' a deep blac Mould all
the Way producing very tall Beech, Sugar Maple,
Linden, Birch and other Timber, the course guessed
to be N. W.
M' Prevost has built a Log House lined with
rough Boards of one story on a Cove which forms
the Head of Lake Otsego. He has cleared 1 6 or
1 8 acres round his House and erected a Saw Mill
with one Saw, the Carpenters Bill of which came to
^30; he began to settle only in May last.^ M^
Young has a Saw Mill about 3 Miles off. The
Cap' treated us elegantly. The Soil around his
House is a fruitful blac Loam on a stratum of
Gravel. We have not seen a Blac Walnut or hardly
a Chesnut Tree since we left N York. The Cap*
says that here are stones proper for grindstones,
absolutely necessary to every Settler, & that he has
caused one to be made and that two Mill stones
have been from the same Material & he thinks
there is a Saltpetre Spring^ a few Miles distant. He
has several Families seated near him and gives Wages
from ^^/. to ;^3 a Month. In
iThis farm has been since greatly improved and was occupied by Nicholas
Lowe from New York. — R. S.
2 This reference may be to what is now Richfield Springs.
34
TOUR OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
In this Part of our Journey we passed thro
Springfield in Waggoners Patent, a German Settle-
ment of I o Families where one Myers from Philad^
keeps a Tavern and has established a Pottery; nor do
they lack a Blacsmith who is a good Workman,
there are 12 more Persons residing on Godfrey
Millers or Martins Patent. It is supposed to be not
more than 5 or 6 Miles on a direct Line from Major
Wells's to Lake Otsego & 9 or i o Miles from Cherry
Valley to a Colony of Six Families at West Kills from
whence to Cobus Kill are 8 miles: this contains 6
or 8 Families and from Cobus Kill to Schoharie
they reckon 8 miles. Myers of Springfield gave
^170 for 200 Acres about Two years ago. His
House is about 5 Miles from Cap^ Prevosts. At
Harpers Saw MilP in the Lower part of Cherry
Valley they now sell White Pine Boards at 45/ p
Thousand Feet; the Creek could be easily cleared
out and their saw mill is about 9 miles from the
Mouth.
16^!^ Our Company was retarded yesterday for
Want of Craft but this Morng. we proceeded in Col.
Croghan's Batteau, large and sharp at each end
down the Lake which is estimated to be 8 or 9
Miles long and from one to 2 miles broad, the Water
of a greenish cast denoting probably a Lime stone
Bottom; the Lake is skirted on either Side with
Hills covered by White Pines and the Spruce called
Hemloc
^The Harper family who came to Cherry Valley from Windsor, Conn.,
in I 754 and became the staunchest patriots in the Revolution, obtained in
1 770 a patent to lands on the River Charlotte, where they founded the settle-
ment of Harpersfield, which in the Revolution was destroyed by Joseph
Brant.
35
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
Hemloc chiefly. We saw a Number of Ducks,
some Loons, Sea Guls and Whitish coloured
Swallows, the Water very clear so that we des-
cried the gravelly Bottom in one Part lo or
I 2 Feet down. The rest of the Lake seemed to be
very deep; very little low Land is to be seen round
the Lake.
M' Croghan^ Deputy to Sir W*" Johnson the
Superintendent for Indian Affairs, is now here and
has Carpenters and other Men at Work preparing to
build Two Dwelling Houses and 5 or 6 Out Houses.
His Situation commands a View of the whole Lake
and is in that Respect superior to Prevosts. The site
is a gravelly stiff Clay covered with towering white
Pines just where the River Susquehannah, no more
than 10 or 12 yards broad, runs downwards
out of the Lake with a strong Current.^ Here
we
1 Col. George Croghan, one of Sir William Johnson's deputy superintendents,
acquired his tract on Otsego Lake, comprising 100,000 acres, as compensa-
tion for lands in Pennsylvania, which he lost under the terms of the Fort
Stanvvix Treaty. Near Cherry Valley he had another tract of 18,000
acres. Croghan mortgaged the Otsego tract to William Franklin, son of
Benjamin Franklin, and lost it under foreclosure. The title eventually
passed to William Cooper and Andrew Craig, both of Burlington, N. J.,
which will be recalled as the home of the author of this journal. Mr.
Cooper decided to settle the tract, and in 1 786 had induced several families to
live on it. In 1790, he brought his own family to the lake, one member of
which was an infant, destined to wide literary celebrity. It is a curious cir-
cumstance that the world should thus be indebted to the Fort Stanwix
Treaty for the *♦ Leather Stocking Tales."
-At this point in the lake, and almost in the stream itself, stands a large
boulder known as Council Rock. Cooper in his "Chronicles of Coopers-
town," tells how the trees that once overhung it formed "a noble and ap-
propriate canopv to a seat that had held many a forest chieftain during the
long succession of unknown ages in which America and all it contained ex-
isted apart, as a world by itself."
36
TOUR OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
we found a Body of Indians mostly from Ahquhaga
come to pay their Devoirs to the Col; some of them
speak a little English. The Colonels low Grounds
intended for Meadow lie at some Distance; he
talks of opening a Road from hence to Brekabeen
on the Schoharie from whence there is already a
Waggon Road to the Kaatskill. We lodged at Col.
Croghans and next Morng. get all ready to go on the
Survey, Rob' Picken our other Surveyor being gone
down to wait upon the Duchess of Gordon & Col.
Morris (whose Tract adjoins to our Patent) & not
expected back in lo Days.
lyth ^g departed at 9 oCloc with two pack
Horses carrying Provisions and Baggage & one riding
Horse with 5 Men as Chain Carriers and Servants &
Two Mohawk Indians as guides.^ In about 4 Miles
we came to the Oaksnee^ which is the Branch that
leads into the Susquehannah from Lake Camadu-
ragy
1 One of these was the notorious sachem Joseph Brant, who has since fig-
ured as the Commander of a Bloody Banditti. — R. S.
Brant's character was not so black as it has often been painted, nor as the
expression " commander of a bloody banditti " would imply. Brant, whose
Indian name was Thayendanegea, and who is the most interesting, if not the
most famous personage in connection with the Revolutionary history of Cen-
tral New York, was now 27 years old. He was of distinguished lineage,
his grandfather, a king of the Mohawks, having been one of the five Iroquois
kings, who in 1 7 10 visited Queen Anne, their stay in London being de-
scribed by Steele in the " Tatler" and Addison in the "Spectator." Under
Sir William Johnson's patronage. Brant for two years had been a student at
Dr. Wheelock's school in Lebanon, Conn., where, in Dr. Wheelock's
words, he " much endeared himself to his teacher." He was with Sir
William at the siege of Fort Niagara in 1759, ^""^ again at the battle of Lake
George. In 1761 he taught the Mohawk tongue to Samuel Kirkland, the
missionary to the Indians, who founded Hamilton College.
2 Now known as Oaks Creek.
37
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
ragy.^ It is here about 8 or i o yards wide and very
rapid. We felled a large Tree to cross upon and
observed a rich low Bottom on each side of the
Oaksnee but not wide. On the Way we passed
several deep Morasses & found great Variety of
Timber mixt with White Pine. The Waters of the
Oaksnee are not green like those of the Otsego Duct.
At Half after Two oCloc after passing along
Hartwicks Line^ we arrived at the Otego before it
enters our Tract.^ We crossed this Creek and dined
in the rich low Bottom appertaining to it, the Cur-
rent at this Spot does not exceed 5 yards in Width
running down rapidly. The Soil hither abounds
with shelly or slate Stone which for the most Part
is covered by a thin Stratum of blac Mould. The
Low Land on Otego is irregular and unequal, in
some Places half a Mile broad, in others not 20
Yards, but the Glebe is of the right kind and the
Trees strong and lofty. The Country in general is
hilly and full of fallen timber ; here are a variety of
Weeds, good grass for the Horses and plenty of cur-
rant and Gooseberry Bushes. After traversing a deep
Hemloc Swamp we encamped in the Eveng. 1 1 or
1 2 Miles from Croghans. We found a Beaver Dam
across one of the Branches of Otego. Our Indians
in Half an Hour erected a House capable of shel-
tering
1 The lake at Richfield Springs, afterwards called Schuyler's Lake, from
David Schuyler, to whom a patent of land in those parts was granted in
1755. In recent years the Indian name has been restored, the accepted
spelling being Canadurango.
2 John C. Hartwick's tract is now a township, bearing Hartwick's name.
3 By this the author means that they reached the upper waters of the creek,
not the point where it enters the Susquehanna.
38
JOSEPH BRANT (THAYENDANEGEA)
FROM A PORTRAIT MADE IN LONDON FROM LIFE DURING BRANT'S VISIT IN I776,
THE SAME BEING AN ORIGINAL DRAWING FORMERLY IN THE
POSSESSION OF JAMES BOSWELL
TOUR OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
tering us from the wet for it rained most of the Day
and Night succeeding. They place 4 crotched
stakes in the Earth, the Two front ones being tallest.
On these are rested poles which are crossed by other
poles and these are covered with wide hemloc Bark ;
a large chearful Fire being soon raised in the Front,
they compleated our Kitchin and Bed Chamber
wherein after broiling Salt Pork for supper we
rested prepared by Fatigue very comfortably.
18^!" About Six oCloc we moved from our En-
campm' ; this strong uneven Land is covered with
Beech, Sugar Maple, Ash and various other sorts of
Wood, the surface covered here and there with
shelly stones, & at ^ after 1 1 oCloc we hit upon
the East and West Line between Croghans and our
Otego Tract about 3 Miles from the N. W. Corner.
This morning we surmounted sundry high Hills and
came over 5 or 6 Branches of the Otego and had
the satisfaction of dining on our own Territory
which is here low and tolerably level but in most
places stony under a vSurface of blac Mould. Hith-
erto we have seen no Snakes or Wild Beasts nor
have we killed any Thing but the Porcupine. At
Yz after Two oCloc we crossed a Brook of the
Unadella^ and a little beyond it in the middle of
one
1 Since named by Robert Lettis Hooper Burlington Creek. Neither the
Unadellaor the Otego are marked on Evans's or any other map to my knowl-
edge.— R. S.
Probably the Unadilla River was not known by its present name when these
maps were drawn. Unadilla at first was merely a term for the place where
this stream joins the Susquehanna, its meaning being place of meeting, or con-
fluence. Here three counties now come together — Otsego, Chenango, and
Delaware. In Delaware County just above the confluence, lies the village of
Sidney. Unadilla has since become, not only the name of the river here
39
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
one of the finest Bottoms in the World stands the
Corner to this and the Otsego or Croghans Patent,
a Butternut marked
"G; C: C: Y ',—768''
The Letters stand for George Croghan and his sur-
veyor Christopher Yates.
The Forest in this Bottom is composed of Birch,
Sugar Maple, Wild cherry, Blac Thorn, Butternut,
Eln;, white and red. Iron Wood & many more with
a vast Variety of rank Weeds and Grass above a
Foot high. The Place may be easily cleared.^ The
Breadth of this Bottom above a Quarter of a Mile
and the Length farther than could be seen. We set
a South Course by the Compass & found that a large
Part of the Bottom was without our Tract. From
the above Butternut Corner Mess'.' Biddle and Ridg-
w-ay began the Survey, running down this Afternoon
3 Miles due East. The Timber along this Line
hither is chiefly tall Beech, Sugar Maple, and Hem-
loc; not an Oak or Hiccory was seen. Besides Bur-
lington Creek which I waded thro being above- the
Knee
tributary to the Susquehanna, but of the township in Otsego County which
lies east of it in the corner of that county formed by the two streams, and
also the name of the village on the Susquehanna five miles above Sidnev.
Unadilla Village gained importance early in the 19th century as the terminus
of the Catskill and Susquehanna Turnpike, then one of the great highways,
leading into Central New York. Likewise Otego was originally a name for
the mouth of the creek only. While the creek now bears the name, the
settlement called Otego that grew up after the Revolution is situated
several miles distant on the Susquehanna,
1 Some years after this Benjamin Lull, perfected choice meadows round
this corner. — R. S.
Mr. Lull, with several grown-up sons, came into the country in 1777.
40
TOUR OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
Knee and about 8 or i o yards wide running with a
strong Current over a stony Bottom, the soil a shelly
stone slightly covered with black mold. We passed
several Rivulets & noticed divers good seats for
Mills. There was one long Hill of gradual As-
cent & others smaller but the ground more level
than any yet observed. We passed thro a large nat-
ural Nursery of Cherry Trees supposed by some of
the Company to be the Blac Mazard Cherry. The
Water is good and many living Springs.
1 9^!^ It rained all Night and this Morning & we
experienced, now and often, that our temporary
Bark Habitations can preserve us dry. The lively
Note of the Swamp Robin, the Red Bird and other
Birds from the earliest Dawn is entertaining. The
Trees are out in compleat Leaf every where. We lay
by all Day being rainy. At the Pearl Ash Work in
Cherry Valley, we are informed two men make
above a Ton per Month. They receive ^40 p Ton
delivered at the Mohawks River a Carriage of 1 2
Miles and are paid in goods.
20th We came 3 Miles before Dinner thro a
good Soil tolerably level and near Half the Way
is low ground proper for Meadow, well timbered
with Beech, Sugar Maple Wild Cherry, Ash, a few
blac Oaks and several Groves of Hemloc, but no
Hiccory or Pine. Some of the Hellibore is two
feet high. We saw Two Garter Snakes and one of
our savages snapt his Gun at 4 Wolves. We skirted
a beautiful Lake Half a Mile long and a Quarter of
a Mile wide, surrounded with gently swelling Hills;
it disembogues in a placid stream and presents a
most
41
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
most fit spot for Water Works.^ We crossed many
Brooks and discovered not a few Fountains, for the
whole Line is well watered above. Half the
Timber is Beech & Underbrush, plenty in most
Parts. Nearly 7 Miles from the Corner is a Knowle
somewhat in the Form of a Sugar Loaf, beautifully
stationed so as to command a Prospect all around of
low grounds which extend to Otego Creek, here
broken into several Islands, the Water 2 Feet deep
and very rapid, the largest Branch 8 or 10 yards
wide. The Valley is about half a Mile from Hill
to Hill and of the richest Kind, Nature producing
a Multitude of Herbs, Plants and Flowers and inter
alia the wild Lilly and the Polishing Reed used by
Joiners; the Timber here Elm, Beech, Sugar Maple,
Birch Wild Cherry and others, a gravelly Bottom
to the Creeks and wild rasberries in plenty.
There is a high Hill on the farther Bank of
Otego which, and another arm of it being passed, we
arrived at Hartwick's Corner, a Sugar Maple, which
is just 7)^ Miles and 165^ Chains from the Butter-
nuts.^ We begin to be teazed with Muscetoes and
little Gnats called here Punkies. The remainder of
this days journey was thro hilly ground with mode-
rate Ascents and Descents ; Two Hemloc Swamps &
Sundry Brooks occurred; the Soil & Wood as before
with
^This Lake is now the property of my nephew John Smith and called
Smith's Lake.— R. S.
On a map dated 1856 it is known as Gilbert's Lake.
^ The Butternut Creek is tributary to the Unadilla River. General Jacob
Morris, nephew of Staats Long Morris, ascended it in a canoe in 1787,
founded a settlement on its banks, and in 1795 was visited there by the
French statesman, Talleyrand.
42
TOUR OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
with the Addition of a few large White Pines, not
a single Pitch Pine yet seen.
21'.^ It rained all last Night and this Morning.
Nevertheless we proceeded and 95^ Miles and 113^
chains from the Butternuts we crossed over an
exalted Hill from whence there is a view beyond the
Susquehannah to the right. At the Foot of this
Hill we passed the Brook Letter B in Pickens Map
about 8 Feet broad and runs with a brisk pace,
murmuring like the rest of the Rivulets over Stones,
the Meadow on both sides 100 yards wide but not
so rich as some we have seen. Rising the opposite
Hill we found at the Foot of it another Brook as
large as Letter B, & afterwards passed many other
streams and springs with a deep Hemloc Swamp.
Some of these Rivulets descend under Ground and
rise again at a Distance, great variety of Flowers
in every Direction and plenty of a particular Species
of Grass thought to be the small Plaintain or Sheep
Grass of which our Horses are fond.
After labor thro a long Hemloc Morass bordered
on the River with a good but narrow Bottom we
came to the Susquehannah and marked a Butternut
Saplin for a Corner by the edge of the River in the
said low Ground, standing between a Blac Birch a
Linden and a Sugar Maple all marked, where the
River bears S. 2° E. and is about 30 yards wide run-
ning with a still but strong Current. The Length
of this E. and West Side is 12 Miles 50 chains and
50 Links. I tried to fish with Bacon Bait but caught
Nothing. We encamped on the Borders of the
River in the midst of a Shower and it was the first
Time I ever slept in a Morass. The Timber on
43 ^^''
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
this part of the Susqueh^ is mostly Elm and Sugar
Maple; on the opposite Shore there is a Grove of
Hemlocs and the Underbrush here as in many other
Places is not very thick.
22"<^ W™ Ridgway and myself went up to the
Col^^ with the Men and one Pack Horse leaving R.
Wells Jos Biddle and John Hicks at the Corner
Tent. We had a fatiguing Walk over Hills and
Bogs and several Times wandered out of the Way
and lost each other. At length Ridgway & myself
found out the Oaksnee assisted by the Compass.
The rapidity of this stream carried me off several
yards till I happened to seize a Tree & escaped with
the Loss only of one Shoe which the Violence of
the Current took from my foot. The Oaksnee at
this Spot is 12 or 15 yards broad and between 3
and 4 Feet deep. We met M' Picken at the Oaksnee
and he returned with us. I walked 4 or 5 Miles thro
a rugged path with one Shoe and saw by the Way a
Pheasants Nest with 7 Eggs of the same Color and
Shape and Twice the Size of a Partridges Egg. The
Land from our upper Corner to Col. Croghans
House along the Susquehannah is in general but in-
different, some deep Meadow & low Ground but far
more which is rough & hilly.
23"! M' Wells, Biddle and Hicks came to us at
Col. Croghans; none of our yesterdays Party except
one came in today; being rainy we staid here
all day.
24'*" It rained again. The Elevated Hills and
aspiring of this country seem to intercept the flying
vapors
^Col. George Croghan.
44
TOUR OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
vapors and draw down more moisture than more
humble places. So Nature wisely feeds the two
great Rivers whose sources are hereV we advanced
N. W. along the Lake near a Mile into the woods
with 3 carpenters felled a white Pine Tree and
began a Canoe. Two men detached yesterday
Morng. to seek out our lost Associates returned and
brought in one only with a Chain and Keg; the
other Two men with Pickens Son and the Pack
Horse are still missing.
The Lands seen today are like the rest covered
with White Pines, Elm, Beech, Birch & so on, the
Soil a gravelly Clay and Situation somewhat more
level than usual with some Gullies & Runs of
Water. We saw a few Hiccory and Oak Trees
which are rare here. Some Trout were caught this
Morng. 2 2 Inches long; they are spotted like ours
with Yellow Bellies, yellow Flesh when boiled &
wide mouths. There are Two species, the Common
& the Salmon Trout. Some Chubs were likewise
taken above a Foot in Length. The other Fish
common in the Lake & other Waters, according to
Information are Pickerel, large and shaped like a
Pike, Red Perch, Catfish reported to be upwards of
Two feet long. Eels, Suckers, Pike, a few shad and
some other Sorts not as yet perfectly known. The
Bait now used is Pidgeons Flesh or Guts, for Worms
are
1 The author may refer here to the source of the Delaware as well as the
Susquehanna, but the Delaware rises at Stamford, thirty miles distant in a
straight line. Small streams tributary to the Mohawk descend the hills a
few miles north of Otsego Lake ; but these latter are scarcely the source of
the Mohawk. Doubtless the author had in mind the hill country in general
in those parts, as the source of the Susquehanna and Delaware.
45
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
are scarce/ The Land Frogs or Toads are very
large, spotted with green and yellow. Bears and
Deer are common ; I saw their Dung often and both
the Species were seen by some of our Company.^
After Dinner M' Picken and another went out
on a Scout after our lost Men. Two others also
took a different Rout for the same Purpose. Mus-
cetoes & Gnats are now troublesome. We observed
a natural Strawberry Patch before Croghans Door
which is at present in bloom, we found the Ground
Squirrels and small red squirrels very numerous and
1 approached near to one Rabbit whose Face ap-
peared of a blac Colour.
2^th ^g finished and launched our Canoe into
the Lake. She is 32 Feet 7 Inches in Length and
2 Feet 4 Inches broad ; the next Day we made oars
and Paddles.
26^*" Our lost Party returned having been 4
Days
^In 1773 the Settkrs had procured a Sein which with a Canoe they drew
across the Susquehanna. I happened to lodge one night. May 17, at their
Fishing Hut, while several women amused themselves in catching fine Shad,
Herring, Trout, Chub, and Succers. — R. S.
2In April 1777, being at John Sleeper's House on the Otego, he told
me his Boys had taken i 2 or 1 5 deer that winter near the House. They had
placed a Steel Trap by the side of a Dead Cow wherein I saw a large she-
wolf, sleek and plump, and the next Morning the same Trap secured a
Raven.— R. S.
John Sleeper was probably a son of Joseph Sleeper, a Quaker preacher
from New Jersey, whom Mr. Smith induced to settle on the Otego tract.
Joseph Sleeper was a man of many frontier accomplishments, being besides
preacher a surveyor, mill-wright, carpenter, stone-mason, and blacksmith.
He built the first saw and grist mill on the Otego patent, doing the work
himself, and securing patrons from points as far distant as thirty miles.
Brant was often a guest at his home. Some Seneca Indians, on their return
from Cherry Valley, after the massacre, visited Sleeper's home, and robbed
it of food and clothing. Brant tried in vain to restrain them.
46
TOUR OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
Days & Nights in the Wilderness without Food;
they abandoned the pack Horse and Goods in the
Woods.
2^th ^Q ^j.g waiting for our goods. Picken was
dispatched to Cherry Valley to hasten some Hands
hired there ; we engaged Joseph Brant the Mohawk
to go down with us to Aquahga.^ Last Night a
drunken Indian came and kissed Col. Croghan and
me very joyously ; here are natives of different Na-
tions almost continually ; they visit the Deputy Su-
perintendent as Dogs to the Bone for what they can
get. John Davies a young Mohawk, one of the
Retinue, who has been educated at Dy Wheelocks^
School in Connecticut, now quitted our Service to
march ag^ the Catawbas^ in company with a few of
his Countrymen who take this long Tour merely to
gratify revenge or Satiate Pride.
We found many petrifyed Shells in these Parts &
sometimes on the Tops of high Hills, & they seem
on a transient Glance to be of the Marine Kind.
Col. Croghan says he once found oyster shells on the
Allegheny Mount!. He shewed us a piece of copper
Ore
1 More properly written Oghwaga. In the i8th century the name was
spelled in almost every conceivable manner. Oghwaga, the most ancient and
the largest Indian settlement on the Susquehanna, was closely identified with
the Border Wars of the Revolution as a headquarters and base of supplies for
the Indians.
2 Rev. Dr. Eleazir Wheelock of Lebanon, Conn., where, under the pat-
ronage of Sir William Johnson, many Indian boys besides Joseph Brant were
educated. The school was afterwards removed to Concord, N. H., and out
of it was eventually developed Dartmouth College.
3 The Catawba Indians lived on the river of the same name in the Caro-
linas. They had long been at enmity with 'the Iroquois, and with some of
the southwestern tribes. With the white settlers they were friendly, and in
the Revolution assisted the patriot cause.
47
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
Ore as supposed. The Indian who gave it to him
said he found it on our Tract/ We are told that
Lake Camaduragy contains much Fish of the Kinds
already noted. Col. C. says that some of his Cows
were out in the Woods all last Winter without Hay
and they now look well and a Man at the other
Lake lost a Horse last Fall and found him this Spring
in good order. Our Goods and Horse were recov-
ered to day. The Colonel says he has sold his land
back of Hardwick's Patent to sixty New England
Families at 6/ an Acre and that some of them will
settle on the Tract this Fall.^
The Col. had a Cargo of Goods arrived to day such
as Hogs, Poultry, Crockery Ware and Glass. The
settled Indian Wages here are 4/. a Day York Cur-
rency, being Half a Dollar.
28^ Sunday. I had an Opportunity of inspecting
the Bark Canoes often used by the Natives ; these
Boats are constructed of a single sheet of Bark
stripped from the Elm, Hiccory or Chesnut, 1 2 or
14 Feet long and 3 or 4 Feet broad and sharp at
each End and these sewed with Thongs of the same
Bark. In Lieu of a Gunnel they have a small Pole
fastned with Thongs, sticks across & Ribs of Bark,
and they deposit Sheets of Bark in her Bottom to pre-
vent Breaches there. These vessels are very light,
each broken and often patched with Pieces of Bark
as well as corked with Oakum composed of pounded
Bark.
Col.
1 1 found a transparent Stone there in 1773 which has much the appear-
ance of polished Chrystal. — R. S.
2 This settlement appears never to have been made.
48
TOUR OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
Col. C. says that Cap*: Prevoost has sold some of
his Lands at £20, and some at ^40 p Hundred Acres
(credat Indsns Apella non Ego). The Col. talks of
building a Saw Mill and Grist Mill here on the Sus-
quehannah near his House and has had a Millwright
to view the Spot.^
29^^ Myself with Joseph Brant his wife and
Child and another Young Mohawk named James
went down in the new Canoe to our upper Corner
whilst the rest of the Company travelled by land.
W™ Ridgway and 3 others were detached to the
Otego to take the courses of the Creek. Picken is to
take the courses of the Susquehannah. This River
from the Lake Otsego hither is full of Logs and
Trees and short crooked Turns and the Navigation
for Canoes and Batteaux requires Dexterity. Ed.
Croghan is about to employ the Indians in the useful
service of removing the logs next summer.^ My Two
Mohawks brought me safe and without any Delay,
save about an Hour that it took to cut away some
Logs which crossed the stream and stopped the Pas-
sage
1 This was never done, but some Transient Travellers from Monmouth
County N. Jersey, afterwards erected a good Bridge over the river, just
where it issues from the Lake. — R. S.
At this point the Susquehanna is still spanned by a bridge, which con-
tinues eastward the main business street of Cooperstown. Just below the
bridge, on both sides of the river, are the grounds in which stands the summer
home of Bishop and Mrs. Henry C, Potter.
'^ In 1779 General James Clinton and his army, en route to join Sullivan
in his expedition against the Indians, met with the same difficulties. He
overcame them by building a dam across the river, which raised the waters of
the lake two or three feet. He then released the waters by breaking the dam,
so that his flotilla passed rapidly down the river to Tioga Point, a distance
of more than one hundred miles.
49
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
sage totally till we cleared it by hard labor.^ The
current very rapid, the [bottom] commonly Gravel
and the waters clear so that we saw many large Fish
swimming up. The Indians strike them with Har-
poons and sharp pointed sticks. Settingpoles are
more used than Paddles.
It is perhaps about Ten Miles from Croghans to
our Upper Corner by Land and near 20 by Water ;
the Oaksnee is not so large at the Mouth as the Sus-
quehannah. I did not observe any large Creeks be-
sides. The Lands along the River on either Hand
are generally level and the greater Part might be
made Meadow & some extraordinary good, particu-
larly at the Mouth of the Oaksnee and several other
Places where the Weeds and Grass were high and the
Timber Butternut, Sugar Maple, Beech, Hemloc &
many other Species. I saw divers Grape Vines, the
Bunches were quite out and ready to blofsom. They
appeared to be of the little blac winter Grape. A
Young Bear was killed and eaten by our People. In
the Evening Mess" Wells and Biddle myself and an
Indian struck off a South Westerly Course thro the
Tract to examine it ; we travelled Two Miles and
encamped ; it rained all Night.
30'!" We moved on very early and reached the
Otego about Two oCloc at the Place where it is
broken into several Branches forming Islands. The
Creek just below is about 50 Feet broad running at
present with much Velocity; it rained all Day. In
the
1 In May 1773, ^ carried down a large loaded Batteau from the Head of
Lake Otsego to the mouth of Otego, and then up that Creek [several] more
miles, being probably the first white man that ever [navigated] that creek so.
high.— R. S.
50
TOUR OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
the Dawn of this Morng. I was waked up by the
Yell of a wild Beast within i oo yards of our Tent,
conjectured to be either a Wolf or Panther.
The Otego here has a stony Bottom ; we walked
down it near a Mile and in some places the Low
Land on each Side is rich but narrow, exhibitinor a
great Variety of Plants Weeds and Vegetables and
among the rest the Rasberry, Gooseberry, much
Hellebore which is common all over the Low Lands
& some of it is now near 3 Feet high. Water Grass
and other Herbage. One Meadow is almost clear
of Wood and ready for the Scythe. We could not
well discover the Extent of the Meadows on the
Western Banks of Otego, but they appeared to excel
the Eastern which seldom were more than 100
yards wide and now and then the Hills reached the
Edge of the Water. The Islands are good & rich.
These Parts are not much encumbered with Under
Brush & the prevailing Woods are Elm, Blac Thorn
and Button wood.
We had taken an oblique Direction thro the
Heart of the Patent, from the upper Corner to the
Otego, guessed to be at least 14 Miles over 12
extensive and exalted Hills forming all the Course
save a few small Intervales not remarkable for Good-
ness. In the Evening we steered across for Skeneves
but soon built our Bark Shed and made our Fire as
usual for the Night. The Indians have a convenient
mode of carrying their Children. On a broad Board
2 or 3 Feet long there are fastned Bindings of
List, Cloth or Wampum which grow larger from
the lower to the upper End in the Manner of a
Partridge Net, with a Hoop at the Head. In this
5 1 Kind
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
Kind of Basket they tye the Child with its Blanket
or [Clothes] on. The Board has a Strap by which
they Sling it on the Shoulders. Upon occasion they
set the Board and Infant upright against a Tree or
lay it out of the Way with little Trouble. They
bind the Children too tight so as to swell the Face
and make them uneasy. The Mother washes her
Offspring often. It continues to be rainy Weather.
31'* Yesterday I observed a Birds Nest on the
Ground at the Foot of a Tree containing 3 Eggs of
the same Colour, Size and Shape of the Robins
Egg. I suppose they belong to the Swamp Robin
who delights in Solitude, avoiding the Haunts of
Mankind & whose chearful and sprightly Note in
the dreary Wilderness often enlivens the weary
Traveller. Yesterday also and before and after we
discovered petrifyed Sea Shells at the Top of the
Hill on the Roots of large Trees blown down and
at the Bottom of Brooks.
At 7 oCloc A. M. we decamped for Skeneves &
hit the Susquehannah near 2 Miles below; then
following the common Indian Path^ we arrived at
the Landing opposite to Yokums House at one
oCloc: it is supposed to be about 6 Miles across
from the Otego to Skeneves. Yokum says he has
travelled often to Schoharie along a path the same
which Col. Morris and the Duchess of Gordon
lately
iThis was the regular Susquehanna trail, one branch of which in these
parts went to Otsego Lake and Cherry Valley, and another, following the
Charlotte, crossed from Summit Lake to Schoharie, whence it ran to Fort
Hunter and the Mohawk. Following this trail southward one met the
Oneida trail at the mouth of the Unadilla River. Proceeding thence along the
Susquehanna one could find his way to Chesapeake Bay.
52
TOUR OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
lately took on Horseback with their retinue; he
thinks it is between 40 and 50 Miles and he has
walked it in a day; that there is but one Creek and
that is fordable and about 3 large Hills & has no
Doubt but that a good Road may be opened for
Carriages.
Yokum (or Joachim Falkenberg)^ has lived here
with his Family 4 years, he is a Dutchman but
speaks good English, pays no Rent as yet to Liv-
ingston, built the House, but found the Orchard
already planted by the Indians who also planted one
at the Mouth of Otego. The Pheasants are plen-
tiful. Of those we saw one had 8 or 9 young ones ;
they are said to be fond of Beech nuts wherein these
Parts abound.
The Course we took yester evening and to day
from Otego was about E. by S.; we passed 5 High
and long Hills constituting nearly the whole Dis-
tance. These Hills are for the most Part tillable;
much Small Slate Stone on the Surface of the Soil
covered sometimes by that dark mould which is de-
rived from putrified Leaves and Vegetables; there
are a few Flats but the Bone is more plentiful than
the Flesh. We traversed one or more Hills sup-
posed to be the Corner of Letter F. in Pickens Map
or of that Nature; this Part sustains a few large
White Pines and a little Brush but most of it has
been destroyed by Fire and the Soil is stony in
Clay, very barren & good for little except the Slopes
of
1 Joachim Van Valkenberg, whose family for forty years had been settled
in the Mohawk Valley, came to this place in 1765. In the Border Wars he
was a noted scout. In 1781 he was killed in a battle on Summit Lake.
53
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
of Hills which produced Rasberries Strawberries,
Blaeberries and other Fruits and Flowers but Lime-
stone seems to abound.^
Along this Tour Beech is the Master Wood as
Oak is in Pennsylvania ; this is nearly equalled by
the Sugar Maple, nor is there any Want of Elm,
Linden, Iron Wood, Some Chesnut, a few Blac,
red and White Oak, Shell bark, Hiccory, together
with Button wood, Ash, Hemloc, White Pine,
Birch, Wild Cherry, Blac Thorn, Butternut and
others. The Hemloc grow mostly in Swamps but
sometimes in Groves on the Upland; the White
Pine is scattered here and there; the Button Wood
Blac Thorn and Butternut are to be found chiefly in
Marsh and low Grounds and along the Sides of
Creeks & the River; the rest grow indifl^erently on
the Mountains & Valleys. The Trees are ever tall
and lofty, sometimes 200 Feet high and strait, but
not proportionally large in Circumference, except
some white Pines and a few particular Trees of
other Kinds which are both long and bulky .^
The Underbrush is in some Places very thick; in
others one may almost ride in a chair. The Woods
are in many Parts blocked up with fallen Trees, so
that it was a wearisome Pilgrimage for me. My
Companions bore it better. The whole Country is
well watered by Creeks Brooks & Springs.
In
^ This Letter F was thought too unprofitable to be divided with the rest
among the Owners ; so it remains, about 2,000 acres in Quantity, the
Common Property of all concerned in the Patent. — R. S.
'-'Some years afterwards John Sleeper and myself measured a Birch Tree
growing in his Meadow on the Border of Otego Creek, and found it 26 feet
in Circumference. — R. S.
54
TOUR OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
In the Afternoon we went over the River to
Yokums House; the Susquehannah is fordable at this
spot. The Orchard planted by the Natives is irreg-
ular and not in rows ; some Trees are a few Feet &
some many Yards asunder & they are at present in
Blofsom. I discerned one Morella cherry among
them ; they are middle sized & look healthy and vig-
orous. We have cold Weather for the Season and
Rain again to-day. Skeneves Creek was so termed
from an Indian of that Name who formerly lived
there. The Indian Graves in the Orchard are not
placed in any regular Order nor shaped in one
Fashion. One of them was a flat Pyramid of about
3 Feet high trenched round ; another was flatted like
a Tomb and a Third something like our Form.
Here is level, rich Pasture Land cleared long since
by the Indians & the remains of their Corn Hills yet
to be seen. Yokum's Mare looks in good order and
has been out in the Woods all winter but there is
now good pasture of our common Grass in the cleared
Parts.
The Indians of Aquhaga, Otsiningo (or as the
Maps spell them Ononchquage and Osewingo)
and other places below have a Path along the Sus-
quehannah on the West side to Skeneves where they
ford the River and have their Path on the East side
up to Cherry Valley ; the River here may be 25
Yards over at present a rapid Stream and there is a
dangerous Passage occasioned by Logs a Quarter of a
Mile below where Two Canoes lately overset and a
white Child was drowned. Many People are passing
this Way to view the Country. Yokums Indian Corn
is planted but not yet come up. He says he com-
55 monly
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
monly raises very good Corn with the Hoe only hav-
ing but lately procured a Plow. He has a small
Garden. The Indians are not troublesome to Him
tho they often call at his House; he has sown no
Wheat or Rye, obtains his Necessaries chiefly from
Cherry Valley, but would rather from Schoharie if
the Road was opened. Col. Morris and the Duchefs
lodged 3 Nights at his House 2 or 3 weeks ago, with
a large Train of Attendants ; they went over to view
their Tract at Unadella or as some call it Tuna-
derrah.^
Here we met with one Dorn a Dutchman with
his Family from Conejoharie going to settle at
Wywomoc; he informs us That he bought of the
Proprietors of Pennsylvania 300 acres chiefly Flats
for £^ sterling p Hundred to be paid in 15 years
without Interest and a Penny an Acre sterl^ Quit Rent
payable annually; That 130 Families from his
Neighborhood on the Mohawks River have actually
bought there and are about to remove, his Family
being the second, the Man who lost his Child here
the first ;^ that he has travelled from Sopus to
Depues on the Delaware,^ a good Waggon Road
& one
1 Other forms of this word in contemporary writings are Tunadilla, Tian-
adorha, Cheonadilla and Teyonadelhough.
2 By Wywomoc is meant the Wyoming Valley. These families from the
Mohawk represented a migration independent of the one from Connecticut
and essentially hostile to it. By " the Proprietors of Pennsylvania " the
author means the Penn party between whom and the Connecticut settlers
conflicts were springing up which are known in history as the Pennamite
Wars. In 1775 some forty of these families from the Mohawk (Dutch and
Scotch-Irish) were expelled from Wyoming by the Yankees. The resent-
ment thus caused became one of the contributory motives for the massacre of
1778.
3 Above the Water-gap whence the route lay past the Pocono Mountains.
56
TOUR OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
& one may go it on Horseback in Two Days. From
Depues to Wywomoc are 30 Miles, a Foot path but
may be rode very well on a Horse; 40 miles from
Wywomoc to Bethlehem at present a Foot path but
they are soon to make a Waggon Road ; that he has
been on the Delaware 1 5 or 20 miles above Cookoose
and 1 5 below that. They were obliged to carry the
Canoe 5 Times and the last Time above a Mile &
a half, thinks he should have been lost if it had not
been for the assistance of his Indians on the Rocks
and Falls in those Parts; that 15 miles below the
Cookoose one Decker lived^ who traded to Philad^
in a large Durham Boat^ so that from thence it is
passable ; it was i o years since he was here.^ They
call it 20 Miles from Yokums House to Cherry
Valley ; his Son goes and returns on Horseback in
One Day between Sun & Sun."^ The Canoe we had
built at the Lake being gone up for Provisions for
the Use of the Surveyors our Indians Joseph Brant
& James set about building a Bark Canoe.
June I. 1769. We found it very cold last Night
& observed high Hills all round Yokums House at
a small Distance. Mess'' Wells and Biddle this Day
marked out a Path to the intended Store House on
the Creek Onoyarenton.^ Joseph discovered a
Rattle
1 At the mouth of the East Branch, or what is now Hancock.
2 The boat referred to in the Introduction as used for the shipment of
grain from points on the upper Delaware.
3 In the sequel we met with none_ of these Difficulties on the Delaware ;
nor is it probable that any White Person ever dwelt between Cookose and
Cushietunk. — R. S.
4 1 have found it a moderate day's Journey from my house in Otego to
Cherry Valley by the foot of Lake Otsego. — R. S.
5 Now written Oneonta. The village of that name is the largest town
on the Susquehanna above Binghamton. The word means a stony place.
S7
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
Rattle Snake not far from the Tent and called for
me to view it. The Snake lay quiet till we pro-
voked him to rattle for Some Time and then James
ran a sharp Stick thro his Head. He was about 2%
Feet long, small at the Neck and Tail and thick in
the Middle. His Back was of a brown Hue spotted
with dusky red and yellow, his Belly of a bright
Yellow slightly spotted ; he had 1 2 Rattles, a large
Mouth and Two very sharp Teeth, one on each Side
of the Upper Jaw & these it is said he can draw
back at his Pleasure; he did not attempt to bite
tho we stood about him for some Minutes — probably
the coolnefs of the weather benumbed him. This
was the only Rattle Snake I ever saw alive.
This Evening our Bark Canoe being finished, at
}i after 5 oCloc myself, Joseph Brant his Wife and
Child embarked in Her with some Loading and
M*: Wells with James the other Indian in a small
Wood Canoe containing most of the Indians Bag-
gage and our own. We first walked down the path
about Half a Mile to avoid the bad Passage before
mentioned, Jos. Biddle going so far to see us on
board. Thus we parted from our tent at the landing
opposite to Skevenes, or Yokum's, now on our
return homewards. We paddled down stream two
hours, and enjoying a fine serene Evening as we
descended the stream about 10 Miles to a Bark Hut
where we found a Fire burning. There was but
one other carrying place and the man said we might
have well passed that as they in the canoe came safe
through. We passed the Adiquetinge^ on the left
& the
1 Now the Charlotte, which early settlers were in the habit of pronouncing
Shalott. Sir William Johnson, on receiving a patent to an extensive tract
bordering on this river, changed the name to Charlotte as a compliment to
58
TOUR OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
& the Onoyarenton on the Right. The first appeared
to be abo' 40 Feet broad at the Mouth with rich
Bottom on each Side, the latter a very small Creek
not more than 12 or 15 Feet over. There are many
Islands and all low good Bottom particularly a large
one below the Adiquetinge very fine. We found
some good Bottoms on our Side down to the Begin-
ning of Sir W"" Johnsons Land and some Intervale
but divers great barren Hills good for little.
We took Notice of Sir Williams Tract on
each Side of the River and he likewise has his
Portion of Mountainous Lands with Spots of good
Meadow wider and more considerable on the East
Side than on the West. We could not know the
Breadth of some of the Flats with any Accuracy
when they were broad because we sat low in our
diminutive Vessels and slid expeditiously along.
2^ The Cold last Night and for several Nights
past was extreme for the Season so that I could not
sleep well notwithstanding a rousing Fire, a Blanket,
Great Coat and Bear Skin. The Place where we
slept was an extensive Flat whereof a Patch was
bare of Wood and overrun with Fern (the Filix
Florida of the Botanists) a finer sort than ours. Two
and Three Feet high. Much of this & other Sorts
of Fern are dispersed over the Country; the May
Apple, Hellebore and many more Herbs and Weeds
are to be seen including Wild Balm, Wild Onions
or rather a large kind of Garlic whose bulb is of
the size of a Musket Bullet which is very common
and of this the Butter at M' Croghan's tasted strong,
and
the Queen of George III. After the Revolution, the heirs of Sir William
having been loyalists, the Charlotte Valley lands were confiscated by the state.
59
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
and including also wild Columbine, Nettles and
Honeysuckles.
A Bear came this Morning near to us & was pur-
sued by Brant and his Dog who after some Chase
brought him in. This Mohawk it seems is a con-
siderable Farmer possessing Horses and Cattle and
I GO acres of rich Land at Canejoharie.^ He says
the Mohawks have lately followed Husbandry
more than formerly, and that some Hemloc
Swamps when cleared will produce good Timothy
Grafs. In his Excursion after the Bear he says he
was on the Onoyarenton and saw some good Flats
there.
In an Hour after our Departure we arrived at the
old Field^ near the Mouth of Otego where we met
W"" Ridgway who finished traversing that Creek
yesterday Evening; he makes the exact Length of the
Otego according to its various Windings. — (R. Wells
has taken a Copy of the Courses & Distances)
We landed and walked half a Mile along the Path
to the old Field and from thence it is about Half a
Mile to the Mouth of Otego. We dined here in Com-
pany with M' William Harper aqd M' CampbelP the
Surveyor who are now running out Harpers Patent.
Ridgeway
1 Brant's house in Canajoharie was a frame structure 14x16 feet in size.
The cellar wall was standing as late as 1878. Here Brant once had as his
guest a missionary named Theophilus Chamberlain, who said afterwards that
Brant was ** exeeeding kind."
-Originally called Wauteghe, a corruption of which is the modern Otego.
Here had existed a rather large Indian village. An orchard extended along
the northern side of the river.
3 Harper and Campbell were from Cherry Valley. The former served as
a captain in the Border Wars, and was living in Cherry Valley at the time
of the massacre.
60
TOUR OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
Ridgeway & Hicks were likewise present. This field
has been formerly planted by the Indians with Corn
and Apple Trees ; a few of the latter remain scattered
about and are now in Bloom & intermixed with
Aspens & other wild Trees with Rasberries and
Blackberries & there are Quantities of Strawberry
vines in Blofsom. The Soil is fit for the Plow and
tolerably level but surrounded by Hills and on the
other side of Susquehannah are high Ridges in
Appearance of little value.
The Point on the East side of Otego is good but
there is not much of it; on the West Mouth there
is more but we did not go over. The Otego is here
but narrow and fordable for Horses. The Susque-
hannah may be about 50 yards over. Sir W™ John-
son's Tract on each side of the River hither con-
tinues hilly with some intervales and small rich
pieces, the Hills very high and I think not til-
lable in general. The Low Lands on the West
Side of Otego are thought to excel those on the
East.^ W. Ridgway saw Yesterday Indians who had
just taken Two young Beavers alive in the Otego.
Numbers of Saplins are cut off by these animals.
Wild Hops grow here in Plenty said to answer the
Purposes of Garden Hops.
In 3 Hours & 3 Quarters from the Mouth of
Otego we reached a Place on the East shore where
we encamped. Many parts of these shores have
choice Bottoms flanked at a little Distance by mode-
rate Mountains with some even upland; in some
Places the Hills reached the Water, in [some] of
these
1 This has since been found true. — R. S
61
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
these we are told that King Fishers breed in the
Bank. The Path to Ahquhaga is very near the
River mostly; the widest Bottoms appeared to me
to be from the Otego downwards on either shore
for 3 or 4 Miles. These little Canoes as ballasted
carry us very well. The Islands in the River are all
rich. We saw no Creek of Note this Afternoon but
were incommoded by Muscetoes. We imagine Sir
W"" has at least one Third good Ground exclusive
of Elevations.^ This was a fine clear Day and warm.
Joseph being unwell took some Tea of the Sassa-
frass Root and slept in the open Air but was not
much better next Morning.
3"! Harper told us Yesterday that Sir W"" has some
Hemloc Swamps cleared which produce plenty of
good grass. The Distance from the Mouth of Otego
to the Mouth of Unadella^ is according to Harper &
Campbell i6 Miles and from thence to Ahquhaga
28. Yesterday we came slower on account of Jo-
seph's illness and the water for some miles less rapid.
We set out about 7 oCloc and in Two Hours we ar-
rived at a small village of Mohiccons consisting of 2
houses on the right hand and 3 on the Left, a Mile
above
1 Besides his patent to the Valley of the Charlotte, Sir William, as already-
stated, was owner of Susquehanna Valley lands — two miles on each side
from the mouth of the Charlotte to the mouth of the Unadilla. The title
subsequently (in 1770) passed into the hands of several men in New York
City, chief among whom were Alexander and Hugh Wallace. The patent
is still known as Wallace's. Both Wallaces became Tories, but their lands
escaped confiscation thro having passed into the possession of Gouldsborough
Banyar, whose atntude during the war was one of clever neutrality. He
long survived the conflict, spending his last days in Albany as a blind old
man whom a faithful negro was often seen piloting about the streets.
2 Written Tunaderra in the original draft.
62
TOUR OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
above Unadella.^ Here we went on shore and per-
ceived the Huts to be wretched and filled with Wo-
men and Children. They have Cows & Hogs & a
little Land cleared with a Garden fenced in & In-
dian corn planted very slovenly. Among the Grass,
the Cows were large and fat. I saw no fruit Trees
except wild ones. The low Lands to the Unadella
from several Miles above it are more extensive than
any we have seen and as far up that Creek as we
could discern they were low & fine yet bounded
back by the same range of High Lands on each
Hand. We passed many Islands & all good.
At this village we left our Wood Canoe and en-
gaged a good looking old Indian named Una to take
us down in his Canoe and pilot us over to the Dela-
ware which is his Hunting Country. He took a
Quarter of an Hour to drefs Himself his Wife and
little Son and then we all embarked. These Vil-
lagers could not speak English. The Unadella or
Tunaderrah is large being 60 or 70 yards broad at
the Mouth and here we enter the Indian Territory^
not as yet ceded to the English.
At one oCloc we arrived at an Oneida Village of
4 or 5 Houses called the Great Island or Cunna-
hunta/ the Men were absent but a Number of pretty
Children amused themselves with shooting Arrows at
a Mark. The Houses resembled great old Barns.
We
1 That is, a mile above the confluence, three of these houses being in what
is now Sidney, and two in the township of Unadilla.
2 Here the Fort Stanwix line, coming down the Unadilla from the north,
crossed the Susquehanna and thence went over the hills to the Delaware at
Cookooze.
3 Near the present village of Afton, Chenango County.
63
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
We dressed some Pork on the shore for Dinner and
staid only Half an Hour. There are fine Islands and
lowlands about Cunnahunta & yet between the Un-
adella & this there is much indifferent Soil. The
Trees seem rather smaller than above. A Number
of Ravens on One of the burnt barren Hills saluted
us with their hoarse Croakings. The River now
becomes wider.^ Our Squaw in the Canoe suckles
her son tho he seems to be between 2 and 3
years old. We saw Two Apple Trees before a Door
of this Village and some of the Islands are a little
cleared. The Master wood along Shore from the
Unadilla is maple and in higher Ground Beech.
Forty minutes after 3 oCloc we passed by 2 Indian
Houses on the left and just before us saw some In-
dians setting Fire to the Woods. Here are many
Islands 6c one of them large, quite cleared and full
of fine & high Grass. Much of the Upland here-
abouts has been burnt & looks something like a set-
tled Country. Several single Huts are seated on rich
Spots & some are now building Houses and Apple
Trees are seen by some of these Huts. The River
yet has its Rapids where we slide fast along.
At 5 oCloc we entered Ahquhaga an Oneida
Town of 1 5 or 16 big Houses on the East side and
some on the West side of the Susquehanna just at
the Moment of the Transit of Venus, which M'
Wells observed with a Telescope he bought for
that purpose. We took our Lodgings with the
Rev. M' Ebenezer Moseley a Presbyterian Mis-
sionary
1 In consequence of the large accessions made to its waters by the Una-
dilla River and several smaller streams.
64
TOUR OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
sionary from Boston^ who has an Interpreter named
James Dean. Moseley enjoys a Salary of ;^ioo
SterHng and Dean ^^50 Sterlg. allowed by the Com-
missioners at Boston. The former has resided here
3 years and the latter 9 years. M' Dean says the
Distance from Ahquhaga to Unadella is 25 Miles &
from Ahquhaga to Otsiningo^ across by Land 18,
and by Water 40, the River making a large Turn.^
There are some good Islands opposite to this Vil-
lage which has a suburb over the River on the
Western Side. Here is a small wooden Fortress
built some years ago by Cap^ Wells of Cherry Valley
but now used as a Meeting House.*
The Habitations here are placed straggling with-
out any order on the Banks. They are composed of
clumsy hewn Timbers & hewn Boards or Planks.
You first enter an inclosed Shed or Portus which
serves as a Wood house or Ketchin and then the Body
of the Edifice consisting of an Entry thro upon the
Ground of about 8 Feet wide on each side whereof
is a Row of Stalls or Births resembling those of Horse
Stables, raised a Foot from the Earth, 3 or 4 on
either side according to the Size of the House,
Floored and inclosed round, except the Front, and
covered
1 He has since turned Merchant. — R. S.
Mr. Moseley (Eleazer was his first name) was the last but three of many-
missionaries sent to Oghwaga between 1748 and 1770. The mission was
maintained by the Boston commissioners of the Society in Scotland for Propa-
gating the Gospel. James Dean in 1769 had been employed there under
several successive missionaries .
2 Otseningo was an Indian village further down the Susquehanna near
Binghamton.
3 At this point there is now a village called Great Bend.
4 This fort was built in 1756, from plans prepared in Albany, under
orders from Sir William Johnson.
6s
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
covered on the Top. Each Stall contains an entire
Family so that 6 or more families sometimes reside
together, the Sisters with their Husbands and
Children uniting while the Father provides them
a Habitation; thus Brant & his Wife did not lodge
with her Father who was a Priest & a Principal
Man, but with her Sisters. The fire is made in the
Middle of the Entry and a Hole is left in the Roof
for the Smoke to escape for there is neither chimney
nor window ; consequently the place looks dark and
dismal. The House is open as a Barn, save the Top
of the Stalls which serve to contain their lumber by
way of Garret. Beams are fixed Lengthways across
the house, and on one of these, over the Fire, they
hang their wooden Pot Hooks & cook their Food.
Furniture they have little ; the Beds are dirty
Blankets. The stalls are about 8 Feet long & 5
deep and the whole House perhaps from 30 to 50
Feet in length by 20 wide, filled too often with
Squalor & Nastiness. Almost every House has a
Room at the End opposite to the Ketchin serving as
a larder for Provision ; there are no cellars. The
Roofs are no other than Sheets of Bark fastned
crossways and inside to Poles by way of Rafters.
Upon the Outside are split Logs which keep the
Roof on ; they are Pitch Roofs and it is about 8 Feet
from the Ground to the Eves of the House, and this
is said to be the general Form of building their
Houses and Towns throughout the 6 Nations. At
Ahquhaga each house possesses a paltry Garden
wherein they plant Corn, Beans, Water Melons, Po-
tatoes Cucumbers, Muskmelons, Cabbage, French
Turneps, some Apple Trees, Sallad, Parsnips, &
66 other
FOUR INDIAN POTENTATES OF NEW YORK
(i) Tee Yee Neen Ho Ca Row, Emperor
of the Six Nations.
(3) Saga Yeath Qua Pieth Tow, King of
the Maquas, or Mohawks.
(2) Etow Oh Koam, King of the River
Indians, or Mohicans.
(4) Ho Nee Yeath Taw No Row, King
of the Generethgarichs, or Canajoharies.
F}-oiii ^ort7-aits fainted in London by I. Verelst in 1710, during a 7'isit of these Indians -with
Pete?- Schuyler to Queen A nne
On the margin of other portraits made in London at the same time, these Indians are described as
"the four kings of India who on the 2 May 1710 were admitted by her Majesty the Queen of Great
Britain praying assistance against the French in America, between New England and Canada."
TOUR OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
other Plants. There are now Two Plows in the
Town together with cows, Hogs, Fowls and Horses
which they sell cheap but they never had any Sheep,
and it is but of late that they have provided Hay for
their Winter stock. Their Fences are miserable and
the Land back of the village very indifferent. We
found the Inhabitants civil and sober.
4*^ Sunday, in the Morning we attended Mess"
Mosely & Dean to Divine Service which was con-
ducted with regularity and Solemnity. They first
sang a Psalm, then read a Portion of Scripture and
after another Psalm Moseley preached a sermon (in a
chintz Night Gown) and the Business was concluded
by a Third Psalm. The Congregation consisted of
near i oo Indians, Men, Women and Children includ-
ing the chief of the Tuscarora Town 3 miles below
with some of his People & they all behaved with
exemplary devotion. The Indian Priest named Isaac
sat in the Pulpit, and the Indian clerk, Peter, below
him,^ this Clerk repeated the Psalm in the Oneida
Language and the people joined in the Melody with
Exactness and Skill, the Tunes very lively & agree-
able. The Sermon delivered in English was repeated
in Indian by Dean, sentence by sentence. The Men
sat on Benches on one Side of the House and the
Women on the other. Before Meeting a Horn is
sounded 3 several Times to give Notice.
Ahquhaga
1 Isaac Dakayenensese and Peter Agwrondougwas, whom Elihu Spencer
had converted at Oghwaga during his work there in i 748. Peter, otherwise
known as " Good Peter," was a chief of the Oneidas. He was born on the
Susquehanna, and had fame as an orator. He survived the Revolution, and
in 1792 John Trumbull painted a portrait of him in miniature which may
still be seen at Yale University.
67
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
Ahquhaga contains about 140 Souls and the Tus-
carora Town about the same Number. At the last
named Place there is a Shad Fishery common to the
people of Ahquhaga also ; they tye Bushes together
so as to reach over the River, sink them vv^ith Stones
& hawl them round by Canoes ; all persons present in-
cluding strangers, such is their laudable Hospitality-
have an equal Division of the Fish. They reckon
the Distance from Ahquhaga to Wialoosin^ 100
Miles and from thence to Wywomoc 60, which last
is the same with Wyoming.
In the Afternoon we attended the Service again ;
this was performed by the Indian Priest in the
Oneida Language. He began by a Prayer. Then they
sang a Psalm, the Tune whereof was long with many
Undulations, then a prayer and a second Psalm, fol-
lowed by an Exhortation, repeating Part of what
Moseley had said in the Morning with his own Com-
ments upon it and reading sometimes out of a Book,
here being several Books in the Indian Language.^
He finished the Service with a Benediction. He and
his clerk were dressed in Blac Coats. Isaac is the
chief here in religious affairs, and his Brother a stout
fat man, in civil, like Moses and Aaron. This last
fell asleep while his Brother was preaching but
assisted in singing with a loud and hoarse voice.
These Brothers and other Chiefs came to visit us
very kindly. Some of the Women wear Silver
Broaches
1 Wyalusing, which means the home of the old warrior.
2 In the original manuscript at this point appears the following in paren-
theses: "Mr. Wicwise here to-day. This spring he bought i,ooo acres
twenty-five miles below Wyoming of John Allen for ^500, and next day-
was offered yQ'2.00 for his bargain."
68
(^*yh cr,^^ %e. cf Si (^^/■^^•'
p,^* ^^...xV' ^^■^^- ^ ^/-^ - ^
feu, //t^^^ «t^fc^/ M^^^e^.f* w -^.yi.^?©
-^
A PAGE OF THE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT
"^7
ILLUSTRATING, BY COMPARISON WITH THE ADJOINING TEXT, THE
CHANGES MADE BY RICHARD SMITH IN HIS TRANSCRIPT
Reproduced in facsimile from Mr. Smith's original Journal, owned by
J. Francis Coad, of Charlotte Hall, Maryland
TOUR OF THE SUSQUEHANNA
Broaches each of which passes for a ShilUng and are
as current among the Indians as Money. Brant's
wife had several Tier of them in her Dress to the
amount perhaps of lO or ^15.
69
IV
THE DELAWARE; BY INDIAN TRAIL FROM OLD
OGHWAGA TO COOKOOZE ; THENCE BY CANOE TO
BURLINGTON, 236 MILES, JUNE 5-JUNE I O, I769
5'^ At Nine oCloc We quitted Ahquhaga and
arrived at the Mohawks Branch of Delaware 20 Min-
utes before Six having rested an Hour and Half at
Dinner.^ It is computed by M^ Dean to be 15
Miles across. M' Wells conjectures it to be i 3 or
14. The Course along a blind Indian Path is
E. S. E. and the Delaware at this Place nearly North
and South about 70 or 80 yards over, less rapid than
most parts of the Susquehannah & fordable with a
Stoney Bottom not deeper than 3 or 4 Feet. Here
are Two Huts of Delaware Indians who live most
wretchedly, yet have better Corn than the Oneidas
& more of it being now 4 Inches high and planted
in a slovenly Manner. The Path from Ahquhaga
to
^ This route long remained the chief highway between the two rivers.
Cookooze, a word intended to represent the sound made by an owl in hooting,
and corrupted into Cook House, owes its present name of Deposit to the
fact that it became to Susquehanna pioneers a convenient point at which to
deliver lumber for shipment down the Delaware; the Susquehanna, because of
its greater length, tortuous course, and shallow waters, being undesirable.
Here seventy years ago was broken the first ground for the Erie Railway. A
monument commemorating that event was erected at Deposit in November,
1905. The name Deposit was officially adopted in 1814. Three miles
further down the river is a place once called Cooke-ooze-Sapoze, meaning little
owl's nest. Owls formerly were numerous in the dark woods on the south
side of the river at Deposit.
70
TOUR OF THE DELAWARE
to Cookoose, so is this place stiled, (the Word in
the Delaware dialect signifies an Owl) is in many
parts blocked up by old Trees and Brush ; the Coun-
try is hilly, but of very large Hills there are only 2
to travel over, one of which might be avoided and
on the side of the other a Road might readily be cut.
This last is bare of Trees & affords an extensive Pros-
pect. M"; Wells & myself both think it practicable
to make a good Waggon Road from one River to
the other hereabouts.
Our Company, consisted of M' Dean, Una the
Mohiccon & James the Mohawk, with 2 Horses one
to carry our Baggage and one I rode, for my Com-
panion chose to walk. We hired them of the Indians
at Ahquhaga for a Dollar p Horse the Trip that is
one Day going & another in returning. We travelled
slowly. A few times I got off the horse and led him :
otherwise tolerable riding. The Oneidas and most
other Indians are said to be extortionate and very
apt to ask high Prices especially when they perceive
a Necessity for their Assistance. Perhaps they
learned this from the Dutch. We are to give Una
5 Dollars for his service from Unadilla down to
Cushietunk. He procured a Canoe at the Delaware
immediately and we went over to the East side and
encamped. We had bought a few curiosities of In-
dian Manufacture at Ahquhaga, among which a Pair
of embroidered Moccisons cost 10/. Una procured
a canoe immediately and we went over to the East
side and encamped.
We found the first Half of this Rout not only
hilly but full of stones and almost barren. As we
approached the Delaware however the Lands seemed
71 better
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
better. The Timber still continues to be chiefly
Beech Hemloc, Sugar Maple, Chesnut and a few
Oaks and Hiccories & others. The Indians make
Maple Sugar and have some to sell. The Delaware
here is encompassed with Hills each side but these
Two Families possess a good Flat on the East Side
and in their corn field we are now encamped. We
observed today that the Indians either thro Acci-
dent or Design have burnt large Spaces in the Woods.
We passed a small Creek at divers Times which emp-
ties into the Delaware above the Cookooze & indeed
the Waters seemed to incline to this River for above
Half Way over.^
6^.^ It rained last Night and this Morng. and we
recollected the account of certain Distances given by
M' Spencer of Cherry Valley^ who said he had trav-
elled
1 Since the Commencement of the present War, Ahquhaga has been de-
stroyed and the Indians driven entirely away from Susquehanna. A flour-
ishing Settlement of whites at Unadella has also experienced the like Cal-
amity, wherein great Quantities of grain perished. This was before General
Sullivan burned the Indian Towns between Susquehanna and Niagara. — R. S.
Unadilla in 1776 was a flourishing white settlement, but Brant in that
year drove the settlers out and it then became a headquarters and base of sup-
plies for hostile Indians commanded by him. In the summer of 1778 Gov-
ernor George Clinton was informed that "Unadilla has always been, and
still continues to be, a common receptacle for all rascally Tories and run-a-
way Negroes." Oghwaga and Unadilla, where several hundred of the
enemy were then supposed to be living, was destroyed in October of that
year by Col. William Butler with some Scotch-Irish troops and a detach-
ment from Morgan's Riflemen, in all 260 men, who went out from Scho-
harie, where, with a larger force, they had been stationed. Butler found both
places deserted, and everything *♦ in the greatest disorder," indicating a speedy
flight. He burned the two settlements, — not only the houses, but their con-
tents, and upwards of 4,000 bushels of grain, taking back with him 49
horses and 52 horned cattle. He described Oghwaga as "the finest Indian
town I ever saw."
- Thomas Spencer, a half breed, who was famous as an orator and served
as interpreter on the patriot side, was killed at the battle of Oriskany.
72
TOUR OF THE DELAWARE
elled this Rout, namely, from Otego to Unadella 26
Miles, to Cunnahunta 16, to Ahquhaga 12, to
Cookoose 12, to the Forks of Popaghton 15, to
Cushietunk 20, to the Minisinks 40, Length of the
Minisinks 40, to Durham 44, in all 225 miles. We
paid James the Mohawk half a Dollar p Day. The
Indian Custom, probably derived from the Dutch,
is to be paid for the time of returning as well as
going.'
6'!" June. At Half after 6 oCloc we departed from
Cookoose down the Delaware. At Half after 9
oCloc we came to the Mouth of Popaghton.^ At 4
oCloc we reached the first Settlement^ in Cheshietunk*
and at 5 oCloc we came to the Station Point be-
tween N. York and N. Jersey. Popaghton is about
as large as the Mohawks Branch, which to Cushie-
tunk is in general not so crooked as the Susque-
hannah and has a stony Bottom mostly shallow so that
in some Places our Canoe could just conveniently
pass over, but by the marks on the Shore the Water
is sometimes 3 or 4 Feet higher. The Navigation at
present is pretty good, but when the water is very
low perhaps impracticable.
There is a Range of high Hills on either Hand
from
1 In the original manuscript, but not in the transcript, is this statement :
" To-morrow they [begin to] open a wagon road from Cushietunk to
Sopus, 70 miles. Sopus is their best way to market."
2 Here now stands the village of Hancock, its Indian name, Chehocton(in
a Hardenberg deed of 175 i, the place is called Shokakeen), being a Dela-
ware word meaning the union of streams, or the confluence. In early times
it was written Shehaw kin.
3 This point was probably about where Callicoon now is. Callicoon,
which on a map of 1828 is written Kolli Kolen, has been derived from a
Delaware word Gulukocksoon, meaning a turkey.
4 Now written Cochecton, which means low ground.
73
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
from Cookoose to Popaghton and some small Pieces
of good low Land here and there, but from the latter
down to Cushietunk hardly any, for it is all hilly,
stoney, broken, barren and little worth. The Timber
down to Popaghton is mostly Beech, Maple, Hemloc,
Butternut 6c Buttonwood and from thence not so
much Beech and Butternut. We agree that the
Delaware cannot compare with the Susquehannah for
good Land; nor is the Timber much more than
Half as tall. We observed several Ducks with their
young Broods so that they breed in this River.
Cushietunk contains i6 or 17 Farms of which 4
or 5 only are beyond the Rock on Station Point.
The Mohawks Branch tend up N. and Popaghton
N. E.; there is a small Quantity of good Land at
Station Point and at the Mouth of Popaghton. The
Islands in the River are all good. We did not stop
to dine and came down on an average between 4 &
5 Miles an Hour, but went on shore at Station Point
where the River bears (I have forgot the Bearing as
well as the Inscription on the Rock).^ There is no
Trace of a Settlement all the Way from Cookoose
to Cushietunk^ but several pretty Cascades down the
Mountains into the River and they tell us That no
Boats larger than Batteaux have ever gone down the
River from Cushietunk on Account of the Falls.
jth \yg discharged Una who was desirous of re-
turning
1 This is a reference to the point of land made by a sharp bend in the
river to the northwest just above Cochecton Village. It forms with the land an
isosceles triangle of which the sides are about one mile in length. Across the
river in New Jersey are the Cushietunk Mountains, near which the Connecticut
folk made their settlement in 1757.
2 Decker, whom '*Dorn a Dutchman" found at the mouth of the East
Branch ten years before, had obviously died or moved away.
74
TOUR OF THE DELAWARE
turning and hired a Bazileel Tyler to take us down,
having purchased a Canoe here for 40/. We set ofF
from Cushietunk at Six oCloc and stopt at Shehola
Creek^ called Half Way, at 5^ after 12 to dine.
We gave Una provisions for his Return besides the
5 Dollars and we parted mutually satisfyed he being
an expert Navigator tho perhaps he never saw a Ship
or a Sail ; he could not speak English.
We afterwards passed a considerable Creek run-
ning in from the Westward called Lacwac (in Gib-
son's Map Lechawacsein^) & approached within 12
Yards of a large Blac She Bear and her Two Cubs
feeding on the Shore. M' Wells fired at and
wounded her & we pursued her into the Woods
without Effect. The Lands all the Way from Station
Point hither are miserable affording only short
scrubby Timber, no Flats, Hills, Rocks, and Stones
in plenty & but one or Two Inhabitants.
At Yq. after 5 we arrived at the First House in the
Minisinks where we stopt to make Oars for our
Canoe having poled it all the Way from Cookoose
with a little Help from a Paddle. We saw upon
the Shore 2 Deer & 7 Wild Turkies but our Gun
flashed in the Pan. The Lands from Schehola to
the Minisinks continue bad with many high Rocks
by Way of Banks similar to the rocky shore of
Bergen. One of the highest we supposed to be 400
Feet. The River from Cushietunk is full of Rifts
and long Falls thro which the Canoe was con-
ducted safely and dexterously by our Skipper.
We
1 Shoholaisthe present form of this word, ShoholaGlen being a popular resort.
2 Lackawaxen, which means forks of the road.
7S
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
We passed by a Creek called Mangap^ (not marked
on the Maps).
We are now of opinion that it will be impractic-
able to transport the Produce of Otego this way to
Advantage because of these Rifts. We saw but two
Small Settlements between Cushietunk and the Mini-
sinks and no Place fit for another. The Upper part
of the Minisinks trades to Sopus and the lower to
Philad^ The Timber seen this Afternoon is like the
rest low and scrubby and includes the White Pine
Oak and Maple. At this upper part of the Mini-
sinks the River is about 200 yards over. We learn
that the Jersey Surveyors lately appointed to run the
Line in Conjunction with the York Surveyors between
the Two Provinces were here and as far as Popagh-
ton last Week. They found that from Peter Kiken-
dahls the Upper End of Minisinks to the Station Point
measured 43^ Miles and from the Station Point
Rock to Shehawkin or the Mouth of Popaghton was
31^. From Kikendahls to Justice Rosecrants they
reckon 30 Miles.
8^ We lodged last Night at Peter Kikendahls.'
He had good Beds but we chose our Bear Skins as
usual. There is a tolerable Farm and the first we
have seen for some Time past. Here the Hills on the
River open to the right and left and let in some good
Flats. We found here a Number of Eels and large
Lampreys taken in one of the Eel pots. They have
a Shad Fishery so high up as Cushietunk.
We
1 Now written Mongaup, a stream ofconsiderable size with three branches
flowing into the Delaware from the north about five miles above Port Jervis.
The word means several streams.
2 Now Port Jervis.
76
TOUR OF THE DELAWARE
We quitted M' Kikendahls at 7 oCloc and in
12/4 Hours reached one Otters 18 Miles above
Easton, stopt one Hour at Dinner. M' Wells and
myself rowed all the Way being 52 Miles. The
Lands along the Minisinks are not so rich as I ex-
pected ; very little Meadow is visible, the Ground
rather fit for the Plow and somewhat sandy like ours
about Burlington & accordingly they raise more rye
than wheat. Not many Houses are to be seen and
those quite mean, the Flats in many places narrow
flanked still by the Range of Hills. The Islands are
low & level, but the Bushes so thick round them that
we could not discover how far they were improved.
Samuel Depue has a good place.
In the Evening we passed thro the Water Gap
being the Passage between the Kittatinny^ or Blue
Mountains which are here very lofty and craggy ; the
Trees on their Tops appeared as Shrubs. The Spec-
tacle was grand and worthy of a particular Descrip-
tion but neither the Time or our Situation admitted of
it. One Dunfy lives on a narrow Point at the Foot
of the Mountains which surround him in such a
Manner that he cannot stir from his House but
by Water.
The Soil of Sussex as far as we have seen is hilly,
stony broken and indifferent; it is the same on the
Pennsylvania side. The Timber is now the same as
ours Oak and Hickory, Chesnut and Maple but
shrubby & not fit for Sawing for the most Part.
We had a Glimpse of the late Col. Van Camp's
Place
iThis word has been referred to the similar word Kittating,
meaning great mountain or endless hills.
77
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
Place^ below Walpack; he has a good share of even
Land and a Range of swelHng Hills proper for Sheep
Pasture as much of all this Country would be if it
was cultivated.
9^^ The Rifts from Kikendahls are less frequent
than from Cushietunk thither. Leaving Otters^ at 7
oCloc we passed thro the Wind Gap and stopt at
Easton to drink some Punch and get shaved. The
Country now becomes less hilly except about the
Wind Gap above Easton where there is a Range of
small Mountains not so large as the Kittatinny —
they say that Lewis Gordon of Easton is Ferryman,
Tavern Keeper Lawyer, Clerk of the Court and
Justice of the Peace — we found the Foul Rift rather
more turbulent than the rest. Opposite to Durham
we dined & saw only 2 houses at the Mouth of Dur-
ham Creek. Musconetcung^ which divides Hunter-
don from Sussex is about a Mile above. A hand-
some Court House is lately built at Easton.
From Durham downwards we had the Pleasure of
viewing the improved Plantations in Hunterdon and
Buck's Counties. Adam Hoops has several Mills in
Sufsex and Tho! Riche a Country House in Hunter-
don, opposite to which is another House pleasantly
situated ; this we find a hot day. We saw many of
those long vessels called Durham Boats so useful to
the
1 One of the forts shown on the *' American Military Pocket Atlas " pub-
lished in London in 1776 for the use of the British army during the Revo-
lutionary War.
^ Otter's appears to have been what is now Manunka Chunk.
3 Five miles below Easton flows into the Delaware the River Musconetcung
which has its lower courses between the Pohatcongand Musconetcung Moun-
tains.
78
TOUR OF THE DELAWARE
the Upper Parts of the River and have passed fewer
Rifts since we left Easton. In the Evening M' Tyler
went home and we lodged with Edward Marshall
who lives on an Island 35 Miles above Trenton
which Island his Father bought of the Indians and
he now holds it independent of any Government.
This Marshal is the Man who performed the
famous Walk^ for the Proprietaries of Pennsylv^ in
1733, for which as he tells us, he has never yet rec*^
any Reward. He has been a great Traveller about
the back Parts. He avers that on the Top of the
Blue Mountains, a Mile from the Water Gap, on the
Jersey side there are Two Lakes, one of which con-
tains above 700 acres of clear Rock Water well
stored with Red Perch, Sun Fish and other Fish
with a gravelly Bottom and no visible Outlet, and
that there is likewise on that Mountain a Spring
from which oozes out a Scum being when burnt a
good red or brown Paint according to the degree of
burning and that great Quantities of it are taken
away and used as such by the Indians. He thinks
this comes from a large bed of copper ore and that
there are now many Cartloads of that Paint on the
Spot. We remarked today that the Descent of the
Waters in the River is visible in divers Places owing
to the considerable Fall or Slope of the Country.
10''' We engaged one Newman, Son in Law to
Marshal, to pilot us down to Trenton; went off at
5 oCloc and breakfasted at Corryels Ferry. We
gave Bazileel Tyler 6 Dollars for bringing us down
from
1 A reference to the Walking Purchase, already described
in the Introduction.
79
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
from Cushietunk to Marshals. We learn that the
Freight of a Bushel of Wheat from Marshals to
Philad^ is j^. from Easton to Philad* 9^ and from the
Minisinks i/. For a Barrel of Flour from Marshals
2/. from Easton 2/6. (the Freight of a Bushel of
Wheat from Sussex to Burlington used to be 6^).
Before 1 2 oCloc we came to Trenton and from
thence M' Wells and myself continued our Course
to Burlington where we arrived in the Afternoon,
having come today 5 1 Miles and we had the Satis-
faction to find our Families in good Health.
80
V
A TABLE OF DISTANCES
Rout taken by Mess";' Welles and Smith Biddle
Ridgway and Hicks in May and continued by the
Two Former in June 1769.
Miles
From Burlington to New York over Paulus
Hook Ferry 75
To Albany by Water 164
(By land 157)
To the Mouth of the Mohawk River ... 7
To the Cahoes -5
To Schenectady 16
(From Albany to Schenectady along the
usual Road 17]
To Sir John Johnson's, Knight & Bar^ . . .17
To Col. Fry's on the Mohawk River . . .21
To Major Wells's in Cherry Valley , . . .12
To Cap* Prevoost's at the Head of Lake Otsego . 9
A Waggon Road all the Way/ 326
From Cap* Prevoost's to Col. Croghans the
Foot of Lake Otsego 8 or 9
To the Upper Corner of the Otego Tract
down the River Susquehannah .... 20
To
1 By this the author only means all the way from Albany to the
head of Lake Otsego.
81
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
To the Mouth of Otego Creek 24
To the Mouth of Unadella 16
(Here was a small village of Mohiccons.)
To Cuniiahunta on the Great Island . . .16
(Here was a small Oneida village.)
To Ahquhaga 12
(an Oneida Town of 140 souls)
Here we crossed over along a blind Indian
Path to Cookooze on the Mohawk Branch
of Delaware. Cookoose is a Settlem^ of
Two Families of the Delaware Nation,
the only Indians remaining on the River
Delaware
From Cookoose to Shehawkin or the Mouth
of Popaghton Branch 15
To Cushietunk or Station Point as measured
lately by the Jersey Surveyors . . .315^
To Peter Kikendahl's the Upper End of
Minisinks as measured by do 43%
Length of the Minisinks 40
To Easton 30
To Edward Marshals on an Island .... 27
To Trenton 35
To Burlington 16
238
In all
Round to the Lake Otsego 326
down that Lake and the Susquehannah . 97
from Susquehannah across to Delaware . 15
down the Delaware 238
Total Miles, 676
82
VI
NOTES ON THE MANNERS AND CUSTOMS OF THE
INDIANS
Lower down on and near the Susquehannah there
are yet remaining several Towns of various Tribes
as Onondagoes Tuscarora's Nanticokes Delawares
Shawanese and others but these will all doubtless be
wormed out in a few years by the Whites and the
Indians obliged to retire beyond the Lakes. The
Indians settled in the Neighborhood of the English
are Known, from whatever cause, to decrease fast
and probably distant Posterity will peruse as Fables
the accounts which may be handed down of the
present Customs of the Aborigines of North Amer-
ica. I was desirous of procuring some Intelligence
of their Manners and Usages but had little oppor-
tunity and less Time and Leisure to learn any Thing
very material.
They are extremely lazy and indolent, take little
care today for the sustenance of Tomorrow and are
therefore often in want of Food and other Neces-
saries for which their Idleness makes them always
dependent on their more provident Neighbors.
Cloathing they use but little, sometimes a Shirt or
Shift with a Blanket or Coat, a Half-Gown and Petti-
coat, and sometimes the latter only without Linen.
Woolen Boots and Leather Moccisons compleat the
83 Dress
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
Dress of the common sort unless, which is rare, they
possess a Hat or some other Covering for the Head.
Some of the Chiefs, however, imitate the English
Mode and Joseph Brant was dressed in a suit of blue
Broad Cloth as his Wife was in a Callicoe or Chintz
Gown. They frequently sleep naked & divers of the
younger sort drefs gaily in their Way, some of both
sexes using Bobs and Trinkets in their Ears and
Noses, Bracelets on their Arms and Rings on their
Fingers. Every Man and Woman are Physicians
for themselves or give their Advice gratis to others.
As they raise no Sheep or Flax and make no Iron
so they weave no Cloth but rough drefs Deerskins
for their Moccisons and depend upon the Whites
for Metallic and other Manufactures. They subsist
chiefly by their Indian Corn, esculent Vegetables and
by their Deer & Beaver Hunting, and last Year the
Corn failing in great Measure they lived thro the
Winter and Spring on the Money received at the
Treaty of Fort Stanwix last October for the sale of
their Lands. They were continually passing up to
the Settlements to buy Provisions and sometimes
shewed us money in their Bosoms.
Their government is known to be democratic,
deviating but little from a State of Nature. Courts
and Ministers of Justice they have none, to Law and
Lawyers they are strangers, nor are Crimes often
committed. Debts and Theft seem to be almost un-
known among them. Property being in some Degree
common to all. I had the Curiosity to ask an In-
dian what was their Method of recovering Debts;
he answered ** We go to the Debtor and take away
his Gun or any Thing we can find belonging to him."
84 In
INDIAN MANNERS AND CUSTOMS
In their Towns they are generally sober and quiet,
but among the white People their Propensity to
Drunkenness is too well known ; in that state they
are noisy and troublesome.
The authority of the Chiefs is said to descend to
the Eldest Son, but they are deposed at the pleasure
of their Townsmen for Insufficiency or Absence or
other cause. The Chief of Ahquhaga in Civil Affairs
when I was there, had removed to another Town
and was therefore deprived of his Post, but happen-
ing to return he was reinstated. Pride and Envy
are to be found here as elsewhere for some of the
Townsmen being piqued at the Authority exercised
by the Chief Priest refused to attend divine service
under his Administration tho his Conduct and De-
portment appeared to be regular and inoffensive.
The Domination Civil or Ecclesiastical seems
not to be of the Coercive kind, the Custom being
for those who have rec^ an injury to complain to the
Chief who represents to the Agressor the Hein-
ousness of his Crime and generally procures Satisfac-
tion to the Party injured, but if he cannot succeed
then the Party redresses Himself in the best Manner
he can. And in cases of Murder if the Murderer is
killed ever so many years after or ever so treacher-
ously it is esteemed by the Nation as an Act of Jus-
tice & applauded accordingly.
Marriage is performed by a Clergyman either
White or Indian where there happens to be one.
Whilst we are at Ahquhaga a young Mohawk and
his handsome Bride about 1 5, were there on a visit
to her Relations. They had been married but Two
Weeks and the Courtship was thus as we were informed
85 by
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
by M' Dean the Interpreter: the young Fellow had
been there, saw the Girl and liked Her, but said
Nothing then. After he got home to Conejoharie
above an loo miles distant, he sent her a Letter, for
some of the Indians tho they cannot speak English
can write their own Language very well; the Sub-
stance of the Letter was that he fancied her for a
Wife and if she approved the Proposal she might
come to Him at such a Time and be married, and
she and her Friends accepted the Offer accordingly.
I did not hear what is the Mode of Burial but pre-
sume it differs not much from ours.
Their chief amusement seems to be Smoaking,
Conversation & Hunting. They use long Pipes
with Wooden Stems & Stone Boles large & clumsy.
They are ingenious at making Belts, embroidering
Moccassons & Garments with Wampum. As they
work little they consequently demand high Prices for
their Labor.^ a
1 The illustration showing Indian relics on the adjoining page, was made
from objects collected by Willard E. Yager, of Oneonta. Mr. Yager has
what is perhaps one of the most important Indian collections in the state.
Several years ago he formed another large collection, but it was entirely de-
stroyed by fire in I 894, when the State Normal School buildings at Oneonta
were burned. Mr. Yager began the present collection in 1903, his purpose
being to illustrate Indian life on the headwaters of the Susquehanna from
Otsego Lake to Great Bend, and including the adjacent hillsides to the divide
between the Susquehanna and the Delaware on the east and the Chenango
on the west. This territory, which was occupied in the historic period by
the Iroquois, in earlier times , was the home of other Indians of the same
family who are classed as Conestogas or Susquehannas.
Mr. Yager's collection now numbers about 2,500 objects, selected from
four or five times that number as brought to light and preserved by various
persons during the last thirty or forty years. Care has been taken by him
to identify and fix the history of each specimen. Nearly every kind ot In-
dian artefact known to students is well represented. The collection is par-
ticularly rich in specimens of flint and pottery and is housed in a building
especially built for the purpose.
86
T3 O C l-
^ i^ o. a
^ C rt S
- n o. i)
^ 33 CO &<
>
IS
li . - •
2 J! c =
'?, a a a
'^ ^^ c c
a. o .- c
rn in in en
o -e
^^
•o °
x: 2
el
J .2
CTJ > 1) vO
^ -^ <
•— ^- ^ j:;
"" «. S i/
INDIAN MANNERS AND CUSTOMS
At Ahquhaga & other Towns seen by me, they
have Horses, Cows, Hogs, and Poultry, make Butter
and Maple Sugar, bake their Bread in the Ashes with-
out yeast and have the Discretion to keep Rum by
them in their Houses and take it in moderation.
They are faithful in what they undertake, have sharp
Eyesight, susprising Knowledge of the Woods, are
expert in hunting, fishing, managing Canoes, and in
whatever else they have been conversant.
They know Nothing yet of Hours or Miles but
point to the Sun as to say they will perform such a
Journey by that Time the Sun is in such a Position
counting their Fingers for Days and using notched
sticks for Almanacs, and cannot therefore express
with any Accuracy the Distance of Time or Place.
Of their Origin I never could learn any satisfac-
tory Account. Some Authors and W*" Penn among
the rest, misled by theological Prejudices, have sup-
posed them to be descended from the Ten captivated
Tribes of Jews, an absurd Chimasra unworthy of the
American Lycurgus ; others with more Probability
adopt the Idea of a Passage from the N. E. Parts of
Asia to the N. W. Regions of America thro which
some Tartars may have transmigrated in remote Ages,
whose Posterity in procefs of Time became dispersed
throughout this immense Wilderness. But Writers
are not wanting who reject this Hypothesis and con-
tend that the Africans, Americans and Whites were
originally created upon their own Soil.
For Religion, the distant Savages unconnected
with Christians are said neither to profess or practice
any. And it may well be doubted notwithstanding
all that has been written whether any Form of Wor-
87 ship
FOUR GREAT RIVERS
ship was in use or any clear Ideas of the Deity im-
pressed on their minds anterior to the Arrival of
Europeans here. Those of Ahquhaga follow the
Presbyterian Mode of Worship because a Minister of
that Persuasion has happened to be established there.
They understand Psalmody very well, and tho they
attend very seriously to the Preacher, English or In-
dian, yet the Matter of the Sermon makes as little
Impression on their Lives and Conversations as Ser-
mons usually do on politer Congregations.
Some other Particulars with their Manner of Build-
ing Towns and Houses have been occasionally men-
tioned in the foregoing Notes which were taken on
the Spot Currente Calamo. As to the rest, having
often visited the Whites their Manners seem to differ
little from those of our lower Class of People.^
1 The manuscript from which Mr. Smith's Journal has here been put into
type — the same, as already stated, being the George H. Moore copy — has at
this point the following memorandum:
** (Copy taken for the use of M. Du Simitiere in October, 1780.) [by
the hon. Richard Smith, of Burlington, Esquire.]"
The modern character of the paper on which the Moore copy was written
indicates that it is not identical with the Du Simitiere copy, but that it is a
transcript from it. The comparison made by the editor between it and
the original first draft, now owned by Mr. Coad, however, has fuUy
authenticated the text of the Journal as printed here.
88
INDEX
INDEX
Adaquetinge River, the, 58
Addison, Joseph, 37
Afton (N. Y.), 63
Aikin (N. Y.), 25
Akery (N. Y.), 31
Albany, settlement of, xxvii;
trading post at, xl; a ren-
dezvous for troops, 1 ; sloops
that sail to and from, 4;
sloops at, 9; road to
from New York, 9; meadow
lands near, 15 ; the town
described, 16-18; departure
from, 19; lands and timber
near, 21, 62, 81
Albany County, xxxii, xlviii,
II, 17
Allegheny River, the, xvi
Allegheny Mountains, the, 47
Allen, John, 68
"American Military Pocket
Atlas," the, Ixix,' 78
Amsterdam (N. Y.), xlix, 17
Andrews, William, xlii
Andros, Governor, xliii
Anthony's Nose, xxxv
Anti-rent war, 21
Arnold, Benedict, 24
Atlantic City (N. J.)- Ixiv
Auriesville (N. Y.), xli
Bacon, E. M., xxix
Banyar, Gouldsborough, 62
Barclay, Henry, xlvii
Batavia (N. Y.), 31
Battery, the, xxvi
Bear's Island, 14
Beekman, Colonel, xxxii
Beekman Manor, xxxv
Belcher, Governor, Ixviii
Beletre, — , 1
Bellomont, Earl of. Governor,
xxxii, xliv
Bethlehem (Penn.), road to
from Wyoming, 57
Biddle, Joseph, 3 ; and the
Otego survey, 40, 44, 50,
58,81
Binghamton (N. Y.), 57, 65
Border Wars, the, on the New
York frontier, xviii, lix, Ix,
53, 60
Boston, xxiv
Bowling Green, xxiii
Braddock, General Edward, 1,
Ivi ; defeat of, Ixviii
Bradstreet, General John, 15
Bradt, Arent, Ivii
Brainard, David, Ivi
Brant, Joseph ; his father, xvii,
22 ; and Colonel Claus ; de-
stroys German Flats, 27;
destroys Springfield, 29; at
the Cherry Valley massacre,
30-31; his early life, 37; at
Sleeper's house, 46; engaged
by Mr. Smith as guide, 47;
builds a bark canoe, 57;
finds a rattlesnake, 58;
starts with Mr. Smith down
the Susquehanna, 58; his
farm at Canajoharie, 60; ill-
91
INDEX
ness of, 62 ; at Oghwaga, 56,
Brant, Mrs. Joseph, 49, 58;
her silver ornaments, 69
Brant, Molly, 22
Break Neck Mountain, 7
Brekabean (N. Y.), 37
Bressani, Joseph, xli
Broadhead, John H., xxxi
Broken Neck Hill, 7
Brown, John, xix
Brunswick (N. J.), 3
Bruyar, the missionary, liii
Bucks County (Penn,), 78
Buell, Augustus C, liv, Ixiii,
Ixv
Burlington (N. J.), home of
Mr. Smith, xiv; founded,
Ixiii; Ixiv, 3, 30, 36, 77;
arrival at, 80, 81
Burlington Creek, 39, 40
Burnet, Governor, xlv ; sends
men to Oghwaga, Iv
Burns's Tavern, 3
Butler, John, a grant of land
to, xvii, Ix
Butler, Walter N., 30
Butler, Colonel William, 72
Butter Hill. 7
Butternut Creek, grant of land
on, xvii, 42
Callicoon (N. Y.), 73
Camden (N. J.), Ixii
Campbell, Mr., 60
Canada Creek, li
Canadurango Lake, Ivii, 38, 48
Canajoharie, li, 28; Brant's
farm at, 60
Carr, Percefer, lix
Carryel's Ferry, 79
Cartwright's Tavern, 16
Castle Philipse, 5
Castleton (N.Y.), 7
Catawbas, the, 47
Catskill Creek, xxx, 12
Catskill (N. Y.), 6, 31; wagon
road to, 37
Catskill and Susquehanna
Turnpike, 40
Catskill Landing, 12
Catskill Mountains, 7, 9, 13
Chamberlain, Theophilus, 60
Champlain, Samuel de, xl
Charlotte Hall (Md.), xviii
Charlotte River, the, liv, Ivi;
land on, Ivii; head of, 31;
trail along, 52 ; name of, 58
Charlotte, Queen, 58-59
Chehocton (N. Y.), 73
Cheonadilla (N. Y.), 56; see
Unadilla
Cherry Valley Creek, Ivii
Cherry Valley (N. Y.), settle-
ment of, lix, Ixix, 12, 14;
distance to from Albany, 16,
23 ; on the road to, 28 ; the
start for, 29; arrival of the
author at, 30; Massacre of,
30, 46; church at, 31 ; a sul-
phur spring near, 32 ; indus-
tries at, 33, 35, 36; pearl ash
works at, 41 ; men obtained
at, 47 ; trail to, 52, 55 ; sup-
plies from, 56, 60, 64, 72, 81
Chesapeake Bay, 52
"Chronicles of Cooperstown,"
the, 36
City Hall, of New York, xxiii
City Hotel, 3
Clarendon, Earls of, 32
Clarke, Lieutenant Governor,
xxxiii, xlvii, xlviii, 32
Clarke, George Hyde, 32
Claus, Colonel Daniel, 24; his
home, 25, 27
Clench's Hotel, 22, 27
Clinton, Governor George, 72
Clinton, General James, 49
92
INDEX
Coad, J. Francis, xviii, xix,
xxi, 88
Cobleskill (N.Y.), 35
Cochecton (N. Y.), Ixiv; vil-
lage of, 73, 74
Coeymans (N. Y.), 14
Cohoes (N. Y.), meaning of
the word, 19; arrival at, 19;
the falls of, described, 21, 81
Colden, Cadwallader, xxiii, li,
Iv
Columbia County (N. Y.), 17
Connecticut, xxx ; population
of, xxxiii; people from, in
Pennsylvania, Ixx
Cookooze (N. Y.), Ixxii, 57,
63 ; path to from Oghwaga,
71, 73 ; departure from, 73,
74
Cookooze-Sapoze, 70
Cornwall (N.Y.), 7
Cook House, 70
Cooper, Fenimore, xvii, Ixii, 2(i
Cooper, William, xx, 36
Cooperstown (N. Y.), xviii, 6;
a bridge at, 49
Council Rock, 36
Craig, Andrew, 36
Cranbury (N. J.), 3
Croghan, Colonel George, his
grant of land on Otsego
Lake, xviii, Ix, 29 ; his bat-
teau, 35 ; builds a house on
Otsego Lake, 36; his patent,
40; at his home, 44, 47, 48;
talks of bviilding a sawmill,
49' 59' 81
Crosby, Aaron, xxiii
Crosswicks (N. J.), 3
Croton Bay, 5
Croton River, xxxviii, 5
Cunnahunta (N. Y.), 63, 64, 73
Cushietunk ( N. Y. ) , Ixiv, Ixvii ;
settlement at, Ixx, 57, 71, 73;
road from, 73, 74; departure
from, 75; no settlement be-
low, 76, 78, 80
Cushietunk Mountain, 74
Cuyler, Henry, 15
Dartmouth College, 47
Davies, John, 47
Dean, James, 65, 67; goes to
Cookooze, 71, 86
Dean, Joseph, xv
Decker, 59, 74
De Curcelles — , xlii
De Kay, Thomas, Ixvii
Delaware Bay, Ixiii
Delaware Company, Ixx
Delaware County (N. Y.), 22,
39
Delaware Indians, the, Ivi, Ixi,
Ixv ; activity of, Ixviii, Ixxi ;
at Cookooze, 80, 83
Delaware River, the, xvi ; name
of, Ixi; called the Fishkill,
lix, Ixxi ; coming of white
men to, Ixii ; west branch of,
Ixii; forts on, Ixiii; Indian
troubles on, Ixix ; settlements
on west branch of, Ixxii;
head of, 31; source of, 45;
at Cookooze, 63 ; east branch
of, 67; the road to from
Oghwaga, 71 ; lands on, 71,
^2 ; a start to descend, 73 ;
two branches of, 74; lands
on, 75 ; at Minisink, 'jd
Delaware Water Gap, Ixvi,
Ixxi, 56, -jy, 79
Dellius, Doctor, xliii, xliv
Denton's Ferrv. 8
Denton's Mill,' 8
Deposit (N. Y.), Ixxii, 70; see
Cookooze
Depuis, Nicholas, Ixvi, 56, 57
Dongan. Governor Thomas;
his "Report on the Province"
of New York, xxvii ; on the
93
INDEX
immigration to New York,
xxxii, XXXV ; and the mis-
sionaries, xlvi ; and traders
on the Susquehanna, Iv
Dorn, a Dutchman, 56
Dunlop, Samuel, Iviii, 31
Dutch, the, in New York, xxv ;
on the Delaware, Ixiii
Dutchess County (N. Y.), xxxii,
6, 9
Dunfy — , 'j'j
Durham boats, 57
Durham Creek, 78
Dyer, John, 13
Easton (Penn.), Ixiii, lxiv,lxv,
Ixxi, J^j, 78; the Delaware
below, 79
Edmeston, Colonel, lix
Edwards, Nathaniel, xv, xix
Elizabeth (N.J.), 3
Erie, Lake, xxii
Erie Railway, the, Ixiv, 70
Esopus (N.'Y.), trading post
at, xxix, XXX, xxxi, Ixvi,
Ixxii ; meaning of the word,
8, 56; road to, 73
Essex County (N. J.), jy
Evans, Captain, xliii; his tract,
xliv; his map, 29
Ferguson, Edward, xix
Finns, the, Ixii
Fishkill (N.Y.),9
Fishkill Creek, xxxv
Fiske, John, xxv
Fitch, Jonathan, xix
Fletcher, Governor, xliv
Fonda, Major, 24
Forbes, Eli, Ivi
Forks of the Delaware, the,
Ixiv
Fort Aurania (N. Y.), xxvii
Fort George (N. Y.), xxiv,
xxvi
Fort Hunter (N. Y.), xli,
xlvii, xlviii, li, 24, 26
Fort Johnson (N.Y.), li, 25;
the Mohawk at, 26
Fort Nassau (N. J.), Ixii
Fort Niagara (N. Y.), xliii;
siege of, 37
Fort Orange (N. Y.), xxvii,
16, 17
Fort Penn (Penn.), Ixxi
Fort Schuyler (N.Y.), xv
Fort Stanwix (N. Y.), treaty
of, XV, xvi, xviii, lix, Ixix,
lii ; and George Croghan, 36 ;
line of at Unadilla, 63
Forty Fort (Penn.), Ixxi
Franklin, Benjamdn, at the
Fort Stanwix Treatv, xvii,
Franklin, William, xix, 36
Fraunces' Tavern, xxiv
Fredericksborough, 5
Freehold (N. J.), 14
Freeman, Bernardus, xlvi
Fry, Colonel, 28, 81
Frontenac, Count, xxvi ; at-
tacks Schenectady, xliii
George III, xvii, 59
German Camp, the, 12
German Flats (N. Y.), 1, 2^
Germans, settle near Cherry
Valley, 30
Gilbert's Lake, 42
Golden Hill, battle of. xxiii
Gordon, Dowager Duchess of,
13. 37» 52
Goshen, country of, 7
Gould, Jay, Ixix, Ixxiii
Great Bend (Penn.), 65
Great Western Turnpike, the,
30
94
INDEX
Green Hill (N.J.),xiv
Guest, Henry, xviii
Halsey, Edward, xix
Hamilton, Alexander, xxx
Hamilton College, 37
Hancock (N. Y.), Ixxi, 57, 73
Hardenburg patent, the, 21
Harlem River, the, 4
Harper family, the, Hx, 35
Harper Patent, the, 60
Harper's Sawmill, 35
Harpersfield _(N. Y.), 35
Harper, William, 60
Hartwick, John C., lix, 38, 42,
Hawley, Gideon, Ivi, Ixix
Hedge, A., 29
Herkimer settlement, the. xix
Hicks, John, xix, 3, 29, 44, 81
Highlands, the, 6, 7; range of,
8, 9
Hiokatoo, 31
Hooper, Adam, 78
Howe, Lord, 1
Hudson, Henry, liii, Ixii
Hudson Valley, the settlement
of, xxii ; land holdings in,
xxxiii ; Palatines in, xxxvii ;
want of ministers in, xxxvii ;
course of from New York,
6; lands cultivated in, 7, 8,
9 ; fish in the river, 12 ; near
Albany, 15; lands in above
Albany, 19-20; the river
open in winter for ships, 23
Huguenots, on the Hudson,
xxxi, Ixvi, Ixxii
Hunter, Governor, xxvii
Hunterdon County (N. J.), 78
Hurley (N.Y.),xxx
Hyde family, the, 32
Hyde Hall, 32
Indians, at the Fort Stan-
wix Treaty, xvi ; forts for
defense against, xxvii ; hos-
tilities from in the Hudson
Valley, xxix ; almost depopu-
late the province of New
York, xxxi ; and Father
Jogues, xli ; and the Van
Rensselaer estate, xxxiv ;
on the Delaware, Ixiv ; how
they carry their children, 52 ;
not troublesome, 56; a vil-
lage of, 62, 63, 64 ; houses of
at Oghwaga, 65-67; at
Cookooze, 70; on the Sus-
quehanna, 85 ; their manners
and customs, 84 ; their
chiefs, 85 ; their origin, 87
Iroquois kings, the, 37
Isaac, an Indian, 67, 68
James, an Indian, 58, 71, 73
Jesuits in New York, xlvi
Jogues, Isaac, describes New
York, XXV, xli, 29
Johnson, Colonel Guy, 23 ; his
home, 25
Johnson, Sir John, 24, 8r
Johnson, Sir William, and the
Fort Stanwix Treaty, xv-xvi ;
arrival of in the Mohawk
Valley, xlviii ; at Warren's
Bush, xlix ; at Oghwaga,
Ivi ; his lands on the Susque-
hanna, Ivii ; plans a fort at
Oghwaga, Ixx, 11, 22; his
home at Johnstown, 24, 25,
36; and Joseph Brant, 37,
47 ; his lands on the Susque-
hanna, 69, 71, 62, 65
Johnston, Rev. William, Ix, li
Johnstown (N. Y.), 24
Jones, Thomas, xxiv
Kaatskill ; see Catskill
Kalm, Peter, 16
95
INDEX
Kayaderosseras, grant of, xlv
Kennedy, xxiv
Kidd, Captain, xxxiii
Kieffer, H. M., Ixv
Kikendahl, Peter; his house,
76, 77, 78
Kincaid, his house, 24, 25, 28
King William's War, xlvii
Kingsbridge (N. Y.), 4
King's College, xxiv
Kingston (N. Y.), settlement
of, XXX, xxxii, Ixvi
Kingston, Ont., xliii
Kirkland, Samuel, Ivi, 37
Kithanne River, the, Ixi
Kittatinny Mountains, the, 'J'J,
78
Kleynties — , xl, liii
Kortright, Lawrence, Ix
Lackawaxen (Penn.), 75
Lake George, 1; battle of, 37
La Salle, the explorer, xlii
Laurens (N. Y.), town of,
xviii
"Leather Stocking Tales,"
the, 36
Lebanon (Conn.), 37, 47
Lehigh River, the, Ixiv
Lenni-Lenapes, the, Ixi ; see
Delaivare Indians
Lenox Library, the, xxi
Lindesav, John, Ivii, Iviii
Little Egg Harbor (N. J.),
Ixiv
Little Sopus (N. Y.), 9
Livingston's Manor (N. Y.),
XXXV, xxxvi, xxxvii, II, 12
Livingston, Richard R., the
Chancellor, 11
Londonderry (N. H.), Iviii
Lowe, Nicholas, lix, 54
Lull, Benjamin, 40
Lynn (Mass.), xxx
Mabie House, the, xlii
Manhasset, xxx
Manhattan, origin of the name,
Ixii
Manunka Chunk (N.J.), 78
Marbletown (N. Y.), 30
Marlborough (N. Y.), 8
Marshall, Edward, 79, 80
Martiler's Rock, 6
Martin's Patent, 35
Mathews, Alfred, Ixx
Maryland, population of,
xxxviii, 31
Matteson — , xx
Megapolensis, Rev. Dr., xl
Meynall, Joseph, xix
Middlefield (N.Y.), lix
Milet, the missionary, liii
Miller, Godfrey, 35
Miln, John, xvii
Minisink (N. Y.), settlement
of, xxxi, xxxii, Ixvi ; growth
of, Ixvii ; trouble in, Ixvii ;
on the road to Pennsylvania,
Ixxi, 8, 73 ; first house in,
75 ; no settlement above,
76
Mohawk River, the; Indians
of, at Fort Hunter, 24; up-
per Indian castle on, 28;
Indians following husbandry
on, 60; first knowledge of,
xl ; Palatines arrive on,
xxxvii; grants of land on,
xliii, xlv ; settlement of,
xlv, xlvii ; Indian's mission
of, xlvi ; Indians from set-
tled at Oghwaga, liv;
mouths of, 19; lands on,
21 ; at Schenectady, 23 ; and
the Border Wars, 24; near
Fort Johnson, 26; families
from going to Pennsvlvania,
56
Mohicans, devastate the Hud-
96
INDEX
son Valley, xxx; a village
of, 62, II
Mongaup River, the, '](i
Montcalm, General, xxxix
Montgomery, General Richard,
11,24
Moodna Creek, 7
Moore, George H., xxi, 87
Moore, General Sir Henry, 4,
II
Morgan's Riflemen, 72
Morris, Governor, Ixviii
Morris, General Jacob, 42
Morris, Lewis, 13
Morris, Richard, 13
Morris, Colonel Roger, xxxv
Morris, Colonel Staats Long,
13. 37. 42, 52, 56
Morrisania (N. Y.), 13
Moseley, Eleazer, Ivi, 64; his
work at Oghwaga, 65, 67, 68
Murderer's Creek, 7
Musconetcung Mountains, the,
Musconetcung River, the, 78
Mount Vision (N. Y.), xix
Meyers — , 35
Narrows, the, 4
Natchez (Miss.), xx
Newark (N. J.), Ixxiii, 3
Newberry, John, xix, 8
New Beverly (N. J.), Ixiii
New England, men from,
crossing to the Susque-
hanna, 8
New Hampshire, population
of, xxxviii
New Jersey, Smith's history
of, xiv; population of,
xxxviii ; troubles of, with
New York, Ixvii
Newman — , 79
New Netherlands, map of,
xxvii
New Paltz (N. Y.), xxxii
New Windsor (N. Y.), 7
New York, population of the
province of, xiii, xxiii,
xxxviii; its northern fron-
tier, xxvi; population of,
xxxii; a penal colony, xxxiii;
in the French War, xxxix;
Figurative Map of, xl
New York City, in 1752, de-
scribed, xxiv, xxix; freight
to, from Albany, 6; roads
from, to Albany, 9 ; Niagara,
xliii
Non-Importation Agreement,
xxiii
North Carolina, population of,
xxxviii
North Station Point, Ixvii
Nott, Rev. Eliphalet, 31
Oaks Creek, 37; see Oaksnee
Oaksnee, 37; lands on, 38, 44
Oghwaga, trade at, xlix; an
old town, liii ; missionaries
at, Ivi ; Gideon Hawley at,
Ixix ; Indians from, 37 ; the
Indian towa at, 47; path
of the Indians to, 55, 62;
arrival at, 64; Indian
houses at, 65-66; services
at, 6y', described, 68; a ser-
mon at, 68; path from to
Cookooze, 70 ; destruction
of, 72, 73
Ohio River, the, xvi
"Old New York Frontier,"
the, Ivi
Oneida County (N. Y.), xv
Oneida Indians, the, 71
Oneida Lake, xvi, liv
Oneonta (N. Y.), in the Otego
patent, xvii. 6; storehouse
near, 57; village of, 57; the
creek, 59, 60, 86
97
INDEX
Onondaga Indians, the, 83
Onoyarenton ; see Oneonta
Ontario Lake, xl
Orange County (N. Y.), xxxi,
xxxii, Ixvii ; the Hne of, 5,
Oriskany, Battle of, xv
Oswego (N. Y.), xlv, 1
Otego, the patent, survey of,
XV ; location of, xvii ; lands
purchased on, 3 ; settle-
ments on, 6, 31, 38, 39; is-
lands in the creek, 42, 49;
ascent of the creek, 50, 51 ;
timber on, 53-55 ; a mill on,
60 ; length of the creek, 60,
72, 81
Otego, the village of, 40
Otsdawa Creek, the, xviii
Otsego County (N. Y.), xvii
Otsego Lake, grant of land on,
xvii, XX, Ivii ; settlement on,
Ix ; white men at, xl, li ;
Indians at, liv; the only
wagon road to, 8, 34; the
patent, 40 ; lands near, 45 ;
a canoe built on, 46; trail
to, 52, 57, 81
Otseningo (N. Y.), 55, 64
Otter's, 77-78
Ouleout Creek, the, Ix
Palatine Bridge (N. Y.), 28
Palatine Germans, the, xxxvii ;
on the Susquehanna, Iv; on
the Delav/are, Ixv; at Liv-
ingston Manor, 12; at Scho-
harie, 33
Palisades, the, 4
Parkman, Francis, xli ; quoted,
16
Paulus Hook (N. J.), 3,81
Peace of Utrecht, the, xlv
Pennamite Wars, the, 56
Pennsylvania, population of,
xxxviii
Pennsylvania Dutch, the, Ivi
Penn, William, growth of his
colony after he made his
treaty, Ixii; founds West
Jersey, Ixiv, 87
Peter, an Indian, 67, 68
Philadelphia, xxiv, Ixiii
Philipse, Colonel, xxxvi
Philipse, Frederick, xxxv
Philipse, Mary, xxxv
Philipse Manor, xxxviii ;
lands at described, 5
Picken, Robert, 37; his map,
43; and the survey, 44, 45,
Pocono Mountains, Ixxi, 56
Pohatkong, 78
Polopel's Island, 6
Pondicherry, siege of, 13
Pontiac, conspiracy of, li
Popaghton, the, branch of the
Delaware, 73 ; forks of, 73 ;
surveyors at, 76
Port Jervis (N. Y.), Ixiv, Ixvi,
Ixx, Ixxii
Post Office building, the, in
New York City, xxiii
Potter, Bishop Henry C, 31,
49
Poughkeepsie (N. Y.), 9
Prevost, Captain Augustine,
Ix, 29, 33 ; arrival at his
house, 34, 35 ; sells land, 49,
81
Quakers, the, xxx, Ixiii
Quebec, fall of, xxvi ; battle
of, xxxix
Queen Anne and the Palatines,
xxxvii, xlvii ; visited by Iro-
quois kings, 37
Queen Anne's Parsonage
xlvii
98
INDEX
Red Kill (N.Y.), 31
Rensselaer County (N. Y,),
Rensselaerwyck, manor of, 14,
17
Riche, Thomas, 78
Richfield (N.Y.), Ivii, lix, 34;
the lake at, 38
Ridgevvay, William, 3 ; helps
make the Otego survey, 40,
44, 49, 60, 61, 81
Rogers's Island, 13
Rome (N. Y.), xv
Romboudt manor, the, xxxv
Rondout, trading post at,
xxix
Rosecrantz — , 76
St. Paul's Church, in New-
York City, 30
Saratoga, xlvii
Schenevus Creek, lix, 55 ; a
start for, 51 ; trail to, 55, 58
Schenectady, grant of land at,
xlii ; destroyed, xliii ; mission-
aries at, xlvi ; condition of,
li ; distance of from Al-
bany, 19; route to from Co-
hoes, 20; described, 22, 23,
30; the Mohawk at, 25, 27,
80
Schodack, xxx, 14
Schoharie, xxxvii, Iv ; dis-
tance to from Catskill, 12;
route to from the Hudson,
13; the river, 24, 31; set-
tlers at, 33, 35 ; trail to, 52,
55
Schoharie Creek, the, Ivii
Schoonhoven, Richard, 4
Schuyler, David, Ivii, 38
Schuyler, Colonel, xxxvi
Schuyler's Lake, 38
Schuyler, Colonel Peter, xlvii
Schuyler, General Philip, 15
Scotch Irish, on the Susque-
hanna, Iviii, 30
Scotoc's Island, 14
Scramlin's, 28, 29, 30
Scutter's Island, 14
Sergeant, John, Ivii
Shackamaxon, treaty of, Ixiii
"Shades of Death," the, Ixxi
Sharon Springs (N. Y.), 32
Shamokin (Penn.), Ixix
Shawnee Indians, 83
Shohola (Penn.), 75
Sidney (N. Y.), village of, 40,
63
Simitiere, P. E. du, xxi; his
copy of this journal, 88
Skeneves ; see Schenevus
Sleeper, John, 46, 54
Sleeper, Joseph, 46
Sleepy Hollow (N.Y.), 5
Smack's Island, 17
Smith's Lake, 42
Smith, Colonel, xxxii
Smith Hall, xvin
Smith, Captain John, liii
Smith, Richard, importance
of his journal, xiii-xiv; his
family, xiv ; his tour, xv ; be-
gins to settle his tract, xiv;
describes his house, xix; re-
moves to Smith Hall, xx ; or-
iginal manuscript of his
journal, xxi ; changes he
made in his manuscript,
xxvi, xxvii ; his visit to the
Hudson Valley, xxvii ; when
he visited the Susquehanna
Valley, Ix; his journey from
Burlington to New York
City, 3; from New York to
Albanv, 4-18 he lands at
Denton's Mill, 8; at Beek-
man's Manor, 10; meets
Hans, an Indian, 1 1 ; lands
99
INDEX
on the Catskill shore, 13; de-
scribes Albany, 16-18; leaves
Albany for Cohoes, 19; de-
scribes Cohoes Falls, 20;
lodges in Schenectady, 22-
23 ; visits the Johnsons, 23-
25; at Kincaid's, 26-27; at
Canajoharie, 28; starts for
Cherry Valley, 29; Cherry
Valley described, 30-31 ;
reaches Otsego Lake 35 ;
meets Colonel Croghan, 36;
starts to make his survey,
37 ; dines on his own terri-
tory, 39; describes the Ot-
ego country, 40-43 ; returns
to Croghan, 44; describes
lands about Otsego Lake,
45-46; launches a canoe, 46;
engages Joseph Brant as a
guide, 47; describes a bark
canoe, 48 ; describes lands on
the Otego Patent, 50-51 ;
starts for Schenevus, 51-52;
describes his course, 53-54;
meets Dorn, a Dutchman,
56; starts for Oghwaga, 58;
passes the Charlotte, 58; ar-
rives at the mouth of the
Otego, 60; at a village of
Mohicans, 62 ; engages
another guide, 63 ; arrives at
Cunnahunta. 63 ; reaches
Oghwaga, 64 ; describes that
town, 65-67 ; attends ser-
vices, 67-68 ; leaves for Cook-
ooze, 70; at Cookooze, 72,
73 ; at Cushietunk, 75 ;
reaches Fort Jervis. 76; at
the Delaware Vater Gap,
'jy\ at Easton. 78; at Tren-
ton, 79; reaches Burlington,
80; his table of his tour,
81-82; his notes on the man-
ners and customs of the In-
dians, 83-88; copies of his
journal, 88
Smith, Richard R., xx
Smith River, Ixi
Smith, Samuel, xiv
Smollett, Tobias, xxi
Sopus ; see Esopus
Sopus Kill, 12
Southampton (L. I.), xxx
Speir, Archibald W., Ixix
Spencer, Rev. Elihu, Ivi
Spencer, Thomas, 72
Springfield (N. Y.), 29, 35
Spuyten Duyvil (N. Y.), 4
Stamp Act Congress, the,
xxiii
Stamford (N. Y.), Ixxii, 31
Station Point, the north, 73, 74
Steele, O. W., 22
Steele, Richard, 37
Stone, W. L., xxxi, 24
Storm King, 7
Stringer, Doctor, 31
Stroudsburg (Penn.), Ixxi
Stuyvesant, Peter, xxix
Sub-Treasury, the, in New
York, xxiii
Sullivan County (N. Y.), 22
Sullivan, General John, 24; his
expedition, 49, y2
Summit Lake, 31; trail to, 52;
Van Valkenburg killed on,
53
Susquehanna River, the, xvi ;
traders on, Iv ; first white
men on, liii ; first title to,
Ivii ; settlers on, Ix ; trouble
on, Ixix ; settlers on, 8 ; Mor-
ris patent on, 13 ; lands on
owned by General Brad-
street, 15 ; settlements on,
29 ; sources of, 36 ; arrival
on, 43-44; course of, 49;
trail on. 52; lands on, 61;
widening of, 64, 81
TOO
INDEX
Sussex County (N. J.), Ixii, 78
Talleyrand, Prince, 42
Tamanend, Ixii
Tammany, Ixii
Tappan (N.Y.), 4
Tarrytown (N. Y.), 5
Teyonadelhough (N. Y.), 56;
see Unadilla
Thayendanegea, 37 ; see Brant,
Joseph
Tioga Point (Penn.), 49
Treaty of Paris, the, xxvi
Trenton (N.J.), 79, 80
Tribes Hill (N.Y.),24, 25
Trumbull, John, 67
Tryon County, population of,
xiii; militia of, Iviii, Ix, 24,
28
Tryon, Governor William, 24,
Tunaderrah ; see Unadilla
Tunadilla ; See Unadilla
Tunnicliffe, family of, lix
Tuscaroras, the, liv
Tuscarora Town, 67, 83
Tyler, Bazilael, 75, 79
Ulster County (N. Y.), xxxii,
6, 22
Una, an Indian, 63, 71, 75
Unadilla, origin of the name,
39; village of, 40; trail at,
56; Mohicans at, 63, 72; de-
struction of, 72
Unadilla River, the, xvi, liv,
Ivii, lix ; tributaries of, 39,
42; trail along, 52; mouth
of, 62, 64
Utica, xliii
Van Camp, Colonel, yy
Van Cortlandt, Colonel, xxxvi
Van Cortlandt Manor, the
XXXV, 5
Van Cortlandt, Oliver, 5
Van Cortlandt, Stephanus, 5
Van Curler, Arent, xlii
Van der Donck, xl
Van Rensselaer, Colonel John,
15
Van Rensselaer, Killien, xxxiv,
17; his lands, 21
Van Rensselaer, Stephen, 17
Van Rensselaer Manor, the,
beginnings of, xxiv, xxxvi,
xlii
Van Rensselaer, Mrs. Schuy-
ler, xxxiv
Van Valkenburg, Joachim, lix,
53 ; see Yokum's
Vastric Island, 13
Verplanck Manor, the, xxxv
Virginia, population of,
xxxviii
Visscher Map, the, xxvii, liv
Waggoner's Patent, 35
Walkill (N.Y.), 9
Walking Purchase, the, Ixv, 79
Wall Street (N.Y. City),
xxiii, xxxiii
Wallace Patent, the, Ivii
Wallace, Alexander, 62
Wallace, Hugh, 62
Walloons, settle on Manhattan
Island, xxvi ; in Albany,
xxvii ; on the Hudson, xxxi,
Walpack, 78
Walton, William, Ix
Walton House, the, xxiv
Wappinger Creek, xxxv
Warren's Bush (N. Y.), xlviii
Warren, Sir Peter, xlviii
Washington, George, xxxv,
II
Wauteghe; see Otes:o
Waywayyonda (N. Y.), xxxi
Weils, Robert, on the tour with
Mr. Smith, 20, 29, 44, 50,
lOI
INDEX
60; observes transit of Ve-
nus, 64; on his way home
with Mr. Smith, 71, 78, 80,
81
Wells, John, 30
Wells, Major, builds a fort at
Oghwaga, Ixx ; arrival at
his house in Cherry Valley,
30; at service with, 31; his
farm, 32; his store, etc., 33,
35. 65, 81
West Indies, flour sent to, xiv
West India Company, the,
xxxiv
West Jersey, Ixiv
West Kill, 35
Westmoreland County (Penn.),
Ixxi
Wheelock, Doctor Eleazer, 37;
his school, 47
Wicwise — , 68
Wilkes Barre (Penn.), Ixxi
Wiltwick (N. Y.), settlement
of, XXX
Windsor (Conn.), 35
Wise, Thomas, xix
Wolfe, General James, xxxix
Woodbridge (N. J.), 3
Wyalusing (Penn.), Ixix
Wyoming (Penn.), John But-
ler at, xvii, Ixv ; people from
Connecticut in, Ixx ; Massa-
cre of, 24; road from to
Bethlehem, 57 ; settlers
bound for, 56, 68
Yager, Willard E., 86
Yale University, 57
Yates, Christopher, 40
Yokum's, arrival at, 52; his
settlement, 53, 55 ; road
from to Cherry Valley, 57
Yonkers, xxxv, xxxviii, 5
102
H 99 78
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